Chapter 1.10

Chapter 1.10- The Jealousy of Magnets

 

                Moving was a real pain in the backside. Pregnancy doesn’t help any either, and Helen has finally got the last of a few homey touches up on her walls. It looks better now, not so drab, a little more friendly too.

                Helen and ‘Steve’ had ditched the separate housing fund for a single one. It meant they had enough to get a bigger place, but the furnishings they would have to purchase would be rather spare. They had just been renting the cozy little house, and it had come furnished. They missed the nicer mattress, but loved having room to move around without tripping over someone else.

                Steve was wonderful with Cyrus, and the boy adored him. Steve wanted the boy to always know him as his father, even if it wasn’t the truth. Cyrus would follow Steve around the house all day, barely letting him eat. If Steve was at work, Cyrus would sit by the door and pine.

                Helen watched Steve talking to her son. She was sorry that she had never let Norris know about his sons existence. News from Zazzy was that he had been killed in a car crash a few weeks ago. Now, she just wanted Steve to be the Daddy Cyrus would never know.

                For a moment, she focused on how wonderful Steve had been to her, and for how long she had taken him and his help for granted. He could still be a pain sometimes, but he was her pain.

                Pulling him off of the floor where he was sitting with Cyrus was a little difficult. Steve loved being with Cyrus as much as Cyrus loved being with Steve.

                “So,” Helen said coyly. “It’s a real turn on watching how good you are with Cyrus.”

                Steve blushed, giving her his lopsided grin.

                Grabbing him, she kissed him. “I want you,” Helen whispered in his ear.

                Steve looked surprised, but pleased.

                “Well,” he said. “When Cyrus goes for a nap-“

                “-Now.” Helen breathed back. “I need you now.”

                Steve glanced around at Cyrus. He was on the floor at their feet playing with the doll the two adults tried to keep hidden from him. It creeped them both out. Attempts to throw it in the trash had failed. And so they played a never ending game of keep away with it.

                Mommy had taken his dolly away from him when she took Steve. Cyrus really liked the toy. It made him sad that he didn’t get to play with it much.

                Where did everybody go?

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                Helen took the time the next morning to spend some quality time talking to Cyrus.

                “Dirty dishes should always be immediately cleaned,” Helen told the small boy.

                “Disses?” It was apparent he had no idea what Mama was talking about.

                “Yes, Cyrus,” Helen replied. “If you don’t immediately clean the dishes, germs will rise off of them and clobber all of us in the night.”

                “Then Mama will need a spa weekend to get thoroughly cleansed and in her right state of mind again,” Helen lost Cyrus.

                “’Pa?”

                “Yes, the spa, It makes people very clean and very happy. But always be sure to take your UV light to check for germs on the tables.”

                The great obsession Cyrus had at that moment was going out to see the water. Steve had taken him several times and he had been enthralled.

                “Wawer, Mama,” He pleaded with Helen. “I wan’ wawer.”

                “Exactly!” Helen gasped in pleasure. “You use water to clean the nasty germs away.”

                Cyrus was not to be deterred though.

                “Fiss? Wawer is fiss?” Cyrus knew what water was for. Not germs.

                “Oh, fishing!” Helen tried to get her mind on the same track as her sons.

                “Fiss! Fiss ead wurms! Wurms yuck! Cy pway wid wurms!”

                “Oh, no, honey!” Helen tried to show her shock in her face and words. “Worms are not for playing with. Fish eat worms. And worms have germs. That makes them very nasty.”

                Steve played with worms, Cyrus had watched him do it. Mama just didn’t know. If Steve did it, it must be ok.

                Wanting to change the subject from something as disgusting as worms, Helen tried a different topic.

                “Mommy is hoping she gets a diamond from Steve, wouldn’t that be nice?”

                “No, nice! Cy wan’ wurms n’ Steed!”

                ‘Steed’ was Cyrus’ attempt at Steve. No one in the house had the heart to correct him though. Helen thought it rather appropriate. Steve just didn’t want to discourage him by pointing out his mispronunciation.

                It was proving more difficult than she though, trying to find a topic they could both agree on. Helen was frustrated and discouraged. All he seemed to want to talk about was Steve.

                “Well, then,” Helen thought she might finally have found a topic they could both follow. “Do you still like your clown toy?”

                “No!” Cyrus screeched! “No Cwown! No Cwown!”

                “No! Cyrus, No! No!” Startled by the boys rather violent reaction to clowns, she sought to calm him down, rubbing his arms, making him look into her eyes. “Mama just wants to talk to you! I just want to talk with you, like when I talk to Steve, or Miss Lea.”

                Miss Lea came over occasionally, dragging her son with her. Cyrus didn’t care much for Brock, but Mama was always in a better mood after Miss Lea left. Steve said they liked to gossip.

                “Dossup?” Cyrus prompted Helen, hoping talking about Miss Lea would get Mama to leave him alone.

                Helen was lost this was a new one.

