Lost & Found Ch. 06 Pt. 01

Joey grinned up at her.

"It's okay Ma, we're okay, we just want to lie here a little longer. Robbie and I got stuff to talk about."

Robbie also grinned up at her.

"Mom, this is kind of brother-stuff, we'll be out soon enough, just leave us be, we're alright now. Please, mom?"

Sarah shook her head, but left the room smiling. Somehow, and she wasn't sure how, Robbie had gotten through to Joey; his smile at her had been his old smile, his voice had lost that dull, dead quality, and his eyes had been alive, not listless and disinterested. He was back; his brother had pulled him back from wherever he'd gone; somehow he'd known exactly what to do to snap Joey out of his half-dead state.

Back in the sitting room, both brothers lay on the floor, gazing at the ceiling in silence. Eventually Joey stirred.

"If you ever speak to me like that again, ever, I WILL kick your ass, that's a goddam promise!"

Robbie grinned.

"Yeah, whatever, you're full of shit; tell it to someone who cares!"

Joey laughed and sat up, then clambered to his feet, extending his hand to Robbie to pull him upright. As he did, he punched him on the arm.

"Thanks, bro!" he whispered, then flopped down on the couch.

"So what next, Rob, what do we do now?"

Robbie sprawled on the other end of the couch, staring pensively at the ceiling, gathering his thoughts.

"Okay, Joey, this is what we'll do. You need to get away, you need a break from Daly City, from work, from all...this..." He waved his hand, conveying in that one gesture all the sadness and gloom that had gathered in the house. Joey grimaced, shaking his head.

"I can't just...run away, just leave town like that; what about Joe, what about work..?"

Robbie cut him short.

"You need to leave this behind for a while; face facts, bro: she's gone, and you moping around here like some lost soul isn't gonna bring her back, and really isn't doing you or that little boy any good. I kind of know how you feel, Joey, really I do; when you lost her, so did I; she was my big sister when I needed one real bad; she was my family, I only had you, and mom, and her, and I loved her as much as you did."

He closed his eyes briefly as he massaged his temples, his voice low and vibrant, loss and anguish clearly discernible just under the surface.

"I miss her too, Joey, believe it; I miss her every single day, and so does Casey; she was her big sister, and her best friend; she can't bear to watch any of those damned movies anymore, because Karen's not there with her, eating popcorn and crying with her; we've got a big hole in our lives too, but we all have to find a way to let her go."

He leaned back and studied the ceiling again for a moment.

"You have to get away for a while, a few weeks, a couple of months, long enough to get your head out of your ass and back where it belongs! Don't worry about Junior; he's gonna stay with Casey and me; he's been pretty much part of us for months now, while you've been...wherever the hell you were. Don't worry, you know how Robbie loves him, they'll be good for each other, and Casey loves and cares for him like he's ours, so you know he'll be okay. Gramma Rosie's close by as well, and mom, so you don't need to worry about him; the family's got it covered. Take as much time as you need, a month, three months, six, however long it takes. Get your life back in shape, and come home when you're ready; we'll all be waiting for you."

Robbie could see Joey considering the idea, so he let him think it over. After a few seconds, Joey spoke again.

"It sounds like a good idea; I could do with getting away from here for a spell; y'know, one time I seriously thought about taking the "Lady Midnight" out and just sailing away, just letting the tides and currents take me wherever they wanted; perhaps you're right, some time away sounds real good. What about work though? I can't just drop everything..."

Robbie grinned again.

"Actually, you can; as of today, you're taking Leave of Absence for an indefinite period, due to family circumstances. Elio's already squared it away with payroll, and thanks to you, your team of marketing geniuses have several months' worth of marketing strategy and proposals to work through, so you can leave with a clear conscience; in fact, you're leaving today. I booked you a flight before I came here, so better get started packing, you have a plane to catch."

Joey looked at him in astonishment.

"Flight? What flight? Where the fuck am I going?"

Robbie smiled.

"You're going home, meathead; your old home; you're going back to Springfield, to mom's old house on Bixby. Casey thinks you need to be around familiar places and familiar faces for a while, all the things that were around you when you were growing-up; I happen to agree with her, so you're going. It'll be good, I promise!"

Joey looked sideways at Robbie.

"You knew how this was going to play out, didn't you?"

Robbie grinned.

