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

Chapter Eleven: Things That Can't Be Fixed

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Memphis stood on a step ladder, cutting out the section of pipe that had burst. He was in bare feet, wearing nothing but a pair of old faded jeans. He had taken his shirt off and thrown it aside because it was boiling hot in the basement and it was soaked through anyway. He had used a pump to drain the water out the window and he'd brought the dehumidifier down to start drying the place out.

Aurora came halfway down the stairs with Tina behind her. They stopped before they reached the wet stairs.

Tina gulped when she saw Memphis. Aurora turned and glared at her.

"Sorry but come on. No shirt, soaking wet... muscles... that's what men are supposed to look like," Tina whispered to Aurora.

"Seriously? Shut up!"

Memphis looked over at them. "Oh, hey girls. What's up?"

"Umm, we were going to go to a movie and I was wondering if I could borrow twenty bucks?" Aurora said.

Memphis looked down at the pipe cutter in his hand. "Sure... Yeah. My wallet's on my dresser. Should be a twenty in there."

"Thanks Daddy," Aurora said. She turned around and headed back upstairs, grabbing Tina by the arm and dragging her along with her.

"Did you see him?" Tina whispered.

"You mean my dad? Yeah, don't be gross."

"I cannot help it."

Memphis stepped down off the ladder and picked up his beer. He took a long sip of it and looked around at the stuff in the basement. Most of it had been packed up in plastic containers, so the stuff inside would be fine. But there were a couple cardboard boxes that had been on the lower shelves. They were mostly fishing stuff or old clothes that he could dry and repack.

A box in the corner caught his eye.

"Oh no," he said. He put his beer down and went over to the shelfing unit. He pulled the wrecked box off the shelf and brought it over to the stairs. He set the box down on the floor in front of him and opened it up.

Inside was a variety of construction paper memories destroyed by the water. Memphis dug through the wreckage, seeing what he might be able to salvage.

He found an old Father's Day card that Cheyanne had made him when she was six or seven. She'd made it on a heavier cardstock so it was still in decent condition. He set it down on the stair beside him. It would be wrinkled and the marker had been washed but you could still read it. Cheyanne was the strongest of the triplets. Growing up, she never let anything get to her. Aurora was more sensitive. She quit her girl's club because every spring they had a mother/daughter tea and she would get so upset. He never did figure out how to explain to a seven-year-old why she didn't have a mother. There was another little girl in the Club whose mother had died of cancer. He still remembered the day Cheyanne asked him if their mother was dead. He never wanted to lie to them, so he said "no".

Then Aurora asked where their mother was. It was inevitable. He had known since the day he realized Isabelle wasn't coming back, that at some point one of those precious babies would ask him where she was. Seven years to prepare and he still had no idea what to say to her. He told them the truth. He said he didn't know. Aurora's green eyes filled up tears and she asked why their mother didn't want them. Cheyanne put her little arm around her sister and said, "who cares. We don't need her. Dad's all we need."

Memphis had cried that night.

Some days he really hated Isabelle. Not for leaving him, but for hurting his kids. It wasn't like it was a one time hurt either. Two girls growing up without a mother. There were just so many things he had no idea about. He tried but he didn't know about make-up or tampons or crushes on boys. He had no idea what to say to Aurora when Bobby Jewett called her gross in front of the whole class at the Valentine's Day Dance when she had asked him to dance with her.

His first reaction was to punch the guy in the face, and then he remembered he was a twelve-year-old boy and that probably wouldn't go over well. But he wasn't sure what to say to Aurora to make her feel better. He hated seeing her cry and would do anything to cheer her up. Luckily, Cheyanne knew exactly what to say. And the next day Cheyanne punched Bobby Jewett in the nose. Even though Memphis had to tell her that was wrong, he was secretly very proud of her.

There was a pile of muck in the box that he realized must've been the paper Mache baseball glove Dayton had made him in the third grade that was wrecked. Nothing but a pile of newspaper and glue. Dayton had done a good job on the baseball glove too. He had a creative mind. He was always able to think of something and just draw it. Memphis had no artistic abilities and he couldn't remember Isabelle being an artist so he wasn't sure where he got it from. But Dayton could sing, he could act, he could draw. Of course, now that he was sixteen, none of those things were cool anymore. Now he played football and baseball and raced dirt bikes. Memphis knew exactly where he got his reckless behaviour from. Cheyanne raced dirt bikes too but Aurora wasn't as confident or daring as the other two. She was cautious and always thought through the consequences. The other two never looked before they leapt.

Memphis dug through the box and pulled out what he could save. Some things were a little worse for wear but he couldn't get rid of them. So many memories. He took the stuff upstairs and went into the girl's bathroom, locating their hairdryer. He spent the next half an hour trying to dry the items off.

After, he went into his bedroom and pulled a plastic container out from underneath the bed. He dumped the baseball cards out and put the kid's things in the box. He picked the baseball cards up and put them on the bookshelf. Memphis looked around his room and then turned off the light and walked out.