A Fun Family Reunion
by Douglas Young
Part 1 appears in this issue.
conclusion
They ate together in a room with other college- and high school-aged kin. For a short while, folks discussed the big blowup, but conversation soon shifted to other subjects.
Oliver was thrilled that his favorite uncle had excoriated his least favorite relative, and in public. Even more satisfying was how swell he and his comely cousin were getting along.
But just as he was about to renew the conversation with Rhiannon, his second most reviled relation, Cousin Macy Keener, sat opposite them. The same age as he and Rhiannon, Macy was partial to embarrassing her shyer relatives with personal questions. She particularly enjoyed the energy produced by arguments, and especially delighted in personal insults.
“Well, look who finally deigned to grace us with his presence again, the ever-kind Cousin Ollie.” Macy smiled at him. “After not seeing you for so many years, we figured you were just way too good for us.” Rhiannon’s enlarged eyes turned to Oliver.
“Aw, a mighty Happy Thanksgiving to you, too, Miss Macy,” he replied as a now tense Rhiannon looked back and forth at them.
“Still writing your little articles for the school paper?” Macy asked.
“Don’t worry. They’re only for folks who read,” he answered as Macy chuckled and Rhiannon now smiled at him.
“Still living at home with Mommy and Daddy?” Macy inquired.
“It’s a whole lot cheaper than getting an apartment or dorm room,” Oliver noted. “Not all of us have parents who can bankroll our living expenses.”
“Ever thought about staying in your dad’s fraternity house? You do know he was a Delta Kappa Epsilon, don’t you?” Macy asked. “Mom tells me he was quite the big shot there in college. So did you ever think about pledging your old man’s fraternity?”
“Now there’s a thought that never crossed my radar.”
“Just as well,” Macy remarked. “It’d be right embarrassing if Daddy’s fraternity rejected you.”
“Oh, wait.” He smiled. “I just thought of a frat house I might actually pledge: Who Kappa Cares?”
Rhiannon almost spit out her food laughing.
“Still think you’re a comedian,” Macy remarked. “How’s that working out for you?”
“It keeps me regular,” he replied. “Hey, I bet you’re in a sorority.”
“Jealous?” Macy replied with raised eyebrows. “Changing the subject, have you seen Edward today? I think I recall y’all having a few choice words the last time you bothered to show up.” She smiled. “I haven’t seen him today, and I so hated his having to miss last year’s reunion. He’s always been my favorite cousin.”
“Oh, yeah, Mr. Man-Bunned Beta Boy. I’ve seen him riding on the back of his girlfriend’s little motor scooter.” Oliver observed with a smile as Rhiannon bit her lip but still could not keep from laughing.
“Mr. Snide are you, huh, Ollie? I should pity you, but you make it kinda hard.” Macy then turned to Rhiannon who looked at her plate hoping to be left alone.
“So how are you doing, Miss Rhiannon?” Macy asked. “Enjoying school? We didn’t know whether you’d be able to join us this year. Been anywhere interesting of late?”
Oliver wished Macy were a man so he could throw his plate at her. The sardonic smile on Macy’s face as she looked at Rhiannon made him livid, but he decided to channel his anger. Rhiannon looked at Macy with unreserved contempt but, before she could answer, Oliver spoke: “Still a proud virgin, Macy? At the last one of these I attended, you bragged quite a bit about that. Of course, you were still in high school, and I imagine things have changed quite a bit since then, huh?”
Rhiannon smiled at Oliver and then Macy.
“There’s our true Ollie,” Macy declared, now angry and upset she had lost her composure. “You know, maybe the real reason you’re so bitter is staring right at you in the mirror. Ever think about that?”
After a brief pause, he replied, “I think we live on a small blue-green planet in an obscure solar system of a minor galaxy, and you need a really strong laxative.”
Rhiannon laughed openly and Macy quickly picked up her plate to move to another table as other cousins in the room either smiled or frowned at Oliver.
“Wow,” Rhiannon remarked as she turned to him. “I’ve just witnessed not one but two verbal smackdowns. Bravo, Oliver.”
Oliver savored a rush of endorphins enhanced by the admiration of his new favorite cousin.
“I’m really glad you’re here,” Rhiannon said to him in a soft voice.
“After what she said to you, if she were a man, I’d a-slugged her.”
Rhiannon smiled at him for several seconds before eating again. Other than her parents, she was hard pressed to recall the last time someone had stood up for her like that, and she reflected that this was already the best reunion ever.
