Storytelling...
*The following are two short stories of fiction. They were written straight out of my head and strictly for my own amusement. Do not attempt to attach any similarities to events real, or imagined and let go of all preconceived ideas.
No one was harmed in the telling of these stories.
And Betty Makes Four
When Albert’s mother called that Thursday evening, he checked the Caller ID and took a deep breath before he picked up. “Yes, Ma?” Silence. “Ma?”
“Al, it’s Mom.” Betty said into the phone. She still couldn’t understand the concept of Caller ID and obviously didn’t hear Albert call her Ma twice. “Yeah, what’s up?”
“Al, I’ve left your father. I’m…I’m already on a bus now. I’m coming to Brooklyn. Can I stay with you and Meagan for a few…days?” Albert took a breath as if someone punched him in the gut. "You did what, Ma? Are you serious?" That's when he heard his mother whimper and stifle a cry and knew it was true. He visualized her on an empty bus, alone and scared and his heart felt like it was being squeezed out of his body.
“Who is it, Babe?” Meagan asked Albert, making a question smirk on her brow. He mouthed ‘My mother’ and Meagan rolled her eyes and walked to the pack-n-play to pick up Tyler. She rocked her little boy left and right and shushed him, even though he wasn’t making a sound. She kissed his pudgy cheeks.
“Yeah, Ma. Of course, you can. No, no, it’s not a bother. I’ll tell Meagan to pull out the airbed. At that, Meagan stopped rocking back and forth on her hips to entertain Tyler and stared at her husband with saucer-sized eyes. Albert shrugged like it was out of his hands. “Ok, we’ll see you in about an hour or two.”
Click.
The air got fat and unfriendly suddenly and Meagan couldn’t breathe. Without a word, she handed Tyler to his father and sat on the loveseat. Pensive and slightly angry, she closed her eyes to compose herself before speaking. “Albert, how come you went ahead and just said she could come spend the night without talking to me first?”
“Meg, it’s more than just tonight. There’s something you didn’t hear about that conversation. It may not just be the one night,” Meagan’s heart started to race slightly. Albert didn’t notice and continued speaking. “My mother’s gone and left my Dad. I know her and she wouldn’t just do something weird like that without good reason. She had nowhere else to turn and…” Albert seemed to run out of excuses suddenly. Meagan picked up the empty air right away. “What? Are you kidding me? They’ve been married 36 years! Why would she up and leave? And what do you mean ‘nowhere else’ to turn to? What about your brother, John or your sister Casey? As far as I can tell they are not ‘nobody’!” Albert stiffened up. He knew Meg was right. John never participated in anything related to his parents and poor Casey wasn’t even good at managing her own life! To the naked eye he, the middle child, was the only sane one in the family.
Tensing up, Albert put a whimpering Tyler back in the playpen and addressed his angry wife again. “Meg, Casey doesn’t have her shit together. She lives in a two-by-four on the lower east side and she can’t even go grocery shopping alone. Can you see my mother staying with her? As for John and Joanne, they have four kids! That house is chaotic! My mom has sensitive nerves, especially now in this situation with my Dad!” Albert twitched and thought, "That sounds lame even to me."
Meagan pursed her lips and didn’t say another word. She gave herself a push up and left the living room. She loved their three-leveled loft and their peaceful life with just Tyler and their golden Labrador, Aloysius. Now that peace was about to become a war zone, or at the very least really, really uncomfortable.
Her mother-in-law was an overwhelming individual with serious detachment issues when it came to her kids. That was why her sister-in-law Casey was a mess. Being the youngest and only daughter, Betty put all of her hopes, fractured dreams and expectations on the girl. It was no wonder Casey felt like she never measured up. John was the oldest and a selfish schmuck. It was all about him and his trophy bitch and those two sets of ugly twins. Ugh, she thought, God forgive me, but even those names on those kids make ill: Mason and Dixon for the boys and Scarlett and Rhetten for the girls. Uh, huh! For real, if you can believe that. Stupid bitch.
All they had was Tyler for now, but you know what, the kid was sane, well fed and happy. Walking toward the back of the loft, Meagan opened the hall closet and reached up for the air mattress. Dropping it on the floor with a dull thud, she slowly kicked the heavy lump along until she got to Tyler’s room. It felt heavier than usual, like a sudden forebodding of things to come. Poor kid! He’d have to share his room with Nana Dearest for the time being.
If it were up to Betty, she would ask to sleep in their room, preferably between them! Yes, she and her mother-in-law had some history, but nothing worse than when Betty called Meagan “a tramp not worthy of my son.” To this day Meagan’s blood boiled when she remembered it. It happened when Meagan’s job forced them to move too far from Betty, in her opinion, to just show up unexpectedly like she used to do when they had the small garden apartment in New Hyde Park near Albert’s parents. She never did forgive Meagan for it. “Brooklyn? Brooklyn? What kind of place is that to live?”, she’d asked as if it were another planet all together. And when Tyler was born, "He'll grow up to be a gang buster, " she screamed. Albert laughed at her then and said, "I think you mean gang banger, Mom. And don't worry, we will still make him call you on Christmas!" She harped on the issue for weeks! “Albert! This is insane! Your wife wouldn’t up and move her whole life for you,” she had said to her son. But thankfully, Albert always backed Meagan up and he said: “You’re so wrong, Ma. Meagan would move to the edge of the planet for me,” and he was right. She would have been smugly proud of Albert at the time, was she not bawling her eyes out because of what Betty said.
