After running the gauntlet, David Roper was able to settle
in at the built-in table located at the front of the trailer. It served many functions, that old table and
sofa up front. It was where he and Mama
ate their meals, and it was where he studied and worked on his game. It was folded up like a built-in ironing
board at night, the sofa sleeper pulled out, and it became his bedroom.
He sighed heavily as he got out his gaming materials and
tried to focus on his next step in his invention process. He wished it was easier to get to the trailer
than what it was. But there was always
one or more of them hanging out in front of their trailers and they were
impossible to get by without being razzed and hassled.
Today he hit the perfect storm. First there were Skipper Reese, skinny little
Skipper, chain smoking and in a foul mood, calling him Ropey Roper Four Eyes,
and asking him if he was gonna go blind with all that useless reading. Then Susi Kapok and Frenchy Candor started
teasing him as if they liked him, asking if he wanted to come party at their
trailer. He knew better than to fall for
that. The one time he fell for it, they
took his pants off, booted him from the trailer, and laughed at him as he tried
to run home in his underwear. Then there were the Gorland twins, who would
corner him and ask for money. He would
just give it to them, even carried a Gorland "dollar" with him for
just the occasion. The one time he had
refused, they turned him upside down and shook it out of him.
Not everyone was nasty.
Dona Cooper was kind, even came to his trailer once and played scrabble
with him, drinking root beer and eating popcorn. She was two grades behind him in school, but
she was intelligent and curious. Dona
was plump but not obese, attractive but battling with frequent acne
outbursts. She was kind and friendly,
and a great relief from the behavior of most of the kids in the trailer park.
Of course, it wasn't supposed to be called a trailer. It was a mobile home, or to be even fancier,
a manufactured home. But where he and
his Mama lived could hardly be called anything but a trailer. It was a 19 foot Holiday Rambler from the
eighties, one of the smallest in the "mobile home park." When Mama broke away from Daddy, this was the
best she could do, a travel trailer that her grandparents had. At the time, it was more important that she
leave than that she gather the financial resources to find something better.
He scattered out the materials he was using to create his
game, To Crown A King, his own invention that combined board games, cards, and
role playing. There were no more video
game systems, nothing but Scrabble, Monopoly and an old rabbit-eared television
that occasionally pulled in a Jacksonville
station. But that was okay. He loved to read and imagine, and his game
idea had gripped him like a bird dog tracking a quail. He laughed at the thought. The game was like his "Holy Quail."
He was lost in the game for an unknown amount of time (all
sense of time vanished when he was designing) when his Mama came in. She was carrying two bags of groceries (plastic
bags - the days of choosing paper or plastic were long since over) and he came
over to help her. He was not so deeply
engrossed that he would forget to help his Mama. Not David Roper. No, he would not forget that.
He noticed that she was teary eyed. "What happened, Mama?" he asked
her, genuinely concerned. The last few
months had been very hard on her. Their
change in lifestyle often overwhelmed her.
Just when she thought she was getting used to it, something new would
happen to throw her back into depression.
Mama sat down at the table, slumping sadly, wiping her tears
away with a tissue. She was dressed
smartly, in a blue pant suit, with moderately high heels on her feet, wearing a
nice necklace and her best earrings. She
had been job hunting that afternoon, and looked good except for the runny
makeup around her eyes. "I'll be
alright, David. Just a hard day. I had no luck finding a job, although Gariton
Hollander had been nice at the CPA office.
He promised that they would keep me in mind if another opening came
up."
"That's good news, Mama. It's a good thing they'll keep you in
mind." Mama had been Daddy's
bookkeeper for his contracting business.
She had no degree, but did have practical experience. It had been six months since she left
him. Six long, hard months. The Austen House, a halfway house for women
who were trying to leave abusive situations had been helpful, but they had to
learn to set things up on their own.
"I-I w-w-as in the checkout line, and this woman was
staring at me. I smiled at her and she
said, 'Nice jewelry and clothes for somebody using food stamps'. " Mama put her head on my shoulder and started
to sob. "I just wanted to crawl into
a hole and die."
David didn't know what to say. He just continued to hold her until the
sobbing started to subside.
Maybe moving to Crowley
was a mistake. Maybe the people here
were just too uncaring to stay. Or maybe
every place was just like Crowley.
For every Dona Cooper and Gariton Hollander, there seemed to
be a dozen people like that woman in the grocery store. and the bullying kids
at the mobile home park.
But he would soothe his Mama and build her back up. They would find a way to make it work. They had too.
They had no other choice.
