January to January: A Journal

May

May 4

Hen called in the middle of the night (or should that read: "early today"? Same thing). I woke up, disoriented, barely grasping at the remnants of a dream about Rabbit God. I woke up to find Terrence spooning me, and his soft breathing audible. We were under silky sheets, his bed. He had on an innocent smile and looked younger in sleep (as if he didn't need to have that extra effort to be all seductive as in wake-time). He must have been having a nice dream (he was like me too: he forgets his dreams the moment he wakes up...well, except when it involved me and Darcy in it). I smiled as I remembered last night's "encounter" in which Terrence insisted we try "something new." That usually meant incorporating yoga moves into sex. Yoga and sex seemed to go well together, I must admit. But as always, sex with Terrence was...okay, let me just give you some imagery: sex with Darcy was like eating cotton candy in a fair while walking hand-in-hand with your date. Sex with Terrence was like riding the biggest and fastest roller coaster ride in the same fair. Got the drift, Journal? With Darcy, the vanilla sex suited me just fine. With Terrence, it's always something unpredictable. I've learned what buttons to push for each of the men that drove them crazy: Terrence liked sex sounds and dirty talk (very auditory), Darcy liked to explore by touch and liked being touched too (very tactile). I guess it was worthwhile to have waited some twenty-odd years before "exploding into the scene," so to speak. Gave me some ideas; observation had its merits in lovemaking.

But enough about the mind-blowing sex, let's get back to Snow Queen Henrietta. So I was wondering a.) why she's calling me, b.) why she's calling at midnight, and c.) did somebody die? Answer? "Almost" letter c.

"Harry," she intoned. Like a monk, or a death knell.

"What?" was all I could manage back.

"Ma's been admitted. She's here in the hospital where I work. Come in the morning when you can. Also, if you can get a hold of your brother, tell him to come too."

First thought: why's Ma hospitalized? Second thought: "your" brother? Did something happen between Hen and Hector (yes, we're all "H's" because Pa's English name is Henry. It was supposed to be a lineage continuity kind of bullshit)?

"Okay," I said, and she hung up without further ado.

Terrence began to stir beside me. He's usually a deep sleeper. "Who's calling?" He stretched like a cat, accentuating his graceful, delicious body (I'm starting to absorb some of Terrence's vocabulary, too). I had a naughty thought of igniting his lust again with some flirting (he liked it when I initiate sex), but stopped myself to respond, "Hen."

"What did she want?" Terrence asked, almost mumbling, and burying his face on the pillow, attempting to return to Dream Land. His back was smooth and muscular, not a part of his body was not...delicious (I ran out of adjectives to describe him, okay? Give me a break!).

I turned on my side, facing his back and said, "Ma's been hospitalized." Like it was saying, "Tomorrow's going to rain."

Immediately, Terrence's head went up, and his whole body seemed to convulse. "What?!"

I was surprised that he was surprised. He never liked to talk about family, so I never brought up my own family too. We only knew what the rest of the coven knew about each other's family lives (substantial knowledge, actually, but not enough to elicit this reaction). He was agitating the bed, turning around and trying to find his underwear (why he would care to be decent now of all times escaped me).

"What are you doing?" I asked, irritated.

"Getting dressed so we can go to the hospital, what else?" he was panicky.