Shrimp and Brie

By Timothy Knowles

This is a story about a young man named Jimmy Hatcher, who grows up in a near perfect situation in a small town in Alabama. Late in life, his Grandparents adopt a troubled teen girl, and she and Jimmy become inseperable until the lure of life steals her away from him. He loses her and then both his grandparents, followed by his parents and leaving him alone until...he is reunited with his aunt years down the road. She has bloomed into a woman and she has found great success,yet lost the young girl inside...or has she? The more jimmy learns about his aunt, the more he slowly faces the fact that he's in love with her, and that she feels the same way too. They both are tortured with their desires and what would seem the right thing to do. Time and life's hell test their love, but can they find the way to let their love lead them, or will it be the death of them emotionally and physically?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Timothy Knowles
• Release date: Dec 4, 2011
• ISBN: 9781466124912

Timothy Knowles

I grew up in the sixties and seventies and I've always been involved in the arts. Drawing, painting and music was my first endevors and they have stuck with me through the years. I play the drums, guitar, bass and harmonica and I write music and poetry as well. I always wanted to try my hand at writing a novel and with so many people saying that I knew how to really tell a story, I made my first try. I have continued and I feel that I am getting better as I go. Do enjoy this story and the common southern way it was wrote and intended to be said.

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Shrimp and Brie

by Timothy Knowles

Copyright 2011 Timothy Knowles

Published on Smashwords

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All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

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Acknowledgments; I would like to thank my wife Rebecca, for all of her patients and long suffering she gave over our thirty plus years. Also all of the encouragement she gives me while being a great sounding board. I love you Rebecca!

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Contents

Chapter 1 (The story begins)

Chapter 2 (It’s just like a woman)

Chapter 3 (Morning our loss)

Chapter 4 (Outing crashed)

Chapter 5 (The new life)

Chapter 6 (Hoping for better)

Chapter 7 (You just never know)

Chapter 8 (Keels, waves and wind)

Chapter 9 (New romance)

Chapter 10 (Ordinary life)

Chapter 11 (Wrestling with thoughts)

Chapter 12 (Love?)

Chapter 13 (Exhausting emotions)

Chapter 14 (Set free)

Chapter 15 (Dives and diners)

Chapter 16 (Where to?)

Chapter 17 (Shove off mate)

Chapter 18 (Heading back)

Chapter 19 (Revelation and elation)

Chapter 20 (Brie and Bahamas)

Chapter 21 (A trip into hell)

Chapter 22 (Fate is weighed)

Chapter 23 (Alive!)

Chapter 24 (Satisfaction)

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Chapter 1 (The story begins)

My story starts like many of yours; I was born an only child in a small town in Alabama. And like me, both of my parents were also born an only child of their parents as well. My father wasn’t born to his parents until they were in their thirties, which was a little late to start a family but, they had their problems conceiving as some do. My dad was raised by good people that had strong, normal values that were the typical of the southern way. My mothers mom and dad I never knew because, they had passed away by the time I was born. By my mom and dads accounts, they were the same types of people that my dad’s family was and they fit well together. Being the only son and grandson I was doted over quite a lot, and I certainly didn’t have to compete with siblings, as in other families for the attention from my parents or my grandparents and the other things that cause squabbles between brothers and sisters. Still I was not spoiled as some would think I would have been. My father was a commercial airline pilot and, my mother was a stay at home mom who enjoyed sewing and all the other arts and crafts, traditional women invested their time in. My grandpa was a successful retired railroad man who had worked his way up from the bottom repairing tracks, to being over the entire tri-state area. Both my dad and grandpa served their country in the armed forces when they were young and my dad was decorated in Vietnam and my grandpa in World War II. My grandma seemed to be an older version of my mom, only a little more forgiving when I was less than the perfect child I was expected to be.

Well, the die had been cast and the pattern set, I would grow up to serve my time in the military, then move into my found profession after college, marrying the girl next door and raising kids as those before me did. This was the way my family just knew my life would turn out but life always has a funny way of changing your plans in spite of your wants. It’s probably a good thing people don’t have a general ability to see into their future, cause, if we could, we would all live the most uneventful lives you can imagine. We would know too much about our future and steer away from everything troublesome which, lets face it, life is full of troubles but, wonders usually wait on the other side. One thing my grand parents might have avoided may have been the decision to adopt a fourteen-year-old girl who was the survivor of an abusive home. Grandma and grandpa were in their late sixties when they adopted Brianna but they seemed to have the wit and stamina to deal with her, as my parents would say, when they would talk about it at times.

