Chapter 4

I woke up the next morning and deduced that I had passed out from mental exhaustion. The phone had fallen from my hands onto my lap in while I was grieving my mother. It was wonderful and horrible to take inventory of the recent changes in my life, but doing so had always given me a clear head and it didn't fail me then. When my nurse came in that morning she found me facing out of the window with my hands behind my back, in deep thought. After an embarrassing moment in which she reminded me that my currant garment was an open back hospital gown, and was particularly open when she entered the room.

The doctor and nurse on staff gave me a final checkup before letting me know that I was well enough to leave the hospital. I signed all the papers discharging me. Thankfully my bills had been paid by the lawyer's firm. Dante and Andromeda were waiting in the lounge on my floor ready to take me to their home. Our home. They had even brought me clothes as mine had been destroyed and ruined. Andromeda had impeccable taste and had sized me exactly; she had a good eye, she was an artist after all. Before I left the room I was dressed in faded jeans, a fitted black tee-shirt and a pair of black dress shoes with a light leather jacket perfect for the autumn weather starting to creep up on our town. It took me a minute but I made the decision to take the phone with me. I wasn't going to have another death on my hands by letting someone else wish away their friends and family. I'll decide how to lock it away later, I thought.

The three of us left the hospital with haste as it was clear none of us were fond of the place. The car trip was somber and silent in its own familiar awkwardness until I broke the silence.

"I couldn't sleep last night, with all the changes you know? Anyways I want to thank you, Dante, Andromeda. I never thought there would be anybody to take me in, especially after the way my mother treated people. I know you two have done so much already but can I ask that we go by my mother's grave before we get home?" Andromeda just looked back from the front passenger seat and smiled.

"We're heading there already. Look, now that you're living with us you can get rid of the formality. You can call us Dan and Andy, our friends do. We know our names are a mouthful and the Greek thing got old at ten. Are you up to a day out? Our movers are still getting us settled and we need to pick out furniture for your place and get you some more clothes."

I told her I was feeling great, and surprisingly I was. There was something about their energy that made you feel like a million bucks. We kept talking and making plans for the rest of the day and before I could recognize my surroundings we had pulled up on my mother's grave.

Dan and Andy had bought flowers before picking me up from the hospital and of course, they were gorgeous. I laid them down and spent some time getting my closure and making my peace with her memory. The happy couple gave me space while I was doing this so I could say what I needed. I apologized for my wish and for not trying harder to be a better son. It wasn't a weepy thing, making my peace. The moments I spent at her grave were quiet and healing, and I left there whole.

After the cemetery, the first order of business was furniture. We had to move fast because if we could pick it out before noon we could have it delivered and assembled so that I had a bed in my house, quarters, place, whatever before bedtime. We went to the Swedish furniture store nearest to us and went crazy. I thought I was getting a bed and maybe some things to put new cloths in. Nope. My place had a kitchen and a dining room, four bedrooms and two bathrooms. By the time we walked out we had purchased enough to fill up a single delivery truck. Dan and I just sat back and watched Andy go to work picking this and that based on what I told her were my favorite colors and season, the lady was a monster. We bought furniture for a master bedroom, two guest rooms, a kitchen, an office, the living room, the dining room, and linen changes for all the bedrooms. Thanks to the efficiency of the layout in the store, we were done by three o'clock, which was just enough time to get everything set up in the house. They even let me pay for it all.

Shortly after we pulled into the mall for cloths shopping, I was informed that, again, this would be Andromeda's show, and of course it was. We went to every store that sold men's clothes. By the time we were ready to leave I had purchased ten new suits, twenty pairs of dress slacks, thirty dress shirts, fifteen pairs of jeans, and assorted tee-shirts, ties, and shoes along with things for my nethers and feet. It would've been tiring, putting on clothes for hours on end, but seeing the look on Andy's face and Dan enjoying that face as well gave me all the incentive I needed. At various points in the day I felt like more than a son to them, like a little brother you helped raise, and I realized that they had adopted me into their small family. The happiness that followed was subtle, but it felt like it would last forever.

After a long day retailing, Dan, Andy and I were headed home. I never would have expected what home was. Dante had said that they bought a house on the other side of town. He failed to mention, however that it was outside the other side of town. Down a quarter mile driveway was a stone mansion. It was absolutely beautiful, and unquestionably old. The stone was white but marred by coal and wood smoke, betraying its age with the tell tale sign of having a boiler. Upon entering the main house I was awe struck by the elegance and beauty of the place. It was simple and grandiose, sparse but tasteful all the while giving off the same homey vibe a log cabin would. In short, the manse was perfect.

When I told Andy my thoughts on the décor she smiled big and thanked me for the compliment. Dan and I excused her to the kitchen to prepare supper while he and I went to my place. The two story servant's quarters, a quick walk though the garden and on the other side of the pool house, I was to stay in was really a brick house a family of four would be comfortable staying in. When I entered the house my purchases from the furniture store were already assembled and put in their place. I was amazed by Andy's talents as everything went together perfectly except for an oak bookshelf built into the wall of the room designated as the study.

