ChrisGibson
JUB Addict
I thought you'd like it. I realized it had been a long time since we've heard from any of them, and it's good to see Nell starting some new stuff. Thanks for reading.
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The Prayers in Rossford
- Thread starter ChrisGibson
- Start date
ChrisGibson
JUB Addict
OLD IS
NEW AGAIN CONTINUED
“She’s waiting for you,” Tom said, leaning over Tara’s desk.
“Get that look off your face,” Tara closed the books. She said, “Have you looked over these?”
“Nope. But back to Melanie. She got the part in this new play, and she’s hot, and she’s waiting out there for you.”
“How would you know she was hot,” Tara stood up, tying her black hair into a ponytail and Tom said, “The same way you know I’m hot. Lesbo.”
Tara shrugged, and slipped on her jacket, coming out of the little office and walking out of the hall after Tom.
“How’s the baby thing going?”
“It doesn’t seem like there’s going to be a problem,” Tom said. “It turns out, I am a baby daddy.”
Tara looked at him.
“What?”
“Promise me you will never say, sho nuff, okay? Or… baby daddy.
“But I’m glad for you. Just make sure that crazy woman doesn’t come back again.”
“All right, and you make sure you hang onto your sexy woman,” Tom pointed down the hall to where Melanie was waiting.
Tara dropped her pen, and Tom bent to pick it up.
“Just,” Tara said. “Stay like that for a minute.”
“Why?”
Tara clapped his ass and squeezed it.
“Cause you got a nice boodie.”
As Tara walked off, Tom righted himself and pocketed the pencil.
“I fall for that every time,” he said.
“Melanie!” Tara greeted her.
“So you recommended me for the part of Portia.”
Tara nodded.
“I didn’t even try out.”
“You are a very fine actress.”
“And you,” Melanie said, “are very fine.”
Tara looked at her.
“Well, I’m tired of playing. If I don’t say something, nothing’s ever going to happen. I had heard Tara Veems was a legend, but…” Melanie shrugged.
“You got some brass on you,” Tara said.
“Well, now it’s time to see if you have some brass too.”
Tara raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t remember you being bold like this. It’s a lot coming out of your mouth, Miss.”
Melanie reached into her blouse, scribbled something on a piece of paper and said, “I’d rather have a lot into my mouth. Give me a call.”
Smiling, she was gone.
While Tara was still standing there in shock, there was a clap on her ass and Tom stood beside her.
“If I were you, I’d jump on that.” His eyes lit up. “She’s hot.”
“It crosses all boundaries.”
Tom began whistling and while he walked away, told her: “It sure in the fuck does.”
There was a thump on Radha’s open door, and then Claire shrieked as she entered.
“Goddamn, girl, look at you!” Radha said, lifting her up.
“When did you get back?”
“‘Bout an hour ago. Tell me everything that’s going on.”
“Nothing’s going on,” Claire said, sitting down on Radha’s mattress, and then she said, “Oh, shit. A lot is happening.”
“Okay. Dish.”
“One. I wasn’t there for it, damnit. But guess who came to dinner with Layla’s mother and her uncle Fenn?”
Radha shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“Julian’s mother.”
Radha stopped, frowned, and then said, “Wait a minute… you mean… Oh, shit.”
“I know. Oh, shit.”
“Layla invited her.”
“She didn’t. What a bitch! I love that bitch.”
“Oh, and there’s more.”
“Like?”
“Well, I met Chad’s boyfriend. You know, the secret one he’s not telling us about.”
Radha took out a cigarette, and raised her eyebrow, tapping her foot in the air as she lay back.
“Are you ready for it?” Claire said.
“I…” Radha looked at her cautiously, “don’t…. know.”
“Professor Babcock.”
Radha dropped the cigarette.
“Are you fucking me?”
“No,” Claire said, picking up the cigarette and handing it back to her friend, “but Chad is fucking Brian Babcock.”
“Wow,” Jesse said. “I… you know I feel like I don’t know him at all.”
Julian shrugged.
“Three years and I’m just learning everything now, and… Dr. Babcock!
“I mean, is that even ethical? He’s like one of his best students. But is it because…?”
“Well, from what I get it just started,” Julian said. “So it’s not like he’d been sleeping with his professor to get good grades. I mean, Chad’s a good guy.”
“I know. How did you all find out?”
“Claire found out. On Christmas Eve at the party at my uncle’s house. Brian was talking to him and Claire put two and two together, and then she basically threatened to kill him. It was… It was something.”
“Claire’s never dull, is she?”
Julian shook his head. “And she and Babcock have a bad history anyway.”
“That’s right, that’s—”
“Hey guys!”
Julian put a hand on Jesse’s shoulder as he jumped up.
“Chad!” they both said at the same time, and Chad’s eyes swept over them both.
“Now who’s keeping secrets?”
“Uh?” Julian started.
“Well,” Chad swept off his hat, “Brian—I was over there, am going back there—he already told me about the Christmas party fiasco, so I’m guessing my private life isn’t private anymore. Right?”
“Uhhh,” Jesse began.
“I think we can just say yes,” Julian told him.
“Well,” Chad took a breath, “here’s the new life where everybody knows everything about me.”
“Is that bad?”
Chad smiled suddenly, and discovered, “No. But I think I better have a conversation with Claire.”
Tom Mesda came quickly into his crowded, paper strewn office.
“I heard you were in here,” he grinned when he spoke.
“I decided to leave the house,” Lee said. “Danny and Noah have the baby.”
“Free babysitting,” Tom closed the door behind him. “That’s the great thing.”
“You look damn good,” Lee said, putting his laptop away.
“Just stand there. Just let me look at you. And remember why I wanted you.”
Tom shrugged.
“You have the most beautiful arms. Keep your sleeves rolled up all the time so I can see that.”
Lee got up and kissed him.
“You still want me?”
“I want you every day,” Lee told him.
“So…” Tom shrugged, in Lee’s arms, “are you going to be here a lot?”
“If you want me.”
“Well, see, I always want you too.”
Tom smirked, turned around and said, his arms hooked around Lee’s neck. “You wanna get up to something in here?”
“Tom,” Lee looked at him. Tom leered and Lee said, “You nasty bastard.”
Tom reached for Lee’s belt and started unbuckling it, “Let me show you how nasty I can—SHIT!”
Tom slammed into Lee as Tara threw the door open and said, “I just called Melanie, and we’re going out tonight.”
Tom turned around and looked at her, touching his hair.
“Well, all right.”
“It’s fucking about time,” Lee said.
“Well, I’m glad you approve. And speaking of fucking about time…” she looked to Tom’s hand that was still on Lee’s belt. “Well… I’ll just let that sentence hang in the air.”
She smiled, and closed the door behind her.
When she came into the house beside Milo, Dena clapped a hand over her mouth and cried out.
“Well, it’s good to see you, too,” Nell spoke calmly from the sofa where she sat with Bill, half drunk, a cup of egg nog in her hand.
“Milo, did you know I grew up with your uncle? We were just talking about old times.”
“And new times,” Bill added, swinging Nell’s hand and laughing in such a way that Milo was pretty sure he was drunk too. “Hey Mom,” he said to Barb who was just coming in the house.
“Well, Nell Reardon,” Barb said with a twinkle in her eye. Nell was too buzzed to notice it, but Dena wasn’t
“I guess I’ll let you kids catch up on… catching up,” Milo said, taking Dena by the hand though she was still looking back at her mother.
“What is she doing here?” Dena whispered to Milo as they headed back into the kitchen.
As Barb entered behind them, she said, “If I’m lucky. Applying to be my next daughter-in-law.”
“I bet Dena’s wondering why I’m here.”
For some reason that was so funny to her that Nell burst out laughing, and then this made Bill burst out laughing too.
“Maybe she thinks we’re having an affair!”
“Maybe we should,” Nell put a hand over her mouth and said, “I shouldn’t have said that! Why did I say that?”
“Because I’m dashing and handsome.”
“No, that’s not it,” Nell said.
And then Bill burst out laughing again.
“My mom is friends with your uncle,” Dena commented to Milo. “How odd is that? Everything just gets odder and odder here.”
“Well, it’s not odd at all,” Barb said, taking the groceries out of the bag. “It’s a small town. There are only two Catholic schools, and one Catholic high school. Not strange at all. I’ve known your mama her whole life almost. Just…” Barb frowned. “Never thought of her knowing William.”
“Barb, did all of your kids go to Saint Barbara’s?”
Barb nodded. “And that was hard. Catholic education was never cheap, and apparently the whole time the Church was telling you to shoot out babies and educate them in Catholic school, no one ever thought it should be.” She frowned and said, “We were stupider back then. Catholics.”
“I don’t remember your uncle from the funeral,” Dena said to Milo. “Was he there?”
“Well, you heard grandma,” Milo said. “She bred like a rabbit.”
“Watch your mouth!” Barb said with a hooked grinned.
“Seven kids with seven spouses and all of their kids,” Milo shook his head. “It’s amazing she even remembers me.”
“I remember you because you’re the one I like. I don’t like your father though,” Barb said, closing the refrigerator. “It’n’t that funny? I thought that since I loved Billy so much, I’d love his kids.” Behind her hand she whispered, “I don’t like any of them. ‘Cept the youngest. Meredith. Fiesty little thing. It’s that wife of his that spoiled them.”
“Spoiled him a little too,” Milo said.
“Milo!”
“It’s true,” Milo said.
“Billy’s my baby. He’s the youngest,” Barb said.
“And the smartest and the sweetest, and the prettiest—”
“Shut up, kid,” Barb said. “I’m sorry, but your pa is a yutz. He always was. And marrying Tina proved it.”
Dena stuck out her tongue and made a barfing noise.
“I see you’ve met her,” said Barb.
“Hey hey hey!” Milo said.
“Hey, what? No one knows your mom as well as you do,” Barb said. “And I never said Billy was the prettiest. Jeane is the prettiest. Jake was the handsome one. Bill is… sweet looking.”
“Great-Grandma,” Milo said, “used to say Bill was the homeliest baby she’d ever seen.”
“Oh, that was mean.”
“Mom was a mean woman,” Barb said.
“How old was she?” said Dena. “How long did she live?”
Barb barked out a laugh.
Dena looked at her and Milo grinned.
“Oh, you thought because I’m a thousand years old…” Barb began. “No, she’s older than the Flood. But the unfortunate truth is my mother is very much alive. And well.”
NEW AGAIN CONTINUED
“She’s waiting for you,” Tom said, leaning over Tara’s desk.
“Get that look off your face,” Tara closed the books. She said, “Have you looked over these?”
“Nope. But back to Melanie. She got the part in this new play, and she’s hot, and she’s waiting out there for you.”
“How would you know she was hot,” Tara stood up, tying her black hair into a ponytail and Tom said, “The same way you know I’m hot. Lesbo.”
Tara shrugged, and slipped on her jacket, coming out of the little office and walking out of the hall after Tom.
“How’s the baby thing going?”
“It doesn’t seem like there’s going to be a problem,” Tom said. “It turns out, I am a baby daddy.”
Tara looked at him.
“What?”
“Promise me you will never say, sho nuff, okay? Or… baby daddy.
“But I’m glad for you. Just make sure that crazy woman doesn’t come back again.”
“All right, and you make sure you hang onto your sexy woman,” Tom pointed down the hall to where Melanie was waiting.
Tara dropped her pen, and Tom bent to pick it up.
“Just,” Tara said. “Stay like that for a minute.”
“Why?”
Tara clapped his ass and squeezed it.
“Cause you got a nice boodie.”
As Tara walked off, Tom righted himself and pocketed the pencil.
“I fall for that every time,” he said.
“Melanie!” Tara greeted her.
“So you recommended me for the part of Portia.”
Tara nodded.
“I didn’t even try out.”
“You are a very fine actress.”
“And you,” Melanie said, “are very fine.”
Tara looked at her.
“Well, I’m tired of playing. If I don’t say something, nothing’s ever going to happen. I had heard Tara Veems was a legend, but…” Melanie shrugged.
“You got some brass on you,” Tara said.
“Well, now it’s time to see if you have some brass too.”
Tara raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t remember you being bold like this. It’s a lot coming out of your mouth, Miss.”
Melanie reached into her blouse, scribbled something on a piece of paper and said, “I’d rather have a lot into my mouth. Give me a call.”
Smiling, she was gone.
While Tara was still standing there in shock, there was a clap on her ass and Tom stood beside her.
“If I were you, I’d jump on that.” His eyes lit up. “She’s hot.”
