The Anderson’s First Family Adventure
By Tyler Ekstrom
Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for a Degree in Writing
Professional Writing: General Option
12/13/12
Professor Karen Vastola
Abstract
This short story is set in the suburban town of Bethel, Connecticut. James Anderson, a school teacher frustrated with the mundane day-to-day repetition of his life, is just looking for excitement and a change of pace. His children, Susie and Rebecca, ground him and his wife, Victoria, is anything but pleasant.
But, one day when James bumps into his old friend, Rufus, his life is flipped upside-down. Mystery follows Rufus wherever he goes, and encroaches itself on the Anderson family, too. As James’s struggle for a grandiose life is finally affirmed, he begins to realize the perks of normalcy.
Table of Contents
An Unexpected Old Friend Page 4
Dawn Page 9
Rufus Page 11
New Beginnings Page 14
Twilight Nigh Page 18
A Midsummer’s Night Vacation Page 25
An Unexpected Old Friend
It was a scorching hot day in Bethel, Connecticut. James’s skin stuck to his tan leather seat like Velcro as he waited for the AC to kick in. The final days of “freedom” or summer were coming to an end as the shadow of autumn and the start of a new school year drew in.
Not much had changed in Bethel since James graduated 17 years ago. Never thought I’d ever go back there, James thought. My former self would beat the shit out of me, coming back to work at that damn school. James’s thoughts continued to plague his mind as he questioned if there was anything left to do on his bucket list, or in other words, the time before he returned to teach.
No grand adventure this year or novel or anything. This summer had been like the last, lazy. Here and there a low-budget vacation with his wife Victoria and the kids, but Cape Cod for the fourth year in-a-row grows tiresome.
James’s blue Volvo squeaked as it turned into the gas station. He pulled up next to a pump and sluggishly got out of the car, combating the grueling heat. James took his wallet out of his shorts’ pocket and slid his credit card at the pump, grasping the handle and inserting the nozzle into his tank; slouching on the side of his car to wait, the gas filling his tank and draining his bank account.
A well-dressed man with ridiculously big sunglasses pulled up at the pump next to him in a lavish, new, 2012 Mercedes. Who’s this asshole, James thought. The man flamboyantly got out of the car; his arms move whimsically as he walked up to the gas pump. It was very peculiar in the way he presented himself, like he wanted to be seen, hiding behindthose sunglasses. The man looked at his reflection on the windshield and fixed his hair. “Fucking loser,” James muttered under his breath. Just then the man tilted his head at James. Oh shit, did he hear me? James thought. A toothy smile appeared on the man’s face and he waved his hand at James.
“Hey James, is that you?” The man called over, removing his sunglasses.
“Rufus?” James asked.
“Wow, it must have been nearly 10 years since I’ve seen you last!” Rufus criedwalking around his car. “How have you been?” he asked extending his hand for a shake.
“I’ve been good,” James said, grasping Rufus’s hand firmly and shaking it, “What brings you back home?”
“I just drove in from New York to visit my Mom,” Rufus said, “She's been lonely with my sister living off in Florence with that artist. What about you, visiting family as well?”
“Just coming from the High School,” James uttered with reluctance.
“Oh...What were you doing there?”
“Setting up my office; school starts soon.”
“Oh, you work there now, huh. Nice,” Rufus said, his voice reeked of apathy and un-brushed arrogance.
“It pays the bills. God knows I have a lot of them. What about yourself?”
“Well you know how my dad works in the framing business; he set me up with a branch in the upper-east side.”
“Oh, wow, that’s great to hear!” It’s like your parents handed you your life on a silver platter.
“It’s okay. Not really what I want to be doing but it, ah,” Rufus sneered looking at his car, “Pays the bills too…”
“I can see that,” James let out an authenticated laugh.
“Well, look James, I have to run. Maybe we can get together soon and talk over coffee or lunch?”
“Sure,” James said, now not too sure how much he liked the idea, “Here’s my number.”The two exchanged phone numbers, got in theircars, and drove off.
When James arrived home he was greeted with the usual symphony of screams by his 12-year-old Rebecca and 10-year-old Susie upon opening the door. This was coupled with instantaneous wife-complaints from Victoria that bombarded him as soon as he reached the kitchen.
“It took you long enough. I’ve been trying to clean the house and help them with their summer reading and cook and I have already had a long enough day from working at the clinic in the AM. Not all of us have summers off! Seriously James, It took you two hours to set up your desk?”
“Hi honey!” James bellowed with unmatched sarcasm.
“That’s all you have to say?!” Victoriashouted with an intense look of anger overcoming her face.
Suddenly the petty argument was cut short by a loud shattering sound from upstairs, followed by an eerie silence.“Girls!” Victoria shouted, not sure whether to be angry or concerned as she raced upstairs with James closely behind her. At the top of the staircase a lamp was shattered on the hardwood floor. The girls were each in their rooms, hiding and hoping the incident would be cleared up without any confrontation. James looked at Victoria, forced now to be on the same side.