As Dan excused himself to go help in the kitchen I began to take it all in. It was exciting that this space was all my own. I was free to pursue whatever I wanted whenever I wanted to. I did need a few extra things though. I was without a television, made even more obvious by the entertainment center purchased earlier that day; I could also do with a stereo system and a computer for the study. Don't get me wrong, I was more than happy with my surroundings but there were empty spaces on the bookshelves and such and it felt incomplete without those things.

I went to my room to change into some fresh clothes for dinner, and as I took of my jacket the phone fell out of the inside pocket I had stashed it in that morning. At first I stared at it for a while. The way it laid innocently on the carpet it looked like a black mark on the otherwise perfect life I was beginning. After a moment starring at it, I picked up the phone and folded it with a pair of brown socks that I wasn't too partial to, but Andy had insisted I get to match the brown dress shoes that she had also insisted on me purchasing. As soon as the drawer closed, it seemed, the world around me popped back into its previous state or surreal perfectness.

Dinner with the happy couple was a picture out of the days before the explosion and an immediate sign that things could continue after. I raised my concerns for my electronic needs which Dan happily and hastily agreed to help me with. I didn't know what was going on in that field, but Dan was an electronics junkie. I wouldn't have raised the question if the conversation had taken the turn it did.

"Speaking of electronics," Andy chimed, "I tried to add our cell and home numbers to your phone, but it seemed to be broken. Do you need a new phone, or would you like for us to see about fixing it."

My instincts were to keep my answer as short as possible.

"I found the phone outside the rink the night... , the night it happened. It really isn't my phone. I'd like one though, if you can help me with that as well. I don't know how to go about something like that and I'm afraid I don't have any ID."

I couldn't believe it but I had successfully curtailed that discussion. We continued to make a list of things I would need and needed to be taken care of before I went back to school. Dan and Andy agreed to help me get set with a computer (email, online banking and such), the entertainment electronics, as well as a driver's license and a credit card. When I asked about the credit card, Dan, in all his financial genius, explained that with a credit card I could establish good credit. He went on to say that with the money I had I could get it to pay the balance by pulling the money directly from my account.

The list of things was taken care of before the week was out. My house was outfitted with all the things it was missing, Andromeda had even drawn a few charcoal canvases for me to hang up. Dante took me to the phone store and talked me through the different plans and phones. When I had finally picked one the salesman gave me all sorts of discounts and in the end he upgraded me to the exact same phone that Genie was in. It startled me for a second but in the end I went along with it deciding that declining something better for free would turn up questions I wasn't ready to answer. At the beginning of the week I got my learner's permit and by the end of the week I was a full licensed driver. We celebrated that night by having a big dinner with cake at the happy couple's mansion. When dinner was done and we were full Dan had me take a walk with him.

"Clay, Andromeda and I are more than happy to have you with us. The way things are going I don't think she'd mind if you knew. Andromeda cannot conceive a child. We've been married quite a while and have always wanted the joy of starting a family. We've never been partial to adoption, though we support it financially. When you went through what you did, having you come and share our home with you wasn't even a question. We did that, although, because it was the right thing to do, but over the last week we've come to realize that you are a part of our family, and that we care for you that way. Clay, I know you're particular about what you let us do for you in terms of money, but present is a present." By that time in our walk we had made it around the house to the garage. Dan opened the garage door and inside Andromeda was sitting on a white '67 Ford Mustang. The car was beautiful, and drove even better.

When I pulled up to RollerWhirl, Miegan was arriving as well. She gaped first at the car and then the driver. Fast and articulate "oh my God"s and "Holy shit"'s and the like leapt out of her mouth for a few moments until who I was registered with her.

"Wait, Clay, where have you been? It's been a couple weeks. What happened?"

"My house sort of blew up and I had to move. What happened to you? The day it happened you didn't come to work. Are you okay now?"

"Yeah, I uh had this boyf- family thing come up and stuff. I'm glad you're okay."

And that was that.

Things everywhere returned to normal. I stood and sprayed foot de-fungafier and she sat and told me all about the politicians and how they are stealing every penny from the common folk while repairing skates as though it was second nature. When I started back at school I was met with indifference, as though I was never missing. I didn't mind until my teachers suddenly were reminded of the deficit of homework done in my name, made better only by the fact that I did it in the study of my new house, smirking all the while.

My life held that course for months. I eventually graduated high school, top 10 in a class of 856, and registered for a local college to stay close to all the good things I couldn't let slip through my fingers. I continued to work at RollerWhirl for free, and with the money he was saving, Steve was able to make several improvements and increase business. I began to work there full time and so did the object of all my desires. It was a night like many I had shared with her that my life took another turn.