Quiet As It's Kept

by Monique Miller

  Morgan huffed. “I think I can read and understand things just fine. And from what I’ve read, you want to cut out anything that has to do with me having any type of ‘me’ time.” She pointed at the budget. “From what I can understand, you want me to stop getting my hair done, and anything else that makes me feel good.”

  “No, don’t look at it that way. I don’t want you to stop getting your hair and nails done. I am just saying that if we space these services out, we can save more money. I mean, if you look at the budget, I didn’t just adjust the services you receive, I’ve also modified how I can get my hair cut, and how I can start doing more of the services we’ve been paying other people to do. I’ve already started changing the oil and I can also start doing the lawn myself.”

  Morgan folded her arms and rolled her eyes. “You doing a budget is all fine and good, but you need to make some modifications on it—modifications that don’t include me having to walk around here looking like some ragamuffin off the street.”

  “Now, Morgan, don’t exaggerate things so much. You wouldn’t look like a ragamuffin if you spaced out your hair appointments a little,” Will suggested.

  “Listen to me, Will, and listen to me well.” Morgan unfolded her arms, stuck her pointer finger up, and wagged it from side to side. “I work too hard every day not to be able to have some time for myself. I don’t ask for much and I don’t spend exorbitant amounts of money. So I don’t think it is asking too much to have my hair and nails done.”

  Will clasped his hands firmly together as if pleading. “Morgan, honey, you are blowing this all out of proportion. That is why I wanted to sit down with you and talk about this later.”

  She placed both hands on her hips and rolled her neck. “I am not blowing anything out of proportion. And you need to revamp that budget before we sit down and talk about anything dealing with money right now. You know that’s a very sore subject. And I don’t know how you think you can just dictate how we spend the money in this house when I am the only one bringing any in.”

  Will’s mouth dropped wide open. He took a moment to compose himself as he took another deep breath. He couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of his wife’s mouth. He wondered how she could be twisting something as small as trying to better manage the money they did have.

  Isaiah had pulled himself up to a standing position and started whimpering. Will looked over toward the baby and saw tears welling in his eyes. It hurt him to see his son starting to cry.

  “Look, let’s talk about this later on tonight. We’re not going to be able to resolve anything right now.”

  Morgan spoke before Will could say anything else. “And we won’t resolve anything tonight either if you try to talk to me about the same stuff you’ve already written. So, again, I suggest you revamp that budget before you bring it to me for a discussion.”

  Will put his hands up and took another deep breath. It was very rare that his temper flared up. Overall, he was an easygoing guy. Before he and Morgan had gotten married he could count on one hand the number of times his temper had gotten the best of him.

  “Why don’t you go ahead and go to work? We can talk later.” He turned to pick the baby back up and headed upstairs.

  “What? Is that it? Is that all you are going to say? How are you just going to walk away from me like that?” Morgan yelled toward him as he walked away.

  “That’s all I have to say for now. And I do need to walk away before I say or do something that I might regret later,” Will said.

  “Say or do something? Something like what?” Morgan said.

  He wanted to get away from his ranting wife. But the next thing he knew, Morgan was in his face.

  She repeated herself. “Say or do something like what?”

  Will was taken aback. Morgan was standing in his face. “Move, Morgan.”

  Morgan waited for an answer. Will tried to step around her, but she continued to block his steps to leave the room.

  “Morgan, we can talk about this later. Move out of the way so I can go upstairs. You’ll be late for work.”

  “Answer my question first, or can you even do that? You can’t seem to do anything right, can you?”

  Will felt his temper flaring as his heartbeat sped. Louder than he meant to, Will said, “Morgan, I don’t know where all of this is coming from, but I need to go get away from you before I—”

  Morgan cut him off. “Before you what?”

  Isaiah started a screaming cry as he watched and listened to the exchange between his parents.

  Will couldn’t take the wailing screams. He stepped to the side to move around Morgan, but Morgan got closer in his face. She got so close that he could see veins in her eyes.

