Sneak Peak; Country Roads, City Hearts

Chapter 1 aka The Beginning of This Tale

The Beginning of this circular tale of love and heartbreak starts on a late summer day with a glass of red Kool-Aid on a country road.

A case could be made it started a few weeks before that, when Cash’s parents stopped referring to each other by nice names and started using mean ones. If one were really willing to reach back, one could state it started when Kool-Aid started making delicious thirst-quenching drinks to a childhood demographic way back in 1927. This is all that will be said about Kool-Aid in regards to the story other than without it, history would have gone a completely different route. For one boy named Cash, Kool-Aid was his Butterfly of Chaos. 

Fulton ‘Cash’ Scribe wasn’t a country boy by birth. He inherited country living at the tender age of five from his mother after moving from the City. He was too young to know exactly what city. The City was only how his mother described it. He heard he lived in Vancouver, other times Surrey. And when things were really bad, he lived in Whalley. He didn't know much about the City, other than that was where he lived and it was in a country called Canada.

Cash’s mother frequently stated to his father he couldn’t wait to move out of ‘The City’ and back out into ‘The Country’ where she told Cash she grew up and everything was much better there. She emphasized that on many an occasion, especially late at night and very loudly to his Dad when they believed Cash was asleep. She would say if Cash grew up in ‘The Country’ he would have a proper upbringing. He would breathe air that hadn’t been breathed a million times before and be able to see stars at night and hear birds in the morning, and most importantly Wouldn’t Have A Drunk Womanizing Loser Who Was Never There For Him For A Father.

That was the gist of it anyhow.

Cash’s mom didn’t like the City very much, and Cash’s dad didn’t like Cash’s mom very much. That was all too evident to the neighbours witnessing the last fight they would ever have in front of Cash. His mom had already buckled him into his booster seat in the back of the car. She didn't tell Cash where they were going. When his dad came running out of the house and started to shout the bad grown up words at her he knew things were very bad.

His mom yelled other bad grown up words at his dad before she jumped in the front seat and put the car in gear. His dad picked up the collection of newspaper flyers that were piled on the doorstep and threw them at the car as it reversed out of their parking spot. The flyers exploded in a blizzard of colored sales and branded logos on the hood of the car. The last image Cash had of his father was of him in his blue boxer underwear and white t-shirt, his dark dreadlocks bursting out in all directions. He was looking around the porch for something else to throw. His mom stopped the car from backing up and squealed the car tires as she took off. The sound underlined their leaving as a statement of finality. It was also the end of the short beginning of Cash’s life in the city and now the beginning of another.

Cash and his mom drove out of the complex. He stayed quiet, as did she, barring the occasional grown up word. He knew from past experience this was not the time to say anything although he was pretty scared and confused as to what was happening. He didn't want to cry. Sometimes that made things worse. This seemed way worse than the other times.

He knew the routine, stay quiet and don’t attract attention. She didn’t like it when she saw him acting scared and would tell him so. She would say she needed him to be a big boy for her. That was what she always was to her, her big boy. He knew this was one of those times she needed him to be a big boy. So Cash sat silently in his booster seat, watching the usual assorted townhouses merge into bigger houses with their own yards and driveways. He fingered the ears of Ollie, his stuffed rabbit he had since he was a baby. Soon the small streets turned into bigger streets and then into one really large street with more cars and trucks than Cash usually saw. He knew they were on the freeway. He noticed they had gone so far that that cars going the other way had a road all to themselves. He was tired. He fell asleep.

Cash had no concept of time, being slightly too young to fully comprehend anything past ‘fun’ and ‘time to go’ and ‘nothing’. When he woke, he spent the next bit of time in the ‘nothing’ section.  His mom noticed he was awake and occasionally talked to him. She would say things such as everything was going to be okay and it was going to be so much fun in the country at Gramma and Grampa’s which made little sense to Cash. Having just turned five, he believed everything was going to be fun. He couldn’t think of anyplace that his and his mom went that wasn’t fun, even the bus. That was being the advantage of five years old. Plus, he remembered Gramma and Grampa and they always sounded like fun when he talked to them on the phone. They hadn’t been to see him since he was two years old, reminded his mom. But they always said they couldn’t wait to see him again, although that didn’t make sense to Cash. His mom told him that was because they lived very far away and it would take a very long time to visit him and Grampa didn’t care for his dad too much at all.

