LUNCH IN THE PARK

Lunch in the Park

The steak knife? Yeah. I love a good steak. He’s a hamburger guy. Rodney was in town from New Jersey and we decided to meet in the park. No, it wasn’t unusual for us to get together for lunch. He was taking care of his mother, who’s my favorite aunt, and I wanted to be supportive, a little bit. 

It wasn’t  just that bits of food sputtered out my cousin’s mouth when he talked and chewed. He kicked the table and knocked over my water glass. 

I’m just saying, it was a lot of things that built up to it. Not just that Rodney had always weaponized information. Stuff like, he had already seen a Netflix show I was watching. 

She is beautiful, (He says) Really disappointed that they killed her off in the 4th episode. Who does that?

I didn’t want to know that. Obviously. 

At one point he noticed I was reading an Ian McEwan novel. I’d brought it along just in case. Rodney normally ran about a half hour late, making everyone wait for him. Of course, he had already read the McEwan. 

Brilliant twist at the end there. (He says) Total turn around. Turned everything on its head eh? That’s what great writing is. Where are you now? Never mind, keep reading. You’re gonna love it. 

“Rodney,” I said, “ If you tell me there’s a twist at the end … Rodney…its not a twist if I’m expecting it, you can see that right?” 

So I warned him. I’m just sayin’. The whole knife part of the conversation didn’t come out of thin air. 

I didn’t tell you what the twist was. If I told you what the twist was, that would be spoiling it. I would never do that. 

“Rodney,” I said. “Just don’t tell me anything. Ok? If its a movie, don’t tell me what theatre its playing at. Nothing.” 

That’s fair warning isn’t it? 

He says, 

Listen, everything ok at home?

Implying I must be angry about something else. Like maybe something else was bothering me. 

“How’s your mom?” I remember asking him.

So he complained about being her carer and went over some of the less appetizing bits. I suggested we talk about it after we’d finished eating. I was glad he was looking after her, somebody had to-  and it wasn’t going to be me. But the details are pretty rough. He wouldn’t stop,

Yeah, (He says) its gross. I didn’t bargain on the extent of the … clean up. 

Which he describes. I’m just looking right at him- like change the fucking subject Rodney.

Finally he says, 

Did you see Wimbledon this morning?

“Not yet,” I said. “I recorded it.” 

I guess it was just that he told me that it went to a tie breaker. I guess that was it. A disagreement between two cousins. A family issue. We’ll sort it out like families do. Don’t ya think? 

If I had tried to kill him we would be having a much more serious conversation, right? Its not like I thought it through- but I didn’t hit any bones or tendons, just pinned that fucker’s hand to the table with my steak knife. 

“Surgical precision,” his doctor called it. Draw your own conclusions. I’m just saying, given the circumstances, I’m a little surprised you police even got involved.