St Eubrie: Smiths & Baptistes (I) George and Valerie (1173 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.87 on 22 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Jack McCallum (View user info) at 2006-08-07 17:45:29 EDT
(Note: This is long. If you don't want to work your way through a long read, leave now. There are no explosions or monsters or gore here. If you want action and excitement, leave now. This is just set-up, an introduction to two characters.)
--
George was bored.
Bored with trying to make friends, bored with the small town he had moved to, bored with setting up the new house, bored with everything.
He sat on the front step, wishing he was a grown-up. At least he'd have a job to go to, like his dad and Eddie. He was so bored he was wishing school would start so he wouldn't have to hang around the house and get evil looks from Annie.
She acted all grown-up, but she was only sixteen, so she had to stay home and watch George. And her idea of watching George was hanging out in her room and blabbing into her cell with her friends back in Illinois and chatting online with all the idiots on myspace.
George stood up and walked to the sidewalk. Further down Cherry Avenue was the Groceteria where Mr. Penn worked. He lived around the corner on Pine Street, and George thought he was pretty neat for an old guy.
Beside the big sign for Mr. Penn's store George could see one wall of bricks painted blue. That was Sonny's Auto. Eddie was working there now.
George thought his big brother was probably the coolest guy who ever lived. Eddie had been to war in Iraq, and now he fixed up cars and played in a garage band. He already had friends here. Eddie was the only one who hadn't cried at their mom's funeral.
Don't think about her, George thought.
Across Pine Street from Sonny's was one corner of Redcrown Woods. It was creepy and dark in there, and George didn't argue when his dad had told him to steer clear of the area.
"Kids have gotten lost in there, Georgie," his dad had said.
George saw a girl sitting under a tree on the edge of the woods.
He looked up and down the street. She was the only kid he had seen all morning.
Everybody is off playing with their friends but me, he thought.
He walked down Cherry Avenue to the corner of Pine, and crossed the street.
The girl was still there, just sitting and reading a book.
Right on the edge of the woods.
Old Mr. Penn at the Groceteria had said there might be the ghosts of Indian braves lurking in those woods.
Tim had thought that was ridiculous, until he went online and read some webpages. In 1771 a bunch of Indians had been killed by white men. The Indians had been scalped and had their throats cut.
A few kids in the neighborhood had also said the woods were spooky, but Tim had only been living here a few weeks, and he didn't know the kids well enough to know if they were just messing with him.
George walked closer, trying to look at the trees and not the girl.
Trying to act... what was the word? Casual. Yeah.
She was really skinny.
"Are you like a stalker or something?"
George nearly jumped when the girl spoke.
"No. I'm just walking."
She was wearing pink shorts and a pale green top.
Peppermint colors, George thought.
"You're looking at me. Stop it."
Jeez, she sounds like my sister. Girls are so weird. They're always saying, 'Stop it, stawwwwp it!'
"You have pretty hair," she said.
George felt his face burning. His skin was as white as milk, so it didn't take much embarrassment for his cheeks to go as red as brick.
He looked around to make sure no one had heard. He stepped closer, to hide in the shade of the tree she was under. Pretty. Holy crap. You don't call guys pretty. What was wrong with her?
She closed her book and looked up. "Next month when the leaves turn on this tree, they'll be the color of your hair. I love autumn."
"I... I like the smell."
George expected her to laugh at him.
She just waited to hear more.
"You know. It's sort of warm and spicy. Like a kitchen on a winter day."
That immediately made George think of his mom, and he stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jeans and frowned.
She smiled, just a little smile, not a big toothy one.
George shrugged his shoulders, trying to hide a little shiver that ran up his back.
"That's a nice simile," She said.
George wondered what the heck a simly was.
"I'm Valerie," the girl said. "Valerie Baptiste. If I had any friends they would call me Val. You... you can call me Val."
"Hi," George said. He got down on one knee and held out his hand. There are some things that will never go out of style, his mom had once said, and being a gentleman is one of them. "I'm George. Smith. My family calls me Georgie, which I kind of hate. I hate the name George too, but I guess I'm stuck with it."
"George," she said.
She said it softly, and George felt another little shiver.
I hope I'm not getting the flu, he thought.
Valerie closed her eyes for a moment.
She was really skinny, and around her left eye the skin was yellow and purple, an old bruise.
She looked up at him. In the half shadows her eyes were dark blue, almost black.
