Sweet Home... Minnesota?

The minute I get onto the adjacent street I check the radio to see that it mercifully works. I also check my watch to see that it’s nearing one in the morning. My bags, which I’d put in the passenger’s seat don’t have any food or anything so I drive a little way down the road until I find a Walmart. After a quick trip to the bathroom, the snack aisle and the back of the store, I’m done and head off. I grabbed an iPod jack as well because there is no way I’ll survive an entire trip listening to the radio.

As soon as I hit the highway I blast the music on, and make an idiot of myself by singing along. Who cares though? I’m all alone in here.

Despite my determination to get on the road tonight, I’m still pretty tired, and it hits me sometime around two in the morning. I’m forced to stop at a bunch of gas stations for coffee, and the amount of liquid also means I have to pee a bunch.

At long last, sometime while the sun is just rising in the sky, I see the green sign that says Monroe is a little under ten miles away. I groan but keep driving until I see the semblance of a small town looming in front of me.

I’m not actually sure how big the city is, but its compact so that most of it is all in one place. A lot of towns are stretched out so that they’re like a big line, but Monroe is just a big blob. The population is somewhere around 7,000 people which sounds like a lot, but it really isn’t. In Minnesota the average population of suburbia is around 40,000 and big city life is somewhere around 400,000 so yeah Monroe is a small town.

It’s still early enough that a lot of people aren’t awake yet, but I see a few people who are up and about already. Another thing about small towns is that everyone knows what car everyone drives so of course they notice my dinged up Trans Am the instant it crosses the city line, and a few nosy people peer into my car and then wave when they see who’s driving. Most of these people have known me since I was an infant, and the only people who haven’t known me that long are people who are younger than me.

The town has a sizable downtown area for its size, but that’s mostly because our sister town, a few miles away, is much smaller than ours. They have almost nothing and depend on our town. Mostly it’s residential though, but there’s enough of a downtown to employ the population.

I see my brother’s house, which is on the edge of the west side of town and I sigh before pulling out in front of the disheveled looking lawn.

“GERARD!” A voice says, and I see my younger brother running excitedly out of the house. He looks so young still, if I hadn’t grown up with the guy then there would be no way for me to know he was almost 25.

“Hey Mikey, I’m kind of sweaty so you might not want-,“ too late, Mikey wraps his arms around me tightly.

“I’ve missed you so much bro,” Mikey says, and he pulls away to look at me. It’s already been two years because I didn’t come home for the last two Christmases. I was busy though.

“Yeah sorry, good to see you,” I say and he steps back to give me a onceover.

“You look exhausted man, did you drive all night?” Mikey says trying not to be blunt.

“Yeah, and my flight was like five hours so I feel like a walking bacteria swarm.”

“Oh god, come in then,” Mikey says and he grabs my hand to pull me into the house. It’s not the house I grew up in of course, that’s on the other side of town, but I kind of preferred staying with my brother than my parents. There’s a little less embarrassment in that. Well it’s still awkward to stay at your brother’s house, but at least Mikey isn’t as judgmental.

I’ve walked past this house a million times in my life. Monroe really is a tiny town.

“Where’s Pete?” I ask him when we walk into the quaint little living room, which actually smells really welcoming. It smells like Mikey and that’s nice, even if I hate the small house. I’ve been in his home quite a bit, even before he owned it, so it’s nothing new to me. Living room connects to the dining room which connects to the Kitchen. There’s no downstairs and the top floor has three bedrooms, with the staircase on the wall adjacent to the dining room.

“He’s at work. He got stuck with summer school,” Mikey says, and I remember that it’s actually the morning right now. It’s almost seven.

“Oh okay,” I say, and allow Mikey to walk me through to the kitchen where he hurriedly asks if I want anything. Pete’s an elementary school teacher so he has earlier hours than Mikey who does online work from home.

Mikey and Pete are probably the most well-known people in town, for bigoted reasons. There’s just no gay people in small towns. It’s unfortunate but it’s true. Mikey and Pete get by pretty well because it’s a relatively open minded town, but it’s not been easy for them, that’s for sure. Most of the people who were upset about their relationship were from the town over, which is about twenty miles away, but almost no one here was against it. Probably because everyone knows everyone else and everyone saw Mikey and Pete grow up. No one was about to hate their existence just like that. Still there have been some situations that have led to this particular house I’m in, being the best secured. They have an uncharacteristically high security system just to be safe.

They’ve been together for almost seven years I think, but they’re only now planning to get married because they couldn’t have done so a year ago due to the law having been passed not too long ago. I would’ve had to come into town soon for that anyway, but it looks like I’ll already be here.

“Okay so I’m guessing you want to sleep for like the rest of the day or something?” Mikey asks, and I nod gratefully, “I thought that might be the case. You’re staying in the spare room, as usual. I made the bed and shit, but do you need anything?”

“Um, no I think I’m good.”

“Okay,” Mikey says, “we’re having dinner at mom and dad’s tonight so I’ll wake you if you’re not up by four.”

“You eat dinner at four?” I ask, trying to understand small town life.

“Well they’re having a barbecue to celebrate you coming home,” he says, as if this is obvious but it is actually pretty weird for new people to come into town. I’m not new actually, but it’s weird for the population to ever go up.

“Oh god is it like just us, or like everybody?” I ask, not overly excited to see all the people I’d abandoned when I left. Another weird thing about living in a town as small as Monroe is that no one ever really leaves. A few people after high school, but the community college a few miles away is where most people go. I didn’t go there though. I left as soon as I could. I haven’t stayed in this town for more than a few days in almost ten years.

“What do you think?” Mikey asks, and that is confirmation enough that basically the whole town has been invited.

“God I hate this place,” I groan, and Mikey sighs. He’s content here, and doesn’t understand my hatred for the town, but he can’t. It’s like a giant handcuff, or box. I can’t stand being so compacted and just, I hate it. I hate it. Hatehatehatehatehate. Hate. It.

Sheepishly I walk upstairs, find my new designated room, and crash almost instantly. I forget for the first time where I am, and the hell it’s going to be for me.