Sellevision - Augusten Burroughs [69]
She heard the microwave beep, and a moment later Eliot was standing naked before her, eating mushroom pizza off a paper towel decorated with puppies and kittens. Her little dog was between his legs, looking straight up.
“Want a bite?” he asked as he chewed.
Bebe burst out laughing. “Now I know what I’m going to talk about tonight.”
He grinned, cheeks plumped out with pizza. “Gote ewe air,” he said, then after swallowing, “Don’t you dare.” He had learned that nothing he said or did was off limits when Bebe went on the air. Just last week, the entire country learned that he couldn’t pee unless the faucet was running. He finished the pizza except for the crust, which he automatically handed to her. For some reason, the crust was Bebe’s favorite part and he always saved it for her.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you—guess who called me last night?” he asked.
Pepper jumped up on the bed and Bebe scratched behind his ears. “What a good boy, yes.” she looked up at Eliot. “Who?”
“My mother,” he said, slipping into a pair of boxer shorts.
“Your mother? Your mother’s dead.” Pepper licked her hand.
Eliot pulled his head through a T-shirt. “I mean my biological mother, the one I never knew.”
Pepper jumped off the bed and Bebe sat up, pulling the covers over her breasts. “Eliot, you were adopted?”
He nodded his head. “Yeah, when I was a month old.”
She couldn’t believe he hadn’t told her. “Why didn’t you ever mention this to me?”
He shrugged. “It just never seemed important. I mean, I don’t really even think about it much. I don’t feel adopted.” He licked some tomato sauce off his thumb.
She thought this made sense. “So what did she say? Why did she call?”
“She said she’d always wondered what happened to me, that she never really got over giving me up, and that it had taken her all these years to find me. It was weird. She’s a stranger to me.”
“Well, did she tell you anything about her? Do you have brothers and sisters? What about your father?”
“Shit!” he cried and hopped on one foot. “Bebe, what the hell do you need this roulette wheel for? And why’d you put it on the floor?
Bebe rolled her eyes. “Eliot, I told you—it’s an investment. It’s from the original Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. Someday, it’ll be worth a lot. I just haven’t found a place to put it yet.”
He rubbed his big toe and frowned.
“Anyway, tell me more about your mother. Do you have brothers and sisters?”
“She didn’t mention brothers or sisters, but she did mention my father.” He pressed on his toenail and a small amount of blood appeared at the edge of the nail.
She looked at him, waiting for him to say more.
“She said they were living in Brooklyn at the time. He was with the NYPD. Imagine, I’m the son of a cop.” He limped into the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet. “Haven’t you got any Band-Aids?”
She froze. A chill went through her entire body; her arms sprouted goose bumps. “Eliot, what’s your biological mother’s name?”
“Never mind, I found them,” he said, walking back into the room with the box. He handed it to her. “Here, can you open one of these? You’ve got fingernails.”
“What was your mother’s name, Eliot?” Bebe asked again.
“Rosalind,” he said as he walked over to the chair and picked up his jeans.
Bebe thought she was going to pass out. She closed her eyes and placed her hands over her ears to make sure her head didn’t fall off her shoulders. And then it hit her in waves. The heaving came before the actual tears, but soon enough the tears came.
She sobbed into her hands and he ran over to the bed. “Bebe, what is it, what’s the matter, what?” There was panic in his voice. He’d never seen her like this, ever.
She was able to control the sobs enough to ask him, “Don’t you see?” But then the sobs took her over again.
He placed a hand on her shoulder, and she pushed it away. “Bebe, what’s going on? What did I say?” He scolded himself for snapping at her about the roulette wheel.
“Eliot.” She looked up at him. “Rose is short