“It crosses all boundaries.”
Tom began whistling and while he walked away, told her: “It sure in the fuck does.”
There was a thump on Radha’s open door, and then Claire shrieked as she entered.
“Goddamn, girl, look at you!” Radha said, lifting her up.
“When did you get back?”
“‘Bout an hour ago. Tell me everything that’s going on.”
“Nothing’s going on,” Claire said, sitting down on Radha’s mattress, and then she said, “Oh, shit. A lot is happening.”
“Okay. Dish.”
“One. I wasn’t there for it, damnit. But guess who came to dinner with Layla’s mother and her uncle Fenn?”
Radha shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“Julian’s mother.”
Radha stopped, frowned, and then said, “Wait a minute… you mean… Oh, shit.”
“I know. Oh, shit.”
“Layla invited her.”
“She didn’t. What a bitch! I love that bitch.”
“Oh, and there’s more.”
“Like?”
“Well, I met Chad’s boyfriend. You know, the secret one he’s not telling us about.”
Radha took out a cigarette, and raised her eyebrow, tapping her foot in the air as she lay back.
“Are you ready for it?” Claire said.
“I…” Radha looked at her cautiously, “don’t…. know.”
“Professor Babcock.”
Radha dropped the cigarette.
“Are you fucking me?”
“No,” Claire said, picking up the cigarette and handing it back to her friend, “but Chad is fucking Brian Babcock.”
“Wow,” Jesse said. “I… you know I feel like I don’t know him at all.”
Julian shrugged.
“Three years and I’m just learning everything now, and… Dr. Babcock!
“I mean, is that even ethical? He’s like one of his best students. But is it because…?”
“Well, from what I get it just started,” Julian said. “So it’s not like he’d been sleeping with his professor to get good grades. I mean, Chad’s a good guy.”
“I know. How did you all find out?”
“Claire found out. On Christmas Eve at the party at my uncle’s house. Brian was talking to him and Claire put two and two together, and then she basically threatened to kill him. It was… It was something.”
“Claire’s never dull, is she?”
Julian shook his head. “And she and Babcock have a bad history anyway.”
“That’s right, that’s—”
“Hey guys!”
Julian put a hand on Jesse’s shoulder as he jumped up.
“Chad!” they both said at the same time, and Chad’s eyes swept over them both.
“Now who’s keeping secrets?”
“Uh?” Julian started.
“Well,” Chad swept off his hat, “Brian—I was over there, am going back there—he already told me about the Christmas party fiasco, so I’m guessing my private life isn’t private anymore. Right?”
“Uhhh,” Jesse began.
“I think we can just say yes,” Julian told him.
“Well,” Chad took a breath, “here’s the new life where everybody knows everything about me.”
“Is that bad?”
Chad smiled suddenly, and discovered, “No. But I think I better have a conversation with Claire.”
Tom Mesda came quickly into his crowded, paper strewn office.
“I heard you were in here,” he grinned when he spoke.
“I decided to leave the house,” Lee said. “Danny and Noah have the baby.”
“Free babysitting,” Tom closed the door behind him. “That’s the great thing.”
“You look damn good,” Lee said, putting his laptop away.
“Just stand there. Just let me look at you. And remember why I wanted you.”
Tom shrugged.
“You have the most beautiful arms. Keep your sleeves rolled up all the time so I can see that.”
Lee got up and kissed him.
“You still want me?”
“I want you every day,” Lee told him.
“So…” Tom shrugged, in Lee’s arms, “are you going to be here a lot?”
“If you want me.”
“Well, see, I always want you too.”
Tom smirked, turned around and said, his arms hooked around Lee’s neck. “You wanna get up to something in here?”
“Tom,” Lee looked at him. Tom leered and Lee said, “You nasty bastard.”
Tom reached for Lee’s belt and started unbuckling it, “Let me show you how nasty I can—SHIT!”
Tom slammed into Lee as Tara threw the door open and said, “I just called Melanie, and we’re going out tonight.”
Tom turned around and looked at her, touching his hair.
“Well, all right.”
“It’s fucking about time,” Lee said.
“Well, I’m glad you approve. And speaking of fucking about time…” she looked to Tom’s hand that was still on Lee’s belt. “Well… I’ll just let that sentence hang in the air.”
She smiled, and closed the door behind her.
When she came into the house beside Milo, Dena clapped a hand over her mouth and cried out.
“Well, it’s good to see you, too,” Nell spoke calmly from the sofa where she sat with Bill, half drunk, a cup of egg nog in her hand.
“Milo, did you know I grew up with your uncle? We were just talking about old times.”
“And new times,” Bill added, swinging Nell’s hand and laughing in such a way that Milo was pretty sure he was drunk too. “Hey Mom,” he said to Barb who was just coming in the house.
“Well, Nell Reardon,” Barb said with a twinkle in her eye. Nell was too buzzed to notice it, but Dena wasn’t
“I guess I’ll let you kids catch up on… catching up,” Milo said, taking Dena by the hand though she was still looking back at her mother.
“What is she doing here?” Dena whispered to Milo as they headed back into the kitchen.
As Barb entered behind them, she said, “If I’m lucky. Applying to be my next daughter-in-law.”
“I bet Dena’s wondering why I’m here.”
For some reason that was so funny to her that Nell burst out laughing, and then this made Bill burst out laughing too.
“Maybe she thinks we’re having an affair!”
“Maybe we should,” Nell put a hand over her mouth and said, “I shouldn’t have said that! Why did I say that?”
“Because I’m dashing and handsome.”
“No, that’s not it,” Nell said.
And then Bill burst out laughing again.
“My mom is friends with your uncle,” Dena commented to Milo. “How odd is that? Everything just gets odder and odder here.”
“Well, it’s not odd at all,” Barb said, taking the groceries out of the bag. “It’s a small town. There are only two Catholic schools, and one Catholic high school. Not strange at all. I’ve known your mama her whole life almost. Just…” Barb frowned. “Never thought of her knowing William.”
“Barb, did all of your kids go to Saint Barbara’s?”
Barb nodded. “And that was hard. Catholic education was never cheap, and apparently the whole time the Church was telling you to shoot out babies and educate them in Catholic school, no one ever thought it should be.” She frowned and said, “We were stupider back then. Catholics.”
“I don’t remember your uncle from the funeral,” Dena said to Milo. “Was he there?”
“Well, you heard grandma,” Milo said. “She bred like a rabbit.”
“Watch your mouth!” Barb said with a hooked grinned.
“Seven kids with seven spouses and all of their kids,” Milo shook his head. “It’s amazing she even remembers me.”
“I remember you because you’re the one I like. I don’t like your father though,” Barb said, closing the refrigerator. “It’n’t that funny? I thought that since I loved Billy so much, I’d love his kids.” Behind her hand she whispered, “I don’t like any of them. ‘Cept the youngest. Meredith. Fiesty little thing. It’s that wife of his that spoiled them.”
“Spoiled him a little too,” Milo said.
“Milo!”
“It’s true,” Milo said.
“Billy’s my baby. He’s the youngest,” Barb said.
“And the smartest and the sweetest, and the prettiest—”
“Shut up, kid,” Barb said. “I’m sorry, but your pa is a yutz. He always was. And marrying Tina proved it.”
Dena stuck out her tongue and made a barfing noise.
“I see you’ve met her,” said Barb.
“Hey hey hey!” Milo said.
“Hey, what? No one knows your mom as well as you do,” Barb said. “And I never said Billy was the prettiest. Jeane is the prettiest. Jake was the handsome one. Bill is… sweet looking.”
“Great-Grandma,” Milo said, “used to say Bill was the homeliest baby she’d ever seen.”
“Oh, that was mean.”
“Mom was a mean woman,” Barb said.
“How old was she?” said Dena. “How long did she live?”
Barb barked out a laugh.
Dena looked at her and Milo grinned.
“Oh, you thought because I’m a thousand years old…” Barb began. “No, she’s older than the Flood. But the unfortunate truth is my mother is very much alive. And well.”
CharmedFan28
JUB Addict
So Barb's Mum is still alive, interesting! I wonder if we will meet her. Looks like Chad's secret boyfriend is known to everyone now. Great writing and I look forward to reading whatever comes next. 
ChrisGibson
JUB Addict
I know right? And of course it is a surprise. But Barb is seventy- so her mom is in her nineties, which happens more than people think. I remember the first time I had to bite my tongue when someone told me about their mother and I just assumed she'd be too old to have one still living. And then of course, Fenn's grandmother is still alive, so Rossford is full of longevity.
ChrisGibson
JUB Addict
OLD IS
NEW AGAIN CONTINUED
“Hey, shaky lady, you’re not going anywhere.”
“I’m driving home.”
“Nonsense, I’ll drive you home. Or Milo. Besides. You came here to talk to Dena.”
“Oh, yeah,” Nell said, standing up and then instantly sitting down because she felt really… shaky. “Why isn’t the nog affecting you the way it’s affecting me.”
“I’m bigger,” Bill shrugged. “I have a better metabolism—”
“You have a wide, red, very pretty mouth, Billy,” Nell cut in. “I always wanted to tell you that. Oh, my God!” She clapped a hand over her mouth again.
Bill shrugged.
“I’ve always wanted to have a wide pretty mouth, anyway.”
“You know what?” said Nell.
Bill looked at her, and then she said, “I am so glad Tina didn’t take Milo away.”
“Yes,” Bill said. “I’m so busy. Well… I was so busy I couldn’t be with Mom like I wanted to. Seven kids, someone should be with her. It should have been me. It’s going to be me for awhile.”
“What?”
“I’m not going. I lost that job, and… I’m not going to get up and look for one for a while. I need to be away.”
“Don’t you have a wife and kids?”
“Meredith is the youngest. She just started boarding school. Cindy is… shopping, so she won’t even notice I’m gone. Nope. Mom needs me, so I’m here for a while.”
“That’s great,” Nell, put her hands together. “Guess what, I’ve needed a new friend for a long time. And… a new friend who’s an old friend is even better!”
Bill smiled and Nell said, “And now this old friend needs a ride home. Come on Bill.”
“I’ll get my coat,” he said, and while he crossed the room to the closet, Nell called, “Dena!”
Her daughter came out of the kitchen, and while Nell was putting her coat on she said, “I came by because I had something to tell you, and now I remember.”
“Hum?”
“Your father wants you to come and visit him.”
Dena frowned.
“I know. I feel the same way. I said I forbid it… Forbad it? Forbade? I forget how it goes. Anyway, you’re still young enough for me to forbid you from things, so,” Nell shrugged.
“Well, he’s in another state, so it doesn’t even matter,” Dena said.
At the door, beside Bill, Nell coughed.
“What?” Dena said. She straightened up and crossed the room.
“What mother?”
“Actually,” Nell said, “he’s not so much… in another state. As he is…. Sort of at the Quality Inn on Meridian.”
“Okay,” Nell said, sitting down at the kitchen table, “the horrible news is Kevin’s in town.”
She looked at Fenn, Adele, Tom and Lee. “Don’t even think of telling Todd.”
“And don’t you think of telling Dena,” said Adele.
“Well…” said Nell.
“Well what?” Fenn looked up at her from his coffee cup.
“It’s too late for that. I told Dena. I didn’t want her to be surprised, and I can’t imagine Kevin not making his presence known.”
Tom looked disturbed, and Lee looked at Tom.
“Just,” Tom explained, “Kevin making his presence known is not always the best thing.”
“It’s never the best thing,” Fenn said. “When Todd was still a kid, Kevin seduced him.”
Lee looked the closest thing he ever did to amazed, and passing Dylan to Fenn, said, “Your husband… while he was your husband?”
Nell nodded, and then said, “But enough of that. That’s not very cheerful at all.”
“You have cheerful news?” Adele said.
Nell nodded.
“I met a wonderful man,”
“It’s about time,” Adele said, at the same time her brother did. They looked at each other. Nell looked reproachfully at both of them.
“Bill Affren.”
“Ugly Bill Affren?”
Nell looked at Fenn.
“Bill wasn’t ugly.
“He wasn’t pretty,” Adele said.
“Well,” Nell sounded flustered, “He’s changed.”
“Is this,” Tom interrupted, “Barb’s son?”
Fenn nodded. “We went to school together. Well, we went to Saint Barbara’s at the same time. He was a couple of grades ahead of me.”
“We went to school together,” Adele said, “And I remember he was something else.”
“Well, now he’s rich and successful,” Nell said. “And aside from that, incredibly fun.”
