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Thursday, June 25, 2015

Sleep On It

“Jonah, we need to talk.”

Jonah just barely finished saying hello before I cut him off. He was still in the doorway entering our apartment when he paused to scrunch his lips at my request. It was later than usual, but I could tell he was coming straight from work because he was still wearing his Ray-Ban eye glasses, which he only did when he spent hours in front of a screen writing.

“Okay...” His voice drifted as he shut the door behind him. I waited for him to walk over to the empty dinner table. He pulled out a chair and gestured for me to sit and then did the same. Jonah's elbows perched up on the table as he folded his arm, one over the other. “...Shoot.”

I inhaled a long breath and slowly blinked my eyes for emphasis. “You're mom called...”

I wasn't even finished with my sentence before his ears perked up and he immediately jumped to conclusions. “Is she okay? What happened?”

I held up my hand and smirked. “She's fine” He sunk back into his chair waiting for me to continue. “She...I don't know how to say this.” I bit my lip as I tried to figure out the right words to say. Jonah's chin jolted forward in anticipation. I sighed and just blurted it out any which way it came. “She wants me to convert, like, before the baby and the wedding.”

“She said that?” Jonah looked at me confused.

“She suggested I take a more serious,” I air quoted the word “look into considering it because I'm not the only one it'll be affecting.”

Jonah sighed and rubbed his forehead before he took off his glasses and began rubbing his eyes. The mumbles under his breath were barely audible.

I waited a few seconds for him to wrap his head around it, but he still hadn't said anything.

“So...” I tapped my fingers on the table. “Crazy right?”

“I don't know” He declared. “I don't know” he repeated. And then again a couple more times. The palm of his hands laid on the table has he pushed himself up off the chair.

“Where are you going?” I asked, confused. “We're not done talking.”

Jonah was already half way to our bedroom. He turned around. “Anything other than conversion talk?”

I thought about it for a second, “no”

“Okay” He took his shirt off as he continued on his way to the bedroom. “I have to take a shower. We'll talk about this later.”

All I wanted was a little bit of thought from Jonah's end to help me figure out where I should even start with my decision. Looks like I wasn't going to get what I was searching for. I dropped my head onto my folded arms as I groaned.

The next morning I tried to get a hold of Jaime. He didn't answer my call and I knew he wasn't working. I hadn't seen him since the incident at his parents place the week before. I wanted to make sure everything was okay and maybe, if the moment was right, tell him about my run in with Henry.

I grabbed a box of doughnuts and a couple of coffees before I headed up to his apartment where I waited for him to answer his door.

I knocked again. Silence.

I was starting to get worried when I remembered Jaime kept a spare key hidden on top of his door frame. I put my things down and jumped up to grab it. Although my pregnancy weight still wasn't visible, it was the first time I definitely felt it.

I unlocked the door and opened it slowly hoping to see Jaime, but he wasn't there. The place looked like someone was living there, so it's not like he ran off without me knowing. I sighed as I left the box of doughnuts and his coffee on his kitchen counter and walked away.

That's when I heard a noise. I turned towards Jaime's bedroom and began walking in its direction. “Jaime?” I called out and I heard a noise again. I felt like I was maybe two and a half seconds away from panicking. For all I knew someone could have beaten Jaime up and left him tied up in his bedroom. “Jaime!” I called out louder this time.

His bedroom door was slightly open, so I very cautiously pushed the door and stood back in anticipation of fighting off some sick freaky serial rapist who was torturing my best friend.

“Oh my God!” I yelled as I covered my face with my hands. The last thing I was expecting, and yet the most logical, was seeing Jaime in bed with Henry. Thankfully nothing was going on, but just the thought that I invaded their privacy took me back.

“Lynn?” Jaime called out as he jumped out of bed and threw a t-shirt on.

“Oh my God” I repeated. “This is deja vu! I'm so sorry, J! I'm leaving, I'm leaving!” My face was still covered as I backed away to the front door.

I heard Jaime's voice laugh as his hand grabbed my arm and pulled it away from my face. “It's okay.” He reassured me. “We were just sleeping...see.” I looked over his shoulder to see Henry still in bed, silent, as his chest rose and fell with each breath. He was sound asleep.

“Oh”

“What's going on?” He asked when he finally realized I was in his apartment.

“I tried calling you” He obviously hadn't seen his phone yet by the way he furrowed his brow. “I knocked too and I got worried when you didn't answer. I thought maybe someone hurt you, or I don't know, maybe you hurt yourself.”

Jaime smiled again. “Why would I hurt myself?”

I widened my eyes and looked around. Did he really already forget? “Uh, Jaime, your dad wasn't exactly welcoming you with open arms.”

“Oh” he rubbed the back of his head and sighed. “That”

Jaime went back over to close his bedroom door so Henry wouldn't wake up and the two of us sat in his living room talking about what had happened.

