Hailstones...and hailstones...and hailstones...it was that time of year, again...April in Nebraska...and hailstones the size of miniature golf balls dumped themselves, as if from a heavenly bucket, onto the ground and shattered on the spot. It was a sign...a special point on the Nebraskan seasonal timeline...an omen that symbolized the death of winter and the dawn of spring. The hailstones were winter's last ditch attempt to resurrect itself...or so they said.
Derek sat in his hotel room, staring blankly out the window, holding in his hand a piece of white paper. This paper, he knew, as his ticket into salvation...his ray of hope amongst a dark cloud of misery. It was Saturday...his day off from work at the old, run- down bar/inn that he worked in. The walls were beginning to shed its dark, green paint and reveal a layer of clean, yet somewhat moldy wood. Surrounding him was a rather outdated, yet still decent, wooden shack with two beds, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a small, television set that contained over fifty channels, though Derek barely had the time to watch any of them. He was always busy nowadays...waiting tables, sweeping floors, washing dishes, serving beer...doing anything to earn enough money to support himself and his sick, yet busy mother. Derek earned $4.50 an hour...a decent wage, considering that he worked ten, long hours a day and sometimes into the night. His mom would sometimes earn herself about $500.00 per night as a whore for the restaurant. The wife of the owner of the restaurant/inn was nice enough to provide Derek and his mom a free room in return for his contributions to the business, feeling sorry for the impoverished young man and his hard-working mother.
Derek and his mom were extremely poor and lived the paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle. The two of them were always really close and had always stuck together throughout the twelve, long, torturous years of Derek's life, for they were one another's only companions. They lived in Oak Mill, Nebraska. Once a booming farmland in the early days of the pioneers and the settlers, Oak Mill was now a semi-deserted ghost town where only the most disgusting crackheads and the drunkards bothered staying. Derek knew this all too well.
The bar/inn that Derek and his mom worked for was ironically named "Heaven and Beer on Earth." It was a three-story wooden shack. The second and third floors were hotel rooms for anybody who might've been interested in spending the night with a prostitute, while the first floor bar and restaurant was the gathering place and the social center for all the low-life, hillbilly inhabitants of Oak Mill, Nebraska. These lower than low pieces of shit would go to the bar every night, smoke, talk, play poker, drink themselves to death, then pay some whore who worked for the bar to spend the night with. But not all of these guys were into women and whores...some of them made approaches on Derek himself. He was pretty handsome...really handsome. At 12 years old, Derek was about 5 feet tall with bright, blonde hair, dark, hazel eyes, and a flawless face. His body was thin and smooth. He would get as many whistles from the customers of the bar as some of the pretty whores that worked with him. "Angelface," they would call him. But Derek found the low-life sleaze balls absolutely disgusting and he knew better than to offer up his own body for money. It wasn't worth it, he knew...it was dangerous and could've gotten him raped and killed.
And here he was, right now...after working at the bar for two years, he had saved up a decent amount of money. Derek was poor and underprivileged, but he was by no means, unambitious. He had two goals in life: going to school and finding a world-class doctor who would cure his mother of her disease. He hated Oak Mill...he hated the bar...he hated how he had to work so hard for something that most other kids his age had under their fingertips. But Derek's mom had always taught him to be positive...taught him not to lose hope, not to take anything for granted, and to seize every opportunity he got to achieve his goals in life. And for once, his mom's words seem to pay off.
Several weeks ago, Derek was cleaning the tables when he stumbled upon a flier on the bulletin board. "Extra housekeeper needed for the Carter household," it read. "We pay you $30.00 an hour and offer you a free room in our mansion. Call us if interested." The telephone number, job application form, and the Carter Inc. symbol were engraved at the bottom of the flier.
"This is it!" Derek thought to himself. "This is my ticket out of here!" Derek wasted absolutely no time in making a call to the Carters, who, Derek knew, were multi- millionaire business tycoons who owned the nation's largest television company. Derek chatted with Mr. Carter, after making many, unsuccessful calls, and offered to do the work for only $8.00 an hour. That was already $3.50 more than what he was earning and got to have free room in a mansion as a bonus...a mansion! Mr. Carter sent Derek a letter, weeks later, telling Derek that he got the job. Derek was ecstatic.
