grumbles about, and her dresses are always out of the latest Vogue.
Under all that, she is definitely family. She greets us with a smile as bright as my mom’s, and turns it full power on Lee. “What a pleasure to meet you,” she says. “So you’re the one turning my nephew’s head.”
“None of the running backs he’s faced have managed to,” Lee says.
Ania looks to me as she says, “How charming.”
“Football humor,” I say. “A ‘swivelhead’ is a guy who has to keep turning his head because the player he’s supposed to be tackling is running past him.”
“Oh, I see.” She plainly doesn’t. “So how did you two meet?”
He tells variations of this story three times in my hearing that night. “We went to the same college. I was a football fan, he was a player.”
“And how did you start dating?” Aunt Mariya wants to know, later.
“Well, I had to talk him into it.” Lee smiles, aware of Uncle Roger over her shoulder and the cup of buttered rum Roger’s holding in his paw.
“I bet you did.” Uncle Roger is not as big as me or father—not as tall, that is. He’s as big around as both of us put together. “I bet you were real fuckin’ persuasive. Foxes.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Lee lies with a long fox smile.
“Be polite, Roger, or he might put you in the hospital, too.” Aunt Mariya doesn’t sound like she’d mind all that much. She probably wouldn’t, from what I’ve heard about their lives since my cousins went off to college.
“Where are David and Darlene?” I ask, to head off drunk-Roger trouble.
“College,” Roger stifles a belch. “Hey, is Kingston going to be back this season?”
That’s to me, about Fisher. “He wants to be, yeah.”
“That bear’s doing okay for him. What’s his name, uh…” He scratches behind his ear.
“The cubs get Thanksgiving off, of course.” Mariya sighs, maybe at her children, maybe at her husband’s belch. “But Darlene is at her boyfriend’s, and David and some friends are flying to Hyeong-Kin. Adventure holiday package.”
“They better not come back with the clap,” Roger mutters.
“Honestly, Roger.” Mariya half-turns. “Why don’t you get another rum and see if you can make a complete fool of yourself?”
“Great idea.” Roger totters over to the kitchen.
Mariya beams at us again. “So you got together against all odds. How romantic. It’s so nice to see a young couple in love.”
Lee smiles. I look down at the floor. “The more I got to know Dev,” he says, then and again, to Gregory, later, “the more I wanted to spend time with him.”
Gregory, with Marta on his arm, is a little smaller than I am. An inch or two away in height, but he hasn’t spent the last five years bulking up his frame. The difference is only really apparent when we stand side by side. In my head, he’s still my big brother, so I get this uncomfortable awareness of his aging when I see him.
I used to look forward to being his height, to doing the things he did. Now, for the first time, I’m scared of the day when I’ll be that thin, a little hunched over, and constantly flicking my eyes around the room like I’m worried some tackle is going to jump out of the china closet and knock me down. It wasn’t this bad at Christmas, the last time I saw him in person, and he didn’t look this bad on his commercial, though of course then he was in a suit and sitting behind a desk.
Marta responds to Lee first. “That’s sweet,” she says.
“Yeah. Course, back then he couldn’t really keep a girl around.” Gregory eyes me, slides his glance to Lee, then over my shoulder. “Yeah, football player on campus gets a lot of action, but this is the first time he brought someone to Thanksgiving in like five years.”
“Well,” Lee says, “for the last two, he hadn’t been able to tell anyone who he was dating.”
Gregory’s face looks like he just ate a lime. “Personally, I’d be okay not knowing,”
Under all that, she is definitely family. She greets us with a smile as bright as my mom’s, and turns it full power on Lee. “What a pleasure to meet you,” she says. “So you’re the one turning my nephew’s head.”
“None of the running backs he’s faced have managed to,” Lee says.
Ania looks to me as she says, “How charming.”
“Football humor,” I say. “A ‘swivelhead’ is a guy who has to keep turning his head because the player he’s supposed to be tackling is running past him.”
“Oh, I see.” She plainly doesn’t. “So how did you two meet?”
He tells variations of this story three times in my hearing that night. “We went to the same college. I was a football fan, he was a player.”
“And how did you start dating?” Aunt Mariya wants to know, later.
“Well, I had to talk him into it.” Lee smiles, aware of Uncle Roger over her shoulder and the cup of buttered rum Roger’s holding in his paw.
“I bet you did.” Uncle Roger is not as big as me or father—not as tall, that is. He’s as big around as both of us put together. “I bet you were real fuckin’ persuasive. Foxes.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Lee lies with a long fox smile.
“Be polite, Roger, or he might put you in the hospital, too.” Aunt Mariya doesn’t sound like she’d mind all that much. She probably wouldn’t, from what I’ve heard about their lives since my cousins went off to college.
“Where are David and Darlene?” I ask, to head off drunk-Roger trouble.
“College,” Roger stifles a belch. “Hey, is Kingston going to be back this season?”
That’s to me, about Fisher. “He wants to be, yeah.”
“That bear’s doing okay for him. What’s his name, uh…” He scratches behind his ear.
“The cubs get Thanksgiving off, of course.” Mariya sighs, maybe at her children, maybe at her husband’s belch. “But Darlene is at her boyfriend’s, and David and some friends are flying to Hyeong-Kin. Adventure holiday package.”
“They better not come back with the clap,” Roger mutters.
“Honestly, Roger.” Mariya half-turns. “Why don’t you get another rum and see if you can make a complete fool of yourself?”
“Great idea.” Roger totters over to the kitchen.
Mariya beams at us again. “So you got together against all odds. How romantic. It’s so nice to see a young couple in love.”
Lee smiles. I look down at the floor. “The more I got to know Dev,” he says, then and again, to Gregory, later, “the more I wanted to spend time with him.”
Gregory, with Marta on his arm, is a little smaller than I am. An inch or two away in height, but he hasn’t spent the last five years bulking up his frame. The difference is only really apparent when we stand side by side. In my head, he’s still my big brother, so I get this uncomfortable awareness of his aging when I see him.
I used to look forward to being his height, to doing the things he did. Now, for the first time, I’m scared of the day when I’ll be that thin, a little hunched over, and constantly flicking my eyes around the room like I’m worried some tackle is going to jump out of the china closet and knock me down. It wasn’t this bad at Christmas, the last time I saw him in person, and he didn’t look this bad on his commercial, though of course then he was in a suit and sitting behind a desk.
Marta responds to Lee first. “That’s sweet,” she says.
“Yeah. Course, back then he couldn’t really keep a girl around.” Gregory eyes me, slides his glance to Lee, then over my shoulder. “Yeah, football player on campus gets a lot of action, but this is the first time he brought someone to Thanksgiving in like five years.”
“Well,” Lee says, “for the last two, he hadn’t been able to tell anyone who he was dating.”
Gregory’s face looks like he just ate a lime. “Personally, I’d be okay not knowing,”
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