Wayfaring Stranger©
by Barbara Pruitt
Chapter 1
The car wasn’t doing well. It coughed like it had something deeply wrong inside. Every time they came to a stop sign it would shudder like a wet dog. Their family held their breath until it was able to lurch forward once again. The car was really their only fortress against the outside world. They had left their apartment in California and were moving to Texas. It would be cheaper to live there and they could get a fresh start. Or so Mara’s mom, Allison, thought. Mara stared out the window watching the green of northern California give way to the brown dessert of Arizona, New Mexico and eventuallyTexas. Mara, the oldest, had been the navigator because she wasn’t old enough to drive. She offered, but her mom had said not till she was 16 and had her license. Her mom had been so excited to have a plan. It was one of Mara’s chief complaints about her family: no one ever had a plan.
“Mara, it’s a 23 hour drive. I think we can do it all at once only stopping for gas and food,” her mom chirped. She was making dinner. Her little brother, Cooper’s, favorite boxed macaroni and cheese with hot dogs. Gag. Mara was setting the table.
Mara replied, “That’s a long time to drive. How are you going to stay awake that long?”
“That’s why God made coffee and energy drinks,” she said shaking her blonde hair away from her face. “I looked up the route online. We just go south until we hit I-10 and then head east. I’ve stayed up more than 24 hours before. I’ll be fine.”
Her mom tilted her head to the side and gave her wide smile as she stirred gloopy cheese from the packet into the macaroni. For someone who had worked at restaurants and diners most of her life she didn’t really get food. Most of her meals came from a box, can or freezer. Her floppy blonde hair and eager blue eyes made her seem younger than she was. She was 35, but looked like she was in her 20’s--late twenties, but still twenties. People were always amazed she had a teenage daughter. Her mother’s constant twitchiness as well as rarely stopping to eat kept her girlishly thin.
“Texas will be great, Mara, you’ll see.” Her mom was working hard to convince her.
So many objections crowded into Mara’s mouth it was difficult to spit them out. “We’ve never lived any where, but here. In Monterey. Here are all the people we know. Here is dad. Here are all my friends. And school. Does dad know what you’re planning? Don’t we have to stay in the same state as him? Just because you’re divorced doesn’t mean we can leave. What about Cooper? His school and friends are here. I don’t think it would be good for him to leave. Where would we live in Texas? Where would we go to school? Have you really thought about this?”
“Take a breath, Mara,” her mom chided, “You are such a fun-sucker.” Not the first time she’d been called that by her mother. “Let your self imagine a different world. I’m not making it financially here since the divorce. Monterey is a really expensive place to live as you know. To answer some of your questions: yes, you’re dad knows. The army is moving him to Ft. Campbell, Kentucky. From there he will probably be deployed to Afghanistan.”
“What? When did this happen?”
“He’s been meaning to tell you,” she put the pot of macaroni and cheese on the table and started pulling hot dogs of frying pan and stuffing them into the buns. “Cooper,” she called, “Dinner’s ready.”
Mara looked at the table, “Mom, where’s the vegetable?”
“Oh right,” Allison pulled open a cabinet, “Green beans. No need to heat them up. Hand me the can opener from the drawer, Mara.”
Mara fished in the drawer among the odd kitchen utensils. Garlic press. No. Vegetable peeler. No. There it was: can opener. “Dad knows? And he’s okay with being in a different state than us?”
Her mom nodded as she took the opener.
Mara wanted to explode her anger at her dad on her mom, but since the divorce her mom no longer defended her dad’s . . . absences, neglect, distractions, whatever it was. Strangely, Mara was now her dad’s chief defender.
“Why do we have to move?”
“We can’t afford to live here without help from you’re dad. He’s can’t be relied on. Landlord’s are big on reliability. A friend at the diner was telling me how cheap it is to live in Texas. If we go to San Angelo there’s an Air Force Base where we can use the commissary and get medical care. See, great idea. Well thought out. Surprise!”
Mara now had two big things trying to make sense in her brain. They were moving to Texas and her dad was moving to Kentucky. This was not good. In fact, this was a disaster.
“When is all this going to happen?” Mara questioned with suspicion. Hopefully not for awhile.
“Beginning of December when our lease is up,” replied her mom. “or maybe end of November if I can get it together. Cooper, dinner! I’ve got to get to work.”
“Before Christmas?” Mara wailed.
“After Thanksgiving,” her mom replied with a smile, “you’ll have a last Thanksgiving with your dad. We’ll pack and clean after that. We have to leave the apartment by the end of November. So it’s off to Texas for us. It will be a great time to get there because people will hiring for the holidays. We’ll get off to a great start.”
