74

1994

Winter

I was told to move or evict the extra tenant. I come to the realization that it was time to go looking for an apartment somewhere else.

At this point, me and Venum had the oddest conversation. He was wondering if I wanted him to move with me or whether I wanted him to return to his grandmother's house. I was frustrated and angry and I think i had to have some time to think first. I finally told that we were in this together and we would find a place together. Venum suggested moving to Tupelo and that is where we started to look for a place to stay.

We found several places which really didn't suit us at all. We found a trailer that was way too small and a set of apartments in the downtown Tupelo area. We searched until we found our future home.

Chez's Place...Apartment 19

We came to an old motel on the edge of Tupelo Ms...it used to be called Chez's Place. It was a long white old motel turned apartment complex. The manager of the apartments met us at one of the vacancies and showed us what was included in the rental agreement. It was a very small apartment, much smaller than Number 7 Skyline in Booneville. There was a living room, a walk through kitchen and a bedroom with attached bathroom. It was small but doable. The rent also included electricity and cable...kind of affordable but it just had to do at this time. We didn't have very long to vacate the other apartment. Christie was not happy with our move to Tupelo because we would be farther from her. This meant that either we traveled further or we just didn't go pick her up. For months, we had picked her up, carried her to school and then picked her up and took her to work. This arrangement was going to be different but for now, we would continue to pick her up. It seemed that things were not as simple as thought before.

We signed the contract together and took the apartment. It didn't take long to move in since I still hadn't moved all my things from my parent's house. There was still so much to be done.
The manager's name was Gene. He was a strange sort of man who constantly rubbed alcohol on his face and hands. He seemed nice though and closely resembled Kenny Rogers, the country singer. I liked Gene and soon met his best friend, Kenny. Kenny was also interesting. Kenny was always drunk before 9 a.m. and never went to work sober. Kenny was a average sized man with short beard and receding hairline. They were a pair and they welcomed us when we first came to Chez's. It seemed like they had been there forever.

My parents still had no idea that Venum lived with me and neither did my aunt. I was terrified of what happened if they did know.

knicknames

We were never what they called us at birth...not to Venum. To Venum, I was Doll, his sister was lefft and her boyfriend...of course was Tricky. Even Tracy was called...Sis. To him, he created who he thought we should be. I now think it was just his way of keeping control of his life. He said I looked like a Doll with my big dark brown eyes and that his sister had a killer left hook hence the name..."Lefft". Tricky was sneaking which is self explanatory and Tracy, he said , was like a sister to him. That was an odd statement since he kissed her on the lips more than once. I never knew a brother to do that to his sister...not since Cami and her brother. I saw death in my mind again as I thought of those incestuous children. I wondered where they were and what they were doing...but I didn't wonder too long...life was passing me by way too fast to dwell on deaths intentions. Besides, I had a thing inside that kept me plenty of company.

To hell with knicknames. I sat in the backseat of my own car while Venum and his sister talked about things I had no interest in. I scowled and pouted. Yep, a mean little evil babydoll I was....a mad one...tired of ducking behind this damned seat because I was so fucking porcelin white.