Spirits in the Material World Pt. 01

Finally, David capitulated with the statement, "Well, if it's in the living room, others can see it. But I'll want to do another one for your room."

"Who's ready to head to the store?" Julie asked.

"I've got to get some socks and shoes on," said Alan. "Three minutes?"

Julie replied, "I'll be here with bells on."

Alan departed for his room to don his footwear while Julie and David remained in the kitchen.

"I think it's cool that you and your dad can argue and disagree without getting too riled up," Julie commented. "Hey, can I get a photo of that to show to my mom and Maggie?" Julie extracted her phone from her pocket.

"Sure thing!" David lifted the picture enough for Julie to be able to zoom in and fill the photo she was taking.

"My mom's gonna freak when I tell her about all this. It will wait until I see her on Tuesday, though. Say, while we're waiting on your dad, d'you wanna see my sister's pic?"

"Why not", answered David, and he pulled a chair next to Julie's and sat.

Julie navigated to her photo albums and pulled up the pics from just before she returned to the university this past August. "This is my sister, Maggie," Julie paused a few seconds, "and this is my mom," as she swiped to the next photo. "My sister's kinda pretty, don't you think?"

It was all David could do to keep from asking to see more of Maggie. "Uh, um, yeah, she's, uh, nice looking," he stammered, trying to play it so cool and failing so epically. In the pic, the sunlight had really caught Maggie's auburn hair and illuminated it, making it seem redder than it probably was. For some people, and David was one of them, pretty girls with red hair are like Kryptonite is to Superman. "Do you have any other pics of your sister?"

"Yeah, I think I have another one here," Julie smirked. She pulled up another one which showed just the head and shoulders. In this one there was some color showing in her hair which was not evident in the first one. "She's got a little rebel in her, though. D'you see the green, purple, and red dye streaks?"

And that was when Alan returned. He had changed into jeans and some loafers without socks and had run a comb or brush through his hair to remove the bed-head effects. "Ready to go? I've got the list."

"I think I'll stay here and finish up my laundry," David declared. "But Julie should go with you."

"Very well, son. Julie, shall we head out?" Alan inquired.

Alan and Julie got in Alan's car and headed to the large grocery store to procure the items needed. Along the way and during the shopping expedition, they talked. Alan shared how he and Laura had met in college, the difficulties in waiting until both were graduated before marrying, the all-too-brief time of them just being a couple, and the joy of being parents. Julie shared how she had met Tom as well as some of her childhood growing up without her father and the hardships of growing up in a single-parent household. She let it slip that her mom and sister were not going anywhere for Thanksgiving Day, would probably end up with Chinese Take-Out, and so they would probably have their family celebration on Tuesday night after she and Tom had arrived.

An idea occurred to Alan, and he acted on it without overthinking it. "Julie, they're a couple of hours 'up the road' from here. Do you think your mother and sister would come join us here for Thanksgiving Day? It would be no trouble to cook a bit more of everything, and Thanksgiving is for family and friends and being grateful for the provision of shelter and food and love."

"I think that's a great idea, s- Alan," Julie stumbled out. "Let me call her now." Julie extricated her phone from her sweatpants' pocket and called her mom. "Mom, hiya, it's Jules... yeah, everything is fine, we made the trip without any problems... good, good... say, Tom's dad, Alan, wanted me to check with you to see if you would consider driving down to Middleburg to have Thanksgiving Day down here with them... no, Tom and I are still planning on coming up there on Tuesday, but I know you and Magpie have nowhere to go on Thursday, and I know you will really like Alan and David as well... yes, David is Tom's younger brother... Ok, I'll tell them. I love you both, and we'll see you on Tuesday sometime. Bye."

After a minute, Alan inquired, "Well? Survey says ..."

"She sounded a bit uncertain but asked if we could pencil her and my sister in. I'll have to confirm things with her on Tuesday and let you know if that's all right with you."

"I'm good with that for now. We'll plan on enough food for six, and if there are leftovers then we'll eat leftovers for a couple of days. We do need a larger turkey, though." And so they backtracked and swapped the small/medium bird for a medium/large bird, then proceeded to check out.

