main | index CHAPTER 5 (section 2) copyright © 2001, S. Y. Affolee The next afternoon, Simone found herself standing in front of Adrian’s apartment door, impatiently tapping her sneaker clad foot. She was wearing a dark brown tank top and jeans, clothes that she was sure that her mother would look down upon. Too common, she could already hear her mother jabbering. A business woman should be wearing business suits. From the corner of her eye, she saw someone peek out from the apartment across the hallway. It must be Mrs. Leadbetter, she mused. The old biddy was a seventy-year old prune with the near sightedness of a shrew. She wore ponderous bifocals and walked with a rapping cane that scared most small children. She was a spinster and an inevitable busybody who wanted to pry into everyone else’s business. She wondered how Adrian could tolerate her. Simone knocked again and the door opened revealing her partner in equally casual attire, a grey sweatshirt and jeans. In his hands was a large cubical package dressed in teddy bear wrapping paper and pink ribbons. At his feet, a black kitten peeked out to yowl a greeting at her. “I gave away all the kittens yesterday,” he announced. She nodded. “And what do you call that?” she said indicating the feline at his feet. “Fiz.” “Fiz? As in champagne?” “As in soda. I decided to keep him. I was lucky. Mrs. Burnette from upstairs had her brother visiting. Turns out that he’s a farmer out in rural Havan who has a mice infestation. Very kindly offered to take the cats.” “Uh huh. But now Fiz is separated from his brothers and sisters.” “Didn’t know you cared. But he doesn’t seemed too traumatized by their absence. Gavin’s still around. He’s still sleeping at this time of day. Right Fiz?” Fiz meowed. Simone shook her head. “Your brother must of had a hard night of partying. And speaking of Havan, Mr. Thomson a.k.a. Mr. Greenville called this morning. He wants us to meet him tonight. Not on Sunday.” “Did he say why?” “No. But he sounded a little excited. Or maybe edgy is a better word. At any rate, he offered to increase the fee.” “Figures. Whenever a client wants something desperately, money is the first thing they try.” “Well, in our case, it works.” She eyed the package. “What’s in there?” “I’m not going to tell you, it’s a surprise,” he grinned. “Caroline’s birthday present.” “Now look who’s going all mushy.” But she stepped back a little to let him come out of his apartment. “Sorry Fiz. You have to stay home.” Adrian shut the door on the feline who meowed angrily. “And I’m not being mushy. It’s Caroline’s fourth birthday.” “Sure. Sure. Use a little girl for all your excuses.” Adrian glanced past Simone’s shoulder. “Good day Mrs. Leadbetter.” He winked. The old lady yelped and slammed her door closed. “Really, Adrian. That was not nice scaring the old woman like that. Even if she’s fantasizing about you in your underwear.” “Hey, it’s fun scaring Mrs. Leadbetter. She never has any fun.” Simone snorted. “So you fantasize about me in my underwear.” “Ha. You wish.” She jangled her keys. “I call it first. My car.” “Aw, Simone...” “No buts. I’m not going to risk my neck because of you.” * * * When they arrived at Evelyne’s two story upper middle class house in the center of Elanne modern suburbia, there were already several cars parked in the driveway. Simone manuevered her little vehicle to the curb. “All it’s missing is the white picket fence,” she remarked. “Fence?” Adrian was busy unfolding his body from the cramped car and getting two birthday presents from the back seat, his own, and Simone’s which had been wrapped in shiny pink foil and silver bow. “The wrapping paper you used is giving me a headache with the glare it’s causing.” “Whatever you say.” She helped him close the car door. “Can’t you tell that I’m into gaudy?” He glanced at her dark wardrobe. “Could of fooled me.” Before they could press the doorbell, the door was flung open, revealing a petite asian woman, about two or three inches taller than Simone and a few years older. Her hair was bobbed and curled in the latest fashion. She was wearing a tasteful yellow blouse and brown slacks. She smiled, although Simone could detect a little weariness around the eyes. “Simone! I’m glad you made it. And Adrian, so nice to see you again. Please come in. You can put those on the table in the parlour.” “Hi Evelyne. We wouldn’t forget Caroline’s birthday.” “I know that.” When Adrian moved out of earshot she said in a lower voice, “Mom called this morning.” “Oh?” “She said she and Dad couldn’t make it because of some important reunion. It was a little disappointing having to tell Caroline that grandma couldn’t make it, but honestly, I don’t give