by Teresa Trent
I wondered if Karen had said the same thing.
Chapter 16
Christmas Eve my children were up bright and early eating Leo’s homemade waffles. We planned to spend our day at the Christmas festival, where there would be music on the gazebo, a pie eating contest—pecan, of course—and a decorating contest that would feature collections of Christmas villages complete with trains running through them. For anybody who had not been through the booths, there were last-minute specials to be found. The portable dance floor was set up in the town square so eager dancers could rock around the Christmas tree. Speaking of Christmas music, they even had a version of Name That Tune where featured members of the community guessed Christmas carols. Surprisingly, Leo had proved to be very good at this event. After a full day of activities, we would usually go home and dress in our Christmas finest for the community gathering. Tyler and Zach begged me to stand in line at Crazy Eddie for the high-tech sale with a promise they would be at church just as soon as they bought the game console.
“Will I see Santa today, Mama? Isn’t he busy at the North Pole?”
“Isn’t it amazing?” Leo uttered with a twinkle in his eye. “Mayor Obermeyer asked him to be here, and because he and the mayor are such good friends, Santa promised this would be his last stop before he started to get ready for Christmas at the North Pole. The elves are packing without him right now because he loves to come to Pecan Bayou.”
My little girl’s eyes lit up as she listened to her father tell the outrageous lie. It truly was the most wonderful time of the year.
“Do you have to be at the Gazette booth, Mom?” Zach asked.
“Rocky wants me there between 10:00 and 11:00 today. I’ve turned in my article on yard displays and another one for New Year’s resolutions, not that I believe in them. So, I guess after my booth duty, I’m all yours. You wouldn’t want to help out, would you?”
Zach puffed up, a little proud to be given this responsibility. “If they’ll have me.”
Leo set a plate of waffles in front of me. His eyes shifted to Tyler. “Are you meeting Tiffany today?”
Tyler fidgeted a little bit in his seat. “Around 11:30. We were going to have lunch at the festival.”
“What about Danny? Did you get that worked out?” Leo asked.
“Oh, sure. All worked out.”
Zach’s eyebrows rose. “How did you handle it?”
“You guys worry too much. I’m going to go get ready.” Tyler scooted his chair back, making a rattling noise on the floor.
“It’s only 8:30. Why would it take you two and a half hours to get ready?” Zach asked.
Leo reached out and patted Tyler on the back and smiled at Zach. “Someday you will understand.”
Tyler was clearly embarrassed by the attention and hurried out of the room before anyone else said anything about his big date.
“I’m not sure it’s all taken care of. Danny is so excited about being able to go on a double date with him, but the whole thing makes me nervous,” I said, cutting a piece of waffle.
“Yes. I find that very hard to believe.”
Leo and I exchanged a glance. Tyler had never spoken to Danny, but Zach was not aware of that. No, Danny would be surprised and hurt at the festival. This put us in a difficult position. We wanted to trust Tyler, but we didn’t want to set Danny up for a fall.
At 11:00 sharp, I dutifully stood behind the counter of the Gazette’s booth. Ruby Green sashayed by, wearing a fur jacket and sporting a set of red-and-green bangles on her wrist.
Ruby spun around in front of me. “I know you’re looking at my jacket, Betsy. Like it?”
The white fur of the jacket was lustrous. I would never have bought it for myself, and I also thought it was more suited for a woman much younger than Ruby. She was running the risk of looking like the famous abominable snowman from the claymation version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
“Very nice,” was all I could manage to say.
“Yes. I love it. I’ve been looking at this jacket for years. I can’t believe I can finally afford it. Thank God for reverse mortgages.”
“How much did they give you?”
“The initial payment of $3,000, and now I can expect a nice little monthly income for the next ten years. What I love is that they paid me in cash.”
“Amazing.”
Yes. I’m expecting my next payment at the first of the year.”
After Ruby left, I decided that because she now had cash from this company, Ruby’s reverse mortgage deal was probably legitimate. Good for her.
The booth next door to mine was very quiet except for the sounds of Karen’s tools as she worked, producing more of her beautifully crafted toys. I settled myself with my tablet and began to do research on a stain-fighting series I was going to be featuring in January. Nobody really came by the Gazette booth, so I took the time to enjoy the wonderful Christmas atmosphere around me. At the gazebo stood the barbershop quartet, consisting of Benny, Howard Gunther, Mayor Obermeyer, and Lester Jibbets, singing a sweet rendition of “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.” The beautiful tenor and bass voices lilted across the town square. There wasn’t any snow, but the quartet had Christmas spirit by the truckload.
Danny and his new girlfriend, Wanda, were enjoying the dance floor, dancing somewhat awkwardly but with great joy. Wanda had thin hair hanging straight down to her shoulders. She wore a simply made red dress, and her eyes lit up in half-moons as she looked into Danny’s eyes. Danny was totally into Wanda, and they smiled and giggled at each other as they plodded through the dance steps.
I was so happy to see my cousin having such a good time. Even though people with Down syndrome have mental challenges, their hormones work just fine. Danny was able to act as a young man should, and it was wonderful to observe. Aunt Maggie sat at a table next to the dance floor with a woman I assumed was Wanda’s mother. The two of them had their heads together, looking at pictures of their children on each other’s phones.
The crowd was growing, and Tyler was now walking around with the beautiful Tiffany. She was a direct contrast to Wanda. Her silvery blond hair was pulled up in a French roll, a style you’d expect to see on an older woman. She wore a deep-green sweater flecked with gold. She could have been featured in an ad for Macy’s she was so striking. As they walked across the festival, she pulled out her phone and suddenly roped my son into the picture to take a selfie. The smile she used for the selfie was beautiful, just not sincere. Tyler had the same smitten look on his face I had seen on Danny. Unfortunately, I felt like Tiffany was mostly smitten with her own image in the camera.
Zach came scrambling into the booth holding a napkin full of Christmas cookies. He followed the trail of my gaze. “Queen Tiffany. I hope Tyler realizes he’s just the flavor of the week now that the basketball team has started playing and football is over. He’s about to get dumped for this year’s star forward. Too bad basketball isn’t Tyler’s best sport.”
The barbershop quartet left the stage as a small combo group of a guitar, cello, and accordion started setting up. The music from this new set of performers was a little more upbeat. Danny and Wanda began stomping around the dance floor, enjoying the music even more, as shown in the color rising to their cheeks. Tiffany took notice and drew her beautifully manicured hand across her lips, hiding the laughter she was directing at the dancers. Some of her hangers-on who walked just behind the couple also began to laugh and point at Danny. Hearing the laughter, Danny looked up and smiled, thinking his dancing was being appreciated.
When he spotted Tyler, he yelled out, “Hey, Cousin Tyler. Are you here for our date? Is that your girlfriend? Wanda is my girlfriend.” Tiffany stopped laughing and stared at Tyler as if she had just realized he had an unsightly rash across his face. Tyler placed his hands on her waist, trying to turn her attention back to him. It was clear he was trying to explain his relation to Danny. The other girls who had been trailing after them now stood behind Tiffany as she listened to Tyler.
She gave him a half smile, pulling his hands from her waist. She turned and left him at the edge of the dance floor, still laughing at Danny with her friends.
It was the saddest thing I’d ever seen.
“Man,” Zach said. “That was cold. I can’t believe she just left him there.”
Everything in me wanted to run out to Tyler and put my arms around him, but I knew that would only make the situation worse. Zach pulled out his phone and began to text furiously. He spoke as his nimble fingers typed in the letters, “I’m texting him.”
Zach was coming to his brother’s rescue the best way he knew how. Tyler pulled out his phone and read the screen. Before Tyler could respond, Zach left the booth and was out on the dance floor. He walked off the floor with his brother so he wouldn’t have to leave humiliated and all alone. I was bursting with pride. I would have continued to review what stellar individuals I thought my sons were, but Karen’s daughter stumbled onto the dance floor, knocking Tiffany off her feet. She landed on her behind with a thud.
