Frozen Strawberries

“Daniel!”

That was his mother’s shout. He knew that if he heard it more than twice, it would be followed by her heavy footsteps.

“Daniel!!”

He put down the remote and walked through the kitchen and down the bright hallway to the front door. There was no point in changing from his house slippers into the sandals he wore only on very hot days. The basement was perfect for watching TV.

“Dan.”

Sunlight hurt his eyes. His mother had already put two of the usual wooden baskets on the concrete of the front porch.

“Go and put this on the table. And don’t eat. They’re not washed.”

He almost tripped on the welcome mat as he carried the two baskets inside. There were a few delicious ones that he had to try. The aunt who drove his mother smiled when she saw him come back outside. She handed him two more baskets.

“This is what you get for not helping with the picking.”

“Hi, auntie.”

“No hug?” He thought she was disappointed with just a kiss on the cheek in their driveway. A neighbour to his right was washing his car and trying not to notice.

“After Mom stops with the whip.” His mother eyed him from the back of the car. He liked to see them together in the daytime when they were back from shopping or working on the flowers in the front or the vegetables in the backyard. At night, they were either going to or coming back from the casino. He looked back at the neighbour who was hosing off his car. Let him think whatever he imagined this to be.

“Daniel!”

He was back on the porch.

“Just those last two and that’s all.”

Why didn’t she just say that he could go in with the last baskets in his hands? They were pretty heavy. He put them on the counter and some of the fruit spilled onto the damp tablecloths his mother used to handle the large pot of soup on the stove. Some of them fell into the sink and he had to grab them in the still warm water. His mother and aunt saw him grabbing something between the jars and lids in the sink and let him eat it before they were noticed behind him. At least, he thought, the fruit was now clean.

*

It was the same every late spring and summer. He would wake up, see the jars and lids floating in the sink from the night before and know that he couldn’t leave the house until his mother got back from one of the farms off the highways leading to the country. He would have also seen the piles of plastic lids and containers from the now empty tubs of margarine, butter and lard on the table and counter. They were his responsibility; they had to be matched up with each other and they had to be very, very clean. He had already washed and dried them out from the time they were used last year and stored under the counter. They just had to be left out and seen. His mother trusted him to have this done before the lids and jars came out.

She was always quick with those jars and lids, he thought.

“Need any help?”

“No. Get back to your box.”

She knew he now worked every other weekend at a video game store in the nearby mall (a fifteen-minute walk if he couldn’t get a ride there). She got him the job through someone she knew who worked there and wondered out loud why he couldn’t work there every weekend. He never told her that the manager – a friend of the family – only kept him on to clean up and run the cash when staff could not come in. It was an easy gig. Plus, he could borrow anything he wanted without paying and that was a plan.

His mother called to him.

“Tomorrow, Auntie and Uncle James are coming over.”

He walked out of his bedroom.

“Great.”

“You haven’t seen them in a year, I think.”

“I said, ‘Great.’”

His mother had already cleaned out two of the baskets and he noted the red pulp under her fingernails as she held up a hand.

“I know, I know. Your uncle is too much. But he loves you.”

“That makes one.”

“I mean it.” She wiped her hands on a towel.

“I know.”

“Just be nice.”

“I always am.”

His mother turned back to the other baskets.

His aunt and uncle – not really his aunt and uncle (he knew that) – were coming over. That meant they would be here with Salma. She was adopted and going to his old high school now. She was also younger, with enough of a gap between their ages to make her a pest.

“And Sal?”

“Salma. I guess. She might be busy.”

“Hide the remote.”

She wanted to hide her laugh, but he saw how her body reacted to what he said. She pointed to the table without looking at him.

“Take them down to the freezer before you go out.”

He had four plastic tubs of cleaned strawberries in his hands. He hoped there would be more for freezing and not just for the jam she was also making. From now to August, he would have finished at least two of them a week.

He liked the cold room. There were wooden shelves on the wall opposite to the door and on the right the long, white freezer was filled with fish, bacon, ground beef and other food that they would have on picnics and for their other events. The smell of the plastic seal on the lid of the freezer was tied into the comfort of the cool air and the taste of the fruit when hardened. In the heat he was feeling now, it was all perfect.