  Without thinking, Will grabbed Morgan’s forearm, yanking and squeezing it. Morgan let out a yelp. As he continued to hold on to her arm and squeeze, Will said, “Move, Morgan.”

  Tears welled in Morgan’s eyes as she pleaded for him to let her arm go.

  Will didn’t know how much time had passed before he finally released her arm. It had probably only been seconds, but to him it felt like an eternity. When he did let go, Morgan fell down to the floor, crying. Will pulled the baby closer to him and ascended the stairs to the baby’s room.

  Once in Isaiah’s room, Will slammed the door and sat down on the glider rocker, glad to be out of the presence of his wife. Will couldn’t believe what he’d just done. His temper had never flared like that before. He’d never wanted to be anything like his father. When he was a young boy, he’d always vowed never to hurt his wife or his family. Now he had broken his age-old vow. He was glad he hadn’t gone further than he had. With all the rage he’d felt, he could have broken Morgan’s arm. He shuddered at the thought.

  The baby shuddered also in his father’s arms. Streaks from the tears that had fallen from his eyes had started drying on his little cheeks. Will pulled a wipe out of its container and wiped the baby’s face. Isaiah smiled at his father, as if knowing the tension in the atmosphere had been lifted.

  Will bounced the baby up and down on his lap as he thought about the events that had unfolded that morning with his wife. He was starting to wonder if he was in the Twilight Zone with the way Morgan’s attitude was hot, lukewarm, then cold, and hot again. It was as if he were married to two women at the same time. And while Will didn’t believe in astrological signs, he might have to give some type of credence to what many people say about people who are born under the sign of Gemini. Morgan seemed to have two different personalities. Then he wondered if maybe the honeymoon between him and his wife was over, and this was all just a part of him getting a chance to see his wife for all of who she really was; not just her good side, but the notso-good side.

  He decided it would be best to wait until Morgan left the house before he emerged from the room. He needed his own time to totally diffuse. And even though he could count on one hand the number of times his temper had flared up before marriage, since marriage he’d lost count of how many times he and Morgan already had disagreements causing him to want to flare back out at his wife. It was a feeling that he didn’t like or welcome.

  He was sure now that he must have been in the Twilight Zone, because in real life nothing had changed as far as his wife’s feelings and her demeanor. He was going to have to do something to help alleviate the problems they were having. Hopefully he’d get a call for a dream job, but in the meantime they needed more money, and they needed more money now.

  He wasn’t pleased with the way Morgan was acting, but in a way he couldn’t blame her. He was the one who was supposed to be taking care of their family. He was the man of the household. It wasn’t her fault and he couldn’t blame her for getting a little upset about what was going on.

  Will pulled Isaiah up into a standing position to face him. “Little man, Daddy is going to have to change some things. You and I are going on a little trip today. Daddy’s going to have to start bringing some money into this house. And if Daddy’s got to
get a job at a fast food restaurant or at a retail store, he will.”

  Isaiah smiled at his father and put the tips of his fingers on his lips.

  “Oh, you’re hungry I see. Okay, let’s go get you something to eat.”

  Will took the baby down to the kitchen and fixed them both some breakfast. While he was eating his cell phone rang. Looking at his caller ID he saw that it was Phillip.

  “Hey, man. What’s going on?” Will answered the phone without saying hello.

  “Nothing much, I am here at home with Phillip Jr. He’s sick, according to the daycare. They say he has some kind of rash and they don’t want him to make the other kids sick.”

  “A rash?” Will asked.

  “We tried to explain that the child is just allergic to mosquito bites, but they weren’t hearing it. Now we have the doctor’s documentation that he is allergic to mosquito bites.”

  “Have you ever thought that just maybe P.J. does not want to be at that daycare with those kids and he’s just trying to play hooky?” Will joked.

