Truth Is Like the Sun

Chapter 9

"Tellin' the kids to wash up is a mama thing."

"Yeah." Elvis suddenly turned serious, his eyes glazing over with liquid as he stared at the sizzling meat and inhaled its smell. "I'm thinkin' about my mama a lot now. I do all the time but...I just wish that she could've seen em. The boy looks just like me and Lisa...my mama never had a little girl of her own to love."

Before anything else could be said, the invisible bubble that had formed around them burst when AJ and Lisa came barreling out, their clothes now stained with water.

"Did you kids splash water on each other?" Elvis asked in his best imitation of a stern, fatherly voice.

"No Elvis," AJ said.

"No Elvis," Lisa echoed, causing Elvis to frown.

"You sure don't call me 'Elvis', little one. You call me Daddy. I'm your Daddy." He beckoned Lisa over to sit on his lap. Meanwhile, AJ stayed rooted on the spot.

"So, don't you wanna eat?" Carol Ann asked her son.

"Sure," AJ mumbled.

"Are you...do we gotta go inside and talk?"

AJ swung his head from side to side. "I want chicken and corn and potatoes and a burger."

"And probably a tummy ache later," Carol Ann quipped, running a hand through the mess of his hair. "Here's yours, sugar." She handed Lisa a paper plate with two small wieners. "You want somethin' else? Some ketchup or-"

"I got it," Elvis cut in, one hand on the edge of the plate Lisa precariously balanced in between two hands. "Put it down."

And for the first time today, it was blatantly obvious that they were nothing but strangers. Carol Ann took care of her son and Elvis of his daughter. It was the way it should be, the way Carol Ann had assumed it would be, yet something about it was inexplicably uncomfortable when everything had been fine just moments ago.

Would the children still care to play together after they had eaten? Or would they no longer want to due to the tense atmosphere?

It was such a little thing, really, the way Elvis did not consider the phrasing of his light scolding to Lisa. It probably wasn't the first time this had occurred, but the circumstances were different and Elvis seemed to have realized this belatedly. Now it hung in the air, understood by everyone but Lisa, but no one dared to mention it and possibly make things worse in the process.

Just moments ago the children could not stop talking to each other, but now they picked up on the sudden discomfort of their parents and silently ate their food instead.

"Can I be excused?" AJ asked once he devoured his food. "I needa muck out."

"Yes, go ahead," Carol Ann said. Elvis, still in the process of polishing off a second burger, raised a brow at her in askance. "Elvis, just let him muck out."

"Can I muck out too?" Lisa piped up.

"Uh-uh," Elvis mumbled around a mouthful a food. "You stay here."

Lisa threw herself back against her chair and sighed dramatically. "No faaaaair," she drew out, then turned to Carol Ann. "Are you done?"

"Yes, I'm done," Carol Ann told her with a smile. She hadn't been able to eat much due to the tension, but was glad that at least everyone elses appetite appeared to be unaffected.

"Will you play a game with me?"

"Sure." It came out automatically. There was no reason to refuse the request. There was no point in starting the dishes until Elvis had finished and AJ would be busy for a while. "Did you bring any games?"