Double Take
Chapter 32
“They are merely scars, not mortal wounds, and you must use them to propel you forward.”
—Peter David, House of Cards
“A PARTY? Didn’t get enough of us for Valentine’s Day, did you?” Rachel teased. “I didn’t see any nice quiet make-out places in your house… But, of course, I didn’t see your bedroom.”
“I have. There isn’t room for all five of us,” Beca said. Everyone turned to look at her.
“When did you see my bedroom?” I squeaked.
“Peyton showed it to me. Rad artwork on the wall, Bruh.”
“Well, it’s not like that anyway,” I said, trying to get back to the point. “I’d love a make-out party with all four… or however many of you want to make out, but that’s not what this party is and my family will be there, too.”
“Sounds like a birthday party,” Desi said. “Are you turning sixteen?”
“Not till October. But it is kind of like that.” I heaved a sigh and sat back in my seat, lunch untouched. “You all know I was in an accident last August. You saw me come to school on crutches. But it was a lot worse than that.” Rachel reached up and stroked the scar on my right cheek, left by the cellphone. “Yeah. I had multiple fractures, a concussion, cuts—like my face—and was in a coma for three days. No one ever expected me to come out of it. My family was sitting around my bed waiting for the heart monitor to flatline.”
“Jesus, Jacob!” Beca cried. She grabbed my left arm in a death grip and started to cry.
“Right after you texted me your bid. I might have been the last one who talked to you in this life,” Desi said. Tears were running down her cheeks and Joan had wet eyes, too. I could feel the dampness from Rachel’s eyes on my right sleeve. She was right. She was probably the last one to have any interaction with V2.
“But,” I said, trying to lighten the mood. “I didn’t die. I opened my eyes and felt like I’d just been reborn. Only I think it’s the mother who is supposed to go through all that pain instead of the baby. Or maybe, you know, the pain was my mother. Regardless, that was on August twenty-ninth. There are only twenty-eight days in February, so I’m calling Friday, March first as my six-month rebirthday. You’ve been more than my girlfriends since I got back to school. You’ve been my best friends. And I want you to come and celebrate with me.”
“And your family,” Rebecca nodded. “Will uh… you know…”
“I’ve invited everyone who is important to me. My sisters, my mother and father, my physical therapist, Francie, my doctor, and you guys. There are a couple of teachers I’d like to invite, but I don’t think that’s allowed.”
“Are we really that important to you?” Beca asked, still holding my arm like I might somehow fly away.
“You’re the difference between life and death to me,” I said. “I mean that.”
It turned out that there was no school rule that prohibited a teacher from attending a party at the invitation of parents. Mom invited Ms. Stierwalt, Ms. Levy, Mr. Richards, and Jock. Em didn’t want to renew her relationship with Tony but told me I should invite Tony and Bill anyway. Less than twenty people for what I considered one of the most important days of my life. But as I thought back on it, these were all important people to me. I wondered if, when V1 was sixty, I could have named as many people who were important to me.
“So, you’re walking upright like a human instead of an ape,” Molly said as she walked around me and looked at my posture. “Not bad for the messed-up pile I first met here. You’re eating right and getting exercise?” I nodded to her. “Exercising the five-finger flute regularly?” she whispered.
“Molly!” I hissed. She could turn me as red as her Irish hair. “You could check to see if it’s working right,” I fed back to her.
“I could still pick you up and throw you across the room, boyo,” she laughed at me. “Now tell me why in a room of… hmm… fifteen, seventeen, twenty people I see only six males. Your fingers won’t get stronger if someone else is playing the instrument.”
“They will if you know how to strum the right chords,” I answered. This time, Molly blushed.
“Well, it is nice to see you looking so fit,” Doctor Jordan said. Damn, she looked fine. I determined that when I reached fifty this time, I’d be as fit as she was now.
“Thank you, Doctor Jordan. May I say, you look extraordinary. I never imagined that your scrubs concealed…”
“May I introduce my wife, Isabel,” she interrupted me. A woman just as beautiful as Doctor Jordan stepped up and offered her hand.
“Your wife?”
“Why do you think they allow me to treat teenage male patients?” Doctor Jordan laughed.
“Um… Nice to meet you… Mrs. Jordan,” I said.
“And lovely to meet you, too. Without betraying confidences, Del often told me about the remarkable young man who was struggling to regain his life. It is a pleasure to finally meet him.”
“The pleasure is mine,” I said, regaining my composure. Well, scratch that eighteenth birthday present.
As my girlfriends arrived, there was always one of them on my arm, though they never made a big deal about it. I just introduced them each as my girlfriend when we stopped to talk with someone. Mr. Richards caught up with me while Rebeca was on my arm.
“I trust your project is not interfering with your relationship,” he chuckled after introducing his wife.
“No, sir. We are really enjoying working on our project,” I said.
“This week’s videos are the last we are reviewing before compiling the data,” Beca said, even more enthused about the project than I was. “We need to put together a structure for presenting our results.”
“Don’t hesitate to set an appointment with me if you’d like some guidance,” he said. “This is a learning project. You are not expected to already know everything about what you are doing.”