Jaime went on to tell me how he and his mom went back inside to try opening up a little more to his dad, which he did eventually come around, but he still wasn't as accepting of his son as he needed to be.

“I'm sorry” I shrugged my shoulders not knowing what else to say to make him feel better. “So, what's happening here?” I pointed towards his bedroom where Henry was still sleeping.

Jaime rolled his eyes. “Don't ask”

“You know I saw him the other day. He's still with Jebrone.”

“I know...”

“Wasn't the whole point of this...”

Jaime cut me off, “It's complicated. Let's just leave it at that. Speaking of complicated how are things with Mr. Show Biz?”

It was my turn to roll my eyes. “We told his family about the baby this weekend. His mom ended up calling me yesterday and told me I should start thinking more seriously about converting.”

“Wow” Jaime lifted his brows. “That's heavy stuff...I mean, if it even matters to you.” I gave him a look and he went on to explain. “If you're not a religious person than why not? Maybe it'll open your eyes to something new. Or at least you can be supportive of your kid. I mean she'd kinda right, it's gonna have an affect. The moment you become pregnant it's no longer about you.”

We sat and talked through all the possibilities and different scenarios of things that could turn from either decision I made.

Before I left Jaime's place that morning I'd gotten a text from Jonah asking if I wanted to go to dinner. So, that night I met him at our favorite Italian restaurant in the Meat Packing District.

We had already placed out orders when Jonah suddenly cleared his throat and leaned forward.

“I'm sorry we couldn't talk about this last night..” He reached over and grabbed my hand. He looked down at it as he played with my fingers. “I just really needed to sleep on it and figure out how I really felt.”

“I'm not asking you to make the decision for me, Jonah.” I placed my hand over his. “I just want to know how you feel.”

He sighed. “I feel like it's asking a lot.”

“But?” I knew by the expression on his face that there was so much more he wanted to say.

“I'd like if you considered it. I thought about it a lot and I want my son, or daughter, to grow up with the same culture, traditions, experiences as I did, you know what I mean?”

I couldn't blame Jonah, his life involved way more religious events than mine ever could. It just wasn't something my parents where big about. There was the occasional church visit, but that's as far as it went.

Jonah looked up at me with longing eyes. “It would mean the world to me if we were all able to share them together.”

26 comments:

  1. You post once a week, barely even a post as they're getting shorter and shorter and now you post hours late with no warning and with the worst spelling and grammar.

    Shows how much you still care for your readers. You used to be my favourite, now meh.

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    1. Don't be so rude. Don't like it don't read it.

      I really don't think I could convert ..I was raised a strict catholic and I am not really religious now....that's a big decision for Lynn.

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    2. Seriously? Don't be rude. She doesn't have to post at all, and people who make comments like that and stand behind an anonymous screen tag are the reason why a lot of fiction bloggers stop writing, because all they get is criticism.

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    3. I mean she could just stop writing all together and then imagine how short the posts would be. If this is seriously something that's bothering you to this extent, I feel really sorry for you.

      I'm not sure how I would feel about converting...excited to see what she decides!

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    4. Don't be such a bully... No one is forcing you to read her story. If you don't like it don't read it!

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  2. Don't listen to the anonymous reader, I'm still loving your posts. Yes I do wish you posted more than once a week but I'm still eager to find out what is going to happen with Lynn and Jonah next

    http://doespixidustwork.blogspot.com.au/

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  3. I too am wondering about the future of the blog. I appreciate the time you have given but would like you to just wrap it up and give us an ending if you aren't interested/ able to continue the weekly posts. I love the storyline but have been disappointed in the last couple posts where nothing has really happened. It's just starting to feel strung out.

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  4. I agree, it's getting sloppy and lacks passion. The author called out another blogger about they way she ended her story and cheated the readers, now she is doing the same thing.

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  5. Soooo you're definitely not as bad as the LSP blog or MinniAppleGirl blog, so please don't be offended by some of these comments. When you needed to cut down on postings, you let us know, and you've kept up with it. You even let us know when you were going on vacay! I will say, last week's post was pretty short.....BUT, my daily schedule is so.dang.hectic and I could never keep up with a blog so I applaud that you do! We all would love more posts or longer posts but hey sometimes it feels like there isn't enough hours in the day to get stuff done, so don't let negative comments keep you down. Right now this is the only blog that has stayed consistent and interesting so I have no complaints! Keep up the good work! !!

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    1. Jenn, your comment was very sweet. It's very upsetting when you put so much thought and energy into something only for people to hate it so much that they assume the blog is coming to an end. But, I can't complain because it comes with the territory. Your understanding and kind words are deeply, deeply, appreciated.

