Chapter 25

My father went to help my mother get up from the floor. He hugged her, trying to console her. Without touching the curio cabinet, or trying to set it back to an upright position, he led my mother off to their bedroom. By that time, Kate had run into her own bedroom. I could hear her crying in her room, and my mom crying in hers. I started pulling out different cups and saucers from inside the smashed cabinet. I found three unbroken cups, and seven saucers that hadn't been damaged. Two of the saucers matched the unbroken cups. I started removing all of the bigger pieces of porcelain that remained inside the cabinet. While I was down on the floor, balanced on my hands and knees, I noticed another cup lying on it's side, halfway across the room. It was my great grandmother's best cup. It was a painting of her own son and daughter, they were holding hands in some famous park in Budapest. There was a bridge across the Danube River in the background. I quickly went over to retrieve it. It was my mother's favorite, and somehow, it had escaped being damaged, even though it had rolled around on the floor for all that distance. I also found the saucer that belonged with it among the seven undamaged ones.

I took the set over to my parents' bedroom and knocked on the door. My father came and opened it, so I handed him the porcelain cup set. He smiled when he recognized it as my mother's favorite piece. He took it from me, smiled at me, his way of saying thank you, and shut the door once again. In a few moments, I could no longer hear my mother's sobs. Right after that, my mother stopped crying, or else started crying less loudly.

I phoned Denise before it got to be too late to call her, and told her there was a big family emergency that would keep me from coming by to see her the next day. She asked about the emergency, so I told her that we had gotten some very bad news about a family member, and the whole family was very upset. After the phone call, I went and knocked softly on Kate's door.

"Kate, it's Larry. Let me in." She didn't answer me, just continued crying as loud as she had been before. I tried the door, but it was locked. "Kate, open the door. I need to talk to you." I waited another few seconds, and then I heard her moving to the door. There was another delay, but then she opened up her door. I walked inside her room, shutting her door behind me. I gathered her into my arms and hugged her tightly to me. She immediately started crying even louder than she had been before. I led her over to her bed and sat her down. I lifted up her legs and set them up on the bed. "Move over, so I can lie down here with you."

Kate moved over, and I got on the bed and took her back into my arms. We just lay there like that, with her crying, and me hugging her and trying to give her the comfort and support of my love for her. Sometime, a long time later, Kate fell asleep. She was all cried out, but she still would shudder in my arms occasionally. About fifteen minutes after I started hugging Kate, my father opened Kate's door to check on her. Seeing that I was with her, he smiled, and turned off Kate's bedroom light. I'm sure he checked the house, making certain that all of the lights were off, and then returned to comfort my mother again. I spent the night with Kate. Whenever she would start to move around or fidget, I would rub her back, whispering to her that it was all going to be okay. I didn't really believe that, but what else could I say?

Saturday morning I woke up, still fully dressed, with my arm around Kate. She had one of her arms draped across my chest. I lifted it off of me gently and got out of the bed. I went out into the hall, heading for the bathroom in order to take my morning piss. That accomplished, I brushed my teeth and went off in search of some breakfast. I noticed right away that someone had cleaned up all the mess in the curio cabinet, and that it was standing back in it's usual place. One of the door hinges was broken loose, and one of the curved glass windows was broken. Other than that, it seemed okay. Of course, it seemed pretty empty inside, with only two cup and saucer sets sitting on the one remaining, unbroken, glass shelf.

I went into the kitchen, both of my parents were sitting at the kitchen dinette drinking coffee. I went over to my mother and kissed her on the cheek. I sat down next to her.

"Anyu, I'm sorry that all of your beautiful things got broken."

"They aren't so important, Laurant. How is Katinka?"

"Still sleeping. She was crying for a long time, but she finally went to sleep."

"You have to be with her, Larry. She will need you to get through what is coming. There was something else that I didn't tell Katinka last night. Clara tried to kill herself yesterday afternoon. She is in the hospital. She took her mother's sleeping pills."

It is difficult for me to recount how this news affected me. It was almost like someone had kicked me right in the heart. There was a strong physical sensation centered right in my chest. I must have gasped, or reacted in some other physical way, because I could see the concerned look on both my parents faces. I knew that I had to say something to them, something to reassure them that I understood what they had just told me. Instead, of doing that, I just started crying.

Clara had always been such a sweet and giving person. It was her that people turned to when they were troubled, taking advantage and comfort from her being so serene, reliable, and stable. Clara was probably the last person I would have imagined to attempt something like this. I couldn't even imagine the amount of scorn, abuse and other crap that must have been heaped upon her, in order to make her decide that she no longer wanted to live. My sadness was mixed with an increasing feeling of anger and rage. In so many ways, Clara was the best person I had ever known. I wished that I had told her how much I admired her when I still had the chance. With all that had taken place, it was doubtful that I'd ever see her again.

"I should be the one to tell Kate. It would be better if she hears it from me. Did Clara's mother say how Clara is doing now? Can we find that out?"

"Clara will be fine. They are going to keep her in the hospital until they find out if she is all done with her foolish behavior."

"I'm afraid for Kate. She really loves Clara. She might try the same thing."

"Don't say that, Laurant! No, don't even put those words into the air. Katinka would never do such a thing, never."

"Why are you so sure? I'm telling you, Kate is much more likely to do something like that than Clara is. What is so terrible about what Kate and Clara did? Who are they hurting? It isn't anything that you need to try and put a stop to. It isn't like they have some disease, it isn't going to kill them. It is you parents who cause them so much pain that they feel like they don't want to live anymore. Mind your own damn business, before you kill Kate!" My mother slapped my face so hard my head snapped around until I could see Kate standing there, in the kitchen doorway. I got up from my chair and went to her. I led her back to her room before I told her what Clara had done.

Kate didn't take the news about Clara's suicide attempt very well. The first thing she did was start blaming herself for what happened. Next, she wanted to rush down to the hospital and force them to let her see Clara. In the end, she just broke down and cried even harder than she had the night before. This time, I cried along with her. I didn't cry as hard or as long, but I cried for Kate as well as for Clara. Maybe, I cried a little for myself, and for my parents too. We sat on the bed and held and rocked each other for a long time.

I started talking to Kate, telling her that she needed to get control of herself so that we could plan for a way for us to see Clara again. I was through feeling sad and hopeless about the situation. I wanted to do something to put Kate and I more in control of our own lives. If this meant we had to sneak around behind our parents backs, so what? They felt fine about acting against our wishes in order to advance their beliefs and interests. Kate and I would do the same to advance our own beliefs and interests. It was an important time in my journey to adulthood. Before, when I had gotten into trouble, it hadn't been a case of me rebelling against my parents. Now, when I got into trouble, it wouldn't be for vandalism or fighting. From now on, I was going to plan my own agenda, and act on that plan only. If my parents didn't approve of it, let them do what they wanted to. I told Kate that I was through with letting other people tell me what I should do, or how I should think.