DARLYNN - A serial novel by Dale W. Johnston - Chapter 14
by dalejohnston on Jun.05, 2010, under Fiction & Fantasy, Literary Arts
Click HERE for the chapter index.
“Schizophrenia is a successful attempt not to adapt to pseudo-social realities.” - R. D. Laing
Darlynn awoke in her pile of blankets, freshly washed the day before by Nadine. She was hungry. Breakfast consisted of Spam and cold corn from a can, which was brought the day before by Nadine. Nadine had become Darlynn’s source for all things from companionship to sustenance.
Darlynn spoke out loud to herself. “What day is it?” Thursday. The last Thursday in November. Thanksgiving.
Nadine would not visit today. Her father scheduled Thanksgiving dinner and invited his friends, his brother, and a few of Nadine’s cousins. Nadine would be expected to assist with preparations and clean-up, and wouldn’t be able to break away to spend time with Darlynn. Darlynn couldn’t be invited to Nadine’s for dinner, of course. This would be Darlynn’s first Thanksgiving alone.
The Internet wouldn’t be available for five more years, not to mention the fact that Darlynn had never seen a home computer up close. Cellular phones were not yet broadly available. With no television, no telephone, no other connection to the outside world, Darlynn was truly alone. Her only window on the world, a portable radio, had been shattered to bits by Dirk’s head only a few days before. “Darlynn, I’ll gitcha a new one as soon as I can,” Dirk had promised. The new radio had not yet materialized.
A slight wind blew outside. Clouds gathered. After finishing her Spam and corn, Darlynn drifted off to sleep. She dreamed about the child growing inside her womb. What would he or she would be like? What kind of life would her child have? What did the future hold? These questions plagued her and haunted her dreams. After her canned meal, Darlynn drifted off to sleep, then later awoke to the sound of rain falling on the metal roof of the school bus. Absent external stimuli, her thoughts ran wild. She thought of her mother, her older sister, and the intellectually-challenged younger brother she only knew briefly before he was placed in foster care. She thought of Dirk. “He’s a jerk,” she thought to herself silently. “Dirk the Jerk.” She giggled to herself quietly at the coining of the phrase. Although deeply disappointed in Nadine for being unwittingly taken by Dirk, Darlynn did not harbor any resentment towards Nadine. Nadine was innocent.
Time crept by in the absence of activity, giving way to thoughts of suicide for Darlynn. She desperately clung to the hope that things would improve… that she would wake up and find herself back in her warm bed at home without a baby growing in her abdomen. If she were to kill herself, how would she do it? Slit her wrist? She didn’t even have a knife sharp enough to cut meat, let alone her wrist. No buildings to jump out of. No poisons to ingest. Nothing. No choice but to allow life to continue.
What time was it? The ancient wind-up alarm clock displayed 3:00 in the afternoon. Then 7:00 in the evening. Then 9:30. Then 11:00 at night. Dark, except for light from the two bluish mercury vapor lights illuminating the bus yard. The now dented space heater clicked and hummed, keeping Darlynn’s living space on wheels warmer than the outside, although still not exactly warm.
Now 11:05. Darlynn drifted back to sleep, and dreams of the past filled her sleep. Her mother… the smell of cigarettes and burnt coffee in the morning… her sister who was always there to look out for her, even when her mother was too preoccupied with life to care… school and her friends there… biscuits and gravy… her soft, comfortable bed… childhood. She woke up. “Damn… it’s going to be 1990 in just over a month. What will the 1990s be like?” she though to herself.
* * *
Tuesday, June 1, 2010. The day after Memorial day, flags still flapping in the stiff breeze of the trailer park, now quiet at dawn, except for the occasional car starting for a neighbor to leave for work. Then, quiet was suddenly broken. “God… damn… it… to… hell… where… the… fuck… are… my… fucking… CIGARETTES???” Each word rang out clearly and individually, as if William Shatner himself was giving a poetry reading. Darlynn stood in the living room of Nadine’s mobile home, naked, eyes puffy and red, her body slightly hunched over, her hair a rat’s nest, and sweat pouring off her her face. It was barely dawn. “Who the hell took my last pack ‘a cigarettes, goddamnit?”
“Darlynn, what’s going on? Do you realize it’s only 5:30 in the morning?” Nadine’s voice was froggy from being awakened but her question was asked as sweetly and politely as she could muster so early in the morning. Her teeth were still in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom, and the trim on her fuzzy robe, partially unstitched, was dragging on the ground like a feather boa. “Darlynn, how come yer yellin’? And how come ya ain’t got no clothes awn?”
Darlynn’s eyes were stormy and black; the effect intensified by runny mascara and maybe a slight black eye. “God damn it to HELL, Nadine, your fucking little brat took my cigarettes again!”
“Darlynn, HE AIN’T EVEN HERE! What are you talking about, woman?”
“Well then who the fuck took ‘em?”
“Darlynn, it weren’t me.” Nadine looked around the living room. “Where’s Harley?”
Darlynn’s eyes became darker and more sinister looking as she glared at Nadine. “God damn it, Nadine, yer aways blamin’ Harland for EVERTHIN’! It ain’t always his fault, you know!”
“Darlynn, what’r y’all talkin’ about?”
Suddenly, Darlynn charged at Nadine, knocking her against the thin wall of the trailer. Nadine’s back broke through the wall, and both women landed backwards on the floor of Nadine’s bedroom. “Nadine, why are you so hateful?” Darlynn commenced an angry rant as she straddled Nadine and began choking her. “Nadine, I know you always hated me! Why do you hate me? Why do you do this to me?”
A knock at the door startled Darlynn, and she abruptly stopped choking Nadine and looked at her own hands. She then looked at Nadine, who was now passed out on the floor.
“Yes?” Darlynn called out to the person at the front door.
“Police.”
“Fuck,” Darlynn muttered under her breath. “Just a minute!” she shouted cheerfully at the door. Darlynn grabbed Nadine’s jaw and shook it. Suddenly, Darlynn decided to speak in a low voice, almost a whisper. “Deanie, you gotta wake up, it’s the po-lice.” No response. “Fuck.”
Darlynn stood up and caught herself in the mirror on Nadine’s bedroom vanity. The mirror was cracked diagonally from corner to corner, adding to the effect. And no clothes. “Fuck!“
Another knock at the door. “Police!”
“Jist a minit!” Darlynn tried to sound as polite as possible. She wondered if the door was locked.
The next moment, the door flew open and two police officers were in the living room. Seeing Nadine prostrate on the floor, the broken wall, and Darlynn, naked and ridiculously disheveled, both officers simultaneously drew their weapons. Conveniently, Darlynn managed to pass out in a heap on the floor.