“One,” said Adele, “I am not surprised he is rich and successful. And two, I suppose he would be fun. He was always nice. But… is he cute now?”
Nell looked at her.
“Is he?” Fenn said.
“He looks like Bill.”
“Oh, that’s not good,” Fenn murmured.
“And I like it.”
“I don’t remember Bill looking good,” Adele said. “I do remember girls liking him, though.”
“You know what I remember?” said Fenn, running a finger around his coffee cup.
“I remember Bill has a wife and two, or is it three, kids?”
Nell frowned at him and said, “I didn’t say I was in love with Bill Affren.”
“You didn’t exactly not say it,” Tom noted.
She looked at him, but Lee said, “He’s got a point.”
Nell said, “Well, we’re just friends.”
“Didn’t really sound like that.”
“Fenn!”
“Fine,” Adele said. “Fine. But… just make sure you don’t screw up damn near twenty years living like a nun by giving up the boodie to a married man.”
“Adele—”
“Adele me as much as you want,” she said. “But just listen to what I say.”
Keith climbed out of bed and went down the hall. He could hear Dan Malloy snoring from behind the closed door, and so now he knew it was safe. He returned to his room, put on slippers and the old housecoat, and then, in his pajamas headed downstairs and turned the computer in the study on. He even went to make some cocoa, so that he would feel more normal, more like a priest writing a sermon.
Back and forth, while he microwaved and stirred, he waited for the computer to heat up, to connect to the Internet, to ask for his password. Dan had a commitment to poverty that extended to his casual disregard for the invention of the laptop or the idea that a computer not yet ten years old might need exchanging. It was a little frustrating, but Keith reminded himself that this was only because he was sinful.
He sat down with the hot chocolate, in the dim office. The computer was turned away from the door, and he was glad for that. The idea that Dan might wake up, walk in and see what he was doing would have been too unnerving. Already he was unnerved. His foot was beating against the worn carpet of the rectory floor, and his fingertips were drumming rapidly.
I’M GLAD YOU’RE HERE. I DIDN’T KNOW IF YOU’D BE ABLE TO
Keith typed:
I DIDN’T KNOW IF I WOULD BE ABLE TO EITHER.
Beside the IM screen was a picture of a somewhat goodlooking man, in early middle age with his hair neatly trimmed all around, a little grey. He was more than good looking, Keith admitted. Looking at the pic sent blood rushing to his ears.
REARDONBUDDY75 wrote:
WE STILL ON FOR THIS WEEKEND?
When it was put like that, with not much beating around the bush, Keith McDonald’s mouth went dry and his palms turned clammy. He didn’t type anything for a long time; he just sat in the chair trembling and shaking until he thought he could never stop.
YOU STILL THERE?
Keith typed.
YEAH. I’M SORRY.
I JUST GOT A LITTLE NERVOUS.
A few seconds later, REARDONBUDDY75 wrote:
I KNOW. I GET NERVOUS TOO. BUT I REALLY WANT TO DO THIS.
ME TOO.
Keith waited, his heart beating almost painfully against his ribcage, and then REARDONBUDDY75 wrote:
SO WE’LL GET TOGETHER THIS WEEKEND?
YEAH.
WE’LL FUCK?
That made Keith hard and helpless. His dick was so heavy it felt like a lead weight between his thighs. He was in a bad way. What was wrong with him? He could hardly type on the keyboard properly.
YEAH
He wrote.
WE’LL FUCK…. HARD.
NEW AGAIN CONTINUED
“Hey, shaky lady, you’re not going anywhere.”
“I’m driving home.”
“Nonsense, I’ll drive you home. Or Milo. Besides. You came here to talk to Dena.”
“Oh, yeah,” Nell said, standing up and then instantly sitting down because she felt really… shaky. “Why isn’t the nog affecting you the way it’s affecting me.”
“I’m bigger,” Bill shrugged. “I have a better metabolism—”
“You have a wide, red, very pretty mouth, Billy,” Nell cut in. “I always wanted to tell you that. Oh, my God!” She clapped a hand over her mouth again.
Bill shrugged.
“I’ve always wanted to have a wide pretty mouth, anyway.”
“You know what?” said Nell.
Bill looked at her, and then she said, “I am so glad Tina didn’t take Milo away.”
“Yes,” Bill said. “I’m so busy. Well… I was so busy I couldn’t be with Mom like I wanted to. Seven kids, someone should be with her. It should have been me. It’s going to be me for awhile.”
“What?”
“I’m not going. I lost that job, and… I’m not going to get up and look for one for a while. I need to be away.”
“Don’t you have a wife and kids?”
“Meredith is the youngest. She just started boarding school. Cindy is… shopping, so she won’t even notice I’m gone. Nope. Mom needs me, so I’m here for a while.”
“That’s great,” Nell, put her hands together. “Guess what, I’ve needed a new friend for a long time. And… a new friend who’s an old friend is even better!”
Bill smiled and Nell said, “And now this old friend needs a ride home. Come on Bill.”
“I’ll get my coat,” he said, and while he crossed the room to the closet, Nell called, “Dena!”
Her daughter came out of the kitchen, and while Nell was putting her coat on she said, “I came by because I had something to tell you, and now I remember.”
“Hum?”
“Your father wants you to come and visit him.”
Dena frowned.
“I know. I feel the same way. I said I forbid it… Forbad it? Forbade? I forget how it goes. Anyway, you’re still young enough for me to forbid you from things, so,” Nell shrugged.
“Well, he’s in another state, so it doesn’t even matter,” Dena said.
At the door, beside Bill, Nell coughed.
“What?” Dena said. She straightened up and crossed the room.
“What mother?”
“Actually,” Nell said, “he’s not so much… in another state. As he is…. Sort of at the Quality Inn on Meridian.”
“Okay,” Nell said, sitting down at the kitchen table, “the horrible news is Kevin’s in town.”
She looked at Fenn, Adele, Tom and Lee. “Don’t even think of telling Todd.”
“And don’t you think of telling Dena,” said Adele.
“Well…” said Nell.
“Well what?” Fenn looked up at her from his coffee cup.
“It’s too late for that. I told Dena. I didn’t want her to be surprised, and I can’t imagine Kevin not making his presence known.”
Tom looked disturbed, and Lee looked at Tom.
“Just,” Tom explained, “Kevin making his presence known is not always the best thing.”
“It’s never the best thing,” Fenn said. “When Todd was still a kid, Kevin seduced him.”
Lee looked the closest thing he ever did to amazed, and passing Dylan to Fenn, said, “Your husband… while he was your husband?”
Nell nodded, and then said, “But enough of that. That’s not very cheerful at all.”
“You have cheerful news?” Adele said.
Nell nodded.
“I met a wonderful man,”
“It’s about time,” Adele said, at the same time her brother did. They looked at each other. Nell looked reproachfully at both of them.
“Bill Affren.”
“Ugly Bill Affren?”
Nell looked at Fenn.
“Bill wasn’t ugly.
“He wasn’t pretty,” Adele said.
“Well,” Nell sounded flustered, “He’s changed.”
“Is this,” Tom interrupted, “Barb’s son?”
Fenn nodded. “We went to school together. Well, we went to Saint Barbara’s at the same time. He was a couple of grades ahead of me.”
“We went to school together,” Adele said, “And I remember he was something else.”
“Well, now he’s rich and successful,” Nell said. “And aside from that, incredibly fun.”
“One,” said Adele, “I am not surprised he is rich and successful. And two, I suppose he would be fun. He was always nice. But… is he cute now?”
Nell looked at her.
“Is he?” Fenn said.
“He looks like Bill.”
“Oh, that’s not good,” Fenn murmured.
“And I like it.”
“I don’t remember Bill looking good,” Adele said. “I do remember girls liking him, though.”
“You know what I remember?” said Fenn, running a finger around his coffee cup.
“I remember Bill has a wife and two, or is it three, kids?”
Nell frowned at him and said, “I didn’t say I was in love with Bill Affren.”
“You didn’t exactly not say it,” Tom noted.
She looked at him, but Lee said, “He’s got a point.”
Nell said, “Well, we’re just friends.”
“Didn’t really sound like that.”
“Fenn!”
“Fine,” Adele said. “Fine. But… just make sure you don’t screw up damn near twenty years living like a nun by giving up the boodie to a married man.”
“Adele—”
“Adele me as much as you want,” she said. “But just listen to what I say.”
Keith climbed out of bed and went down the hall. He could hear Dan Malloy snoring from behind the closed door, and so now he knew it was safe. He returned to his room, put on slippers and the old housecoat, and then, in his pajamas headed downstairs and turned the computer in the study on. He even went to make some cocoa, so that he would feel more normal, more like a priest writing a sermon.
Back and forth, while he microwaved and stirred, he waited for the computer to heat up, to connect to the Internet, to ask for his password. Dan had a commitment to poverty that extended to his casual disregard for the invention of the laptop or the idea that a computer not yet ten years old might need exchanging. It was a little frustrating, but Keith reminded himself that this was only because he was sinful.
He sat down with the hot chocolate, in the dim office. The computer was turned away from the door, and he was glad for that. The idea that Dan might wake up, walk in and see what he was doing would have been too unnerving. Already he was unnerved. His foot was beating against the worn carpet of the rectory floor, and his fingertips were drumming rapidly.
I’M GLAD YOU’RE HERE. I DIDN’T KNOW IF YOU’D BE ABLE TO
Keith typed:
I DIDN’T KNOW IF I WOULD BE ABLE TO EITHER.
Beside the IM screen was a picture of a somewhat goodlooking man, in early middle age with his hair neatly trimmed all around, a little grey. He was more than good looking, Keith admitted. Looking at the pic sent blood rushing to his ears.
REARDONBUDDY75 wrote:
WE STILL ON FOR THIS WEEKEND?
When it was put like that, with not much beating around the bush, Keith McDonald’s mouth went dry and his palms turned clammy. He didn’t type anything for a long time; he just sat in the chair trembling and shaking until he thought he could never stop.
YOU STILL THERE?
Keith typed.
YEAH. I’M SORRY.
I JUST GOT A LITTLE NERVOUS.
A few seconds later, REARDONBUDDY75 wrote:
I KNOW. I GET NERVOUS TOO. BUT I REALLY WANT TO DO THIS.
ME TOO.
Keith waited, his heart beating almost painfully against his ribcage, and then REARDONBUDDY75 wrote:
SO WE’LL GET TOGETHER THIS WEEKEND?
YEAH.
WE’LL FUCK?
That made Keith hard and helpless. His dick was so heavy it felt like a lead weight between his thighs. He was in a bad way. What was wrong with him? He could hardly type on the keyboard properly.
YEAH
He wrote.
WE’LL FUCK…. HARD.
CharmedFan28
JUB Addict
So Dena's Dad is in town? Interesting! Sounds like Keith is going to have an busy night! Great writing and I look forward to more!
ChrisGibson
JUB Addict
This could be the opening door to a lot of shit happening, and of course, we haven't REALLY gotten to know Dena's dad yet. All sorts of stuff is about to happen. By the way, I'm thinking of posting another short story in a few days, or maybe even tomorrow. I'll let you know. Thanks for reading.
ChrisGibson
JUB Addict
OLD IS
NEW AGAIN CONTINUED
“I HEARD SOMEONE SAY,” Tara began while biting into her food, “that the rudest question he ever heard was, ‘what do you do?’ He said Americans ask it all the time. He was French or something, I forgot—and that he hated it.”
“That’s a good point,” Melanie was reflective before speaking. “I never thought about it. But I hate it when people ask me that right off the bat. I guess,” she poised her fork over her salad, “people ask it because they just don’t know what else to ask.”
“This man, in the interview, said it was because Americans are obsessed with money and with doing, and it pissed him off because he would say, ‘I’m rich. I don’t do anything.’”
“Remind me not to see this interview,” Melanie said.
Tara laughed.
“No, I think everyone should do something,” she said. “I don’t care what. I mean, he had to do something.”
“You know what, now that I think of it, he was an asshole. He was talking about how you had to be engaged in life, so he went down to the tailor, and he would spend all day, engaged in his tailor’s making the perfect suit, with just the right lapel. That’s what makes life worth living.”
Melanie screwed up her face.
“Was he gay?”
“No, but you know… When gay men act that way it’s because they’re pretending they’re rich men, or they want to be. He was already rich.”
“Well, I think it’s all disgusting. Half this planet fucking starving, and… You know what? I’d love to be rich, but there’s got to be something wrong with someone who doesn’t care that the only task for him in this life is to make himself happy.”
