Bold and Simful

‘A stake out is never easy, but tonight was particularly hard. The icy wind whipped through his wool pea coat and the dame he was watching for never appeared. She had gams that one, a real glamor girl he had heard…‘ Robert amused himself by composing cheesy 1940s detective stories in his head, he even did his best Bogie impersonation but it was still boring.

Standing there, in the Gibson’s front yard two hours before the Cafe was set to open, Robert watched the Placer residence vigilantly but Shelly (the dame in question) never appeared and neither did Francis Mendenhall.

‘The intelligence career really sucks,‘ he shivered and put his hand in his pocket to make sure the little camera was still there, ‘ah well, where was I? Oh yeah, …but she was a trouble maker, just like all broads…‘

“Jay, I tell you the bird was this big if it was an inch,” Robert insisted.

“I’m sure it was, boss. You ready to go to work?” Jay wasn’t sure why Robert couldn’t birdwatch in his own yard or how you spotted birds in the dark, but he wasn’t going to question the guy who gave him a job.

“Yep. I’m starving, you think you could whip up some of your pancakes when we get there?” Robert chatted jovially as they got in the taxi.

The first snow of the season had just melted when Catherine Mendenhall unexpectedly showed up on the Gibson’s doorstep.

“What a pleasure,” Jay lied.  He didn’t hold grudges, but the woman had canned him like tuna because he wouldn’t sleep with her. If he did hold grudges this would be the one. “I didn’t even think you knew where I lived,” he hinted for an explanation for her sudden appearance.

“I didn’t. I looked in the directory,” Catherine offered, “Jay, look, I have to apologize to you for harassing you then firing you.  It was wrong and I make no excuses for my behavior.”

Jay was shocked to say the least. Here was the great Catherine Mendenhall apologizing to little ol’ Jay Gibson. “Well…I don’t know what to say,” Jay said cautiously.

“You don’t have to forgive me, I don’t think that’s part of the making amends step. I think I just have to apologize,” Catherine hesitated as if considering it.

“It’s forgiven and forgotten,” Jay smiled. “Would you like to come inside and meet the family?”

“You have a family too?” Catherine suddenly felt even worse about her old self.

Catherine tried to talk to Jacob, but like everyone else she failed.  The kid was just too smart for his own good.

“What are you going to be when you grow up?” she ventured, expecting the child to respond with fireman, policeman or astronaut like most children would but Jacob wasn’t most children.

“I’m going to be a theoretical physicist,” Jacob answered without taking his eyes from SBN. “and prove that Einstein’s equation will be obeyed by a curved spacetime in which strings propagate.  It’s only a theory right now, but if there are gravitons, there must be gravity, right?”

“Ah, Jay!” Catherine hopped off the couch, eager to be out of a conversation that was way over her head, “This must be your wife and your…daughter?” Her gaze lingered on the toddler who looked nothing like either of her parents but did look remarkably like someone else Catherine knew.

Jay caught the hesitation in Catherine’s last word and explained that he and Brenda had adopted L.C. from the Sisters of Blessed Mercy, without realizing it, Jay had just given Catherine confirmation of her suspicions. That they had adopted their daughter. wasn’t a secret, they had planned on telling the little girl as soon as she was ready to handle it and with her birthday just days away that time would come soon anyway.

Lydia, or L.C. as the Gibsons nicknamed her, was sitting in her high chair amusing herself with a bowl of cereal while the adults chatted over Jay’s famous pancakes.

“So you took her in even though you barely had enough money to get by?” Catherine was finding out more and more about her former maid every minute and more about being a real person.  Drink and living with Francis had clouded her vision for a long time.

“Sure, anyone would have done the same,” Jay stated what was obvious to him.

“Tell her how smart L.C. is, Jay,” Brenda insisted with a mother’s pride.

“Bren, every child bangs on a xylophone,” Jay laughed, “but, you’re right, I would swear she’s playing actual songs sometimes.”  As if on cue, L.C. began a drum solo on her cereal bowl.