“S’cuse me,” Karen’s daughter sang out. “I didn’t mean to knock you ...” she extended a hand and, upon looking at Tiffany’s face, made one of her own. “What are you? The Pecan Princess or something? Aren’t you special.” She wrinkled her nose at Tiffany. “I hate girls like you. Stuck up, snobby ...”
Danny, ever the gentleman, rushed over and extended his hand to help Tiffany off the floor. “I can help you up,” he said.
Tiffany put her hand in the air and then realized it was Danny. She quickly snatched it away. “No thanks,” she said, looking as if she would rather sit on the floor than associate with him.
“Dang, Tiffany,” Tyler said. “He’s just trying to be nice.”
“He doesn’t even understand what nice is,” Tiffany answered as she scrambled to her feet.
Tyler stared at Tiffany as if he were finally seeing her for who she was. “And neither do you.”
Tiffany’s eyes widened. “You can’t say that to me.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m ... I ... deserve better.”
“Better than who? Danny? Wanda? Me?”
“I don’t know what I ever saw in you.” She turned and rejoined her group of friends. Noses in the air, they left the dance area.
“Good job, Tyler. Tiffany needed to be taken down a peg,” Zach assured him.
“Yeah, take her down a peg,” Michelle mumbled, still swaying in front of them.
“Shut up. Thanks to Danny, I just lost my girlfriend,” Tyler replied. He might have done the right thing, but he wasn’t too happy about the outcome.
“I’m sorry,” Danny said.
Wanda tapped Danny on the shoulder. “Let’s dance.”
Danny’s smile returned as he took Wanda’s hand and began showing his dance moves.
Karen’s daughter had already moved on and was stumbling across the floor about to take a header against the gazebo. I heard the door to Karen’s booth slam as she rushed out to retrieve her daughter. She grabbed her by the arm, but Michelle pulled away.
“No! I will not let you spoil my fun. You always spoil my fun.”
Danny and Wanda walked off the floor and headed toward the refreshment table after some encouragement from Zach. Now the only two in the makeshift dance area were Karen and her daughter, struggling for control.
“Come on, Michelle. You need to go home and sober up.”
“What for? I feel good like this. I think you’re the one who needs to loosen up.”
The band in the gazebo had stopped and the crowd was silent, all eyes on Karen.
Finally, someone from the back of the crowd shouted, “I think ol’ Joe made a big mistake leaving your crazy-ass family his money.”
“What do you know? Mind your own business.” Michelle yelled to the anonymous heckler.
My father strode through the crowd and escorted her off the dance floor to Karen’s booth.
“How much have you had to drink today?” he asked Michelle.
“Nothing. I don’t drink,” she stated flatly.
“I also think you don’t tell the truth,” he answered her. “How about drugs? Have you taken anything today?”
This time she was quiet. Her mother leaned closer. “Have you? You told me you were clean now.”
“I am,” she bellowed.
“Fine,” Dad said. “Let’s just all go down to the station and see what you’ve been smoking.”
“Am I under arrest? What did I do? This is police harassment.”
“Public intoxication for one. I also didn’t appreciate you knocking down my nephew’s date.”
“Give me a break. She wasn’t—”
“Hmm, maybe I should add resisting arrest?”
I stepped out of my booth. “Michelle, so glad you could make it,” I said, acting as if we were old friends. “Don’t worry about my dad, here. He just wants to talk to you.” I turned back to the crowd. “Everybody go back to enjoying the Christmas festival, and watch out for that eggnog! I think it’s spiked.” I turned to the gazebo and swirled my arm around to get them to start playing. The accordion started, and the others followed.
Michelle mumbled, “Thanks.”
My dad was right on the edge of what he could tolerate. He was always incredibly fair to people he arrested, but when someone insulted his family, sometimes he had to check his temper at the door. I stepped out of my booth and stood by Karen.
