RE: Trailer Trash 46 pt 3

/// Not a ton to this one either, but it's self-contained, it's a finished section, and it's not stuff I wanted to just gloss over completely.

   “Open mine first,” Elena insisted. “Then you can do Alicia’s, and go through everyone else’s.”

   “Save mine for last, actually,” Alicia grinned. “Mine’s—leave mine for like, the finale. I actually don’t even know if you’ll love it or hate it.”

   The gift from Elena appeared to be stored in a shoebox, and as Tabitha tore the wrapping paper and then opened the box—she realized that it wasn’t something else simply stored in a shoebox that happened to be handy. A snazzy brand new pair of women’s Nike Air Maxes were nestled inside. They were blue with wavy white lines somewhat reminiscent of stylized water ripples, radiating back from the toe of the shoe up its sides. Tabitha loved them immediately! She would be running soon again, and her old sneakers were falling apart despite her re-gluing the tread on them and careful attempts to clean them.

   “They’re beautiful!” Tabitha beamed, pulling one out of the stuffing paper to examine it in her hands.

   “Oh, wow!” Mrs. Williams gushed. “Those look so nice!”

   “Nice! Nikes,” Alicia approved, turning to explain for the benefit of the rest of the crowd. “Tabitha’s a runner, she used to run like, all the time.”

   “Really? Sweet,” Casey exclaimed. “You ever wanna go running some morning, I’m your gal. Those are super nice, too, wow.”

   The athletic shoe was still a bit stiff, but it was pristine and even had that new shoe smell. Tabitha had of course owned running shoes late in life, but those weren’t the same at all, and they certainly hadn’t been cute high-end ones from a name brand, either.

   “I love them,” Tabitha turned to Elena. “Thank you! I love them. I promise I’ll use them just for running, and wear my old gross shoes for on the playground.”

   “Use them wherever you like,” Elena said. “I’m glad you like them. Whenever you’re cleared for physical activity again, I want to run with you too, if that’s okay. It can be you, me, and Casey?”

   “Hell yeah!” Casey leaned past Matthew to give Elena a high five. “Damn, awesome.”

   “Alright—mine next, c’mon,” Bobby insisted, passing Tabitha a small oblong box wrapped in newspaper.

   “Okay,” Tabitha flashed him a smile. “And, thank you. You really didn’t have to get me anything!”

   “Might not be the biggest or most expensive or anything, but it’s definitely the coolest present,” Bobby said with confidence.

   “Oh, I don’t think so,” Alicia challenged. “We’ll see about that.”

   The video tape wasn’t well-wrapped, so rather than tear it open Tabitha simply slipped a finger beneath a piece of tape and unfolded it out to reveal a VHS copy of Willow, a sword and sorcery movie from the eighties she vaguely remembered seeing bits of on TV once. The box art was in tasteful white and red, with the painted renditions of the main cast featured on the front, and to Tabitha’s surprise—the tape was still sealed in plastic, apparently in mint condition.

   “It’s Willow—like, one of my favorite movies of all time,” Bobby explained at seeing her curious look. “Has Madmartigan, has Sorsha, this super badass redhead chick who—

   “Ahem, I think you mean ‘kick-butt’ redhead chick,” Mrs. Williams corrected his swear with a wry glance at all the children present.

   “Uhhh yeah right, this kick-butt redhead chick, and—yeah, I really hope you like it,” Bobby nodded. “My brother and I have the VHS copy we grew up with, I had to buy this one when I found it. S’been perched on top of the TV in my room since then, just kinda on display. But, you’re a uh, kick-butt redhead, so. Happy birthday!”

   “Thank you, Bobby,” Tabitha flipped it over in her hands again. “We’ll… have to watch it together sometime.”

   “Ohhhhhhh!” Olivia jeered.

   “Nice,” Casey offered a high five.

   “You guys’ll all love it too, trust me,” Bobby addressed Tabitha’s cousins. “We seriously should all watch it sometime. It’s one of the best movies ever.”

   “That sounds good,” Tabitha said, setting the video down on the table so she could return Casey’s high five with her good hand. “We’ll have to make a date sometime.”

