World Breakers

Marcus Palmer

The only thing I looked forward to every summer was my visit to Tennessee. I didn't look forward to it because just because my mother lived there. That could be further from the truth. She was always too focused on other matters to pay attention to what I was going through in my life. I vividly remember two years ago when I took her Jaguar out for a joyride and crashed it into a neighbor's mailbox. I had just turned sixteen and was excited to finally get my hands on the wheel of a car that wasn't my dad's beat up 2001 Camry.

When my mother got to the scene of the crash just a few blocks from her gated condo she ran right to the beat up jag rather than to me who had broken a hand. The officer hadn't even taken pity on me since he saw me as just another spoiled rich kid that lost control of a $76,000 vehicle. On the drive to the hospital in my mother's third car she kept repeating the same things over and over again.

"You you know how much you've cost me Marcus? The insurance rates are going to skyrocket because of you; I'll have to pay the repairs for Dr. Wong's landscaping and mailbox, just wait till your father gets my complaint. He's spineless you know, he doesn't even know how to raise his own kid! All these years and this is how that rat pays me back?"

I kept my mouth shut the whole trip. The pain in my left hand pulsed but I gritted my teeth for the time being. I needed out. Tio Carlos was my escape.

I remembered that summer so clearly. After I had crashed her car and she had taken me to get a cast. My mother promptly dropped me off into an Uber with nothing but two suitcases to take me three hours away to my uncle's home in Knoxville.

I guess she didn't even have the decency to call Tio that day. He Had no clue that I was going to his house. By the time I showed up late at night he was surprised to find me sitting alone in the front wrap around porch of his home. Tio Carlos quickly ushered me into his home, brewed me a hot cup of coffee, and sat down with me to ask how I'd gotten here. He asked about my day, my life back in California, asked about how may dad was fairing after the nasty divorce.

I was happy Tio Carlos had arrived when he did because a half hour later an early summer storm rolled in. Tio had gotten back home days prior form a trip to study Manchurian ruins in northeast Asia. We both spent the late evening sharing our experiences. I felt warmth that night that I hadn't felt in a long time. I recall the rushing sounds of the storm as it lulled me to sleep on Tio Carlos' worn leather couch. He was my escape. I wish I lived in a different reality.

×××[ Location: Nashville BNA ]×××

I was shook awake by a flight attendant who looked more bothered than anything at the moment.

"SIR, we have landed, we need to to make your way out of the terminal"

I stirred awake feeling still groggy from the long flight to Nashville.
"Fair enough" I answered
I unbucked my seatbelt and stretched as I stood up from the cramped airplane seat. Crumbs for the biscotti cookie I had munched on earlier on the flight rolled on to the alredy filthy airplane floor.
I got out of my seat and into the aisle so I could better maneuver myself in order to retrieve my carry on. The navy blue travel bag was the last one left on the plas as all other passengers had long left the tight plane quarters and into wide halls of BNA. I groaned as I carefully lifted my suitcase out of the overhead compartment and walked on out.

This year I wasn't even met by my mother, in her place stood Nate her "personal assistant". The guy was half her age just about my height and was dressed impeccably in a tailored grey suit.

"Mr.Palmer?" Nate inquired as I approached the sleek Audi R8

"Nice to see you again Nate. Hows mother? Is she too busy today to see her son for the first time in a year? " I snidded