Read Online Derailed by Jackson Neta, Dave Jackson - Free Book Online

“Uh, just lean it over there against the wall, but try to put something under it to keep it up off the concrete. Didn’t we have a sheet of plastic over it?”
    The phone was making noise. I put it to my ear to hear Rodney say, “You still there?”
    â€œYeah, yeah . . .” I held the phone out and saw it was still on mute. “Sorry ’bout that. I was tryin’ to give some instructions to people here. What was that you said?” I got up and walked out into the alley, away from the moving truck and the people who were still unloading.
    â€œI said, I’m
here
. Bus just got in, so what’s the best way to get up to your place?”
    â€œHa! Funny you should ask. We hardly know where we live anymore. We just moved today. That’s what you were hearing, a bunch of people helping us.”
    â€œYou mean you’re not in that same apartment? You still got DaShawn, don’t you?”
    â€œOf course we got DaShawn! I just meant I’m not sure how to tell you the best way to get here. Lessee . . . If you came up by ‘L’ on the Red Line, you could get off at Jarvis. Or if you wanna take the Metra train, you could get off at Rogers Park. Either way—”
    â€œJust give me the address, Harry. I’ll get there on my own.”
    So now it was “Harry” instead of “Dad”? I told him our address, and he hung up—and then it hit me. Rodney was coming. To stay with us. Man! He couldn’t have picked a worse day. I sucked in a breath and blew it out. Figured I’d better go tell Estelle before I lost my nerve.
    I found her putting away dishes in the kitchen. She stared at me. “He’s
what
? He’s coming this afternoon?”
    â€œThat’s what he said.”
    â€œLord have mercy. What’re we gonna do?”
    â€œUh, guess we better go out to eat tonight. No way you can cook in here yet.”
    She rolled her eyes. “I
mean
, is he plannin’ on stayin’ with us?”
    I shrugged. “I presume that’s why he’s here.”
    â€œBut . . . but we’re not even set up for ourselves.”
    â€œI
know
, babe. Didn’t think it’d be this soon. But . . . he’s on his way.”
    Estelle sank down into a kitchen chair, looking very tired. “Oh, Harry, I don’t know. First your mom havin’ a stroke, then all this movin’, and now Rodney showin’ up . . . it’s all a bit much.”
    I snorted. “Tell me about it. Nothin’s turnin’ out.”
    We just looked at each other. Finally she said, “Well, it is what it is. Guess you better tell DaShawn. But we’re clear it’s just gonna be a few days, right?”
    â€œEstelle, he’s not even here yet, so don’t be on my case to kick him out.”
    â€œI’m just sayin’ . . .” She shook her head. “I’m just sayin’, things have a way of takin’ root, like weeds.” Pushing herself up out of the chair, she went back to shoving dishes into the cupboards, a little harder than necessary, I thought.
    I watched for a moment, letting my mind escape thoughts of Rodney. Sure was nice to have enough room for everything. The kitchen in the old apartment had only half this much space.
Thank you, Jesus
—
    Wait a minute.
    I knew we’re supposed to thank God about everything—there’s a Bible verse about that somewhere—but here we were suddenly facing another derailment.
    It was no longer as simple as Rodney sleeping on our couch for a few nights. How was I going to insist he leave when we had an empty apartment downstairs?

Chapter 7
    The movers had left by the time the doorbell rang, but before either Estelle or I could respond, DaShawn came running out of his new room. “That’s probably my dad!” He raced out the door and down the stairs.
    I walked out on