Chapter 20 #2
Iris clucked her tongue and shook her head slowly. “Well, then, I guess that makes sense. What other kind of people would Rose Morrison bring into town? Wait till I tell Hazel.” She had quit talking to Jed and started to pace slowly behind her counter.
“Excuse me, madam?” Jed’s voice caused her to jump.
“Oh.” Again with the breast smoothing. “Uh, you were wanting something.” She glanced around at the floor.
It seemed my shoes were more noticeable than I was, because when her gaze fell on them, she jumped again.
I wish I could say it was unusual for people to not notice my presence.
It was, unless Jed was in the room. “Oh goodness.” Her eyes made their way up my body. “Where’d you come from?”
I kept my voice even. “Sorry to startle you, Iris. It’s Brooke. Rose’s boy.”
She licked her lips nervously. “Well, yes. Yes it is.” She laid her hands on the countertop, as if to support her weight. “Now what was it you were wanting?”
“Never mind. Sorry to bother you.” Jed turned around and started toward the door. The sound of my voice stopped him.
“Actually, we were looking for flowers. Maybe some fresh-cut ones or a potted plant or something.” I wasn’t going to have her going around telling everyone that the faggots had come to visit her and hadn’t even bought anything.
She pushed herself off the counter and walked over to a small case hidden behind an artificial tree on the adjacent wall.
Jed motioned toward the door, but I just waved him off.
Iris’s voice had lost any warmth it may have had and was void of her abundance of enthusiasm.
“We have a few roses here in the refrigerator.” She scooted aside some boxes with her foot, revealing a couple of potted plants.
“And here we got some geraniums that aren’t blooming or this snake plant, also called a mother-in-law’s tongue.
Maybe that one’s appropriate for the situation. ”
I wasn’t certain if she meant the snake part or the mother-in-law’s tongue part. Maybe both. I looked over at Jed, who was standing with his arms folded, looking thoroughly offended. “That sounds good.” I looked back at Iris. “We’ll take the snake plant.”
As we walked up to Rose’s door, I was surprised to realize I wasn’t nervous.
I didn’t have any clue what she would try to do or what horrible things she might say, but I realized I didn’t really care.
What could she say that would be any worse than things she had said before?
Even if she went on one of her tirades, the goal was for Jed to meet my mom, and that would definitely qualify as really meeting my mom.
I had gotten in the habit of just walking in the door.
It was never locked, and the porch’s floorboards announced a person’s presence better than any doorbell.
I gave Jed a “brace yourself” glance and walked in.
For once, Rose wasn’t in her horrible green chair.
I stopped suddenly, causing Jed to jab the snake plant into my back as he ran into me.
Jed stepped around me, entering the room. Before I could follow, he rushed back through the door. “Oh! I’m so sorry,” he gushed over his shoulder and retreated swiftly back on the porch.
“What are you…?” Then I saw. I have no idea how I didn’t notice the second I walked in, or why I didn’t even glance there when I noticed she wasn’t at her chair.
Rose sat on the toilet, the bathroom door wide open, and her nightgown hiked above her knees.
She was grinning from ear to ear and gave me a little wave with her withered hand.
Someone who didn’t know her would assume that she was especially slow and didn’t have the capacity for modesty or decorum.
She looked like an innocent child caught in a moment in the bathroom. A scary, emaciated child.
Only someone who knew her would see the intentionality behind her actions and the venom in her smile. I glared at her and realized I was about to flip her off. I joined Jed on the porch before I let her see she had gotten the better of me.
“We should have knocked, Brooke.” Jed’s face was flushed with embarrassment, which was unusual. I was the one who got embarrassed; he was the one to laugh.
“I never knock. She knew we were coming. She knows how to close the door.”
“Still, we should have knocked!”
“She would have said to come in anyway.” I noticed Jed crinkle his face in a disgusted manner and realized we could still hear her. I pulled the front door shut. “Do you want me to take you back to Maudra’s? Or you can just take the car and come get me later.”