They stopped for ice cream at a little town that had hardly any people on the streets. He picked his favorite; chocolate. His mom had strawberry because it was pink and mom was a girl. They sat down at a little table outside the store and Cash got to work eating around his ice cream cone, like he was taught so none of the ice cream would drip on his hands and get them sticky.

“So Cash,” said his mom, “we are going to be staying at Gramma and Grampa’s house for awhile. Do you remember Gramma and Grampa?”

“Sorta,” he said, “are we meeting Daddy there?”

“Your dad won’t be meeting us. He has to stay in the city because he has a lot of things he needs to figure out and decide what is important to him. If he figures it out, he will have to come and meet us but I wouldn’t hold your breath.”

“Why would I hold my breath?” he asked.

“Sorry, Cash. That’s just an expression. It means that we will be at Grandma and Grampa’s for a long time. You will be meeting new friends and I am going to sign you up for Kindergarten there. You will be going to the same school I went to. Isn’t that exciting?”

“I guess so.”

Cash’s mom watched her son dig into his ice cream cone. She doubted the enormity of what was happening had really sunk in to her only child. He would never know how hard it was to to finally leave, to admit her parents were right after all; Cash’s dad was a loser. He had more interest in his musical lifestyle/career than raising a family, much less a home. Unless she wanted to have Cash live a life of growing up with low level groupies hanging around their townhouse while his dad ignored the two of them it was best to cut her losses.

“And you know what? I think we should get a puppy. Gramma and Grampa mentioned that they were thinking of getting a puppy.”

That was the best thing Cash heard all day and immediately became the only thing that mattered.

“I’ve always wanted a puppy! Ever since I was three and a half!” he stated, eyes open in excitement.

His mom smiled and patted his head, her very own human puppy. They finished their ice cream as happy as a single mother and child could be; Cash provided great distraction for her. Although it took her a few years to realize it, he was the only man she needed in her life. The best part was he asked nothing more of her than was to be expected. She could handle one five year old. She couldn't handle two, especially when one was actually twenty-five and still asked his mom to buy him underwear, That guy she could do without.

They got back in the car and played ‘I Spy’ and sang songs and practiced the alphabet for the rest of the drive. When his mom told him they were getting close, he strained in his seat to see something out the window, but there was still only trees and fields. Some had fences but it was still a whole lot of nothing in his opinion. He did see a few black cows and a horse in one field so that was neat. 

They turned off a road onto another road and then another road that was made out of dirt. Cash knew they were really close because his mom kept saying it to him, as if she didn't quite believe it herself. They finally pulled up to a house that looked smaller than their old home but also bigger. There were no other houses attached to it or even close to it. It was surrounded by trees, like they were in the middle of a park. The trees was what made it look so small.

Mom stopped the car and from out of the house came two old people, smiling. They were obviously Gramma and Grampa. Mom was immediately hugged by Gramma. Grampa opened up the back door, said ‘howdy, stranger’ which Cash thought was strange because maybe his Grampa didn’t remember they had met before. That wouldn’t surprise him because they were both really old, although they didn’t look much different than the other old people Cash saw in the City. He was happy to see that Grampa was wearing a cowboy hat which nearly fell off as he unbuckled Cash's seatbelt and lifted him out of the booster seat.

“It’s good to see you!” he said, rubbing Cash’s belly with one big Grampa hand.

Cash wasn’t sure yet if it was good to see him because Grampa was tickling him and he hated getting tickled because it made him laugh. He squirmed but Grampa wouldn’t let him down. 

“Gramma, look at this giant boy! We are going to need more food in the cupboard!”

“Hello Cash," said his Gramma, "You look so grown up. You come over here and give me a hug."

Cash noticed a strange thing then. His mom was crying. Gramma was hugging his mom and patting her head much like Mom did to him whenever he would start to cry. He didn’t see how his mom hurt herself but he hoped she was okay.

“Are you okay, Mommy? Did you hurt yourself?”

