Snowblood

Chapter 8: Family Hours

It was after dinner.   In the family room,  Kari showed Peridot, the youngest of her cousins, how to play Pets Vs. Martians on her phone. Aunt Alison and Aunt Maggie were watching a nature documentary on TV, and her other cousins were studying in their rooms. 

"You see, you start off with an  ordinary dog and a cat, Mutt and Kitty. Mutt barks at the Martians to scare them away, while Kitty swats them on the nose, and—." Then the call came, and startled her so much she dropped the phone on Boo's head, since he was curled in her lap at the time. He squawked and flew up to his cat-bird seat by the window.

The caller's name was 'M. Darrow'. That was...really unexpected. She stared at it for several rings, wondering if she should answer or not, wondering what would happen if she did. He hadn't called her in months, not since when he called to wish her  'Happy Birthday' and she had said, "Thanks, Dad. Now all I need is a call from Mom and Drew to make my day complete." She'd felt like a horrible bitch even as the words came out of her mouth, but she just couldn't seem to stop them. He hung up on her. 

If I answer this, I might regret it, but if I don't—I'll always wonder. Who am I kidding? If I don't and he really wants to get in contact with me, he'll find a way, and I'll like it even less. Bowing to the inevitable, she answered.

"H-Hello?" she asked, wishing her voice didn't quaver.

"Hi," came the curt reply. "How are you doing?"

"Okay, I guess," she said. "Better some days than others. So, since I'm sure Aunt Alison tells you all about  how I'm doing, why are you really calling?" She didn't like the mean note that crept into her voice, but she didn't seem able to stop it from coming out like that.

"I've been seeing someone for a little over a year now. I thought it was time you knew about her."

"Seeing somebody? You mean a psychiatrist?" she asked. "Or...a girlfriend?"

"The second," he replied, "Her name is Yukie."

Kari wasn't sure how to take the news. She knew her father hadn't exactly been a monk since her parents split up, but he hadn't had a girlfriend while she was living with him, at least not one she knew about.

She decided to try and be open minded about the woman.   "Sookie?" she asked.   "What's she like?"

"Not 'Sookie', Yukie."   He spelled her name out.    "She's Japanese, a cryologist and an expert in Jian Wu. That's how I met her, at a competition. In addition to Japanese and English, she speaks Mandarin and French."

"That's not what I meant. Those are facts. What's she like?"

"She's not shy but she's quiet. She likes Shakespearian tragedies because of Kurosawa's films. She never drinks coffee. She's very private. Other than Jian Wu and Shakespeare, she does a little painting, now and then, and...I can sleep, with her."

"Well, that last part's kind of the whole point, isn't it?" she sniped at him, because, well, ewww.

Her father was silent for a moment. "This was a mistake. Forget it." He hung up.

"Well, fine!" she snarled at the phone.

Aunt Alison looked over from the sofa and narrowed her eyes. "There's only one person I know of who you're that angry at," she observed.  She was a strawberry blond with blue eyes and tons of freckles, while her wife Aunt Maggie was mixed race.  Both were in their early fifties and comfortable with it.

"Yeah, it was him. He has a girlfriend and wanted to boast about it, " Kari said with disgust.

She was ready to go back to Pets Vs. Martians with Peridot, but Aunt Alison looked very thoughtful and turned to face her. "Really? How long has he been seeing her?"