“I can keep an eye on your booth,” I told her.
“No matter. I’m done with the festival,” she said, rubbing her forehead. With this woman's family, it was no wonder she spent all her time cutting up things in her garage.
Chapter 17
Tyler, looking embarrassed, made his way to where Zach and I stood.
“Did you see that?” Tyler grumbled.
“Yes. It was kind of hard to miss it.” I gestured to Karen’s daughter, who was still flailing around a bit. “She’s quite a show.”
Tyler shook his head. “Not that. Did you see the thing with Danny? I don’t know how I’m going to go back to school after this. I mean, she didn’t even know we were related or anything.”
I stiffened at Tyler’s words. It was evident that Tyler was ashamed of his cousin. Being the relative of someone who is different—whether because of a mental challenge or just an eccentric personality—can be difficult. Standing by them is essential. “And what’s wrong with that?” I remarked.
Tyler’s face turned a deep red. “Nothing. It’s just that it’s different for me, you know? You can go around with Danny, and everybody loves him. They love you and Aunt Maggie. But for me, it’s a lot tougher. In high school, you have to look cool.” His expression suggested I was out of touch with reality, as if I had never been in high school myself.
“And that doesn’t include having a cousin with Down syndrome?” I asked, trying to control my anger and let my son tell me why he was so uncomfortable with someone I had grown up with—someone who was like a brother to me.
“I know it sounds bad. And—don’t get me wrong—I love Danny. But he can be a real pain in the ... He can be annoying, but he’s an okay dude. It’s just that I’ve wanted to date Tiffany for a long time."
I put a hand on Tyler’s shoulder. “Sorry about Tiffany.”
Tyler’s gaze slipped off to the distance where Tiffany had walked off with her friends. He sighed, his chest rising and falling. “After all that, I don’t think I even care about Christmas now. I just want to go home and play video games and sleep.” His face reddened, and I could tell he was getting angry about what had just happened to him. His gaze returned to Danny. “This would have been perfect if Danny hadn’t messed it up. Sometimes I hate him being a part of my family.”
“Tyler,” I scolded. “You can’t mean that.”
Tyler’s anger continued to build. “I do mean that, and nothing you can say will change my mind. Your cousin just ruined my life.”
He turned away from me and ran across th
e town square, pushing his way through the Christmas revelers, his mood darker than Jacob Marley with a new set of chains.
“I think he just made the naughty list,” Zach said. “Want me to go after him?”
“He’s probably headed home, but if you want to, that would be great.”
After Tyler stomped off with Zach trailing behind him, Rocky came over to relieve me at the booth. “Thanks, Betsy. Had to do some last-minute shopping.” Rocky pulled off his gray jacket and stuffed it under the counter. “I’m going to shut ’er down soon. I think I have the entire town subscribed, even some new folks. Some of the other booths are closing down, too.”
“Did you see Michelle Baldwin on the dance floor?”
“Heard about it. Would you care to give me your version of the story?” Rocky leaned forward on his elbow, his red-and-green flannel shirt sleeve touching the counter. Rocky’s greatest talent was sniffing out a story, and if there wasn’t one, he was an expert at working around the facts he did have until it filled a paragraph or two.
“Michelle Baldwin was drunk or high or something and was stumbling all over the place. It had to have been so embarrassing for Karen.”
“Showed her stripes, huh? I thought it was a little too convenient, her showing up right after it was in the paper about the inheritance. Both her and Karen’s old man. I guess the apple doesn’t fall that far from the tree, does it?”
I paused to consider Rocky’s words. Could both members of Karen’s missing family unit be that predatory? It was also amazing that, after all this time, they showed up and knew exactly where to go and what was going on, as if they had never left. It must have felt wonderful for Karen to suddenly have family at Christmas but tragic that they only came out of the shadows because they wanted something from her. It made me treasure my family even if tonight Tyler had disappointed me with his sudden disdain for Danny.
