Me and Jerrod

It’s been great Jerrod being here. Oh, he’s still here, somewhere in the outlying vicinity. He and Shawna should be eating at his dad’s in Hobbs by now. They say they’re heading straight to the gym when they get back to Phoenix because they’ve ate like little pigs here.

No, not my cooking, though they did help us polish off the chili I made the other night. And of course, I always have the M&M’s, cookies, and donuts within close reach. But no, Jerrod’s favorite food in this world: Allsup’s burritos. He especially enjoys them if they’re reaching their prime of three days.

You probably think I’m fibbing or exaggerating, but I’m not. While it doesn’t speak well for Donna’s cooking, the fact that her youngest son’s favorite food is an old burrito from Allsup’s, it was always a little embarrassing for me that Aaron’s favorite food was Hamburger Helper, the cheesy meat and macaroni kind.

Aaron wouldn’t get near a vegetable, although I think the Corps changed this a little. At least, I saw him eat salsa like a starved animal one time at Chili’s in Lubbock. I’ll never forget how shocked I was that he was inhaling a dish that included not only the tomato, but the onion as well. We’re talking about the kid who used to stand over the chili and spot the flecks of dehydrated-cooked-two-hours-already-dead-dead-onion.

Except for a few things, Jerrod and Aaron were identical. So Jerrod being here is much like it was when Aaron was here. No mush.

A few examples:

“De’on, where’s your cigarettes? I ran out.” He doesn’t ask for my lighter, but takes it anyway, and if I’m off my game, I forget to get it back.

“What are you doing to Hennessy to make him so fat?”

“Where’s your iron? Remember when you ironed those three creases in each leg of Aaron’s jeans? That’s why we did our own ironing.”

Mmmm. And they thought I didn’t know what I was doing.

He leaves his wet towel on the floor (but come to think of it, I haven’t had to put the toilet lid down) and makes sure to keep me abreast as to how the three day olds are affecting the gases within his 6’4” body.

Shawna has lived in Phoenix all her life, so our little town with its weather is a novelty to her. She’s visited Bob’s, our only supermarket, and Jerrod took her to Alco Discount Store and told her, “Look Babe, these are the floors I used to mop!”

She’s used up several batteries on her digital camera. Lovington High was on the tourist stop today. She’s already snapped a few photos of Allsup’s and perhaps she’ll want a picture of my portable dishwasher before she leaves. Last night I discovered that like Tiff and Tina, she had no clue as to what one was. Had never seen one before and thought it was funny.

I just think it’s heavy.

This is the first time Jerrod’s been home in nearly a year and a half.

I let him know about that one before he came. Before he left Phoenix. We had to start square.

Much like Aaron, my words affected him only so much as to try to use them against me later, but I stopped him mid-sentence. So like Aaron, he reverted to charm, and I like that. It always works and I make no secret that it does.

I speak to Jerrod as if he were my own.

I hope Jerrod and Shawna get married. She’s beautiful and smart and funny and ambitious and real. She fits in perfect. I’d like to say she’s like me, but she’s much more like Donna. And like both of us, she doesn’t mind lining his little butt out. And I don’t mind saying I want them to get married here, because I’ve said as much to them and Donna.

Shawna works and goes to school, and is very close to entering pharmacists’ school (I have no clue as to the real name, maybe that’s it?). Jerrod was in school when Aaron was killed. He plans to go back in February, and I hope he does, because he’s planned on it before. But I see something a little different in him this time, and although I’d met Shawna nearly a year ago, when I took Kayla to Phoenix, I didn’t notice the change in him then as I do now.

She’s good for him and anyone who’ll take photos of the place her love gets his favorite food from, gets my vote.

They leave in the morning, at dark-thirty according to their plans now. We’ll see. But since they’re going to Ruidoso for Jerrod’s birthday, one day after mine, then maybe they will. Work and school come early on Tuesday.

Hennessy will miss his bed partner. Somehow, Jerrod always does show up, and I wonder if Hen thinks that maybe someday Aaron will too. The three raised each other from pups. Age is beginning to show on two of them.