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  6. I agree with other anonymous and Kristen. I've read from the very beginning, but the story feels so contrived as of late. It's like you're trying to see how many taboo issues you can introduce and instead of feeling genuine it feels very forced and juvenile.

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  7. I have to say I do miss the old drama, but you can't ALWAYS have that level of drama. Maybe she's leading up to something, who knows? It just may seem harder to get into bc the posts are only once a week.

    I understand her not coming from a very religious background, but that doesn't mean she needs to convert. My family isn't jewish however my brother married a girl that is. Growing up until we were teens we went to church all the time, once we were old enough my parents let us choose if we wanted to go weekly. We still had to go on Easter and at Christmas until we moved out... or in my brothers case.. went into the Army. Anyway... he got married and he didn't convert. They now have 2 girls and they practice both. They do both christian and Jewish holidays. They have a Christmas tree and they have a Menorah. They celebrate Christmas and Hanukka. That way neither side feels that the others is more important.. or the others extended family feels left out. She doesn't need to convert... it can be worked out.

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  8. I don't agree with the other commenters, I think this blog is still interesting, and I still care about the characters. Posts can't always be long and often. Your blog is one of the few where I still really like the characters, who are well developed and fleshed out. I hope you keep it going!

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  9. I'm not catholic. Technically, if you want to get down to it, I'm a Protestant, but I'm not religious or baptised. When my ex and I got married and had a son, he told me it would mean a lot if I converted. I said no. I won't convert. However, we baptised our son, he goes to a Catholic school (mostly because it has before and after school care) and, I take him to church on special occassions and such. Because it meant that much to his dad.

    I'm not exactly sure with the Jewish religion, but couldn't she still participate and raise their child Jewish if she's not? I find it unfair that now, after knowing she wasn't Jewish from the day they met, that NOW he's pushing her to consider. If he wanted a Jewish girl, he should have found one. I dont think it's fair to push your religion on someone to convert. I refused, but, because religion isn't that important to me (I just didn't want to leave mine fully behind and convert) I had no problem participating, learning about his faith and raising our son Catholic. I see no reason why they can't do that as well.

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    2. One of my closest friends is Jewish. He told me that in order for his kids to be 100% Jewish, it's the mother who has to be Jewish. She's the one who passes the religion on to the kids. In this case, Lynn would have to convert if they want their kids to be raised Jewish. So yes, if Jonah was really serious about this from the beginning, he shouldn't have asked Lynn to marry him without first talking about this issue.

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    3. Ah. I did not know that. I know in the Catholic faith, only one parent needs to be Catholic, but both godparents need to be Catholic when you baptize the child. I can see why he would want her to convert now.

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    4. Maybe it's just now clicking for him, yeah if it was an issue he should have brought up but maybe he thought not a big deal until it started to get more real I don't know. Also if she doesn't belive in the religion she won't really be Jewish she'll just be one on the outside

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  10. I am very passionate and identify with my faith. Liz does not seem to have that sort of commitment right now, and she did seem open to converting when it was touched on in the past. I think Anna's call threw her for a loop. I agree it should be an issue that is addressed now, though, with the marriage and baby. I love how Jonah handled it. He didn't allow it to escalate in to some big debate/argument. He was able to calmly explain where he was coming from.

    I don't question your commitment to the blog, I'm just greedy and want more! Please take that as the compliment it is meant to be. mum

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  11. If Lynn doesn't have a string religion, I don't see why she would have a problem converting. I know I would if it ever came to that.

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  12. I think she should consider it also. If she flat out refuses without checking into it, especially since she isn't a strong religious person, that would make me really feel disrespected if I were Jonah. If she investigates and still decides not to, then okay. But I hope she takes it seriously out of respect for him. (Which I definitely think she will.)

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  13. I've been silently reading this blog from the very beginning and have never commented before, but I just wanted to stop by and say how much I love this story! I feel like you're the only blogger I've ever followed who consistently updates her readers on post status and schedule and doesn't disappear without warning. That alone would make me love this blog, but you've also crafted such an interesting and unique story with characters I have come to know and love. Just remember that for every jerk commenter there are plenty more of us who love the blog and can't wait to see the next post!!

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  14. Hi, I'm Bloor! Like Anon, I've been reading this blog for a while now, and recently decided to start my own. I'm also non-religious, like Lynn, but I don't know if that necessarily means I wouldn't have a problem converting though... I just feel like it's hard to do something and commit to something when you don't truly believe in it and have faith in it. But then again, maybe Lynn could see it as a belief in her family and in Jonah...I personally would still have a hard time doing that, but that might just be me being selfish. :P

    https://bloorinthecity.wordpress.com/

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  15. My sister is catholic and my BIL Jewish. She never converted but they raise both their kids in the Jewish faith. She shouldn't be expected to convert.

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