Bold and Simful

The holidays are usually a joyous time for most families, but the Mendenhalls are not “most families”, not this year anyway.

Elizabeth dutifully sat at the piano practicing in hopes of earning the coveted Quigley Visual Arts Grant. Her family could well afford to pay the tuition to Hunter, but it had long been drilled into Elizabeth to be perfect and being a piano virtuoso would make her father proud, she hoped.

Catherine stood by watching her daughter and wondering when the child was finally going to reveal the secret she had been hiding for weeks. She wouldn’t be able to hide it much longer and soon enough even Francis would notice that his daughter was pregnant. Then all hell would break loose.

The next morning, Francis stopped in to kiss his sleeping wife good-bye before leaving for work and noticed a bottle on the nightstand. Rubbing his chin, he considered that his wife drank too often and sometimes too much, but it was the holiday season and last night had been a festive occasion, even if no one had any fun.

‘She’s going to wake up with a blasting head ache‘, he chuckled to himself and leaned downed to kiss her cheek then grabbed the near-empty bottle to throw in the trash on his way out.

Finally arising sometime around noon, coincidentally the same time the maid arrived, Catherine dressed and sauntered into her son’s room. Jay Gibson had been working for the Mendenhalls for only a week or so, he was the replacement for the previous maid who quit without explanation or notice.

“You’re much cuter than the last maid we had,” Catherine said.

Jay realized instantly why the other maid had quit, but he couldn’t afford to walk out on any job. The smell of alcohol was overwhelming and the lecherous look in his boss’ eye made his skin crawl, but he managed a coy look while at the same time covering his bare chest.

“Why don’t you finish up what you’re doing, honey while I go make us some drinks,” Catherine invited.

Jay nodded to get Catherine out of the room then threw the covers up on the beds, swished cleaner around the toilet and fled down the back stairs and out the door.

“It’s beautiful Daddy!” Elizabeth gushed, “I’ll be the most beautiful girl at the prom!”

“I’m glad you like it, sweetie. You deserve it after working so hard all semester,” Francis looked lovingly at his favorite child and was pleased to see a smile back on her face. In spite of being preoccupied with the hostile take-over Mendenhall Enterprises was planning, he had noticed that Elizabeth hadn’t been herself lately.

He had even begun to wonder if he was putting too much pressure on her. She had already been accepted to Hunter College, there was no reason to force her to achieve every available scholarship after all. ‘Maybe I’ll let up on the kid,‘ he thought and patted her on the shoulder as he exited her room.

‘I do look stunning,‘ Elizabeth admired in the mirror after her father had left, then reality hit her and her smiled faded, ‘too bad I’ll never get to wear it.‘

Catherine blocked her daughter’s path to the piano and demanded Elizabeth tell her what was going on. She already knew but hearing the words “Mother, I am pregnant” aloud almost gave her a heart attack.

“Christ, Elizabeth! Who’s the father?” Catherine demanded.

“I’d rather not say,” her daughter fumbled in response.

“Well, I’d rather you not be pregnant,” came the quick retort. Catherine regretted the words almost instantly, this was her grandchild that she was wishing away and it was already too late to do anything but deal with the situation. She breathed in deeply, apologized and began to rattle her brain for a way out of this mess without letting Francis find out what was going on.

Upstairs, Francis was discovering his own crisis.

“Another bottle?!” he gasped upon seeing a second half-empty bottle on the bedside table, “and the cheap stuff too!”

Francis had never had to deal with anything like this before, companies declaring bankrupcy, hostile acquisitions, sure all of those things and more, but never an alcoholic in his own family. These things happened to people with problems, poor people, winos, not upper-class residents of Orion Bay.

Left without a way to deal with the situation, Francis dropped the bottle into the rubbish bin and decided to pretend he never saw it.

While his family members were occupied, Xavier, who had been laying low all week since getting pick-pocketed in Rigel Heights… a place he was not supposed to be anyway… quietly tip-toed out the front door and into the snowy winter.

“The shit has hit the fan!” he cried after climbing in beside Veronica Bettencourt. “Drive, woman!”

“Wait, what’s going on?” Veronica had an inkling that Elizabeth was pregnant, but she hadn’t said a word to Xavier on either of their previous dates despite his pestering her to find out the scoop.

“Lizzy’s preggers and dad found mom’s not-so-secret stash of alki-hol! Which sucks for everyone else, but it means that we’re in the clear. Dad will never notice who I’m dating now,” Xavier finished with a satisfied tone.

“Thanks, thanks a bunch,” Veronica’s answered glumly, “Wouldn’t want Daddy to know you’re dating a Bettencourt!”

“Ah, you know what I mean, he’ll stay off my back now,” Xavier tried to smooth over his moderately insensitive comment, “Let’s just go, ok?”

After everyone went to bed, or she thought they did at least, Catherine placed a call from the kitchen phone and spoke in hushed tones when the other party came on the line.

Francis heard voices from downstairs and suspected his son of sneaking in a call to that Bettencourt girl again. He grabbed the extension in the hall, sure that he would catch Xavier going against his wishes for the hundredth time. Instead he heard his wife’s voice…

“Thank you, sister. You’re a life saver. I’ll see you tomorrow then,” followed by the handset being replaced in its cradle.

‘What the hell? Catherine doesn’t have a sister,‘ he wondered into the receiver.

“It happens to all families, there is no class distinction in such matters,” Sister Mary Katherine comforted when Catherine Mendenhall explained the full extent of the situation. “Not telling the girl’s father may not be the best route to take, I advise honesty in all situations. It may not seem it at the start but it is always the easier road in the end.”

“Yeah, well, you don’t know Francis. It would kill him to know Elizabeth was pregnant,” Catherine asserted and stood firmly behind her decision, “So Elizabeth will need to “go on vacation” in a few days. Will you have a room ready for her?”

“The Sisters of Blessed Mercy have room for everyone,” Sister answered, “As for the baby’s father?”

Catherine was becoming put off by all the questions and life advice, “Sister, will a donation to the convent alleviate your concerns? We’ll call it a Christmas gift, if you like.”

(Note: the nun’s habit (and ensemble we’ll see later) thanks to Enblith the Fair at MTS2. Liquor bottles are from Retail Sims)

 

Posted on May 4th, 2008 under Mendenhall. Tags: catherine, elizabeth, francis, gibson, jay, Mendenhall, sister mary, veronica, xavier. RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback.