by Camy Tang
She walked out.
It would have been a magnificent exit if she hadn’t tripped over the threshold.
Venus started when Trish opened her apartment door. “Uh…you’re looking better.”
Trish gave a weak smile, making the bags under her eyes more pronounced. “Oh, that’s nice.” She turned away as Venus entered the apartment.
Lex already sat in a chair in the living room. Behind Trish’s back, she pointed and mouthed, loopy.
Well, duh. Two a.m. feedings and all that.
“Shh…” Trish’s mom, Aunty Marian, stood in the living room swaying back and forth, baby Elyssa in her arms. “We’re trying to get her to go to sleep.”
“Trish could use it.”
“I meant the baby.”
Lex chortled. Trish propped her hands on her hips. “What do you mean?”
Venus shrugged. “You look like death reheated in a broken toaster oven.”
“Venus!”
Lex laughed harder. “No, tell us what you really think.”
“I’m only kidding.” On impulse, Venus walked up to Trish and pulled her into a hug. She hadn’t hugged Trish in a long time—she was pleasantly squishier. “You do look tired, but you also look very happy More so than I’ve ever seen you.”
She didn’t understand how that could be, but there it was. Trish—flighty, a little ditzy, always active and outgoing—radiated a tired but peaceful happiness she’d never worn before. It made Venus feel young and inexperienced in comparison, something so different from her normal relationship with her cousin.
Trish smiled. “It’s so different. But it’s also really nice. And hard.”
Lex slouched deeper in her chair. “They never say babies are easy.”
Venus dropped a stack of magazines on the coffee table. “ Vogue, Entertainment Weekly, and InStyle, just as you asked.”
Trish dove for the stack. “You’re done with them?”
“These are last month’s issues. Where’s Jenn?” Translation: Where’s the food? Venus dropped into the couch and looked at Lex. “And why are you here so early?”
Lex scowled at Venus. “I’m not always late.”
“That is such a lie.”
Lex’s scowl transformed into a cheeky grin. “I got the last Diet Coke in the fridge.”
“Ah, man!” Venus leaned back on the couch. “I totally needed one.”
“Shh…” Aunty Marian raised her eyebrows at them.
Venus mimicked a buttoned lip. “Sorry.”
“Why did you need a Coke?” Lex tilted her head and eyed Venus. “You only intake artificial ingredients when you’re stressed.”
“Yeah, what happened with Oomvid?” Trish looked up from f lipping through an issue of Vogue.
Wow, she really needed to get them up to speed. When she mentioned Grandma’s offer, both Lex and Trish gasped.
“What?”
“Oh, come on. Even you can see that’s a big deal.” Lex skewered her with a hard look.
Venus hadn’t really wanted to think much about it, partly because Grandma had been so ruthless to both Lex and Trish in the past, and she felt a bit guilty that she seemed to be getting off easy.
“I wonder why.” Trish stared off into space, a frown between her eyes.
“It’s obvious why. She wants me to get together with Drake, just like she wanted you to get together with what’s-his-name, the creepy artist.”
“Kazuo,” Aunty Marian supplied.
Venus glanced up. She’d almost forgotten she was there. “It’s all part of Grandma’s obsession with more great-grandchildren.”
“Her immortality,” Trish said softly.
They all fell silent. Finally, Venus said, “Well, at least she’s not as threatening as she was with you guys. It’s strange, but I’m not about to complain.”
“Go on, what happened after that?”
Venus continued, then finally told them about Gerry’s idea that day. At the end, both of them exploded into a torrent of giggles.
“Hush, you two.” Aunty Marian jiggled Elyssa, who had started squeaking.
Trish snorted through her hand over her mouth. Lex cackled softly. “You? With kids? I’ve got to see that.”
Venus frowned and crossed her arms, burrowing into the throw pillows. “I’m fine if I can talk to them, but half the time I don’t understand what they’re saying.”
Lex stilled and stared at Venus with furrowed brow. “Does it have to be children? How about teens?”
Venus perked up. “As in, able to string together coherent sentences and discuss something other than Pokémon? Gerry did mention youth.”
“See, that’s perfect.” Trish smiled, although her face still had that gray, weary cast to it. “Does your church have a youth group?”
Venus winced. “It’s kind of large. Like, over one hundred teens.”
Lex choked. “You’re kidding!”
“My church has several thousand members. They have—I don’t know how many ser vices on Sunday.”
“Don’t you want a church where people at least know your name?”
Venus bit her lip. “Well…the church encourages people to get involved in ministry and get into Bible study groups, but I dropped out of the small group I was in. I was too busy at work…”
“You’ll have to make time, now.” Trish crossed her arms and peered down at her.
“My church happens to need help with their youth group.” Lex flashed a wide smile.
Venus and Trish both stared at her. “Really?”
“They need a female staff worker to step up to the plate. They’ve had a plea in the morning bulletin every Sunday for the past few weeks.”
“How many teens?”
“There aren’t more than fifteen or twenty teens gathered together after ser vice each week.”
“Perfect.” Trish leaned down to slap Venus’s knee.
