The Ordinary Life of Emily P. Bates

by Anna Cackler

  “Hurray,” I said, relieved as I lugged yet another load of laundry upstairs to Mom’s room.

  It was three days before Christmas, and I had gone out with Aaron to pick out a tree. We somehow managed to choose one that suited us both without ripping each other’s heads off, which I attributed to the fact that we were both exhausted from the stress of dealing with an invalid in our house.

  “We’re home!” I called as soon as I had the door open, and though Dad hollered something in reply, we couldn’t make out the words. It took Aaron and me at least fifteen minutes to get the tree into the house and set up in its base.

  “Clear the way, lady with a baby.”

  Aaron and I looked up to find Dad helping Mom down the stairs. She seemed to be doing okay, but she did look pretty drained.

  I frowned up at her. “Mom! What are you doing? What part of ‘bed rest’ don’t you get?” Dad’s annoyed expression mirrored my sentiments, though he didn’t say anything. He’d obviously already lost this argument.

  “Oh stop gassing,” she said with a scowl. “I’ll be fine. I’m not missing decorating the tree the last year that Aaron’s living at home.”

  “You’re not missing anything, and you can’t help me from the couch!” I said as she lowered herself onto the sofa.

  “I certainly can. Aaron, drag that box over here,” she said, and he did as he was asked. She opened it and pulled out a tangled mess of lights. “I can do plenty. Unwrapping the ornaments is my favorite part anyway.”

  “But-”

  “Shut up, Emily. You argue too much,” Aaron snapped.

  “Well put,” Mom said. “Now, come on. I’ll supervise.”

  I clamped my mouth shut and exchanged an irritated glance with Dad. In spite of our misgivings, though, the evening turned out to be one of the best of that somber December. We sat around for several hours, just talking and remembering other Christmases as Mom unwrapped each ornament. Each of us got a new ornament every year, so none of them were generic and none of them matched. By that Christmas, our tree was so weighed down with ornaments that it barely looked like a tree at all – just a cramped Christmas section at a department store.

  That night, after Mom allowed Dad to help her back upstairs, I started picking up all of the garbage and empty boxes. After about five minutes of half-hearted cleaning, though, I gave up.

  I glanced into Dad’s study and saw him there with his back to the door, working diligently on his new sequel. I closed his door softly and climbed the stairs to Mom’s room.

  “Are you sleeping?” I asked as I pushed the door open.

  “Emily? No.” Mom flipped off the oversized TV that was balanced precariously on their antique dresser. “What’s up?”

  “Nothing,” I said. I crossed the room and climbed into bed next to her. She put her arm around me and I snuggled up into her side. “I just felt like hanging out.”

  Mom stroked my hair out of my face and smiled. “I remember when you were little, and you would crawl into bed with me and pat my face.” I grinned. “You were such a sweet little girl. I wonder whatever happened to that nice, gracious girl.”

  “Shut up,” I said, but the irritation just wasn’t in my voice. I hugged her closer, and she looked over at me.

  “What’s wrong, Emily? What’s bothering you?”

  “I’m just worried about you, that’s all,” I said. “I keep thinking about Finn and Shannon, and their mom. I don’t think I could handle it if it were me.”

  “Oh honey, don’t be worried,” she said. “That’s not going to happen to me.”

  I stuck my face into the pillow so that I wouldn’t have to look at her. “Tell me for real, Mom. How bad are your chances here?”

  “They’re not bad at all, honey. Don’t worry about me.”

  “They’d better not be because you’re not done with me yet. I’m not done being raised. I don’t care about that stupid baby. I just need you to be okay.”

  “That stupid baby is as much my daughter as you are, Emily. I don’t expect you to understand right now, but when you’ve got a bun in the oven you would risk it all to save your child, too.”

  “Maybe so.” I sniffed, and then looked up suspiciously. “Little sister?”

  She grinned. “Don’t tell your father, but I had Dr. Carlson tell me the sex.”

  “Hm. Well, Aaron will be disappointed.”