                “Dossup? Dossup…” Twisting the word on her tongue she finally lit upon it. “Oh, gossip!”

                “Dossup,”

                “Silly! Mama doesn’t gossip! And Cyrus doesn’t want to gossip either it’s not nice.”

                Obviously, she didn’t take Cyrus’ hint. He tried another tack.

                “Dossee,” Cyrus said.

                Helen didn’t even attempt to repeat his word back to him this time. Mulling it over took her longer than ‘gossip’ had, but eventually she got there, too.

                “Cyrus, coffee will make your pretty teeth all nasty, and will make you grow up into a big bad monster! Only people who are already big can drink it and not be monsters.”

                Getting desperate to go and find something else to do, Cyrus kept at it, hoping to distract her.

                “Dossee n’ Misseeya,” Cyrus said. “Dossee n’ Misseeya n’ Bock. Cy pway wid Bock. Mama dossee wid Misseeya.”

                “I do usually put on coffee with Miss Lea while you and Brock play. Of course you’d like a friend to come over. I’ll give them a call,” Helen smiled cheerily at Cyrus heaving herself off of the floor with great difficulty.

                It didn’t take long for Cyrus to crawl for the toybox in his room. He’d had enough of his mother’s attempts at quality time. Steve would be awake soon and would play with him. But in the meantime, he didn’t mind putting up with Brock if it meant his mother left him alone.

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                Steve had wanted to discuss a camping trip to teach Cyrus some constellations for a while now. Hoping to get it out of the way before the baby was born he approached Helen that night. She seemed enthusiastic, but strangely distant.

                “Are you sure you’re okay with it?” Steve asked.

                “I want Cyrus to learn the constellations! I just don’t feel-“

                “Ack!” It hit Helen hard and fast. “Like we’re going to have time before the baby!”

                The dance of anxiety Steve put on should have been amusing to Helen. Instead, it irritated her that all he could focus on was his panic that she was in labor.

                “Oh, cut it out,” Helen was rather annoyed. He had been present when she had gone into labor with Cyrus, surely he got it by now.

                “But, but, but, but,” Steve was stuck.

                “Just call a cab and the sitter.”

                “But, but, but, but-”

                “Fine,” Helen thought, angrily punching the buttons on her phone. “I’ll do it.”

                It took the taxi driver honking at Helen’s prodding to get Steve’s feet back under him. For a moment, he was surprised that she was not still in the room with him.

                Cursing under his breath he ran out the door, hoping she wouldn’t be too angry.

                Shortly before dawn they returned with Helen and Trenton’s daughter, Phedra. Neither had bothered to call him, and Helen was glad no one at the hospital had tried to contact him either. For a moment, she had been tempted to put Steve down on the birth certificate as the father, only deciding against it when she remembered she still didn’t know Steve’s real name. She would remedy that soon. Both had been far too busy to sit down and really talk, but it couldn’t be put off any longer.

                Steve rejoiced on making it back home safely. In his mind, that was the best date ever.

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                Phedra was an easy baby. Happy and laid back she made the entire house feel sweeter. Steve wanted to help as much as he could, but Helen generally raced him to see who could reach her crib first. Such a darling was a true joy, no matter who her father was, and Helen delighted in this little one with the same enthusiasm with which she mourned Norris when Cyrus was born.

                However, Helen did realize that someone from Trenton’s family ought to know about Phedra, and who better than his sister and Helen’s best friend, Zazzy. Zazzy would most likely keep it to herself and could be counted on to use good judgment if anyone needed to know this. At least, she always used good judgment when telling others about her questionable activities and Helen hoped she would apply the same reasoning here.

                Taking it as a sign, Helen was thrilled when the dye had finally washed completely from her hair. Zazzy would be pleased, and it would give Helen an excuse to track down her old chum telling the true identity of Phedra’s father. Steve and Helen had been letting it spread that Steve was the baby’s dad by telling Lea that it was so. She didn’t question it and had not wasted any time telling others in town of the arrival of Helen’s daughter.

                Entering the firehouse to look for Zazzy had felt strange, like she was an intruder in someone’s home. Zazzy was here, somewhere, her car was in the little parking lot. It was dead quiet in the kitchen, though, so Helen decided to just start wandering around, hoping she’d find her eventually.

                The darkness of the garage was oppressive and put Helen even more on edge. Seeing that her friend was not in the office, she finally decided to call out, hoping Zazzy would hear her and guide her to wherever she was.

                “Zazzy!” Echoes off the brick just made Helen even more uncomfortable.

                “Yo!” Zazzy yelled back. “Who is it?”

                “It’s me you dork,” Helen’s relief was intense. “Where are you?”

                “Upstairs, taking a break.”

                Sure enough, Helen found Zazzy in front of the tv playing video games dressed, and smelling, like she had just finished a work out. Helen grimaced. She shouldn’t have sat on a cloth covered couch smelling like that. She’d make the couch stink, too.

                “Come on. Come play.” Zazzy didn’t even bother taking her eyes off the screen.

