"Hey honey."
"Hi mom."
"How're you doing? Your plane must be almost there by now."
"Yeah, almost." She avoided the first question. She doesn't care anyway.
"Is everything okay?"
"Yes, everything's FINE," she snapped. "There are no problems."
"That approach never works," her mother said wisely.
"That's funny. I thought you were supposed to be supportive," she spat bitterly. How am I going to forget about it if she calls me every half hour?! I have better things to do. She turned off the phone and stuffed it in her bag, fishing out a notepad, a pen, and a letter that she'd read way too many times.
Dear Liz:
I'm so glad you can take the job. I know the kids will love you. Let me tell you a little about them. Emma turned eight last July. She's the oldest sibling and she's looking forward to helping you out with the others. She loves swimming, playing dress-up, the Beatles, and banging on the piano, among lots of other things. Braeden is four- she'll be five in two months. Her likes include using telephones (watch out for that), watching Titanic (which is fine, just speed through the 'mature' scenes), and making cookies. Ivy is the youngest, at ten months old. She also likes cookies and swimming but her favorite thing to do is look at cats, or pictures of cats, which is almost the only word she knows.
I'm not going to be home when you get here. A friend I met in college named Sarah is bringing the girls over next Saturday in the afternoon, so you'll have a couple days to get moved in. If you need to reach anyone, there's a list of phone numbers on the refrigerator and all the neighbors are friendly. J
The guest room we fixed up for you is the same one you always used to stay in when you visited, but it's been so long you might not remember. It's on the second floor-- go up the stairs from the living room, turn left, and it's the third door on the right. You have your own bathroom, phone, and TV. I think you'll like the room, but if you want to change anything about it or move to another one, it's fine. All the girls' bedrooms are in the same hallway, but Emma and Braeden sometimes enjoy having sleepover parties in the playroom. You probably remember the swimming pool out back-- the key to the gate's on the key ring by the back door. I think I might have told you over the phone, but as a reminder, I'm on a business trip to NYC for a few days. I'll be returning in eight days at the least, but hopefully not more than ten or eleven. If you need any money for groceries, I left some cash under the flower vase on the piano. By the way, some of my coworkers, clients, etc. might be stopping by with demo tapes, papers, letters, or anything else. Probably no one you won't recognize, so you'll know who to let in or not.
While I'm here in New York, I have a lot of free time between meetings and boring business dinners and stuff. Could you write or call sometime so we could talk a little? It's been so long since I've seen you!! If you don't have time, it's okay. Well I better run. Good luck, though I'm sure you don't need it. By the way- I think your mom told me you go by Liz now, but I don't remember. Is it Liz? Still Lizza? Or something else?
Love, Alyssa
Alyssa, my aunt who always seemed like more of an older sister until she got a job with some record label, got lots of big important promotions, got married and had three kids, then got a divorce. I can't believe she's only eleven years older than I am. I've been thinking about writing to her about this for a while. I'd rather not call. What am I supposed to write? What does it matter, anyway...I'll write some stuff and if I don't like it, I don't have to send it.
Boring, boring, boring, boring. Plane rides, ugh. Six hours long, boring boring. Nerve-wracking. Sit still for six hours, just so you can worry about everything you have to do as soon as your flight arrives, that is if it doesn't crash on the way to Florida. The food sucks, the bathrooms are too small, there's no one to talk to, and people are looking at you strangely because they just know they've seen you somewhere before. At least there aren't any screamers present. On second thought, a screamer might have added a little excitement to the trip, maybe someone to chat with once they stopped screaming. And what is there to do again? Sit still, get bored, think about everything you have to do once you get there. Which would be ... 1) get car from Mom's... 2) get dogs from AJ... 3) get food for house, only thing there now is Pepsi and maybe some old breakfast cereal... 4) call Alyssa Hamilton about that nasty CD jacket on the new single, it sucks... 5) buy dog food... 6) ... ... There has to be more. That's more than enough to make six hours feel like about twenty, though. Boring, boring, boring...
"Yes, everything's FINE. There are no problems! ... That's funny. I thought you were supposed to be supportive." She sounds angry. That conversation definitely sounds unpleasant... Who's supposed to be supportive? And about what? Denying personal problems, there's some juicy gossip. Mind your own business. I can't, it's too boring. What's that person writing? Mind your own business. Looks interesting. More interesting than watching the ceiling or looking out the window. Hmm…
Hi Alyssa… Interesting coincidence…
I just read your letter for the hundredth time. Hope your business trip's going well. I'm on the plane now. Everything seems fine. I hate plane rides. Me too. I guess I'll write you instead of racking up huge long-distance phone bills calling from your house. It's been almost six years since I've seen you, but in my opinion I haven't changed that much. Yeah. Right. I still love reading, and writing stuff when I have time. Lately I've been thinking a lot about what made my mother decide I didn't need a middle name. I kind of resent being the only person I know with two names instead of three. Sometimes I make up middle names. Elizabeth ("Liz," "Lizza," "Lizzabeth," "Elizza," whatever)Hamilton just gets kind of dull, but I guess any name would. I hope I'm as well educated about the music industry as you think I am. The only famous musicians I think I'd recognize if they showed up at my door would be … umm.. I really don't know. Back at home, I was mostly into the local rock bands and that kind of stuff. Maybe I'll pick up a Teen magazine somewhere and read up. I can't wait to see the kids and you!! I think they're going to tell us to get ready for landing in about ten or fifteen minutes. There are a ton of papers and books and junk like that scattered around my seat so I'm going to collect those now… I'll mail this as soon as I get a chance. Talk later!
Love, Lizza Hamilton Interesting coincidence, very interesting…
The phone rang again. The girl sitting in front of him muttered something angry and pressed a button on the cell phone.
"Hey Mom. Everything's fine, really… Yes! Fine, absolutely perfect. … I'll walk… Okay, I'll get a taxi. Okay Mom. Okay… Yeah. Bye." She is never going to leave me alone! I'm going to stop answering the phone at least until I get to Alyssa's. And I'm definitely walking.