Page 14 - Vol. VI #1

PTeople are Naturally Attracted to You
he grandfather died and the children were Spouse, Lily had said. Rhymes with souse, as in
called home, children who were not children drunk with joy. Also mouse, Alice had thought. anymore but adults with stomachs and mortgag- Mouse-louse-grouse. People are naturally attract- es. They had no parents, never did. The grandfa- ed to you—another of the grandfather’s corny ther had overseen childhood: parkas, homework, fortunes, always directed at Lily, the people- Easter eggs, summer camps, college trips. After
supper, he’d sit at the big, cracked dining room
table and deal gin rummy and then, after the
children lost a half-dozen games or so, he’d tell
their fortunes. Usually it was something corny like
a smile is your passport into the hearts of others,
or your high-minded principles spell success. Other
times, he’d be more specific.
“Joker,” he’d say to Roger. “You’ll be lackadaisical and an alley cat will eat your liver.” Lily got the Jack of hearts, which meant she’d discover a great fortune before she was thirty. To Alice, he’d slide the Queen of diamonds across the table and say, “You’ll marry well but you’ll never know it till it’s too late.” Like it was a done deal.
“I’ll talk to Spoon’s Funeral Home,” said Alice. “You remember Mr. Spoon, the one with the bolo ties.” But Lily was saying, trust me. This is what he wanted. Like she knew everything and Alice knew nothing. Talking to her gave Alice a hard little wad in her belly. She’d been dispatch man- ager at Spinlux Transport for the last decade. Sixty hour weeks, total negation of social life or after-school time with her daughter, Rachel. Then pfft, nothing. Three months of severance pay, two months ago. She’d given her life to that bloody place, and for what? Fool me once, the grandfa- ther used to say, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Well, she won’t be fooled again.
“What does that mean?” She demanded, flicking the card back at him. Even at twelve, she knew it was hooey. The deck of cards, use-softened, had sat on the sideboard every day of her life and when Lily called to tell her he was gone, the first thing Alice thought was how much she wanted them.
“Just come,” said Lily. “Don’t worry. Just be here.”
“No funeral,” said Lily. “That’s what he said.” “God,” said Alice. “A memorial, at least?” “With a Mexican buffet. Roger says he’ll pay.”
~
The grandfather had been in avocados. He didn’t grow them—he orchestrated their movement into mainstream. Because of him guacamole became
a ready-made product in the refrigerated aisle of every supermarket.
Everyone met at O’Charlie’s in downtown India- napolis. Lily arranged it—just us kids, she said in her text, and spouses. Lily and Kelly were already there, seated at one end of a heavy wooden slab. It was dim and clattery, with an abundance of bare surfaces from which noises reverberated, entangled, and echoed again. Alice had never met Kelly but was not surprised to see that she looked exactly like Lily’s infrequent Instagram posts— short, busty, windswept. No make-up, but ear- rings that jumped like mice when she moved her head. She stood to hug Alice, who wasn’t much
“I was there, you know,” Lily said. “When he went. Kelly and me.”
of a hugger, but knew how death in the family brought out the slop in everyone.
Kelly was Lily’s what—Girlfriend? Partner? 5
pleaser.
Alice hung up. There was a text from Derek, Spin- lux’s hipster HR guy. She needed to come in to- morrow and sign a form. And then they’d hit the road, she and Rachel.
TAnyA Perkins