The Jade Emperor

by Suzanne Jenkins

  “Your father used to get thrown out of the house all the time,” Kelly said. “He’d talk back to his father, and they’d tell him to leave.”

  “Yeah, he told me all about it,” Reggie said. “I was so grateful I had a roof over my head because of his stories.”

  They all looked at Reggie.

  “Dad talked to you?” Ken asked, surprised. “How’d that come about?”

  “It wasn’t often. He’d show up at a game. I’d see him out of the corner of my eye, standing at the side of the bleachers.”

  This news shocked Kelly. It appeared Steve had taken her advice and gone to watch Reggie play chess when she was unable to.

  “When the match was over, I’d look for him, but he was usually gone. However, one afternoon, he stuck around. ‘You doing anything now?’ he asked. ‘Let’s get something to drink.’

  “He waited while I got my books, and led me out to the car. I have to confess I was a little scared. I’d never been in the car alone with Dad.”

  “That can’t be true,” Kelly said.

  “I’ve never been in the car alone with him,” Alice said.

  The family sat riveted listening to Reggie talk. Waves of fear hit Kelly, wondering what he’d reveal, the peace she’d just reclaimed in danger of scattering again.

  “Where’d he take you?” Augie asked.

  “We went to Carter’s. I didn’t want to go inside because my hair would smell like grease and fried onions, but I didn’t dare refuse. We sat at the counter and he ordered me a Coke, and a coffee for himself. We were there for maybe a half hour while he told me the story of his father throwing him out of the house. He lived in a friend’s barn over a winter, chopping up the furniture that was stored there to burn for heat. Another time, he stayed in a tree house.”

  “That makes me sad,” Lisa said. “No kid should have to live that way.”

  “Titan isn’t a kid, though,” Ken reminded them. “If he can make the decision to leave his medical practice high and dry, he should figure out a place to live, too.”

  “This brings us back to the beginning,” Augie said. “Dad doesn’t think Titan should be alone, that’s all. I’m sure he’d be upset if he knew we were wasting an entire evening talking about him.”

  Once the issue about where Titan would stay was resolved, the family spent the rest of the time catching up.

  “Oh, I almost forgot,” Kelly said, reaching into an old shopping bag. “Our wedding album. I think it should go to you kids. You can take it apart; take the photos you want from it.”

  Over the protests, she raised her hand. “It’s time I start letting go of all the stuff I’ve collected. This doesn’t mean anything to me anymore. I’m sorry if that hurts you. So take it or I’ll trash it.”

  “I’ll take it,” Ken said, grabbing it out of her hand. “We can circulate it intact. I don’t think it should be taken apart.”

  “I agree,” Lisa said. “I’ll draw up a babysitting schedule for Mom’s wedding album. We’ll each take it for a month. I’m afraid if anyone has it longer than that, they won’t give it up.”

  “So does this mean you’re going to get rid of all your photographs?”

  “Yes, it does,” she said. “Someone can be in charge of scanning any that you all want copies of, but I’ve got to do something about the number of them. The storage containers stack to the ceiling!”

  The conversation moved from Titan to the wedding album, and finally, dinner was ready. Alice and Maxine had prepared a nice meal everyone enjoyed. It was almost eight by the time the exodus began.

  In the car on the way home, Augie glanced in the rearview mirror, asking once more if she was sure she wanted to invite Titan into her home.

  “It’s so me, don’t you think?” she said, chuckling. “Seriously, I think it will be good for me. He’s not to blame for this mess, and I’m doing it for you kids.”

  His lovely mother once again being selfless had an odd effect on him. Not anger, but impatience. At the age where his own foibles were beginning to mirror hers, Augie wasn’t happy about it.

  “Don’t do it for us,” he said. “I’ll just feel guilty.”

  “Why else would I do it? Not for you-know-who, and certainly not for myself. I don’t need anyone around me right now. If he stays with me, you kids have a neutral place to congregate where his mother is not.

  “So! Are you going to tell your father about the decision?”