“Trish!” Aunty Marian frowned at her as Elyssa erupted in a wail.
“Oh…” Trish reached for her baby and nestled her against her. Amazingly, Elyssa quieted to fussy grunts. Trish ’s face reminded Venus of a hibiscus flower, rosy with orange blushes, sweet and delicate.
Venus watched her, and something in her melted a little, like Hawaiian shave ice on a hot day. She supposed kids weren’t that bad. “Lex, do you know what they want the youth leaders to do?”
Lex shrugged. “There’s youth group meetings on Saturday nights. They also have Sunday school once a week, but I think that’s a separate teacher.”
“Are you glued to your church now?” Even in a few short days, Trish had perfected the “mommy sway” as she stood there rocking Elyssa.
“Not really. I picked it because they start on time, they’re biblically based, and they’re only a few miles away from my home.”
“And it’s so huge you disappear in the crowd.” Lex stretched her arms. “No chance of that at my church. It’s small enough that everyone knows everyone.”
Venus sighed. Disappearing wasn’t so bad. At her mega-church, she didn’t stand out—she could leave quickly after ser vice and enjoy the rest of her Sunday on her own, a rare time to relax. Still, she’d rather volunteer for a twenty-person youth group than plunge in with a one-hundred-person youth group.
“Fine.” She poked around in her purse and got out her PDA. “Who do I talk to?”
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Subject: Life at Oomvid without you…
Sucks! Still haven’t replaced you, even after a week. Edgar had to take over responsibilities, but not organized enough. Everything behind schedule. Programmers upset the company made you leave, have been slacking on purpose to make Edgar mad.
Asked Edgar innocently about new software he’d mentioned. Told me to go render a forest or something.
How’s working for the D-man? Never told me why don’t like him.
Been working on the Spiderweb. How’s your side coming?
Jaye<
br />
P.S. Emailing from home. Nancy and the baby say hi.
P.P.S. You left a copy of People in the break room.
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Life at Oomvid without you…
Thanks for the update, Jaye. Bananaville is good. The company concept is a good idea, and they have a gold star sponsor list if I can get their technology solidified. Do you remember TrekPaste? Bananaville is about the same size. It’s very different from working at Oomvid.
Drake and I have been getting along. We’re professionals, even if we didn’t part so well. We had different work styles, and we clashed one time too many That’s why I left. Now, he’s learned to give me latitude in my job. Things are going smoothly.
I haven’t worked on the Spiderweb lately Bananaville’s founder has asked us all to do volunteer work with kids in the consumer demographic (stop laughing), so Lex mentioned working with her church’s youth group. I talked to the youth leader yesterday and intend to start at youth group meeting on Saturday night.
Tell Nancy hi. Tell the baby to sleep and let Daddy watch 24.
Dump the People magazine, it’s old.
Venus
Venus walked into Santa Clara Asian Church on Saturday night, and realized she looked like a schoolmarm.
She wasn’t exactly geeky She had on pale linen slacks and a black Ann Taylor top. Her shoes were black Italian leather with solid two-inch heels. Muted elegance, much more casual than her business suits.
However, everything about the teen girls sparkled—hair pieces, shirts, jeans, flip-flops. Sequins or glitter or crystals or rhinestones. As soon as she walked into the social hall, little twinkles from the girls’ ensembles zapped her.
She felt so old.
She also felt gargantuan. Her height and heels made her tower over all but a few of the older high school boys.
The older kids gathered in clusters talking while the junior highers played tag at the back of the social hall. Well, a form of tag that involved somebody’s grungy sneaker being thrown around and picked up by various people. Ewwwww.
A short Asian man approached her. “Are you Venus?”
She recognized the voice from the phone. “David?”
He stuck his hand out and smiled, and he suddenly looked like he was about fourteen years old. “Nice to meet ya.”
“You’re really young to be youth director.” Oh, that was kind of rude.
He laughed. “Shh. I told the church board I was twenty-one.”
Heat whooshed up her face. “Sorry, you probably get that a lot.”
“I grew up in this church. Trust me, I’m used to it by now.” He motioned to a willowy Asian woman who was setting up a portable projector and laptop. “Kat, come here. Venus, this is Kat, my wife.”
Kat smiled and spoke with a soft Chinese accent. “Nice to meet you. Thanks for volunteering.” She sounded just a tad relieved in the way she said that, which cued the creepy stalker music in Venus’s head.
“Do you speak Chinese?”
“Mandarin. You?”
“Cantonese.” Well, no conversing in Chinese with her. Shucks. Venus would have liked to practice on someone other than a waiter.
Kat made a helpless motion with her hand. “Keiko, our other female staff worker, had her hip broken by—I mean, she broke her hip a few weeks ago, and she hasn’t been able to come. We really could use another woman with the high schoolers.”
“You work with junior high?”
Kat nodded.
David waved over two other Asian men—one tall, slender, and about Venus’s age, and the other stockier and about ten years older than herself. “This is Ronald and Herman.”
“Hi.” She shook hands with both.
