Page 61 - WTP Vol. VII #6

On Sunday mornings Derek pulled the curtains and stood on the couch waiting for their dad’s Monte Carlo to pull up in front of the house. He’d been hy- per the past few weeks. Twice Joel caught him trying to use his Gameboy, and each time he snatched it out of his hands, Derek threw a fit until their mother had to separate them.
Derek jumped off the couch and landed so hard it rattled the glass doors of their mother’s china cabi- net. “I want to play mini golf today,” he said.
“It’s raining, Derek.”
“Maybe it will stop.”
“We’re going to the arcade. Dad said I could pick.”
“Joel couldn’t shake the feeling that
everything he loved was coming to a close.”
His father arrived with his headlights burning dimly through the gray curtain of rain. His mother stood in the kitchen doorway with her arms folded, watching quietly as they scrambled for their jackets. Joel didn’t think she was completely sold on these visits. She seemed to be going along for reasons he didn’t under- stand. She opened the door and touched them each on the head. “You two behave yourselves,” she called.
They ran down the front walk ducking beneath the rain. Joel went for the front seat and Derek tried to sneak around him. He grabbed Derek by the hood and pulled him back hard.
“Already with this,” their father said, and Derek stomped his feet and got in back.
They drove to a diner in Wethersfield that had a loco- motive car attached to the side of the building and
a stop light out front that cycled through red, yel- low, and green. The three of them slid into a large booth where a tiny juke box was mounted below the window. Derek sat next to their father, fidgeting with his jacket zipper until their father said, “If you don’t settle down, Derek—” and left it at that. Joel flipped through songs on the juke box and Derek reached over him trying to push the buttons.
“Enough,” his father said. “You guys are really push- ing it this morning.”
The waitress stepped up to the table and asked if they needed more time. Her hair was tied back and large silver hoops dangled from her ears.
“Pancakes all around,” his father said. “And I’ll take a coffee as soon as you can get it here.”
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