Midnight in Suburbia

NaNoWriMo Day 4: Chapter 4 - Ethan Rearranges Holiday Plans

Chapter 4: Ethan Shupe
Rearranging Holiday Plans

Ethan closed his cell phone, placed it in the pocket of his blue flannel shirt, and went back to the picture he was painting. He picked up his camel hair brush, but did not dip it in any of the paint on his easel. Instead, he put the brush down and went into the kitchen. There he opened the refrigerator and took out a can of cherry Dr. Pepper. Opening the can, he went sit down at the table and removed the cell phone from his pocket.

Opening the phone, he accessed his contact list, and dialed Jane's number. "Hi, this is Ethan."

"I'm fine, but there is a change of plans for Thanksgiving."

"Dani called," he laughed. "She's decided to go back to Oklahoma at Thanksgiving instead of Christmas and she want Alice and I to go also."

"Yes, I would like you to house sit my apartment."

"You can bring anyone you want, Jane." He took a sip of soda, "Yes, you can bring your new pet and don't worry about the pet deposit because I've already paid that."

"Alice, is going to move in with me and she has a cat."

"I haven't called Alice yet. She is still in Texas with her father and I'm not sure when she'll be coming back."

"Thanks, Jane." He hung up the phone and dialed Alice's number.

"Hi, Alice, I didn't wake you did I."

"There has been a change in my holiday plans."

"My sister is going to Blackwell to visit Mom at Thanksgiving instead of Christmas and she wants me to go as well."

"I think something maybe wrong, but Dani didn't specify anything in particular."

"She implied that Mom and Aunt Dolly are having issues, so she's going to visit at Thanksgiving this year."

"If you want to meet me in Blackwell on Thanksgiving Day or Black Friday, that would be wonderful"

"I ask Jane to house sit the apartment. I think she's going to bring her latest heart throb and a dog."

"Just bring the cat to Oklahoma with you..."

"Cats?"

"Oh, your father's cat had kittens. That's fine with me, I'll help you find good homes for them."

"See you at Thanksgiving, Alice My Love." He closed his phone and took a sip of the soda.

Going back into his bedroom, Ethan looked at the half-finished picture. In the center of the picture were his parents, Larry and Amity Shupe, with Daniella sitting in an antic oak kitchen chair placed in front their mother and him standing to the left of his father. He studied the picture carefully for a few minutes before. Maybe, he thought covering the picture to prevent it from attracting dust, I should have Mittens curled up in Dani's lap. I wonder what I did with the black and white photo of that cat. His brow wrinkled, Maybe I left it in Oklahoma with Mom, I'll have to find it while I'm there this month.

Ethan sit down on the bed, but he continued to stare at the portriate and the photos affixed to the side of the canvise. His father's photo was taken in 1946 just before he was released from the Arm Air Core, while Amity's photo was take in 1947 just about three months before his parents met and feel in love. The photo of Dani was taken just before she gratuated from high school. And his photo was taken the day after he was discharged from the army.

He had chosen those photos because of their senental value. Every member of the family was young and vital, which was the theme he wanted to use in the painting. He knew that this portatrate could not have been painted when his father was alive. To begin with, his father would never have posed for a painting and Dani would have insisted on wearing a pant suite instead of the poodle skirt she wore in the photo. He had chosen his favorite photos before beginning the painting. It had taken a month to decide on which photo to use and he had to lie to Dani to get her to give him her high school photo.

He knew his mother would like, but he hoped the critics would like it as well. He did not intend to sell this portrate because it was too personal. He still missed his father even though Larry had been dead over fifteen years. Larry Henry Shupe died too soon, everyone had said that, but at the time they never associated his cancer with his smoking or at least none of the family wanted to admit that was what caused Larry's lung cancer. Now the only thing Ethan wanted to do was remember his father as he was before the cancer eat away his lungs and his body.

