where will it end pt. 3

We pulled into the drive way as Morrissey was mid way through another ambiguous love song. The ranch style house had a one car garage on the east side. Further east was another almost identical house. To the west was a vast field of corn. In the spring Rachel complained about the smell of manure from the field drifting into her house. I sat with my hands on the steering wheel staring at her garage door, it was brown, but in the dark it looked almost black. Through a window in the western part of the house came the glow of a television. Rachel coughed lightly. I turned my head to face her. She was looking down at her shoes.

"Do you want to come in? Last week I got my older cousin to buy me a bottle of wine and I haven't opened it yet. Its just some cheap merlot. Its better than carlos rossi... You drink wine don't you? I bet you don't. You look like a guy who just drinks beer all the time. You drink, like, PBR, or Hams or some other hip thing like that right? I bet my mother is passed out now, its not even eleven and she'll be passed out in front of the tv in her room the day's soap operas running. I mean if you don't want to you don't have to, it just seems like it might be nice. Maybe we could watch that Tony Wilson Movie, or have you ever seen "Sixteen Candles." Its the best movie ever, well next to Twenty-Four Hour Party people..." she looked nervously at me and then at the door. "Well, I guess I'm gonna go. Thank you for the ride again. When are you working next? Well I'll probably see you at school in the morning."

"I'll come in. I've never had merlot before. Does it stain your teeth?"
"We'll see won't we," she replied giggling.

I got out of the car and the brisk night air brushed against my face. My skin was soon covered in goose bumps. I looked up at the night sky and noted Orion. My uncle told me that in some regions where the seasons weren't so divided knowing the constellations was away of determining the seasons. With a knowledge of the seasons the farmers were able to plant at opportune times. When another constellation showed up in the sky the farmers knew that they had to reap their crops.

"I'll unlock the front door and then let you in through the garage door on the side." Rachel scurried up to the front door, fumbled with her keys for a moment and then quickly came out on the east side of the house. "Come on in. You've never been here have you? I don't really invite that many people over. Sometimes my cousins are here, when they're in town and for like dropping by, but really that's not that often. Most of the family has drifted apart ever since my grandmother died. She was the one who kept the family tied together. Everyone in the family thought she was crazy but she really kept us close. My older cousin, Rebecca, she was the one who bought the wine for me, she said that isn't anything quite like a common enemy, or common burden to keep people together. Isn't that clever? She's in college, a state school near the city. Well here it is, this is my room. You can have a seat wherever, on the bed, or on the floor, really wherever. I'll be right back I'm going to grab the bottle opener and then we can watch a movie or something. Okay I'll be right back."

Her room was neat but empty feeling. A television set resided in the corner of the room next to a small writing desk. I moved over to inspect the desk and saw several poetry books including Percy Shelly's "Promethus Unbound." Her bed was covered by a white quilt that matched the drapes. The room was marked only slightly by feminity. On her dresser resided a few hairclips and a very worn looking copy of Elle magazine. A picture of Morrissey decorated the walls.