Excerpt From My Novel "Between Heat and Water"
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“Is it ready yet?” it asked. Jean removed the phone from his ear to place the call on Bluetooth. He tuned in as if he were listening to a radio station, disregarding the deep, unfamiliar, faint voice lingering in the background. He heard every letter of his wife’s drawn-out broadcast request, with a blank face. As she tried muffling the sound of running bath water, “Cah c a a n n n you p u h PLEassse Pi-p i c k u p lillies from Home Depot, Jeannn?” she asked. “Hold on.” Her prolonging came to a halt as the white pedestal tub reached capacity.
Jean, awaiting more orders, amused himself by counting the number of blue cars driving on the freeway, “7, 8, 9, 10.” He thought to himself. “Black may not actually be my favorite color; it could have always been blue. I’m sure it will change again tomorrow.” Unmuting the call with an annoyed breath. “Hello, I’m back.” She uttered. “They close in an hour! Summer is here, and I need something besides you and dried elephant-ear leaves to look at. In case I find myself wanting to tan one of these summer days in the backyard.” Tossing any remaining patience for Jean out of the window. Denying his plans of seeing a rerun of Jean-Luc Godard’s film ‘Band of Outsiders.’ she continued. “I don’t care about your plans to see this dumb movie. You have seen this movie 5 times in the last month.”
Jean threw his hands in the air out of frustration, causing him to swerve slightly onto the median. He knows nothing about plants, cars, or his wife’s year-long project. That has had her running in and out of their house at different times of the day. After recomposing himself, he was able to spare enough time to say, “Okay-.” Before, the voice sharply intruded again with a low growl, “Lauren, how about now?” The unfamiliarity was closer than before. She signaled with a nod and the call suddenly disconnected. Never to be picked up again, for the rest of the night. Jean, being married to his college lover for five years, knew after the phone hung up, there was only one thing to do. Skipping the movie theatre exit. He continued driving 30 minutes east during rush hour to Home Depot. Going directly to the floral section, he liked the name “Lily Magic Stars.” He grabbed six 3-inch lilies as they were beginning to blossom into a bruised violet, making him reconsider his favorite color once more.
Once the deed was done, acknowledging that the movie had been showing for an hour and a half. Jean decided to go back home. For the remainder of the night, he sat still. Watching botany videos with his brown-spotted pit bull, Bhalu, and eating cold spaghetti, protecting his white button-down from two-day-old pasta sauce. Lauren went on, glancing at the figure who owned the bass-toned voice, casting herself in a movie of her own, where she takes on the role of a giddy young schoolgirl. Bathing in a 60-inch brushed-nickel bathtub and allowing her mysterious captain to stack bubbles on top of her head, blowing the remaining fizzing bubbles intact on her hands and arms, onto the white marble floor.