Some Day Somebody

by Leger, Lori

  Sam grinned down at her as they made their way to the backdoor. “Thirteen months…I guess your folks didn’t have a television set back then.”

  Carrie gave a deep chuckle. “Mom’s not a big advocate of the old rhythm method of birth control, but aren’t you glad they didn’t stop at number five?”

  “Thrilled, seeing as how I’ve grown quite fond of number six.”

  She smiled and gave him another light kiss. “I’m warning you now, Josh is funny as hell, but extremely obnoxious.”

  They walked in through the back door of the house to cheers, whistles, and clapping. Carrie bowed regally while Sam gave them his best Elvis ‘Thank you very much’.

  “Best show I’ve seen in years,” Josh said, hugging his sister. Then he reached out his hand to Sam and gave him a strong handshake. “Hi, I’m Josh. And in case Carrie hasn’t told you yet, I’m the gay brother,” he said, in an exaggerated whisper.

  Sam shook his hand and chuckled. “It’s nice to meet you, Josh. No, she didn’t tell me you were gay, just funny and obnoxious.”

  Josh gave his sister a hurt look. “You told him I was obnoxious, but not gay?”

  “Extremely obnoxious, if you want the truth,” Sam added.

  Josh turned to his sister with a dramatic flair. “How could you, Carrie? I’m wounded…Terribly wounded!”

  Carrie put her hands on her hips. “And deprive you of all that drama you created by telling him yourself?” She waved her hand with a flourish. “Consider it your Christmas gift.”

  “You’re so silly. Sweet, but silly,” Josh said.

  She leaned in closer. “No really. It’s the only gift you’re getting from me this year. In case you haven’t heard, I’m kind of in dire straits.”

  “You are?” Sam said. “Man, I love that group.”

  Josh pointed a finger at Sam. “You stole my freaking line.”

  “Obviously, it was my freaking line first,” Sam bragged.

  Josh laughed and broke into a verse from Money for Nothing.

  “My favorite is Sultans of Swing,” Sam insisted.

  “It’s a good one,” Josh agreed.

  Christie walked up to the trio. “No!” she cried.

  “Walk of Life,” Carrie yelled, pointing at her sister.

  “Absolutely,” Christie agreed, as they started in on the first verse. Everyone else in the room joined in when they sang the chorus.

  Tom chose that moment to poke his head in the kitchen. “What the hell is going on in here? Are y’all insane?”

  Josh nodded adamantly at his brother in law. “Yes, Tom. Yes, we are. And…”

  Sam stepped forward. “And the lunatics are running the asylum!”

  Josh turned on him with a look of disbelief. “Aw come on, man…You took my line again!” Josh turned to Carrie and spoke in a disgusted tone. “He’s gotta go, sis. You know how I hate to be upstaged.”

  Carrie laughed and pushed playfully at her brother. “Sorry, Josh. Looks like you’ll need fresh material. You’ve got some competition.”

  Josh put a hand firmly on Sam’s shoulder. “Don’t get used to wearing that crown, buddy. I’m the only queen allowed in this house.” He turned to Carrie and spoke over the laughter. “So far, he seems like a keeper.” Before she could answer, he turned back toward Sam. “So, what’s the deal, Sam? Is my sister moving to Kenton or staying in Gardiner?”

  Sam raised his chin proudly. “She’s moving to Kenton, Josh.”

  “Yep,” she answered, “Today, anyone want to help?”

  A loud chorus of “No!” came at her from all sides.

  She cocked her head at her siblings. “That was pretty good. Did y’all rehearse that while we were outside?”

  “Yes!” they all chorused again before everyone in the kitchen dissolved into more laughter.

  Tom and Jen came up to Carrie. “We’ll help you, sis,” Jen told her. “I’m dying to see your new place.”

  Carrie nodded. “If I could get the heavy furniture moved in by tonight, I could make a few trips in my car over the next couple of days.”

  “Do your kids know yet?” Jen asked.

  “Not yet, but I need to call them. Maybe I can get some free labor out of this. Mom, did Ruth mention if she had any spare beds?”

  “We do,” Mack told his sister. “We just bought a king-sized mattress set and we have a queen set you could use.”

