Unfinished Symphony by Jeffrey Allen White (ebook reader browser .TXT) 📕

Jim wanted to wait. Moreover, we waited and waited and... waited. When I finally tried to get pregnant, I could not even do that. “Laura grabbed a yogurt and sat across from Maryanne.

“I mean I really wanted children and Jim seemed to also. However, not then at least. I married him too fast. He was the handsome jock and I was the cheerleader. We were the best couple in our yearbook, “Voted most likely to…” Laura searched for the word.

“... divorce?” Maryanne jumped in. They both laughed and spend their day off just talking. The radio was on in the kitchen, and over the conversation, you could hear classical music. It always made Laura feel relaxed and safe.


Chapter 5

Ken welcomed the kid’s home from their respective carpools. He was glad he only had to pick up once every six weeks. Katie had been a part of this car pool and naturally, he just took over after she died.

“I will be gone for about an hour or so. I ordered pizza. The money and tip in on the front counter.” Ken was busy all afternoon arranging future gigs and it was well past four when he realized he had not gone to the store.

“Pizza! Hurray for Dad.” yelled Justin.

“Did you get extra pepperoni, Dad?” Kimberly quizzed him. “I love pepperoni.”

David heard this, “Well I hate pepperoni and I won’t eat it.”

“Oh yes you will. Just take off the pieces of pepperoni and give it to your brother.” Ken has been through this before.

“That’s right because David will eat just about anything.” Kimberly was sure of this after she watched him cereal with orange juice on it instead of milk. “He’s so disgusting Dad. They both are.”

The boys laughed and made faces at Kimberly who was not appreciating their cuteness.

“Well Kimberly’s in charge until I get back. Do you understand?” There was silence. “I said do you ALL understand?” Ken was firmer this time.

“Yes Dad”, they all said in unison.

The boys ran off into the living room and commandeered the remote. Kimberly made a dash for the phone to call Maggie. “Well, I will see you in a bit. Save a piece of pizza for me.”

They kids had already scattered and he was talking to the air. He grabbed his light jacket and off he went into the city night on his quest for groceries.

He took the car as he liked to shop at Albertson’s, which was about four blocks over, and he could use the service elevator to bring up his bags.

As he drove, he remembered he had not called Mac’s cousin. He made a note to call when he came home. After all, he was single and he really did not get out anymore. At least not without the kids. He had been home for them all the time and he thought they were getting tired of him. Going out might just be what he needed.

Ken pulled into the parking lot for Albertson’s. He parked his car between a van and a little red MG. He looked twice at the car. He thought it was a sporty little vehicle and admired it.

As he wheeled his cart up and down the aisles, Ken kept thinking of actually dating. The reasons for and against were coming at him from all angles. By the time, he got to the frozen aisle his head was ready to burst. “Maybe I should just forget about dating this girl.” He said to himself.

He did not notice the woman standing next to him. She smiled as she realized he was speaking to himself.

“After all, why should I date this girl? I mean I have two young boys at home waiting for me. It’s not like I can just let them go out and leave.” Ken had not noticed the woman yet. Her ears picked up this solo conversation.

“Well Justin, he’s such a handful. He wears me out.” Ken continued. The woman’s mouth dropped open.

“And David, he’s so sweet. He needs me.” The woman was reading something else into his conversation. “And well I need him too.”

By now, the woman had concluded he was talking about not one but two male lovers. She was mortified. Here was this man in the market talking about his lovers as if it was a natural occurrence.

“And Kimberly, she gets so jealous about the boys. She hates when I spend time with them and do not involve her. But she doesn’t like to do the things us men like to do.” Ken was rationalizing his life aloud.

The woman’s face turned beat red. Here was this man, a gay man who not only had two male lovers but also a wife or girlfriend who he was cheating on.

Ken picked up a bag of frozen French fries and tossed them into the wagon. He noticed the woman and nodded to her.

The woman was indignant, took her basket, and started past him. As she crossed the aisle, she turned and spoke. “It’s people like you who gives this city a bad name. You should be ashamed of yourself.” Moreover, with that, she stormed away and disappeared around the bend.

