by N. A. Hydes
Matt spoke up, “I’m sorry, ma’am. I’ve been keeping her out too much. I just thought she’d like to go out to eat for lunch, and we ended up back at my apartment watching TV with my roommates.”
“It’s fine, Matt,” Pauline said. “I expect Jennifer to spend more time away from home as she gets older. But it has all happened so fast. One day, Matt, you will have children, and you will understand.”
“I hope so,” Matt said, looking at Jennifer.
“I don’t want you getting sick again, Jennifer. It scared me not to hear from you for an entire weekend. I wasn’t sure what was going on,” Pauline chastised Jennifer.
“Yes, Mom. I do feel pretty good, though,” Jennifer reassured her mother between bites.
Stewart looked over at Matt. “So Matt, your grandfather lives with you?”
Matt smiled. “Yes, I believe he has lived with my parents since they were married. I call him Gung-Gung.”
“What an unusual name for your grandfather to pick,” Josephine commented.
“He grew up in China. I assumed it was a word in Mandarin, but I’m not sure. My grandfather met my grandmother in India of all places, one of those chance meetings that changes your life. Maybe the word Gung-Gung is Indian.”
“Is your grandmother Indian?” Stewart inquired.
“No, she was American. My grandmother took a job as a reporter in India after college. My mother moved to the States when she was a teenager,” Matt answered.
Stewart nodded in understanding. “One of our ancestors was Chinese. It’s not much, but it is there. According to all the letters and such I collected when I was doing a genealogy study, it was an enormous scandal. It was a scandal for both the American and Chinese sides of the family. It’s why I have all my hair.” Stewart scratched his head. “But, according to my research, he didn’t call himself Chinese.”
Jake interjected, “So you say, Dad.” He looked at Matt. “What are you studying in school, Matt?”
The conversation turned to a brief description of Matt’s goals. Matt’s plan to get out of talking by eating didn’t seem to work. His leg was jumping under the table with each question. When there was a break in the conversation, Jennifer gently kicked his leg. When he looked up at her, she whispered, “Thanks for coming.”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he responded. “You look nice. I like that shirt.”
She smiled. “Thanks.”
“Matt,” Josephine interrupted. “We will have dessert in a minute if you would like to wait. I just,” she said, moving to get up from her chair, “have to go get it.”
“Grand, it’s okay.” Jennifer walked over to Matt’s spot, leaning sideways to pick up his plate. “We still have dinner at Matt’s.”
Matt smiled up at Jennifer. “Thank you,” he whispered.
Matt turned to the Grand Josephine. “Thank you, ma’am, but we are going to have to get going soon. My parents are expecting us.”
“How nice, Matt,” Josephine responded. “How far is the drive?”
“It’s about forty-five minutes,” Matt answered.
“Sure you can’t stay? Lots of football here,” Randy said, stirring a glass of iced tea mix and water before drinking more. He took a cube of ice and crunched it in his mouth.
“Thanks, man,” Matt said. “But I’m pretty excited about introducing your sister to my parents. Later?”
“Sure.” Randy stood, picked up his plate, and headed to the door. Jennifer grabbed some more dirty dishes and disappeared.
Matt wondered if he should leave the room.
“Matt,” Josephine started. “Our Jennifer is very special.”
Matt put his hands in his lap. An hour of answering questions while eating and trying to impress Jennifer’s parents was more work than he had anticipated. “Yes, ma’am, she is.”
“Matt, our Jennifer is very special,” she repeated, looking forward.
“Yes, ma’am. I know. I agree.”
“Be careful,” Josephine said, and she rose from her chair and headed towards the door, leaving Matt sitting at the table.
“I will; I’ll do my best not to hurt her,” Matt answered.
Josephine was behind the head of the table where Jennifer’s dad had stood. “It’s not Jennifer I am worried about; it’s you.” She smiled a sweet smile, turned, and continued out the door.
Matt sat at the table alone. The men had left to watch the football game, the women to clean the kitchen, so Matt assumed, and it was finally quiet.
Jennifer walked into the dining room shortly after Josephine had left Matt alone. “Hey,” Jennifer said in between blowing out the candles. “How are you holding up?”
