praying the bag wouldn’t spring a leak on the way. Dinner parties were too much work, she decided. And this one was bordering on science fiction. And a little hand-to-hand combat.
“I gotta go walk my dog,” she said to Cecily, glad to see her back in the kitchen.
“Well, I’m almost ready to go,” Cecily said, and turned on the dishwasher. “Hey, I’m so glad I got to meet you! And thanks for all your help.”
“Sure. Me too. See you when?”
“Tomorrow afternoon. You gonna tell them about the cleanup?”
“What’s the point of that? Aunt Maggie and my mom will probably know anyway when they see the waxed paper, and the rest of them would just say we’re nuts or something.”
“You’re right. And Beth? Just hang on, honey. Time cures a lot of things.”
“Yeah, I know. And some people are just stupid. And mean.”
“That is for true!”
Beth put Lola on her leash and after saying good night to every member of the family, she took her over the dunes to the beach. As it turned out, Lola was quite taken with the beach, which was fortunate because Beth loved to walk.
It was beautiful and clear and the flickering stars overhead were millions upon millions of tiny lights against the vast deep sky, as if she needed anything else to make her feel small. Beth had a case of the blues and she couldn’t shake them. It wasn’t about being stuck on the island for a year. It was what her Aunt Allison said that had triggered an entire emotional episode. Her eyes began to burn with frustration and tears for the second time. It wasn’t that she didn’t like her stepfather. He was a nice enough guy and her mother was crazy about him. Well, as crazy as people their age got over one another. They probably even had sex once in a while, which she tried not to think about because it was completely disgusting to even consider what people their age looked like naked.
Beth was remembering the period of time when she thought her parents were going to get back together. That was the ground zero of her pain. Her father, Tom, was deathly ill from prostate cancer but ambulatory and struggling to maintain a good face. He had broken up with his girlfriend and was spending more time with Beth and Susan. It was Christmas 1999 when he appeared on their doorstep. He had brought a new computer for her mother, which was thoughtful as money was pretty scarce all around. He gave Beth a generous allowance for a shopping spree, which was just completely stunning because she bought her clothes with babysitting money, which was to say not much and not often.
Beth gave them—him really—an album of photographs that she had worked on for months. Every picture was chosen for the sole purpose of making them remember how happy they had been when they were all living together as a family. She thought, no, she knew that when her parents looked at those pictures they would fall in love again, and whatever time her father had left, he would be spending it with them. And she had thought, hoped, and prayed that their love for each other would somehow cure him.
It didn’t work out at all. Her plan that was so carefully thought through, all those novenas and trying to cut a deal with God, it had all failed miserably and completely. Oh, he loved the album; they both did. They even got all choked up when they went through it. But the album, the petitions to God, and what she wanted most was not enough to reunite them. Her efforts were not powerful enough to change anything. In fact, her father went back to his ridiculous girlfriend, betraying her mother and abandoning Beth one more time. He actually preferred that life to having one with them. Did either one of her parents or any of her relatives ever think about how that made her feel?
He was in remission, he announced, and shortly afterward he moved to California with Karen. Things were all right for a while but then he got sick again and died in no time at all. Gone forever. Just like that. Her
“I gotta go walk my dog,” she said to Cecily, glad to see her back in the kitchen.
“Well, I’m almost ready to go,” Cecily said, and turned on the dishwasher. “Hey, I’m so glad I got to meet you! And thanks for all your help.”
“Sure. Me too. See you when?”
“Tomorrow afternoon. You gonna tell them about the cleanup?”
“What’s the point of that? Aunt Maggie and my mom will probably know anyway when they see the waxed paper, and the rest of them would just say we’re nuts or something.”
“You’re right. And Beth? Just hang on, honey. Time cures a lot of things.”
“Yeah, I know. And some people are just stupid. And mean.”
“That is for true!”
Beth put Lola on her leash and after saying good night to every member of the family, she took her over the dunes to the beach. As it turned out, Lola was quite taken with the beach, which was fortunate because Beth loved to walk.
It was beautiful and clear and the flickering stars overhead were millions upon millions of tiny lights against the vast deep sky, as if she needed anything else to make her feel small. Beth had a case of the blues and she couldn’t shake them. It wasn’t about being stuck on the island for a year. It was what her Aunt Allison said that had triggered an entire emotional episode. Her eyes began to burn with frustration and tears for the second time. It wasn’t that she didn’t like her stepfather. He was a nice enough guy and her mother was crazy about him. Well, as crazy as people their age got over one another. They probably even had sex once in a while, which she tried not to think about because it was completely disgusting to even consider what people their age looked like naked.
Beth was remembering the period of time when she thought her parents were going to get back together. That was the ground zero of her pain. Her father, Tom, was deathly ill from prostate cancer but ambulatory and struggling to maintain a good face. He had broken up with his girlfriend and was spending more time with Beth and Susan. It was Christmas 1999 when he appeared on their doorstep. He had brought a new computer for her mother, which was thoughtful as money was pretty scarce all around. He gave Beth a generous allowance for a shopping spree, which was just completely stunning because she bought her clothes with babysitting money, which was to say not much and not often.
Beth gave them—him really—an album of photographs that she had worked on for months. Every picture was chosen for the sole purpose of making them remember how happy they had been when they were all living together as a family. She thought, no, she knew that when her parents looked at those pictures they would fall in love again, and whatever time her father had left, he would be spending it with them. And she had thought, hoped, and prayed that their love for each other would somehow cure him.
It didn’t work out at all. Her plan that was so carefully thought through, all those novenas and trying to cut a deal with God, it had all failed miserably and completely. Oh, he loved the album; they both did. They even got all choked up when they went through it. But the album, the petitions to God, and what she wanted most was not enough to reunite them. Her efforts were not powerful enough to change anything. In fact, her father went back to his ridiculous girlfriend, betraying her mother and abandoning Beth one more time. He actually preferred that life to having one with them. Did either one of her parents or any of her relatives ever think about how that made her feel?
He was in remission, he announced, and shortly afterward he moved to California with Karen. Things were all right for a while but then he got sick again and died in no time at all. Gone forever. Just like that. Her
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