  Vivienne McAllister asked me to let you know that she’s got two complete sets of bedroom furniture to give you if you need it. They’re both standard size beds.”

  Carrie smiled. “God bless Mrs. Vivienne. I’ll call her right now and tell her I can sure use them. I can’t be too proud when I’m starting from scratch.” She walked into her mother’s room and closed the door so she could make a call in private, leaving Sam alone to fend for himself.

  Katie jumped up from her chair to get her purse. “Oh, while I’m thinking about it, I have some money to help her get started.” She pulled her wallet from her purse.

  “So do I,” Elaine said, getting her purse off of her desk.

  “How much does she need to get started?” Susan asked. “Does anybody know how much the deposits are going to run her?”

  “I know she wrote a check for three hundred dollars yesterday for the deposit and the first month rent. I also know it’ll cost another three hundred to have the utilities put in her name. That’s not counting a phone.”

  “Is she going to get a cell phone?” Katie asked.

  “She said she doesn’t want to get locked into a two year contract and could do without a land line until she could afford to get one.”

  “How much is the phone deposit, Sam?” Elaine asked. “I’ll pay the bill every month if I have to. I can’t have her over there without being able to call her.”

  “It’s another hundred bucks,” he answered. “I wanted to help, but she said no.”

  “I should hope she did,” Elaine said. “Some things shouldn’t be accepted from anyone but family.”

  Sam sat back and watched Carrie’s mom and siblings collect eight hundred dollars in cash to help her get established. “That should be a huge help,” he admitted, pleased at her family’s generosity. “If she needs anything else, I’ll be there.”

  “Well, I feel better knowing she’ll be near you,” Elaine told him, “especially with Dave acting like a crazy man.”

  “Yeah, not to mention a serial rapist/murderer on the loose in this area,” Mack’s wife, Sharon, added.

  “I live in Texas,” Katie said. “What are you talking about?”

  “They linked the torture and rape of that woman in Lafayette to several in Chicago over the last three years and maybe some in Minnesota a couple of years before that. If it turns out to be the same guy, he’s only left one woman alive. That’s the one in Lafayette, and he let her live because she was blind from birth and couldn’t identify him, not from sight anyway,” Sharon said.

  “That’s right,” Susan went on to explain. “Turns out this girl is a master at detecting dialects from different regions of the United States. She connected him to the Chicago area, and sure enough, there were some unsolved cases with the same M.O. She also detected a residual Minnesota accent, and guess what…More unsolved cases with that same M.O. Not a speck of evidence, but because of one blind woman, they may be close to breaking this case.”

  “But he’s still on the loose? Oh, hell, that’s not good,” Katie admitted. “How far is her rent house from yours, Sam?”

  “Not even half a block. We can stand on our front porches and yell at each other.”

  Josh nudged Sam. “Man, you think you’ll be able to stand being that far away from her every night?”

  Sam grinned over at the man. “Sarcastic, as well as obnoxious,” he said, as the other siblings laughed.

  “But seriously, did you have to pull some strings to find a place that close to you?”

  Sam recalled the chain of events that made this come about. “Nope, it
just happened to work out in my favor, and I’d be a damned liar if I said I wasn’t happy about it.”

  Several minutes later, Carrie burst out of her mother’s bedroom, excited and grinning like the cat who just found her own secret stash of canaries. “Grant and the twins are meeting us in Jennings at four o’clock. They’re bringing some of my furniture and anything else that can fit in the truck.” She clapped her hands together excitedly and beamed up at Sam. “They want to spend the night at the new place with me tonight.”

  Sam reveled at the pure joy in Carrie’s face. She practically glowed at the thought of being with her children in their new home for the first time. Praying he could keep that look on her face, he nodded. “I’m ready when you are.”

  Carrie laughed before turning to her mother. “Sorry we have to eat and run like this, Mom.”

  Everyone crowded around Carrie when Elaine put the money and checks into her hands. “Here, honey. This is to help you get started,” she said, giving her daughter a hug.

  “It’s from all of us,” Katie explained. “It’s a gift, not a loan. Use it however you need it.”

