Moving Day with Mom

I must thank my team. My editors are Hale1, Hooked1957 and GeorgeAnderson. Harddaysknight is my mentor and gives me critical review. Stev2244 and SBrooks103x also read the story for me and fixed my errors. I thank you all. Thanks to the hommies at Synecdoche Imperatives.

I had a couple of tickets to a big concert and I was looking forward to hearing some of my favorite bands. There were seven of them playing. Those classic rock bands break the bank for the tickets, but hey, I love the music. So did Gwen. We had it all set up and it was going to be a blast.

We'd been going out for two months and I felt like we were ready for the next step. We had done some heavy petting, but that's as far as it had gone. I was hoping for a little progress after the concert. Imagine my disappointment when she called 30 minutes before I was supposed to pick her up, told me she was sick and couldn't get out of the bathroom. Well, that sucked. I was holding two tickets and I really didn't want to go by myself.

I called Kit and asked her if she was interested. Kit is my little sister. She's a big fan of Halestorm, and they were going to be playing. She jumped at the chance and promised to meet me outside her dorm.

I pulled up and Kit was waiting. She ran over and jumped in, giving me a kiss on the cheek before she got the door closed. "Thanks for taking me, Bub," she said. "Why aren't you taking Gwen?"

"She is dying along the Oregon trail from dysentery," I joked. It was an old saw between us. My name wasn't Bub, or even Bubba; we weren't even from the South. She'd called me "Bub" since she was born, even though my name is Mason Harrison. Our dad's historical hero was George Mason and I was named after him. Kit was actually Katherine, but I'd called her Kitten most of her life, and she was Kit since she was now a grown-up college girl.

She looked over at me with those big blue eyes. "Well, she seems to have made a miraculous recovery. Isn't that her?"

I looked, and it was. Either she had some fast-acting medicine or I was being played. As we watched, a blue sports car with a big gay spoiler on the back pulled up. It was one of the new Shelbys. Who puts a spoiler on a pony car? Gwen ran across the street and jumped in. There was some blonde guy in a sweater vest in the car, and there was a parking sticker from the engineering school on the bumper. The tires chirped and away they went.

I was stunned for a minute. I shook it off and gave a mental shrug. I was going to a great concert with my little sister. She was my favorite girl in the world, and we were going to enjoy the hell out of this. Whatever thoughts I had about Gwen were obviously castles in the clouds.

Gwen and I had been going out every Friday and Saturday night. We were supposed to go to the movies that Friday night. She called me half a dozen times that week and left messages. I didn't bother to call her back, and I had a date for Friday night with a girl I met that week at the grocery store. She was a cute little thing who had waited on me at the deli. We'd talked a few times before, and she was very quick to jump on going out.

About seven-thirty, my phone started buzzing. It didn't stop all the time we were having dinner. It stopped during the movie, because I turned it off. I didn't turn it back on until I got home, and I had five voice mails, four Snaps and 22 texts when I finally turned it back on.

All the voice mails, Snaps and all but two of the texts were from Gwen. I listened to the first voice mail. She wondered where I was and told me we were going to be late if I didn't hurry. The first text wondered where I was and what was wrong with my phone. I sighed. I might as well get it over with. I called her.

She was pissed off. "Where the hell were you?" she yelled. "I got dressed and waited and you never showed up? What the hell is wrong with you? Couldn't you at least let me know?"

"I thought you were busy," I said. "Engineer boy wasn't available?"

"What are you talking about?" she asked. "You know we planned this two weeks ago."

"Yeah, that's what I thought about the concert, too," I said. "Did you forget that Kit and you live in the same dorm?"

"Oh, shit," she said. "That wasn't what you think, Mason."

"How do you know what I think?" I asked. "Are you a mind reader now? I'll tell you what I think; I think you lied to me, left me holding a 75-dollar ticket and went off with engineer boy. Is that not what happened?"

"No, that's not what happened," she said. "I mean... it isn't what you think."

"Yeah, you mentioned that. I guess I can add thought reading to your other talents. Goodbye, Gwen," I said. "Have a nice life." I ended the call and it wasn't thirty seconds until she called back. I let it go to voicemail and she just kept calling. That went on for five days and then when I came home from work, she was sitting on the front step of my apartment. She looked like hell. She was crying and shivering with cold. She needed a tissue and there was a little pile of them beside her on the steps.

