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“God, it’s hot as hell,” says Chris.
“What?”
“Hot as hell.”
“Yeah, outside,” says Todd. “The Explorer has air conditioning, though.”
“Come on in, close the door.”
Todd enters, with James in tow. Todd’s wearing sweats, the better to eat more, and he hasn’t put any gel in his hair. James has, however, and his cologne precedes him.
Chris shakes Todd’s hand and says, “Bring you a beer?”
“You know it man. Where’s the wife?”
Evelyn says, “In the kitchen. How are you, Todd?”
“Great,” he leans in and kisses her on the cheek.
She pulls back. “What are you wearing?”
“Sweats. I gotta fit a lot of food in here, man.”
“Huh. Don’t forget to say hello to… Esther.”
“Oh - yeah - sure. Where is she?”
“Her room.”
James bolts past them and goes to the living room, where the TV stands gesticulating. He sees Tom wearing jeans and a T-shirt. James enters as the TV sputters and moans.
“Hey.”
“Hey.”
“What’re you watching?”
“Much – the Countdown.”
“Cool.”
Chris opens the front door and smiles. “Hello, Lily. Nice to see you. Spenser, how are you?”
Michael rides in after, a pale kid in black, with a dirty white collar. Chris doesn’t say anything to him. He turns to Lily and kisses her on the cheek.
“How’s business?”
“None of your business,” she snaps.
“Oh – sorry – I-”
Her face softens imperceptibly. “Fine. It’s going fine. Thanks for asking.”
Spenser says to Michael, “They’re probably in the living room,” and then the pale kid trots there, black garb gliding over marble tile.
“Hey, Chris, you can’t kiss your sister?”
Nora steps into the house, sweat glistening her brow.
Chris turns and says, “Oh – sorry.” He kisses Nora on the cheek.
“It’s too damn hot. Can’t you turn on the air conditioning? That door is heavy like the prison door.”
“Isn’t it on?”
“Chris is too cheap for that,” Lily says to Nora.
“Oh. I see.”
Todd says, “Food smells good, Ev.”
“Thank you.”
“So, Chris, you watch the game last night?”
“Last night?”
“The Leafs won. Of course.”
“Of course.”
“What are you watching?” Michael asks.
“Countdown.”
“Jesus, what are you wearing?” James asks.
“Shut up.”
“Ooh. Touchy.” He turns to the TV. “God, I hate this video.”
“It’s hot in here,” Michael says.
Tom says, “Yeah.”
“Maybe because you’re wearing all black.”
“Shut up.”
Todd says, “Knock, knock.”
Sitting on her bed, Esther looks up with brown eyes. “Hi, uncle Todd.”
“Hey, my pearl, didja change your hair?”
She touches the brown hair lightly and looks down in her lap. “Yeah.” She puts down her textbook.
“It looks good. You look good. How do you feel?”
“She feels fine,” says Evelyn, standing behind Todd in the doorway. She sees Esther and says, “Is that what you’re wearing for dinner?”
Esther looks down at her brown t-shirt with a small red logo. “I – yes. Why?”
“Nothing.”
“I think it’s fine,” Todd whispers.
Lily and Nora are in the dining room, both looking out the front window. With their hands pulling open the drapes minutely, they put their faces close to the glass.
“I love that colour.”
“What? That red?”
“No, the green.”
“Disgusting trim.”
“No.”
“The scheme is all backwards.”
“Eh you’re right.”
“That rose bush is nice.”
“Yeah.”
“But everybody has crap like that. Intruding on us. You know?”
“I guess.”
“It’s so hot in here.”
“Stop talking about it. Stop reminding me.”
“Well, tell Chris.”
“Did you see… Esther yet?”
“No – have you?”
“No. We should go see her. Find out how she’s… doing.”
“Yeah. See if she’s holding up.”
“Yeah. Chris! I need a drink.”
“What?” he asks from the kitchen. He stands against the counter holding a beer, and Todd smiles and says, “You’d better go in there.”
Evelyn says nothing while she tosses a salad.
Spenser asks of the cook, “Is there anything I can do?”
“Not really. Just go into the dining room.”
“Okay.” Spenser takes his Caesar and passes underneath the dark cross at the entrance of the kitchen. He looks at it briefly and then looks in the dining room. Lily glances from the window at her husband and then returns her gaze.
“Lily,” Nora says, “tell me you’ve heard that C___ broke up with M___.”
“What? No?”
“Yes.”
“How? Why?”
“How? Why? I’ll tell you. Over the phone.”
“No.”
“Lily,” says Spenser. “Did you tell Nora about our trip to Edmonton?”
Nora says, “Excuse us.”
