True Eternal Delight

Nadie

It’s the funniest thing sometimes when people just decided to poof out of your life. Its like ‘Hey bud, what’s up?’ then they are gone. But what’s even funnier, is how they don’t even know that they have hurt you. Now you are left heartbroken, alone, and above all that no one seems to even care. No one asks how you are doing or even if you are okay, no they just move on but you are left alone to tend to the mess they have left behind.

I began to think of my father. He lost his beloved wife. I lost my loving mother. She was one of those mothers that would get involved in everything, from school fieldtrips to parent meetings for the dance. She would give up anything to be part of something. Then there had to be this guy at this bar she would go to every once in a while, then it became every night. She left my father for a man in a bar. I would never love her the same way again. I couldn’t even think of her as my mother anymore.

There I sat, in my bed, when there was a knock on my bedroom door. I looked towards it and my father moved in the room. “Hey Nadie.” He said quietly. I glanced towards him and turned away. It was time to go to work. I worked in the local bookstore. My father got into this routine to wake me every morning, although I was always awake before he got in my room.

I began to get up from the bed and walk over to him. “Thanks dad.” I said and continued to walk towards my closet. My dad began to understand that I felt that I lost someone more than just a member in my family. I believe he felt it too. He probably felt like his wife had died but no, instead she left him for a stripper.

I chose my uniform and walked over to the bathroom. The shower began to splat out water and I quickly undressed myself. Entering the bath tub was a struggle, since it was slippery. I quickly bathed and got out. By the time I got out of the bathroom, Jason was eating cereal at the kitchen table.

“Finally! I thought I would have to skip the shower.” He said with a bit of an attitude.

“I didn’t take that long Jay.” I coughed up the same attitude. Jason and I have been in the argument spree ever since Twila, out mother, left. Father usually would get annoyed but today I could tell he wasn’t in the mood. “Jay, if you want the bathroom, take it. I just have to do my hair and make-up but I’ll do it in dad’s bathroom. Let me get my case.” I ran upstairs and got my case filled with my make-up items.

Jason ran up the stairs after he had seen that I grabbed my case. He left his bowl on the table, still filled with milk. I picked it up and dumped it in the sink. I walked over to father’s bathroom and knocked on the door. “Hello?"

I opened the door to see that no one was in there. I began to mess with the blonde mess on my head and put on light green eye shadow to match the uniform shirt. I don’t know why I bother to mess with make-up for work but I would like to look nice.

I was done twenty minutes before Jason got out of the bathroom. He ran to his backpack and headed straight for the door. Of course, I ran after him. I wrote a quick note for dad and left it on the kitchen table.

Jason opened the car door and began to fasten his seat belt. I opened the car door, turned the car on and quickly drove off. “And you complain about me taking a long time.” I growled at him.

“Sorry. I was just-"

“I don’t really care what you were doing in there but now you may be late. And so will I, because I will have to get down and explain how I was backed up in traffic.” I growled again.

“I’m sorry Nadie.” He murmured quietly.

I let myself steam off just a bit before cooling down. I knew he was sorry but this has happened before. I hated having to be responsible for driving him to school. I was just glad that I was finally out of school.

By the time we got there, the bell rang. This meant that I was driving faster than I should’ve been driving. Jason ran out of the car and caught up with his friends before I drove off to work. I was there on time; people were just walking into the book store. Johnny was there talking to a customer as I entered the store. He nodded at me, which probably meant ‘Hello, thanks for being a minute late.’ Or ‘Sup?’ I couldn’t care less for which one it was, but I just wanted to work.

“Excuse me for a minute ma’am.” Johnny said as he walked over to me. “Nadie, Do you know what time it is?”

“Yes. It is 8:01. One minute late. My brother took a little longer than expected in the shower this morning. And I know. You will say ‘Nadie. You have used that excuse before.’ But to be honest Johnny it’s the truth, just like the other times.” I paused. “Now, Johnny, if you will excuse me I have some work that needs to get done.”

Johnny stared, mouth ajar, as she walked off towards the back of the store and put away her purse. I stepped out from behind the back door and asked the customer Johnny was working with if she needed help.

“Yes. Thank you. I asked for a shipment of books to come in last week. I just wanted to know if they came in yet.” The frail old woman asked. I turned towards the computer on the desk and looked up recent shipments.

“Name?”

“Ms. Rowley.” The frail old woman said.

“Ms. Rowley, your shipment should come in on Thursday.” I smiled

“Thank you.” Ms. Rowley then turned around and walked out the door.

“Nadie. That was my customer.” Johnny said as he realized he had just been standing there.

“Well I hadn’t seen you working with her.” I smiled again. I didn’t know if he would complain to the boss but I had been doing my work. Sorry if I was one minute late.

~~~

The day seemed to go by faster than usual. It seemed though that I would never leave though. I helped teachers as they came in for shipment of books and people who wanted a new novel to read. Johnny took too many breaks, and I worked too hard. But out of all of these things there was something I noticed.There was a man there. He had been standing there, watching me. He was in a black jacket, blue jeans. He seemed to just be there looking at me but of course; with myself working too hard I could’ve been seeing things. I didn’t know what to do about the man so I ignored him.

By the time it hit 2:30, I went over to Johnny. “I have to go pick up my brother. I’ll be back in a bit.” I grabbed my purse from the back and left the store. The man in the black jacket did as well. He was a couple of paces behind me but I felt as if he were at my heel. When I reached my car, it seemed to have taken longer than usual. I got in and turned on the car immediately and pulled away from the curb. The man in the black jacket continued to walk straight as if he weren’t following me at all.