The Waiting room (E1 – E3)
E1 - The Waiting room
“Hey there,” Fleischer called out to the old man who was fiddling with the side of his truck.
“Hello,” the old man greeted back. He was tall and his beard was long for a black man. Most of them were clean-shaven in Roving Heights. That and his accent, made him stand out as a stranger. As Fleischer could see, the old man seemed to enjoy standing out.
“Come on in” he called, beckoning to the man who stood all straight and robotic beside the car as if waiting for the next order. At his words, he sprang to action and began to walk towards the diner. Fleischer noticed he had a bad limp that he was trying to hide. The hair on his head made him out to be an old man but there were no wrinkles in his skin. As he came close enough to touch, Fleischer saw that the man was not an old man but a middle-aged man with a face full of scars.
“Nice scars you got there,” he said, trying to laugh away his shock when he realized the man had caught him staring. “I’ve got one somewhere near my back,” he said and was about to raise his shirt when the man’s voice stopped him.
“Can I get something to eat here?” He asked, his voice was even deeper up close.
“Yeah, delicious food,” Fleischer said, and he opened the door so the man could enter into the warm and cozy room. Then he led him to the corner so none of the regulars would overhear their conversation.
“We need waffles!” He called out to the waitress, she saluted with her napkin and he smiled. Then he turned to the strange man.
“What brought you to this little town,” he asked goodnaturedly. The man looked up at him.
“Why are you whispering?” He asked. Fleischer was taken aback. He had just assumed by looking at the strange man’s demeanor that he must be someone with something to hide.
“I’m sorry. I…” he stuttered.
“You think I am a fugitive from the law?” The younger man said. “It would be nice if we did not tell each other lies.
“Yes, that would be great. You go first” Fleischer said, eager to hear some secrets.
“First, why behave like a customer? I know you own this diner,” the younger man said.
“How did you know that?” Fleischer said.
“Fleischer’s Diner is out there. Your tag says you are Fleischer. The funny look the waitress gave you when you ordered for waffles? Sold you out.”
Fleischer laughed out loud, this man was smarter than he thought “You caught me. So what is your name and what brought you here?” he asked.
“My name is Baron, I was a soldier until recently,” he said. Fleischer raised his fork in a salute. “Was too wounded to fight so they sent me away. I see you noticed my limp?”
“I did.” Fleischer acquiesced “but that doesn’t explain why you are here. Do you have any family in this town?”
“No. I was searching for a quiet place and this town happened to be the first I found.”
Fleischer smiled at the other man “Quiet you say? I know the best place for you.” Then he pointed to the waffles, “Dig in!”
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Baron drove for miles before he came to the blue house. Its shutters were thrown wide open and a huge sign that hung precariously from the top of the house said “INN”. He got down with some trouble and stood for a while to rest so he wouldn’t go hopping into the place and ruin his image. Through the door, he spied a red-haired woman cleaning tables with a large brown rag.
She was beautiful even from the distance, her red air was pinned away from her face and she looked soft. Although she looked nothing like his ex-wife Eleanor, they both shared one thing: beauty. Unlike this woman’s soft beauty, Eleanor was a black woman with a dazzling hard beauty that drew him and many other men to her.
Eleanor would look at you as though she knew the secret to unlock your very soul. The look she had on her face that last day still haunted him. He remembered that before it happened he had known, but something had kept him waiting for her love.
“Hello,” the woman called. Baron was shocked out of his reverie. Her voice was as sweet as her face as she walked closer to him.
“Yes,” he said stupidly.
She smiled at him “Yes what?” You’ve been standing out there. Come on in! She said and turned back towards the house.
“My name is Joan, and I own this place,” she turned around to tell him. She continued walking backward and smiling at him. She was so childlike, Baron was scared she would fall.
“Baron,” he said. Preparing himself to catch her if she tripped.
“I need a room,” he said when they got to the counter safely.
“I have just the room for you,” she said. “Do you have the money though? My rent isn’t cheap.” she said, spying at his truck again.
“I hope this would be enough,” Baron said bringing out a wad of notes. Joan boggled as she took the money in her hand.
