Suzie’s House 358 : A Tale to Tell

Suzie handed me a cup of herb tea. I’ll admit I might have given it a concerned look.

“It’s perfectly fine,” Suzie said in exasperation as she sat across the kitchen table from me. “Just some ginger root I sliced myself and a bit of lemon. Nothing to set off one of your allergies.”

“Ah. Thanks. Sorry about that.” The mint tea she’d given me a while back had set off a whole new set of reactions. “It’s getting so the only thing I can have anymore is water.”

“I’m sure we can come up with something better than that,” She said with confidence.

I’d have argued, but Ben, Gene, Tracy, and Lisa all piled in the back door right then. They were breathing hard, sweating, and chattering excitedly.

“What have you been up to?” Suzie asked Ben. “You’ve all missed supper.”

“Oh. We were… Um…” Ben glanced at Gene. Actually, everyone glanced at Gene.

“You went to see Gene’s dad?” It was pure guesswork on my part.

“Um… uh…” No one wanted to say anything. They all looked at each other and shifted weight, all looking guilty about something. I bet it was more than simply having gone for a visit.

“Oh. Well. At least you all made it back all right.” Suzie took a sip of tea, then hastily put the cup down. “You ARE all fine, aren’t you? That man can be dangerous.”

“Yeah, Mom. We’re fine.” Ben looked encouragingly at each of the others. They all nodded agreement.

“So how is your father?” I couldn’t tell if Suzie asked to be polite, or if she was fishing.

“He’s… um. He’s fine.” Gene swallowed hard and looked horribly uncomfortable. “Gained a bit of weight.”

“How much?”

“He was massive! I mean really big! Huge!” Tracy held her arms out as though to demonstrate the size of the fish that got away.

“He was a ruin,” Lisa said somberly.

“What do you mean by ruin?” Ben seemed just curious. He’s had some catching up to do on the vocabulary front and probably didn’t understand the way Lisa used the word.

“We thought the man was dead even when we were trying to move him. How much more ruined can you get?” Lisa lifted her chin

“Dead?” Suzie’s voice tightened with strain. She put her tea down and stopped pretending to be nonchalant.

“No, no.” Lisa held her hands out in a stopping gesture. “He’s fine. Just…. smelly.”

“Smelly?”

“Yeah.” Everyone jumped in to agree quit vehemently.

“He farted a bunch and burped, and there was trash everywhere.”

“That isn’t much of a surprise,” Suzie said regretfully. “But why did you feel the need to visit him?”

“I… just…” Gene frowned uncomfortably. “I needed to know he was all right. And, I guess he is. As much as he can be. He’s my father, you know. But it’s all right. I won’t ever be going to see him again. So… please, Mrs. H. Don’t make me talk about it.”

Suzie gave him a long look. “All right. Go on.” She waved them off.

Eight legs beat a hasty retreat as the whole troop thundered up the stairs. There had to be more to the story than that. But I wasn’t about to quiz the kids in front of a mother figure like Suzie. I’d get the story later from Ben or Lisa.

And then…. My fingers twitched with the urge to write it all down.

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