“Earth to George,” Nina said, pulling George out of his reminiscing.
“Oh, yeah, what were you saying?” George asked.
“Have you seen my bottle of vitamins?”
Without realizing it, George’s hands glided toward the bottle in his pants pocket. He hated to lie about it, but said, “No, I haven’t seen it.”
Nina rummaged through her purse. “I know I had it earlier, and I thought I put it on the dresser.”
George felt bad about hiding the bottle from her, but something nagging on the inside wouldn’t allow him to give it back. His gut told him something just wasn’t right about the whole situation.
“Maybe it just rolled behind the dresser or something,” George said.
“You might be right,” Nina replied.
And before he knew it, she’d jumped up from her rocker and headed for the doors of the cabin.
George stood to follow. When he reached their bedroom, Nina was peering alongside the dresser, pulling it out from against the wall. Not seeing anything, she then she got down on all fours and crawled toward the twin beds. Flipping the covers up on both beds, she looked under them. She was looking and feeling so closely to the carpet, one would have thought she was looking for a contact lens instead of a bottle of multivitamins.
George sat on his twin bed as he watched. Nina got up off the floor and unzipped her garment bag. After searching the main compartment, she began unzipping the smaller compartments of the bag. From there she pulled out a plastic rectangular pill container with seven compartments, each labeled with the first letter of each day of the week.
Flipping each compartment open, Nina grinned like a Cheshire cat when she opened the last three. Relief swept over her face like the woman in the Calgon commercials George remembered as a child.
“What’s that?” George asked.
“I found three vitamins I must have put in this pill case the last time I traveled,” Nina said. She headed toward the bathroom and popped one in her mouth. Then she drank a full cup of water.
“Baby, didn’t you just take a vitamin this morning?” George asked.
“Yeah, but to get the full affect, I need to take these particular pills, I mean vitamins, three times a day. They’ve got special herbs in them.”
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were on drugs or something. You look like you need a fix.
Nina shook her ponytail. “Don’t be so silly. It’s nothing of the sort. I just don’t want to break my routine, that’s all.” Nina looked back around down toward the floor. “I just hope that bottle turns up soon.”
With the nagging feeling still nudging him, George asked, “Nina, do you want to talk about anything?”
“Yes,” Nina said.
George was surprised. He didn’t think it would be so easy to get Nina to talk about her strange behavior. He sat up, all ears.
Nina picked up her folder and notepad for the retreat. “Why don’t we go over these seven steps to improve our home? I don’t know about you, but I think we’re well on our way to having all these steps taken care of.”
George slumped slightly where he sat. Nina wasn’t going to shed any light on her strange behavior. He was going to have to figure it out on his own.
Part II
Her Side
Chapter 22
Nina Jones
Wednesday: 6:07 P.M.
“What’s for dinner?” Nina asked. She sat down at the table, rubbing her hands in anticipation. ”I’m starving.”
“Nothing too spectacular,” Shelby said. “And not too heavy. I don’t want you all trying to dose off right after dinner.”
“Sure smells good.”
“You have a trio of soups to choose from, as well as grilled cheese sandwiches,” Shelby said.
“What kinds of soups?” Nina asked.
“Chicken noodle, vegetable, and clam chowder.”
“Umm, that does smell good,” Travis said, piping into the conversation. “My wife—”
Travis didn’t get a chance to finish before Nina said, “Let me guess. Your wife can make the best soup in the whole world, better than Campbell’s I’ll bet.”
He nodded his head. “And you know it.”
Beryl rolled her eyes. “Travis doesn’t know if I’m making canned or homemade. Half the time I just add some extra vegetables, meat, and tomato sauce to the canned soup to beef it up a little.”
Travis chuckled. “I knew. I just pretended I didn’t know.” He looked around, acting as if he really knew.
George shook his head.
Nina had a feeling Travis hadn’t known. But she’d bet he could recite the whole schedule for the ABC, NBC, and CBS Thursday night television lineups.
Shelby served dinner, and everyone dug in, filling their bowls with heaping amounts of soup. Afterward, the group gathered in the living room area to take part in a game of charades. Phillip and Shelby explained the rules so everyone would know what to do. The couples split into two groups with the men on one side and the women on the other.
Being gentlemen, the men let the ladies go first.
Beryl pulled a slip of paper out of a basket. She looked at it and immediately smiled. “Okay, this one is cute.” She folded the piece of paper back up.
“Remember, no talking,” Phillip said. “Just pantomime.”
“Okay, sorry,” Beryl apologized.
“Are you ready?” Shelby asked.
Beryl nodded her head.
Shelby turned over an hourglass timer. “Okay, start.”
Beryl made hand movements like she was cranking an old fashion movie camera.
“Is it a movie?” Charlotte asked.
Beryl nodded, then turned both hands over with her palms facing up. She hunched her shoulders while looking around the room like she was perplexed.
“You’re confused about something?” Nina asked.
Beryl slowly rolled her hands and nodded her head in a keep guessing motion. She stopped and placed her forefinger on her temple and furrowed her eyebrows as if thinking really hard. Then once again, she turned her palms back up and hunched her shoulders.
