Life in Stoneybrook #5 - An Art
Title/Prompt - An Art (Table 1, Prompt 030: Family)
Author -
bookplayer
Word count - 2392
Rating - PG (Language)
Summary - Claudia has a big decision to make, it's a good thing she has a genius for an older sister.
Link to table - Over here.
Author's note - Tiny bit of bad language. This was longer then I expected, but I have a soft spot for sisterly interactions.
I opened the door and called “Janine? We're back.”
I was still glowing from that day in the park, and I found Janine looking just as happy, curled up in a chair in her living room, her laptop open in front of her. Janine's house was big, and everything in it was bland, but comfortable. I would have thought she'd live in some futuristic plastic castle, but the living room just had a big beige couch and two comfy off-white armchairs. There were a few green throw pillows that were trying really hard to be interesting, and to match the green glass top of the coffee table, but failing pretty badly at both. But style aside, it was the kind of house you could relax in.
Janine's day off clothes matched her house, khaki pants and a faded Yale t-shirt. I figured that was a present from her fiance, Michael, because Janine had gone to MIT. Her hair was cut short, and she didn't wear glasses anymore, she told me she had that eye surgery with lasers to fix her vision.
“Hello, Claudia.” She said, then she smiled at Zee, “And hello to you, Zee.”
“Hi, Aunt Janine.”
She grinned and closed the laptop, “I was at the store today, and I got a present for a little boy. Can you guess who?”
“Me?” Zee asked, his eyes wide.
“Correct!”
She set the laptop aside and went and got a big shopping bag.
Zee looked at me like someone gave him a million dollars. He wasn't used to getting presents unless it was Christmas or his birthday.
And he'd never gotten anything like what Janine pulled out. It looked like a little computer, but the keys were bigger and it was obviously made for little kids. It had a bunch of computer games on it that taught letters and numbers and colors, with a voice that read the instructions out loud.
“Thank you, Aunt Janine, for the present!” He shouted, jumping up and down while we set it up on the coffee table. We showed Zee how to use it, and once he got going he didn't need a lot of help.
After a few minutes of watching him, Janine said “Would you like to join me in the kitchen while I make dinner?”
“Of course. I'll help.” I said, getting up and following her into the kitchen.
As soon as we were there, she said softly, “I hope you don't mind that. A friend of mine got one for her daughter, and I thought at the time that it was a very good idea. Also, I have several years worth of presents to make up for.”
I did feel a pang of jealousy. Janine had the money to spend on Zee that I wished I had. She had the kind of life I wished I had, a house of her own and a fiance. But I had to remember that she was generous enough to rescue me, and let me stay here, and buy toys for Zee. “You didn't have to. Really, you're giving us a place to live. I bet he likes being here more then a bunch of toys. But I'll never turn down anything if it's for Zee.”
“I didn't have to, but did you see his face? It was well worth it.” She said, and she pulled some potatoes and baby carrots from the refrigerator. “I was going to make pork chops. Would you please cut the potatoes?”
“Sure.” I said, and I washed them off and started to cut them into cubes. “So you look like you had a nice day.”
“Very,” she agreed as she started to season the meat. “I went out for Zee's present, but for the rest of the day I had time to relax.”
“You work hard. You deserve it.”
“This week I've certainly earned it. Work was especially difficult.” She paused a moment. “People are idiots, Claudia.”
“Yeah?” I said, pretty sure I was one of those idiot people.
“Yes. We're working on a compound that might alleviate heart mummers in a small portion of people who suffer from them. One very tiny part of that compound is material we copied from chemicals found in a specific type of plumb. So when this draws media attention, what do the headlines say? Scientists Say Plumbs Treat Heart Disease. I hardly know where to begin. Heart disease is so vague as to be meaningless in a clinical sense. The compound is to treat heart murmurs. And it contains so little of a plumb, and so many other important components-”
“And you said it's only certain types of heart murmurs, and a certain type of plumb.”
“Thank you! You are more intelligent then the editor of USA Today.”
I felt kind of proud. It was just a matter of paying attention to what she said, but this was genius stuff and I could actually follow it.
“So millions of people go out and buy plumbs, because of either criminal stupidity or blatant misinformation on the part of the media. And we get reporters contacting us, so we have to try to clarify the story, which they don't want to hear.” She sighed, and calmed down a little as she scooped up the cut potatoes and added them to the baking pan. “I'm sorry to vent. I've been doing this to Michael all day.”
“That's okay. So is Michael coming for a visit anytime soon? I'd like to meet the mysterious doctor.”
Michael was going to be a surgeon, and was training at Johns Hopkins. I'd seen pictures, and he was pretty cute, but I hadn't met him yet.
“He'll have a week off in October. I'll introduce you then. I think you'll like him.” She put the pan in the oven, and she was quiet for a moment. Then she turned to me and said, “Will you still be in Stoneybrook in October?”
“I think so. You'll never guess who I met in the park today.”
She walked over and sat down at the kitchen table. “You're probably right. There are several billion people in the world, and even narrowing the set to people likely to be found in a park in Stoneybrook-”
“Stacey. And Kristy and Mary Anne. They're all living here, and we all have kids, and we had a great time together. I've really missed having friends like them. All my friends back in New York kind of drifted away when Zee was born, we didn't really have much in common anymore.” I said as I joined her at the table.
