The Other Side of Love (Forever Love) by J. S. Cooper Page A

have water , thanks, Betty.”
    “He’s not. But it’s a special moment. I’m sure he’d like to be the first to feel his babies kick.”
    “Yeah.” Lucky blushed. “About that, I think I was mistaken.” She giggled. “I think I had gas.”
    “Really?” I laughed as a tide of red covered her face.
    “Yeah.” She nodded. “I think it’s too early for the babies to be kicking. I’ll have to check with the doctor. I’m pretty sure what I felt wasn’t a kick.” She groaned. “Do not tell Zane, please. He’ll never let me live this down.”
    “Okay.” I smiled at her and ruffled her hair. “You owe me one.”
    “Now, children, are we going to talk about our documentary? Are all systems go now?” Sidney interrupted us and raised an eyebrow at me. “I’ve told my whole family about this film, and everyone in Chicago is waiting to see my ugly mug on the screen.”
    “You’re not ugly , Sidney,” Lucky protested while Betty rolled her eyes.
    “Don’t play into his act , Lucky.” She sat down next to me and handed me a plate with an assortment of cookies. I took a piece of shortbread and she nodded at me encouragingly to take another piece. “You’re a growing boy, Noah. Another piece of shortbread won’t stay on your hips like it does mine.”
    “What about me?” Sidney frowned and leaned forward to grab a cookie.
    “You don’t need any cookies.” Betty glared at him. “Think of your cholesterol. You know what Dr. Rothstein said.”
    “Dr. Rothstein doesn’t know everything.” Sidney sat back and looked at me with a ‘ Well, this sucks’ face.
    “He knows more than you do.” Betty scolded him. “And he told you to stay away from cookies, cakes, fried dishes —”
    “Yeah, yeah.” He turned towards me. “So, I was thinking that it would be cool if you featured my other wife as well.”
    “Excuse me?” I looked at him in confusion.
    “I thought you could include my other wife in the documentary.”
    “What other wife?” I looked at Betty, who was mumbling under her breath.
    “The one I’m going to marry once I divorce Betty for not allowing me to eat th e things I enjoy.” Sidney laughed, and Betty shook her head at him.
    “I swear , Sidney Johnson, you’re just like a little boy.”
    “Well , what do you expect if you keep mothering me?” He rolled his eyes.
    “I wouldn’t mother you if you acted your age and listened to the doctor.”
    “Doctors don’t always get it right. Didn’t I tell you how they cut off Louis’s right leg instead of his left because the doctor read the chart wrong? Now instead of only having one leg, he has none. And whose fault was that?” Sidney’s voice rose. “Not Louis’s, I’ll tell you that.”
    “Well, it was Louis’s fault that he let his diabetes get so bad that he needed to have any leg cut off.” Betty responded back to him with a stern look, and Lucky and I exchanged a quick smile at their banter. I decided to interrupt the conversation because I had a feeling that it was only going to escalate if I didn’t.
    “So, I was thinking that the focus of the documentary could be about identity.” I paused and realized that everyone was staring at me in interest. “Originally, the focus of this documentary was going to be on race and the civil rights movement, but I’ve been thinking and I want to expand our subject matter. Let’s be honest, our current audience is limited. Race is a sensitive subject, and not everyone can relate. Or, let’s be honest, not everyone wants to relate. I want people to understand that we’re all in this together. We all have issues related to poverty and identity and we’ve all faced them in different ways.”
    “You haven’t really had poverty issues though.” Lucky looked at me seriously. “And I don’t want to dumb down the documentary because it might make people uncomfortable. Let’s be real here, African Americans have had the worst assimilation experience in the United