The summer had come and gone, without any memories or stories to share. All that mattered now was going back home; packing and getting my ass back to college for my last year. I had been away from home the entire summer, driving from town to town shopping around for a grad school that would suit me. I had two weeks to get home to Georgia, pack my stuff and back to school in Texas in time for classes to begin. I was currently staying in Louisiana with my Aunt Mae, really getting stressed out from the lack of planning I had done for the entire summer.
"It's only two weeks until school Aunt Mae! I haven't found a grad school that I like, I haven't packed my stuff, and I'm just not ready to leave school yet!"
"Good gracious child, calm down!"
"I can't!"
I was pacing back and forth on the front porch while Aunt Mae was sitting in her rocking chair, mending my jeans. She was an old and wise woman, only a few years older than my mom was. Her husband Rick had died last year, so now she lived all by herself in this big house out in the country. It was late August, and it felt like it with the humidity and the heat that seemed to rise up from the dirt.
"God! Can't it rain or something? I'm hotter than a forest fire."
It was night, which caused the heat to cool just a little, but the humidity stayed the same.
"Don't blame the heat for your problems now, child. It ain't done nothin' to you."
"I'm sorry Aunt Mae, it's just that I'm so frustrated!"
I stood still a while and placed my hand on my forehead to help me think.
"I'm just going to have to go home and tell mama that I didn't find a grad school that I liked."
"It'll be all right child, you'll see."
"What are you preaching about now aunt?"
"Things always work out the way they're supposed to in the end, you'll see."
She handed me my jeans that were now mended. I took them from her and mumbled a polite thank you before I ran up stairs to pack my bags. It dawned on me that what I was dealing with didn't seem like a lot to someone else, but then that someone else didn't know my mama.
***** "Jasmine, your home!"
Mama came rushing out of our house, too excited to even think about letting the screen door slam shut behind her-something that annoyed the hell out of her.
"I'm so glad your home! How was your trip? The last time you called you didn't tell us what you thought about that school in Arkansas."
"Well, mama, the truth is I..."
I couldn't finish my sentence. Standing in our doorway was a man I didn't recognize. He was taller than mama by about a few inches, I couldn't tell much about him, but I could tell he had short hair and he was smiling. Mama must have seen the reason why I stopped talking because she immediately went into a panic.
"Oh! My goodness, where are my manners? Jasmine, this is Arnold Baker, he and his brother have agreed to stay and help out while your father is away in Kansas. He and Sean have been helping us out all summer and when Hank got the call..."
"What? Daddy is gone? When were you going to tell me this? And who is this guy mama?"
"Now honey, don't get upset. Your father's brother Jeff is in the hospital, he left yesterday to be with him. You were already on your way home from Mae's house when it happened so I had no way of telling you. Arnold and his brother Sean have been helping us out all summer since you were gone and your father needed the extra help with the new cattle coming in and everything..."
It took me a while to let it all sink in. Yes, I think mama did mention something about daddy needing some extra help, but I didn't think they were staying in our house with us.
"Mama, where have they been sleeping all this time?"