1 Worst Timing

Here to creep in on us again? It just had to be today though? With everything going on this was the last thing we needed to deal with. All well, your here now. Follow along and stay quite.

So far today has been nothing special. Besides getting into a small argument with my Auntie and storming out of the house. I grabbed my skate board and headed out to this cities local skate park. You see I had just moved here (more like dropped off and abandoned) along with my three siblings. Salem Asher Shachana Moskovitz (can you hear the phlegm from that Jewish name?) our father or should I say sperm donor he negated being our father anymore once he dropped us off here. I can't say we didn't see this coming, after our mother Daphne Ray passed away last year. Salem Asher couldn't keep it together. The first few months after her death were a haze. We lost our family home and then bounced from city to city state to state. He always said once he found a big gig we can go back home to Boston. That gig never came. Salem Asher was or is (idk he could be dead for all we know!) a self proclaimed "Sound Engineer" I'm pretty sure he was a glorified roadie though. Back in Boston he worked at the stadium for concerts and sport games, but would also go on tours with different musicians. Our mother before she got sick worked for a consulting firm and was always home at 5pm everyday. She was a good mother. As of late I feel my memories of her slipping away. I bet the younger two won't even remember her they are only five and three. I'll have to ask my twin sister Tru Illah if she can recall any memories of her, she was always closer to mother. After five months of endless truck stops, small towns, and motel rooms we ended up in California. That's where everything got worse. For six months we rented out a dingy two bedroom apartment in the back of someone's beach house. Our sperm donor was able to get a job at a local club as a bouncer and worked nights. He would come home at 4 a.m. drunk as hell. Tru and I would make sure the littles were locked in one of the bedrooms, and we would stay out on the couch. You never would know what kind of mood he would be in. Some nights he'd throw us against a wall or slap us upside the head, then there were the nights he'd make spaghetti and watch old television shows with us. The latter of the two were rare but I think it kept that sliver of hope in us that everything would be okay. Salem Asher was able to hold onto that job for close to six months, it was the longest we had stayed anywhere sense we left Boston. Tru was starting to say that maybe this is where we will stay. I told her don't hold your breath. Sadly I was right. I really didn't want to be. We were slowly getting used to our new school, the small market on our street, having a beach for a back yard and being able to walk out to the ocean and listen to the waves as you fall asleep. I was even getting used to having beer bottles and cigarettes being thrown at me, the countless fist holes in the drywall, and all of the bruises and scars on my skin. I couldn't stand to see my sister get hurt she is just a girl and after the few times he was able to hit her, I would always push her out of the way and just take the beating. I feel like I could handle it better then her. She always cried and screamed from the hurt and pain, but I never did. I think it upset him more when I would just check out and give him a blank expression. Maybe that's chauvinistic of me seeing as My twin is just female and I am intersexed. Yup that's right boys and girls I am a boy and a girl! Meaning I have both a penis and a vagina. My mother would always tell me stories about when her parents where younger being intersexed was very rare and people would try to correct their babies to one or the other gender. They would just pick one and then raise the child as that. It sounded so absurd and archaic. Sense those day's the intersexed population is almost equal to the female and male population. Besides the obvious difference in our sexes Tru and I don't have anything really in common. Tru has dirty blond hair down to her shoulders that's always parted down the middle and wore in a low ponytail. She wears rounded metal framed glasses over her light blue eyes. Tru is also few inches shorter then me. Her pointy nose and thin face along with straight teeth make her seem like a stuck up girl, but she's actually a huge book worm and very smart in school. It's like day and night between us. My hair is very thick, dark brown, and wavy. I always have on a beanie or backwards baseball cap. I'm about two inches taller then Tru but being born two minutes before her making me the oldest I deserve those inches! Hopefully she doesn't hit a growth spirt anytime soon but being thirteen you never know! My facial features are very different then hers too. I have a rounder nose and a square jawline and I don't need glasses over my dark honey brown eyes. Although I'm intersexed I'm still quit feminine maybe because I'm skin and bone I have a small build and more muscle then fat. My folks used to call me Bird because I always picked at my food. I am definitely a tomboy though. Tru would waste a sunny day reading in the library, were as I need to be outside skating or playing The Sperm Donors old banjo down by the beach, or even writing or spray painting on the old beach buildings. I'm not sure how we are twins but our mother showed us our birth certificates one day after Tru and I had gotten into a huge fight. As for our younger siblings they are definitely a mix between our parents. Simon Moshe is five years old and is the spitting image of Salem Asher obviously he got to pick the name of his first born son, poor kid. Simon is a shy boy with curly brown hair and blue eyes he has a darker complexion just like Salem Asher and I. He has deep dimples on his chubby cheeks and is always giving a crooked smile. Leah Grace was my mother's pride and joy and how could she not be she is a perfect baby always happy and giggling never fused at all. She has light blonde hair that Tru puts up in little pig tails. She has the same dimples as our brother and honey colored eyes like me. Leah Grace is also very pale just like Tru is. Our mother picked her name hence not a super Jew name like the rest! See Our mother was Catholic but not crazy strict with it. The Sperm Donor on the other hand is very into his Jewish faith now, although growing up he was never as strict with it. Maybe after mother died he dove back into his religion to help cope. Sadly the booze and drugs took to him more then his faith.

