“Gooooood Morning Mesa County! 103.9 FM is your home for the hardest rock tracks allowed on public air wa-” WHAM! Had I hit the radio power button any harder it might’ve broken.
“Hardest rock tracks? Now that's bad comedy if I've ever heard it.” The sun had just begun to shine through the blinds in my room and I could hear the song birds serenading each other outside. ‘It does make for a pretty good alarm though,’ the sound of me punishing the radio must’ve been loud because soon after I heard my mother’s voice call out:
“Leon, are you alright up there? You didn’t fall out of the bed again did you?” she said with far greater concern than the situation required.
“No ma’ the radio wouldn’t shut up,” Even though we were the only ones in the house I still felt embarrassed.
“Well I made enough breakfast for you and your friend so come down before the food gets cold okay.”
‘Friend? It couldn’t be. That weasel wouldn’t get to his own funeral on time so why is he here so early? Now I really feel embarrassed.’ I quickly threw on my go-to outfit: khaki cargo pants and a white tee with my favourite pair of skate shoes, grabbed my phone and ran downstairs. Much to my surprise the ‘friend’ was none other than my partner in crime Jameson, but everyone calls him Lee for some reason, don’t ask me why because I’m not too sure myself. He was sitting at the dinner table while my mother was pouring orange juice into a glass.
“Good morning sleeping beauty, how many times have you fallen out of bed?” He jeered.
“You’re the last person I wanted to see this early, what's the occasion." I snapped, ignoring his question. I noticed it was 6:55 am which was incredibly early for him.
“You know exactly what the occasion is, we’ve got to pay a visit to the boss man at 8. You were the one that messaged me about it last night, remember?” he said this while throwing his arms up into a shrug and shaking his head.
“I thought I told you I’d pick you up also, so what’s the real reason you’ve shown up to my house this early dickhead,” he was really getting on my nerves as he tends to do. Lee was once upon a time the very bane of my existence. In high-school he had done just about every rotten trick to someone that you could get away with without getting expelled: spreading baseless rumours, leaving fake love letters in my bag, stealing my gym clothes from my locker while I was in the shower; ‘Ugh that was a memory I should’ve kept suppressed.’ My mother had set out plates for the both of us and Lee immediately began clearing his plate.
“My goodness someone was hungry,” she seemed to appreciate his gluttony. She made hash and eggs today which was my personal favourite; as I started to take my first bite I noticed Lee had already finished his food.
“Well who wouldn’t be hungry with a full plate of your food in front of them, I’m shocked anyone could leave a woman that could cook this goo- Sorry I spoke without thinking”
He seemed to realise he had started to cross a line he probably shouldn’t have. My father had left us shortly after my younger brother was born. He had left to join the military and was stationed in Japan. While on a paratrooper exercise over the ocean he apparently lept out without a chute and after a lengthy hunt for his body they decided that it was impossible to find him and pronounced him dead years later. Despite all of this my mother refuses to believe he’s dead. We don’t have much to remember him by besides a strange sword he left to me, and an unflattering picture of him from the eighties.
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“You tend to do that a lot Lee and you still haven’t answered my question” I attempted to get things back on track.
“R-Right I came here because I was in the area already. You know my hours are late and I couldn’t fall asleep so I figured I should just come by and stick around since we had to go together anyway.” I felt like there was something he was leaving out but I decided to not press him anymore.
“Look at you thinking ahead.”
After having a little more petty back and forth discourse and finishing breakfast I grabbed my plate and brought it to the sink. I had begun washing it when my mother placed her hand on my shoulder.
“I’ll take care of this for you, you’ve got plans for today and I don’t want you to keep Mr. Norvio waiting.” She said with a smile on her face.
“Are you sure? It wouldn’t kill him if we were a couple minutes late.” I pleaded. She does enough for me already. The very least I could do is wash some dishes.
“You needn’t worry about it Leon, you’ve got to get going.” She’s too sweet for her own good as out of line Lee was, he had a point. Suddenly I noticed there was an envelope on the kitchen counter and just when I was about to ask what it was she had already started talking. “By the way when you see Mr. Norvio would you please give this to him.” When she handed it to me she strangely tried to avoid direct eye contact.
“Of course I’ll make sure he gets it right away.” What the hell could my mother be giving Norvio: My boss of all people? It couldn't be a love letter could it? Has she finally moved on from dad? Ugh if I think too much about it I’m gonna be sick. Norvio has had a friendly relationship with my mother ever since I began working with him, but I could never imagine them being in a secret relationship especially when she doesn’t know who he really is. My thoughts were broken up by Lee’s voice.
“I’ll go ahead and start the car thanks for the chow Mrs. Costas.” When he got up from his seat he stumbled and supported himself on a wall. 'Was he drunk?' “Oops, was this floor always so slippery?” He said with an awkward laugh.
“Goodness, please be careful.” My mother cried out painfully unaware. With that Lee left out the front door. ‘I’m definitely not letting him drive me anywhere!.’ As I was checking to make sure I didn’t forget anything in front of the mirror I heard my mother yell out from the kitchen
“Oh I forgot to tell you that Patrick is coming with another payment this month.”
“Really? That's great, tell him that he should bring his son by again. He's pretty good at basketball; We could use him at the park.” Patrick was one of the few people with a connection to my father besides my family. Apparently before my father had met my mother he and Patrick were great acquaintances and for whatever reason each month he comes by in person to drop off a sum of money and we’ve lived comfortably off of it for as long as I can remember. Every time I ask Patrick why he does it he simply tells me that he owes a great debt to my father and this is the only way he can pay him back. It’s honestly a bit unsettling the way he seems to worship my father and it doesn’t help that whenever I ask him about him he tends to avoid giving straight answers.
“Alright mom I’m not sure when I’ll get back but I’ll send you a text to let you know.”
“Okay Leon be safe and I just want you to know I love you and I’m so proud of you and I know your father is too.”
‘Oh mother, if only you knew what I was really doing you’d be sick to your stomach. I’m just as rotten as anyone else.
After saying our goodbyes I made my way out the front door only to be greeted with the comical sight of Lee laying back in the passenger seat seemingly asleep.
“Hey sleepyhead so you came by so early because you were drunk after staying up all night hanging out with some girl probably huh?”
My question was answered with a loud snore. I took my seat in the driver's side and began making my way to the meetup spot. I could tell right away that today would be a long day and the contents of that damn envelope weren't helping my nerves one bit.