She sat still, and her face was dappled by light and shadow. A breeze tossed a long strand of brown hair.
George's mind was wiped clean.
"You're staring," Valerie said.
She stood up, and she was an inch or two taller than George.
"I should go," she said. "My mom works, and I have to help around the house, do laundry and stuff."
George simply stood there with his mouth open, unable to speak. He was disappointed that she was leaving, and angry that he was disappointed. She was just some weird skinny girl who liked to sit under trees and maybe get covered in bugs and stuff. Who cared about her?
Valerie looked beyond George toward the street.
George turned and saw three kids on bikes, on the sidewalk along Pine Street. They were probably a year or two older than George. They were laughing and saying things George couldn't hear, but he didn't like the way they were looking at Valerie.
"Hey cherry," one of them called. "I got a quarter. Does that get me a suck-job in the back of your trailer, cherry?"
The other kids laughed at this, one of them nearly falling off his bike.
George looked at Valerie and saw two things at once. She looked like she wanted to beat those morons down. And she had tears in her eyes.
One of the other kids called out. "Want us to walk you home, cherry-pie?"
George heard his older brother's voice just then, heard it as clear as day. It was a couple of years ago, when Eddie was getting ready to ship out to Iraq. George had been trying not to cry, knowing his sister would make fun of him, not wanting his big brother to think he was just a little kid.
Eddie had picked him up and hugged him and whispered in his ear.
"When dad's at work mom's gonna need a man around the house. Somebody to be strong. Be the man, Georgie. Be the man."
The way George's mom had looked a moment later when Eddie hugged her, trying to be tough, tears in her eyes...
George turned back to the older boys and said, "Shut the hell up and get out of here."
He spoke in a normal tone of voice, not a shout. The kids on their bikes looked stunned for a moment, and then they were thundering towards George and Valerie, their bikes clattering on the sidewalk behind them.
George was knocked off his feet onto his back. He couldn't breath and he felt like he was going to barf.
One of the boys, a fat kid with a blond buzz cut and a sweaty, round face, straddled George, pinning his shoulders.
The other two boys stood to either side.
"Smash his face in," one of them said.
The fat blond kid grinned. "I can do better than that. I gotta piss"
He unzipped his pants and reached into his underwear.
"Have some cock, you little asshole."
George turned his head. He couldn't believe that this fat kid was wiggling a dick in his face. He looked around and saw that the sidewalk and the street were completely empty.
There was a flash of light in his eyes and he saw a slender hand that could only belong to Valerie, and then the fat kid was screaming and struggling to stand up.
George rolled away and got to his feet.
The fat kid's buddies were running for their bikes.
The fat kid was standing with his hands in the air, his fingers twitching. He made a couple of snorting sounds and it took George a moment to realize he was crying.
Valerie was standing in front of the fat kid. She was holding his dick in one hand, and holding the blade of a pocketknife under his dick with the other.
"Oh please," the fat kid said. "Please-please-please..."
"I'll cut it off," Valerie said.
Her voice was brittle and cold and it gave George the creeps.
"I'll cut this off and throw it into the woods unless you promise to leave me and my friends alone."
The fat kid nodded. He was too scared to speak, and his breathing sounded like a cheap plastic whistle was stuck in his throat.
Valerie let go of the fat kid's dick. He ran for his bike, hopped on, and pedaled away.
Before the fat kid disappeared from view he screamed, "You're fuckin dead, cherry! And you're fuckin dead too, carrot-top!"
Valerie closed the knife and slipped it into her pocket. She picked up her book and kept her eyes lowered as if afraid to look at George.
She looked really sad. He could have hugged her, but that would be gross.
"So..." he said. "Does this mean we're friends?"
She shook her head. "I don't have any friends."
George held up a finger. "Well, you do now. One, at least."
"People think I'm weird," Valerie said softly.
"Weird is better than stupid or boring. And you aren't that weird. Well, maybe just a little."
She nearly smiled at that.
George tilted his head to read the title of her book. "Huh. 'The Queen Must Die.' What's that about?"
"It's about bees. I should go."
George looked around, shrugged, and stuffed his hands in his pockets.
"Listen, I, those guys... if you want I could, you know, um—"
"Are you offering to walk me home? It's almost ten blocks."
"Sure," George said. He was worried about her walking down Cherry Avenue all alone. "I'm not doing anything else right now."
"The romantic hero is not dead," she said, as they stepped onto the sidewalk on Pine Street and turned south onto Cherry Avenue.