“I like you,” Tara discovered.
“Did you think you wouldn’t?”
“Well, you have to understand, I don’t really expect to like anybody. And I usually don’t.”
Tara stopped, and said, “What I meant by that is—”
“You know what? I think you meant exactly what you said. That’s all right,” Melanie put her hands on the table, “I haven’t liked anyone sense high school.”
“Oooh, I hated high school.”
“What I remember,” Melanie said, “was that I didn’t understand anything. Everyone who was popular—I couldn’t figure out why.”
“Thank you! But… to be fair, you know what? I still can’t figure out why.”
“I just wish people made sense. More sense. I wish I made sense.”
“I thought I was straight until I was almost thirty,” Melanie confessed. “Then I thought, well, now, problem taken care of. All you needed is a woman. And then I turned out to be just as bad at being a lesbian as I was being a straight girl. I think I got more action when I was still waiting for a man.”
“Never been with a man.”
“Never?” Melanie looked at her.
Tara shook her head.
“I always knew.”
“Well, then I admire the purity of your discernment,” Melanie said, clinically, with a small smile. “For me the dilemma is this: lesbians are just flat out fucked up and crazy.”
“Now that shit is the truth.”
“But men….”
“Are unreliable as fuck.”
“Yes. I had to take care of my baby brother when I was growing up. I swear, every man I ever dated was just like that. I did everything but wipe their asses and help them to the toilet, and with the last one I think I did both.”
“Once,” Tara said, leaning into the table, “I went out on a date with this bitch who was so crazy I had to sneak off to the bathroom and crawl out of the window.”
“You didn’t!”
“I was young and irresponsible back then.
“However, she found me out. She remembered my car. This bitch drove around the city until she found me. Anyway, one night I was sitting in my apartment and I got a phone call. From her. She was all like, remember me, such and such. In a calm voice I said, yeah. I thought about apologizing for sneaking out of the bathroom window. But then I thought—maybe she forgot—”
“Maybe she forgot?”
“I know. Anyway, the bitch says in this real polite voice, ‘Hey, I want you to look out your window.’ I do, and then she says, ‘watch this.’ And my car explodes. The phone clicks off. I never heard from her again.”
“That…” Melanie said, “was crazy.”
Tara nodded, “And that’s how I learned my lesson about not sneaking out of windows.”
“So you won’t be sneaking out on me.”
“Even the old Tara woudn’t have snuck out on you.”
“Well, that’s good,” Melanie said. “Cause even though I have many skills, bomb making isn’t one of them.”
“Let me see that,” Radha said. “Give it here.”
Layla shrugged and handed over the brochure.
“What is this?”
“It’s a college application. You know, what folks about to go to college fill out.”
“It should have been filled out in November,” Will told her.
She gave him a very evil eye.
“I mean, if you wanted a good school. Those are supposed to be filled out pretty early.”
“A good school will be taking applications till June,” Radha told Will in a weary voice. “And this one takes them almost till September. Maybe it’s not the greatest school. But it ain’t bad.”
“I can’t go here,” Layla said. “For you it’s fine. You come from Chicago. For me it would be like not even trying.”
“Thanks,” Julian said.
“I didn’t mean it that way, and you know it,” Layla said, though she realized she must have meant it that way. “But I have been in Rossford my entire life. I should get out. I need to go somewhere.”
“What about Holy Name?” Brendan said.
“Are you going there?”
“Thinking of it.”
“You and Kenny, together?” Will said.
“I just think it might make things easier.”
“It might,” Will said, doubtfully.
“Why shouldn’t it? Everyone acts like it’s really mature to leave your family and go far away, or it’s progressive to go to school far away from your boyfriend. But to me that just sounds like the powers that be trying to split up the herd. I mean, aren’t you the most vulnerable when you’re alone?”
“That,” Radha began, “is more depth than I was ready for this early in the morning on my free day.”
“But true,” Will said. “Definitely true.”
Layla looked at him, “then what about us?”
“What about you?” Claire asked, as she entered Radha’s suite.
“We’re looking at applications for school,” Layla said. “Or rather, I am looking at applications for school. Will’s already filled his out.”
“Oh, so you guys aren’t going to be with us,” Claire said. “That is too bad.”
“And they’re not going to be with each other,” Julian pointed out.
“Well, that’s kind of stupid.”
“I just think,” Will explained, “that you shouldn’t base your educational choices on… things like relationships and trying to stay together.” While Will was talking, Julian noticed his sister giving him a dangerous look. “I mean, most people think that if a relationship is real, then it will survive distance. You shouldn’t cater to your significant other. If something’s going to last, it’s going to last.”
Claire’s brow furrowed and she said, doubtfully, “I bet most of the people who say that are single.”
NEW AGAIN CONTINUED
“I HEARD SOMEONE SAY,” Tara began while biting into her food, “that the rudest question he ever heard was, ‘what do you do?’ He said Americans ask it all the time. He was French or something, I forgot—and that he hated it.”
“That’s a good point,” Melanie was reflective before speaking. “I never thought about it. But I hate it when people ask me that right off the bat. I guess,” she poised her fork over her salad, “people ask it because they just don’t know what else to ask.”
“This man, in the interview, said it was because Americans are obsessed with money and with doing, and it pissed him off because he would say, ‘I’m rich. I don’t do anything.’”
“Remind me not to see this interview,” Melanie said.
Tara laughed.
“No, I think everyone should do something,” she said. “I don’t care what. I mean, he had to do something.”
“You know what, now that I think of it, he was an asshole. He was talking about how you had to be engaged in life, so he went down to the tailor, and he would spend all day, engaged in his tailor’s making the perfect suit, with just the right lapel. That’s what makes life worth living.”
Melanie screwed up her face.
“Was he gay?”
“No, but you know… When gay men act that way it’s because they’re pretending they’re rich men, or they want to be. He was already rich.”
“Well, I think it’s all disgusting. Half this planet fucking starving, and… You know what? I’d love to be rich, but there’s got to be something wrong with someone who doesn’t care that the only task for him in this life is to make himself happy.”
“I like you,” Tara discovered.
“Did you think you wouldn’t?”
“Well, you have to understand, I don’t really expect to like anybody. And I usually don’t.”
Tara stopped, and said, “What I meant by that is—”
“You know what? I think you meant exactly what you said. That’s all right,” Melanie put her hands on the table, “I haven’t liked anyone sense high school.”
“Oooh, I hated high school.”
“What I remember,” Melanie said, “was that I didn’t understand anything. Everyone who was popular—I couldn’t figure out why.”
“Thank you! But… to be fair, you know what? I still can’t figure out why.”
“I just wish people made sense. More sense. I wish I made sense.”
“I thought I was straight until I was almost thirty,” Melanie confessed. “Then I thought, well, now, problem taken care of. All you needed is a woman. And then I turned out to be just as bad at being a lesbian as I was being a straight girl. I think I got more action when I was still waiting for a man.”
“Never been with a man.”
“Never?” Melanie looked at her.
Tara shook her head.
“I always knew.”
“Well, then I admire the purity of your discernment,” Melanie said, clinically, with a small smile. “For me the dilemma is this: lesbians are just flat out fucked up and crazy.”
“Now that shit is the truth.”
“But men….”
“Are unreliable as fuck.”
“Yes. I had to take care of my baby brother when I was growing up. I swear, every man I ever dated was just like that. I did everything but wipe their asses and help them to the toilet, and with the last one I think I did both.”
“Once,” Tara said, leaning into the table, “I went out on a date with this bitch who was so crazy I had to sneak off to the bathroom and crawl out of the window.”
“You didn’t!”
“I was young and irresponsible back then.
“However, she found me out. She remembered my car. This bitch drove around the city until she found me. Anyway, one night I was sitting in my apartment and I got a phone call. From her. She was all like, remember me, such and such. In a calm voice I said, yeah. I thought about apologizing for sneaking out of the bathroom window. But then I thought—maybe she forgot—”
“Maybe she forgot?”
“I know. Anyway, the bitch says in this real polite voice, ‘Hey, I want you to look out your window.’ I do, and then she says, ‘watch this.’ And my car explodes. The phone clicks off. I never heard from her again.”
“That…” Melanie said, “was crazy.”
Tara nodded, “And that’s how I learned my lesson about not sneaking out of windows.”
“So you won’t be sneaking out on me.”
“Even the old Tara woudn’t have snuck out on you.”
“Well, that’s good,” Melanie said. “Cause even though I have many skills, bomb making isn’t one of them.”
“Let me see that,” Radha said. “Give it here.”
Layla shrugged and handed over the brochure.
“What is this?”
“It’s a college application. You know, what folks about to go to college fill out.”
“It should have been filled out in November,” Will told her.
She gave him a very evil eye.
“I mean, if you wanted a good school. Those are supposed to be filled out pretty early.”
“A good school will be taking applications till June,” Radha told Will in a weary voice. “And this one takes them almost till September. Maybe it’s not the greatest school. But it ain’t bad.”
“I can’t go here,” Layla said. “For you it’s fine. You come from Chicago. For me it would be like not even trying.”
“Thanks,” Julian said.
“I didn’t mean it that way, and you know it,” Layla said, though she realized she must have meant it that way. “But I have been in Rossford my entire life. I should get out. I need to go somewhere.”
“What about Holy Name?” Brendan said.
“Are you going there?”
“Thinking of it.”
“You and Kenny, together?” Will said.
“I just think it might make things easier.”
“It might,” Will said, doubtfully.
“Why shouldn’t it? Everyone acts like it’s really mature to leave your family and go far away, or it’s progressive to go to school far away from your boyfriend. But to me that just sounds like the powers that be trying to split up the herd. I mean, aren’t you the most vulnerable when you’re alone?”
“That,” Radha began, “is more depth than I was ready for this early in the morning on my free day.”
“But true,” Will said. “Definitely true.”
Layla looked at him, “then what about us?”
“What about you?” Claire asked, as she entered Radha’s suite.
“We’re looking at applications for school,” Layla said. “Or rather, I am looking at applications for school. Will’s already filled his out.”
“Oh, so you guys aren’t going to be with us,” Claire said. “That is too bad.”
“And they’re not going to be with each other,” Julian pointed out.
“Well, that’s kind of stupid.”
“I just think,” Will explained, “that you shouldn’t base your educational choices on… things like relationships and trying to stay together.” While Will was talking, Julian noticed his sister giving him a dangerous look. “I mean, most people think that if a relationship is real, then it will survive distance. You shouldn’t cater to your significant other. If something’s going to last, it’s going to last.”
Claire’s brow furrowed and she said, doubtfully, “I bet most of the people who say that are single.”
CharmedFan28
JUB Addict
Sounds like Tara and Melanie might become a couple! Good for them! It also sounds like some of the characters will be separated for school which will take a bit of getting used to but thats life. Great section and I look forward to more!
ChrisGibson
JUB Addict
Well, the trilogy is coming to an end, and folks can't stay together, so there is a little foreshadowing here. But at the same time new loves have to form, like Tara and Melanie! So, more to come.
ChrisGibson
JUB Addict
OLD IS
NEW AGAIN CONTINUED
When Kevin Reardon opened the door to his hotel room, he looked slightly disconcerted to see his daughter.
“Dena?”
“You rang, right?” she said, coming in. “Oh, Dad,” she said, surveying the hotel room, “this is what’s become of you?”
“It’s good to see you, Dena.”
“Thanks.”
She sat on the bed.
“I don’t know why I’m here,” Dena continued. “I don’t. I don’t know what you could say to me.”
“I just wanted to see you, sweetheart,” Kevin said weakly. “And… you’re beautiful. You really are.”
“Did you know I lost my virginity?” Dena said, shrugging. “I can’t really share that with Mom. But I can tell you.”
Kevin looked at her strangely.
“Mom may have told you, if you all talk, that I’m not with Brendan anymore. I’m with Milo. Great guy, wonderful. His mother… she’s not so wonderful, but…”
“Dena,” Kevin said. “Dena.”
“Oh, right. The sex bit. It was Brendan. It was Brendan Miller. He asked if he could start having sex with me, and I—foolishly—said yes. Three weeks into it he told me he was really gay and he was in love with someone else and the only reason we were doing it was because he thought it would make him straight. Oh, but wait,” she said in the same level voice, “there’s more. Because he was screwing—excuse me—sleeping with this boy long before he ever asked to go to bed with me. I’m not… angry anymore. I’m certainly not asking you to go after him because… you’re one to talk, right? But I wondered was it like that for you? Was that why you went to Mom? And, was it because of you that I was so stupid I couldn’t see Bren doing the same thing to me?”
