Spring Break!
Oscar never went anywhere but it was good just to have the time off. All too often he had heard people say what a pie job teaching was. He was in the thick of it and begged to differ.
Esther wanted to get to know more about this part of Kentucky. It was their intention to spend several days with a map, just driving around.
Oscar was just about ready to leave when that thunderous pounding came to his door.
He swung it open, “why can’t you ring the doorbell?” He pointed it out. “I do have one.”
Oat stumbled through the door, “Mr. Fan-see pants has ah door,” he hiccupped.
“Bell.”
“Are you drunk? You’ve lost some of your trash talk.”
He tried to grin sheepishly but instead ended up looking like someone had stepped on his toe. “Noooooo,” he waved at an invisible gnat that wasn’t buzzing around his head.
Oscar quickly text Esther to come over and to please hurry; the last thing he wanted was to be alone with his drunk brother.
When Esther got there, neither of the two men were sitting down. Oat didn’t even know she was in the world.
“Ya,” Oat pointed a dirty finger at Oscar as he tried to stand. “Rat-bassss,tard.”
“Excuse me.”
“Maw,” he hiccupped again. “Told me what ya DID.”
“And what did I do?”
“Ya tuk it all.” He batted at the invisible gnat again. “Ever-thang dad had, you tuk it.”
“Dad didn’t have anything to take, except debt. There was nothing to take.”
Esther text Chet and told him that Oat was at Oscar’s house and very drunk. They might need some help. Oscar watched her out of the corner of his eye as his brother raved on.
“Lie!” He screamed. “Pack ah lies. Maw told me ya left us pen-e-less, busted.”
“That’s not true.”
Oat pointed at him. “You calling maw a lar?”
“I’m saying someone doesn’t have their facts straight.”
“Ya big shot ain’t ja? This house, that truck ya got. Your fan-cie school.”
“And I paid for it all. Dad didn’t put one red cent toward any of it?”
“LAR!” He roared. “You tuk ever-thang.” He took a swing at Oscar but was too far away. The force of his own swing just about caused him to fall. “We strug-gle; while Mr. Big S-Shot lives,” he hiccupped again. “In style.” He pointed around the room, still not seeing Esther.
“Perhaps if you got a job and added to the income of your household, you and your family would have nice things.”
Oat took another swing at Oscar, still missing him. “Stands still, rat bassss-tard.”
“What did mom tell you I did?” Oscar was getting madder by the second.
Esther mouthed at him, ‘don’t get mad.’ He swallowed hard, trying to fight back his anger.
“Ya tuk all dad’s green.”
“Dad got two checks: social security and black lung. He kept the smaller of the two, the social security for things he wanted and gave the other one to mom.”
“LAR!”
“I’m sorry that you believe a false truth.”
Esther mouthed to him again, ‘breathe.’
He was trying. He almost sat down but Esther discouraged it.
“What do you want?” Oscar finally asked.
“Hon-est.”
“You are too drunk to know the truth.”
Oat lunged at his brother. Oscar was trying so hard not to get mad that he wasn’t paying attention to his brother’s features. Oat pushed him backwards on the couch. Esther; however, was paying attention. She was able to pull Oat off Oscar and pin him to the floor. Oscar’s nose was bleeding. She let Oat up once he stopped struggling. “Get out of my house. Don’t ever come back.”
Poetry & More 