Still, despite knowing Betty was psycho and had basically screwed up her kids, she married Albert because she loved him. Plus, since she had become a Mom herself, she had developed a kind of deep, quiet strength that wouldn't let her be walked all over anymore.
It was because of the love that she had for Albert that she was going to try to make Betty’s stay pleasant. After all, she thought, the woman just ended a long marriage to a man, Meagan suspected, was probably a chronic cheater. They would no doubt get all the gory details when Betty arrived, but Meagan had a good idea of why this old marriage reached its expiration date. She first saw Albert's father's ways when they were first dating. She was still a junior in high school – totally jailbait – when Albert’s father, Arthur, “accidentally” squeezed her ass and brushed up against her breasts while she washed dishes at the sink. Meagan sighed with disgust remembering how dirty and terrified she felt about the unwelcome gesture from a man his age. She never told Albert about it. She knew it would get bad if she did. To this day, she still never has told him. As it was, he and Arthur had a rocky relationship. No use adding to it. His family life was so different from her own. Her parents were best friends and still acted like teenagers, sneaking kisses when they could.
Betty is going to need compassion, Meagan thought. She would show her, she would be so wonderful, so compassionate, so nice, so loving a daughter-in-law that Betty would have no choice but to love her, or at the very least, tolerate her. Ha! Who are you kidding, Meagan she told herself.
With as much enthusiasm as she could muster without being a complete phony, Meagan arranged the airbed and a small table on one side of Tyler’s room. She brought up a lamp from the office and took a new tissue box out of the linen closet. She went to the kitchen and got a glass and a small pitcher of water. She knew Betty was on some medication and would need it. She took a clean fitted sheet, a pillow and pillowcase and a twin comforter she kept in the house. She made up the space as nicely as she could, even adding a small doilie to put the pitcher of water on. She was still working on her knees, tucking the sheet under the airbed, when she noticed Albert at the entrance of Tyler’s room. His eyes were full of sweetness and love. “What?” Meagan asked. “You. You’re something else, you know that? I mean I know my mother hasn’t been very nice to you since we met and here you are making the bed all pretty, giving her a lamp, a table, tissues, water.” Meagan smiled and got up to kiss her husband. “Albert, whatever I do, it is because I love you.” She tried walking past him in the doorframe to where her son was, but Albert held her by the waist and pulled her close. This time his kiss was deep, but sad all at once. It could not be easy, she thought, thinking of your parents being divorced at his age!
When the doorbell rang, a while later, Aloysius woke from his slumber and hobbled over to the door to give his best effort at a couple of barks. Meagan and Albert were in the living room reading. Tyler was in his pack-n-play fast asleep. For a brief second, husband and wife looked at each other. They had an unspoken understanding that they were preparing to go at this visit as a united front. “I’ll get it”, Meagan said. "Sure, " Albert said hesitantly, "And I'll go put Tyler in his crib upstairs."
When she opened the door, the face that met her was not the usual Betty. Gone was the steel jaw and icy stare. In its place was a woman who looked small and fragile. She was gaunt, tired, defeated, and sad. Meagan’s heart broke for her. Meagan extended her arms and Betty entered the embrace like a man in a desert to an oasis. With genuine and loving concern, Meagan hugged her. In a second, Betty was sobbing into Meagan’s shoulder.
“Shh, shh…we’re here for you. You can stay as long as you want. We’re your kids and we won’t let you go through this alone.” At that Betty pulled back from the embrace and looked at Meagan. She had a quizzical look to her, as if the face she was looking at were that of a kind stranger. Instead of the usual disapproval or indifference in Betty’s face, Meagan thought she saw something that looked like a plea for forgiveness. All she did to bridge this gap between them was smile. Betty took the cue.
“My son is very lucky, Meagan. You are too good for him.” The two women giggled then embraced once more. This time it was longer, deeper and more heartfelt. Without another word between them, they knew that something huge had shifted and things would never be the same. And it was good.
Jack and Cecilia Break the Night
“Did you get the money?” Jack asked her.
“Yes, I have it here. All $2,000 of it counted twice,” Cecilia replied.
“Good. Let’s get the hell out of here. I have my car waiting downstairs. It’s freezing and it’s a helluva drive”
Cecilia nodded obediently. Jack would take care of everything. I am so lucky to have him, she thought. Jack who is so rough around the edges, but still someone she can count on and someone whose heart is so generous, she is at times overwhelmed by her neediness of him.
It was 9 p.m. when they left Cecilia’s house. Her Mom had made them some sandwiches to bring along for the ride and her dad had written out careful directions. Mr. And Mrs. LaMaster were worried about Cecilia and Jack driving all the way to Nebraska from Iowa alone, but they also knew that Jack was a safe and responsible driver and that he cared deeply for their daughter.
Fifteen minutes passed before either one said a word in the dark car on that pitch-black highway. Cecilia coughed a little then said, “Jack, I want to thank you again. You...you didn’t have to take me. I could have taken a bus. In the dark car, she could barely make out his silhouette, but she thought she saw him smile. “No worries, Plum. You know it’s all cool.” Cecilia sank deeper into her seat bringing her cold hands to her mouth to blow on them for warmth. The heater was on, but the chill came more from within than she cared to admit.
