The Calm

dumplings into the mix. Dinner would be ready soon. She glanced over at Linda who was being cautious as she moved through the room. “Linda could you please run over to Mrs. Beamer’s house and see if they would like to come over here to wait the storm out with us?”

  “That’s a good idea mom. Jerry is out of town and she shouldn’t be over there by herself anyways.”

  “I know, and poor little Peggy will be crying for sure if the power went out,” Jean said, nodding at her as if to say goodbye. Jean was ready to cry as Linda made her way over to the door.

  “No one is going anywhere,” Kevin said. He stood up from his chair.

  “Why not?” Linda tensed up, as Jean let out a desperate sigh.

  “Because idiot there’s a storm going on outside. You shouldn’t be crossing the street. Besides I don’t give two-shits about that damn woman,” he said.

  “Kevin,” Jean said.

  “Well it’s true. She’s one annoying woman—next to you two, that is.”

  “But dad we really should check on them just in case.”

  “What the hell did I just say,” he said. “No one is going anywhere. Now you get away from that door before I come over there and—”

  “And what,” Linda said ready to fight.

  “I will hit you girl. You’re not too old for me to hit,” he said shaking his fist at her.

  “I would like to see you—”

  “Now Linda, let’s not start this today,” Jean said, her voice shaking. Linda backed off from saying anything more. Kevin sat back down in his chair. He turned the television up letting the reporter’s voice fill the room with his report on the storm. As he spoke, the rain came down harder. Linda sent a text to Beth as both Jean and her walked over to the window to see if the rain was coming down as hard as it sounded. It was—it was pouring down. Jean could barely see anything outside. The two women looked at each other. “Just be patient, the time will come and you can leave.”

  “What are you two women up to?”

  They pulled themselves from the window startled by Kevin’s sudden intrusion. He looked at them suspiciously.

  “We’re up to nothing. We’re just concerned about the storm.” Jean teased him.

  “Well you two stop acting all silly and get dinner ready. The weather man says that a tornado may hit and I don’t want to be squatting in a bathtub on an empty stomach,” he said. Linda’s phone beeped. She looked at the message Beth sent. She glared up at her father, who was looking at her and the phone. She slipped the phone into her pocket. She walked over to the cabinet, pulled out plates, and started to set the table. Kevin took his seat at his chair waiting for them to finish. He had turned the television toward the kitchen table so he could finish watching the news. He didn’t want to miss a single thing the reporter had to say when it came to the storm. He wanted to make sure he didn’t need to run and take cover.

  The wind and rain hit hard against the house making it creek and groan. Jean thought that the walls were going to cave in on them, but the house held tight. She scooped out the chicken and dumplings from the pot, placing a portion of the meal in each of their plates. Kevin didn’t hesitate to dig into his meal with the bread he snatched up from the breadbasket that Linda sat on the table. He didn’t even wait for her to sit the basket down before he started taking from it. Linda hated him. She hated everything he was and she wanted desperately to leave the house. Why couldn’t she just get up and walk out? What stopped her from doing that—him? Her phone beeped and she pulled it from her pocket.

  “Put that damn phone away right now,” Kevin said, slamming his fist on the table. The table shook and rattled the silverware against the plates. Jean jumped.

  “It’s not hurting anyone,” Linda said. “I’m not a kid anymore; you can’t tell me I can’t have my phone out.”

  “What did you just say to me, girl?”

  “I said I’m an adult and I can have my phone out if I want to have it out,” Linda said.

  “Now, Linda—” Jean said. Kevin cut her off from saying anything else. His face was red and his eyes were bulging.

  “You stop right there! Don’t you try to stop this piece of shit from saying what’s on her mind,” Kevin said, food spitting from his mouth.

  “Kevin!”

  “Shut your mouth woman and let the abomination speak!”

  “Abomination! I’m the abomination!”

  “You heard me,” he said, slamming his fist down onto the table. “Your kind, are a waste in this world.”

  “I’m not going to listen to this.”

  “I knew I should have given you up the day you were born. The day you came up to us and told us about—”

  “Kevin, please stop this!”

