Pi Ice Cube Tray

Mari's father comes home, and the family goes to dinner.

“Mari!”

“What, mom?”

“Aren’t you going to come down and see your father?”

Mari paused, placing her pencil on top of the homework she was completing.  Chemistry.

“Yeah, just a sec,” she answered her mother.

Mari looked down.  She was still in her pajamas.  It was Saturday, after all.  Dad wouldn’t like that.  So, she got up and began changing clothes.  

The room was soft and rather quiet.  Kings of Leon were singing quietly from her speakers.  The double bed was made, hastily though it was.  A few articles of clothing littered the floor around the closet, but nothing to the extreme.  Put another way, the room looked clean, yet lived-in.  

Mari had just pulled off her shirt when her mother knocked and entered in one motion.  Mari jumped into her closet.  “MOM!  I’m changing!”

“I just didn’t know if you heard me.  Your father is home.”

Mari’s head peeked out from around the closet door.  “Jeez, Mom, did you not hear me?  I said I was coming down!  And don’t you knock?”

“Oh, hush.  You’re my daughter.”  Mari’s mother was swatting an invisible fly as she spoke.

“Yes, and that’s why it’s weird!  I’m coming down, just chill out.”

Mari’s mother left the room without another word, giving in to her daughter’s protests.  “God…can’t even change clothes,” Mari mused.

You better learn to crawl.  You better learn to crawl.  Before I walk away.  The Kings continued singing.

As she continued getting ready, Mari’s mind drifted back to her schoolwork.  There was the chemistry sheet she was working on, a paper for her American Literature class, and some geography work.  Nothing very strenuous for a Saturday workload.  

Of course, now that Dad was home, everything would change.  No chance of doing things her own way, now.  She’d have to call Andrea and tell her she couldn’t make it over to her house later, Mari supposed.

Mari finished dressing and exited her room, plodding to the stairs and stepping down.  Her father appeared around the corner at the bottom.

“Hey, bean!”  Mari hated that.  But, she never spoke up, because it was obvious that this was the extent of his creativity in family relations.  Eddie was the kind of dad who thinks of “cute” name for his daughter when he sees an ultrasound and then calls her that for her entire life.  

Mari smiled.  “Hey, Dad.”

Eddie smiled wider.  “I brought something home for you,” he said, his voice growing in excitement.

“I bet you did,” Mari chuckled.  She reached the bottom of the stairs and hugged Eddie.   She was eye level with him.  His hug was warm and loving.  Following her father into the kitchen, Mari was presented with a small gift box.  Mari’s fingers slid under the paper.

“Go ahead.  Guess,” Eddie said.

Mari paused opening the box.  “Ummmm…a necklace.”

“Nope, guess again.”  Eddie was giddy with the excitement of the charade.

Mari sighed, but very gently.  A small sigh.  She didn’t want to be too obvious.  “A pocket translator,” she said, smirking at her dad.  Eddie’s smile faded.

“Oh, come on.  That was one time.  I forgot you had one already.”

Mari laughed.  “I know, I know.  I just like giving you a hard time about it.”  She continued peeling away the wrapping paper.  It was an ice tray, with medium-sized indentions in soft silicone in the shape of the Greek pi.

More difficult, at the moment, was Mari’s attempt to hide her emotions.  The top shelves of her closet were stuffed with the gifts that her father had given her.  At least, the ones that she couldn’t sell or give to her friends.  Mari didn’t have a fridge in her room.  

What am I going to do with an ice tray?

Mari played it nonchalantly.  “Cool,” she said, grinning.  “Thanks, Dad.”  She reached her arms out to hug him again.  He obliged.

“What’re your plans for dinner tonight, bean?”

“I don’t know, Dad.  Just…whatever,” Mari replied, remembering the party at Andrea’s.  Her desire to see her father happy would be her downfall one day, she mused.  

“Wanna meet up with Mom and me?”

Mari wanted to be sarcastic.  Sure, have your people call my people and set something up.  Sometimes, Eddie took a day or two to get back into family mode from the business dealings.

There was no way out of this one.  He had been gone for over a month�"two trips in a row.  “Sure, Dad,” she said.

