CHAPTER
ONE
∞
Tom and
Al
Carmen looked over at Tom and
thought to herself," What the hell is he wearing?” He was wearing dark
leather worn out pants and cowboy boots, the type of clothes that weren’t
befitting for such a warm and tropical climate. He acted really cool and
confident, which put a big hypocritical grin on her face. He walked over to the
T.V, all excited, talking to himself as he switched the TV channel to watch the
American sports channel. The game between the Lakers vs. the Nuggets were on
and he was really enjoying himself watching it. Apparently he seems to love
Colby Bryant.
"Is he human?"
"Who are you talking
about," Carmen asked with a broad smile on her face.
"Colby Bryant, of course!"
he replied feeling very good that she was enjoying his conversation. Little did
he know that she wasn't thing about what he was saying? The only thing she was
thinking about was the way he looked in his grey leather pants. She laughed
because the pants he was wearing looked like something his mother had handed
down to him. He was sweating so much that when she looked at his face it was
the sweat was flowing down his chin as fast as the ‘Hectors River”.
Tom twin brother Al was engaged to
Carmen's sister and he would come over to the house to have dinner with his
brother ever Sunday. Carmen's sister Marie was hoping that both Tom and Carmen
would fall in love, but the only thing Carmen could see was his sloppy
dressing. She looked at him having the fun of his life and wished that he would
stay home some Sundays so that she would not have to look at him across the
dining table.
"So when are we going to have
that first date Carmen?"
"Tom, how many times have I
told you that I have no intention of becoming your lover?"
"I am not asking you to become
my lover, nor my wife. Jees… I am just inviting you out to dinner. It is just a
date. I am not asking you to go to bed with me".
With a frown on her face, she
answered,” Tom, you disgust me! Have you no shame? Please stop bringing this
subject up because whatever you call it, I am just not interested".
Tom's brother Al looked over at him
and said," You know Tom...I really thing you should leave Carmen alone.
She is not interested, and besides, one person is already in the family".
Tom excused him and went to the
bathroom when he got back, Al was no longer at the table. “Marie where is Al?”
“Tom ask him, whenever you see him.”
“Is there something I should know Marie?” Tom
asked.
“Tom he
is your brother and just as Carmen tells me all of her dirty secrets, I am sure
you know a lot about Al that you are not telling”.
“Please do not accuse me Marie. Al and I might be
brothers but when it comes to certain aspects of his life it is totally off
limits to me and for peace sake, I do not pry”.
“Tom if you say so, but I strongly believe, “Like
brother, like brother”. Replied Marie.
“Marie what do you mean?”
“Tom I am sure you have heard the saying, “like
father, like son”. Well I am saying now, “like brother, like brother”.
“Marie I am very sorry, even though I do not know
what I am apologizing for”.
Suddenly the phone rang and Carmen
walked over to the table and picked up the phone.
"Hello! Oh No! Oh No!"
Marie looked over to where Carmen
was, "what is it Carmen?"
"It is Mom and Dad".
"What about Mom and Dad?"
"They are dead".
"Dead?"
"Yes, Mom died at home from a
heart attack and Dad died while he was calling 911". With a very pale look
on her face, Carmen dropped the phone and fainted. Tom walked over to where she
was lying on the floor, picked her up and took her to the sofa.
“Marie is this hoax?” Tom asked.
“Tom, something is really wrong, and
whatever it is I will soon find out.” She walked over to where Carmen was
picked the phone up and said , “hello!” then, “ Uncle Scott is that you?”
Uncle Scott on the on the other end
of the phone replied,” Yes Marie, this is your uncle Scott. What is wrong with
Carmen?
She is going to be okay. You know
how melodramatic she can always be.”
“Marie this is not melodrama.
Something has happened to your parents. They are both dead.”
“What do you mean dead by dead uncle”?
“My dear girl. I am so sorry to be
the bearer of bad news, but your mother died from a heart attack. You know
already that your dad heart wasn’t healthy. He could not take it that your
mother was not breathing and while he was on the phone with 911 he also had a
heart attack.”
“Uncle Scott Al and I will be coming
over immediately.”
She hang the phone up, turned to Tom
and said,” No Tom, it is not. It was Uncle Scott on the phone just now. He told
me that mom wasn’t feeling well last night when he stopped there for dinner, so
he just decided that he would spend the night there. I just cannot believe this
is happening.”
Tom asked Marie, “Where is Al by the
way?” with the hope of getting a response from her. She did not reply and he
asked again “Marie where is Al?”
Marie walked over to the couch where
Carmen was. Her sister Carmen looked so pale and lifeless. “Carmen, please do
not do this now. You have to be strong for both of us. Please Carmen, I need
you. I need you, do not get sick.” There was just no reply from Carmen. Carmen
kept staring at the ceiling without saying a word.
