“Mom,” Ash called as he opened the front door, “I’m home.”
“In the kitchen, Ash,” Judy called back. “Have you seen your sister?”
“She was down at the corner store, Mom,” Ash said as he pulled off his shoes and let his waterpolo ball roll under the bench beside the door. He made his way into the kitchen and started pulling out the place mats from a drawer.
“By the way, Ash,” Judy asked as she tossed the salad on the counter. She glanced up at him from over the bar. “I wanted to talk to you about Hope.”
Ash stiffened, his hand pausing over the table. “What about?”
“Well it’s about today after school-“
“I’m home!” Hope cried as she shoved the front door opened and slammed it shut behind her, kicking off her flats and coming into the kitchen. “What’s for dinner? I’m starving.” She reached into the salad bowl and picked out a piece of cucumber.
Ash gave Judy a meaningful look before he continued to put down the place mats.
“Hope, would you help Ash set the table please?” Judy asked as she checked the chicken frying on the stove.
“But Mom, he’s so good at it I’ll probably just screw his routine up,” Hope smiled as she slipped onto a stool at the bar. Then she frowned as she looked over her shoulder at the kitchen table. “What the hell, Ash? Where’s Dad’s place?”
“He probably won’t be home from work until late tonight. Now would you put some plates on the table?” Judy asked.
“Fine,” Hope said, getting off her stool and throwing open a cupboard, taking out the plates loudly and setting them down on the table with a smack. Then she sat down at the table and lounged back in her chair. “Good enough?”
Judy breathed in a breath of calm before she took the bowl of salad and the pan of chicken and placed it down on the table. Ash grabbed the bowl of rice, salad dressing, and a jug of milk, putting it down before he sunk into his chair.
Hope started scooping food onto her plate.
“Are you coming to watch your brother’s practice, Hope?” Judy asked absently as she served the chicken.
Hope snickered, “No. Why would I?”
“You could walk to the pool with us,” Judy tried, “and visit with Aunty Megs and Kalli for a few minutes.”
Hope rolled her eyes. “All Kalli does is cry and crap her pants.”
“She’s six now, Hope,” Ash said from across the table, “not three.”
Hope shrugged, “Big diff.”
“Please, Hope?” Judy asked as she sat down.
“Okay, okay,” Hope said, “but I’m going to the youth lounge after.”
Ash scowled. “That place is for skids.”
“That place is where my friends hang out,” Hope spat back, “and they aren’t skids.”
“Sorry, maybe the proper word is douche bag,” Ash said.
“Shut up!” Hope snapped.
“You shut up!”
“Hope! Ash!” Judy cried, silencing both of them. She glared from one to the other. “Stop it.”
The table was silent except for the occasional clanging of silverware. At length, Hope put her fork down.
“May I please be excused?” she said.
“No,” Judy said, “you two have to do dishes.”
“Isn’t that the point of you being a stay-at-home-mom?” Hope muttered as she stood up and gathered her plate.
Judy stared at her.
“What?” Hope asked angrily as she turned and yanked open the dish washer, shoving the dishes in.
“I’ll be in the living room,” Judy said to nobody in particular as she got up and walked out of the kitchen. She went across the hall and sunk onto the window seat that looked out at the neighbourhood cul-de-sac. She leaned her head back against the wall and watched Mr. Jones across the street mow his lawn.
A wet nose pressed against the back of her hand. Judy looked down at Chelsea and smiled grimly, looking back out the window as she stroked the dog’s head.
“Look what you did now!” She heard from the kitchen.
“What? Like you never think it?”
“No, I don’t! Mom does enough around here!”
“Ooohh, cooking and cleaning is so hard!”
“I don’t see you doing any!”
“That’s because it’s not my job!”
“It’s part of being a good person, Hope!”
“I’m sorry I’m not a suck-up Ash!”
“Shut up!”
“No!”
Judy sighed, closing her eyes and blocking out the next five minutes of arguing before Hope finally slammed her way out of the kitchen and stormed up the stairs. A few minutes later, Ash appeared in the living room archway.
“Mom?”
She opened her eyes. “Yeah?”
“I can go to practice by myself tonight.”
“No,” Judy said, sitting up. “I want to come watch you. And so does Aunt Megs.”
Ash looked at the ground, a half smile hinting at his lips. “You don’t have to...”
“Ash,” Judy said as she got up and wrapped him in a hug, “I want to.”