*

Mark’s games were okay. They were nothing that made him jealous or think about asking for the new system he had. It just wasn’t as fun to go down to his basement to play games as it was when they were in high school. Daniel thought about it. He was bored. Mark also went to a different school; not a big help at all. It was worse than living in a different city or not having video games. He still wondered why his mother moved when they were both just about to start high school. It stuck in his mind.

As soon as he passed the corner, he saw the long, brown car in the driveway. His not-real-aunt and uncle were here. The smell of rum was clear on the passenger side when he passed the open window. There was also a strong odour of perfume; something very flowery (Jasmine? Lilac?) Salma must have put it on. He wiped his face with the top of his shirt. It was too hot to play detective, even with the sun going down. The front door was open and he could hear laughter.

“Hello, hello.”

“Hello, hello, hello! There is the nephew!”

They were at the kitchen table with his mother pouring out cups of tea. The light was on in the living room – not needed, Daniel thought – and he heard some music from a video he didn’t know. Was it rap or techno? It seemed to matter now.

“Hi, Auntie.” He leaned down to kiss her as she picked up one of the matching cups on the table.

“How are you, sweetie?” It really wasn’t her perfume. She smelled of vanilla extract and bell peppers.

“Uncle J.” He walked around the table to shake hands. He noticed that there was a plastic domino case on the table and a bottle of rum that he brought over on the drive. It was strong and ready to be drunk.

His uncle was already up and Daniel felt the crush of his bones around him and his beard scratching his bare right cheek.

“Look at you! Already tall!”

His mother, sitting at the head of the table with the teapot, was watching him with a slight smile. His uncle grinned at him.

“You start uni-ver-see-tee yet?”

“No, not yet. I just work this summer and then start in September.”

Usually, he hated the way his uncle said the word, but this time he did not mind. And when Daniel saw him frown, he thought of a curious-looking turtle that wanted to know more than its own shell.

“You work?”

“Yeah. Every other weekend at the Game King on Cree Street.”

His uncle sat down and stared at his tea for a moment.

“Why not work with me?”

“Jim, please.” His aunt was also smiling, but it seemed to be forced.

“Please, what? It’s good work and money for a young man now. Needs that with the school.”

“He knows.”

Daniel wanted to crawl away into a hole. His mother did not say a thing. His uncle worked as a mechanic and the garage repaired engines for trucks coming off of long trips. They also sold propane and gasoline when they had to cover their expenses.

“Next time, call! I will give you a thing.” He smiled again.

“I will.”

“You will.”

“I will.”

“Anyway,” his mother put down her cup, “your cousin is in the living room.” She poured out another serving for herself.

Not my cousin, but thanks for the escape, mom.

“Let me just change first.” He went to the stairs.

“Danny, remember. You call.”

“I’ll remember.”

Daniel heard his aunt telling off his uncle as he went to his bedroom. All the shouting was done with love and he knew this. It was something that he secretly enjoyed.

“Salma!”

Why were they yelling at her?

“Salma!”

“Yeahh…”

“You say hello to people, right?”

“Mmm…” He couldn’t really hear her reply.

“So, you know what to say in a person’s home when you are a guest.”

Daniel heard the stations change on the TV.

“Salma!”

“Yes! I know.”

“So what the hell…?”

He needed a shower. The pipes drowned out his uncle’s anger. Daniel wondered how much of it was real. Salma was just being Salma.

*

In grey shorts and a long, light blue t-shirt, he came downstairs, walked past the domino game on the table – no teams; the double-blank left out of the shuffle – and walked down the three steps to the front room. Salma was stretched out on their sofa in shiny green shorts that stopped at the knee, a white tank top and a necklace that looked like plastic wood. Daniel noted her light blue bra strap hanging off her left shoulder.

“Hey.”

She waved at him without looking up. “Hey.”

“What’s on?” He didn’t really need to ask.