  “Too bad for Aaron.”

  I snuggled back into her shoulder and breathed in her shampoo. She had such nice hair. I’d always envied my mother’s hair. “You promise me right now that you’re going to be all right,” I said.

  “I promise.”

  “And if you break that promise I’ll never forgive you.”

  “I wouldn’t expect anything less.” She rolled over and hugged me close. “Don’t worry, Emily. This will all work out. You’ll see.”

  “It had better,” I said. “If Dad and Aaron have to live on my cooking much longer I think they’ll end up losing about fifty pounds each.”

  She laughed. “I don’t think Aaron has fifty pounds to spare.”

  “Well that’s just too bad for Aaron, then isn’t it?”

  She chuckled, then sucked in her breath suddenly in surprise.

  I sat up, my heart racing. “What? What is it?”

  “Nothing! Calm down!” she said with a smile. “She’s kicking. Here, feel.” She took my hand and pressed it to her stomach. “See?”

  I did see. I could feel a little pressure under my fingers where my little sister was stretching her arms and legs. “Oh,” I breathed and laid my head back down. “Yeah.”

  Eighteen

  The rest of the holidays sped by in a flash. We were all afraid when Mom told us that she’d invited Crazy Aunt June to dinner, but as it turned out she had gone to Florida to spend the holidays with one of her crazy friends from the depression era. Talk about a sigh of relief.

  Finn and Shannon came over on Christmas Eve and we all went out to a movie. We saw a chick flick, and I was impressed that Finn didn’t sleep through the whole thing. But then again, I’m not totally convinced that Finn can’t sleep with his eyes open.

  Christmas came and went with very little excitement. Aaron got himself a brand new jig saw, which he was overly excited about. Mom and Dad got me--along with lots of little things like movies and various trinkets--a brand new camera, which I promptly named Phyllis.

  “We thought you needed a hobby,” Dad said with a smirk.

  “Thanks, Dad. Thanks a whole lot.”

  “You’re very welcome.”

  “Who’s this one from?” I asked, pulling a huge, heavy box toward myself with a grin.

  “That’s from your Crazy Aunt June,” Mom said.

  “What is it?” Aaron leaned in for a better look.

  I tore off the paper, a little curious myself, and opened the box. “They’re magazines,” I stated blandly. “From the thirties.”

  “No look, this one is from ’57,” Dad said.

  “There’s a whole box of them!” Aaron said. “This is awesome!”

  “Well great, you can have them.” I closed the box and shoved it toward my brother.

  “Oh no you don’t,” Mom said in a stern voice from the couch. “Your Crazy Aunt June gave you those magazines and she’ll be hurt if you don’t keep them.”

  “No she won’t.”

  “Yes she will. Don’t argue. It won’t hurt you to keep the stupid things.”

  I shrugged. “Whatever. But at least you admitted they’re stupid, too.”

  Before I knew it, New Years had come and gone, too. Dad commemorated the occasion by throwing the now dead Christmas tree out in the back yard to rot. Aaron went out with his friends. Shannon, Finn, and I stayed up playing Monopoly and ate more chocolate than any one person should ever eat in their lifetime. Finn read a little book called Since You Ask Me during our game, which turned out to be a collection of self help columns from a fifties newspaper, and Shannon was more than happy
to help me break in my new camera. We went through two rolls in just that one night. It was actually pretty fun.

  Just plain old, boring New Years Eve, as usual, but I loved it. We all did. What better way to spend the holidays than with good friends doing nothing risky whatsoever?

  I was glad when school started up again, but not for any of the reasons that Finn had given me that day in the snow. I was glad because it meant that I didn’t have to do all of the dishes by myself anymore. I didn’t have to do all of the laundry or the cleaning, or anything at all. Mom wasn’t doing any better. In fact, she was getting steadily worse. Her headaches were getting more and more frequent, and her blood pressure was rising. Her last appointment before school started was far less optimistic than any of the others.

