Wheeling Park Ch. 13

We stared one another down for a short moment. In that moment, something passed between us. He was taking the gloves off and this was to be his stand. He would first dispense with me and then go on to Jen. It became clear that, in the best interests of Olivia, Mom, Jen and me, I had to put a final and permanent stop to him right then and there, no matter how ugly it got. I found the pride in his expression and prepared to speak to it.

In the silence, the sound of my fork piercing a knot of turkey gristle and cartiledge, pinning it to the plate before popping it in my mouth was almost deafening. I thoughtfully ground the unappetizing morsel in my jaws, pausing to ask, "Why are you here?"

"I came to spend Christmas with my children. I didn't think I'd be attacked by one of them."

I pointed my fork at him, my elbow still on the table and said, "That's a very honourable motive. Hey, do you still do the golf thing with Alvery?"

"What?"

"The asshole Frenchman next door. Remember him?"

" ... Yeah, we still golf sometimes," he said, clearly afraid to get caught in a lie and, in so doing, telling me he had something to lie about where my assumption was concerned. "What about it?"

"Just wondered. Actually, I always wondered that ever since you divorced Mom. Just one of those things, you know? So, yeah,... You wanted to come and spend some time with the kids. I guess anybody'd be curious."

"What do you mean, 'curious'? You got a point?"

"Not yet," I said, 'involuntarily' glancing at Leslie.

His eyes shifted, the muscles in his neck tensed the smallest bit while I sat there holding his eyes.

"Run out of things to mouth off about, champ?"

"Why'd you bring her here?"

"Leslie is my wife, that's why," he said defensively. "Why shouldn't I?"

"Let's just stop and think about that question for a minute, Dad. Let me just stop this whole thing so you can catch up, okay? Try to think about what you just said and tell me why it makes you sound like such a dumb fuck. Can you handle that, or do I have to explain that to you?"

"You watch yourself, champ," he threatened, his face and tone becoming very serious.

"Here's how I see things, daddyo: You're off on your whirlwind tour of life with your younger, faster wife, then one day at the golf course, you get word that something interesting is going on at the ol' homestead. Suddenly, being the properly motivated and caring individual we all know you to be, you remembered that you had a couple of kids by that woman, who is reportedly not so boring anymore. And you get curious, so what do you do? You wait for the perfect opportunity to present yourself with your little successes, trying to prove to yourself and us that it was worth it, leaving Mom because you found her boring. Yes, I know all about that, by the way. Mind you, you were hoping to find that your old buddy, Alvery was wrong because, if he was right, that would mean Mom was never boring. That would mean that you just weren't a big enough man to deal with her and too big a fool to even know it. And look. A woman did it in your place. I'm sure that hurts a lot, the thought that this woman is a bigger and better man than you are."

"I'm warning you, champ. I'm still your father," he grated.

"Yeah, it's a sharp point you were asking for, eh? No worries, it'll only hurt a little longer. So, yeah, here you are. You've got your new wife and all this proof that you're really not a fool, shoving yourself and your wife and your baby, European vacation and your cutesy little sing-alongs down our throats so you can feel like a man," I established, lighting a cigarette while I watched him silently rage, having already used anything he had on me.

"Yeah, months after you made it pretty clear to both Jen and me that you no longer give a shit, you come back. We finally get happiness and stability in the house after you fucked off on us and you come back to toxify it with your phony motivations, your pathetic little inferiorities and you wonder why Jen is upset. You're so fuckin' stupid, man."

"You are so full of shit!" he charged, red faced with rage.

"We both know I'm not. If you're big enough to honestly examine yourself, you'll find that I'm right spot on. And now here you are, starting all over again with a new wife and now a new kid, too. How long will it be before you run out on her? Before she starts making you feel your age? Fuckin' child. You were happy with your daddy's money because you never grew up enough to see the value of your own."

I wonder how many people reading this would have foreseen the punch in the face he gave me then. I honestly didn't. No, I never would have thought he would ever have done that, and I really do have to give him credit on his hand speed.

I almost fell backwards out of my chair, barely staggering to my feet and regaining my balance. Other than the initial shock, it really didn't hurt that much, or maybe that was just the rye.

"You rat bastard!" Olivia snarled, shooting up from her chair.

It wasn't necessary, though.

"Oh. I seem to have struck a nerve there, eh daddyo?" I asked, looking down at him and feeling the impact site on my cheekbone while Olivia froze, just as she should. "How many times did you fuck her behind Mom's back before you ran out on us?"

He yelled and lunged out of his chair, reaching forward across the table. I grabbed his wrist out of the air while coming around with a 'Bad Barbie Special' to his nose, breaking it and splashing blood over his placement at the table. I don't know why I kept punching him after that. It felt good, I guess. Stress relieving? Anyway, I just stood, holding him there by his wrist and beating him until Olivia grabbed me in a sleeper hold from behind and bodily wrenched me away from him.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!" Leslie screamed, trying to distance herself from the mayhem as Dad's semi-conscious bulk collapsed on the top of the table, sliding off to thump on the floor.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!"

"Jarid, stop it!" Olivia yelled in my ear.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!"

"I think Dad's out cold!" Jen reported, looking in astonishment under the table.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!"

"Glnmwus!" dad cried in a strange voice as he began to come back out of it.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!"