"Huh?"
"I saw you come out of a house back there. Did you just move to St Eubrie?"
"You were watching me, huh?" George acted like he was tossing his hair and put on a serious face. "What are you, like, a stalker or something?"
"I don't sound like that!"
Halfway down the block they both stopped when they heard a shout.
"Georgie! My man!"
Valerie looked across Cherry Avenue and saw a tall, slender guy in overalls standing in front of Sonny's. He was holding a wrench and waving.
"Who's he? Valerie asked. "He's gorgeous."
"That's Eddie," George said. "My brother."
Valerie giggled when she saw George's face turning red again.
She stepped in front of him, stopped him with a hand on his chest, and kissed him on the lips. Then she turned and continued on her way.
"Not wasting any time with the ladies, huh bro? Way to go, little man!"
George started walking faster, and Valerie had to rush to catch up. He felt like his face was on fire.
"He was in Iraq. He saved a little girl from a bomb and got a medal for it and everything, but he still acts like an idiot sometimes."
Valerie didn't say anything.
"He's in a band with some friends. The Very Very Bad For Yous. They sound awful."
Valerie snorted. "Appropriate name, then."
There she goes again, George thought. Sounding just like a grown-up.
"They used to be called the Dumb Mutha... effers."
"Effers, George? There's no one here but us. You can say fuck."
George felt another one of those messed-up shivery thrills when she said that word. He wished he had been able to record it so he could hear it again.
"Okay. They were the Dumb Muthafuckahs. They sounded awful then, too."
"Hmm. What about you, George? Do you have any hobbies?"
To their left the Redcrown woods lay alongside the street for many blocks. The other side of Cherry Avenue was all houses, but they weren't as nice as the one George had moved into. There was litter on the ground and in the street. A few blocks down the woods moved away from the street. On the other side were more shabby houses, and on this side, just over a set of curving trains tracks, was a trailer park.
George shrugged. "I like to write stories."
"Well that's perfect," Valerie said with a laugh. "I love to read! What kind of stories?"
"You know. Vampires and zombies and things coming out of toilets and attacking people. Gross stuff."
"Oh," Valerie said. She raised her eyebrows and bit her bottom lip.
George might have realized that wasn't a good sign, but he was too busy looking at one of her front teeth. It was chipped on the corner, and it should have been stupid looking, but instead—
"I don't like scary stuff."
"Oh," George said. "Well... maybe I could write you a story for your birthday or something. A normal story instead of something scary."
Valerie made weird gasping noises and said, "A love story, Georgie?"
George looked away.
"You're getting red again, Mr. Smith."
Hoping to change the subject, George looked over at the woods.
"I heard a bunch of Indians got scalped in there, and that's why they call it Redcrown Woods."
"It's true," Valerie said.
"I heard once that it was really white people who started scalping, and the Indians started doing it later."
Valerie shook her head. "That is in dispute by lots of historians. It's politically-correct garbage."
Jeez, George thought. Sometimes she doesn't even sound like a kid.
"Did you read that online?"
"No," Valerie said. "We don't have a computer."
George stopped dead and grabbed her arm.
He was more disturbed now than when he had seen that fat kid's dick wiggling in his face.
"You don't have a computer? Everyone has a computer!"
"Yes, and since everyone has a computer, I usually get the library all to myself. All those books... just for little me."
Now George thought Valerie was weirder than ever, but he still wanted to walk with her.
In a small voice Valerie said, "I live up there. In the trailer park." She made a face and corrected herself. "The Nightshade Mobile Home Park. Everyone calls it Cherry Park, though, since some of the units are right on the avenue. Those assholes who were bugging us are from a park on the other side of town."
"Wow," George said. "They look like boxes. Those are houses?"
"Not all of us can afford a house."
George wondered why she sounded so angry.
"Well, we got our house cheap after my mom..."
He stopped, and turned to look at the trees.
Valerie stood beside him. She looked at the trees too, and didn't ask any question. For a girl, she was pretty cool.
"My mom had an amyourism. Just before Christmas. I came home from school and she was... just lying on the kitchen floor. We had a funeral and my dad lost his job. He was a reporter. He just got all sad and messed up. Then one day he said he couldn't stand living in our house any more, so we moved here. So now there's just me and my dad and my brother and my sister Annie, but I wish she could have stayed in Illinois cause she's a pain. Anyhow, my dad says the new house was cheap. Everything in it looks brand new.
