Substance

Chpt. 11 I will be Anything

***Warning: Sexual content/scene below.***

For what it was worth, Veronica and Courtland tried their best to remain as positive as they could regarding the magazine publication. Thus far, it meant nothing but good things for Courtland’s art work. There were a few critics that just liked to see their name in print but Courtland paid no never mind to them. They were undecided on if the story would prove to be a fatal or strengthening test for their relationship. If asked they both would have said that they were ready for anything, they would not hide their relationship or lie about it to people. There was absolutely no reason to. Veronica was just a woman and Courtland was just a man as Arturo Kosinsky pointed out, flesh and blood. They would face whatever was coming, even if they were both afraid.

As she had told her sister, Veronica, went about informing her family that she was indeed dating Courtland and that he would be her date to her sister’s wedding as well as the soon approaching Family Fiesta. But first she wanted to at least give Courtland the chance to win over her parents on a triple date dinner. It would be she and Courtland, her mother and father as well as Claudia and Norm. She made reservations at a restaurant her family frequented often and was elated that they had a handicap ramp for Courtland to enter. It was strange to her that as of recent she had begun paying much more attention to the accessibility of places for persons with a handicap, making mental notes to herself just in case Courtland and she decided to dine there.

The night of the family dinner, Courtland and Veronica were the first ones there at the restaurant. Veronica liked to think that it was because she was practical but Courtland thought it was the best way to introduce him to Veronica’s parents, sort of like tempering. He understood that for some being around anyone with a disability was disconcerting, or just down right uncomfortable. He got that while some people had been exposed to different things in their lives being around a person with disability was like adding a new factor to an already stable element. The best way to ensure that no one would walk into a situation blind was to slowly bring in the new factor so that nothing went awry and he was happy that that was the way Veronica was handling it. Not only for the sake of keeping the peace within the family but also for Courtland’s sake also.

Veronica and Claudia’s parents both tried their best to remain a close family even though each of them did have their own lives to live. They scheduled dinners just to catch up with each other. Mr. Cipriano Varges, Veronica’s father, was a banker and Mrs. Paloma Varges, her mother, was a full time housewife and a part time nurse’s aid at a Senior Citizen’s Facility. Both mother and father had held those same positions for over two and a half decades with a steady dedication that they passed down to their girls.

For as much as the she and Courtland fretted over the evening, it was all for naught. Courtland was just as dazzling, regaling them with tales of his family life. For instance, the time boy twins got into trouble at daycare was he found amusing to himself even still. Then there was the Halloween both sets of twins dressed alike as the twin girls from Stephen King’s inspired ‘The Shinning’ film. Living with five other siblings and having the parents that were as eccentric as Courtland’s was a lifetime of experience that he wouldn’t trade for the world. He liked to talk about his family because they were so interesting to other people and because it answered a lot of questions that some people may not have wanted to ask. Often times, people wanted to know when he took his first step or how his family dealt with his cerebral palsy. On some occasions, it was as if he could read their minds. It was sense that he got from people that they had a question that was on the tip of their tongue that they dare not ask for fear of over stepping some line or offending him. But, like that evening with Veronica’s parents, he enjoyed sharing those small bits and pieces of his life with them. It seemed to him that it was his way of trying to make them believe that he came from a regular family just as they had.