Ok... I know.  I was supposed to be done with the story by the end of the month.  I plead guilty and hope the court will be lenient. 

Part 3:

As they drove onto the highway, Jason could hear rattling noises from the back of the pickup truck.  He looked back but it was covered by a plastic cover.

“Jason - what do you have in the back that’s rattling around?”

“Oh, it’s the ladder.  I’ve got a few cases of water, a bunch of toilet paper and a couple of boxes of book cases. It’s mostly stuff for the house.   You’re going to help me assemble those tonight. “

“Oh.. that sounds um.. wonderful.”

Jason chuckled - “it’s not that bad, honest.  With two people, the chores will go faster.  In the meantime, there’s a bunch of CDs in the glove compartment - why don’t you pick one and put it on?”

Calvin found a case of CDs.  As he flipped through them, he only recognized a few bands.  He was surprised to see jazz and classical albums as well.  He then came across some simply marked housed music. 

“Jason - what’s this house music?”

“Oh - it’s from a night club that I work at from time to time.”

Calvin inserted the CD and within seconds the pickup truck sounded like a night club.  He had to turn down the volume a bit.

Jason chuckled - “I guess that’s not what you had expected.”

“No, it’s fine.  It was just a bit too loud.  You worked at a club?”

“Yeah, it was just a part time job.”

“You know, back in high school,  I overhead some girls talking about you being at a night club.  I figured it was just one of those all ages event or maybe you snuck into a night club."

Jason smiled as he nodded his head to the throbbing beat.   “Well, my aunt is a part owner at a nightclub.  I worked there doing odd jobs in the kitchen or in the office.  Sometimes before the evening would start, I would help the DJ set up.  A couple of them made CDs for me.  Sometimes I would stay there till the morning to help clean up a bit. 

“I’ve never been to a club before.” 

“Well, it can get pretty expensive.  I love the music and club culture can be intoxicating.  Sometimes I think they exist just to make you feel important.  But it comes at a steep price.  Often at the end of the night, they would let me sneak into the dance floor even though I was underage.”

Calvin’s imagination started to wander with the thought of Jason dancing.   He looked over at Jason driving.  He just seemed so relax and the Ray-Ban sunglasses looked so good on him. 

“Do you go up to your cousin’s cottage a lot?”

“Not as much as before.  I used to spend at a few summers up there.  But I’m pretty busy now.  He uses it now mostly as a retreat to write or to relax.”

“Your cousin is a writer?”

“Yes, he teaches as well but he is also a writer.”

“I see.  It sounds like you spent quite a bit of time with him.”

“When my parents separated, I stayed with my cousin and my aunt.  He’s like an older brother to me.”

Calvin was surprised at what he heard.  Although he’s been spending a fair bit of time with Jason, they didn’t talk a lot about their personal lives.  He was also pleasantly surprised that Jason would share this with him. 

“I didn’t know about your parent’s separation.”  Calvin stumbled for the right words and silently cursed himself for being socially awkward.

“Well, some people know about it but not a lot.  I mean, there are a lot of separations and divorces so it’s not unique.  I just don’t talk about it.”

Calvin stayed silent for awhile and wondered what to talk about next. 

“Aside from putting together the book cases, what else do we to fix up?”

“There’s the usual cleaning of the yard.  We have to clean part of the eavestrough.  My cousin said he noticed a lot of water flowing out a week ago when he was up here.”

“Is it a big cottage?”

“No, it’s a small 2 bedroom bungalow but there’s good separation from the neighbours.”

Calvin paused, running out of small talk.  He was grateful that they were entering a small town and Jason chatted about some of the interesting places.  They soon pulled into a small restaurant. 

“Calvin - I hope you’re hungry.  The food is pretty good here and it’s not that expensive either.”

Calvin got out and slowly stretched.  It was a small hamburger place and it was packed.       
They got in line and waited to order. 

“Calvin, I would just go with the regular burgers and fries.  We always fuel up here before going to the cottage.”  The smell was intoxicating with beef, fries and a strong hint of bacon and fresh baked buns. 

Before long, they grabbed a couple of burgers, fries, onion rings and pop.  There wasn’t any space in the restaurant so Jason drove to a nearby park and sat down on a picnic table.  It felt like a picnic and reminded Calvin of his childhood.  

“So Calvin - are the burgers ok?”

“Yeah, they’re great.”

“That’s good.  You know, it’s kinda strange - I knew you in high school but we never really chatted or anything.”

Calvin paused, not sure how to respond.  “Yeah, I guess things change over time.  You always seemed to have lots of friends.”