“Thank you, sir. We’ll be putting together the sample outline next week and would appreciate your review before we start expanding on it,” Beca said.
We moved on and it happened that Rachel was on my arm when I made it to Ms. Stierwalt. I wondered if the girls were coordinating things a bit behind my back.
“Thank you for coming to the party, Ms. Stierwalt,” I said. “I hope your husband knew he was invited as well.”
“Oh, Jacob,” she smiled. “My husband has been singing with the heavenly choirs for five years now. Which is unfortunate for the celestial host as he was a terrible singer.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am. I didn’t mean…”
“We don’t bring life histories into the classroom,” she cut me off. “There is no way for you to have known and I do appreciate you thinking highly enough of me to offer the invitation. You are doing quite well and I’m happy that I agreed to take you on at mid-term. And you, young lady,” she said turning to Rachel, “have improved this term.”
“Jacob and I study together every weekend, ma’am,” Rachel said. “It’s really helped to have him go over the lessons with me.”
“Good. People seem to think that studying with each other is limited to more subjective courses like history and English. They often miss the benefits of group study in objective courses. You might consider adding Martin to your study group. He gets bored in class sometimes and completes his exercises to the minimum of his ability. He could use a little encouragement.”
There was a clinking of glasses and we all turned to where my dad was standing with his cellphone out.
“We have a tradition in our household of having a statement from the celebrant on his or her birthday,” he said. “We’ve decided to call this a celebration of Jake’s rebirth. Son, do you have a statement for us?” He tapped his phone and held it up to me like a microphone.
“Not really, Dad,” I sighed. He raised an eyebrow. “I’m just happy to have met or re-met or connected with such remarkable and supportive people since my accident. Thank you all for being my doctors, teachers, and friends.” Dad tapped off his recording.
“See? That wasn’t so bad,” he said. I nodded and laughed with him.
As parties go, it was pretty low-key. I thought of at least three other people I should have put on the invitation list. I guess I didn’t itemize everyone. Mom and Dad had decided to let me worry about the teens who were invited and took it upon themselves to invite others of their generation who arrived not long before the party broke up. Rachel’s parents and little brother showed up. He was immediately captured into Pey’s orbit and she told him loudly how glad she was there was another person under fifty at the party. Joan’s mother showed up in very professional attire and didn’t seem to try and seduce anyone. I guess they were all too old.
I’d met Beca’s mother before the Winter Dance. I’d not met Desi’s parents before. And Mr. Gieseke stopped by for just a few minutes as did Pastor Bob from church. I caught Francie out of the corner of my eye in an intense conversation with Rachel and was a little worried about that. Then I saw Rache put her hand on Francie’s stomach and smile. Em was inexplicably on my arm when I talked to Jock, Bill, and Tony. The three of them had gotten into a conversation on physical therapy with Molly.
I started to realize that there were more important people in my life than I’d allowed myself to believe. V3 had a good life and I determined that I was going to be more open to whatever life had in store for me instead of clinging to the life I’d once had.
The room was closing in on me. The air was being sucked out of it and out of my lungs. I was being crushed. I could feel my bones caving in, my organs collapsing. And then there was a hand. A very tiny angel’s hand.
“J. Wake up, J. I’m scared.” I struggled up out of my nightmare and gripped the tiny hand. Pey, shook my hand strongly. “J. Wake up.”
“I’m here, Pey. It’s okay. Just a dream. Did I wake you up?”
“No. I’m scared.”
“Scared of what?” My answer came in the form of a flash of light and almost immediate boom that shook the windows.
“J!” I rolled to where I could wrap my baby sister in my arms. “Can I get in bed with you?”
“Yeah, of course. Um… toss me my sweats there first, please?”
“Are you naked?”
“Yeah. It’s how I sleep.”
“Yuck. So does Em.”
“You’ll probably get there yourself one day.”
“I get cold.” I pulled on the sweats under the covers and held the sheet so Pey could crawl in bed with me. She was cold and shivering. Another boom of thunder shook the house. Pey grabbed my shoulders and sobbed.
“Hey, it’s okay,” I said. “Just an Indiana thunder-boomer. It will all be past in a few minutes.”
“I don’t like thunder,” she whimpered. I tried to think up something comforting to say to her. I immediately discarded, ‘Don’t be a baby.’ V1 could be a real jerk.
“I used to think it was the angels going bowling,” I said. “You just got cold. Bet you didn’t have any covers on, did you?”
“They were wet.”
“Is there a leak in your room?” I was suddenly awake and alarmed. I’d need to get in there and get something under it before there was damage.
“No. I… peed.”
“Oh,” I sighed. I remembered back in V1 that sometimes Pey had trouble if she got frightened or had a nightmare. “Are you all right now? All dry.”
“I put on clean panties and a nightgown,” she whispered.
“Then we’ll be just fine till morning. I’ll help you strip your bed and get the sheets in the laundry before Mom even gets up,” I said.
“I love you, J. I didn’t mean to do it.”