“What do we do Tom?”
“I do not know Marie. Why don’t you
find Al and ask him?”
“Al!” Tom called but no reply. “Is
Al still not back as yet?”
“Tom when you find Al, let me know”.
Marie then looked towards the door with a piercing sadness in her eyes. She
then turned and looked over at Carmen with tears in her eyes. “Now Tom do you
see why Carmen do not want to go out with you? Ever since Al and I started
dating, Carmen has seen how much I have changed. I am no longer the strong
vibrant person I used to be. She cannot stand to see what love has done to me.
I am no longer my own person.”
“Excuse me!” Carmen remarked loudly.
“What did you say?”
“Carmen you heard me.”
“Marie I am not even going to reply
to your remark. Now is not the time and the place for that, but you know what?
You let me into your business too much.”
“My heart is broken. My life will
never be the same again. How can Al be so wicked?” Marie whispered.
Tom asked again, “where is my
brother Tom?”
“Why don’t you ask him yourself?”
“If he is not here, how am I going
to ask him?”
“Ask me what?” Al replied.
“Where are you coming from Al?”
“Mind your own business Tom.”
“You know bro I always pretend that
I don’t notice that whenever I come over here you are missing for long periods
of time, but Marie really need you tonight and you were nowhere to be found.”
“I am a grown man and I do whatever
I want to, and go wherever I want to. I do not have to answer to anyone.”
“I am sorry if that is your
attitude, but Marie really need you now.”
“Tom what could she have needed me
so desperately for? Aren’t you and Carmen here with her?” Al looked over at
Carmen on the couch. “What’s wrong with her? Did she have too much to eat?”
There was a dead motionlessness in
the room as if everyone were frozen in time. Both Tom and Marie were too angry
to answer him. They were angered by his calm and sarcastic disposition. He was
beginning to get pissed off with impatience, but they were so angered by his
sudden disappearance that they totally ignored him.
Al asked again, “What’s wrong with
Carmen? Why does she look so sleepy?”
“If you must know, she fainted”, Tom
replied.
“Tom I was just waiting for you to
say something to me but, if your lousy, dirty brother did not tell you that
someone was pregnant for him, well then I guess he did not tell you that he
elope yesterday and marry that bitch. What makes it worse; he came back, had
breakfast with me and then told me that he was moving out. When I asked him why
he did such a hateful thing to me. He told me that he was not accountable to
me. And to think, he sat at the dinner table and acted as if nothing had
happened. If I was anything like that bitch, I would have poisoned him”.
“Oh my God, Al!” Tom shouted at his
brother.” What have you done? What have you done? How can you be so wicked? You
sure did not learn this from mom and dad.”
Carmen suddenly sat up in the couch,
“get the hell out of here Al before I tear you to pieces!”
“I come in peace just to get my
things Carmen, so there is no need for you to tell me to leave.”
“Just leave right now before I make
you sorry you had ever met my sister”.
Al stepped towards her angrily.
“Al get out of my face. You smell
like yesterday’s coffee hour. You smell like you climb straight from under you
bitch skirt. If Marie is afraid to tell you, let me do so. Take your things and
get the hell out of here!” Carmen ran into the bedroom, grabbed all of Al’s
clothes from the closet and threw them out the window.
“I am leaving. I am leaving. Marie I
will be back to collect my things.”
“Don’t worry Al; your things will be
on the sidewalk for you to collect whenever you want them.”
Carmen emerged from the bedroom, “Marie
you do not have to put them on the sidewalk. He can pick his things up outside
the window”.
Al walked out and slammed the door
behind him.
‘Oh Marie! I am so very sorry. I had
no idea. I had no…Idea,” Tom sighed in disbelief.
“Marie asked Tom, so…so... loyal
brother you really had no idea?” She held her head down and started to sob.
“Oh please Marie don’t blame me.”
Tom remarked. “Al has a mind of his own. He is not worth it, Carmen you are
crying over spilt milk.” He shook his head and thought to himself, “another
love story gone wrong for Al”.
“God forbid. That bastard is going
to have his day in court”, Carmen said.
“Marie this is the irony of life, let’s go
bury mom and dad. Remember you are not the only woman to ever have a broken
relationship.” Carmen comfortingly said.
“To think I called him last night
and he told me never to call his phone again as he is now a married man” Marie
replied.
She grabbed her handbag and said to
Carmen, “That two timing liar, and as to that woman, God will punish her and
she will certainly have her day in court. Let’s go.”
Tom had secretly loved Marie but
because his brother Al was in a relationship with her, he thought that if he
could only get the attention of her sister Carmen, she would be the next best
thing for him. He felt very disappointed and angry with his brother Al, but at
the same time hopeful. He felt that with time, he could go after Marie’s love.
