Small Town USA: Famous in a Small Town (Short One)

Chapter Ten: Floods

CHAPTER TEN

Memphis walked into the house and threw his keys down in the dish beside the door. He still felt like he was in a daze and he hadn't been able to concentrate all day. He knew he wouldn't be in the mood to make dinner and the kids wouldn't have put anything on, so he was carrying two large pizzas, a bag of cheese bread and bottle of soda. He went into the kitchen and set the food down on the table.

When he turned around, Dayton was standing there, his arms folded staring at him.

Memphis jumped when he saw him. He put his hand over his heart and took a deep breath.

"You scared the hell out of me," Memphis said, his eyes still closed.

"What happened to you?" Dayton demanded.

"Had a mild heart attack."

"I mean, where were you?"

Memphis opened his eyes and looked at his son. He seemed abnormally irritated and Memphis wasn't sure why. "I stopped to get pizza. Why?"

"No... I mean after school. Football meeting?"

As soon as the words were out of Dayton's mouth Memphis dropped his head. So much had happened that day that it had slipped his mind completely. They had already selected the team and practice started last week. Today's meeting was supposed to go over the schedule for the first couple of games and to hand out positions. How could he forget? He was the one who insisted it be after school on the first day.

"OH, I totally forgot. I had this thing at work and... I'm sorry."

"Whatever. Coach Baxter seemed super happy to step up and run the meeting for both teams. Are you going to be there Thursday for practice?"

"Of course. Like I said, I just got caught up with something and it slipped my mind."

"Yeah well, just so you know, I don't think your usual speech about not accepting excuses for absences is going to go over quite the same this year. And Coach Baxter didn't cover for you at all."

"Of course, he didn't. I'll have to call in the morning and explain."

"Any other coach and they would have some explaining to do. But you don't have to worry, you're Memphis Wheeler. You can do no wrong."

"What's with the attitude?" Memphis asked watching Dayton as he went over to the pizza box and took several slices and then went to his room.

"The hell did I do to him," Memphis asked nobody. He grabbed a slice of pizza himself but before he could even put it in his mouth, he heard a scream from upstairs.

"DAD!!!" Cheyanne said running down the stairs. Memphis cringed at the pitch of her voice and turned towards her.

"What? What's wrong?"

"I need money."

"What?" Memphis said trying to follow how that was the end of result of the panic in her voice. "Why? You're not pregnant, right?"

"Didn't we already have this conversation?" Cheyanne asked.

"So, you're not pregnant?"

"No."

"Oh. In that case, get a job."

"Yeah, that's funny," Cheyanne said giggling.

"I wasn't kidding, but ok. Why do you need money?"

"You should've seen Lola Daniels today. She went to Europe this summer and she has this incredible wardrobe now and she's walking around like she's the hottest thing at John Deere High and I don't need that kind of competition."

Memphis blinked several times trying to follow her thought process. "I'm sorry, what'd you need money for?"

"New clothes."

"You just bought new clothes."

"Not the right kind."

"Cheyanne, they're just clothes. And please don't forget that Lola Daniels is rich. So, if you're trying to win by having the most expensive stuff... well kiddo, I've got news for you."

"This sucks. Why couldn't you be rich?"

"I ask myself that everyday."

"You're not even trying."

"Excuse me?"

"You dropped out of high school. Everyone knows that if you don't have at least a college education, you'll never get a decent paying job."

"Just... remember you said that, ok. Be quiet for a second."

"You're telling me to be quiet?"

"I was going to say shut up, but I thought I'd be polite. So just... stop for a second... Does nobody else hear that noise."

"Yeah, I just didn't know what it was," Cheyanne said.

Memphis walked over to the basement door and opened it.

"You didn't know what the noise was that sounds exactly like spraying water?"

Memphis flipped on the light and went down the stairs. He stopped halfway though because there was about a foot of water filling the basement. One of the overhead pipes had burst and water was spraying everywhere.

"Perfect."

Memphis stepped down into the water. He walked over to the shut off valve and turned it off. The water stopped spraying and dripped slowly instead.

"Are you kidding me? Nobody heard that?"

"I heard it. I just didn't know what it was. I didn't know pipes did that," Cheyanne said.

Memphis sat down on the stairs above the water and put his head in his hands. "This is not what I need right now."

"I'm sorry, Dad. I didn't know what it was."

"How long ago did it start?" Memphis asked.

"I don't know? A half hour or so?"

"You didn't point it out to Dayton? Or Aurora?"

"Aurora's upstairs with that weird girl I don't like and Dayton had his friends over. I'm sorry Daddy."

"It's fine. Go get some pizza before Dayton eats it all."

"Ok."

Memphis looked around at the water filled basement. "If it wasn't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all."

He stood up and went to get the tools he'd need to fix the pipes.