The Flounder Family Chapter 7

“Leroy is dead? You’ve got to be kidding!”  Bensen reached for a beer and sat down.  “I thought that ol’ man would live to be 100…99 at least.  Hey, the way Marie looked after him, he should have. She was in perfect health, of course. Marie could’ve run circles around an Olympic athlete.  She just didn’t like competition.  Too proud.”

Jettison shook his head.  “You think she was proud?  Marie never struck me that way.  Flighty, obsessed, anxiety ridden, maybe…but never proud.”  Jettison was about to offer his brother-in-law a beer when he noticed Bensen had one in his hand.  How did I miss that? Jettison gestured toward the chip bag but Bensen rubbed his belly.  “Trying to lose a few.”  Jettison looked up as Dove entered the room.  Her smile seemed to suggest something, but he dared not ask.

“Hi, honey, I just wanted to let you know dinner will be a little late.  I forgot to turn on the oven.  Sorry.  But it will be ready soon.”

Bensen waved her concern away.  “No problamo!  I’m an ex-soldier, remember?  Used to go days without eating.”

Jettison met his wife’s blank gaze and refused to smile.  “I’m ok, Dove.  I ate a snack with the kids after school.  A granola bar and apple juice.  I think I’ll live a while.  Besides, I’ve got something to ask Bensen about.”

Dove nodded as she turned toward the kitchen.  “Well, I’ll be helping Tasha with her algebra.  Lord help me, but they give these kids such advanced math I can’t understand it.”

Bensen shook his head at Dove’s retreating figure.  “She’s a wonderful woman, but not the brightest bulb on the planet.  Oh, you don’t have to defend her, Jet, she’s my sister after all.  I love her in spades, but she was never one to really clue in.”  He took a long swallow and stared at Jettison, his finger pointing.  “So, tell me your troubles, old man.”

Jettison sat up.  “Well, it’s as I was telling you, about the Lawrences.  Marie killed Leroy.  And it’s not really my problem exactly, I am just perplexed.  I mean, why on earth would Marie want to kill her husband? She always seemed so devoted to him.  You knew them pretty well.  You spent that summer at their place helping out, doing odd jobs…”

“Oh, don’t remind me!  Do you have to bring up my low moments?  I was just trying to be helpful.  They didn’t have to pay me and besides, I could have gotten a better job but I was between assignments and I just needed a break from the stress.  I -”

Jettison sighed.  “I wasn’t talking about that.  I just meant that you were around them a lot you must have gotten a pretty good idea of their relationship.  What were they really like?  Did they ever tell you anything…anything that they might not share with the rest of us?”

Jettison leaned back.  “Ah!  Yes, now I see.  Yes, you’re right.  I am the inside man, so to speak. You say Marie killed Leroy?  Hard to imagine, though thy did have a rather tense relationship, they sort of snapped at each other,  I mean when they did speak.  Neither one of them was very talkative…at least not to me.  Marie was into her exercises and health food  and Leroy was into his books and stuff.  I never knew what he was up to.  He sort of hid in his room.  I figured he was shy.”

Jettison tapped his beer. “From what I understand he was very well educated, went to Oxford and had a degree in Medieval History.  I’m not sure about Marie.  Though she once mentioned she had a famous uncle or something.”

“Yeah, he was a writer and a painter. I saw his work hanging all over their place. Wonderful guy, though I don’t get into those types.  They tend to be unbalanced.  Maybe that is where Marie got it.  By the way, how did she kill him?”

“She shot him in the heart.”

“Well, that’d do it.”

“Hi Bensen!”  Kiddo came running in the room bouncing his ball.

Jettison scolded, “Don’t bounce, Kiddo!  This isn’t a gymnasium.”  Kiddo continued to bounce.

“Hey, rug rat!”  Bensen’s hand flew over his mouth.  “Oh, your Mom told me not to call you that any more.  I guess I’m in trouble now.”

“Not with me.  You can call me rug rat…but…well, Mom’s been on the warpath about a few things.  You know, she wants me to read some stupid book and then write a report about it – and it’s not even a school assignment!”

“Outrageous!”  Bensen smiled mischievously.  “I bet I can make her drop it by the end of dinner.  How much you want to bet?”

Jettison cleared his throat and put his glass down on the coffee table.  “What did she want you to read Kiddo?”

“Some stupid kid book called the Willow Wind or something like that.”

“You mean The Wind in the Willows?”

“Yeah, how stupid is that?  Do I have to Dad?”

“You have no idea how good that book is, or you wouldn’t be asking to skip it.”  Jettison sniffed and rubbed his nose.  “Tell you what, you can read the book to me before bed and I’ll help you with the hard words.  I happen to have a copy at school.  I’ll bring it home and we’ll read it together.”

Kiddo’s shoulders slumped.  Dove’s voice rang through the room.  “Dinner’s ready.  Come and get it.”

Bensen frowned. “So soon?  I though she’d forgotten to turn on the oven.”

Kiddo picked up his ball and headed toward the kitchen. “She cut it off the bone and cooked it in the grill.”

Bensen looked surprised.  Jettison smiled as he passed his brother-in-law.  “Yes, I always said she's one smart woman.”