At Sunrise Trailer Park where Julie and Alex had been
living with their alcoholic mother, a white Nissan van
with a high-top roof and bearing the logos of Speedi-
Van Home Delivery pulled into a trailer lot next to the
one Julie, Alex, and their mother had lived in. The van
pulled up next to a 2010 Ford Crown Vic with the two-
tone black and white colors of a police car though the
car bore no markings or roof lights to suggest that it
was still in use as a police vehicle.
The van pulled in next to the Crown Vic then shut its
lights and engine off. The driver climbed out the driver's
side wearing the tan and green jacket and workclothes
of Speedi-Van. The driver apparently was returning
home after making his runs as he wasn't carrying
anything to suggest packages save for an Igloo lunchbox.
The driver walked past a tan mailbox which had on its sides
stickers with gold capital letters on a black background that
spelled out:
RALPH MORGAN
LOT TEN
As Ralph made his way to the front door of his trailer he turned
to look at the trailer where Julie, Alex and their mother had lived.
Ralph then said to himself, "Sure has been quiet since that woman
got arrested. I wonder what's happened to those two kids?"
Ralph then turned to unlock the front door and made his way
inside his mobile home. When he turned on the living room light
he looked around his sparsely furnished home and thought to
himself, It's good to be home.
Ralph removed his Speedi-Van ball cap and placed it on a
wooden hanger assembly mounted to the wall next to the front
door followed with his jacket. He then went into the tiny kitchen
and pulled a Diet Coke from the refrigerator. He then went back
to the tiny living room (Ralph lived in a 12x50 trailer) and settled
onto a futon mattress sofa that could also be unfolded to create
a bed as Ralph used the only bedroom in the small trailer as a
study. There was no television set in the sparsely furnished
living room but there was a Bose Wave stereo that Ralph
liked to listen to whenever he decided to unwind. He hated
what was on television these days and besides they took up to
much room. Ralph pulled a classical music CD and inserted it
in the Bose. He sat back down on the futon couch and relaxed
to the sounds of Tchaikovsky while sipping on his Diet Coke.
As the tune of Swan Lake came on, Ralph Morgan again
looked around his small living room and the modest furnishings
with a look of satisfaction and contentment. A smile came over
his face as he took in the Family Dollar bought coffee table,
three-tiered bookshelf and end tables with storage bins on
opposite ends of the futon couch which was the only piece of
furniture in the tiny living room. The Bose Wave stereo sat on
the middle tier of the bookshelf which also contained a few
books, a flameless candle fountain and a rustic metal display
piece of what looked like an early 1950s Ford tow truck with
the period Texaco oil company logos; the type of decor usually
sold at places like Hobby Lobby.
Ralph looked to his left to the wall clock and saw it was 10:15pm.
He had been working late but that was just fine with him. He had
neither a wife nor children to come home to and he never felt he
was good enough to pursue marriage and parenthood.
At forty-six years of age and after moving from job to job had
decided to take a go at becoming an independent contract driver
for Speedi-Van. While it sure was a struggle starting out as he
knew nothing about starting a business, at least Speedi-Van
worked with him so he could purchase his own vehicle. Also
he had to supply his own medical/dental insurance which he
couldn't afford to do at first but through hard work, long hours
and a faith in God did finally get medical insurance and up to
a few months ago, his own mobile home.
During a pause between tunes on his CD Ralph downed the last
of his Diet Coke then went to the kitchen sink to wash and rinse
the glass he drank out of and prepared to turn in.
Ralph also knew that although he gave both God and himself praise
for what he had, he often felt alone in his recent accomplishment
because of pressure by family and those of the church he attended
to have done better sooner. It was like he was made to feel the
oddball of family and congregation to live so modestly so late in
life. It was like no one could understand why he was forty-six
years old, unmarried, working a modest income job and living
in a small mobile home. It was getting to the point where he
hated going to church. And being the only single man his age
that attended the church didn't help matters any. As of recent
he reduced church activity to just being an attendee, but all that
did was make him feel spiritually empty.
"Why does everyone look down on me?" Ralph suddenly asked
while looking toward the ceiling, "I got everything I have because
I worked for it. Isn't that how it's supposed to be, Lord? I gave
you thanks and glory for it." Ralph looked down at the floor then
up again and continued, "I realize it's not much but I worked for it
but all I get is pressure to be better than this. Is every guy my age
supposed to have been married with kids along with a house with
a white picket fence and two cars in the garage? I thought the
Christian life wasn't all about that stuff but it seems as though it is."
Ralph wish he hadn't thought about the outside pressures he
got as he went from feeling content to suddenly feeling dispirited.
Then as quick as it started his tension collapsed; he knew it was
futile to harp on it. As he leaned back against the kitchen sink he
heard a vehicle drive by out front and not really thinking about it
drew the curtain of the kitchen window back to get a look.
The vehicle Ralph saw was a brown 1980s-era Chevy S-10
Blazer that pulled into the lot of the Hobbs woman.
Strange, Ralph thought, There's no one living there now.
Then Ralph was suddenly reminded also of a church bus
that came to that trailer every Sunday to pick up those kids.
He remembered the name of the church that was on the sides
of the bus: NEWBERRY COMMUNITY CHURCH.
Maybe, Ralph thought, I should check that place out.
Ralph then remembered something else; a man that was
on his delivery route mentioned being a member of that
church. Yes, a guy named Mac Davenport, he remembered.
Oh wait! There was also on his route a family that had also
mentioned attending that church, the Canfields!
Alright, Ralph thought, I'll try this church and see what it's
like.
As Ralph started preparing to turn in he heard the S-10
at the Hobbs trailer start up and drive away. It sounded
to him to be driving away somewhat in a hurry.
Ralph then pulled the front of the futon couch so that it
became flat to transform into a bed and after he did that
went to the bathroom for a shower, dental hygiene, and
shave. Tchaikovsky was playing as Ralph went through
his end-of-the-evening routine. The routine took about
five minutes.
Outside next door Ralph Morgan's trailer the neighboring
trailer of the Hobbs woman stood dark and silent when
all of a sudden it exploded; the explosion blowing out the
windows and doors and a portion of the roof. The night
sky over the trailer park suddenly lit up in an orange glow.
The shock wave and debris from the explosion went out
like an expanding ring around Saturn to the trailers closest
to the blast with Ralph Morgan's trailer taking the brunt of
the impact. The window of the Hobbs trailer facing that of
the Morgan trailer spewed out heat and burning debris with
such force that the sidewall around the window as well as the
window itself blew inward like a fist punching trough thin
drywall.
Ralph Morgan was getting ready to turn in when suddenly
he heard an explosion just outside his mobile home that
rattled his teeth. A split-second later there was an even
closer and louder explosion right in front of him as the
window he stood in front of exploded toward him. To
Ralph all he felt was a sharp burning pain in his right
shoulder which he only felt for maybe another split-second
as another piece of debris, he couldn't tell what it was,
struck the side of his head. There was this blinding light, the
crash of a thousand bombs followed by total darkness.
This concludes Chapter Eighteen.
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