Bad Games

47



Maria Fannelli held a look of both contentment and fatigue. She had her boys and her grandchildren with her, but it was late.

“You getting sleepy, Ma?” Jim called to her, Caleb sitting on his lap in the big recliner.

“A little,” she admitted. “I’m okay though.” She reached over and stroked an equally tired-looking Carrie’s hair.

“You do look tired, Ma,” Arty said. He was leaning against the bookshelf that held the secret camera.

“Oh, but I’m not ready to go to sleep just yet,” she said. “I don’t get moments like this too often.”

“I know you don’t, Ma, but we did get a late start.” Arty pointed at Carrie and Caleb. “And the kids are looking a bit sleepy too; it’s past their bed time.”

Caleb jumped in Jim’s lap. “I’m not tired!”

Jim gave him a squeeze on the shoulder and said, “Good for you, champ.”

Carrie’s eyes drooped, yet still she asked the question that had been her theme throughout the night. “When are my Mommy and Daddy coming?”

Arty shook his head, smiled and said, “You are one insistent piece of work, kiddo.” He walked to the sofa, squatted down so he was eye-level with her, and said, “Why don’t we go find out what’s keeping them?”

Carrie’s droopy eyes lifted and she hopped off the sofa.

Arty held up a hand. “Give me a second first, kiddo. Why don’t you play with Josie?”

Carrie turned towards the doll that had been lying beside her on the sofa. She picked it up and began whispering to it.

Arty went to an antique wooden desk in the far corner of the room and pulled a white iPod from one of its drawers.

“Mom?” he said. “Why don’t you listen to your sounds for awhile? Jim and I are going to go do something with the kids for a bit.”

Maria took the iPod from her son and gave the device a look of resentment. “Oh Arthur, I’ll fall asleep.”

“The sounds are good for you, Mom, you know that. Jim can get you one of your pills.” Arty turned and looked at his brother. Jim immediately picked Caleb off his lap and went towards the kitchen.

“James, wait,” she called.

Jim was already in the kitchen; there were sounds of cabinets opening and a glass of water being filled.

Maria sulked. “Arthur, I really don’t want to go to sleep just yet.”

Jim returned with a pill in one hand, a glass of water in the other. He played his part. “We won’t let you sleep through the night, Mom. Promise.”

Arty leaned in and kissed his mother’s forehead. He then helped her out of the sofa and guided her towards the big recliner. “Just a little rest, that’s all,” he said.

Maria sat and Jim handed the pill and water to her. He too then leaned in and kissed his mother’s forehead.

Maria placed the pill in her mouth and drank from the glass.

“Just for a little while, Ma,” Arty said again.

“You won’t leave before waking me?”

“No, of course not,” Jim said.

Arty took the iPod out of his mother’s lap and fiddled with a few buttons before handing it back to her. “I put the ocean sounds on. I know you like those.”

“They remind me of when your father and I would visit Avalon,” she said.

“I know they do, Ma.”

She nestled the headphones into her ears, leaned back and closed her eyes.

“Good?” Arty asked. His tone was very loud—for a reason.

Maria opened her eyes and pulled one of the headphones from her ear. “Did you say something, Arthur?” she asked.

“No, Ma,” Arty smiled. “Go back to your sounds. I love you.”

Maria plugged the earphone back into her ear, blew a kiss at her two sons, and waved to the two children standing by the family room’s entrance.

Both kids waved back—Caleb’s sincere, Carrie’s an impatient courtesy.

Maria smiled, leaned back in the recliner, and closed her eyes again.

Arty whispered to Jim, “She won’t hear a thing.”

Both brothers turned away from their mother and approached Carrie and Caleb. Arty squatted down in front of the kids and asked, “Okay—you ready to go see what Mommy and Daddy are up to?”