She counted it carefully “This is a year’s rent,” she said when she was done. “I need an ID from you so I can be sure who you are.”
“I am a wounded soldier,” Baron said and he watched her eyes drop to his leg. “I came here to rest.”
Joan chuckled “So long as you do not need money, you don’t have to do anything. I’ll serve you breakfast every morning but have to come down for dinner.” She said
“Any work around here?” He asked.
“Plenty of work around here,” she said, then she winked at him.
Eleanor
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The little girl sat down in the middle of the living room petting a doll. Her wolly black hair was done in two neat braids and even from that distance, you could see that she was a quiet child. Like those children who had too much on their mind to prattle with the other kids. There was a knock at the door and a woman in a bathrobe came into the room. Her hair was in a towel but you could see that she hadn’t just got out of the bathroom.
Her outfit was not merely a bathrobe but a costume of some sort. The door opened to reveal a tall black man. He smiled when he saw the woman in her bathrobe but she wasn’t the one who was glad to see him. The little girl ran towards him shouting “daddy!”. She gave him a big hug that nearly tipped him over. To his credit, he hugged her back, lifted her up, and placed a kiss on her cheek.
“How are you?” He asked.
“I’m fine daddy!” She piped.
Back in the room, the woman was about to take off her robe when he stopped her.
“Eleanor, does your kid know I’m not her father?” He asked. He looked uncomfortable, as though he was unsure, himself.
“Of course she does Matt. You look nothing like her father,” Eleanor said placatingly. “It’s been three years. She must have forgotten about him already.”
“Naw. I don’t think so. That kid is smart. You know how fond she was of her father,” he said.
A nerve ticked in Eleanor’s forehead. She walked forward and dragged the young man towards her as her bathrobe fell away. “Forget about the girl. I want what you have to give.”
***
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10 Years Later
Melody
Melody sat on her window sill, staring at the cars streaking past. There were fireflies in the bushes near their house but she couldn’t go to them today. Eleanor, her mother, was still in her room with Matt and they would see her if she tried to sneak out. All she could do now was to watch the cars reduce in number, enough for her to start counting as they slowed to a trickle. Then their lights would begin to resemble the fireflies in the bushes, and she would start to think of her father as she rubbed the pink key holder he gave her on her fifth birthday.
That day he had come home from his factory job, smelling of smoke and soot. His overalls were dirty as usual and she saw him in it only because she secretly spied at him from her window. Every day when he got back from work, her father would hurriedly change from his overalls before stepping into the house. Her mother hated to see him in it. Her window which now faces the road used to face the shed. When the government came, they smashed the only thing that remained of her father to create this callous road.
She was sitting like a good little girl on the sitting room floor when he came in.
“The melody of my heart,” he called loudly as he entered, and Melody flew into his arms.
“Mommy, Daddy’s home!” She squealed happily. Her mother was silent in the kitchen.
“I have been waiting, Daddy. Did you get something for me?” She asked.
“Yes baby. I got you a gift,” he said and he picked her up.
After he had swung her around over and over, her father put her down on the sofa and began to fish in his pocket. Little Melody stared impatiently at the hand digging in his pocket. It was only when she got tired of staring at it that she realized what he was doing. The gift was in his other fist! She pounced on it and tried to pull it open, her daddy laughed at her. He let her struggle for a moment before he opened his fist. Inside was a pink key holder in the shape of a bird.
Melody held it gingerly in her hand and looked up at him. Her father drew her into his arms.
“You are the key to my heart. And we can’t have a key running around without a keyholder can we?” He said, Melody giggled at his words. He helped her place the ring on her finger and kissed her on her forehead. It was a while before they noticed her mother was standing at the door. She had a look of disgust on her face “That’s it?” That’s her birthday gift?” She asked
Melody didn’t need telling. She kissed her father quickly and ran into her room. She lay in bed waiting for her father to come tuck her in as he always did every night after their fight. The next day was Saturday so she looked forward to working in the shed with her father. Her days were always full of laughter and activity in those days but now, there was nothing to do these days.
She remembered when she used to bike down that road with her father. All the piggyback rides, his shoulders soft pillars for her hands to rest on. She was never scared of falling with her father, his arms used to seem like rocks to her, everlasting.
