Autumn is Always Around the Corner

Love. Love is an interesting thing. You never know when someone will make you the happiest man in the world or leave you heartbroken. I have been both of those things, but for the moment, my heart is broken. Martha was the person who both showed me how to love and how much it hurts when your heart’s broken. I met her during my sophomore year of college at WSU. We went out for two years and then one day, ironically when she came home with me to Grand Coulee to meet my parents, she broke up with me.
“Well hi, welcome to Flo’s. May I take your order?” asked the short plump waitress.
“Umm… yeah I’ll take the biscuits and gravy,” I said. It was one of the things I missed about home.
“And you sweetheart?” the waitress asked pointing her pencil at Martha.
“Oh!” Martha exclaimed. “I’ll just have a bowl of oatmeal.” After the waitress left, Martha and I were alone for the first time the whole weekend. But strangely Martha was not looking at me lovingly, as she usually did, but had her eyes looking down at her hands as if she had something to say but didn’t want to.
“Martha,” I said and reached my hand out and placed it on top of hers. “Please tell me what’s bothering you.”
“I can’t see you anymore Curtis,” she said barely above a whisper.
“I don’t understand.” I said completely confused
She looked up at me for the first time and said the words that broke my heart into pieces. “I’ve found someone else.”
I’m thinking back to that moment when the ding ding ding of the bell above the book store door brings me back to the present. I closed my book of To Kill a Mockingbird and looked up at the customer who had just walked in.
“Curtis! Curtis Manning where the heck are you?” a woman screeched from the entrance.
“I’m right here,” I said in an annoyed voice because to my disadvantage, Mrs.Gooling, our town’s gossiper, just walked in.
“Now do not use that tone of voice with me young man or I will tell your mother!” Mrs.Gooling pointed one of her short stubby fingers at me. Now Mrs.Gooling is not what you would call beautiful, she always wears a long scarf wrapped around all of her crinkly long dirt-colored hair, except for the last two inches. Her clothes are always bright colors. For instance, today she is wearing a pastel pink shirt and a baby blue pants. She looks like a stick of cotton candy you can get at the fair.
“I’m sorry ma’am, now what are you looking for?”
“Why… you. Your sister Kathy told me to run down here and tell you that she is having the whole family for dinner and she has invited your good friend Autumn, and Derek’s back so he’s going to be joining you.” Mrs.Gooling said, peering around one of the dusty book cases, as if she was an inspector or something. “Oh and it starts at 5 o’clock sharp so don’t be late,” Mrs.Gooling walked around the room and at the last part started pointing her finger at me again.
“I won’t be late, now thank you Mrs.Gooling I’ll see you soon. Bye,” I said pushing her out the door as fast as possible. When she was finally gone I slammed the door shut and locked it as fast as I could. Took a deep breath with my back against the door and slid to the floor with my hand on my head. Geez, my life stinks!
“Curtis! Hey man I haven’t seen you since …what…my 21 birthday? So four years, man I’m old.” Derek Laughs. “But not as old as your sister right…what is she…28? Man,” My best friend Derek laughed scratching his head; math was never his best subject. “How you been buddy? Men don’t worry about me because California is sweet! I mean there are babes at like at every corner. Autumn told me you’re working at a bookstore…how’s that? Oh man I’ve missed ya so much!” Derek said barely stopping to breathe. Now Derek’s always been a tough guy; he works out whenever her has the spare time. And his looks compared to mine are huge. For instance I have brown hair and pale white skin while he has beach blond hair and tan skin.
“I’m good,” There was nothing else I could really say to Derek. I wasn’t mad at him and I knew he wouldn’t care anyway so what was the point? And I was right Derek gave me one of his cocky smiles and left for the kitchen.
I sat on my sister’s couch and sighed.
“Hey,” Autumn comes up to the couch and sits next to me. “How are you?”
“I’m good.” I look up at her and smile. But all she does is nod and say “That’s good… that’s good? Getting quitter and quitter, Autumn’s never been much of a talker.
“Hey Curtis go down to the garage and grab a coke for Derek,” My sister Kathy yells from the kitchen. And without waiting for an answer she is back to cooking god only knows what. My sister Kathy’s house isn’t that unlike most people’s houses. You walk in the house and to the right is a living room with a couch, two recliner chairs, and a television. Straight ahead is a kitchen with all the essentials but with a bar that separates the kitchen from the dining room. There’s an upstairs with two bedrooms and a master bedroom and two bathrooms. But where I am heading is downstairs where my sister has a playroom for the kids that she hasn’t had yet, and the garage. I have only been to the garage one time and truthfully I never plan on going down there again. My stupid brother-in-law always seems to be in there. But what can I do about that now? The basement looks exactly like it did the last time I was there but yet now, instead of my brother-in-law’s sports car, there sits a minivan. Ha! I want to yell. That’s what you get Steve for marrying my baby obsessed sister! I look around and after a couple of minutes of looking in the refrigerator and not finding a single coke start to look around the garage. I walk around the minivan and instead of finding a coke there’s a huge flat screen T.V. Who would have guessed that my brother-in-law could be cool enough to have something like this? It’s probably made of plastic or something. So I walk up to it maybe an inch away and lift my finger up to it poke my finger towards the glass, but it’s not touching anything and soon my whole body is through the T.V.
I keep opening and closing my eyes, making sure that what is in front of me is real. Because there is no possible way that it could be, yet, it is. I’m looking at myself, Curtis Manning, and the woman who broke my heart, Martha. We’re both at Flo’s diner, at the same table as four years ago. How is this possible? I look around the diner, seeing if there’s anything that will tell me what year it is. The same cutesy pictures are hanging on the wall. Old lunch boxes’ and little doodads sit on shelves at the top of the wall. Finally I find a newspaper sitting on the counter. June 15, 2006, the same date that Martha broke up with me!
“Well hi; welcome to Flo’s may I take your order?” I hear the waitress ask, I turn around to find her asking me.
“Umm… yeah I’ll take the biscuits and gravy,” I say, handing her my menu.
“And you sweetheart?” the waitress said pointing her pencil at Martha
“Oh!” She exclaims “I’ll just have a bowl of oatmeal,”
As I was looking at myself I noticed how my face truly shows how in love I was with Martha, my eyes were just melt looking into her emerald green eyes.
“Martha,” I say and reach out a hand and placed it on top of hers “Please tell me what’s bothering you.”
“I can’t see you anymore, Curtis,” she says barely above a whisper.
“I don’t understand.”
I closed my eyes because I know what she’s going to say next.
“I’ve found someone else.” Martha had always been blunt.
Then she stands up and leaves with her head held high, walking right past me not even noticing me. I look at myself and what I see cross my face in mere seconds is surprise, then pain. Then as soon as the realization hits me, I see how my forehead moves to rest on the palm of my hand my head shaking back and forth I’m muttering the words “I can’t believe it.”
Everything goes black and I notice that I am sitting in red velvet seats. And soon a single spotlight is shown on a stage with only a couch with two people sitting on it, Autumn and me. I’m wearing the same blue polo shirt that I had been wearing at the diner; my hair is the same short length that my college friends had persuaded me to get.
“I don’t know what I did wrong,” I said in a soft muffled voice.
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Autumn said, I noticed that she said these words the same way I have heard her talk to her kindergarteners. She put her arm around me in a half hug and I knew this was the most touchy-feely thing that Autumn was going to give. Then the Curtain closes.
When the curtain opens, there in front of me…is the book store that I work at, Everyone’s Favorite Books. After I got my degree in veterinarian medicine I chose to stay close to my family and since they already had a town veterinarian I chose to work close to something else I love, books. I see myself working at my front desk like I do every day when all of a sudden this really cute girl walks in, she has long blond hair and deep brown eyes and her skin has this tan glow to it. She walks up and doesn’t look at the shelves of books, just stares straight ahead, at me. She walks up with her nose stuck up in the air and says. I remember this girl because new people rarely walk into the store.
“I just moved here and this woman, Mrs. Gooling,” The blond waits for me to acknowledge, so I nod. “Well she said that you would show me around. Maybe you could take me to the laser light show in Coulee Dam, could you do that for me?” She says, leaning in closer and closer on every word.
“I’m sorry but I’m busy,” I say then go back to reading a Carl Hiaasen book.
“Oh, ok,” She says surprised. I know she must be one of the girls who has never heard the word no. An hour later Mrs. Gooling comes in and as usual with a very loud entrance,
“Cutis!” She yells, her voice cracking at the last note “Are you stupid?! That girl was gorgeous and you throw her away like a piece of trash! What is wrong with you?!” She says with many, many gestures of the hands.
“Nothing is wrong with me Mrs. Gooling, I’m just not interested,” I say setting down my book and explaining with an annoyed voice.
“Curtis, it has been three years, you need to move on.” Mrs. Gooling’s voice softens
“I will, but just not right now,” Mrs. Gooling shakes her head as I pick up my book and start to read.
The lights go out again and soon big white letters shine on a black curtain.

