“Then what are you doing?” Chris demanded.
“Grandma called me and she says that she is going to commit suicide unless I can arrange a sort of family reunion. I don't want to do it either but as long as we don't end up in the paper or in front of a judge, it'd be a good reunion,” Daniel explained.
“Well, that sounds all comfy and cozy but I'm afraid we'll have to decline,” Chris said.
“Chris, it's your family. And not all of them are bad. Look at Nathan or Daniel. Nathan is a successful international business training manager and Daniel…” Avery halted and looked at Daniel. “Daniel, what do you do?”
Daniel looked from Avery to Chris. “Avery wants to do it, Chris. Come on, one weekend. That's all it is.”
“Avery has obviously forgotten the altercation between us and Stephen,” Chris said.
“My Dad?” Daniel was confused. “What did he do?”
“It was reprehensible!” Chris spat. “It was something that should've been punished to the fullest extent of the law but this is America and apparently do that sort of thing is okay!”
“What did he do?” Daniel asked.
“When we get a full apology, then maybe we'll consider going to a reunion,” Chris said.
“What did he do?” Daniel again asked as Chris led him to the front door.
“Maybe you should ask Stephen and his fags!” Chris pushed Daniel outside and slammed the door.
“Stephen and his fags? This is getting weird,” he sighed.
Daniel arrived back at his apartment to find Lindsay sitting on the top step outside the door. They smiled at each other and Lindsay stood up. “I was wondering how much longer you were going to be,” she said. “I wanted to know if we're still on for our jog tomorrow.” Every month Daniel and Lindsay went for a jog along the river levee. Every jog ended with Daniel and Lindsay tired and sweaty in her apartment; unfortunately it was from the running.
“You could've just called me instead of waiting in a stuffy hallway,” Daniel said and unlocked his apartment.
“I could've but I wanted to talk to you,” Lindsay said as Daniel invited her in. “I wanted to talk to you about this family thing you're doing.”
“That's a valid topic of discussion. Before we start, do you want anything to drink?”
“Soda, if you have it. I want to tell you that I am proud at how mature you are handling this. When all this started I was afraid you were going to act like a child but you've shown remarkable initiative.”
“This sounds like a meeting with human resources,” Daniel said and handed Lindsay a can of Pepsi. “You're not going to fire me are you?”
“So who all have you talked to?” Lindsay asked.
“Just Nathan and Chris, and Emily talked to Nathan. Chris mentioned something that my father did to him and Avery but neither one would tell me what happened. It was very strange."
“I don't know. Did your father ever molest them?”
“Bite your tongue!” Daniel ordered. “My Dad was too busy having extramarital affairs to molest children.”
“Oh. Sorry, I just figured…”
“Well, I take that back. There was that one year where he was too busy marketing and selling Judge's Own Brand Skin Lotion.”
“Judge's Own?”
“It was basically a miracle lotion that did really well in treating eczema and psoriasis and Dad did make a little profit from it but then someone drank the lotion and died. The family sued and normal companies would pull the product, offer an out-of-court settlement and run tests to see what happened but Dad went on national TV during the trial arguing that if you're stupid enough to drink it, you deserve to die,” Daniel explained.
“Oh my,” Lindsay gasped.
“We lost the lotion profit and a lot more. Dark times for the Judge family,” sighed Daniel.
“Having only known about your family just a few days, I am really starting to understand why you stayed away from them all these years,” Lindsay smiled.
“Thank you. That means a lot.”
“But don't think that only your family is dysfunctional. My family can get pretty troublesome too.”
“Really? What happened, your aunt severely burn the pumpkin pie once at Thanksgiving?” Daniel laughed. Lindsay looked down and away from Daniel. “That was my joke guess!”
“Okay, fine! I have the perfect family! Last time I try to bring myself closer to you,” Lindsay huffed.
“I think we're as close as we're gonna get,” Daniel assured. “Without sleeping together of course.”
“Maybe someday,” Lindsay sighed dreamily.
“Well, I'm not doing anything tonight if you…” Daniel was interrupted by his cell phone ringing. “Dammit!” he pulled out his phone. “Hello?”
“Daniel, it's Emily. I'm at Mom's and you should get here as soon as possible!”
“Can't this wait? I'm trying to take advantage of one of my friends.”
“You can do that with Randy some other time. Mom's about to shoot her boyfriend.”