“Good.”  He looked around.  “I guess I’ll go get my stuff out of my car.”

“Need help?”

“No, little bean, I think I can get it.”

“Okay.  I had some homework to do, so…”

Eddie cut her off.  “Yeah, yeah, yeah�"go ahead.  Homework comes first.  I’ll see you later.”  He stepped away from Mari and out the front door, closing it firmly.  It was a natural motion for Eddie, executed swiftly and without another thought.

Mari stood in the kitchen for a moment longer, looking at her new ice tray.  Maybe she could take it to college with her.  But what to do with it until then?  She spun the box in between her thumb and forefinger, staring at the sink backsplash in the kitchen mindlessly.  A moment later, she shook off the cobwebs and returned to her room.

At first, she tried to get back involved in her homework.    But then, something different gripped her.  She pulled the desk drawer out and grabbed the red pen from its cup, gently putting both a dot and a cross on today’s date.  She stared at the calendar in the drawer for a moment, as her hair fell forward over her shoulders, abandoning the back of her neck.  Straightening up, she closed the drawer, picked up her pencil, slid the chemistry book back to the center of the desk and opened it.

*     *     *     *

“Now, that is just beautiful.  Isn’t that beautiful, Mari?”  Eddie was presenting his steak to Mari like one of the models on The Price is Right.  

Mari chortled.  “It’s the most beautiful steak I’ve ever seen, Dad.” 

“Isn’t that right?  Wow.  That is just beautiful.  Thing of beauty,” he continued, drawing his knife over the steak and slicing it with ease.  The low din of the restaurant was more like background music than a concert in itself.  Eddie and Evelyn sat on one side of the table, with their daughter opposite.  “So, Mari, how’s school?”

It had been two weeks since the start of school.  “Okay, I guess.  Same as it ever was, Dad.”

“Mmhmm,” Eddie said with his mouth full.  “What about hockey?” he choked out through a hunk of meat.

“Starts in a couple more weeks.  I’m already on conditioning, and I start weights next week.”

Eddie nodded.  He had grown up in Michigan, on the upper peninsula.  Hockey was a frequent topic of discussion, seeing as his only daughter had fallen in love with the same sport he had so many years ago.  “How’s the team looking this year?”

Mari shrugged.  “Should be pretty good.  Returning mostly everyone.  Ellen graduated, but that was it.”

“Awesome.  I’ll have to make it back for the State Championship.”

“Yeah, you may have to.  That’s the goal, at least.”

“Changing up your line?”

“No, still the same.  Andrea, Kalyn, and me.”

Eddie nodded and pursed his lips.  Evelyn had finally caught up to him.  “Eddie, could you not chew with your mouth full, please?”

“Ahhh,” Eddie shooed her away.  

“It’s rude, Eddie.”

“So, what about school AFTER school, bean?”  Eddie scooped another bite.

“What?” Mari quizzed.

“College.  Thought any more about it?”

“No, Dad, not much.  Still just looking for scholarships.”

“You should be able to get something, between hockey and your grades.”

“That’s what I’ve been telling her,” Evelyn interjected, placing her fork on her plate.  Her dinner was a chicken breast, grilled, and she had barely cut through it once.  “I just don’t see why she doesn’t go ahead and finish it.”

“Because it’s not going anywhere, Mom.”  Mari’s tone sprouted a limb of frustration.  “I’m still thinking about it.”

“Well, you could think more about it if you’d actually do a little research into your choices.”

“Really?  Thanks, Mom.”

“Hey now,” Eddie jumped back in, “no reason to get out of hand.”  His hand had instinctively reached under the table and found Evelyn’s knee.  “Just a nice dinner.  You’re ruining my steak, sweetie.”  Evelyn’s eyes rolled before Eddie continued.  “Well, what do you want to do, bean?  You’ve always had a good science mind.”  

Eddie Lennox was the type of father who would complement his daughter’s “science mind” like it was a trophy, shiny plastic inside his daughter’s head.

“I really don’t know, Dad.”

“Well, your mother is right.  It’s time to be thinking about it.  It’ll be here before you know it.”