“Thanks Mom,” he said, untangling himself from her arms and standing still as she kissed the top of his blonde head. “Mom...”
“I know, I know,” she said, stepping back, “you’re too old.”
Ash looked at her, his eyes a reflection of her own before he turned and headed down the hall, “I’ll go get my gear together.”
“Alright,” Judy said, stepping into the hallway and watching him go up the stairs, “We’ll leave in a half hour.”
There was a shuffling noise behind her. Judy turned around to find Chelsea behind her, her tongue lolling and tail wagging hopefully. Judy smiled. “Yes Chelsea, you can come too.”
Chelsea watched her for another moment before she pushed her way through Judy’s legs and out into the hall where she plopped down in front of the front door, staring determinedly at the doorknob. Judy smiled as she wandered down the hall and back into Kevin’s office. She let herself slip into his chair, leaning back and breathing in the lingering smell of his cologne. Warm memories accompanied the scent, good memories. Judy closed her eyes and let the smell and all it hinted at envelope her. At length she heard Ash coming down the stairs.
“Mom! It’s time to go!”
Judy opened her eyes and found the filing cabinet’s collage of smiles to greet her. A faint sense of tranquility settled in her breast as she stood up.
“Hope!” she called. “Let’s go!”
A door slammed somewhere upstairs and footsteps stomped towards the stairs before Hope emerged on the landing, her face stony beneath a layer of eyeliner and lip gloss.
“The youth lounge deserves that much makeup?” Judy asked as Hope came down the stairs.
“I don’t want to look like a total dweeb, Mom,” Hope said, “beside, the eyeliner makes me look older.”
“Oh, right,” her mother replied as she hooked a leash onto Chelsea’s collar.
“Come on, Mom,” Ash said impatiently, holding the door open.
“You’re way too excited to get into a Speedo,” Hope muttered as she put on her shoes.
Ash scowled as Judy and Chelsea came through the door. Hope followed them wordlessly.
The family continued down the sidewalk in the dying spring light, heading towards the Central Pool. As they came to the edge of their road, an elderly couple were working in the ditch beside the sidewalk, cleaning up litter. Above them on a metal pole stood a green sign that said, “Adopt-A-Block. Help keep your neighbourhood clean and friendly. Call 1-800-672-4584”. The couple paused and waved as they passed. Ash and Judy waved politely as Hope rolled her eyes.
“God, how lame can you get?” Hope commented as they turned onto Emerson Street.
“Hope,” Judy said, “they’re doing a good thing for the whole community.”
“Mom, that’s so degrading. They look like a couple of convicts or something.”
“Maybe it makes them feel useful.”
Hope snorted as they turned into the parking lot of Central Pool, continuing down the gravel path towards the outdoor pool. A slender woman stood just outside the tall wrought iron gate, a gangly child with bouncy brown curls tugging at her arm. The woman’s smooth face broke into a grin as she caught sight of the family coming down at the top of the path.
“Ju-Ju! Ash! Hope!” she squealed. “Oh it’s been so long!”
“We saw her two weeks ago,” Hope said under her breath.
Ash threw her a glare.
“Hey Megs,” Judy smiled, letting her short friend wrap her wiry arms around her middle and squeeze her tight.
“Do me a favour, Judy,” Megs said as she pulled back, “actually smile for me.”
Judy sighed as she stretched her smile wider.
Megan smiled satisfactorily. “That’s better.”
“Ash! Ash!” Kalli cried, holding her arms up and wiggling her fingers as she danced before him.
“Hi Kalli,” he grinned, picking her up and balancing her on top of the duffle bag he had over his shoulder. “Are you going to come swimming with me after?”
Kalli’s green eyes went wide. “I didn’ bring my bathin’ suit.”
“It’s right here, honey,” Megan said as she patted the shoulder bag thrown over one arm.
Kalli squealed in excitement, throwing her arms around his neck and bouncing in his arms.
“Come here you,” Megan said as she pulled Kalli away from Ash and settled her against one hip, “enough strangling the poor kid.”
Ash laughed before he started through the gate. “I’ll go get changed. I’ll see you out there Kalli.”
“Bye Ash!” Kalli grinned, waving enthusiastically over Megan’s shoulder.
“Okay, Mom,” Hope said. “I’m out.”
Megan frowned. “You aren’t staying, Hope?”
“Sorry, Aunt Megs. I told my friends I’d come to the youth lounge tonight.”
