The Madrona Heroes Register: Echoes of the Past (3 page)

Cassie was about to about to explode
at Zach with a hail of cauliflower confetti when Jay interceded,
“We have more juice in the basement! If you can manage to chew your
food with your mouth closed, I’ll go down and get some.”

“
Hey Binny,” Zach offered
at the exact moment his father disappeared down the stairs to the
basement.

“
What?” she responded,
pre-annoyed, knowing that whatever was coming next would be
unpleasant.

“
You’re a dumbass. And I
can prove it scientifically.”

“
I can prove that you
smell terrible.”

“
No seriously. I’ve been
working on some dumbass detection equipment. It lights up whenever
there’s a dumbass in the vicinity. And when you walk by it lights
up like a Christmas tree.”

Binny thought for a second, “you’re
too stupid to invent anything. Shut up.”

“
Look, I’ve even tested
the equipment on a group of dumbasses and a group of non-dumbasses.
You always have to have a control group so that you know the
machine isn’t getting false positives,” Zach explained
condescendingly. It was right one hundred percent of the time. So
you see, I have incontrovertible proof that you are, in fact, a
dumbass.”

Binny found Zach’s smile insufferable.
“I HATE YOU!!!” Binny screamed just as Jay rounded the corner
holding a big unopened jug of apple juice. “Binny, stop yelling,”
Jay snapped. “I cannot take this fighting.”

“
The machine never lies,”
Zach whispered to Binny with a look of sympathy on his face so FAKE
Binny thought her head might actually explode, spreading bits of
brain and bone and frustration all over the kitchen
walls.

“
He is being a total and
complete jerk! I hate him. I hate him. My head is going to explode
from how much I hate him! Binny screeched.”

“
The machine… never…
lies…,” Zach repeated, his head slowly shaking back and forth with
false pity.

“
You’re the one screaming,
Binny, and MY head is about to explode from that. Enough! The
grilled cheese is ready. Did you guys finish your vegetables?” Jay
asked no one in particular as he brought the sandwiches to the
table. Cassie immediately insisted, “me first, me first, me first.”
She grabbed a sandwich off the plate not waiting for Jay to give it
to her.

“
She ALWAYS just takes
whatever she wants,” Binny complained.

“
Binny, I meant what I
said. Enough.” her father warned.

“
She took my
mirror.”

“
To be clear, Binny
Jordan, it’s not
your
mirror. It’s a mirror I gave to your mother that you have
made your own.”

“
Did you finish your
homework yet?” Jay asked Zach as he distributed the rest of the
sandwiches. Through a mouthful of toasted bread and melted cheese,
Zach responded with a muffled grunt that sounded somewhat
affirmative. Jay took it as a yes, and said, again to no one in
particular, “I still honestly don’t understand how you get it done.
You don’t appear to spend all that much time on it.” The kids
ignored their father’s comment and wolfed down their
dinner.

“
Where’s mom?” Cassie
asked. Before Jay could answer Zach and Binny responded in unison
“at work” accompanied by some pretty significant eye rolling.
Cassie added mopily, “she’s always at work.”

Jay frowned, distracted for a moment
by the comment, and wearily sat down in an empty seat. That subject
apparently was closed for the moment. The eating continued in
silence. Briefly.

“
Dad.”

“
Yes, Binny.”

“
Zach and Cassie are being
jerks. Cassie keeps going in my room and stealing stuff. And Zach
told me he invented a dumbass detector and that it proves that I’m
a dumbass.”

Jay sighed with resignation, “Are you
a dumbass, Binny?”

“
No.” Binny said, her
voice mostly confident.

“
Then why do you care in
the least what he says?”

Sensing he should offer an
explanation, Zach said, “I didn’t say she was a dumbass, I just
said that the detector went off.”

Binny exploded. “He’s lying! He did
say those things. And he’s a huge jerk.”

“
I’m not lying. I’m not
lying,” insisted Zach, now starting to get upset.

“
Yes you are,” Binny
insisted. Binny yearned for a world in which people followed the
rules, and nothing made her angrier than lying.

“
Binny please…” Jay begged
her to calm down.

“
I’m not lying, Binny,”
and then after a pause and in a more conciliatory voice, “and the
machine never lies either.”

“
I HATE YOU!!!!!!!” Binny
screamed and stormed out of the kitchen.

“
I’m done, can I be
excused?” Zach asked, already out of his chair, shoving the last of
his sandwich into his face.

Jay, resigned to the disaster the meal
had turned into, shook his head in disbelief. Zach took that as an
affirmative reply and escaped from the kitchen.

Jay rested his forehead on the table.
Cassie, seemingly oblivious, munched her sandwich happily. She
spied someone in the doorway and suddenly screamed,
“Mommeeeee!!”

Jay looked up at Julie Jordan, who had
just arrived on the scene. Her sharply put together business
clothes looked almost identical to when she’d left 12 hours earlier
for the office. “Where is everyone?”

Jay put his head back down on the
table with a groan.

Cassie punctuated the silence between
her parents, “More grilled cheese please.”

§

Julie, her dark brown wavy hair
framing her face with a more adult and more professional version of
Cassie’s bouncy curls, looked tired. The few tiny lines that had
recently started to appear at the corners of her eyes were in full
bloom this evening. The chaos of the house had subsided, but the
toll of her endless day of meetings as a Vice President at a large
local technology company was visible.

