We were in Central Park having a picnic. It was Sunday and it was an absolutely gorgeous day out. I've never really been a big fan of nature personally. The great outdoors have never impressed me much. I found that it just usually led to dirty clothes and broken nails, both of which I consider to be a great tragedy. At least that's what my experiences in the great outdoors had taught me about it. Nell on the other hand loves the outdoors, so since becoming a couple I've made a concerted effort to start liking nature … or to at the very least to become indifferent to it.
"It's alright, I've got it," I told her. She was about to get up to return a stray soccer ball but I stopped her. "My left leg's been numb for the last half hour anyway."
When I returned from retrieving the ball—which took longer than I had thought it would since apparently kids DO talk to strangers—Nell was ending a call.
"Who was that?" I asked sitting back down. She didn't exactly look thrilled.
"It was my sister," she responded putting the phone down. "She wants to see me…apparently we need to talk."
"Like hell you do," I said a bit more harshly than I had planned on.
"Theo," she said placing her hand on my thigh. "She's my sister."
"Only when it suits her to be," I responded in a somewhat petulant tone. "You're not going to see her are you?" I asked suddenly.
"I don't know," Nell responded thoughtfully. I must have made a face or something because she got this nervous expression on her face. "You'd come though…right?" she asked.
"Of course," I responded immediately taking her hand. "I'll go. There's a strong possibility that when we meet I'll kick her dumb ass all the way Mexico. But I'll go," I continued.
"Theo," she said in an admonishing tone, though she was smiling. She doesn't like it when I make threats—even though she knows I'm all bark—but she likes having someone stick up for her, and I live to be that someone.
"Alright," I said in a defeated tone. "You're right. Mexico is too far…I'll kick her ass to Canada."
"You're despicable," Nell said smiling all along.
"Aren't I?" I asked smiling.
After that she shifted so that she was lying down beside me and we drifted into a comfortable silence while looking at clouds. During that time I found myself thinking about the first time I met Nell's sister.
{Nell had been at the hospital for two days and still hadn't regained consciousness. I was both too worried and too scared to even attempt going to sleep and the police were in and out of the room questioning David and I about what happened in the house. David handled the details and the police for the most part, but it was still draining. I had spent every hour since Nell's arrival by her bedside holding her hand, or talking to her. Begging her not to leave me. Then one day the door opened and a woman I didn't know walked in.
"Who are you?" I asked getting out of my chair coming to stand between her and Nell. If she was a reporter I was sure I was going to snap.
"Who are you?" she shot back in a clearly annoyed tone.
"Theodora," I responded. "A friend."
"Nell doesn't have any friends," the woman responded looking past me. Her tone was dismissive and I wanted to hit her. Sleep deprivation brings out the worst in me.
"Maybe you don't know her as well as you think you do," I responded. I already disliked her and I didn't even know her name. "Are you going to tell me who the hell you are?"
"I'm her sister, Jane," the woman responded glaring at me.
"Nice of you to make it," I said in a tone that conveyed I wasn't at all impressed by her late arrival. I must have struck a nerve in that vault she calls a heart because she had the decency to look shamed.
"How is she?" her sister asked walking around to the other side of the bed.
"Unconscious," I responded wearily sitting down.
"Are you one of the insomniacs?" she asked me looking up.
"Yeah," I responded laughing darkly. "I'm one of the insomniacs."
"What happened out there?" she asked.
"I wish I knew lady, I wish to God that I knew," I responded staring at Nell.
"Well," Jane said a moment later. "As long as I'm here I could as well ask. Do you know what happened to the car?"
"Excuse me?" I asked looking up at her.
"Do you know what happened to the car?" she repeated. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Her sister was lying in a coma, possibly dying and she was worried about a car.
"It's wrecked," I told her. "It was smashed up and then it blew up."
"What?" she asked alarmed.
"It blew up," I repeated. "POW!" I went on clapping my hands together dramatically.
"God," she responded slumping down into a chair.
"Oh, and Nell wasn't in it," I told her. "In case it ever occurred to you to ask."
"Who are you?" she asked irritated. "The étiquette police?"
"No," I responded turning my head back to Nell. "Just a concerned citizen with a beating heart."
"The papers weren't even finalized," Jane muttered under her breath. "The car wasn't even hers. We're going to lose some money on this…" she continued before trailing off so that I couldn't hear her. I stared at her as she spoke in a state of utter bewilderment. This woman was unbelievable. I couldn't even fathom how she and Nell could possibly have been born of the same blood.
I reached down and picked up the purse that had been lying next to Nell's bed. I always kept an extra in my trunk, which was the only reason I still had one. Lord knows I wasn't going back into that house for anything after the ambulance arrived. I opened up my checkbook and wrote for a moment.
"Here," I said ripping it off. "This should more than cover the value of the car, plus any outstanding debts Nell owes to you," I continued walking over and handing her the check. "So why don't you take it, pack up your noblesse oblige and get the hell out of here."
She took the check from me and folded it up and put it in her bag before standing up.
"You have no right to speak to me that way," she said indignantly. "I…" mercifully she was cut off by a nurse.
"Is there a Mrs. Richards here?" a nurse asked walking into the room.
"I'm Mrs. Richards," Jane responded stepping forward.
"Your husband's on the phone."
With that the She-demon that is Jane Richards left the room leaving Nell and I alone once again. A day later Nell woke up, and I could breath again.}