Barely Used
(a month later)
NYC
2:03PM
Jackie was in the first class lounge and JFK airport. Her show was on the road
and the first stop on the tour was Las Vegas. She was dressed in
a comfortable pink jogging suit and drinking a strawberry daiquiri with an umbrella in
it. She stirred the small red straw around in the red slushy concoction. It occurred to
her that she enjoyed being alone. She didn't have to prove her popularity to
anyone. She let the younger girls in the company have their swirly cliques with their
hyena laughs and staring every sentence with their "Oh my gods!" She didn't have
many girl friends oh they were always just jealous because she was stunningly
gorgeous and they weren't. The only really female that she considered her friend was
Vi Jones and she always traveled separately with her husband and Yorkie dog. It
must be nice. She was glad that was Eric was feeling back to his old self. He still
had his bad marriage problems. Jackie knew the courts almost always gave full
custody to the mother, even if the father was the better parent. It had to be a case of
abuse or neglect so she understood Eric's valid concerns. Some judge who doesn't
know him as a person could take Jacen away from him. Dealing with Eric's
depression at the hotel last month and just the three of them hanging out at the hotel
for the weekend, she forgot to tell Eric something that she had noticed. It didn't
seem to matter, but she tried to make a mental note to tell him the next time that she
saw him in person. Yes, Jackie Burkhart did sit through an uncomfortable Star
Wars slide show because on Friday night he did feel better enough to interact with
the rest of his geek friends. Even Jacen on his own accord went to some activities
during the convention. Eric gathered part of it had to do with his warming up to Jaina
Lutz they did exchange their web mails with each other. But Eric didn't have to say a
word for Jackie to know how happy he was that his son wanted to spend time with
him. Eric was thrilled that Jacen was making friends with other girls and maybe in
time he wouldn't want to be with his neighbor girl. The phone rang and she knew it
had to be Eric.
"Hi, Jackie, what's up?"
"Hi, Eric. I'm just waiting to board my flight."
"Oh your trip to Vegas—that's today? Sorry."
She laughed. "It's okay. It's sounds like you are outside?"
"Yeah. I'm checking to see if the kid behind the counter put the extra pickles on my
hamburger."
"Are you going to have him fired if he didn't?"
"Very funny, Jackie, that's something Red would do…actually did."
"How's Jacen?"
"He's fine."
"Really fine or 'Eric fine'?"
"He's good, Jackie. I hate having to leave him for three days."
"Where are you going?"
"Today my boss told me I have to go to Cincinnati, Ohio to do what my stupid ass
co-worker was supposed to do a week ago."
"You can always call him and send him email?"
"Jacen told me what time he'd be available to take my IM."
Eric laughed. He wouldn't crush that little boy's spirit for anything in the world.
"What a cutie. Is he going to be OK being only with his mom for three days?"
"Yeah, I've been on occasional trips before."
"I know, Eric, but somehow this seems all different."
"She's never done anything to harm him."
"I know. Well, I hate to cut this short, but I have to use the ladies room and they're
going to be announcing my flight soon."
"Okay. We'll talk soon. Goodbye, Jackie."
"Goodbye, Eric, and give Jacen a kiss from me."
"Will do."
Point Place, WI
6:40PM
"Do you have to leave, Dad?" Jacen came in his parent's bedroom as Eric was
folding his shirts into his suitcase.
"Just for three days, son. I'm going to miss you a lot."
"Don't forget your toothbrush." He handed it to him
"Thank you," Eric put it in his clear plastic bag, "Sit down on the bed for a minute."
Eric zipped up his suitcase and placed it near the door before kneeling in front of the
bed to get on Jacen's eye level.
"Be good for your mom, okay?"
"Okay."
And there seemed to be a sadness in his voice that Eric didn't notice before.
"I'll call you everyday while I'm gone, I promise."
"I know."
"Love you," his little hug felt so nice, and he was already at that age where he didn't
want to be kissed or hugged by a parent in public. "I'll buy you a present Jacen."
"I love you too, Dad. A new baseball."
Eric smiled, "Okay. You got it."
He kissed him on the forehead before standing up.
"Can I go to Tony's house to watch TV?"
"Only if his mother can give you a ride home."
It said a lot to Eric that Jacen didn't want to stay in his house to watch TV with his
own mother when his father had to go away on a business trip.
He was going to have to do a lot of thinking on this trip. He was trying very hard to
maintain a Switzerland state of neutrality for the sake of his son so he could grow up
in a two parent home which there more kids who were a product of divorce in his
son's generation then from when he was a kid. He didn't want Jacen to be in those
statistics. He only hoped that somehow that everything would all work out for the
best.
Las Vegas, NV
5:15PM
Jackie was actually in a good mood and normally she would sometimes get
moody after a long, hot flight. She was humming to the pretty instrumental that was
playing on the hotel's own radio system as she polished her toenails periwinkle. This
was a cute, little relaxing song.
It was nice background music. She sat on the edge of the bed waiting for her
toenails to dry when the announcer came on.
And that was the song "Barely Used" as played by the Boston Pops for their
Classic Take on Rock series. The original version with lyrics is by solo musician
Steven Hyde and is on from the album of the same name.
"Barely Used?"
Was that a dig against her? No wonder Eric's head filled up with suicidal thoughts—
Steven and Donna were extremely selfish people who thought they were better than
everybody else.
Goddamn it, she wasn't going to allow herself to cry. She thought about calling Eric
but he needed to keep his thoughts centered on his son; not her.
She let her head fall backwards onto the firm pillow and she would only allow herself
to cry when she fell asleep.