Megan raised her eyebrows as she looked from Hope to Judy. Judy shook her head. “Alright Hope. Just be home by ten.”
“Yeah, whatever,” Hope said as she turned and headed back up the gravel path.
“Keep your cell phone on,” Judy called after her.
Hope raised a hand in acknowledgement, continuing on her way.
“If her skirts get any shorter, her bum will be playing peekaboo with every male who walks by,” Megan commented.
“Thanks Megs,” Judy said tiredly as they turned and headed down the cement steps to the bleachers overlooking the pool, “As if I haven’t thought of that myself.”
“Just saying,” Megs said as they settled on the metal bleachers.
Chelsea sprawled by their feet with a grunt.
“You and I, Chels,” Judy said, “are fat and useless.”
“Yay!” Kalli said, clapping her hands together.
“No, honey,” Megs said, stilling the little girl’s hands, “that’s not a happy thing.” Then she looked at her friend. “Did you decide this recently?”
“No,” Judy sighed. “It’s a sum of all the little revelations I’ve had in the past year.”
“Well,” Megs said, crossing her legs and looking out at the pool and the lanes filled with swimmers, “if I were you, I’d ignore those revelations and take a look at the more positive points in your life.”
“What positive points? That my husband’s a workaholic? That my children shut me out of their lives? That... that my daughter’s an LG?”
“Hold on, a what?” Megan asked.
Judy’s shoulders sagged as she leaned back against the cement wall behind the bleachers. “An LG. A little girl. A preteen/teen that promiscuously engages in sexual activity with older men. Synonyms include: skank, slut, etc.”
“I see.”
Judy looked at her sharply. “What is that supposed to mean?”
Megan held her hands up defensively, “Nothing. It just seems to fit with the sudden appearance, or disappearance I guess, of Hope’s clothing.” Megan watched helplessly as her friend deflated even lower against the wall at her back.
“Mommy, what’s a skank?” Kalli asked from her seat beside Megan, swinging her legs pleasantly.
“A bad word,” Megs replied, “and you’re never allowed to be one or I’ll make you go to a private girl’s school with nuns and chastity belts.”
Judy burst out laughing.
Megs smiled at her, “See? All’s not lost if you can still laugh.”
“You told me that when I found out I was pregnant with Ash.”
“Yes I did,” Megs said, looking back out at the pool, “and what did I say before that?”
“You told me that at least I’d have big boobs for Prom.”
Megs laughed, “Oh that’s right. You used to be flat as a board.”
“So did my stomach,” Judy said as she looked down at the bumps beneath her tee shirt.
“Oh that’s nothing two months at the gym can’t fix,” Megan scoffed, “I told you that you’re always welcome at my pilates classes, free of charge.”
“I know... it’s just so much... work.”
Megan laughed again. “Well, yes, that’s the idea.”
“Oh, there’s Ash!”
Ash came out of the doorway of the change room pulling a white swim cap over his short blonde hair. Eight years of waterpolo and swim club had made the motion seem natural as it snapped over his head. Ash walked over to the pool and knelt by the edge, helping another team mate pull in the lane markers and roll them along the side of the water.
“Look at those abs,” Megs said, “why doesn’t he have a girlfriend yet?”
“I don’t know. If he had one I might never even hear about it.”
“Oh come on, Ju-Ju. He loves you. He must tell you everything.”
Judy shook her head. “There’s sometimes when he comes home from school that I’m sure something must have happened but he always says he’s fine when I ask him.”
“Either way,” Megan said firmly, “if he had a girlfriend I’m sure you’d be the first one to know.”
“I hope so.”
“Why is he wearing one of those knee length Speedos? Why not the short ones?” Megan frowned. “There’s the problem.”
“He’s always worn those. Ever since his first week in swim club. He hates the other ones.”
Megan shrugged. “To each his own.”
“Ash! Ash!” Kalli cried, waving frantically from her seat.
Ash looked up and waved. Then he stood up and dived into the water, resurfacing and gliding across the water.
“Look Mom!” Kalli said enthusiastically. “He’s just like a fish!”
Megs nodded, “That’s why you’re going in swimming next year, so you can be just as good as Ash.”
“Yes!” Kalli beamed. “I want to swim now!”
“You have to wait for Ash, honey,” Megan said, “Here. I brought Stacy. Play with her for a bit.” Megan pulled a battered Barbie out from her bag and passed it to Kalli who squealed and immediately began walking the Barbie along the bleachers.