"'Course I did. Let's face it, bro; to me, your mind's like an open book; a very small book, with very big print..."

Joey grinned back and gave him the finger.

"Fuck you, butthead! I'm gonna go pack. Just try and not lose my kid while I'm gone!"

*

Joey stepped out of the cab and stared up at the house he'd grown up in. In the nearly three years since he'd last seen it nothing seemed to have changed. The porch looked swept clean, the small front lawn was clipped and neat, and the flower-beds on either side of the porch were well tended and colourful. Sarah had said she'd asked her friend Jonah to keep an eye on the place; obviously people had taken the knowledge that Jonah Hollister was looking after the house to heart and left it scrupulously alone and untouched.

He walked up the porch and put the key in the door. As he was fumbling with it, the sound of someone clearing their throat meaningfully behind him made him spin around, almost dropping his keys and flight-bag.

"And just what you think you're doin', boy?" drawled the tall, hard-faced man standing at the foot of the porch steps, his ageless face smooth and hard as porcelain. As Joey stepped out of the shade, the man grinned, a mere skinning of his teeth, but it suddenly made him look a little less forbidding.

"Damned if you ain't the spit of Sarah's daddy! You must be Joey; I ain't seen you since you was three or four. Your mama asked me to keep an eye on this place. I guess I can let go fer now. You here for long, young feller?"

Joey nodded.

"A few weeks, just until I..." The man cut him short.

"Sshhh, your mama told me all about what happened, and I'm real sorry. Sarah tells me she was a good girl; there ain't too many of them these days, and I do grieve for your loss; she was your wife, and that makes her one of us. Sarah's real worried about you, so you need anything you just lemme know. You'll find the gas and electric's back on, I had Southwest Power out here this morning gettin' you all set-up again, and AT&T put your phone back on for you; they also gave you somethin' called 'DSL', and fitted an internet Hub, whatever in hell they are. My niece came in and cleaned up a little for you as well, and there ain't no need fer thanks; Sarah's home folks, and my friend, too, and I reckon she'd do the same fer me if I needed it. Y'all take it easy now, and there ain't no-one gonna trouble you, not 'less they want me explainin' things to them!"

Joey was touched by his sincerity, remembering how clannish some of the families around here could be, and grinned briefly at the thought that his mom was nearly two thousand miles away, but this man still thought of her as 'home folks'. This must be Jonah Hollister, one of the notorious Hollister triplets, the one family in Springfield you most definitely did not want to piss-off. Jonah ran his hand through his buzz-cut grizzled hair and nodded at the house.

"Luna stocked you up a little as well. All the essentials are in the pantry or the icebox, and I reckon you know your way 'round town real good, so I won't insult you and tell you where the stores are if'n y'all need anythin'. Your mama's old Riviera's in the garage. I got the charger on it; keep it on fer another couple hours and she should be good to go. If you need me, Luna's got my number; she'll look in on you now and then, she's a good girl, just like her mama. Rest easy boy, your mama told me you was here to try and get over your girl, you just get to it, no-one's gonna disturb you. See you around, son, and remember, you need anythin', anythin' at all, let Luna know."

With that he turned and climbed into the nondescript Ford pickup parked on the street and pulled away.

Joey grinned again and went into the house, looking around in wonder as he did so. Nothing had changed; apart from a couple of pieces of heirloom furniture she'd taken with her to California, it still looked like his mom lived here and had just stepped out for a moment. Most of all, he felt a weight lift off him as he relaxed properly for the first time in what felt like forever. No matter that he lived in California now, this was always going to be his home, and he was back.

Joey dumped his flight bag and laptop on the hall table and walked through the house, soaking in the feel of being at home again, the soft siren song of childhood familiarity calling to him. A picture on the sideboard of him and Karen taken at their prom caught his eye, his heart suddenly turning over and pounding, and his breath catching in his throat as he saw that familiar image again. He stared at it for a long moment, then reached out and slowly, deliberately, turned it face-down.

He wandered through the house, fingers trailing over the familiar things of his childhood, remembering, grinning at the height marks Sarah had etched in the door-frame, he on one side, Robbie on the other, eventually finding himself in the kitchen. He smiled at the unopened pack of coffee and box of filters stacked next to the coffee maker. He filled the beaker and poured the coffee grounds into the filter top, switched the coffee maker on and went back into the sitting room to sit and wait for the coffee to brew. As he sprawled comfortably on the couch he and Robbie had shared for so many years as they watched first cartoons, then, as they got older, their shared weakness, cop shows, once again he marvelled at how nothing had changed.

