Family Affair

by Saxon Bennett

  "Well, hello there. Chase didn't tell me we had company. I'm Gitana."

  "Addison." She offered her hand and firmly shook Gitana's.

  "You're Chase's new friend from that class..."

  "That stupid parenting class. You can say it. You don't go and you're right not to. My mom bailed on me again so we're hanging out until she's done doing what she does."

  "Got it." Gitana pulled up a stool at the kitchen island. "Whew, Saturdays are getting rough."

  "Especially when you're pregnant," Addison said.

  "Yes."

  "You want some lemonade or water or something?" Chase said, getting up.

  "Lemonade would be nice. So what are you two up to?"

  "Well, Addison is also a writer, so we're going through the book reviews learning some dos and don'ts of the trade."

  "And what's credible and what's professional jealousy," Addison said, circling a large passage and pursing her lips.

  "I see," Gitana said.

  Addison's cell phone rang. The tag ring was The Eagles, 'Witchy Woman.' "Excuse me, it's my mother."

  Gitana frowned. "I hope you didn't teach her that."

  Chase held up her hand, "I swear. See, there are others who use the phone in this way. I am not alone."

  "Others? As in aliens from a parallel universe who despise their mothers."

  "Exactly." Chase cleaned up the Popsicle wrappers. She kissed Gitana's cheek. "I missed you. We had the best time and I wished you were there."

  Addison raised her voice. "No, I don't mind spending the rest of the evening with the housekeeper who only speaks Russian. Sure, hold on." She handed the phone to Chase. "She wants to talk to you." Addison scowled and went back to circling offensive phrases in the newspaper.

  "Hi, Peggy. What's up?"

  "I was wondering if you could drop Addison by the house. I'm going to be longer than I thought and Dickhead isn't around as usual."

  Chase assumed Dickhead was Addison's father. "Sure, we're going out to dinner so we'll drop her by." She looked at Addison studying the newspaper.

  "Maybe if she liked, Addison could come to dinner with us," Gitana suggested.

  "Is that all right with you?" Chase asked Addison as she put her hand over the minute hole that she'd always assumed was the mouthpiece.

  "Let me check my appointment book. No, I'm not busy."

  Chase smiled and mouthed the words, "smart-ass."

  Addison smiled sweetly.

  "Peggy, if it's all right with you we could take Addison out to dinner with us and then home. We won't be out late."

  "That would be wonderful. Tell Addison to hit the ATM for dinner money."

  "Addison has a debit card?" Chase said, somewhat taken aback.

  "Of course. Thanks so much, Chase. I really owe you." She clicked off.

  Addison rooted around in her backpack and pulled out a small black leather wallet and extracted her debit card. "It's how I get my allowance. Dinner, however, is not out of my stash. She'll be reimbursing me for this."

  "Gotcha," Chase said. She glanced at Gitana.

  "It's not like you can carry around a lot of cash," Addison said. "I mean, think of it—twenty dollars doesn't buy much. A twelve-pack of Red Bull at Costco is thirty-two dollars, a candy bar is a buck and a quarter, a composition book, three-ninety-nine and not to mention lead refills for these." She picked up her blue mechanical pencil and waved it around.

  Gitana studied Addison's black and white marbled composition book and then the pencil. They were identical to Chase's.

  "I had nothing to do with it. She came that way."

  Addison nodded. "We have similar styles. It's less stressful writing in pencil and mechanical pencils are better because you don't have to sharpen them. I don't, however, twirl mine, or play catch with it."

  "Okay," Gitana said.

  "We'll feed the dogs while you get cleaned up. You could take a leisurely bath."

  "That sounds lovely. Why are the dogs so tired? Both of them are passed out under the juniper tree." Gitana got up slowly. At four months she was really starting to show. Chase gave her a lift up.

  "We played big ball for almost an hour," Chase said. Big ball was a game that used hard rubber balls with a handle so the dogs could pick them up and catch them. Jane was a master dribbler and if she were human would have made a great soccer player as she skirted and out-dodged her opponent, usually Chase, and got the ball to the net that Chase had installed. Annie was the catcher. Chase would throw the ball high and Annie would run and catch it by the handle. Addison had loved the game. They played until Chase begged off saying she was old and had to rest.

  "Can I make their dinner?" Addison asked as Chase pulled out a bowl of boiled chicken, a pack of frozen chopped broccoli and two Russet potatoes.

  "Sure."

  "Why do they eat such weird food?" Addison said, as she poured the broccoli into their bowls.

  "Because I have a dog cookbook and I don't like them to eat meat byproducts and wheat gluten."

  "What exactly are meat byproducts?" Addison asked.

  Chase started the potatoes to boil. "My point exactly, what are meat byproducts?"

  Addison concurred and took the shredded chicken meat. "At least we know what this is."

  * * *

  Lacey watched as Gitana and Addison played skeet ball. "I thought we were going to the Artichoke Cafe."