  Carrie blinked back tears of gratitude. “We could get by with a lot less than this,” she said, looking down at the product of her family’s generosity.

  “Hey, if that’s true, I could use a couple hundred,” Josh said.

  “Me too,” Mack told her, grabbing for the money.

  “God, y’all are idiots,” Christie said, slapping at her brothers’ hands. “Just take it, Carrie. We all hope it’ll make the transition easier for you and the kids.”

  Carrie couldn’t speak because of the lump in her throat. Finally, she was able to croak out a weak, “Thank you.”

  Josh lightened the mood by whispering loudly to Carrie. “Hey sis, about that ‘it’s a gift—not a loan’ comment? I’m sorry, but I need my sixteen dollars and thirty two cents back ASAP.”

  “Could you possibly be any more obnoxious than you already are?” Christie asked, accentuating the question with a sharp jab to his shoulder.

  Josh gave a deep chuckle. “There’s always hope, little sister.” He made a show of rubbing his shoulder. “You really need to find another outlet for all that animosity, Christine.”

  “I know,” she moaned. “I’m praying it comes in the form of a man.”

  ***

  Sam backed his truck up to Mack’s shop next door to Elaine’s. Within fifteen minutes, the queen size mattress, headboard, and rails were loaded and tied down in the back of his pick-up.

  As Sam waited for Carrie, Mack went up to him and shook his hand.

  “Thanks for doing this for her, Sam, we appreciate it.”

  “Happy to, Mack. I was worried this morning it wouldn’t happen.”

  Mack laughed loudly. “Yeah, Christie told us all about that. Little sister had you scratching, did she? That’s good. It means she’s getting some of her old spunk back.” He shook his head. “She was a different person with Dave, you know. That son of a gun did a number on her self-esteem. Make sure you treat her right, okay Sam?”

  “You have my word,” he said as he started his truck and backed slowly out of the driveway.

  Carrie ran out to meet him, brimming with excitement. “You remember my mom mentioning Vivienne McAllister?” she said, as he nodded. “Her son, Scott, will be meeting us at Christie’s. He and his brothers are loading up his trailer with the two sets of bedroom furniture Vivi is giving me. Red’s going to follow us to Kenton and after we unload the trailer, he’ll head back to LSU.”

  Sam nodded. “These McAllister’s are close friends of the family, I presume?”

  “Vivi is my mom’s second cousin, actually. I used to babysit for the kids when I was in junior high and high school. You can’t ask for nicer people. The kids are all red haired and blue eyed, like their dad, smart as whips, and sweet, all eight of them. They’re good people.”

  Once they got to Christie’s, she filled her suitcases with her belongings. The twins had only agreed to spend part of the holidays with her so she left the majority of their things untouched. Between Carrie and Sam, they had her car loaded down in thirty minutes. Sam had just closed her trunk when a full size truck, hauling an enclosed trailer, pulled up to the intersection and honked the horn.

  Carrie waved at the driver. “Here’s Red.”

  The truck pulled over next to Christie’s drive, and Sam watched as a tall, buffed young man in his mid-twenties or so, jumped out. He walked straight up to Carrie and gave her a big bear hug.

  “God, it’s good to see you, Carrie.”

  “Scottie!” She hugged him back. “Thank you for going to all this trouble for me.”

  “No problem,” he told her. “I think the folks would have emptied out the house for you. Man they’re proud of you.” He turned toward Sam. “Hey, I’m Scott McAllister, but my friends call me Red.” He pointed to his dark auburn hair. “I don’t think it needs any explanation.”

  Sam laughed and gave the young man a strong hand shake. “Sam Langley, Red. It’s good to meet you. I’ve heard good things about you and your family.”

  Red gave him a broad smile. “Thanks Sam. We think the world of Carrie, you know.”

  When Carrie went inside to make a final run-through of Christie’s place, Red turned to Sam. “You plan on treating her right?”

  Sam’s gaze followed Carrie into the house. “Only for the rest of my life.” He turned his gaze to the young man who stood a couple of inches taller than himself. “I’m crazy about her, man.”

  Red flashed him a grin. “So I’ve heard. How does she feel?”

