Family Ties (3 page)

I’d arranged to meet Charlotte and Orbit at an all night coffee shop called
Cool Beans
. I’d have preferred to meet her alone, but she’d insisted on her soul mate tagging along when she agreed to come. I arrived a few minutes early and grabbed a booth near the entrance so they’d spot me easily. The shop was filled with students guzzling down cappuccinos and surrounded by thick textbooks, and couples making eyes at each other over the rims of their lattes.

They arrived about ten minutes after I did, just as I was informing the waitress that I would wait for my party to arrive before ordering.  I did a classic double take. My little sister, who as a little girl had charmed anyone she met with her sweet face, expressive blue eyes and soft strawberry blond hair, now looked like crap. The girl who I had once considered one of the most beautiful women in the world now looked like a washed out version of herself.  

Charlotte’s normally well-kept hair was tied at the nape of her neck in a tangled mess.  She was wearing a long floral skirt that looked as though it had never seen the inside of a washing machine, much less an iron. A loose white ruffled shirt hung from her thin frame, and it was very noticeable that my sweet little sister was in desperate need of a bra.

Orbit didn’t make a better impression. They were arm in arm as my sister introduced me to the six-foot tall leather pants-wearing bohemian who had alienated her from her family and friends for the past few months. He looked like a broke white Lenny Kravitz-wannabe. I was cordial as I shook his hand, calling on all of my acting skills to hide my desire to punch him in the face. I owed it to my sister to give him the benefit of the doubt, and I figured there might be something to the old honey method of catching flies.

“Hi, bro.” Charlotte and I kissed hello.  “You look great as usual.”

“You too,” I lied.

“Hey Patrick, man. Nice to finally meet you.”

“You too,” I repeated—again, a lie.

I wanted to grab Charlotte by her bony shoulders and demand she look me in the eye and tell me what it was she saw in this guy.  Instead I asked, “You guys ready to order?” The waitress reappeared and I could see the
Which one of these things does not belong
? question looming behind her eyes. Anger washed over me.  I didn’t like the idea of someone looking at my sister like she was some kind of freak: my sister, who was both smart and beautiful and just a year ago would have had this waitress and every other woman in the coffee shop looking at her with envy. We placed our order and the interrogation in disguise began.

“How are your classes going, Char?”

“Agggh.”

Was that an answer?

“That bad?” I was hoping I’d have a least some good news to report home.  I didn’t think my parents could take her failing school on top of everything else. 

“Man, I want to teach, ya know?  They’re not teaching me how to teach, at least not the important things.  Sure, I can tell them all about this country’s screwed up history, but what about how to be a good person, how to make a difference, how to…
be
?”

“Char, I thought you wanted to teach kindergarten. What else is there to learn in kindergarten besides ABCs, 123s, and how to be a good person?”

“You don’t get it, man,” Orbit interjected.

I ignored him. “Charlotte, make me get it.”

“Look bro, I just don’t agree with their philosophy, that’s all, but I’m not failing if that’s what you want to know.”

I didn’t know whether or not I could believe her, but I let it go for the moment. Orbit reached into his worn suede jacket pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. The waitress returned with our coffees. 

“You can’t light that in here. I’m sorry.”

Orbit put the single cigarette and lighter in his inner jacket pocket.  “No problem, Mama.  It’s all good.”

I rolled my eyes.  “Char, Mom wants to know if you’re going to come to dinner this Sunday.  Everyone will be there.”

Besides being her boyfriend, apparently Orbit was now my sister’s personal assistant.  “No can do.  Charlotte and I have the Save the Earth festival on Sunday.”

“Oh yeah. I’d almost forgotten.” Charlotte turned to me. “I’m gonna have to take a rain check on that one.”

“Well, when do you think you’ll get a chance to go home?  Mom and Dad really miss you.  When’s the last time you’ve seen your nieces and nephews?”

