Viewmaster
Page 15
Round two
Around twelve thirty I went to answer the door after I heard the bell ring in a staccato outburst. I looked through the spy hole first and I saw a youngish Asian woman looking right up into the lens as though she was staring from inside the wall of her goldfish bowl. I opened the door. Just a crack.
“Hi, what can I do for you?”
“Are you Roy?”
“Yes,” I said cautiously.
“I’m Maria, Porky’s daughter.” My entrails twisted. I started closing the door. I was going to put a stop to this before it even began.
“Ok,” I said “your brothers have been over here already harassing me and I’m not about to get into it again. Your father is an adult, in case you haven’t noticed. He’s the one responsible for his actions, not me. That’s all I have to say.” She held up her hands in a traffic cop’s gesture and it occurred to me how hot she’d look in uniform.
“No, no, no,” she said, her mouth puckered like the mouths of carolers on old Christmas cards as her head oscillated back and forth rapidly. “Look, I’m not happy that this has happened, I mean it’s destroyed my mother, she’s practically catatonic, but I don’t blame you for it. You didn’t actively try to hook them up did you?” she asked me this with her head thrown back, her eyes downcast to look at me from that angle.
“No, not at all,” I said, suddenly grateful for this opening, determined to seize the opportunity to clear myself. “They met completely by chance over in the Marina. Your dad was there on a job and he saw Celestine on the street and spoke to her because he’d seen her go into the house here. This is going to sound weird but I was crushed when I found out he slept with her. I mean really depressed. I was attracted to her, for a woman her age she’s pretty attractive but then I found some strange notes in her room and I thought she was crazy, so I got scared and backed off but then later I realized she wasn’t and then I regretted pulling away from her because I knew she liked me,” I was rambling and whining but Maria indulged me, I could feel her pity, so I continued, “and then your dad let it be known he’d slept with her, though not in so many words and I felt like an idiot, anyway I’m rambling…”
“That’s ok, I just wanted to be sure that you didn’t have a hand in this, that it was all my father’s doing. You know, I’m not even mad at him really, just sad, for him and my mom. And part of me is just a little bit proud of him. My dad’s not the most adventurous guy, he’s a pretty straight family man. So, I guess I’m partly glad he’s found this little bit of madness. But I want him to stop soon and come home. I’ll talk to my brothers and get them off your back.”
“Could you? That would be great. I’m not angry at them or anything, obviously they’re upset for your mom, but they’re confabulating this whole story of me goading your father into committing adultery and it just isn’t so.”“I know,” she said and smiled wistfully. “We really loved your uncle Arthur you know, when we were kids. He spoiled us rotten. My parents didn’t like him at first, probably because he was gay more than anything, but he won them over because he treated us kids so well; he loved us too.”
“I know he did, I remember him mentioning you,” and thinking this to be too personal, I added, “all of you.”
She fidgeted in her bag and began scribbling. “It’s strange, all this time you’ve lived next door and my brothers and I have never met you. Listen, here’s my number,” she said as she offered me a slip of paper. “Could you call me if you hear from my dad? Or this woman Celestine?”
“Definitely, and say hello to your mom for me?” I said gingerly, not wanting to rub a tender spot. I didn’t divulge that I in fact had aided and abetted her father the adulterer. I didn’t think she would understand the complex socio-economic relationship we had. My plumbing had never known such harmony, now who would work the same wonders with me?
Chapter XII: Innkeepers and Other Parasites