Alice's Summertime Adventure

by Suzanne Jenkins

  “They’re going to put her in jail?” Bill asked, incredulous, peeking at his wife from the corner of his eyes.

  Faye couldn’t believe her ears. An entire scenario ran through her head; April being put in jail for ten years, the two boys being raised alone by Todd. Todd divorcing April, and the boys raised by another woman, a blond floozy he picked up at Outback, a bartender there. April knew he’d been seeing the woman for over a year, there was gossip she even had a kid by Todd…another boy. Faye made the insane decision right then that she’d spend the rest of her life helping Todd out with the two boys so he wouldn’t be pressured to get this other woman involved. Any thoughts she had of her own life and family, she refused to entertain. Right now, those boys, Todd Junior and little Mark, were the most important. The feeling wouldn’t last for long.

  Bill listened a while longer and then hung up his phone. “I guess you heard that,” he said to Faye.

  She nodded her head. “I feel so sad for the boys. Who will tell them their brother is dead? They won’t understand,” she said, reaching for a tissue. “And I don’t feel like it’s my responsibility, so don’t worry.”

  Bill smiled. Faye could read him about some things, but not everything. He had planned on asking her for a divorce on the weekend. Now, he might have to hold off for a while longer. Shelly didn’t know he was going to do it, so she wouldn’t be disappointed. He was certain Faye didn’t suspect a thing. Their life hadn’t changed at all, except his father had moved out. Faye didn’t know it, but Bill and Vinnie had made peace. He couldn’t let his old dad be estranged. It wasn’t the Italian way. Bill knew how persuasive both Faye and Vinnie could be; they must have been a formidable couple. But Bill just couldn’t let it go. His wife showed the gravest disrespect when she sucked his dad’s cock. Vinnie alluded to it, and Bill cut him off short.

  “Dad, if we are going to stay in touch, you must promise me that information about your relationship with my wife will stay private between the two of you. I don’t want to hear one thing. And I don’t want to hear you’ve talked about her around town.” He didn’t tell his father that Faye made it clear Vinnie was not completely to blame.

  “Your dad was offering me the same thing that fat woman you told me about was providing for you,” Faye had admitted. She didn’t mention and he didn’t need Viagra. They could jump each other on the spur of the moment. It was like Vinnie walked around hard. But Faye tried not to think about him. It slipped her memory that she’d fantasized about killing him just a few days before Bill caught them together. She must be losing her mind.

  Bill pulled off the turnpike and got on to 295 north. The traffic was awful as they made their way through the lunch-hour rush. He didn’t know how people could live in this congestion. When they got off the highway on the exit toward April’s house, Bill was speechless. The area was a conglomeration of junk-filled woodlots and shacks with a new mini-mansion every block or so. He turned down Parkland Avenue and drove to April and Todd’s tiny house.

  “This is it?” Bill asked, incredulous. “How do five people live here?”

  “It’s bigger than it looks. The basement is finished,” Faye explained.

  “I don’t care if there’s a tunnel to Philly. No one should have to live this way.”

  They got out of the car with Bill seething. He remembered Todd showing off his newest acquisition, a tow truck that had chrome rims costing more than Bill’s pickup truck.

  “There’s no one here,” Faye said, looking at the empty driveway. “Of course, Todd must be at the hospital, and we know where April is.”

  “Let’s go to the jail,” Bill suggested.

  They got into the car and headed toward the center of town, where the courthouse and jail were. April was just being released. Paul Vasiglio’s assistant was there, making bail. But Todd hadn’t arrived to pick her up. Faye was shocked and embarrassed for her sister, who had a nightshirt with Minnie Mouse on it and a pair of spandex shorts, no makeup and her hair uncombed, pulled into a ponytail. She’d just been in a major auto accident, Faye reminded herself. Faye went to her, and April shouted her name and fell into her sister’s arms.

  “Faye, Dougie’s dead; he’s dead,” she repeated, sobbing.