                “No thanks,” Helen though tv’s, video games and computers a waste of time. She hated them. Hated that Steve insisted on having a tv in the house, hated the fishing shows he watched that bored her out of her skull.

                She did, however, go and sit next to Zazzy, nose wrinkled in disgust.

                “Nice to see your hair back to normal,” Zazzy said.

                “Yeah, the dye finally washed out. It wasn’t permanent. I hated the color, too.”

                “Just don’t do it again. There’s no need to hide who you are.”

                “Yeah, I know.” Helen said impatiently. “I bet Bianca fed you that-"

                “-How come I haven’t been invited to your new place yet?” Zazzy didn’t even let Helen get started on why she was here.

                “Just been busy. Besides, right now, I’m afraid you’d turn up smelling like the gym. You need a shower Zazz.”

                “You’re just jealous of my toned arms and abs. Bet yours look a mess after number two, eh?”

                “Phedra. Her name is Phedra.”

                Zazzy finally looked at Helen.

                “Fay-what?”

                “No. Fay-drah. Get it right, girl. She’s your niece and you’d better treat her right.”

                “Word ‘round is it’s the muscle you live with’s brat.”

                “Word has been put out incorrectly on purpose.” Helen sighed, frustrated by having to explain herself to anyone for any reason. “I had a night with Trenton.”

                “You kept that quiet, then,” Zazzy turned back to her game after her inattention caused an injury to her character.

                “He didn’t recognize me at all,” Helen was still disappointed that she didn’t recognize his selfishness right away. “For whatever reason he thought my name was Elaine.”

                “He’s still my brother." Again, Zazzy paused. Though this time she kept her eyes on the tv. “Ew.”

                “Yeah, he’s not nearly as toned as you or my ‘muscle’ at home either. So I get the ‘ew’.”

                “Ew, Hel. Just ew.”

                “Why didn’t you ever mention what he was like?”

                “What? That he’s so stuck on himself that magnets are jealous of the attraction? Why bother? Didn’t know you were interested.”

                “Come, on Sha Sha-“     

                “-Zazzy, ugh-“

                “Every girl in school wanted him,” Helen was undeterred by Zazzy’s interruption. If Steve could ignore them, so could she. “When Marcie broke up with him I was hoping to get him for a night and add him to our notes on the boys in school. I didn’t hide it. No girl hid it.”

                “Fine,” Zazzy was truly disgusted. “Whatever. You had your night. Now you have Trent’s kid. Gross.”

                Zazzy turned back to her game. It was an awkward situation at best, and Helen was relieved to see that they weren’t having to force it as they had to right after Cyrus had been born.

                Deciding to provoke Zazzy further, Helen grinned wickedly.

                “You know, we still could add him to our notes. I’ve got measurements and a ranking already-“

                “AAAAAAAH! PlumbBob! No!” Throwing a look of utter loathing at Helen as her character was temporarily overcome by a swarm of the undead. Finally, she turned back to her game, thumbs flying on the controller. “Geez, It’s not like I rated Peter or anything.”

                “Which warms my heart. Truly it does,” Helen feigned misty eyed admiration. “I shall be forever grateful to you for not telling me how well brother Peter cranked your engine.”

                There was no response from Zazzy who was fully absorbed by blowing up zombies. It wasn’t until she had cleared an area that she paused it for the first time since Helen’s arrival.

                “Am I supposed to let it slip to Lily Pad that her husband has been shopping his goods around? Or am I supposed to tell Trent so that you can get your child support?" Zazzy actually remembered to hit the pause button on her game this time.
                “Or do I just keep quiet? Why are you telling me all of this?”  Zazzy had turned to Helen seriously.

                “Keep quiet,” Helen was just as sober. “I’d rather Phedra think she belongs to Steve, the rest of the town too.”

                “Soooooo, you’re telling me only to squick me out?”

                “PlumbBob, no!” An exasperated glance at Zazzy, “I’m telling you just in case. If something were ever to happen someone in your family should know. You just happened to have the safest mouth.”

                “I’m just the only one who would actually believe you,” shot back by Zazzy.

                Helen sighed deeply. She was right. No one would ever believe her, most likely not even Trenton.

                “Though,” Zazzy added thoughtfully. “Though, it would be really nice to get back at that piece of work he married. Can I at least use it as ammo if the bag ever deserves it?

                “Oh, Lily Pad deserves it already,” the bitterness in Helen’s voice made Zazzy back up. “It’s just better if Phedra weren’t involved with either of them. Ever.”

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And… Steve’s name is next time. It will most likely take a bit to explain and this is quite long enough.

Yeah, I know, Helen has balls talking about how selfish Trenton is when she is just as bad. She’s just not quite so obvious about it. I still love her for her sharpness. And she does genuinely love Cyrus and tries very hard, but her mother and father were both the same and she’s learned nothing different. She knows public scrutiny is to be avoided, and thinks honesty leads to trouble. However, if she watched herself in the first place there would be no need to lie.