  "What's wrong with Peter Piper Pizza?" Chase asked. Addison was cheering Gitana on as she attempted to throw painted wooden balls into wooden rings.

  "To Addison, fun is a foreign concept. I don't think sacrificing one evening to the betterment of a child's life is a horrid thing," Chase replied.

  Jasmine came back with a large bowl of vanilla ice cream covered in yellow, blue and red sprinkles. "This place is great!"

  Lacey sighed. "Well, at least someone likes it."

  "Want a bite?" Jasmine asked.

  "It does look good," Lacey said.

  Instead of handing the spoon to Lacey, she fed her the ice cream. Chase watched at they gazed at each other and had something akin to spoon sex. Huh, she thought, maybe Lacey isn't as straight as she thinks. She claimed to be always on the lookout for Mr. Right but did very little to find him. Her best friend was a lesbian and her straight friends had bad partners. This was an interesting combo.

  "I can't believe we ate all that pizza," Lacey said, pointing to the three large and now empty platters that still graced the red and white checkered plastic tablecloth.

  "I'm going to have massive heartburn," Chase said, looking down at the empty platter of pizza.

  "Oh, here, take one of diese," Jasmine said, pulling out a bottle of Zantac. "This is good stuff."

  "Thanks," Chase said, popping two pills with her enormous cup of Coke. She never had this kind of food, but then she had never actually been to this kind of place. Addison broadened her horizons and she felt fortunate.

  Addison and Gitana returned to the table. Breathless, Gitana said, "She won."

  "But you were really close," Addison said. Her eyes were shiny and Chase could tell she was tired.

  "We'd better get you home," Chase said. She glanced outside. Night had finally come. She always found the lingering twilight of summer disturbing. She wanted night to come at a logical hour so she could begin her evening. With day clinging for so long, she ended up going to bed late which in turn screwed up her morning. This rigidity would have to be altered when Bud arrived.

  "I had no idea places like this even existed," Addison said, gazing around in pure delight.

  "Your parents never brought you here for your birthday or something?" Jasmine said.

  Chase glanced pityingly at Jasmine and then looked at Addison. They nodded at each other in joint agreement that Jasmine was a complete airhead.

  "Let me think about it. Uh, no. They wouldn't be caught dead in a place like this."

  "That's why you're a pre-adult instead of a kid. You never got the chance to be one," Lacey said
.

  Chase kicked her under the table.

  "Ouch," Lacey said, bending over to rub her shin.

  "No, she's right. I've tried, but I can't seem to be like the other kids."

  Addison stared morosely at her empty pizza plate. Gitana took her hand. "Addison, you can't turn off your brain just to fit in or be the way the other kids are. You're really smart and you should never want that to go away. Being a kid has more to do with having fun, with laughing and playing. You did that today."

  Addison looked at her. "That's good spin, but I do like the concept."

  Lacey laughed. "I still hold my opinion of you as a pre-adult. But I wouldn't worry about it—look at Chase—she was never a child either. She's been a weirdo since the day she was born and she turned out all right."

  Everyone laughed and had there been proper cutlery at the table instead of plastic knives and forks Chase would have done Lacey bodily harm. Instead, she kicked her other shin.

  "I guess you're right. I could put my jovial pre-adult photo smiling and having fun on my MySpace profile and see what that gets me. There must be others," Addison said.

  "You don't do that do you?" Chase said. She'd heard horrid things about kids and the Internet.

  "No, it's stupid narcissism. I only use the Internet for research purposes."

  "Of course," Chase said, inwardly sighing.

  Chase and Gitana drove Addison home. She lived in a massive house in the Foothills. The Sandia Mountains made up her backyard. Chase pulled up in the circular drive. "Here, let me walk you up so your mom will know you got in safe."

  "Sure." Addison pulled her backpack up on her shoulders and led the way to the front door with its elaborate white stucco portico.

  Addison plugged in the code that opened the front door. A tiny gray-haired woman with a face wrinkled everywhere and the tightest bun Chase had ever seen came rushing into the hallway. She definitely spoke a language Chase had never heard before except on television.

  "That's fine. I'm off to bed," Addison told the woman. The woman nodded. She disappeared as quickly as she appeared. Apparently aware that Chase was confused Addison said, "She told me my mother isn't home yet. It's all right. I'll leave her a note. Thanks for a really nice day."

  "But you understood what she said."

  Addison smiled slyly. "That's our secret."

  "So maybe I could see you next Saturday," Chase said, peering down the hall at a large painting of black and brown mustangs running wild on the prairie.

  "Sure. Could we skip the Hilda-part and go solo?"

  "Good plan but would your mom go for it?"

  "She'd be delighted. After all, in her eyes I'd have a new babysitter but that's not what it is." She set her backpack down and didn't look at Chase like she feared the answer.