"Would you shut the fuck uuup!?" Mom shouted in Leslies face, reducing her to tears, but at least they were more or less quiet tears.

"Jarid, calm down, or I'll put you right out!" Olivia warned, increasing pressure as I struggled to get my hands on Dad.

"You,... Fuuuuck! You little fuuuck! Come here, I'm gonna break your god damned back you son of a-"

"Get out!!" Mom raged, stepping in front of Dad and preventing him from coming around the table at me as Olivia forcibly dragged me away, calling Jen to come along. "Get out of my house!! How dare you hit him, you,... FUCKTARD!!"

"Get the door!" Olivia ordered Jen, who flitted wide-eyed around us while she dragged me to the lower level, spare bedroom. Jen got the door opened while Dad shouted something about assault charges and more psychiatric examinations.

I was forced through the door and down on the bed.

"You've done your job! If you leave this room before I come back, I'll do something to you that you'll never forget!" she promised, her face hovering above mine and the end if her index finger pointing directly into the end of my nose. "Jen, make sure he stays here until he's calmed down enough for his own good, okay?"

Jen threw herself on top of me in reply, pinning me to the bed and stopping the rest of my struggles immediately.

Obviously, this was good enough for Olivia, who rushed out of the room to aid Mom in shouting Dad down, now joined by Leslie who was demanding to know what was wrong with Moms kid, (that being me) prompting Mom to call her a pathetic little twat and to tell her to mind her own god damned business.

At the moment, though, I had a more pressing concern, if you'll excuse the pun.

"Why?" she asked, her dark hair falling in my face.

Her lower lip trembled and tears rose to her eyes. She blinked a couple times and they fell on my cheeks with all the weight of my betrayal.

"Why did you,... do that? Why did you leave? You weren't supposed to do that," she said, as if I obviously couldn't have know better at the time.

"I said get out, you fuck!"

"I'm filing a law suit against that psychotic little son of a bitch in the-

"You do what Trudy tells you and get out, or I'm calling the cops and having you charged with assault! You threw the first punch and-"

"Jen, I never wanted to hurt you. I just couldn't,..."

"You could have come to me!" she whined heartbreakingly as more tears washed out of squinted eyes. "Didn't you know I love you!? We all do!"

"Kevin, pleeeease, let's just go! Junior will be stressed!!"

"Look at what he did to my face!!"

"Never go again, Jarid! Don't ever leave m-me like that again! You're not allowed!" she cried in that small voice of hers before completely breaking down into helpless sobs, holding me tight.

And I just couldn't stand up to that.

"One last time, little man, you take your fuckin' fun-time poodle and get the hell outta Trudy's house, or I'm calling the cops and charging you with assault and taking out a restraining or-!"

"I'M PAYING FOR THIS HOUSE YOU STUPID DYKE BIIIIITH!!"

"Well waddya want, a fuckin medal, ya twat? Huh? JUST GET THE FUCK OOOOOOUUT!!"

I held Jen as tight as she held me. And I cried too.

~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~

Two years later, 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. I'm sitting in the stands with Mom on my left and Olivia on my right with most of the people we know from the Park in the stands surrounding us as we sipped our beer and watched the beginning of the first game of the finals between Canada and Team USA. The anthems had been sung and the hoopla dispensed with as I divided my attention between the huge screen and the ice below.

We cheered as a young woman in a Team Canada Jersey glided up for the faceoff. A long, blonde pony tail hung down her back from under her helmet and the cameras zoomed to show the face of the player who shared my last name.

She stopped abruptly in front of the American woman, stooping over and readying herself while eyeing her opponent. The cameras were zoomed in so well that they actually picked up the stud in her pierced brow, a yellow smiley face. Presently, her lips twisted into a cruel smirk as she said something. Just before the puck could be dropped, the American player straightened abruptly, saying something back with an affronted expression. Jen suddenly shoved her backwards. Hard.

Her legs kicked out rapidly, arms pinwheeling as she tried to keep her balance, but fell heavily on her back anyway. The whistle blasted and the referees came streaming in to break up the fight that was about to start before the game could even begin while the entire Canadian section stood and roared, especially us. The American section booed and hissed as Jen skated a little half circle, her stick gliding on the ice in front of her while she grinned wickedly at the angered, opposing players.

Bad Barbie was back and so was I. I'd been ever since that Christmas Eve when I got rid of Dad and I never allowed myself to look back again.

I never had a chance. Did I? I stayed around to watch that first time with Olivia and I got hung up. From there on, the only direction open to me was down and nothing I could have done, short of leaving, would have helped anything.

Yeah, I could've left the park after watching Mom and Jen enjoy themselves that first time in our lot, but how realistic was that? I didn't even know where I was, I'd slept half the way there, and then there were the locals in addition to the fact that the Honda wasn't legal,... And anyway, I did cut and run when I got the chance, but look how long it lasted.

So, I try not to think of my life with Jen as guarding my own mistake and, most times, I never do because I do love her deeply and forever. And I just can't leave her again, no matter what I feel. In short, I put it out of my mind in favour of counting my blessings and, I gotta say, Jen is one hell of a blessing.

Because when we're together, neither one of us could ever deny that we're twins and this is just the way that things are with us.

End