Tom was very creative and talented. He was above
average intelligence. He had the ability to visualize, imagine, and make mental
transformations. His creativity kicked in as soon as he knew that Marie was no
longer dating his brother Al. His imaginative lust for her was overwhelming.
Marie never cared very much for Tom. She
tolerated him simply because he was Al’s only brother. His corny jokes around
the dinner table usually made her uncomfortable. She always thought that
whenever he laughed at his own jokes, he sounded like an old man. She also
hated the way he dressed. According to
her descripting of his dressing, he slopped his clothes on. He was always
mismatched as if while he was getting dressed, he was chased by an armed robber
and had to grab the closest thing on his way out.
It was July 7th and the warm and
tropical trade wind mild temperature was unusual for this time of the year. The
temperature was more befitting for a wedding instead of a funeral.
Marie and Carmen were so grieve stricken over the
sudden death of both parents that they needed all the help they could get to
make the funeral arrangements. Tom not only volunteered to help with the
planning, but also with the cost of the funeral. Tom promise them that he would
never disappoint them. He would stand by them through all the planning as long
as they needed him.
Marie’s parents were farmers. Over the past several
years before their death, there were terrible droughts and most of what they
farmed had dried up. They were no longer able to live off the land and the
little that they saved, they had to use for their daily living expenses. Carmen
never got a formal education and was a seamstress. Marie was an elementary
school teacher and earned a meagre monthly salary for which she could not save
much.
Tom looked over at Marie and thought to himself
that no condition is permanent. A few weeks before, he thought that one day Marie
would be Al’s wife and there was not a chance in hell for him. He softly
whispered, “Hot mama, here I come. Darn…I know this is going to be a challenge,
but girl you had never seen the real me before. I will do whatever I can to win
your heart one day Al was blocking my way to your heart. I am quite confident
that one day…one day soon I will find a way to unblock it”.
Tom was a professional mechanic. He received his
B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from the Caribbean University and was employed
as a mechanical engineer in a fortune 500 company. He was financially stable which gives him an
edge over his brother Al. Al was also a school teacher and did not earn much
wages.
He
planned to do whatever he could for her and he would never ask her to
reciprocate to his kindness. All he wanted for the time being is for her to see
him as a caring gentleman and not as Al’s brother. He was more than willing to
wait for her as long as it takes. However, he wanted nothing more than for her
to see him as that man she could fall in love with.
Marie and Carmen had no relatives. Their parents
moved to the North and they never kept in touch with their family. Marie and
Carmen parents told them the story of how both families were at war over farm
lands before they got married. Once their parents found out that they were in
love, they got very angry. One night after a bitter argument between both
families, they got into their car, drove to the north and never returned.
Al never cared, but Tom thought that now that
both parents were dead, his first order of business would be to help them
locate their family.
As before, Tom went to visit Marie and Carmen and
to have dinner with them. Once he entered the house, he was taken aback by the
lifelessness of both women. There was so much sadness in the house that he just
did not know how to handle such a somber situation. The both had not washed the
dishes or even cooked since the death of her parents. Marie was not only
grieving over the death of her parents, she was also hurting from Al’s
heartlessness. Tom saw this as an opportunity to help out in whatever way he
could. He offered to cook for them, they objected and he insisted. He went to
the market and bought food stuff that he prepared to last both sisters for a week.
It was summer and as a teacher Marie was out of
school. She refused to leave the house. Tom would stop at the house every
evening after work and all Marie did was to cry. She was not taking calls from
her friends as she was very embarrassed. She refused to see that her friends
wanted to be with her because of the loss of her parents. The only two people
she was willing to be around were her sister Carmen and Tom.
Tom walked into the living room and Marie was
lying on the floor crying. He just could not tell if her tears were that of
loneliness for Al or for her parents. Her hair was unkempt and she was still
wearing the crushed dress from two days earlier. She looked as if she had not
left the living room to even take a bath the past few days.
“Marie are you going to kill yourself?” Tom
exclaimed.
There was a sudden burst of tears from Marie.
“Marie it is now four months since the death of
your parents and Al have been out of your life for four months now. Don’t you
think you should start to pull yourself together now?”
“Tom how can you ever understand?”
“Marie, please let me understand”. Tom looked at
her. “Marie you are crying so much that if I did not know you well, I would
think you were born with tears. Please stop crying”.
Marie cellular phone rang and she clicked on the
end button and put the phone down on the couch next to her. The phone kept
ringing several times, she ignored the rings. Tom picked the phone up. “Hello!
This is a friend of Marie. Is there anything I can help you with?”
