[RE: Vanessa's response to the Mick Foley question. "Could it be any worse of a decision then letting adolescent boys wander around in a foreign country with Race's only daughter (he knows about)?"]
Disclaimer: Jonny Quest, Jessie Bannon, Hadji Singh, Dr. Quest and Race Bannon belong to Hanna Barbara. The others are mine. Bla bla bla.
A Splintered Way of Saying
Chapter 1: Day 1
December 22
The first story I heard about how it happened was from Ryan's aunt, Sherise, as she drove us from the airport to the family cabin.
Ryan only had to ask how everyone was doing and she went off.
"Well," she said. "Jonny's already made a spectacular mess of Christmas this year. And of the rest of his life, for that matter."
Sherise smoked while she drove and switched lanes sporadically, without warning. Ryan and I sat in the backseat together, his hand on my knee. I closed my eyes and gripped his leg every time she whipped around a turn, without so much as slowing down or using her blinker, or when she slammed through a red light.
He raised a brow at her.
"Our Jonny," she said, her voice raising. "Got Jessie -Jessie Bannon - pregnant."
"I'm sorry – what?" Ryan said, jerking his head back.
"Yeah," she said and took a drag.
"How old is he, again?"
"Sixteen."
"Oh... wow. Are they really sixteen? Man," he shook his head. "Wasn't Jonny twelve just like... last week, or something?"
"When was the last time you saw him?"
"A long time ago, apparently."
She shook her head. "Only Jonny would be stupid enough to get his own bodyguard's daughter pregnant."
I turned to Ryan. "His bodyguard," I mouthed - I had a feeling I shouldn't interrupt Sherise. "Your cousin has a bodyguard?"
He nodded, chewing on his nail. He looked at Sherise. "Well," he said, sniffing. "What do you expect? You have two teenaged boys living with a teenage girl who isn't their sister, or otherwise related, and suddenly you're shocked when you find out she's pregnant? Oops. Can't figure how that one happened."
Sherise gave him an irritated look in the rearview mirror. "Yeah, but Jonny was the one stupid enough to – take the bait." She waved a hand and put the cigarette to her lips again. "But, I wouldn't be surprised," she said, flicking her cigarette. "If she actually meant for it to happen. I wouldn't be surprised if she was only after a way to get at his money."
"And he was only after-" Ryan said, raising his brows.
She glared at him in the mirror.
He smiled and ran his hand along my thigh.
It was the first time a boy had taken me home to meet his family for Christmas. I'd been nervous for over a month that I would make a horrible impression on them somehow. My dark secret: I was just glad someone had screwed up big time before I had the chance to.
"Sixteen years old and they're going to be stuck with each other for the rest of their lives. Did you know she already ran off the chef? That's why your mother couldn't pick you up at the airport. She's out interviewing for a new chef. Three days before Christmas. How are we supposed to find somebody now?"
"The chef?" I mouthed to Ryan.
"My grandma's chef," he mouthed back.
"She had some sort of hissy fit the first day she got here," Sherise said. "They were in the kitchen and she started yelling and throwing things at him, next thing you know, he's walking out the door." She took a drag. "Understandably. So, now we'll be dealing with that sort of thing for the next 18 years."
"Your grandma has a chef?" I mouthed.
Ryan nodded.
"And just who is going to take care of that baby, huh?" Sherise said. "Who's been taking care of them? What example do they have, even?"
Ryan only bit his lip.
It was only mid-afternoon by the time we arrived, but already, the sun was properly hidden by a grove of evergreens to the west. Only fragments of light broke in through enormous bay windows situated side-by-side around every wall. The cabin where Ryan's family gathered every Christmas was really more of an estate. The entryway reminded me of a hotel lobby, with tunnel-ways leading into every direction of the downstairs and a grand staircase that split onto two separate wings of the second and third floors.
A young brunette, maybe ten or eleven, bounced into the room as we came in clanging and shuffling about with our bags.
"Heyyy," she said, running to Ryan, giving him a hug and a playful punch. "What took you so long?"
