Chapter 403: Freddy III--Not as Nuts

Oh sure, Mom didn’t ask Jonathan to get the chairs, not even help get the chairs. Okay so it was only three chairs but still, how come Jonathan was so precious that he didn’t have to help get chairs, was it cause he was a goalie or something? Naw, Freddy thought, it’s only cause he was the oldest and the older ones get special treatment, just like the youngest ones. Fred couldn’t even remember ever acting like Jonathan or Jana while young and getting away with it.

Eh, he knew Mom didn’t really think like that, or Dad either. Fred was just tired and grumpy and hungry, and he was really worried about Gigi. Screw Dad’s Smittens, what about the puppy? She was upstairs right now in a pillowed basket, her tummy shaved and a bandage and stitches over it. Every time Gigi woke up she cried and yelped. They had pain pills to give her, but Fred couldn’t imagine they did all that much for her what with her constant crying and everything.

Basically, Mom shouldn’t have left Gigi un-penned and Dad should have kept those stupid mittens in a safer place. Fred knew that if it were he who forgot to lock her up and Jonathan who left something out to get eaten, they would have been in big trouble for Gigi’s sake. How come adults never held themselves accountable as they wanted kids to be? How come Dad never got in trouble for acting like a baby, and Mom too, when she got in a bad mood and snapped at everyone, the kids just had to accept that. Fred thought about all that as he dropped the last extra chair at the kitchen table, extra loud too just for good measure,

“Not so loud Frederick,” Mom chided, but she didn’t look or sound particularly annoyed.

Fred crossed his arms and looked at Mom, “You look really happy today Mom.”

Mom smiled, beamed, as if she’d harnessed the rays of the sun in a make up or perfume commercial. “Oh thank you Frederick,” she said. She turned and grabbed a hot roll from the basket and tossed it to him.

Fred caught it and tore into it, his stomach greedily egging him on for more. “I mean, with Gigi and everything, why are you so happy? Did you get some good news or something?”

“No,” Mom replied with a slight frown that left the ghost of a wrinkle at the corner of her mouth. “Nothing unusual, I’m just happy today, is that a crime baby?”

“Mom I wanna roll too no fair!” Jana exclaimed running to Mom and hugging her. Fred rolled his eyes. He couldn’t have two sentences with Mom without Jana butting into it. “Mom I think you’re bee-yoo-tee-full, all the time, not just today.” And Mom patted Jana on the head and handed her a warm roll too.

Fred sat down on one of the chairs eating his roll and watching Alex who had peeled the steak off his eye and held it out to Mom. “Um here’s your steak, Michele, thank you Jana my eye feels a lot better.”

Mom took the steak and held it with her fingertips with a wrinkled nose. Jana looked triumphant. “Steak in the eye is good for you, it has good vitamins and minerals and falling acid so you can heal.”

“Folic acid, Jana,” Dad said. “Steak has folic acid.”

“That too,” Jana said without missing a beat.

“Does it really?” Mom asked. “Folic acid?” She wrapped the steak in a paper towel and put it on the counter. Mom didn’t sound too interested in folic acid but Fred suspected that she probably just didn’t like being left out of a conversation.

“Eh something like that,” Dad said. “I have to look it up again.”

Fred craned his neck and looked at Dad who had a quiet sleepy face. Not much doing today for him then for him to seem so un-alert. “Why do you need to look it up so badly Dad?” he asked.

Dad yawned. “Oh for a program we’re doing, a school wins a prize and then a few of us go there to teach the children about proper nutrition and eating habits. Keaner and I are going sometime next month, I have to sound like I know what I’m talking about.”

“You should talk to Jonathan, Dad,” Jana said with a nod. “He knows everything.”

Dad grinned and looked at Jonathan who wrapped in a comforter and sitting with his chin in his palms, couldn’t look any more miserable. Ugh after his performance in net the other night what did he have to be all depressed about? “Is that true boy, do you know everything?”

“More than I want to,” Jonathan said glumly, “I know more than I ever ever wanted to and I wish I didn’t know anything and things were like they were before I found out and I could just be happy and never have to know what I know and be sick inside, Mom why!”

“Jonathan,” Mom gasped putting her hand over her throat. She looked suddenly all white and frightened in her face, almost like someone from class who’d been caught doing something they shouldn’t be doing. “What do you know?”