Valerie gasped and put her hand on his arm. Her hand was really small, but it was also really warm.
"Around the corner from Mr. Penn and Mr. Garin?"
George shrugged. "Yeah."
"Oh. Some people were killed there last year. Maybe that's why no one wanted to buy it. They had to do a lot of re-painting. That's what my dad used to do. He was a contractor. He worked with Mr. Garin sometimes. They argued a lot. You might be living in a haunted house. And the word is aneurism, George."
"Anyhow..." George didn't know what else to say.
They started walking again.
Valerie asked him a question, and again her voice was soft and quiet, like she was afraid.
"Are you going to Tanner in September?"
"Yeah. I guess. The school up the road?"
"Yeah."
"Then, yeah. Grade six."
"Good," Valerie said. "Me too. Now you won't be alone on your first day. You can hang out with me."
George was wondering if the fat blond kid and his friends went to the same school.
"So, what happened to your eye? Did you get in a fight with those guys?"
"My dad just died," Valerie said.
Wow, George thought. She doesn't sound sad or anything.
"He fell off the roof trying to fix the swamp cooler."
Before George could ask, she said, "It's like a cheap kind of air conditioning."
"Wow," George said.
"He broke his neck. He couldn't move at all. And he landed in the garden. Well, the few square feet we have where we are trying to grow some herbs. A wooden stake went through his neck, so he had to just lie there and bleed to death and couldn't do anything about it."
"Jeez," George said. This was grosser than anything he had put in his stories. "Didn't he call for help?"
Valerie looked at George and gave him that little smile.
"My mother and I never heard a thing."
George thought about how she had held the knife against the fat kid's dick.
The mobile homes looked old and dirty and creepy, and George hated the idea of leaving Valerie here.
"We buried my dad last week. And now my mom and I are just trying to figure things out. He didn't have any insurance. I know mom is worried about paying the mortgage."
George didn't realize you had to pay the morgue when they took care of someone who died. That didn't really seem fair.
"Anyhow, here's my house."
George looked up. The paint was old and it wasn't very big, but there were colorful curtains behind the windows and the walkway was swept clean.
"Come in and have a cookie. My mom is sleeping because she works really late at the diner. The Blue Light Diner, up Peach Avenue. But we can sneak a molasses cookie. My mom makes great cookies."
George made a face. "What kind of cookie is that?"
"You've never had a molasses cookie?"
George shifted his feet. He felt weird. She was staring at him, her mouth half-open, half-smiling, her skinny arms crossed over her skinny chest.
"Oh my God," Valerie said, rolling her eyes.
Jeez, George thought. She's almost like a grown-up. It's so weird.
They went inside. There was a Siamese cat sitting on the table in the small kitchen. It was staring at George and he wished it would just go away.
Valerie gave him a cookie and he took a bite.
"Holy crap!" he couldn't help himself. The cookie tasted so good he thought his head was going to explode.
Valerie laughed, and George liked the sound. He liked it a lot.
"You're such a dork, George."
They sat together and talked a while longer.
George could hear noises from the other end of the tiny house, and after a while Valerie's mom came into the kitchen. She was wearing blue uniform and apron. She kissed Valerie on the cheek and said hi to George.
George thought she was way over thirty, and she was pretty for someone so old. She was skinny, though.
George stood up and shook her hand. "Hi Mrs. Baptiste. It's nice to meet you. These cookies are awesome."
"Nice to meet you, Georgie. Honey, I have to run, and I don't want you up all night reading God knows what. Georgie, you stay as long as you like, but call home and let them know where you are."
Valerie's mom ran out the door. A moment later they heard a car start up and drive away.
George helped himself to another cookie. He could see right into the living room. The TV was really old, and he couldn't see any cable. There was an antenna on top of the set, just like the pictures he had seen of his dad's home when his dad was little.
George was beginning to feel a lot better about what he had at home.
"So... you don't mind if I stay a little longer? I should probably leave soon to be home for supper."
"No, George," Valerie said. "I don't mind if you stay. I'm glad you're here."
She kicked at him under the table, her foot tapping his leg.
"You're the dork," George said, grabbing another cookie.
Valerie smiled, showing him her chipped tooth.