“So, do you think she’ll come stay with your parents this time? Do you think she will leave Bobby for good?” asked Jack. Cecilia didn’t really want to talk about Shelly right then. She preferred to block out the whole reason for this sudden trip in the dead of night. She had had enough of her sister’s antics and all the drama and all the late nights and all the insanity over so many years. She felt sorry for her Mom and Dad who were all but homebound with a series of back-to-back medically confining ailments partly brought on by Shelly’s selfishness. “I guess all we can do is bail her ass out of jail, pick up Eliot from her neighbor and hope Bobby doesn’t get back from the bar, or the crack den, or wherever the hell he is now,” she said sounding angrier than she intended.
“Listen, Plum, Shelly and Bobby are not gonna change. No use getting yourself all pissed off. If anything, be mad at your parents for laying this shit on you all the time. Bobby and Shelly are who they are, but my opinion is that they should be apart because together they are fire and ice. They are no good together and no good apart. And that kid, your nephew…poor kid’s looking at years of therapy the way this is going. I feel bad for that kid all the time. Being born from those two losers is a hell of a way to start a life. All you can do is to do good by him. At this point, I think he is the only one worth saving.”
The tears were rolling down Cecilia’s face burning a path on her cheeks. She closed her eyes and saw her little nephew’s face. Poor Eliot! In his three years of life, there had not been one day that was not chaotic. There had to be something she could do for him. But what? She was a 22-year-old, living at home with her parents and working at a local pharmacy. Jack was a stock guy at the Home Depot. But she knew that Jack was right. He was always right. Eliot was innocent. He didn’t ask to be born and he certainly didn’t ask to have strung out parents who couldn’t pay the rent, couldn’t feed themselves and couldn’t function in a normal way, yet somehow always had cash for drugs. Jack was right: Eliot was the only once worth saving.
The highway to Nebraska from western Iowa stretched before them like a winding coil with no end in sight. Left or right there was nothing to distract them from their mission, nothing to soften the pain of the night. He gave her a reassuring smile. He tried to find a radio station on the dial that didn't have loads of static, turning the radio on and off in frustration. Every now and then, Jack rubbed her knee, or her shoulder. Every now and then, she would burst into tears.
Here she was carrying $2000 of her poor, exhausted parents' savings. Here she was using their hard-earned money to bail out their oldest child, yet again. And by child she meant that useless 29-year-old sister of hers. They had never, ever been close. Born eight years apart made them from different worlds. Shelly made Cecilia sick. All throughout her life, all she'd ever heard was how messed up Shelly's life was and it was getting old! When the hell was Shelly going to grow up and take responsibility for her screwed up life? How many of Bobby’s slaps and punches before she saw the writing on the wall? What was her rockbottom, if her child had been placed in foster care once before and no change came of that? Shelly was the kind of cause that was lost long before there was a chance to save it. This had to stop. And just as she was thinking it, Jack spoke again.
“I have a proposition for you, Plum. I know this is the least possible romantic thing I could ever do, but I am thinking of how to make something out of this mess.” By mess Cecilia understood him to mean the mess that is Shelly LaMaster. “But, you know, your parents can’t keep saving Shelly all the time. One day the money will run out and I bet my eyes that Shelly's 'love' will run right out with it. Cecilia, you can’t keep stopping in the middle of your life to go pick her up off of the floor of her own life. She’ll just go and screw up again tomorrow because she knows mommy and daddy will come to her rescue. Face it, your sister is a 5-year-old brat trapped in a 29-year-old body. She needs more help than bail money can provide. And I don’t want to put words in your mouth or ideas in your head, but I think you have just about had enough, too. Am I right?” Cecilia nodded, biting her lip to keep from telling Jack just how much of enough she had already. She knew that if she could get away with it, she could theoretically kill her sister. She was sick of all of the embarrassing things she had done since Cecilia was a little kid. How many fights Cecilia endured, how much of being picked on when people called her sister a druggie, a slut and a bitch, among other colorful names? And she had had just about enough of Mom and Dad always making excuses about how hard Shelly has it. What about me? Being the younger sister to Shelly was like being sentenced at birth with no possibility of parole.
“So I was thinking,” Jack continued, startling her out of her thoughts, “I was thinking you and I could petition the courts for custody of Eliot. Shouldn’t be too hard, either because how many times has child services been called to her place, huh, 9, maybe 10? And Eliot is only three! We could state our intentions and say that we fear for his life because of the manner in which Bobby and Shelly conduct, or don’t, their lives. No court in the land would turn us down. Your sister hangs out with scumbags and lowlives. We are clean, hardworking people. And I, um, I’d …marry you, of course. I mean I would go about this smart like, you know? Sorry I don’t have a ring right now, Plum. I always wanted to do right by you, but this is sort of an emergency. We're all that kid's got. I mean I’d be your husband and we could raise him as our own. Kid’s already got your eyes and hair. And…”
Shelly turned her whole body toward Jack, tugging the seatbelt across her down parka. She looked at him to see if she could sense a snicker or joke in this, but she could not. Besides, he would never be so cruel as to make a joke like that at a time like this!
