She got up, naked, and she was a little chunky I saw, and she went to take a shower.
She said as she went in you’re a bum, you know, but you probably already know this.
I said sure.
She came back out, dried off, and put on a waitress’ uniform. She said look, sorry, but I gotta rush.
I told her how awful my hangover was.
She said I do have to go but I guess you can stay and sleep awhiles, if y’all want. Kay, lover? This place is tiny, so just close the door, go when you feel better.
She left.
I lay there, then lit a cig. Wondered why I was here. Thought I should probably get up amp;go.
Don’t know when it was, ten minutes later, a young girl in a long shirt down to her ankles came in. She had straight brown hair, soft pale skin, long legs, retainers on teeth. I could see small buds of breasts.
She looked at me, didn’t seem surprised, and said (with a southern slant as well) good mornin’.
I said hey who are you? Margo’s kid?
She said her name was Isabelle and she asked, real snooty like, who the hell are you?
I said she was a snot, I said you’re a snot and my name is Mike.
She just stood there so I said you’re not the friendly type are you?
She said I’m friendly. Thing is, most of Momma’s men friends don’t stick ’round long ’nuff to be friends with.
I said well I’m not going anywhere right now.
She said you will soon.
I said are you so sure of that?
She said they all leave: they come, they go.
I asked why do you say that?
She said it’s the way it is.
Your mother have a lot of men friends?
Sure; she finds them in bars.
How old are you?
She found you in a bar, right?
Well, yeah, that’s where we met last night.
I heard you two comin’ in.
Did you?
I was on the floor here.
I didn’t see you.
I sleep on the floor, in this here bag.
Always?
Not ’nuff room on the bed there, with a man friend always with Momma.
Oh.
I’m too old to sleep with Momma anyway.
So how old are you?
When I was smaller, I used to.
What?
They would do it while I was there next to them. They thought I was asleep but I weren’t.
Oh.
Like I heard you two last night.
Oh?
She said I never knew my Daddy. You like my Momma?
I said I guessed I did.
She said do you now?
Sure.
Bet she looked diff rent in the mornin’ than she did in that bar. And you’re younger than she is.
I said old story; story of my life; older women.
Isabelle asked how old I was.
I told her.
She said oh that ain’t so old.
Maybe not.
She said Momma’s forty-eight.
I laughed.
She asked what’s so funny?
Last night she told me she was thirty-eight, she told me.
Isabella said oh, then I guess she is.
I said those women always lie.
She said whaddya mean those women?!
Oh, you know.
I dunno. But you like my Momma, right?
Sure.
I think she likes you, too. But she had to get off to work, y’know.
I know. She said I could sleep a bit. But I couldn’t fall back to sleep.
Isabelle said so instead you smoke that smelly cig’rette.
I asked does it bother you?
She said yes.
I said I’d put it out, and I did.
I asked where does your mother work?
Didn’t she tell you?
No.
She’s a waitress.
That I know. Where?
This dumb ol’ diner.
Oh.
Surprised?
No.
I didn’t think so.
I asked her, again how old she was.
She asked why do you wanna know?
I said I just do.
How old do I look?
Dunno.
Guess, you silly.
Fifteen?
She smiled and said no.
Fourteen?
No.
You can’t be thirteen?
Yes.
Thirteen?
Yes.
Thirteen.
Thirteen.
I said well.
Well what?
I said young.
She said so.
I said so.
She said I was gonna make breakfast. You want some breakfast?
I said that would be nice.
(CUT TO:)
We were sitting on the floor of the trailer, eating scrambled eggs amp;bacon.
I said this is really good.
Isabelle said oh you’re just sayin’ that.
I said I haven’t had a nice home-cooked meal since – since I dunno. This is really good.
She said Momma taught me how to cook. Said I needed to know ’cause one day I’d be on my own and all that. Ahh, one day I’ll find a man and marry him and have babies and I’ll have to cook for him and the babies. Hmmmn. I wonder what that will be like.
What?
Gettin’ hitched and all.
I said that’s a long way for you.
She said I just know I’ll be happy! I’ll only marry a man that’ll make me happy. I don’t wanna be sad. Like Momma is sometimes. She still loves Daddy whoever he is.
I went ummmn, eating eggs.
She said I never knew him.
I said that’s too bad.
She said my babies will know their daddy. We’ll all be happy together. Never have to worry about a thing in the world – food or money or rapists or killers. We’ll have a house. The house will be clean. We’ll have cars. Credit cards. VCRs. We’ll go to operas and art galleries. We’ll fly to Europe.
Um-hm.
You don’t believe me?
I do.
You ever been married?
Nah.
Why not?
I was engaged once, when I was twenty-one. Just not too long ago. But that’s a different story; in fact, it’s a different life.
What happened?
Don’t remember…
You just don’t wanna say.
I don’t… I don’t remember.
What? You senile already?
I didn’t want to talk about this. Too much pain. I told her a lot of things happened… no one specific thing. What I recall most is an image, an image of… of the moon.
The moon?
Moon.
Isabelle asked did you love her?
Well… yes.
You think about her a lot?
Sometimes.
You have dreams about her?
No, not anymore. Used to – have these strange…
Seems like it was all just yesterday? Last month or what?
You ask funny questions, you know.
She said what was her name?
Who?
The intended bride.
I said Beth.
Elizabeth?
I said you’re pretty smart for thirteen.
She said I’ve been married several times.
Yeah sure.
She pointed to her head amp;said I mean up here, this is where I have been married.
I asked what, none of them work out?
She said you always look for perfection in the wrong place and then she asked me hey don’t you ever dream?
What’s that?
Tell me about your dreams.
I said they’re mostly just nightmares. Dreams, you see, are nice. What I have are not nice. They are bad. You don’t want to hear them.
She said dreams are all that matter, Michael, it’s all we ever have.
(CUT TO:)
A few hours later we were playing the board game Monopoly, still on the messy floor. She had more hotels amp;money than I. Margo, in her waitress uniform, came in as we were playing.
Isabelle said hey, Momma.
Margo said to me you, you’re still here?
I said guess I got caught up in this game.
Isabelle said we’ve been playin’ games all day and I’ve been winnin’.
Margo said oh.
I said she beats me all the time.
Margo said to me I certainly dint expect to find y’all here, sweetbuns; I just thought you’d sleep amp;go.
Isabelle said we had breakfast.
I said I was sorry and that I’d go if she wanted me to.
Margo said no, no, that was awright. I’m glad you’re all here. I was just gonna get dressed and head back to that great li’l bar where we met, you know? But I do need an escort and well you are here.