“Just videos and noise.” There were three well-choreographed women in bronze-coloured outfits singing about a lover that they never wanted to see again. Daniel did not know the song.

“Cool.”

“Yeah.” She started channel-surfing again. Daniel looked back and saw his uncle debating whether or not to kill the game.

“ ‘Kay.”

Another Saturday night in the summer and he was stuck at home. The university was in another larger city and he really hoped he’d never have another night like the one he knew he was about to have. It wasn’t fair to have week-ends like this when he wasn’t working.

“Right.” He had the basement to himself.

*

As soon as got downstairs, he felt relaxed. The cool shower helped with the heat, but the basement was better. Daniel remembered how he and some of this other relatives helped to fix it up. They put up drywall, laid down tiles; they painted, hammered, and made a space for a bar that they rarely served drinks from. The whole point of it was to show off the bottles and souvenirs that his mother collected from friends and her few vacations. It was only now that he thought of it as his private basement area. The cold room and the laundry room were closed off with their own doors. He had the two sections of couch at a right angle by the coffee table and the television. There was also a table with an old desktop computer he stopped using (too slow), the storage space under the stairs (again, a closed off area), and the space between one of the sections of couch and the cold room where he did sit-ups, push-ups and skipped with a leather jump rope a relative gave him one Christmas. He took a few skips with it, staring at the work done around him. It was something he would miss, but not the only thing.

Daniel wasn’t that hungry. He saw the food in the pots and trays on the counter and stove (his aunt brought over her fantastic upside-down cake with pineapple slices and maraschino cherries). But he wanted something else first.

In the heat, the cold room was cooler than he expected it to be. A ghost of frosted air rose out from the freezer as he quickly opened it and picked a tub. His mother had added several freezer bags filled with the fruit, along with the other tubs they used every year. The bags saved space, he thought. Guess he wouldn’t have to worry about her and the tubs. Daniel smiled.

“So, ya hide down here?”

Salma’s voice almost cost him his right eye. Surprised, Daniel had turned and almost grazed it on an exposed nail he had not noticed before. He quickly put the tub on the scratch on his temple.

“Ow!”

“Sorry.” She sounded like she actually cared. “What did I do?”

“Almost cost me an eye by trying to scare me, thank you very much.”

“I wasn’t trying to scare you.” She smiled. “Let me see.” She took the tub from his face and studied the scratch. “It’s nothing.”

Daniel slammed the freezer without looking back, shut the door to the cold room and walked past Salma to the couch.

“You could get good work as a thief, y’know.” He fell on the cushions and realized that something was missing. She still had the tub in her hands.

“Thanks and what is this?” Salma stared at it.

“Just a break I need.” Daniel leaned over to take it.

She opened the tub and frowned.

“Strawberries?”

“Yes.” He should have taken the tub from her at the door. The sound of the dominoes being shuffled upstairs was clear. The TV in the front room was quiet.

“Really?” She broke off a berry from the batch. Daniel noticed how it was covered in crystals of ice, like a jewel that had not been cut yet.

“Well, try it.”

Salma held the fruit by its ring of small leaves and tasted it. He noted her grimace – just a touch of the tongue – but he also saw that she was being to enjoy it.

She sat down next to him.

“Ya know,” she put the container on the table next to the remote, “that isn’t too bad.” The cold still made her grimace, but she took another berry.

“They’re best in the heat.” He should turn the TV on, he thought.

“Mmm…?”

“In the heat. When I’m at home, I eat them and it helps.”

She was sucking on the berry and looking at him as she let the fruit melt on her tongue. Salma pushed at the remote with left foot.

“Careful…”

“You excited?”

He blinked. “About?”

She smiled with some of the strawberry pulp in her teeth. “School. You’re going away, right?”

“Yeah.”

“How far?”

“Takes about a day to drive there. Far enough for me to enjoy life.”

“Enjoy life?” She put the tub between them on the couch. Her feet were still playing with the remote.

“Yeah, it'll be better than the ‘burbs. Where we live sucks.”

“And what’s so bad about it?” She was on her third berry.

“Nothing. Forget it.”