  “I think I’ll let Ben do it,” Augie said, pulling into Kelly’s driveway. “For reasons known only to Dad, Ben is the person in favor right now.”

  ***

  Sitting in the backseat with baby Nichole, Liz leaned over to nurse keeping the baby safe in her car seat. “If you’d told me six months ago that someday I’d have my boob stretched across the backseat to feed my baby, I’d say you were crazy.”

  “We’re almost home,” Ben said. “I’m exhausted. A little of my family is going a long way these days.”

  “Why’d they put Kelly on the spot like that? Even Karen surprised me. She never raised an objection. As a matter of fact, I was a little creeped out by the mother-daughter duo happening between Karen and that cop. Doesn’t she worry that someone young enough to be her kid might just want her money?”

  “Oh Lord Jesus, do we have to worry about that now, too?” he whined.

  “Sorry, babe, it was the conversation among some of the women. Then I felt terrible betraying your aunt. Karen is my best friend, but she’s been alone too long. Your mom even said she was a little taken aback that the minute Steve moved out, Karen seemed to have found the love of her life.”

  “Well, let’s see how long it lasts,” he said, pulling into the garage. “You might be jumping to conclusions.”

  “We just don’t want Karen to get hurt.”

  He turned around to look at her, leaning over the baby with her nipple stretched to reach Nichole’s mouth and he couldn’t help but chuckle. “This is a picture every couple contemplating parenthood should see,” he said. “I sure love you.”

  “Thank God, because this is not what I had in mind.”

  “Disengage her and let’s get in the house. I’m ready to hide out for the rest of the weekend. We might be taking a raincheck for my mom’s tomorrow.”

  “Oh, Ben, I don’t feel right about not going. We can accommodate her a few more months, can’t we? I don’t want to abandon her now.”

  “Give me that baby,” he said, reaching in to unbuckle her. “She’s going to sleep tonight, I promise you.”

  “Are you going to walk with Lisa?” Liz asked. “It’s too cold to take the baby if you are. That’ll make it easier for you, too.”

  “It’s too late to walk,” Ben answered. “I’m getting into sweatpants and into the recliner, and unless you or Nichole need me, I’m not moving until Monday morning.”

  “I’ll take more wine if you’re offering,” Maxine said, holding her glass up.

  Sitting in the living room, Karen and Anne had stayed after the others left. Alice brought a new bottle in, pouring into outstretched glasses. Having her aunt there with a date felt strange, but she was keeping her thoughts to herself. Evidently, Maxine didn’t think anything of it since she was the one who’d hooked them up.

  “So! What did you think of our family get-together?” Maxine asked Anne. “A lot of laundry aired tonight.”

  “And remained civil,” Alice added. “It could have gone either way.”

  “I’m still figuring out the players,” Anne said. “But it’s not really my concern, is it? I mean, Karen is Kelly’s sister, correct? She seems like a lost soul, but I can observe without judging.”

  The words came across harsh to minds affected by wine, but since she was a guest, they didn’t respond right away. Alice stole a glance at Karen, who seemed somewhat taken aback, but was also exercising restraint.

  “We’re a close family,” Maxine said. “We want everyone to be happy. And that, my friend, is why you’re sitting with
us on a Saturday night, drinking vino.”

  “Gotcha,” she said. “Am I to understand, then, that family get-togethers are a weekly affair?”

  “You got it,” Maxine said. “Sometimes more than that, and we often have sleepovers.”

  She was thinking of Ken’s frequent overnight stays.

  “If I drink anymore wine, I’ll be sleeping here,” Karen said, putting her glass down.

  “Oh no, you don’t,” Anne said. “You need to take me home. I came with you, remember?”

  “Right,” she said, trying to get off the couch without her age showing.

  But when she was halfway up, Anne put her hand on Karen’s rear end and pushed, just to help, not making a smart comment. Karen turned around and offered her hand, pulling Anne up, and they all laughed.

  “Now if we can just get each other out to the car,” Anne said.

  “Are you okay?” Alice asked. “Maybe you should spend the night.”

