Chapter 20.
"Lima beans, my favorite," said Jacob, sitting in the head chair until his father pulled the seat out from under him. He slid over to his rightful chair, "Hey, Dad, would you please pass the butter and salt?"
"Very funny," Renee said.
Jacob spooned a heaping portion onto his plate. "The best thing about Lima beans," he said, with a mouthful, "is the dryness. It's like swallowing a handful of Tylenol."
Ray shook his head but could not help smiling.
"What happened to your nose?" Renee asked.
"Dad and I, we bumped heads," Jacob said, watching as his father transferred some beans to his plate. "Didn't we, Dad? Or can I call you 'Buddy' now, Buddy?" Jacob slapped his father on the shoulder, hard enough that his beans spilled on the table. Ray picked up the beans with his fingers.
Renee said, "I won't buy any more Lima beans."
"No," said Jacob. "Do buy more Lima beans. I need to start cutting weight for wrestling, so please, buy a bushel."
Renee frowned. "You don't need to be cutting any weight this year. Tell that coach that you will wrestle at your football weight."
"Not if I want to go to state again," said Jacob.
"I won't stand for that spitting in the cup all day, just to drop a pound before the match," said Renee. "It's disgusting. And Ethan, he might be two inches taller, I bet, if he hadn't wrestled at one-thirty-five all those years. That wasn't a healthy weight for a growing boy."
"If I don't cut weight," said Jacob, "I have to wrestle heavyweight. That's for fat kids. Dad wrestled at the same weight as me, and he's tall."
"And I went to state," said Ray.
"Runner-up. I'll be winning it this year," said Jacob.
"I guess we'll find out soon enough. Take your hat off. Did we pray yet?"
"I can't remember," said Jacob, chewing and removing his hat.
"Ethan isn't here yet," said Renee. "We'll wait for him to eat. You two are like a couple of animals. One limping, one with a bloody nose, and both snouts in the food before everyone is here. I'll go see if Kathy and Bryce are awake. Dawn's outside dawdling about in the yard with the dog. Jacob, why don't you go get her and your brother. What's she doing out there? It looks like she's trying to get inside your pickup, Jacob."
"My pickup?" said Jacob, startled, standing up and wiping his mouth. "I'll round 'em all up. Dad, don't touch my beans. I counted them."
Outside, Jacob sprinted toward his vehicle, yelling at Dawn, until she stepped down from the running board. How much had she seen? She bounded toward him across the wet yard. Jacob fished in his pocket for his miniature Swiss Army knife, ready to gift it in trade for her silence.
"Dawn Werther," he said when she drew close, "what were you doing, trying to drive my pickup?"
"No," she said, with condescending eyes. "I was just playing."
"It's time for dinner, Dawn Werther," he said, grabbing her shoulders and dropping to his knee, "Did you look inside the truck?"
"Nope."
"You sure?"
"Yep."
"Ok then," said Jacob, putting his Swiss Army knife back into his pocket where it jingled against his change. When he released her shoulders, she ran to the house. He started walking onward to the barn, to summon his brother and Rhea, but dashed to his pickup to check on Tara. Crouching low, he opened the door and found Tara in tears.
"Jacob, I can't take it any longer, I need to go home." She pleaded with him, laying supine, staring up at the dome light.
"I got things in order now, Tara. It's a long story, but right after we eat, I can get you home, I know it. Had to take a beating for it, but I'm out of the doghouse, so sit tight for just a bit."
"I can't sit tight any more. And you've ruined my life, ruined it."
"Oh, here we go," he said. "Nothing could ruin a beautiful thing like yourself Tara Ingeston, not even me. You'll see. You'll see, we'll get you home and you can blame me so your father has something to hate for a while. Everyone likes to have something to hate, why not let it be me? For a while, I mean. I don't want him hating me forever."
"If you aren't here in ten minutes, I'm walking home."
"I'll be back in ten minutes," he said. "I promise."
Before he could shut the door, he reasserted his promise several times. The hourglass of her patience was empty now, he could see it in her face.
When he closed the door, Jacob saw Ethan emerge from the barn, walking toward the house with Rhea. Jacob met them at the screen door of the house, and listened to Ethan explained things about the new calf.
Entering the house, Jacob kicked his shoes off in the middle of the room, while Ethan unlaced his boots and set them side-by-side on the mat. Jacob resumed his position at the table, mumbled the prayer, and started eating his beans again, taking three potatoes from a serving dish, mashing one of them while he used his other hand to get a glob of butter.
"Jacob, hold on," Renee said. "Honestly. You only left one potato for Rhea and Ethan. You don't need three. I should have made more. I haven't had to cook for so many people in a long time."