Jed let out a breath and wiped his hand down his face. “No. I’m fine. Just not gonna get that picture out of my head for a while.”
“Well, babe, you’d better get used to it. It’s the first of many.”
I waited until I heard the squeak of her chair before I reopened the door. I gave her a warning look as we walked back into the house. As if that would do any good.
“Why, Brooklyn, how nice to see you, dear. I’m so sorry. I musta forgotten to shut the door.” Her slurred voice was soft and sweet. Almost motherly.
I stared at her, doing my best to not say something spiteful. It was one thing for Jed to see my mother’s base behavior; it was another for him to see mine.
After a few moments, her eyes left mine and traveled over to Jed. “Well, aren’t you going to introduce me to your handsome friend?”
Handsome friend? I was expecting “faggot lover” or “pedophile boyfriend” or even “AIDS-infested whore.” I should’ve known she would choose a more audacious tactic.
I couldn’t keep the irritation out of my voice. “Mom, this is Jed, my husband.” I looked to Jed, feeling strange to be using a formal introduction. “Jed, this is my mother, Rose.”
Jed stepped toward her and held out his hand. “I’m so sorry to have just walked in on you. That’s not exactly how I planned on us meeting.”
To my surprise, she put her hand in his, gave what appeared to be a smile, and nodded. She was really going to play this one to the hilt.
Jed held up the plant he had brought. “We wanted to bring you something. Where would you like me to put it?”
Her eyes flitted to me for a split second as if to rebut the we in his statement.
“Oh, thank you, Jed. It’s lovely. Why don’t you put it by the front door or by the TV set so I can see it all the time?
” I was surprised she was able to get through it without gagging.
Jed placed it to the left of the TV, where the light from the window fell across it.
“Oh yes, that’s very nice. Good choice, Jed.
Where did you find that this time of year? ”
Jed walked over and took a seat on the tattered sofa beside Rose’s recliner. “We went to Iris’s shop downtown. She didn’t have very many live plants, but she was able to scrounge up this one.”
Rose’s chuckle had more behind it than it said. “I haven’t seen Iris in years. Haven’t thought of her in a bit. She went through some hard times a little while back. Glad she’s back on her feet. I’ve kept her in my prayers.” That was over the top, even for Mom.
“She said that the plant is also called mother-in-law’s tongue, so she thought it was appropriate.”
My eyes widened as Rose stretched out, somewhat painfully, and patted Jed’s knee. “I guess it is now, isn’t it?” She sat back in her chair and tucked her bad hand under her good arm. “So, from the few details I’ve been able to squeeze from Brooklyn, I hear you’re a teacher of some kind.”
I walked over and sat beside Jed. I never thought it would feel so awkward to sit beside my husband.
“Yes, madam, I am.” He glanced over at me quizzically when he realized I was on the edge of the couch, far away from him.
When I didn’t move, he continued, “I actually have a final interview at Cottey College next week. I did the first two interviews by phone while I was still in Denver, but now that I’m here, they would like to meet me. ”
With her right hand, Rose gracefully tucked a strand of dry, limp hair behind her ear and gazed at him through half-lowered eyelids.
“I’m sure that will guarantee you the job.
Such a handsome man, like yourself, would be a huge benefit for any school.
Especially an all-girl school. They’ll be lining up outside your door trying to get into your class. ”
As soon as I realized it, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t expected this earlier.
Of course. There wouldn’t be a better way to get at me.
She was flirting! Even the incident in the bathroom had been a form of it, however revolting.
Whether she was doing it for the pure enjoyment of attempting to make me angry, or if she really thought there might be a chance she could tempt him into something, I wasn’t sure.
If it was the latter, she was truly delusional of what time and her hard life had done to her appearance.
She turned her attention to me. “Brooklyn, dear, would you be so kind to go get us drinks. Maybe even some of the chicken salad sandwiches Maudra sent over with you yesterday.”