“Jack, are you serious? You, Eliot and me? Would you do that for me?” Cecilia’s heart was beating fast and she couldn’t catch her breath. “Well,” said Jack, “I’d do it for us, Plum. I love you. I have always known I would marry you. Granted, this isn’t the ideal way in which I envisioned things, but you know, roll with the punches, girl. What else we gonna do?”
At that second, Cecilia wanted to jump on Jack and cover his face with kisses. She could save Eliot! Screw her sister! She was done with all of it! Her life has always been on hold waiting for the next Shelly catastrophe. Enough! If her parents gave them a hard time, she had kept a detailed log and diary of all of the times her sister had to be bailed out, hospitalized for drug overdose, charged with child abandonment, when she forgot to come home from a bar, and that one time her parents didn’t know about when she was picked up for prostitution! It was all there and could easily be verified by court, police and hospital records. She would read it to them, line by line. She doubted they could justify any of it at that point. Eliot was their only grandchild, so far. Surely they would want him in a safe, stable home! Jack was right! No court in the nation would not hand over that little boy to them – a stable couple already related to the child and with nothing but his best interest in mind!
“Yes, Jack!” Cecilia exploded with the excitement of newfound hope. “Yes to everything!”
And just as he heard her answer, the plan was set. Forgoing another 45 minutes of driving, they detoured from the jail and went straight to the projects where Shelly and Bobby had their dirty rat's den of an apartment. Jack and Cecilia cringed at the thought of Eliot growing uo there!
Shelly would have to wait longer for the gravy train this time around! They went to the apartment on the paper her Mom had given her - apartment 18-B - to the neighbor holding Eliot. It was a Mrs. Graham and she was expecting them. She had five little ones of her own to watch over. Adding Eliot to the brood was selfish and typical of her stupid sister. Yet again, Cecilia was mortified in place of her shameless sister.
When Mrs. Graham opened her door, smells of food frying from the kitchen wafted out to greet them. At her wide, plaid skirt little ones scurried about. She heaved a breath, her enormous breasts lifting, then falling. She wasn’t smiling, but knew who they were instantly. “He in there wit my daughter Nacelles.” That was all she said to them, then stood leaning on the knob of the open door to let them in, while letting them know there would be no time for visiting. There was a girl, about 8, watching television. She had Eliot clutched by the waist, but he was looking about the room probably wondering where he was now.
When Eliot saw Cecilia he started to laugh and jump on the girl's lap. He called her “Ceci! Ceci!” It was obvious the child needed love and comforting from familiar faces. He was grimy and sticky and had a droopy diaper on, but he was otherwise ok. “C’mere little man,” Jack said, scooping up the thin little body. The girl barely flinched and never looked at them directly.
“Me and your auntie are gonna take you to live with us. Would you like that?” Eliot just stared at Jack with uncertainty. His own father was so cruel and violent to Shelly; it was all the child knew of men. He was understandably weary. “Did my sister leave his bag?” she asked Mrs. Graham hopefully. The woman snickered and shook her head no. Typical!
Jack soothed Eliot by planting a couple of gentle kisses on his cheeks and carrying him out Superman style with his arms and legs stretched out. Cecilia followed proudly. She thanked the woman for her kindness and apologized for her sister's....existence. Mrs. Graham stared after them, shaking her head as she shut her door.
Back at the car, Cecilia cleaned Eliot up as best she could with no supplies. Jack discussed how they would proceed. “We will stop off at a market somewhere and get this kid some diapers, some food and...what? Bottles? Whatever he needs. Then we will call your parents and tell them what we have decided. We will ask them if we could keep the $2000 to get started hiring a child protection lawyer, getting the kid some of his needs, and getting married. We will tell them that it is time Shelly stand on her own two feet and get the help she needs. We will raise her son until she gets cleaned up, if ever. We will ask the court to give a timeframe for Shelly and Bobby after which we can fully adopt Eliot as our own. You told me that Bobby never wanted the kid and could care less if he disappeared? Well, we are taking advantage of his words and will use them against him somehow. If your parents don’t agree, then we will have to go through it alone. It will not be easy, Plum. I need to know that once we're in this, we're going all the way with it. But the one thing we ain’t gonna do is bail out Shelly so she can mess up again. This kid deserves better than that.”
As if he understood every word, Eliot giggled loudly punching and kicking the air with his little arms and legs. She looked at Jack and he was smiling at the little boy. If she could have imagined the kind of Prince Charming that really had the best horse in all the land, this guy would be it.
It would be a long, hard road, Cecilia knew it. Shelly, for as crummy as she treated her son, would not easily give up custody. Custody would have to be taken from her forcibly. Yet, with Jack being so optimistic, she couldn't help but be so, too.
As she sat in the back seat, holding Eliot’s sleeping form and watching with love and pride as Jack drove them back home to face the music, she felt at peace. She loved this man. With him she felt she could do anything! He was prepared to change his whole life in a heartbeat to make hers just a little bit better. Her parents would agree that this was the best outcome for Eliot. They just had to! But even if they don’t, she thought, the plan is in motion and there is no going back. I don’t care. Jack is right and he will take care of us. Just as the smile came across her face, the exhaustion of the night, now lost to the first light of early dawn gave way, and in a peaceful joy Cecilia fell asleep.
