Suzy’s Strange Saga

“…if you act now you’ll get a free…”

You groggily grab the remote to shut off the incessant noise of the Ground Zero commercial on the TV screen.

You grab your phone to check the time and see that once again you’ve slept through the morning as usual. You also see that Bobby tried to call you, but you’re still not in the mood to call him back. Though if you don’t secure a place to live you might not have a choice. Still as far as you know the offer to live at Julie’s is still good, you’re just not sure about how well that’s going to go over now.

While you’re trying to ponder your next move, you get a call. It’s Donna again. Might as well get this over with.

“Donna, this better be good, because you’re not exactly my favorite person right now.” You say answering the phone.
“Whoa! Hold on Suzy! Don’t hang up!” Donna exclaims.
“Say what you got to say.”
“Okay, look first of all I’m sorry about what you had to go through. I know that had to suck for you. I shouldn’t have convinced you to run anyway. It’s obvious now that was a stupid plan in the first place since I didn’t even have anything in the car. (Sigh) Last night when I was sleeping on a beer soaked couch in a trailer hiding out from the cops I sort of had a revelation of how my choices in life had lead me to that point. I also sort of realized that if I probably continue on this path it’s only going to get worse.”

That’s rather philosophical of your sister, and it’s enough to keep your attention.

“So I’ve decided that I need to do something with my life and make it better, so I got a job.” Donna says.
“A job? How the hell did you get a job so quick? Doing what?” you ask.
“I’m going to be a stripper at Kitty City! The owner was offering me a job yesterday and I already was getting tips from guys who mistook me for one of the strippers here anyway. So I figured why not? In fact I’m on break right now.”

Why are you not surprised?

Donna continues before you can even speak again.

“Now before you judge, starting a new life takes money and let’s face it, I don’t have exactly many useful skills that are going to earn me a lot of cash in a quick amount of time. I figure I can earn enough to save and figure things out as I go.”
“Hm, well that’s great and all, but why are you telling me all this?” you ask.
“Because this is my new start and like I said I feel bad about convincing you to go along with my plan yesterday. Besides, don’t you still need a place to stay? You can come live with me!”
“I thought I was already going to do that by moving in to Julie’s.”
“Nah, I’m not going back to Julie’s. Too much temptation to go back to my old ways there. I’m moving into one of the trailers at the trailer park.”
“Wait. You just started working as a stripper. How the hell did you manage to get a trailer already?”
“I secured one after…um talking with the park owner this morning. Look, that’s not really important right now. What is important is I got a deal on a fairly good one and it’s big enough for two of us. It might be a little rough going at first, but I anticipate after a few weeks of teasing these degenerates here, we’ll be living fairly comfortably, if not in the lap of luxury.”
“I dunno. While I’m still pissed about yesterday, it does mean a lot that you’re making this pretty generous offer. I don’t know about living in a trailer park though. I mean aren’t you worried about the kind of people there? In fact I can imagine a lot of the type that Kelly associates with come from there, do you really think its safe?”
“Safe as opposed to what? Growing up in our household? We had a fucking paranoid psychotic older brother, a sadistic bullying older sister and at one point a goddamn SERIAL KILLER uncle living in our house. At least the hostile rednecks around here won’t be living under our roof! Besides, it really isn’t as bad as you hear.”

You find that a little hard to believe considering you’ve heard more than enough stories about the trailer park outside of town. Donna might not think its bad, just because she was living there overnight.

“I just don’t know Donna. I mean I wasn’t exactly looking forward to dealing with the non-stop partying at Julie’s, but I’d at least feel a little safer there than I would at the trailer park.”
“Huh, don’t be so sure of that. Julie pretty much has gotten to the point where she has an open door policy to let any creepy weirdo that walks in off the street in the house. It’s actually amazing someone like Uncle Ed hasn’t come in and killed us all. Are you heading over there sometime today?”
“Well if I can secure a ride over there I will.”
“Okay, well if you do get over there could you let Julie know that I’m moving out? She’s still not answering her phone. I’m going to have to make arrangements to get my bigger things, but maybe you could help me get some of my smaller items when I get over there tonight?”
“Well, I suppose I could.” You say.
“Great. I knew I could count on your Suzy. (Sigh) You really are the good one in the family sis. It’s so unfair that life hasn’t been better to you. Once again I’m really sorry about what happened yesterday. It’s nearly time for me to go out there and shake my ass again so I gotta go. Just…think about what I said okay? If you change your mind about your future living arrangements just come with Tina and me when we go over to Julie’s tonight, or I guess if you’re really feeling adventurous you could always go over to the trailer park yourself. Just go to the owner’s trailer with the big signs around it and mention my name and he’ll let you in my new place. He’s sort of letch, but he’s old so he mostly confines it staring and making the occasional comment. Don’t worry about it.”

After another sincere apology about yesterday, Donna finally hangs up leaving you now with a new option.

Donna seems to be genuinely trying to change her life in her own way. You almost can’t believe it was Donna on the phone at all. Maybe some sort of pod person replaced her.

She also seems to be really making an effort to make things up to you, which is surprising as well. It’s always a rarity in your family when you actually try to help each other out.

Still, you’re not sure about this whole living in a trailer park business for several reasons, but you suppose you could give it a little thought at least. In any case, you need to get a ride to wherever it is you’re going to be heading to and that means seeing if your brother Peter is going to be just as accommodating as your sister currently is.

You head upstairs and knock on the door to the garage.

“Hey, um Peter? You busy?”

You don’t get an answer right away, but eventually you do after more knocking.

“Yeah, yeah, hold on!” Peter says before answering the door. He’s only peaking his head out, so it’s very likely he’s naked.

“Um, sorry to interrupt whatever it is you’re doing, but I need a ride to my new place.”
“I thought you moved out yesterday.”
“Yeah, there was a slight hiccup in the plan yesterday. Anyway, can you give me a ride over to my new place?”
“(Sigh) I’m kinda in the middle of recording something. I’m assuming you’re going to Julie’s?”
“Yeah…I think.” You say.
“You think? You don’t know if you’re going to live over at Julie’s place or not?”
“Well…Donna got a new place of her own and I’m still not sure if I should just move in with her yet.”
“Donna got a new…look you know what? I don’t give a shit about any of this.” Peter says and then closes the door.

You think that’s the end of it, but he opens it up again, but this time only his hand with some keys in it are coming out.

“I’m not your personal taxi service. Here, take my car and return it tomorrow or at least by Thursday. Now don’t disturb me again!”

You take the keys and Peter slams the door. This is probably the most helpful he’s been in…well ever.

You go back and repack some of your bags and drag them to Peter’s car. After loading everything up in the backseat you pull out of the drive way and wonder which way you should go.