  “I may have to stay for a couple of weeks in the hospital before I actually give birth.” Her face was clammy and white. Aside from her now huge belly, her whole body was sunken and weak looking.

  “Maybe you should go stay there now,” I suggested. “They can take better care of you.”

  She snorted. “Yeah right. The only difference between here and there is that I’ve got cabel internet and the hospital doesn’t.”

  Aaron laughed a little. It was a strange sound coming from him after being so quiet for so long. “At least there you wouldn’t have to listen to Prudence complain.”

  “Shut up.”

  On that first day back at school, Oscar groaned and wheezed its way into the parking lot. I chose the one spot farthest away from that stupid red Chevy, even though it meant a much longer walk to the school. The sky was a heavy gray color, despite the all-clear that the weather man had given us the day before. Hopefully it wouldn’t rain, not when it was so cold out. There was nothing more miserable than freezing cold rain.

  “Where’ve you been?” Shannon asked when I finally sat down to breakfast. Finn pushed a green apple across the table to me and I took a bite before answering.

  “I couldn’t find a good spot.”

  “Hm.” She looked at me suspiciously. “Right.”

  “How’s your mom doing?” Finn asked from behind his book.

  “The same. She’s getting so bored with bed rest that I’m not sure she’ll have the willpower to postpone delivery as long as she should.”

  “She’ll manage,” Shannon said, brushing off the topic. “So guess who asked me out the other day at the grocery store.”

  I looked at her indifferently. “Tom Noll?” I sugessted sarcastically. I couldn’t even imagine Tom and Shannon going out.

  “How’d you know?”

  I nearly fell out of my chair. “What? Tom asked you out? You?”

  “Yeah, that’s what I said. Only I said ‘Me?’” She shrugged and took a swig of her sweet tea. “I think he was a little flattered.”

  “What’d he say?” I’m ashamed to say that I was a little intrigued by this atypical social reversal.

  “He just asked me to go to the movies this weekend.”

  I waited for her to continue, but gave up after a few tense moments. Finn wasn’t paying us any attention whatsoever. “Well? What’d you say? How’d you let him down?”

  “I didn’t.”

  “What do you mean you didn’t?”

  “I mean I didn’t. What’d you think I meant?”

  “But what do you mean?”

  “She means that she’s going on a date with Tom Noll this weekend,” Finn said, clearly disgusted with the topic. “I can’t believe you guys are so worked up over this crap. It’s just a date.”

  “It’s not just a date!” I said. “It’s a date between Shannon O’Malley – one of the more popular girls in this school – and Tom Noll!”

  “Who is what, chopped liver?” Shannon asked. She sounded a little miffed, which threw me. “I can date whoever the hell I want to.”

  “I’m not saying you can’t,” I said. “This is just really out of the blue, you know? I wouldn’t have expected him to have the guts to ask you.”

  “He’s different now,” she said. “Ever since that nerd bomb he’s gotten a lot more confidence in himself. He’s kind of cute, too, you know.”

  I shrugged. “I don’t see how you can go out with anyone that’s shorter than you.”

  “He’s two or three inches taller than me,” Shannon said.

  “He is?”

  “Yes. He is.”

  “Hm.” I sat back in my chair. “So you’re going out with Tom Noll, now?”

  “Not going out. I’m going on a date with him.”

  “What’s the difference?”

  “It’s not exclusive.”

  “So, what? Is he dating someone else at the same time?”

  “He’d better not be.” She checked herself when she saw my shocked face. “But he can if he wants to.”

  “Right.”

  “What?”

  “Nothing. I’m pleased for you, Shannon. Mazel tov.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I think I might vomit,” Finn said from behind his book.

  “You know, Finn,” Shannon rounded on her brother, “you’re the one who chooses to hang out with two teenage girls all day, so stop complaining.”

  “No, correction:” he said, finally putting his book down. Its cover was worn that I couldn’t read the title on the spine. “I hang out with my sister and one teenage girl who has never shown even the slightest interest in discussing who is dating who and,” he pitched his voice so high that I winced when he continued, “oh my gosh, like, do you think he likes you? What will you wear on your date, like?”

