Different Circles

They ate dinner a few minutes later, all of them gathering around the dining room table. Sarah had prepared a pot roast, mashed potatoes and gravy, and a medley of roasted squash. There were fresh baked biscuits to go with everything. There was no wine to pair with the meal. Instead, everyone except the teens drank Budweiser from the can. Before they dug in, everyone bowed their heads and Grace said Grace, her voice hesitant and unsure, but she finally was able to spit it out. And then they ate. Jake found the food to be absolutely delicious. He had seconds of everything, including the Budweiser.

After eating, all of the females, including Laura, collected the plates and went into the kitchen to start cleaning up. None of the males made any move to help and when Jake asked if he could, he was given some strange looks and firmly told “no”.

“Okay then,” he said, nodding his head.

The men retreated back to the living room. Jake took his turn holding little Everett, who really was a cute and chubby baby. He had some experience with the procedure, as he’d done his time holding Tabby and Kelvin when they had been this age. For his part, Everett seemed to enjoy being in Jake’s arms and did not fuss.

After the women finished the cleanup, Joey asked Jake if he was up for a little smoke out in the backyard.

“Uh ... it depends on what you mean by that,” Jake replied.

“Cigars,” Joey said. “What did you think I was talking about?”

“I wasn’t sure,” Jake said. “Sure, I’ll have a smoke.” He turned to Laura. “How about you, hon?”

Again, the strange looks were cast upon him.

“Uh ... no,” Laura said. “I’ll sit this one out. You go hang out with the boys. I’ll stay in here with the girls.”

“Oh ... okay,” he said. Interesting.

He, Joey, and Brian put on their sweaters and walked out into the large back yard. There was a decent sized patio out here with an overhead cover. A large firepit was the centerpiece. The makings of a fire had already been laid out. Joey used a lighter to get the fire started and then they all sat down in chairs around it, cold Budweisers in their hands. Joey produced a package labeled Backwoods and pulled three small cigars out of it. He passed them around. Jake looked at his dubiously and then took a quick sniff. It smelled like a cigar—not like one of the Havanas that he habitually smoked, but a cigar, nonetheless. He took the lighter when it was passed to him and fired up. It wasn’t bad.

“I’ve got to ask you, Jake,” Brian said as they puffed away and drank their beer.

“What do you have to ask me?” Jake replied.

“Did you really snort cocaine out of a girl’s butt once?”

Joey just shook his head. Jake gave his standard answer to the question, the same he’d given Chastity earlier. Brian, like his sister, seemed disappointed.

They sat out there for more than an hour, drinking beer, smoking Backwoods cigars, and talking. Jake was surprised to find that he was actually enjoying the experience. Laura’s brother and nephew were good conversationalists and had interesting points of view on such things as politics and popular entertainment. Both were very conservative and saw things through that prism. They were of the opinion that Slick Willie was the worst president since Jimmy Carter and that his policies would bring about the ruination of the American way of life. They were of the opinion that coming off the gold standard back in the day was what had caused all of the nation’s financial problems. Jake did not agree with much of what they were saying, but they presented their points articulately and with some intelligence.

“Does anyone in the family play music?” Jake asked at one point.

“Well ... yeah,” said Joey. “Little Bit does.”

“I mean besides her,” Jake clarified.

“Not as far as I know,” Joey said.

“Interesting,” Jake said.

“How so?” asked Brian.

“Well, I’ve always kind of assumed there was a genetic component to musical talent,” he said.

“A genetic component?” Joey asked.

“That’s right,” Jake said. “You see, my parents were both musicians to some degree. My mom was a professional violinist and my dad plays a pretty mean guitar himself, though he gave up on doing it professionally when he got into law school. Both myself and my sister have natural musical abilities; me as a singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer, Pauline as a singer. And my best friend, Nerdly, who played the piano with us during the Intemperance days, his mom was a professional pianist as well. And Matt Tisdale, the Intemperance guitarist, his dad used to play the oboe and was quite good at it. So, I kind of assumed that Laura’s natural ability as a sax player must have come from some of those genes.”

“Genes don’t have anything to do with it, Jake,” Joey said.

“Why do you say that?”

“Laura’s always just liked music, ever since she was a baby. And when she picked up the saxophone back in school, she took right to it as if she was made to blow the horn.”

“What are you suggesting then?” Jake asked.