Even as young as she had been, Melody had known her Dad was a softie. He wasn’t the kind of man who could take the onslaught of nagging. He tried his best to change the situation but he couldn’t do much with the little education he had.
Yet every day, her mother’s dissatisfaction with their poor lifestyle grew, and one day her father came home to meet her standing over his things. That was a special day, her mother had come in to play with her. Her mother did not normally do that but she said it was because Melody was just recovering from a flu and she couldn’t go to school.
“Mommy, why are you holding duct tape?” She remembered asking.
“That’s how we’re going to play the game,” her mother said smiling.
“Woah. Exciting! What are the rules?” Melody asked. Her father never let her play with the duct tape in the shed.
“I tie you up like this,” she tied Melodys hands to her bedpost “and like this.” She tied Melody’s legs and patted her cheeks. “Can you move?”
“No, Mommy,” Melody said.
“Good,” She said. “Wait for me. I’ll come back with the rest of the parts of the game,” she said. When her mother was about to duct tape her mouth Melody asked.
“Wait. It’s almost time for daddy to get home. Will he like this game?”
“Don’t worry about that,” her mother said. She got up and walked away, leaving the door open.
When her father came home Melody watched helplessly as her mother drove him away. There was a big man standing in the living room beside her mother. She tried to scream but she couldn’t. Her father was screaming for her as the big man beat him out of the house. For months Melody pined for her father. She would burst into loud wails sporadically in protest. Her mother grew tired of her very quickly and threatened to throw her out of the house.
The door opened and Melody turned to see her mother standing at the door.
“Can I come in?” She asked. Melody nodded. She walked over and sat on the bed close to the window. Melody looked at her mother, the woman hadn’t aged a day.
“What is it Mom?” She asked. Her mother was hesitating, and her mother never hesitated.
“You’re fond of Matt aren’t you?” She asked. Melody gave her a look. “Well, you don’t hate him like you hate me.”
“I don’t hate you, mom.” Melody said unconvincingly. Her mother waved it away.
“Forget about that. I’m here because Matt wants to see you,” she said.
“Now?” Melody asked, looking at the clock. It was 11 pm at night.
“Yes,” her mother said. She shifted so Melody could see her breasts through the men’s shirt she was wearing.
“Okay,” she said. Eleanor smiled and left. When she left, Melody packed a bag and threw it out of her window. She put her brown shoe, the key holder and some clothes in the bag. Then she flung it as far away as she could.
When she got to the room, she saw her mother lying languidly on the bed. Matt was sitting on a chair by the fireplace, drinking from a large mug. He looked up as she stepped into the room he beckoned to her. She walked closer to him and realized he was naked from the waist down.
“Have you told her?” He asked. Her mother raised her head from the pillow.
“Didn’t think there was any need to. She should know that she is useful for nothing else,” she said. Melody swallowed back tears. She knew what was about to happen, had been waiting for it even. With one eye she watched Matt, with the other eye she noticed the window was open enough for her to slip through.
“Matt stared at her body in the lascivious way he had been staring at her recently. She spied the rise in his long shirt and quickly threw her eyes away. Her gaze fell on her mother who had stripped herself down to her panties. Melody felt like prey standing in the middle of that room.
“Come and sit on my lap,” Matt said. The teenage girl looked delicious just standing there, he wanted to know how she would feel sitting on his lap.
“Go on,” Eleanor urged her daughter. Matt smiled at her smart woman.
Tears gathered in Melody’s eyes and she quickly blinked them away. She needed her full vision for what she planned to do. “I won’t,” she said defiantly.
“Don’t be a fool,” Eleanor said. Melody could call her Eleanor now.
Matt got up from his chair and strode over to her. He traced a hand over her face and pulled at her nipples. Melody gasped in indignation and pain.
“I’m going to devour you,” he promised. There was a feral light in his eyes. Eleanor was watching it happen, touching herself and moaning very loudly. Her moans only spurred her beast on. He grabbed Melody’s butt and mashed her to him. Then he kicked out her legs. When his hand began to travel from her laps between her thighs, Melody reached around him and stabbed him in the back with her father’s old knife.
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