If I Should Fall: The Second Book of Geshichte Falls

FIFTEEN

OTHER

PEOPLE’S

FAMILIES

Kristin Keillor arrived at the end of September.

I want to thank you, Patti, for putting up with a ridiculous idea,” she said.

“Nonsense,” said Patti, “to your nonsense. It’ll be good to have you here. Especially with Jackie out in Fort Atkins.”

A year ago it would never have seemed good to have Thom’s sister here. She would have been underfoot and out of hand. This time it just seemed right. Patti knew that some people—self included—wondered why the house was so big if it was just for she and Thom and Russell, but it was never just for the three of them. It was the meeting place for both sides of the family, and Kristin was keeping the guest room she and Reese always had.

The ridiculous idea Patti was putting up with? Reese’s family was dead for the most part, and Kristin wanted her child—it was supposed to be son—to be born around family, even if it wouldn’t remain with them. She had been thinking about it a long while now. She wanted her baby born at home. To her surprise, home turned out to be Geshichte Falls, Michigan, and the surrounds.

“I never thought of this as our ancestral home,” Russell said.

“You were thinking West Virginia?” Kristin raised an eyebrow, and her nephew nodded.

“Well, I’m not going off to give birth in a hut over an abandoned coal mine, so that’s definitely out.”

Patti could not imagine giving birth again, not now, not at thirty-eight approaching thirty-nine and Kristin was forty and past it. She thought it would make her sister-in-law finally start to look old, but the roundness in her belly set Kristin to glowing, And her personality was glowing too. She was turning into a beautiful person.

“I wish I’d gotten to know you better,” Thom said to her Monday night after he got back from work.

“Well, we’re not dead yet, Tommy.”

Thom raised an eyebrow, never ever having been called Tommy by his sister in his life.

“I’ve got plenty of life left in me, and I know you’ve got some left in you.”

It heartened Russell to think that a woman nearly three times his own age, could be pregnant and still have plenty of life in her.

Russell laughed at his father and Thom turned to him with furrowed brows.

“I just never imagine you as someone’s Baby Brother,” Russell said.

  

In the parish house, Denise Mc.Llarchlahn had just finished washing the breakfast dishes for Father Ford and Father Heinz. She was beginning to think she’d never snag the round, bronze haired priest. Denise thought she had seen someone in town, and she had to confirm it. She walked purposely across the harvest gold carpet of the living room, picked up the starkly black telephone and rang her sister.

“Patricia.”

“Denise—you sound like the devil.”

“Speaking of: I thought I saw that bitch.”

“Who?”

“Your sister in law.”

“Kristin? Yes, she’s staying here until she has her baby.”

“They always come back to the nest to spawn.” Denise said ominously.

Father Heinz, toying with a pencil, looked up when he heard that, but then decided it was best to ignore Denise. It was just easier that way.

 

“So do you wanna come over?” Russell was asking Cody.

“Jackie’ll probably be dragging out all those bluegrass tunes,” Chayne told him. It was Friday night and Cousin Maurice had just passed Chayne the bucket of chicken.

“Now that Kristin’s here, the Lewis’s’ll be feeling their hillbilly roots.”

“That’s why I told Cody to come over,” Russell said, pushing his thick hair out of his face. “He likes all that country music. Bring your guitar.”

“Is Gil coming?”

Gilead shook his head.

“I have to study with Mark Young.”

“Mark Young?” Chayne said.

Gilead nodded.

“They’re study buddies,” Russell grinned.

“Whenever we come to class, Mark leans from his desk, makes a salute and goes, ‘Morning, Study Buddy.’.”

“That’s weird,” Anigel murmured. “I like him.”

“He’s not bad,” Russell agreed.

“No,” Gilead said, feeling like he should add something. “He’s not bad at all.

“And do you all call him Mark Young?” Rob asked. “Like, first name and last name all the time?”

“Why yes, Robert Keyes,” Gilead said. “We do.”

“Your geometry is atrocious,” Russell pronounced, as he erased the from top to bottom the problem Jason had been working on.

“But baby,” Jason said, playing with his hair, “you know I hate math.”

“No one said be a fan of math,” Russell said. “But you should at least try to get it right.”

Jason stopped playing with Russell’s hair and collapsed on the bed beside him, blowing out his cheeks. They were both in their rumpled uniforms and whatever had taken place on this bed or would take place on, now it was covered in notebook paper and math books.

“This,” Russell pointed to the paper, “does not look like trying. It looks like you think that your boyfriend’s going to give you the answer, and frankly I am not smart enough in this department to be that kind of a boyfriend.”

“Did you just call yourself my boyfriend?”

“I don’t know what else I would be,” Russell said.