  Grown people must have truly abused her sense of trust. "Of course not. I was hoping you considered me a compatriot despite my having exited pre-adulthood."

  "But have you?"

  Chase smiled. "Well, perhaps not. That's why I have you as one of my few mentors. It's an elite club."

  "Do I get one of those double-breasted blazers with the coat of arms on the breast pocket?"

  "I'll get my tailor right on it."

  "You know how your friends hug one another..."

  "Yes?"

  "Could I have one?"

  Chase squatted down thinking she'd had some short friends before but not this short and gave her a hug. Then she pinched her. "Don't let the bedbugs bite."

  Addison squealed. "Uck!"

  "My sentiments exactly. Think of what you want to do next week."

  "Oh, I will," Addison said, looking cunning.

  "Nothing overly dangerous or toxic."

  "We'll see."

  Chase watched Addison walk down the marble-tiled hallway with the gold-trimmed walls and an eighteen-foot ceiling. She looked so small. Chase let herself out.

  When she got in the car, Gitana said, "You're going to make a great father."

  "I hope so. Addison is so like me at her age it's almost freaky." She drove out of the driveway, glancing at the house again.

  "It is. You know, they say you have two chances in your life for making good changes—once when you're a child and the other when you're a parent. Or surrogate parent in Addison's case."

  "What are you saying? That we could work on becoming normal together?" She turned on Tramway and headed toward the freeway. The twinkling house lights seemed homey against the black mass of the Sandia Mountains.

  "Not exactly normal but maybe eccentric without the savagery."

  "How boring."

  Gitana pinched her.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chase hosed off the seldom-used covered patio with a barbeque station that had been built in when they bought the house. It appeared the previous owner liked to entertain. She and Gitana had never used it.

  "You actually invited your fucking mother to your First Annual Labor Day Picnic," Graciela said. She was supposed to be helping Chase. Instead, she was drinking beer and being incredulous at every opportunity.

  "You might refrain from calling her my fucking mother." She hosed off the tile bar that flanked either side of the gas grill. Dust turned to mud and ran off the countertops in great brown streams.

  "That's what you always call her," Graciela retorted.

  Chase pointed to the large sponge and bucket of soapy water. Graciela got the hint and put down her beer. "I'm turning over a new leaf."

  "When will Gitana be here?" Graciela said, as if Gitana's arrival might get her out of chore duty. She made broad swaths with the sponge across the tabletop.

  "She's going to Home Depot for the grill parts before she picks up Jacinda."

  "That's great."

  Chase waited for it to hit.

  "What! You invited that crazy woman?"

  "This is a friends and family affair. Gitana promised that she would make Jacinda leave the holy water at home and as a concession will return your car radiator."

  "Really? Do you know how much a radiator costs?"

  "No, I do not. No one has ever taken mine." Chase surveyed their handiwork. "Now, we have to go pick some flowers."

  "Pick flowers? Like I know how to do that."

  Chase handed her a pair of pruners. "Cut some of every kind and leave a lot of stem." She pointed to the height of cobalt-blue vases that she'd placed in the center of the table.

  "Ugh! I can't believe I volunteered for this."

  "You're working off your bail money if I remember correctly."

  She tromped off. Chase followed her to what was Chase's magnum opus of gardening. It took up a quarter of an acre with a meandering path leading through it and it appealed to her sense of Jane Austenian strolls in the shrubbery. Despite the constraints of the desert climate she had succeeded in growing flowers in the desert. Flowers of all varieties, penstemons, purple sage, bachelor buttons, cosmos, sunflowers of many kinds from mundane to exotic, calla lilies, rudbeckia etc.

  Graciela stopped pouting long enough to look around. "Holy shit, this has come a long way. Are you sure you want to cut them down?" She fingered a white zulu.

  "That's what they're for. I pick from inconspicuous places." She handed Graciela a wicker basket to collect the flowers and said a silent prayer that she wouldn't butcher any of her precious darlings.

  She didn't. Graciela gingerly approached the flowers starting first with the purple asters and then moving to the calendulas, collecting almost with reverence. Boy, this is a new side, Chase thought. Graciela might be an atheist, but she was most certainly a natural pagan. Perhaps, we are all capable of change.

  Gitana returned with the grill parts, her mother and two hot plates of tamales. Graciela sneaked a look in the back of the Hummer where her radiator sat propped up against the wheel well. Jacinda spotted her, clutched her rosary beads and mumbled a prayer. Graciela scowled at her.

  "All I ask is that you two are polite to each other and for the sake of the
other guests do not make a scene," Gitana said.

  Jacinda nodded.

  "For the sake of Bud, I will do this," Graciela said. She grabbed the grill and headed to the veranda.

  Chase kissed her wife, complimented Jacinda on her tamales and then went to help Graciela with the grill. She relaxed and assured herself this was going to be all right. And for a moment it was—until her own mother arrived, followed by Addison and Peggy.