   “Ohhhhhhhhh!!” This time Alicia, Michael, and two of the cousins all joined in on Olivia’s heckling.

   “Very funny, guys,” Tabitha blushed. “Thank you, Bobby.”

   “Who’s next?” Mrs. Macintire asked.

   “Me me me!” Olivia jumped in with a larger flat box. “This is from Michael and I. So. I want to say—first of all, thank you for inviting us. I know we don’t know you super well, yet, but we’d like to, you seem super cool. Ever since that night at the Halloween party, we talk about you all the time, annnd, yeah. I want to count you among my friends. Thank you.”

   “Ey ey ey, no speeches!” Alicia griped. “Now the rest of us’ll have to figure out stuff to say!”

   “No, thank you for coming, Olivia! Michael,” Tabitha gratefully accepted the box. “Both of you. And, thank you so much for saving me.”

   “Should’ve jumped up sooner,” Michael winced. “It just—it all happened so fast…”

   “No—thank you,” Tabitha shook her head. “You probably saved my life.”

   “Open it up, Tabby!” Hannah was exasperated with all of their pontificating at each other.

   “It’s—” Tabitha began to tear the wrapping. “A lotion set? Oh, Burt’s Bees—thank you!”

   “I should have guessed,” Elena shot Olivia an accusing look.

   “Yeah, it’s just. I fell in love with their lotion, skin gets dry in December, and… yeah. Happy birthday.”

   “Thank you!”

   “Clarissa?” Olivia prompted.

   “Uh, yeah,” Clarissa put forward a wrapped disk case. “Happy birthday, Tabitha.”

   “Thank you,” Tabitha leaned over the table to accept it.

   Unlike the others thus far, this CD case was wrapped extremely securely, with every remaining edge of wrapping paper taped down. After an embarrassing moment trying to find enough purchase to create slack in the paper to tear, Tabitha sheepishly gave up and allowed Hannah to come forward to assist her in opening it. She was getting better and better at using the slightly exposed digits of her cast hand over the months, but some things were still too difficult to manage for her.

   “Jesus, Clarissa,” Alicia pursed her lips.

   “Sorry, sorry—if you want, I can get it,” Clarissa apologized. “I’m always afraid it’ll come open accidentally and I uh, I used too much tape. Sorry.”

   “We did the same thing for Matthew’s Christmas presents last year,” Officer Williams chimed in. “Went nuts on the one with duct tape, just so he’d have a time gettin’ it open.”

   “Yeah, thanks,” Matthew rolled his eyes. “Just you wait ‘til Christmas this year.”

   “I got it!” Hannah announced, quickly ripping the paper away and passing the gift back to Tabitha.

   “Oh, thank you Hannah Banana!” Tabitha praised, taking a look at the CD case.

   “What is it?” Alicia prodded.

   “Oh, wow,” Tabitha’s eyebrows went up and she flashed a smile. “This is… Britney Spears?”

   “She’s really popular,” Clarissa hurried to explain. “She’s already on the radio a lot. I really like her, and uh, and I thought—”

   “I’ve never heard of her,” Alicia remarked.

   “What does she sing?” Olivia asked.

   “Well, okay she’s not that popular yet, but she’s going to be,” Clarissa conceded. “The one she sings is, is um—”

   “Britney Spears?” Bobby repeated.

   “I’ve heard of her, yeah,” Elena said.

   “Thank you, Clarissa,” Tabitha reassured the girl. “I’m surprised! I just didn’t recognize her from this picture at first, I don’t know that I’ve ever seen her with bangs. And, I thought her album wasn’t out until sometime next year!”

   “You know Britney Spears?!” Clarissa sagged with relief. “Cool! Awesome. And uh, yeah, you’re right, sorry. Her actual album isn’t out until January, this is just her first single. It’s got an extra song on it though, if you um, if you flip the CD over, there’s a B side. I thought that was cool.”

   “What does she sing?” Olivia asked again. “She’s on the radio?”