No one was harmed in the telling of these stories.
And Betty Makes Four
When Albert’s mother called that Thursday evening, he checked the Caller ID and took a deep breath before he picked up. “Yes, Ma?” Silence. “Ma?”
“Al, it’s Mom.” Betty said into the phone. She still couldn’t understand the concept of Caller ID and obviously didn’t hear Albert call her Ma twice. “Yeah, what’s up?”
“Al, I’ve left your father. I’m…I’m already on a bus now. I’m coming to Brooklyn. Can I stay with you and Meagan for a few…days?” Albert took a breath as if someone punched him in the gut. "You did what, Ma? Are you serious?" That's when he heard his mother whimper and stifle a cry and knew it was true. He visualized her on an empty bus, alone and scared and his heart felt like it was being squeezed out of his body.
“Who is it, Babe?” Meagan asked Albert, making a question smirk on her brow. He mouthed ‘My mother’ and Meagan rolled her eyes and walked to the pack-n-play to pick up Tyler. She rocked her little boy left and right and shushed him, even though he wasn’t making a sound. She kissed his pudgy cheeks.
“Yeah, Ma. Of course, you can. No, no, it’s not a bother. I’ll tell Meagan to pull out the airbed. At that, Meagan stopped rocking back and forth on her hips to entertain Tyler and stared at her husband with saucer-sized eyes. Albert shrugged like it was out of his hands. “Ok, we’ll see you in about an hour or two.”
Click.
The air got fat and unfriendly suddenly and Meagan couldn’t breathe. Without a word, she handed Tyler to his father and sat on the loveseat. Pensive and slightly angry, she closed her eyes to compose herself before speaking. “Albert, how come you went ahead and just said she could come spend the night without talking to me first?”
“Meg, it’s more than just tonight. There’s something you didn’t hear about that conversation. It may not just be the one night,” Meagan’s heart started to race slightly. Albert didn’t notice and continued speaking. “My mother’s gone and left my Dad. I know her and she wouldn’t just do something weird like that without good reason. She had nowhere else to turn and…” Albert seemed to run out of excuses suddenly. Meagan picked up the empty air right away. “What? Are you kidding me? They’ve been married 36 years! Why would she up and leave? And what do you mean ‘nowhere else’ to turn to? What about your brother, John or your sister Casey? As far as I can tell they are not ‘nobody’!” Albert stiffened up. He knew Meg was right. John never participated in anything related to his parents and poor Casey wasn’t even good at managing her own life! To the naked eye he, the middle child, was the only sane one in the family.
Tensing up, Albert put a whimpering Tyler back in the playpen and addressed his angry wife again. “Meg, Casey doesn’t have her shit together. She lives in a two-by-four on the lower east side and she can’t even go grocery shopping alone. Can you see my mother staying with her? As for John and Joanne, they have four kids! That house is chaotic! My mom has sensitive nerves, especially now in this situation with my Dad!” Albert twitched and thought, "That sounds lame even to me."
Meagan pursed her lips and didn’t say another word. She gave herself a push up and left the living room. She loved their three-leveled loft and their peaceful life with just Tyler and their golden Labrador, Aloysius. Now that peace was about to become a war zone, or at the very least really, really uncomfortable.
Her mother-in-law was an overwhelming individual with serious detachment issues when it came to her kids. That was why her sister-in-law Casey was a mess. Being the youngest and only daughter, Betty put all of her hopes, fractured dreams and expectations on the girl. It was no wonder Casey felt like she never measured up. John was the oldest and a selfish schmuck. It was all about him and his trophy bitch and those two sets of ugly twins. Ugh, she thought, God forgive me, but even those names on those kids make ill: Mason and Dixon for the boys and Scarlett and Rhetten for the girls. Uh, huh! For real, if you can believe that. Stupid bitch.
All they had was Tyler for now, but you know what, the kid was sane, well fed and happy. Walking toward the back of the loft, Meagan opened the hall closet and reached up for the air mattress. Dropping it on the floor with a dull thud, she slowly kicked the heavy lump along until she got to Tyler’s room. It felt heavier than usual, like a sudden forebodding of things to come. Poor kid! He’d have to share his room with Nana Dearest for the time being.
If it were up to Betty, she would ask to sleep in their room, preferably between them! Yes, she and her mother-in-law had some history, but nothing worse than when Betty called Meagan “a tramp not worthy of my son.” To this day Meagan’s blood boiled when she remembered it. It happened when Meagan’s job forced them to move too far from Betty, in her opinion, to just show up unexpectedly like she used to do when they had the small garden apartment in New Hyde Park near Albert’s parents. She never did forgive Meagan for it. “Brooklyn? Brooklyn? What kind of place is that to live?”, she’d asked as if it were another planet all together. And when Tyler was born, "He'll grow up to be a gang buster, " she screamed. Albert laughed at her then and said, "I think you mean gang banger, Mom. And don't worry, we will still make him call you on Christmas!" She harped on the issue for weeks! “Albert! This is insane! Your wife wouldn’t up and move her whole life for you,” she had said to her son. But thankfully, Albert always backed Meagan up and he said: “You’re so wrong, Ma. Meagan would move to the edge of the planet for me,” and he was right. She would have been smugly proud of Albert at the time, was she not bawling her eyes out because of what Betty said.
