Olly sat back into the driver's seat more like a lazy boy recliner as he turned the car into the park. She could say with full sincerity that she had never had the experience of living in a trailer park, but she was suddenly glad for that as they rolled down the street with trailers on both sides.
The entrance had been shockingly up kept, grass cut and trimmed with a cute sign that said “Sunny Side Up Mobile home community” over a stock photo of what appeared to be a laughing couple embracing in the sunlight.
However as Olly drove the sedan past the sign and into the park the well maintained image visible from the highway dropped off entirely.
The headlights carved through the darkness and revealed a pothole filled street littered with beer cans, broken glass and stray dogs.
The woofing of dogs filled the night air as muffled rap music set the stage behind it. The car went deeper into a sea of trailers that looked as though the maintenance man was non-existent. Shabby wooden addon porches so weathered and sagging they might fall over at the next gust of wind, Trash bags left out in the street overflowing was a stark contrast to the sign.
Olly looked at her as he drove and said “heads up about the park, Most people are nice enough but we have a few tweakers that hang around so rule number one is mind your business”
Abby had dealt with tweakers before, she found that the trick was not to be mean to them but to play into whatever random thing they were doing and redirect them.
She remembered a weathered old man outside of the gas n go that had just started talking to her like she was an old friend not particularly long ago. His eyes wide in the way that meth heads eyes get and making absolutely zero since as he jumped into the conversation and pulled her along.
“Oh man no I was just under the bridge on south ave-You know where that is Right?! Anyway Ritchie came back but I told him to leave after what he did last time but there were these scissors on my tent and I just knew that mutherfucker did it so I came here”
“Oh yeah I would too, scissors are dangerous to run with”, Abby said concerned
The tweaker's eyes got wide as he nodded vigorously like the confirmation were the words of god and launched into another verbal machine gun rant.
“Ritchie is a fuggin rat bastard always fuggin showin up before they do and I know i have to leave so they don't take what I have because I have what he wants and they’ll do what they did last time and and and and”
Abby gasped shocked and said “best not to mention it, what if they bugged your clothes?! You need to go before they track you here.”
Abby smiled at that memory. Tweakers had the name for a reason. There was another that would just stand in the street screaming that god was going to send all the little babies to hell if we didn't stop sinning.
“ Noted”, She said as the car pulled to a stop in front of a trailer at the end of the row. It had a large expanse of field situated in front of it, most likely planned space for new lots but sat swaying in the damp evening breeze uncut and wild as the amazon.
Olly sighed and scratched the back of his head as he said “Look my brother is a bit much, but once you get used to him he's alright”
“No offense but you have met yourself haven't you?”, Abby said as Olly shut the car off and stepped out into the sound of cicadas filling the air.
“Oh you'll see”
Abby stepped out with him and followed behind him as the sound of a barking army emerged muffled from inside the cream colored trailer.
As the countless voices of dogs rang from inside of the trailer a muffled man's voice shouted “Dogs! Shut the fuck up!”
Olly winced as the front door slammed open being held by a tall scrawny man. Like a clown car the fur missles shot out of the front door and bee lined for Olly.
Olly dropped to his knees as he was swarmed by the mis matched pelts and excited yips of his friends.
“Abby meet the family, they won’t bite”
Abby looked at the dogs, all mutts and all different breeds, The largest of which was an enormous white and brown coated St Bernard that lazily stalked to Abby its tongue hanging out of its droopy mouth as its tail lazily cut the air behind it.
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Olly was wrestling a stout grey coated pit that was wagging its tail so vigorously its butt was wiggling and said “That's bruce, he’s harmless” Pointing to the enormous St Bernard.
As Olly got the dogs under control what could only be his brother sauntered forward lighting a cigarette and said “Does this mean you finally got laid? ”
Olly scoffed and smiled as he said “Abby, Dick bag, Dickbag this is Abby”
“Huh seen many of em?”
Olly laughed at that and dick bag held out his hand to Abby who took it “Carl actually, but this illiterate fuck only understands grunts”
Abby laughed at that and got a good look at the shirtless boy.
He was at least six feet tall and thin as a pole, he looked alot like Olly but taller down to the same messy crown of curls that hung into his eyes.
Olly stood scratching a pup behind the ears and said “Hey bro can I talk to you for a moment”
Carl looked at Olly as though a sour taste just hit his tongue and said “Really?”
Olly winced and said “She don’t got no where”
“well fuck me I guess I'll just leave the front door open and call it a motel”, Carl said sarcastically as he angirly pulled the cigerette”
“Just until she is -”
“Well fuck its already a kennel lets turn it into a fucking soup kitchen while we’re at it”, Carl said throwing his arms over his head flicking the ciggerette into the grass.
Olly rolled his eyes and said “it’s not a permanent thing”
“you’re fucking right its not, we already wiped our ass with the lease why not flip the park supervisor off while we’re at it”, Carl shook his head and looked at Abby before saying “well you’re a big girl speak up”
Abby scratched Bruce's head opening her mouth to speak before Olly cut her off saying “I pay my rent too bitch”
“yeah to bitch moan and fucking run a half way house apparently”, Carl said cheekily as he turned around shaking his head.
