Committed

COMMITTED by A.R. Kirby Episode 5 In which we meet the Hoopers. The present Talmadge Hooper was not, by nature, a silly man. Lighthearted, one would naturally agree, but level-headed in general. Most days would find him doing what he did best -- teaching history at the University of Birmingham, seriously debating the finer points of US diplomacy following World War II with a group of uninterested college sophomores. Today, however, was not most days. For one thing, it was a perfect early June afternoon. Alabama’s full-on summer heat was still a few weeks away, and it was cool enough that the windows of the Hooper household were open, letting in a breeze scented with freshly cut grass, honeysuckle, and grilling steaks. Long shadows gathered across neatly manicured lawns where kids from the neighborhood played hide-and-seek and kickball. Lightning bugs flashed yellow-green in the tops of the trees and sprinklers waved back and forth across front yards. For another, Tal was going out for the evening with his wife, Liv, something they did rarely these days. The combination of the the heady summer afternoon with the excitement of a date with his wife cause Tal to become, in a word, silly. Committed by A.R. Kirby While music floated from the Hoopers’ window screens onto the deck and into the yard, Tal danced alone in the bedroom. He was doing a Latin-inspired (so he thought) half-spastic waltz combined with white-man overbite to “Summer Samba” as he tied his necktie. Liv smiled at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, listening as Tal stumbled in (almost) rhythm around the bedroom. Holding a dangling turquoise and coral earring to her right ear, her smile quickly faded. It was replaced by a grimace akin to the one she made whenever Tal farted in the bed. Putting the turquoise earring down, she tried again with one of the pair of silver hoops she chose as a second possibility for the evening. Those also got the flatulence-face. Sighing, she rested her hands on the edge of the tiled white lavatory. “Tal? Come here please!” A moment later, Tal bumped into the door frame after a failed attempt at a spin, and quickly poked his head inside the frame. He grinned at his wife. “Yes, my lamb,” he said warmly. “How can I help you?” Liv looked at Tal pleadingly. “I can’t decide which earrings to wear,” she mock whined. “Help me,” she said, and batted her eyes at her husband. Tal came in the bathroom and snuggled up behind Liv, putting his arms around her waist, and looked over her shoulder to study the two pairs of earrings carefully laid out beside the sink. “This is too easy,” he said after barely a moment’s thought. “The silver ones look so good on you.” He smiled and playfully kissed Liv’s neck. “I knew you’d pick those.” Liv eased herself back into Tal and tilted her head so Tal could have better access to her nape. Seven years they’d been together now, and she still couldn’t get 2 Episode 5 enough of the sensation of Tal’s lips on her skin. “Don’t know why I ever ask you anything, since I always know what you’ll say,” she said, smiling. “You chose those because you gave them to me.” The earrings were a surprise gift from Tal during their honeymoon in Mexico five years ago. Tal straightened slightly. “Did not,” he replied. He picked up one of the small sterling hoops and held it against Liv’s ear. “I picked them because they are a wonderful accent to your hair, and they look gorgeous on you,” he said. He wrapped his arms back around Liv and drew her into him. “Of course,” he added, “it doesn’t hurt that they have great sentimental value.” “Mmm hmm,” Liv nodded. She let herself become halfdazed with Tal’s touch and scent, and eased back into his embrace. She loved moments like these, and to her mind, they were far too few and infrequent. She sighed, and as her eyes fluttered, she glanced unintentionally at the clock. “Shit!” She bounced out of Tal’s arms. “We’ve got to get going!” She picked up the hoops and quickly put them in her ears, then stepped away from the mirror. “So tell me how I look.” “You look great,” said Tal, and he meant it. At age 43, Liv could pass for ten years younger, and radiated a natural beauty that Tal found enchanting. She wore a short but tasteful black cocktail dress that showed just barely enough cleavage and emphasized her shapely, smooth legs. The outfit was out of character for her; she generally preferred flowing skirts and tank tops. Where she would normally be wearing a pair of flip flops, strappy black sandals showed off her dainty feet and her toes which she had polished and painted that afternoon. The dress was accented with a silver cuff bracelet on her right wrist and a small silver chain around her neck. Her long chestnut hair was pulled back slightly and fell between her shoulder blades. Tal’s gaze lingered on her neck