Megan turned back to Judy. “Maybe you should get a hobby, Ju-Ju. Something to keep your mind off things. Or to at least get yourself out of the house.”
“But what would I do without Chelsea?” Judy asked.
At the mention of her name Chelsea looked up, her liquid eyes moving slowly from Judy to Megan and back again. Her tail thumped hopefully against the bleachers.
Megan rolled her eyes, “Fine. Go into dog agility. I’m sure Chelsea would benefit from it just as much as you would.”
“We’re too old for that, aren’t we Chelsea?” Judy reached down and ruffled the dog’s ears.
“Ju-Ju, you’re thirty-two, not eighty. Go out there and do something. Take some photography classes!”
Judy shook her head. “I don’t do that anymore. Besides, I sold my equipment.”
“That’s a lie,” Megan said, “your old camera’s still packed up in the attic. I saw it there when we put away the Christmas decorations.”
“It’s a relic. Just like me.”
“For God’s sake, Ju-Ju!” Megan cried. “You aren’t old, now buck up and get a life!”
The pair was silent. Only the splashes from the pool and the whistle of the coach and the muted sounds of traffic behind them filled the air.
“Okay, that was a little harsh...” Megan began.
“No, no Megs,” Judy shook her head, a bemused smile on her lips, “I was telling myself the same thing this morning.”
“Well good!” Megs exclaimed. “The first step is accepting that you need to change!”
Judy listened as Megan continued on about the numerous and various ways she, Judy Manley, could enrich her own life, all by herself. Sadly, Judy thought, she didn’t have the drive or want to do any of the things that Megan described. On the other hand, it was nice to listen to someone who had so much control over her own life. Megan had graduated from high school with mediocre grades, yet she’d worked hard to put herself through cosmetology school and had secured a job at one of the most successful salons in the city. She’d gone on to buy the salon, marry a handsome accountant from the H & R Block down the street named Ed, and have a beautiful baby girl. Ed had since quit and become a manager for The Bay at the local mall. Between the two of them, Ed and Megan had managed to save enough to already start Kalli’s college fund, allow Megan to let her salon run itself and teach pilates classes, her ultimate passion, on the side, and, with Ed’s new promotion to the Director of Sales and Marketing, put a generous down payment on a house just a few doors down from Judy and Kevin’s. Megan had done everything Judy had wanted to do. Well, not down to the letter, but Judy envied the ambition and sweat that Megan had poured into her life.
Judy’s life, however, had gone something like this. With parents who strictly did not acknowledge the existence of sex, Judy Beauford had found herself blindly stumbling through unknown territory on New Year’s Eve of her grade eleven year with a boy named Kevin Manley. Unbeknownst to her, pregnancy could actually occur concurrently with the loss of one’s virginity. Nine months later, after a gruelling last month of grade eleven filled with snide remarks, ridiculing glances, and many sad, slow shakes of the head, on September 14th, Ashley Finn Manley was born. Judy finished her grade twelve year from home beneath the judging gaze of her mother and the pitying gaze of her father. Luckily, Ash was able to charm both of his grandparents into letting him and his mother live under their roof for another year. Kevin’s parents were another story. Judy was not allowed at their home and Kevin was not allowed at hers. Kevin was not to mention her in their presence. And yes, Kevin was still expected to go to college and proceed on to law school to take over the family business. At the end of grade twelve, Judy and Kevin got married, as was his way of showing his parents that yes, he would take responsibility for his actions. Judy worked for awhile at part time jobs wherever she could find them, still living with her parents. Kevin attended college and used his trust fund to find them a small apartment. Then Hope came along. Things were tight for awhile and then everything shot forward when Kevin finished law school and became a full-fledged lawyer. Kevin’s father, Don, welcomed him with open arms and a large starting bonus to the family firm, Manley and Associates. Kevin secured a mortgage on a large house in a new development within walking distance from the mall, local pool, leisure center, and schools. And ever since then, Judy had been a house wife.
On the upside, Judy’s parent-in-laws didn’t hate her anymore. Whenever they spoke to her, they just used a condescending tone that always strayed along the tune of, “You aren’t good enough for my son. The only reason you’re here is because you seduced him and he’s too good of a man to have left you broke and pregnant on the street.”
Yes, Judy thought, it would have been nice to know about condoms beforehand. Not that she didn’t love her kids, she thought as she watched Ash swim across the pool after a stray pass, it was just that she would have liked to have had them later in life, when all that she had wanted to accomplish first, had actually been accomplished.
