Family Matters (2)
Family Matters (2) By Roofles
Seven years ago...
"What do you mean you want to be a baker!" The beaver shouted throwing up his paws and cursing in his native tongue as he stormed around the room fuming, steam practically coming from his ears. "A baker? Your father is a dam builder!" He slammed his paws onto the table. "Your grand father is a dam builder! His father," he stood proudly. "And his and his!" He beamed proudly before his whole face and body fell into a sulk. "And now! And now... my only son..." he sniffled "Wants to be a sugar mama!" He moaned sitting down and fanning his face before holding his chest...then the other side where his heart actually was, his gut sucking in large breaths soon afterwards to insuinate the desperation he was suffering. "Oh my heart, it hurts! It hurts," he moaned as if he were on his death bed reaching up towards the sky.
"Mum." Jessie turned to his mother hoping she would be more reasonable but he rolled his eyes as his mother had grabbed a box of tissues and was hiding her face in several of them with wailing sobs.
"What did we do wrong, Howard!" She wailed. "Oh my poor baby why would you do this to your poor mother! I carried you around for nine months, breast fed you and cared for you and this is how you repay me?" And here comes the guilt trip. "First you didn't say goodbye to me on kindergarten, then forgot to do the dishes and now this!" Why she felt the need to bring those things up, he'd never know.
"I'm nineteen," He tried to interject but was cut off.
"Then you got holes in your ears!" She wailed throwing several crumbled up tissues in the air before buring her face back in a hand full of them.
"They're called plugs mum. Its fasion." But looking at the old lavender flowered dress that she wore that wouldn't even had fit in in the seventies he decided to give up on trying to explain style, again, to her. She had said the same thing about the bar bells he had "installed" at the top of his ears. He looked down his short stubby muzzle at her and tryied to figure out again how they could be blood related. He chewed on his lip ring looking to his father who was slouching agaisnt the table gnawing on the side of it. A horrible habit he developed after he quit smoking.
"Dad. I got to get going. We'll talk about this later. Or something." Jessie said already heading out the room as his father continued to "teeth" and his mother cried into the tissues once more. He heard them even after he shut the front door talking about random misfortunes his son had done to them most likely out of spite. Like the time he didn't get picked for little league or when he broke his arm...
Four years ago...
"I'm so proud of your choices in life." It starts with a compliment. "If you lost weight you'd be able to get a nice jewish girl." Then some kind of advice that always sounded more like an insult than anything else. "And I don't like that rat your hanging out with." Kind of drifts towards the left towards his friends blaiming them, without ever saying, for all the problems in the world. "There's that nice beaver down by the market. Oh she's so kind helping me pick out fruit." Then with the attempt of setting him up. "Why don't you call us more?" Sprinkled with more guilt. "And I heard from your teacher, after I called them, that you don't assert yourself enough during class. Also those shoes don't go with those pants." A strange insult finishing with adding salt in the wound.
Jessie wasn't even paying attention as he stared down at the same paragraph he was desperately trying to read for the past hour. "Mum," he said loud enough to be heard over her. She was setting up dinner coming in and out of the kitchen talking the whole time to him, he could only assume not exactly paying attention to the conversation at this point. "I'm really trying to do my homework. I got a big test tomorrow." He said regretting "agreeing" from coming down from his room to visit with his mother while studying...as it would "so not get in the way of studying."
The silver dish she was carrying fell to the ground with a clatter. Jessie didn't even look as his mother began reaching for the tissues. He swore she kept at least a box in every room even if they were fake tears and sobs.
"Can't a mother talk to her own son? All I'm trying to do is help!" She cried loudly snorting into a handful of tissue. "I miss you when your upstairs. Your always upstairs or out! Can't you just spend a little time with your mother! And now you want me to just go and hang myself?" She sobbed becoming even more over dramatic as she went on but had gone back to setting up for dinner.
"Mum, I didn't say that. At all." Jessie rolled his eyes watching her with a bored fascination having finally given up on trying to study.
"Don't worry. I'm off to the kitchen to put my head in the oven. You don't have to talk to me ever again! Oh you'll be sorry in the morning but no. Not right now. As your studying for some doctorate, giving up on your dream of being a baker!" Jessie frowned at the last remark and fell face first against the book.