“You are wondering about something,” Charlotte said.
Beryl again rolled her hands in a keep guessing motion, this time a little more quickly. She placed five fingers on her arm to indicate the phrase had five words in it. Next she put the first finger on her arm, to indicate she was working on the first word.
“What?” Charlotte said.
Beryl shook her head.
“Why?” Nina said.
Beryl nodded her head profusely and grinned, then she pointed to herself with her index finger.
“You?” Nina said.
Beryl shook her head.
“I?” Nina said.
Again Beryl nodded her head to indicate Nina had gotten the word right. Beryl pointed to her wedding ring.
“Married?” Charlotte said.
Beryl nodded her head, and in a fluid motion, acted out all three words again in sequence.
“Oh, oh, I know,” Charlotte said. “Why Did I Get Married?”
“Time,” Shelby called out.
Beryl let out a deep breath. “You got it.” She stepped over to Nina and Charlotte, giving them high fives.
“Ah, I knew it. Now that’s a great movie,” Travis said.
Beryl rolled her eyes at him.
Nina had only known the couple for a couple of days, but she wondered if Travis did anything besides watch movies and television. Most of his comments and conversation circled around some movie he’d seen, commercial he’d watched, or sitcom that was hot on television.
But she did agree with Travis on this point. “It is a good movie. It’s actually my favorite of all Tyler Perry’s movies,” Nina said.”
“I’ve never seen it,” Charlotte said.
All heads but Xavier’s turned toward her.
“Well, Charlotte; you, my friend, are in luck,” Shelby said. She pulled out a brand new
copy of the movie from a bag Nina hadn’t noticed sitting next to the couch and handed it to Charlotte.
“So, not only do you ladies get a point for your team. Charlotte, you and Xavier have a copy for your library,” Phillip said.
“You mean to tell me you’ve never seen Why Did I Get Married?” Travis asked.
“No. When the movie came out, we had our own drama going on, and I couldn’t stomach seeing other people’s problems being played out on the big screen,” Charlotte said. She flipped the movie over in her hand and read the back. “But thank you. I’ll finally get a chance to see what everyone has been raving about.”
“Sooner than you think,” Phillip said. “I want to borrow it later on this week so we can all look at it.”
“Xavier, have you seen the movie?” Travis asked.
“No,” Xavier said. Then shook his head as if contemplating with himself. “Yes, I’ve seen the movie.”
This time it was Charlotte’s head that snapped toward him. She crossed her arms and stared.
“Let me explain,” he said, directing his full attention to Charlotte instead of Travis. “I went to the movie one night. I’d asked you if you wanted to go, and you didn’t. So I went by myself.”
“By yourself, Xavier?” Charlotte asked with disbelief covering her face.
“Yes, by myself.”
“And you expect me to believe that?”
“Look, baby, I’m trying to get you to understand that I’m not keeping more secrets from you. I just want you to know I am serious about this. I could have very well kept it from you, but I didn’t. If I were still keeping secrets, I would have lied about seeing the movie. I did go by myself so you won’t find anything to the contrary,” Xavier said.
Charlotte took a deep breath, tightening her folded arms.
Nina didn’t know this couple well at all, but she could plainly tell that Charlotte wasn’t planning on listening to anything her husband had to say. And in some ways she couldn’t really blame the woman for her actions, especially after everything she heard and saw about Xavier’s extracurricular activities. But who was she to judge? Xavier looked like he truly wanted to come clean about any and everything he had to hide. Nina figured the blatant coaxing from Charlotte had been the strong determining factor in his decision to do so.
“Look, either you’re going to believe me or you aren’t. I’m not going to ruin everyone else’s night arguing about it,” Xavier said. “Is it our turn yet? Let’s continue playing.”
Xavier stood and picked up the basket with the words folded on the slips of paper. He pulled one out, read it, and nodded his head saying, “So true.”
After folding the paper back up and placing it in his pocket, he did just as Beryl had done and held up eight fingers indicating his phrase had eight words. Then he also made hand motions, indicating his phrase was a movie. With various hand gestures, he made an imaginary straight line, drew an imaginary heart in the air and contorted his face into a scowling hateful look.
Travis quickly guessed the movie saying, “A Thin Line Between Love and Hate. Now that movie was a trip. Sort of like Fatal Attraction, only the black version,” Travis said. “I have to say I liked Martin Lawrence and Lynn Whitfield better. Especially the line where Lynn says—”
Nina cut Travis off. “We believe you, Travis. You can probably recite the whole movie.”
“Pretty close,” Travis said.
Phillip handed Travis a copy of the movie. Nina saw pride in the man’s eyes. A pitiful sort of pride, she felt. She didn’t mean to be so short with Travis, but he was getting on her nerves—partly because he was annoying, but mainly because he reminded her of Bruno.
She’d been racking her brain trying to remember Bruno’s last name. She thought it was Lawson or Latson or something to that affect. She wondered where Bruno was living now. She figured he had to be somewhere on the west coast, especially since she hadn’t seen or heard from him since the night they parted Old Lady Crowell’s, or Old Lady Crabby as the kids used to call the woman behind her back.