Lily says, “Not now.”
Spenser sits, watching his wife and his sister-in-law and Chris enters the room, handing a drink to one of his sisters. When he gets back to the kitchen, Todd says, “58. You’re getting up there, man.”
“57. Not 58. Where’s Michelle?”
Evelyn glares at Chris.
Todd looks up at the dark cross on the kitchen doorway. “She’s not… coming. We’re, ah, not together anymore. Again.”
“Oh – sorry.”
“How’s Esther, my pearl?” Todd asks.
“Fine.”
“Is she moving back home?”
“I think so.”
“She’s twenty five. She’s old enough to – hello.”
Esther walks in. “Talking about me, uncle Todd?” She blinks slowly.
“Nah,” he smiles.
Evelyn says, “Don’t be rude.”
“I wasn’t.”
“Dad, can I talk to you?”
Chris says, “Sure. We’ll just go over-”
“No, in the hall’s fine. Uh, do I have to eat? I’m not hungry. Can I just sit in my room?”
“You’ll break your mother’s heart, honey.”
“She doesn’t care if I’m there.”
“I don’t think so, honey. It’s fine. Just do it for me, okay? For me?”
“I just don’t feel like sitting there.”
“Please.”
In the living room, with eyes and mouths open, three boys, aged 20, 17, and 12 are sitting silently in front of the blaring TV. Michael the eldest gets up to leave.
“Where are you going?” James asks, the youngest.
“Yeah, where are you going?”
“Somewhere else. It’s too hot.”
“Well, you are wearing a ton of black.”
“Yeah, you… freak.” Tom says.
“Fuck,” James says.
Tom says, “Hey, watch it. My mom doesn’t like that language.”
“Fuck your mom.”
“Shut up. What about your mom? She’s a whore. That’s what my mom says.” Tom sneers.
Michael leaves the room. Tom stands up and follows.
James says to no one, “Fine. Leave. Fucking fags.” Then he stands up and follows them.
They all pass the kitchen and Evelyn sees them. “Oh, good. Here, start taking plates.”
“What?” Tom whines.
“Here.”
“That’s too many, Aunt Evelyn.”
“Don’t drop any.”
Spenser swirls his drink and watches them carry cutlery and plates. He says nothing. He feels that he needs ice in his drink. Ice.
Todd and Chris leave the kitchen to the dining room. One of them says, “Almost done, Ev?”
“Pretty much. Go get your sister, Chris.”
“Anything else, Aunt Evelyn?”
“No, go sit – wait. Take the buns.”
Chris says, “It’s time to get… settled.”
“It’s too hot, Chris.”
“Really? I thought it was getting better.”
Lily moves the curtains aside. “I hate this street. So empty.”
Spenser puts hand on his wife’s shoulder. She does not notice. She says to Nora, “What a funny car.”
“I bet that’s…”
“What?”
“It’s weird looking.”
“Did you hear…” says Spenser.
“What?”
“Did you hear that Lily and I are going to Edmonton?”
“Yes. Yes, I did.”
“When are we leaving?” Spenser asks. “It’s August – what? August fifteenth today. So we leave in, uh, nine days.”
“You’ll buy me something?”
“Yes,” Lily says.
“We should go sit down.”
“Okay,” says Spenser.
Evelyn carts out the brown turkey and drops it on the table. She calls to the women watching at the window. “Well, come on then.”
They stand up and drag their drinks to the table. Evelyn sees them hesitating at chairs and she says, “You know where to sit. You’ve been sitting there for years.”
“Ready to go?” Todd asks.
“I’m starving,” Chris says.
“Can you fill my drink up?” asks Lily.
“Me, too,” says Nora.
“Sure.”
Michael and James are already sitting. Michael asks Chris, when he returns, if he can have a beer.
“Sure. You’re old enough.”
“And you’re old,” says Tom.
Esther emerges and nobody says anything. They look down at their empty plates. Evelyn comes out and says, “Okay. Salad.”
Tom looks at Esther and says, “So where’s Steve tonight?”
Chris swats his head.
Esther looks down at her plate.
Everybody bows their heads while Evelyn sits. Then, she says something which ends in “amen”.
Then everybody eats.
“Pass me the salt.”
“Where’s the cranberry sauce?”
“Good bird, Ev, good bird.”
“How’s school?”
“How’s business?”
“Did anybody see the meteor last night? Almost looked like a letter….”
“I will die if I don’t get the salt.”
“I mean it, Ev, good bird.”
The food is consumed and the leftovers are placed in old containers that once held butter. Somebody looks at Esther and then looks away.
“Anybody want coffee?”