She made another face (was it because of the fruit?).

“No, really. I think I know what you mean. Like there is nothing close by.”

“Yup. Part of it.”

“And what else?” She stretched her long legs across the coffee table. Daniel did not reach for the remote.

“Well, if I want to go out, I need a ride or a car. Got my licence but no ride…”

She smiled the same pulp-filled smile at him. “How are you getting to school, then?”

“Ah. I’m sharing a trip with some people I know.”

“Family?”

“No, people I know from school. Some of us got into the same school together.”

She looked at him for a moment. “From high school…”

“Yep.”

“So, you’ve been friends for a while?”

“Too long.”

She swallowed what was left of the fruit. “That may be the problem.”

He stared at her. “What problem?”

She picked up the tub and dug in. “You’re 18?”

“19. You’re 16.”

“16-and-a-half.”

“Hmm…”

“Maybe you shouldn’t spend so much time with people you already know.” One of her braids crossed over her face and she placed it behind her left ear. “You need new people.”

“I think I need a berry.”

“Oh.” She noted the tub and passed it to him. “I stole your comfort food.”

“Just a snack.” He took a berry, now soft, and put it into his mouth with the leaves still attached.

“No, it’s for the heat.”

“Tastes good.”

“Is that all?”

Daniel now noticed her perfume. Again, it was a deep and cloying smell of flowers.

“Why?”

She laughed again and looked at the fruit. “No reason.”

He was really annoyed with her now. “If you have something in your head, tell me.”

Salma discovered a very large strawberry now thawing out and dripping with juice and water and bit into it. “It’s just that it is Saturday and you are stuck at home with your fruit and nowhere to go. Interesting…”

“Salma!” His aunt was at the top of the stairs. “Come on!”

“What’s interesting?”

“Nothing. Gotta go.” She left the tub on the table and jumped up for the stairs.”

“What the eff…?”

“Language!” Salma smiled at him and was quickly up the stairs.

Daniel, after a short pause to stare at the tub, got up and ran up the stairs. What was she thinking about by saying that? He’s a loner? Loser? He wanted to say something to her; he just did not know what it would be.

His uncle was talking to his mother in the front hallway. Without the TV on, Daniel could hear himself as a topic of discussion.

“…from Monday. I said that he needs more than a video game store job.”

“I’ll make him see it.”

“And here he is!”

His aunt and Salma must have already gone to the car. Daniel could still smell the same flowery perfume in the air.

“Bye, uncle.”

“You take care.”

“I will.”

“And you call! I want you to take some money with you when you leave us.”

“Okay.” They shook hands. And that was when his mother noticed something on his shirt.

“You couldn’t wait for dinner?”

Daniel did not understand why she looked upset.

She pointed at his chest.

“If you want a strawberry, at least get a plate.” She went back down the hallway to get a cloth from the kitchen.

Daniel noticed his uncle looking at the stain. There was a strange look on his face when he met Daniel’s eye.

“You have to be more careful.”

With perfect timing, he heard the bathroom fan when the door opened and Salma scrambled down from the bedroom stairs.

“Bye!”

“You take care.” Daniel turned and saw his mother hugging her. Salma looked at him for a moment and, after the embrace was done, ran up to him and kissed him on the cheek.

“Thanks for the fruit!”

And then, with some quick steps moves to put on her plastic sandals, she was out the door and in the summer night.

There was a slight pause and a strange moment between Daniel and his uncle. He could not make eye contact with him and his uncle’s frown no longer seemed silly.

His mother came back to the hallway with the clean cloth.

“I keep telling him to take a plate when he eats the fruit. Salma should have known that, too. How did you two manage to get your shirts so messed up?”

“Well, good night.” His uncle had already turned around to put on his shoes.

“Ehh? Hey, good night.”

His uncle went out without looking back. Daniel heard the car leave as his mother spoke.

“Anne should talk to that girl. Imagine not having sense enough to keep yourself clean. Just TV and boys for her. Fat and dumb, that one. Now you need to change, too. And always use a plate.”

*

Thank you for reading!

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