--
THE SMITHS Just moved in a month ago
1212 CHERRY AVENUE, around the corner from JACOB PENN
Michael Smith 40
Custodian at Tanner Elementary
Ed Smith 22 spent time in Iraq
Works at Sonny's Auto
Anne Smith 16
Will attend Wilbeck High in the fall
George Smith 11
Will be starting at Tanner elementary in the fall
THE BAPTISTES - Have lived in St Eubrie for many years
201 CHERRY AVENUE
NIGHTSHADE MOBILE HOME PARK
Ariane Baptiste 34
Waitress at the Blue Light Diner at 601 Peach Avenue
Valerie Baptiste 11
Will attend Tanner Elementary
User Reviews
Submitted by Fey (user info) at 2007-02-19 14:13:35 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Well done, for making an interesting story out of introductory bollocks.
Submitted by Crystle (user info) at 2006-11-01 23:05:26 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Genko (user info) at 2006-08-08 20:27:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I liked this alot.
Best Eubrie post so far.
Submitted by GodChicken (user info) at 2006-08-08 17:53:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Jack, did you see my comments on the intro post and/or read my own entry?
Submitted by awesome_face (user info) at 2006-08-08 14:25:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I liked this one alot. Good work Jack.
Submitted by badassmofo (user info) at 2006-08-08 11:15:14 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
read half last night and the rest today.
Hey I'm looking for someone to write in a boarding house or I suppose I could do it myself...but my character needs a place to stay.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2006-08-08 11:07:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Sico - A lot of my stuff appaers that way. Sometimes I have monster paragraphs, sometimes I have shirt ones. Since this is mostly two kids talking, I thought I'd keep it simple.
Submitted by sicosemen (user info) at 2006-08-08 11:03:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I liked this a lot and I read it all. Here's the only thing. While the attention span of a collective uber is somewhat above a porpoise, breaking each sentence into its own paragraph is just like reading a block of text. I think this would have been presented a lot better with a grouping of the sentences, but that is just me. Yes, I realize that there were 3 or 4 paragraphs in there, however it kind of detracts from the story when you read something, pause, read, pause, read, pause. Anyhow, great idea for this whole thing and while I know we don't care for each other too much, I have decided to play along so take a look. I will be looking back to see how this develops.
Submitted by DrogoRoch (user info) at 2006-08-08 08:33:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Nice characters. I'm rooting for Valerie.
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2006-08-08 04:05:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I hate you so much... so very much.
This was fucking amazing.
Okay, so you have established that it is summer. In my tale, which is actually being told as a flashback of sorts, school was still in session. I had two 12 year old boys in mine. I might have to have them mention Valerie. I'm mostly focusing on the two neighboring families and their twisted interactions.
Submitted by UnderOathMeal (user info) at 2006-08-07 22:08:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
This was badass, Jack.
And you incorporated the park on the other side of town ... bra - fucking - vo, man.
Good shit.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2006-08-07 21:33:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I (s) know (p) the (h) average (a) doofus (g) on (n) this (u) site (m) can't read more than a paragrph or two, but I wanted to establish these two characters, because I will be putting them though hell later on.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2006-08-07 21:30:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by KindaNews (user info) at 2006-08-07 19:37:51 (#)
Ranking: 2
btw, this town is completely out of control with crazy fucks, murderers and the like.
You'd better put in a whorehouse to calm things down a little.
--Agreed.
Submitted by BLITZKREIG_BOB (user info) at 2006-08-07 20:26:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I'll read this sometime when I'm bored at work.
I'm getting ideas for this.
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-08-07 19:59:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
You should have broken this up into segments. I know a lot of Uber doesn't have attention for this kind of thing, but I read it all.
Submitted by KindaNews (user info) at 2006-08-07 19:37:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Pretty good. I found the encounter with the brother a little weird. But you may be setting something up.
I would say 1.75, but I'll round up.
Especially if Georgie gets a blow job in part two. Nothing like a knife wielding 12 year old to make your pecker hard.
btw, this town is completely out of control with crazy fucks, murderers and the like.
You'd better put in a whorehouse to calm things down a little.
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2006-08-07 18:25:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Needs more explosions or monsters or gore.
Submitted by forthewin (user info) at 2006-08-07 18:14:14 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
That was mother effing long.
Submitted by Sphagnum (user info) at 2006-08-07 18:09:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Please make some generalizations about my character and personality based on that review.
I'd like that.
Submitted by Sphagnum (user info) at 2006-08-07 18:08:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
WTF? I'm not reading all THAT!!
Submitted by wookie (user info) at 2006-08-07 17:57:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Sacrilicious (user info) at 2006-08-07 17:54:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
auto +2 Valerie