In the House of Spite Ch. 09

"Sorry, Pa. This isn't your jurisdiction." She shrugged. "I like working with those nice girls. I don't want to leave them missing a worker."

He ruffled her hair. "Alright. If anything happens, call me."

***

Andrew Nathan could crawl all on his own. When supported, he could put his weight on his legs. He had a few budding teeth and several teething rings available. He ate a little bit of mashed food every day. He recognized his name. Peek-a-boo no longer interested him. He was a healthy, growing baby boy.

Crystal was visiting this day, her baby happily crawling around on the floor. Pearl was kneeling there, watching him with a smile as Darren and Crystal chatted.

"Why don't you bring her to church?" Crystal asked at one point.

"She doesn't really like going," Darren argued.

"Well she needs to go." Crystal looked down at Pearl then. "Why don't you go to church?"

"I already said she doesn't like going to church," Darren said with a huff.

Reaching over to lightly stroke the baby's soft head, Pearl said, "It's just not my thing."

"Church should be everybody's thing." Crystal put her manicured hands on her hips. "Didn't her parents take her to church?"

"I don't live with my parents anymore." Pearl was watching the baby pick up a toy and examine it. "I live with Darren."

"Then he needs to make you go to church."

Pearl looked up at Crystal's pretty face with wincing eyes. "That's not his jurisdiction."

Darren shrugged and leaned back in his seat on the couch. "I can tell her to cook my supper but I can't tell her to go to church. That would get me the worst screaming fit since that time Mama went after Mr. Audrey." That was an old story Pearl had heard a while ago. Once, when Darren was a child in school, a teacher dared to call him a half-monkey.

"A screaming fit about going to church?" Crystal rolled her eyes. "That's just childish."

His arm bending back to rest on the couch's back, Darren made an uncaring gesture and said, "It's more like a screaming fit over being told to do a religious thing when she doesn't want to. This is America. You can't tell a grown ass woman what religion to be a part of, not without someone wanting to beat your ass."

Crystal tried to keep arguing, but Darren held a hand up and told her if she didn't drop it, he'd ask her to leave. Still a bit snooty, Crystal scooped up her baby and got ready to go. Pearl tried to hold her smile in place but when Crystal was out the door the frown had returned. In her experience, most Christians weren't rude like that. Most Christians minded their own business. But this one had been a judgmental bitch.

"I don't want to be mean to your family," Pearl said as she locked the door, "but if she'd kept that up you'd have to hide the baby." Her nose rose and her hands went to her hips. "Babies shouldn't have to witness murder."

"You don't mean that." He flicked the tip of her nose with one of his fingers. It itched a little. "You only get physical when someone puts their hands on you. I'm more worried about you losing your voice."

Pearl shrugged. "I'll let the dogs back in."

She was fooling around with Play-Doh in the kitchen later. She didn't really get to play with it much when she was a kid. Her mother had gotten tired of all the mess it made. This kit she'd gotten had a Disney Princess theme. There was a big plastic princess figure with a wide skirt. The dress had molds for shaping decorations, like festoons and bows. It reminded her of 18th century Rococo things.

Darren walked by, and he seemed to think this scene was charming. He rubbed her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. He even asked her if she was going to mix the colors. "No way," she told him. "One you mix them, they can't be separated."

"If my family knew how much of a kid you are, they'd wonder if something was wrong with you." His laughter shook Pearl's form, and he bent down to nuzzle her cheek.

"Your sister already thinks something's wrong with me."

"The church thing?" His fingernails drummed on one of her shoulders. His lips smacked a bit. "She just thinks if you don't go to church it's a bad sign, like ... uh ...?" His voice floated away. His hands left her. "It's just what she thinks."

Pearl shrugged and didn't think anything more on it.

***