= = =

David descended to the basement laundry area to complete his laundry tasks. This was another life skill that he was grateful his mother had taught him. He smiled, wryly, as he recalled having to demonstrate how to use a washing machine to a number of guys at the dorm on his floor. He put the dryer contents into a basket, put the washed clothes in the dryer, and loaded and started up the washer. He then folded his dried clothes and set them back into the empty basket. Tasks completed and the last load now washing, he turned his focus to a corner of the basement, his home art studio. He still loved creating his art but realized it probably would not be a viable mechanism for post-college employment and steady income flow. He got out a new canvas, a 9" by 12", and set it on the easel. He took a soft pencil and very lightly began to sketch the outlines of a portrait. He had gotten the oval for the head and the shoulders and neck outlined when he heard his name being called.

Tom, having sorrow-napped for an hour, had gotten up and washed his tear-stained face and brushed his hair into respectability. He checked his phone, but there were no missed calls and no text message. He headed back downstairs to the kitchen and was a little puzzled at the lack of humanity present.

"Dad? Jules? David? Is there anybody here?"

Then he heard David moving about in the basement, so he wandered to the top of those stairs. Using his cartoon voice, he called out, "Davey, are you down there? Davey?"

"Ease up, Goliath. I'm coming," wisecracked the younger brother. "You know, I really don't like it when you use the Goliath voice from 'Davey and Goliath'. For that matter, I don't really care for 'Davey'. Sounds kinda juvenile to me." David mounted the top step and turned out the lights in the basement.

"Wow. Look who grew up all of a sudden. Ok, sure bro', I'll do my very best to forget that voice and that name for you. In return, I'd appreciate you losing the 'Tonsured Tommy' appellation you've had for me. I'm not a monk and," Tom broke into a long-forgotten tune, "I've got a gal just like the gal who married dear old Dad. And believe me, I'm gonna do whatever it takes to keep her."

"To keep who?" came from behind him.

Busted!

Alan and Julie had returned from the grocery store and had entered from the garage into the kitchen. Being the gentleman, Alan allowed Julie to enter first, and she caught the brothers talking with Tom saying, "... I'm gonna do whatever it takes to keep her."

Tom spun on his heel to face the questioner, his face pinking up very quickly. Being quick of wit and trained to be observant, he stepped forward saying, "Here, let me take those bags. Are there any more to bring in?" Before she could answer, Tom had turned to the kitchen table and set the bags upon it. Alan followed up with five bags of his own, saying, "Actually, there are two gallons of milk out in my car to bring in."

"I'm on it," Tom responded.

When Tom returned with the milk, Alan, Julie, and David were all making short work of putting away the groceries. Julie seemed a little possessive of the flavored creamer, for some reason. The work was quickly completed, and the plastic bags collected to be recycled back at the store.

Alan noted it was nearly 11 am, a little early for lunch given the breakfast they'd all had. "Let's take David's picture to the living room and we can sit and talk some more." So, they gathered up the picture and trooped down the hall and turned left at the bottom of the stairs and continued into the living space, which Julie had not been shown the previous night. The room was roughly 12' by 20', with windows facing the street and a fireplace on the outer wall centered in the room. The sectional sofa looked quite comfortable, and David and Tom took up positions at either end of the sectional while Alan sat in one of the La-Z-Boy recliners. "Sit wherever you like, Julie. The 'reserved' seats," Alan made air quotes with his fingers, "have all been claimed."

Julie sat next to Tom, snuggled up to him a bit with her legs bent beneath her. "Here is fine, Alan. Thank you."

Alan got up, took the picture from David, and went to the fireplace. He moved some photos around, and an urn to the right end of the mantle, then placed the picture of Laura squarely in the middle of the mantle. "I hereby declare, by executive order AJH2020-01, that this wonderful piece of art shall be presented to all from this spot." He then returned to his chair.

"While we were out grocery shopping, a wonderful idea occurred to me. With the aid of Ms. Lawson here, I have extended an invitation to her mother and sister to join us on Thursday for Thanksgiving." An eager glint appeared in David's eye, for some reason, and smiles abounded. "While we are still awaiting final acceptance of said offer, hopefulness is running high. As some of you may know, I like to plan out 'what-if' scenarios to make game-time decisions easier and with greater accuracy. So, what if Julie's family comes down and stays the night? Where do we put everyone? I won't hear of anyone staying in a hotel or motel."

