Weeping Under This Same Moon by Jana Laiz

Author:Jana Laiz [Laiz, Jana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780981491066
Publisher: BookBaby

Chapter 34

I cannot believe this! I am seventeen years old and I have to stay with my grandparents. My parents are going away for the weekend and because of what happened, because of the “Blue Bathrobe Incident,” they are insisting, in other words, forcing us to go to Grandma and Grandpa’s in Long Beach. Poppy and Helen live there, too, but Helen finds it too difficult to have house guests. My parents know how much I hate to stay alone, and due to my lack of friends, I have no one else to stay with. This will be torture.

Grandma and Grandpa live in a one-bedroom apartment overlooking the boardwalk and the ocean. It’s the same apartment my father and uncle grew up in. I’d say it must have been a bit crowded back then. My grandmother lies about her age but we think she’s actually older than Grandpa, which is pretty old. She wraps everything in wax paper and rubber bands and I mean everything. Forks, knives, spatulas, scissors, you name it, all wrapped up like bizarre Hanukkah presents.

She never kisses us, but sticks her chin out for us to kiss her. Her chin is so long and pointy that we can never get to her cheek and always wind up kissing that sharp protuberance. Last year I had three wisdom teeth removed because the dentist said they might cause my chin to jut out. The thought that I might one day look like my grandmother convinced me to have the surgery, immediately.

They never go to the beach. Even on the hottest day of the summer, but they watch us go from their terrace that looks out from the fifth floor. They wave to us and smile, but will never come down. The beach is way too messy! Before we return to the apartment my grandmother lines the floors leading to the bathroom with newspaper. God forbid there should be one grain of sand entering their apartment. They only live thirty feet from the beach!

They treat themselves to Louis Sherry ice cream once a week and take about 65 pills a day, each. Mostly vitamins. They have bottles everywhere, all nicely wrapped in wax paper and rubber bands. I hope this is the day for the ice cream. My mother never buys Louis Sherry, but we like it.

I must admit, though, my grandmother makes the best pot roast I ever tasted.

My grandfather is a retired pharmacist, but his real passion in life was to be an opera singer. He was good, but not good enough. He keeps a picture of himself as the policeman from the Pirates of Penzance, framed, in the living room. I don’t know why. I think it just depresses him. My mother actually saw the play when she was in high school. Before she even met my father. She said Grandpa was the best.

My grandfather likes to belt out notes. He does it constantly and it gets really annoying. He never sings an aria or even a children’s song.

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