Four Men, Two Women and a Truck

“Hey, be careful there, Sonny,” said Uncle Billy.

I steadied myself on the steps. “Hold on, let me get a better grip.”

Uncle Billy frowned and braced himself below me while I adjusted my hold on the large Rubbermaid container we were wrestling down the stairs of Eb’s mother’s apartment building.

“Okay, I’m good now.”

Billy stepped gingerly backward down the steps. “This is the last time I help that idiot move.”

I felt for the next step. “I just hope he knows what he’s doing,” I grunted.

“Somehow I doubt that,” Billy snorted. “Okay, I’m on flat ground.”

“Keep your end hoisted up, will, you?” I pleaded as I navigated the last three steps.

Billy pushed his back against the door at the bottom of the steps. “Almost there.”

I followed Billy through the door to the truck standing in the parking lot.

“Watch the curb, fellas,” said Eb’s mother, Mary, who was waiting near the rear of the truck.

Eb’s new girlfriend, Rebecca, was standing next to her. “Need any help,” she asked.

We hoisted the container up on the deck of the truck. “Not now,” said Billy.

“Thanks, guys,” said Eb who was standing inside the truck.

Billy leaned against the bumper, panting slightly. “Here’s a head’s up for you, Eb, next time you move, I’ll be out of town, so you, Hank, and Wonder Boy, here, will have to handle it.”

“How do you know when I’m going to move?” asked Eb.

“I’m psychic.”

Hank appeared around the back of the truck. “He means ‘psychotic’.” He handed a small box to Mary.

“Don’t strain yourself there, Magnus,” said Billy

Hank ignored the dig. “The UPS guy dropped this off at your apartment door, Mary.”

“Oh, I’ll bet that’s my new Kindle Fire,” she said.

“You bought a Kindle Fire?” I asked.

“My book club is ga-ga over it, so I ordered one as soon as the eagle squatted this month,” she answered.

“What the heck is a Kindle Fire?” asked Rebecca.

Mary set the box on the truck deck and started to open it. “I’ll show you.”

“It’s a digital book,” I said.

“Oh, I’ve seen those things … I see people looking at them at Starbucks,” said Rebecca.

“You go to Starbucks?” asked Hank.

“That’s where I met Eb,” she answered.

Uncle Billy, Hank and I looked at Eb.

“What? They have great coffee,” he said.