She returned to Jed. “Have you had Maudra’s chicken salad sandwiches? She puts in walnuts and grapes. They’re delicious. I’ve always loved that dear old woman. She’s such a treasure.”
I didn’t hear the rest as I dutifully went into the kitchen and started preparing the sandwiches and sweet tea and 7Up, which had always been Mom’s favorite. Although as a kid, she would have me add cheap vodka.
I was thoroughly creeped out, and yet, at the same time, it felt so familiar that I went through the motions without a second thought.
This had always been the routine, from the time I was old enough to manage without spilling the drinks or making too big of a mess.
Mom would bring home some man. Sometimes from the bar, sometimes called over when a wife was out of town.
I never figured out where she managed to find them, as many of them were not from town.
She would send me into the kitchen to prepare some type of meal or snack while she started her seduction on the couch.
She always started by swiping her radiant hair behind one ear, just like she had with Jed.
Her voice would get soft and husky, other times bright, giggly, and childlike, depending on the man.
By the time I would get back, she would be straddling him on the couch, her hair falling over his face as they kissed.
Sometimes, the man would already have his shirt off, but never more than that.
She would glance at me as I came back in and motion for me to either go outside or to my room, depending on how late it was.
I brought the chicken salad sandwiches and drinks (without vodka) back into the living room, half expecting to see Jed with his shirt off.
Rose wasn’t on top of him, but she had managed to find some reason to leave her recliner and sit beside him on the couch.
Jed’s back was rigid, and his eyes were wide and petrified as I came around them and set the food on the table and sat in Mom’s chair.
“Thank you, dear.” She had chosen the giggly, girly voice for Jed. My skin crawled.
I felt like I should get mad, confront her, get up and storm away, and never come back.
I didn’t.
I didn’t really feel anything, except for grossed-out and ashamed.
I wasn’t mad at her. I didn’t think about how she was trying to seduce my husband.
In fact, it had quit being Jed on the couch.
It was just some man. Another face that might be handsome or hideous, just another face in a long line of faces.
I was once again eight years old, making my mom and her latest Tom a drink. That was all.
They were talking, my mom and Jed. I didn’t know about what.
I’m sure I could hear them, but they were nothing more than a buzz in the background.
I ate my sandwich. Maudra had made them the day before I’d brought them to Rose.
She, Donnie, Jed, and I had eaten them in her sunroom for lunch.
They had been delicious, crunchy and sweet.
I didn’t taste anything now. I counted my chews.
Forty chews for each bite. Slow, deliberate.
I refilled Mom’s glass. I continued biting.
Chewing. Biting. Chewing. I glanced toward my bedroom door.
It was nailed. I’d forgotten. Biting. Chewing.
Maybe she wanted me to go outside today.
Probably. It wasn’t late. Biting. Chewing.
I jumped when Jed touched my arm. He was standing beside me, saying something. I had to use every ounce of my concentration to comprehend his words.
“Brooke. Come on. We need to go.” He forced me to meet his gaze. “We have to get back. We told Maudra we’d only be a couple hours.”
“Huh?” The fog was starting to clear. We hadn’t even seen Maudra this morning. She’d gone over to the nursing home to visit a couple of friends.
Jed’s eyes hardened. “We have to go, babe. We need to get back.”
I still wasn’t completely with him but nodded and got up. I didn’t look at Mom as we left the house, but I heard her whisper a good-bye to Jed.
“It was good to meet you, Ms. Morrison.” His voice sounded strange to me. “Thank you for lunch.”
I didn’t hear her muffled reply as we walked to the car. Jed opened the passenger door, and I got in.
He started the car and took off down the drive. He exhaled violently and shook his body like he was a wet dog. “Brooke, what the fuck was that?”
I stared out the window, watching the gravestones zoom by, dust billowing from the car. “Huh?”
He looked over at me, as if just seeing me. “Babe, are you okay?” He put his hand on my thigh.
I shrank from him. “Please don’t touch me.”