Family Affair (12 page)

Jacinda pulled out a hand-carved wooden angel and two candles. "Put these in the baby's room. It will keep mija safe."

"I will, Mama." Gitana took the things gently.

Chase was still eyeing the hutch. Gitana poked her. "We have to go, Mama."

"Si, take care." She hugged them both. "You take good care of mama and the baby," she told Chase.

"I will. I promise."

Graciela was yelling obscenities at the top of her lungs. Jacinda shook her head and then crossed herself.

Outside as they made their way to the car, they heard a pssst from the over grown purple sage growing on the side of the driveway.

"What on earth?" Chase said as she saw Graciela peering out of the bush.

"Be quiet, she'll hear you. Meet me around the corner," Graciela said. Her arms and legs were coated in black.

"What happened to you?" Gitana asked.

"I'll tell you later. You've got to get me out of here. I feel another exorcism coming on."

"All right, we'll meet you around the corner," Gitana said, glancing at her mother's window.

Chase drove around the corner to Calle Delgado and waited for Graciela who hopped over the neighbor's short adobe wall.

Chase rolled down the window. "Hold on a minute. You're not getting in the car with all that black stuff on you. What is it anyway?"

"Soot. I had to climb out the chimney. It was the only escape route."

"How in the hell did you manage that?" Chase said, getting out of the car. She opened the trunk and pulled out a Tartar dog blanket and some doggie wipes.

"I used a rock climbing technique. It's called stemming. You use your hands and feet to counterbalance your body as you climb."

"Where'd you learn to do that?" Chase asked.

"I dated a rock climber."

"That figures," Chase replied, rolling her eyes.

Gitana lowered the window. "We better get going. Mama has spies everywhere."

"Right. I don't want her knowing we aided and abetted a fugitive. Here, clean up with these," Chase said, handing her the wipes. "They have lavender and chamomile in them. You'll smell nice."

Graciela scowled but wiped her arms and legs. Chase put the Tartar blanket on the backseat.

"What happened to your car?" Gitana said.

"That psycho bitch stole the battery, with her bad hip, no less."

"She probably had help," Gitana replied.

"Where to?" Chase said.

"Maloney's. I'm meeting Delia for drinks."

"So you're completely off Andrea now?" Chase asked. She hadn't planned on Graciela and Delia hitting it off at her dinner party but they had. Gitana's sister dating one of her writing buddies gave her a feeling of trepidation.

"She's too possessive." Graciela was using one of the wipes to get the soot off her white T-shirt, not very successfully. "Besides, Delia is hot and she's not into monogamy. She thinks it's archaic. Did you know she cleans house for people in the nude? She makes big bucks."

"I didn't know that," Gitana said, frowning at Chase.

"She doesn't clean our house. She writes porn. What do you expect? Nuns don't write porn."

"What about Lesbian Nuns? That was quite the book," Graciela said.

Chase glanced at Gitana. "This has been a very long weekend."

"Actually, I thought it was great. Hanging out with you guys was a lot of fun. I can't wait for Pride. Here, just drop me here," she said, pointing to the loading zone half a block from Maloney's. "Thanks, you guys." She hopped out of the car.

Chase took a deep breath, tuned into public radio and Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion.

"Wow," Gitana said, leaning back in the seat.

Chapter Ten

Gitana came out of the greenhouse and said, "Where'd you get that?" pointing at the SUV.

"At the Hummer dealership." Chase opened the passenger door so Gitana could check out all the features.

"Are you test driving it? I thought we were going to Pride?"

"We are. In our new car—or SUV rather. I traded in the Passat. This thing is built like a tank. We'll get a baby on board sign and then if some moron hits us we won't even feel it. Do you like the color?"

"It's definitely yellow." Gitana peered inside.

"I thought it looked like a school bus—that way when Bud goes to school it won't be a shock."

Gitana nodded. Chase noticed she looked dubious.

"Let me go tell Nora I'm leaving," Gitana said.

"So she can keep on eye on the text-crazy employees."

"Yes, I feel bad leaving her on our busiest day of the week."

"That's one of the perks of being the boss." Chase wiped a fingerprint off the window with the sleeve of her T-shirt.

"I know."