After the guests finished eating, many gathered in the den to watch an annual Thanksgiving football game on TV.
“Are you going to watch the game?” Rhiannon asked Oliver as they threw away their plates in the kitchen.
“I don’t cotton to watching brain damage, much less cheering it on,” he replied.
“I’m not a fan either,” she noted.
“If I thought Uncle Lewis and Cousin Gideon might tangle again, I’d hang around,” Oliver stated, “but they seem to be scrupulously avoiding each other. I guess Aunt LaDonna gave them strict orders.”
“Too bad. I was hoping for more fireworks,” Rhiannon added.
“Me too. But looking at the backyard gives me an idea. How’d you like to go to the woods where we all used to play, and head to the river where we fished and swam years back? I used to love all that when we were growing up, but I haven’t been back there in years.” Oliver looked at her hopefully.
“Let’s do it,” she enthused.
Amidst the cacophony of conversations echoing through the house, they quietly went out the back door and walked across the yard into the woods, where they soon found the old trail leading to the river. With most of fall behind them, each step brought the crunch of dried leaves. For the first time since they met late that morning, there was no chatting between them as they each scanned the trees while inundated with memories of playing Capture the Flag and war games.
Soon they reached the riverbank where they had fished and swum as children. The big white pine tree on the water’s edge still had an old tire hanging from a large limb, and Oliver climbed onto the tree trunk stretched out over the current. He turned and offered his hand to Rhiannon who took it to climb carefully onto the trunk and sit beside him with their feet dangling just above the water.
The river was embraced by a variety of trees and bushes on both sides. The pair marveled at how quiet the place was, in contrast to all the other times they had been there in the company of so many children.
“I wish there was a place like this where I live,” Rhiannon remarked.
“Me too,” Oliver agreed. “This is the way to get through family reunions. Arrive just in time to eat and then come here.”
“It works for me.”
After absorbing their surroundings, they each looked down at the water. There was another silence and neither knew how to proceed. Finally, Rhiannon spoke: “I guess your mom told you where I’ve been lately. From Macy’s remarks, I reckon everyone knows.” She sighed and looked in the distance.
Touched she would broach the topic with him, yet not wanting to say the wrong thing, Oliver finally decided he would just be honest, ever more confident she would understand what he meant if his words came out wrong. “Folks wish you all the best, Rhiannon. Mom told us to be extra nice to you since she heard you’d had a really rough time lately.”
“Is that why you’ve spent time with me today?” She looked at him.
He looked back at her, blinked, and thought for a couple of seconds.
“No, it’s been right fun hanging out with you. In fact, it’s a sure smiler knowing there’s at least one other person at these events who’d rather be someplace else. And you get most of my jokes.”
She chuckled as she leaned back a little, resting her hands on the tree trunk.
“Are you feeling better these days?” Oliver asked looking at her.
After a pause, she turned to him. “Yes. I got the help I needed, and I am doing better. Not great, but definitely improved. I’m on medication now, and the shrink says I may need to take it the rest of my life, which kinda sucks but, if it helps, so be it.”
“That’s great if it makes you feel better,” Oliver offered. “So what if you have to take some pills?”
When she didn’t answer but stared at the water, he hesitated before reflecting she had shared far more than he had, and he concluded he could trust her. Mainly, though, he wanted to help her feel better.
“You think you’re remotely the only one at this dinner taking nerve pills?” He turned to her.
“No, just maybe the youngest.”
“I’ve been on anti-depressants since I was fifteen,” he stated quietly.
She looked at him and blinked a couple of times. He returned her gaze and then looked up, at the limbs above them.
“Have they worked?” she asked, still looking at him.
After a pause and now looking at the water, he answered. “I don’t want to kill myself as much. I sleep better. Things just don’t seem as bleak, or at least not as often.”
“That’s good,” she said softly. “It’s the same with me. They’re not a cure but seem to help me get through the day better.”
“Same here.” He turned to her and nodded.
“You see a shrink, too?” she asked.
“Yep. Once a week.”
“Beat you,” she chuckled. “I see mine twice a week.”
“I was seeing mine twice a week.” He smiled.
“Maybe we just need to be like Aunt Madina and share all our problems with whoever will listen,” she stated before chuckling again.
“Only narcissists complain about their lives to others,” Oliver declared, looking down at the river. “The truly troubled stay quiet. We know if we ever frankly shared our woes, we’d be abandoned, to boot.”