She jumped up when she saw me and came running, throwing herself on me and sobbing her heart out. "I'm so sorry, Mason," she was sobbing, over and over again. She was obviously freezing, and I took her arm and guided her inside. I sat her on the sofa and covered her up with a blanket. I went and made her a cup of hot chocolate, and she was still shivering when I brought it to her.

She held it in her little hands and she was shaking so hard that she could hardly sip it.

"Jesus, Gwen, how long have you been sitting out there?" I asked.

"Three... three hours," she managed to get out. "You were late, Mason. I couldn't leave until I got a chance to talk to you."

"Gwen, I wasn't taking your phone calls," I said. "What about that would make you think I wanted to talk to you?"

"I know you don't want to talk to me," she said. "I fucked up, Mason. I was stupid, okay? I did something I despise in other people. I'm an honest person. I don't lie, but I lied to you. I'm very sorry and I needed to ask you to forgive me. I'll never lie to you again. I don't know what came over me. I'm very sorry."

"Okay, I forgive you," I said. "Was that all you wanted to say?"

She looked at me like I'd hit her. "I was hoping that you'd ask me out again," she said. "Give me a chance; I'm dying here, Mason. Just give me a little crack, a little sliver of light and I'll make sure you never regret it."

"I don't like being lied to," I told her. "If you got drunk, puked on my sofa, cheated on your taxes or poisoned your neighbor's cat, I wouldn't think it was any big deal. Hell, if you were a thief or smoked weed or got in fights, I'd just smile and tell you to stop it. Lying to me is on a whole different planet. Then sneaking off to go out with some dickweed on top of that? I don't think I'm interested in you, Gwen. I don't like that kind of person; I don't hang out with them and I certainly don't date them."

"I'm not like that," she said. "I don't know what I was thinking."

"How do I know that?" I asked. "You seem to be pretty good at it. That indicates to me that you've had a bit of practice."

She made a little wail of despair. "I don't... I've never lied to you before. I know I fucked up. It was just... Brad asked me to go someplace I always wanted to go. There was a party at Tiara's. You know the mansion parties are by invitation only. Brad had an invitation. You know I've always wanted to go."

I went over to the hall table and opened the drawer. When I came back, I handed her the envelope. She opened it and gasped.

"You had an invitation? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want to go," I told her. "I don't give a shit about going to some high-society party. I was going to a concert with my girl. I was stupid enough to think that would be pretty special. It was. I took Kit and we had a blast. I hope you enjoyed your party. Now, it's time for you to go, Gwen. Don't come back. Don't call me, don't text. If you see me, just wave. I'll wave back and we'll be cordial. I don't want anything to do with you. Do you understand?"

I got her out the door, but she didn't get it. She called me once a week for three months. I saw her around campus and she always made it a point to talk to me. I was civil, but never more than that. I dated quite a bit, but there was never that spark I'd had with Gwen, and I really didn't want anything serious. Getting burned wasn't much fun, I had discovered. I was very hesitant to get involved again.

By the time I graduated, I was ready to leave college life behind. I'd kept part-time jobs and had a couple of paid internships, but I was ready to start making some real money. I got a pretty sweet job offer in Memphis. I'd been there once in high school when the basketball team took a trip down to play in the same arena where the Grizzlies played. Beale Street and the hotel were all I'd ever seen. I knew I liked the barbeque, so I went to the interview.

I took the job, got in a nice condo and settled in, living the dream. I was making very good money, and being single, I didn't spend that much. My social life was non-existent while I was getting up to speed with the job, but I began going out some with the people from work after about six months. That's when Kit called me.

"Hi, Bub!" She was as excited and bubbly as ever. "How would you like some company this weekend?"

"Hi, baby girl. I guess it depends on who the company is. If it's you, I'd love it. If it's you and what's his name... dickweed, I'll be half as thrilled. No, less than that."

She laughed. "I know you never liked Frank, Mason. Umm... it turns out you were right. I dumped him about a month ago. I thought he was done with the drinking until he puked and passed out every weekend. I was wrong. Anyway, it would just be me. Guess what, Bub?"

"Well, I kinda need a hint here, Kit," I said. "You wrecked your car again?"

