Huang Mengxi

   Chapter VII

    When the evening came, I saw the Mini Cooper parked in front of the yard. A man got out from one side and then walked around and opened the door on the other side. It was dark outside so I couldn’t see his face. Mom got out, and they walked towards the front door hand in hand. I waited patiently.

    There was a knock on the door to my room, and I heard mom’s voice, “Andy, come out for dinner.”

    I walked out and saw the man standing in the foyer. He took off his navy blue coat, revealing a green plaid shirt. He was talking to mom with his baritone voice. Mom had on a violet dress. The man was really tall, and I had to raise my head to see his eyes. Then mom turned to me and said, “Andrew, meet Dr. Edward Brown.” The man smiled broadly, showing his very white and neat teeth. The beard had been carefully shaved, but there was a little moustache over his mouth. He had an aquiline nose and heavy eyebrows and wore black square glasses. His hair was dark brown. He bent down and offered me his hand. I smelled heavy cologne. The hand was tan and covered with hair, yet too slender for a man of his stature. I gazed at it for a while. Then he took it back and stood up. I didn’t say a word, walked away, and sat on the couch in front of the TV.

    Ms. Davis was allowed a break tonight, so she was probably window-shopping at some fancy place with her boyfriend. Mom and Dr. Brown prepared food in the kitchen. Mom was kneading dough while Dr. Brown was cutting potatoes. His heavy muscles bulged beneath his shirt as he wielded the knife. They were talking, and there was laughter now and then. I turned on the TV so I couldn’t hear it anymore.

    They made lasagna and green peas. Mom let me sit in front of Dr. Brown and then sat next to him herself. Dr. Brown began talking. He was a very talkative man. From time to time, he would direct the conversation toward me by asking questions such as “How is your school?” I made no response, so he moved on from the topic and continued talking endlessly. It seemed he had inexhaustible things to talk about — his adventure on the Alps, his embarrassing encounter with his boss, his college, football, blah blah blah, which mom listened to attentively. She chuckled when she thought she heard something funny. I was infuriated. I chopped the lasagna mom had placed on my plate rapidly and scratched my plate hard using my fork and knife, trying to get mom’s attention. Yet all I could get was a recurring “Andrew, behave yourself” thrown impatiently at me. Then I flung the fork and knife fiercely at the table, jumped up from the table, stomped to my room, and slammed the door.

    I heard mom leave the table promptly, and her chair made a horrible noise as it grazed the floor. Her footsteps sounded boisterous down the hallway. She banged on my door, “Andrew, come out! What are you doing? Where are your manners?”

    Silence.

    “Andrew?”

    I stayed still. She stood outside for a while and finally I heard her walk away. Before long, the conversation went on again in the dining room. I threw myself on my bed, grabbed a pillow to cover my head, and cried noiselessly.

    When I went out surreptitiously to take a shower, I saw mom and Dr. Brown sitting on the couch, mom’s head lying on his arm, without paying any attention to me. The moonlight shining on them made his glasses look extremely white. A cricket was singing the melody of the night in the darkness outside. I looked out of the window on the other side and saw the Alexandria laurel under the pale white gleam of the streetlight, so bright, so blithe that I suddenly had the impulse to plunge into the deep, invincible darkness and never came out. It offered so much safety and security when I knew I could be swallowed by it all and be hidden from every sight. I walked into the bathroom and turned on the tap. Cool, refreshing water poured down my face and washed everything away.

    (To be continued)