The last potato landed on Rhea's plate, put there by Ethan's fork. He said, "I can get by without. I've gained some weight at the cafeteria lately."
Renee said, "But you must be hungry."
"Rhea was working hard out there. She delivered a calf, didn't you, Rhea? She needs a meal more than I do."
"Calf?" said Ray.
"She's in the pen now."
"You separated them," Ray declared, asking a question.
"No," said Ethan. "Let them stay together, for…you know." He nodded his head at Rhea, who shook salt on her Lima beans.
Ray said, "We'll have to separate..."
"Dad," Ethan interrupted. "After we eat, but for now..." He nodded his head toward Rhea.
"I get it," said Ray.
"Want this potato?" said Jacob, pointing at his plate, looking at his brother.
"If you don't want it, I'll eat it," said Ethan. "I could eat five."
"What do you have for trade?"
Ethan said, "A thank you?"
"How about your half of the farm?" said Jacob, grinning, sticking the potato with his fork and holding it aloft.
"Sure," said Ethan. "Is that all? You don't need a kidney or anything, while you're at it?"
"Give him the potato," Ray said, glaring at Jacob. "That's no table talk. We're going to take care of that business after we eat, too. After we separate that cow and..." He stopped when Rhea looked up at him from behind a large glass of milk and her neatly arranged but untouched plate of food.
Ethan plucked the potato off the fork and laid it down on his flower-patterned plate, and mashed it up. While he ate, he noticed Dawn peering at him from the other side of the table, giving him a dirty look, guarding her plate like he might steal her food.
"I'm going trick-or-treating tonight," said Rhea.
"We all are," said Dawn, and turned to her mother, Kathy. "Can we come out here tonight, Mom? You should see the size of some of the candy bags we made. They make them bigger on the farm than in town."
Renee said, "That's because we only get three or four kids a year."
"We'll stop by," said Kathy, "if there's time."
A noise at the front door caused everyone to stop eating and inspect each other, since no one had heard the sound of tires on the crushed rock in the driveway. Jacob closed his eyes, praying that Tara would not round the corner of the mudroom and appear in the doorway, but indeed she did.
The tear-stains on her cheeks were gone, replaced with a smile and bright eyes, pleasantness that Jacob took as a hopeful sign for navigating the meal conversation.
In the truck, Tara had finally sat up with decisiveness, rubbed her face clean in the rear view mirror, and put her hair into a tight pony-tail to make herself presentable, even pausing to put on some Chapstick before she slip
ped out of the vehicle. She could no longer watch the minutes change on the digital clock. When 12:59 became 1:00, she abandoned the current course of inaction, thinking that her father would have the National Guard combing the Bluffs for her body by now.
In the doorway, Tara looked at Ethan, and said, "Surprise!"
"Tara," he said, pushing his chair back, standing up to welcome her. "I meant to call you when things quieted down around here."
"I'm sorry I didn't knock, Mrs. Marak."
"You don't have to knock," said Renee. "You're always welcome here. Would you like a plate?"
Ethan hugged her and whispered, "It's so good to see you." When he let go, he blushed with embarrassment for the display of affection in front of family members. "How did you get here?" he asked. "I didn't see a car pull in?"
Jacob gripped his fork, waiting for a response.
"My Mom dropped me off," she said. "She was out and about, so I asked her to let me off here."
The fork slipped from Jacob's hand in relief. At least she knew how to tell a lie.
Renee said, "Ethan, if you want to take Tara to eat in town, I have a twenty in my purse."
"What do you think, Tara?" Ethan asked. "Are you hungry?"
"That'd be great," she said.
Dawn spoke, nonchalantly, causing Jacob to cringe. "She wasn't dropped off."
Jacob leaned back in his chair. "Of course she was, Dawn. Tara just said she was dropped off. You silly goose."
"She was sitting inside that truck out there in the yard."
"What a fibber," said Jacob, thinking of the Swiss Army knife in his pocket again and the missed opportunity. He could only distract her now. "Let me have your potato. You haven't touched it."
"That red truck," said Dawn. "She was in there."
"Fibbers don't get dessert," Jacob said. "Right Mom? By the way, what is for dessert?"
Every set of adult eyes networked, as Kathy looked at Renee, Renee at Ray, and Ethan at Jacob. Ethan was first to speak. "You're a funny girl." His distrust of Dawn deepened.
Kathy sensed the awkwardness, something amiss in the vibe after her daughter's admission. "Eat your food," Kathy said, "and then we are going to pack up and go home so we can get your costumes ready. Renee, I love this bread. Did you bake it?"
"I did," said Renee, joining her cousin in a dinner charade to help the moment pass. "Didn't you smell it when you arrived?" She stood up find her purse.
