“Nothing,” Megan replied. She was going to hang on for the time being. Ron finally got the idea that her mood was not likely to suddenly change and he would definitely not be getting any that night. Because she refused to fill him in on her problems, there was little he could do to help. After he took her home, he wished her a speedy recovery from her malaise and told her he would call her soon. The “yeah” that Megan gave in response was considerably less than emphatic, but she was too drained to care. She did not kiss him goodnight nor did she notice the disappointment in his eyes.
Megan ignored her parents’ bothersome inquiries and dragged herself up to her room. Before collapsing into bed, she wrote two words in her journal. Those two words were: I QUIT.
Thankfully, she did not have work the next morning and was able to enjoy some well-earned slumber. Come the next day, her body felt better (the pain in her arm had all but vanished) but her mind was still askew. She poured herself a glass of juice and took a passing glance at the newspaper. There had been another convenience-store robbery in the area and no one had been apprehended.
“Poor Natalie,” Megan thought. “She must be freaking out.”
Megan commenced her usual routine. She showered, diapered and dressed. As she donned her diaper for the day, she noted that her stock was running low again. Each time she came close to running out, either she or Nancy would simply buy more. There was no thought as to which package would be the last package (or whether there would be a last package at all), it was simply accepted as a part of her. With a return to school not far in the distance, the question of whether to stay diapered suddenly seemed like a matter of much importance. Nonetheless, Megan was reluctant to contemplate it as it only added to her distress.
In need of a distraction, Megan reached for her phone. She thought of chatting with Sabrina and then was struck by the realization that they’d have relatively little to say. After all, Megan had been keeping her in the dark (perhaps wrongly) about a big chunk of her life and to explain now would be long and difficult. Instead, she placed a call to Kylie, but was quite upset to discover that the girl had plenty of troubles of her own. They commiserated for the better part of an hour and shared thoughts on Ron, Deanna, Megan’s desire to be babied and Kylie’s myriad troubles as well.
Shortly after the call ended, Megan heard the sound of footsteps coming up the walk. Carrie was home, freshly returned from whatever endeavor her ever-present curiosity had afforded her (in this instance, it was something rather tame: she had walked to a friend’s house to return a book and a movie she had borrowed). Megan had not even noted her absence. Deanna’s threat, however, loomed large in the nether regions of her mind.
“Hey,” Carrie greeted.
“Hi,” replied Megan. “Where’s Steve?”
Carrie shrugged. “We started walking together, because he’s about the same age as Naomi’s brother and I thought they might want to hang out. But then we get half way there and he remembers who Naomi’s brother is all of the sudden and starts cursing him out. Turns out they have some past history or something. Anyway, he totally blew me off and started walking on his own, so I figured I’d just see him later and meet him back here.”
Megan sighed. Their little brother, though not really so little anymore, was still quite a handful.
“Did you happen to notice anyone following you?”
“Following me?” Carrie echoed. “No, why?”
“Deanna is still pissed off at me. If you see her or any of her sisters around, run.”
“Jeez, Meg, are they stalking you?”
Megan shrugged. “I don’t think so. At least not yet.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know yet. Look, just be careful, OK? And pass the message on to Steve when he gets in.”
Carrie nodded. “Hey. I think I figured out what I want to be.”
“Oh yeah?” Megan asked. She had had this conversation with her sister on roughly a hundred previous occasions and the answer never stayed the same.”
“A paleobotanist!” Carrie declared excitedly.
Megan burst out into laughter. She could just see Carrie in a room with dozens of soil samples.
“You’ve been watching Jurassic Park, haven’t you?”
“It was on TV the other day,” she confessed. “And that’s not the only reason I want to be a paleobotanist, by the way.”
“Then what is?”
“Well, it’s…. no. I guess its…. no, not that either. You know what, get back to me.”
Megan continued to laugh. Perhaps due to the sourness of her mood the day before, she felt she hadn’t heard anything that funny in ages.
Megan was very surprised to discover that Jed owned (or at least lived in) a house. He was new to the area and lived alone. If she were in his place, she’d have opted for an apartment.
“I like having the space,” he explained. “Got a tree on the property, too.”
“I noticed,” Megan replied. There was nothing overly threatening about his abode, but she still felt uneasy being there. Necessity, however, and not convenience drove her to pay him a midday visit.
“So,” Jed said. “You want to learn self-defense. I’m guessing this is because of your nutty friend and not a desire to be a more complete person?”
“You got it.”
He whistled. “Are you sure this is the best way to go? I’ll teach you if you want, but that doesn’t mean it’ll solve anything.”
“I’m not sure,” Megan explained. “But I have a hunch. She seems to want to fight me an awful lot. The knife, the threats…. they are only there because she doesn’t think I’ll fight back. And…well…. she’s right! But I think if I’m able to beat her, you know, really kick her butt…. that just might be enough. At least I hope it’ll be enough.”
Jed stroked his chin in contemplation. “Hmm. You might have a point there.”
