The Ex Files

The Elephant in the Basement

"Can Hal stay for dinner? Please?"

Hal and Pat were staring at her intently, reminding her of Monty, their family dog when she was a child. He presented himself at the table at every meal, the picture of starvation, waiting patiently for one of the kids to "accidentally" drop a choice morsel on the floor for him. No matter how often her father yelled at him to go away, he would insinuate himself back to the table to beg for just one more scrap.

Tuesday had been another day of lost battles. She had traded her shift at work in the hope of making some progress with Patrick. She had pried him away from his video games long enough to survey job opportunities. He found something wrong with each one. After an hour of threats and promises, he consented to submit a handful of on-line applications. She suggested that they visit the Wildwood Nursery, which requested in-person visits from hopeful candidates. He said that he didn't need his mother to be his nursemaid, and he was perfectly capable of doing this on his own. He drove off and was gone for two hours and a half. When he came back, he smelled of skunk weed.

Another altercation followed, culminating in stony silence broken only by the cacophony of video games. Eleanor went outside and did battle with the weeds in the yard, pretending that nothing unusual was happening. When she came inside to start preparing supper, she discovered that Patrick had raided the fridge. Instead of the pizza pops she had planned, she and Kelly had fish sticks, yam fries, and prepackaged salad. Kelly told her stories about her work at the hospital, and Eleanor laughed at the right places. They did not discuss Patrick, the Elephant in the Basement.

Pam arrived an hour later, bubbling with enthusiasm. She had extended her stay in the mountains and secured a major contract in Banff. The commute would be a pain, but most of the work could be done remotely. If things worked out as expected, her clientele in the area might expand sufficiently to allow her to move there.

"You know I wish you the best," Eleanor said, "but I would hate to lose you. Your expertise is needed here."

"You can be one of my remote clients," Pam said. "And you could use business as an excuse to escape from the city once in a while. Since you have tenants, you wouldn't have to worry about Max."

Eleanor sighed internally and started worrying. Why hadn't she talked Pam into a one-year lease?

She went to bed without checking on Patrick. In the morning, she went to work as usual. When she came home, Hal was in the rec room with Patrick, working on Level 13 of Kryptic Kommando. After they had dispatched the evil boss, they came upstairs with their petition. They couldn't wait to explore Level 14, which neither of them had seen, but they needed nutrition to sustain them.

Two pairs of eyes stared at her, melting her resistance. She knew she should say no, but she was tired.

She opened her mouth to explain that there was more to life than the next level of KK. What came out was, "You'll have to take me for a grocery run."

Hal drove her to Safeway. She got two barbecued chickens, two boxes of instant stuffing, and a large bagged salad which they probably wouldn't touch. Kelly made up a plate for herself and took it to her room. Pam said she had a videoconference, and would be happy to finish any left-over salad later.

Eleanor opened a bottle of wine. This dinner was a temporary truce in an endless war, and she was determined to enjoy every minute. Those two could be so charming when they got what they wanted.