Juniper Blue (NaNoWriMo2023; manxman)

Chapter 10

Gabriel

No matter how much I complained about my orthodox parents, I loved them and I enjoyed spending time with them. Even though I didn't go to rabbinical school, they still contributed to my college education. My mother was a pediatric nurse and worked extra shifts just so I'd have the things I wanted growing up. If Juniper was a girl and Jewish, they would have loved him. He could--or would--never become either of those things.

Before I left his cabin, Juniper gave me two dozen eggs--one dozen for me to keep and another to give to my parents. He usually charged three dollars a dozen, but he refused to charge me.

I hadn't visited my parents since Passover when I was still in the midst of Cole drama. I could always hide my own drama from them. If they knew half the things I did, my mother would have had a heart attack. No kidding.

After my twelve hour shift in the hospital, I headed to Brooklyn and drove seven and a half hours, arriving at my parents' house, my childhood home, at three in the morning. By driving in the middle of the night, I avoided all the traffic. I didn't even bother to try to find a parking spot on the street. It was worse than finding off street parking in Boston. I parked in a garage several blocks away. Maybe it was more than several blocks because it took me twenty minutes to get to the house. The house was dark, but my parents' light flickered on as I made my way up the narrow stairs to my former bedroom.

Just as I was about to open my door, my parents' door crept open. In her bathrobe, and bleary-eyed with her strawberry blond hair in disarray, my mother stepped out of her room. In public, my mother never exposed her hair, always wearing a head covering. She preferred vibrant colors like purple and scarlet. While my hair was dark like my father's, my eyes were as green as my mother's.

"Hi, Mom," I said. "I didn't mean to wake you."

She stared at me as though she didn't recognize me. I hadn't changed that much since April. Maybe I needed a shave and perhaps I lost a few pounds, but I still looked like myself. My eyes usually gave me away.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Mom, it's me," I said, offended she didn't recognize me. "You call me five times a day."

"Oh, hi Gabriel!" Finally, she sounded like my mother. "Come here and give your mother a hug." She gave me a big hug and a kiss when I just wanted to go to bed. "You've gotten so skinny. Don't you eat?"

"Yes, I eat. We'll talk in the morning. I need to get some sleep."

"Gabriel, is that you?" my dad shouted from inside the bedroom. Within seconds, he appeared next to my mother. I noticed he didn't have as much hair as he used to. He always said he was glad he wore a yarmulke to hide his balding head. I still had a head of thick dark hair, and I hoped it stayed that way. My dad didn't start losing his hair until his fifties, so I had a few years left. Hopefully, by then, I'd have a partner who wouldn't care if I lost my hair.

My dad was eight years older than my mother. They started dating when she was a sophomore in college when he was a young, new rabbi. He married her two months after she finished nursing school. I was born a year later. Their age difference was almost the same as me and Juniper's.

"You've gotten so skinny," my dad reiterated my mother's comments. "Come on, let's get you something to eat."

"Dad, I really just want to get some sleep. I just drove almost eight hours to get here."

"You can sleep after you get something to eat. Let's go." He tugged at the sleeve of my hoodie, encouraging me to go with him. "Go to sleep, Ada. I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Don't tell me what to do," she said, following us down the stairs. She was feistier than usual. I bet it had something to do with me showing up at three in the morning. She'd hoped I'd be there by eight, even though I told her I worked until seven. Unless there was such a thing as teleportation, there was no way in hell I'd make it to Brooklyn from Bangor in an hour.