“The thing is,” Megan continued. “I’m scared. I really, really, really don’t want to fight. And I don’t know how. It’s got nothing to do with me being a girl, it’s just the type of person I am. I’ve got no problem telling people to fuck off and sometimes worse, I just can’t fight. My friend Kylie can probably beat the crap out of people, even guys, but…”
“I get the idea. You don’t have to lay the gender thing on me either. There were women in the service. Now…I can show you what to do, but I can’t make you actually do it when the time comes. That’s something you’re going to have to work on yourself. Do you understand?”
Megan nodded.
“OK. I ain’t a martial arts expert, but I can show you enough to get by. Here goes…”
An hour and a half later, Megan lay on the floor. She was limp and sore, but presumably better prepared to defend herself. Jed had shown her some moves, both offensive and defensive, and she had been given the opportunity to try them on him. At first, she couldn’t bring herself to use any force at all. When she finally could, she found that it seemed to have no impact on him whatsoever. She had to keep reminding herself that he was a Marine and a particularly resilient (dead wife and child) Marine at that.
He stood over her with a semi-satisfied smile.
“Not bad,” he told her. “I think you got the hang of it. Now get up.”
“Please, no more,” she whined.
“You must really think I’m a bastard,” he said, shaking his head. “It’s a reward, you silly girl.”
“Reward?” Megan asked, slowly pulling herself to her feet. Jed helped her the rest of the way up and escorted her into his kitchen. Inside, she cast her eyes on what looked to be an oversized high chair. She was struck with disbelief.
“Something I was able to weld together,” he explained. “It didn’t take me long to make. Now have a seat.”
Too weary to protest, Megan sat down. Jed slid the tray in place and tied a bib around her neck. She couldn’t believe what was happening to her.
“Most parents will tell you that feeding a baby is hard,” he said, reaching into the freezer. “That they don’t want to eat nothing and they always make a mess. I might not have been around much to do it, but I always had fun with my little girl. You remember the airplane?”
Megan nodded. What child didn’t?
“I guess I have an advantage, seeing as how I knew some folks who flew ’em.”
He produced a pint of ice cream. Oh no, Megan thought. Ice cream had thus far marked her downfall.
“Um…Jed,” she began.
“Yes?”
“Never mind.” She couldn’t bring herself to tell him to stop.
He fetched a spoon and commenced feeding her, replete with airplane sound effects. Once or twice he missed and a dab of ice cream wound up on Megan’s chin. She didn’t mind. In fact, she thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing. When they were finished, he helped her out of the high chair and wiped her chin.
“Don’t make the mistake of thinking this’ll be a regular thing,” he cautioned her.
“Yeah,” she replied with the slightest hint of disappointment. “I know.”
“So,” he concluded. “You now have enough to give this Deanna bitch her comeuppance, if it comes to that. Needless to say, don’t start going around trying to kick EVERYONE’s ass.”
Megan rolled her eyes. “Well…obviously.”
“All I ask is that you keep this a secret,” he told her. “I don’t want any problems.”
“Sure,” she replied. “Thanks.”
“No problem, little one,” he said, giving her diaper an authoritative pat.
As she headed for home, Megan felt as if she was about to burst, both figuratively and literally. Despite her soreness, she felt rejuvenated, invigorated and ready to take on the world. The ice cream had also made her quite full and she was in danger of making a mess in her diaper unless she found a toilet.
Luck was with her and she made it home just in time. She could hear the sounds of Stephen’s Game Cube and began to wonder if Carrie had passed along the message. Just as she was about to ask him, the phone rang.
“Hello,” she said. The voice on the other end sounded tentative.
“Hello?”
“Yes?”
“This is Megan, is it not?”
“Yeah…Ricard?”
“Thank God. I was afraid I it would be your sister.”
“What do you want?” Megan asked. She was only a matter of seconds into the conversation and he had already made her angry.
He sniffled loudly and her anger was replaced by concern.
“There…. has been an accident,” he explained. “My dear, sweet Jessie…”
“Ohmygod!” Megan exclaimed. “Is Jess OK?”
Another sniffle followed. “She is in the hospital. Stable, but…. how should I put it…a bit banged up.”
Megan fell silent with numbness.
“Please, please, please do not tell your parents!” Ricard insisted. “The last thing, and I mean no offense, but the last thing she needs is their criticism.”
Before she could think to say anything further, he hung up. Megan sat down. It was all too much for her to handle. Jess might have been an outcast and the black sheep of the family, but she was still family. She was her sister. There were plenty of memories from before she moved out. And now she was in the hospital. Ricard (whom, at this point, she actually found herself feeling SORRY for), had asked her not to tell her parents. She could understand why.
At first, Megan actually gave some thought to heeding his request. After all, the injuries, whatever they were, were not life-threatening. And Nancy and Jess could hardly stand to be in the same room as one another. Then again, they were her PARENTS (their parents) for chrissakes! How could she not tell them? In the end, Megan opted to:
A.)Tell them. They absolutely had a right to know.
B.)Not tell them. She would go see Jess herself, find out what happened and leave it up to her whether anything further was mentioned.