Tom spoke first. "Well, we could give Julie's mother and sister my room with the BIG bed," he waggled his eyebrows at Julie, teasing her, "and Julie and I could camp out here. There's a Queen-size hide-a-bed here, and I'd feel badly asking guests to sleep on a hide-a-bed."

"Hey, I'm a guest!" Julie retorted.

"That's fine, Jules. I know we still have our camping gear in the basement. I can get an inflatable mattress out for you. It may still smell a bit of the piney woods, though. Besides, wouldn't my presence mitigate any discomfort from the hide-a-bed?" Tom teased.

"Or we could set up a tent in the back yard and put you and your brother out there, giving comfy beds to all three of our guests," Alan countered. "Tom, you did bring up the presence of our camping gear."

"It might be a tad chilly, even for us, Dad, to camp out in the back yard. Jules and I could just use sleeping bags here on the sectional and give her mother and sister the room. I think that's a good contingency plan."

"Failing to plan is planning to fail. Sure. That works for me, I guess," Alan decided.

"Say, Julie, could you please send me that picture of your sister, the one with the multi-colors? If she's coming down with your mom, I'd like to do a custom art piece. I have a weird idea. If you could please humor me?" David pleaded.

"Just don't go all stalker on her, okay? What's your phone number?" Julie asked.

= = =

Julie and Tom put on their jackets and opted to take a walk around the neighborhood sidewalks. Walking and talking and holding hands and just being a couple seemed to soothe something in each of their souls.

"Your brother seemed a bit gobsmacked when I showed him the photo of Maggie. The one he asked for a copy of. I mean, he totally lost his cool when he saw her photo. Is he going to do something like what he did for your mom's photo?" Julie inquired.

"I can't say what he has in mind. He loves his art, obviously, but he's sensible enough to know that it is probably not a good financial decision to make to pursue full-time. He hasn't really shown a lot of interest in girls, that I've been aware of, but I've been away for the best part of three years. Did you see that look when my dad mentioned that she and your mom might come down for Thanksgiving?"

"Uh-huh. Sure did. This could be a VERY interesting holiday." Julie's mind was bouncing all over with wild imaginings. It was not unheard of for brothers to end up with sisters. She was a romantic to her very core. Which was one of the things that kept drawing Tom closer and closer. "You'll like my mom and Mags, and I'm sure they'll like you. Just be the sweet man, the real you, that you've been showing me since we met."

"If you haven't figured it out yet, with me what you see is what you get. I don't think you've seen Mr. Angry, yet, but you're not likely to either. If you like what you've seen so far, then I hope your mother and sister will too."

"Well, Tom, I REALLY like your dad and brother. Apart from the shock of last night, I feel very comfortable and welcomed by them."

They completed their informal tour of the neighborhood and returned to the Harrisons' home. Lunch was sandwiches and chips, and they all gathered back in the living room afterwards. "How about a game of Hearts?" David asked, to which everyone agreed. The afternoon passed with the four easily comfortable with each other, and ultimately Alan demonstrated his mastery of the game, by a very slim margin.

They agreed that pizza for supper would be nice, and eventually negotiated on the toppings for the two large pies.

With supper done, the four broke up, doing their own things. Alan went to go read a collection of stories by Kevin Hearne; David went downstairs to his studio to work on his project; and Tom and Julie retired to his room for some private canoodling. Alan did think to remind the boys that they would be expected to attend worship service with him in the morning (after all, a scout is Reverent) and invited Julie to come with them. The congregation the family attended was non-denominational and very relaxed and diverse in customary attire. The pastor frequently wore blue jeans to worship.

By 11 pm, everyone had retired for the night.

Once again, Alan dreamed of Laura. She was standing at the foot of his bed, in her favorite long, white nightgown with very nice lace trim at the bottom and around her neck. Alan remembered that the nightgown was satin and made soft swishing sounds as it moved over her body. In his dream, he immediately broke down into tears, knowing he had not even really tried to keep his promise to her, to continue to live his life. She reached out to him, with an expression of love on her face and tears in her eyes. "Alan," she said, "you must make an effort to continue to live. Nobody ever said the road would be easy, but the journey is the reward. An opportunity is coming, so stay observant. I love you and loved you with my entire being." And then she was gone.