Still, despite knowing Betty was psycho and had basically screwed up her kids, she married Albert because she loved him. Plus, since she had become a Mom herself, she had developed a kind of deep, quiet strength that wouldn't let her be walked all over anymore.
It was because of the love that she had for Albert that she was going to try to make Betty’s stay pleasant. After all, she thought, the woman just ended a long marriage to a man, Meagan suspected, was probably a chronic cheater. They would no doubt get all the gory details when Betty arrived, but Meagan had a good idea of why this old marriage reached its expiration date. She first saw Albert's father's ways when they were first dating. She was still a junior in high school – totally jailbait – when Albert’s father, Arthur, “accidentally” squeezed her ass and brushed up against her breasts while she washed dishes at the sink. Meagan sighed with disgust remembering how dirty and terrified she felt about the unwelcome gesture from a man his age. She never told Albert about it. She knew it would get bad if she did. To this day, she still never has told him. As it was, he and Arthur had a rocky relationship. No use adding to it. His family life was so different from her own. Her parents were best friends and still acted like teenagers, sneaking kisses when they could.
Betty is going to need compassion, Meagan thought. She would show her, she would be so wonderful, so compassionate, so nice, so loving a daughter-in-law that Betty would have no choice but to love her, or at the very least, tolerate her. Ha! Who are you kidding, Meagan she told herself.
With as much enthusiasm as she could muster without being a complete phony, Meagan arranged the airbed and a small table on one side of Tyler’s room. She brought up a lamp from the office and took a new tissue box out of the linen closet. She went to the kitchen and got a glass and a small pitcher of water. She knew Betty was on some medication and would need it. She took a clean fitted sheet, a pillow and pillowcase and a twin comforter she kept in the house. She made up the space as nicely as she could, even adding a small doilie to put the pitcher of water on. She was still working on her knees, tucking the sheet under the airbed, when she noticed Albert at the entrance of Tyler’s room. His eyes were full of sweetness and love. “What?” Meagan asked. “You. You’re something else, you know that? I mean I know my mother hasn’t been very nice to you since we met and here you are making the bed all pretty, giving her a lamp, a table, tissues, water.” Meagan smiled and got up to kiss her husband. “Albert, whatever I do, it is because I love you.” She tried walking past him in the doorframe to where her son was, but Albert held her by the waist and pulled her close. This time his kiss was deep, but sad all at once. It could not be easy, she thought, thinking of your parents being divorced at his age!
When the doorbell rang, a while later, Aloysius woke from his slumber and hobbled over to the door to give his best effort at a couple of barks. Meagan and Albert were in the living room reading. Tyler was in his pack-n-play fast asleep. For a brief second, husband and wife looked at each other. They had an unspoken understanding that they were preparing to go at this visit as a united front. “I’ll get it”, Meagan said. "Sure, " Albert said hesitantly, "And I'll go put Tyler in his crib upstairs."
When she opened the door, the face that met her was not the usual Betty. Gone was the steel jaw and icy stare. In its place was a woman who looked small and fragile. She was gaunt, tired, defeated, and sad. Meagan’s heart broke for her. Meagan extended her arms and Betty entered the embrace like a man in a desert to an oasis. With genuine and loving concern, Meagan hugged her. In a second, Betty was sobbing into Meagan’s shoulder.
“Shh, shh…we’re here for you. You can stay as long as you want. We’re your kids and we won’t let you go through this alone.” At that Betty pulled back from the embrace and looked at Meagan. She had a quizzical look to her, as if the face she was looking at were that of a kind stranger. Instead of the usual disapproval or indifference in Betty’s face, Meagan thought she saw something that looked like a plea for forgiveness. All she did to bridge this gap between them was smile. Betty took the cue.
“My son is very lucky, Meagan. You are too good for him.” The two women giggled then embraced once more. This time it was longer, deeper and more heartfelt. Without another word between them, they knew that something huge had shifted and things would never be the same. And it was good.
Jack and Cecilia Break the Night
“Did you get the money?” Jack asked her.
“Yes, I have it here. All $2,000 of it counted twice,” Cecilia replied.
“Good. Let’s get the hell out of here. I have my car waiting downstairs. It’s freezing and it’s a helluva drive”
Cecilia nodded obediently. Jack would take care of everything. I am so lucky to have him, she thought. Jack who is so rough around the edges, but still someone she can count on and someone whose heart is so generous, she is at times overwhelmed by her neediness of him.
It was 9 p.m. when they left Cecilia’s house. Her Mom had made them some sandwiches to bring along for the ride and her dad had written out careful directions. Mr. And Mrs. LaMaster were worried about Cecilia and Jack driving all the way to Nebraska from Iowa alone, but they also knew that Jack was a safe and responsible driver and that he cared deeply for their daughter.
Fifteen minutes passed before either one said a word in the dark car on that pitch-black highway. Cecilia coughed a little then said, “Jack, I want to thank you again. You...you didn’t have to take me. I could have taken a bus. In the dark car, she could barely make out his silhouette, but she thought she saw him smile. “No worries, Plum. You know it’s all cool.” Cecilia sank deeper into her seat bringing her cold hands to her mouth to blow on them for warmth. The heater was on, but the chill came more from within than she cared to admit.
