Release(9)

“Listen, bro–”

Adam finally stopped. “I’m in the middle of something, Marty! I mean, seriously, have you gone blind or has seminary just made you so sure you’re the important one that no one else’s lives matter?”

“Whoa, where’s all this coming from?”

“What do you want?” Adam was aware of Angela’s horse and its companion goat behind him over the fence, coming closer, chewing their grass, interested in the gossip.

Marty didn’t answer him at first, just sat there, his truck idling. “It’d be easier if you got in–”

“Marty–”

“I’m going to be a father.”

Adam blinked. So did the horse and the companion goat. The sentence was so incongruous that at first Adam misunderstood. “You’re becoming Catholic?”

Marty looked startled, then rolled his eyes. “Not that kind of father.”

Adam stepped closer to the open passenger side window of the truck. “You mean…?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you shitting me?”

Marty closed his eyes. “I’d really appreciate it if you wouldn’t swear–”

“You got Katya pregnant?”

Katya was Marty’s long-time girlfriend. Beautiful, Belarusian, teensy bit racist about the Jews, if we’re being honest. She – through some impossibly convoluted chain of patronage and government sponsorship – had somehow ended up studying engineering at the same rural Christian college as Marty. As likely the two prettiest people on campus, possibly in all of Idaho, their coupling had an inevitability to it. When Katya visited, she brought her own scales to weigh her portions of food. Adam’s parents were terrified of her.

Adam saw his brother swallow. “Not Katya,” Marty said.

“Not…” Adam put his hands on the window ledge. “Oh, Marty. What have you done?”

Marty took out his phone, swiped a few times and brought up a picture. A very pretty (of course) black girl looked off-screen, laughing, holding a blue plastic disposable cup, the kind you got at parties (not get-togethers). She was Marty’s age and wearing a sweatshirt of the church college. Marty had never mentioned her before in his life.

“Her name’s Felice,” he said, smiling to himself. “It means happy.”

“Well,” Adam deadpanned, “that makes everything okay then. What’s her sign?”

Marty’s blond eyebrows started a conversation with themselves. “Leo? I think? Why on earth–”

“Marty! How the hell could you get her pregnant? Are you a complete idiot about contraception? Is she?”

“The school frowns on it,” Marty said, frowning on it.

“More than pregnancy?”

“We never meant to go that far–”

“Wait a minute.” Adam was quickly losing his running heart rate. His muscle tissue would already be swelling for post-run healing. He was basically going to cool off into a golem if he didn’t start running again very soon. “Why are you telling me? Why did you track me down on a run to–” His eyes narrowed. “You haven’t told Mom and Dad.”

Marty at least had the grace to look sheepish. “I had to tell somebody.”

Adam exhaled. “She’s going to have it, of course.”

“Of course! Abortion is out of the–”

“For her or for you?”

“For both of us!”

“Sometimes it’s the wisest course of action, bro.”

Marty shook his head, disappointed. “Dad’s right about you. You got lost on your journey somewhere.”

“That’s what everyone says who never bothered to go on a journey in the first place. And–” he halted his brother’s apology, which he could already see coming– “we can take comfort in the fact that Dad was completely wrong about you.”

They were quiet for a minute, the road still deserted, only the idling of the truck engine cutting across the dew-filled morning. The horse and the goat still stood and chewed, blamelessly curious. Adam ran his hand through his sweat-slicked hair.

“Are you going to marry her?”

Marty nodded. “She only found out yesterday and called me.” He grinned. “I proposed immediately.”

“Over the phone?”

“She’s talking to her folks in Denver right now. I’m telling Mom and Dad this weekend. If we both survive, we’re going to get married as soon as senior year starts. The university has special housing for married undergrads.”

“Where? 1952?”

Marty laughed, gently. He always laughed gently.

“What do you want from me?” Adam asked. “Congratulations? You got ’em. Based on the thirty seconds I’ve known about her existence and the one photo you’ve shown me, I’m thrilled for the both of you.”

“I love her. I mean, I really love her. And she says she loves me the same.”

“What happened to Katya?”

“Katya was kinda mean.”

“No kidding.”

Marty looked sheepish again. “I was going to tell Mom and Dad tonight while you’re at your get-together. I don’t suppose…”

“Don’t suppose what?”