Disclaimer: I don't own In Plain Sight, but I think Jinx might have raised me. =P
Author's Note: My deepest apologies for the amount of time since the last update! I got bogged down by two days of drama with my mother, followed by veterinary issues. Anyway, the update is here at last! Hope you're all still interested! =)
Fish Out of Water
Chapter 8
Marshall watched the ground recede until the jet breached the cloud layer and climbed into the stratosphere. He and his mother were on their way to his brother's home for the holidays, to be joined there by his father, after a week spent touring the handful of colleges he'd applied to that were relatively nearby, including the illustrious Cornell. He had regrets about the trip already; he had already been fairly certain he didn't want to go there, and while for him the visit had only served to solidify his conviction, his mother seemed to have gotten her heart set on it.
"Your brother's going to be so impressed," she told him for what had to be the tenth time since they'd arrived at the airport that morning. "The Ivy League! Everyone will be so proud."
"Mom," he sighed, "we don't even know if I'll get accepted. I'd rather you didn't say anything about it just yet."
"Well, I know you'll get accepted," she replied. "Anyway, I've already told them you applied. Everyone thinks you'll make it. They'd be crazy not to accept you."
"I don't even really want to go there," he mumbled.
"Nonsense!" she exclaimed. "You applied, didn't you? Now don't be so worried. You'll be accepted and it will be wonderful."
He turned back to the window and looked into the sky, stretching out in all directions over the clouds below. He felt conflicted; he'd liked Cornell, but it wasn't about that. He didn't want to go there because it wasn't one of the schools where Mary had applied. He sighed again. If he believed her version of reality, even that ultimately wouldn't matter.
"Just think, you'll be close enough to come home and visit. And you'll be close enough that we'll be able to come visit you!" his mother continued.
"What do you think about community college?" he asked suddenly.
"Well, they're just fine, Marshall," she replied, sounding surprised, "for regular people. But you've got so much potential! Your father and I saw that early on, and that's why we saved so much for your college fund. We wanted you to be able to go anywhere."
"Anywhere that suits my potential?" he asked dryly.
"You have a shot at the best schools, Marshall!" she emphasized. "Frankly I'm a bit surprised that you applied to so many state universities. You can certainly do better. Like Cornell!"
"What about UNM?" he asked, concerned that in her zeal she might cancel the final leg of their trip.
"Oh, I don't know why you'd still want to go there," she waved her hand dismissively, "but we can visit anyway. I'm looking forward to seeing New Mexico."
The rest of the flight to Virginia was relatively uneventful, but it was all Marshall could do not to run screaming from the plane when it pulled up to the gate. His mother was suffocating in her zeal for his academic pursuits. Once they arrived at his brother's house, he was able to slip away. He snuck out the back door and sat on the porch.
The past week had been miserable, if he was to be completely honest about it. He missed Mary badly, and moreover he was worried about her. In the week before school let out, nothing had been out of the ordinary, but he had a bad feeling about leaving her alone. It was entirely possible that something could happen while he was gone, that she would need him, and he wouldn't be there. He still had just over a week to go before school would be back in and he would be home.
Christmas morning dawned cold in the Shannon household. Mary looked but Jinx was nowhere to be found. She had gone to a Christmas Eve party the night before and was presumably in the process of finding a new 'uncle' for Mary and her sister. Mary huffed as she turned the heat up in preparation for waking Brandi; it was a pity Jinx hadn't met someone sooner. If she had, they might have been able to afford to do more for the holiday.
As it was, Mary had to keep the heat turned low in order to minimize the bill. She had, however, managed to find something used to give to Brandi, a pair of her old ice skates that Brandi could fit with a few extra pair of socks, and she'd put aside what little spare cash she had to take Brandi to the skating rink. It wasn't that expensive, so she would probably be able to take Brandi often enough to make the skates worthwhile... and that didn't count the fact that Marshall would undoubtedly take them from time to time as well, though Mary certainly didn't want to take advantage of his friendship.
"Hey Squish," she called into the bedroom, "wake up. It's Christmas."
Brandi stirred, then sat up, looking at her sister hopefully. An announcement of Christmas usually meant there were presents to be had. On the occasions when nothing could be produced, the sisters usually spent the day together, pretending it was just a regular day like any other. Mary jerked her head toward the foot of Brandi's bed, where she'd set the skates wrapped in newspaper. She'd used a car ad; it was fairly brightly colored and looked at least somewhat festive. Brandi hopped out of bed and tore the paper off, pulling the skates out and holding them up happily.
"They're pink!" she squealed happily.
Mary smiled. She'd liked the skates when Jinx had bought them for her years ago, but the bubble-gum pink color had not thrilled her; it had been just another attempt on her mother's part to force her to be more feminine. In classic Jinx style, the skates had been a gift and a criticism all rolled into one. Now, though, she was glad, because Brandi clearly loved them.
Brandi set the skates down for a moment and dug around under her bed, pulling out the sticker-covered shoebox in which Mary knew she kept trinkets she deemed to be of value: unstuck stickers, hair ties, a small assortment of fast-food toys, and other odds and ends that she either found or brought home from school. She pulled out a small package wrapped in construction paper and handed it to Mary.
The older girl turned it over in her hands, her eyes widened in surprise. She hadn't expected anything in return; it was not so much that Brandi was thoughtless as it was the fact that Brandi had learned not to depend upon Christmas actually happening, and would generally scrabble around for a random item to give to Mary that would eventually become hers again. This small package spoke of some sort of advance planning, and Mary was touched.
"Open it!" Brandi practically shouted, bouncing excitedly.
Mary slipped her thumb under the tape holding the paper in place. Pulling the paper away, she uncovered a clay ornament, shaped into a heart and painted red. In the middle, in purple paint, was written 'Mary'.
"Oh, Squish, thank you," Mary breathed as she looked at the treasure.
"Turn it over!" her sister chirped.
Mary did so, and found 'Love, Brandi' written on the back. She traced a finger around the edge, smiling.
"Do you like it, Mary?" Brandi looked at her with wide, hopeful eyes.
"Yeah, Squish, I love it," she replied.
She moved to the head of her bed and took down the small picture that hung there, some girly image that Jinx had hung up who knew when and which Mary had never really liked, and hung the heart by its purple ribbon there instead.
"Miss K helped me make it," Brandi added, beaming happily at the sight of her gift hanging in its place of honor. "She says clay has to be baked or something, so she did that."
"Okay, Squish," Mary said, turning to face her sister, "let's have breakfast and then we can go skating."
Brandi gathered her skates, along with a sheet of stickers from her shoebox with which she clearly intended to decorate her skates; the stickers were of that same cartoon cat mascot that Brandi loved. Mary recalled that Marshall had bought them for her on a trip to the mall, and Brandi had been saving them for something special ever since.
While Mary was rummaging through the cereal boxes in the cupboard, the phone rang. Brandi dashed from the table and grabbed it before Mary could react.
"Shannon residence," she answered importantly. Mary's eyebrows hitched up a notch; that, too, Brandi must have gotten from Marshall, because she certainly hadn't picked up the polite mannerism at home.
"Oh my gosh!" Brandi cried shrilly.
"What is it, Squish?" Mary asked in concern, disturbing possibilities running through her mind. "It is Mom? Is she in the hospital? She's not in jail again, is she?"
"It's Marshall!" Brandi squealed, turning happily to her sister.
"Give me that!" Mary cried in a near shout as she tried to snatch the phone from her sister. Brandi danced nimbly away.
"No, I want to talk to Marshall!" she chided her older sibling. "Wait your turn!"
Mary threw up her hands and rolled her eyes with a growl.
"Uh-huh!" Brandi turned her attention back to the phone. "Yeah, Mary gave me skates! We're going skating today!" She paused while Marshall apparently replied, then continued. "Are you gonna bring me anything when you come back?"
"Brandi!" Mary bellowed in distress. "That is so rude!"
"Omigod, yay!" Brandi shrieked happily, ignoring her sister. Obviously, the answer had been yes.
"Oh my God, he's totally spoiling her," Mary muttered to herself.
"Okay, here's Mary," Brandi said at last. "Merry Christmas, Marshall!"
Mary practically tore the receiver from her sister's grip.
"Marshall, I'm really, really sorry," she blurted, rushing to apologize for her sister. "She's totally supposed to know better than to hit you up for stuff like that."
Marshall's soft laugh came over the line. "It's fine. I was planning to bring something anyway."
"You don't have to," Mary protested.
"I know, but I want to," he assured her. "So you're going skating?"
"Yeah. I found a pair of my old ice skates when I was going through some boxes in the garage. I didn't get that much use out of them and they should just about fit her, so…" Mary trailed off, suddenly feeling inexplicably awkward and not knowing what to say.
"Everything okay with Jinx?" he asked. "I heard you when Brandi first picked up the phone. Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, I just don't know where she is," Mary replied, trying to keep her tone neutral even though she was mad at herself for having let Marshall hear her speculations. "She went out to a party last night, probably went home with some guy. If she doesn't show up by tonight, I'll start making calls."
"So, do you want me to bring something back for you, too?" Marshall asked casually.
Mary felt herself blush furiously. "Um, that's okay. You don't have to. It's nice enough that you're going to bring something for Brandi."
"And if I want to bring you something, too… would that be okay?"
"Whatever… do what you want…" she mumbled, her blush deepening.
"Alright, then," he said neutrally. "We'll see what happens."
"Oh my God!" Mary's eyes widened suddenly. "I just realized this is a long distance call! Is this even okay?"
"It's fine," Marshall replied, laughing softly again. "It's my brother's house and he said it wasn't a problem."
"Still, you probably shouldn't stay on the line," she said, cringing at the thought of what a long distance call would cost. Thankfully it wouldn't be on Jinx's phone bill, but still, the thought was unsettling.
"Yeah, you're probably right," he acknowledged reluctantly. "I'll call you when I'm back, okay?"
"Yeah, that sounds good," Mary replied, a smile crossing her face at the thought. She found she couldn't wait for his return; she missed him considerably more than she had thought she would.
"Have fun skating with Brandi," he added.
"I will," she answered softly. The line clicked off.
"Okay, Squish… which cereal do you want for breakfast?" she asked, feeling flustered as she turned to her sister. Brandi looked at her, a mischievous smile on her face.
"Hey, Mary?" Brandi spoke, ignoring her sister's question. "Do you like Marshall?"
"Well, he's my friend, so yeah, I guess I do," Mary replied, hoping Brandi wouldn't press the issue.
"No, I mean, do you like him? Like that?"
"Squish, do you want to go skating or not?" Mary cried, sounding desperate and plaintive where she'd meant to sound menacing. Still, her reaction had the desired effect; Brandi poured her cereal quietly and ate, but not without casting Mary an occasional knowing smirk.
The skating rink had been fun for both sisters. Brandi loved being on the ice, and for Mary, it was a chance to re-experience childhood through Brandi's point of view; while Mary had had no one to look out for her when she was growing up, Brandi had Mary, and that made Brandi's formative years more tolerable than Mary's had been. As the afternoon was slipping away and the sisters were both tired, Mary decided it was time to go home.
As she helped Brandi untie her skates, Mary felt a prickling sensation at the back of her neck; it was off-putting and made her feel skittish and uneasy, like prey suddenly aware that it was being stalked by a predator. She looked around warily, and that was when she caught sight of him. Standing at the far side of the rink, tattooed and dressed like a wannabe biker, was Mark, sucking on a cigarette and blowing the smoke out slowly through his nose.
She'd known he was back in town; she'd recognized that piece of shit Camaro he drove when she and Marshall had seen it a few weeks before. Mark was ridiculously proud of that car. He referred to it as a classic, and it might have been true had it been in any kind of decent condition beyond merely being drivable, but in truth it was barely even that. It was a noisy, smoggy, rusted-out piece of crap, and as Mary looked at Mark across the rink, she realized Mark and his car were well-suited to each other.
"Come on, Brandi," she murmured softly, not wanting to alarm her sister. "Let's go out the back way."
Brandi, happily worn out from the day's adventure, happily complied, and the siblings slipped away, safely avoiding Mark.
They arrived home shortly before the early sunset that was typical of the time of year, and just as they came up the walk, Jinx's gleaming red land-yacht of a car pulled into the driveway. Their mother stepped out, wearing a luxurious satin dress in emerald green, a beaded gold wrap around her shoulders… both of which Mary was certain hadn't already been part of her wardrobe.
"Mommy! You look so pretty!" Brandi squealed, running up to hug their mother, yet being careful of the obviously new clothes.
Mary grimaced. Brandi was conditioned to think that new clothes on Jinx meant a new man had bought them for her, but Mary knew it was equally likely that Jinx had put them even further into the poorhouse with an impromptu shopping spree; it had happened numerous times before, which was why Mary hoarded money. It had always been easier to let Brandi believe the clothes had been bought by a man than to make her share Mary's fear that they were one missed rent payment from another spontaneous and indefinitely long camping trip.
"Mom, where did the clothes come from?" she asked, dreading the answer.
"I bought them last night," she replied, turning to Brandi. "You can't catch fish without a shiny lure, can you, sweet pea?" Brandi giggled in response; Mary tensed, wondering just how screwed they were.
"You bought them?" she repeated. "With what for money?"
"I found some," she said evasively.
"Oh God, Mom…" Mary breathed, her stomach clenching. "You found it where?"
"In your closet," Jinx confessed, her tone haughty. "I don't know what you thought you were doing with a wad of money like that, young lady, but I'm sure this is better than whatever you had planned for it."
Mary fumbled her keys into the door lock and pushed into the house; dashing to the bedroom, she checked the toe of the left shoe from the pair furthest back. Gone. Their fallback rent money was gone, as was the money she'd saved for Brandi's yearbook. She came back out to find her mother and sister in the living room.
"Jinx," she ground out, her tone low and dangerous, "how do you expect us to pay rent now?"
"Don't call me by my first name, missy," Jinx hissed self-righteously. "Anyway, I've got it all taken care of."
"Oh really? How's that?" Mary's voice dripped anger and sarcasm.
"I met a man last night," her mother sighed dreamily. "And don't you worry, he's going to take us all away from here, just as soon as…"
"As soon as what?" Mary prompted.
"As soon as he leaves his wife," Jinx replied smugly. "He's going to call as soon as he can find a minute alone."
"Oh, he's going to call, is that what he told you?" she shouted at her mother. "He's going to leave his wife for you? How many times have you heard that before?"
"He'll call!" Jinx snapped, pointing an angry finger at her daughter. "Don't try to make this about me. You're the little bitch who was hiding money."
"Because of you! Because you always do… this!" Mary cried, gesturing at Jinx's outfit.
"Oh, don't act like I'm that stupid," Jinx replied caustically. "I left the tags on. These can be taken back."
"Um, Mom…" Brandi murmured softly, pointing to the side of the dress. "You have a stain."
Jinx craned her neck to see where her younger daughter was pointing. She turned in a half circle, pursuing the stain, until she caught sight of it.
"Oh… shit!" she swore. "It must have been when he spilled the champagne…"
"This is great. Just fabulous," Mary said flatly. She felt like she was going to cry, and did her best to look like she wasn't feeling anything.
"Oh, Mary," her mother whined, her tone suddenly contrite. "What are we going to do?"
"You're asking me?" she asked incredulously.
"Well, I've already done my part. I spent all last night…"
"Yeah, I know what you spent all last night doing," Mary snapped. "Why is it my job to fix this?"
"Because, Mary," Jinx wailed pleadingly, "you're the only one who can!"
Mary just stared at her mother for a moment, unable to believe the woman's unmitigated gall, before she turned around and shut herself in the bedroom. Her hands started to shake, and soon she was shaking all over. She sat on the bed, trembling, uncertain even as tears slid silently down her face whether she wanted to rage or cry. From the living room, she heard her mother's voice addressing her sister.
"Don't you worry. Mary will fix everything," Jinx's voice lilted, no trace of their altercation remaining. "Now, how would you like for me to help you put on some make-up and get dressed up all pretty like me? Just for fun! You'll look just like a princess!"
Mary shoved her face into her pillow and cried until her body ached, finally falling asleep on a pillowcase soaked with her own tears.
A/N: Oh, poor Mary! Don't worry, readers, Marshall will be back soon. We were due to spend some time with Mary, that's all. Please let me know what you think, and hang in there for the next update! =)