  “Nah, that kid loves playing with his little friends. Most kids cry whenever you drop them off at daycare. This kid cries when we come to pick him up. And I hate that because I get strange looks from the daycare teacher, like she thinks the child doesn’t want to go home for some reason.”

  Will laughed. “I can see Isaiah doing the opposite right now. He is very clingy to Morgan and me.”

  “How is my godson doing anyway?” Phillip asked.

  “He’s good. He’s eating some baby food right now.”

  “He’s still eating baby food?”

  “Yep.”

  “Man, you’d better go ahead and give that boy some table food. That baby food isn’t going to satisfy him.”

  “Oh, believe me, if it were up to me, he would get table food. But Morgan would have a fit. She doesn’t think he should have any regular food until he’s at least a year old.” Will chuckled.

  “Anyway, the reason I was calling was to see what you and Isaiah are doing today. P.J. wants to go to the park. I know you two go sometimes and we were going to see if we could tag along. This boy needs to run off some of this energy he’s got.”

  “Normally we do go to the park. But I need to run some errands today.” Will thought about the need to hit the pavement and look for a job. “And you know what? I think your calling is part of divine intervention.”

  “How so?” Phillip asked.

  “It will be hard for me to run my errands with Isaiah, so maybe his godfather will let me take him up on the offer to babysit.”

  “You know I’ll watch him, I told you before to just say the word. When do you want to bring him?” Phillip asked.

  “How about in an hour and a half?”

  “Sounds good. Shelby will probably be up by then. She worked twelve-hour shifts the past three days and now she’ll be off for the next couple of days. She’ll be glad to see Isaiah too.”

  “Great, we’ll see you in a few.”

  “Sounds good.”

  Will clicked his cell phone off and commenced getting the baby ready for his visit with his godfather and Shelby. The whole while he was packing the baby’s things, he brainstormed on where he would go to fill out applications.

  He also thought about how much worse Morgan’s attitude would be when and if she found out that he had taken the baby over to Phillip and Shelby’s home. But he tried not to focus too much on the fact that his wife wouldn’t be happy about it. He still couldn’t figure out why Morgan didn’t care very much for Phillip and Shelby, especially Shelby. The two women were cordial enough to each other, but both he and Phillip noticed the lack of interaction between them.

  But he couldn’t dwell on relationship dynamics between Morgan and Shelby. Nor would he dwell on how Morgan was going to react to his taking the baby over to his godfather’s home for a few hours. It wasn’t like he was dropping the baby off to strangers or for some frivolous reason. He had a good reason, and he was bound and determined that he would get a job before the week was over—even if it meant he had to flip burgers.

  He was supposed to take care of his family by providing for them. Even though his father had been an abuser, he always took care of his family when it came to their finances. It was in that respect that he wanted to be like his father. But he in no way wanted to be like the man in any other way, especially the way he physically hurt his wife and children. Will was going to have to make some changes soon. There was no way he could ever let his temper get the best of him the way it had earlier that morning. He hoped that he hadn’t inherited abuse traits from his father. Only time would tell.

  Chapter 8

  Phillip greeted Will at the door with his sleeping son on his shoulder. “Hey, come on in.”

  “Ah, man, did I almost wake him with the doorbell?” Will asked as he carried Isaiah in one arm and held the baby bag in his other arm.

  “Nah, this boy plays hard and sleeps hard. He’ll be knocked out for the next hour.”

  Will shook his head as he followed Phillip through the foyer, down the hallway, and into their family room. The family room was full of enough toys to furnish a small daycare center.

  “Whoa, what happened in here?” Will asked.

  Phillip rolled his eyes. “Isaiah.”

  “Isaiah?” Will asked. “What has my son got to do with this?”

  “I told P.J. that his godbrother was coming over, and he insisted on bringing all these toys down here so they could play. That’s probably why he’s so worn out. First he brought down one piece at a time, then when I told him to stop he pitched a fit, and then I ended up bringing down a few more.”

