Wild Confines

by Shauna Checkley

Table of Contents parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

part 4: End of Days

Like a missing-person case, the last days of summer disappeared into a vibrant autumn. All was Dante’s stunning inferno of color, red, orange, yellow, burnished gold, branches reaching skyward, tips extending and brushing together like the touch of God.

Paris Jade saw a fire softly crackling. Owen felt comfort like a quilt, like homemade soup. The twins squealed in delight. The cats flitted about. They had settled in together as near-family. Though new friends, they felt like old friends and happy replacements for actual kin. Days were seamless, one stretching into the next. It seemed like time had somehow touched down, then come to a standstill. Dissolved.

Holding up a DVD in each hand, Owen said, “Which movie do you want to watch? The Munsters or Scooby Doo?”

“Puppy!” the little girls sang out in their freaky twin voice.

“Scooby Doo it is,” Owen said as he started the movie. Then he dished out popcorn and red creme soda to everyone.

Paris Jade began to rub backs, first Emerald on her right side, then Jewel to her left.

Movie night happened sporadically throughout the week. Sometimes Mondays. Other times whatever evening happened to be the most convenient. That was when coveted treats and rewards were freely dispensed.

On weekends, they had begun to venture into the city to take the girls for recreation, swimming pools, water slides, anything. It was the playful punctuation to end long weeks on the acreage when they kept to themselves like tightly held secrets.

When an older lady flashed across the TV screen, Emerald cried, “Grandma!”

Jewel pointed and repeated, “Grandma.”

Paris Jade fidgeted nervously. “Yes, she’s like Grandma’s age.”

“I want Grandma,” Emerald whimpered. She rubbed her eyes, though no tears were apparent. Her big, cornflower blue eyes became red-rimmed.

Throwing her a knowing glance, Owen’s gaze met Paris Jade’s.

She quickly looked away. Seeing her mother in her mind’s eye, Paris Jade balked at the vision. She loved Shauna, her mom, yet an impasse had come between them like a ruptured, bleeding vein. Jade couldn’t trust her mom anymore, after being watched and reported on. Grandma Shauna was relegated to the dismal ranks of Social Services spy, neighborhood informant, narc. Those were the days, my friend...

When the twins had been put to bed after the movie, the adults regrouped. It was their evening now. As was their custom, Owen poured them each a glass of homemade saskatoon berry wine that he had made.

Thank God those two are finally down, Paris Jade thought. Peace at last. Settling back on the black leather couch, she stretched her short legs out, pink toenails gleaming shell-like.

Calvin and Cordelia, the cats, had hunkered down for the night, curled together on a plush, forest green, cat bed. Calvin snored lightly.

Owen turned the television to the CTV twenty-four-hour news channel. He muted the sound. “It’s sure quiet when they go down,” he remarked.

“Yeah.”

Throwing her a sideways glance, he said, “Say, it sounds like they’re really missing their grandma.” Then he stared at her full on. His eyes sparkled with wonder, curiosity.

Paris Jade saw that he expected an explanation. “Ya, uhh, kids do, I guess,” she agreed.

“Their grandma lives in Regina, right?”

Paris Jade nodded slowly.

“Why don’t we go visit her the next time we’re in town?”

Paris Jade shook her head. “Nah, not now, anyhow.”

“Why?” Owen queried.

Paris Jade was slightly annoyed by what she considered prying. “I’ll tell you all about it later. I just want to enjoy the evening.”

Owen nodded. His countenance lightened as he accepted that for an answer.

Holding up the mason jar cup, he said, “Here’s to kids and cats being down for the night!”

They clinked glasses and laughed. But their mirth was short-lived as the TV poured out surreal images like those from the hand of a mad artist. Scenes of despair flashed across the screen. Stock market plunging. Hyperinflation rising like a runaway balloon. Food shortages forecast as simply as night rain. Outbreaks of one strange disease after another. Earthquakes. Wars and rumors of war.

Sipping their sweet wine, they were like Adam and Eve watching paradise go into the tank of oblivion. The apocalypse will be televised.

Owen frowned, tugged on his beard nervously. “Sure going to hell in a handbasket.”

