The Arcturus Man (24 page)

“OK, I guess the Green Jenn has spoken,” said Jared.
“Krissy, we’re not at home. Pull your skirt down,” said Jenny.
“YES, MOM!” Krissy tugged it down. “Like anyone here hasn’t seen underpants
before.”
He visualized her naked again. She wasn’t wearing skimpy lacy panties. She was
wearing older women’s underwear. They really were underpants. He couldn’t believe it.
It wasn’t naiveté.
It was indifference. That was interesting. That suggested that Krissy
had high confidence in her sensuality and had learned that she didn’t have to prove it to
anyone.
It was always there. It didn’t matter what she wore. She was innately feminine.
Jenny, on the other hand, was reserved and conservative, but she wore thongs and skimpy
panties. She felt that she had to prove she was sexy to men. Krissy was wild and uninhibited, but wore practical briefs that looked like men’s jockeys, but had nothing to prove
because she knew she was sexy.
Krissy was intriguing.
She was, indeed, a Black Butterfly.
Jenny sensed the change in Jared’s mood.
She didn’t like it but she also didn’t
know what to do about it. He hadn’t really done anything. Maybe it was all in her head.
The waitress walked over.
“You ready to order?”
“I know what I want,” said Krissy. “Let me have me have the suan la chow show
and dun dun noodles.”
She glanced at Jenny. “Yea, Yea, I know it’s what I always order.”
“I’ll have the steamed Peking ravioli and the vegetarian’s delight,” said Jenny.
“Give me the Peking duck as the entrée.
I’ll have the Crab Rangoon as an appetizer,” said Jake.
Peking duck was the most expensive item on the menu.
Jared didn’t care about
the money. Not a whit.
But the arrogance of this buffoon was annoying.
He looked at
the waitress and focused. She was from Hong Kong. Perfect.
Jared glanced at Jake and then began to order in the Guangzhou dialect. The waitress was shocked.
There was no trace of accent in Jared’s speech.
They spoke to one
another for more than five minutes.
She asked Jared if he grew up in Hong Kong.
He
explained that he had not. He simply said that he was fortunate and was gifted when it
came to languages. She seemed to accept that explanation without question.
Jenny was beginning to feel sorry for Jake the Snake. He was so outclassed.
He
was humiliated in front of everyone and Krissy wasn’t defending him. Did Krissy have a
crush on Jared? It seemed like it.
“Stop showing off Jared. We get it. You speak Chinese. Her English is very good.
Can we all play?” said Jenny.
She was now sorry that she arranged this get-together.
Jared was being an ass.
He kept staring at Krissy. Her anger was building. And, she knew that he knew what she
was feeling. He obviously didn’t care. Was she angry or was she sad? She didn’t know.
She loved him so much but he was hard to take sometimes.
“The chef is her father and she will ask him to prepare something special for us. I
didn’t change your orders.
She is going to bring us some additional items that aren’t on
the menu. You all might like to try them.”
Krissy sat with her mouth open.
“WOW!
You ARE smart Jerr.
Like what else
can you do?”
Jake slumped back in his chair. He pretended to be studying the menu. He knew
he was no match for Jared.
There was no point in trying.
He noticed that Krissy had
pushed her chair closer to Jared. He didn’t like it. Neither did Jenny.
“Jared is not here to entertain you. He doesn’t do tricks. Or maybe he does. What
the heck do I know? Excuse me. I have to go to the ladies room,” said Jenny.
Jenny had to escape. She needed to regain her composure.
It was a bad day and
she was losing it again. She got up and briskly walked to the back of the restaurant.
“I don’t know what’s…like eating her.” said Krissy.
“Hold on. Can I have my chronometer back?” asked Jake.
“It is a watch Jake. It’s a watch. It is not a chronometer,” said Krissy.
“A chronometer is a watch, air head.” Jake was getting mad.
“Actually you’re wrong Jake. A chronometer can be a type of watch but they are
not the same thing. Every watch is not a chronometer.”
“Who asked you? Butt out,” said Jake.
“OK! I’m out. Sorry.” answered Jared.
Krissy clenched her fists at Jake but said nothing.
“Excuse me, butt head.”
She
got up and left the table for the ladies room.
Krissy and Jenny were gone for a while. The food had already been served when
they finally returned. They were smiling. Jenny had her arm around Krissy waist. Jared
was amazed. Again, their closeness was a mystery.
It wasn’t logical and, yet, here they
are. He knew so many things and he understood so little about people. He made a mental note to think about this some more later.