She let go of Gramma and wiped her eyes.

"I'm okay Cash," she said, "Gramma says there is something out back for you. We should go take a look."

"There is?"

"Why," said Grampa, "I believe there is. Let's go see."

Grampa placed Cash down on his feet. Cash grabbed his hand and followed as he led him around the side of the house. His Gramma and Mom followed behind them. In the back yard there was a large shed. In front of the shed was a small dog tied up, looking sad. Once it saw them, it began to bark and jump around, tugging at the rope which Cash noticed was tied to a bike that was way too small for Grampa.

Grampa bent down to untie the leash from the handlebars. The dog bolted to Gramma and jumped up, trying to lick her face and when that failed, it ran over and jumped at Cash, who was much more his size and started to lick Cash’s face, with much better success.

“Is this my dog, Grampa?” he asked, "Mom said I was going to get a dog."

“Well, so much for secrets. But yes, if you are going to live with us, you are going to want a dog. Keeps the bears away. And that is also your bike.”

“Bears? Like my teddy bears?” Cash noticed the bike but was much more taken by the puppy who demanded much more immediate attention than the bike. 

“Real bears much, much bigger than your teddy bears.” Grampa laughed. 

Cash’s happiness could only be best described by those who actually witnessed a four year old boy getting his own dog and a bike on the same day. It is suffice to say Cash would never have a birthday or a Christmas present that surpassed that moment at the woodshed with his Grampa, Gramma and Mom on his first day of his new life.

The puppy, now freely untied, started rolling in the dirt around the shed, rubbing wood chips and bark into it’s dark black and white fur. 

“What’s his name?” he asked Grampa.

“He doesn't have one yet. What do you think his name should be?”

“Is it a boy dog or a girl dog?”

“It’s a boy,” replied Gramma.

Cash thought of all the boy names he knew, but he didn’t want to name the dog after any of his friends at pre-school or one of the dogs on the cartoons, like Scooby Doo or Blue's Clues. He looked from the big curious brown eyes of the puppy to his Grampa.

“A boy name? How about Daddy?”

“Oh for-“ said his mom, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"You okay, Nancy?" asked Gramma, adding "Gramps, don’t laugh. |It’s not funny."

His mom laughed a small laugh then, for which Cash was grateful. Nothing was too bad. His mom shook her head and after a brief moment, inhaled deeply. She pinched her nose again and shook her head.

“No, I’m fine. Just caught me by surprise, that’s all. I don’t think Daddy would be a good name for a puppy. You already have a Daddy, and you can only have one daddy.”

“You need to give it a boy dog name,” added Grampa, "like Mutt or Spike."

“But you said I won't be seeing Daddy anymore, and besides, my friend Kyle has two daddies. One only sees him on weekends though, and the other one lives with him and his mom and baby brother.”

“Yes, but that is a daddy and a step-daddy. He has only one real daddy.”

“So I can’t name him Daddy?” Cash asked as he held the puppy around the neck, much to the consternation of the puppy, who seemed very confused by the lack of freedom.

“No," said his Mom, "Pick a different name.”

“Okay. Then I will call him Doggie. Because he’s a dog. Is that okay?”

His mom rolled her eyes and smiled more in exasperation than amusement. The puppy barked happily as Cash asked him if he liked being called Doggie. So it was decided. Not not only did Cash have his own bike, which he thankfully only referred to as his bike, but also a dog named Doggie.

A couple of quick weeks passed. Cash, Doggie and his mom moved out of Gramma and Grampa’s house into a house in the same neighbourhood. After Mom and Gramma went to see it, she had gone to the bank with Grampa and came back all excited. She told him that soon they were going to be in their very own house, living very close to Gramma and Grampa. Gramma said that he could even ride his bike from there to here (‘but only with me’, his mom emphasized).

To celebrate, that night they all walked over to see his new house, with him riding his bike and Doggie running circles around them. It wasn’t very far away at all. The house was smaller than his grandparents, but still larger than his townhouse in The City. It had a lawn, a garage and even a small cage where there appeared to be some strange looking birds.

He pointed them out to his Mom.

“Are those chickens?”

“Yep.” Said his Grampa. “You are going to be a farmer!”

