Stay (I Missed You)

Six

Ares knew he was pretty clueless, but even he had the suspicion that things might get super depressing in the next few weeks. He loved his mother, yes, but watching her sign made her seem like a stranger. Her French tip fingernails glistened in the ceiling light as she signed. He remembered the first time when he found out his mother knew ASL.

They were somewhere, a CVS possibly. He was a bit younger, just starting high school since Hebe was in the 6th grade. The whole family was out for some reason, but they were picking something up at the pharmacy. The radio above them played "Torn" by Natalie Imbruglia, and Hera absentmindedly muttered, "I love this song."

"Mom, you listen to music?" Hephaestus asked.

She scoffed. "Of course I did."

"Did? So not anymore."

She looked up. "Well, I'm too busy now to be rocking out. But when I was younger, yes, I loved music. I went to at least 10 different concerts."

Ares's eyes bulged out. "What?! You went to ten? That's so many."

"Yes, kids, believe it or not, I had lots of fun when I was younger. I mainly went with your uncle Hades or aunt Demeter, your father was never the concert lover. He's never been to one."

"Hey now, I saw that band with you in 2005," Zeus interjected.

Hera rolled her eyes. "Bowling for Soup was playing at the halftime show for a soccer game, and you didn't even know they were going to be there. That's the only reason why I agreed to go see that game with you."

"Hmph, you said it was to spend time with me."

"Well, I guess that was a secondary reason." Zeus kissed his wife on the cheek, which meant they were in a good mood. Usually, they would keep their distance.

"Wait, so, you probably spent a bunch of money on concert tickets if you went to 10," Ares continued.

"Well, I actually won most of the tickets on radio shows. I was really good at it because I had a radio growing up," she said with a genuine smile creeping up. "I remember listening to it all day and after school, I went over to the payphone to call in and if I won, they sent a cash prize to me. I got so good at it some of the stations banned me from calling again," she giggled, hiding her mouth with her hand.

"Payphone? Didn't you have a phone at home?"

"No, because...because my mother is deaf." Her eyes were spaced out, his mother's beautiful smile now dissipating.

"So...you know ASL?"

"Yes, I do. Well, did. I actually used to know this song in ASL." Huh, the idea that his mother was secretly bilingual baffled him.

Well, now that he was in the very phoneless house she was talking about, Ares knew that after this trip his family would never go back to being the same. Which was a good thing, he guessed, because they were pretty dysfunctional before. He used to care a lot more as a child when his parents fought, but over the years he got desensitized to the unhappiness in their household. As their firstborn, he got to see the most strife. Ares even called Zeus by his name instead of "dad" for many years, but Hera told him it reminded her more of their troubled family, so Ares stopped out of respect for her. Recently, he noticed his parents were getting along more. It meant nothing, of course.

Hera was in the middle of signing "Linger" by the Cranberries when Zeus tapped her shoulder. He and the children were done with their food, and Rhea had not touched her food. "You need to eat too, Hera."

She nodded, and decided to finish her dinner. Her soup was cold. Her mother sat across from her, her eyes blank. Hera sighed and got up to sit next to her. Eat, Mom. She picked up the spoon with soup in it, coaxing her mother's mouth to open with the metal edge. Her lips parted slightly, but not open enough for all the contents of the spoon to spill in.