   “Baby One More Time is on this one,” Tabitha tapped the CD case. “That’s her real big hit, right now. But, Britney’s great—she also sings Toxic, and Oops I did it again. She sings Lucky,—that one’s my favorite—she sings You Drive Me Crazy. She’s the princess of pop music; Britney Spears.”

   “Uh, wow,” Clarissa froze, her brows furrowing for a second at unfamiliar song titles. “Had no idea you were already a big fan! Do you have this single already?”

   “She does that hit me baby one more time one,” Bobby nodded. “Yeah, that does play all the time now.”

   “Right, okay,” Olivia nodded in understanding. “Everyone’s heard that one. Britney Spears, I knew that.”

   “I don’t already have it!” Tabitha answered Clarissa. “I, uh, I actually don’t even have a CD player just yet—”

   “Aha!” Mrs. Macintire interrupted with a triumphant fist-pump. “I knew it, perfect timing! Hannah Manana, if you would do the honors?”

   “This one, this one!” Hannah exclaimed, foisting a much larger present as well as another CD-shaped gift towards Tabitha. “This one and this one, these two are from mom and me!”

   “Aw, thank you both,” Tabitha said. “Let’s see—oh, this one opened much easier.”

   “Sorry,” Clarissa winced.

   “I’ve got… Classic Disney Volume Five!” Tabitha chuckled.

   “Yeah—sorry,” Mrs. Macintire winced.

   “It’s got the Mulan songs on it,” Hannah jumped up and down. “And, a buncha other good ones too, though. We went through the list and checked. They’re all really good.”

   “Thank you, Hannah,” Tabitha set it aside so that she could open up her arms for a hug. “Hug, hug.”

   “Happy birthday!” Hannah cried out, lunging in for a hug that was more of a tackle. “Happy birthday.”

   “We’ll listen to it together as soon as I can find a CD player,” Tabitha promised with a knowing smile.

   “Really?” Hannah lit up, dropping back out of the hug and grabbing up the larger gift again and pushing it into Tabitha’s lap. “This one next, this one next!”

   “Hmm, I wonder what this could be?” Tabitha pondered out loud, cradling the box on her knees so that she could tear the gift wrapping open along one side. “It’s! A Sony Discman personal CD player with mega bass!”

   “And, it comes with headphones!” Hannah reported, helping peel back the paper to point at the image on the box. “So, you can listen to it even when you’re out somewhere. Anywhere!”

   “Thank you so much, Hannah,” Tabitha struggled to give the girl another hug over the box situated in her lap. “Thank you, Mrs. Macintire. Was it… expensive?”

   “Not at all!” Sandra answered with a smirk. “Cheaper than me gettin’ a new husband.”

   “Hah!” Officer Williams barked out, actually slapping his thigh at hearing that.

   “Oh, stop,” Mrs. Williams scolded him, then turning to purse her lips at the other mother. “Sandy, that’s not even funny!”

   “It’s a little funny,” Hannah raised a shrug.

   “It is not!”

   “I thought it was funny,” Matthew said.

   “You’re all just awful,” Mrs. Williams smiled and shook her head in dismay. “Tabitha honey, here—this one’s from me.”

   “Ahem ahem,” Officer Williams fake-coughed.

   “This one’s from me ‘and my husband,’” Mrs. Williams corrected herself with a roll of her eyes and air quotation marks with her fingers.

   “Right—it’s from both of us,” Officer Williams laughed. “Happy birthday.”

   Tabitha unwrapped this one to discover it was a book; Message in a Bottle, by Nicholas Sparks. Though she recognized the author as the one who’d written The Notebook, Tabitha had somehow never even heard of this one, and her interest was piqued.

   “I just finished my copy myself, I hope you like it, dear,” Mrs. Williams said. “I picked it out, my awful husband just paid for it—as if that deserves any credit.”

   “Yes, good book, good book,” Officer Williams nodded to himself in a self-satisfied way. “Great book, even. Loved it. Couldn’t put it down.”

   “Oh, stop,” Mrs. Williams swatted him. “Or I will make you read it.”

   “Thank you both,” Tabitha smiled up at them. “I can’t wait to read it.”

   “Who’s next?” Mrs. Macintire asked.

