A Weekend with the Cromwells

by Olivia Gaines

  “Thank you, Lawrence, for the beautiful rose,” she told him. She watched with respect as Lawrence blessed the food for the meal to commence.

  Lunch was a somber affair with fancy food that required much silverware and stilted conversations about the political climate. Thomas arrived mid-way through lunch, took a seat, and began to discuss renovations to the brownstone. No one asked him anything about the project, he simply believed everyone needed to know. The more he talked, the less Tae-Tay understood how the couple had managed to create four children. He spoke in a slow, droll tone that felt like you were listening to him through a family sized jar of peanut butter. The man never shut up. Finally Lawrence, who’d had enough chatter about tile choices and materials used, spoke up.

  “Mother, if I went on that long about my plants, you would make me go to my room,” he said very loudly. This silenced Thomas and made Veronica blush, but drew Tae-Tay into the conversation.

  “Lawrence, I have heard so many things about your garden. I would love to have a tour,” she told him.

  His eyes lolled about in his head as he tried to center them on where he heard her voice emanate. When he finally focused on her face, his eyes lit up. Douglas leaned into Thurston and asked “Daddy, you said he was your brother, right?” Douglas was quiet as he watched his newly acquired uncle attempt to cut his food and eat.

  “Daddy, what’s wrong with him?” he whispered.

  All of the kids looked at Douglas as if he had burped loudly at the table. Beatrice watched her son explain to the child in terms so simple, it made a tear escape from her eye.

  “My brother, although he looks like a man,” he said as he pointed to Douglas’ little head. “He is the same in here as you are.”

  Douglas crinkled his nose as he stared at Lawrence who in turn waved at his nephew. Douglas waved back. “So Daddy, you are saying that inside his head, he is still a little kid like me?”

  “Exactly,” Thurston said.

  The next statement earned Douglas several cool points from everyone in the family. “Daddy, when you are not here, who does he have to play with?”

  No one answered the question, but Tae-Tay kept her eyes on Douglas. He never asks a question that he isn’t trying to find a way to get an answer. Somewhere in his mind, he was plotting a grand adventure for him and Lawrence; she just hoped it did not include the banister.

  Beatrice said little during lunch but she was rather talkative as she gave Tae-Tay a tour of the house. The tour included all 10,000 square feet of heavy tapestries of deep rich colors and art pieces. One painting in the main living room was a show stopper.

  “Mrs. Cromwell,” Tae-Tay said. “Is that a Picasso?”

  “Yes, it is my dear. Are you a fan of his work?” Beatrice asked.

  To her surprise, her daughter-in-law responded, “No, not really. I am more of an Impressionist girl myself. Picasso’s work feels like a slow descent into madness to me. Even in his works where he is painting the human form, the bodies are still distorted and posed in odd angles. I like the clean beauty of Impressionism. You see something which makes an impression, that is what you paint.”

  Her mother in law was impressed. “You are really a conundrum of something special aren’t you, TataLavisha?”

  Tae-Tay rolled her neck and snapped her finger, “And you know it.”

  Beatrice smiled at her, “Please allow me to show you the pride of my art collection.” They rounded the corner into a formal sitting room and on the wall was painting of an island woman holding a flower. Tae-Tay’s breath caught. “Is that a Gaugin?”

  “Yes, it is,” Beatrice said with pride.

  Tae-Tay felt weak in the knees as she reached for a chair to sit down. Her eyes could not leave the work. Beatrice excused herself as her daughter-in-law sat alone in the room admiring the painting of a woman alone, holding a flower. She was also still clutching the one Lawrence had given her feeling alone as she prepared to have a long awaited conversation with her father.

  Douglas found himself alone in the playroom with his new cousins. Since he spoke differently and saw things in a different light than they did, he was somewhat ostracized. His new cousins wanted nothing to do with him. This was not a deterrent to a child with an active mind like Douglas. He made his way back to the kitchen and located Rodgers.

  “Excuse me, Sir,” he said. “I was hoping you could show me where my suitcase is.” In his suitcase, he had packed his Spiderman costume, his Batman underwear, and other things that would make for a fun day.