  I choked on an apple peal in disgust. “I never said anything like that!”

  “You might as well have.”

  “No, I believe I stated my shock at the idea of a shy dork like Tom Noll kissing your sister.”

  “Oh gross.” Finn picked up his book again.

  “What, and I enjoyed watching you kiss Margo all the time?” Shannon asked.

  “I did not kiss her all the time!” he said, glaring at her.

  “Well you might as well have! And not only did I have to watch you do it, but I had to hear about it in sickening detail afterwards.”

  “Finn told you about kissing Margo?” I asked, a little shocked.

  “No, Margo did. She was my friend, you know. Still is.”

  Finn shifted his weight. “Well you can’t exactly blame me for that.”

  “And I didn’t blame you, did I?” Shannon knocked back the last of her tea just as the bell rang. We all started gathering up our things and headed toward the hallways. Finn darted off down the west hall towards Chemistry without a backwards glance, and Shannon waited to walk with me towards our respective classes on the other end of the building. I, on the other hand, had spotted Margo disappear into the girls bathroom just across the cafeteria. I don’t know why she caught my eye--she wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary, just walking along and minding her own business--but the instant I saw her, an idea popped into my head. I hesitated on the spot, staring as the bathroom door swung shut.

  “Are you coming?” Shannon asked.

  “Um.” I thought quickly. “No. I’ve got to run to the bathroom real fast. I’ll see you in Chem.”

  “You’re gonna be late for class.”

  “Yeah, it’ll be okay. See you later.”

  “All right.” She was curious, I could tell. She would want to drill me about this strange behavior later, but I couldn’t tell yet if I was going to let her in on my little mission. I’d have to wait and see the results first.

  I darted across the room and slipped into the bathroom. Just as I entered, I heard a toilet flush and Margo stepped out of the only occupied stall. Just who I wanted to talk to.

  “Hey,” Margo said when she saw me, smiling her usual sweet smile. She went over to the sink to wash her hands.

  “Hey.” I took a deep breath. “Listen, I wanted to ask you a question since I’ve got you on your own.”

  She glanced at me nervousl
y. “Okay. What is it?”

  “Why did you and Finn break up?”

  Her hand slipped on the faucet and she rapped her knuckles on the sink. I don’t think she even noticed the pain of it because she was looking up at me with a look that bordered on horror. “What?”

  “Finn refuses to tell me and he’s told Shannon to stay out of it. He thinks he’s protecting me from something, I think, but he’s being ridiculous. This whole thing is ridiculous.”

  “Ah. I don’t think I’m the person to explain this to you.” She grabbed her back pack from where she’d tossed on the floor by the door and slipped it over her shoulders.

  I stepped in her way so that she couldn’t leave. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  She considered her options carefully before answering. “Listen, this is Finn’s beef, okay? If he hasn’t told you and doesn’t want Shannon to tell you, then what right do I have to tell you? If he wants you to know, then he’ll tell you all about it himself.” She shook her head in disbelief as she pushed by me. “I can’t believe you don’t know already.”

  I stared after her long after she’d disappeared and the bell had rung. I was really late for class now, but at this point I just didn’t care. Something was really wrong with Finn, and he didn’t want me to know about it. Was he sick or something? No. I shook my head to clear out that thought. I couldn’t even stomach that possibility. Maybe he was in love with someone else and was embarrassed about it. No, that didn’t fit at all, especially after his argument at breakfast that morning. Maybe he was gay.

  I laughed out loud at that thought. There was no possible way that Finn could swing that way. It just wasn’t his thing.

  Whatever it was, I was determined to find out, and if Finn was the only person who could decide to tell me, then I’d just have to convince him to tell me.

  That entire day was just a blur. I was so distracted. All day I wracked my brain for any way to convinced Finn to just spill the beans. By this point my curiosity had exploded into a full blown need-to-know situation. What was so terrible about ending a three month relationship that I couldn’t know about it?