“Like we all started on the wrong foot.
We’re going to start all over. We love
each other. This has to be fixed…now. Get up. Stand up. I’ll show you something Mormor taught us,” said Krissy.
“Who’s Mormor?” asked Jake.
“Mormor is…was…my grandmother.
It is Swedish.
I’m Swedish, Jake,” said
Krissy.
Jake and Jared stood up.
“Come over here,” ordered Krissy.
“Group hug! Group hug! YEA. YEA. YEA,” chanted Krissy as she gathered the
flock with her arms. Jenny knew the routine. She and Krissy and other members of their
family had done it hundreds of times. They all hugged.
“Now, don’t you feel better?” asked Krissy.
“Well, I do for one,” said Jenny. She pulled Jared closer. “Don’t you?”
“Yes, that was very nice,” said Jared.
He didn’t really get it but he understood
what he was expected to say.
“How about you? You big Ox! I LOVE YOU.” said Krissy, loudly.
“Yea, I guess I do. You’re right. Let’s start all over. We’re almost family.”
“Sit down. Like let’s eat. Looks great,” said Krissy.
They all sat down again and began to pass the serving plates around the table.
Jake started cleaning his chop sticks.
He rubbed them together for a minute or so and
then wiped them with his napkin. Everyone else picked up a fork.
“Splinters,” explained Jake.
“Sure honey,” said Krissy. “Gotta get rid of those splinters.” Jake’s feelings were
bruised again.
They all ate. The food was magnificent. They talked about school. They talked
about what they were going to do this summer.
Jenny did not talk about her morning
with Professor Monster. She told Krissy and Jake about Eagle’s Head and Jared’s beautiful island.
Jared invited everyone to his home any weekend.
Krissy thought that would
be wonderful and promised to save a date for the outing. The mood was at least convivial, if not outright friendly. Jenny didn’t know how much of the good humor was forced,
but that really didn’t matter. Appearances were enough sometimes. They weren’t at each
other’s throats. That was good. She edged her chair closer to Jared’s and Krissy sat closer to Jake.
Jared noted the change as well. Krissy was a jewel and she made all this happen.
It never occurred to him that it might have been Jenny.
It wasn’t, but he took it for
granted that it was Krissy.
“Father O’Connor is the greatest,” said Krissy.
“I think he’s the only Jesuit on the campus,” said Jenny.
“Yea, good man,” said Jake.
“Like his class on human evolution brings the cavemen to life. His classes were
the only ones I ever look forward to.
Of course, it’s the only class I got an A in so I
might be a little biased,” said Krissy.
“He is a sweet man who cares about all of his students,” said Jenny.
“O’Connor is only one of a small number of professors who innately understands
the correct goal of college instructors,” said Jared. “That’s what makes him a great educator.”
“The correct role? What’s the correct roll,” asked Krissy.
“Some professors believe that imparting knowledge is their mission. That is misguided and it affects their effectiveness.
The correct role is to facilitate learning,” said
Jared.
“I don’t get it.
Imparting knowledge is facilitating learning.
What’s the difference?” asked Jake.
“Let me explain it this way,” said Jared.
“There is a bridge in Rome the crosses
the Tiber River near the Vatican—the Ponte Vittorio Emanuele II.
It’s right near Castel
Sant’ Angelo.”
“You’re shitting me, Jerr. You speak Italian too,” exclaimed Krissy.
“One day I was walking across the bridge and I noticed that some workers had
just finished patching a hole in the sidewalk with cement.
It wasn’t done very well, but
the hole was filled and it was more or less level. When I got to the far end of the bridge,
there was a pile of cement on the sidewalk. It was almost hard and I’d say it was about a
foot high.
It was evident that the workers who filled the hole on one end of the bridge
had cement left over so they dumped it on the other end, making a small mound.”
“That begs an obvious Italian stereotype, but how does that story related to Professor O’Connor? asked Jenny.
“It’s simple. The workers were told to fill a hole. That is exactly what they did.
They were not told to improve the sidewalk to make it easier for people to use the pedestrian part of the bridge. Had they been given orders to do the latter, perhaps they
wouldn’t have dumped the cement.
They were given the wrong mission statement. Society in America is plagued with bad mission statements—especially in government. Actually, I said that wrong. Government bureaucrats are given tasks. They rarely pay attention to what the mission is. They think there job is to perform tasks.”
“HEAVY,” said Krissy.
“I get it,” said Jake. “O’Connor knows his mission, but I heard that he’s some
kind of socialist.