“This is Mr. Phillips, the principal of Portmore
Elementary School. Marie was scheduled to start teaching summer school on
Monday and she did not show up and she did not call. I had been trying to reach
her but she has refused to take my calls”.
“Mr. Phillips, Marie is not feeling well, but I
will talk to her and have her call you back”.
“Please do, Mr.…?”
“Tom is the name Mr. Phillips”.
“Tom I a counting on you. If I do not hear from Marie
this afternoon, I will just have to assume that she has decided not to work for
this school any longer”.
“Mr. Phillips, I give you my word, you will hear
from her this afternoon”.
Tom put the phone down and sat next to Marie on
the floor. ”Marie, we need to talk…Marie we need to talk”.
“Tom, please I do not want to talk right now”.
“We do have to talk Marie”.
“If you say so”.
“That was Mr. Phillips on the phone earlier. I am
sure you are already aware of that. He wanted to know why you did not show up
for summer school. It’s about time you pull yourself together”.
“Tom I can only take it one step at a time. It
will take time.” Marie was getting very dependent on Tom. She was beginning to
admire his strength and sincerity. However, she was so fragile that she did not
give second thought to her dependence on him.
“Do this for me Marie. Call Mr. Phillips and let
him know you will be there tomorrow. I drive you to school and pick you up
tomorrow afternoon”.
“Tom you are so kind. What could I have done
without you?”
Tom smiled, “Marie you are a special person and
there is nothing I’d rather do than to be a friend to you”.
“Tom I will take your advice and go to school
tomorrow”.
Tom was a recreational dancer and several times
in the past, Carmen and Marie and watched him perform daces for schools and
churches. His dance partner had broken her ankle and would not be able to dance
for a while.
Tom kept his promise. He dropped Marie at school
and picked her up. She seemed much calmer and he was very pleased that for once
in four months there were no tears.
“Marie, my dance partner is out sick and will not
be able to dance for a while. I was just thinking that this would be a good
therapy for you if I could teach you the dance steps and you fill in for her
while she is sick.”
Marie’s pitiful situation was becoming unbearable
to Carmen and she was no longer spending as much time as she did in the past
with her. It was as if she was beginning to give up on her. Tom on the other
hand was falling more and more in love with Marie, and she was getting more and
more dependent on him, or at least so she thought.
“Tom you know I cannot dance”.
“Marie I will teach you. This will be a good
therapy to take your mind off all your problems”.
“Tom, I really don’t know what direction my life
is going into. I sometimes feel like giving up”.
“Marie, this is not what your parents would have
wanted, and as for Al, he is not worth it. I am so angry with him that I have
only spoken to him once since the death of your parents”.
“But Tom you and your brother used to be so
close. I would never want to come between both of you”.
“Marie just because I never talked about it
before, but Al had always been a spoilt and selfish person. You are not the
first woman’s heart he broke and I am darn sure that he is also going to break
this other woman heart. I am just worried that all of this will catch up with
him later”.
On the way home from school their conversations
were very relaxing and refreshing. Marie seemed calmer than she had been the
past four months. She was even smiling. She
smiled at him and he was blown away by the beauty in her soul. Her teeth shone
at him like diamonds, and he was completely aw struck by the beauty of her
smile.
Tom moved to the
passenger side of the car and open the door for her she go out, walked to the
front door and open it. He stayed back to take groceries out of the car as he
had planned on cooking dinner for her. Suddenly he heard a shot rang out from
inside the house. He ran towards the house and saw his Brother Al standing in
the doorway with a gun in his hand.
“Al what have you done?’ shouted Tom in disbelief.
Al moved the gun towards his head and fired a shot.
Tom looked down on the floor and there was Marie bleeding
from her chest. He picked up her head and cuddled her in his lap. She grasped
and her head fell back. She was dead. He looked over at his brother lying on
the floor and it was quite obvious to him that his brother was also dead.
“Why? Why?” Tom shouted. He looked next to his brother’s body
and there was a note next to him. He picked it up and read it.” Dear Carmen and
Tom. Please forgive me for what I have done today. I had wronged Marie. I made
a horrible mistake. I cannot forgive myself and I know she will never forgive.
I just killed my wife with a blunt object and I do not plan on spending the
rest of my life in jail without Marie in my life so we will spend eternity
together”.
“No! No! No! His obstreperous cry was heard
throughout the entire neighborhood.
He then
composed himself, called 911 and then called Carmen.
Carmen
was distraught so he drove her home. She offered him one drink and another and
another. By the end of the evening they were very intoxicated. They started
kissing and there kissing led them to her bedroom. The following morning they
both woke up in the same bed.
Carmen
was in disbelief when she woke up and found Tom next to him. She threw his
clothes at him and drove him out of her house.
.
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