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bran-writes · 5 years

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Farm Boy Blues Ep. 1 “Welcome Home, Sunny:” Pt. 2

Sunny climbed out of the Dyson Security car, bag in tow, and stretched carefully. He took stock of everybody out on the sidewalks. There were throngs of people crossing the street towards him, not particularly minding him at all. A couple sat down at a patio coffee shop table and a family of four piled into a minivan down the street. Food stall vendors offered their choices as the meals were cooked in front of waiting patrons. Everything seemed normal- just as Sunny had left it four months ago. The sun beat down on him as the smell of Courier Street assaulted his nose.

Baking bread.

Lamb meat.

Strong coffee.

Gourmet popcorn. That was exactly where Sunny was headed. He thanked the security guard and closed the car door before gingerly slinging his bag on his shoulder. Sunny crossed the busy street to Diane’s Eatery, coming upon a woman and her kids walking out with small bags of gourmet popcorn. The woman attempted to corral her two children who weren’t giving her a lick of attention until she snapped her fingers. Smiling, Sunny reached out and held the door open.

“Thank you,” the woman sighed, rolling her eyes, “Come on kids, don’t make this man hold the door open all day. Move your boots!”

A shriek came from inside Diane’s Eatery and Sunny’s head snapped up, instantly recognizing the owner of the shrill voice. “Mama! Sunny’s here!”

Twelve year old Lacey bounded over the sales counter past a shocked old man laying his money down and sprinted towards Sunny before he had time to even get all the way inside. The girl threw her arms around Sunny and held tight, laughing.

“Woah, woah, Lace, chill out,” Sunny laughed through the pain of her head smacking his stitches. He wanted to curse out in pain, but he was overwhelmed with joy from seeing the kid. Eh, the pain can wait, Sunny thought to himself.

Lacey’s bright red hair was tied in a ponytail so it was easy enough for Sunny to playfully tug it. “Hey, stop,” she laughed. The girl looked up at Sunny with a big smile- a smile he’d seen so many times over the years but never got old. “I knew you’d come back!”

“Oh of course,” Sunny scoffed, “did somebody say I was gone for good or something?”

A chorus of kids yelling Sunny’s name pulled him away from his adoptive little sister and before he knew it, the rest of his adopted siblings were bounding from the back of the store- many of them still wearing their backpacks.

“Ah, what- who let you heathens out of school early?!”

There were four kids(besides Lacey) who gathered around for hugs.

Pete with the glasses.

Johnell with the mohawk.

Amber with the braids.

And of course, Tiny Dalton.

Sunny hugged them all one by one and asked where Mama Diane was. As if summoned by the mention of her name, the owner of the shop and the woman who’d shown Sunny love when nobody else would, appeared from the back with a big smile on her face.

Diane Haines looked immaculate for her age. Rich brown skin, deep brown eyes with dark freckles underlying them. Her shining curls were outlined in white strands- the only byproduct of time that was visible on the fifty year-old woman as of yet. Sunny smiled at her over the other kids and instantly felt like he was fifteen again, coming home from a day of work. The world droned away while she approached and for the first time since crossing the gate, Sunny was truly glad to be home.

“Hey, mama,” Sunny winked.

“Hey, Sunshine,” Diane chuckled, weaving through her other adopted kids to hug Sunny. He wanted to cry when he smelled her perfume. He hugged her back tightly, ignoring the pain in his chest. “I told them you’d be back,” she winked at him.

“Back home? Can’t keep me away,” Sunny laughed.

“Okay kids, break it up,” Diane waved at the children. “Lacey, back on the register until Stevie gets back from lunch, please. Everybody else, homework. Right now. You’ll get time with Sunny when you’re done.”

“Yeah, I’m back, guys. You’ll get your chance to hang out and ask me a bunch of annoying ass questions, I promise.”

Diane smacked his arm, “Don’t cuss at my babies.”

The kids dispersed- Lacey back to the register while the others grabbing seats in the corner of the restaurant to peel their backpacks open and get started on their homework.

Diane’s Eatery was a well-known little snack shop on the East Side of The Rows- a large, older and less hi-tech section of Dyson City. The shop was most celebrated for it’s array of gourmet popcorn from the bar where you could get as many flavors in one of the bags as you liked. Jimmy, Diane’s only birth son helped with the cooking while the kids Diane took in often helped out around the shop for some extra spending money.

Diane lead Sunny to the back office that connected to the apartment she lived in with the kids and her wife, Katrina. Sunny grabbed one of the office chairs and sat down in it, playfully rolling into Diane’s desk.

“So, mama, mother of many, how’s it goin?”

Diane smirked, “Don’t ‘so mama’ me, what happened?”

Sunny feigned shock. “Mama Diane, am I not allowed to come home, you know, to where the heart is? Does it have to because of some disaster?”

