A Family Portrait

The musical inspiration for this one is Stand By Your Man.  Make of it what you will.

“All right, everybody, move in a little bit closer.”

We oblige.

The six of us.  It’s taken half the world, a walk on hot coals, a few servings of humble pie all round to get us here, but here we are.

Jenny sits to the far left, smiling, resting her elbow on Brad’s shoulder.  Sue’s dragged poor Kelvin out of his study and into the sunshine-filled real world, and now she has him in a bear hug, her chin perched on his shoulder, a smile that dazzles the room.

“A bit more.”  The photographer waves us a little with his hand.  “You ma’am, just stand a little bit closer to that man next to you.”  And credit where it’s due: he doesn’t flinch, he doesn’t even bat an eyelid.  And some people would.  Some people do.

“Remember to smile,” I tell Leon.  You really can name people all kinds of things, can’t you?

He slides closer to me.  His arms snake out from where they’ve been folded against his body.  All six of them.  They coil around me, snuggling into the fluffy jersey I wear because he likes it so much.  I can hear his wings rustling on his back.

I glance at the photographer.  “Is it all right?”

“Of course.”

They unfurl in all their glory: reddish and clay-brown wings, all veined and striated, full of twelve to twenty shades of their colours.  Furred around the edges, narrow and far-stretching.  Well, I think they’re gorgeous.  I think they’re amazing.

Some people judge us.  Because Leon’s so different.  Because he’s so overtly different.  They wonder at me, how I can look into his narrow, gold eyes; how the long, jagged sweep of his nose doesn’t frighten me.  It doesn’t.  I love his nose.  And the little curled claws at the bottom of his chin.  And the prickly texture of his hair.  Yes, I do.

There’s people I know who avoid us on the street.  All because they don’t know him.  But my family, they’re different.  If he’s mine he’s theirs.  They welcomed him into the family right from the start.  And I’m proud of that.  Kelvin had his problems too: invisible ones that lock him inside his own head sometimes.  We made room for that – because he’s Sue’s and that’s the end of things.  And my sisters, my brother, they make room for Leon in their lives the same way.

“Everybody ready?”

We chorus: “Yes.”

“Are you ready to say cheese?”

“Yes, we’re ready.”

From Brad: “Do you mind if I say ‘beer’?”

“On the count of three.”

He takes the photo on ‘two’; and it’s perfect.

Picture credit/discredit: author's own work