Her little brother showed up and they sat down to their family dinner of hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, and lukewarm green beans. Mara picked at her food while her mom explained to Cooper the exciting adventure their family was going to take in less than three weeks.
Mara seethed over the craptastic turn her life was taking. Not that it had been great so far. Her family lived in Monterey, California--really Pacific Grove right next to Monterey. She could see the Pacific Ocean everyday if she made the effort. It was also down the road from Carmel home of Clint Eastwood and this great hotel where stars went to get away. Mara wanted to work there eventually while she got her degree. The ocean was free, but everything else was so expensive: food, rent, clothes. Her dad was a soldier in the army. He came here to learn Arabic at the Defense Language Institute. He met her mom who was from Maryland, but wanted to live in California. Her mom and her boyfriend came here when she was 17. The boyfriend soon moved on but her mom stayed here scraping by holding two or three low paying jobs. Her parents met at a diner where she waitressed. He saw her again later a bar where she worked--later that same day. Roughly ten months later Mara was born. That was fifteen years ago. When Mara was 5 her brother Cooper was born. The two of them had their mom’s blue eyes and their dad’s curly hair. They were all blondes. But not the blondes who tan; the kind that burn. Luckily the temperature where they lived was usually 68 degrees or cooler.
Life had always been tumultuous between her parents. It could have been a cute romantic comedy of free spirited girl loves responsible military man. They both expand their minds and become better people who raise loved, secure children. That was not the case. Her dad struggled with alcohol. It was weird. He worked and was a good soldier, but come Friday and Saturday he became a drunk. He would come home in the early hours of the morning staggering up the apartment stairs yelling for his wife. She was usually waitressing. It would be Mara and Cooper who helped their dad up the stairs and into bed. He would be so apologetic and ashamed. It was hard to be mad at him. Mara knew she didn’t have the best dad, but Tuesdays and Wednesdays were good days to do things with her dad. He would help with homework and make dinner. He would ask about her life and Cooper’s. It was almost like having a real dad. She could tell he really wanted to do better. He was a man of good intentions.
They had moved several times into different apartments because of her dad’s habit of waking people up at 2 AM. That and the epic fights her parents would get into over stupid shit. Plates would be broken. Ugly words were said. Finally her mom made him move out and they eventually divorced. He went to live in the barracks. Mara and Cooper saw him rarely. His weekends were swallowed by beer and he wasn’t there during the week. Now he would be gone altogether. Kentucky.
And we would be in Texas. Away from my father and my friends in a strange place. With only my mother and my little brother. At Christmas. Sounds like the plot of some totally messed-up Christmas movie.
Cooper and Mara ate Thanksgiving dinner with their dad at the Monterey Cookhouse. Their mom worked at a catering job trying to get as much cash as possible before they left. Dinner with their dad was awkward because of Mara’s attitude. Cooper and dad joked together about it. How she was grumpy bear. Dad told a story of how when she was a baby she only wanted her mom. He said it was because she didn’t trust him to care of her. Mara thought to herself you got that right. Toward the end of the meal Mara softened toward him and asked about his travel plans to Kentucky. He said he was leaving day after tomorrow.
“Will I see you again before you leave?” she asked.
Her dad squirmed in his seat. He didn’t like disappointing her. “I might be able to. When are you guys leaving?”
“Tomorrow.” The apartment had already been packed by the movers. The army was going to pay to move their furniture and stuff to Texas. It might arrive before Christmas. Maybe not. “Will you come see us leave? Please.”
“Yeah, Dad, come see us one last time,” chimed in Cooper.
Her dad looked away and took a sip of his beer. “I think your mom is wanting to leave really early. She doesn’t want to be waiting on me to show up. And I’ll see you again. This isn’t forever. Promise.”
Dad dropped them off at the apartment. Their mother was still at work. Most everything was gone. They turned on the glaring overhead light because their lamps were on there way to Texas.
“Do you think we’ll see dad again,” asked Cooper.
Time to be an adult like her dad and lie too, “Sure, Cooper,” she assured him, “He is going to miss us even more than we’ll miss him because we have each other and mom. He’ll be all alone.” They got their phones, a good-bye present from their dad, and played games till their mom came home and made them get ready for bed.
“Leaving bright an early tomorrow. We need some shut eye.” Her voice harshly cheerful. As she fell asleep Mara's last thoughts were this is going to suck.
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