Opalescence

The path to the building was bumpy and exciting, as it had always been. The sound of tires over gravel, mixed with the whooping of a suburbia-grown "cowboy" blurting the usual nonsense of rodeos and Southern romance out of the Cadillac's radio, left me with an almost unnatural sense of peace. A split second after the wheels on the vehicle had stopped turning, I sprang from the backseat and sprinted the small remainder of the driveway to the front door of the drunkard lair. Both of my arms strained as I pulled at the metal obstruction, the only thing keeping me from the happiness on the other side, until it swung open and I darted through. I stopped instantly after I passed through the doorway. I stood in silence, my eyes wide with excitement and my heart eager with anticipation of the oh-so-glorious recognition and overwhelming praise I was about to receive.


There was nothing. The sounds of the usual patrons echoed throughout the brightly lit building, their drunken laughs and overly aggressive roughhousing that I had grown so accustomed to now sending shivers down my spine. I spun around as I heard a pool stick clash with a cue ball, my eyes quickly fixing on the pool tables near the back of the hall. The chills down my back quickly became a sickening churning sensation in my stomach as I watched a cue ball roll down the table closest to me. Easing away from the table, tears puddling in my eyes as fear began to overtake me, I crept backward toward the desk at the opposite side of the building. As my hands made contact with the torn tarp-like cover on the desk behind me, I heard the cash register at my back slowly sliding open to receive its payment for another day well wasted. Tears streaming down my cheeks, I bolted out the door and back into the long gravel driveway outside. I tried as best as I could to calm my shaking hands as I noticed that the Cadillac was missing, along with the people I thought had come with me. A tapping on the window of the store behind me soon caught my attention and I slowly turned around, picking and biting at the skin around my fingernails. I peered through the window for what seemed like hours, slowing time itself to a halt with the fear of what I may see. My stomach jolted as I saw a figure pass from left to right through the makeshift curtains leading to the back room. I pulled at the metal door  again and after much struggling, made my way back through the doorway and toward the back room. It was difficult to keep what I thought was a safe distance from the cash register to my left and the bathroom doors to my right as I slowly made my way to the blankets hanging from the back room doorway.Taking a deep breath, I separated the blankets and stepped inside. My eyes scanned the room with haste and skepticism until they landed on him.



There he was in his motor oil spotted blue-gray uniform, sitting in the same chair in front of his kitchen table as he always did. Through the smoke coming from the stove in this dimly lit room, I saw him patting his knee and smiling at me. I felt as if I should be afraid but I wasn't. I climbed onto his knee and wrapped my arms around his neck, planting my face against his shoulder and sobbing all of my fears away. His rough hand patted me on the back and I could instantly feel the tears drying on my cheek. I leaned back and grinned as I ruffled his thin white hair. He returned the favor and as he laughed I smelled the alcohol on his breath. I stared into his opalescent eyes for a moment before slowly leaning back in, rubbing my tear stained cheek against the graying stubble on his neck one last time..