Kevin stood over the bed, looking at his daughter, somewhat stupidly. She thought He really is stupid. He really is… what is he?
She didn’t know what she expected him to say, but what he said was:
“This is not a talk for here. Or now. I’ll take you out tomorrow night. At about seven?”
“Uh…”
“Seven, I’ll come by the house. Stay outside of it for your mother’s sake, and you’ll just meet me, okay?”
“Are you throwing me out?” Dena stood up.
“Yeah,” Kevin said, sadly, sounding a little distracted. “For now. Yes. Yeah.”
Dena blinked and said, “Fine. Dad. Fine.”
“Tomorrow night?”
Dena didn’t completely understand why she nodded yes, as she left.”
Kevin Reardon’s head was spinning. It had already been spinning before Dena came, but now she set it twirling even more. He sat down on the edge of the bed, put his head as far between his legs as he could. This was a mess. His whole life had been one disorganized mess, and the more he tried to make it—
There was a knock at the door and Kevin got up to answer it. He opened it.
The man came in swiftly and Kevin shut the door behind him. The other man took off his ball cap and Kevin said, appreciatively: “You look just like your picture.”
“And you look better than yours,” Keith McDonald told him.
Suddenly, feeling strength instead of the usual weakness, Kevin pulled Keith’s face to him and kissed him hard on the mouth, instantly stirred by the firmness with which Keith returned his attention. Their hands were on each other’s hips, undoing each other’s belts, and Kevin felt himself thick and hard in his underwear.
“Let’s not waste any time,” he muttered kissing all over Keith’s face and neck, “Let’s not waste any fucking time at all.”
“What’s this?” James tilted Noah’s chin up. “None of that sadness. I’ll be back.
“Besides, I’ve got to visit my folks sooner or later.”
“You could visit them and come back here.”
“Are you serious?”
“I was,” Noah said. “A little.”
“I have a home.”
“You haven’t talked about it,” Noah said. “You’ve been here for a couple of weeks, so what’s another week?”
“Well, I would have to find someplace to live. It’s too many people in that apartment anyway. Besides, your Mom’s house has been empty a long time. I’m going there for a few days.”
“Well, let me come with you.”
James looked at him.
“Let me come with you.”
James opened his mouth.
“We’ve never even had the talk,” Noah said.
“The—?”
“About you, about me. I just decided that you were for me, and we should be together. No matter how we’re together,” Noah told him. “And… I have to be with you. All right?”
“Well, all right,” James said. He touched Noah’s hair. “I don’t really want to be without you, either.”
Dena sat in the kitchen looking at Milo’s uncle in his ski jacket and the turban of a knit hat.
“Where are you all going anyway?” Milo asked.
“Your uncle,” Nell said, zipping and rezipping her coat, “is going to teach me to ski.”
“Not real skiing,” Bill explained. “As real as we can get. The one good thing about this crappy weather is the dunes are great for Midwestern snowbunnies.”
Nell told them: “You guys are perfectly free to come and watch me make a fool out of myself.”
“You won’t make a fool out of yourself,” Bill told her, turning around. Dena paid attention to the look Bill gave her mother. “Besides, we’re an hour away, and you’re dressing like we’re about to hit the slopes as soon as we get out the door.”
“It feels like you’re hitting the slopes as soon as you walk out the door,” Milo said, hugging himself. Talking about it made him cold already.
“Maybe I will go,” Dena said, standing up.
“It’s not like you have anything better to do,” Nell said.
“Actually…” Milo began. Nell looked at him.
“Milo!” Dena said.
“Milo?” said Nell. “Actually what?”
Milo looked at Dena and Dena looked at her mother.
“Dad wanted me to go to dinner with him tonight. He’s coming at seven or eight. Not inside this house—” Dena added quickly. “He said he’d wait outside. But I could cancel.”
“We might be back by seven,” Nell suggested.
Bill shook his head. “We’ll still be on the road, probably.”
“I would gladly cancel,” Dena said.
“He’s your father,” Bill said.
Dena was about to tell Bill Affren that he didn’t know her father, but she realized that she didn’t, either. She sighed. Dena was surprised to hear her mother sigh as well.
“All right, already,” Dena said. “I’ll go and eat with him.”
Nell said, more as if she were willing to give Bill’s point consideration, than as if she actually believed and knew it, “I guess he is your father.”
NEW AGAIN CONTINUED
When Kevin Reardon opened the door to his hotel room, he looked slightly disconcerted to see his daughter.
“Dena?”
“You rang, right?” she said, coming in. “Oh, Dad,” she said, surveying the hotel room, “this is what’s become of you?”
“It’s good to see you, Dena.”
“Thanks.”
She sat on the bed.
“I don’t know why I’m here,” Dena continued. “I don’t. I don’t know what you could say to me.”
“I just wanted to see you, sweetheart,” Kevin said weakly. “And… you’re beautiful. You really are.”
“Did you know I lost my virginity?” Dena said, shrugging. “I can’t really share that with Mom. But I can tell you.”
Kevin looked at her strangely.
“Mom may have told you, if you all talk, that I’m not with Brendan anymore. I’m with Milo. Great guy, wonderful. His mother… she’s not so wonderful, but…”
“Dena,” Kevin said. “Dena.”
“Oh, right. The sex bit. It was Brendan. It was Brendan Miller. He asked if he could start having sex with me, and I—foolishly—said yes. Three weeks into it he told me he was really gay and he was in love with someone else and the only reason we were doing it was because he thought it would make him straight. Oh, but wait,” she said in the same level voice, “there’s more. Because he was screwing—excuse me—sleeping with this boy long before he ever asked to go to bed with me. I’m not… angry anymore. I’m certainly not asking you to go after him because… you’re one to talk, right? But I wondered was it like that for you? Was that why you went to Mom? And, was it because of you that I was so stupid I couldn’t see Bren doing the same thing to me?”
Kevin stood over the bed, looking at his daughter, somewhat stupidly. She thought He really is stupid. He really is… what is he?
She didn’t know what she expected him to say, but what he said was:
“This is not a talk for here. Or now. I’ll take you out tomorrow night. At about seven?”
“Uh…”
“Seven, I’ll come by the house. Stay outside of it for your mother’s sake, and you’ll just meet me, okay?”
“Are you throwing me out?” Dena stood up.
“Yeah,” Kevin said, sadly, sounding a little distracted. “For now. Yes. Yeah.”
Dena blinked and said, “Fine. Dad. Fine.”
“Tomorrow night?”
Dena didn’t completely understand why she nodded yes, as she left.”
Kevin Reardon’s head was spinning. It had already been spinning before Dena came, but now she set it twirling even more. He sat down on the edge of the bed, put his head as far between his legs as he could. This was a mess. His whole life had been one disorganized mess, and the more he tried to make it—
There was a knock at the door and Kevin got up to answer it. He opened it.
The man came in swiftly and Kevin shut the door behind him. The other man took off his ball cap and Kevin said, appreciatively: “You look just like your picture.”
“And you look better than yours,” Keith McDonald told him.
Suddenly, feeling strength instead of the usual weakness, Kevin pulled Keith’s face to him and kissed him hard on the mouth, instantly stirred by the firmness with which Keith returned his attention. Their hands were on each other’s hips, undoing each other’s belts, and Kevin felt himself thick and hard in his underwear.
“Let’s not waste any time,” he muttered kissing all over Keith’s face and neck, “Let’s not waste any fucking time at all.”
“What’s this?” James tilted Noah’s chin up. “None of that sadness. I’ll be back.
“Besides, I’ve got to visit my folks sooner or later.”
“You could visit them and come back here.”
“Are you serious?”
“I was,” Noah said. “A little.”
“I have a home.”
“You haven’t talked about it,” Noah said. “You’ve been here for a couple of weeks, so what’s another week?”
“Well, I would have to find someplace to live. It’s too many people in that apartment anyway. Besides, your Mom’s house has been empty a long time. I’m going there for a few days.”
“Well, let me come with you.”
James looked at him.
“Let me come with you.”
James opened his mouth.
“We’ve never even had the talk,” Noah said.
“The—?”
“About you, about me. I just decided that you were for me, and we should be together. No matter how we’re together,” Noah told him. “And… I have to be with you. All right?”
“Well, all right,” James said. He touched Noah’s hair. “I don’t really want to be without you, either.”
Dena sat in the kitchen looking at Milo’s uncle in his ski jacket and the turban of a knit hat.
“Where are you all going anyway?” Milo asked.
“Your uncle,” Nell said, zipping and rezipping her coat, “is going to teach me to ski.”
“Not real skiing,” Bill explained. “As real as we can get. The one good thing about this crappy weather is the dunes are great for Midwestern snowbunnies.”
Nell told them: “You guys are perfectly free to come and watch me make a fool out of myself.”
“You won’t make a fool out of yourself,” Bill told her, turning around. Dena paid attention to the look Bill gave her mother. “Besides, we’re an hour away, and you’re dressing like we’re about to hit the slopes as soon as we get out the door.”
“It feels like you’re hitting the slopes as soon as you walk out the door,” Milo said, hugging himself. Talking about it made him cold already.
“Maybe I will go,” Dena said, standing up.
“It’s not like you have anything better to do,” Nell said.
“Actually…” Milo began. Nell looked at him.
“Milo!” Dena said.
“Milo?” said Nell. “Actually what?”
Milo looked at Dena and Dena looked at her mother.
“Dad wanted me to go to dinner with him tonight. He’s coming at seven or eight. Not inside this house—” Dena added quickly. “He said he’d wait outside. But I could cancel.”
“We might be back by seven,” Nell suggested.
Bill shook his head. “We’ll still be on the road, probably.”
“I would gladly cancel,” Dena said.
“He’s your father,” Bill said.
Dena was about to tell Bill Affren that he didn’t know her father, but she realized that she didn’t, either. She sighed. Dena was surprised to hear her mother sigh as well.
“All right, already,” Dena said. “I’ll go and eat with him.”
Nell said, more as if she were willing to give Bill’s point consideration, than as if she actually believed and knew it, “I guess he is your father.”
CharmedFan28
JUB Addict
Dena's father leads an interesting life. I wonder how his dinner with Dena will turn out? I hope Noah and James find a way of staying together. Great section!
ChrisGibson
JUB Addict
If by interesting you mean unscrupulous and lacking in principles, then yes, he does. There will be more of his special brand of foolishness on Friday. I hope you're ready for it.
ChrisGibson
JUB Addict
OLD IS
NEW AGAIN CONTINUED
When Kevin Reardon opened the door to his hotel room, he looked slightly disconcerted to see his daughter.
“Dena?”
“You rang, right?” she said, coming in. “Oh, Dad,” she said, surveying the hotel room, “this is what’s become of you?”
“It’s good to see you, Dena.”
“Thanks.”
She sat on the bed.
“I don’t know why I’m here,” Dena continued. “I don’t. I don’t know what you could say to me.”
“I just wanted to see you, sweetheart,” Kevin said weakly. “And… you’re beautiful. You really are.”
“Did you know I lost my virginity?” Dena said, shrugging. “I can’t really share that with Mom. But I can tell you.”
Kevin looked at her strangely.
“Mom may have told you, if you all talk, that I’m not with Brendan anymore. I’m with Milo. Great guy, wonderful. His mother… she’s not so wonderful, but…”
“Dena,” Kevin said. “Dena.”
“Oh, right. The sex bit. It was Brendan. It was Brendan Miller. He asked if he could start having sex with me, and I—foolishly—said yes. Three weeks into it he told me he was really gay and he was in love with someone else and the only reason we were doing it was because he thought it would make him straight. Oh, but wait,” she said in the same level voice, “there’s more. Because he was screwing—excuse me—sleeping with this boy long before he ever asked to go to bed with me. I’m not… angry anymore. I’m certainly not asking you to go after him because… you’re one to talk, right? But I wondered was it like that for you? Was that why you went to Mom? And, was it because of you that I was so stupid I couldn’t see Bren doing the same thing to me?”
Kevin stood over the bed, looking at his daughter, somewhat stupidly. She thought He really is stupid. He really is… what is he?
She didn’t know what she expected him to say, but what he said was:
“This is not a talk for here. Or now. I’ll take you out tomorrow night. At about seven?”
“Uh…”
“Seven, I’ll come by the house. Stay outside of it for your mother’s sake, and you’ll just meet me, okay?”
“Are you throwing me out?” Dena stood up.