Jessie just sighed, closed his book and went into the kitchen to help his mother who was still barating and ranting on and on about everything and nothing as Jessie helped prepare dinner. Finally coming back to the beaver at the library she had seen and he should hook up with and sire many children for them.
Two years ago...
"Mum! Dad! I got all A's this term and taking summer classes, as well as doing my part time job while helping out at the community center for under privelage children!"
"Did you hear about your cousin?" His mom said after setting her cup of tea down. "She's getting pregnant." She turned to face her husband as if not hearing a single word Jessie had just said. Her face was lit up and tears were in the corner of her eyes. "Isn't that wonderful, Howard?" She said his name as if just to make sure that she was indeed talking to him about the topic and not mentioning it any way or form to insinuate that she wanted grand children.
Jessie just shut his mouth and turned away thinking of an online fling that was going better than he thought. They had plans to meet up in only a couple of days and butterflies were dancing in his stomach because of it.
"Margaret just had her twins." Howard grunted not looking away from the morning paper.
"Sue just got married." His mother turned towards Jessie. "Hun, why aren't you talking to us? Are you ashamed of your parents? Haven't we done enough to earn your love yet!" And the water works started for an hour and a half before the whole subject was dropped as their TV show started. The three enjoying it with a bowl of popcorn.
A year ago...
"Mum, Vince says hi by the way." Jessie said kicking his paws up on the table as he continued to text the cougar his full attention on the bright little screen before him.
"And then Susie, oh Susie's that cute beaver in the flower shop I told you about, oh she was saying the cutest of things. I mean she was so helpful, and single, and was so courtesy to me. Shes looking for someone and works double shift to help out her old, sick dying mother-,"
"Her mom's the head director at the Log Ride Gym." Jessie muttered as he sent another text to the cat getting a rather crude, naughty picture in reply making the beaver giggil and grin with a blush.
"Out with the bills and expenses." His mother continued not even stopping. "She has a sister as well." Jessie ear twitched at the comment and the implication behind it. This was soon followed about explaining the sister mentioned in every detail known to beaver kind. Even the size of her tail which Jessie found a little disturbing even if they did go clothes shopping together the week before. "You know what they say about a beaver with a broad tail."
Jessie just ignored her. The crude picture he got of the cougar was soon followed by one that actual made the beaver laugh. Thankful that said laugh actually coinsided with a joke, a rather poor one, his mother had just made. It was a picture of the cougar's belly with a face drawn on it with a fake nose and mustache that Jessie was pretty sure was a cock sheath and balls.
"Hey mom." The beavers leaned back over the couch and looked at his mother knitting in her rocking chair. "I'm gay, you know that right?"
"And, oh dearie, if you could see the breasts on this girl! I'm sure your children would never go hungry." His mother continued into a territory that was both awkward and scary for him as he slid back down the couch and tried to forget what he just heard.
Nine months ago...
The doorbell rang and Jessie walked inside without even knocking or waiting for a response.
"Couldn't you just let us know you were coming over. Call us? Send us a letter? Or email what you kids are doing these days." Within the first minute his mother set in on him bringing him tea and cookies as well. "We didn't know you were coming over!"
"You told me to come over today though..." Jessie pointed out taking the cookies and tea.
"What if we don't have enough lunch for all of us? Maybe I didn't make enough sandwiches!" She, not in her entire life, had never not made enough sandwiches. "What if we had guests over? Or weren't home? What then?"
"But...you told me to come over?" Jessie asked as a question now getting unsure if they really did want him to come over.
"Of course we want you to come over! You don't come over enough. What have you been doing in the time you could be calling your old, sick, dying and elderly mother?"
And Jessie held his tongue. Now that she was actually going to listen to what he had to say he lost his nerve. "Stuff." He said and ever since that day whenever he hung out with his friends they grilled him on it.
Present day...
"Hi mum. Dad. This is Vince." Jessie motioned towards the large cat standing behind him. Also to indicate they he in fact knew him and that the carnivore wasn't actually sneaking up on him to devour their innocent child.
"Oh...that's so...nice. Who is he? Another 'friend' of yours...dear?" His mother asked looking between him and the cat with fearful eyes before finally resting on the paw Jessie was holding, the closeness between the two and the other paw resting on the beaver's shoulder.
"Hi. I'm Vince. His fiancee." The cat said offering the paw he had been holding Jessie's own paw with. The cat just wanted to get straight to the point not about to beat around the bush.
And thats when the beaver in front of them fainted.