Chapter 8: leaving the bar

.....Katrina said something to Jerrid, which only received a nod in return and they started back towards the table. No one in the bar was bothered by the situation—-they didn’t even notice.

They sat down at the table and before Chris had a chance to ask what happened, Mary-Anne Dawes used the effects of her liquid courage to approach Jerrid one more time. Chris tried to meet Katrina’s eyes to get some kind of answer from them instead. She didn’t look at him, but he could tell she was in a deep thought.

“Honey, you comin’ over to my place tonight?” Mary Anne asked.

“You know better than that.” Jerrid’s liquid courage seemed to taking effect as well: his hand was lightly resting on the crest of Mary-Anne’s butt.

“Right, my parents. So I’ll come back to yours then. Just like old times.”

“No.”

“What do you mean ‘no’?”

“No,” Jerrid dropped his hand as if he just realized where it was, and slid his chair back. “Not like old times; forget old times--in fact-- forget any times.”

Katrina was surprised by that comment; she didn’t think Mary-Anne and Jerrid had any combined past. He always said he thought she was repulsive. Chris was oblivious; it seemed like Jerrid had a past with most of the girls in the bar.

Mary-Anne was stunned. She turned on her four-inch leopard pumps and walked back to the table full of girls. Katrina followed her with her eyes to the table of girls who all looked unhappy. Mary-Anne said something, which raised them all to their feet. They all marched out the door single file.

Before Chris knew it, they had had about ten too many drinks and the bar was closing. Chris and Jerrid protested while Katrina dragged them all outside arm-in-arm. Looks like I won’t have any more trouble trying to make them get along she thought.

Gregory was in watchman mode; scoping out the streets, looking back and forth to make sure the sight was clear. “Okay, well I’m going to go home to my spinning bed. Are y’all going to be all right? Jerrid, do you want me to walk you home?”

“Home? Who’s going home?”

Katrina shook her head, “He can stay at Mama’s, it’s closer.”

“No, I don’t want to go there.” Jerrid protested like a little child; pulling back from Katrina’s grasp.

“Jerrid, give it up, it’s right there. We’ll hang out on the roof for a bit, have a beer and then you can sleep on Mama’s couch.”

Jerrid looked at Gregory with pleading eyes, but Gregory nodded for him to follow them.

“You’re welcome to come too Greg,” Katrina added.

“oh, no thanks Katrina, I’m pretty tired and I’ve got an early watch tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

Chris waved and they said their goodnights.

The three of them walked down Church Street until they got to Mama’s building. Jerrid was clearly distraught being inside the foyer. He fingered the scratch marks and looked around taking in the memories. Chris watched him with sadness.

“I see they still haven’t fixed that light situation,” Jerrid commented.

Katrina was flipping the switch repeatedly, “Nope, probably never will.”

They reached Mama’s floor and Jerrid walked through the door without looking down the corridor to his old apartment. He looked around the familiar room, “nothing’s changed.”

“You know Mama,”

Katrina grabbed a few beers out of the fridge and led them to the closet with the emergency roof escape, holding a finger up to her mouth to keep them quiet when they were beside Mama’s door.

They walked to the side of the building that overlooked the highway they came in on. Past it was trees and land as far as Chris could see. “Wow,” he exclaimed, “it stretches for miles.” He started wandering around the edge of the roof to take in the surrounding views. The side facing the forest showed a thick brush of trees stretching for miles—except for the small empty patch where Chris imagined the old farm might be. The side on Forest Road was a view of the rest of the town and Chris could see that it was not much bigger that he thought; there was one more street on the other side of Stumps, and the rest was forest until the trees stopped; they really were in the middle of nowhere. In the distance he saw a big machinery building and plant.

“Is that where they process the wood?”

Katrina walked over to look. She handed him an open beer. “Yup. Come over here,” She brought him to the last side, which had an amazing view of the church. “You see those houses just past the church.”

“Those mansions you mean? Behind the huge gates?”

“Yeah. Well, the one on the left is mine and the one to the right, kind of behind it is the Dawes,”

“You mean that house is still all yours?”

Katrina nodded, “I’m just to afraid to go back in; too many horrible memories. I haven’t been back and nothing’s been changed inside since my parents turned. At least that’s what Mama said. She’s the only one that’s been inside since.”

“And you give me shit about not wanting to come back here.” Jerrid yelled from his horizontal position a few feet away.