  “Shut your mouth! This is my house and I will say what I damn well please and you or HER, will not tell me differently.” His voice roared as loud as the storm raging outside.

  “Please let’s not do this today, please,” Jean said, pleading with them both.

  “You’re dead to me girl. In fact I do believe I never had a child.”

  “Kevin!”

  “Jean I said shut up,” Kevin said, throwing his plate across the room. The plate shattered and landed all over the kitchen. He slammed his fist onto the table again as he stood up from his chair. “Every time I start saying something true you have to jump in and try to stop me.”

  “I’m—I’m sorry. I don’t want you to say anything that you will regret.”

  “Damn you woman,” he said, hold his hand up ready to slap her.

  “Stop right there! Don’t you hit her!” Linda stood up running around the table stepping between her parents as the power went out. Everything went dark, startling Linda. She could barely see her father’s rage in the dark, but she heard her mother whimper behind her. Jean ran off slamming the bedroom door. Kevin mumbled something hateful under his breath as he punched the table again. He walked over to his chair in the living room and sat down in the darkness. Linda stood there in the darkness—in the silence. “You’re a hateful old man. You don’t deserve her. You don’t deserve anyone.”

  “You’re nothing to me and we never wanted you. You were a mistake,” he said. Linda walked out of the room. She knocked on her mother’s bedroom door, pushing it open. Her mother laid on the bed with her face buried into the pillow.

  Jean felt like a little girl again. She was crying because her daddy was punishing her for doing something wrong. It was funny how she ended up marrying a man that was just like her own father. Jean tried to remember what it was like when she first met Kevin. What was it that attracted her to him? She couldn’t remember and actually, she didn’t care anymore. The words of her own daughter echoed in her head about wondering where everyone went. She didn’t want to live like that.

  “Are you okay?” Linda lay down next to her mom putting an arm around her.

  “I’ll be fine,” she said, whispering.

  “You know you can always come with me,” she said.

  “I would be a third wheel,” Jean said.

  “No, you would be free and you could meet someone who will treat you better than that asshole,” she said. Jean appreciated the thought, but she was too old to meet anyone else. Who would have her? The idea of starting over felt like too much work, it wasn’t worth it. Besides, she could deal with Kevin. She has been doing it for so long now, it was nothing—it was a way of life.

  “I couldn’t leave. I’m not as strong as you,” she said.

  “I think you will surprise yourself at how strong you really are,” Linda said. “I don’t want to leave and have to think that you will be trapped here with him. I couldn’t bear the thought.”

  “Then don’t go.”

  “I have to go. I can’t spend another day in this house with him and his ignorance.”

  “I was ignorant like him too,” Jean said.

  “No—not like him. You accept me for who I am and I love you for that,” she said. “Beth and I are going to be happy becaus
e of you. But you can be happy too, mom. You don’t have to live this way.”

  “I know. I know. I just wouldn’t know what to do. I wouldn’t know how to live.”

  “That’s the great thing about starting over. You can make it however you want, good or bad. Besides you will have me and Beth to support you.” Jean smiled. “Don’t even think about it as starting over. Think about it as starting to live.” Jean bit the edge of her finger and shook her head. “Is that a yes?”

  “Yes,” she said, feeling good inside. It was a feeling that she had never felt before—or at least in a very long time. A creek sounded from outside the door. They paused in the silence and looked at each other.

  “Do you think?”

  “I’m not sure,” Jean said. She took a hold of Linda’s hand and shook it.

  “What are we going to do?”

  “We have to get out of the house. That’s the first thing we need to do. Is Beth waiting for you?”

  “Yes, she’s a few houses down. If this storm wasn’t going on, we would’ve been out of here already. It would be too risky for us to drive away in this weather anyways, even if we get out of the house,” she said.

  “But still we would’ve made it that far,” Jean said, feeling confident.

  “Then I say we go. He can’t stop us both if we leave together.”

  “I agree,” Jean said. They rose up from the bed making their way into the living room. They looked around for Kevin, but didn’t see him. They walked over to the door and Jean unlocked it. A beep came from Linda’s cell phone. They froze. Linda searched her pocket for her phone, but it