   “Here,” Grandma Laurie spoke up, looking a little ashamed as she passed over an envelope. “This is from me and the boys.”

   The four young cousins had all fallen uncharacteristically silent, and when Tabitha saw their wide-eyed expressions she realized that the presents she’d gotten from everyone thus far were already an unbelievable bounty by Moore family norms. The pension Grandma Laurie received was generous enough for her to live comfortably on, but stretched dangerously thin while she was supporting the four boys. Birthday presents for them were at most an action figure or two, and during Christmastime the cousins generally received gifts meant to be shared between all four of them, like a new game for their Nintendo 64, rather than a bunch of individual presents.

   Tabitha carefully unsealed the envelope and drew out a tasteful Happy Birthday card with a photo of a kitten, which had been signed by Grandma Laurie and each of the boys.

   “‘Wherever the year ahead takes you, I hope it's happy. The day is all yours—have fun!’” Tabitha read the printed text within the card out loud, using her thumb to ensure that the included ten dollar bill didn’t slide out onto the floor.

   “Happy birthday, dear.”

   “Happy birthday!”

   “Yeah, happy birthday.”

   “Happy birthday.”

   “Thank you,” Tabitha managed, struggling not to tear up. “Thank you.”

   She wanted to give the ten dollars back to Grandma Laurie, so that she could instead put it towards the boys’ Christmas presents, or to help get them better snacks for school, or—anything. But, she didn’t want to insult the woman. It was a stark reminder of how much her circumstances had changed in the past months and how much more she needed to do for the boys, Grandma Laurie, and even her parents. Tabitha was now living the high life with well-to-do friends, but the family she’d left behind was still in abject poverty.

   “Is that everyone?!” Alicia asked, hefting the package she had for Tabitha with anticipation.

   “Wait wait!” Casey interjected, producing a small white box that she was careful to keep level. “This one’s from Matthew and I. I um, we weren’t quite sure what to get you, since we didn’t know if you’d even be into sports stuff or Nintendo stuff or anything. So! We went up and down everywhere and canvassed the whole town last weekend, until we found the absolutely perfect gift that just spoke to us, and—this is it.”

   Matthew took the box from Casey and brought it around the table to place it in front of Tabitha. Rather than wrapping paper, the white box was in two parts and after slipping the tabs out Matthew was able to pull the top portion off to reveal their gift for her.

   “Ohh wow!” Tabitha exclaimed. “It’s adorable!”

   “It’s a little cactus!” Hannah said, immediately reaching up to touch it.

   “Hannah, no,” Matthew swatted her finger away. “Sharp, Hannah.”

   “Awww, that’s cute!” Olivia gushed.

   “You got her a cactus?” Mrs. Williams rolled her eyes again.

   “She’s a thelocactus and her name is Barb,” Casey announced with a little too much pride. “She’s prickly, Hannah, so, you’ve gotta give her her personal space.”

   Barb was a squat and bulbous off-green cactus about the size of a tennis ball, and sat in a small plant pot. While she was positively fuzzy with spiny needles, she was also adorned with a tiny pink flower that canted to one side like a lopsided little hat. Paradoxically, it was so cute that Tabitha immediately felt the urge to pick it up and squeeze it—yet common sense insisted she instead only admire it from a safe distance. She could immediately tell why Casey had decided this was the one.

   “I love her, she’s amazing,” Tabitha grinned. “Thank you. She’s perfect.”

   “The little paper slip’s there with the box, but you basically just have to make sure you don’t over-water her,” Matthew explained. “Just give her lots of sunlight, and she’ll be happy.”

   “I will,” Tabitha promised. “I’m gonna give her all the sunlight.”

   “Can I touch her?” Hannah asked.

   “She’s a little shy with so many people around, so—why don’t we put her back in her box and get her home, and then later we can find her the best spot together and you can very carefully touch her. How’s that sound?”

   “Okaaay,” Hannah deflated as she watched Matthew carefully put the top of the box back over Barb. “She’s really cool, though.”

   “Cool cool cool,” Alicia all but bounced in place. “My turn now?!”

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