CHAPTER 2: The First Four Years
BI-CONTINENTAL LIFE
by Jason Everett
It was a pretty normal childhood, those first few years. Whilst Mum and Granny worked at the local nursing home, I would be at the day care centre, which was on the first level of the building. It wasn't my favourite place in the world, but I guess it was better than being left alone with some strange baby-sitter—or even one that smelled horrible beyond belief, for that matter. That's pretty much what life was like until I was four years old, which was when everything changed...
One early spring afternoon, I was playing in my room when Granny came in with a sad look on her face. I sensed that something was wrong, but I didn't know what. "What is it, Granny?" I asked.
"Your mother has something to tell you, Jason," she answered. Right then and there, I knew I wasn't going to like what Mum had to say.
"What's wrong?"
"Just come with me," Granny said. She took my hand, and we walked into the living room. Mum was sitting on the ottoman. She was sort of smiling, but when I saw that her eyes were red from crying, that's when I knew something had happened.
"Jason," she said, pulling me onto her lap, "I have a new job."
"Oh, Mummy, that's terrific!" I said happily. I guessed it wasn't such bad news after all.
"Aye," Mum went on, "but that means we'll have to move. You see, love, my new job is in New York, which is thousands of miles from here."
Uh-oh, this didn't sound good. I should've had that figured out when I saw Granny's face, not to mention her tone of voice. At that moment, I blurted out the one question I wish I'd never asked: "What about Granny? Will she be going with us?"
When I asked that, the tears just spilled down Mum's face. That was all it took for me to understand that the answer was no.
I was speechless. As I slid off Mum's lap, everything started to come together: New York. America. A whole 'nother country. I opened my mouth, struggling to say something, anything. Instead, I instantly started to cry. Hysterically. And I will wager you money that you could hear me a mile away.
Granny pulled me onto her lap and wrapped her arms around me. "Sh-sh-shh," she whispered, petting my hair. I clung to her and buried my face into her sweater, just feeling the soft wool against my forehead, and the smell of her perfume filling my nose as I sobbed. To this day, I still don't remember the rest of that day, mostly because I cried myself to sleep. All I know is that for the first time in my life, I began to understand what the real world was all about.
And on that day, it was just bloody awful.
About a week later, we finished up the last of the packing while we waited for the cab. Mum and Granny were talking to each other, but I don't remember all of what they said, other than, "Don't forget to write", "We'll call as soon as we can", things like that. I sat huddled on the couch, clutching the Linus blanket that Granny had crocheted for me when I was born. On the upside, I wasn't sucking my thumb, mostly because I was getting too old to do that.
"The cab will be here soon, sweetheart," I heard Granny's voice say. I looked up at her, and felt a huge knot forming in my throat. It felt as big as Loch Lomond.
"I don't want things to change," I said, fighting the tears. "Why can't you come with us?"
"Oh, Jason," Granny said softly as she knelt down to my level. "I wish I could, but my place is here. My job, my future, everything else."
"Will I ever see you again?"
"I'll come visit you, darling," Granny said as she stood up. "I promise."
"Promise?" I asked as I got up from the couch.
"Scout's honor," Granny said, giving the Scout's salute. I managed a tiny smile, even though I knew my heart was crumbling.
At that moment, the cab pulled up. I threw my arms around Granny and hugged her for the longest time as Mum took our suitcases outside.
"Jason? It's tine to go, love," Mum said. After she and Granny hugged, she took my hand, and started to lead me to the door.
"Now, be brave," Granny said, cupping my chin in her hand. "And don't look back. Don't look back."
It wouldn't be easy, but as the cab pulled out of the driveway and began its journey to Glasgow International Airport, I made a vow to myself that I'd do it for her.
"Jason? Jason, time to wake up."
That was the first thing I heard. I knew it was Mum's voice, but I had no idea where I was until I heard a seatbelt unbuckling and a Christopher Lee-sounding voice saying, "Welcome to New York City. The local weather is 16 degrees Celsius and partly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of rain. Thank you for flying British Airways, and have a nice day."
The next thing I knew, Mum had picked me up and carried me off the plane. Even though I don't remember much of the flight—other than changing planes at Heathrow Airport in London—I'm just glad it was nothing like the story about little Jeffrey from Bill Cosby, Himself!
When we got out into the terminal, I heard a woman's voice calling, "Diann! Hi!How are you?"
That woke me right up, as well as Mum saying, "Hi, Sis!"
I looked around to see who the voice belonged to, and that's when I saw a very pretty woman who looked about five years younger than Mum, but she was the spitting image of Granny. I could tell, because that's how she looked in Mum's baby pictures. She had platinum-blond hair, like Alice in Wonderland, which was pulled back with a light blue headband, a large, protruding stomach, and was wearing round, tan horn-rimmed glasses, a brown long-sleeved pullover shirt, pale blue jeans, white sneakers, and a white satin jacket and sneakers. With her was a tall black man with short curly black hair, a moustache and soul patch, and silver-rimmed glasses. He was wearing a gray dress shirt, tan pleated khakis, dark brown suede oxfords, and a dark blue denim jacket. With or without his glasses, he looked like a young Billy Dee Williams.
"Ohh, who's this?" I heard the woman say sweetly as she looked in my direction. I looked at her for a moment, held up four fingers, then buried my face into Mum's shoulder. Who was this person?
"Aww, Diann, he's so cuuuute," she gushed, then she started singing, "A, you're adorable; B, you're so beautiful..."
I covered my ear and buried my face deeper into Mum's shoulder. It's because of that kind of singing that Simon Cowell now has a career. I'm sorry to be such a jerk, but it really was that bad.
"Oh, don't mind Jason," Mum said. "He's just had a long day today." Then she pried my hand off my ear and whispered, "Jason, it's all right. It's Aunt Amy, my sister. Remember?"
I looked at her again, just sizing her up, as if to say, "Okay, if you say you, you're Aunt Amy. So what do you want from me?"
"Hi," I whispered. What was I supposed to say.
"Hey, little buddy," the man grinned. "I'm your Uncle Aaron. Remember me?"
I didn't, but I knew I had to be polite, so I waved at him, then hid my face again.
On the way to the baggage terminal, I heard the women talking. One of the things I heard was, "So, how are you feeling?"
"Oh, I'm hanging in there," Aunt Amy said. "Believe me, I'm so glad there's only one more month to go before the baby's born. And the sooner, the better."
"Amen to that!" Mum agreed, laughing.
All the while, my face stayed hidden. Here I was, a stranger in a strange place, surrounded by all these people I'd never seen before, pretty much scared out of my mind. I thought for sure I was going to start crying again, but after I remembered what Granny had said about being brave, I decided that there was no way I was going to let that happen.
When we got outside the airport, I heard Uncle Aaron say, "You'll really like our place, Diann. In fact, we just bought a new pool."
Those words got my attention in one second flat, and I popped my head right up and looked at him, smiling and wiggling in Mum's arms.
"Well, somebody's getting excited!" Mum smiled, setting me down. That's when the car pulled up, and we got in. I heard the adults talking, but I wasn't listening. All I could think about was that pool!
It was only my first day in America, but I knew the adventure was just beginning.