The last two weeks in California were pure hell. Every night he was drinking and laying in on me. It got to the point I would lock him out of the house until he broke the door down and threw me out into the beach with a bloody nose, I slept out there for two nights before he dragged me back inside. He wasn't going to work anymore so we assumed he lost that job as well. Food was running low and the bills weren't getting paid. I hate to say I told you so Tru but here we were. Sperm Donor came into the bedroom the four of us shared and told us to pack what we can in the next hour and get it into the old beat up red truck. We didn't dare ask any questions. My jaw was still sore from the scuffle two night ago with him, but for the first time I got some punches in now he currently is rocking a fat lip and a swollen eye. I wonder where we are off to now. Something doesn't feel right and Tru agrees. There wasn't much to pack up the littles have more stuff then we do for Christ sake! 6 duffle bags and three card board boxes are loaded in the bed of the truck. Looking back I should have noticed he didn't have anything packed to take with us. Tru was loading up Simon and Leah into their car seats in the back and then sat in between them. Great now I have to sit in the front seat next to him. Hopefully it's not a far drive the smell of stale beer and cigarettes gives me a headache. As We are waiting for him to finish talking to the landlord I jump out of the car and race inside I can't believe I almost forgot the most important things! I run to our old room and grab my banjo and skateboard along with The small basket filled with blankets which had a sleeping Figaro on it. I would have died if I left him. I found this sickly small kitten under the beach dock a few weeks ago. He couldn't have been more the 8 weeks old but he's a fighter like me and is in much better condition now. Figaro is grey and white with the biggest yellow eyes and lots of whisky white hair coming out of his ears. I've always been a dog person but life was never stable enough after our first family dog passed away. There is just something about this little guy that makes me feel safe, Figaro is still sleeping in the small basket at my feet as we sit in the truck still waiting on him. After fiddling with the radio for several minutes we hear Salem yell something at the old landlord and then storm away from him. He hastily hops into the truck and slams it into reverse. We speed down the winding road and he lights up a cigarette. Great he was in a piss ass mood and we are all going to reek of smoke. The roads start to feel unfamiliar and then I notice we are heading towards the highways. This is not going to be a quick trip. Well here we go again.

It's been eighteen hours of driving so far and apparently that means we are halfway there. To where you ask? No fucking clue. Sperm Donor has barely spoken at all. Fine by me but driving aimlessly across country with out telling us anything kind of feels like being kidnapped and lead to our deaths. Maybe that's this assholes plan all along. One could hope. That's messed up I don't want the littles to be harmed but I'm going insane in this truck next to him chain smoking and downing black coffee like it's no tomorrow. The only time we stopped was when the littles started acting up either needing the bathroom or were hungry. Surprisingly he didn't get upset when they did so. It's really freaking me out how he's acting. Tru keeps staring out the window occasionally making eye contact with me in the rear view mirror. I don't know what she's thinking and I always just shrug at her or roll my eyes. I guess I'm the shitty twin who can't telepathically know what she's thinking. I'm okay with that though I have enough to deal with my own thoughts, let alone hers too. I can tell she's as freaked out as I am though.

When we drove across country 6 months ago we at least knew were we were headed: Sperm Donor always let us know where it was we were heading and even let us help navigate the map. Not this time stone cold silence and no map. All I Could tell was that we stopped heading East and now were going North. All hope of heading home to Boston went out the window along with any love I had left for that man. I must have fallen asleep or we hit a time warp because instead of vast amounts of farmland all I see are trees upon trees. The air also feels different it's clean and crisp and almost hurts my lungs. I quickly look in the back seat to find that Leah and the littles are passed out still. Glancing over I see that the Sperm Donor has his arm dangling out the window and a cigarette hanging from his mouth. His sunglasses are pushed down and you can see his brow is slightly furrowed. He looks like shit with his wrinkled shirt and unshaven face. The Boston Red Sox hat trying desperately to tame his curly black hair. I can't imagine what I looked like then. Okay I couldn't take it anymore. The silence, the smoke, the ass numbing pain, and all those fucking tall ass trees.

