Living in a Small Town

 

Darren waited for three days before he asked about Rita again. He did his best to keep it as nonchalant as possible, but Tommy figured it out almost instantly. "Have you got the hots for Captain Nudeebutt's Auntie Rita?"

"No, I do not have the hots for her, you hormonal little hound dog," Darren denied as he watched the teen boy hook up the big screen tv and game machine he could swear he never agreed to buy but here they were. "Hook up your arcade thing and mind your mouth around your elders," he added for good measure.

"Yes sir, Uncle Darren," the boy laughed.

"Not that I'm interested, but you say she's your brother's aunt, not yours?"

"Not that you're interested, but she used to live next door to him when he was still with his bio family, the ones that got blown up in the fire that did all that damage to his back. That's about all I know about her, but I can ask Mama Stan to talk to you about her next time you come over for dinner."

"I'm not that interested," Darren obviously lied. "And I owe your folks enough already; I don't need to keep coming over and eating your food too."

"Mama Stan says man does not live by fish sticks alone," the teen quipped.

"I eat more than fish sticks," Darren defended. "It's just they're kind of a comfort food that's all wrapped up with that kitchen upstairs. I remember being your age and my mom making me and my brother fish sticks for dinner while we listened to the music from the pool hall downstairs."

"I think it's awesome that you lived over a swimming pool, but didn't you ever get tired of that smell from the chlorine water?"

"It wasn't a swimming pool," Darren laughed. "Don't you kids these days know anything about games that don't go beep beep beep?" Darren suddenly gasped and said, "Holy Cheez Whiz, I sound old." The installation of the game system was delayed for several minutes as Tommy rolled around on the living room floor wheezing and laughing and mumbling about the divine nature of artificial cheese products. "Ok, ok, it wasn't that funny, you brat. I swear your giggle box gets turned over more than the little guy's."

"Giggle box?" Tommy wheezed and started laughing again.

"Come here, bud," Darren told him seriously after a moment. "Sit down here beside me on the couch. I'm not flirting or anything so you don't have to worry about that, but I would like to have a serious talk with you."

"Okay, Uncle Darren," the teen agreed and sat on the second-hand sofa Darren had gotten from a thrift store down the street.

"Now, I know I'm not real family, but I've noticed some things that I would kind of like to know more about if you wouldn't mind telling me. You have every right to tell me to butt out and mind my own business if you don't want to talk about it, though."

"You might not be real family on paper, Uncle Darren, but you feel like family in my heart," Tommy assured him. "I never had an uncle until I moved here, and the day I did, my uncle became my new dad, so the job is all yours now."

"I'm really honored by that, kiddo," Darren told him solemnly. "But you still don't have to talk about this if you don't want to. I've gotten the impression from things that have been said, and things that ain't been said, too, that little Kaden had a pretty shi… umm crappy life before all of you found each other."

"You were right the first time, Uncle Darren, it was shitty. Just don't tell Mama Stan I said that. Dad won't care, I don't think, but Stan would have a coronary," Tommy laughed.

"Well, you can use mature words around me if you want, up to a point," Darren told him. "I catch you dropping an f bomb and I will walk you back home by pulling your ear the whole way, and then I will tell your dad and Stan both what you said."

"Yes sir," the teen gulped. "No F bombs." He then proceeded to tell the generalized version of Kaden's life history to the man.

"Yeah, that's basically what I've heard from your family and the folks around town," Darren confirmed.

"Then what did you want to talk about?" Tommy asked.

"Well, as I said, I knew he came from a pretty bad background, but I'm starting to think he wasn't the only one," Darren said softly. "I also don't think you've told anybody except maybe that boyfriend of yours what it was really like for you growing up. He might not even know all of it, I would bet."

"Don't tell nobody, please?" Tommy begged. "Kady's still little, and he needs the attention and love more than me."

"I don't think that's true, but I won't tell anyone anything you don't give me permission to say," Darren promised.

"Kaden had it a lot worse than me, anyway, Uncle Darren. He got beat and stuff; all I got was told I was never going to be good enough and would never amount to anything. I didn't get hit until that day me and Tay got caught in my room. We had all our clothes on, I swear, but we were kissing."

"Abuse is abuse, sweetheart," Darren said with a hug. "But speaking of your brother, should we see what he's doing upstairs? I didn't realize he had gone up there."

"Oh, he's just making cookies," Tommy dismissed. "He learned from his Auntie Rita."

"I thought you didn't know anything about her," Darren smirked.

"I know what Kady's told me," Tommy shrugged.

"Stop calling me Kady, or you don't get no cookies," the little boy in question ordered as he stood at the bottom of the stairs. "Now can somebody please come up here and get them out of the oven. I'm not allowed to do that part, 'cause I might burn myself, and 'cause I can't reach the counters without climbing on a stool, which I can't do if I'm holding something."

"On my way, little cookie magician," Darren called out. "Your brother can stay here and finish hooking up this… whatever this thing is."