The Future

When the lights come back on I see my sister’s living room and everyone is there, Autumn, Derek, my sister Kathy, her husband Steve, and myself. All of us looking ten years older, wrinkles around the eyes and I have this long brown beard. But yet there are more people, Derek has his arm around a cute, short red head that has a baby in her arms and a ring on her finger. My sister and her husband have three kids running around them yelling the words “We want candy!” over and over again, and she has another one in her arms. And then, I see myself talking to Autumn and this guy who has his arm around her waist as if to say “She’s going to do whatever I want and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.” Then I see him tell…wait no order her to go get him a beer! She nods her head and starts to walk toward the kitchen and does it! I don’t understand how I can possible handle this! I mean Autumn and I have always been friends. I have always stood up for her when kids called her names or pushed her around! How could I let someone boss her around like that? Geez that guy’s nerve! Before I could help it I’m standing up and walking toward the stage yelling “Autumn get away from him! He doesn’t deserve you!” I’m climbing onto the stage and am running towards her when all of a sudden everything, goes black.
“Whoa!” I yelled my whole body being squeezed together so I was as thin as paper. I was soon standing on the concrete floor of my sister’s garage in the present. I turned around and bolted towards the door.
“OW!” Autumn yells as I run into her. “What’s the matter with you?”
“Autumn come down here you have to see this!” Running back down to the garage with Autumn right behind me.
“Curtis, what is it?” I was frozen in front of the wall, because instead of that huge T.V. right there a huge Ghostbusters movie poster. Now that’s more like the Steve I know!
“I swear there was a huge T.V. right there and, and…” I fell on my knees and spun around and sat up against the wall with my face buried in my hands.
What’s the matter?” Autumn sat down next to me and took my hand and held it in her lap.
“You won’t believe me if I told you,”
“Try me.” And like I always do, I tell her.
“Curtis you don’t have to worry about being alone.” Autumn looked up at me. “Your mom and your sister will always be there for you. And I’ll always be there.” And as I looked into her big sea blue eyes I realized why I hadn’t wanted her to be with that other guy. I wanted her to be with me. Me! Curtis Manning! I started to lean in and without thinking I kissed her.