Chapter 4
Cullen ordered everything that he needed online.
He did it because he didn’t want to be in crowds of people and figured that he could get everything delivered at one time and not have to worry about interacting with anyone.
His mom went over his list for him and told him of a couple of things more that he was going to need, and he put them on the list. Just as he hit send, she told him that he could have picked up things locally and not had to bother with shipping.
“For as much as I ordered, I got free shipping.” She huffed a little at him. “You of all people understand why I don’t want to go shopping. And so you know, Emmie is the same way. She doesn’t like being around people any more than I do.”
“Oh my. What am I going to do with the two of you when it comes to visiting during the holidays? I hope you can at least see us during that time.” He said that he’d make the effort just for her. “I love you, Cullen. You’re the best last son that I’ve ever had.”
“Thanks, Mom. You’re the best mother I’ve ever had, too.
” They teased one another like that all the time, and he found that he was enjoying talking to her.
As they were sitting down to have lunch at their new home, he asked about the auction that was going on next weekend.
“I thought I’d go. I have one bedroom that needs a bed in it.
I can’t believe how much I got with everyone working together.
The only thing that I have to buy myself is dishes and silverware.
But I do need that last bedroom filled out.
Then I’ll be set up to live here without any issues. ”
“What does Emmie think about your house. You’ve told her about it, haven’t you?” He told her how he’d taken her there last night. “And? Did she run screaming into the night? I should hope not.”
“She loved the library as much as I did. Said that she could see us relaxing there in the evening when the rest of the world was watching television. She doesn’t even own one.
I haven’t gotten one either, for that matter.
” Mom told him he’d need it for football season.
“I’ll just hang out with the others who have a television.
That way, I don’t have to clean up after them when they leave. They’re very messy, aren’t they?”
“They can be, but they usually stick around to clean up. You know that.” He kissed his mom on the cheek. “Not that I mind, but what was that for?”
“Because you know what sort of person I am, yet you try to get me with the other normal ones.” She laughed like it caught her off guard. “You know as well as I do that I’m far from having much in common with the others.”
“I know that, but you try, and that’s all I can hope for.” His cell phone rang, and he stepped away to answer the call from Emmie. “Is she all right? Does she need us?”
“I’ve broken down. The car service for the rental place is supposed to bring me a car, but it won’t be for another four hours.
I can’t sit here in this car with two kids for that long.
Can you come and rescue us? I promise that we can go to a place that isn’t overcrowded with kids.
” He said he’d be right there. “I hoped you’d say that.
I don’t know why they think four hours is a reasonable time, but it’s not.
I even signed up for the roadside service so that I’d not have to worry about tires or anything like that. Stupid people.”
He laughed all the way to pick her up. She wasn’t that far out of town yet, so it was easy for him to find her. As they headed to the burger place in Zanesville, he introduced himself to the kids again.
“I remember you. You got Dad in trouble when he locked us up to the car.” Cullen told Beth that he shouldn’t have done that.
“I know that. But he don’t see it that way.
He said it was your fault he got arrested, too, when we went to see him the other day.
I don’t like going to the jail to see him. He’s nasty dirty.”
The restaurant was busy, but the kids were only bothering their parents.
He enjoyed his meal too when Emmie offered to pay, he said that he had it for having to intrude on their dinner meal.
He didn’t know about going to the movies with them, but it was Marshall who convinced him that he’d have a good time.
So he made his way to a seat with the kids and Emmie and watched a silly cartoon on the big screen that made absolutely no sense to him at all. Something about a bunch of teenage fighting machines that saved the world. He didn’t get it at all.
After the movie, they wanted snacks, so they all got pretzels to go.
He didn’t mind that they ate in his car, but he wanted a fee for allowing it.
Each of them had to give him a nugget of their pretzel so that he could be paid.
He thought that they tasted better when he did that to them.
Laughing on the way home, he was dismayed to find the police in front of the house when he got there.
Telling them to stay put, he went into the house to find out what was going on.
The first thing he noticed was all the blood.
Then the stench of the house. As he was looking for one of the police officers that he knew, he found Joey there, and he said that she’d been beaten up.
That Mary Beth was on her way to the hospital because someone had tried to break into her home, and she’d fought back when they tried to get her to hand over any cash she had, including the food card.
“Do you know who did it?” He said that Mary Beth did and that she’d told them it was her neighbor from down the street.
He was pissed off because she got more food money than he did on account of her having two kids to feed.
“Doesn’t seem all that smart if you were to ask me.
She probably knows everyone in this place. ”
“She said she does. Nothing much wrong with her that a couple of stitches won’t take care of.
She wasn’t all that happy that her kids weren’t here.
Something about them protecting her from intruders.
What are they, about six and seven years old?
” He saw Emmie coming up to him and took her into his arms. After telling her what the officer told him, she said she’d have to go to the hospital with her.
“She’ll need a ride home for sure, but I’m betting by the time you get there, she’ll be finished up and ready to go home.
Like I said, she only needs a couple of stitches on her lip, and nothing else is broken. ”
“She’ll complain like they broke every bone in her body.” He had already figured that out, and he’d not even met the woman. “I’ll see to her if you can just drop me off with the kids. I’ll have the car service bring the car to the hospital. They said it was finished. Then I can see you tomorrow.”
“I would love that.” After getting them situated, he decided to stay anyway. He didn’t want to leave her there alone, and with the kids would make it twice as hard. He started talking to the kids when Emmie went back to see her sister. “You get robbed all that often?”
“Only at the beginning of the month. Usually, Dad scares him away, but this time, she was alone. We should have been there with her.” He told Marshall that he might have gotten hurt as well.
“Dad is going to be ticked off that we didn’t protect her.
He’ll say that we should have been hurt other than Mom.
He already told us that he loves her more than he does us anyway. ”
“That’s not right.” Marshall shrugged. “I’d never tell my kids that I loved them less than I did anything. Kids are the world right now.”
“Dad says we’re just dollar signs to him.
I didn’t know what that meant until a week ago when Mom told me what he meant.
She said that was a good way to describe us.
” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“She said that if she could have, she’d have had one more so that we’d be a family of five and the money would be rolling in.
She’d get a bigger house, too. One with four bedrooms. We only have three right now. ”
“Did you tell your aunt this?” He said they’re not allowed to talk to their aunt about anything, or they’d get beaten. “So you figured you’d tell me so that I can tell her. Smart move on your part.”
“Yeah, we don’t know if we like you or not, but Aunt Emmie has been nice to us for a long time.
She makes sure that we have enough money to pay our fees so that we’re not standing in the corner when they’re past due.
Also, she makes sure that we have a coat when it gets cold.
Mom told us that she does it, but we’ve seen the packages coming in with her name on them.
She buys us all kinds of things, too, that mom lies to us about.
” He said he was sorry. “So am I. I hate living in the houses for the welfare people. The kids on the bus make fun of us when we get on in the morning and off at night. It’s not funny that they call us welfare babies either. ”
“No, it’s not. I’m sorry that you’re being treated this way.” Marshall looked at his sister before he told him more. “Your dad makes you steal, too? What does he steal that he makes you help with?”
“Gasoline. It makes me sick to my belly when I have to suck it through the tube. But he said that I’ll be a man someday, and that’s because I can suck gas through a hose.
I don’t know that I want to be a man if I have to be sick all the time.
” Cullen pulled out his phone and started taking notes on what the kids were telling him.
“You gonna tell the police? They’ll put us in jail for sure, and I don’t know about Bethy, but I’d rather be there than in the house that we live in. It’s nasty and dirty.”