Base Ten by Maryann Lesert

Author:Maryann Lesert
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: The Feminist Press at CUNY
Published: 2018-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

19

On the Star Deck

KERA’S YELLOW JEEP WAS IN the driveway. Jillian spotted it as soon as they turned off the main road. She had insisted on being in the driver’s seat when they rolled up the long dirt drive.

“This is it,” she said.

“This is it.” Jack kissed her hand. “You ready?”

Ready? For her mother and Kera and, oh god, her father, to see her looking like this? With her bowling ball stomach?

“No.” She wanted to laugh, but laughing was so close to crying. “But we can’t exactly back up and spit gravel.”

Kera and Jillian’s mother were standing on the porch, but neither one of them moved. Had they discussed it? Planned to let themselves view her from a distance so their fears, their surprise, could be handled before they were all at close range?

“Sure we can,” Jack said.

“We can?” For a second, she wondered if he had a plan.

But his sigh was resigned. “I for one am glad Kera’s here.”

And she realized Jack was the one on the hot seat. This was Greer country. It was Jack who had to prove he was worth this obvious detour, this risk she had taken.

“You know what?” She grabbed his hand. “I can do this. All my favorite people are here.”

“I don’t know about the Jeep. You’re going to get bounced all over.”

Kera hesitated on the stairs, then strode toward the car.

Jillian stopped to avoid lopping Kera’s head off as she thrust her head into the car interior and kissed Jack on the cheek. “Holy shit.” She was looking at Jillian’s belly. “I pictured it when you told me, but oh my god, you’re huge!”

Jillian swung out of the car. Kera didn’t seem to be able to step toward her so Jillian made the first move. “I’m not contagious.”

Standing in the yard, they wrapped their arms around each other. “Shit, Jilli. Holy shit.” Kera was doing what Jillian had been doing in the mirror for days, letting the shock wear off.

“Hey, hey.” Jack opened his arms to Kera and she hugged him and patted his bony chest. Jillian liked the same spot. A thought passed quickly: how many other women had patted that spot? Jack’s eyes communicated his encouragement as she turned toward the house. He was there for her. Jillian would be the last, forever; the last woman Jack would ever touch if she wanted it that way.

Jillian walked toward the house, her house, with Jack and Kera firing questions back and forth behind her. So, California, huh? What an opportunity for you two. You have to start in ER on Monday? Man, that’s rough. She loved the low porch, the way the wooden planks ran down, slightly, to drain the summer rain. And the roll-out windows above that flanked both sides of her bed. Her windows and her star deck.

“Oh, baby.” Her mother’s feet plunked down the steps. “You are such a welcome sight.”

Gayle was a sight, too. She had always been thin, but in her gauze dress, she seemed much taller, as tall as Kera.

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