This is the first installment of a new series that will be in the Sci fi/Fantasy category. It is more of an introduction to the rest of the series, so it might not be as steamy as the next segments.
*****
It was almost 6pm when the bus rolled into the stop outside of the flat terrain near Olivet, Illinois. Forgetting this quaint and boring town 20 miles west of Chicago was easy. In fact, Francesca had pretty much let it fade out of her mind. Life over there was pretty much a dead end, and she had been glad four years earlier when she had found a way to escape its bourgeois mediocrity for college.
She stood defiantly at the stop waiting for her ride in the mid-November chill. Maybe life had defeated her, but that wasn't going to make her admit it and sit on the dusty bench a couple feet from her. The prospects ahead of her were few, yet that didn't mean she would start living like a loser. The temptation to pack it in and settle for mediocrity was creeping at her. She had noticed it earlier that day when her last bus made a stop in a rest area, and she felt the urge to buy one of the trucker cheeseburgers sold in the guest shop.
She was mildly relieved to see a black Dodge pickup plodding down the road toward them. It belonged to her cousin Leo, who was perched behind the wheel and rolling steadily toward the bus stop. She threw her stuff in the bed and joined him in the two-seat cab.
"Sup, sup?" asked Leo nonchalantly. She would expect from a relative more affection, but he was exactly as she remembered him, a bizarre mix of stoner and hill country. His own heritage was also a contradiction; Leo's dad Phil Servino, was a Catholic who had only left Illinois during two tours in Vietnam. It's ironic that he met Leo's mom, now known as Diane, a war refugee from Vietnam, and also from a Catholic family, while doing contract work in Chicago. Leo and his sisters Patrice and Anne were the products of this marriage. Leo's Asian features sort of clashed with the shell necklace, scraggly beard, and faded island style pants he wore. Leo's catch phrase had always been "I don't belong here", and he seemed absolutely determined to show everyone why.
The first minute of the drive to the Servino property in the Olivet area were quiet, until Francesca broke the silence. "So what've you been doing with yourself?"
Leo cleared his throat. "Oh you know, been keepin' busy. You remember Troy's biz, right?"
"Troy Busby? The car accessories?"
"Yeah, so we at least got a stream of work there." He coughed. " Not the most sophisticated clients, granted. A lotta dumb confederate pot leaf decals, for example."
"And there's business to go with it?"
"I guess the pricing is hard to beat."
They continued to make small talk about life in the area and the Servino family. Patrice was still a junior in high school, while Anne was a pre-law student at Illinois State. They were related to Francesca through her dad, Vance Servino. Vance and her mom, Bridget, had split up while she was a college sophomore, a consequence of them having stayed together until the nest got empty. Vance moved to Washington state to work in a machine shop, whereas Bridget moved to Indianapolis and accepted a promotion with her home insurance company. Francesca and her older brother Mark were both bitter about it. Their younger brother Ben was coping with it using a steady regimen of weed and Need for Speed.
They finally pulled up at the single level house that the Servinos called home. Phil was on the deck replacing the lamp of a wall fixture when he saw them approaching the porch. His dreary eyes danced a bit as they climbed the stoop. "Huh, you grown somewhere since I last seen you," he opined simply.
"Yeah," she answered blandly. "Glad to see those late study nights didn't stunt me."
Francesca brought her belongings over to the guest room that was at the north end of the house. The room was fully accommodated with separate bathroom, a fully furnished bed, and sliding closets, but its walls were bare white and it looked plain to the observer.
After taking a relieving shower, Francesca heard a bustle from the kitchen. "Supper!" came the high voice of Diane bellowing down the hallway. Francesca still had her hair wrapped in a towel, and thought about waiting to venture out. She decided it would be kind of rude, so she took out her blow dryer and did a hasty job of drying out her raven black locks.
She arrived at the table in time to see Leo sit his scrawny frame down and begin digging in to the meal of Nem Cuon salad rolls. Phil sat down at the head of the table and unfolded a copy of the Tribune business section that he'd kept under his armpit. One of the reasons the Servinos were able to have a relatively prosperous lifestyle was Phil's close attention to the local commodities markets. He was constantly observing the local hog and corn farmers and kept tabs on the general trends using trade magazines. Anything not within local reach he developed through long distance contacts.
He raised his eyes to the spread in front of him, and spooned Bo Luc Lac, a rice and beef dish, into his dish. Francesca accepted the dishes when they were passed to her and decided to try everything. She had had Diane's cooking before, but it a lot of time had passed and some of the flavours now tasted new to her. Everyone else seemed somewhat accustomed to it, although Phil always seemed like someone who would have been content with fried chicken and mashed potatoes.
Diane started making conversation. "So Francesca, do you have any plans now that you're living with us?" Her deliberate manner of speech was still heavily accented.
"Um, I need to really get my affairs in order. That degree programme didn't offer as many career prospects as I'd hoped." That was an understatement. Bradley University in Peoria had a lot of good degrees, but her biology and nursing degree was useless until she could improve her score on the MCAT so that eventually she could go to medical school and fulfill her dream of becoming a doctor. She couldn't even think of a specialty yet.
Phil folded his newspaper briefly. "Not gonna be a lot for you to do 'round here. Our closest hospital is in Danville. Maybe you can apply to teach or tutor there and eventually work at the hospital."
Phil's comment started off a rash of people proposing all sorts of crazy solutions. Leo even asked her if she wanted to keep the books at Troy's shop. She imagined what if it would be like dealing with the hilljack clientèle there, who probably significantly overlapped with that of Nippy's, the local topless bar.
"I got an idea," interjected Leo,"what about Uncle Fed's lab?"
A groan emerged from Phil. "OK, I guess after that she could list some experience at a mental facility."
"Philip!" scolded Diane. "This is your family." She obviously had a different standard as to what you could say about relatives. Uncle Fed was Federico Cuoco, Phil's brother-in-law through his sister Lorraine. He was a native Italian from Catanzano, a city on the toe of the boot. He was also as eccentric as they came, always dressing stylishly even under his white doctor's smock. The entire Servino family had been members at St Anthony in Hoopeston. Uncle Fed was a regular attendee at services, and a constant nuisance to the priests with whom he would have loud arguments about the catechism and other philosophical points. Other than that, he was an animated, lecherous, and hyper person.
"Refresh my memory, what does Uncle Fed do?"
"Well, he's been running a medical lab that does blood work, and also works as a general practitioner," answered Leo.
"He might as well be raising ducks, because he's a quack," scoffed Phil.
Diane cleared her throat in irritation. "Let Francesca explore her options, Phillip. You haven't given any solutions so far."
A few more options were thrown around, and after a while, Phil got up and stretched. He shuffled over to the den and turned on Headline News. The rest of the family also adjourned. "Hey Frenchie," Leo called using Francesca's childhood name, "you wanna come with us to Mulligan's house? He's gonna be having some folks over."
"Who d'ye mean by us?"
