Going For Broke (12 page)

             
“Mother, quiet!  This is the one where Marcia breaks her nose!” she said.

             
Barbara walked across the room and turned off the television.  Victoria let out a small cry.  “Vicky, I need you to run an errand for me.”

             
“Can’t Bud do it?” Victoria whined.

             
“No, Bud can’t.  I need you to do it.  Can you go to the pharmacy and pick up my prescription?” Barbara asked.

             
“My God, mother!  Don’t they deliver?” It seemed a reasonable question.

             
Barbara was not to be put off.  She had been trying to get Victoria out of the house for a week now, with no luck.  She was really getting worried about her daughter, who had taken up permanent residence in front of the both the television and refrigerator. 

             
“They’ve stopped for the day.  Bud has a migraine,” Barbara said.

             
“Why can’t you go?” Victoria couldn’t believe how horrible she sounded, but she really didn’t want to go out.  Especially looking like she did.  She was wearing a pair of leggings and Bud’s “Kiss Me I’m Irish” sweatshirt.  Her hair was in a ponytail, she had no makeup on and she was sure her breath was close to toxic. 

             
Barbara answered with a whisper.  “I went out with Carol Allands after work today and we had a glass of wine,” she lied.  “I shouldn’t have even driven home.”

             
That got Victoria’s attention.  Her mother had a buzz on!  Lord knows, one glass of sherry would probably have Barbara knockered.

             
She reluctantly stood up.  “Fine, I’ll go.  I swear to God, if I see anyone I know, I’ll kill you.”

             
             
             
             
             
             
###

             
Victoria pulled Bud’s Buick into the parking space directly in front of the pharmacy.  There was one plus to suburban living - parking was a foregone conclusion.  She stood outside of the pharmacy and was instantly transported back to high school.  Victoria had worked at Solomon-Cooper Pharmacy for two years while she was at New Trier.  They loved her because she was always available to work.  Nights, weekends, nothing conflicted with Vicky Patterson’s schedule. 

             
She pushed open the heavy glass door and took a deep breath.  The place even smelled the same.  She walked back to the pharmacy counter and saw Conney, the pharmacist who had hired her so many years earlier.  He looked up with a smile, and slowly walked up to the counter.

             
“Hello young lady, can I help you?” he asked.

             
“I’m here to pick up a prescription for Barbara Brewster,” she said as she prayed that Conney wouldn’t recognize her.  In her current state, she wouldn’t recognize herself. 

             
“Vicky?  Is that you?  Your mother didn’t tell me you were coming home,” Conney hollered.  “Come back here and give me a hug.”

             
I hate you mother, she thought.  “Conney!  Great to see you,” she managed to get out.  She allowed herself to be wrapped in another bear hug.  Is that the only way that old men in this town can greet you? 

             
“Vicky Patterson.  Well, I’ll be,” Conney said as he looked her over.  He just kept looking at her, rocking back and forth on his heels. 

             
“Um, is the prescription ready?” Victoria couldn’t get out of here fast enough.

             
“One sec. I’m almost done.  Take a look around - so much has changed,” Conney told her.

             
Victoria did look around.  Absolutely nothing had changed since 1972 in that pharmacy.  Except for now they were selling long distance calling cards and the morning-after pill.  She swore that the aisle with the cosmetics had the actual compacts that were behind the counter 25 years ago.  Who wore pressed powder anymore?  There was a large, yellowing display for Charlie Perfume.  “Kind of young, kind of now -- Charlie!  Kind of free, kind of Wow - Charlie!”  The song forced its way into her head and she couldn’t get it out.

             
“Vicky Patterson,” Conney called across the store.  “Your prescription is ready, honey.”

             
As she turned from the cosmetics counter and rounded the impressively large display of foot care products, she ran smack into a man.  An impossibly good-looking man.   Victoria knew the name of that man the instant she saw him.  Twenty-five years later and he looked better than ever.  The gods had always been kind to Scott Simons.

             
Scott Simons was the guy everyone knew in high school.  He was gorgeous, and he was also nice.  Smart, athletic, your basic nightmare, if you’re not the captain of the cheerleading squad.  Which Victoria definitely was not.  He dated the most beautiful girl in school, had more friends than he could count, and never once noticed Victoria as she navigated the overcrowded hallways of the high school.  And why would he? He was country club, she was park district.  He had a car, she took the bus.  He summered at the Cape, she summer-girled.  It was the Scott Simons of the world that Victoria swore she would never have to skulk from again they day she left Tenaqua.  Well, Welcome Home Vicky.

             
“Hey - I know you!” He said with great self-satisfaction. 

             
Mother, I am  going to strangle you when I get home.  I’m out of the house for ten minutes, looking like the Unibomber’s little sister, and it’s old home week at the pharmacy.  She kept her head down and kept walking towards the back.

             
“You had the best voice.  I’d know it anywhere.  Veronica, right?  I sat behind you in Biology sophomore year.”  Victoria didn’t get a chance to answer.  “Don’t you remember?”

             
Remember?  It was a year of torture for Victoria.  She couldn’t bring herself to turn around once all year long.  Oh, but she wanted to.

             
She shook her head no and shrugged her shoulders, and quickly put on her sunglasses.   “Thanks Conney.”  She started for the door.

             
Scott followed her to the door.  He wasn’t going to make this easy for her. 

“Scott Simons!  Class of ’86.”

             
Okay, Victoria didn’t know
anybody
who referred to themselves by their high school graduation year.  Maybe Scott Simons was a nerd after all.  She couldn’t help herself, she stopped and turned to look at him. 

             
“How’ve you been?  My God, you look fantastic!” he said.

             
This was fairly amusing as Victoria was wearing Bud’s sweatpants, had no makeup on and hadn’t had a proper blowout in months.  She had gained at least 10 pounds since she left New York and was on a clear path to gain 20 more.   Most of her hair was in a ponytail, and a good third of it had fallen out during the last episode of “Chelsea Lately”.  Maybe his eyesight was going, since it didn’t look like anything else was.

             
“Great to see you, ah...Scott,” as if she didn’t know. “Gotta run!”  She turned, hopped into Bud’s Buick and almost hit a Tenaqua police car trying to peel out of there.

             
             
             
             
             
             
###

             
When she pulled back into her mother’s alley, there was a black pickup truck blocking the garage.  Jesus Christ, she thought.  Can’t the damned workers learn to park their cars?  What was a service truck doing at her mother’s?  It was almost 6:30 at night.  For a second, she was worried that a pipe had burst, then her annoyance erased her concern. 

             
She parked her car in the middle of the alley and got out to knock on the driver’s door and tell him to park his goddamned car somewhere else.  The truck was a piece of shit with tinted windows - great, there was a drug dealer parked outside of her mother’s house.  Just as she was about the knock on the window - drug dealer or no, the guy was blocking Victoria’s way - the car door swung open nearly taking Victoria down. 

             
Michael Towner got out of the car and looked at Victoria.  The woman standing in front of him looked nothing like the Park Avenue Princess he met in her apartment a few weeks ago in New York.   She looked like a heavily medicated soccer mom.  The Park Avenue was front and center once she opened her mouth.

             
“Excuse me, I’m going to have to ask you to move your - vehicle,” she called out at him.  She was busy sniffing for the smell of pot. 

             
“Beautiful evening tonight,” Mike stood almost a foot taller than Victoria. 

             
“You!”