Dad’s words knocked the wind out of me. I knew there’d be no recovery, but I didn’t need to hear it. “I know. Doesn’t change shit.”
“You do what you gotta do, but I can’t send anyone down to help you. Maybe someone from that club you waste so much time at will lend a hand.”
“They have before. Havoc helped us remove those trees in the backyard, remember?” Havoc had also stepped in when I couldn’t be there to protect Rosalie, but my father didn’t need to know that. There was a reason my baby sister called me, and not our father, for help. If she gave him the slightest hint she couldn’t protect herself, he’d lock her ass down, and Rosalie valued her independence.
“Yeah. See if some of them can drive down.”
Uncle Jaime wasn’t their family or their responsibility. “I’ll ask, but they all work.”
“Thursday’s a holiday,” he replied.
Since pointing out that he was working Thursday would be considered mouthing off, I ended the call and group texted the club. Rabbit and Stocks were the first to respond. Since the bar and the auto shop were both closed for the holiday, they agreed to ride down early Thursday morning and help me get everything to Seattle before they headed out for the campsite.
Humbled and grateful, I rested my head against the countertop in relief. The coming days would be hard as fuck, but I wouldn’t have to do this shit alone. The Dead Presidents continued to teach me that sometimes family was deeper than blood.
By the time Rabbit and Stocks arrived Thursday morning, I had Uncle Jaime’s entire apartment packed up and ready to go. My uncle wanted to help us load the rental, and kept getting up and trying to move shit on the sly. I caught him with his hands on a box he was about to lift, and promised to duct tape his ass to the chair if he didn’t sit his ass down. He must have known I wasn’t bluffing because he picked up his newspaper and ignored us for the hour or so it took us to finish.
My bike was the last thing we loaded up before I helped Uncle Jaime to the elevator and got him strapped into the passenger’s seat, being careful of the tube still hanging out of his stomach. He looked up at the building, and the sadness in his eyes about did me in. Iwastaking away his independence. Although I knew it had to be done, it sure hurt like hell to witness his reaction.
“I hope you didn’t get too attached to those TV dinners I saw in your freezer,” I said, trying to lighten the mood as I got behind the wheel. “You know Madre won’t allow that shit in her house, right?”
He grunted, but a little of the sadness lifted from his eyes. “’Bout the only thing I’m lookin’ forward to is your mother’s cookin’. It’s a wonder your dad’s not five hundred pounds by now.”
“That’s probably why he works so damn much. He’s afraid he’ll get fat if he slows down.”
Uncle Jaime nodded. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen your brothers and sisters. How’s the baby?”
“Rosalie’s not much of a baby anymore. She turned thirteen a couple weeks ago. She’ll be in eighth grade this year.”
“They grow up too damn fast. Don’t tell the others, but she was always my favorite. Sweet little girl, that one. Nothing like her smartass, bossy oldest brother.”
I laughed. “Yeah, she’s my favorite, too.”
Something kept bugging me, tugging at the back of my mind. I’d stayed with him for almost two weeks and he hadn’t had a single visitor. Nobody came out to see him off. A couple of the old folks tried to chat with me, but none of them even approached Uncle Jaime. I’d never realized how lonely his life must have been.
“Did you ever date?” I asked him, suddenly curious as to why he’d stayed single.
“A few times.” He shrugged. “Had a steady girl once. Got with her not long after I came home from the service. Her name was Gloria, and she was a looker. Long, dark hair, big plump breasts, hips a man could wrap his hands around.”
I could have gone my whole life without visualizing my uncle groping some poor girl. Desperate to change the subject, I asked, “What happened to her?”
He looked out the side window. “I shoved her in the dryer.”
Wondering if he was screwing with me, I eyed him. “Come again?”
“You asked, I told you. I shoved her in the dryer. I didn’t mean to. I had one of those attacks… I don’t know what caused it. Maybe a car backfired? Maybe someone slammed a door? All I know is that I heard an explosion and thought the goddamn DMC was on our doorstep.”
“The DMC?”
“District Mobile Company. The Viet Cong forces.”
“You thought they attacked the US?” I was so confused.
He waved me off. “Would you shut up and listen to the fuckin’ story?”
“I’m tryin’ to make sense of it. You sound like you’re off your rocker.”
He glared at me. “That’s what my time in the trenches did; made me lose my goddamn mind. I would have bet my life we were being bombed. All I could think about was protecting Gloria. I snatched her up and shoved her ass in the dryer, thinkin’ it would shield her from the blast.”