“Mom!” Jonathan exclaimed. “I can’t tell you cause it would only make you mad and maybe make you all worried and it should have been kept from my knowledge anyway so it’s my fault for being nosy.” His frown practically touched the bottom of his chin, his eyes watered and his cheeks and neck turned so red that Fred scowled. What the hell happened to Jonathan?

“Oh… baby,” Mom said, “I’m sorry.” Her voice sounded all breathy and airy and gaspy, like she were going to cry or something. “How could…”

“Mom I can’t tell you in front of everyone but it’s about…” Jonathan began but he broke into tears, no squeaky sobs, Fred hadn’t heard crying like that from Jonathan in a long time and it really did scare him a little. It would take something really huge to get Jonathan to cry like that in front of everyone!

“No don’t say it!” Mom gasped and tears fell from her eyes and she went to Jonathan hugging him tightly and quietly crying. No sobs, but tears, and pink splotched her face and she closed her eyes. Great, now Mom was crying! Mom and Jonathan just held onto each other crying about something and it seemed to Freddy that maybe they knew what they were crying about just not telling everyone else. In a way Freddy felt a little left out but then again, did he really want to know?

“Mommy, Jonathan don’t cry!” Jana whimpered and wasted no time in busting into gloriously dramatic and overdone sobs shedding tears and whimpers with full relish.

“Oh for the love of…” Fred began and then the doorbell rang. He stood up, “That’s the Sakic’s you guys stop crying it’s embarrassing!” He looked at Dad who with his eyes wide and a grimace on his mouth looked quite perplexed and worried, “Dad should I get it?”

“Yeah.. Go on..”

Fred went to the door and opened it, and sure enough Debbie and Joe Sakic stood on the porch with Mitchell in tow. Debbie had a foil covered casserole dish in her hand and her white smile beamed under her dark hair and cap. “Hi Freddy,” she grinned, “We’re here, I brought a peach cobbler too, you guys will love it!”

“Oh wow,” Freddy said, taking the dish from her, keeping it as slow as possible to give everyone time to calm down in the kitchen, “Hey cool.” He didn’t move away from the door, blocking their entrance. “Mmmm it smells yummy,” and it did, he could smell the syrup of sweet canned peaches and cinnamon and nutmeg. “You baked it?”

Debbie half frowned, “Well, no, Rosalita did, but she makes the best cobbler dishes and pies, you guys really should try some of….”

“Hey can we come in before the kid freezes to death?” Joe asked, a little curtly and Fred could understand that and he felt irritated that his stupid crying siblings and Mom had to make him seem impolite and idiotic in front of Joe.

“Oh right!” Freddy said he scrambled out of their way, trying to listen for sniffles or sobs, of which he heard neither, “Sorry, come on in guys, take your coats off.” He stepped back and watched them fumble with their caps and scarves and gloves and coats, Mitchell didn’t make their jobs any easier either as he squirmed in their grasp.

“How’s Shee-shee?” Mitchell asked as Debbie took off his coat.

“She’ll be okay,” Fred said. “She just needs lots of sleep.”

“Wayne hopes she gets better,” he said, “And so does Bobby.”

Fred frowned and he looked at Joe. “Who’s Bobby?”

Joe laughed and rubbed his pink fingered hands together. “Yeah well that’s the sugar glider Blakie gave Mitchell for Christmas.”

“Oh yeah!” Fred exclaimed. “Hey I remember that…. Why Bobby though?”

Joe rolled his eyes. “Bobby Orr, in Mitchell’s opinion the second greatest hockey player to play ever.” He then put his hand on his chest and mouthed out the word. “Ouch.”

Fred grinned. “Hey Mitchell,” he leaned forward on his knees, he knew how to make it a little better for Joe. Mitchell had to at least consider his own father the third best hockey player ever. “If you got a kitty what would you name it?”

Mitchell nodded solemnly. “I would name him after the third best ever hockey player.”

“Ah!” Freddy said feeling helpful and triumphant. “And who is that?”

“Patrick Roy.”

“And there you go folks!” Joe exclaimed, but good naturedly at least.

“Aw sorry Captain,” Freddy said feeling like crud.