  Faye found the strength to comfort her sister and not scream, you drunk, you killed him at her. Bill stood behind Faye and talked in low tones with the assistant, who gave Bill the details; she was to stay in town. Paul would be by later in the day to take her back to the police station for questioning. But for now, she was free. Her driver’s license had been revoked. He didn’t have any information about the condition of the children, and if they knew at the police station, no one was talking.

  “Let’s go home so you can get cleaned up,” Faye said. “Then we’ll take you to the hospital to see your boys.” Faye didn’t know if she’d ever be able to say their names out loud again; the danger of including Dougie in the list lurked large. It was safer to just say boys. Two boys. She thought of her sons and daughters, two wonderful boys and her crazy girls, three of them, all gorgeous and smart. Could she choose one to be sacrificed? Oh my God, what an awful thought! Of course not! Why didn’t these thoughts occur before tragedy struck? She’d never look at another man again or say a cross word if she could guarantee protection for her family. Was it just luck that more awful things didn’t happen?

  “Come on, let’s get out of here,” Bill said. He led the women, sisters holding on to each other for dear life, out to the car. Faye sat in back with a sobbing April. She was clearly heartbroken.

  “They said I had been drinking, but it’s a lie. I got up at three with insomnia and had one shot of vodka. Just one. If there was alcohol in my blood five hours later, it couldn’t have been much. That crossroads is a hazard, too. I almost went through the light going in the opposite direction last week. It’s an accident waiting to happen.” She leaned against Faye and starting crying again. “Why’d it have to be Dougie? If the truck had hit just a little farther forward, it would have been me. The kids would be safe.”

  Faye shushed her and patted her, but the thought did go through her mind, too. Why Dougie? Faye saw him in action with his mother, loving and protective, doing everything in his ability to help her take care of his brothers. Everything. Including telling her not to drink. Faye’d heard Dougie say it with her own ears.

  “Mommy, don’t drink that now,” he said when they were on the beach and April was busting open the bottled cocktails after lunch. Faye could tell what it cost April to wait; she’d been pacing and eyeing the cooler since ten. April patted him on the head and told him to go swim with the other children.

  The beach day long over, the children were at the local hospital. There’d been a debate about shipping Todd Junior to the children’s hospital, but Todd had asked if as long as he didn’t need surgery, could they try keeping him near Mark. The boys needed each other.

  Junior was finally awake but miserable, crying out for his mother and obviously in pain. The pain medication only made him more querulous, and he wouldn’t be comforted. When April walked in his room, he became hysterical. She flew to his bedside, and the nurse helped her gather him up in her arms. He had a stable broken rib and a broken arm, but the rest of his injuries appeared to be non-threatening bruising. He didn’t even require a stitch. They brought a chair in to the bedside, and April held him and whispered to him.

  Faye couldn’t watch. Anger from some place of judgment kept rising to the surface. Did her sister realize what she had done?

  Bill was watching his wife, and the subtle facial expressions said it all. She was trying to keep her muscles neutral, but her jaw was set and there was a hint of a smirk on her mouth. Faye better watch it, the thought came to him, or she’ll end up looking hard. Bill turned away, sure that sort of negative thinking was harmful in this room.

  Junior fell asleep, and April was able to lay him down in his bed. Now she’d go see her baby. Todd was in the nursery with Markie, holding him on his lap. H
e seemed okay to Faye, but she did see a hint of a bruise starting on his left cheek. Todd was surprised to see his wife, but he hid his emotion. It would be difficult enough getting through the next days without reacting to each feeling he had. Right now he was in the I want to murder you mode. He’d stand by his wife. But she had to make restitution, didn’t she? He stood up with Mark and went to April to kiss her cheek.

  “You’re out,” he said, referring to jail. He passed the little boy over to his wife and helped her to sit down with him. “What happened?” He looked over at Bill, who motioned him to come out into the hall.

  “Paul said they are going to throw the book at her,” Bill said unflinchingly. He watched Todd go white. Serve Todd right to ignore his wife’s problem. “He paid her bail and said she’s not to leave town for any reason. He’ll come back later today and go to the station with her for questioning.” And then Bill remembered: Doug. “I’m so sorry about your boy.”