and shoulders, then traced a line down to her chest. A sly grin crossed his face. 3 Committed by A.R. Kirby “I mean it,” he told her. “You’re hot. I don’t know know if we’ll make it to the party, and if we do, I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep Lester off you.” Liv laughed. “I don’t think old Laz will be an issue,” she said as she stepped from the bathroom into their bedroom, Tal following in her wake. “Besides, he’ll be too busy...” Angry shouts from the living room interrupted their discussion of Liv’s desirability. She threw a knowing glance at Tal, and the two of them headed smartly out of the bedroom and down the hall to the living room. They arrived in time to see Monica, Tal’s 19-year-old daughter from his previous marriage, turn in the open front door to look back at her stepsister. Her eyes smoldered. “God!” she yelled at Alice, Liv’s daughter and a nearconstant source of aggravation for Monica. “How can you be just sixteen and already be such a bitch!” Monica turned on her heels, skirt flying behind her, and slammed the door hard enough that it shook the room. Tal squatted down and started picking up copies of Yoga Journal and Mother Jones that Monica’s outburst caused to slide off the coffee table. Alice remained cross-legged on the sofa, trying with great difficulty to contain her giggling in front of her mother and stepfather. Toby, the family’s fat tabby cat, purred contentedly in her lap as she scratched behind his ears. “Alice, what on earth did you do to Monica?” Liv strode to the sofa and stood over Alice, fists on hips in full-on mom mode. “Oh, nothing, really,” Alice said, focusing on teasing the small tufts of hair in the tips of Toby’s ears, much to his delight. “I just asked her how her dating life was going.” “I seriously doubt that’s all there was to it,” interjected Tal as he came to Liv’s side. “Let’s hear the rest of it.” A sigh that said “I can’t believe you’re making me do this” 4 Episode 5 came from Alice’s mouth, and she put the cat out of her lap and onto the sofa next to her. He arched his back and stretched, and Alice followed suit with a stretch of her own, finally uncrossing her legs and turning to face Tal and Liv. Toby climbed onto the back of the sofa and sat facing the couple as well, almost as if to get a better view of the proceedings, then began licking his paw. Alice finally looked up and spoke. “Well, I just happened to mention that I noticed she hasn’t had a date in the four months since she and Paul broke up, and, you know, she’s going to the movies with Lisa again tonight, and they’ve been hanging out an awful lot lately, so I wanted to know if she was planning to be a lipstick lesbian or a bull dyke.” Liv rolled her eyes. “Oh, Alice,” she sighed. “Why do you have to be such a little smartass?” “I get it honest,” Alice quickly replied, and the glare coming from her mother made her just as quickly wish she hadn’t. “Alice Marie Byrd,” Liv stated firmly, “that was uncalled for, and I won’t stand for it.” Liv received the look of contrition she was expecting, then quietly continued. “You know what all Monica went through after she and Paul broke up. She’s been having a really hard time of it. I know you think you were trying to be funny, but you were just flat-out cruel.” “I know, I know,” Alice said, eyes downcast. “I didn’t mean to hurt her feelings. I was just picking on her because she’s going out tonight, and I’ve got to stay home and study because of stupid summer school, with just short bus here for company.” She reached back to pet Toby, still sitting on the back of the sofa and engrossed with the hygiene of his back right paw, when he convulsed. If a cat could express dismay through facial expression, Toby did. His look of surprise was interrupted by a second convulsion which caused him to tumble backwards off the sofa. There was a muffled thump as the fat tabby hit the hardwood floor, followed by a plaintive mewing. 5 Committed by A.R. Kirby “God, we’ve got to get that cat a helmet,” said Alice as she turned and dug behind the sofa to retrieve the dazed cat. “Isn’t that right, Mister Tardly?” she cooed as she pulled him back into her lap. “Don’t call him Mister Tardly,” Tal chided. “He’s just a little... well, special. And apologize to Monica when she gets home. She’ll appreciate it.” “I’ll just go ahead and do it now,” said Alice as she reached for the cell phone on the end table. “For God’s sake, don’t do that yet,” Tal said. Alice looked at him questioningly. The girls lived under the same roof since he and Liv married, and Tal figured five years would be plenty of time for the two girls to figure out each others’ idiosyncrasies. He knew Monica would need time to vent – she could hold a grudge for months if she had a mind to – and Tal was surprised Alice didn’t realize that. “Just wait until she