"You're so mean! A girl has two little accidents and she never hears the end of it! No, I got an offer to come and interview for a paid intern position in Memphis. How cool is that? If you'll let me, I'll come and stay with you this weekend and we can hang. The interview is Tuesday, so I could come down Friday night, I could hang with you all weekend and see how the interview goes. Did you have plans? I don't want to be a bother."

The truth was I would never turn down an opportunity to hang out with her. "No, I don't have a thing I can't do some other time," I said. "Are you flying, or driving?"

"I'm gonna fly," she said. "The company bought my ticket. That's good, don't you think? They must really be interested."

"Yeah, they must want you pretty bad," I said. "Who wouldn't, though? You're the smartest person I ever met and I don't doubt for a minute that you're going to graduate top in your class."

"Thanks, Bub, but we both know you're smarter than I am," she said. I didn't know that. I knew she was way smarter than I ever was. I wasn't about to argue, so I just asked her what time she was getting there and we ended the call with me planning to pick her up at the airport.

* * * * *

I was a little late getting out of the office and had to rush around. Her plane was just unloading when I got there and I saw her looking around for me as I came hurrying to her gate. Her face lit up in that thousand candle-power smile she had, and she ran and threw herself on me, just like she had since she was a little girl. She wasn't a little girl anymore, and she nearly knocked me down. She was solid! I managed to stay upright and squeeze her to me. She kissed me and dragged me off to the luggage area to get her bag.

I got it off the carousel and pulled it along while she danced ahead of me. I had to smile. She never changed. I had never met anyone who had such a good time just living. I also noticed that my little sister had become a gorgeous woman. When did that happen? She'd gone from this scrubby and perpetually dirty little urchin who always wanted to play baseball with the gang to this tall beautiful redheaded goddess.

I always wondered where she got that hair. I had dark-brown hair and an olive complexion. Neither of our parents were redheads, either. Dad passed when I was 16 and Katherine was 14. We were close with Mom, and I felt guilty that I hadn't been home to see her since I'd moved to Memphis.

Kit was a definite redhead, though. She had that clear, almost translucent, skin, freckles and blue eyes. She'd hated those freckles when she was little, but they just made her look spectacular, now.

She noticed me staring and said, "What? Did I spill something on me?"

I laughed. "No, Kit, I just forgot how beautiful my little sister is."

She blushed. "Thanks. I'm still just me, though. Where are we parked?"

"Well, to tell you the truth, I forgot," I said. We both laughed and I dug my parking ticket out and checked.

We found the truck and put her bags in the back seat. It was hot as fuck, and I got the air conditioning going. When we got to my condo, I got her settled in the guest bedroom and she got her dress for her interview out and hung it up.

"I hope the wrinkles hang out," she said.

"I do have an iron," I told her. "Even we confirmed bachelors have the basic amenities."

She laughed. "I can't believe you'll be a bachelor for long. You dating anyone?"

"None of your business," I told her. I was joking and she knew it, but she pouted until we both laughed. "I date, but not anyone special. I'm waiting for a girl like you. You set the bar pretty high, Sis."

She blushed and giggled. "Well, don't be so picky. There aren't any more like me!"

I knew that. I had thought I had found someone close with Gwen, but that was done. We ordered pizza, watched a movie on Netflix and drank a bottle of wine. Her yawns grew contagious and I kissed her good night.

I could smell something delicious cooking when I got out of bed the next morning. I hadn't expected she would be up ahead of me. She always slept in every chance she got. She was never up before noon on a Saturday.

There she was, though, when I got human and made it to the kitchen. She didn't hear me come in and I just leaned against the door and watched her for a minute. Seeing her there made my heart hurt it felt so good. I'd been missing her. She had on black athletic tights with one pink leg and a top that matched with a pink sleeve on the other side, and the way she filled them out stunned me. She was muscular, toned and her ass in those tights was just spectacular. I shook my head. I walked up behind her and she heard me, then. She turned her head to smile at me and I was stunned again. I wrapped her up in my arms and she turned her cheek for a kiss.

"Whatcha making, Kitten?" I asked.

"Cream cheese stuffed French toast," she said. "I can't find the syrup, though. They're good without any, but I like syrup."

