Hidden in Plain View: Normily 2

Part Two

Part Two : Chapter 1: Dinner With The Kinney's

Sitting at the Kinney dinning room table, Norman can't help, but feel nervous. Robert is at the head of the table doing grace, to his left Cathy, Katie, and Emily. To his right, Sara, John, and Norman.

After grace, everyone busies themselves by eating their spaghetti and passing bread around. Cathy, however stops to examine the story, Norman had used to cover for Robert.

"You mean to tell me. That in the day time, outside of Joe's, a thug beat Norman up and through him through a window and you ended up saving Norman and yet got charged with aggravated assault. But where is the thug?" Robert slowly sips his wine.

"Well.... he has nothing to cover for himself. Norman quickly changes the subject.

"Katie, I hear yer in college for Podiatry. How's that going?"

"Oh... very well I just got my doctorate." Everyone drops their silverware and stares at Katie, who is known to be unmotivated and a procrastinator.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Robert asks excitedly.

"Sara didn't tell you that she got promoted to Vice Principle!" Katie quickly drifts the attention to her oldest sister, who has wiped her mouth off with her napkin and begins.

"It's really not all that exciting. Besides, we have better news anyway.... John and I have been approved for adoption!" Everyone cheers and congratulates her. As they chatter away about Uganda and adoption policies, Norman notices Emily's hand slowly rubbing her small baby bump, almost forlorn like. He rubs his ankle against hers and he looks up and smiles at him.

After dinner comes to a close, Cathy brings out apple pie for dessert. Scooping out a piece for everyone, nobody talks for a bit as they eat. Robert who had been nursing several glasses of wine tonight, pay no attention to the inhabitants at the table.

"You Robert, we are so blessed to have our girls. Think about it. All three are successful and employed. And we did good in steering them away from premarital sex. None of them got pregnant. I think we did this right." Emily sinks in her seat a bit.

"Two outta three ain't bad." Robert slurs into his glass of wine.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Two outta the three things you said is true."

"Robert. Are our girls not successful? Are they not employed?"

"No, they are Cathy."

"Well certainly yer mistaking about premarital sex because none of our girls have or are pregnant out of wedlock!" Emily sinks down more, but it catches no one's attention, besides Norman. "Sara is infertile, Katie has her studies and Emily... Well Emily is pure!"

"Once again, two outta three ain't bad."

Cathy stands up and is fuming. Looking around she glares at each one of her daughters until her eyes find Emily. Then, they land on Norman.

"You son of a BITCH! I will fucking KILL YOU!" Lunging across the table, Cathy breaks her fine china, smashes the pie everywhere and hits Norman so hard, his whole chair goes backwards and it breaks into pieces on the wooden floor. She begins to hole him out and all he can do his hold her a bit away from him with his hands on her waist.

"Mom! Stop! Yer gonna kill him!" Emily, Sara, and Katie all yell. Sara and John try and pull Cathy off of Norman, but she has a good grip on his throat.

"Mom!" Emily scream and is practically crying. Robert just sits nursing his wine and watching intently, not really caring.

"Let go! Cathy! Let GO!" John finally pulls his mother-in-law off of Norman and drags her to the kitchen, with Sara's help. Emily and Katie rush over and help a gasping Norman to his feet. Two hand sized bruises are on his neck and he rubs it, trying to get feeling back.

"Are you okay? Norman? Speak to us?" Emily asks as she brushes his hair from his eyes.

"Yeah... not the first time that happened today." He breathlessly says and Katie and Emily look at each other and then at Robert.

"You? You beat him up today? You put him through Joe's window?! How could you?!" Emily drags Norman outside and her sisters, John and Cathy follow.

"Emily stop!" Cathy calls, half upset and still half angry.

"No! You and him are terrible people! Don't expect an invite to the wedding... or to ever see this baby!" She cries and gets into the rental car and speeds off down the road. Everyone slowly walks back inside to the dinning room. The chair lay in shambles on the floor. The good china in pieces and pie everywhere. Katie and Sara angrily look from Robert and Cathy, who now seem remorseful and ashamed.

"You two are a piece of work. Way to go." Sara drags John out to the back yard.

"Yeah, you two just ruined probably the happiest thing in Emily's life tonight. Really perfect." Katie trudges up the stairs to her old bedroom and slams the door. Robert and Cathy jump at the bang. Sitting at the other head of the table, Cathy stares blankly at the mess she caused.

"We're terrible people Robert. We just lost our daughter, and whatever future we had with her and that baby." Cathy picks some pie off of her shirt.

"Yeah, we messed up a lot."

"Do you think she'll ever forgive us?"

"Better question, will Norman ever forgive us. Emily's kind hearted, but I don't think we can get out of this one Cath." Robert takes another sip of wine, but it's bitter with shame.

In the car, Emily is crying and cursing her parents. She's trying hard to focus on driving, but is simply failing.

"I hate that they acted that way! I hate them! I hate....."

"Emmy, pull over... you can't drive like this." She pulls over and her gets out an opens her door. Unbuckling her seatbelt, he lifts her from the driver's seat. "You don't hate them, Em. I don't wanna here you say that ever again. Sure they shouldn't have acted that way, but they did and you can be angry at them for that, but for yer sake and the sake of out baby, don't hate them."

"Norman, they beat you up. Dad threw you through a window! Mom almost strangled you to death! How is that okay?"

"I call it Wednesday." he starts to laugh and she smiles, but realizes he's still mad.

"Not funny. I'm serious."

"I am too. Listen sweetheart, they love you. Which is why I have this for you." Pulling out her engagement ring, emily smiles as he slips it on. "He gave me his blessing before I bailed him out of jail. He loves you, they're just not ready to see you grow up."

Kissing her, she feels secure and better than before. Getting into the car, Norman drives them to the airport for their flight back to L.A.

The whole flight home, Norman wishes the day would've wen differently, but not for his sake.

For Emily's.