Re: Alvin Ever After: Alvin in the Fourth
“Yes it has.” Mom agreed, then disagreed, “And you’ve always been a bad liar.”
“Would you please come in? Can I get you anything? As I remember you were partial to Cola with lots of limes.”
“Thank you, but no.” Mom said as she placed a hand on my shoulder.
“Mom, before you start yelling at me. I want to tell you I am sorry for making you worry and for running away from home to come here to compete.”
“What are you talking about?” Mom asked, sounding stern, “I told you to go compete.”
I stood before here stunned into silence.
“Granted I expect you to get your grandfather or grandmother to bring you but…” She didn’t finish her thought.
“You’re not mad?” I asked.
She leaned down and placed her face inches from mine, “Look at my face! Do I look mad?” and before I could answer she said, “I am just glad that you are safe.”
I threw myself into my mother’s arms and hugged her as I began to softly cry. I then pulled my head away from her as I said, “Mom, I know that John wasn’t my real dad and that Gil is….”
“Oh dear lord!” Gil groaned and I turned to see he was still standing there, but was now rubbing his face with both hands.
“Oh…” she said with almost a resounding dread, “Oh no Alvin!”
She squatted down so that she was right in front of me and holding me by the hips, she began to say, “Alvin…” but she stopped and looked up to Gil.
“Donato I am so very sorry for letting you believe all these years that…” she again stopped speaking too soon but this time it was because she was trying to keep hold of her emotions.
I glanced back to Gil who appeared just as puzzled as I felt.
She began to tear up as she said to me, “I was pregnant with Donato’s child.” Again, she looked up to him, “But I had a miscarriage due all the alcohol from the Fourth of July beach party.”
“Miscarriage?” Gil asked and this time when I looked to him his eyes had got all watery.
“You remember that party, don’t you Donato?” Mom asked.
“All I remember is sobering up two days later and learning I’d joined the Navy.” He groaned at the memory and rubbed the back of his neck as though trying to massage a bad memory away.
“And both John and I sobered up to learn that we had run off and got married. That same day is when I found out I had a miscarriage.”
“You remember how your father reacted to John and my marriage?” Mom said to Gil, “If we’d got a divorce… oh I hate to think what he would have done.”
Gil was nodding his head in agreement.
“Not long after, I became pregnant with you.” she told me while squeezing my hips.
“Really?” I asked, still weeping but completely numb.
She nodded.
“Why?” Gil asked.
I didn’t know what he was asking ‘Why’ for, but mom did.
“Oh Donato!” Mom sighed breathily, “You shipped out and when I saw you again you were with… well you know.”
I got the idea that there was more to it but I was so baffled by all this that I didn’t have the mental ability to chase after that one at the time. Later I would learn that Gil was in a gay relationship with some older, Hollywood movie star who he’d met overseas. Apparently, this Hollywood star was rather famous and very much in the closet; so his and Gil’s relationship had to be kept very private.
Gil blushed and turned away as he grunted, “I need a drink!” and left the room.
“Alvin sweetie! I am so sorry! If I had any idea that you might meet Donato and think he was your father, I would have told you all this before.”
“John really is…” my voice broke and my tears doubled in intensity at realizing I’d said ‘is’ instead of ‘was’ like he was still alive. I managed to croak out, “…my dad?”
She nodded, “Yes he was.”
Gil returned with a new glass, this time a very tall slender one, filled nearly to the rim with something clear. I was 100% sure, it was not water.
Seeing him I suddenly remembered something he’d said to me and turning back to mom I asked, “Was I named after a Chipmunk?”
Mom scowled at Gil who shrugged, threw up his one free hand, and exclaimed with bravado, “He had to find out sooner or later!”
Speaking to me but looking at Gil she said, “You most certainly were not named after a chipmunk!”
“Yeah, lie to the little angel some more!” Gil said with a small belch, which I believe was an attempt to disguise the words. I’m not sure if Mom heard him or not.
I began to softly cry again; not about the whole chipmunk thing, but about John… I mean my dad, and feeling the loss of him all over again.
“I miss him so much!” I whimpered.
“Oh sweetie, I do too! But he’s not really gone. He’s right here.” She touched her heart and then mine, “And he’s right here.”
And with that I began I began to tell mom about having heard John while I had been competing this morning and how he’d saved me. When I had started, Gil looked upon what I was sharing with disbelief and uninterested. However, when I had finished he was completely engrossed and in awe of it.
Mom on the other hand looked upset.
“What?” I asked.
“What on earth were you thinking? Why would you…” she stopped and looked at me, “Do you think because I tried to take the easy way out, that it is okay for you? Because I am here to tell you that what I did was…”
I was shaking my head.
“It wasn’t like that mom!” I said then looked to Gil as if he might understand.
To my, and I think Mom’s surprise, Gil had got it and explained it perfect.
“If you can’t surf, then what’s the use in living huh?” he said but it wasn’t what he said but more how he said it.
Mom put a hand to her mouth as she began to cry again.
“My brother used to say that at least once a week when we were kids!” Gil explained.
I don’t think I have ever heard John say it and looked to Mom for confirmation of this. Her tears and smile were all the validation I needed.
She then asked, “Was this during the second heat?”