The Kids Grow Up, Trish Hanan [books you need to read .txt] 📗

Harry probably didn’t have all of the stores of stuff that Macy usually carries so he gave you other stuff, I’m sure it’s stuff that fits in with the décor of the store,” she told her. Violet smiled.
“Of course, Harry owned Macys for a hundred years, he would know what kind of merchandise belongs here,” she gushed and the three followed Frank into the store. They all looked puzzled when the first thing they saw was the greeting card section. And where the fine perfumes and makeup usually were, were helium balloons, big, colorful, helium balloons. They all gasped.
“Greeting cards and balloons in Macys, none of this stuff belongs in Macys, Harry must have brought the wrong bins by accident,” Violet exclaimed. Then they looked at the rest of the store and what they saw was no accident.
In the shoe department were shoes. But not the Italian leather ones like Gucci and Prada. These shoes were colorful plastic and rubber shoes of all kinds and styles and colors, like a big giant rainbow and there were thousands of them. They filled a third of the bottom floor. Violet looked at them and felt her face get red with angry.
“That fucking bastard, he did this on purpose!” she spat. They looked at the rest of the store. The rest of the first floor was filled with aquariums. Lots of aquariums, of all sizes and shapes, big ones, small ones, round ones, square ones, it was a big joke. Her precious first floor was a joke, aquariums, helium balloons, greeting cards and plastic shoes. Then they took the escalator to the bottom floor.
There they found lamps, floor lamps, desk lamps, ceiling lamps, all kinds of lamps, any kind of lamp you wanted, Violet had it.
“I didn’t know Macys sold lamps,” David said and the two women glared at him.
“They don’t, you moron,” Gloria snapped at him and he giggled. Then they saw the refrigerators and these took up the rest of the bottom floor. Refrigerators and barbecue grills, Harry had made a joke of her fine furniture department. Where were all the fine china and the crystal, the expensive view-screens and the stereos? All she had were lamps, refrigerators and God-damned barbecue grills, Violet would have killed Harry Talbert if he had been standing in front of her.
“I can hardly wait to see women’s dresses,” Gloria remarked and Violet glared at her. They took the elevator up to the third floor. They all gasped when it opened and saw what was there.
“I’m going to kill that little faggot,” Violet yelled as she saw all the t-shirts. And there had to have been ten thousand of them. Everywhere she looked there were t-shirts. He must have unloaded some kind of t-shirt warehouse store into her Macys, there were so many of them, they took up the entire third floor. David giggled and Gloria held her hand up to her mouth. Violet felt tears come to her eyes.
“He’s ruined my store, that little bastard has ruined my store, I can’t open Macys like this, everyone will laugh at me,” she said and the other two nodded. Gloria put her arms around her friend.
“You can sell all of this stuff and Jake has millions, you can buy new stuff and make Macys what it should be,” she consoled her. Violet shook her head.
“Every time I come in here, all I’m going to see it this,” she said. “But I’m going to get even with that little bastard if it’s the last thing I do, he’ll regret fucking with me,” she spat. Then she paid off the alterians and went to cry on Jake’s shoulders.
“Harry did what?” Jake exclaimed when she cried and told him what his ex had done to her. He wanted to laugh but he just patted her on her back and held her. He also wanted to tell her what did she really expect? That Harry would have filled her store with great merchandise so she could turn his precious Macys into her precious Macys. Violet needed a dose of reality. After all, she had just stolen his husband of ninety-three years, did she really think Harry was going to just lie down and take it without trying to get back at her somehow? He pictured Macys with all that crap in it and wanted to giggle, but sighed instead. He had wanted to stay friends with Harry because they did have seven children together but now Jake realized that it would many years before Harry forgave him and they could try for friendship.
Once all of the belongings were out of his house, Harry decided that it was much too big for only one person; he didn’t need eight bedrooms reminding him that he was never going to have anymore children. And when he got married or lived with someone again, they certainly weren’t going to have children, so four bedrooms were plenty. Harry decided to put the house back to its original design, so he went out and got some Sassafuric acid and went to work.
His kids and most of the inhabitants of the section of Edenville known as Kid’s Town were watching a bunch of alterians wrap metal chains and straps around Macys in preparation of lifting it from its foundation and removing it from its site and taking it to its new site in Medford where it would be turned into a mattress factory. They were all wondering why Harry would sell his favorite store to an alterian. Adam wandered down to ask questions of the job foreman.
“Moving a store, that’s got to be a lot of work,” he remarked casually. The man grinned.
“Yeah, you got to get it rigged up just right or the damned thing will slip right out of the harness and collapse on you,” he told him. Adam grinned.