"Me? I'm early. By the looks of things, I'm the first one here. Where is everybody?"
"They're all out skiing. Are you Katia?" She smiled at me, head cocked to the side.
Ryan put his hand to my back. "I'm sorry. Katia, this is Michelle. Michelle, Katia."
Sherise heaved our bags to Michelle. "Show them to their room, will you? I think it's off that way." She motioned upwards, to the right.
Michelle shouldered Ryan's camera bag and my purse and we carried the luggage. Sherise took a cooler and disappeared down a hallway.
Michelle blabbered the whole way up the wide, marble steps. About boys. About the school play. About her awful bumble bee costume. All the way up the stairs, down the hall and to our room. When we got to the room, she went on about how Jonny and Michael were going to take her sledding soon, and did we want to go.
Ryan pushed the door open and heaved our suitcase inside. The room was simple enough, the size of a master suite, but simple, with a bed, two night tables a chair in the corner, a closet, window and bathroom open to the room with no door. I tossed my backpack onto the bed.
Michelle, hands behind her back, sidled into the room and plopped down on the bed beside my bag. She chewed on her cheek a minute while Ryan inspected the closet for hangers.
"Did you hear?" Michelle said. "I'm going to have a baby cousin."
"Something like that," Ryan said.
There were footsteps down the hall and then Sherise was in the doorway. "Michelle, did you leave that sandwich mess out in the kitchen?"
Michelle rolled her eyes and hopped off the bed.
"Clean up after yourself," Sherise said as Michelle passed her.
"Yeah, yeah."
Sherise turned to Ryan. "I just talked to Michael. He said he's going to Gateway with Jonny, Jessie and Hadji for dinner. If you guys wanna go with, he'll be here is about an hour to pick you up. Otherwise, the rest of us are going to Lugano."
Ryan smiled politely. "We'll probably go with Michael," he said.
"...And Jonny and Jessie."
"Yeah."
She nodded, pursed her lips and left the room.
"Do you think Sherise even notices that I'm here?" I said.
Ryan laughed. "Not sure. She's so worked up over this pregnancy thing, I'm not sure she notices anything else."
"It is a little scandalous."
He smiled. "Is it now? How old do you think she was when Michael was born?"
"Which one is Michael?"
"Her older son."
"Sherise's?"
He nodded.
"How old is he?"
"Twenty," he said, knowing she didn't look nearly old enough to have a son that age. Then, catching my reaction, he said. "Yeah. Exactly."
I sat on the bed and kicked my shoes off. "What's Gateway?"
Ryan shrugged. "I dunno. But, I'd rather go out with Michael than Sherise any day." He put my backpack on the night stand and flopped on the bed.
I shrugged. Seemed reasonable enough to me. What I didn't tell him was that by morbid curiosity, I was kind of interested in meeting the renegades anyway.
-0-
Michael had a thin goatee, short reddish-brown hair, glasses and a cigarette, unlit, perched above his ear.
It was almost dark by the time he got to the cabin, changed and was ready to go - well over an hour later. We waited for him in the lobby.
The first thing he did when he came in, before noticing Ryan, was extend a hand towards me with an ear-to-ear grin. "You must be Katia," he said. "Ryan talks my ears off about you." He turned to Ryan. "She's pretty."
"She's mine."
Michael gave him a one-armed hug and winked at me. "Good to see ya, mate." He rubbed his hands together. "Now, let's blow this joint. I'm hungry."
"You'rehungry?" Ryan said as we followed him out the double front doors. "We've been waiting on you."
"Ryan, if you took as long as me, your hair could look this good, too."
"Yeah, yeah." Ryan waited until Michael's back was turned and messed his hair.
"Hey! Hey! None of that. Do not spoil the hair, man. Seriously. Not the hair."
There were almost a dozen cars parked on one side of the semi-circular driveway. When Michael opened the driver's door to one, Ryan took the seat right behind his. When I took the handle of the back-seat door on the passenger side, Michael slapped the hood.
