LILY, Chapter 4
the fly
Chapter 4/ The Fly
Lily said, “My mom is looking for a new job. Want to know why?” Lily was sitting on Joe’s sofa with Otway beside her. It was warm and stuffy in Joe’s house because he didn’t like air conditioning. She was rubbing the crown of Otway’s head. The dog seemed to be asleep. A fly was circling the room.
Joe was in his recliner with a can of soda pop watching a baseball game. He had a bet on the game.
“You probably already know my mom quit her job, but don’t worry, we can pay the rent. She is looking for a new job. Don’t you want to know why?”
A fly landed on Joe’s shoulder.
“I don’t have to be in the wedding anymore because there isn’t going to be one. It got cancelled.”
Joe shrugged off the fly.
“Grandma Grace is happy because she never liked Larry. She had her suspicions from the start. Because he drives around in that little red car. It’s a two-seater. Grandma Grace says no man who drives around town in a two-seater is ever going to be a good family man. That is the only kind of man anyone should marry.”
The fly landed on Lily’s wrist and she waved it away. It disappeared for a few seconds and then reappeared on Lily’s arm. She jerked her arm and made it fly away.
“If Mom had married him, I probably would have been sent away to a private school. Because Larry didn’t really like kids. I could tell. Some men are like that. Mom would have moved in with Larry. And I would have been sent off to some school. And Grandma Grace would have had to get an apartment someplace and a job too. And you would have had to rent out our house to someone new.”
Joe climbed out of his recliner and stood up because his team had just got a hit and now there was a runner on first.
Otway woke up and rolled over on his side so that Lily would scratch his stomach.
“The reason I don’t have anyone to play with today is because my friends have the diarrhea flu, but not me. Raven has had it for two days. June Mae got it last night. Her mom had it too, but now she is over it, but so far her dad hasn’t had it. Mom and me and Grandma Grace haven’t caught it either. You are lucky you don’t have it because it is horrible.”
Joe growled at the TV. A good hitter was at bat. The runner was making the pitcher nervous.
“Did I tell you my tooth came out this morning when I was eating breakfast? My loose tooth. Want to see it? I have it here in my hand.” Lily raised her hand which contained a tissue which was wrapped around the fragment of tooth. “It’s still a little bloody, but it’s just dry blood.”
Joe expressed no interest in Lily’s tooth. His team was behind one run, but a runner was on first base and the best homerun hitter on the team was at bat. He had two strikes on him though.
With her index finger, Lily probed the spot where her tooth had been.
“Grandma Grace says if you get knocked down, you have to get back up. Even if your heart is broken.”
The homerun hitter struck out and Joe said a bad word. He sat down in his recliner again.
The fly flew past Lily’s face and she waved at it.
“Because of what happened, which was a complete surprise, my mom is depressed and crying all the time, but at least she is applying for new jobs. She could go back to the drug store and work for them again. They’re always hiring. But it pays better to be a receptionist, so she will probably get a new job doing that. But she will never work for Larry again because he is a dirty cheater. She doesn’t ever want to see his ugly face again, ever. She even gave him back the engagement ring. She threw it in his face. It was a diamond ring and everything.”
The next hitter hit a pop fly which was easily caught, which ended the inning. Joe took a sip of soda pop.
“If you promise not to tell anyone, I can tell you what happened. It was because of Jessica. That’s why my mom had to quit and why she and Larry are not going to get married and why she is depressed and crying and everything. Jessica is Larry’s new hygienist. She’s younger than my mom.”
The fly landed on Otway’s leg. The dog twitched his leg, and the fly flew into the air and vanished.
“I’m sure another dentist will hire her. If she even wants to work for another dentist. That is what Grandma Grace and I tell her. Or she could be a receptionist for like a doctor or something. Or like a lawyer.”
Joe yawned.
“You want me to kill that fly? Just tell me where you keep your fly swatter.”