Why he had not thought of putting Mittens in the picture earlier, he could not say. Perhaps Alice's conversation had brought the cat back to his mind. He did not know and, at that moment, he did not want to know. He just wanted the cat in the picture. As he stared at the half-finish portrate, he thought about the last time he has saw the cat. He could not remember how old he was, but he remember what happened to the cat. The cat died because of a stupid practicle joke played on Dani and him by his cousin Jerry.

It was one of his Aunt Dolly brats that had cause the cat's death. Maybe that was why he wanted the cat in the portrate. Maybe painting the protrate was his way of getting back at Dolly and her brood for all the trouble they had cause his father. Ethan still could not understand why his father had continued to associate with Dolly. Even after she attempted to steal the heirlooms Grandma Hattie had left Larry, he still welcomed her into his house. He just never trusted her. Ethan knew that when he finished the portrate he would send a photo of it to both Dolly and Uncle Harry.

Ethan smiled as he remember how Uncle Henry and his father always bated Dolly. She did not understand why they got a kick out of making her look foolish, but the problem was that neither of he brothers could make her look as foolish as she could make herself look. He would have to deal with Dolly when he went to visit his mother on Thanksgiving because dispite everything, she would show up at the house without an inventation and at the worst possible time.

Ethatn wandered how he would deal with her, he knew he could not just standby and let her be disrespectful to his mother. His father had always mananged to know when Dolly was going to show up and he always had something planned. Ethan remember how his father had reacted when Mittens died. At the time, Ethan and Dani were too upset to understand what their father did, but now he understood why his father had reacted the way he did.

Larry and Henry had stolen all of Dolly's pets, two siamese cats and a gray hounds. Then he had them transported to the Animal Shelter in Austin Texas. The only ones who knew that it was Larry and Henry who stole the pets were Dani, Amity, and him. The letter that his Uncle and father wrote Dolly told her where to find the animals, but by the time she had received the letters the animals were spaid and nutered. Dolly had intended to breed and sell the kittens and puppies, but she could not do that after she found the animals.

She could not even tell the people at the Animal shelter how they got to Texas. She hired a private eye to find out buth he never discovered anything. He questioned everyone who, Aunt Dolly said had a grudge against her, but for some reason he never questioned her brothers or their families. Ethan smiled as he remembered how paniced Dolly was when she found that the animals, her only lively hood she said, were gone. If she ever found out who stole the animals and paid for the spaying and nuturing she never siad, but he did not think she ever found out.

Ethan look at his watch, it was almost midnight, but he knew that he would be unable to sleep if he went to bed then. He could not call Alice because she would be at her father's bedside watching him breath and waiting for him to recover. He got off the bed and went to the closet, sliding the door open he removed his red silk robe. The one he had bought in Paris last year when he visited the Louve. He smiled as he remembered walking through the mussuim, stopping to study the painting, and wishing his would hang on those hallowed wall.

He took his brown flannel shirt off and put on the robe, then he went into the kitchen to brew a cup of tea. He opened the pantry door and took out a canister of loose tea. He frowned, attempting to remember what type of tea he had filled it with last. Oh well, he thought, it really doesn't matter. I'll figure it out when I open the canister. He opened the metal canister and inhaled the aroma of peppermint. He sit the tea on the kitchen counter and filled the tea kettle from the bottle of water sitting by the table. Then he put the kettle on the stove and turned on the electric burn.

As he waited for the kettle to whistle he thought about the painting he was working on. He tried to remember when he had gotten the idea to paint the poratrate. He remember talking to Daniella a couple of months ago, she had suggested he gather some of his painting for a show. She had two other clients who wanted to show their work and they were looking for another artist to share a vinue.

"What were there name?" He had a habit of talking to himself when he was in the middle of a project. He had contacted the pair and they had discussed one of the galleries in Las Vegas or a street display on First Friday in the spring of 2014, but the idea fell through when the pair disappeared without a trace. Dani and Preston still had their art work in storage waiting for next of kin to claim it. "I wonder what happened to them?"

The tea kettle whistled, Ethan measured the loose into his cup and poured the water over it. He smiled when he remember the way his mother maid tea. Amity always used a tea bag. "I guess," he said taking a sip of the tea, "I'll have to show Mom how to use loose tea."