Page 5 of Cullen
“Again, you don’t understand what we have to do to have the system work for us.It’s complicated.”Obviously too complicated for Emmie to understand, she said.“We have to work hardat being able to get what we need from them.Or they’ll cut us off.And as hard as we worked to get into the housing, as well as the food card—do you have any idea how much a month we get for having a food card?It’s nearly a thousand bucks a month just for food.Then they give us travel money on account of us neither one having a car to drive ourselves around to get to appointments and whatnot.”
“You sound like you have it made.”She nodded and smiled like she was finally understanding what she’d been saying all along.“That’s not a good thing, Mary Beth.There are plenty enough people around who need it more than you guys do.And are more than likely needing a home that they’d take much better care of than you are.”
“So?It’s a little messy?No one cares so long as it’s cleaned up when they come by.And they have to give me a week’s notice before they can do that, too.We get it done before then.”Emmie rolled her eyes, no longer caring if she pissed off her sister or not.“Don’t take that attitude with me, sister mine.I’ve got a roof over our heads and food when we need it.That’s everything that we need besides Bash being out of jail.And you could help me out with that, no problem, but you won’t.You’re just selfish, that’s what you are.And you know it.”
“Sure, I know it.I have better things to do with my money other than to bail out a deadbeat dad that I don’t even care for.”She said she never cared for Bash.“No.I’ll be the first to tell you that I don’t like him at all.You either, most of the time.I love you to pieces, but I don’t have too much in the way of respect for you.We weren’t raised this way, Mary Beth, and you know it.Mom and Dad worked hard to have what we needed, and you’re doing nothing to keep yourself out of the government system.Why?”
“Because I like it.And I don’t have to work hard at all for my next meal.Mom was worked nearly to death by working a full-time job and keeping the house for us to come home to.Dad would come home from work so tired at times that it was all he could do to come to the table.I don’t have that problem.Bash even helps me with meals when he comes home from whatever he does all day.So long as he’s not in jail, I’m happy for him to be gone from the house during the day.”They left the restaurant talking about what the system did for the four of them that no one else had done for them.“Mom and Dad only left us with enough money to bury them.Nothing that I could stash away for a rainy day.”
“You didn’t even pay your share of what the funeral cost, Mary Beth.I had to cover it all.But you sure had your hand out when the house sold, didn’t you?”She grinned at her as she made sure that the kids were buckled in.“Are your kids going to follow in the same footsteps as you are?Do you hope for them what you’ve been doing with the system?”
“I hope so.”That pissed her off.She wanted to raise lazy kids who would have even lazier kids when it was time for them to have a family.“Maybe by the time they have kids, the system will take care of them better than they are now.It would be wonderful if I could pass on my knowledge to other people in the system, but that would take too much time.I just keep it to myself and let them figure out on their own what’s the best way to work things.”
She looked at the kids.Marshall was looking at her with pleading eyes, and she wanted to grab him up and show him a better life.Beth looked like she didn’t care what was going on so long as her mother said it was all right.She asked Marshall what he thought of what was going on.
“The kids make fun of us when we get on the bus in the morning to go to school.I hate that.”Mary Beth told him they were jealous.“They don’t act like it.They act like they’re better than I am, and I think they are.”
“You’ll get over that soon enough.You just wait until Christmas again, you’ll understand.”She dropped them off at their house and made her way back to the bed and breakfast.
As soon as she was inside her room, she tore off her clothing and dropped on the bed to cry.It was the worst idea she’d ever had coming here, and she wished that she had not done it.Crying herself to sleep, she didn’t even bother with making arrangements to go out to dinner with the three of them.She’d had enough.She might even go back tomorrow if she couldn’t find herself something to do that would entertain her.Emmie was about as upset with her sister as she’d ever been.
~*~
Cullen had forgotten how well-known his mother was when out in public settings.She knew everyone, and if they had kids with them, she had something to say to them as well.While he was looking over the furniture and things that were at the auctions, his dad and brothers were sending him pictures of things they found at the other three auctions they were at.He was having fun with that instead of being around all the people.
“Go have a look at the table and chairs that are in line to be auctioned off, son.I’ll be right here if you need me.”He was never so grateful for his mom’s understanding as he was then.“I’ll come find you when the bidding starts.All right?”
“Thanks, Mom.”He kissed her on the cheek and heard the woman talking about what a good son he was.“I’ll be back if I don’t find anything.”He wouldn’t, and he thought that she knew that.
The table and chairs would be perfect for his home.Not that he planned on entertaining all that much, but if his family came by, he’d have someplace to feed them all.Looking at the leaves to the table, he figured that it would hold about a dozen people.The chairs, all fourteen of them, were a good indication of what he was looking at.He was looking them over when a man came to talk to him about them.