“And I just want to make sure you’re not blowing this off, Mari.”  Evelyn still hadn’t picked up her fork.  “Your father and I didn’t get to go to school, and I think either one of us would fall over ourselves to have gone.”

Mari bowed her head and tried to find a speck of food to stare at on her plate.  Her search was almost in vain, but then she found one, jagged and looking as if it had been cut with a rusty knife.  It was beautiful for the split second that Mari found herself staring at vegetables under the watchful gazes of both her parents.

The restaurant stirred like clockwork, the cogs and busboys quickening from table to table.  In another section, a large group of eight adults were raising their voices over one another, each one with something incredibly important to say to one another that couldn’t wait for another turn of the waitress.  Empty beer and wine glasses dotted their table like acne.

“There any games tonight, Mari?”  Eddie tried to change the subject.

“It’s baseball, Dad.”

“Yeah, I know.  The Cubs should be playing, right?  It’s Saturday.”

Mari stared at the large group across the restaurant.  One of the men was leaning back around his wife or girlfriend�"Mari couldn’t tell which�"and gesturing to the monkey at the end of the table.  

“I don’t know.  Probably.  It’s baseball,” Mari’s head turned back to her father.

“Well, you have a better idea of what to watch tonight?”

“I don’t know.  Andrea was having a party, and I was thinking about going.  But I don’t�"“

“That’s fine, that’s fine,” Eddie said, nodding.  I’ll be home for a while.

Evelyn turned sharply to her husband, knives thrown from her eyes.  “Eddie!  I don’t think she needs to be going anywhere!”

Eddie put on his dopey face.  “What?  Why?”

Evelyn’s head spun back to her food, quickly and angrily.  “Fine.  Whatever.”

“I don’t mind, Evelyn.  What’s the problem?”

“Well, I don’t think our daughter needs to be going off to some party.  Especially on the night that you come home for the first time in a month!”

“Uh, hey guys,” Mari piped up.  “I’m right here.  You don’t have to talk about me like that.”

The reactions of Mari’s parents in that moment could have been a case study in human emotion.  Eddie smirked at his daughter and stabbed another bite of his ribeye, almost laughing at his daughter’s correctness.  Evelyn’s eyes, already burning, were stoked.  Her jaw dropped and set itself squarely, but her mouth never opened, the floodgate never bursting.

“Well, I’m not going to beat around the bush, bean.  Is there going to be beer at this party, Mari?”  Eddie floated the question, wide-eyed and genuinely concerned.  He was doing his best impression of a father.

Mari’s shoulders tensed.  She knew the expectation with her father was to always tell the truth.  The truth was that she was seventeen years old, as were most of the people who were to be there.  “I really don’t know, Dad.”  She caught herself.  “Probably.”

The entire table sighed.  Evelyn picked up her fork and refocused on her food, almost like she had given in.  The stab of her fork on the plate was fingernails on a chalkboard.  She chewed quickly.

“Evelyn, what do you think?”  

She just shook her head.  The dam hadn’t burst yet.

“Well, bean, I think it’s important that you make good decisions for yourself.”

“Dad,” Mari stopped Eddie.  “I know.  I don’t drink.”

Eddie inhaled and puffed his chest out slightly, reasserting himself at the table.  The pause hung low from the light overhead.  “Well, I don’t mind if you go.  But understand that I’m letting you go because I trust you.  I also trust that if there’s trouble there, since you’re not going to be drinking, that you are to come home immediately.  And curfew is 1:00 sharp.  Fair deal?

Mari’s eyes widened, partially in surprise but mostly in fear.  “I guess so.”

“I do want to spend time with you this week, but that can wait.”  Eddie’s stomach turned at the words, but Eddie knew there was little he could say at that moment, despite his lifted shoulders and puffed chest.  

What can the father of an only child say when he’s not present, and his wife retreats?

Mari continued eating her food, suppressing everything, and the family enjoyed the frightening silence that clouded the table.  

Author's Note

Another scene that received heavy, heavy revisions. Most notable is the character of Mari's mother, who is now a stepmother named Evelyn.

Thanks for reading!