5. Chapter Three
Chapter Three
Noah Cameron
32 years old
“Noah, we will talk when this tantrum is over.” My father’s deep voice comes through the speakers in my car. Listening to the same lecture is getting tiresome, and I’m close to blocking my parents. Do you have anything to say?”
“What do you want me to say, father? I want to live my life for me. I know you want me to follow in your footsteps, but I can’t. I was miserable. Let me try this out for myself.”
“No. I spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on your education.” He sighs. “I’ll give you a month before you’ll be back.”
“Father.” I pull my BMW over to the side of the road. My head goes back and rests on the headrest. “I know you’ll be wrong.”
“Fine. I’ll give you one month to get a job and a place without touching your credit cards.”
“Father, I’ve already rented an apartment with my trust fund for a year. I was given part of it when I graduated from college. It was from Grandpa, not you. I won’t touch it again. My bills are paid through the trust. I haven’t used the credit cards you gave me in high school since I graduated from college almost six years ago.” He sighed, and I knew I had won this battle.
”You are no longer my son.” He hangs up. I close my eyes and take some deep breaths. I can’t believe him. When my grandfather finds out about this, he will pitch a fit. He never liked the man my mom married, but she was eighteen, and nothing would stop her. I’m glad she left after I went to college and found true love. My stepdad encourages me to follow my heart and not the almighty daughter, even though he’s a rich mother fucker. He comes from old money, which will never run out, but he went out to make a name for himself. I have three step-siblings, and one is like my father, who thinks money is the answer to every problem and question. She lives off her trust funds and will never work. She wants to rule over people by using money. I’m not built like that and never will be. I return to the road and head toward the apartment I rented for the year.
I didn’t know about any jobs in the area, but I knew I needed to get away from my father. I’m now about a thousand miles away. The town of Saltina, Indiana sounded like a good place. From what I’m seeing as I drive through the city, I see that the town has a lot of businesses and people. It’s about two hours from Indianapolis, so it’s not bad if I want to experience the big city life. The map on my screen lets me know to slow down because I’m coming to the apartment building. It’s part of the business areas as I see a lot of mom-and-pop shops. I remember talking to the landlord about parking in the rear. There are cameras everywhere, and his dojo is underneath. There are five apartments, and he occupies one of them. I pull into a spot marked with my apartment number. I sigh as I get out of my car. Stretching my muscles and cracking my bones, I look around the parking lot. The sun is setting now, and some businesses are closing, but I see people coming and going. They keep smiling and talking to each other. It’s so weird coming from a big city where you avoid making eye contact so people don’t speak to you. I reach into my cup holder to grab my phone. I dial my mom.
“Hi, sweetie.” Her smiling voice comes through. She always has a smile on her face.
“Hi, mom. I just got here.” I let out a groan.
“What did he do now?” She sighs.
“Who says he did anything?” I unlock my doors and grab my suitcase and carry-on bag. I didn’t know how I’d feel after traveling, so I packed my suitcase and carry-on for the night so I didn’t have to race around trying to find clothes. The carry-on also carried my valuables and important papers.
“I know that groan. It’s a Mitchell Cameron groan. I invented that groan.” We laugh. “Talk to me,” I explained the conversation to her and informed her how he disowned me. “Well, it’s a good thing you have two parents. Noah, your Dad is a selfish bastard who can’t see anything past his wants and needs. I don’t think he’s capable of loving anyone but his money. He doesn’t even love himself. You have your trust fund, and you get the rest of it in three years. You’ve never needed us past eighteen. We paid for your college because all of your grandparents and the two of us put money in those savings the day I held that pregnancy test. Even now, all that extra went into the trust, and you didn’t use it yourself. Believe me when I say you’re better off than under his thumb. Be free and enjoy your life. I can’t wait to visit, but I’ll let you get settled first.”