“Yeah,” Kevin said, sadly, sounding a little distracted. “For now. Yes. Yeah.”
Dena blinked and said, “Fine. Dad. Fine.”
“Tomorrow night?”
Dena didn’t completely understand why she nodded yes, as she left.”
Kevin Reardon’s head was spinning. It had already been spinning before Dena came, but now she set it twirling even more. He sat down on the edge of the bed, put his head as far between his legs as he could. This was a mess. His whole life had been one disorganized mess, and the more he tried to make it—
There was a knock at the door and Kevin got up to answer it. He opened it.
The man came in swiftly and Kevin shut the door behind him. The other man took off his ball cap and Kevin said, appreciatively: “You look just like your picture.”
“And you look better than yours,” Keith McDonald told him.
Suddenly, feeling strength instead of the usual weakness, Kevin pulled Keith’s face to him and kissed him hard on the mouth, instantly stirred by the firmness with which Keith returned his attention. Their hands were on each other’s hips, undoing each other’s belts, and Kevin felt himself thick and hard in his underwear.
“Let’s not waste any time,” he muttered kissing all over Keith’s face and neck, “Let’s not waste any fucking time at all.”
“What’s this?” James tilted Noah’s chin up. “None of that sadness. I’ll be back.
“Besides, I’ve got to visit my folks sooner or later.”
“You could visit them and come back here.”
“Are you serious?”
“I was,” Noah said. “A little.”
“I have a home.”
“You haven’t talked about it,” Noah said. “You’ve been here for a couple of weeks, so what’s another week?”
“Well, I would have to find someplace to live. It’s too many people in that apartment anyway. Besides, your Mom’s house has been empty a long time. I’m going there for a few days.”
“Well, let me come with you.”
James looked at him.
“Let me come with you.”
James opened his mouth.
“We’ve never even had the talk,” Noah said.
“The—?”
“About you, about me. I just decided that you were for me, and we should be together. No matter how we’re together,” Noah told him. “And… I have to be with you. All right?”
“Well, all right,” James said. He touched Noah’s hair. “I don’t really want to be without you, either.”
Dena sat in the kitchen looking at Milo’s uncle in his ski jacket and the turban of a knit hat.
“Where are you all going anyway?” Milo asked.
“Your uncle,” Nell said, zipping and rezipping her coat, “is going to teach me to ski.”
“Not real skiing,” Bill explained. “As real as we can get. The one good thing about this crappy weather is the dunes are great for Midwestern snowbunnies.”
Nell told them: “You guys are perfectly free to come and watch me make a fool out of myself.”
“You won’t make a fool out of yourself,” Bill told her, turning around. Dena paid attention to the look Bill gave her mother. “Besides, we’re an hour away, and you’re dressing like we’re about to hit the slopes as soon as we get out the door.”
“It feels like you’re hitting the slopes as soon as you walk out the door,” Milo said, hugging himself. Talking about it made him cold already.
“Maybe I will go,” Dena said, standing up.
“It’s not like you have anything better to do,” Nell said.
“Actually…” Milo began. Nell looked at him.
“Milo!” Dena said.
“Milo?” said Nell. “Actually what?”
Milo looked at Dena and Dena looked at her mother.
“Dad wanted me to go to dinner with him tonight. He’s coming at seven or eight. Not inside this house—” Dena added quickly. “He said he’d wait outside. But I could cancel.”
“We might be back by seven,” Nell suggested.
Bill shook his head. “We’ll still be on the road, probably.”
“I would gladly cancel,” Dena said.
“He’s your father,” Bill said.
Dena was about to tell Bill Affren that he didn’t know her father, but she realized that she didn’t, either. She sighed. Dena was surprised to hear her mother sigh as well.
“All right, already,” Dena said. “I’ll go and eat with him.”
Nell said, more as if she were willing to give Bill’s point consideration, than as if she actually believed and knew it, “I guess he is your father.”
“Ajax, my lord, the doom given by fate is the
Hardest of evils among men,
I was the daughter of a free born sire,
Wealthy and mithy if any Phrygian was; and
Now I am a slave, for the gods ordained, I suppose,
And chiefly your strong hand.
And so since wedlock has made me yours, I wish you well.
I entreat you by the Zeus of our hearth,
By the marriage that has made us one,
Do not doom me to the cruel rumor of your foes, do not
Abandon me to the hands of a stranger!”
“I like that,” Fenn said.
“Are taking a part?” Melanie asked him.
“I’m not a very Ajaxy person,” he said, rising from the stool.
“This is our first play that’s going out on the road. We’re going to Chicago with this! I don’t wanna screw this shit up.”
“And you got me?” Melanie said.
“When I got you, I got the best there is,” Fenn said. “So enough of that false modesty bullshit. And where’s Tara?”
“Tara’s here,” she shouted from above. “Where I always am, fixing these lights. We’re going to the Arie next week, and those lights have just about the same set up. Hold on—step back.”
Fenn and Melanie did, and then Tara vaulted from the ceiling and Melanie gasped.
“That was very…” Melanie began, as Tara rose up, flexing her knees.
“That was very stupid,” Fenn said, mercilessly. “I bet your knees feel that shit, don’t they? Not young like you used to be.”
“I’m young enough,” she told him.
Fenn shrugged. “Well, now that we’ve found you, I’m gone.”
“Gone?” they both said.
“I have business to attend to,” he told them, exiting stage left.
When she was sure Fenn was gone, Melanie told Tara: “I believe that he just wanted us to be alone.”
“Fenn thinks it’s his job to supervise my love life,” Tara said.
“Well, I guess I’m your love life then. I was wondering. I mean, I was going to ask how you wanted to do this? I didn’t know if I should call. Or if I should call right away. Or what. I didn’t want to be one of those girls who brings a suitcase on the second date.”
“Well, a phone call isn’t even close to a suitcase. What if,” Tara said, “I call you?”
“Is my number still in your cleavage?”
“I haven’t taken it out since you put it there.”
“Well, all right then,” Melanie winked. She swatted Tara’s ass and bounced off stage, heading up the aisle to the entrance of the theatre.
“She’s something else, isn’t she?” Fenn shouted from the dark.
Tara jumped.
“Don’t you have anything else better to do?” she said.
“No,” Fenn confessed. “Not really.”
On play nights, the lobby of the playhouse on Demming Street was brightly lit and filled with people. But today, and all business days, it was filled with the grey yellow light of winter and out of the windows Melanie could see the cars passing. The main door opened and Melanie went to help Todd.
“You brought all your equipment with you?”
“Some of it,” Todd said. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m doing a play here. You thought I just lived at Temple Beth Shan.”
Todd laughed. “I guess I did.”
“And what are you doing here?” she said to Todd.
“I’m here to get some work done and visit with the boyfriend.”
Melanie cocked her head. “Do I know him?”
“If you’re doing a play you should. Fenn Houghton?”
“Oh, my… shit! Get out.”
“So you know all my friends, I guess,” Todd said. “Brian and Tom and Tara.”
“I know Tara.”
“What’s that look in your eye?” Todd smirked, and readjusted his equipment bag.
“There is no look in my eye!”
“Liar! Wench and liar.”
Melanie frowned and stomped her foot.
“All right, already. I may be… I might possibly be. Seeing Tara.”
“Oh, my God!”
“You sound so gay!”
“No,” Todd said. “This is when I sound gay. Oh, oh, shit, oh God baby, don’t ever stop fucking me, uh, shit, uh!”
Todd came out of his sex imitation. “That’s when I sound gay, and it’s a pretty fucking nice sound.”
“You’re impossible.”
“Maybe. But if you play your cards right, you and Tara’ll be sounding like that soon, too.”
Melanie looked at him.
“Unless you’re already sounding like that. I bet you dykes don’t mess around.”
Melanie punched him in the shoulder and readjusted her purse, pushing the glass door open to leave.
“You’re a mess, Meradan. The only one messing around is you.”
NEW AGAIN CONTINUED
When Kevin Reardon opened the door to his hotel room, he looked slightly disconcerted to see his daughter.
“Dena?”
“You rang, right?” she said, coming in. “Oh, Dad,” she said, surveying the hotel room, “this is what’s become of you?”
“It’s good to see you, Dena.”
“Thanks.”
She sat on the bed.
“I don’t know why I’m here,” Dena continued. “I don’t. I don’t know what you could say to me.”
“I just wanted to see you, sweetheart,” Kevin said weakly. “And… you’re beautiful. You really are.”
“Did you know I lost my virginity?” Dena said, shrugging. “I can’t really share that with Mom. But I can tell you.”
Kevin looked at her strangely.
“Mom may have told you, if you all talk, that I’m not with Brendan anymore. I’m with Milo. Great guy, wonderful. His mother… she’s not so wonderful, but…”
“Dena,” Kevin said. “Dena.”
“Oh, right. The sex bit. It was Brendan. It was Brendan Miller. He asked if he could start having sex with me, and I—foolishly—said yes. Three weeks into it he told me he was really gay and he was in love with someone else and the only reason we were doing it was because he thought it would make him straight. Oh, but wait,” she said in the same level voice, “there’s more. Because he was screwing—excuse me—sleeping with this boy long before he ever asked to go to bed with me. I’m not… angry anymore. I’m certainly not asking you to go after him because… you’re one to talk, right? But I wondered was it like that for you? Was that why you went to Mom? And, was it because of you that I was so stupid I couldn’t see Bren doing the same thing to me?”
Kevin stood over the bed, looking at his daughter, somewhat stupidly. She thought He really is stupid. He really is… what is he?
She didn’t know what she expected him to say, but what he said was:
“This is not a talk for here. Or now. I’ll take you out tomorrow night. At about seven?”
“Uh…”
“Seven, I’ll come by the house. Stay outside of it for your mother’s sake, and you’ll just meet me, okay?”
“Are you throwing me out?” Dena stood up.
“Yeah,” Kevin said, sadly, sounding a little distracted. “For now. Yes. Yeah.”
Dena blinked and said, “Fine. Dad. Fine.”
“Tomorrow night?”
Dena didn’t completely understand why she nodded yes, as she left.”
Kevin Reardon’s head was spinning. It had already been spinning before Dena came, but now she set it twirling even more. He sat down on the edge of the bed, put his head as far between his legs as he could. This was a mess. His whole life had been one disorganized mess, and the more he tried to make it—
There was a knock at the door and Kevin got up to answer it. He opened it.
The man came in swiftly and Kevin shut the door behind him. The other man took off his ball cap and Kevin said, appreciatively: “You look just like your picture.”
“And you look better than yours,” Keith McDonald told him.
Suddenly, feeling strength instead of the usual weakness, Kevin pulled Keith’s face to him and kissed him hard on the mouth, instantly stirred by the firmness with which Keith returned his attention. Their hands were on each other’s hips, undoing each other’s belts, and Kevin felt himself thick and hard in his underwear.
“Let’s not waste any time,” he muttered kissing all over Keith’s face and neck, “Let’s not waste any fucking time at all.”
“What’s this?” James tilted Noah’s chin up. “None of that sadness. I’ll be back.
“Besides, I’ve got to visit my folks sooner or later.”
“You could visit them and come back here.”
“Are you serious?”
“I was,” Noah said. “A little.”
“I have a home.”
“You haven’t talked about it,” Noah said. “You’ve been here for a couple of weeks, so what’s another week?”
“Well, I would have to find someplace to live. It’s too many people in that apartment anyway. Besides, your Mom’s house has been empty a long time. I’m going there for a few days.”
“Well, let me come with you.”
James looked at him.
“Let me come with you.”
James opened his mouth.
“We’ve never even had the talk,” Noah said.
“The—?”
“About you, about me. I just decided that you were for me, and we should be together. No matter how we’re together,” Noah told him. “And… I have to be with you. All right?”
“Well, all right,” James said. He touched Noah’s hair. “I don’t really want to be without you, either.”
Dena sat in the kitchen looking at Milo’s uncle in his ski jacket and the turban of a knit hat.
“Where are you all going anyway?” Milo asked.
“Your uncle,” Nell said, zipping and rezipping her coat, “is going to teach me to ski.”
“Not real skiing,” Bill explained. “As real as we can get. The one good thing about this crappy weather is the dunes are great for Midwestern snowbunnies.”
Nell told them: “You guys are perfectly free to come and watch me make a fool out of myself.”
“You won’t make a fool out of yourself,” Bill told her, turning around. Dena paid attention to the look Bill gave her mother. “Besides, we’re an hour away, and you’re dressing like we’re about to hit the slopes as soon as we get out the door.”