When Brianna first came to live with grandma and grandpa, she was welcomed by everyone very sincerely and quickly started to fill some vacant positions within the family unit. The main and obvious one, a girl in the family, someone my mom and grandma could put their lace sewing talents to work for. With Brie being a bit small for her age they tend to make clothes for her that some would say was a bit too young for her but mom and grandma would say for some reason it looked right on her. She gave grandma and grandpa the daughter they never had, a position my mom had long tried to fill in the past for them, and was happy to now share with Brianna. She became the sister my dad never had and, kind of a sister/daughter to my mom as well. As it turned out, Brianna was exactly ten years older than I to the day because, she and I had the same birthday. Because of this it was like Christmas every June as well as in December with all the celebration and gifts that it would bring our way. Brianna would come by after school and visit with mom for an hour or two and keep an eye on me while mom got the laundry or one of the many things in her daily routine I constantly interrupted, finished. In a lot of ways, I kind of felt she was like a sister too, even though I had no concept of what a sister was, but to say the least, she did fit into her new family very well. As the next couple of years went by as far as I saw it, she had always been a family member. She had become referred to as Brie for short but she would always correct me if I tried to get away with addressing her that way. She would quickly let me know I had to call her Aunt Brie as she did enjoy the status of her title and corrected me if I failed to address her properly at any time, even when we were playing.

Sometimes she would take the role of an authoritarian in mom’s presents and mom would firmly nudge her back into her rightful place. It was somewhere around when I was five and aunt brie was sixteen things started to change for all of us; however, we didn’t see it as a pivotal point in our history even though it was.

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Chapter 2 (It’s just like a woman)

One Friday night my mom and dad had arranged for Brie to baby sit me so they could have a night out. They had done this before and we always stayed at my grandparent’s house but this time Brie came to our house to sit in an effort to give her a shot at responsibility and pay. Mom and dad reluctantly went out the door that night, still reminding Brie, if anything happens grandma was only a phone call away. As soon as they left, Brie immediately started laying down the law on how the night would play out. When you finish you dinner, your going to get a bath, then your going to put on your pajamas, and then an hour of T.V. with me and it will be my choice of shows, and then its off to bed, with the door shut and the lights off she said barking orders like a drill sergeant on a old war movie. The thing that surprised me most was the sudden change from a sweet person, always hugging and playing with me, to this crazed female drunk on the power of her authority. To say the least, the fun night I had envisioned was erased in the blink of an eye and I marched to the rhythm of my sergeant’s cadence for the remainder of the night, without any resistance on my part. Over the next few months she was babysitting quite often, due to my parents growing confidence in her and I had gotten quite used to her abrasive parenting techniques. Still I found no room for any of my antics but, then one night, beings you have been minding so well, tonight is going to be a little different’ she said with a bit of a glow. But before she could finish her speech, the doorbell rang. She went to the door and as the door swung open, I could see the man in uniform holding the box that contained one of my most favorite things outside of cartoons and toys. It was the pizza delivery guy from ANZO’S AUTHINTIC PIZZARIA. Alright I yelled as she handed him the money before closing the door. ANZO’S! I yelled and began leaping on my second cheer as I followed her to the table. Now calm down she said reminding me of my place. This is not a reason to go crazy she said, you still need to behave. That night was so different in that the mood seemed so light as she seemed to be more of a friend than a guardian for a change. That night was more like the way I had in mind for the past sitting’s because, we ate pizza, and we played board games, had ice cream, and ended up curled up in a blanket on the couch watching T.V. I can still remember lying there with the taste of chocolate ice cream on my tongue, while lying on our right sides, with her right arm under my head, using it like a pillow. Her left arm wrapping around my ribs, pressing my back to her chest as we were snuggled tight together. The smell of her perfume filled my nose while I laid there nestled in her arms creating a satisfaction that made me say to myself, Now this is good! This thought made me smile on the inside as well as the outside having a contentment like no other. While I lay there, feeling all the satisfaction a boy my age could know, I asked her, Aunt Brie? I said. What Jimmy? She returned. When I grow up…will you marry me? I asked with all the sincerity and ignorance I possessed of the meaning of marriage. Sure shrimp," she said lightly giggling at my forwardness. Somewhere shortly after that I drifted off to sleep smiling at the thought of my newly acquired sweetheart and future bride.

