Chapter 3
Ms. Parker offered Norman a ride in the front seat of her van from the shelter, the kind of casual smile on her face that spoke of a deep-rooted generosity, a lifetime of giving outweighing taking. It made Norman skeptical, this sort of kindness, because when people offered you so much, they always expected something in return. He was a businessman, or a few timelines away he was, and accepting the cornucopia always had a catch. He kept his head angled down, shaking his head no with a humorless and polite smile, but May had none of it. “Well, I might’ve lied Norman, because there’s a bunch of donated shit in the back of my van I still need to sort out, no room for you back there even if you huddled into a ball. Looks like- “she patted the passenger seat, “you’re stuck with me, riding shotgun.” She winked; the same wink big sisters gave their little siblings when they were disobeying a curfew. Norman had never had siblings.
He cracked a lopsided smile that revealed his uneven row of teeth, and to May, this somehow made a youthfulness sprout from the man’s expression. Peter’s teeth were a little uneven too. She’d even asked him to consider braces at one point. It made both look rodent-like, the image of a grinning opossum coming to May’s forefront.
“Well, hop on in. We’ve got places to be.” He scrambled into the side door, quite literally hopping inside due to the just too tall height of the vehicle, the body of it shaking slightly from the force of his weight on the car seat. Glass bottles clinked together in the back as the van lurched, cardboard boxes slid, something wooden and chime-like emitting a hollow song. The sensory input made him impossibly curious. “What do you have back there?” He asked, brimming with interest over such an inconsequential topic, but keeping soft around the edges. Clicking the side button and bringing her low-end smartphone to life, May shook her head, crinkling her nose. “Ah, it’s nothing, just a bunch of stuff the city donated to the shelter. Clothes, shoes, some knick-knacks I’ll have to sort through to see if they’re worth anything. Nothing remarkable.” That might’ve been true, but it didn’t quell his interest any less. It reached a crescendo once she turned her whatever-it-was in her hand on. “What’s… what is that?” “What?” “In your hand, what is that?” “…my phone?” “that’s a phone?!”
May looked bewildered, and so did her accomplice, but for two wholly different reasons. ‘Why doesn’t he know what a smartphone is?’ she wondered. ‘What the fuck kind of phone is that?!’ he internally demanded. They each looked at each other like they had come from wholly opposite sides of reality, Norman with his eyes wide open as if to soak in any more interesting details, and May with one eyebrow raised.
Suddenly slicing through the tension, May laughed heartily, showing her own pearly-white teeth shadowed with yellow from a youth of smoking cigarettes under gym bleachers. Norman, still wearing a face full of now unbearable curiosity turned spoiled, laughed with her, though quieter and much more sheepish. Breaths coming in excitable little gasps, like a match lighting itself before swiftly snuffing out. He rubbed his hands together anxiously, mimicking the motion of washing one’s hands over and over until the sensation of preening himself brought his spiked nerves to a more manageable position. Calm down, calm down, please calm down.
“You alright?” Her voice dripped with worry, and it somehow made it all worse. He nodded frantically, not trusting his voice to come out leveled, if at all. May watched Norman with that measured concern again, making him hide his eyes from her as much as he could, trying his hardest to stuff all his anxieties behind the two-way mirror of his face. “Relax, bud.” She reassured, her hand coming up slow and steady to rest on his upper arm. He swallowed a mouthful of saliva, suddenly aware of the sweat collecting on his forehead, dripping down the length of his spine, tickling his skin underneath the hoodie. May turned her head about the van, seemingly searching before settling on her find, holding it up between the two of them. “Hey, Norman, what’s this?”
Norman jerked his head up, coming face to face with the object in her hand. His breaths still coming in stutters, he answered “That’s… that’s a… a trash bag?” “Yes! And what goes in trash bags?” Norman felt his hands become cold and clammy. “Trash.” He stated plainly. “Good, that’s exactly right.” She shook the bag open, sticking three empty soda cans inside from the floorboard. His breath felt even now, coming in slow, mechanical exhales and full inhales. The water leaving his lungs, and the smoke leaving his mind along with the fire that started it turning to flickering embers. After she filled the bag close to half full of soda cans and crumpled papers, along with an empty fast-food bag that must’ve been Peter’s given the scowl she gave the paper sack. Throwing the tied bag into the back, she turned abruptly to the wheel, the car rocking with the force. Turning the key into the ignition, the van jerked to life, rumbling and puffing exhaust into the cold autumn air.
“Ms. Pa- May?” She didn’t look at him as she was backing out, whole upper body swiveled to peer into her back window. “Yeah?” She replied voice tense from the strain of focusing on her rearview window panel. “Thanks.” The front of the vehicle facing the exit with it’s rusted stop sign, May shifted into third gear. “Ah, it’s nothing, I work in a place where I see that kind of stuff a lot. You’re a little high-strung, aren’t you?” Norman, now tired from the lack of panic-fueled adrenaline, responded with a shameful “I suppose so, it’s usually not this bad. With everything that’s happened recently, my nerves have been a little frayed.” May nodded like she understood, “I get it. New places, new people, it’s all stressful, even to me. God, I remember when I first moved here, I was a bit of a basket-case myself. You realize you have to make all new friends out of strangers and it’s just the worst thing. Get’s easier the more you do it, though.” Norman leaned his head against the window, all but hypnotized by the buildings passing by. “Which is why it’s so easy to make friends with you- I’ve had a bunch of practice.” She said, and he could hear the smile in her voice. “We’re friends?” He asked, close to bewildered at the bluntness of it. She chuckled to herself “well, I’d say so, unless you feel otherwise?” She prompted him, quickly and casually turning her head to his, only to re-focus on the red traffic light in front of her. He opened his mouth, collecting the strange swell of feeling in his throat, before replying, “We’re friends.” She didn’t physically smile, but her mouth had a natural upturn to make it look like she was. “Good, because I don’t just cart anyone around in this incredibly high-end, high-maintenance, top-of-the-line mystery machine, only my closest and most personal confidants.” As she said this, the van lurched forward, and he noticed the air conditioning did not work, and that the left windshield wiper was missing. He laughed, a sound that was airy, still lined with caution, but honest. “Thank you, May.” “Your very welcome.”