“Hey,” Debbie said marching into the kitchen with Mitchell close behind her. “Mimi why haven’t you come out to say hello or anything, where‘s your manners aye? Oh Honeys what’s wrong why is everyone crying?”

“Oy!” Freddy groaned.

“Crying?” Joe asked, “What’s going on?” He went to the kitchen as well and Freddy gave up and followed him. He tried to do all he could, no one could say otherwise.

Well at least no one was outright sobbing, Fred thought once he saw inside. Mom and Jonathan and Jana were just all red faced and pink eyed, sniveling. Debbie seemed horrified and she hugged Mom. “What on Earth happened? Why were you all crying the puppy didn’t die did she?”

“Shee-shee died?” Mitchell exclaimed and he started crying. “Why did Shee-shee die Freddy said she just sleeping!”

“Oh no…” Freddy began.

Debbie picked up Mitchell and kissed him, “Mitchell honey I didn’t mean to…”

“Mom why did she have to die?”

“Now Mitchell’s crying!” Jana exclaimed and she began to sob all over again. This time her cries were not as dramatic and loud as before, and she truly looked like a miserable, devastated confused little girl.

“Oh stop it!” Mom said and she hugged Jana still teary eyed and red cheeked. “Don’t be crying, you have no reason to cry, yes?” Why did Mom look so miserable? She looked just fine minutes ago, like she’d never been that happy before.

“But Mom why were you and Jonathan…”

` “It’s none of your business!” Jonathan snapped and began to sob. And Fred just knew that it was uncharacteristic of his brother to be this unstring. Was this a part of puberty or something? “I have my reason and you’re just taking all the attention!”

“Shee-shee died!” Mitchell howled. Oh yes the boy was still distraught and no one had yet thought to tell him the damn dog was okay.

“Now Jonathan’s being mean!” Jana wailed.

“No you just don’t understand, Jana,” Mom whimpered and she began to cry again. “Oh how will my son forgive me?”

What the hell did Mom do? Fred thought.

“Oh Mitchell stop crying,” Joe said in an almost curt voice to Mitchell. “Gigi’s not your dog anyway.”

“Joe!” Debbie exclaimed. “Don’t talk to Mitchie like that, apologize!”

“No,” Joe replied coldly, “We can’t comfort the kid every time he acts up like this, think of how he’ll grow up we need to nip it in the…”

“I can’t believe you’d be this callous to…”

“Oh it’s not about that Debbie,” Joe replied, “We got to encourage him to grow…”

“Oh you!” Debbie gasped hugging Mitchell tightly.

Great now the Sakic’s were fighting!

Joe shook his head and looked at Dad, “So what’s going on Patty, did the dog die after eating those Smittens?”

“A cheap shot my friend,” Dad muttered and to Freddy’s undying horror Dad began to cry. Well of course he would cry about those Smittens, why the hell did Joe bring them up! It was like reminding someone of the death of a loved one. Fred rolled his eyes and shoved his hands into his pockets.

“Joe you’re terrible!” Debbie exclaimed. “What’s got into you?”

“Okay I’m just a little confused here!” Joe replied with an edge in his voice. “Everyone’s crying about something, it’s weird and sorry if I don’t know how to act about this.”

“Confused?” Debbie squeaked. “How about empathy you cold hearted…” And oh boy, she didn’t get very far before her bottom lip trembled and she began to cry. “Why did I even marry a cold hearted fish like you, I bet you wouldn’t even have cared if I’d died!”

Okay that was a little….

“Debbie how could you think that!” Joe exclaimed, reddened and his voice cracked, “Don’t even joke about….”

And the water works continued, Freddy just could not believe that it was possible for Joe Sakic to cry but there it was. Sniffling, sobbing, crying and just plain silly, and Fred just sighed and sauntered by the sniveling mess of humanity now occupying the kitchen and he sat at one corner of the table, grabbing another warm roll and biting into it.

“It’s okay if you wanna cry,” Alex Tanguay said to Fred in a calm voice. Fred looked at him, damn he’d forgotten about Alex. “I understand.”

“What?” Fred replied. “Yeah right.” He leaned over and said in a low voice, “Want in on a secret?”

“Sure?” Alex whispered back.

“I’m not as nuts as the rest of these loonies, I never have been.”

And Alex Tanguay smiled. “I know that.”

Fred had never felt better to hear those words spoken.