SF Chapter 32: The Incident IV
After hearing her mother talk about the incident, Mitchell tried to change her mind.
"Well, Mom, instead of scratching it down a wall, maybe we should just try to repress it. Like a normal family."
"I can't," she promptly rejected the idea. "I need closure. I'm about to embark on a new journey."
Then she revealed, "I met a man."
This time, it was Alan who looked surprised. "Really?"
"His name is Chas, and he's asked me to come live with him in his foreign land."
Mitchell's eyes widened. "Wow. Where?"
"Canada."
"You're moving to-" he stuttered, "to Canada?"
"French Canada," she specified.
"Oh, that's wonderful," her son remarked, adjusting himself on the couch.
"It is wonderful," she agreed. "It's just that when I think of all the awful things I said to Gloria and Jay, to you and Claire, I feel such guilt."
"Give it time…" Cam suggested, "and see Banff."
Mitchell shot him a warning look. "Cam, please."
DeDe revealed even more. "I just can't give myself to him sexually."
All three of them winced.
"Okay, Aunt DeDe, that is way too much information," Alan finally stepped in, grimacing in discomfort.
Mitchell didn't know where to put his face. "Okay, Mom."
And Cam muttered to himself, "Did not see that coming."
But DeDe didn't stop there. She went on, "Oh, don't get me wrong. We satisfy each other down there."
"Oh…"
"Yeah, don't want to…"
"Ugh…"
"That's why I need everyone's forgiveness. I need your help, Mitchell." She finally asked her son to help fix the mess she had made.
"Did you hear that, Mitchell?" Cam whispered to his boyfriend. "Your mom needs your help to make love to her new man, Chas. That's not weird at all." He said stone-faced, dripping with sarcasm.
Mitchell was left not knowing what to say. "I'm just not really sure what you're asking me to do, Mom."
"Well, everyone's mad at me," she started.
Meanwhile, Cam muttered again, "One wonders why…"
DeDe stepped closer to her son. "Oh… maybe you could pave the way so that I can apologize."
"There is a dinner tonight, with the whole family," Alan pointed out.
Mitchell took a deep breath and gave his cousin a sideways glance. "Well, um… this Sunday family dinner tonight, maybe I could go around and ask everyone if it's okay for you to join us."
"Oh! I knew I could count on you." She hugged her son. "Oh, my beautiful boy. I love you so much."
[Cam Commentary]
Cam was sitting alone in the living room.
"There's a fish in nature that swims around with its babies in its mouth." He gestured with his hand.
"That fish would look at Mitchell's relationship with his mother and say, 'That's messed up.'"
[Commentary ends]
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That afternoon, Daniel was in the pool with his father, at his dad's house in Brentwood. He had gone there after talking with Haley.
"Hey, Mitch," Daniel raised his arm when he saw his brother arrive. "Join us," he added enthusiastically.
"Hi, Dani," Mitchell nodded. "Hey, Dad."
"Mitchell, what are you doing here?" Jay stood up and went to grab a towel to dry himself.
"Uh, I'm sorry to bother you. But could I talk to you and Gloria for a second?" his son replied, clearly uncomfortable with the situation.
"Oh, she's out dealing with a Manny situation. He set a kid's bike on fire," Jay commented, exasperated.
"Why?"
"He went to a sleepover," Daniel explained, still relaxed inside the pool. "He was the first one to fall asleep and woke up with his face completely scribbled on. Kids stuff."
And his father concluded, "I might have told him to get even with some kids, and he went all Rambo with it. Not my best parenting moment."
"Not your worst…" Mitchell muttered, then finally blurted out, "Uh, well, you know, Mom's in town."
Jay stopped drying himself and stared at his older son. "Your mom?"
"No. No, your mom. She's back from the grave," his son remarked dryly. "Yes, my mom."
"Oh, no, no, no," Daniel climbed out of the pool and repeated the refusal. "I've already seen this movie, and it's a bad one! You're not thinking about inviting her to dinner tonight, are you?"
Mitchell glanced to the side. "Well…"
His brother groaned, while his dad was already covering his face with his hand.
"Well, she's still my mom," he reasoned, "...and your aunt."
"Thanks, Dad!" both of them said at the same time, looking at their father.
But Mitchell continued, "Anyway, Dad, she's a wreck about what happened at the wedding, and she wants to come to dinner tonight to apologize to everyone."
"So you'll talk to Gloria about Mom coming to dinner?"
"Oh, Gloria would never go for that in a million years." Jay completely shut the idea down. "She's still furious with your mother. Which is why I'm not talking to you."
"What?"
"This conversation never took place." Jay sat down on the bench in front of the pool.
"Well, that's not very nice. I drove all the way here."
"No, you didn't. You were never here. In fact, you never even called." Jay dumped it all on his son.
"Gloria would never forgive me if I pulled a fast one on her. That's why you're going to pull a fast one on her. And I'm not going to like it one bit."
"Wow, that is a good parenting," Mitchell mocked dryly, and walked away, knowing he wouldn't be able to change his father's mind.
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That evening, Daniel had gone earlier to his sister's house.
"I brought your favorite wine, sis," he said, holding up the bottle as he was already opening it.
She hugged him.
"Oh. Aunt DeDe, what brings this unexpected…" Daniel looked at the older woman who was approaching.
"Pleasure?" DeDe completed.
"No, that's certainly not it. Not even on April Fools' Day would I tell a lie that big," he replied, laughing, as if what he was saying were completely normal.
"Dani," his sister scolded him, though she couldn't hide a small smile.
"See how he treats me?" she pointed at her nephew, playing the victim for her daughter.
But the doorbell rang, saving Claire from having to deal with these two. When she opened the door, she gave a half-smile. "Alan, Charlie, come on in," she said, gesturing them inside.
She then bent down. "Look at you, Jake. You're as big as Luke already," she smiled.
"Claire, long time," Alan greeted, giving her a light hug.
"Hey, Claire," Charlie went in for a hug as well. "You still look stunning," he complimented smirking.
"Always the charmer, Charles," she mocked, though with a melancholic smile.
In the living room, another interaction caught everyone's attention. "Hi, I'm Jake. Jake," the boy repeated, stuttering slightly in front of his cousin.
"Alex," she replied succinctly, going back to reading the book she had in her hands.
Daniel chuckled alongside his siblings. "Hey, the Harper blood is already kicking in," he joked, watching his nephew already taking an interest in a girl.
"Ohh, look at that, just like you and Charlie," DeDe said, making the two of them feel a little awkward.
[Claire and Chalie commentary]
"Charlie and I were really close cousins," Claire pointed out, gesturing to herself and to him sitting beside her.
"We got into a few messes together. We were a little… rebellious," she remarked.
"Sometimes we fought with our moms," he picked up where she left off, "even ran away to each other's houses. Then we'd end up fighting with our aunts."
"And one day, we were drunk and might have…" she hesitated, then admitted, "we had a few small kisses. But we stopped there! Nothing else happened!"
"Wow, Charlie has a limit?" an incredulous voice was heard, "a cousin, really? You know that is legal, right?"
"Berta!" he snapped. "Get out of here."
[Commentary ends]
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