  Sam turned as Carrie locked Christie’s front door and began walking toward them. “She won’t say yet, but I’m working on it.”

  ***

  They drove their vehicles to the small town where Jen and Tom were waiting for them at Ruth’s place.

  “Now who lives here?” Sam asked Carrie as they met in front of the large two story home.

  “My cousin, Ruth, lives here with her husband and two kids. Her dad is Donald, my mom’s baby brother,” she said, knocking on the door.

  Once Carrie made introductions, Ruth led them to the three extra sets of living room furniture stored in her spacious home.

  Carrie stared, dumbfounded, at the choices. “It’s like a furniture show room in here. How did you accumulate all this?”

  “I keep my ears open,” Ruth said. “You’d be surprised how many people get tired of their good quality furniture before it wears out. I’ve got the room for it, so why not take it? Somebody can always use it.”

  “I’m glad you do or we’d be sitting on lawn chairs,” Carrie admitted, before choosing a set for her home.

  Within thirty minutes, the men had a very nice couch, two matching chairs, and a set of end tables loaded into Red’s spacious trailer.

  Carrie thanked Ruth once more as they left to meet up with Grant and the twins. By the time they pulled up at the designated area, her kids were waiting with Grant’s truck loaded down. Carrie scanned the items in the truck-bed, and gave her kids a big thumbs-up at the sight of her favorite armoire and nightstand.

  The caravan of five vehicles drove off in a northerly direction, arriving in Kenton within thirty-five minutes.

  Grant and the twins piled out of his truck and went straight to their mom for hugs and introductions.

  “Hey, Mr. Sam,” Grant said, shaking his hand firmly.

  Sam grinned down at the kids. “I’ve heard good things about you three.”

  “Yeah, we’ve heard some pretty good things about you, too,” Grant told him.

  “Are you my mom’s boyfriend, or what?” Gretchen asked him.

  Sam scratched his chin and smiled down at her and her exceptionally quiet twin sister. “I guess that depends on the three of you.”

  Carrie decided to save Sam from more of her outspoken daughter’s grilling. “Okay, we’ve got to unload these trucks before dark.”

  “Yeah, so you can e
njoy the first night in your new house with your mom tonight,” Sam agreed before glancing over at his own house. “Hey, more free labor,” he said, waving to Nick standing out on the porch. Nick walked over and Sam introduced him to the crowd.

  Lauren walked hesitantly up to her mother. “Hey, Mom, are you going to bring Toto here?”

  Carrie walked with her around to the back of the house. “The yard is fenced in and the screened back porch is plenty big enough for him to stay when it’s cold and rainy. This place is perfect for Toto.”

  Lauren gave her mom a weak smile. “I guess so, but we’ll miss him at Dad’s.”

  Carrie watched her daughter walk quietly away from her and into the house. Her daughter’s statement had settled on her chest like an anchor, a heavy reminder that nothing had changed. If her children didn’t accept this…well, she didn’t want to think about the rest of it. Sam joined her a moment later, his face filled with concern.

  “Everything all right?” he asked.

  Carrie tried to smile. “Just hoping the kids will like it here.”

  He pulled her into his arms for a quick hug. “It’ll be fine, you’ll see,” he told her. “Now come on inside and show us where you want everything.”

  ***

  By six o’clock all five vehicles were unloaded and furniture placed where Carrie wanted it. Beds were made and ready to be slept in thanks to extra sets of sheets and blankets Carrie’s children had packed. By eight o’clock everything else was unpacked and put where it was supposed to go. The extra help left to go home, with Carrie’s profuse thanks and a promise to cook them a meal at the first opportunity.

  The four teenagers sat in the living room, munching on chips and canned drinks, comparing schools, teachers, and friends. Sam and Carrie walked from room to room, Carrie with her pad and pencil again, adding to her previous list of things she’d need for the house.

  “I’m amazed at how much more we need in this place. Thank God for my family, and for Len leaving the utilities on in here,” she admitted. “I put aside four hundred dollars of that money for deposits, but I’ll have to hit the stores for a few things tomorrow. The kids thought to bring bedding, towels, and wash cloths. At least we can take baths tonight.” She turned to Sam. “Are there any stores open right now?”