Chapter Two
“Holy Moly, you’re still up?” Chloe flopped onto the couch. Keith Marte was kicked back in his favorite lounge chair, sipping a beer and watching TV with the sound turned way down. He shut the set off.
“Same as you. Couldn’t sleep.” He said.
She sighed and said, “I think I am totally used to having Tracy around. It’s weirdly too quiet, and I keep expecting her to walk through the door at any moment. I didn’t know what I was missing being an only child!”
“I know what you mean. You two only-children make good sisters. Plus, if you’re like me, it takes a while to wind down from big events.”
“Yeah, that too, but I was just hoping to suppress that conversation and those thoughts.” She said. She spun her hair in her fingers.
“I don’t want to sound too much like an after school special here, but maybe suppressing that stuff isn’t a good idea.”
“Maybe therapy?” She asked.
He shrugged, “It can be helpful.”
She paused a while, then put on a little girl voice. “Papa, can I ask you a question?”
He laughed, and said “d’accord.”
She tapped her chin for a few seconds.
He said, “Any time, now….”
“I was just trying to formulate it… Am I a normal kid? Am I like a genetic experiment or something. Where’s mom anyway?”
He made a “time out” motion with his hands. “Whoa! Where did this come from?”
She sat up and eyed him. “All my life, I’ve taken certain things for granted. I’m a good athlete, I’m smart, and you taught me a lot of skills.”
Keith smiled goofily and said, “Plus you’re modest.”
She pointed at him in mock seriousness. “I am being serious. However, there’s something that’s different about me. When Yuri tried to kill me, it was like he was moving a thousand times slower than me. It was like I could have done my calculus homework, taken a shower, and texted Tracy a couple of times before he even moved.”
Keith shrugged, “Adrenaline! When you’re under that kind of stress, the body does amazing things. Maybe you make good use of it.”
She said, “What about mom? Was there anything unusual about her?”
Keith rolled his eyes. “Honey, I see where you’re going with this. Was Mom a Demetria? Is that what you’re asking?”
She was suddenly embarrassed. “When you put it like that, it sounds crazy. And you’re right. That’s where I was going.”
He put up a hand and said, “A couple of months ago, I would have said you are crazy, but the things we’ve experienced lately… Well, I have a more open mind.”
She asked, “Well, so what about her? I just don’t even remember much.”
Keith rubbed his chin and said, “Well, you know me, I’m not exactly prudent when it comes to... How to put it? Affairs of the heart?”
She looked sideways at him and deadpanned, “No kidding. Let’s not dwell on that, though.”
“I met your mom when I was 22, and even dumber than I am today. I won’t bore you with the details of our courtship…”
She interjected, “More like disgust me!”
He laughed, “Right. Anyway, in LA, there are a lot of beautiful people who are just there. Maybe they’re aspiring actors, writers, whatever. That was your mom. Somehow I fell into their scene. We quote, unquote dated for a week, and she wanted to get married, so we did.”
She groaned. “Only a week! Geez. Dad!”
He drained the bottle and stood up. “You want one?”
Her eyes got big, “Daddy Daughter bonding through beer! Yes I do!”
He handed her a beer and they clinked their bottles together. She said, “Please go on. I need details, not gross details, but details. I mean was she like Demetria? I mean, I love Demetria, and she’s really sweet, but she’s so far outside the norm, basically everything she does is strange.”
Keith thought about it. “Well, yeah, but that doesn’t prove anything. That’s like half the people I knew back in those days. Very eccentric, interesting people. An actress at the apartment complex where I lived in would just to the pool, totally nude, and tan. You want to know something really interesting, it’s actually quite difficult to chat-up a beautiful nude woman. The Taliban’s got it all twisted with the burka thing.”
Chloe groaned at his chauvinism. She urged him on, “Well, so what happened?”
He said, “Well your mom got pregnant almost immediately, which was actually pretty nice. I think that’s how we’re really built to work. New love, the honeymoon period, pregnancy, it’s all like this chemical bath of niceness. Then you were born. She was good to you and me, but…”
She said, “I knew a ‘but’ was coming.”
Keith nodded, “...But, domestic life, well, monogamy wasn’t for her, to put it nicely, so we tried a few different arrangements. I doubt you even remember. You were like two or three.”
She sighed and said, “Well, as much as I don’t want to hear it, I think it’s crucial to the story. What were these ‘arrangements’?”
His face turned bright red and he put his forehead in his hands. He said, “Remember, this was LA and we were young and foolish. Proper context is important. Also, it always felt wrong to me. I am a normal schmoe from a normal, semi-happy nuclear family.” He took a big gulp of beer and continued. “I will leave out the details, but let’s just say, one man wasn’t enough. One woman wasn’t enough for her.”
Chloe’s face went red and she thought about Tracy stripping her clothes off at Morgan’s. She said, “Dad... Youth, it’s what happens, I guess....”
He shrugged, “Well, you’re right. She was, well, very interesting, but I couldn’t take it, and with you there, it was just too weird. That’s what broke us up.”
She was angry, “Well, why’d she just leave me?”
Keith shrugged, “I don’t know. I insisted she spend time with you, but she just drifted away. She missed out on so much, but like I said, she was never very domestic. She couldn’t stand to be tied down. Maybe we should look her up.”
Chloe said, “I’ve thought about that a lot over the years, of course.”
Keith studied her face and asked, “Well, what is your conclusion? I am curious all the time what happened to her. I would like to know. I think it’s even possible you could get her back into your life. Find out all these things first hand.”
Chloe shrugged. “I guess I’ll think about it. You know, there’s another family option, too.”
“What?” he said.
“Well, now Tracy’s like my adopted sister. Robbie’s like my adopted Uncle. Demetria’s well, she’s a little odd, but good, and I’m not sure exactly what she is to me. Why look for someone who abandoned me and not just be content with people who really love little old me for who I am?”
“Those are wise words.” He saluted her and said, “But… Think about it anyway. It might be good to do it earlier rather than later in life. It probably wouldn’t even take that long to find her.”
She took a drink and was quiet a moment. She said, “OK. Let’s do it.”
The Chardon Chronicles: Season Two --- The Winter Page 23