She and Bruno had lived in that particular foster home for almost two years together. At the time she’d been eleven and Bruno had been eight. He’d been placed in the home a few weeks after Nina. And just like Nina, his mother had died, and he didn’t know who his father was. The only other family Bruno had was an uncle who wasn’t able to take care of himself, much less an orphaned eight-year-old boy.
Nina had taken the scared little boy under her wing. Old Lady Crowell’s home had been her third foster home, so she’d seen many a child come and go in the foster care system. So many that she became numb to any feelings for the children, and quickly learned to not get too attached to any of them. But the fear in Bruno’s eyes wouldn’t allow Nina to look away, letting the little boy fend for himself.
Like Travis, Bruno was the type of kid who liked to talk nonstop. His favorite topic of discussion was about trucks. The boy loved trucks so much that he could tell the make of one just by hearing the engine crank. Bruno had a book with all different types of trucks, which he carried with him all the time. While other foster kids clung to baby dolls and security blankets when snatched from their homes at only a moment’s notice, Bruno had clung to his book about trucks.
There were many days when Nina had to tell the kid to shut up and stop talking about the trucks. He would only adhere to her request for short moments, and before she knew it, a truck would pass by on the street or one would flash across the television screen, and he would start spitting out truck facts.
“Nina, it’s your turn,” Phillip said.
“Oh, all right.” Nina stood quickly and immediately felt woozy. She reached out and held the side of the chair for balance. “Ooh.”
“You okay?” George asked, standing to assist her.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I think I stood up too quick, that’s all,” Nina said.
Once she gained her balance, Nina did as her predecessors and pulled a slip of paper out of the basket. Nina held up two fingers to indicate her phrase had two words. Then instead of indicating she had a movie, she acted like she was holding a microphone and singing. She used her fingers to form an imaginary heart in the air, representing love. Then she started pretending she was singing again while holding a note forever.”
This time Beryl was the one to guess “Endless Love,” a song sung by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie. Afterward, Beryl received a CD with Diana Ross songs. The teams played until they were both tied at three. For the tiebreaker, Phillip pulled the last piece of paper out of the basket and told them that the first person to call out the answer would determine the winner between the men and the women.
Phillip held up three fingers, then pointed to his ring finger. Voices called out in unison, “Married.” Then he pretended like he was pushing a stroller while also picking up another child.
Travis screamed out, “Married with Children ,” correctly guessing the sitcom that ran during the eighties and nineties.
The men gave each other high fives. Travis was elated to have won the game for the men. He received a DVD collection of the first season of Married With Children. He looked and acted like he’d just won the Heisman Trophy award in football.
With blurring vision, Nina could have sworn she saw two, and then three identical Travises jumping up and down. It was time to take another one of her so called vitamins.
Chapter 23
Nina Jones
Wednesday: 9:25 P.M.
Nina stared at her face in the mirror of the bathroom. The vitamin she’d taken was starting to kick in. As Travis and the other men celebrated their win in the charades game, Nina slipped away to the bedroom. It had been a daunting task, especially with the multiplying chairs and walls she passed while trying to walk. She’d played it off as best as she could, loud talking and laughing as if the game had been the best recreational activity she’d ever played in her life.
She thought she had seen George looking at her from the corner of his eye,
but she didn’t have time to wait for a confirmation. Figuring he’d follow her soon enough, she made her way as quick as she could to the little pill container she’d been sure to leave on the dresser in their room.
She had a fear the case might have disappeared like her bottle had, and she prayed it was still where she’d left it. Her fears were unfounded because the case was right where she’d left it and still had two pills in it. She took one pill out and carefully placed the container back on the dresser. She popped the pill in her mouth and followed it with a cup of water from the bathroom.
To her surprise, George hadn’t come in right behind her. It had taken him almost thirty minutes before she heard him entering the room. She was relieved because it gave her time to gather herself while letting the medication kick in. She’d also had time to take a long hot shower. Now she could face him with a straight face.
When she opened the door of the bathroom, George was lying across his twin bed, snoring lightly. He was as handsome as the first time she’d seen him in person. He was the popular G.I. Jones, and she had no thoughts or even hopes of speaking to him the night she served after the church service, much less holding a conversation with the man that ended with him asking for her phone number.
Hundreds of women had been swarming throughout the previous church service, lining up for a touch and prayer from G.I. Some of them were supposedly falling out onto the floor in the Spirit. Nina knew most of them were just acting because she’d seen people slain in the Spirit many times before, and when it came to the Holy Ghost, they didn’t care how or where they fell. The actresses made sure they fell gracefully, without messing up their fresh hairstyles.
At least they had the decency to keep their dresses and skirts down. The spectacle of women shamelessly throwing themselves at the man made her sick. She figured G.I. Jones had some woman he was already courting.
It had thrown her for a loop when he’d decided to hold a long conversation with her. She’d felt like Cinderella, a lowly servant helping to feed the royal court. In her mind, she was still that same little foster child now grown up into a foster woman.
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