“Oh come on, that’s low.  Don’t guilt trip me.” Charlotte took a sip of her latte. “Although, my Mom does make awesome roast beef.”  She nudged Orbit in the side.

“Remember what we said, babe.  No red meat.”

He wouldn’t eat cow, but he had no problem wrapping his ass in it?

“Charlotte, you can’t keep blowing them off.”

“You’re making this sound worse than it is.  Mom and Dad know that I’m busy.  I don’t remember them hounding you this much when you were in school.”

“That’s because I managed to attend school and still behave like I had a family.”

“Whoa, this is getting a little heavy, I’ll excuse myself and let you two do your thing.” Orbit swaggered outside to have his cigarette.

“Finally.” I moved to sit next to Charlotte, as if putting us closer together physically would somehow help what I wanted to say sink in. “Charlotte, you haven’t been home in months. You barely call anymore.  Would it kill you to skip this festival and see your family instead?”

Without looking me in the eye Charlotte responded, “This is very important to Orbit.  He’s always been into protecting the Earth and our environment.”

I couldn’t hold back a laugh. “So he says as he puffs on his cigarette.”

“Patrick!  If you’re not going to be serious about our commitments—”

“Our commitments?  Charlotte, you’ve changed into a totally different person.  What happened to the fun-loving but responsible girl who loved her family?”

“Don’t you mean the flighty, purposeless little girl who didn’t really have any goals or direction?  And for the record, I love my family, especially you.  I just don’t feel like having you all grill me on my new relationship or bug me about my choices.”

I glanced behind me and noticed Orbit finishing up his cigarette.  “Listen, you were not purposeless and you didn’t lack direction. You were normal. You were open.  The mere fact that you have to alienate yourself in this relationship from the rest of your family says that something’s not right.”

I stood up and tossed some cash on the table as Orbit entered the café.  “Call me if you change your mind… or come to your senses.”

As I exited the café I heard Orbit mumble, “Party’s over so soon?”

I seethed the whole way home. When I got there, Myra was gone and Chloe had gone to bed. I tried to be quiet as I prepared for bed myself, but I was sure she could hear the steam coming out of my ears. I was up most of the night thinking about the meeting with Charlotte. How had two people who were so close grown so far apart in such a short period of time?  She was a different person, and it wasn’t just her appearance that made her unrecognizable. Her attitude, the way she spoke to me, and the way she could barely look me in the face the whole time we were together were all so unlike her.

Had I ever really known my little sister?  I never would have imagined that meeting a man would turn her into someone else.  I thought she was stronger than that.  I wasn’t even sure what it was about the guy that had her so willing to change her whole lifestyle.  He wasn’t that handsome and he didn’t seem very smart. True enough that I hadn’t really given him an opportunity to say much, but that meeting wasn’t really about getting to know him.  It was about getting my little sister back.

I tried to put my thoughts of anger towards my other siblings out of my head as I drifted into a restless sleep. Why was it suddenly my sole responsibility to get through to Charlotte? 

That night I dreamt that Charlotte was hanging from a cliff and I was reaching over the edge, trying to grab her hands, when I heard my family cheering me on. I turned to look over my shoulder and saw my parents, brothers, and sisters standing nearby, pleading with me to save her. 

***

I decided to head to Long Island a day early.  I guess part of me figured that staying more than two days might make up for Charlotte not being there at all.  Also, I hadn’t seen much of Paul and Max and hoped to catch up with them that weekend.  I left early Saturday morning and hopped on the Long Island Railroad. I was not looking forward to telling my parents that I was unable to convince Charlotte to come home for the weekend. I sighed and looked out the window; we were passing through Rosedale station and fast approaching my stop.  The ride couldn’t last long enough.

As soon as I walked in the door the aroma of fresh bread hit me like a slap in the face.  I inhaled deeply. I entered through the side door that led into the kitchen and found my mother wearing black slacks and a hunter green turtleneck and looking like a red-haired Martha Stewart, leaning over the oven. She turned as the door closed behind me.