"Wait. Wait. Wait," he said. "You can't leave me up here in the front by myself. Katia. Come on."
"Me?"
"You're the guest. You can't sit in the back. Come on. You see Ryan everyday. He brought you here to meet the family. Although, I can't account for his foolishness, we're a crazy lot." Ryan rolled his eyes and got in. I looked at Michael. "I won't bite," he said. "There's more leg room up here anyway. And seat warmers."
Michael had a red air-freshener dangling from the mirror, a hoola girl on his dash, a pack of cigarettes pinned over his sun visor and a pack stuffed between his seat and the middle console - and he drove. exactly. like. Sherise. I kept my eyes closed at least half of the trip and gripped the arm rest.
"Okay, so what's this Gateway place?" Ryan said.
"It's an outdoor mall downtown. There's half a gazillion places to eat there." He looked at me. "And shops," he said.
"So, do we know, exactly, where we'll be going then? It's going to be packed."
"Jonny, Hadji and Jessie went over there a little early, straight from skiing. Once they get there, they'll scoop it out and save a place somewhere."
"So..." Ryan said. "Is Jessie really-"
"Ryan, Ryan, Ryan. Come on. Don't even start. All anyone has been able to talk about the last couple of days is, 'Is Jessie really-'. Seriously, you've been in the car for what? Three minutes, you can't let fiveminutes pass without bringing it up?"
"It's interesting," Ryan said. He paused, then smiled, wickedly.
"Did she really run off the chef?"
"Ryan," I said.
"It's interesting."
"Here we go." After he switched lanes, Michael eyed Ryan in the mirror and pointed his cigarette at him. "He deserved to be run off." He took a drag. "And he was quitting anyway. She just gave him an earful before he left, is why everyone thinks she had something to do with it." He smiled, as if proud. Ryan gave me a look as if to say, 'I told you so.' "So, get this - we're in there, Jessie, your mom and me, and he comes in raving about how he's not going to be working for any terrorist and yadda yadda. And we're like - w-t-f, mate? Terrorist? And he started talking about yadda yadda and such and who and turns out... you know how Hadji wears that turban-"
"Yeah. Wait. He was worked up over that?"
"Yeah.So then he and Jessie start going at it. And he's all blablabla one day yaddayadda, bombs, mace, yadda yadda. And then she threw a glass at him."
"A glass?"
"I mean, in his general direction. She didn't intend to hit him or anything. There is a dent in the fridge now, though."
"Holy crap."
Michael winked at me, sideways. He held his thumb and index finger half an inch apart. "She's a might defensive sometimes."
"And hormonal, maybe? She really threw a glass at him?"
Michael giggled. "Things always get just a little more exciting once that crew arrives, huh?" He tossed his cigarette out the window and pulled the spare off his ear. He tucked it between his lips and reached for his lighter.
When the phone rang, Michael answered it. "Heyyy, how's it going?" he said. "Are you there, yet?" He set his lighter on the dash.
Ryan leaned forward. "You're doing way too many things while driving. Give me the phone."
Michael grinned at him in the mirror. "Where were you guys thinking of going, anyway?"
"Who is that? Is it Jonny? Give me the phone."
"What was that? I couldn't hear you. Ryan's yammering in my ear."
"Give me the phone. You're going to get us killed."
Michael looked at me. "What're you in the mood for?"
"Not dying on the way to dinner would be a nice start."
"You're visiting the wrong family." He looked at Ryan in the rearview again. "How about you?"
But Ryan snatched the phone from him. He put it to his ear. "Michael can't talk right now. He's trying to get us killed." He paused a minute, listening. "Oo. That sounds good."
Michael shrugged and lit his cigarette.
Ryan's hand was on the back of my chair. "You like sushi, right? You feel like sushi tonight?"
"I like sushi," Michael said.
Ryan waved a hand at him, "I'm not talking to you."
"I could do sushi," I said.
Ryan turned back to the phone. "Yeah. Sushi's good."
"Oo!" Michael said. "Do they wanna go to that Happy Sumo place?"