  Rodgers, his head and nose still in the air said, “Follow me Master Douglas. I will guide you to your quarters.”

  “Thanks,” Douglas said as he followed the man up the grand staircase, his eyes scoping out banister. It was a lot a steps which meant a long ride down. Once he reached the room where he would be staying, he thanked Rodgers. “Sir, where can I find Uncle Lawrence?”

  “He is in the atrium, Master Douglas,” he told him.

  “Is that near the kitchen?” Douglas inquired because he didn’t know what an atrium was.

  “Yes, it is. If you require some assistance, shall I locate one of your parents?” Rodgers asked, knowing the child was up to something.

  “No, Sir. I think I got this,” he said as he walked the man to the door. As soon as Rodgers left, he stripped down to his undies, put on his Spiderman costume, complete with web slingers, and headed down the stairs. Careful only to take one step at a time, he made it to the bottom and headed towards the kitchen. One of the downstairs maids spotted him.

  “Can I help you find something, Master Douglas?” the maid asked him. The staff had already been informed that Douglas was a very active child and would require careful monitoring.

  “Yes Ma’am, I am looking for Uncle Lawrence,” he told the lady who was kind enough to show him to the atrium. She knocked on the door to inform Lawrence that he had a guest. There was Lawrence, trimming a dieffenbachia and talking to the plant. As soon as the woman walked away, Douglas came around to stand in front of Lawrence so his new uncle could see him before he pulled the mask over his face.

  Douglas stood with his fists stuck to his sides as he spoke at the lowest range his voice would go, “Spiderman needs your help, Uncle Lawrence!”

  CHAPTER Five

  Of Mice and Men

  It was the maid who told on him. Douglas knew it the moment he turned around and saw his parents standing at the base of the steps. He didn’t care how much trouble he was in, it had been totally worth it. Lawrence was his new sidekick and together, there was no stopping the two of them.

  Tae-Tay was furious with Douglas for manipulating Lawrence, but the sheer delight on Lawrence’s face was enough to make Thurston not be so angry with the boy for seeing something none of them had bothered to realize. Lawrence was lonely. Douglas had figured out a way to make sure he was supervised by an adult as he did something no one had ever had the courage to do in Cromwell Estates.

  His plan was simple. “Uncle Lawrence, I have been given a special mission and Spiderman needs to catch the bad guys.”

  “Am I a bad guy?” Lawrence asked.

  “No, Uncle Lawrence, you are my helper. Together, we are going to save all the lost puppies,” he told him.

  “What lost puppies?”

  “The puppies that were taken by the bad guys, Uncle Lawrence. Pay attention, okay?” Douglas told him. “Are you ready to be swored in as a super-secret special helper to Spiderman?”

  Lawrence started clapping. Douglas ordered him, “Good! Raise your hand and say what I say.”

  His right hand went up as he repeated after Douglas. I am the best sidekick in the world. My job is protect Spiderman and not let him get hurt or break his head or his arm.

  “I’m going to count to three and we are going to clap our hands. Uncle Lawrence, are you ready?” Douglas counted it down, and they both clapped loudly. “Let’s do this!”

  Like little burglars, the two tiptoed, low-crawled and shimmied their
way past the kitchen until they reached the staircase. Douglas stood at the bottom of it and gazed up like it was the entry into the Kingdom of Heaven.

  “Okay, Uncle Lawrence, I am going to the top of the stairs. I need you to stand here and catch me when I come down, okay?” he asked Lawrence.

  “Okay, Spiderman,” Lawrence repeated.

  “You remember the secret agent pledge, right? Don’t let me break my head,” Douglas told him. Up the stairs he climbed, taking the time to pull his small body up and onto the railing. Just to make certain he was on it the right way so he didn’t hurt his wiener, he reached down and adjusted it so it would not get wounded. He called down the stairwell, “Ready, Uncle Lawrence?”

  “Ready, Spiderman!” Lawrence yelled.

