A Plump of Woodcocks by Suanne Laqueur

Author:Suanne Laqueur [Laqueur, Suanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Suanne Laqueur
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Plump

Jav’s cell rumbled on the coffee table. Stef lifted his head off Jav’s thigh to glance at it.

“It’s Alex.”

His tone was the definition of secure matter-of-factness. Still, Jav always felt weird when Alex called him, unable to shake off a need to be the definition of transparent. He reached over Stef’s body to hit the speakerphone button and answer in English, “Hey, man.”

“Javi?” Alex’s voice skittered all over the place, as if the syllables of Jav’s name were made of soap.

“Uh, yeah?”

“Dude, you’re never gonna believe what just happened.”

“What? You’re on speaker so watch your language.”

“Yes, my ears are fucking fragile,” Stef called.

“Oh my God,” Alex said. “Dude, I just got off the phone with my brother.”

“With Rog?”

“No. My brother.”

“Your . . . Wait, what?” He pushed Stef to sit up and hitched closer to the coffee table. “What do you mean?”

“I got a call. From Chile. They found my brother.”

“Your actual brother?” Stef said.

“My fucking actual brother,” Alex cried. “He’s alive, man. They found him. He called me.”

“Are you fucking shitting me?” Jav said. “Where is he?”

“He lives in Seattle.”

“With who? I mean, where’s he been all this time?”

“He’s been with his family. Who he always thought was his family and they always thought he was theirs. Until they did a DNA test for fun a few months ago and found out he wasn’t their kid.”

“Wait,” Stef said. “His parents had no idea he wasn’t their biological child?”

“None.”

“Then how did they end up with your mother’s baby?”

“That seems to be the big mystery. Obviously they were switched at some point but nobody’s figured that out yet. But I’m looking at the lab report from the Medical-Legal Institute. My Y-chromosome matches his Y-chromosome and both ours match my father’s. He’s my brother.”

“DNA don’t lie,” Stef said. “Man, this is incredible.”

“I don’t have a word for what it is,” Jav said. “And I do words.”

“Dammit, Javi, you had one job.”

“I suck at it. And I’m so fucking happy for you.”

“Are you guys going to meet?” Stef asked.

“Oh, hell yeah.”

“Holy shit,” Jav said. “I may come to the airport just to be a fly on the wall.”

“It’s gonna be ugly.”

“What’s his name?”

“Juleón, but he’s called Jude.”

“Jude is the patron saint of lost causes,” Stef said. “Pardon my font of useless information.”

“I think this story fits the definition of lost causes.”

“How much adrenaline are you coasting on right now?”

“Seriously, I probably won’t sleep for a week.”

“This is unbelievable, man,” Jav said. “I couldn’t be happier. I mean it. This is one of the best phone calls I’ve ever gotten in my life.”

“Oh tell me about great phone calls,” Alex said, laughing. “Val is still mopping the floor.”

“He just called you, like, out of the blue, ‘Hey, my name’s Jude, I think I’m your brother’?”

“Pretty much. It’s late, I’m tired to begin with. He was nervous as hell and for a minute I couldn’t grasp what the hell he was saying. He said our DNA matched and I was like, ‘Okay, so you’re a cousin?’ And he said, ‘No, I think I’m your brother,’ and then my brain completely melted.

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