  Will looked at a train set situated in the middle of the floor. “Poor P.J. Doesn’t he realize that at Isaiah’s age, all he’s going to do is put the toys in his mouth and try to eat them?”

  “He’ll find out soon enough,” Phillip replied.

  Will put the baby down on the floor next to the train set and put the baby bag down on the couch. “Can you watch him a second while I go get his car seat?” He turned to go back outside.

  “Will, man, sit down and relax for a moment. Are you in a rush?” Phillip asked. “You look like you’re on a mission or something.”

  Will thought about it for a second and realized that he had been going nonstop ever since he’d made up his mind to hit the pavement to look for jobs. He took a deep breath, and took his friend’s advice and sat down. “I guess I have been on autopilot. I have some things that I want to get done within the next couple of hours. I’d like to get back home before Morgan does.”

  “Oh, man, take your time. We finally get Isaiah over here and you are only going to leave him for a few minutes?” Phillip said.

  “It’s not that. I don’t want to deprive you all of the baby. I promise I’ll bring him back over soon so you all can have some real quality time with him. I just try to have dinner ready for Morgan whenever she gets home.”

  “Isn’t that nice. I wish Shelby would have dinner ready for me when I get home every night.”

  “You know it’s the least I can do since I’m at home all day.”

  “I guess you’ve got a point.”

  “Yeah, I just wish I could do more,” Will admitted. “I’ve become a pretty good cook, if I do say so myself.”

  “Better than when I used to visit,” Phillip said.

  Will’s eyebrows rose in question. “Visit?”

  “Okay, that time I called your apartment my residence during the time when Shelby pushed me in the right direction to find myself. When she kicked me out of the house,” Phillip said as he nodded. “Man, you couldn’t pay me to go back to those dark, lost, and lonely days. I was lost and didn’t even know it. I thought I was the one who made things happen, the one who was the master of my own destiny. Boy, was I wrong.” Phillip shook his head. “But I guess we all live and learn.”

  Will looked at his watch.

  “Do you have to be somewhere?” Phillip asked.<
br />
  “Not anyplace in particular,” Will said. “I just want to run some errands and get back home, that’s all.” Will didn’t want to tell his friend that he was on a mission to find a job, and he didn’t care what kind of job as long as he could find something that would help him bring in a paycheck.

  “Hey, Will.”

  Will turned his head toward the sound of Shelby’s voice as she entered the family room. “Hey, Shelby,” Will greeted her. He was glad for the interruption in the conversation.

  Shelby walked over to the baby and picked him up. “Oh my goodness. He has gotten so big.” She bounced him up and down in her arms. “Hey, Isaiah.” She smiled at the baby, and the baby smiled back.

  “Oh wow, he normally doesn’t warm so easily to people he isn’t used to,” Will said.

  “That’s because Isaiah knows that Auntie Shelby will spoil him to death.” The baby continued to smile at Shelby.

  “So, Will, to what do we owe this visit?” Shelby asked.

  “I just need to run a few errands and I can move a little quicker without Isaiah right under me. I hope you don’t mind; I know you’ve been working the past few days, pulling twelve-hour shifts.”

  Shelby rolled her eyes. “Will, you can bring Isaiah over anytime, whether you are running errands or sitting on your front porch watching the grass grow.”

  Will smiled. He loved Phillip like a brother, and could say the same for Shelby, loving her like a second sister. He just wished that Morgan got along well with his best friend and his wife.

  He looked at his watch again.

  “Go ahead, man, and run your errands,” Phillip said. “Isaiah is in good hands. And believe me, when P.J. gets up and Nyah gets home from school, Isaiah will be having so much fun, he won’t want to go home.”

  Will knew his baby boy was in good hands. He had no doubt about that. But for some reason, he still had a bit of uneasiness creeping in the back of his mind. He knew it had everything to do with his wife and her feelings about Phillip and Shelby. Morgan would not be pleased if she knew he was even visiting, much less leaving the baby at their house for a few hours.