I knew I had a bottle of maple syrup up in the cabinet I had never opened, so I dug it out, got a cup of coffee and helped her get stuff ready. She was right; they were delicious, kind of roll-ups, and the syrup was perfect.

"Do you have something special in mind for the weekend, or do you want me to surprise you?" I asked.

She cocked her head in that way she always had and gave me that mischievous smile. "Surprise me," she said.

"Are you dressed like that to be active, or just sexy?" I asked.

I loved making a blush flood that perfect skin. "Both!" She laughed.

"Give me a minute," I said. I cleaned up and put the dishes in the dishwasher while she relaxed on the sofa in front of the big window that looked out over the city. When I was done, I called my neighbor, Megan, and asked her if I could borrow her bike for my sister. We rode together a good bit, and she had no problem letting me borrow it.

I packed a bag, threw in some bottles of water, got both my skateboards and took the stuff to the truck. I got Megan's bike and loaded both hers and mine, then I went up to collect Kit.

She was excited to see the bikes in the back of the truck, and she chattered at me the way she always had on the way to the park. We parked at Middle Mud Island and took off on the bike path that runs along the Mississippi River. I had the skateboards strapped on the bikes and it was about three miles to the skate park. We locked up the bikes and took off. Kit liked long-boards, I gave her mine and she had added a bunch of new tricks since the last time I had skated with her. It wasn't long until she had quite a crowd of spectators.

She was doing tricks that had my head spinning. I rode the half-pipe for a while, and when I checked on her again there were two guys talking to her as she was sitting on the bench resting. It looked like she was trying to find me, so I skated over and sat down beside her.

"Take off, dude," one of the guys told me. "She's with us."

"Care to introduce me to your friends, Kit?" I asked.

"Umm... I think this one is Johnny Knoxville and that one," she nodded at the shorter of the two, "is Wee Man."

I nearly fell off the bench laughing. Her two admirers swelled with indignation, but they walked. There was no clap-back for that burn. Wee Man did try to salvage some dignity by flipping us off as they left the area, but that just made us laugh harder.

"You're a savage, Kit," I told her when I could speak again. "You just called those two guys jackasses. Remind me not to piss you off."

"I am NOT nice." She could hardly get it out.

"No, you're a mean girl," I told her. "Let that be a lesson to you not to be so gorgeous. You ready to head back?"

"I am," she said. "Thanks for rescuing me. I was 'boutta yeet their boards into the bushes. What are we going to do?"

"I hope your stomach is in good shape," I told her. "We're doing barbecue, for lunch AND dinner."

"You know I love barbecue," she said. "I was hoping for some."

We packed up and made it back to the truck. I dropped the bikes off at the condo, giving Megan's back, we showered and I took her to Payne's for lunch. I could tell she wasn't impressed by the location or the décor, but when she bit into that pork shoulder sandwich, a look of bliss came over her face. She swallowed the first bite, tried the beans and she was hooked.

"I don't ever want to eat anywhere else, Bub," she said. "I want to live here. Do you think they'll adopt me?"

"I'll adopt you and bring you here every day," I told her.

"You already got me," she said. "No need to adopt."

We went for a stroll down Beale Street and she was in awe. I got a guy to draw a caricature of her, bought it and she loved it. We spent all day in the shops and I took her to B.B. King's Blues Club for dinner. The food wasn't up to Payne's, but it was good and the experience was even better. The live music was great, and the drinks were flowing, too. We watched the band and she got a kick out of some drunk chick waving her ass in my face, dancing with herself.

Her eyes were sparkling, and she leaned over. "Dance with me," she said. I didn't need to be asked twice.

I led her out and she was as athletic and graceful at dancing as she was at everything she did. She moved like a dream and I knew I was the envy of everyone in that club. We danced two songs and got fresh drinks. She wanted to dance again after we rested, and the singer had evidently noticed her. He announced that they were playing the next song for her.

It was the Joe Cocker version of the Randy Newman song, "You Can Leave Your Hat On." Kit laughed and she was on fire. She was wearing a white silk blouse and black slacks. As she danced around me, she began unbuttoning that blouse and every eye in the place was on her. The crowd was cheering and encouraging her and she was eating it up. She got it unbuttoned and did a tease with it that would have put professional strippers to shame around the world.