“Patrick!”  She glanced quickly over my shoulder, checking to see if Charlotte was with me, I’m sure. When she realized she wasn’t, there was a moment of disappointment, but not so much that she couldn’t hug me like she hadn’t seen me in years. 

“Ma, oxygen is becoming an issue.”

“I’m sorry.  I’m just so glad you’re home.  I wasn’t expecting you till tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I know.  I got a little homesick so I decided to come today instead.”

“Sean!” my mother called towards the family room. “Patrick’s here. Come and get a look at him.”

My father entered the kitchen a few moments later.  When I was a little boy, my father had always seemed larger than life. Not just because of his size—he was six foot three and boxed in the Army—but also because of all he had done and how he carried himself.  Growing up, I was very much aware that every day my father went to work he was risking his life.  However I also knew that he saved lives, which meant he could do no wrong in my book. When my brothers, Thomas and Kellam, became firefighters, he was thrilled and I think it would have secretly made him proud if all his sons had done so, but he never made Liam or I feel bad for choosing other paths.

Now, many years later, I stood at six feet and two inches tall, yet still viewed him from the perspective of a small boy in awe. As an adult I’d come to realize just how special he was; working hard for all those years to help raise seven children couldn’t have been easy, but he did it and he did it well.

“Well, this is a nice surprise.”  My father and I hugged.  He looked at the floor around my feet then looked behind me towards the door. “And no dirty laundry?  I guess that’s one good thing about you living in the city, too far for you to bring all your clothes over here, huh?”

“Yeah, I was considering renting a U-Haul but…” I let the sentence trail good-naturedly.

My mother pulled a golden brown loaf of bread from the oven.  “Sweetheart, you know you’re more than welcome to bring your clothes here. We don’t mind.”

“I know, Ma. Don’t worry about it though; we have a laundry room in our building.”

“How’s that working out?” my father asked as he took seat at the kitchen table.

I joined him and replied, “Good. The apartment is close to my job, the rent’s not as high as most places in the city, and it’s a really nice apartment.”

“You don’t know how relieved I was when you told me they’d installed that intercom system. I can sleep at night,” my mother said as she poured three cups of coffee.  She sat at the table, placing cups in front of my father and I, not trying to hide her scrutiny. “Are you eating enough?  You look thin.”

I let out a deep breath before taking a sip of coffee. “I’m eating great, Ma.”

My father came to my rescue. “He looks fine, Theresa. Just fine.”

“Well, are you cooking your meals or eating out a lot?”

“I thought that I’d be too busy to eat at home, but it’s actually worked out pretty well.  Chloe’s a great cook and we go back and forth making meals, leaving dinner for the other one in the oven if they’re not home. We have a good system.”

“So, when do we get to meet this girl?”

“You make it sound like she’s my girlfriend, Ma.”

“She cooks for you—”

I cut her off. “She doesn’t cook
for
me.  She will make dinner every now and again and, if there’s extra, she might leave it for me so that I don’t have to cook when I get home, or if I’m making dinner and she’s home, I’ll ask if she wants to join me.  No big deal.”

My mother didn’t look convinced. “Is she pretty?”

“Theresa!” 

“Ma!”

She looked at both my father and me, offended.

“What?  Why are you two yelling at me?  It’s a simple question.”

“Honey, leave him alone.  He just got here and you’re going to run him off.  Come on, son. Let me show you the shelves I’ve been working on.”

My mother rolled her eyes at the both of us as we grabbed our coffee cups and headed for the garage. Before walking out of the kitchen, I turned over my shoulder and replied, “Yes. Very pretty.”

My mother actually winked.

***

Later that day, Paul and I were seated on the bleachers at our high school watching Max coach his team through a scrimmage. We didn’t have to sit as close as we were to one another; there was no one around to hear our conversation, but it was cold, so we did.  It didn’t hurt either since Paul was unloading a bombshell.