Caught in a Lie
May. 6th, 2005 07:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
horseboykarlAunt June is waiting for us on the porch as I pull the truck into the yard. I’ve brought everybody this time, towing Smokey in the trailer and Ire is in his travel kennel. But most especially I’ve brought Eric to meet June and see the farm. We’ve got a week this time, Eric’s brother is watching his store. I told Éomer when he shifted the last time and just to be sure the message got through, I called Paris to tell him that the horseboys can do without each other for a week. Smokey Joe could use a long run instead of a trot around the pasture and Eric doesn’t take enough time off. I know it’s hard to take vacations when you run your own business, but the man seriously needs some down time.
He gets distracted by her library,as I knew he would. Aunt June is a voracious reader and she’ll pick up just about any book, whether it’s some trashy novel at a jumble or some leather-bound edition at an antique store. I’ve spent many hours in that room, with the floor to ceiling bookcases that Uncle Frank built. That was where I met many beloved friends like Ratty and Mole, and of course Bilbo Baggins. I loved the Hobbit as a child, but I could never get through the boring bits of the Fellowship of the Ring, until I was forced to read it for a literature course at school.
Everything goes great until dinner, which is one of Aunt June’s sear-your-throat Mexican dishes. Her idea of Mexican cuisine is to dump so many chilies into the dish that it’s barely edible. We had to wash every bite down with gallons of beer and iced tea. We were just polishing off the last tortilla when Eric dropped his bomb.
“I was hoping to meet Karl’s cousin, the one I heard about.”
I look at him sharply, but his face is utterly calm. I can’t tell if he’s deliberately trying to trap me or not. Dammit, I’m supposed to be the actor here.
“Cousin?” Aunt June gazes at me. I know that if I begged her with my eyes, she would spin some tale about my cousin who’s regrettably out of town at the moment and salvage my relationship with Eric. She’s never failed to back me up. But if I ask her to lie for me, she’ll lose some of the respect that exists between us. So the choice is her or Eric. I look away. There was never any contest.
Eric looks puzzled. “The blonde one who likes horses.”
“You must have misunderstood. Karl doesn’t have any cousins on either side.”
I take a swig of beer, ignoring both glances. She did the best she could for me, that’s all I can ask her for. Eric gives me a hard look, but is polite enough to drop the subject until we’re alone.
He’s brushing his teeth and I am at the window, enjoying the chilly breeze coming in from the distant sea. “I want to know what’s going on. Who is this cousin that you were talking about when we were at the Fox and Firkin?”
I look down on the long lines of rolling fields. Time to get creative. “He’s really just a friend of mine, but I introduced him to the Rings cast as my cousin. He’s sort of a pain in the ass.”
“Then why are you friends with him?”
“You know, he’s one of those people that you’ve known forever, but you don’t have anything in common with them anymore, but you can’t really ditch them because you have history together.” Sometimes I surprise even myself.
“Right.”
I elaborate, piling it on. “Plus, he’s stepped up for me a couple of times, so I owe him.”
“Uh-huh. And what is his name?”
“Uh . . . Elmer.” Close enough.
“Elmer?! As in Elmer Fudd?”
Fuck, I forgot Eric spent so much time in America. “Well, yeah, but I doubt he was named for a cartoon character.” Because he’s already fictional.
“You mentioned he was in trouble, what happened?”
Now what? I can’t explain that my “cousin” lives in my head. “He . . . uh, he’s having an affair with someone he shouldn’t be, who’s with one of my other friends, and he almost got caught, so I had to smooth things over. See what I mean by a pain?” That should cover it if the horseboys or Paris and Dave run across Eric.
I wrap my arms around him, nuzzling his neck. “He’s got nothing to do with you and me, I promise.”
He turns around, meeting my lips. “All right, I’ll accept it, but it bothers me that you’re participating in deceiving one of your own friends.”
I nod, knowing there is no way to justify myself in this situation.
He pushes some of the hair behind my ear. “There’s a lot I don’t understand about you.”
I can’t say anything, any flip remarks would stick in my throat at this point.
“For instance, why did you live with your aunt and uncle? Your parents aren’t dead, are they?”
“Because my parents are fucking clueless when it comes to me. I was much more than they bargained for and they couldn’t handle me. Believe me, if June and Frank hadn’t taken me in, I’d probably be some drug addicted criminal living on the streets. Giving me to June and Frank was the only fucking good thing my parents ever did for me.”
“But you can’t just give a child away the way you would a set of old clothes,” he protests.
I tense up at that, and his eyes get very gentle. “Oh. I guess you can.”
“Don’t you dare pity me!” I thrust away from him and return to the window. It’s his turn to wrap his arms around me and he rests his face between my shoulder blades.
“I don’t pity you, you’ve got life by the balls.” His hand starts following my treasure trail down into my sweats. “Let’s go to bed, and forget about this.”
