Ken Ch. 01

Kendra was about to grab the rest of her belongings for class when she heard someone knock on the door.

"Ken, it's me, I need the spare keys of our place", a deep masculine voice resonated at the other side of it.

"Yea okay, hold on for a second."

As she let her twin brother in, she could not help but take in his transformative appearance. Since they both graduated from high school and enrolled in college, he seemed to have been taking care of himself. Clean-shaved, well-dressed, bathed in a lovely fragrance. She smiled, savoring his cologne while he, on the other hand, raised one brow.

"You look good," she explained, and just before he was able to throw some sarcastic comment at her, she awkwardly turned on her heels and threw their parents' house keys at him. Mike, true to himself, elegantly caught the object, demonstrating his perfect reflexes all the while showing off a pearly-white teethed smirk.

They do not really get along as they ought to. They were twins, and they have had a very nice childhood, bonding since they were babies. Yet through their adolescence things started to change drastically. He became simultaneously insecure and overconfident; a paradox which perpetrated in his choice of friends. He namely could befriend nice, geeky guys, but at the same time hang out with popular kids who, traditionally wise, would pick on the former as soon as the circumstances where fit enough to do so. Wrong look, wrong grades or even wrong ideas, everything was a trigger to some unwanted attention from 'the gang'.

Mike did have a great personality though. He, as far as most of his friends were concerned, was warm-hearted and loyal. He was funny, clever or witty some would say, and his wit drenched with mockery and sarcasm saved him from being the ordinary guy, and made him the guy everybody - including unyielding teachers - cannot help but appreciate. Tall, dark and handsome. He was quite the young black man, quite the student, quite the comedian, quite the friend, but not quite the brother, as Kendra never had the privilege of bringing the best out of him, only eliciting an overly casual and indifferent demeanor towards her, which aggravated her to her very core.

They were moderately civil and kind to each other, as siblings of different genders ought to be, thanks to their parents, who always emphasized the importance of harmonious relationships within family ties. Their parents, especially their mother, always advocated a peaceful atmosphere at home, which luckily paid off. The occasional drama did not destabilize the serene ambiance that seemed to be reigning at the Lawrences.

Kendra Lawrence was actually grateful for that. Although she resented her brother for not being so 'fraternal' with her, she did appreciate her upbringing and her family being stable or not malfunctioning. Her parents were cool yet demanding, and down-to-earth, handling their marriage with such grace as well, which should be applauded in a world where one in two marriages end in a divorce.

Kendra looked at her brother irritated, and before she even had the chance of asking him what has been up with him lately - she was interested in knowing how his semester was going so far - he mumbled a "See you," before slamming her dorm room door shut.

"Asshole," she whispered, thinking of how her mother would disapprove, but smiling at the same time, as she remembered her saying she had a surprise in store for her, which she would announce at Kendra's first week-end back at home since the start of her second term. To be fair, she could not wait to spend some time at home and really welcomed the occasion with open arms. Her French linguistics class was announced to be cancelled following Monday, which meant that she could easily return Tuesday afternoon for her evening classes. This turn of events created an excellent occasion to have an extended weekend break at home with her parents. She was also hoping to see Jessica, a good friend of hers, who chose to go to community college nearby the town and, consequently, did not need to commute. She was excited to catch things up with her, especially on the romance front, since she heard that she had started seeing a new guy, according to the latest gossip Kendra's mother indulged herself in.

While Kendra consciously reminded herself to start packing some of her things as soon as she had the occasion, so to avoid unnecessary stress or hurry later on, she packed her syllabus and notes in her leather shoulder bag and headed out for her English lit class.

Soon enough, Friday night arrived and she happily dragged her small duffel bag onto the train. She was good-tempered, knowing that the train ride would not take very long. Approximately two hours and a half separated her campus from her house in the town's suburbs, which to her was a supportable distance. During the trip, the girl absent-mindedly looked outside and pondered about nothing and everything. Everything, as it would actually seem, was submerged in darkness, but she could make out the grassy patches of land in between the not so grassy portions or urban landscapes. Spring was announcing itself, she noticed, though the temperatures were not mild enough to stir the flora back to life. Still she brought her heavy coat, and two woolly pullovers with her, with the intention of leaving them behind at her folks' place so that she can make some room in that unnervingly small dorm wardrobe of hers.