Catherine wasn’t sure what to do, her initial reaction had been to scoop up Lydia and run away with her to Mendenhall Place.  Thankfully, she hadn’t followed that impulse because she didn’t really have a place at Mendenhall Place, not now that Francis had initiated the divorce and would she really want to take Lydia away from people who so obviously loved her to bring her into a sterile house with a manipulative, cold grandfather? Who knew what Francis would turn Lydia into?

‘No, this little girl will grow up with people who love her, but she will still have all the things a Mendenahall should,‘ Catherine resolved.

Catherine cornered Brenda as she was putting L.C. down for her nap.

“Brenda, I have to tell you something.  L.C. is my granddaughter. My daughter’s daughter,” Catherine no longer cared about the conventions of her stuffy society.

Brenda snuggled L.C. closer as if Catherine would reach out with talons to snatch the child away.  She still wasn’t sure about this new, kinder, gentler version of the woman who had fired her husband without any thought as to how his family would survive.

“We have the adoption papers, Mrs. Mendenhall.  L.C. is legally our daughter,” Brenda’s voice trembled slightly and Catherine felt horrible for having upset her.  The feeling, it was new to her, distracted her for a moment.

Brenda put L.C. in her crib and ushered Catherine out of the room, “We shouldn’t talk about this in front of her, she’s so smart, she’ll know that I am upset.”

“Brenda, you don’t need to fear that I am going to take Lydia, I mean L.C., away.  She’s better off here than anywhere else,” Catherine tried to sooth Brenda’s fears, “Anything you need, anything at all, you just give me a call and you’ll have it,” she offered.

‘Anything I need?‘ Brenda latched on to the thought and a smile tugged at the corner of her lips.  She and Jay had always been poor, but with two benefactresses…the idea was just forming in her head, she would have to work out the details but suddenly she saw a life of luxury within her grasp.

Brenda was cleaning up the lunch dishes, Jacob had missed lunch again in favor of playing with his ant farm, when L.C. came running into the kitchen.

“When did you get so big?” Maxine hugged L.C.

“Yesterday, You missed my party,” Lydia sounded disappointed but quickly forgot the social slight, “I like sports!” the child exclaimed, “Soccer and baseball and football too but especially nascar, but I hate Kyle Busch.”

“Well, aren’t you a bundle of energy?” Maxine laughed.

“You got that right,” Brenda sighed as L.C. ran out of the room in search of her brother. “That child doesn’t walk anywhere.”

“Maxine, I almost hate to ask this, but now that L.C. is a child we need her to have a room of her own and I can’t sell the baby furniture, what if Jay and I have another one day?” Brenda asked shyly.

“Naturally, you need a grown up room for a grown up girl,” Maxine caught on right away.  “Does Jacob already have a room of his own?”

“That’s where all of our money went.  He’s so into science that we went overboard and bought him microscopes and telescopes and a computer too…oh goodness, we shouldn’t have spent so much,” Brenda sounded as if she was about to apologize.

“Don’t worry and never apologize for giving your children what they need to succeed,” Maxine soothed, “We’ll have this whole room re-done.  It will be our birthday present to L.C. Speaking of “our”, where did Robert wander off to?”

‘A fresh snow had fallen, blanketing the neighborhood in innocence, but the doll in the house was far from innocent.  She was no Virgin Mary, she was a Jezebel who broke up homes…‘

“Robert! ROBERT!” Maxine’s insistent calling broke into Robert’s story. “It’s time to go.”

‘Damn, I was just getting to the good part,’ he cursed silently. “Coming, hon.” He touched the snapshots in his pocket. ‘But not this time, Jezi. Thanks to our detective, this home will be saved.‘

A few nights later, L.C. settled into her new racing room.  Tomorrow was a big day, the Bay Prep headmaster was coming over to interview her.

 

Posted on July 9th, 2008 under Gibsons. Tags: brenda, catherine, gibson, jacob, jay, lydia, maxine, robert. RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback.