A Piece Of Normal by Maddie Dawson

Author:Maddie Dawson [Dawson, Maddie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Humorous, Fiction, General, Contemporary Women, Family Life
ISBN: 9780307381576
Publisher: NYLA
Published: 2017-02-09T05:00:00+00:00

19

The cleanup takes longer than you'd think. I keep having to stop and stare off into space, relive scenes from my childhood. That takes a lot of extra time.

Dana and Teddy don't come back in the house, and just after midnight, when I'm thinking of alerting the Coast Guard, he calls on the phone and says, "Dana's going to sleep at my apartment tonight. She's just a little bit traumatized."

She's a little traumatized? But I hear in his voice that Teddy is really talking about himself, and that her being there with him is making him feel useful again. So I say, "Okay. Is she all right? Can I talk to her?"

"I did some Reiki and some aromatherapy," he says, the way someone might say, Oh, I gave her some black tea and a piece of toast and she kept it down fine. "She's asleep now. So I think it's best not to disturb her."

"Yeah," I say.

We fall into what can only be called an awkward silence. I wait to see if his concern extends to how I'm doing. After all, wasn't I the one who: (a) did all the work for the party, (b) spent the evening trying to bring peace to all the different factions, and (c) got the biggest shock of all? Nobody led me away and gave me Reiki treatments and aromatherapy and tucked me into bed.

Now he's saying something about how he'll work with her further tomorrow, when she wakes up. Work with her? Is that what he's calling it? He's going to clear his appointment schedule, he says. In a very clinical voice, as though we are two colleagues consulting on a patient, he says, "Whether or not your mother and Gracie were having a lesbian affair, I think Dana's interpretation of the events has been at the core of what's been driving her away all these years. This liaison came at a bad time in her formative years."

And what about me? Sitting here trying to make sense of it all.

"Blah blah blah," I say. I can't help myself. I blurt out, "Let's just cut through the bullshit. What you're saying is that she's sleeping with you."

"She's not sleeping with me the way you mean it. She's just sleeping. Here."

"Does this truly seem like a good idea to you?" I ask him. "Have you thought this through?"

"Lily, what are you implying?"

"I just feel that you're maybe in a little over your head with her, that's all." I think back to the noogies and the way he looks at her. Something falls into place for me. "Okay, look, Teddy. I'm your good friend, you know that, but I see what's going on, and I just think that she's not really... ready for that kind of thing. Not to mention the fact that she is my sister."

"She is sleeping off a very traumatic day, is what I believe I said is happening here," he says coldly. "Give me a little credit, Lily. This isn't exactly the seduction scene from Gone With the Wind.

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