a damn.” Simone raised an eyebrow. Evelyne was always their parents’ favorite. “She can just go to hell on her ego-status trip to all her old friends about how successful her children are.” “But you are successful.” “Don’t you give me that B.S., Simone. She’s always pestered us on how we could be better. She’s always lecturing Will to work harder on funding his research. She’s always despised your private investigative business. She always tells me that I’m a bad mother, that I should have given birth to boys by now. I already have Caroline and Jennifer. It pains me to think that she thinks nothing of her granddaughters.” “I...” Simone decided not to voice her surprised comments on the outburst. “You must have had a hard day, Evelyne. Maybe you should just lie down for a little bit.” Her older sister sighed. “Maybe you’re right. It’s just that I’ve been planning Caroline’s party and, well, Mom did place such a large expectation on it. And she had the audacity to invite all these extra people. Especially those successful men she wanted you to meet.” Simone groaned. “Damn.” Evelyne chuckled. “Ah. Look on the bright side. At least Will and I don’t think any of them are worth your time.” “Will, our nerdy oblivious brother, finally has an opinion on all those guys Mom is throwing at me?” “Yeah. Well, he’s grumbling about something. He’s out in the backyard trying to explain addition to the kids. I’ll be right out.” “What was that about?” Adrian asked as he met Simone heading toward the back of the house. He briefly glanced at her sister who headed up the stairs. “Personal mini-crisis,” Simone stated briefly, not wanting to elaborate. The backyard was a small plot of very green lawn that was fenced in by some thick growing bushes. Two picnic tables were set up at one end with party favors strewn on their tops: conical party hats, whistles, balloons, crepe paper, party plates and cups. At the other end, a stoic red grill stood on a small platform as Evelyne’s husband Henry was wearing a white apron, a baseball cap and holding a spatula as he attempted to grill hot dogs and hamburgers. He waved at Simone and Adrian and went back to concentrating on not burning anything. Will, in his customary nerdy slacks and shirt complete with plastic pocket protector and round framed glasses was expounding on some figures that he had written on a piece of paper. The girls, Jennifer who was five and Caroline the birthday girl, were sitting beside their uncle, squirming in their seats. Evidently, they did not find mathematics as fascinating as he. A few of Simone’s cousins and aunts and uncles loitered around the picnic tables talking. But the people who immediately drew Simone’s attention were the people who were not family members, either by blood or marriage. Two men and a woman clustered near the backdoor surrepitiously watching everyone. The taller one, who could have rivalled Adrian in height, was slim and austere in his black business suit and greased moustache. Gold cuff links glittered in the sunlight. The slightly shorter man was clean shaven but wore a gray suit. His face slightly twitched as he pretended to talk to his two companions. The woman was also tall and slim like the first man. She was most likely his sister. Her hair was twisted into a French braid and she wore stiletoes that probably added four inches to her height. She looked bored as she tapped her finger repetitively on her elbow. Adrian had already moved away, heading towards Will and the girls. Simone watched briefly as the girls squealed in excitement as he approached. And he thought children hated him, she thought amused. She shook her head in wonderment and walked toward the grill, the smoke ladden with meat smells wafting toward her, reminding her that she had forgotten breakfast that morning. “Hey Henry.” “Afternoon, Simone. Glad you made it.” “Thanks. I told Evelyne to take a small break. She doesn’t seem to be herself today.” “I’ve noticed,” he replied seriously as he flipped a burger. “I think it was just the combination of so many things at once. Usually she could just brush off your mother’s comments like a pesky fly.” “Hmm.” Simone glanced again at the unknown guests. “Who are they?” Henry apologitically shrugged. “Some associates in my company. Your mother convinced me to invite them so you could possibly hook up with one of the guys. They don’t look very comfortable here, do they?” “I’m sorry.” “Don’t be.” Henry flipped another burger. “You should meet my mother. She’s still bemoaning the fact that I haven’t given her a grandson yet.” “And why should you?” Simone replied. “Jennifer and Caroline are perfectly acceptable. I think they’re precocious for their ages.”