Ronald seemed quiet, but Herman looked like he had Mexican jumping beans in his pockets. He was in constant movement. “Sorry we can’t stay, we still have to practice for worship tonight.” Herman gestured to the front of the room, with a battered upright piano and a guitar in a stand.
“Sure.” As they moved away, Venus turned to David. “So, what do I do now?”
“We’re almost ready to start. We’re waiting on one more person. It’s kind of weird.” He smiled. “You were the second person to call me this week wanting to work with the youth group.”
The creepy stalker music in her head morphed into Twilight Zone. No way. What were the odds? She had to stop thinking the world revolved around her—
The door to the social hall opened, and Drake walked in.
TWELVE
What are you doing here?” she rounded on him.
He froze, one hand still on the door handle. His eyes bugged out of his head. “Venus?”
“No, Pluto. What are you doing here?”
He closed his eyes, released the door handle, and pressed his fingers to the heavy crease between his brows. “Don’t tell me.”
“Then I won’t. I was here first.”
David’s eyes shone white behind his glasses. “What? You’re not both staying?”
Drake sighed. “Venus—”
“I already work with you. Why would I want to spend more waking hours in your company?”
“Venus, don’t be childish.” He said it in a soft voice.
She started. Her back unkinked as it pulled out to full length, but then the quiet reprimand in his eyes made her feel like a spoiled brat. She didn’t like the nauseating suspicion that he might be right.
David looked thoughtful. “Actually, Drake called me first.”
“We’re both staying.” Drake’s voice held that tone she remembered from meetings, the “I have decreed this so it shall be done forthwith” firmness.
Both David and Kat heaved sighs that came all the way up from their diaphragms. Then David turned toward the room at large. “Everybody, form two lines!”
Well, guess they were starting.
Kat had nipped out, and now came back with a baking dish filled with green Jell-O. Huh?
Venus stalked away from Drake and stood near the wall, shifting her weight from foot to foot. The girls gave her weird looks but didn’t say anything as they passed her to form two lines in the open area at the back of the social hall.
David had set up two chairs at the head of each line. A few older teen girls loitered disdainfully near the back, a few boys had started giving each other noogies, and some of the junior high girls were standing in line and braiding each other’s long, silky hair.
“Venus and Drake, you guys get to sit.” David grinned, a full set of gleaming white teeth.
Not a good sign. Venus sat slowly.
Kat placed the baking dish on the floor in front of her, then ran out of the room again. Oh, it was fruit Jell-O…except those pieces of fruit were extremely round.
“Okay, everybody take off your shoes and socks!”
What? Gross. Venus opened her mouth to protest, but then closed it. Be a team player. She took off her shoes and crossed her ankles.
Kat came back with another baking dish, which she set in front of Drake.
Her stomach cramped. She had a bad feeling about this, but she couldn’t even fathom what was going to happen next. The ceiling could open and a spaceship appear for all she knew.
Kat placed a large empty bowl to the side of each baking dish.
“Okay, guys, it’s Jell-O Toe-jams!”
What? She and Drake whipped their heads toward each other. His face looked as horrified as she felt.
The junior high girl who stood directly behind Venus started to moan. “Ewewewew!”
“Yeah, honey, I feel that way too.”
Venus heard the girl giggle. Well, at least she was amusing.
“Here’s what you do. Each person pick up one marble with your foot, drop it in the bowl, and then run to the back of the line. The next person sits down and does the same thing. First team with all the marbles out wins. Clear as mud?”
Clear as green Jell-O.
“O
kay, ready, set, go!”
Venus squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn’t do this. Put her foot in that? That was a baking dish! She couldn’t put her foot in a baking dish.
She stuck her foot out but couldn’t get herself to lower it into the Jell-O. She peeked at it. Ooooh, it was so disgusting a concept she didn’t know if she wanted to throw up or…throw up.
The kids behind her had unformed their line and crowded around her to watch and yell. “Come on!”
Clunk! Drake stood up and limped to the back of the line, trying not to get his Jell-O foot onto the sturdy carpet too much.
If he could do it, she could too, right? She plunged her toes in.
“Aaack!” That was totally cold! And slimy! Oh my gosh, this was gross! She flapped her hands as she moved her foot around in it.
Unfortunately, years in stilettos had cramped her toes. She couldn’t get them around the slippery marble. Each one she grabbed kept sliding away from her.
“She’s not going to get it.” “Come on!” “Faster!”
The junior high girl behind her cheered, “You can do it!”
Finally! She pulled her foot up—rats! She dropped the marble.
Several boys groaned.
The marble was a tad easier to grab on the carpet. She finally dropped it in the bowl and barely had time to get out of the chair before the junior high girl plopped her tiny little behind down. Venus folded in half to get her shoes out from under the chair—no way was she letting those get dirty.
Ugh, her foot was slimy. She tried to hop-skip toward the back of the line.
Those young kids were tons faster at this Jell-O thing than she had been.
The lines had become big blobs of people, so in leaning against the wall in the back and never moving forward, she managed to skip her next turn. Some older teen girls winced as they saw her sticky bare foot and stayed back there with her in order to remain Jell-O-free.