When she stepped off the train with her gatherings, she was happy to see no one was waiting to pick her up, just as she instructed. She did not want to unnecessarily tire her parents taking the car all the way down to the station, while the house was only at one and a half mile's distance from it. It was acceptable for her to walk so far because the temperatures were quite clement, even that late at night, and her luggage was not exceedingly heavy, regardless of the coat amongst it.

Arriving at her parents' place, her mother quickly gave her a very warm hug doubled with a dashing smile. Kendra, determined to discover what the surprise would be, did not let her mother's affectionate greeting deter her from quickly finding out what - she figured - nice thing she had up her sleeve.

"So? Tell me, come on!" Kendra exclaimed.

"It's in the garage," her mother answered with a childlike giggle, which seemed to amuse Kendra's father. The usually preoccupied man just entered the hall, ushering Kendra with his hand to follow him down to the garage.

"Hi Ken, sweetie, come with, something's up with the interrupters, so you have to use the floor lamp in the corner." He said with a careless attitude. Kendra gleefully obeyed, and proceeded to tag along.

As soon as she entered the garage, and before her father even had the chance to switch the light on, Kendra let out a happy squeal, which seem to amuse her father once again. The luminescence of the hall illuminated half of the garage which enabled her to precipitately discern the silhouette of a city bike, parked next to her father's work table.

"You guys, you shouldn't have. This is really cool!" she enthusiastically called out, while her father switched on the powerful floor lamp right next to the door of the garage, which made possible for Kendra to fully absorb the appearance of the bike. It was a large, dark grayish feminine city bike. She liked the elegant design and classy color. It suited her perfectly. She loved how her parents seem to really know and appreciate her taste, or here, her material taste.

"Please, we made a great deal with the bike dealer for this one. You see the slot here?" Her father said, interrupting her thoughts.

"Uhu, what's that?" she countered in an intrigued tone while she intently inspected the small groove on the bike's steering wheel.

"He installed it so you can have a basket on the steering gear - nice eh?"

"Very nice," Kendra answered promptly. "You know when Mom mentioned the surprise, I wouldn't ever have suspected it would be so nice... You guys ... I thought it was going to be some earrings or something, like last Christmas, I don't know, but this really exceeded my expectations. Thanks."

"You're welcome Ken" her Mom said, joining the small group. She relished the warm hug her 22-year-old daughter was giving her. Her father hastily gave Kendra a peck on her cheek, and went on strolling to the living room. Kendra gave her mother a puzzled look. "Vikings is on," her mother explained.

"I see," Kendra laughingly commented. It was a lovely turn of events, and the young woman turned in with happy thoughts.

The next morning, she rose bright and early. She was still fatigued due to the train trip, but planned on having a afternoon lie-down to catch up on some rest. After she ate a large bowl of corn flakes and had a quick chitchat with her father about her classes among other things, she decided to take the bike for a test ride.

"Just so you know, I've been told that the dynamo of the lamp works just fine, so you can cycle even when it's becoming dusk outside..."

"Good, yea, I know.

She paused. "I think it's safer though to ride it during day time, you know there are some real crazy drivers out there."

"True true honey, in any case, be safe, and..." Now it was his turn to pause, so it seemed.

"Try not to let it get stolen again." He cautiously continued with a stern, yet friendly gaze.

Kendra was about to retort, but reckoned it was not necessary to start a discussion with her father that would only drag both of them out. The mini drama that ensued after her bike was stolen four years ago at the mall, has slightly traumatized her, and the topic of the missing bike became quickly a upsetting one.

