Chapter 15: Cycle of Life

Leticia and I became great friends. She was amazed at the way Mom and Jeff accepted her. She was a friend of mine and that was all that mattered as far as they were concerned. Mom told me that black and white were just different parts of the spectrum and nothing to be concerned about. Like someone saying they didn't want to have anything to do with me because I got a sunburn.

They invited her parents over for barbecues several times but there was always some reason they couldn't make it. After the third or fourth invitation, they stopped asking.

I think Leticia was most pleased with Donald. Mr. Johnson was genuinely interested in her stories and got her to be happy with who she was.

Dad's honey was pregnant and wanted to make sure she had him thoroughly snagged, so she made him do what was necessary to make the divorce quick and painless. Well, not completely painless to him. Mom got the house, her car, we were insured for any medical problems, and our college educations were taken care of.

Jeff married Mom and they lived happily ever after.

Mom started to show shortly after she and Jeff walked down the aisle. Knowing Jeff's attitude about messing around before they got married, he had to know the baby couldn't be his. But he took it in stride, acting like the proud father to be, boasting of all the children he and Mom were going to produce. I imagine the two of them talked, but he wouldn't let anyone bring it up. As far as anyone else was concerned, that was his child and that was the end of it.

I think all of us knew the father was lying in bed in the room next to mine, encased in plaster of Paris. And I don't think anyone really cared.

The end of the semester was coming up and we needed to arrange for a replacement class for Yearbook. I chose Health, the one that was practically all sex ed. I think I had the sex part down pretty good, but I wanted to see if I could get any tips on how to get a date somewhere between boring and grabby. I wanted to find someone who loved me, would take care of me sexually, someone who cared enough to keep me in my place. Someone like Wes.

Well, they don't teach that in Health. I can put a rubber on a banana with the best of them. But I still don't have a clue on how to find someone to love.

The months went by and Leticia and I became buddies. Darrel still acted like he had a stick up his ass, but he'd break down occasionally and talk to me. Leticia and I had many talks with Donald and were with him in the hospital when he died. He told us not to cry because he was finally going to be with his Marie, this time forever. A lot of good that did. Both of us still cry when we think about him. But we smile a lot, too. Donald was one of the most caring, honest people I've ever met. If I could find a Donald my age, I'd snap him up in a second.

Mrs. Badger looks more frail every time I see her. Donald was there with her for a few months after her sister died, but now that he's gone, I don't think it will be long before she follows. Call me heartless, but I don't think it will be a bad thing when it happens. There has to be more to life than just breathing. She and her sister were like Siamese twins. Maybe they'll be together again. I stop by once in a while to check on her. We never were close, but I got to know her when Donald was living there. Leticia sees her once in a while, too.

Well, I now have a half sister and a half brother. Jessica was born three months ago and is the reason my father was in such a rush to get a quick divorce. Mom gets her checks every month like clockwork; my father has always taken care of us financially, although his personal connection with all of us leaves a lot to be desired. Mom heard about Jes from the wife of one of my father's coworkers. None of us have seen her. I know she could never be a "normal" sister, so maybe it's for the best. I wonder if she'll ever know that her father has three other children.

Fess was born a month ago and came out screaming. Mom says he likes the tit even more than my brother. And I know how much my brother likes the tit. Jeff is the one who insisted on naming him Fess. He's named after the guy who plays Davy Crockett on Disneyland once in a while. But Jeff says that's nothing, he was great in Old Yeller.

Poor Jaz. He's the odd one out with the weird name. Of course, I'm already hearing about it from everyone, ten times as much as when it was just Wes and Les. Now it's Wes, Les, Jess and Fess. Come to think of it, maybe Jaz is the only one with a normal name.

Unlike my sister, I get to see Fess all the time. Mom is either carrying him around, hanging from one of her tits, or Dad is giving him a tour of the living room or the back yard with a grin a mile wide on his face. I've known Jeff less than a year, but he's Dad, where James Bond is my father. I realize my brothers and I were a nuisance he put up with so he could have my mother. Maybe it was the three of us he got tired of, maybe it was Mom. We've heard that his Teresa, or Bimbo as Mom calls her, is a whiny little bitch and now that she's trapped him she just wants him for what she can get out of him. He'll probably get tired sooner or later and have another ex-wife and child to support. Though he doesn't have to pay Mom any alimony since she got married. Jeff wouldn't let her take it even if he had to. Which shows the kind of man Jeff is, and why he's my dad and my father never will be.

I got a letter a couple of days ago from Darcy. Her brother Bill is now her husband Bill as far as anyone is concerned. They already had the same last name and they have a daughter, so people just assume they're married. He has a job working for a motorcycle shop, repairing bikes. His back acts up once in a while from the shrapnel he took in Nam, but I guess he's so good at his job that his boss is willing to work with him, and lets him take time off when he needs to. Both of them think their daughter looks like the other but they do agree that she's the most beautiful baby they've ever seen. Of course, they haven't seen Fess. Darcy says they tried to figure out a way to name her after my brother because he's the one that got them together, but however they worked it, she'd end up being called Wes and they didn't want that. So, she's Christina Annette, Chrissie to him and Tina to her. I have a standing invitation to visit Oregon whenever I want to.