“Ready for it to be your turn,” Matt answered.
“Hey, this was your idea,” Jennifer defended. “I wouldn’t have minded waiting for a few years before meeting parents.”
Matt couldn’t help it; he laughed louder than he meant to. “Right before we get married?” he asked sarcastically.
Jennifer, smirking, walked over to where Matt was sitting. “I was thinking after we had kids.” Matt stood up in front of Jennifer.
“Is that right?” he said and bent to kiss Jennifer.
Hand in hand, they exited the dining room. “Ready to meet my parents?” Matt whispered in Jennifer’s ear.
“Bring it,” she whispered back.
“Mom,” Jennifer yelled in the living room.
“Shh,” Randy insisted over his shoulder, turned back to the TV, and started screaming, “GO!”
Pauline came out of the kitchen wearing a wet apron. She made a whistling noise of exhaustion. “The worst part about cooking is the cleaning,” she said and smiled.
“We are going to have to head out to make it to Matt’s in time,” Jennifer announced and leaned over to kiss her on the cheek. “It was wonderful.”
Pauline grabbed Matt’s attention. “Thank you for coming, Matt. Please thank your mother for me. The bread was a delight.”
Jake walked over to Matt and once again shook his hand. “It was nice to meet you, sir.” Matt nodded in response. It was the first time anyone had called him sir.
“Please come back anytime.” Pauline distracted Matt’s attention.
“Thank you,” Matt returned. “I will.”
On the way to the truck, Randy hollered over his shoulder. “Later,” he called to Matt.
As Jennifer was getting into Matt’s vehicle, Matt noticed her parents standing on the porch; her father had his arm around her mother, both waving goodbyes.
21
Matt’s House
Matt’s house was a white two-story Tudor. Jennifer marveled at the landscaping. The grass looked like green carpet. The shrubbery was cut in perfect perpendicular angles. Each plant looked like a copy of the others in size and shape. She couldn’t help but gulp audibly.
Matt touched Jennifer’s leg. “Mom and Dad both are a little lawn crazy,” he admitted. “They have this Zen yard thing going on. There is a pond in the back with a bridge and everything. If it weren’t dark, I would show it to you. Maybe later?”
“I thought Zen gardens were Japanese. Do your parents live on a golf course?” Jennifer wondered.
“Maybe Zen gardens are Japanese. It doesn’t matter; my parents find it relaxing to maintain the yard and rake sand…” he pointed toward the lawn, “perfectly. Mom calls it peaceful. And no, we don’t live on a golf course.” Matt laughed. “Why do you ask?”
“It just seems like one of those houses you see on the golf course. Mom is lucky if she can even get Dad outside to mow the yard. Usually, Randy does it.”
Smiling, Matt said, “I don’t have a brother or sister, so the duty would have been mine. Mom and Dad hired a lawn company.” There was a pause. “Randy seems pretty cool.” Matt opened the door and jumped out of the truck, walking towards Jennifer’s side of the vehicle. However, Jennifer was out of the car and beside him before he rounded the vehicle’s front.
“Randy is so muc
h younger than me; it’s almost like being an only child. Mom said they thought about adopting before Randy came along.”
Matt led Jennifer to the brown front door. She wasn’t sure why they were standing on the porch, and Matt wasn’t unlocking the door. He just stood there. While they were waiting, Jennifer noticed lights pointed towards the house to highlight the architecture. It was fancy.
Matt sighed, bringing Jennifer’s attention to him. “Gung-Gung said…” Matt paused. “Oh, never mind. First, you have to meet Gung-Gung.”
Jennifer smiled. “Who?”
“Gung-Gung,” Matt answered. “Gung-Gung is what I call my grandfather,” he continued.
Looking to her left while Matt talked, Jennifer noticed a statue of a dog, and it looked stylish. She moved her attention back to Matt. “Oh, you mentioned that at lunch. Thank you. I was a little lost.” Jennifer noticed Matt was staring at her lips. She avoided a kiss and looked back down at the porch, made of a natural stone with moss between the stone fittings.