“It feels like you’re hitting the slopes as soon as you walk out the door,” Milo said, hugging himself. Talking about it made him cold already.
“Maybe I will go,” Dena said, standing up.
“It’s not like you have anything better to do,” Nell said.
“Actually…” Milo began. Nell looked at him.
“Milo!” Dena said.
“Milo?” said Nell. “Actually what?”
Milo looked at Dena and Dena looked at her mother.
“Dad wanted me to go to dinner with him tonight. He’s coming at seven or eight. Not inside this house—” Dena added quickly. “He said he’d wait outside. But I could cancel.”
“We might be back by seven,” Nell suggested.
Bill shook his head. “We’ll still be on the road, probably.”
“I would gladly cancel,” Dena said.
“He’s your father,” Bill said.
Dena was about to tell Bill Affren that he didn’t know her father, but she realized that she didn’t, either. She sighed. Dena was surprised to hear her mother sigh as well.
“All right, already,” Dena said. “I’ll go and eat with him.”
Nell said, more as if she were willing to give Bill’s point consideration, than as if she actually believed and knew it, “I guess he is your father.”
“Ajax, my lord, the doom given by fate is the
Hardest of evils among men,
I was the daughter of a free born sire,
Wealthy and mithy if any Phrygian was; and
Now I am a slave, for the gods ordained, I suppose,
And chiefly your strong hand.
And so since wedlock has made me yours, I wish you well.
I entreat you by the Zeus of our hearth,
By the marriage that has made us one,
Do not doom me to the cruel rumor of your foes, do not
Abandon me to the hands of a stranger!”
“I like that,” Fenn said.
“Are taking a part?” Melanie asked him.
“I’m not a very Ajaxy person,” he said, rising from the stool.
“This is our first play that’s going out on the road. We’re going to Chicago with this! I don’t wanna screw this shit up.”
“And you got me?” Melanie said.
“When I got you, I got the best there is,” Fenn said. “So enough of that false modesty bullshit. And where’s Tara?”
“Tara’s here,” she shouted from above. “Where I always am, fixing these lights. We’re going to the Arie next week, and those lights have just about the same set up. Hold on—step back.”
Fenn and Melanie did, and then Tara vaulted from the ceiling and Melanie gasped.
“That was very…” Melanie began, as Tara rose up, flexing her knees.
“That was very stupid,” Fenn said, mercilessly. “I bet your knees feel that shit, don’t they? Not young like you used to be.”
“I’m young enough,” she told him.
Fenn shrugged. “Well, now that we’ve found you, I’m gone.”
“Gone?” they both said.
“I have business to attend to,” he told them, exiting stage left.
When she was sure Fenn was gone, Melanie told Tara: “I believe that he just wanted us to be alone.”
“Fenn thinks it’s his job to supervise my love life,” Tara said.
“Well, I guess I’m your love life then. I was wondering. I mean, I was going to ask how you wanted to do this? I didn’t know if I should call. Or if I should call right away. Or what. I didn’t want to be one of those girls who brings a suitcase on the second date.”
“Well, a phone call isn’t even close to a suitcase. What if,” Tara said, “I call you?”
“Is my number still in your cleavage?”
“I haven’t taken it out since you put it there.”
“Well, all right then,” Melanie winked. She swatted Tara’s ass and bounced off stage, heading up the aisle to the entrance of the theatre.
“She’s something else, isn’t she?” Fenn shouted from the dark.
Tara jumped.
“Don’t you have anything else better to do?” she said.
“No,” Fenn confessed. “Not really.”
On play nights, the lobby of the playhouse on Demming Street was brightly lit and filled with people. But today, and all business days, it was filled with the grey yellow light of winter and out of the windows Melanie could see the cars passing. The main door opened and Melanie went to help Todd.
“You brought all your equipment with you?”
“Some of it,” Todd said. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m doing a play here. You thought I just lived at Temple Beth Shan.”
Todd laughed. “I guess I did.”
“And what are you doing here?” she said to Todd.
“I’m here to get some work done and visit with the boyfriend.”
Melanie cocked her head. “Do I know him?”
“If you’re doing a play you should. Fenn Houghton?”
“Oh, my… shit! Get out.”
“So you know all my friends, I guess,” Todd said. “Brian and Tom and Tara.”
“I know Tara.”
“What’s that look in your eye?” Todd smirked, and readjusted his equipment bag.
“There is no look in my eye!”
“Liar! Wench and liar.”
Melanie frowned and stomped her foot.
“All right, already. I may be… I might possibly be. Seeing Tara.”
“Oh, my God!”
“You sound so gay!”
“No,” Todd said. “This is when I sound gay. Oh, oh, shit, oh God baby, don’t ever stop fucking me, uh, shit, uh!”
Todd came out of his sex imitation. “That’s when I sound gay, and it’s a pretty fucking nice sound.”
“You’re impossible.”
“Maybe. But if you play your cards right, you and Tara’ll be sounding like that soon, too.”
Melanie looked at him.
“Unless you’re already sounding like that. I bet you dykes don’t mess around.”
Melanie punched him in the shoulder and readjusted her purse, pushing the glass door open to leave.
“You’re a mess, Meradan. The only one messing around is you.”
CharmedFan28
JUB Addict
You are right Kevin does lack principles but he is still an interesting character. Sounds like Tara and Melanie might become a couple which is cool. I am liking where this story is going! Keep up the good work and I look forward to more!
ChrisGibson
JUB Addict
I'm glad you had fun. Kevin is a very interesting character, awful but interesting. Poor Dena with such a dad! There'll be more tomorrow night, and I'm thinking of putting up the beginning of a new short story.
ChrisGibson
JUB Addict
OLD IS
NEW AGAIN CONCLUDED
“So how do you know Melanie Fromm?”
“She did As You Like It for me a few years back,” Fenn said. “And she did one of Lee’s plays.”
“Me and Fenn first saw her out in Chicago,” Tom expanded. “We asked her to do one of our first plays. Neither one of us knew she lived around here.
“I mean, we asked her, she didn’t even have to audition.”
“The bitch is tough,” Lee mused.
“That is high praise coming from Lee,” Tom gave his lover a half smile.
“And how do you know her?” Fenn asked.
“From synagogue,” Todd said. “When I went with Will and Layla. They had a sign on the bulletin board for this group called NASIM. It’s sort of a para church thing for gay Jews. So I took a chance and went. I still go.”
“I didn’t know she was gay,” Tom said. “I mean, not right away.”
“Or Jewish for that matter,” Fenn said. “Though I should have. Fromm…” he murmured. “Well, Tara, you just learned a little bit more about your woman.”
“She’s not my woman yet.”
“Well, if she’s not your woman, whose woman is she?”
“You really should stop,” Tara told him.
“You know I can’t. You know I’m unstoppable.”
“Is she really religious?” Tara asked. “I don’t know anything about being Jewish.”
“She’s…” Todd thought. “I guess you’d say she’s spiritual. She doesn’t really do synagogue. Unless it’s a high holy day. But I think she’s really out of this world. You’re really lucky, Tara.”
“That’s right,” Fenn said. “So don’t screw it up.”
“I’m gon screw you up—”
“Let’s change the subject,” Lee cut it.
“Excellent idea,” Todd said. “What should we walk about?”
Fenn suggested: “We could talk about how your sister’s hanging out with a married man.”
The house Dena had spent her whole life in, the house her Grandfather Meradan had bought for her grandmother when she had come from Scotland to marry him, never seemed so large and so strangely threatening as it did now, in the January night, with no one in it but her. She was supposed to be gone now. She had become impatient and angry with Kevin the moment it was a minute past the time he was supposed to arrive.
Now she had been waiting twenty minutes, and before she went down the hall to the kitchen and took her mother’s car keys out of the little metal basket, a brief thought went through her head. That she should call first, that rushing in was just creating drama. She wanted some sort of drama. She wanted to be pissed off.
It was Mr. Davis who opened the door when Will knocked.
“Come on in, Will.”
Closing the door, Simon shouted for Adele.
“It must look like I live here,” Simon said. “But I assure you I don’t. In fact, I am just getting ready to go.”
As Will nodded, somewhat cluelessly. Adele came down the hallway and said, “Will, it’s good to see you. Layla’s not here, but she has a message for you.”
Adele stopped. Will thought it must have been written down, but Adele said, “It’s a little embarrassing, actually. What she said is, ‘I’m not here. And you know why.’”
Will blinked, and shook his head.
“But… I don’t know why.”
“I’m sorry, Will,” Adele said, truly looking sorry. “I don’t know what else to tell you.”
This was the same strip of Meridian they’d been on a year ago when Dena did not want to admit that there was no way Brendan would work out. There was no Milo back then, at least not in her world. To her right, she’d just passed the hotel where Brendan had followed Hoot to, and now up this road, past a McDonalds, and a Burger King, a closed hardware store, a street light, an incredibly misplaced Catholic church, was the place where her father was staying,
“I could have fucking been skiing today.”
She didn’t want to ski. She’d never wanted to ski.
“I could have gone to the dunes.”
Balefully she drove round and around the parking lot in circles, looking for a space. When she got out of the car a part of her was dully aware that she had not parked as close as she could, that there were other spaces which were not too tight, really, but that this prolonged cold, the wind on her face, the patches of dangerous ice under her feet, fed her anger. They fed her anger as she found the steel and concrete stair and headed up to her father’s room.
Knocking could prepare him. Knocking could save him. It could save her. But she didn’t want to be saved. She wanted to be angry. She wanted to be mad. She wanted to be pissed off.
So Dena Reardon was strangely gratified when she flung open the door and the picture of Kevin Reardon, face tilted up in bliss, legs wrapped about Keith McDonald who was fucking him, gave way to panic, screaming and swearing.
Dena lifted up a finger.
“You missed dinner,” was all she said.
“I’ll see you later.”
And then she added, to the priest, “And I’ll see you at five o’clock Mass.”
So terrified they forgot to close the door immediately, they heard her depart down the wraparound, and then saw Dena go to her car, and at last, they heard the car starting.
Keith McDonald shut the motel door and, forgetting he was naked, wondered what the hell he would do.
NEW AGAIN CONCLUDED
“So how do you know Melanie Fromm?”
“She did As You Like It for me a few years back,” Fenn said. “And she did one of Lee’s plays.”
“Me and Fenn first saw her out in Chicago,” Tom expanded. “We asked her to do one of our first plays. Neither one of us knew she lived around here.
“I mean, we asked her, she didn’t even have to audition.”
“The bitch is tough,” Lee mused.
“That is high praise coming from Lee,” Tom gave his lover a half smile.
“And how do you know her?” Fenn asked.
“From synagogue,” Todd said. “When I went with Will and Layla. They had a sign on the bulletin board for this group called NASIM. It’s sort of a para church thing for gay Jews. So I took a chance and went. I still go.”
“I didn’t know she was gay,” Tom said. “I mean, not right away.”
“Or Jewish for that matter,” Fenn said. “Though I should have. Fromm…” he murmured. “Well, Tara, you just learned a little bit more about your woman.”
“She’s not my woman yet.”
“Well, if she’s not your woman, whose woman is she?”
“You really should stop,” Tara told him.
“You know I can’t. You know I’m unstoppable.”
“Is she really religious?” Tara asked. “I don’t know anything about being Jewish.”
“She’s…” Todd thought. “I guess you’d say she’s spiritual. She doesn’t really do synagogue. Unless it’s a high holy day. But I think she’s really out of this world. You’re really lucky, Tara.”
“That’s right,” Fenn said. “So don’t screw it up.”
“I’m gon screw you up—”
“Let’s change the subject,” Lee cut it.
“Excellent idea,” Todd said. “What should we walk about?”
Fenn suggested: “We could talk about how your sister’s hanging out with a married man.”
The house Dena had spent her whole life in, the house her Grandfather Meradan had bought for her grandmother when she had come from Scotland to marry him, never seemed so large and so strangely threatening as it did now, in the January night, with no one in it but her. She was supposed to be gone now. She had become impatient and angry with Kevin the moment it was a minute past the time he was supposed to arrive.
Now she had been waiting twenty minutes, and before she went down the hall to the kitchen and took her mother’s car keys out of the little metal basket, a brief thought went through her head. That she should call first, that rushing in was just creating drama. She wanted some sort of drama. She wanted to be pissed off.
It was Mr. Davis who opened the door when Will knocked.
“Come on in, Will.”
Closing the door, Simon shouted for Adele.
“It must look like I live here,” Simon said. “But I assure you I don’t. In fact, I am just getting ready to go.”
