Sunnybrook

Editor’s Note: We are pleased to publish Mike Maddock’s novel, Sunnybrook, in its entirety as a “50 Something” weekly series for 2021. All published excerpts will also be available on our website, www.TheColumbiaStar.com.

PROLOGUE (Cont’d)

“I mean you party every weekend like you’re still in school. You don’t do anything with Joey unless it’s playtime, and you actually seem to like this awful apartment!” Mary Katherine blurted out shocked that she’d actually told him the truth.

“Are you kidding me? I moved from Columbia for you! I moved here for you! Now you want me to move again!” David felt his blood pressure rising.

“I loved Columbia! I had a great teaching job, and my family and friends were all there, but you were miserable! You hated working for G.E.! Selling refrigerators made you absolutely miserable! I suggested a change, and you decided not to get a better job or go back to U.S.C. for school, but to go back to school… in Atlanta! I followed dutifully along and ended up in that rat hole trying to teach thirteen-year-olds how to read Dick and Jane! I saw at least one knife fight everyday, and my best student, the one that could actually add two numbers, took a giant dump in my desk drawer… as a sign of affection! So, yeah, I may have been ready to get out of there!”

David sat silently realizing her case was much stronger than his ever could be.

She continued. “And I had a baby. Did you help? No! You always had some project or some exam or some study group to join. I was working full time in that hell hole to keep a roof over our heads and you were off playing happy coed!”

David sunk into the couch. The truth hurt.

“And of course, Joey caught everything imaginable from that lousy daycare. And did you drive him in the snow to the emergency room with a one hundred and five degree temperature? No! That was me! Did you risk losing a job to stay home with him time after time? No! That was me, too!”

David could only sit and take his medicine.

“So was I happy when you finally graduated? Yes, yes I was. Did I want to stay in Atlanta? God no! I never wanted to be there in the first place. I would have moved anywhere, even four hundred miles from everything I ever knew and loved! But David, I didn’t move here so you can keep partying like a frat boy every night. Didn’t you get enough of that at U.S.C.? I know I did.”

David was beaten, “Then what do you want?”

“I want to go home,” Mary Katherine said losing the anger in her voice.

“ To Columbia?” David asked knowing that’s exactly what she meant. “I can’t go back to Columbia. I’ve built a life here. I have friends and a great job. Birmingham is a great city.”

Mary Katherine smiled and sat by her husband. She wiped the hair out of his eyes and kissed him on the cheek, “Then let’s make it our home.” “ What do you mean?”

“I mean let’s find a neighborhood, build a house, and start a life…a grown- up life,” Mary Katherine took a deep breath and looked toward the ceiling like she was staring at her dream home. “I don’t want to live in this apartment like a couple of co-eds. I want to spend my Friday nights curled up with you in front of a fireplace, not with a bunch of drunks and a keg. I want us to be a family. I want nosey neighbors and a guy named Stan who lives across the street who you can argue football with. I want Tupperware parties with the ladies in the neighborhood. I want us to be happy. I want to have a dog, and I want Joey to ride his bike and walk to his friends’ houses—not to some dirty convenience store. Is that too much to ask?”

David looked his wife in the eyes. How could she be so beautiful and such a pain in the ass? He was too young to grow up just yet, but he smiled, kissed Mary Katherine softly on the lips, then said, “Okay, I’ll start looking for this perfect neighborhood tomorrow.”

“Thank you, David. I know Freda feels the same as me, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they followed us out of these apartments,” Mary Katherine said, hoping to keep the boys together for a very long time. She snuggled down on David’s chest as he wrapped his arm around her. They watched Joey and Chris through the window playing and gorging themselves full of candy on the concrete porch. They probably should have taken the candy and returned the merchandise to the 7-Eleven, but it had been a long day already and it was only two o’clock.

• • • • •

David eventually found a small development tucked off Highway 78 outside Birmingham. It was full of kids and dogs, and it was surrounded by woods. His discovery was perfect for a family and even more perfect for an adventurous little toddler to grow into his freedom and become a neighborhood legend.

David oversaw the construction of their house, which was designed to be a mountain getaway tucked away in suburbia. It was an A-frame with cedar siding, and every floor had something for Joey. The unfinished basement was a play area when the Alabama summers were just too much to take or rain spoiled the day. He could fill his days dribbling basketballs through homemade obstacle courses or bounce tennis balls off the block walls. The basement was also the perfect sleeping area for Joey’s collie, JJ, a present he got from Mary Katherine and David for his sixth birthday.

The main floor was open. Joey’s bedroom, a guestroom, and a bathroom were in the back down the hall. The den centered around a fireplace and the dining area was only that because of the giant oak table Mary Katherine got from her mother. Joey and his parents ate there together for Thanksgivings and Christmases, but that was about it. Joey had most of his meals at the kitchen bar while his mom cleaned the dishes or talked to him about his day. Family meals were rare, but when they happened, they were eaten in front of the black and white television beside the fireplace. Those were Joey’s favorite meals.

Copyright © 2020 Mike Maddock

Next week: Sunnybrook Hill and a skateboard

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