His conversation with Bruce satisfactorily concluded and Judy and Jaime not yet back, Oscar found himself loose ends - until he observed Katie ascending the ladder to the tree house. He hesitated - should he wait for Jaime? Jaime knew how to talk to kids. On the other hand, he had broached all manner of serious subjects to all manner of people for years. He had bellowed, cajoled, bullied, pleaded - surely he could handle a child. He thought of Jaime's approach - she was always respectful with kids and always tried to put herself in their position. He could do that, and possibly impress his wife at the same time - now there was motivation. He waited to see if Katie pulled the ladder up behind her, and when she didn't, he made his move. Fred the dog, who had been lying asleep at the door of Bruce's woodshop, followed him to the base of the tree and watched him make the climb.
"Katie, it's Uncle Oscar. I'm coming up." This time he bypassed the entrance way and clambered carefully along one of the main, sturdy branches to the side window, which he stepped through with relative ease. Katie was sitting cross legged, holding a slim novel - the kind specifically made for nine year olds - and not surprisingly she was looking abashed.
He sat opposite her, and unsure how to start, murmured a few complementary words about the tree house and how it must be nice in the summer time. At this time of year, it was too chilly to be truly pleasant. Fred could be heard whining below.
"I guess we solved your mystery." he said finally.
"Guess so." Katie replied, staring hard at her fingers, which she seemed to be trying to tie into knots. "If ...you hadn't have found it," she added, "I would have given it back to you."
"Well, Jaime and I being professionals," he said with exaggerated smugness, "I was confident I'd get it back. And I sure was happy to be able to shave again." He smiled at Katie, and she smiled back, relief washing over her face.
"But that was only part of the puzzle, wasn't it?"
She nodded and looked furtively at the binoculars still hanging by the window.
Oscar hesitated again...discussing infidelity with a nine year old girl was not something he'd ever done before. From below, Fred the dog expressed his dissatisfaction at being left out, letting out a high-pitched shrieking bark.
"I'm going to try a theory out on you, and you can tell me if I'm in the ballpark, okay?"
"Okay." Katie replied, unable to look him in the eye.
"The clipboard, the times logged...you were watching your Dad go over to the Markhams - by himself."
Katie's expression gave her away. She nodded slowly, her eyes now fixed to Oscar's.
"And maybe you could see Carol over there - by herself...and you...you figured that they were...uh..."
"Fooling around!" Katie finished the sentence in an intense whisper.
"So we got that right?"
Katie nodded fiercely.
"Did you ever see them…well…fooling around?"
"No." She shook her head just as fiercely.
"Did you know that your Mom and Dennis share a birthday?"
"Does that mean they're fooling around?" she asked, aghast.
Fred barked again.
"No...no..." This conversation could go awry so easily. "it means that Carol and your Dad are planning a surprise birthday for them. That's why he's been going over there."
"Oh." Katie frowned. Oscar could practically see her thought processes in her face as she tried to fit this new information into her paradigm - somebody had to be fooling around.
"Nobody is fooling around, Katie. Your Dad and Carol are thinking up a surprise for your Mom and Dennis because they want to do something nice for them."
Fred yelped and whined and barked again. "He always does this!" Katie said disgustedly. Shimmying briskly to the entrance, she poked her head down the hole and bellowed, "SHUT UP FRED! YOU STUPID OLD HOUND DOG!"
Fred whimpered. Oscar marveled at the power of those little lungs.
She sat upright again and looked at her uncle for a long time, blinking her light lashed eyes. "So nobody is going to get a divorce?"
"No." he said. It was a risky affirmation to make - you never knew the crazy things people might get up to, but he was fairly certain that in this scenario, he was right. "I have to tell you, kiddo, you're a little young to be thinking about this stuff. Your Mom and Dad love each other and that's all you need to know for now. You'll start understanding these things out as you go along in life, but right now you're trying to figure it out without enough information. I think you worry too much - just like your Mom and me."