Sunday:

Various alarms sounded at 7:30, 7:45, and 8:00 am, rousing the sleepers. By 9:00, everyone had had showers and the coffee was made. Alan recommended not eating much for breakfast, as donuts and coffee and juice were available during the social time starting at 9:30, with worship beginning at 10:00. Tom and Julie dressed in blue jeans with nice shirts; Alan and David opted for Dockers and button-down shirts without ties. They piled into Alan's Volvo wagon and made the short journey to the church.

Julie lost track of the number of times she was told how much she resembled Laura. It seemed as though almost every older couple in the place had come up to greet them. So many of them seemed to treat Tom as though he was their child. A goodly number of stories of "pass the baby" were shared, proving that Tom and David had truly been raised by this village, their church. But the overwhelming message she took from the social time was of delight, acceptance, and love. Delight in Tom sharing her with them. Acceptance in their welcome of a stranger. Love in the genuine caring for her and Tom's happiness together. She had never experienced this feeling of connection to a large group, and she reveled in it.

Worship time came, and they trooped to the worship space. The music was a blend of traditional hymns, some of which Julie vaguely recognized, and some very up-tempo contemporary pieces which she had never heard. The pastor did indeed wear blue jeans, along with a dress shirt and a tie. But around in the congregation there was a mixture of casual and more dressy attire. And everyone seemed very chill with the differences. She was presented as a guest and first-time visitor, and everyone clapped to show their pleasure in her being with them. It brought a small tear to her eye.

For their part, Tom and David were greeted nearly as prodigal sons. Their presence was noted as part of the "welcoming back our college students", and there was a lot of hugging and handshaking by so many.

Service ran a bit longer than the "Hour of Power", but by 11:30 all the socializing had been completed. Alan made some comment about getting to a restaurant in time to "beat the Baptists", whatever that meant. Lunch was at Applebee's, and sure enough, by 12:15 the place was packed with a line of people waiting.

The afternoon was spent at home, and eventually all four ended up in the living room again, in exactly the same places as on Saturday.

Alan inquired, "So, Julie, what are your impressions of the worship today?"

"Alan," she began (remembering to use his name and not 'sir'), "I'm not accustomed to attending worship, so I have nothing to compare and contrast, to use an academic metaphor. I was deeply touched by the obvious sincerity of everyone's pleasure at my attendance. Tom and David have a huge following of the older members, that's obvious."

Alan smiled at her use of his name and nodded repeatedly at her observations.

Julie continued, "Yes, the pastor did indeed wear jeans, but the variety of dress and the comfort of everyone with that variety was quite surprising. I did note that many of the older ladies and a number of their husbands dressed up in fancy dresses with hats and three-piece suits, while the ones with youth and small children were extremely casual in their attire. I loved how the college students who are home for Thanksgiving were acknowledged and appreciated. If we lived in this area, I'd definitely try to get Mom and Maggie to become regular attenders. Oh, and I liked the quantity and variety in the music in worship."

"So, was there anything you did not like or could see needed improving?" Alan probed.

"Again, I have nothing really to compare it to. I thought the pastor's message could have been about five minutes shorter and still gotten the same ideas across. Other than that, I have no other ideas to share."

"Yes, well the pastor frequently gets Post-It notes on his office door about the length of his sermons. I don't think we'll need to pile on that topic."

"But the very best thing about this morning was sitting with you and Tom and David and holding Tom's hand and being made to feel so very welcome."

Alan stated, "I'm very glad you had a positive experience. That church helped to raise Tom and David and provided a lot of support after Laura had passed. It is a very important part of our lives."

They spent the rest of the afternoon playing Monopoly, this time with Julie as the big winner. Supper was spaghetti with garlic bread and green beans; easy and it made some leftovers for future lunches.

Alan turned in about 9 pm, stating that he had to get up in the morning and actually accomplish stuff at work. He would work Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, but take Friday off as vacation.

After Alan had retired for the evening, David, Tom, and Julie sat around the kitchen table enjoying some hot cocoa and a few cookies. Discussion had ranged from the seeming demise of David's vehicle to amenities available at the two institutions of higher learning to favorite flavors of ice cream.