“So, do you think she’ll come stay with your parents this time? Do you think she will leave Bobby for good?” asked Jack. Cecilia didn’t really want to talk about Shelly right then. She preferred to block out the whole reason for this sudden trip in the dead of night. She had had enough of her sister’s antics and all the drama and all the late nights and all the insanity over so many years. She felt sorry for her Mom and Dad who were all but homebound with a series of back-to-back medically confining ailments partly brought on by Shelly’s selfishness. “I guess all we can do is bail her ass out of jail, pick up Eliot from her neighbor and hope Bobby doesn’t get back from the bar, or the crack den, or wherever the hell he is now,” she said sounding angrier than she intended.
“Listen, Plum, Shelly and Bobby are not gonna change. No use getting yourself all pissed off. If anything, be mad at your parents for laying this shit on you all the time. Bobby and Shelly are who they are, but my opinion is that they should be apart because together they are fire and ice. They are no good together and no good apart. And that kid, your nephew…poor kid’s looking at years of therapy the way this is going. I feel bad for that kid all the time. Being born from those two losers is a hell of a way to start a life. All you can do is to do good by him. At this point, I think he is the only one worth saving.”
The tears were rolling down Cecilia’s face burning a path on her cheeks. She closed her eyes and saw her little nephew’s face. Poor Eliot! In his three years of life, there had not been one day that was not chaotic. There had to be something she could do for him. But what? She was a 22-year-old, living at home with her parents and working at a local pharmacy. Jack was a stock guy at the Home Depot. But she knew that Jack was right. He was always right. Eliot was innocent. He didn’t ask to be born and he certainly didn’t ask to have strung out parents who couldn’t pay the rent, couldn’t feed themselves and couldn’t function in a normal way, yet somehow always had cash for drugs. Jack was right: Eliot was the only once worth saving.
The highway to Nebraska from western Iowa stretched before them like a winding coil with no end in sight. Left or right there was nothing to distract them from their mission, nothing to soften the pain of the night. He gave her a reassuring smile. He tried to find a radio station on the dial that didn't have loads of static, turning the radio on and off in frustration. Every now and then, Jack rubbed her knee, or her shoulder. Every now and then, she would burst into tears.
Here she was carrying $2000 of her poor, exhausted parents' savings. Here she was using their hard-earned money to bail out their oldest child, yet again. And by child she meant that useless 29-year-old sister of hers. They had never, ever been close. Born eight years apart made them from different worlds. Shelly made Cecilia sick. All throughout her life, all she'd ever heard was how messed up Shelly's life was and it was getting old! When the hell was Shelly going to grow up and take responsibility for her screwed up life? How many of Bobby’s slaps and punches before she saw the writing on the wall? What was her rockbottom, if her child had been placed in foster care once before and no change came of that? Shelly was the kind of cause that was lost long before there was a chance to save it. This had to stop. And just as she was thinking it, Jack spoke again.
“I have a proposition for you, Plum. I know this is the least possible romantic thing I could ever do, but I am thinking of how to make something out of this mess.” By mess Cecilia understood him to mean the mess that is Shelly LaMaster. “But, you know, your parents can’t keep saving Shelly all the time. One day the money will run out and I bet my eyes that Shelly's 'love' will run right out with it. Cecilia, you can’t keep stopping in the middle of your life to go pick her up off of the floor of her own life. She’ll just go and screw up again tomorrow because she knows mommy and daddy will come to her rescue. Face it, your sister is a 5-year-old brat trapped in a 29-year-old body. She needs more help than bail money can provide. And I don’t want to put words in your mouth or ideas in your head, but I think you have just about had enough, too. Am I right?” Cecilia nodded, biting her lip to keep from telling Jack just how much of enough she had already. She knew that if she could get away with it, she could theoretically kill her sister. She was sick of all of the embarrassing things she had done since Cecilia was a little kid. How many fights Cecilia endured, how much of being picked on when people called her sister a druggie, a slut and a bitch, among other colorful names? And she had had just about enough of Mom and Dad always making excuses about how hard Shelly has it. What about me? Being the younger sister to Shelly was like being sentenced at birth with no possibility of parole.
“So I was thinking,” Jack continued, startling her out of her thoughts, “I was thinking you and I could petition the courts for custody of Eliot. Shouldn’t be too hard, either because how many times has child services been called to her place, huh, 9, maybe 10? And Eliot is only three! We could state our intentions and say that we fear for his life because of the manner in which Bobby and Shelly conduct, or don’t, their lives. No court in the land would turn us down. Your sister hangs out with scumbags and lowlives. We are clean, hardworking people. And I, um, I’d …marry you, of course. I mean I would go about this smart like, you know? Sorry I don’t have a ring right now, Plum. I always wanted to do right by you, but this is sort of an emergency. We're all that kid's got. I mean I’d be your husband and we could raise him as our own. Kid’s already got your eyes and hair. And…”
Shelly turned her whole body toward Jack, tugging the seatbelt across her down parka. She looked at him to see if she could sense a snicker or joke in this, but she could not. Besides, he would never be so cruel as to make a joke like that at a time like this!