Then again, what had she actually wanted to accomplish in life anyway?
“You could Adopt-A-Block, Ju-Ju,” Megs voice finally filtered in through Judy’s thoughts.
“What?”
“I said that you go for a walk,” Megan said, then smiled, “every morning and every night. It would give you a goal, something to look forward to everyday. Why, what did you think I said?”
“Oh, nothing,” Judy said as she shifted against the bleachers.
“Judy, were you even listening to a word I said?”
“Honestly?”
“Yes, honestly.”
“No.”
Megs threw her hands up in the air. “Of course you weren’t.”
“Megs,” Judy said, putting a hand on her friend’s shoulder, “I appreciate the advice, I really do. But it’s hard to listen to all the things I could be doing with my life when they’re all things that I don’t want to do with my life.”
Megan made a dissatisfied huff as she crossed her arms across her chest and fixed Judy with her best frown.
Judy giggled.
“Don’t laugh at me! I’m trying to help you!”
“You’re trying to turn me into you,” Judy pointed out.
Megs sighed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. You’ve never really been the most active person, have you?”
Judy shook her head. “The extent of my daily exercise is when I vacuum the stairs.”
They looked at each other for a moment before they started laughing.
“You realized that that’s probably the saddest thing I’ve heard all week.”
Judy continued laughing, wiping a tear from her eye. “And don’t I know it.”
They both sat for a moment, letting the laughter filter off towards the pool. Ash and his team had begun scrimmaging, their multi-coloured waterpolo caps over top of their swim caps and tied under their chins, the ear protecting cups on either side bobbing in and out of the water.
“What are your plans for tomorrow then?” Megs asked.
“Clean the house, do laundry, I wanted to get some tulips planted... oh.”
“What?”
“Is it Wednesday tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
Judy grimaced. “I have to have lunch with my mother-in-law tomorrow.”
Megan wrinkled her nose. “Eugh. Why?”
Judy shrugged. “I don’t know. She wants to talk to me about Kevin’s surprise birthday party-“
“Isn’t his birthday in May?”
“The third.”
Megs rolled her eyes. “She needs two months to plan her son’s thirty-second birthday party?”
“Don’t ask me. I was just going to throw a nice backyard barbeque.”
“Knowing Shelly, it’ll probably be at some country club along English Bay.”
Judy nodded in reluctant agreement.
“Where are you going for lunch?”
“I don’t know. She’s having me pick her up though. Apparently Abbottsford afternoon traffic is just too much for her.”
Megs snorted. “And she wants to move into Vancouver?”
Judy snickered as well. “Yeah. She thinks this city is too small for her.”
“Oh poor Mrs. Don Manley,” Megs sympathized, “stuck in a four million dollar home on the outskirts of Abbottsford with how many—twelve acres of perfectly manicured lawns, an in-ground pool, a landscaped pond with fountains that rival the Bellagio’s and a full staff of six to wait on her beck and call. I wonder if she needs a pilates instructor...”
Judy shook her head. “She has her own personal fitness trainer. He’s young, blonde and penniless. He specializes in yoga.”
“Oh I bet he does,” Megan laughed.
“It looks like practice is ending,” Judy said as she watched Ash pull of his cap and toss it up onto the pool deck. Then she nodded as he turned and waved at them.
“Can I go now, Mom?” Kalli asked excitedly as she held out Stacy.
“Let’s go get your suit on, sweetheart,” Megan said, taking the doll and slipping her into the bag. She looked at Judy as she helped Kalli over Chelsea. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
“Take your time. Have fun, Kalli.”
Kalli beamed. “I will Aunty Ju-Ju!”
Judy chuckled as she watched Megan help Kalli down the bleachers and follower her into the change room.
“How about it, Chelsea,” Judy said, looking down at the black lab at her feet, “do we need a hobby?”
Chelsea’s tail thumped against the bleachers.
Judy smiled. “Of course, I’ll probably wind up doing all the work while you lay on your side and sleep.”
Chelsea’s lips drew back as she panted, giving the impression of laughing. Judy reached down and stroked her head, watching as Kalli emerged from the change room and leaped into the pool, only to be pulled out of the water by Ash and thrown back in.

Emadev

March 4, 2011 at 4:53 AM PST

I like what I have read so far. When will we get to read the next chapter?