"It's a Playstation," both boys said in unison.

"Yeah, that tells me a lot," Darren said, rolling his eyes. "How did you make cookies out of the nothing I got in my kitchen, little angel?"

"You had sugar, butter, and flour," Kaden answered easily. "Sugar cookies. Simple."

"Wait, that sugar was for my coffee," Darren whined.

"Yeah, you might need to go to the store. I can go with you so you get the right stuff," Kaden offered.

"I might need your Mama Stan to go with me so someone can help me pay for it," Darren mumbled. He did like the cookies, though.

"Auntie Rita teached me how to make these," Kaden explained. "She's old like you, so she needed help around her house. We made pretty stickers to put on some furniture one time, and then we painted it with this clear stuff that was really stinky, but it dried really pretty. It got burned up in the fire, though. I miss getting to go over and help her all the time, but she lives with Aunt Flowery now, so she don't need as much help, plus she works at Poppa's sheriff office. She talks on the phone to people that need help 'cause she used to have a job talking on the phone a lot."

"She used to have a what now?" Darren questioned.

"I don't know all about it because it was before I moved next door to her, and I think it might have been before I was even born, but I heard Daddy and Mama Stan say she's got a really good voice for talking on the phone from doing it so much before," Kaden said with that honesty of little kids, who don't realize how much they are saying without speaking the actual words. "I could have told everybody she had a nice voice. Sometimes she can just say my name and it feels like I'm being hugged even before she cuddles me."

"I completely agree with you, little man," Darren said with a smile. "I thought I recognized her voice the first time I heard it in person."

"You know Auntie Rita?" Kaden asked excitedly.

"Well, in a round about kind of a way, I think I do sort of know her," Darren admitted with a blush.

"EEWWW, it's a growed up thing, ain't it?" Kaden squealed. "Daddy always gets red in the face like that when Mama Stan flirts with him. Mama only does that when Daddy says something naughty in front of other people."

"Yeah, this is a growed up kind of thing," Darren agreed, blushing even more. "So, you just forget all about it, and don't tell nobody, especially your Auntie Rita. I'm sure she's got a husband or somebody special that wouldn't want an old creep like me nosing around her."

"EEWWW, you want to smell her? That's gross," Kaden said followed by gaggy noises. "You're weird, Unca Darry. I'm going to go see if Tommy got the games working yet. I'm getting gooder at the drivey games than he is."

"It was a figure of speech, you little imp," Darren corrected quickly. "I just meant she don't need.... Never mind, just go play your driving games with your brother. Wait a minute, you said she lives with Aunt Flowery. She's not a… does she have a girlfriend?"

"She's got lots of girlfriends now, just like I got Janie, only Janie's more of a cousin now than a friend. She's still a girl, though," Kaden responded as he left the kitchen headed for the stairs. He was carrying a plate of the sugar cookies with him.

Darren sat in the kitchen for a moment or two longer, trying to figure out everything that he had heard from the little boy. When he did start back downstairs to keep an eye on them, he found Kaden sitting halfway down the stairs, scooting his butt down one step at a time. "What are you doing?" he asked the child.

"I didn't want to drop the cookies, so I'm going down the stairs safer," Kaden explained.

"You could have just asked me or your brother for help, you know," Darren pointed out.

"I wanted to do it myself," Kaden pouted. "I'm not a baby."

"No, you're not a baby, at all, but you must be tired from making the cookies, so is it ok if I carry you and you carry the cookies, just so Tommy can have some while they're still a little bit warm?"

"I guess that's ok," Kaden agreed as he was scooped up and brought the rest of the way down the stairs.

"OOO cookies!" Tommy squealed. "Thank you, Kaden," he added with a hug for his little brother.

"Unca Darry carried me down the stairs with them, so he kind of helped," Kaden said generously.

"Oh, yeah, I contributed," Darren said sarcastically. "Not like I paid for the groceries, or anything. Last of my sugar for my coffee," he added with a pout.

"I told him we could go to the store with him so he could get more stuff," Kaden informed Tommy.

"Hey, that's a good idea," Tommy agreed. "Darren could really use some pizzas in this place."

"This is my living room, not the community game room, you know?" Darren asked futilely.

"That's a great idea, Uncle Dare. I know lots of guys from the middle school that would come hang out here and play games," Tommy gushed.

"I bet some of the kids from my school would come, too," Kaden announced.

"Ok, I give up," Darren surrendered. "Remind me when your Mama Stan comes over to pick you two schemers up so I can ask my landlord if I'm zoned right for opening a video arcade in my back room."

"YIPPEEEE!" both boys yelled and hugged him tightly.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm a great guy," Darren said rolling his eyes. "I think you two could sell ice cubes to people living at the North Pole."

"Does Santa need ice cubes?" Kaden asked wide eyed.

"I'm sure the elves will get him some, if he does," Tommy said sincerely. He then turned to Darren and said, "Now, about those pizzas…."