  Douglas slowly released his hands and the grip his thighs had on the banister. He let go completely and flew down the banister like he was on an invisible string. His lightweight body picked up momentum half way down as his laughter rang through the house. He came off the edge of the banister like a cannon and flew directly into Lawrence’s arms. Lawrence caught him, spinning around in a circle, laughing like a kid in a giant candy factory.

  “Douglas Abraham Cromwell!” Tae-Tay yelled.

  Lawrence sat him on the floor, his eyes rolling and bucked, “Oh Oh! You are in trouble, Spiderman!”

  “You are darn tootin’ he is in trouble. What were you thinking, young man?” she asked Douglas.

  “I only did it with an adult around,” he told his mother. This only seemed to make her angrier. In his defense, he changed tactics. “Mommy, I wasn’t going to get hurt. Uncle Lawrence swored the super-secret special helper code. Right, Uncle Lawrence? Tell them the code!” he implored.

  Lawrence poked his chest out with pride as he raised his left hand this time, “I am the best sidekick in the world. My job is protect Spiderman and not let him get hurt or break his head or his arm.”

  Rodgers, who seldom showed any emotion, shielded his face so no one would see him laughing, especially after Douglas called after Lawrence, who turned to see the silly string shoot out of the web slingers. This amused Lawrence to no end and he could not stop laughing as he pulled the string off his chest and the gooey material stuck to his hands,

  “Upstairs now, young man,” Tae-Tay raised her voice at Douglas. As Douglas passed by his cousins, he shot each of them with a wad from his web slingers, with the exception of the three-year-old. This only further made Rodgers laugh as he excused himself.

  Tae-Tay followed Douglas to the room he had been placed in to share with Harris. Thurston was left to deal with Lawrence, but first things were first.

  “What were you thinking, Douglas? Why weren’t you playing with the other children?” she wanted to know.

  He slowly undressed down to his underpants and stood before her, his little chest bare, exposing just how small and fragile he was. “They didn’t like me. So I went and found someone to play with who did. Uncle Lawrence is cool, Mommy, plus he is grownup size and can reach up high.”

  This bothered her a bit. “Douglas, why do you think your cousins don’t like you?”

  He put on his black jeans and a yellow shirt with a little black emblem of an alligator. “I dunno, Mommy. Maybe they aren’t used to being around a kid so smoove,” he said as he turned and struck a Michael Jackson pose.

  “That may be, but you promise me right now, you will never do that again. You scared me almost to death,” she said with tears in her eyes.

  “I’m sorry, Mommy, don’t cry. I will never do it again,” he said as he wrapped his small arms around her neck. “Well, not unless Daddy is there to catch me next time.”

  “Lord Jesus, build a fence!” she exclaimed.

  “Grandma always said don’t call on Jesus unless you need Him. Do you need him, Mommy?” Douglas inquired.

  “Yes, son, every day,” she held him tight.

  Meanwhile, in the atrium, Thurston’s conversation with his brother wasn’t faring much better as he tried to explain the danger of what he and Douglas had done. More importantly, he wanted to make certain it never happened again.

  “Thurston, I took the super-secret agent code to protect Spiderman. I wasn’t going to let him get hurt,” Lawrence said as he went back to trimming his plants after he washed the gooey silly string from his hands.

  “I know, but Douglas is very active and he moves really fast,” Thurston tried to explain.

  Lawrence turned, trying to force his eyes to focus on his brother, “I know! Did you see how fast he was flying, Thurston? And I caught him, too!” He swung his arms wide and then closed them across his body like he was holding a football. “I held him tight! I protected his head, just like Veronica showed me with her babies.”

  The brothers stood still in the quiet of the atrium. There were plants everywhere but not a speck of dirt or dust on the floor or even on a plant leaf.

  “I’m not as dumb as you think I am, Thurston. I would never let your son get hurt,” he said as he went back to trimming his plants. “I know stuff. I have done things.”

  “Things like what, Lawrence?”

  “I asked Dad to get me a Tae-Tay, but he wouldn’t. He is scared I am going to have the sex again and make little dumb babies,” Lawrence said.