“You’re giving me about a month, right, Mom?” She chuckles. “Thanks, mom.” I lean against my car after locking it. I’m going to text Arthur to get the keys from him. “I tried, I did, but I hated myself every time I looked at myself in the mirror. I don’t want to be him.”
“Honey, you’ll never be him. I can promise you that. I won’t let you. I’ll kidnap you, deprogram you, and start over with you if I have to.” We chuckle.
”I love you, mom. I’ll take pictures and videos to send to you.” We hang up.
ME: Hey Arthur, it’s Noah. I’m parked in the back.
ARTHUR: I’m coming down now.
I put my phone away and look up when I hear the roar of motorcycles. I love that sound. I need to look into buying one. My mom will kill me, but she’ll get over it.
Arthur told me that the place was unfurnished, but I bought a bunch of furniture and had the company coordinate with Arthur. I paid him a fee to coordinate it all. A door opens and bangs against the building, making me jump.
“Noah?” The gruff voice echoes between the buildings.
“Yes, sir.” I hold out my hand to shake Arthur’s hand. He’s a tall man like me. I stand at six feet four inches, slightly taller than him. He’s more muscular than I am, though. I don’t work out often due to being in an office from sunrise to sundown. I’m hoping to change that soon.
“The apartment is set up, but you can change it. I didn’t know how you’d want it set up. I did what I would do if I had that furniture.”
“Sounds good. I’m excited to see it. Thank you so much for doing all of this for me. I know it was a real inconvenience.”
“No. It was fine. I had some of the students lifting and moving. It was a good team-building exercise for them. They tend to think they’re better than everyone else, and I need to remind them that it is not about being above someone else.”
“I wish you could’ve taught that to my Dad.” I chuckle. Arthur helps me with a few bags, and we head to the door for the apartments. He pointed out his apartment on the first floor and said he could come to him anytime and check his dojo if he wasn’t home. I nod as I talk. There’s a second floor where there are three apartments.
“There is no elevator, but there are only six stairs, so I didn’t want to ruin the building with that. We all help each other out. The second apartment is an older couple from my neighborhood, and we try to ensure they get their groceries and meds. They are always delivered, or they’ll leave a list of things they need. The grocery store and pharmacy have their cards on file, so you say you’re buying for them.”
“It’s great you do that for others. I didn’t even know my landlord in my last apartment building. If I had neighbors, I wouldn’t know. No one talked to anyone.”
“That is so sad. This community has problems, but for the majority, we like helping those who need it.”
“I want to be a part of something like that.” My heart tightened, knowing my father would never understand how important it was to get to know people lesser than him. My mom will probably want to move here once she visits. He handed me the extra set of keys he had kept for himself. He told me each tenant has two and sent me one so he could get in here to do the work.
“I also have a master key but only use it for emergencies. If you make copies of these, let me know. I must know how many keys I must collect at the end.” He opens the door and tells me he has some work to do as he steps in, dropping my bags on a couch for me. “My kids who rearranged it did tell me that the couches were cool looking and comfortable. They needed to test it out.” He chuckles. This gentle giant loves his students, as he calls them his. I smile. I pull out my wallet, grab a couple of fifties, and hand them to him.
“Please have a pizza party to thank them for me.” He holds his hand up.
“Why don’t you throw that party? I’ll let you know when I can schedule it. They’ll appreciate it more coming from you than me.” I put the money back and nod. “I better get going. I need to do some last minute cleaning in the dojo. If you need anything, you can find my number.” He walks out, then turns around, “Apartment four is empty. They moved out last month. They finally bought the house they’d been dreaming about, and it was just in time. The baby is due next month.” His smile is like a proud Dad. “Apartment three is a single woman who moved here about six months ago. She works at a restaurant a few blocks away. She stays to herself. I don’t know much about her; she isn’t talkative.”
“Thanks for the information.” He closes the door, and I look around the room. I sigh and sit down on my recliner. The kids were right. This is comfortable.