Jason smiled up at him, but Russell said, “I don’t think you’re getting the impact of what I said—”

“Which is you are my boyfriend,” Jason said up and kissed Russell on the mouth.

“Which is,” Russell said after enjoying the pleasure and pressure of the kiss, “that you are fucked if you don’t at least TRY to learn how to do proofs.”

“Where are you going,” Jason asked as Russell began stuffing his book bag.

“I told you, I have to home early because we’re having this family thing.”

“Can I come?”

Russell frowned.

“What the f for?”

“So I can meet your family.”

“Why would you—? I’ve never met your family and I’m over here all the time.”

“Well, if you don’t want me to meet them…” Jason turned away coolly and began whistling.

He knew Jason was only pretending to be offended, but he also knew it could turn into real offence eventually and suddenly Jason just looked so good, even rumpled. Even in the early evening in his junky room, Jason Lorry of the full lips and hawk nose, the curly hair and dusky skin was just so goodlooking and still, Russell was in awe of him. There were moments when he pulled away and looked at the present moment in the distance and became awed. He though, this Jason Lorry, whom he had feared and desired from the first day he’d seen him, was his.

So he said, “Well, com’ on then. If you want to hear bad white people singing and eat bad white people food, com’on.”

Jason grinned his black eyes sparkled.

“I think sometimes you forget half of my family is white people making bad food.”

 

 “Are you coming over?” Cody asked his sister.

The pump she was sliding into should have told her brother no.

“I don’t even know those people,” she said.

“I hardly know them either.”

“But you know Russell. You’ve been to that house. God, it’s huge. I bet they have a bunch of family parties there.”

“Like the one they’re having tonight.”

“Well, I got a hot date with Mr. Meriwether. We’re actually leaving town tonight. I think we’re going to East Sequoya.”

“Wow, don’t let East Sequoya get to your head.”

 

“Welcome, Cody,” Patti greeted him. Kristin sipped her mug of tea and wished it was cold enough for a fire.

Cody ducked his head, nodded and waved at everyone.

“The cat does have you tongue,”: Patti commented. “It’s not like you’ve never been here before.”

“I don’t know,” Cody said, pushing his dark hair back with the same gesture Russell used to push back his red hair.

“It just seems a little like I’m horning in. I feel like I just walked into the Partridge family.”

“You can’t be horning in,” Jason said, stepping forward. “I’m here.”

“Hey!” Cody gave Jason a short embrace. “I haven’t seen you since the….”

“Baby.”

“Yeah.”

“That’s a…” a funny look passed over Cody’s face.

“That means something.”

“Does it?” Jason asked.

“Yeah,” Cody said. “I think it does.”

Russ tugged at Russell’s leg and asked, “What’s the Partridge family?”

“It’s a really old show,” said Russell.

“Older than you?”

“Older than him,” Russell said, pointing to Cody.

“Then how do you know what it is?”

“I saw it in syndication.”

Russ nodded, as if this contented him, and then he and his brothers made a bee line back to their father.

“You want a sandwich?” Jackie, Patti asked Cody.

“Don’t fall for it,” Jason said, darkly.

Cody looked at him while Russell and Jason looked at each other.

But Cody said, “That would be nice, Mrs. Lewis.”

“It sure would be. Why don’t you go in the kitchen and make yourself one? And while you’re at it, make me one too.”

Cody eyed Patti who, sitting down beside Jackie, showed no sign of joking, and then Russell said, “Welcome to the family. Come on,” and gestured for Cody to follow him while Jason picked a chip off his plate.

“I hope you don’t think,” said Russell, “that it’s always like this. It’s never like this.”

“Don’t be embarrassed by your family.”

“Cold cuts are with the vegetables, cheese is in the butter tray. Don’t ask why.”            

While Cody ducked his head and reached into the crisper, Russell took out the pitcher of lemonade. Their shoulders touched and Cody looked at him.

“I still remember,” Cody said.

“Uh…”

“Everything.”

“Yeah,” Russell said. “Me too.”

“We haven’t discussed shit.”

“I thought we did. I thought we just decided it wasn’t anything.”

“Oh, it was something,” Cody said.

“Yeah,” Russell said. “Yes. It was.”

They stood looking at each other, and Russell had the same thought he always did, how filled out Cody was, how grown up, with his large hands, thick knuckles, what it would feel like to be with him. He shut it down, Whatever they felt, Cody was here now as a friend, and he wanted him that way.

“I’m not trying to give my family a bad name,” Russell said, trying to sound normal again. “I’m not embarrassed by my family, I’m just trying not to give you a false impression. Don’t forget mom’s sandwich. She likes potato chips on hers.”

Cody turned a startled look to Russell who tilted his head.

