Chapter 14- I Believe
Date: Friday, July 7, 1967
Time: 7:58PM
JOSEPH'S POV
"Joe, don't be so harsh on him," Katherine cooed. "He was only doing what he saw was fair, you know that. And he's just a little boy. It isn't like you could really get upset at him for doing something as innocent as that, right?
I gave Katherine the death glare. "Michael said that he wanted to be a shopkeeper later on," I argued. "He can't just sell candy for the price you bought it! That isn't how it works! You won't get any profit if you make things too fair. He doesn't know how the world works, that's his problem." I crossed my arms.
"Don't act like a child, Joseph!" Katherine scolded. "For God's sake, you are just like Randy! So argumentative..."
"I am not argumentative!" I shouted indignantly. "I just have to prove a point!"
"You're proving my point," Katherine replied calmly. "And you're also making a fool of yourself in front of the kids."
"Never mind that. What I'm trying to say is, Michael has an issue with managing finances, that's all." I held my head up high.
"Um, I think there's a much bigger problem with Michael," Marlon said slowly. "You see-"
"Not now, Marlon," I snapped. "I'm sort of busy telling something to Kate, as you can see very well."
Rebbie shot me a stern look. "You should let Mom talk," she told me. Her face reddened immediately. She fidgeted uncomfortably on the floor. It looked as though she was trying to act brave in front of her Daddy. Ha, that wouldn't work, definitely not today!
"Now, you, Rebbie," La Toya said peacefully, "need to calm down. We should never yell at a family member, especially a man."
"Enough of all of you," Katherine snapped. "Please. And Rebbie, could you please wash the dishes?"
I didn't wait for Rebbie's response before carrying on with what I was originally going to say. "Anyways..."
Kate ignored me. "Marlon, what was it that you were saying?" She folded her hands in her lap, acting ladylike. La Toya copied her moves, sitting as straight as she could.
"Well, what was I gonna say? Um.... Oh, yes! I was going to say that Michael has much bigger issues than money management. Did either of you notice that he went to bed over fifteen minutes ago? Plus, Kayla went home early. I mean, I'da thought you'd have seen the two of them. They looked miserable."
"I'm telling you!" Tito exclaimed, his voice bursting through the house. "Michael and Kayla, they have had something going on since she arrived! Kayla is, I just... I don't know, but it isn't good!"
"Shh, Tito!" Kate chided softly, her face folding into a frown. "Keep your voice down! Michael could wake up!"
"That's the thing, Mom; he won't wake up. Trust me, we'd have woken him up by this point if he didn't have issues or something," Jermaine mumbled, worry filling his voice.
"Don't say that he has issues! There is no Jackson with issues," I replied, my face scrunched up. "Not a single existing Jackson."
"Mom, Dad! Just watch!" Jackie motioned for us to head into Michael's room. I was about to tell him off, but I followed when Kate stood up to check up on him.
Inside the boys' room, Michael was fast asleep on Marlon's side of the bed. H was turned over on his stomach, lightly snoring away. One hand was holding on to the bed frame, and the other was draped over his back like a blanket.
I snickered. C'mon, the sight was pretty funny!
Jackie cleared his throat a few times. He cracked his knuckles and straightened his back. After a few seconds, he said, "Ready," aloud to everyone.
Jackie and Tito proceeded to scream at the very top of their lungs, almost to the point where glass would break. In the meantime, Marlon and Jermaine played pat-a-cake as loudly as they could, and Rebbie clanged dishes together, screaming "Cotton Fields." Even Janet got in on the fiasco, banging two small pots together.
Michael didn't budge even a millimeter. There were no sounds, no stirring, no nothing; he was sleeping away, as peaceful as he could be.
"Wha-.......... What's going on?" I questioned. "What's, I mean, how, I? I don't even...," I couldn't even put a phrase together. Someone was asleep through all of this, yet they were still breathing? This was unheard of! I had never seen anything like this.
I heard a knock on our door, despite all of the hustle and bustle in my own home. "Joe, what in tarnation are your children doing?!"
It was Elijah. He didn't sound all that happy, either. He was a mad Elijah. I gulped, fearing him a little. I may be strict and rule with an iron fist, but Elijah was so tall that I was afraid he would pulverize me to a liquid pulp.
I shivered, wondering how I should handle this approach. As I neared closer to the door, the knocks got louder and louder and louder... I honestly thought that he was going to knock over our door. That would certainly not be good.
I calmly opened the door to see Elijah's fuming face in front of it. As collectedly as I could, I asked, "Um... good evening, fellow neighbor, how may I assist you on this fine July-"
"Cut the crap," he told me, his eyes blazing. "I want to know what exactly is going on at your house. My Kayla went to bed early tonight. I swear, if she's up because of you and your rascal family, I will-"
"KAYLA!" I shouted, accidentally interrupting the big guy. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell, Elijah, my buddy. But... I have one request."
"It better be a good one," he replied, tapping his foot. "What is it?"
"Okay, first off, I wouldn't act so rude to your main source of income. Second, we're buddies! Lighten up. And third, which is my real favor... May I please bring my little raucous, I suppose, to your house? I want to test something... Please? I'll give you a dollar." I crossed my fingers, hoping that Elijah wouldn't think of me as a total idiot.
"Dollar first, then I'll let you in." He was a lot more lenient than I figured he would be. I sort of deemed Elijah to be the type who wasn't too forgiving. He may be, but I wasn't entirely sure yet.
As you can see, I call him my longtime buddy, but we don't know too much about each other.
I fervently shook his hand. "Oh, thank you, thank you! Here, I have my dollar right here-" I pulled a bill out from my pant pocket- "and I'll be over in a couple seconds."
It only took a few seconds to round the boys up. Once we were in the Wells household, we filed our way into Kayla's room. Inside, I met the lady whom everyone called 'Grandma.' She rushed out of the room, saying that she didn't want to hear the explosion that was bound to occur inside. After that, it was just me, Kayla, and my boisterous family.
Elijah gave me a thumbs up from outside of the house. I knew that it was time to conduct my experiment. I faced my four boys, simply saying, "Let's try this, shall we?"
Within a second, they were all back to screaming as loud as they possibly could, making up strange sounds and adding them to the mix of the unintelligible speech. I looked around, looking for any signs that Kayla could be awake.
Not even a budge. Kayla stayed in place, just breathing as carelessly as she previously was. I walked up and poked her in the arm (which Elijah wasn't too fond of). There was no reaction. She carried on with her sleep, not even noticing that anything was wrong.
I turned to my boys, signaling for them to quit the racket. They simply stared at me. Some eyes were curious, others convinced, and others sarcastic. "Well," Jackie sassed, "do ya believe us now?"
I simply stood in place , unsure of what just happened. I didn't know whether or not to call this a phenomenon or some other strange occurrence. I felt like... I didn't know what to feel.
So, I nodded. "Yes," I uttered, "I believe you now."