“You drive safe, it looks like a bad storm will be coming soon, but the rain will be good for the corn,” says mother. She closes the door as I walk down the creaky steps.
I put my briefcase in the backseat and hear my brother’s wife, Louise, call out to me. She waves for me to come inside as she stands at the doorway of her house. I do not want to drive home with the threat of rain, especially at night. She waits by the open doorway until I come inside. She looks pretty in her red dress as she stands on the porch barefooted.
“We’re just having a small party with some friends,” she says. Her long blonde tickles my face as she gives me a kiss.
“I had to come back for my briefcase, I was driving two hours you see before I realized that I forgot …”
“Have a drink or two,” she interrupts. Louise was never a good listener.
She leads me into the kitchen. It is brightly lit with too many fluorescent lights on the ceiling. A transvestite sits at the kitchen table in a gold body stocking that shimmers under the light. He is thin and almost could pass for a woman but his makeup can’t totally cover his stubble. Others stand by the kitchen sink that is used as a bar. My brother, Johnny, comes out of the bedroom that adjoins the kitchen. His eyelids are droopy as he shakes my hand.
“I think your brother should curl his hair now that it’s turning grey. He would look much nicer with curly hair,” says the transvestite.
I ask Johnny how he is doing. Even though I had just visited my parents for the last days, I never saw him. He and Louise always like to party late into the night and sleep all day. He stares at me for awhile and blinks his eyes. He moves his mouth as if he wants to say something but words never come out. I wait for my brother to answer me. I’m patient with him. He is always slow to answer. He finally clears his throat and mumbles, “Okay, I guess.”