11

I woke up around 8, Shawn was still asleep and Carmen was still in his sleeping bag. I got out of the car quietly and shut the door. Sleeping upright in a car all night does not feel good, I took a couple of minutes to stretch, I heard the car door shut behind me, looking, it was Shawn.

“Hey, pretty nice out right?” he said.

“Yeah…”

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s my fault.”

“What is?”

“Your dad-“

“Doesn’t matter.”

“What?”

“I’ve decided not to car, I’m done with the running and hiding, if he wants to find me let him.”

“How can you decide not to care, don’t you think you’re taking it a bit lightly? I mean, the man wants you dead!”

            He only shrugged.

“Hey!” Carmen said, “Did you kids get a good night’s rest?”

“Sure.” Shawn said.

“Great! Let’s go, we’ll be in flagstaff by late afternoon, get in we have a long drive.”

            Needless to say, Shawn beat me to the backseat, so I sat in front.

“What did the skeleton king say before he ate his meal?”

“I don’t know.”

“Bone-appetite!” I sighed, it was going to be a long trip.

            Okay, I want to take back any complaint I had about the heat when I lived in Idaho, Arizona is like an oven and anyone who lives here has got guts. If it weren’t so hot it would be really nice. Though the landscape was bare of any trees or stuff, the giant white clouds and red road made up for it.

“You wanna know something?” Carmen asked.

“What?” I asked expecting another joke.

“This is one of the prettiest places I drive through.”

“Yeah?”

“MmmHmm.”

“You been to California?” Shawn asked from the back seat.

“Nope.”

“It’s better.”

“When did you go to California?” I asked.

“A long time ago…”

            Hours later (and countless jokes) the long flat road started to twist and curve. The open dessert was replaced by tall green pine trees (which was strange because I didn’t think there were any trees in Arizona). We finally pulled into Flagstaff at about 4, it was overcast and cold. Carmen pulled over at a gas station.

“This is as far as I go.”

“Thanks a lot.” I said.

            Shawn and I got out and started to walk away, “So where’s your dad’s house?” Shawn asked.

            I pulled out the letter, the water from the river had nearly washed all the words away, ‘east 1634 Mc’ was all that was left, the rest was washed out.

“I can’t read it, we’ll have to find a phonebook.”

“Alright.”

            We walked around a bit until we found a payphone, “I’d be under Woodcolm.” I said flipping through the pages. I found the page with 4 other Woodcolms but all on different streets, mine was East 1634 McDowell Ave, almost all the way across town. I ripped the page out and stuffed it into my pocket.

“Okay it’s all the way across town.” I told him.

“Let’s go.”

“In soc territory.”

“Only if it’s the same layout in every town, and even if it is it doesn’t matter.”

“Okay.”          

            We walked for a while in silence.

“Should you call him?”

“No money.

“Are you sure he’ll… Take you in?” he asked

“He’s got to, I’m his kid.”

“It’s not always that easy.” He mumbled.

            We came to the street, it was pretty classy. White picket fences or neatly trimmed hedges lined each house’s property. Clean cars were parked in the driveways, there wasn’t anything virtually wrong with the street. Shawn and I knew we didn’t belong here, they were socs and we were greasers and that was all there was to it.

            House 1634 seemed to be what the other houses revolved around. It had a white picket fence with a red roof and shutters. The yard was huge, green, and lush.

“I’m going to wait out here.” Shawn said.

            I nodded and slowly walked up to the giant house. On the door hung a knocker, I rang the doorbell after a few moments I had begun to think no one was home. Then the door opened. It was my dad, only it wasn’t, I had expected to see the man I once knew, greasy hair leather jacket and jeans like me, only he was different, he had glasses sweater vest kakis, a real soc.

“Rickey?”

“Dad.”

“What’s happened to you? You look like you’ve been through a meat grinder.”

“Good to see you too.” I mumbled.

“How’d you get here?”

“Different ways.”

“But, why?”

“It’s Ron he’s gone crazy, in your letter you said to come see you if something happened to you-I rolled up my sleeve and showed him my burns-he did this.” I said.

“Hank?” a voice came from somewhere behind him, a woman appeared by his side, pregnant, “Oh…” she said disgustedly when she saw me, “Honey get rid of this white trash.” She whispered.

“Hold on.” He told her, she glared at me and left.

“Didn’t you used to be white trash too?” I asked.

“Look Rick, things are a bit complicated right now, I can’t take care of you.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry Rick.” He said before he closed the door.

            And suddenly I had nothing, everything was gone, my mom, dad, house. I was just another kid on the streets to him, he was living pretty and I was just another person from another life. I couldn’t breathe, dazed I walked back down the walkway.

“Rick? What happened?” Shawn asked.

            I steadied myself on the fence, I couldn’t believe I had put so much trust on him.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

“He’s moved on.”

“What?”

“He doesn’t care about me! You were right, I’m just white trash to him.” I let go of the fence and started to walk away.

“Hey.” Shawn put his arm on my shoulder.

“Get off of me!” I shook him away.

“Rick stop.”

            I stopped, there were sirens in the distance, my dad must have called the cops.

“Look Rick, who cares about him, he could go jump off a cliff for all I care. But you’re not alone, you got me.”

“I’m just your charity case!”

“No Rick! You’re not, if you’d have even had that thought you’d have ditched me a long while ago. The truth is, is that you’re the closest thing I’ve had to a friend in a long while, you’re like a brother to me.”

            I clenched my shaking fists, “I’m just white trash!”

“Then we’ll be white trash together.” I furiously wiped my burning eyes, and Shawn hugged me, “It’s okay Rick.”

“Shawn, I’m just a kid on the streets, I don’t know what to do anymore.”

“It’s okay, I’ll always be here for you.”

            After a couple of minutes he released me, “Let’s go, these people are too clean for my taste.” Shawn said, the police sirens had grown louder.

“Where?” I asked, a train whistle sounded.

“There.” Shawn said.

            We barely made it to the train before it pulled out and took off for who knows where. While the train sped off I watched the town grow smaller in the distance. I don’t know why but I felt free, watching the red sun fall behind the green trees and letting the wind hit my face, I felt free. I didn’t care about Ron finding me, I didn’t care that my dad had moved on with his life, because I had moved one with mine. But unlike my dad, I would never forget my past.

The end

Author's Note

And with that, I feel complete....at least until I start another story ;D