minni mae

"OH MY God, it's Laurie!

The woman, around 60 or 65 came waddling over to me from the other side of the cul-de-sac, the house to the right of Aunt Rachel's. 

I had just walked into Rain Street, after the longest day of school I have had in ages. Minnie Mae was wearing a blazer with both sleeves rolled up, and hot pink capri's. Her flip-flops were neon yellow, and she was so thin I could almost see through her.

She embraced me, and it felt like hugging a twig; I thought I'd snap her in half.

                "I haven't seen you in eons! Come, come!" She grabbed me by the arms with her bony fingers, and wobbled me to her house. It was a smaller house, and by far the most cluttered of all five houses just by looking on the outside. There were around ten chairs on the porch, all of which were different, and more plants than you could count.

Leading me up to the porch, I noticed the large scar right near her thumb on the hand that was leading me. 

           "Sit, sit!" She motioned toward a puce green rocking chair with two bears stenciled on the back. Feeling it would be against my better judgment to refuse, I sat. She, however, sat in a long cushioned chair, and sipped some iced tea.

            "I knew you since you were in diapers if you can believe it." Her voice was rusty, and at the end of each sentence it sounded as if she needed another sip of her iced tea. "You'd run around my garden until your mother would call you to go back to Rachel's. You were adorable, Laurie... you still are!"

The lines on her face moved from the corner of her eye down to her jowls, her lips were pointed and wrinkled. The hair on her head, pinned up to a tight bun was so gray it was a light shade of blue, and I couldn't hel but notice her scar again as she picked up her iced tea.

             "Do you remember me, Laurie?" She asked.

               "Well-"

              "Oh! Of course you don't, you were so small! Listen to me, rambling on and on and you don't even know who I am! I'm-"

                "Minni Mae, I remember."

Her face turned from pale to pink glow to match her outfit, and she put the iced tea down.

               "Well doesn't that just make my day? A sweet, young girl like you remembering an old broad like me?" Minni Mae laughed, and a tried a bit too. "Well then again, what's not to remember about me? I'm very memorable. That's what I am requesting on my gravestone. Minni Mae Oliver: A Very Memorable Woman. How do you like it?"

                "It sounds good to me." I said, and began to like her.

               "I know you're new around the neighborhood, Laurie, so I should fill you in, right? Everything that happens in this neighborhood means nothing unless you know who they are. I won't take to long, teachers are getting crazy with the work load nowadays, it's just abuse!

                 You see the house on the right? Mary Jenson. I tell you, damn fine cook. I'd like to believe I cook better than most people in this whole tri-state area, but I can't even compete with this god forsaken cul-de-sac! This woman is Sandra Lee on steroids." She threw her hands up in the air and spoke to the sky. " But, she cannot compete with my legendary chicken parmesan, God will tell you. I should make it for you some day, honey. I tell you, you'd love it. Everyone does. I force fed my chicken parm to a vegan once and BAM!" She slapped her hands together. "She went poultry, just like that! Anywho, that house over there," She jumped over two houses to the left, painted a deep red and brown shingles. There was a large cage in the back where I could see dozens of chickens pecking around.

                 "Earl." She said and frowned. "Now that.... is a strange man. He doesn't talk much, only to his chickens, which he names after endangered animals, can you believe it? This is a very chatty neighborhood, and this odd man is sitting out with his tigers and... pigs, I dunno. I remember once... he actually showed at our annual Christmas party, which we hold here. Oh boy, he stood by the eggnog all night, and when he did talk, it would either be to himself, or he attempted to shout over to his chickens." She waved him off and continued to the last house.  "Now there is an interesting couple. Chelsea and Jaimie. Always traveling together and bringing back expensive things from Europe, Asia, Africa... anywhere  you can imagine. A part of me is so jealous of them for what they've seen and what they've done, but another part says shame on them for neglecting their own son. Oh! You are going to school with him now, dear. Jaimie Junior. Jaimie Maxwell. I know it's your first day, but you might see him around. Good kid, good kid. though, every once in a while he throws some wild parties down there, and if I was still the woman of good health and stamina that I was in the 60's, I tell you I'd take my shot gun and- GOOD GOD!"

I jerked in my seat by the sudden crescendo and she was looking at her watch. 

                   "I've kept you here too long, my darling. Go home and do your trigonometry, or whatever they teach at that school. Tata!"

I grabbed my bag from under the begonia and paced back to the house after giving her a wave. 

I got inside and felt that pressing down on my lungs, the feeling you get when you  know you're about to cry. The house, even though familiar was so alien, not a home. Not a home to come home to after a terrible day of school, not a bed to cuddle into and close your eyes and take a nap, and no mother to stroke your hair and tell me you it will be alright. Then I remembered Aunt Rachel, and the way she does that. I wondered how she could remain so happy when a few months earlier her sister, the girl she grew up with, had died.

Squirming into my stiff blankets and bed, I remembered my appointment with Joe tomorrow after school.

Reviews

[Rhea752]

awwwww. sadness. :(