Take a deep breath. What's the worse thing that could happen? He throws me out of the truck? Please do it! So I turned in my seat to his direction and opened my mouth.

"Where the hell are we?" I asked

It was the first thing I said sense we left. His head whipped over to me almost causing his sunglasses to fall off and the ashes from the cigarette to fly off and land on the steering wheel. Startling him brought a small smirk to my face, one that was quickly slapped away by his right hand.

"Dude what was that for!?" I spat at him. I didn't want to yell and wake everyone else up.

"I am not your dude! I am your father!"

"No your a sperm donor my father died a long time ago." My cold monotones voice even shocked me. I was just waiting for another slap. I saw his hand rise again and then fall back down to the steering wheel. Maybe he just realized I was right..?

"Canada." Was all he said.

Thick silence filled the cab of the truck again. I guess that's all the information I'm going to be getting from him. How surprising. Damn

there are far to many trees here it's making me nervous.

Finally a road sign Toronto thirty kilometers. What the hell does that mean. After thirty minutes the trees became less and less and tall buildings starting to be visible up the road. At least it's a city and by the looks of it a big one. Thank god I can't survive in the country and as much as I liked the sleepy city of Ventura back in California, I need to be in a city. Just as my luck would have it the Sperm Donor drove right through the city taking us only about ten or so minutes outside of it. It was a long gravel and dirt road with barely any houses on it. I was for sure thinking he was going to kill us all outside of the country so he could get away with it. Not a bad plan I guess. Just as I was imagining how it would happen he pulled up to a large two story White House. The top windows jetted out of the house and onto a roof that over hung the porch. A three car garage and a black front door behind a glass door. The front yard had bright green grass and three big trees planted in front of it that were encircled by stones and bricks. Who the fuck lives here!? He put the truck in park and killed the engine. This caused Tru to wake up along with Simon, Leah was luckily still asleep. The Sperm Donor hopped out of the truck and went to the bed of the truck and started grabbing all of the bags and boxes out and setting them on the side of the driveway. Tru and I were stunned and didn't move an inch. Finally he came over to the back drivers side door and opened it up. He just stared at Simon for a moment before unbuckling him from his car seat and getting him down. This prompted me to get out of the cab and while grabbing Figaro I relentlessly got out of the truck. A chain reaction happened as Tru got a still sleeping Leah out. He then pulled out both car seats from his truck and set them down by the bags. The four of us just stood there by the small pile of our stuff not sure what was happening. No one has even come out of that house yet either.

The Sperm Donor bent down onto his knees so he was eye level with his son, Simon stared at him oblivious to everything. He ruffled Simons hair and gave him a pat on the back and told him to be a good man. He is five who does he think he's talking to? Next he kissed a sleepy Leah on her head as she was slowly waking up in Tru's arms. He looked at Tru and told her to look after them and squeezed her arm slightly. My twin looked at him like he was crazy then I could see her blue eyes begin to fill with tears. Oh shit. I was just realizing what was actually really happening. He walked over to me and briefly paused Before starting to walk past me. Maybe he didn't know what to say to me..

He walked up to the front door and knocked. After several seconds a small lady opened the door. Her face said it all. To say she was shocked is an understatement she almost went pale from the site of him. But she ended up opening the door half way. I couldn't hear what was being said but this lady got mad quick and her loud voice was echoing off the porch. Then suddenly Salem Asher turned around from her and made his way back to the truck. I couldn't believe he was dumping us off here in another country at a strangers house, (granted it's a nice house but what the fuck), also with out any explanation to me! I couldn't imagine I could hate him anymore then I did and yet this rage built up inside me. I lunged at him and shoved him as hard as I could he stumbled backwards an almost fell to the ground I heard a clink of metal on the pavement but didn't see what it was. Salem Asher quickly got up dusted his hands off and lowered his head as he got into the red pickup. He light a cigarette and before he reversed out of the driveway we way made eye contact briefly. I'll never forget the pathetic look in his eyes. I know he'll never forget mine.

After he pulled away and disappeared down the road in a cloud of dust I saw what made that noise on the pavement. It was his old metal pocket watch. I remember playing with it as a small child and quickly picked it up. It was engraved with his great grandparents initials, his parent's initials, and his and our mothers initials. I stuffed it in my pocket just as the lady from the door came and approached us. That's the sad adventure of how we ended up coming to live with our Auntie who was our mothers sister we never even heard of.