The Offspring by Bill Pinnell

Author:Bill Pinnell
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-64082-795-0
Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc
Published: 2022-11-17T00:00:00+00:00

19

The decision to leave Chicago was not an easy one, and surely not spur-of-the-moment. The Lakes continued to live in the same apartment, Kenny was joined by his brother Sammy in the same elementary school, and somehow Joseph, despite his promotion to assistant chief mechanic, managed to work with a heavy heart for five more years in the same garage in which his friend had died. Audrey kept busy through her daily chores as wife and mother, working with an efficiency that masked her sorrow and discontent. It was as if the Lakes did not want to fully face their grief and deal with their loss. Audrey immersed herself in raising Sammy and nurturing her family, and Joseph busied himself at work and doing freelance repair jobs for independent truckers.

During those five years, not one penny from the Cobbs was touched. Instead, the entire amount, including the inheritance originally bequeathed to Velma, was deposited in a savings account. The Lakes never thought to invest the money. They were so eager to put the money away, put it out of sight, put the nature of its source so far out of mind that they simply opened a joint account in the same bank they had used since first getting married. The bank manager suggested that such a sum be deposited in a compound interest account. The Lakes quickly agreed, wishing to end the discussion as soon as possible. After having accrued five years of compound interest, the amount now totaled almost twenty-two thousand dollars.

In June 1967, Kenny graduated from Caspar Elementary, and Sammy, who was headed for the second grade in the fall, loved going to school. Most of Kenny's friends were going on to Carver High, and he looked forward to trying out for the junior varsity track team. Audrey and Joseph, according to their neighbors, seemed happy enough but kept to themselves. The once gregarious couple no longer attended building parties and get-togethers. Without either one admitting it to the other, both longed for a change in their lives.

Audrey broached the subject first. Joseph was sitting at the kitchen table, finishing the rest of his breakfast. Down the hall in the bathroom, shouts and laughter squealed behind the closed door as Kenny was playing keep-away with the toothpaste.

“Joseph, I want to move,” Audrey said it simply, matter-of-factly, as she squeezed the second sandwich into Joseph's lunch box. She turned on the tap and started to wash the breakfast dishes. Joseph sipped his coffee and wondered if he had heard his wife correctly.

Audrey snapped off the faucet and swung around to face her husband. Her hands rested on her hips and stared at Joseph with a look as if he had just strangled the Easter bunny. “Did you hear what I said?”

The cup double clinked as Joseph placed it in the saucer. “I heard you,” he said, wiping his mouth with a paper napkin.

Audrey stared at her husband and quietly tapped her foot. “Well? Say something!”

“Where do you want to go?” His complacency infuriated Audrey.

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