gets home,” he said. “If you call her right now, the two of you will just get into it again.” “All right,” Alice replied, and smiled at her mother and stepfather. “I’ll do it when she gets home. Anyway, I’ve got a ton of economics to to finish and I need to cat-proof the room for Toby before he hurts himself.” She stroked the cat in her lap, and he purred. “Thanks, hon,” Liv smiled and kissed her daughter on the forehead. “Just try to remember to be a little more kind to people; you never know when it will come back around.” Liv looked at the clock on the mantel over the small stone fireplace that said five minutes before seven. “We’ve got to go! We’ll be at the Tutwiler, and Tal and I both have our phones. Call us if you need us.” Tal and Liv headed out the front door and into the June twilight. Tal opened the door of the not-quite-yet-old Volvo station wagon for Liv, something he’d done since they first started dating 6 Episode 5 (she loved his chivalrous streak), then walked around the car and got in himself. Tal cranked the car, backed out of the gravel drive, and navigated skillfully through the subdivision toward the highway. Liv loved these early summer evenings in Mountain Woods, the small, older suburb of Birmingham where she and Tal lived with their two teens. Most evenings, she and Tal would relax on the deck in their backyard, and Monica and Alice would often join them to share dinner. Liv smiled at the thought, thinking how happy she and Tal had become during their marriage, and how their life together was what she’d been seeking for years. Her smile became even bigger. After about five minutes of this reverie, she realized that Tal had not spoken since leaving the house. She looked over at her husband, who seemed to be a million miles away. “You okay, hon?” After seven years, Liv could tell when something was on Tal’s mind. This was not the same man who had been stumbling happily around the bedroom twenty minutes earlier. “Did what Alice said about Monica bother you? You know she didn’t really mean it.” “Huh? Oh, no, no, not at all, not at all,” Tal said quietly. “It didn’t bother me, really. I don’t think Alice should have smarted off to you, and I thought those two were past this kind of thing, but I guess everybody gets into it sometime.” Tal. “So then what is it, baby?” Liv turned in her seat to face “I’m just thinking about the future, that’s all,” he said, taking one hand from the steering wheel and laying it across Liz’s. “I mean, if Old Laz is finally retiring, I guess I’ll need to start thinking about doing it someday as well.” “Old Laz” was the nickname given by the history faculty to Lester Lazenby, the 87-year-old Chairman Emeritus of the His7 Committed by A.R. Kirby tory Department at the University of Birmingham. After a 53-year career at the school, Lazenby had finally decided to call it quits, and tonight’s event was to be a celebration of his tenure. He was a fixture at the university, and his moving on was a significant happening in he history of the school. “I mean, think about it,” Tal went on. “Laz had fifty – fifty! – years at the school, and what does he have to show for it?” He squeezed Liv’s hand tightly. “Nothing, that’s what,” Tal answered himself. “Sure, he was published, and often, and once he’s dead and gone the school will probably name a building after him, but what did he do? What’s the mark he’s left? Did he really make a difference? Is the world a better place because of Lester Lazenby and his distinguished teaching career?” “I’m certain he made a difference,” Liv replied as she squeezed Tal’s hand in return. “Think of all the students he taught over the years. He had to make some kind of impression on at least some of them! And then there’s how he helped you when you first came to U.B. You told me you never would have made it through your first year as a professor without Laz showing you the ropes.” Tal sighed, not swayed in the least by Liv’s argument. “Sure, sure, students and all that,” he said. “But is anybody really better off because they delved into Lester’s apparently unending knowledge of the early coal mining history of western Alabama? I doubt it.” Tal paused for a moment, thinking over the statement he just made, then went on. “I just don’t want to end up like Old Laz,” he said softly. “I don’t want fifty years and nothing to show for it except a certificate of appreciation and a gold pocket watch I’ll never use. I don’t want to be that guy. I want this life to mean something...” He hesitated. “I want this life to mean something important.” 8 Episode 5 Liv took her hand from Tal’s and brushed a piece of hair from his temple. She leaned over and kissed him softly on his freshly-shaven cheek, then leaned back in the seat again. “It does, my love, it truly does,” she told him quietly. “This life means everything.” 9