Spirits in the Material World Pt. 03

"Say, did you see David's finished work yet?" she asked.

"No, where is it? In the basement still?"

"Nope, it's up here." She got up and picked it up and propped it up on his dresser so he could see it. "It still needs to be finalized with a 'fixative'. But it's just so cool!" she gushed.

Tom was very pleased, both with the picture itself as well as with her reaction to it. David had provided the green for her eyes and a light pink for her lips and the rest was black on the white background.

"That's really nice, Jules. You actually sat still for him long enough to do that?" he teased.

"You brat! Yes, and he complimented me on my modeling as well," she teased him back.

"So, what are you going to do with it, Jules? I don't think there's space on your dorm room walls for it," he observed.

"Yeah, I was thinking of sending it back with Mom on Friday. Oh, crap! We never told your father they were definitely coming tomorrow!"

"I'll go take care of that now." Tom arose and slipped on his t-shirt from the day and a pair of shorts and left the room in search of his father. Julie then availed herself of her hairbrush to remove any tangles which had resulted from their rumpus time, a broad smile on her face.

By this time, Alan and David had retired to their own rooms, so Tom rapped on Alan's door and entered when told to, "Come in!"

"Dad, I'm sorry we did not think to share this, but yes, Rose and Maggie Lawson will be joining us tomorrow for Thanksgiving. We recommended they leave Centreville by 10 am, and I left explicit directions on how to get here, so I'd expect them between noon and 12:30."

"Thank you, Tom. The confirmation had slipped my mind as well. I'll need all hands on deck tomorrow to get the meal ready, please."

"Sure thing! Is that book one of the 'Iron Druid Chronicles'?" Tom asked, indicating the book Alan was reading.

"No, same author and same universe, but this is a newer collection of his stuff."

"Oh, ok. Well, good night, Dad."

"Good night, my son. Rest well." Alan gave a somewhat devious smile, knowing full well what young people would prefer to do rather than sleep.

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David retired to his room and spent some time on various web sites looking at used pickup trucks for sale in their area. He had discussed some search parameters and filters with Alan, such as mileage, drive train, even cab size. He made some notes on some of his finds, but his fingers were itching for his sketch pad.

So, he shut down his computer and propped himself in his bed with his sketch pad on his thighs. He was drawing some fantasy creatures, Kobolds, Goblins, Ogres, and the like. It soothed his frayed nerves. He was so wound up about meeting Maggie in person. Why did he react to just her pictures this way? This was not normal. After about half an hour, he set the sketch pad and pencil down and got down on his knees next to his bed, and he prayed. He prayed for peace and tranquility, for acceptance of whatever may come, for Maggie not being a heinous witch, for God to care for his mother, and for his father to find some peace in his life. Then he crawled into bed, put his phone on to charge, pulled the covers up, and went to sleep.

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Maggie Lawson used the day to prepare for the trip to Middleburg. She carefully dyed strands of her hair with the dye procured earlier; red, blue, green, purple, and yellow strand clusters, all demonstrating to the world that she was not to be taken at face value. Satisfied with her rebellion, she then tried on the thigh high stockings with the dress and she was wowed. "Damn, I look good!" she thought, looking in her full-length mirror. The ankle boots were a nice touch, she thought, and her legs looked REALLY good in the stockings. She was set to knock someone's socks off tomorrow. She hoped he would be worth the effort.

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