Family

“Family”

Fully clothed, life size mannequins aren’t what you’d expect to see in someone’s home. A department store, sure, but not like this. When Maria greeted me at the front door and told me to go on into the living room while she finished a call, I didn’t think I’d have to compete with plastic people for a place to sit. All I could do was stand there in the middle of the weirdness and wait for her to return. Fortunately that wasn’t long and when she walked in I could tell she was a little uneasy.

“Sorry, Luke, I had to wrap up that call. It was important.” She noticed I was looking at the mannequins and added, “Oh, you saw them. I thought I could move them out before you got here.”

I offered a weak smile and glanced over at a male mannequin dressed in full 1940s cowboy regalia, from a big Stetson hat down to fancy black boots, sitting in a big leather chair. “That one, that’s Uncle Rudy.”

It was all I could do to keep from laughing at the creepiness but I didn’t know her well enough yet and I didn’t want to say anything that would offend her. I pointed toward a female mannequin in a fancy red dress and curly black hair. “That’s Cousin Anna.”

“And him, in the pinstripe suit?”

“That’s Cousin Albert, he’s Anna’s older brother.” Before I could think of anything more to say she asked, “Would you mind helping me get them into the guest room?”

Moments later I was walking down the hallway awkwardly carrying a fake man as big as me while Maria carried the woman in the red dress.

I was struggling to stay quiet when all I could think of was asking her, “Why in the hell do you own mannequins and why do they have names?” I decided to wait awhile to see if she’d offer up any kind of sensible explanation on her own.

Maria told me to lay Uncle Rudy on the bed while she gently set Anna on to a chair. There was a tone to her voice that told me she was uncomfortable and embarrassed. When Anna was secure in the chair Maria asked, “Would you mind going back for Albert?” When that was done we walked back down the hallway to the entry foyer and she said, “Wait here, I’ll be right back

I watched her as she walked back down the hallway. She was a beautiful young woman who I wanted to get to know better. A Saturday lunch didn’t exactly qualify as a first date but I considered it a first step. Her mannequins were definitely a surprise and it was hard to stand there and not feel the strangeness of it all.

It had only been a month since she’d started working at the ad agency. I was in the creative department and she was in finance so our paths didn’t really cross much but when they did there seemed to be a very real chemistry between us. Except for a couple of group lunches we’d never seen each other outside the office. I was hoping this lunch would lead to something more. As she walked down the hallway toward me she apologized again. “I’m sorry for all the delays.”

“Don’t worry about it, stuff happens,” I answered, pretending that everything was normal. We walked outside and got into my car and as we headed to the restaurant there was an uncomfortable silence. I looked over at her and she seemed nervous. I felt like I should initiate some conversation but before I could say anything she looked at me and said, “I know you’re probably wondering.” She hesitated a moment. “They’re my family.”

Nothing she could possibly have said would have sounded any strange to me. She was single and lived alone like many young women did but I was certain those other young women didn’t share their homes with mannequins with names. And as odd as the situation was, her calling them her family was borderline bizarre. I began to wonder what I’d gotten myself into.

She was looking out the window, wringing her hands in her lap. “Luke, how about we wait until we get to the restaurant and then I’ll explain things?”

We found a table in the back corner of the barroom and, not knowing what kind of story Maria was about to share with me, I was glad for the bit of privacy. We ordered a drink and I was glad to discover she was a beer drinker like I was. It was just another little thing to like about her. When our server brought our beer and walked away, the tension on Maria’s face was obvious. I was as nervous as she was.

She took a sip of beer, paused, then began, “Okay, you must be thinking all kinds of unusual things about me, like I’m crazy or something. I wish you hadn’t seen all of that at my apartment but you did and I can’t change that.” Her voice was shaking. “So here it is. I was born in Albuquerque. My parents died in a car accident when I was just two and I was raised by my aunt Grace. She tried to take good care of me for a while but when I was around eight she started acting strange. She was drinking more and more and she was hardly ever home. There were times when she’d be gone for two or three days at a stretch and I’d be totally alone. I had to make my own meals and do my own laundry along with going to school.”