  Thurston didn’t know what to say. Lawrence twisted his mouth to the side. “Katie says I am good at the sex, so when I go to classes, she and I sneak away to be by ourselves. Daddy caught us one time. Then he took me to the doctor and they put me to sleep.” He touched himself real slow, “It hurt real bad, too. I had to keep an ice pack on my hanging man bags for many days. I didn’t think the pain would ever go away or if I would be able to be with Katie again.”

  I didn’t know any of this. “When did this happen, Lawrence?”

  “When you went away to college. But it’s okay. My ding-ding still works just as good as ever. Katie even said I got better at the sex. I know I did, too, ‘cause I saw some movies on the TV, and I paid real close attention and learned some good stuff, too!”

  Lawrence gave him that look. It was a special look that meant he had made a mental deduction and connected the pieces that made sense. “You must be good at the sex, too, ‘cause Tae-Tay always seems to be happy and smiling. I know when I do a good job, Katie can’t stop smiling.” His eyes roamed around the room and locked on a plant leaf before he then cut his eyes at Thurston. “Mother doesn’t smile much.” He said it flatly and raised his eyebrows at Thurston before turning his head back to his plants.

  My chest feels tight. Did he just imply that our father is a lousy lover? My brother isn’t as slow as I thought he was. He needed me to know those things because he is about to tell me something really important.

  “Thurston?” he said softly.

  “Yes, Lawrence,” he answered, watching his brother’s face.

  “I’m not the same in my head like Douglas. I am a man...a good man. I just think slower,” Lawrence told him.

  Thurston was choking on the realization that for so many years he never understood. Lawrence was speaking softly as he examined the leaf on an Iris, “Douglas is going to be a good son. He is very smart, not like me. But I am not dumb either. I know and understand everyday things that I could teach to Douglas.... I hope you don’t mind me playing with him...I mean...I won’t hurt him. I’ll be safe and protect him. I know I won’t never have a son of my own. I think that is what Daddy did to my hanging man bags. He had them fix my ding-ding so I can’t make babies. Katie and I have been having the sex for a long time and no baby,” he told his brother.

  The tears forming in Thurston’s eyes were starting to hinder his sight.

  “I wanted to be a daddy one day. I was going to be much better at it than Daddy is,” he paused and looked at Thurston with eyes that never seemed to focus on anything in particular, except for his plants. “I am glad you got to be a dad. Promise me you will be a good one that lets Douglas have fun, and friends, and go places. You need to play with him, to
o. He needs to know you love him, no matter what.”

  There was no stopping the tears that overtook Thurston. He wiped his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. “I promise, Lawrence. I promise to be a good dad.”

  “Great,” Lawrence said as the bell in the atrium chimed and he put down his trimmers. “Time to get cleaned up. Daddy’s coming home soon. I need to get changed and line up at the door like a jackass to shake his hand.”

  Although Lawrence was only two years older and suffered from a form of Autism, Thurston truly believed that he was the smarter of the two of them. It was time for their father to come home. Family tradition dictated they would all line up at the door and shake his hand like he was some visiting dignitary to his own home. He never passed out hugs or kisses. He rarely told them he loved them. He most definitely never played with them. The promise he made to Lawrence was moot. I will never be like our father.

  A strong arm was placed around Lawrence’s shoulder as Thurston planted a kiss on his head. “Let’s go, big brother, time to line up like jackasses.”

  As he told his wife earlier, you don’t know how good you have it until you see how others live.

  CHAPTER Six

  Dinner at the Cromwells

  Life in the Cromwell house had been one of privilege but with little love. Each child was always immaculately dressed and had impeccable manners and taste beyond comparison, but affection was not in their repertoire. Even Beatrice, as the matriarch, never stood up to her husband and acquiesced to his ever-growing list of rules and demands. As the years passed and the children got older, she found more reasons to be away from home on art buying trips. She hired unattractive nannies and maids to staff the house and care for the children. If she planned to be away for more than a week, she would take the children and nannies with her, whether it was Paris, Argentina, or Polynesia. Lawrence was her favorite because he loved museums, the arts, and plants as much as she did.