“You thought she was joking,” he surmised. “Didn’t you?”

Russell walked out of the kitchen before Cody could say anything else.

 

Jackie was finishing an edited version of “You Oughtta Know,” when Cody came out with a plate for himself and one for a very gracious Patti who said, “Here’s a pack of Marlboros for your trouble.”

Cody was staring between this and Jackie’s cover song when Jackie said, “You thought I only did bluegrass and hymns?”

John laughed. “My wife’s repertoire is large. Very large indeed.”

“I sing Marilyn Manson to put them to sleep,” Jackie informed Cody soberly, looking over the children. He laughed and she said, “That’s a good sign. Some people don’t know when a joke’s a joke, and we refer to them as idiots.”

“Russell said you were bringing your guitar,” Thom said to Cody.

“Well, I guess I forgot.” Cody bit out of his sandwich.

“I guess you thought you’d get out of singing if you forgot?” Russell asked him.

“I guess you were wrong,” Jackie said.

“I don’t even know—”Cody began.

“I heard him do a wonderful rendition of ‘Yesterday’”.

“You’re a nob, Russell.”

“Yes,” the red head agreed.

“Well, will you sing for us?” Jackie said. “Even if you don’t want to play. If you did want to play, you could use Old Rosalyn,” she held out her guitar.

Before Cody could be indecisive, John, sitting on the floor beside Jackie, began to chant, “Sing! Sing! Sing!” and when his boys joined in, Cody took the plate off his lap, stood up to small applause, and received Old Rosalyn, fiddling with it for a moment, before he began.

“Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away...”

When he finished, to applause, Cody said, “It’s a safe enough song. Pretty hard to mess up John Lennon.”

“What about you, Jason?” John asked.

“What about me?” Jason said.

“John, don’t you dare”1 Patti laughed. “Russell never invites friends over and now he has two. We can’t embarrass them both.”

“And you can’t sing either,” Jackie said to John. “You shouldn’t expect everyone who walks in the house to be able to.”

“But Jason can,” Russell said.

“What?” Jason looked like Russell had just smacked him.

“I’ve heard you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You know. The kirtan. Or the bhajan.”

“Oh!” Jason remembered, and blushed. He shook his head looking embarrassed. “No one wants to hear that.”

“I do,” Jackie said, sincerely.

“I do too, actually,” Kristin said. “But no one’s going to make you do something you don’t want to. At least not until your third visit.”

As if answering a challenge, Jason, on the floor beside Russell simply began singing, his tenor voice confident and changing into a Hindi accent:

           

“Shri Guru Charan Saroj Raj,

Nij manu Mukuru Sudhaari

Barnau Raghubar Bimal Jasu,

 Jo Daayeku Phal Chaari

Buddhiheen Tanu Jaanike,

Sumirau Pavan-Kumaar

Bal Buddhi Bidya Dehu Mohi,

Harahu Kales Bikaar

 

Jai Hanuman Gyaan Gun Sagar

Jai Kapis Teehun Lok Ujagar

Ram Doot Atulit Bal Dhama

Anjani-Putra Pavansut Nama

Mahabir Bikram Bajrangi

Kumati Nivaar Sumati Ke Sangi

Kanchan Baran Biraaj Subesa

Kaanan Kundal Kunchit Kesa.”

 

He stopped a moment, and then, closing his eyes, lifted his head and sang out:

    

Jai Jai Jai Hanuman Gosaai!

Kripa Karahun Gurudev Ki Naai

Jo Sat Baar Paath Kar Koi!

Chhootahin Bandi Maha sukh Hoyi

Jo Yeh Padhe Hanuman Chalisa

Hoye Siddhi Saakhi Gaurisa

Tulsidas Sada Harichera

Kije Naath Hridaya Mahn Dera!

 

Russell was again amazed. Jason was always pretty, but always underachieving, always hiding something. Now he seemed to burn. The room was silent. Patti had an urge to cross herself, which she stopped, but Russell saw her begin. He was surprised Cody had not said: “Sacred Net!” for something sacred was here.

And like that there was a knock at the door and Thom shook himself. They all did, and there were murmurs of, “Thank you. Thank you, Jason.”

As his boyfriend blushed, Russell got up to answer the door.

“Grandma?” he began.

Kathleen Lewis entered the house along with Mason and Abby Devalara.

Jackie who asked her friend, “What’s going on?”

Abby shrugged. “The two old bags just came by my place and said we all had to get together and told me to get in the car.”

“Family!” Kathleen addressed them all, “Mason has something he’d like to say.”

“Thomas,” Mason stepped toward the younger, shorter man, “Might I have your mother’s hand in marriage?”

Thom opened his mouth and out came: “Whaaaaaa?”