“Please.” “Yes.” “Thanks, Ev.”
“Esther, help me with the coffee.”
“Okay.”
Todd groans and stretches. “I don’t think I could ever get up again.”
“Yeah, I’m, like, glued to this chair.”
Spenser rubs his eyes. He looks back up at Nora.
“I’m never moving,” says Chris. “Good meal, wasn’t it, Tom?”
“Yeah.”
Esther passes the dark cross in the hallway but doesn’t see it, and she enters the dining room, purveying cups of coffee. She places them in front of people.
“No cream?” asks Todd.
“Why don’t you get some cream, Esther?” asks Chris.
“Get it yourself,” snaps Nora.
Chris stands up and goes to the kitchen, but Evelyn stops in the doorway. She places the cream on the table.
Tom sneers at Esther. “Too bad you couldn’t fetch for your husb-”
Chris slaps his head while James giggles slightly.
Spenser turns to Esther and gazes at her impassive face. He sees nothing there.
“Oh, I can’t get up.”
“I’m going to bring out the pie.”
“Great.”
“It’s not so bad in here. It’s not that hot, I mean.”
“What?”
“The heat. It’s gone.”
James says, “I wonder if Steve is hot?”
Chris reaches to slap him, but he can’t. Tom simply giggles. Esther looks at her brother who is saying something to James. She stands up abruptly, with tears squeezing out of her brown eyes.
“Honey-”
“I can’t. This….” She leaves.
“What is…” starts Nora.
“It’s her own fault,” Lily says firmly. “She brought this on herself. Can’t do anything to keep herself in check.”
Chris sighs loudly.
Evelyn comes out with pie. She drops pieces onto plates and then opens a container of white whipped cream. She dollops generous helpings onto the pies.
“They look like clouds,” says James.
“Does nobody…” says Michael. He stands up and follows Esther’s path to her room.
“Where’s Esther?” asks Evelyn.
“Oh, this pie is heavenly.”
“Good pie, Ev.”
Michael enters the room and he watches Esther cry on her bed. She holds her face in her hands, and she does not notice Michael’s entrance.
“Are you okay?”
“Oh – oh my God, you scared me.”
“I’m sorry. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, thanks.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“No.”
He sits down and scratches his nose. “It’s okay. Everything is okay.”
In the kitchen, Nora says to Lily, “Just getting up like that.”
“So rude.”
“What do you expect? Look what she did.”
Evelyn comes carrying dishes. She says, “It’s none of your business.”
“What?”
“Esther’s divor-”
“Don’t-”
“So, mind your business,” Evelyn says.
“What’s going on, Ev? Nor?”
“Nothing, Todd.”
“I see.”
Lily says, “Chris. I’m leaving. Apparently I’m not welcome here.”
Chris chuckles a little. “Listen, she didn’t mean anything. I’m sorry.”
“James? Go find Michael. We’re leaving.”
“She’s… Esther has broken the sixth comman-”
“Shut it,” says Evelyn. “I know what’s she’s done.”
Michael says to Esther, “It’s okay. God will forgive you.” Michael scratches his nose again.
“I know.”
In the kitchen, Evelyn shouts over everybody, “I know what she did. It’s between her and God.”
I wrote this story for short story journal at my school. Earlier I submitted my "Hyperparenting" story (which did not fare well on Barbelith), and it was rejected. The main complaint was that the characters had nothing to do. I thought about this for awhile. So with a new story in mind, I wanted to try an experiment in dialogue only, which didn't work, so I added some minimal narrator. I was interested in large family dynamics, as I do not have a large family (almost the opposite). I was also interested in Christianity's constant desire to judge. I wrote a story then about a modern Christian family's judgement of an adulterous daughter. But I wanted minimal narrator, so the characters had to reveal it to the reader. Then, I read an interview with David Mamet about his Glengarry Glen Ross; he said that play was about how people don't communicate with each other. The characters in my story couldn't just say it; they had to dance around it. To make it obvious, I added in the reticence of "the divor-". Also, I wanted to add something literary (read: snobbery). That's where the Scarlet Letter imagery comes in: the rose bush, the prison door, the priest, the dark cross, the small red logo, the meteor. And then, on the bottom of all this, the structure superficially uses Dante's trip through the other realm: hell, purgatory, and then heaven. I know it's not sutble, but I'm frightened that if I didn't make it obvious, this journal at school would not get it without this giant paragraph of explanation ("if you have to explain it, Chief, it's not good").
(By the way, this is the fourth draft: a true milestone for my editorial skills. Usually I get to the second and I give up. This story had two seperate people read it: one a poet (third draft), the other a copywriter(fourth draft) ) |
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