“I meant to ask, where were your aunts and uncles?” Matt finally put the key into the door.
“Both my parents are only kids. It made for great Christmases.”
“I can imagine. Are you ready to meet my family?” Matt asked.
“Yes,” she said as he used his left hand to open the door and placed his right hand on the small of her back.
“Mom, Dad, I’m home,” Matt called.
Jennifer tried not to gawk at the house. The walls were off-white and framed by dark wood archways for doors. The ceiling was at least nine feet high, maybe even twelve, vaulted and made of the same stained wood as the doorways. The floors were dark hardwood. The bright decorations and furniture offset the natural colors of the house. Jennifer thought she had stepped into a picture from a home décor magazine.
Matt slid his arm from her back to around her waist.
“Matt, you are back,” a slightly high-pitched, cheerful voice said. A tall, thin woman came through an archway to the right. Jennifer would guess she was 5’8”, with gorgeous, almond-shaped brown eyes and silky black hair. She was wearing an apron over jeans and a tight-fitting red sweater.
Around the corner came a tall bald man with classic all-American features and a muscular build. He put his arm around his wife and kissed her forehead.
Matt moved his arm from Jennifer’s waist and took her hand, pulling Jennifer closer to his parents. “Jennifer, this is my mom, Maria, and my dad, Andrew.”
“Hello,” Andrew greeted. “We are glad to meet you and have you over.”
Maria put her arm around Jennifer. “Let me show you around the house.” She was leading Jennifer through the door when an older man entered the room. His clothing reminded Jennifer of a Bruce Lee movie; he was wearing a blue button-down shirt and blue pants.
“Ah, you must be Jennifer,” he said with a slight accent; Jennifer assumed it was Mandarin. He scooted his feet on the floor, barely lifting his knees as he moved closer to her.
He hugged Jennifer, causing Jennifer’s shoulders to tense.
“Matt, you keep her. She has dragon in her,” Gung-Gung said, releasing her. “She is a good one. I smell it.” Jennifer froze at his words and didn’t move. Her eyebrows pushed together; the color drained from her face.
“Uh,” Matt said and moved over to Jennifer’s side, taking possession of her from his mother and Gung-Gung. “Gung-Gung, this is Jennifer. Mom, I’m going to show her around the house.”
Matt moved Jennifer into a hallway to the left. He took her to a staircase up to the second story. On the walls of the stairway were pictures of Matt at different ages. Jennifer slowed the pace so she could look at the pictures. He was a chunky baby with dark brown eyes. Matt had short hair in some, long in others. In his teenage photos, he sported braces. At the top of the stairs was a long hallway with doors leading off it. There were pictures of Matt at different dances with different girls along this hall. Jennifer stopped and looked, still holding Matt’s hand. Sometimes she pointed, and Matt would make a small comment about the girl. Maybe he would mention the name or say, “We only went out once.” There wasn’t a girl repeated in any of the pictures.
“You were quite a lady’s man there, Matt,” Jennifer teased. “Did you have a black book?”
Matt laughed. “No. It was red.” He paused for dramatic effect. “After all, red is the color of love.” His laughter and good humor were contagious, and Jennifer joined his chuckling. He brought Jennifer close to him for a hug.
Finally, they got to the end of the hall. Matt blushed and said, “This is my room.”
He allowed Jennifer to pass him and enter first. She could smell a Glade or Febreze flower smell, and she looked for a wall plug-in but didn’t see it. Matt’s carpet was dark brown. He had a large room with two windows; the walls were painted off-white. He had a quilt for a bedspread on his queen-sized bed. There was a dresser with pictures of him with some friends at the beach. There were shelves on the wall with trophies. He had a few train items scattered here and there. In between the double closet was a desk with a lamp and a computer.
Matt walked into the room, past Jennifer, and took a jumping leap onto his bed. “So, what do you think?” he asked.
Jennifer turned to smile at him. “Your room looks like a guy’s room.” She sat on the carpet in front of him.
Matt grabbed a pillow off his bed and tucked it under him, and lay on his belly facing Jennifer. “I am a guy, so I guess that’s good.”