Derek knew that his mom was dying...dying from a terminal illness that she got from one of the men she slept with for $600.00. But he didn't want to admit that to himself...he couldn't admit that to himself...it was just too painful to comprehend. His mother...his only source of support and comfort all his life...was going to leave him. In his hand, Derek held the letter from Mr. Carter. Only two more weeks...two more weeks of hell at Heaven and Beer on Earth and Derek was going to work in a mansion!
At that moment, the door to Derek's room slammed open and a woman in her thirties, dressed in a black tutu and fishnet stockings, collapsed onto the floor, writhing in pain. Her face was covered in blood and her graying, red hair was ruffled and messy.
"Mom!" Derek cried, as he shot out of his bed and put his arm around his mother's neck, helping her up onto her own bed. "What happened!? Who'd you sleep with? What'd he do to you?"
"It doesn't matter..." his mom moaned, weakly. "But I got the $600.00" As she said this, Derek's mother lifted the six one-hundred dollar bills triumphantly in the air. "Take it baby..." she said, handing it to Derek, before fainting into his arms.
Tears filled Derek's eyes as he held her. At that moment, Derek felt his deep- seeded hatred for his father erupt through his body...it was because of him that the two of them were reduced to living like this. It was because of him that his mom caught a sexually transmitted disease from one of the dirty scum bags that she was forced to sleep with night after night after night. It was because of him that Derek had no childhood...
His mom awakened, hours later, from her coma. She looked around and saw that she was now within the safety and comfort of her own room with her son. The clock struck 7 at that exact moment and she shot right up.
"I gotta get going!" he screamed frantically. "I gotta clean tables and earn money..."
"Mom, relax!" Derek said. "Today's our day off, remember?"
"Oh yeah..." his mom replied weakly, before lying back down onto the bed.
"Mom..."
"What is it, honey?"
"I got great news!"
"What?"
Derek proudly walked up in front of his mother, his face lit up with a huge smile. "I got a job as a housekeeper for one of the richest families in America!" Derek yelled, beaming. "We could get out of here! We don't have to stay anymore! We could start living in a mansion!"
"Are you serious?" said Derek's mom, her face shining brightly with happiness. "Derek...I...I don't know what to say. I'm so proud of you! When do you start?"
"They're picking me up two weeks from now!"
"Oh...that's wonderful!" Derek leaned in for a hug from his mom...but his mom was in pain.
"Derek..." she said, her expression changing suddenly. "I don't think I could go..."
"What?"
"I have to stay here, Derek...I have to continue earning money for you...so that someday...you could go to school..."
"No, mom!" Derek protested. "Come with me to the mansion...we could work as housekeepers together!"
"I can't..." his mom responded, tears filling her eyes. "If I do, there's no way I could earn enough money for you..."
"Mom..." Derek sobbed, tears flowing down his face. Derek and his mother embraced each other, torrents of tears flowing down both of their faces. "I don't know what I'd do without you! I...I won't go, either."
"Stupid boy!" his mom scolded. "Have you already forgotten what I've told you? Seize every opportunity you get! This is a chance for you, Derek! This is a chance for you to achieve something your mother was always too much of a loser to come close to touching!"
"Mom...you're not a loser..." Derek cried.
"You have to go, Derek...you have to!"
"I will go," Derek said. "And when I come back, I'll get you that doctor! I'll get you that damn doctor to cure your disease...whatever it is!"
Derek's mother cried...but she couldn't have been any prouder of Derek. Derek was only twelve years old and so underprivileged...yet, he was still so ambitious and so confident and so positive. Other preteen boys would've killed themselves a long time ago. She knew, deep in her heart, that Derek would be very successful, someday...even if she couldn't live to see that day.
End of Part 2. In the next couple of chapters, Derek will meet Joe and sparks will fly. Tell me what you think. Email all comments, good or bad, to aramflag@yahoo.com