My brother brought home his girlfriend, Rachel.
At the time, he worked at a furniture delivery company. He met Rachel one day during one of his lunch breaks when Edie, his co-worker's wife, brought lunch for her husband, Stevie. With Edie was her sister Rachel. My brother Pete was instantly smitten by Rachel and kept bugging Stevie the whole day about his sister-in law. "She's bad news," Stevie warned my brother. "She just got out of the girls' home after 6 months for truancy, and for robbing somebody's house. She's only staying with us cause their parents live on Kauai. It's not worth it, brah, get nicer girls that work here. My sister in law is nothing but problems."As stories like these go, Pete did not listen. The next time Edie showed up with Stevie's lunch, Pete maneuvered himself for an introduction while Rachel sat waiting in the car. Rachel responded not because she found my brother interesting, but because he was an easy mark. Plus, she was bored with staying home all day, helping Edie around the house, and running errands. Within 6 months, Pete had become so hoodwinked by Rachel that he'd already proposed marriage. When he brought Rachel home to meet our parents, she was the epitome of sweetness, and at the end of dinner, she helped my mother with the dishes in the kitchen. For all of her filial piety, for her beauty and charm, there was something about Rachel that was off. It's hard to describe even now, but whenever she was around, it felt like there was an unseen thick layer of dirt on her. Even though no one could physically see it, it was there without a doubt. I kept my distance from her and made sure that I was never within hugging distance. For the most part, she didn't seem to be bothered by my aloof behavior toward her. However, after a fun afternoon at school, Debbie Ferreira treated me to a bottle of Pepsi and a brown paper bag of Li Hing Mui. I invited her over to my house to have our drink and li hing mui, and also to watch Checkers and Pogo on TV. I forgot that today was my father's day off, which meant that he and my mother went shopping. I heard the record player was on, and it was Leader of the Pack. If no one was home, then who was listening to the record player? Debbie and I walked in on Rachel, kissing someone who sat on the couch. It wasn't Pete, it was some older, scary-looking guy wearing a leather jacket. His hair was slicked back and greasy. A thick mustache sat between his nose and his upper lip. His eyes were beady and he looked like he was about to kill the two of us for walking in on them. He had that invisible layer of dirt on him, but unlike Rachel, he wasn't trying to hide it.
"What the fuck are you looking at?" He was talking to me, staring me down as if I'd stolen something from him. He pushed Rachel to the side, got up, walked to the fridge, and popped open one of my father's primo beer bottles.
"That's my father's beer!" I shouted at him. In response, he sent the bottle cap flying in my direction. It hit me on my shirt pocket and bounced off until it fell on the linoleum floor.
Rachel went over to him, hugging and kissing him while walking him out of the house at the same time. They went out the front door, walked down the dirt driveway, and disappeared on the side of the house. A short time later, a black Ford Galaxy sped up the gravel driveway and out to the main road. Rachel came walking in, acting all refreshed as if she'd just come from a baptism. In less than a minute, Pete was home. His Dodge Dart was parked up to the fence, fronting the yard. He was in the house for a mere second before Rachel came running out of the room, where she jumped into his arms, and Pete caught her. Carrying her off to the privacy of his room, Pete and Rachel giggled along the way.
"Wow," Debbie said quietly.
"Now I know why I don't like her." I nodded. "Sorry, you saw that, Debbie. It's so shameful for us. I understand if you don't want to come over anymore."
"I'm your friend," she assured me. "You don't have to worry."
A month later, my parents and Rachel's parents sat at our kitchen table. Rachel sat at one end, while Pete sat at the other end. "He wants to marry me," Rachel pleaded to her folks as if the proposal was all that mattered to her. Rachel's father ignored his daughter's plea, only addressing my father, he said, "My daughter is stringing your son along, this is all a show for her. Once she's bored with Pete, she'll move on to something or someone else. My wife and I are saving your family from a lot of grief, believe me."
"Dad," Pete tried to get our father's attention. "Don't let them take Rachel away from me!"
"Are you not paying attention, Pete? These people are telling you that their own daughter is bad for you. What are you not understanding?" My father got up from his chair and walked over to Pete. "Her parents are telling you that you'll only know grief and suffering if you continue to see, Rachel. I believe them, and this is over. You're not to see or talk to this girl anymore."
Pete cried real tears while Rachel feigned sadness and heartbreak. She and her invisible layer of dirt. My folks and Rachel's folks wouldn't even allow the two of them to have one last good-bye. That was it, said and done. Pete sat in his room until sunrise, until he finally cried himself to sleep. Rachel wasted no time in hanging out with her greasy boyfriend, who drank my father's beer. We saw them one time at Tamura's market on a weekend shopping trip. Pete was at the beach with a few friends from his new job. He couldn't work at the old place and continue to be friends with Stevie; the whole thing reminded him of Rachel. It was Rachel we saw at Tamura's with that creep, holding hands, laughing, and kissing. It was the opportune time to tell my father about the creep being at our house with Rachel, and how the creep drank his primo beer. My father waited outside for Rachel and her boyfriend. We were still inside with my mother, helping shop. Really, we were just getting in the way. Once Rachel and the creep came walking out with a case of beer, my stepdad stepped up to him and punched him square on the chin, and laid him out. No more was said.