  Faye stepped out just as Bill said it, and the words grabbed her in the throat. “Oh, Todd, I am so sorry,” she said softly, not wanting to upset her sister any more than needed.

  He embraced her, and they both cried for a moment.

  “Have you thought about the funeral yet?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t even know where his body is,” Todd admitted.

  The notion that they were talking about Doug’s body, not Doug, touched Faye. Here was something she could do for her sister’s family. As if reading her mind, when she glanced over at Bill, he nodded his head. Todd began crying again, and this time Bill stepped over and hugged him.

  “I’m sorry, man,” he said gruffly. “Let us help you with the funeral arrangements if you need it. Just tell me who you want, and we’ll make the calls.”

  Todd looked down at his hands. “I have no idea. It’s not something I ever thought I’d have to do,” he said. “Someone local, I think. Maybe Ryhurst. I think my dad used to fish with him.”

  Bill nodded his head in agreement. Faye was grateful he stepped in, grabbing his arm and squeezing it.

  The elevator opened, and Todd’s family rushed out, crying and speaking loudly in Italian. The leader in Faye came to the surface, and she went right up to them and told them to be quiet, Mark was sleeping and April was upset enough. They softened their speech, but the yammering continued as they crowded around Todd, who seemed to diminish in size as his mother, perfect in her golf outfit, began questioning Todd about April’s responsibility, glancing over at Faye with her eyebrows raised.

  “Mom, I’m not going into that now,” he said, protective of his wife. “It’s not important.

  “Your wife ran a stop sign, Todd,” his sister Rose said. “They’re talking about it all over town.”

  Something out of character came up to the surface, and Todd exploded.

  “Shut the fuck up, Rose! I’ll have the nurse call security if you say that again. None of you are welcome to visit my boys if you say anything else against my wife. Do you understand?”

  The babbling and insincere apologies started up until a nurse came down and asked them to either be quiet or leave. Faye hid her pleasure; she couldn’t stand Todd’s low-life family. Next to Bill’s, they were peasants. She didn’t care if his mother won every golf tournament there was, she was still just one step above trailer trash.

  The mother glanced over at Faye and put her nose in the air. “Am I allowed to see my living grandsons?”

  The dagger hit its mark, and Todd started to cry again, pushing off hands as they reached out to comfort him.

  “I didn’t mean it that way!”

  But she did, and Faye bit her tongue, suddenly sad for April, who would have this group of vipers in the courthouse when she went to trial. April heard the latest commotion and, putting Mark down in his hospital crib, came out to see what was going on.

  “I should’ve guessed,” she said sarcastically. “Your own flesh and blood is dead, and you can’t wait to see how much more pain you can subject us to.”

  A chorus of “No, no! We’re so sorry!” erupted, but April was onto her in-laws.

  “I’m going to ask the doctor to prohibit you from visiting the boys if you so much as hint at anything negative about us. I have friends in Deptford, too.” April put her nose in the air and glanced over at her mother-in-law. Faye could hear her whisper to Rose. “Lesbian. I’ll tell about you and that bartender.”

  “What!” she said, frightened. She shrugged her shoulders at her mother. “I have no idea what she’s talking about.”

  But the allure of threatening her vicious sister-in-law was lost as April started thinking about Doug. She went to the elevator with tears streaming down her face.

  “Come on, Todd, let’s go to the funeral home,” she said, heartbroken.

  Faye and Bill got in the car with them. As the doors closed, she could see Todd’s family huddled together, crying. It would continue in the same manner for the next week, crying and yelling, apologizing and fighting.

  “Does this mean we’re off the hook?” Faye whispered to Bill.

  He raised his eyebrows, unsure. It would probably be therapeutic for April to take over the responsibilities of burying her son. She and Todd were in each other’s arms sobbing until the elevator doors opened.

  “Do you guys want us to go with you?” Faye asked when they got out to the parking lot.

  April went to her and kissed her cheek. “No, that’s okay. We need to do this alone. Todd needs to be free to be angry with me, and he might not do it in front of you,” she said. “Faye, I wasn’t drinking this morning,” she repeated. “I did have that shot at three, but that was it. You have to believe me.”