“I know. It’s like when I have a nightmare. I can’t control it. It just feels like I’m suffocating and I’ll never wake up.”
“Maybe that’s why I had an accident. So I could come and wake you up.”
“You’re my little angel,” I said. “Are you getting warm?”
“I’m your little angel and Em is your big angel. I’m warmer now, but don’t stop hugging me.” The storm had started to move on and we were getting a steady rain but the thunder and lightning were farther away. “Are you going to miss Em when she goes away for service?”
“Yeah. I sure am. You?”
“Sometimes I miss her already.”
“You’ll finally have your own room.”
Pey was very quiet for a long time and I thought she’d gone to sleep. A very tiny voice finally reached my ears.
“Sometimes Em cries and I have to crawl in bed with her so she stops.” I had no idea. Did Em suffer from nightmares, too? “I tell her it’s just a dream and it will be okay.” Then her voice faded off and I could feel her grip relax as she went to sleep.
“Nice party Friday,” Joan said. “Thanks for inviting me.”
“I wanted you there, Joan,” I said. “I wasn’t quite as sure about your mom, but it worked out okay,” I added and nudged her in the ribs.
“I’m not sure the muscleheads in the corner got away. Mom didn’t come home until really late.”
“She’s a real cougar, isn’t she,” Rachel said.
“And what did you have to discuss with Francie?” I asked. “Trying to get advance information? I told you… only one way to find out.”
“I just asked what her due date is,” Rachel said innocently.
“First week of April,” I said.
“What a coincidence.”
“Huh?”
“That’s our due date, too. It’s spring break.” I blushed as Beca and Desi sat down with their lunch trays.
“Really?” I mouthed at Rachel. She pecked me on the lips with a kiss.
“I was wondering, Joan,” Beca said, “if we could handle a tiny subset animation.” Joan groaned.
“What?”
“Oh, we have all those videos and I was just thinking that it would be cool to do a time lapse that had a little explosion happen every time Rachel and Jacob kiss.” We all looked at her and then Joan and Desi burst out laughing. I know Rachel and I both got red in the face.
“You know, I’m not stopping any of you from getting your lips on him,” Rachel said.
“Good,” Joan responded and hauled my face down for a tasty kiss. We didn’t hold it too long, but there was fire in Joan’s eyes.
“I’ll collect mine on the way out,” Desi said.
“Yeah. I’ll get mine in a year or two,” Beca said. “Kissing Jacob just doesn’t quite do it for me.” She winked at Joan and the blonde beside me blushed as much as Rachel and I had.
“Well, are we through embarrassing each other for a while?” I asked.
“We only have a half hour lunch. What else do we have time for?” Desi asked. She had a new theme going for her cosplay. It was sort of a springtime goth. The skirt was black but a white panel fell from her cleavage at the width of about her nipples. The top was a white blouse, belted at the waist, with a pink frilly jacket. She had a tiny hat pinned in her hair. To top it off, she carried a meerschaum pipe and an old book.
“Are you supposed to be sexy Sherlock?” I asked. I noted that the skirt was cut off just above the knee instead of being full length Victorian.
“No. Wait. I’ve got this one,” Joan said. “Victorique de Blois from Gosick.”
“Yes!” Desi squealed. “Did the pipe give it away?”
“No. It’s the only time I’ve ever seen you with a book.”
“Meow!”
“I thought Victorique was a traditional Victorian with everything buttoned up tight,” Beca said.
“You have to adapt the cosplay to both the character and your personal style. My style…”
“…is mostly tits,” Rachel laughed. “It is cute on you, though.”
“If you’ve got ’em, flaunt ’em.”
“I’ll forgive the departure from character,” Beca said. “I don’t think mine will ever match up with those.”
I was completely lost but gathered that Gosick was some kind of anime and Victorique was a school girl detective in 1920s France who solved cases the best detectives gave up on. Including her brother. Okay. Cute.
“I feel like a beached whale,” Francie moaned. “I’m sorry I’m not more fun, Jacob. I’m just so tired all the time.”
“Hey, you know what? When I was sitting in a wheelchair with a leg straight out and two arms in casts so couldn’t so much as touch you, you came to me and offered a very special gift. I’ll never forget that, Francie. I will always treasure it. Now let me return the favor and take care of you. I found a website that had pictures of a good position for a massage at this stage of pregnancy. Lie on your side.” Francie complied and I arranged pillows between her knees, under her head, and to hold in her arms. Then I went to work on her back.
In forty minutes, as she slept on my bed, I applied the lotion to her round tummy and felt the baby move inside.
“Hush, little one,” I whispered by her tummy. “Mommy needs to rest.”
Em looked up at me at the kitchen table when I walked in.
“Done already? I didn’t hear a thing.”
“She’s sound asleep,” I said. “I just gave her a massage until she passed out.” Em got up and wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling me in for a very nice and gentle kiss.
“That’s for being such a kind and loving person, J.” She kissed me again, much deeper. “And that’s for being such a sexy brother.” She giggled and sat back down to her homework. I grabbed my books and joined her.
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