Norma Jean - By Amanda Heath Page 0,20
dog, chilli cheese fries with jalapeños, and an ocean water.” she says beside me before I hear her dig around in her purse. I hear tapping on her phone before she speaks. “Quit looking at me like that. I’m fine, no need to kill him with your eyes. I want to be here so get over it, okay?” I automatically look at her but since she is on the phone I look across the store to see Marley with his beat up s10 sitting directly in front of us. Just great.
She hangs up and rolls her eyes as she places the phone back in her purse. “Don’t worry about him. He thinks he’s my father or something.”
That gets me thinking so I blurt out “Where is your dad?” I cringe because I could have delivered that a lot nicer, or not at all.
“My dad lives off this manmade lake in a cabin in the middle of nowhere. He writes all day every day. Ten out of his fifteen books are on the New York Times bestseller list. I don’t talk to him except for my birthday and Christmas. I haven’t seen him in a couple of years.” She shrugs her shoulders before meeting my eyes.
“That sucks.” I say quietly. And it does suck. I wish my dad was off somewhere, no where near my life.
“Yours is pretty fucked up too.” she whispers. I don’t know if she knows how right she is.
“Yeah. I walked in on him with his new wife.” I don’t know why I paused, maybe because this is what has made me the person I am today. “While he was still married to my mom. He tried to pay me off to not say anything, but I have always been more loyal to mom than him.” I take a deep breath and go on. “He was kind of abusive to my sister and me. It wasn’t bad all the time though. Mostly verbal, though he hit me once for bringing mud in the house.” Then I smile. “He’s a different person around Macy. That little girl changed him for the better. He still rides my ass but I don’t ever have to worry about him mistreating her.”
She is staring at me funny like she forgot something she really wanted to remember before she speaks. “That’s good to know. I’m super close to Macy. If someone was hurting her I think I might kill them.”
“You and me both.” The truck gets silent before I can’t take it anymore. “Want me to order now?”
She nods and looks out the passenger window. I hit the red button on the menu and tell the girl our order. I have to admit what she is getting is strange. Seems like heartburn central.
Creed stops by like I figured he would and we talk for a minute before I tell him with my eyes to get lost. He chuckles and goes back to his own date. Norma and I talk some while eating. I found out she loves snakes and spiders equally. Her mom doesn’t like spiders at all so her grandma lets her keep her hairy black tarantula at her house. She named it Daisy.
I tell her I won’t be anywhere near that thing but she informs me if I really want her then I have to pass her Daisy test. This turns out to be something I didn’t know. “Her bite hurts but she can’t kill you. She is really sweet and likes to walk around in the palm of your hand. She hates Marley and bites him. So that is my test, if she bites you then I can’t see you anymore.” She winks and I hope she is kidding. I may be a dude but I am scared to death of spiders…and snakes.
I tell her about basketball and how I don’t have to feel anything while playing. I just concentrate on getting the ball from one side to the other and into the net. I don’t care about the points or being any good at it. It’s the same with any sport, where most guys with any talent want to be a big superstar, I just play for what it gives me. A little bit of peace.
There is a tiny movie theater in the middle of town that shows two movies at any given time. They are about 5 years behind, so there is never anything new here. Norma picks an old zombie flick I’m sure I have seen before.