“You don’t want to buy that set.There’s a smaller one over there that you can have.”He said he was just looking.“Well, don’t get your hopes up about buying it.I’ve had my eye on this piece since I heard they were auctioning off the Mayberry family’s things.All that wood would be wonderful in my woodworking shop.”
“You want to cut it down?”He said he makes toys for kids that he sells in his workshop.“That’s nice, but I have plans for using it in my house.I don’t know what sort of deal I’m going to get, but I think that having it all in one piece is better than cutting it up.”
“You just keep looking.As I said, I’ve had my eye on this piece for some time.I don’t care much for the chairs, and I’m going to ask if he sells them separately, but you just keep looking elsewhere for a table and chairs.I can make a lot of money off this thing.”Cullen wished him luck.“Thank you.I’m glad that we can see eye to eye on this thing.”
Had he said that he was giving the toys away to kids, Cullen might have thought differently about the table and chairs.But he was going to get them now, even if it was too big for his house.Though he didn’t think it was.Looking at the pieces that went with it, there were two corner cabinets that would fit nicely in the room.He decided that he didn’t care what he had to pay; he was going to own it.
There were other pieces that he looked at.The bedroom sets were a little out of shape, but he did like the bunk beds that looked like they were newer.As he looked over the small lots of boxes that were filled with everyday junk, he heard the man talking about how he was going to own the table by the end of the day.Whatever, he thought, you just keep on thinking that.
True to her word, his mom came to stand with him when the auction began.There were questions asked about different pieces, and he was glad that someone asked about the table and chairs.They were going to sell them as one piece, and he couldn’t have been happier.The bunk beds were going to be sold as one set, along with the two dressers that went with it.He might get that if he could get a good price just to have around for the nieces and nephews, if he had any that would want to come and stay with him.He had a mental list of how much he wanted to pay for everything that he wanted.
“Your father got you two bedroom suites for nearly ten dollars.He said they’d need to be cleaned up, but he said he’d help you with that.I don’t see much of a problem with them if he’s willing to help.He hates cleaning furniture.”They both laughed, and he heard from one of his brothers that they’d been able to get him another bedroom suit for a master bedroom.Now all he needed was two bedroom suites, and he’d be set.As the auctioneer went over the rules for buying, he watched the toy man talking to anyone around him about the table and chairs.He told his mom that he was going to own it no matter what he had to pay.“Good for you.I’m betting that he’s only saying that he’s going to cut them down to get a good price for his home.That way, people will not bid against him.Stupid man.Why does he have to act like that?”
“To be a big man?Who knows?”The auctioneer started with the more expensive items that he had laid out on a table in front of him.He didn’t bid on anything, but he noticed that his mom did.She got several items that he knew she collected and was happy for her.Taking her purchases to the tree where they’d set up their chairs, he wrapped them up so that no one would bother them.Buying them both a cup of iced tea, he took it to his mother just as the furniture was beginning to sell.“I got the table and chairs if you’d bid on the bunk beds for me.I want them for when Anna comes to stay with her favorite uncle.”
They both laughed.“You’ll be the favorite uncle no matter what happens with you in finding a mate.”He said he’d see, but he wasn’t exactly a prize.“You are to me, Cullen.You’re my baby, and I will always cherish you above all the others for that.”
The bidding began on the other bedroom pieces just as he was thinking that he was going to have to pay a lot for the bunk beds.The bedroom sets that he watched go for a lot went about double what Mom thought they should, too.Dad was able to get him another bedroom set, and he was happy that he only had one to get.Mom bid on the bunk bed set and got it for twenty dollars less than he’d thought.She paid five dollars for the beds and two dressers that went with it.He was thrilled beyond words.Then the dining room set came up for bidding.
“Now we’ve found a credenza with the set that hasn’t been brought out yet.It will be part of the table and chairs, as well as the two corner cabinets.I’m not going to change up the way I’m doing things this late in the game.”Toy man said that he wanted the table and that’s all.“Then you’ll have to figure out what to do with the rest of it because I’m not going to allow you to leave them behind, Jackson.You buy it all, and you’ll take it all.”
“You aren’t running a good auction, Bill.I’m willing to pay good money for just the table.I don’t want all that other shit cramming up my workshop.I can make a lot of money off the table alone.”Bill wasn’t having it and started the bidding out at a thousand dollars.“Aint no one going to pay that much for that crap.You might as well just start with five bucks like you’re going to end up at in the first place.”
The bidding did make it down to five bucks, and he was happy when he put up his ticket with his number on it.He and his mom had been early enough to have number two on their tickets, and it thrilled him to no end that Mr.Jackson got huffy with him.The bidding continued to go upwards until it hit twenty-five dollars.
“I know it’s a lot of furniture to go with one set, but it’s nice for someone’s home that’s big enough to hold it.Why don’t we try bidding again?”So far, he was the winning bid as Toy Man had dropped out when it got to be over ten dollars.“You don’t even have to put it all in the same room if you don’t want.It’ll be a nice addition to any place you put it.”