"I did," said Kathy, lying, having not noticed any bread upon arriving, consumed by other thoughts. "I meant to ask you, but then I must have forgotten."
At the counter, Renee said, "Here's that twenty, Ethan. Go ahead, you two, go to the diner. It's on me."
Ray continued eating, half-listening, winking at Bryce, who stuck out his tongue. They played a game all their own while the others danced around Dawn's remark about Tara.
"Go on," said Renee.
"Ethan, do you mind if we stop at my house on the way?" Tara asked. "I brought the wrong coat."
Jacob said, "Gotta dress for the weather when you go out." He laughed. "Starting to get cold. Is this rain supposed to freeze? I heard it's gonna freeze. Nothing worse than a freezing rain. Especially when kids will be out tonight, God bless 'em. What'd you hear, old man?"
Still making faces at Bryce, Ray muttered, "Huh?" The little boy giggled and dropped a spoon to the floor, giggling when it clattered. The little boy looked like Ethan and Ray felt like it was 1973 again, when the birth of Ethan saved him from his personal demons. He ignored Jacob and watched the toddler clap his hands, with Ray starting a game of patty-cake across the table, his enormous gnarled palms touching the boy's chubby fingertips.
"We'll be back," said Ethan.
"Have fun, you two," said Renee, escorting the couple out the door. "Let me walk you out."
For the rest of the meal, the two mothers and Jacob overtook the conversation, with weather centering all comments. When Dawn tried to speak again, Jacob raised interruptions, drowning her out. His concern for the freezing rain became the main topic. He recounted stories about accidents that he had heard or invented.
"Let me help with the dishes," said Kathy.
"No," said Renee. "You have things to do. This will take no time at all. Let me help you with the kids."
Little feet pattered among the thuds of adult feet. The kitchen came alive with sounds of scraping, moving chairs, and tinkling silverware. The Werthers prepared to leave, while the Maraks preparing to rest.
As Ray and Jacob retired to the living room, Renee started putting dishes in the sink, moving rapidly so that she could interrogate her younger son. Hot water filled the basin and the bubbles rose, sending a scent of lemon into the air. The Werther girls said their final apology, forced by Kathy once again, and the house became quiet when the screen door slammed shut. When Renee came back to the kitchen, she saw Ray's foot elevated on the couch armrest. Before she could turn off the water and make her way to the living room, the phone rang.
"Maraks," she said.
"Hello," said a voice, a gentle sounding man with an urgent tone. "Is this Mrs. Marak?"
"Yes, it is."
"Hi, it's Dave Ingeston. I'm sorry to call, but we are quite beside ourself with trying to find Tara. I'm just wondering if you've seen her anywhere. No one has seen her. She never came home last night and we are worried sick, as you can imagine."
"Well, yes," Renee said. "She was just here." As soon as Renee said it, she thought of Dawn's comment.
"Oh thank God," said Dave Ingeston. His voice faded as he told the people in his house that the missing child no longer required seeking. When he came back to the phone, he was still speaking to his wife.
"Fine, I'm asking. Honey, I'm trying to ask. Mrs. Marak?" said Dave. "Are you there?"
"Yes."
" Tara is all right? She's in one piece?"
"Of course," she said. "She's on her way to town with Ethan, to the diner."
"How did she get to your house," he said, taking on a different tone altogether, one of a new type of crisis. "Was she with Ethan all night?"
"No," said Renee. "Ethan was at school. He came home this morning."
"Then how did Tara get to your house?"
"She told me that your wife dropped her off here."
"She said what? Renee, we've been searching all day for her. I don't know why I didn't call you sooner. I should have known. So it was Ethan that kept her out all night then. Your son has a lot of explaining to do."
Renee said, "Dave, I don't know how that could be. Ethan was in Minneapolis last night. I called him at his dorm room late in the night, so he couldn't have been with her. Not until at least three in the morning, and that's if he drove straight here after I called."
"I don't believe you, Mrs. Marak."
"But I…I don't know, Dave. But she is on her way to town now."
"Ethan is going to get an earful from me."
"I understand, Dave. But I don't know, I don't know how they could have been together last night…"
"Well, who else would she be with? She's been dating him for two years. I'm guessing he's getting a little old for her now and expects something he shouldn't expect."
Renee said, "Dave, you can talk to him. They will be at your house or at the diner in no more than fifteen minutes."
Dave hung up the phone abruptly.
Bubbles seeped over the sink, making a slow trek down the cupboards to the floor. As she passed the sink, Renee pulled the plug and let the water out, not concerned with doing dishes any longer.
"Jacob," she said, her voice wavering.
"I'm sleeping," came the response from the living room.
"Come here, please." When no response came back, she added, "Right this instant."
The Plenty Page 21