  “Does it make any difference?” Faye asked, shaking her head. “It could’ve happened to anyone. Poor Dougie!” Faye lowered her head and began to cry, not caring that it might upset her sister, that hearing her son’s name might be more than she could stand. “I can’t believe he’s dead!”

  Bill was growing nervous, concerned his wife might be preparing to punish April. He went to her and put his arms around her, steering her away from April.

  “We better go,” he said. “If you need anything, just call. Don’t forget that my brother will be at the house in about an hour to take you to the station. Don’t forget, okay, Todd?”

  Todd and April both acknowledged that a lawyer would be in control of the way they spent the next months of their life. A lawyer and the law. It would prevent them from fully grasping the loss of their son right away because they wouldn’t be free to grieve, not until the door leading to April’s jail cell slammed shut for the last time.

  Chapter 13

  Bill and Faye walked away from April and Todd. Bill sensed his wife was getting angry again. He supposed that was how grieving affected some people. You were sad, then angry, then sad again. He was tired and knew that being tired and emotionally drained was not a good time to make any life-changing decisions. However, he’d come to the realization in the elevator that he didn’t love Faye anymore, and he didn’t want to spend one more night under the same roof with her. He couldn’t love her, because he didn’t know who she was. Oh, the superficial stuff he understood; she was a good housekeeper and always looked great, but the deeper stuff, well, he just didn’t know anymore. She was completely without one bit of empathy for him. He was being selfish. Poor Bill, his wife doesn’t understand him. But as he pulled the car out of the parking lot, the truth that he’d stayed with Faye all these years because he was afraid of her surfaced.

  “Do you mind if we stop for coffee? I need to talk,” he said.

  Faye looked at him, surprised, but agreed.

  “I guess,” she said. “I feel weird about not helping April out. Maybe a coffee would be good.”

  He pulled the truck into the parking lot of the first Wawa they came to. Wawa had the best coffee.

  Faye smirked. “Oh, I thought we’d go to a diner.”

  “No, I have something to say that might be better said
in private.” He got out of the car. “What do you want? Cappuccino?”

  She shook her head. “Just a small coffee, black.”

  The lunch crowd had gone, and he was back in no time.

  “Here you go,” he said, handing the cup to Faye, stalling. Where to start?

  She was curious. It wasn’t like Bill to ask for communication. If anything, he avoided it.

  “So, what’s up?” she asked. “You’ve got me wondering.”

  Bill took a sip of coffee. It was now or never. “It’s probably a shitty time to bring this up. I’ve been thinking a lot over the past few weeks. You know, about you and me.” He looked over at her.

  She was in such a predictable posture that Bill snickered, spraying a little coffee over the steering wheel.

  “What?” she asked. “What’s so funny?”

  He shook his head. “That look used to petrify me. I called it Faye’s kick ass look. If I asked you to scratch my back, or make love to me, or if I farted during TV, I could expect that look. Don’t get me wrong, you didn’t always have it.” He drank a little coffee; he could feel he was going to be on a roll if he didn’t watch himself, and she’d be throwing hot coffee in his face if he wasn’t careful.

  “What did I have before ‘the look’?” Faye was struggling not to get pissed, but the signs were all there. Her lips were pressed together, a habit she should avoid if she didn’t want wrinkles to form around her lips, she was ramrod straight, and her eyes were fiery.

  “You rolled your eyeballs. It turned me on, come to think of it. But then it evolved into the look. The kids will even mention it from time to time. ‘Mom has the look, don’t go in there,’ Ginger said it. ‘Dad, stay out of the kitchen.’” He could see she was getting angrier, but decided it was inevitable. He was always trying to keep her from being mad at him.

  “Okay, so what did we stop here for,” she said.

  He turned to her, noted the flush that was covering her chest and would soon work its way up her neck and cheeks. In spite of it, she was beautiful. She was tan, and her big, green eyes had flecks of turquoise that seemed to turn to emerald the angrier she got.