Six months later, Rachel showed up at Pete's new job, wanting to talk. The creep began beating her and was seeing other women. He ended up in jail, when he was caught beating one of his girlfriends, who also happened to be a cop's daughter. Within a week, she was living with Pete at his new apartment. A short time after that, she accepted his marriage proposal. They had two kids together, but they didn't have my mom and dad. My parents disowned my brother when they found out that he and Rachel were married. My folks wouldn't even see their own grandkids, that's how bad it was. Two years in, Rachel packed up and left when the creep called and told Rachel he was out of prison. Rachel fell off the map, but by the time she got back from her vacation with the creep, Pete was moved out and had already filed for divorce. Things calmed down after a while. Pete was a single father raising two kids by himself. He worked in the county clerk's office, and the hours allowed him to bring his kids to and from school. He met Valerie Sagun while walking to the lunch truck one afternoon. She was coming from the municipal building, and my brother was coming from the mayor's office.
The two arrived at the same time to get food from the lunch wagon, literally bumping into each other while going to stand in line. My brother apologized profusely and paid for Valerie's lunch and drinks. Thereafter, the two maintained a nice friendship before anything became serious, but when it did, the two were inseparable. Pete had two boys, Kevin and Kyle. Valerie had a little girl, Tessa. There was no awkward period between Tessa, Kevin, and Kyle. It was like they'd been siblings all along. Pete and Valerie felt the same way about each other. It was meant to be.
Still, at this point, my folks, knowing Pete's situation, because I told them about it, made no effort to reach out. Years later, when Kevin and Kyle were in the 8th grade and Tessa was in the 5th grade, Rachel surfaced from the muck of whatever her life had become. The only reason Pete and Valerie knew about it was because Kevin and Kyle told them about it. The two brothers walked their sister Tessa to school every morning before they headed to Jachin Intermediate. That's when they saw a strange woman waiting at the entrance to the school. She ran up and hugged the two boys, crying, and making a big scene. Kevin said the woman smelled like cigarettes and alcohol. Pete knew immediately who it was, and luckily, Pete told Valerie all about Rachel when they were first friends, but he assured Valerie that he'd take care of it. The following morning, Pete dropped Tessa off at school. He got the two boys to school earlier than usual and parked at the far end of the lot. An 87 Buick Regal rolled in and parked near the entrance. Rachel was sitting shotgun while the creep sat at the helm. By this time in his life, Pete knew who the creep was because I'd finally told him about what I saw that day when I came home with Debbie. Because Rachel was so focused on the front gate, expecting to see Kevin and Kyle come in that way, Pete was able to sneak the two boys out of the car and get them to the front of their class. After, my brother calmly walked over to the Buick and yanked the creep out of the car and beat the shit out of him. Rachel tried to intervene, but Pete pushed her away.
Pete dragged the creep across the parking lot and placed his two arms under the rear wheel of his car. My brother got in, started his vehicle, and peeled out the rear tire over the creep's arms. He sped up right behind the Buick, waiting for Rachel to get on her feet. Once she got herself upright, Pete slowly drove his car next to her. Reaching out, he grabbed a handful of her hair and pressed the gas pedal to the floor. His rear tires kicked up gravel before it finally took off. Dragging Rachel along, Pete aimed for the fence at the exit gate to the school. When he was close enough, he let go of Rachel's hair and swerved to his right. Rachel went headfirst into the fence post.
Being that this all took place so very early in the morning, before any of the faculty arrived, there were no eyewitnesses. When I was over to Pete's house for dinner the following Sunday, he told me the whole thing after, while the kids helped Valerie clean up in the kitchen.
"Can't say I don't blame you," I told my brother. "But what now?"
"They got the message," Pete said after taking a swig of his beer. "They'd be dumb to try anything."
"Don't do that again, Pete," I told him. "You've got a family that loves you, that needs you. People like Rachel and that idiot are not worth losing your family over. Promise me, okay?"
"Yeah," he waved me off like he always does when he thinks I don't know what I'm talking about.
"I'm serious, Pete, promise me," I positioned myself in front of him so he'd have to look me in the eye.
"I promise," he said. "Are you happy now? God, you're so irritating."
"Yeah? You're a bag of doofus," I deadpanned.
"You're a gummy bag of doofus and penises," he retorted.
"Only a doofus, penis would say that," I told him.
"Only someone who eats doofus gummy penises would know that," he pushed me with his elbow. "And I can smell it on your breath."
"Shut up," I nudged him back.
That was how we showed our love to one another, but the reason I was so adamant that he make me that promise to not ever do anything like he did to Rachel and the creep is because he now had a skinny layer of unseen dirt on him. It wasn't enough to repel someone like me to not be around him, but it was there in its infancy, waiting for more misdeeds and more callous acts for Pete to commit so that more layers of dirt could be added. There won't be, not ever. Because he has got me for his brother.
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