Los Carnales

Chapter 30: A Different Path

September 21st, 2006
Thursday, 5:00am - South Bay Correctional Facility

Clara and Mike casually strolled through their neighbourhood in Kendall after a pleasant night out, bellies full from dining at one of those classy restaurants they've always wanted to visit but just never had the time. The place wasn't too far from their home; a twenty minute walk was nothing crazy or undoable. Lauren was with them, always walking far ahead, making a habit to get lost in her own world and sing to herself while pretending to be in a dramatic movie scene playing heartfelt music. She didn't want to bug them or interfere with their good mood. It was nice to spend time with her parents in a relaxed atmosphere rather than the usual where they would bicker about little things, work things, and marriage. Tonight, Mike and Clara only had room to laugh with each other and reminisce as they rendered their worries meaningless.

"Imagine if Christopher had come along. He would've devoured those scallops and milked our pockets dry. I wanna go back there again someday soon and take him," said Clara, locking arms with her husband with her free hand placed against his chest. "It just sucks that he refused because he loves his Nintendo more than us. Qué vergüenza." (What a shame.)

Mike sniggered, "I'm pretty sure he only said no because it wasn't a Hooters."

"Oh my God. Remember that time in Atlantic City back in ninety-four when we were on a vacation and he begged us to go to the Hooters just so he could pine and drool over all those women?" Clara recalled, her and Mike exchanging the same reflective look before laughing.

"And he ordered eight things of buffalo wings, promising to eat them all only to throw half of them up and used the other half to leave a trail on the beach so the Seagulls could eat it, thinking we wouldn't notice because they picked it up so quickly?"

Lauren snickered when she heard the story six feet ahead of them. Her parents laughed and piled onto each other's memories, throwing it out there that they should go back to Jersey for a little vacation. All that required was more money to be saved from their office jobs and hidden in a piggy bank so Lauren wouldn't steal a few bucks and Mike wouldn't take a risk with gambling, promising to bring home twice the amount that he took.

"Lauren, a dónde te gustaría ir si hiciéramos un viaje juntos?" asked Clara, inviting her daughter to make plans with them. (where would you like to go if we took a trip together?)

"Nueva York. I wanna get out of the heat someday and watch the snow fall," she mused, turning back to smile at her parents. "Oo! I wanna live there, too."

"Vamos a Nueva York?" Clara asked Mike, taking Lauren's wishes into consideration.

"It's so expensive there. We can only afford so much while we're still paying off the house," Mike shrugged lightly, offering a sad smile. Then he said his signature phrase that always meant 'no', "I'll see, maybe one of these days."

Lauren rolled her eyes, seeing right through his answer. As they discussed it some more, a vibrant yellow object lying on the floor caught Lauren's eye. Right next to it was a box sitting in front of a house, kept away from the doorstep. Lauren raced ahead, realising it was a Gameboy and a bunch of old comic books apparently nobody wanted. Her parents were now far behind, unaware that Lauren was already down the block, inspecting the Gameboy to see if it still worked. When it turned on, Lauren jumped for joy and almost cheered to her parents about the new video game she'd just found. Something stopped her.

A dark blue mustang sped down the street recklessly, its tires coming to a screeching halt before a young man stuck the upper half of his body out of the passenger side window, spraying bullets aimlessly at a house that sheltered his enemies who had it coming. There were people sitting out front on lawn chairs, sharing some beers one moment then dropping dead on the grass the next. As more people ran out of the house to retaliate with their guns, Lauren looked back with great fear, worried for her parents and wanting to be close to them because she was scared of being in the middle of a shoot-out they had no part in.