Underbelly (9 page)

“
Good to see you again, Dad,” Grey said, shaking his hand as his father stood dumbstruck. “This is my wife, Germaine.” At Grey’s introduction Germaine made a move as though to embrace him and saw his body recoiling at the gesture and she modified her welcome to a handshake, taking no offence – he was clearly very surprised and taken aback.

“
And you, James. Come in, come in,” he said, finding his tongue and ushering them inside. Grey nodded for Germaine to enter first as he followed her with their suitcase. “Shirley. Shirley,” he shouted at the bottom of the stairs. “Come down, there’s someone to see you.”

Shirley Grey saw her son as she looked from the top step and she ran down the stairs to hug him. Grey felt her shaking as he embraced her and felt a little guilty for being gone so long as she said his name repeatedly and formed half sentences and said random words as her brain struggled to process his prodigal return before she was able to fully find her tongue. “You don’t know how good it is to see you, James. They wrote to us and told us that you were badly hurt and unlikely to recover.”

“
I got that bleak diagnosis too and I refused to play ball. Even good doctors sometimes make mistakes. The docs did a good job with me and proved themselves wrong. I reckon the power of prayer did me no harm either,” Grey said, crediting his mother with aiding his recovery, well aware of how many hours she’d have spent on her knees praying for a miracle.

“
This is my wife, Germaine. Germaine, this is my mom,” Grey said, having waited long enough for introductions due to his mother’s highly emotional state, and Shirley hugged Germaine and then moved away from her and held her cheeks in her hands to take a good look at her.

“
Such a beautiful girl! Does she speak any English?” Shirley said, coming across as patronising without intending to, talking slowly and loudly to her.

“
Better than me,” Grey said quickly.

“
Hardly,” Germaine said. “I speak a little, Mrs Grey. James is teaching me well.”

“
And Germaine’s teaching me French. She’s trying her best anyway, but she’s been saddled with a poor student – I struggle to count to twenty. The walking’s going better than the talking.”

“
He’s too modest. He’s doing well,” Germaine said cheerily, trying to impress.

“
It would be little use to you anyway,” Abner said to Grey. “You’re back in America now.”

“
It’s always useful to know another language,” Grey said, beginning to feel defensive. “If we head north to see the Canucks I can impress them with my arithmetic.”

“
Of course,” Shirley said. “Come on through to the sitting room – have you eaten? Do you want me to cook you something?” she said, working herself up into a fluster.

“
What do you think? I know I’m starving and you’ve haven’t eaten anything since 12,” Grey said, looking to Germaine.

“
I’ll start on a meal straight away,” Shirley said. “You three go through to the sitting room and I’ll call you when it’s ready. It might take a while, James. I’m sorry, but we didn’t know you were coming.”

“
That’s all right. We’ll join you through there in a second, Dad, we’ll just take our case upstairs first and I’ll show Germaine our room.”

Abner shook his head. “I’ll take your case up and leave it in your room. You’ve been gone so long we’ve been storing things in there and I’ll have to sort it out,” he said, sounding weary at the prospect, like it was too much of an effort. He heard how crotchety he sounded and he said, “It’s your room, James, and you’re always welcome, but a little bit of notice would have been thoughtful then it would have been sorted already and your mother would have been prepared.”

“
Abner, it’s a nice surprise!” Shirley said, trying to keep the peace.

“
We got lucky getting passage so soon and we only found out we were coming back on the morning of the ship’s departure. When I wrote about the wedding I did say we’d be coming over as soon as we could. I appreciate a date would have been better. Sorry,” Grey said, taking umbrage and then backtracking and trying to be agreeable.

“
I wasn’t looking for an apology,” Abner said, “just some consideration.”

“
Do you want me to move the stuff?” Grey asked calmly.

“
You don’t know where it belongs. Sit down with your wife, you must have had a long trip,” Abner said.

“
We need to get changed anyway – we got caught in a shower before.”

“
Well just leave the boxes – I’ll come up after,” Abner ordered as he left them to it and returned to the sitting room.

“
So lovely to see you both,” Shirley said over-excitedly and more than a little skittish, banging her shoulder off the door frame as she walked away from them and into the kitchen.

Grey led Germaine up to his bedroom and said quietly, “The scary thing is so far this is going better than I expected.” She could tell he was joking and while he had appeared uptight for a moment before, he was now calm. The room was not as cluttered as Abner had made out, with 4 boxes on the floor being the only notable difference from the room he had left behind 18 months ago. He had not been particularly nostalgic for his old life but being back in his room, his sanctuary, certain feelings were triggered.

“
It’s been fine. Should I offer to give your mother a hand?”

“
She’ll be all right. I need you to stay with me and help me relax!” Grey said, his intention being to help her relax, noticing how nervous she was. Grey felt a little awkward, but for him it was home once and not wholly uncomfortable while for Germaine it was far more daunting.

As they undressed and unpacked Grey recounted the full tale of Ollie and Doreen Seddon to her (he had been unable to tell her much with the police able to overhear their conversation). Now that they were married there were few secrets between them (though the grisly tales of some spirits were edited or completely omitted), and he was keen for her to know where his wandering head was at to better understand him. At one time he would have been less candid and thought of this as a betrayal of the confidences of his spirit visitors but Germaine was so compassionate and sympathetic that he had no reservations. She could relate to Ollie’s loss and understood his drastic action and promised Grey that he would be in her prayers.