The smile left her but she continued looking at him as he stared at the water. He regretted sharing that last thought and hoped he had not soured their time together.
“I wouldn’t abandon you,” she stated.
He felt as if his whole body was hypnotized and recalled how much he used to enjoy a warm bath. His head felt dreamy and he wished the sensation would never leave. When he turned to Rhiannon, she held his eyes and soon smiled. He decided not to think but just follow his instincts.
When he moved toward her mouth, she extended herself to him before their lips met. He delicately cupped her shoulders and she embraced him. Since neither had much experience kissing, they traversed each other’s mouth slowly.
After a while, he peeked to see her eyes remained shut and quickly closed his as well. When it felt like they had been kissing a long time, he gradually withdrew his tongue and smiled. She smiled back and took his hand. He thought he felt the slightest tremor in hers.
Rhiannon leaned her head on his shoulder and put her arms around his waist as he placed his left arm around her and leaned his head atop hers. They did not say anything for some time, content to gaze at the water.
Rhiannon could not remember when she had felt this tranquil and desperately wanted the feeling to last. How she had longed to find someone other than her parents and psychiatrist in whom she could confide. She had even stopped dreaming of finding a romantic soulmate. Whatever became of this relationship, she was grateful for the moment and did not want to say or do anything to lose it.
Oliver had never imagined anything like this could happen on this day, and he had long had little hope of ever finding a girlfriend. It was liberating to feel so connected to someone, and all the more remarkable with someone he had never known well or thought of romantically. Neither of them said anything for a long time, but neither felt uncomfortable.
Then Oliver smiled. “Hey, we are second cousins, right? So all this is legal, at least in this state, correct?” he said just before laughing.
Rhiannon grinned at him. “I’m already ahead of you, Oliver. We are second cousins indeed. So there’s nothing remotely smacking of incest.”
“Good to know. Thanks. And you know, it might be advisable to get off this limb. If we went back to the reunion all drenched, that could prove a little awkward.”
“I definitely hear you, Cuz.”
“Um. Maybe we should stop calling each other that,” he suggested.
“Agreed.” She giggled.
Unable to think of anything to say, and suddenly seized by the fear that they might not meet again for another year, he kissed her more passionately than before. She responded in kind and they held each other a long time.
When he began to stroke her hair gently, she could only recall her mother doing that and worried she would cry. Noticing the lengthening shadows, Oliver looked at his watch to confirm it was now late afternoon when the guests would be leaving, including his family. He showed his watch to her. “I hate to end this, and God knows I really do.” He sighed. “But folks may start looking for us if we don’t head back soon.”
“Right.”
He carefully stood and helped lift her up. They held hands as they walked back into the woods. Soon she had his hand in both of hers and leaned into him. They embraced and followed the trail together, each marveling at how much prettier the woods seemed now.
Just prior to reaching the edge of the woods within sight of Aunt LaDonna and Uncle Mooney’s house, Oliver spoke. “If we don’t want tongues to wag, now’s the time to let go of each other.”
“Indeed. I think we’ve got enough on our plates without that as well,” she added.
“But if you’ll please give me your phone number, I’ll text you mine.”
“Sure. Thanks,” she replied.
He put his arm around her again, took a picture of them smiling, and texted it to her. They walked into the backyard before entering the house, where they found that most of the guests had already left. When Macy walked by and saw them enter the backdoor together, she wrinkled her brow and slowed down to look at them. Rhiannon gave her a grand grin, prompting Macy to look away and pick up her pace.
“There you are,” Rhiannon’s mother commented to her daughter with relief. “I was starting to worry about you, dear. We’re all set to leave.”
Oliver’s family was ready to go, as well, and had begun to wonder where he went. When it was time to say goodbye, there was a brief, awkward moment before Rhiannon and Oliver hugged.
On the ride home, Rhiannon’s parents were delighted to see their most troubled child look out the window, smiling.
In the Thompson family car, Dorinda turned around to see Oliver looking content while he surveyed the landscape.
“Aside from that unfortunate business between Uncle Lewis and Cousin Gideon,” his mother declared, “what a delightful reunion, and I want to thank everyone for being so sweet to Aunt Madina and especially to Cousin Rhiannon. Oliver, I even saw you give her a goodbye hug. That was so sweet of you, dear. Bless her heart. She could likely really use a friend.”
“As could I,” he responded.
“Well,” his mother concluded with a contented smile, “it sure was a fun family reunion.”
Copyright © 2024 by Douglas Young