“She fucked you, didn’t she?” Diane crossed her arms.

“Oh, many times,” Sunny bucked his eyebrows.

“Don’t be nasty! You know what I mean. What happened?”

Sunny felt it was okay to beat around the bush for the time being, to stop himself from breaking down in front of her- no matter how much he wanted to. She had so much to deal with already and the last thing Sunny wanted to do was add to her plate. “It just didn’t work out, mama. You can go ahead and say I told you so.”

“You know that’s not what I’m about. I just want to see you safe and happy. That girl was never gonna let you be either of those.”

She was right… Of course she was right. She’d been right when Sunny told her that he was going away with Mia in the first place. Hell, she’d been right when he first met Mia six years ago. “Yeah…”

“Baby, I know you feel like you need somebody to be there for you, and that’s perfectly understandable. But you need somebody who’s gonna support you, who’s gonna be in your corner, and who’s not gonna take any of your shit. You can’t force somebody to be that. You just have to be patient.”

“You’re right,” Sunny brushed his hair back and sighed, leaning back in the seat.

“You look hurt, why you holding yourself like that?”

“Just sore. A long ride on the train back into the city.”

“Oh you have got to be kidding me…”

“Yeah, we didn’t exactly split on the best of terms. Anyways, I’m just glad to be back home.”

Diane looked at him with that stare, that look full of sympathy and love. “You want to stay for dinner tonight?”

“Maybe some other time, I just want to get home and shower and sleep.”

“Okay baby. You want your piece back, at least?”

“Sure do,” Sunny smiled. Diane reached under the desk and produced the lock box that held his handgun. She unhooked a key from her necklace and slid both across the desk to him. Sunny pulled his duffel bag into his lap and shook it.

“Brought something for you,” he winked.

“From one of your desert stashes?” Diane bit into a carrot she produced from a plastic container. From the looks of it, Sunny had caught her on her lunch break.

“Yep, figured we could use it in the future fund here,” Sunny unzipped the bag and produced several stacks of cash tied together by rubber bands. “Should be about three grand, there. Trade ya.”

Sunny gave her the money and zipped the rest back up. While Diane counted, Sunny unlocked the box to see his Beretta Cougar 8040 in its holster, his spare magazines resting beneath it. He pulled the pistol from its holster and checked to make sure it was empty. He stared down at it, glad to have the reassuring weight back in his hand. The original pistol was first manufactured 181 years ago, but Beretta brought back the design just thirty years ago as part of a legacy line. There weren’t many of them from that legacy line on the streets, but Sunny was glad to have his.

“Yep, three grand it is. I’ll add it to the fund. Thank you, baby.”

“No problem,” Sunny loaded a magazine into the gun, engaged the safety and holstered it, standing up and clipping the holster to the back of his belt. He put the spare magazines in the duffel bag and hoisted it on his shoulder, trying not to wince. “My car’s still here, right?”

With a mouthful of sandwich, Diane nodded and pointed to the wall behind her where a hook for keys was. Sunny crossed over and plucked his car key off the hook. Diane covered her mouth with her hand and snapped, “It’s out back.”

“Thank you, mama. I’ll see you later,” Sunny leaned down and kissed the woman’s forehead. Making sure he had everything he needed, he opened to door to the apartment and slid through.

“Call me!”

“I will, say hi to Katrina for me,” Sunny waved and closed the door behind him.

In the garage behind Diane’s Eatery, Sunny rounded the corner and almost teared up when he saw his car safe and sound where he left it. The Briggs Wayfarer wasn’t the most sporty or even new car, but Sunny fell in love with it the moment he saw it when he was 16. The boxy look fit his tastes and the bright blue paint with white accents gave the car more personality than it’s brethren at the lot Sunny bought it from. It was about nine years old, but he’d taken good care of it, which also meant he’d installed bullet proof windows and paneling inside the chassis for when work got heated.

Sunny unlocked the car with the fob and climbed in. The familiar feel of the seats made him instantly feel at home. He checked the dashboard and the passenger seat before twisting around to look in the back.

“Oh, baby, I missed you,” he smiled. Sunny tossed the duffel bag in the back seat and started the car to a healthy rumble. He couldn’t help but laugh in joy. “Yep, Mama Katrina took good care of it, didn’t she? Sounds good as new.”

The car’s navigation system blinked on and the console beeped to life. The welcome message scrolled across the screen and Sunny re-synched the car back to his watch before scrolling through his music options, picking a song and pulling out of the garage.

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Tag List:

@writerinafury @oneleggedflamingo @carmina-solis @anomaly00 @neirawrites @lnspired-insomniac

#Farm Boy Blues #my wip #short story #writeblr #sci fi #the mama sunny deserves #I love her #and the kids

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