“yeah know on second thought maybe you’ll finally get laid. Go fucking crazy. Lose your God dam mind”
Carl stomped up the steps and disapeared back into the trailer as Olly looked at her and shrugged “and now we steal his left overs”
Abby laughed at that as she followed the shaggy boy trying not to trip over the horde of dogs as they entered the trailer.
It was cozy to say the least, at least if you ignored the fact that two boys lived here without a shred of parental input. The sofa was an ancient floral patterned find that looked like it came from a nursing home and stood out like a sore thumb against the rest of the room.
A flat screen tv stood on the floor in front of the couch only separated by an upside down box that she assumed was the coffee table. The walls were a sea of half naked or out right naked posters of models, with one poster over the tv being used as a dart board.
The blonde model depicted had been drawn on in sharpie giving her a unibrow and goatee. Abby blushed at the raunchy decorations as Olly said “Oh yeah, unconventional wallpaper”
and turned on a light to the kitchen that sat attached to the living room.
The trash was overflowing with pizza boxes and the counters looked like they had never been wiped down as Olly opened the fridge and pulled out a pizza box.
“Do you ever clean?”, Abby asked as she looked in horror at the unsanitary state of the kitchen.
Olly looked around and set the box on the coffee table and said “ not really no”
Carl's voice came muffled from the room at the other end of the kitchen “ I dragged my balls across one of those slices!”
Abby stared at Olly in horror and shook her head “Nah i'm not hungry”
Olly chuckled awkwardly and closed the box “cereal?”
“clean bowls?”
“we use disposable”
Carl emerged from the room with a tin box in his hands and stomped into the living room before plopping down on the couch and said “smoke?”
Olly nodded and said “you want a bowl?”
“Nah im good for now”
Abby stood awkwardly in the living room hugging herself as Carl said “ Sit down, shit you're making me anxious”
Abby sat on the opposite side of the couch as Carl popped open the tin lid and set the lid on his knees before pulling out a knotted sandwich bag and what looked like a capped ashtray.
Carl untied the bag and the air filled with a pungent skunky smell as he reached into the bag and reached in pulling out two plump nugs on the lid. He uncapped the ashtray looking thing to reveal a bed of spikes inside of it”
“What's that?”Abby asked, not expecting to see spikes when he uncapped the thing.
Carl looked at her confused and asked “you’ve never smoked?”
Abby shook her head now and Carl shouted into the kitchen “if she greens out you’re babysitting!”
Olly waddled back into the living room balancing two paper bowls filled dangerously high with cocoa pebbles and expertly squatted down, setting the bowls on top of the closed pizza box.
Olly shuffled around the table and plopped down in between them before carl set the lid on his lap and said “you roll”
“what happened to the pipe”
“I dropped it”
Olly huffed and said “you always lip the shit its fucking nasty”
“well you like kissing dudes so you’re welcome”
“Oh fuck you”
“no thanks, roll up princess”
“go get the 9/16ths”
“fuck bro that shits gone gone”
Olly huffed and tapped out the grinder onto the lid and said “break my pipe and lose my socket”
“Steal my food and break my lease” Carl shot back “ Wait until you find out what I did to the sonic you ate yesterday”
Olly stopped dead in his tracks and said “You mean the sonic I had to pay for because your card declined”
Carl pursed his lips and said “yeah that would be..that would be the sonic I am referring to”
“What did you do, Carl?”, Olly asked calmly with a deadpan expression.
Carl sat there looking as though he was sucking on a warhead saying nothing
“Carl, what did you do?”
Carl patted Olly on the back, took the lid back from him and started rolling without a word as Olly looked at him with eyes that could pierce armor.
“I ate the burger carl.”
“well the burger was unharmed during production”
“I ate the fries carl”
Carl nodded his head and began rolling avoiding eye contact with Olly as Abby was stifling a laugh at the interaction. As if only to add to the strangeness of the interaction Bruce padded up and rested his head on her thigh.
“I ate the fries carl”
Carl calmly rested the lid on the boxy table and crossed his legs leaning back into the floral couch.
“ I garnished them Olly”, He said looking at Olly with an expression that was struggling not to break into a grin. Fighting his mouth back into a deadpan stare as it tried to flicker into a smile.
“with what Carl”, Olly said calmly. Abby could see his hand balling into a fist.
Carl opened his mouth as though he was going to speak before launching off the couch and over the boxy table, Olly shot up after him sending a bowl of cereal flying. Carl sprinted for the bedroom door before looking over his shoulder and yelling “my balls Olly”
The door slammed In Olly’s face as he pounded on the thin door, The horde of dogs waddling over with tilted heads to investigate the sudden commotion.
“Open the door Carl”, Olly said through the door as his fist pounded on the thin wood shaking it into the frame.
Carl began knocking back mockingly against the door as Olly slammed the heel of his hand into the door and finally retreated back to the couch.
He plopped down on the opposite side of the couch as the same grey coated pit waddled over and began licking up the armageddon of flung cereal.
Abby looked at Olly who casually picked up the rolled joint off of the lid and set it in his lips.
“home sweet fuckin home”
