Chapter 12: My Happy Place

The present, My son’s nursery:

I thought for a moment my son was waking up. He shifted slightly. I still had another month before he would be able to roll over on his own based on the development of my other children, but it took me out of the story for a moment. I got up and headed back into my bedroom for a moment. My lawfully wedded wife was feigning sleep. That was a mystery for later. I made myself a cup of tea. The K-cups weren’t really strong enough for my taste, but it was close enough on a night like tonight. It was convenient and my old teasmade had been retired and my favorite kettle was in my office. I returned to my son’s nursery.

I sipped the tea and from boiled leaves I sipped at the very soul of the universe itself. I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to share this moment with anyone. It was one of my few perfect moments and it wasn’t a story I shared often. In the years between I’d only shared it with my wife and Rowan. There were plenty of more personal things I’d shared with more ... the rose garden among them. The urge to speak was still ablaze within me. I gazed at my son. All those years ago, I never would have dreamed of his existence. I spoke, “This is the tale of one of my happy places. Those little memories in your mind where you go when you need a bit of peace. The moments of pure contentment. I’ve had a few in my life, but this one is special.”

Then: The Heights

I almost turned back. Three times I changed my mind and stood as the snow fell around me.

Am I being presumptuous? I’ve only gone there a couple times when I wasn’t invited.

In the end, I trudged up the hill with some difficulty. The snow was falling harder and faster than I’d ever seen before. Snow was mostly manageable in Manchester, my memories of the other house in England weren’t extensive, in Florida it had flurried once and they’d let school out for the kids to run around it ... when they never even hit the ground, two of my stops on the world tour year had snow or would have if I hadn’t been there in the wrong season, and the previous winter here had been mild.

This was something else. I continued to march up the hill towards Sarah’s or the Twin’s if she turned me away. I honestly wasn’t certain I could even make it back to Robert’s at this point and I definitely wasn’t appropriately dressed for this. Eventually, I found myself at the sliding glass door with snow up to my knees and still falling hard.

Sarah was inside on the couch with a stack of papers. I knocked and she looked up. She smiled and I felt the twin-beating stone flutter. She popped up and glided over to the door and opened it. As she did, she was giggling.

“What’s so funny?”

“Alex trotted down the hill before the snow started falling intent on making it to your place before it got bad and here you are.” A gust flared up and she answered, “Brrr ... that’s cold.”

I ground my lower lip between my teeth, “I didn’t want to miss our appointment.”

“Come on in. I’d tell you to change, but I doubt you have clean clothes.”

“I do actually. I keep a change in my pack.”

She smiled again, “Perfect. Go hop in the shower. You can sleep in Alex’s room.”

“Thank you.”

I moved to step in, “Nuh-uh-uh. Take off those boots.”

I stepped back out and unlaced them and handed to her. She said, “I’ll set them by the fireplace. Hopefully, I don’t have to try and light that.”

“Is that normal?”

“Shouldn’t be as long as we don’t lose power.”

I stepped in and pulled the sliding glass door shut. I headed down the hallway to the bathroom. Sarah’s room was on the right and had its own bathroom. Alex’s room was to the left. On the opposite end of the house were an office and bedroom that belonged to Alex’s father, whom I’d never managed to lay eyes on. I entered the main bathroom and stripped.

I dealt with the call of nature before hopping in the shower and making a mental note that I would need a better pair of gloves and a thicker coat. While I loved the blazer my sister had bought be for my 15^th it wasn’t quite able to hold up to blizzard conditions.

I found it a bit odd to be using Alex’s soap and shampoo, despite the fact that she used mine two to three times a week. I was slightly surprised the shampoo was chamomile scented as I’d suspected that was the source of the strawberry scent she seemed to exude. The hot water felt good on my muscles and slowly worked the cold out of my joints. I briefly considered trying to sneak into Sarah’s bathroom to see if she had grape scented shampoo. I finished up and stepped out drying off.

I hung the clothes I’d been wearing on the shower rod to dry and changed into my spare set I kept in my backpack. It wasn’t much; a spare t-shirt, boxers, two pairs of socks, and a pair of sweats. While I no longer kept everything I cared about in my pack at all times I wasn’t able to completely free myself of old habits.

The front pocket had condoms, lube, a lighter, a pocketknife, a small white makeshift medical kit, a travel sewing kit, and the vibes I kept on hand for Monica. The side pocket on the right had a handful of the cash I’d stolen from the dragons. The left side pocket had a bottle of water that was now mostly frozen and some teabags. The main pocket had held my spare clothing, a paper map (Yeah, we still used those then), some non-perishable food and jerky, and then my school supplies and two textbooks. I was still set up to run if I had too.

I’d just made it back into the living room when the power cut and I heard Sarah scream, “Fucking hell.” I ran into the kitchen and found her holding pressure on her hand.

“How bad?”

“Just cut myself when the power went.”

I moved to the sink and turned on the water. I set my bag on the counter and got out the makeshift medical kit. She approached the sink and washed her hands. The bleeding had stopped and I pulled a plaster from the kit. She added, “You’re ready for anything aren’t you?”

“Just be glad I didn’t have to use the super glue. That shit burns.”