THE RACER Chapter 24

Lucas's Mom lived in the House painted Green !!
courtesy photobucket.com

 

After all the hard work the whole crew had put into the government prototype, Marley said, “Everyone take two weeks off.  Whether we get the contract or not you have all earned a rest.”

Lucas asked if that included him and Marley said, “Yes that means you too.”

This meant he could spend some time with all his old friends, and some of his folks he had not seen for ages including his mom.  

By now Abel and his wife had a couple of children as well as her daughter so he now had a real family of his own.

Mason was getting older but worked doing small jobs for Abel, and Charlie was running what had become a used parts store and wrecking yard.

Lucas spent several hours catching up with the news about the people he knew.  He had not seen his mom since she had moved to be near some of the family that lived about fifty miles away.

Some three years before he had bought the family home from his mom and just now determined to move into it, from the small apartment he was staying at near the place where he worked.

He decided he should visit the family and his mom since he had this time off.  

He didn’t have her address so he went directly to his aunt’s place.  When he arrived and settled in he asked where his mom was to which she answered she is down to her house.  She has a house of her own now she is renting.

Lucas asked, “When did all this happen, not that I mind, it’s just that she never said anything about it in her letters?”  

The aunt said, “Well there is another thing you might not know and that is she got remarried to a man younger than she is.”

Lucas contemplated a bit to himself, “I guess there is more catching up to do than I thought there was.”

Lucas looking slightly askew asked where her place was located.  The aunt said about a block down the street in the green house next to the corner.

Lucas thought, “I can’t put this off any longer,” so he told his aunt he would be back later after his visit with his mom.  He saw the house and wondered who would ever paint their house that color of green.  

He saw a motorcycle in the driveway and a car without a hood on it.  It looked like it hadn’t been running for some time.  There was a dog in the front yard that first growled at Lucas and then rubbed against him after he scratched his back.

As he looked around he could see the house needed several repairs and a good cleaning.  He knocked on the door but no one answered.  

 

He could hear noises coming from the inside so he pushed the door which was ajar all the way open and stepped in and walked toward the rear of the house.

As he neared a bedroom the noises got louder and louder.  One of voices he recognized as being his mother.  He couldn’t believe what he was hearing and seeing through the partly opened bedroom door.  He quietly retraced his steps and left the premises without being seen.

When he arrived back at the aunt’s house he was almost white and discombobulated.  

 

All the time while growing up he had never heard his mom carry on like that.

His aunt came in and one look at him, told her the whole story.  She asked, “Did you see her?”  He fumbled and said, “Yea, kinda I did.”

She said. “I understand, I kinda saw her a time or two myself.”

Lucas said, “I think I am going to go home; perhaps it would be better if you didn’t say anything about me being here.”

She said, “Yes, I think it might be better.  Do you want something to eat before you leave?”

       
He answered, “No I will get something on the road, besides I don’t have much of an appetite right now.”

“You be careful on the way home.  If you like I will tell you more about your new step dad, Huston.”

Lucas said, “Don’t bother for I have seen and heard enough of him.”

On the way back home there was no shortage of things to think about.

After an hour on the road and nearing his place he settled down.  He reckoned that while it had never occurred to him but his mother was a lot younger than his dad.

That being said, if she felt the need to have a man in her life then there wasn’t anything wrong with that.  

He always thought of his mom as being old but evidently he had that all wrong also.

By the time he got back home his attitude had went from total bewilderment to being happy for her.

Then it hit him. “Maybe I’m the one who is out of step with the universe.  

I have been so busy with work and getting my education that I haven’t had time to consider the opposite sex and the need for their company.”

To be Continued