“Eggs come out of their bums.” Cash told the grown-ups, confident in his farm knowledge picked up from children's books. 

“Their bums?” asked Gramma. "Where did you learn that?"

“Yep. I learned it in a book. About farm animals.”

Cash stared at the birds pecking away at the dirt, eating what appeared to be dirt. A couple pooped on the ground. He came to a conclusion.

“Mom, I don’t like eggs anymore.”

“That’s too bad, young man," said his mom, "They come with the house. It’s going to be our job to feed them and clean out their coop.”

“What’s a coop?” he asked.

This started Grampa laughing again, to which he had seemed to be doing a lot lately as Cash had tried to learn all of the new things involved in living in the country. He learnt to chop wood, weed a garden, rake leaves and his personal favourite; hammer nails into pieces of wood which once altogether would become a doghouse for Doggie, or so Grampa told him.

Gramma had seemed to think that Grampa was taking advantage of him, whatever that meant. Grampa told her he may as well learn now. He even promised that when winter came, he would take him skating so that he could play real hockey on ice like the men on TV did.

“A coop is where the chickens go at night and lay their eggs,” his mom replied. “They lay them in their nests. And it will be your job to take out the eggs in the morning.”

A lot of people Cash didn’t know came to bring furniture and stuff to the new house. Some were old friends of his mom’s others were old friends of his Gramma and Grampa. They were all very happy to see her and told her she had to come visit as soon as she was settled in. Some even had children close to his age but he couldn’t remember their names. Because Cash didn’t have many toys, they would play outside with whatever they could find and to Cash’s amazement, the parents wouldn’t even supervise them. They were only told to stay out of the chicken coop but nothing about throwing dirt and grass at the chickens which was great fun until they left. 

Gramma and Grampa stopped in a lot during the first days when Mom was unpacking their stuff. Gradually the visits became fewer and fewer. His mom seemed to appreciate that. She kept saying she was tired of all the company. Once they went up there and had a big fancy dinner outside with strange people who his mom said were cousins she grew up with. They, like everyone else he met, were really nice to him.

His mom taught Cash the names of the roads so he would never get lost going to his Grandparents’ house. He lived on Rattletip Road. To get to his Grandparents, he went past one road called Puddleton. It looked like it went on forever. Maybe if he went down Puddleton far enough he would get back to ‘The City’ and he could see his Dad. He filed away that thought for future reference in case he grew bored of living in ‘The Country’.

Although his new country house apparently didn’t have all that much going for it in terms of kids nearby to play with and interesting cars going by, it wasn’t that bad either. He was surrounded by trees and bushes that were silent for the most part but full of adventure and sticks and probably hidden caves and monkeys and such. On occasion, Doggie would run off barking into the bushes, then reappear a moment later looking curiously satisfied.

Cash could barely see the neighbours on either side his house through the trees. There never seemed to be much going on at either house. The big brown one at the end of the road appeared to have 2 dogs who were always sleeping in the middle of the driveway. On the other side of him was a smaller house with different shades of blue covering it. He never saw anyone over there.

He definitely did have freedom unheard of before now. His mom rarely checked up on him as much as she used to in ‘The City’, and he was even allowed Out of Eyesight, which was a very big thing. On occasion if he was out near the end of the driveway (that was as far as he was allowed to go, but for Cash that was fine) she would remind him to watch for cars, like in ‘The City’. But out here he could see a car coming from what he thought was miles away (in truth, it was more like 400 yards but to a four year old’s eyes and legs, 400 yards is 400 miles away). 

And for all the time he had been there, he had only seen two cars come down the street, and they had both turned onto Puddleton Road and never came back out. He assumed that was more evidence that the road led to ‘The City’.

He never saw anybody on the street which sometimes gave him the feeling there was nobody else that lived around them. He wondered if maybe all the houses were empty. Even the big brown house was only lived in by the two big dogs. He thought that would be pretty neat but he never heard of dogs living in houses in the real world, only in books. Cash lived in a world that consisted only of his mom, grandparents and Doggie. And the chickens, who weren’t nearly as entertaining as he hoped.

What he was really missing was some friends to play with. And this is where the Kool-Aid comes in.