For the first time in a long time, he had nothing to do, and the feeling suddenly hit him; what was he supposed to do now? There was no-one here but him. Was he supposed to languish in grief until it died away naturally, or go out and make new friends, or maybe look up some of his old high school buddies? For so long his decisions outside work had involved Karen; they'd done everything together, and had done since the 8th Grade. How was he supposed to do this alone, how did he even start?

He went back into the kitchen and poured himself a coffee. As he took his first sip he heard the front door open.

"Hello the house!" called out what sounded like a young woman.

"I'm in the kitchen!" he called back, and carried his coffee back to the sitting room. As he walked in, a tall, pretty girl with pale skin, long, silky, copper hair and compelling green eyes poked her head in the other door.

"Hi, you must be Joey. I'm Luna. Jonah said you'd be here. I hope the place is okay. I put some basics in the fridge, milk, juice, bread, that kind of thing, but if you need anything else just leave me a note, I'll pick it up for you. There's no cable hooked-up yet, but the local stations do a great line in farm reports, GOD TV, TBN, and Familyland, oh, and reruns of 'The Lucy Show', 'I dream of Jeannie', and 'Gilligan's Island'! Cable guy said he'll maybe be here tomorrow, but this is Springfield, so don't hold your breath! In the meantime, welcome back to the teeming metropolis that is Springfield!"

Joey felt breathless listening to her talking nineteen to the dozen, and caught his breath as she stopped talking and smiled at him. He noticed her eyes, so like his Aunt Kat's particularly vivid shade of emerald, and her luxuriant bright red-bronze hair, glowing in the early evening sun, almost red enough to be true Titian, a rich, vibrant shade somewhere between bright chestnut and true copper. Something about her tugged at his memory, but it was fleeting, and disappeared almost immediately.

Joey grinned at her as she wound down.

"Hello Luna, this...all this, it's very kind of you, but you didn't have to...it's okay, really..."

Luna smiled, her grin fleetingly reminding him of someone else, but he couldn't pin it down.

"Aw, it was a pleasure; your mom's my Uncle Jonah's friend, they've been friends since Grade School, he thinks of her as family, so I guess you're family too."

Her smile faded.

"I know why you're here, and I'm sorry, I don't mean to intrude, maybe I should go now..."

Joey shook his head. This girl made him breathless the way she rattled along, but he found himself enjoying her company; it was refreshing talking to someone other than family, someone who wasn't walking on eggs around him.

"No, please stay...sit, please, have a coffee, I've got a fresh pot in the kitchen."

Luna smiled again, and once more that fleeting ghost memory nagged at him, that feeling her knew her from somewhere, then it was gone just as quickly, before he could pin it down.

"I'd love one; you sit, I know where everything is, just give me a minute."

She was back a few seconds later with a steaming mug which she set down on a side table as she sat in Sarah's old recliner, one leg curled under her as she sat. They stared appraisingly at one another for a few seconds, strangers thrown together and wondering what to say next. Eventually Luna broke the silence.

"So you're the famous Joe Anderson; did you know they still have your picture up all over Ellenbrook High School? Three consecutive State Championships; we never managed that ever again. You're quite the legend!"

Joey grinned, blushing a little as Luna smiled at him. He was beginning to notice how attractive she was, and it threw him; the thought made him feel disloyal to Karen and her memory, but there was no denying it; Luna Hollister was a very attractive girl. She was above average height, but still petite enough to have to look up to look him in the eyes, something she did with disconcerting directness. She was possessed of long, slim legs and a small, neat waist, her lithe, slim, but shapely, figure covered but not concealed under skinny jeans and a tight tank-top. Her skin was pale, the merest hint of freckles dusting her cheeks and the bridge of her small, up-tilted nose, and her large, expressive eyes were a vivid, vibrant green.

"So you're still in High School?" he asked, vaguely disappointed that she was so much younger than he was, but Luna shook her head.