Paris Jade shrugged. She had almost forgotten about the outer world since she took up residence on the acreage. With this newfound insular existence, the past seemed as filmy and faded as the cobwebs clinging to the outside of her trailer. It hardly seemed real to her anymore: her life as a junkie, her marriage to Rob, dressing and preening like a princess. All of it. Those were the days, my friend... Like a canvas that had been wiped clean, so she felt.

As for the outside world, the moveable feast had become mobile madness. Paris Jade had always just blocked it out, fending off all blows from mass media, current affairs. The world was crazy, and people were, too. She generally just ignored it all, eschewing outer events for her own solitude. Why bother? What’s it all for, anyhow?

Daily living was all she could take; it had enough stressors, like money and mothering. It was enough just to get through her own day. I can’t take on the world’s problems along with all my own. Especially all these end-of-days problems!

Mercifully enough, Owen pointed the remote at the screen and turned the TV off. It all disappeared in a poof and went dark. “Enougha that shit,” he mumbled.

“No kidding!” Paris Jade agreed.

With the twins sleeping and the TV silent, her mood lightened considerably. She decided to divulge about Grandma Shauna. Owen is dying to know, after all. It was just one of many secrets that she doled out ever so sparingly. Pausing to clear her throat, she began: “You were asking about their grandma before? Well, I’ve got a little story to tell...”

Owen shot her a curious glance.

“Yeah, Mom and I aren’t exactly on the best of terms these days. I’m not really talking to her. She had my kids taken away and placed with her. It was all behind my back, and I’m not cool with that.”

“Oh,” Owen said, “I see.”

“So,” Paris Jade continued, “we’re avoiding Granny Shanny these days.”

Nodding, he seemed to accept her explanation. Probably just her wild nature at times. That’s all... Why else? He stroked his beard thoughtfully. So glad that she’s more settled now, Owen thought. Don’t know if I could take another episode like her last one over the whole Lizard People thing.

They quietly sipped their wine until Paris Jade finished hers. “I’m going to go to bed. I’m tired and those buggers are up so early all the time.”

Owen nodded. “Okay, goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

Settling in the spare bedroom as was her habit when she and the kids slept over, Paris Jade was content. They had all had a good night. She had finally confessed about her mom and her past to Owen, at least partially so. Enough for the time being anyhow, she believed. Yet more than anything, she was at peace with the serpents.

Yes, the snakes. Those ungainly critters who haunted her interior as much as her physical surroundings. Thank God, I seem to be at least getting a break from all that! I don’t think they’re even here. They may be confined to the camper, somehow. At least I hope so... But only time will tell. Maybe my prayers have been answered after all. She curled up and fell into a deep sleep.

Peering down at her from the top of the stairs, Owen wondered at the sight. Paris Jade was stretched out on the rumble bed below. Her eyes were shut. But he didn’t think that she was sleeping, likely only just resting. Still, he found it odd that she would disappear downstairs for hours at a time. Why is she so content on holing up down there? Maybe she just likes having some space from the kids, who knows? Or maybe even me, the truth be told. Oh well, better sluggish than agitated.

He had viewed her in different ways just like the demigods of ancient myth. He viewed her through the eyes of the innocent, the romantic, the skeptic. She’s one who always keeps you guessing...

* * *

Shutting the downstairs door quietly, he returned to the kitchen. He was cooking some deer sausage that a colleague had given him. The savory aroma flooded the air.

The little girls were watching TV in the living room: Peppa Pig. Lately, it had become their all-consuming passion. They had seemingly moved on from the retro-cartoon channel. Bye-bye, Bugs Bunny. Such placid and well-behaved children, they needed little supervision.

When it was ready, sausage and buttered buns, Owen called them all to the table.

Though Paris Jade felt guilty biting into the deer sausage, picturing a gentle, skittish, doe-eyed creature in her mind, she marvelled at the taste, regardless.

“Mmm, yummy,” Jewel said, holding the sausage in her hand. Then she licked each finger and giggled.

Wiping his mouth with paper towel, Owen said, “We’re eating kind of late tonight. But that’s okay; we’ll just pretend we’re in Europe and not Saskatchewan.”

“Eat up, girls. Then it’s baths and bed,” Paris Jade pointedly reminded them. Soon they were in the big clawfoot tub with a bib of bubbles on their necks.