Sometimes she thought that
managing a team of 300 adults was about equal in terms of the
complexity and demands of raising 1/100
^th
the number of children. But
if there were a competition between her employees and her kids to
see who could tire her out more quickly, her money was on the kids.
At least the people that worked for her seemed generally satisfied
with the attention they got. The kids seemed to never get
enough.

Whether by necessity or as an
expression of her creativity, (or both,) Julie had adapted to
getting pleasure from the tiniest moments and rituals that she
could fit into her cramped schedule. And each night it was a cup of
Uji green tea. She’d discovered it on a business trip to Japan a
few years earlier. The caffeine it contained was an exception to
her generally caffeine-free existence. She never failed to fix
herself a cup when she arrived home from work, and most nights her
cup of tea made up the majority of her dinner.

Sipping from her mug, feeling fidgety,
Julie wandered around the first floor of the Jordan house. Dinner
had mercifully ended, Zach and Binny were upstairs in their rooms,
and Cassie and Jay were snuggled together watching E.T. in the
family room with the lights lowered. Julie liked movies just fine,
but the two hour commitment wasn’t often a possibility for her
these days.

Jay’s responsibilities as a freelance
illustrator left him plenty of time to introduce the kids to the
canon of his childhood – super hero comic books, science fiction
and fantasy TV shows, and of course – movies. Right now, the movie
was getting intense. The government agents had taken over and E.T.
was dying. Julie hadn’t seen the movie in over 30 years, but her
memory was sharp. She peeked into the family room to share in the
moment.

“
Thanks for bothering to
come home.” Binny’s accusation dressed in fake gratitude was the
end to Julie’s brief moment of peace.

Julie twisted around, wondering how
long Binny had been standing behind her. Julie bit her lip, “Of
course I came home. How could I stay away from you
sweetie?”

Binny wasn’t done, “Yeah sure. You
seem to stay away from me just fine every day.” It wasn’t just
Cassie’s misdeeds that Binny was writing down in her
journal.

“
I always come home when
work is over baby. Can I have a hug?”

“
No.”

Julie felt the chill coming from her
daughter. “What’s wrong honey?”

“
What’ wrong? What’s
wrong?” Binny was starting to bubble over in frustration. “Let’s
see. How about the fact that Cassie is a thief and Zach is a liar?
Is that a good start?” Binny’s arms were now firmly crossed. Her
chin defiantly stuck out waiting for Julie’s response.

“
It sucks being the middle
kid. Doesn’t it.” Julie’s response was sort of a question but
really more of a statement. “What happened? Tell me
everything.”

Binny’s arms uncrossed and the stories
of the afternoon and evening came spilling out. “And Daddy just
ignored it all. Cassie didn’t get in trouble, and Zach just sat
there with a stupid smile on his face. Dad acted like it was all my
fault, but I didn’t do anything. They were being jerks!”

Julie’s face softened in sympathy for
her daughter. “You’re father is doing his best honey. It’s hard to
get dinner ready for you guys and keep track of who’s being a jerk
to who.”

“
I’ve been keeping track
of who’s being a jerk to me – in my journal.”

“
Binny, maybe instead of
spending all that time writing down when people are mean to you,
you should spend that time writing down when people show you they
love you. I bet that would make your life a lot
happier.”

“
What would make it
happier is if Dad had some help when Cassie and Zach are being mean
to me.” Binny raised her eyebrows and continued, “But you weren’t
here to defend me.” Binny’s words stung. Julie did her best not to
show her daughter just how much.

“
Honey, don’t be so angry.
They don’t give us a handbook, or a fairness scale, or mind-reading
abilities when we become parents. They don’t really give us any
tools at all. We’re just expected to figure it out.” Binny wasn’t
thrilled with this response and settled into a familiar gray
sulk.

Julie continued, musing almost to
herself, “Well, I suppose there is one tool they give
us.”

“
What’s that?” Binny
asked, already knowing the answer would be deeply
unsatisfying.

“
Ice cream.” Julie
answered with a bittersweet smile.

Slightly less angry now, Binny said
almost to herself, “Well… but ice cream can’t solve every
problem.”

“
I know honey. I
know.”

§

“
They're just gonna cut
him all up.” The young boy said to the man. The man responded
“Would you like to spend some time alone with him?” The lines from
the movie that Jay and Cassie were watching floated over to where
Binny and Julie were standing in silence. Just
listening.

Cassie turned to Jay on the couch and
asked “Is he dead?”

Elliot, the boy from the movie
responded, “Look at what they've done to you. I'm so sorry. You
must be dead, 'cause I don't know how to feel. I can't feel
anything anymore. You've gone someplace else now. I'll believe in
you all my life, every day. E.T., I love you.”

“
I don’t understand, why
would they cut him all up?” Cassie asked.

Jay paused the movie, “For science
honey. In the movie, the government wants to learn how E.T.’s body
works.”

“
So they can figure out
his super powers? How he makes things fly?” Cassie
wondered.

“
Yeah,” Jay nodded slowly
and seriously.

“
But won’t that kill
E.T.?”, Cassie worried, her eyes widening.

“
Well, it looks like he’s
already dead, darling.” Jay said, and then added as an
afterthought, “But to be honest, the government would probably cut
him all up even if he was alive. People aren’t often as gentle as
they need to be with living things that are different and
special.”

“
Oh.” Cassie seemed to be
thinking.

Jay unpaused the movie.

As E.T.’s heart started beating Cassie
got excited, “he’s alive Daddy. E.T.’s alive.”

“
I know baby. But that
only happens in the movies. In real life, when the bad guys kill
you trying to figure out what makes you tick, you don’t come back
to life.”

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