"Do you want to go to that Happy Sumo place?" He turned to Michael. "Sounds good." Then to the phone. "Okay. Okay," he gasped suddenly and his eyes narrowed. "Boy, I am still bigger and stronger than you." He paused. "Yeah? We'll find out. Yeah. See ya there." He hung up. "Okay, so they'll save us a table... if they can. Or feed us their scraps if we take too long, Jonny says. He also thinks he can take me."
"That kid ain't scrawny anymore, just so you know." Michael flicked his cigarette. "Look at this freeway," he said. "These idiot signs. This one says the two left lanes go that way... that one says the two right lanes go this way." He pointed to them and I could see what he was talking about. He took a drag and glanced at me sideways. "There's only three lanes."
-0-
The waitresses at Happy Sumo wore red chopsticks in their hair and short, black skirts, despite the snow and sub zero temperatures outside. The lights were dim, yellow and hung like fireflies on thin strings. Artsy close-up photos of bodies suspended in motion were pinned to every wall.
I noticed the turban first, then saw the three teens chatting at a table in the far corner. The boy with the turban was dark and taller than the other two. He sat on one end of the row. I guessed it was Jonny in the middle. He had a beanie on and a dark scratch on his cheek that I could see from the other side of the room. He looked more than a year or two younger than the other, even though I knew he was the same age as the girl. Her hair looked burgundy in the yellow glow. Michael headed in their direction without a word.
Jonny looked up first. He had the same careless, ear-to-ear smile that Michael did. "Hey, look who's here. Guess you'll get to eat after all."
Michael flipped a straw-wrapper at him. "I'ma skin you, boy." He sat down.
Jessie gave him a little shove. "You can't go anywhere without looking for trouble."
"This is Katia," Michael said abruptly, before anyone else could do introductions. He had a grand smile on. "Katia, this is Hadji," - Hadji sat directly across from him - "Jonny and Jessie. Hi, Jessie." He waved.
She rolled her eyes and gave me a very specific look, like 'boys are stupid' as I took a seat across from her.
Ryan sat across from Jonny. He nodded to Jonny and touched his own cheek in the same place as his scratch. "This from the spear fishing incident?"
Jonny blushed and looked away, hiding a sheepish smile. "I'd rather not talk about the spear fishing incident."
Jessie, Hadji and Michael laughed and Jessie bat at his hair.
"This place is jazzy," Ryan said.
Jonny nodded. "I'm not sure how I feel about the nearly naked sumo-wrestlers on the wall, though," he said, referring to the close-up pictures. Hadji looked up at them and scrunched his nose.
"It's art," Jessie said.
"Yeah, whatever."
Two waitresses stopped at the table, trays full of plates.
"We ordered, by the way," Jonny said.
"We got almost everything on the menu," Jessie said, as they started placing plates in the center of the table. "Just in case."
"In case of what?" Ryan said.
"We missed something."
The waitresses named each dish as they set them down. There were twelve total. They placed small plates and forks in front of each of us.
Both Jonny and Michael had trouble using their chopsticks and had to be taught by Jessie and Hadji, respectively. Ryan and I each had finished a roll by the time they were done.
"What is this supposed to be?" Jonny asked, holding up a green and red roll. His nose was scrunched a little.
"Dragon roll," Hadji said.
"Weren't you listening?" Jessie asked.
Hadji leaned in his chair, looking at her behind Jonny's back. "Is that a real question? Do you really not know."
"Hey, hey, hey," Jonny said. "I listen. Occasionally."
Jessie picked apart her roll and ate only the rice out of it.
Jonny glared at her plate. "I thought you liked sushi."
"Not lately," she said. She looked at him, then down at her belly, and shrugged.
He made a face and looked away.
Jessie looked at me. "So," she said. "How do you like Utah?"
"It's very... grey."
Both Jessie and Ryan laughed.
"Where are you from?"
"Florida."
"Wow. I guess Utah would be very grey to you, then."
"Wait," Jonny said. "But you live in Texas, right?" He looked at Ryan. "Am I losing my memory?"