That’s why colleges always have anti-war stuff going on. The professors brain wash the students. That’s O’Connor’s mission.”
“A man who is not a socialist at 19 has no heart. A man who is still a socialist at
30 has no brain,” said Jared.
Jake cheered up.
Was Jared backing him?
It sounded like he was but it wasn’t
clear.
“Cool. I’ve heard that before. Who said it?” asked Krissy
“Hard to say, Krissy,” said Jared.
“Some attribute it to Otto Von Bismarck toward the end of the nineteenth century, and others believe it was François Guisot. Actually, there are a dozen or more celebrities who are claimed to have made that statement,”
said Jared.
“Wow, it’s almost 3. We gotta go,” said Krissy.
“My honey bunny had at least
five beers, but whose counting. Give me the keys Jake.”
He handed Krissy the keys. No argument.
Krissy turned to Jared. He leaned forward to air kiss in front of her cheek but she
dodged him and gave him a very quick peck on the lips. Jenny was watching.
“It was great to see you guys,” said Jenny. “Don’t be strangers.” She gave Krissy
a hug and brushed her lips across Jake’s cheek. It was an air kiss.
“I am so glad we finally met, Jared. You’re everything my sister said you were
and then some,” said Krissy. “Bye Jerr. Bye Jenn. Call me tomorrow.”
“You guys are great, man,” said Jake. He pulled on Krissy’s arm, moving toward
the door.
“It was a pleasure meeting you both,” said Jared. He pulled two one-hundred dollar bills from his wallet and dropped them on the money tray.
It was evident that Jake
wasn’t reaching for his wallet. Jared was paying and no one said a word about it.
Krissy’s eyes got big.
“Cool!
Benjamins!”
Jake tugged at her and they quickly
left the restaurant. She spun around and ran back in.
“Sorry. Forgot our doggie bags…ahh…boxes.”
Krissy picked up the brown paper back filled with food cartons and ran out again.
“Bye.”
“Bye,” answered Jenny. Jared just smiled.
Jenny gave Jared her claim ticket and he retrieved the bicycle wheel.
He tipped
the hostess a twenty dollar bill.
“That’s too much Jared.
I know you have money but I come here a lot.
I don’t
want them expecting that from me.”
“Don’t worry about it. They won’t.”
What did that mean? She let it drop.
They left the restaurant and reassembled Jenny’s bike. They walked it to a parking garage around the block. Jared took the bicycle apart again and stowed it in the back
seat of his Lexus. He was careful not to tear the leather seats. They pulled out of the garage. After paying, they were on the road again.
“We’ll be back on the island before sun down,” said Jared.
Jenny was silent. He looked over at her.
“Are you attracted to my sister?”
Jared knew that he had much to learn about women. They were chemically quite
different from men in so many ways. Their brains were so different. He did know, however, that to answer a question like that dishonestly would be so much worse.
“Of course I am.
She is beautiful or don’t you notice such things in a sibling? It
would be unnatural if I wasn’t. That doesn’t mean that I love you any less or that I would
ever act on that attraction. It’s just chemistry.”
Jenny said nothing for a while.
Jared knew that saying the least was best.
They
drove silently for a time.
“Alright! Thank you for being honest about that. I guess I understand that.” She
put her head on his shoulder. He popped her seat belt and pulled her closer.
She snuggled closer. The embrace was calming and comforting.
Jared was pleased that he had chosen his words wisely. He wasn’t being sincere,
but she obviously thought he was. He wanted Jenny. That had never changed. But, who
is to say that you can only love one person?
He wasn’t sure what he felt for Krissy, but
he certainly was sexually attracted to her. Jared was a polygynist at heart living in a sad
and lonely monogamist world.
No matter how many wives he would have, Jared would
always be alone. The arguments clashed in Jared’s mind as he drove. Then he started to
think about going to bed with sisters.
Krissy had spontaneous qualities that he liked very much. Krissy’s sexual attractiveness was stronger than Jenny’s. These were things he planned on thinking about later
so he could understand it all better the next time. It was clear to Jared that he didn’t understand love, but he was confident that he would eventually figure it out.
Jenny lifted her head from his shoulder.
“You were a real creep earlier today,” she said.
“Yes I was. I’m sorry.”
“You better be.” She turned down the A/C. She put her head back on his shoulder and closed her eyes. The warmth of his body comforting.
She fell asleep.
It was a
tough day.
Jared thought about telling Jenny that Krissy was pregnant, but Krissy didn’t
know and it would break the good mood she was in. He decided to not tell her—maybe
later—maybe another day.