After that, Owen and Paris Jade settled in with their nightcap, as always.

He turned on the news channel. Instantly, they were assaulted by an ugly montage of images. Explosions. War machines. Pandemic scenes. The weather like a brutal dominatrix bearing down.

Paris Jade stiffened as her eyes widened. Holy crap! she thought. It’s getting worse out there.

Stroking his beard, Owen frowned. “Seems like it’s getting crazier by the day!”

Paris Jade mumbled in agreement. She could at least in part relate to all the craziness on the screen, because she had lived a version similar to it. Beginning to mentally cross-reference her own life experience, she recalled dumpster-diving for discarded pizza, sleeping rough, Narcan’d at the mall, defecating in a box, panhandling to feed both herself and a stray cat. Those were the days, my friend...

“Do we really want to watch this shit?” she declared

“You kind of have to keep up with what’s going down.”

“I suppose,” she agreed. She found the greater world disconcerting, even worrisome. Her mind immediately flew to her little girls like some hysterical mother bird: What does the future have in store for them? What will their world be like? Just what?

“I’ll just get the headlines quick, then I’ll turn it off,” Owen said

She watched the TV and suddenly felt like she had just swallowed a stone. She was shaken to her core.

Leaning forward, he read aloud the running caption at the bottom of the screen. He picked randomly at his whiskers. Soon his brow was lined. The furrow reminded her of coke lines. He shut the TV off in one decisive click of the remote control.

Sighing, Paris Jade said, “Like I’ve been saying lately, I believe that we are watching the Bible unfold these days. All those wars and rumors of war and everything...”

Owen shrugged.

“Earthquakes. Wild weather. Plagues. Everything.” Her voice trailed off.

Daintily, she sipped her wine. With her spiky pink hair and garish clothing, oversized black T-shirt and silver leggings with a moon print, she felt like some character from Alice in Wonderland holding an impromptu court.

Owen still appeared to her like a shining, angel friend. That was how she continued to refer to him in her head. The shining angel man.

They sat in silence. But it wasn’t awkward, rather, it was that comforting lull that came with familiarity.

Inhaling deeply, then stretching, Owen broke the spell. It was already dark. Dusk had come like a thief in the night.

“Think after I’m done my wine, I’m going to go back downstairs.” Paris Jade said.

Throwing her a curious look, he said, “Say, why are you holing up in the basement all the time these days?”

She paused. “Dunno... Just feels right, I guess.” Taking another drink, she said, “I like it down there. I usually rest or read my Bible.”

Owen nodded. “I get it. Gives you a break from the kids, too.”

Smiling into thin air, Paris Jade continued, “I’ve always been one for special spots. Even when I was a kid I’d go up on the roof or somewhere secret and special. Sometimes into the trees. It just depended on how I felt.”

Nodding genially, Owen considered her. She’s as secretive as a cat, as sneaky too. I better watch this one. She is so slick she could raid the fridge before the light even came on, hahaha. Who really knows what all goes through her head anyhow? She doesn’t say much. In fact, she’s probably being careful not to say much. Be careful what all you divulge.

He knew she wouldn’t steal from him, though. She had already proven herself in that regard. He had no qualms about letting her and the kids move freely about his property.

But there was still the question of mental stability, that elephant in the room. What is her deal with reptiles anyhow? Is she just deeply phobic or paranoid or what? He had never quizzed her on it. Not daring to broach the subject even, he just left the issue dangling in the air like a question mark, like the sword of Damocles hanging overhead.

He was careful to read his favorite blog, Big Daddy Illuminati, only while in bed. Then he was alone and could do whatever he liked. Don’t want to set her off again, that’s for sure... Must be something in those Lizard People conspiracies that trigger her.

He smiled sweetly as he watched her drain her mason jar glass. They exchanged goodnights, and he watched her disappear back downstairs.

Padding along behind her, he watched Calvin and Cordelia go, too. Those two are loving their jaunts to the basement as well, hahaha. What a troupe: Canadian Siren and her feline sidekicks. It’s part Thriller video and Billy Graham Revival. That’s all. Flinging open the hatch to the old fruit cellar, Owen stared helplessly down. What have I done? Omigod, how am I going to deal with this?

* * *

Proceed to part 5...

Copyright © 2024 by Shauna Checkley