Katie smiled hesitantly. "That's what Mom says too. She says I inherited it from Grandpa." Once again she began to twine her fingers tightly around each other, elbows sticking out, tips of her fingers white. Oscar told himself to refrain from lecturing to hammer the point home - the urge was overwhelming.
"They really do love each other?" she asked finally.
Tiring of his cross legged position, Oscar opted to stretch out, lying on his side, propping himself on his elbow. "I remember when your Mom and Dad first met. I thought maybe your Mom was never going to get married. She worked so hard getting her PhD that she didn't seem to have time for anything else." He would not have said this if Jaime were present, because he knew exactly the sort of smart comment she'd make - something about a pot calling a kettle black. "She wasn't very happy - at least I don't think she was. Then she met your Dad - and if you want to know the truth - I couldn't see how it was going to work. She was a stick in the mud, and as far as I could tell, he was going nowhere. I liked him - he was smart and fun and easy to be around, as I'm sure you know - but he didn't know what to do with himself. They were so different, but somehow - they clicked. He helped her loosen up, and she gave him the confidence he was missing - they did that for each other. People can do that Katie - they can help each other. In fact, I've always been a little jealous of what they have - until I found Jaime, that is."
Katie had stopped winding her fingers together and was listening closely.
"And then they had your brother," Oscar added, seeing he had an appreciative audience, "and they were crazy about him."
Katie wrinkled her nose.
"Then when you came along…"
"Sam says I was an accident."
Oscar pondered his answer. "I believe you were a surprise. The happiest surprise your parents ever got." he added quickly.
"Once Sam told me they didn't even want me - that they almost sent me to some other family, and that he wished they did."
"Well, that's an older sibling for you." Oscar chuckled. "I know all about that. Your own mother used to tell me I was adopted. In fact, she used to tell me that I was rescued from the old couple who lived down at the bottom of our street. I was scared of them. The old man was quite crippled and he hated kids, and the wife had a big goiter – do you know what a goiter is?"
Katie shook her head.
"It's a lump you get on your throat if you have an iodine deficiency. Anyway, my sister - your mother - used to grab my Adam's apple and tell me it was going to be just like Mrs. Humphries' one day, because I was her real son."
"That's not very nice." Katie said indignantly.
""No it's not. But it just seems funny now. Anyway, back to you. When you were born, your Dad called me, and it was late – about two in the morning. He was so happy he was laughing and crying at the same time and it took him five minutes to pull himself together to tell me that you were a healthy baby girl. And then he told me you had a tuft of bright red hair on the top of your head and that you were - bar none - the most beautiful baby he had ever seen."
"Really?"
"Yup." Having almost lost the subject entirely, Oscar decided it was time to wind round to the original point. "You have to understand, Katie, sometimes for grownups daily life is hard and boring and annoying, but that doesn't change how much people love each other. Being annoyed with someone is different than not loving them. I can imagine your parents being annoyed with each other, but I believe they love each other. And they love being a family. That means they want to stick together - all four of you." He looked her hard in the eyes. Had he made an impression? "Besides, I have to tell you, I can't really picture your Dad and Carol – uh …Mrs. Markham…" He couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence. "What do you think of that?"
"I like it." Katie said.
"Does that help?" Oscar asked.
"Uh huh." she replied. "I think so." Judging by her posture and her expression, Oscar figured he had made a difference. She looked as though a big weight had fallen from her and she was still adjusting to her own lightness.
When they descended the rope ladder together some minutes later, Oscar felt a strange elation. He was able to handle a nine year old girl - and it was a refreshing change from handling adults. So many of the adults he encountered every day were duplicitous, secretive, difficult. Katie was a fresh and transparent little soul, and he enjoyed the protectiveness he felt toward her.
"Peanut!" Bruce called from his workshop as they crossed the yard. "Could I get your help in here for a moment please?" Bruce and Oscar exchanged significant looks as Katie trotted to her father. Oscar kept walking to the house.
