Chapter 10

At dinner that evening, the twins said a prayer for grace that Paul taught them while they “helped” him cook dinner and set the table. When everyone was seated, Paul said, “Girls, are you going to say grace?”

They looked confused for a moment, then suddenly remembered what they had been practicing for the past hour. “Oh yeah!” said Sandy.

“Everyone hold hands!” ordered Madeline sternly. As everyone joined hands, then the twins bowed their little heads and repeated the mantra that small children have been saying for generations;

God is gracious God is good Let us thank Him for our food Yaaaay - God!

“That was very good!” exclaimed Andi, “Did doctor Paul help you with that?”

“He taught us while we cooked,” said Madeline as she nodded her head.

“Let’s eat, I’m staaaaarrrrving!” exclaimed Sandy, holding up her empty plate.

Madeline lifted hers too and whimpered, “food please.”

“My goodness, everything looks wonderful! Did you help make all this?” exclaimed Andi. “What all do we have?”

“Wild turkey chest, smashed beans ... no, smash potatoes, and sweet and French beans!” said Madeline proudly.

“And gravy! I made the gravy!” said Sandy proudly.

“Close enough, but that’s sweet and sour French cut green beans. And they did help, they did most of the stirring. They’re really good at stirring, I may throw away my blender,” said Paul as he dished out Madeline’s plate and cut up her meat while Andi did the same for Sandy.

Andi thought the dinner was incredible. The turkey had so much more flavor than domestic turkey. “It’s a bit gamey, but it’s like concentrated turkey! These beans they’re incredible! What did you do to them?”

“It’s just a quick and easy recipe to make canned beans more appetizing, some bacon, some onions, some vinegar and a touch of sugar.”

“Some dill too?” asked Andi as she tasted some more of the beans.

Paul grinned. “My family lived out of dented cans for years, so you learn ways to spice things up cheap. Mom always taught us that there’s no need to buy vinegar because you get a whole lot of vinegar for free in a jar of pickles. So, in my house and in John’s house there’s always a jar of pickle juice in the fridge because the foods we grew up with were flavored with pickle juice.”

Andi watched in amazement as her girls cleaned their plates, then asked for more beans. “You must have got hungry making a snowman!” both girls nodded enthusiastically.

“I also mentioned that little girls who clean their plates get to watch the Peanuts Christmas and Frosty the Snowman tonight,” added Paul. Madeline and Sandy nodded their heads vigorously.

Finally, the twins held their plates up for inspection, something Andi has never seen before. “They’re up to something” a little voice in her head warned her. “Good job girls let me get the dishes washed and put away and we can watch the Charlie Brown Christmas special,” said Paul as he took their dishes into the kitchen. They even helped clear the table. Andi was sure she was going to suffer from shock. Her girls also helped feed Wonka.

Finally, the family had gathered on the couch and the painting folded up, Paul threw a couple of birch logs on the fire and replaced the front window on the stove with a fire screen, then adjusted the flu and the air valves so the fire burned properly. Now the scent of the burning birch, almost a woodsy perfume, filled the cabin and the hiss and snap could be heard clearly. During the commercial break lead up to the start of the show, Sandy and Madeline hopped up in front of Paul and Sandy said, “Doctor Paul? Will you please make us a princess castle in the unicorn woods where we saw the Forest King today?”

Paul didn’t pause for a moment. “Of course darlings, but we will have to wait for the snow to melt and the ground to dry up, and you have to help build it, ok? But it also has to be ok with your mom.”

The twins looked at each other, then they looked at their mom. Paul could tell that she was going to mention that they probably were not going to be there much longer, but she also saw the look of hopeful expectation in Paul’s eyes, too. She then realized that the path she had charted for her life was once again spinning out of her control and the only thing she could do was roll with it. Besides, the twins will probably not remember their princess castle in a month’s time. She took a calming breath and said, “You have to really help Doctor Paul, do everything he says.”

“We will, mommy.”

“You know that you’re going to get really dirty working in the forest, you’re going to have to take baths every night.”

“We will mommy.”

“And you have to do everything Doctor Paul says.”

“And my brother Pastor John, and his wife Pastor Macy,” interjected Paul.

“Pastor?” mouthed Andi soundlessly, to which Paul mouthed “Later.”

“We will mommy.”

“Then if it’s ok with Doctor Paul, this summer you will have a princess castle.” The twins took this news with exuberant squeals and cheers, hopping up and down, clapping their hands and chanting “thank you, thank you, thank you!” followed by a round of hugs and kisses for both mom and Doctor Paul.