“Jack, are you serious? You, Eliot and me? Would you do that for me?” Cecilia’s heart was beating fast and she couldn’t catch her breath. “Well,” said Jack, “I’d do it for us, Plum. I love you. I have always known I would marry you. Granted, this isn’t the ideal way in which I envisioned things, but you know, roll with the punches, girl. What else we gonna do?”
At that second, Cecilia wanted to jump on Jack and cover his face with kisses. She could save Eliot! Screw her sister! She was done with all of it! Her life has always been on hold waiting for the next Shelly catastrophe. Enough! If her parents gave them a hard time, she had kept a detailed log and diary of all of the times her sister had to be bailed out, hospitalized for drug overdose, charged with child abandonment, when she forgot to come home from a bar, and that one time her parents didn’t know about when she was picked up for prostitution! It was all there and could easily be verified by court, police and hospital records. She would read it to them, line by line. She doubted they could justify any of it at that point. Eliot was their only grandchild, so far. Surely they would want him in a safe, stable home! Jack was right! No court in the nation would not hand over that little boy to them – a stable couple already related to the child and with nothing but his best interest in mind!
“Yes, Jack!” Cecilia exploded with the excitement of newfound hope. “Yes to everything!”
And just as he heard her answer, the plan was set. Forgoing another 45 minutes of driving, they detoured from the jail and went straight to the projects where Shelly and Bobby had their dirty rat's den of an apartment. Jack and Cecilia cringed at the thought of Eliot growing uo there!
Shelly would have to wait longer for the gravy train this time around! They went to the apartment on the paper her Mom had given her - apartment 18-B - to the neighbor holding Eliot. It was a Mrs. Graham and she was expecting them. She had five little ones of her own to watch over. Adding Eliot to the brood was selfish and typical of her stupid sister. Yet again, Cecilia was mortified in place of her shameless sister.
When Mrs. Graham opened her door, smells of food frying from the kitchen wafted out to greet them. At her wide, plaid skirt little ones scurried about. She heaved a breath, her enormous breasts lifting, then falling. She wasn’t smiling, but knew who they were instantly. “He in there wit my daughter Nacelles.” That was all she said to them, then stood leaning on the knob of the open door to let them in, while letting them know there would be no time for visiting. There was a girl, about 8, watching television. She had Eliot clutched by the waist, but he was looking about the room probably wondering where he was now.
When Eliot saw Cecilia he started to laugh and jump on the girl's lap. He called her “Ceci! Ceci!” It was obvious the child needed love and comforting from familiar faces. He was grimy and sticky and had a droopy diaper on, but he was otherwise ok. “C’mere little man,” Jack said, scooping up the thin little body. The girl barely flinched and never looked at them directly.
“Me and your auntie are gonna take you to live with us. Would you like that?” Eliot just stared at Jack with uncertainty. His own father was so cruel and violent to Shelly; it was all the child knew of men. He was understandably weary. “Did my sister leave his bag?” she asked Mrs. Graham hopefully. The woman snickered and shook her head no. Typical!
Jack soothed Eliot by planting a couple of gentle kisses on his cheeks and carrying him out Superman style with his arms and legs stretched out. Cecilia followed proudly. She thanked the woman for her kindness and apologized for her sister's....existence. Mrs. Graham stared after them, shaking her head as she shut her door.
Back at the car, Cecilia cleaned Eliot up as best she could with no supplies. Jack discussed how they would proceed. “We will stop off at a market somewhere and get this kid some diapers, some food and...what? Bottles? Whatever he needs. Then we will call your parents and tell them what we have decided. We will ask them if we could keep the $2000 to get started hiring a child protection lawyer, getting the kid some of his needs, and getting married. We will tell them that it is time Shelly stand on her own two feet and get the help she needs. We will raise her son until she gets cleaned up, if ever. We will ask the court to give a timeframe for Shelly and Bobby after which we can fully adopt Eliot as our own. You told me that Bobby never wanted the kid and could care less if he disappeared? Well, we are taking advantage of his words and will use them against him somehow. If your parents don’t agree, then we will have to go through it alone. It will not be easy, Plum. I need to know that once we're in this, we're going all the way with it. But the one thing we ain’t gonna do is bail out Shelly so she can mess up again. This kid deserves better than that.”
As if he understood every word, Eliot giggled loudly punching and kicking the air with his little arms and legs. She looked at Jack and he was smiling at the little boy. If she could have imagined the kind of Prince Charming that really had the best horse in all the land, this guy would be it.
It would be a long, hard road, Cecilia knew it. Shelly, for as crummy as she treated her son, would not easily give up custody. Custody would have to be taken from her forcibly. Yet, with Jack being so optimistic, she couldn't help but be so, too.
As she sat in the back seat, holding Eliot’s sleeping form and watching with love and pride as Jack drove them back home to face the music, she felt at peace. She loved this man. With him she felt she could do anything! He was prepared to change his whole life in a heartbeat to make hers just a little bit better. Her parents would agree that this was the best outcome for Eliot. They just had to! But even if they don’t, she thought, the plan is in motion and there is no going back. I don’t care. Jack is right and he will take care of us. Just as the smile came across her face, the exhaustion of the night, now lost to the first light of early dawn gave way, and in a peaceful joy Cecilia fell asleep.
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