Over the next year mom and dad were taking more and more trips for dads job as well as other reasons, being able to always rely on Brie to watch me. I had come to feel like we were the best of friends and sweethearts as long as I didn’t find my way into trouble with her. But, it was easy to avoid problems because of my constant desire to make her smile in approval of me and, the occasional hugs and pecks on the cheek that she started giving me for a job well done. Life continued in this manner over the next couple of years without any real changes outside of the normal progressions associated with our changing age. With me still being quite the child and now she was moving well into her late teens, the difference between our interests was becoming a wider growing gap. She wanted to hang around with her girlfriends and talk about boys, and I was still all about candy and cartoons. It was near the end of her senior year in high school she was not able to watch me as much because she was now working after school and weekends at a local dinner here in town. The reduction in her presents was something that caused me to plead with her about quitting her job but she would always reply with her need to make money and start making her own way. There was one good thing about her working at the diner though, occasionally we would go down and have lunch on Saturday to watch Brie in action while we ate dinner there. Down at the diner I would get to sit at the counter on a stool by myself as mom, dad, grandma and grandpa would share a booth behind me. While I sat there Brie would treat me as if I was a customer there on my own and she would brag to the other waitresses that I was her boyfriend and had come to see her. I had a routine meal that I liked to eat there at the dinner and when I would start to order Brie would ask, The usual sugar? To the which I would replied, Yes please…Fried shrimp dinner! There was one time though; that a fellow was sitting a couple of stools over spoke when he heard my order. Shrimp? Those things ain't nothing but ocean roaches! You couldn’t pay me to eat one of those! He said ridiculing me. Now Donny…you leave him alone! I like shrimp too…and this one is my favorite one in the world! she said as she reached over the counter to tweak my nose and smile at me. And as normal she would put my order on a separate ticket and then when it came time to pay she would say baby your too cute to pay…I got this. She always made me feel so special in front of all her friends and other customers at the diner. The scattered times she would get to watch me, to me, became as eventful as a holiday and I would look forward to them as such however, those evenings seemed so short and was gone to quickly. The last Friday night Brie watched me was a night I wished I had paid more attention to because, the next day I felt as if I had done something wrong or hurt her feelings somehow.

It was just a week after our birthday and Brie’s graduation from high school; she had to work the closing shift at the diner once again. That night she was over an hour late and had not gotten home yet. My grandparents and my parents both were getting frantic, as it was so uncharacteristic of Brie to even be one minute late. Brie was a straight A student and punctuality was something she demanded of herself along with hygiene and work ethic and this was way out of her pattern of life. They called the diner and the manager said she had left earlier that night a few minutes before closing, so with more worry now, the police was the next call. The police seemed not very concerned saying she was probably on a date or at the worst she might have run away as most teens some times do. My family knowing Brie wouldn’t go off without telling them where she was and certainly not willing to entertain the thought that she would run away, went to the diner. By the time they got there it was closed and everyone had gone so, they went by the owner’s house. Grandpa had known the owner for years so it was easy for him to go to him to start looking for information. When grandpa got back to the car he explained the owner wasn’t there at closing so, he had nothing he could tell him but, he gave grandpa the manager’s phone number. As soon as they got back home they called the number and the manager came to my grandparents’ house within a few minutes. The house was ablaze with worry and confusion, which made the wait absolutely unbearable. Once the knock on the door came there was a moment of relief that faded as soon as the woman left. When dad opened the door the woman didn’t even step in, she just handed dad a note with a sorrowed look on her face and said, Brie asked me to give you this but, she wanted me to wait until tomorrow but, I couldn’t let ya’ll go through all the worry, it aint going to help much but she said as she handed him the note. Within seconds she had turned and disappeared from the porch leaving all of us stunned. Dad stood there trying to read the letter as he was being bombarded with questions of the note’s contents. As soon as he finished reading the note to himself, he began reading it aloud.

"Dear mom, dad, brother and sis;

I love you all and I wouldn’t hurt you for anything. You all have been so good to me and you are my family and you will be in my thoughts always no matter what. I’m sure you won’t understand but this is something I have to do for myself. I have met a man and we have made plans to start a life together but, I know you would not approve of him so, I’m going to prove myself and my decision on my