Truth Is Like the Sun

Chapter 4

"No," AJ exclaimed, just as Carol Ann had feared and predicted. "I don't wanna talk to him. You never said that I had to talk to him, just that I have to go."

"But I'd like for you to talk to him," Carol Ann tried, knowing that he still did thrive to please her more than anything despite his climbing age.

"Why?"

"Why so you can ask him some things that might be on your mind n' things like that. Then tomorrow you can go right on home like I promised you."

AJ cocked his head to the side. "So you won't make me?" He stressed the word 'make'.

Carol Ann sighed. "Boy, do I have to make you?"

AJ gave a nod of the head, his face devoid of any humor or emotion in general. She would have laughed at this in any other circumstance, but there was nothing even slightly amusing about this situation.

Carol Ann took a deep breath, steeled herself and then said, "Alright, Aaron, I will make you."

"And then I get to go home tomorrow? Before breakfast?"

"After breakfast."

"Breakfast in the car," AJ suggested, pushing for a more slated compromised.

"We'll see about that. How about you read for another while now so I can talk to Elvis?"

"Neat!" AJ pumped a fist in the air before grabbing his book.

"Use the actual light," Carol Ann chided when he reached for his flashlight, which was still held captive by her hand.

"Yes, Mama," AJ intoned. Carol Ann made her way out of the room, lingering in the doorway to watch her youngster pouring over his book for just a moment. Ever since Elvis had resurface everything seemed to be a struggle. She was the one who had to be calm and controlled while everyone around her expressed their emotion. Someone had to stay rational and her mother kicked into irrational mode at the mere mention of Elvis, Elvis had a temper that rivaled any other and AJ happened to be a child.

It had to be her. She was the one to mediate between them, to pacify them, to act as though she wasn't just as hurt as the rest of them. Like many things in her life, it wasn't a choice but a necessity.

Carol Ann closed AJ's door behind her and then went off on a mission to find Elvis. Last thing she knew he had gone to take a shower.

Her mind drifted from 'shower' right back to that one faithful night. The way the water made his naked chest and shoulders glisten in the dimly lit room. The way he stared at her, his gaze so intense that she wondered if he was looking at her or right through her.

He pulled her in the shower and they made love. She had been so naive to think that she couldn't get pregnant if they did it in the shower and not quite sure if one could get pregnant the first time, anyway. Nobody ever taught her anything but abstinence until marriage and she couldn't evem blame them because that's how things were back then. A lot could change in ten years.

Carol Ann still felt guilty about having enjoyed it. One should not enjoy sin. Everyone said that the first time wasn't anything special. It just made her wonder how spectacular the second time would have been.

Forcing herself to banish those thoughts, Carol Ann searched the house for Elvis, finally finding him downstairs in the living area.

The small TV across from the couch was the only source of light illuminating the room. He sat stiff as a statue, wearing only a pair of loose fitting pants. He didn't like being shirtless, he'd told her what felt like a lifetime ago. It made him feel self conscious though there was nothing to feel self conscious about, now or then.