“Well I’ll talk to Susie and you see what Rebecca has to say, I suppose...” James said.
James knocked on Susie’s door and opened it without waiting for a response, as did Victoria with Rebecca. It was reasons like this why they took the locks off the doors three years ago. If they had not, they would have needed a negotiator to come to the house to getthe girls to open their doors. “Susie, what is going on up here?” James questioned giving his daughter the sternest look he could give.
“Umm...I don’t know...” Susie giggled trying to fight off a grin.
“Yes you do, what happened?”
Susie responded by shaking her head to the left and right, gesturingno, her curly auburn hair bouncing as she did so.
“Susie...” James said, “If you aren't going to tell me what happened up here, there’s going to be no TV tonight.”
“Dad, no!” Susie cried, as if she had just been dealt a life sentence, “You can’t do that! My shows are on tonight!”
“Oh, yes I can.”
“Fine, it was all Rebecca’s fault! She threw a ball at me and it missed and hit the lamp. And it wasn’t me! I swear!”
In the other room Victoria had been consulting Rebecca. “Rebecca Mary Anderson, you are going to tell me what happened, and you are going to tell me right now. Do you understand little lady?”
“Yes mom,” she replied,nodding and keeping her head down. Her jet black hair covered her face; it was the same color as her mother’s, thick and shiny.
“Well…” Victoria uttered with in a foreboding voice.
“Susie threw a ball at me and missed.” She said, not looking up.
“And is that it?”
“Yes.”
“Alright Rebecca, thank you for telling me; we are going to have dinner soon, okay?”
“Okay.” Rebecca said, still looking down, intimidated by her mother’s presence.
Victoria and James met in the hallway and exchanged what they were told. They had little doubt that it was Susie who was the liar. “Accidents happen,” James said, maintaining his composure.
“I guess…” Victoria replied, somewhat relieved that neither of the kids were hurt.
“Why don’t you go finish dinner and I’ll clean up this mess.”
“Ok,” Victoria’s frustration seemed to be draining out of her as she now appeared momentarily calm.
Dawn
The gentle buzz of cicadas outside greeted James like morning birds as he awoke drenched in his own sweat. He quickly tossed the sheets off of him and stared up at the ceiling fan, spinning slowly above him and doing little to help. There was an indent next to him where Victoria always slept; must’ve left to work James thought, running his fingers through his damp-stinking hair.
James leaned over and grabbed his phone off of the nightstand. He noticed that he had a text message from Rufus: “James- How does The Diner sound? It will be like old times. Can you meet me there later today, let’s say around noon?” He noticed the message was sent at 5am. Odd, he thought to himself. Then again, Rufus was always up early, ever since they were younger. James texted,
“I’ll let you know what’s possible. I might have to take care of the kids. I’ll give you a call if my wife gets home early. Might be too late for lunch, but right in time for an afternoon cup of coffee.” Only a few seconds went by until he received a response,
“Ok.”
Just then an ear piercing scream came from downstairs. James stumbled out of bed, still in his boxers and wife-beater, and tore out of his room. He raced downstairs, skipping several steps at a time in a determined rush. When he reached the kitchen, the source of the screech, Susie was standing in the corner and a bowl of cereal was knocked over, drenching the table in milk and soggy colored rings. “Susie, what’s wrong?” James said, less concerned now.
“Th-there’s a big spider in the cereal box I was t-trying to get the toy out and he c-crawled on my hand~!” She howled. James looked at the table and saw a small spider floating in the pool of milk on the table, dead.
“Susie, he won’t hurt you,” James said, unable to stay mad at her as he began to clean up the overwhelming mess. “How about a new bowl?”
“Okay, I’m going to watch cartoons…bring me it!” she cried running into the den, in front of the kitchen.
Messes were all but too common in the Anderson household. Susie was a walking hurricane, much unlike her well-kept quiet sister. Susie’s room was a sea of dolls, clothes, and all other sorts of things you would expect to find in a pre-teen girl’s room. Everything always somehow made its way to the floor and it stayed there until James or Victoria or sometimes even Rebecca picked it up for her.
Just then the doorbell rang. James noticed a soggy note was on the table, it read: “James, my parents are coming up from Florida to spend the night. They are going into the city tomorrow. Please make sure the house is clean. –V”
“Well, fuck me,” James whispered to himself, assured that Susie was out of earshot. The doorbell rang again and James looked at the drenched kitchen table and the box of cerealthat was scattered across the floor. Then he glanced down at his clothes. He was standing in the middle of a huge mess in his boxers. He yelled, “Just a-” but was cut off as he heard a door open and coming from the foyer,
“Oh, hi Rebecca! How are you, come give Grandma a hug!” an old woman’s voice bellowed.