I let myself be seduced and I as push up into him, I know I won’t forget this, but I hope he will. Later, he’s breathing heavily in sound sleep and the rest of the house is quiet. It isn’t late by Wellington standards but we were up early to get here and June keeps farmer’s hours. I creep downstairs and find my cell phone.
He gets distracted by her library,as I knew he would. Aunt June is a voracious reader and she’ll pick up just about any book, whether it’s some trashy novel at a jumble or some leather-bound edition at an antique store. I’ve spent many hours in that room, with the floor to ceiling bookcases that Uncle Frank built. That was where I met many beloved friends like Ratty and Mole, and of course Bilbo Baggins. I loved the Hobbit as a child, but I could never get through the boring bits of the Fellowship of the Ring, until I was forced to read it for a literature course at school.
Everything goes great until dinner, which is one of Aunt June’s sear-your-throat Mexican dishes. Her idea of Mexican cuisine is to dump so many chilies into the dish that it’s barely edible. We had to wash every bite down with gallons of beer and iced tea. We were just polishing off the last tortilla when Eric dropped his bomb.
“I was hoping to meet Karl’s cousin, the one I heard about.”
I look at him sharply, but his face is utterly calm. I can’t tell if he’s deliberately trying to trap me or not. Dammit, I’m supposed to be the actor here.
“Cousin?” Aunt June gazes at me. I know that if I begged her with my eyes, she would spin some tale about my cousin who’s regrettably out of town at the moment and salvage my relationship with Eric. She’s never failed to back me up. But if I ask her to lie for me, she’ll lose some of the respect that exists between us. So the choice is her or Eric. I look away. There was never any contest.
Eric looks puzzled. “The blonde one who likes horses.”
“You must have misunderstood. Karl doesn’t have any cousins on either side.”
I take a swig of beer, ignoring both glances. She did the best she could for me, that’s all I can ask her for. Eric gives me a hard look, but is polite enough to drop the subject until we’re alone.
He’s brushing his teeth and I am at the window, enjoying the chilly breeze coming in from the distant sea. “I want to know what’s going on. Who is this cousin that you were talking about when we were at the Fox and Firkin?”
I look down on the long lines of rolling fields. Time to get creative. “He’s really just a friend of mine, but I introduced him to the Rings cast as my cousin. He’s sort of a pain in the ass.”
“Then why are you friends with him?”
“You know, he’s one of those people that you’ve known forever, but you don’t have anything in common with them anymore, but you can’t really ditch them because you have history together.” Sometimes I surprise even myself.
“Right.”
I elaborate, piling it on. “Plus, he’s stepped up for me a couple of times, so I owe him.”
“Uh-huh. And what is his name?”
“Uh . . . Elmer.” Close enough.
“Elmer?! As in Elmer Fudd?”
Fuck, I forgot Eric spent so much time in America. “Well, yeah, but I doubt he was named for a cartoon character.” Because he’s already fictional.
“You mentioned he was in trouble, what happened?”
Now what? I can’t explain that my “cousin” lives in my head. “He . . . uh, he’s having an affair with someone he shouldn’t be, who’s with one of my other friends, and he almost got caught, so I had to smooth things over. See what I mean by a pain?” That should cover it if the horseboys or Paris and Dave run across Eric.
I wrap my arms around him, nuzzling his neck. “He’s got nothing to do with you and me, I promise.”
He turns around, meeting my lips. “All right, I’ll accept it, but it bothers me that you’re participating in deceiving one of your own friends.”
I nod, knowing there is no way to justify myself in this situation.
He pushes some of the hair behind my ear. “There’s a lot I don’t understand about you.”
I can’t say anything, any flip remarks would stick in my throat at this point.
“For instance, why did you live with your aunt and uncle? Your parents aren’t dead, are they?”
“Because my parents are fucking clueless when it comes to me. I was much more than they bargained for and they couldn’t handle me. Believe me, if June and Frank hadn’t taken me in, I’d probably be some drug addicted criminal living on the streets. Giving me to June and Frank was the only fucking good thing my parents ever did for me.”
“But you can’t just give a child away the way you would a set of old clothes,” he protests.
I tense up at that, and his eyes get very gentle. “Oh. I guess you can.”
“Don’t you dare pity me!” I thrust away from him and return to the window. It’s his turn to wrap his arms around me and he rests his face between my shoulder blades.
“I don’t pity you, you’ve got life by the balls.” His hand starts following my treasure trail down into my sweats. “Let’s go to bed, and forget about this.”
I let myself be seduced and I as push up into him, I know I won’t forget this, but I hope he will. Later, he’s breathing heavily in sound sleep and the rest of the house is quiet. It isn’t late by Wellington standards but we were up early to get here and June keeps farmer’s hours. I creep downstairs and find my cell phone.