“People are wondering why Harry Talbert sold his store,” he commented. The man frowned and looked at his clipboard.
“I don’t know no Harry Talbert, it says here the owner is a Jake Jackson,” he informed him. Adam frowned.
“Jake Jackson, are you sure?” he asked and the man showed him the paperwork and the signature was indeed Jake Jackson. He thanked him and went back to report to his siblings.
“Jake Jackson, why the hell is Jake using his old name, his last name is Talbert,” Jackson said and they all nodded.
“Something is going on, Harry would never sell Macys, he loves this store,” Emma told them and they all nodded again.
“Let’s go see Harry and ask what’s going on, there’s got to be a simple explanation,” Danny said and they all rushed to cars and drove to Harry’s. They found him standing on the roof on their house pouring something purple from a bottle on the roof. He saw them and waved.
“I’ll be down in a minute, hold on, this stuff is risky to use,” he yelled and they all nodded. Then he lifted the bottle far away from the house and used a metal crow bar to break apart the crack that had just formed where he had poured the liquid.
“Son-of-a-bitch, he’s splitting the house in two,” Jackson exclaimed.
“Why’s he doing that?” Emma demanded. They all looked at one another with confusion. Then Harry lifted half of their house away from the rest and set it down about a hundred feet away. They all gasped at the exposed hole looking at them. He grinned and climbed down a ladder and walked over to them. They all frowned at the gauntness in his face and the way his clothes hung on him, he looked as if he had been losing weight.
“Harry, what the hell is going on, what did you do to our house?” Adam yelled. Harry smiled.
“I’m remodeling, the house is too big for just one person,” he informed them. “All of you kids have all moved out and you’re not going to move back home again so there’s no use in having such a big house so I thought I’d turn it back into its original design again.” They all looked appalled.
“But it’s our house, Harry,” Jackson exclaimed. Harry sighed.
“No, it’s my house. All of your children have houses and when you get married you’ll have more houses, this is my house and it’s too big and too lonely and I want a smaller house,” he told them and they all nodded.
“Harry, why are you selling Macys?” Emma demanded. He looked shocked.
“Macys being sold?” he asked and they nodded.
“To an alterian who’s going to turn it into a mattress factory,” Adam informed him. Harry sighed.
“That bitch, she got even with me for filling the store with crap,” he snapped. “Oh, well, as my mother always said, that’s what I get for cutting off my nose to spite my face.” Then he sighed again.
“What bitch, who are you talking about and why is Jake calling himself Jake Jackson, what the hell is going on?” Jackson asked.
“Yeah, Harry, what’s going on?” Emma asked, her forehead wrinkling a little like it always did when she was perturbed. He smiled at them.
“Well, I guess you’d better hear it from me seeing how your dad obviously is too much of a coward to tell you,” Harry said.
“Tell us what?” Sean interrupted.
“Your father has divorced me and he’s moved in with Violet and he’s going to marry her,” Harry informed them. They all gasped with shock.
“Violet, who’s Violet?” Cassie asked, her face getting as red as her hair. All the kids looked confused.
“You kids all know Violet Emery, she’s Reverend Milo’s daughter,” Harry said and they all nodded.
“But Jake hates Violet,” Ryan protested. Harry shook his head.
“No, I hate Violet, your dad loves Violet and they’re engaged to be married,” he informed them. Danny snickered.
“Does he know that she’s slept with all of his children except me?” he sneered. Harry shrugged.
“Everyone’s slept with everyone and no one cares about that stuff, you know that Danny,” he admonished him gently. Danny shrugged. Harry continued. “Now your dad is probably afraid that you’re all going to take my side so I want you all to go over there and tell him you’re not. He’s going to need your help building his new home over on Farm One and your grandparents are moving over there too so they’ll need your help building their house too.” All the kids sighed.
“I don’t believe this, he divorces you after ninety-three years to marry that whore,” Cassie exclaimed. “Why couldn’t the two of you just have an open marriage like the rest of the people have?” she asked. All the kids nodded. Harry sighed again, he had been dreaded this question.
“Because Violet wants to have children and Jake wants them to have his name,” he told them as bravely as he could but tears still came to his eyes and spilled over. He wiped them away. “I thought I had cried all of this away,” he said and tried to laugh. Danny reached and grabbed him in a tight hug. All the kids hugged him.
“It’s going to be alright, Harry,” Jackson whispered and they all kissed him. He smiled.
“Sure it will be, it will just take some time, maybe in five or ten years, I’ll just be fine,” he said sadly. Then