Ken was confused. “What was that all about? What did I do?” He looked in his basket as if to see something wrong that he did. No, nothing out of the ordinary. Just cereal, cheeses bread, milk, butter, pastas, tuna fish and some frozen French fries.

Ken thought maybe there was a boycott on tuna fish or something. He shook his head and went on to the meat aisle.

The city was changing. More and more families had moved out and all sorts of strange people were moving in. Like that woman who yelled at him. Maybe he should think of moving. The kids were getting older and they needed more and more room. The apartment they were in for the last ten years was getting a little small. He would think about this later. He had meat to buy.

In the meat aisle, he picked up some chicken, ground beef and some lunchmeat for the kids sandwiches. He had his head down and was busy searching through the selections of sausages when he bumped into that strange woman again. He had his hand on a rather large kielbasa.

“Well, you are not only a pervert; you also have a filthy mind.” She looked at him and the sausage and gave him a disgusting look. She turned and stormed away, leaving her cart and exiting out the door without her groceries.

Now Ken was very confused. What did he do? What had he said? He grabbed his wagon and made his way to the check out.

The store was busy on a Thursday night. It was around six he thought and traffic would be horrible going home those four or five blocks. He made it to check out number three and started to put his items on the runner for the girl to check out. She smiled at him and said, “Hello.”

Ken returned the greeting. “Hello, nice night for grocery shopping.” He felt stupid as soon as the words left his mouth.

The cashier smiled at him and kept looking at him as she rang up his items. The staring girl made Ken nervous. She was obviously flirting with him. He noticed she had run several items through without ringing them up. Ken smiled and averted his eyes to another line to avoid any small talk.

Over in line four, a young woman was receiving her change from the checker. She had two bags already to go and she slipped the change into her purse. Ken found himself staring at this woman. He thought she was beautiful. Tall, beautiful hair, nice smile and she had a wistful look about her. He found himself immobile as she walked past him and out the exit.

“Excuse me sir that will be sixteen-dollars and eighty-three cents.” The flirting checker’s voice beckoned him back to reality.

“Oh yes, I’m sorry.” He took out his wallet. “Here”, he said searching. “Take the twenty and keep the change.” Ken picked up his groceries, which were bagged already, and he stumbled for the exit. He wanted to catch up with that woman. The women in checkout four that made his heart skip a beat.

He fumbled through the door going out the entrance way and nearly knocking over an elderly man. “I’m very sorry sir, please forgive me.” His eyes were on the parking lot. He searched the area looking for the women.

The elderly man said something under his breath and the checkout girl looked dejected as she held the twenty-dollar bill in her hand for an order that was originally thirty-two dollars and she miskeyed them to get his attention. The man went about the store and the checkout girl went back to the next customer in line.

Ken looked around the lot to see this woman. He did not know why he was looking for her. Just a while ago, he had decided that dating anybody was not for him. What was he doing? Why was he acting like this? His heart was racing and his eyes searched all corners.

Suddenly he saw red taillights. The red MG was parked next to him. It was on the other side of the lot. He thought it must be the women he saw in the store. He ran over to his car to catch her before she left. She was three lanes over and had turned and exited out another gate even before he could reach his car.

“Damn.” Ken stood there. His breath labored from the brisk sprint with several grocery bags in his arms. One had torn open and its contents spilled onto the ground.

“Shit!” Ken looked at the mess on the ground. He had dropped the one bag that had glass in it. A jar of pickles and mayonnaise where on the ground running into a drain. His pants and shoes were spattered by the flying condiments. He looked at his pants and shook his head. He managed to walk over to his car and open the trunk. He deposited the bags into it or rather he threw them in. Ken suddenly realized he had thrown a dozen eggs in first and they were now all scrambled and running into anything that was near and dry.

“Shit!” He said again. He slammed the trunk closed and went to the door. He reached for his keys in his pocket.

Ken’s eyes widened as he now realized he had thrown his keys in with the bags and groceries into the trunk, which was now closed and locked.