“Well, yeah - in a way.”

“I thought you had a girlfriend too.  That cute Chinese girl - Elaine, she was in my Biology class in my last year.”

Jason chuckled “She wasn’t my girlfriend.  She’s actually a distant cousin.”

“Oh... I just thought...”  Calvin stammered again.

“Hey, it’s ok.  Elaine are I are very close.  Her parents are divorced so we sort of have a lot in common.  I can see why people would assume we were together. " Jason grinned.  “I won’t tell her what you just said.  I’m not sure if she’ll be flattered or annoyed at you."  With that, Jason gave Calvin a gentle punch in the shoulder.

Calvin chuckled.  He always liked how Jason made him feel so comfortable. 

“Are you all done with lunch Calvin?  I thought you weren’t that hungry!” 

“Yeah, I think I’m done.  Do you want the last bit of fries?”   Jason grabbed the remaining fries and  devoured them while Calvin watched in amusement. 

Calvin immediately started to nod off as they drove.  The farms and open country that rolled by their windows felt so hypnotic and peaceful.  Within minutes he was sound asleep.  Calvin didn’t even notice that Jason had quietly turned the vent away from him so he won’t catch a draft. 

Well, after seeing Colin barge ahead with his writing, I figured I should do something with half a month to go.  I wrote this based on that entry I did about writing in my other blog.  I have written a few paragraphs and will likely come back and tweak this eventually.  But for now, here it is.  I have no idea what the next part will be like.  I haven't written it yet. 

******
Calvin paced anxiously in the living room while waiting for Jason to pick him up.  This was the first time he had invited anyone over.  His parents had always been strict about having visitors.  But as he grew up, he realized his small townhouse was nothing to brag about.  He felt a bit ashamed of it when some of his more affluent classmates lived in bigger, newer and nicer houses. 

He remembered how big the townhouse seemed when they moved in here.  Calvin was almost 8 at that time.  That was almost 12 years ago.  Now the townhouse just looked small, old and dark.  Calvin started to pick up some old newspapers in the scattered in the living room.  His parents subscribed to 4 newspapers, including 2 Chinese newspapers.  He could never understand them.  They always got some sort of discount by threatening to cancel.   He grabbed the newspapers and headed to the kitchen.   He paused to open the windows in the living room wider.  He could still smell last night’s dinner. 

Calvin’s mom was slicing some vegetables and puttering about on the stove.  He could see a couple of packages of instant noodles.  His dad was filing his jar of tea with hot water from the electric thermos.  It was another thing Calvin never understood.  Why did his dad always drink tea out of a jar.  It was the same jar he would bring to work everyday along with some tea leaves.  Calvin cringed - he didn’t want his dad to look like those old Chinese men he sees in Chinatown. 

He quickly walked out of the kitchen before his parents could ask him to do something.
But it was too late.
 
“Ah Kay?  So how well do you know Jason?  What are his parents like?  You never tell us these things and yet you’re going to go to his cottage?”

“Dad, I’ve told you this already.  I’ve known him since my last year at high school.  He’s in my finance class.  He’s a good student.  We’re working on a project but he has to go up to his cousin’s cottage this weekend.  We don’t have a lot of time left to finish the project so he suggested that I come up as well.”

“Well, I’ve never heard you talk about him before.”

“Dad, I’m sure I’ve mention him a couple of times here and there.  Besides you’re so busy I’m not sure you might remember.”   Calvin started to get a bit impatient.

His dad continued with the questioning “What are his parents like?”  

“I’ve never met them yet.  They don’t live in the city.  He lives by himself.”

Calvin could hear his parents softly speaking in their native dialect.  They always did that when they didn’t want Calvin to listen in. 

“Do you have the address and phone number of his cottage?”

“Not yet dad, he said he would bring it over.  Besides I have my cell phone with me.”   Calvin suddenly remembered his charger and went back to his room to get it. 

“Ah Kay? Yeow tong mein lah.. (there’s noodle soup)”

Calvin smiled, his mom always called him by his Chinese name.   
Calvin responded “No thanks mom, I had a late breakfast.”   He could hear his parents settling in for lunch.

Calvin went to check his knapsack again.  He had an extra set of underwear, tshirt and socks along with a toothbrush, toothpaste, soap and a hair brush.  He also had his notes and folders for his finance class.  He was happy to be partnering with Jason.  Ever since Jason transferred to his class, he kept thinking about him all the time. 

© RawStories March 2010  (I've always wanted to do this.)