As Will nodded, somewhat cluelessly. Adele came down the hallway and said, “Will, it’s good to see you. Layla’s not here, but she has a message for you.”
Adele stopped. Will thought it must have been written down, but Adele said, “It’s a little embarrassing, actually. What she said is, ‘I’m not here. And you know why.’”
Will blinked, and shook his head.
“But… I don’t know why.”
“I’m sorry, Will,” Adele said, truly looking sorry. “I don’t know what else to tell you.”
This was the same strip of Meridian they’d been on a year ago when Dena did not want to admit that there was no way Brendan would work out. There was no Milo back then, at least not in her world. To her right, she’d just passed the hotel where Brendan had followed Hoot to, and now up this road, past a McDonalds, and a Burger King, a closed hardware store, a street light, an incredibly misplaced Catholic church, was the place where her father was staying,
“I could have fucking been skiing today.”
She didn’t want to ski. She’d never wanted to ski.
“I could have gone to the dunes.”
Balefully she drove round and around the parking lot in circles, looking for a space. When she got out of the car a part of her was dully aware that she had not parked as close as she could, that there were other spaces which were not too tight, really, but that this prolonged cold, the wind on her face, the patches of dangerous ice under her feet, fed her anger. They fed her anger as she found the steel and concrete stair and headed up to her father’s room.
Knocking could prepare him. Knocking could save him. It could save her. But she didn’t want to be saved. She wanted to be angry. She wanted to be mad. She wanted to be pissed off.
So Dena Reardon was strangely gratified when she flung open the door and the picture of Kevin Reardon, face tilted up in bliss, legs wrapped about Keith McDonald who was fucking him, gave way to panic, screaming and swearing.
Dena lifted up a finger.
“You missed dinner,” was all she said.
“I’ll see you later.”
And then she added, to the priest, “And I’ll see you at five o’clock Mass.”
So terrified they forgot to close the door immediately, they heard her depart down the wraparound, and then saw Dena go to her car, and at last, they heard the car starting.
Keith McDonald shut the motel door and, forgetting he was naked, wondered what the hell he would do.
CharmedFan28
JUB Addict
Great conclusion to the chapter! Dena has a right to be pissed, her Dad is flakey. I can see big drama coming soon. I wonder whats wrong with Layla? I guess I will have to wait and see. Good writing and I look forward to more!
ChrisGibson
JUB Addict
Kevin is beyond flakey. I was taking a quick survey of the characters in the book, and there is a large number of absentee/shitty fathers. This is the first time, except for Leroy, we've seen one up close. It seems Dena is learning to live with the disappointment of Kevin. As for Layla, we will see. More Rossford on Monday.
ChrisGibson
JUB Addict
CHAPTER
FOUR
CHANGING
IDEAS
Will stumbled into Dena and Milo on his way down the hall.
“You all right?” Milo put a steadying hand on his shoulder.
“No. I mean yes. I mean… Have you seen Layla? She was supposed to be in Latin class.”
“Well, she might have skipped,” Dena said. “Remember the year she wrote Mr. Shulte and told him she couldn’t be in biology because she was having—and I quote—her time of the month?”
Will said, “Actually no, I don’t.”
“Layla did that?” Milo said. Then, “Of course she did.”
“Well…” Will began, “I gotta find her. Bye guys.”
Will went down the hall as if, should he travel long enough, eventually he would summon her. He summoned Brendan who was coming out of his advanced chemistry class, blond hair sticking up and his goggles hanging from his neck.
“You’re looking for Layla,” he stated.
“How’d you know?”
Brendan shrugged.
“She went to campus,” he told Will. “You know, Loretto. She said she’ll be back for lunch.”
She was there at lunch, like Brendan said. Layla Lawden came in from the other end of the cafeteria, nearing her friends.
Will got up and came toward her.
“Layla, we need to talk.”
“You’re right,” she said. “I guess we should talk right now. No point in being suspenseful.”
“What are you talking about?” Will said. “I went to your house, and your mom said you weren’t there, and I should know why. And I don’t know why.”
Layla gave him a look that made him wonder what his friends behind him were looking like. Were they cringing too? Layla took a breath.
“You told me that your education was the most important thing and that if we survived we survived. If it was meant to be it would be. I can’t say you aren’t right, William Klasko, but I think you worked too hard to get me, to suddenly decide that what we have is that light of a thing.”
“I didn’t mean it that way, Layla—”
“There isn’t any other way to mean it, Will. I get it. I understand it.”
“I’m just saying romance… I mean, we’ve got to go to school. We’ve got to build a life, and then that’s where you build the romance from. If we think that… we’re the most important thing, us staying together… we’ll get it all wrong.”
Will had stopped talking, because he could see that Layla was becoming more and more upset, that quiet upset, and Layla said:
“If that’s the way you feel, Will, then you are welcome to go through life like that. But you won’t go through it with me.”
She walked past him.
“And by the way,” she added, “You’ve got it all wrong already.”
Kevin Bills, Rick Jarred, Ryan Boss and Aidan Michealson were sitting at lunch when the topic of conversation turned to Layla Lawden.
“I heard she’s single again.”
“She’s fucking hot.”
“But she was with Will for the last year.”
“That’s a waste,” Ryan said. “Something that hot should not be strapped to a Klasko.”
“Well,” Aidan pointed out, “she isn’t.”
“Not that there’s anything wrong with Klasko…”
“No.”
“But Layla… Well…”
“Layla’s Layla.”
“She’s one classy girl.”
“So are you going to make a run for her?” Mark said. “Did you call dibs on her, or is it open season?”
Rick Jarred, who was bigger than the rest of them, and sporting an attempt at a goatee said, “I don’t know that she would appreciate anyone calling dibs on her.”
There were some girls who inspired conversations like, “I’d have a piece of that.” Or, “I’d hit that shit” or, “I’d like to take a little ride on that.” Layla Renae Lawden was not one of them.
“I’ll take first dibs,” Mark said.
“Sit down,” Aidan told him. “She’s already had one white boy. Let her try something else.”
Mark looked at him.
“I’m Puerto Rican,” Aidan said.
“Well,” said Jarred, “if we can’t tell, neither can she.”
“I,” Mark said, taking his straw out of his juice box and twirling it, “am going to make a valiant try for the hand of the lovely Layla.”
Aidan shook his head and stabbed a French fry with a spork.
“Not talking like that, you won’t.”
Layla shut her locker and stifled a scream.
“Did I startle you?”
“Yes, Mark,” she said to the boy who was smiling foolishly down at her. “A little bit.”
“Well, it’s just that…. Do you like basketball?”
“I guess,” Layla said, distractedly, hooking her bag over her shoulder. Then, “What?”
“I really like basketball,” Mark said. “And I wanted to know if you liked it too.”
“I’m really…. Okay,” Layla said, “with basketball.”
“That’s great,” Mark smiled foolishly. “That is awesome.”
“All right,” Layla said, looking at him. “Well, I’ve… gotta get to class. You have a good day.”
“You too,” Mark said, still wearing the foolish grin.
When Layla entered the classroom with Dena, her best friend said, “You can’t just not look at Will. I mean, you have to be civil.”
“Well, I can’t smile at him either. I broke up with him. Because I disapprove of him, and—ugh.” Layla rose from her seat and looked down at a smashed box of chocolates.
“What the—?”
Dena picked up the box, opened it and said, “Here. You got a note. I’m going to get a caramel cluster.”
Layla read it: “Sweets for the sweets.”
“Yeah, that’s some original shit, isn’t it,” Dena muttered.
“Well,” she passed the box back to her friend, “Seems like the word is out. You’re on the market again.”
FOUR
CHANGING
IDEAS
Will stumbled into Dena and Milo on his way down the hall.
“You all right?” Milo put a steadying hand on his shoulder.
“No. I mean yes. I mean… Have you seen Layla? She was supposed to be in Latin class.”
“Well, she might have skipped,” Dena said. “Remember the year she wrote Mr. Shulte and told him she couldn’t be in biology because she was having—and I quote—her time of the month?”
Will said, “Actually no, I don’t.”
“Layla did that?” Milo said. Then, “Of course she did.”
“Well…” Will began, “I gotta find her. Bye guys.”
Will went down the hall as if, should he travel long enough, eventually he would summon her. He summoned Brendan who was coming out of his advanced chemistry class, blond hair sticking up and his goggles hanging from his neck.
“You’re looking for Layla,” he stated.
“How’d you know?”
Brendan shrugged.
“She went to campus,” he told Will. “You know, Loretto. She said she’ll be back for lunch.”
She was there at lunch, like Brendan said. Layla Lawden came in from the other end of the cafeteria, nearing her friends.
Will got up and came toward her.
“Layla, we need to talk.”
“You’re right,” she said. “I guess we should talk right now. No point in being suspenseful.”
“What are you talking about?” Will said. “I went to your house, and your mom said you weren’t there, and I should know why. And I don’t know why.”
Layla gave him a look that made him wonder what his friends behind him were looking like. Were they cringing too? Layla took a breath.
“You told me that your education was the most important thing and that if we survived we survived. If it was meant to be it would be. I can’t say you aren’t right, William Klasko, but I think you worked too hard to get me, to suddenly decide that what we have is that light of a thing.”
“I didn’t mean it that way, Layla—”
“There isn’t any other way to mean it, Will. I get it. I understand it.”
“I’m just saying romance… I mean, we’ve got to go to school. We’ve got to build a life, and then that’s where you build the romance from. If we think that… we’re the most important thing, us staying together… we’ll get it all wrong.”
Will had stopped talking, because he could see that Layla was becoming more and more upset, that quiet upset, and Layla said:
“If that’s the way you feel, Will, then you are welcome to go through life like that. But you won’t go through it with me.”
She walked past him.
“And by the way,” she added, “You’ve got it all wrong already.”
Kevin Bills, Rick Jarred, Ryan Boss and Aidan Michealson were sitting at lunch when the topic of conversation turned to Layla Lawden.
“I heard she’s single again.”
“She’s fucking hot.”
“But she was with Will for the last year.”
“That’s a waste,” Ryan said. “Something that hot should not be strapped to a Klasko.”
“Well,” Aidan pointed out, “she isn’t.”
“Not that there’s anything wrong with Klasko…”
“No.”
“But Layla… Well…”
“Layla’s Layla.”
“She’s one classy girl.”
“So are you going to make a run for her?” Mark said. “Did you call dibs on her, or is it open season?”
Rick Jarred, who was bigger than the rest of them, and sporting an attempt at a goatee said, “I don’t know that she would appreciate anyone calling dibs on her.”
There were some girls who inspired conversations like, “I’d have a piece of that.” Or, “I’d hit that shit” or, “I’d like to take a little ride on that.” Layla Renae Lawden was not one of them.
“I’ll take first dibs,” Mark said.
“Sit down,” Aidan told him. “She’s already had one white boy. Let her try something else.”
Mark looked at him.
“I’m Puerto Rican,” Aidan said.
“Well,” said Jarred, “if we can’t tell, neither can she.”
“I,” Mark said, taking his straw out of his juice box and twirling it, “am going to make a valiant try for the hand of the lovely Layla.”
Aidan shook his head and stabbed a French fry with a spork.
“Not talking like that, you won’t.”
Layla shut her locker and stifled a scream.
“Did I startle you?”
“Yes, Mark,” she said to the boy who was smiling foolishly down at her. “A little bit.”
“Well, it’s just that…. Do you like basketball?”
“I guess,” Layla said, distractedly, hooking her bag over her shoulder. Then, “What?”
“I really like basketball,” Mark said. “And I wanted to know if you liked it too.”
“I’m really…. Okay,” Layla said, “with basketball.”
“That’s great,” Mark smiled foolishly. “That is awesome.”
“All right,” Layla said, looking at him. “Well, I’ve… gotta get to class. You have a good day.”
“You too,” Mark said, still wearing the foolish grin.
When Layla entered the classroom with Dena, her best friend said, “You can’t just not look at Will. I mean, you have to be civil.”
“Well, I can’t smile at him either. I broke up with him. Because I disapprove of him, and—ugh.” Layla rose from her seat and looked down at a smashed box of chocolates.
“What the—?”
Dena picked up the box, opened it and said, “Here. You got a note. I’m going to get a caramel cluster.”
Layla read it: “Sweets for the sweets.”
“Yeah, that’s some original shit, isn’t it,” Dena muttered.
“Well,” she passed the box back to her friend, “Seems like the word is out. You’re on the market again.”