"I think having Pride on Saturday is rather bourgeoisie. Lots of people work on Saturday excepting white-collar types." Chase got in the driver's seat and inspected the placement of the mirrors. She made a slight adjustment using the remote feature.

"Perhaps you could mention that to the Pride committee when we get there."

"I might just do that." Chase busied herself with the controls. She didn't have them completely mastered. There were so many. She grabbed the owner's manual.

"I'll be right back," Gitana said, staring at the massive machine.

"Okay." Chase didn't look up.

Gitana returned shortly. She opened the back door and slung her pack on the seat.

"Don't hit the teddy bear," Chase called out.

"Why is there a bear in a car seat?" She closed the door and got in the front seat.

Chase stared the car. "I'm practicing driving with a baby. I had the State Farm agent show me how to properly install it. He told me one of the common mistakes parents make is putting the car seat to one side instead of the middle. In the middle you can look in the mirror to observe the child's behavior instead of having to turn your head around and thus removing your eyes from the road."

"I see."

Chase pulled out of the parking lot. "This thing has balls."

They drove into town with Chase explaining all the different features of the new vehicle with the delight of ownership. Gitana mentioned something about greenhouse gases and fuel economy.

"Safety first," Chase replied. "As for doing my part to help the environment, I've changed all the lightbulbs in the house to fluorescent bulbs and ordered thirty trees from the Edgewood Soil and Conservation Bureau to offset that. I thought the back acre looked a little sparse so I want to fill it in. There's still plenty of room."

"Oh no, not the trees again." Gitana leaned her head on the window and groaned.

"You don't have to plant this time. You're pregnant. I thought I'd hire Graciela. She needs a new battery and probably some other car parts by now."

The last time Chase ordered trees it had taken a week of solid digging to get them all planted. Then there was the watering which consumed every evening for an entire summer because the monsoons hadn't come. The ten poplars, ten chokecherry, ten green ash and ten plum trees had taken off and the property had become somewhat of a forest. Not all Chase's positioning had worked out though, and some of the trees had to be moved as they got bigger which meant their kindly neighbor with the tractor had to be enlisted to move them.

"You'll plan better this time?" Gitana said.

"Yes, now that I know what they're capable of. I have skills now."

"What does this get for gas mileage?" Gitana rummaged around for the paperwork.

"Not too bad." Chase had removed that part of the paperwork in anticipation of this discussion. "But I've got that figured out already. I've ordered a biodiesel conversion kit and there's a guy in town that can change it over. Then all you have to do is add a DSE alternative fuel additive to used frying oil and you have fuel. How cool is that? It's very economical after the initial investment." Chase didn't look at her.

"And how exactly are you going to pay for all this economy?"

"Don't worry, I've got it all worked out. I can write two moist mound sagas a year if I put my nose to the grindstone."

"What about your mystery novel?" Gitana inquired.

"I'll work on it."

Chase got on the freeway. She could feel Gitana studying her.

"Am I being obsessive?"

"Kind of, but in a sweet way. You're approaching this with your usual fervor." Gitana took her hand.

They picked up Delia and Graciela at Delia's rundown house in the University District. She lived with several other hot lesbians, according to Graciela. She had described the place like the Island of Lesbos. Chase imagined young nymphs in togas fucking on the seedy couch or on a bathroom floor in need of serious cleaning. Chase pondered her own dirty mind. Was this a by product of her moist-mound sagas? She should really concentrate more on her mystery novel, but she got stuck a lot. Perhaps, it was the mountain of research required to satisfy savvy forensic-type readers that was holding her back.

"Sweet ride," Graciela said as she slid in one side and Delia got in the other. They both stared at the teddy bear in the car seat. "What's with the bear?" Graciela asked.

"Training," Chase said as she pulled away from Delia's scary Victorian-style house. Chase bet it looked perfect at Halloween. Stick a pumpkin on the dilapidated porch and call it haunted.

"I dated a chick once with a bear. She took it everywhere including the bedroom, if you know what I mean. It was creepy," Delia said.

"Is the bear coming to Pride?" Graciela said.

"No, it stays in the car. I just want to learn to drive without snapping Bud's head off. All right?"

Gitana was reading the owner's manual. Chase was certain she was looking for the stats on gas mileage.

"That's cool," Graciela said.