His response was flippant and lethargic. She knew she couldn’t lighten his mood, she merely wanted to get his mind off the thoughts plaguing him. She hated seeing him like this.
After eating half her bagel, she decided to take the risk of a verbal assault. She shifted towards him, pushed his legs apart and then sat down between them with her back to his chest. He didn’t seem happy about it but he said nothing. She pulledhis arms over her shoulders, draped them around her neck, and leaned back against him.
“Once upon a time,” she said, “there lived a king…King Jasmindeous and one day…”
She heard a playful sigh behind her as she continued with her story, which was all about the ongoing feud between King Jasmindeous and King Kevidius over who would be the true ruler of the land. After much fighting, the two decided to engage in a jousting match to settle it once and for all, but when King Jasmindeous declared that the jousting match was to be fought with their penises, King Kevidius gracefully bowed out as he realized he didn’t stand a chance.
“What’s the moral of that story?” he asked, resting his chin on her shoulder.
“Not every battle is worth fighting. Sometimes you just have to accept that losing is inevitable.”
“Good lesson, but I don’t think that’s a true reflection of events. I think King Jasmindeous had the smallest penis in the world.”
“What? King Jasmindeous is a true gangsta with a huge shlong. He be blappin’ bitches on foreheads.”
He tightened his arms around her neck. “What the fuck you know about blappin’?”
“I’m an expert. Don’t make me whip it out and show you.”
She couldn’t be sure, but there might have been a chuckle then. She liked that she could get him to soften (most of the time). A gentle kiss was placed on her cheek and then he nuzzled his face against the side of her neck. He said nothing after that; he just held her close as they watched the sunset in the distance.
November, 29
Little Rock, Arkansas
The closer they got to Georgia, the more anxious she became. Kevin had thought that they’d spend more time in Oklahoma, but they were already in another state. A few weeks ago all he wanted was to get to Florida as soon as possible and now he didn’t want this trip to end. Georgia marked the end of their time together and he wasn’t sure if he was ready for that just yet. But she seemed hell-bent on putting mile after mile behind her. Sightseeing was of little interest to her. She was more preoccupied with what might happen more than what was happening. She’d talked about meeting her mother a lot during the drive to Arkansas.
They’d stopped at a small restaurant for a late lunch and met a couple, Frank and Meredith, who’d also recognized her from the talk show she was on. There was something about her that seemed to draw people in. He’d seen it throughout the trip. Frank and Meredith were completely fascinated by her and had joined them not just for lunch but for sightseeing as well. They’d toured the town with them for no more than an hour before Jasmin made an excuse to cut it short.
After saying goodbye, she promptly looked for a hotel where they could spend the rest of the afternoon. It wasn’t about touring anymore. She wanted to reach her destination, but her booking into a hotel also showed that she wanted them to be alone for these last few days and he wasn’t going to complain about that.
“So nine is easy,” Jasmin said as they followed the bellboy down the long corridor.
She reached into her purse and as soon as he saw a notepad and a pen, he knew that shit just got real. Their conversation with Frank and Meredith had sparked some of his own questions and he’d asked how she did those crazy equations in her head. She explained that every number had a pattern, then went on to explain the pattern of two through to eight in the car ride to the hotel. She was currently busy explaining nine. She got so excited talking about numbers that he sort of regretted asking.
“When you multiply a number by nine, you actually should just multiply it by ten and then subtract that number. So if you say eight hundred and fourteen times nine, you multiply it by ten, giving you eight thousand, one hundred and forty and then subtract eight-fourteen and you get seven thousand, three hundred and twenty-six. See? Easy.”
“Yeah, it sounds easy,” Kevin argued. “But I can’t even do that basic subtraction in my head in two seconds.”
“It just takes practice.” She started scribbling something down as they got into the elevator. “I’m not gonna even deal with ten. Everybody is so obsessed with ten. It’s so round, the perfect ten, but no one gives eleven the recognition it deserves.”
“It’s a travesty.”
She ignored the comment and the subtle grunt of the bellboy and carried on. “The pattern of eleven is my personal favorite. If you multiply any number by eleven, all you do is add it to itself but one away. For instance, if you say eleven multiplied by twenty-three. You add twenty-three to twenty-three, but one away.”
This conversation was already making his head hurt, but he said nothing when she showed him her notepad.
“See? Two-fifty three. It’s basic addition instead of multiplication. It’s nothing new from what they teach in school. It’s just a short cut, and once you see the pattern, it becomes easy to do it in your head. And the pattern stays the same even if you use bigger numbers.”
The doors opened and the bellboy pushed out the trolley carrying their bags first with them following behind him.
“Like, if you say eleven times…one thousand and twenty-four.” She started scribbling again as they walked down the narrow corridor and turned the notepad to him again when they reached their room.
“Do you see how beautiful eleven is?”
That got another snort from the bellboy and Kevin held back a smile. “I see.”
“All the numbers from eleven to nineteen follow a similar pattern. Now if we move on to twelve…”