  “Thank you, honey, but I’m not sleeping in the basement,” Karen said. “Let’s go, officer. Get your badge out in case we get stopped.”

  “Drive slow,” Maxine said, watching them get into the car.

  “They’re fine,” Alice said. “The entire family only drank two bottles of wine tonight.”

  They stood in the doorway until the car pulled away from the curb. “Come on, wife. I need some lovin’,” Maxine said, moving Alice away so she could close the door.

  Augie waited at the curb until his mother was safely inside the house before he drove off. “I don’t know how much more of this I can take,” he said.

  “You’re a good son to her, Aug,” Sandy said. “I think she’s going to be alright.”

  “They still have to get a divorce. It’s okay now because no one is fighting over anything. What’s going to happen when they have to divide everything up? The wedding album really bugged the crap out of me.”

  “Language,” she whispered, pointing in back.

  “They’re asleep or have earbuds in,” he said, looking in the rearview mirror. “Why bring the wedding album out like that? She’s having dinner at her house tomorrow. Wait until then.”

  Wondering why her husband was focusing on the album, Sandy imagined that the divorce between Augie’s parents would be hard on their marriage as well. She’d bite her tongue and bide her time. With Augie, there was no other way.

  Walking Beaver around the yard one last time for the night, Kelly thought about the atmosphere at Alice and Maxine’s. Searching for the right word, it was uncomfortable. Usually, Saturday afternoon gatherings were fun, game-filled hilarity. Since Steve’s folly with Lee, that is. Since then, there was so much tension between everyone. Perhaps it was simply the detritus Steve left in his wake.

  “Come on, Beaver, let’s get inside. I’m freezing,” Kelly called, and he came trotting to the door. Who’d think that a family of adult children would be so affected by divorce? It was shocking.

  As she hung up her coat, the same critique of the condition of her house hit her again. Why hadn’t she noticed how shabby it was? Literally rolling up her sleeves with nothing else to do, she’d prepare the living room for painting. It would give her something to sink her teeth into until…whatever happened next happened.

  As she began taking the framed photos off the walls, stacking them on end in a box, the reminder that she shouldn’t do anything rash for at least a year came to her; after a divorce or a death, everyone said you should wait a year. The decision to take a leave of absence was definitely premature. She’d call her supervisor and cancel it on Monday if things didn’t quickly improve. Especially with Karen now possibly being occupied, the days stretched out before her lonelier than she could have imagined. Then, strangely, she wanted to talk to Steve. She wondered what he was doing, how he felt. Nothing romantic. She was thinking about the way she’d felt about him when he lived there, spending all their time apart.

  At Alice’s, she’d said something about Steve always being in the basement. But the girls told her that every man went off to his lair, the man-cave.

  Reaching for her phone, she went to the contacts. Steve. Pressing the number, she saw how late it was. She hoped they weren’t having sex. When he answered, she could hear the cheering of football spectators; she could imagine him sitting in a recliner with a bottle of beer in one hand and a cigar in the other.

  Her name had come up on the face of his phone. Lee was with Titan. It felt almost sinful to Steve to be answering a call from his wife.

  “Hey,” he said, his heart beating hard.

  “Hey, I was just thinking about you and I wanted to ask how you were and what you were up to?”

  It was an old joke they shared, a funny greeting. “How are ya, and what are you up to?” When they were kids, they’d answer the phone like that.

  “If anyone hears me talking like this, I’m dead meat,” Steve had said to the young Kelly. “My family doesn’t do baby talk.”

  “It’s not really baby talk,” she said, smoothing his cheek. “Gosh, I really love you, Steve.”

  “Oh, do we have to get all mushy?” he asked, laughing. “But I really love you, too.”

  Now they were going to get a divorce, and out of nowhere, Kelly suddenly felt affectionate toward Steve again while he was in love with another woman. She really felt like a jerk.

  “I was thinking about you, too,” Steve said. Even though Lee wasn’t there, he kept his voice low.

  The admission saddened Kelly, but she didn’t question him, wondering what he was thinking about. It wasn’t important.