I sat there listening and trying to imagine how painful it must be to share a story like that. I reached across the table and held her hand as she continued. “Aunt Grace had a job at a department store and one of the things she had to do was change out the displays which also meant dressing the mannequins. When they got old she talked the manager into letting her have them, or at least that was what she told me, and she brought them home. In her own strange way she thought she was doing something nice and told me they were for me to play with. I guess they sort of became the family I didn’t have.”

We were interrupted by our server and it took a few minutes to order food that I didn’t think either of us was in the mood to eat. When the server left I squeezed Maria’s hand and said, “We don’t have to talk about this anymore.”

“No, it’s okay. Actually, it feels kind of good to finally tell someone.” She continued her story. The first one Aunt Grace brought home was the woman in the red dress. I named her Anna after a girl in a book I read who was pretty and had lots of friends. About a month later she brought home the cowboy. I named him Uncle Rudy after a man I saw on TV who was always in charge of things and took care of problems. It was about six months later when she brought home Albert. I’d decided that Anna needed a big brother to look after her.” She stopped for a moment with a faraway look on her face.

I wanted so much to say or do something that would make her feel better but I couldn’t think of anything that would be appropriate for the place and the situation.

She continued. “We lived in an old house that was kind of outside of the main neighborhood so the other kids didn’t come by my house very often. I was alone a lot and it was awful. So my fake family was all I had to keep me company. It was the same way through high school. When I’d make a friend and she wanted to come to my house I was too embarrassed and made up all kinds of excuses to avoid having anyone see how I lived. Fortunately I had a really nice counselor who tried her best to help me but there wasn’t much she could do to make my home life any different. She helped me get a scholarship to college and when I left home I was hoping things would be different there. I made a few friends but they lived off campus in nicer places than I could afford. When holidays came they went home to their real families and I went home to…well, I went home to mine.” There was a long pause and I knew she had more to say. “When I came to Phoenix and got my job and my apartment I just couldn’t let go of them. I still needed them.”

Our order arrived and I was hoping it would be the cue for her to shift gears and think about happier things. Every bite of food and every sip of beer seemed to pull her thoughts from the past to the present. I brought up a few things that were going on at the office and even got her to smile a few times. We each ordered a second beer and things finally felt relaxed.

She looked at me with a sheepish smile. “Luke, I’m sorry that I laid all that stuff on you.”

I reached for her hand again. “Don’t worry about it. I asked you to lunch so I could get to know you better.”

She let out a quiet laugh. “And man, you sure got your money’s worth, didn’t you? ”

The drive back to her apartment felt totally different than the drive to the restaurant. I walked her to the door and said, “I’d like to do this again.” She turned toward me without saying a word and enveloped me in the longest, strongest hug I’d ever enjoyed. We just stayed there at her front door hanging on to each other. When we finally stopped she kissed my cheek and said, “Call me.”

Over the next few months our lunches and happy hours started to grow into a relationship. She’d agreed to share my interest in mountain biking if I indulged her passion for antique and consignment stores. Eventually we began sharing weekends at my house. The quiet, soft-spoken woman I’d first met had slowly become a talkative, fun loving companion. On a chilly Saturday in late November the threat of rain changed our plans from a ride in the hills south of town to a visit to a new antique store near her apartment.

The store had the now familiar musty smell of old wood, old fabric and old everything else. Maria usually wanted to head straight to the vintage jewelry cases first but we’d no sooner stepped inside when she turned to the right and walked toward the back corner of the store. I followed behind her and asked, “What are you looking for?”

A few steps later I looked ahead and got my answer. There, on a long, rustic wooden bench sat Uncle Rudy, Anna and Albert. I was shocked to say the least. I looked at Maria who just stood in silence in front of the trio. The store wasn’t crowded and the near silence seemed appropriate. Maria took a step forward and stopped in front of Uncle Rudy for a moment then slowly moved on to Anna and Albert. I could see that her eyes were wet. She held her hand over her heart and with each stop she mouthed something I couldn’t hear. After a very long, silent pause she turned to me and with her voice breaking, said, “I came to say goodbye to them.”