At Katie's age, he was two years away from the moment when his childhood tipped upside down and never righted itself again. He fervently hoped that Katie would experience no such upset in her little life.
Entering the warmth of the house he was struck by the particular smell of it - a subtle, indescribable smell - the smell of home. This notion in the front of his mind he entered the living room and looked around and felt a rush of love for all of it - the African masks, the furniture - even the heaps of paper. He and Judy were the keepers of each other's pasts, and knowing she was out there just living her life somehow made him more real.
It occurred to him then his childhood memories of Judy brought with them a strong feeling of comfort - possibly even happiness, and this was a surprising thought. Mostly he thought of those years as oppressive - sadness and anger thick in the air.
That wonderful day she brought home the illustrated book on the archeology of Egypt - they spent hours together poring over it, Oscar thrilled by the beautiful color illustrations. That night they decided they were going to be Egyptologists together (she would be the professor and he would be her assistant) - and even now he could feel the conflict he had felt then, pushing at his ribcage - the pleasure of escape shoved against his sense of responsibility. At eleven, he had already decided he was going to have to be just like Sam - to bring some light into the sad faces of his parents, to solve the mystery of his disappearance - but the magic of Egyptology pulled at him.
Judy was there for all the 'normal' moments - she made him dance with her, she helped him with his homework, they tried their first sip of alcohol together - vodka pilfered from the highest cabinet in the dining room. He teased her about boyfriends and her first appearance wearing lipstick. They fought like tigers and made up quickly - they needed each other.
Oscar stopped dead in the middle of the kitchen. Perhaps he owed her a bigger debt of gratitude than he had ever contemplated before.
The house was unusually quiet without the family there - the only sound was the ticking of his mother's wall clock - the old sound of home. He had spent so much time in silence - as the soul living creature in his own empty house. He had told himself it was his refuge, but that was a lie of course. Now, even if Jaime was napping or reading in another room, he could feel her presence - her warmth, her heartbeat – and what a beautiful thing that was. Now she was home to him.
More than once Jaime had said she wished she had a sibling - someone with whom she shared memories, someone who carried hints of her beloved parents in their eyes, or in the way they laughed. She knew she was lucky to have the Elgins and Steve - but it wasn't quite the same. He had felt sad for her – despite the fact his own sister could irritate him like no one else on earth.
As he poured himself yet another cup of coffee, Sam and Brenda sidled into the room. "Hey Uncle Oscar," Sam said, "um...we were wondering if maybe you and Jaime would play some tennis with us down at the community center. Brenda is pretty good and I've been practicing and we thought maybe the pro could give us some pointers?"
"Well I'm sure Jaime would be delighted." Oscar replied, surprised and pleased by the suggestion - in truth he was pleased just to be addressed by his laconic nephew. "Oh - shoot -" he added, looking at his Oxford clad feet. The shoes worked well enough for a light hike, but they would never work for tennis. "I didn't bring shoes..."
"What size?"
"Eleven."
Sam stepped over and placed his foot along side his uncle's. They were the same size.
"Wow." Oscar said.
"I think I have something that will work." Sam said, looking extremely pleased. He loped from the room, leaving Oscar with Brenda.
She looked at him sidelong through long bangs and smiled. "Thanks a lot Mr. Goldman. I really appreciate it."
"Well you're welcome. I'm sure it will be fun. " Oscar replied, realizing it was the first time he had heard her voice. "You can call me Oscar by the way."
She nodded.
"I love doubles." he added.
"Does Jaime have shoes?"
"No..." Oscar replied, glancing at Brenda's feet. "But I'll tell you...her feet are way bigger than yours. She'll probably play barefoot."
"Barefoot?" Brenda blurted.
"Yeah. She's...tough."
When Sam returned with a pair of suitably enormous tennis shoes, moderately scuffed and fortunately not too smelly, Oscar slipped one on and found it fit nicely.
Oscar chuckled. "I guess the next time I see you you'll be taller than me."
"Maybe." Sam replied, taking in Oscar's height admiringly. "Cool."