While Germaine had little choice but to find something in their suitcase to wear, Grey had a full wardrobe to choose from (and had already found his favourite hat which he had put on) and held a canary yellow shirt in front of his chest and said, “Any idea what I was thinking?”

“
I’d soon find you in a crowd,” Germaine said, unable to be critical of him even in jest, even when he set himself up for playful banter. She never bit.

“
That’s about the only way I would stand out from the crowd,” Grey remarked as he put the shirt back on the hanger and back in the cupboard. His unremarkable exterior was a drawback to his eventual side profession, as public medium. He sprung onto the bed and lay next to Germaine who sat on the edge of the bed in her petticoat as she sorted through her belongings for a suitable dress to wear. Grey stroked her back and said, “Looks like I’m going to have to be your mattress tonight. I’m not complaining.”

Germaine turned to look at him and grasped his point: the narrow single bed was not designed for couples.

“
We’ll be very cosy in my old single bed,” Grey said.

“
That’s fine. We’re not fat.”

“
After living on rationed food for a year, dead right we’re not,” he said emphatically. “All that’s over now, Germaine. Mom’s a good cook and you’ll see a full plate in front of you with the works on it. Anything you can’t finish I’ll happily scavenge.”

“
I may have to disappoint you there, James. I didn’t like to say before but I am starving too.”

“
I want you to love my country and I think the fact that it has food, a decent variety and a decent amount, might help. It works for me, I know that.”

“
I already love America. I’m in love with an American so I love the country because it gave me you. I’m looking forward to seeing all of the places that mean something to you,” she said ardently.

“
I’ll give you the Keokuk tour tomorrow, for sure. I know that I was getting a little bit tetchy with him before – I’ll try my hardest not to do that again. I am going to try and get on with them so if things work out we might end up delaying the tour of the States and just doing a tour of Iowa for a couple of months if that’s okay with you.” Even if they managed to get on with his parents Grey could not face staying with them for more than three months.

“
That’s what I want. I’d sooner you were close to your parents than meet the stars of Hollywood.”

“
I did promise that, didn’t I, that I’d introduce you to some,” Grey said, smirking as he remembered some big promises he’d made prior to the trip that would be hard to keep. “Yep, we’ll play it by ear here.”

“
I think I know what that means – well, I don’t, but how you’ve said it gives me an idea.”

“
It means,” he said, leaning towards her and snatching a quick kiss, “welcome to Keokuk. I never dreamt when I left here in February last year that I’d be returning with a girl as lovely as you, who I’m lucky enough to call my wife. I know it shouldn’t be, and that I shouldn’t bellyache at all about coming home when so many didn’t, but without you this might have been difficult for me – with you at my side it’s going to be great,” he said positively.

“
You give me too much credit,” Germaine said, flattered and coquettishly coy at the undue praise.

“
Perhaps I have ulterior motives,” Grey said playfully, raising his eyebrows which made Germaine laugh. “Keokuk has never looked as good as it does now.”

Abner declined dinner initially, telling them that he’d already eaten at six and didn’t want to eat again at eight, before eventually sitting down at the head of the table, insisting he only wanted vegetables. Grey and Germaine were both happy to have more left for them and enjoyed the beef and pork. Shirley was so nervy that she could hardly eat anything and just kept nibbling at her plate. She made conversation uneasily, updating Grey on the community with the occasional one line contribution from Abner, often contradicting and disputing what she was telling them, viewing a lot of it as unfounded tittle-tattle. Grey helped move the conversation along, talking a little of what it was like in the army but mostly just talking about the food they had to survive on and on the shortages in Britain.

“
If they were starving you there then why didn’t you come back here, which would have been the logical thing to do?” Abner said, having resisted saying it for long enough. They had been informed that he was grievously injured and then they were told that his condition had improved and he was recuperating with a stranger in Scotland, a stranger not affiliated with the military or with any medical services. While Shirley looked embarrassed by the question she said nothing, wanting to hear the answer for herself.

“
We weren’t being starved. Laura did manage to provide us with more foods than we were supposed to have,” he said, evading the difficult question. “There was lots of fish, so I was happy,” Grey said zestfully, conveying his appreciation for seafood, his parents aware of how fond he was of almost anything from the waters.

Germaine nodded in agreement. “She was very generous.”

“
So how did she manage that then? The black market?” Abner said judgementally, talking solely to his son, completely ignoring his bride whenever she opened her mouth, her words coming across as an echo of her husband’s.

“
Beats me. It’s the same as my recovery – I don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. However she did it I’m grateful,” Grey said, refusing to let him needle him. Abner remained frosty but Grey, Shirley and Germaine moved the conversation on, the three of them talking in the sitting room after the meal while Abner sat on his chair across from them reading his book. He looked up at them sporadically and answered Germaine’s uninspired questions about his book jejunely. Shirley hugged them both again before she retired to bed and Abner beckoned Grey with a finger to come and talk to him privately before he joined his wife.