  “How’s everything there?” he asked, lonely for the idea of his family and nothing more. “Did you see the kids tonight?”

  “I did,” she answered. “We had dinner at Alice and Maxine’s.”

  It was at that second, saying the girls’ names the decision was made that she wouldn’t tell him anything about Karen and the new girlfriend because it wouldn’t mean anything to him. He’d probably have something sarcastic to say, too.

  “How’re the little guys?” he asked. “I sort of miss them.”

  He never had that much to do with the grandchildren. Was he regretful she wondered?

  “They’re great. They’re getting so big. I mean you’ve only been gone a week. Gosh, has it been that long already? Wow, before we know it, Christmas will be here.”

  “Ugh, Christmas,” he said. “Not my favorite.”

  “No kidding,” Kelly said, laughing. “So everything’s okay with you, then?”

  “Well, you know about Jean, right? I told one of the boys about it, that she died,” he said.

  “I’m so sorry,” Kelly said. “Poor Titan. I can’t imagine how sad he must be.”

  Those two words, can’t imagine, stunned her for a second. No, she couldn’t imagine Steve dying. Being healthy one day, and the next, deteriorating until he was dead. But she could imagine how sad she’d be. Saying that she couldn’t imagine it was stupid.

  “I can imagine, Steve,” she said, suddenly emotional. “I can imagine how horrible it must have been for him, because I’d be devastated if anything happened to you.”

  It was a revelation. She was feeling something that to share required exposure, telling Steve her love for him was so huge that she couldn’t go on, that she’d never recover if he died.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said with feeling. “I didn’t call you with the intention of unloading on you. But I just thought you should know that my feelings are still that deep for you.”

  She thought that if they were characters in a movie, he’d beg her for forgiveness, and they’d live happily ever after. Knowing Steve, he wasn’t going to ask to come back, so she laughed.

  “I’m sure you want to hang up now, and that’s okay. I’m glad everyone is getting through this tough time.”

  “Oh, Augie called. He said you were going to put Titan up. Kelly, that’s very kind of you,” he said, careful to ignore her heartfelt confession.

  “It’s
no problem. I have that big empty house and it will make it easier for the kids to see him. Well, Steve, I guess I’ll let you get back to your game. I can hear it.”

  “Okay. We’re coming back Tuesday night. Just so you know because of Titan and all.”

  “Thanks, Steve. I’ll be ready for him. Goodnight,” Kelly said, and when there wasn’t a reply, she hung up.

  The phone in his hand, Steve looked at the face still lit up. He reached for his beer and took a swig. As much as her voice moved him, Steve was through with Kelly. He’d fight every hint of affection he felt for her, every memory of anything good. They’d been together for forty years and that time was up. Now he wanted to be with Lee.

  Sticking her phone back in its cradle, Kelly’s smile slowly evaporated. There was nothing coming from him. After all of those years together, she’d have thought he’d at least acknowledge their history. It surprised her that he’d asked about the grandchildren. Yes, it was for the best that this was happening. The fresh pain had settled down to a dull roar, pumping blood through her head with a vengeance.

  She sputtered and burst into tears. She had not cried like this yet, the gut-wrenching agony of having her heart torn in two. Even though they had been living under the same roof practically estranged, she’d been in denial. They slept in the same bed. They brushed their teeth into the same sink. She handled his dirty underwear, sticking them into the washer. Occasionally, they joined their bodies. She thought, really, how carnal it was, almost perverse. The man’s penis made specifically to put into the woman, like the bee juicing the flower, like animals mating. What on earth did Mother Nature have in mind when that anomaly was created? Wasn’t it supposed to mean something? Sighing, she thought that statistically, half of married couples didn’t think it meant enough to stay together.

  “Okay, stop thinking about him,” she said. “You will not ever call the man again or share any feelings with him.”

  Washing her face at the kitchen sink, she looked at her reflection in the window and saw lights sweeping through the yard. Beaver gave a low growl, then got up and started wagging his tail.