“Your parents’ house looks like something out of a magazine. If we had gone to your house first, we would have never gone to mine.”
“Why? Your parents’ house is friendly and fun. My house looks nice, but I’ve never been allowed in most of the rooms. I grew up in my bedroom or outside or at one of my high school friends’ places.”
“I don’t think my parents would let you into my room,” Jennifer said. “Growing up, no boys were allowed in mine. Not that I ever tried. And after seeing this, there is no way I’m showing you my room.”
Matt smiled. “You’re the first girl I’ve allowed in my room. It makes you special. And as far as your room, I like a challenge, so I’ll see your room soon enough.” His smile turned mischievous, and his cheeks turned slightly red as if embarrassed.
“Oh, about Gung-Gung,” Matt changed the subject after a brief pause. “He has some interesting beliefs.” Matt sat up on his bed with his legs crossed and put his pillow on top of his thighs. “Gung-Gung believes we descended from dragons.”
Jennifer moved to make herself more comfortable on the floor.
“I mean it, Jennifer. He believes one of our ancestors was a dragon. Not just any dragon, but this dragon called Futs-Lung. The smelling like a dragon, that’s a compliment.” Matt did his best to smile. “I hope that didn’t offend you.”
“No,” Jennifer confirmed. “It’s fine. It’s something I will remember.”
Jennifer and Matt talked until Matt’s mother called them to dinner. Gung-Gung told lively stories about China, India, and various places in the States. Jennifer liked Gung-Gung, even if he was a little strange.
On their way out the door, Gung-Gung looked up at Jennifer. “I think you are more dragon than even Matt.” He grabbed Jennifer’s ear. “I’m part dragon, and I can smell dragons. You smell very much like a dragon.” Gung-Gung released her ear. “You are good for Matt.”
Jennifer tried to smile back, but she could remember the bear’s taste and feel the strings of fur in her mouth. “Thank you,” she responded.
Jennifer and Matt didn’t talk during the ride back to Jennifer’s house. She dozed off into a dreamless sleep, and Matt kept his thoughts to himself.
When they arrived back at Jennifer’s, her brother was still on the love seat watching football. Matt joined Randy.
“Do you want anything to drink?” Jennifer asked.
“Sure,” Matt answered.
Jennifer brought a drink for Matt and joined them, watching the game
.
Matt left Jennifer’s house at two a.m. Jennifer had fallen asleep on the couch.
22
Friday
Jennifer awoke Friday morning with Randy knocking on her door. She wasn’t sure how she got from the log cabin the night before to this luxurious yet strange room. It seemed familiar.
“Jen, get up. Loverboy is downstairs!” Randy, yes, that was the person screaming.
Jennifer, she thought. I am Jennifer Wright, not Joshua Soward.
She wasn’t sure who Loverboy was, but he needed to see her, and quickly.
The clothes in the drawers didn’t look familiar, and they looked like something from a circus. Searching in a basket in the hall, she found and put on a flannel shirt and brown pants. She paired the clothes with boots without heels that seemed to fit.
Jennifer picked up a hairbrush, quickly straightening what the bed had twisted, and headed down the stairs to go to the outhouse; then she remembered there was a bathroom.
After brushing her teeth, she made it down the stairs to find Matt talking to Randy.
“Hey,” Randy asked, “Are those my pants?”
“They were in the basket in the hall,” Jennifer answered.
“Mom has been putting clothes to take to Goodwill there.” Randy looked surprised. “I didn’t know you liked boy clothes.”
Matt interrupted, “You look good, no matter what you are wearing.” He moved to stand closer to Jennifer. “Good morning. Would you like to go see a movie?”
There was a momentary pause as Jennifer worked on remembering what a movie was. “Yes,” she answered, hoping no one else noticed the delay.
I’m Jennifer, she realized, as the memories from yesterday came back. This is Matt. He is my boyfriend. Yesterday was Thanksgiving. “I think that sounds like fun. Do you mind if we stop by the grocery store? I have been having a hard time sleeping, and I would like to try some sleep medication.” Jennifer realized she had neglected undergarments and hoped no one noticed as she tugged on the shirt.