Good morning and Happy Hump Day! If it's Wednesday, then it must be time for more flash fiction from the Wednesday Briefers! We're a group of authors who bring you our finest flash fiction every week, 500 to 1000 words, inspired by one of our prompts.
Things have taken a strange turn indeed. Who would have ever thought Vinnie and Ethan would be having a heart-to-heart with Joey, of all people? See what's going on in this week's chapter of Bad Karma and the Family Plan. Don't forget to see what the other Briefers are up to! Their links follow my tale! Enjoy!
“What were you mad about?” Ethan asked cautiously. I didn’t look up, afraid to be seen as staring at Ethan’s brother. I wasn’t even sure he’d want to answer the question. But his comment seemed like a cry for help almost. I don’t think I’d ever seen Joey so...what was the right word? Vulnerable. Human, even.
“A lot of things.” Joey sighed. I noticed he never stopped stroking Benny. Not that our pup was likely to complain. He seemed pretty comfortable right where he was. “You. Sarah. Mom. Dad. Heather.” He paused for a moment, and no one broke the silence. “Maybe me most of all, I dunno.”
Wow, that was candor I never expected to hear from Joe Jr.
“I was a disappointment to him. I wasn’t as good as you. He kept holding you up as an example of what I should be. But he never wanted to help me, even when I asked. Too busy being the great and wonderful minister. The saint of Imperial, Georgia.” He paused and I darted a quick glance in his direction. His eyes were closed, and he seemed to be struggling not to cry. I glanced at Ethan, and his expression was rather stricken, as if his brother’s words pained him to hear.
“He even turned me down when I asked to work with him at the church. I thought maybe we could bond that way, but he wasn’t interested. And then he went and hired Heather.” Now his voice held a bitter note. “My own wife. I think he loved her more than he loved me.”
Whoa, what was there to say to that?
“He got me the agency, yeah. My reward for marrying Heather. But then he…then he…” Whatever he’d been about to say became lost in choking sobs that wracked his thin frame.
I glanced at Ethan in alarm, but he was already in motion. He closed the distance between them and threw his arms around his brother and held him while he cried. I wiped my own tears at the sight, feeling helpless to do anything but offer my silent support.
After a few moments, Joey drew back and nodded, as if to say he was okay, and Ethan returned to his seat beside me.
Joey sniffled a little, before speaking again. “I wanted to make you jealous,” he said.
Ethan’s eyes widened, probably in shock. “Jealous?” he echoed.
“Yeah. That I could get such a beautiful girl, and you couldn’t. That was before I knew…well, you know.”
“Yeah, I know,” Ethan said softly.
“And I wanted to show Dad that I was better than you. So I married her for all the wrong reasons. That didn’t mean he had to—”
“Joey, I don’t think,” Ethan began, but he was interrupted by a quiet voice behind us.
“He didn’t.”
When had Ethan’s mother Maureen come outside? And how much had she heard?
We all turned toward her as she approached us, her attention focused on her aching older son.
“Mom, I didn’t mean,” Joey tried to backpedal but Maureen wouldn’t have any of that. She eased herself next to him on the step and reached for her son’s hand.
“It was the perception,” she said. “The appearance. Call it a mid-life crisis, or what have you. It was all illusion. There was nothing there, I know it. But shame on me for allowing it to go on as long as it did without putting my foot down. I failed you, Joey, and I know it.”
“It’s not your fault, Mom,” Joey protested. “It was Dad.”
“It was both of us. And it was Heather. I’m sorry if their pretense destroyed your marriage.” Her voice sounded as if it were full of unshed tears. I was beginning to think we shouldn’t be here for this. Or me, at least.
“No, no, don’t blame yourself. I should never have married her. I didn’t love her. I still don’t. I was just…I was mad that she dumped me like that. Made me feel like more of a loser than I was before.”
“Don’t ever say that about yourself!” Maureen sounded fierce. “You are not a loser. You are my son, and I love you and am proud of you, of all of you. You’re just going through some rough times, that’s all. But you can always count on my support. And your father’s, whether he shows it often enough or not.”
Joey heaved a large sigh, as if he’d just been relieved of the weight of the world, and leaned in toward his mother. She wrapped her arms around him.
That’s when Ethan nudged me, nodding toward the door. I immediately understood. We rose and silently tiptoed back into the house, leaving them alone, with the sleeping Benny sandwiched comfortably in between them.
to be continued
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