“Hello there sweetie,” an old man’s voice said.
“Hi Grandma and Grandpa,” Rebecca replied, shyly.
“Where’s Dad, I know Mom’s at work,” her grandmother asked her.
“Shit, fuck, damn, umm…” James whispered, pacing back and forth in the kitchen, “Not in the kitchen Rebecca, please, not in the,”
“He’s in the kitchen,” Rebecca said.
“Rebecca, no!” he said quietly to himself, almost too loudly. He bolted from the kitchen into the family room, hoping they didn’t spot him as he passed the hall that led to the foyer.
“Well why don’t you lead the way, missy,” Her grandfather said to her. The three went down the hallway and James quickly passed through the opposite entrance of the family room.He was at the base of the staircase in the foyer. He swiftly snuck upstairs and changed into something decent.
Rufus
The blades of a ceiling fan cut into the air and slowly spun above Rufus as he laid on a black leather couch. His thoughts devoured him. The second his mind was still, a tidal wave of thoughts pulled it out to sea. “What makes you feel that way?” Dr. Fitz asked.
“I just don’t care about anything,” Rufus said, sounding as if someone had syphoned all of the energy out of him. “I have my interests, but no motivation.”
“When did you start feeling this way?”
“Since…Well, as long as I can remember.”
“Since childhood?”
“I don’t remember much of my childhood.”
“Do you feel it might have been caused by something then?”
“I don’t know how to answer that question, considering I just told you that I don’t remember much of my childhood, Doctor.”
“Alright, let’s move on.”
“Okay.”
“Have you been taking your prescribed medication?”
“No, that stuff messes with my head.”
“Perhaps we should try something else then?”
“No. I’d rather not.”
“How have you been feeling without the meds?”
“Great, actually. I just can’t find it in me to care at all about anything. I don’t think swallowing a pill is going to make me give a shit, that’s all.”
“Well that’s your own decision. I think we have talked enough today though. How about we set up an appointment for next time?”
“I’ll have my secretary give you a call,” Rufus said as he stood up.
As Rufus walked out of the building he took his phone out of his pocket and saw that he had a text message from James, “Hey, the in-laws are going to watch the kids for a little bit, are you still up for that cup of coffee?” A smile came across Rufus’s face, it was very faint, but a smile none-the-less.
Rufus called James, after three rings James picked up, “Hel- Susie put that down!” There was a loud shattering sound that echoed into the phone.
“Sounds like you’re having fun,” Rufus said.
“You know it,” James said, scolding Suzie as he continued to talk.
“So, can you still meet up?”
“Yeah, let me just clean up this mess. Where do you want to meet?”
“How about the Diner?”
“Sounds good, I’ll see you there in 20?”
“Yeah, see you then,” Rufus said as he hung up the phone.
Rufus got into his car and pushed a button to start the engine. He glanced up and caught a glimpse of himself in the rear-view mirror. He quickly adjusted the mirror so it wasn’t reflecting his face. As he drove his thoughts continued to swirl around in his head. “Why do I feel this way,” Rufus said to himself. “How long have I felt this way…I suppose I don’t remember not feeling this way. But I don’t feel bad.” The gentle hum of his luxury vehicle gently grew louder as he accelerated. “But you don’t feel good either,” he said under his breath, almost in a whisper.
Rufus sat in silence for the remainder of the ride to the Diner. He contemplated his own thoughts that stabbed at him if his mind attempted to wonder in a different direction. He was trapped in the prison of his own mind with no key out.
New Beginnings
James and Rufus coincidentally pulled into the parking lot of the Diner at the same time. They parked next to each other in the back of the building. James’s Volvo looked like a hideous scar on the face in comparison to Rufus’s Mercedes.“Good timing,” Rufus chuckled as they got out of their cars.
“You too,” James said with a light laugh.
“So, how’s it going?” Rufus asked, his eyes made sudden movements, looking into James’s then off into the distance.
“Good, since yesterday. Yourself?”
“Yeah,” Rufus laughed, “I’ve maintained homeostasis since, too.”
The two awkwardly stood in the parking lot as if taking a moment of silence, then James said, “So how about we head in?”
“Yeah,” Rufus replied. The two started making their way to the front door. When they entered there was no one at the front desk. Rufus looked around as the two waited, “It’s been a while since the last time I was here, everything looks about the same. Including the staff,” Rufus said nodding at a hefty waitress with a grin, “Do you remember that sad excuse for a human being?”
James looked over at the meaty woman;she had a snarled look on her face that sat above two thick meat collars. “Jesus,” James said, “She’s not looking any better either.”
Just then a voice interrupted the men, “Can I help you?” They looked over and saw a middle-aged woman standing behind the counter; she had poufy brown hair and round glasses.