It's been awhile since I'd posted the story. The holidays had made it kind of hit and miss for working on it, but I'm still plugging away. Just remember, this is not only a first draft, but a rough draft at that.
Bill never showed up for the rest of the day. Jaimie was as useless as predicted. I harassed her some and got her to help me clean up the rest of the upstairs at the Crab Plant. No idea if my organizational skills made sense to anyone else. I’d never worked up there before packing, so I didn’t know the drill. However, with Halibut before Dungies, there was plenty of time to fix my mistakes. We were done by lunch break and I decided to call my dad before I ate lunch. If I ate first, the pay phone would never be free.
I settled myself in to the booth. Malcolm walked by and we smiled at each other-genuine article and I could tell he’d like an after-hours’ visit. Sneaking around could be fun when all you were doing was keeping a secret and not cheating. Everyone in Pelican always thought they knew everything about everyone ( and usually they did), but it made the secret that much more satisfying. And fun.
I dialed and waited as the phone rang five times. Then, the unexpected.
A woman’s voice.
“Hello?”
“Uh…is Russell there?”
“Uhm, well, no.”
“Rebecca? Is that you, Rebecca?”
“Uhm, yeah.”
“Oh, hey, sorry. I was going to call you. You’ve been on my mind. That must have been why I dialed your number even though I was intending to call my dad. So, how have you been?”
There was a slight pause, then, “Well, I’ve been good. You know, the usual. Studying, more studying. Not much to report.”
“Did they stick you with a new roommate?”
There was another long pause. “No. No, they didn’t. Guess the freshmen don’t want to get stuck with someone who actually studies and wants to graduate. Thank God. Couldn’t take one of those twits who’s always going to the frat parties.”
“Yeah, well, you need someone more mature than any of the frat boys I’ve ever met.”
There was another pause in our conversation. I never thought it would be this hard to talk to Rebecca. Maybe my brief time in Pelican had already changed me more than I’d thought.
“So,” Rebecca attempted conversation, “are you seeing anyone or are you taking a break from men?”
Now the pause was on my part as I considered. “Honestly, I’m not sure how to answer that. This is a strange place, Bec. I’m kind of seeing someone,” I whispered, “but I want to keep it kind of quiet. Everyone is really nosy and gossipy and I’m kind of tired of everyone trying to mind my business. Look, I should go. Probably should eat some lunch before I go back to mind-numbing, time-wasting.”
“Hey, you should call your dad.”
“I’ll catch him another day.”
“Seriously, Petra, just take a minute and give him a call. You know he’d like to hear from you.”
“Yeah, I will, maybe when I get off work.”
“You should do it now. It will only take you a minute.”
I pulled the phone away from my ear and stared at the receiver. This was a much stranger conversation than anticipated. Usually I only got this kind of pressure from my mother.
“Not to worry, Becca. But I don’t have time to call him now. I’ll do it later. I’ll even call the Ranch and talk to my mom, if that will make you feel better. Look, if you see my dad around, tell him you talked to me, I’m doing fine, and that I’ll talk to him soon. Ok?”
Sigh. “All right. Petra, don’t blow it off. I’m sure your family is worried about you being up there. Be careful, seriously.”
“Some things never change, do they, Becca? Don’t worry. No Steven Kane up here. I’m doing fine. I’ll talk to you later.”
“All right. Later. Bye.”
“Bye.”
I hung up the phone and wandered back to the cafeteria. Mercifully, it was clearing out. Clark and Tim were sitting together by the window. Loki was at the other end, sitting near the engineers. He waved at me and tried to wave me over to sit with him. I tried to look like a happy-go-lucky bimbo-nit-wit and smiled, waved, and plopped myself down next to Tim, across from Clark.
“You’d better not sit with him,” Clark glowered at me.
“Hey, I didn’t. See. I’m sitting across from you.” He continued to glower, but relaxed somewhat.
“Where were you?” Tim asked me. “And that’s polite conversation, not being nosy.”
“Did you listen in on my phone call?” I asked aggressively.
“No. What are you talking about?”
“Just that I was talking to my old roommate on the phone and I’d told her that everyone here was unbearably nosy and gossipy.”
“I resent that,” said Tim.
“Can’t argue with that,” was Clark’s contribution. Tim gave him a dirty look.
“You probably need to be calling your family before you call your old roommate,” Tim said.
I could tell this was one of those days where everything he said was going to irritate me.
“Well, know-it-all, I had intended to call my dad. I just misdialed.”
“Yeah, right.”
“I did. Why would I lie? It’s not like I need your approval.”
Tim puffed up, ready to blast me when Clark reached across the table and grabbed my hand. “Hurry up and eat. We need to go clock in.”
I glanced at the clock and he was right. Loki walked past to put his tray away, touching his hand to the brim of his cap and making sure to have eye contact with me.
“Ugh!” Clark gagged. “When will that twerp go away?”
“You sound just like Charlie Brown when Lucy pulls away the football at the last minute.”
Tim laughed. “I thought you sound more like Linus when someone takes his blanket away.” Tim and I both laughed. Clark gave us a look. We were beneath his dignity.
I took a couple of humongous bites of sandwich, impressing and repulsing my companions, then stood up, ready to go. It took me a minute before I could talk, or even breathe for that matter.
“Impressive. Let’s go clock in.” And we three walked off together, friends again.
Comments