"Hell, no! I graduated three years ago, and I've been looking for a real job ever since. I worked for a while at the Dolanco store downtown when I was still in school, but I didn't like it there; Mr. Dolan kept looking at me real intent whenever he came in, it was just too creepy, so I quit, and then it went bust anyway. In the meantime, I looked after my uncles, although only Jonah lives here now. Uncle Jethro and Uncle Jerry are still in the Marine Corps, so they only come home when they get some leave; in the meantime, I'm on hand to meet and greet new arrivals in town!"

Joey was oddly relieved that she wasn't impossibly younger than him, just four years, and filed it away for analysis later; he couldn't think why he should feel that way, and it unsettled him more than a little. Luna carried on talking, unaware of his momentary distraction.

"Did you know my mom was your aunt's friend? Jo Hollister. She and your aunt Caitlin were buddies in High School. Mom used to talk about her, how Kate Moran was the prettiest girl in Laroque County, and about how one day she just split, left town in a big rush, and never a word to anyone. It was a nine-day wonder around here, in Springfield, hotbed of intrigue that it is; it was probably the biggest thing to happen here since the Civil War, and even then nothing happened here!"

Joey grinned in spite of himself; he knew who Jodie Hollister was alright; his mom had torn a strip off him and Robbie once when they were eleven or so for spying on her undressing in her apartment at the intersection with Bixby and Lewis Street with the little 20-power telescope he'd gotten one Christmas. So this was her daughter; he'd never have known; Jodie Hollister was petite, grey-eyed, with dark hair, so Luna must take after her father's side.

He could feel himself being drawn to this girl, much as he tried to deny the fact; her sense of humor, her quick smile, her soft contralto voice, and the nagging feeling he knew her from somewhere, all these things added-up to an intriguing package. Of course he didn't know her, he couldn't possibly know her, but still the feeling persisted, and wouldn't go away.

Luna put down her coffee mug and stood up.

"I'd better be going now, I've got chores to do back home. I'll stop by some time tomorrow, if that's okay with you; I kind of promised Jonah I'd look in on you every day, but I have to go now. If you're hungry, there's stuff in the freezer, pizzas and such; I didn't know what you liked, so it's kind of pot-luck. You have a good night, Joe Anderson!"

Joey was more than a little reluctant to see her leave, and he couldn't understand why, then it struck him. She felt like Karen, that same air of quiet competence and warm compassion, and her almost supernatural way of relaxing him; he'd not felt so at-ease in company in all the months since Karen's death, and he realised he wanted to keep on feeling that way.

Joey also stood up, grinning at her.

"You have a good night too, Luna Hollister, and I'll be here when you come by; maybe we can talk some more."

Luna flashed him her bright smile.

"I'd sure like that. See you tomorrow, then!"

The house felt even emptier now that she'd gone, so Joey switched on the TV, but was unable to pick up anything except the local station; true enough, farm reports, feed prices, hog auctions, reruns, and some kind of evangelical show seemed to be the choice for the evening. The Fox and NBC affiliate stations in Roseville and Piedmont Heights were unwatchable, the screen constantly dissolving into diagonal interference patterns, and the sound was hopelessly distorted.

Joey gave up trying to make sense out of the fare being offered, and walked out to the garage, remembering that Jonah had told him to unhook the charger from his mom's '85 Riviera. He grinned at the dated, slab-sided car, recalling how proud she was of it, and how he'd scorned it in favour of his pride and joy, a less than reliable '89 Camaro IROC-Z. It was strange to think that this old bus was now regarded as a classic of the future in some circles.

Joey finally raided the freezer, finding a stack of frozen pizzas, and a six-pack of Bud in the fridge, so contented himself with pizza and beer for dinner, while he watched back to back episodes of 'I Dream of Jeannie' and finally retired to sleep in his old room, tired, emotionally worn, but happy to be back in the place that felt most like home.

*

His sleep was disturbed and fitful; dreams of Robbie and he fighting, long, incomprehensible conversations with his mom and Steve. Finally he drifted into a dream of Karen, of the heady days after their wedding, buying and learning to handle and maintain the refurbished 35' Bavaria Cruiser sailboat he'd christened "Lady Midnight" in honor of Karen and her beautiful, jet-black hair. It was their first long trip in her, all the way north along the coast to Puget Sound, then threading their way through the straits and islands to Lakebay, to spend some time with one of their friends from school who'd moved out that way.