She was still livid ever since her parents accused her of being imprudent and silly. Granted, she should have used the solid chain to lock her bike, but hated the thing for being so heavy and decided against her parents' warnings not to take it wherever she cycles to. Instead, she took the much smaller and unreliable - as it would later appear - lock that day, and of course, regretted her decision almost immediately after she discovered to her dismay that her bike was stolen; the small lock did not seem to have presented quite an obstacle for the thief.

Michael was not quite the support either, reminding how stupid it was for her to lock her bike in the unsuitably fashion she was notoriously known for around the house.

In reality, Kendra was not so much the athletic type, but she had taken a liking in cycling moderate distances ever since her father encouraged her to take her bike to high school whenever the weather would allow it. It represented a great exercising opportunity that shaped her calves and thighs a little. Not a lot of kinds went to school by bike actually, but there were some who would, despite the popular conception that taking the car was the only bearable transportation option. At least, according to the privileged kids, who sought to maintain their fashionable reputation and knew what was at stake, realizing that they should never be caught dead riding a damn bike to school. Ken's brother too, she considered, had the same philosophy, since he used to ride along with Nick during senior year...

"Oh God, Nick" Kendra thought out loud. She had not been thinking about her brother's best friend for several weeks, until then, which astonished her a little. There she was pondering about her bike rides to school, while grabbing her fleece overall, and taking her bike out of the garage, and all of a sudden Nick pops into her mind.

She started riding her bike down the street, first at a moderate speed - it was some time ago since the last time she drove a bike - but then she gradually increased her pace up to the point that she was forgetting about Nick, all the while blissfully enjoying the cool air filling her lungs, the wind blowing through her thick curly hair. At the same time she was absorbing the delicious rays of sunlight beaming onto her skin, which seem to envelop her in a comfortable and lovely warmth. The warm natural colors of emergent vegetation around her passed in a beautiful blur that reminded her of impressionist paintings. God, what was it delightful to be out, let alone be out in the open air.

She had to admit that she had been a couch potato at the campus, while she consciously knew that even little walks would benefit her general health and mood a great deal. She then made the resolution to move about some more as soon as she got back to college. First, she figured she could join the campus gym but immediately turned that idea down as she realized that she preferred to venture into some outdoor activity rather than staying indoors. She kept on brainstorming. She was then weighing the pros and cons of taking her bike back with her. It would actually be helpful and fun to be able to cross the campus more swiftly, but then she was thinking about the potential logistic perils on the train next Tuesday as well as being concerned about the storage possibilities at the dormitory, or lack thereof.

She decided that she would talk about it with her parents, her mind racing in chorus with her bike, and wondered if it would be a good idea to stop by the Presbyterian church near Willow Street, which was only a few blocks down. That would constitute a nice trip for her, and she could re-explore the beautiful pond that lays in its garden and relax there for a second. It was a pity that she had not have a basket on her bike yet; she could have run some errands, and maybe have had a small solo picnic there. She smiled. That was undeniably a nice thing to do with Jessica for tomorrow perhaps, if she is up for it. They could bring backpacks to transport the food; to hell with the basket.

Her house was not that far away actually. Yet she assumed it would be more appropriate to call first before dropping in. After all, Jess said she had been swamped with her classes and her part-time job as a librarian. Accordingly, she might not even be there. Kendra resolved in heading back and catching up with some preparatory reading she had to do for her English com class. She smirked, because she remembered catching a glimpse of Oreos in the cookie cabinet, the idea of which made her mouth water. 'Time to go back, 'she thought, as she looked sideways and made a U-turn seeing that she did not know which way straight down would lead back to her house.

Suddenly, she heard the deafening and shrill sound specific to tires screeching, preceded by an abrupt pressing on the brakes. The loud noise came from right behind her and intensely startled her. She looked back full with bewilderment, only to identify the car with shock. It was her parents', or by extension, her brother's car. Confused and still rather shaken as well, she looked from the driver seat, taken by her brother, to the passenger seat, which was occupied by the man who she was so earnestly thinking about only a few instants ago.