A Stormy Night

Chapter 20: Glad You're Not

The gang snapped their heads in Alysa's direction as did I. On the edge of my seat, I muttered, "His sister my ass."

Alysa dismissed us with a loud snort. She then turned to Jenaiah. "Uhm, Jenaiah... I-I mean... Mrs. Griffin... J-Jermaine's your son?"

She slowly nodded in response. "Yes," she answered, making all of our eyes widen even more.

"Well, what did you mean when you said he's the black sheep of the family?" I questioned.

Jenaiah's eyes shot down to the ground as she lowered her voice. "My husband... He's a lawyer, and like most TV family dramas, he wanted Jermaine to take law and follow in his footsteps. Jermaine thought otherwise, however. He wanted to pursue the arts, become a singer."

I chocked on my own saliva. "Singer? Jermaine? Really?"

Ignoring my comment, Jenaiah continued, "I didn't used to be this free either. I bet I look like a hippie to you all. But like Jermaine, I have the soul of an artist, too. I didn't know about his father's hatred for the arts until after I married him. So technically speaking, we're both black sheeps."

As Jenaiah finished speaking, a brief silence fell upon us. Hesitantly, I then asked, "Then what happened?"

She started fiddling with the lower part of her cardigan. Gradually, she met my gaze and quietly answered, "He ran away one day. As predicted, his father was furious, and he took it out on me. For every night that Jermaine would remain missing, the abuse would get worse and worse... Until I finally got the courage to divorce his ass."

Mentally cheering for girl power, I tried to stifle a laugh. Jenaiah's so bad ass.

"And I haven't seen Jermaine since." She flashed a weary smile. "But every year I would get a postcard from him. It's kinda nice, I guess."

"C-could we see those postcards?" asked Josh. Immediately regretting having asked the question in the first place, it was to our surprise when Jenaiah nodded.

"Take it to the bin for all I care," she shrugged.

She stood up and walked over to a mint green drawer behind the couch. Taking a stack of something tied together by a thin strand of wick, she handed it to Josh. "Here," she said, dusting off her hands. "I hope that does you some good. It never did for me."

A pang of guilt hit me like a bus when all of sudden and totally unexpectedly, a strange voice sounded from the other room. "Secrets are the foundation of every friendship."

Kait jumped up in terror. "What the fuck was that?!" she shrieked as my heartbeat quickened.

"Relax," giggled Jenaiah before walking into the other room. She emerged seconds later, big, metal cage in hand.

Inside the cage was a parrot, and upon laying my eyes on the innocent bird, my heartbeat stabilized almost instantly.

He squawked, "Everyone's got secrets."

"That's one smart birdie," commented Francis with big eyes full of awe.

"He used to be Jermaine's. They spent a lot of time together, so he picked up some of the stuff Jermaine would say," explained Jenaiah, holding the caged bird up. "Even named him Bunny."

Alysa laughed. "Bunny? He's a bird."

Jenaiah shrugged. "I don't even know why."

Bunny started to sing a tune, earning an eye roll from Jenaiah. "He sings that song all the time, and I don't even know what song that is!" she grumbled. Suddenly, her face lit up. "Say, how would y'all like a bird? It's your friend Jermaine's, after all."

Josh was about to politely decline, but feeling bad for the woman, I immediately cut him off. "Sure, we'll take him off your hands! No problemo!" I beamed with a fake smile.

Everyone stared at me as if I was crazy while Jenaiah simply grinned. "Great!" She passed the cage to me, and I took it, instantly regretting my answer.

"Um, well, it's getting late," Alysa said, standing up. "We best get going."

"Ah, yes, yes," replied Jenaiah. She walked us to the door, and when all of us stood outside, she bid us farewell.

But before I could leave, she grabbed my arm and whispered, "I hope you find your husband. I've heard stories about you, but I was told you were dead. Glad you're not."