Twice Retired Read Online Free PDF

down by misfortune. “Who the hell are you to
come stumbling into my house- my
house - at this time of the night? If you want to live
here you little bastard, you better show some gawd-damm respect ! You’re worse than you father
ever was. Look at the time!”
    “Mom,” Kenny said, a little loudly to
overpower the blaring television, “it’s seven-thirty.”
    “Don’t you get smart with me, you
little bastard. Can’t you read the clock up there? It’s
midnight.”
    Kenny was still standing in the
doorway. The sun was falling behind him, just below the tattered
roof of the house across the street. He stared at the V.C.R.while
he eased the door closed. It flashed 12:00, like in every stand-up
comic’s joke in the 80’s and 90’s. “Mom, you still haven’t reset
it. Remember the power went out yesterday?”
    “Don’t you dare call me a liar. It’s midnight. You’re
grounded.”
    Kenny was stealthily calm. He had
mastered these confrontations. They were rare at first, but she had
excelled into her alcoholism like no other undertaking in her life.
She was perfect at it, an expert. And Kenny somehow lived with it.
His mother still didn’t look at him, or she might have seen the
shredded sunlight cutting through the tiny oval window in the front
door. She sat in darkness, with only the light from the television
preventing her from being wholly sheltered from the mess in her
living room, the perpetual surrounding chaos that had symbolized
her new life.
    Kenny calmly walked over to the T.V.
and clicked it to channel 14, the weather channel. The time ticked
in the bottom left corner. He smartly pointed at it, then he walked
away.
    “You know,” she shouted, “if you
weren’t so lazy, you could set the clock for me.”
    He replied with silence, then silenced
the silence. “If you weren’t drunk all the time, I could show you
how to do it yourself.”
    She didn’t see him swipe the
cigarettes. The open carton on the end table was only missing three
packs, and right before her very eyes another pack disappeared-
except her eyes weren’t in focus. She could barely see the T.V. But
she was listening.
    He walked down the hall and popped his
head in his sister’s room. “Hey kid!”
    “Hi Kenny.” She said excitedly. Her day
brightened. “Wanna play with me?”
    “Maybe a little later, Jenny. I’m gonna
hang in my room for a while. Did you eat today.”
    She continued playing with a pair of
buxom blonde dolls and nodded in the affirmative.
    “You sure? Because I can make you
something.” He said.
    “I’m okay, Kenny.”
     
    He was lying on his bed, smoking a
Camel and comtemplating the weird things that go on when you’re
trying to live a life in a world full of varied emotions. He kept
focusing on the situation with the Websters, and couldn’t help but
be intrigued by what it was that made the old man so desperate as
to lie about his successes. It was a mystery.
    His door swung open. His mom stood
angrily akimbo and snarled. “Make something to eat for Jennifer.
And that girl called again.”
She swung around and slammed the door behind her. She didn’t say a
word about the cloud of stolen smoke that hovered over his
bed.
    Kenny reached over and dialed the
phone, cursing his mother for forgetting about her little girl for
more than likely all three meals of the day. He spoke to the phone.
“Hi, is Brianne there?” He waited patiently. “Hi, Brianne. It’s
Kenny.
    “I told you to stop calling me. I’m
telling you again. Stop calling me.”
    “But Kenny…” a frail broken voice
uttered through the phone.
    “But nothing. I don’t want anything to
do with you.” He knew she’d shift into another gear.
    Her voice turned sinister. “You know,
Kenny, every guy in school wants me.”
    “Well, I’m sure if they’re patient,
they’ll all get their shot before we make it to
high-school.”
    “You know that someday, I will get you,
right?.”
    “Not me, sugarpop.” He hung
up.
    That was