"Yeah," I said. "We go to school in Texas."
Michael leaned over. "How old are you, Katia?"
"Eighteen."
"Huh." He sniffed. He suddenly looked pleased with himself. "So, we have two 16-year olds, two 18-year olds and two 20-year olds."
Jonny clucked his tongue. "And none of us old enough to drink."
Jessie threw her napkin at him. "Like you would. You're crazy enough. Don't need to add alcohol to the mix."
Michael winked at her. "Only when you're not looking."
"I'm always looking."
"She is,"Jonny said.
"Mm," Ryan said, as if he'd just remembered something. "Your dad told me you got a new fire bird for your birthday."
Jonny nodded. "It ran for all of three days before it croaked."
"What's the matter with it?" Michael asked.
"The heating coil's busted."
"What type of busted?"
Jessie rolled her eyes as the boys got into the workings of Jonny's car. She twirled the ice around in her cup with a straw, then blew bubbles in it.
"So, I heard that you graduated early," I said. "That should make things a lot easier."
She frowned. "I would have graduated early if we had a normal life. You can only spend so many weeks a year in grave danger before your school work starts to lag a little."
"Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..."
She shrugged. "Dr. Quest tutors me, though. For the most part. Probably will until I graduate."
Hadji came over and took the stool on the side of the table next to Jessie. The air smelled slightly nicer when he came around, faintly of vanilla cologne.
"That didn't take long," she said.
"Yes. I really don't know what they're talking about."
"Not into cars?" I asked.
"Not especially."
Jessie seemed distracted, looking off at something behind Hadji. I followed her eyes. A table away, a spider crept across the floor, behind one chair. It stopped occasionally if someone stepped too close. When I looked up again, Jessie flashed me a knowingly uneasy smile, as if she hadn't seen another girl in months, and looked away.
-0-
"Did you keep up?" Ryan asked me that night. He was taking out his contacts in the bathroom, already in nothing but his boxers.
"Keep up?"
"Could you keep track of who everyone is?"
"Sorta. I think. I didn't meet everybody, though.
"Well, most everyone," he said, shutting off the bathroom light. "Except my grandma, Benton... Race and... Paul." He had to think about each person who was missing.
"I still haven't seen your mom, either. Is she here yet?"
He climbed onto the bed. "I think so. She's probably hiding, though. Doesn't want you to whoop her at Scrabble again."
"Whatever."
"She lost face," he cried dramatically. "The torment. Total ruin."
I rolled my eyes. "Who're Race and Paul, again?"
He puckered out his lower lip in a pout before answering. "Race is Jessie's dad. Paul is Sherise's second husband, Michelle's dad."
"Where's Michael's dad?"
"Michigan. Michael's flying out day after Christmas to see him."
I didn't bring up the fact that Ryan's own father was still away on business and conspicuously absent. "You said that Jonny's mom died a while ago, right?"
"A long while ago," he said, tapping his own chest. "Do you know who everyone else is?"
"Michael is Sherise's son. Michelle is also Sherise's. Jonny is Benton's and Hadji is Benton's... except obviously not..."
"He's adopted."
"Oh. You didn't mention that part. And then there's Jessie, who isn't actually related, but is sort of Jonny's girlfriend... and, also, pregnant. Which is why she is here." Then I sat up and turned to him. "Speaking of Jessie," I said, slapping his side with my pillow. He jumped and looked at me, startled. "I made a complete idiot of myself in front of her because of you."
"Me?"
"Because you said she graduated early. So, I brought it up, you know, just trying to make conversation. But, it turns out that she hasn't graduated yet."
He flopped back down. "So she didn't graduate, yet. She's sixteen."
"She looked like I'd just stabbed her in the gut when I said it. Like she was still kinda sore about it and then I had to go and bring it up again. I think it was a big deal to her."
He turned over, pulling the blanket up to his shoulder. "Maybe it was. But still. She's sixteen. She has time."
"I still feel like an ass because of it."
"At least you didn't run off the chef."