Janine nodded, “But since your friends here have children, it gives you common ground again. That's wonderful.”
“That's not all. Kristy is a lawyer, and she wants to go after Spooner for child support. And she thinks that Mary Anne and I should start a day care center together. Stacey has a business degree, and she said she'd do all the money stuff for us, and Kristy said not to worry about the money.”
She looked as surprised as I had when I first heard the idea. “Well, I can see how that might work. You're good with children, and you need a career, and it would eliminate the problem of child care for Zee.”
I nodded slowly, “But it would be a career, my own business. And it wouldn't leave much time for my art.”
“It's a difficult decision.” She said.
“I know! I have no idea.” I looked at her. She'd always been way smarter then me, and that was what I needed now, someone smarter then I had been in my life so far. “What would you do?”
She smirked. “I would go to college and get PhD in bio-chemistry, and spend my weekend fantasizing about the editor of USA Today choking on a plumb.”
I rolled my eyes, I had forgotten I had to be careful to say things right to Janine. “You know what I mean. What should I do?
“You should make decisions like this for yourself. I'm always here to help you, but I won't live your life for you.”
“I'm awful at living my life! Just tell me what to do this once. Give me a hint, please?”
Janine sighed. “What do you want to do with your life, Claudia?”
“I want to be a good mother. And I want to be an artist.”
She considered that, “But being an artist comes with a lack of stability that makes it difficult for you to be a good mother.”
I sighed, and nodded, “That's my problem.”
She looked deep in thought, then finally she said, “Did you know that I had a tubal ligation?”
“A what?” I said.
“Tubal ligation. I had surgery so that I won't have children.”
I stared at her. She and Michael weren't even married yet. What if she decided she wanted children later? I felt a little bad, it was too late for that now, and I was her sister, I should have talked to her about this before.
“Why?” I asked, quietly.
“Because I have no desire to be a mother. I don't especially like children. And since the world is sufficiently populated, and the probability of me producing the next Einstein is extremely low, I don't feel any imperative to make the attempt.”
“Does mom know about this? I thought she wanted grandkids.”
“She has a grandchild.” Janine pointed out.
“She hasn't seen him since he was a baby.”
“I told you, she's offered to pay for a train ticket every Christmas.”
“Yeah, so that she can bitch me out like she did when I told her I was pregnant.”
Janine sighed, but she decided to leave that fight for another time, “She knows about my decision. And she isn't happy about it, but this is my life, so we ignore the issue. You really should speak to her and do the same.”
I nodded. I missed mom and dad, but I knew the lectures I'd get, and I didn't want them. But if Janine wasn't going to have kids, Zee might be their only grandkid, and it wasn't fair for me to keep him from them.
It occurred to me that if Janine didn't want kids, she might not be too happy to have Zee around. “I'm sorry I crashed your place with Zee. We'll get out of here as soon as we can.”
“You may stay as long as you need to. I love having a nephew, I simply don't want children of my own. From my observations, I've learned that being a parent requires a dependence on intuition. There's no formula, no direct cause and effect. And there's no correct or null outcome. I think that would make me unhappy.”
I laughed a little. “Raising a kid isn't science. I get it.”
She looked me in the eye, smiling. “Raising a child is an art, Claudia. You begin with materials, yourself, a child, and your environment, and you try to combine them into something unique, interesting and successful. No one can tell you how to do that, but if there's any person I know of who has the talent for it, it's you.”
I was surprised, and I thought about that. It all made sense. I finally saw all of the right choices I'd made so far in Zee's life, the things that I just knew I had to do for him, even if I didn't like it. My life, Zee's life, that was my art right now, and I could see what I had to work with and I could make it beautiful.
“Janine? If you're going out tomorrow, would you give us a ride to Mary Anne's house? I need to talk to her.”
She nodded, “That's not a problem. You said that Kristy is a lawyer. I've been meaning to get information on a prenuptial agreement.”
I raised my eyebrows, “Have you talked to Michael about that?”
“Yes, of course. He agrees that it's sensible.”
Of course a guy who loved Janine would want to do the sensible thing. I had to smile. “Have you ever had a not sensible, crazy, romantic thought in your entire life?”
She smiled at me, then got up to take dinner out of the oven. As she did, she said “Last summer, I was attending a conference in Hawaii, and Michael joined me. One night we went for a walk on the beach, and. . . well, that was very sandy, and uncomfortable. We should have thought it out before hand.”
I couldn't believe it, and I started to laugh. The thought of Janine doing that was awkward and hilarious. When she set down the pan and turned around, she was blushing, but she had a grin on her face.
“It was fun, though.”
I laughed even more. When I finally calmed down, I was about to call Zee in for dinner, but he came walking in before I got the chance.
He went over to Janine and looked up at her, “Can you help me with colors on my toy?”
“You mean, will I help you with colors?” She corrected, probably automatically. “Can I help means that you don't know if I'm able to help.”
Zee thought for a moment, and then said, “It's okay, Aunt Janine. Colors are hard. Mommy can help me, she knows lots of colors.”
Janine had no idea how to respond, and I burst out laughing. After a few seconds, Janine did too. I calmed down, and said, “My Zee, Aunt Janine knows lots of colors, too. After dinner, she can help you if you ask her nice.”
“And your mommy will be there, in case we get stuck.” She said to him with a wink at me. Then she served dinner, and after that we played with Zee until bedtime.