Chapter Twelve #2
Got it. I shoved his card into my pocket and made like a tree and leafed with Phil at my side. Another hour passed before we were back on the streets. Well, actually we were still in the barracks since it was about fourteen degrees outside as we waited for Grandpa and Monique to arrive.
“I’m not even going to look at my messages until February,” Phil shared with me as we lingered in a vestibule, our phones and our totes back in our possession.
“Maybe they won’t have heard,” I offered hopefully.
“And if they did and they’re mad, so what?
” Phil stared down at me in shock. “No, I mean, so what if they’re mad.
Your parents turned their backs on you. They have no say in what you do now.
If they’re pissed off, then that’s on them.
Don’t let that negativity back into your life.
You have us now, your new family. Sure, we might be weird, but we’re yours. ”
He bit down on his lower lip and then hugged me into his chest so hard it emptied my lungs.
“My new family is not weird. My new family is perfect,” he muttered into my ratty hair just as the exterior doors flew open and two irate seniors stormed in.
Grandpa and Monique were furious. Grandpa waved his cane about as he yelled at any passing cop about the rights of his grandson, while Monique glowered at the cop behind the desk so hard he had to look away.
Then she hugged us, kissed our cheeks, and slowly directed Grandpa back outdoors.
“The Kees have a long history of helping humanity! Is your brain sick?!” Grandpa bellowed all the way to Monique’s new used Honda Pilot. I loved how fired up he could get when it came to defending me and Phil.
“We’ll take you to your truck,” Monique explained after we were buckled in the back of her SUV.
Grandpa didn’t drive much anymore, but he was a pretty awesome co-pilot.
When he wasn’t irate and swearing in vibrant Chinese at every state trooper we saw.
Thank the gods they couldn’t understand what he was saying.
“Then, you boys need to go right home. We have been worried sick since you went off the air. We thought maybe you went to the hotel, but then we knew you’d not go and forget to tell us. ”
“No, we had no plans for the hotel tonight. We just got detained.” I sighed as my head fell back onto the soft seat. “When we’re rested, I have so much to tell you both.”
“You did a great thing last night, sūnzi,” Grandpa said over his shoulder. “You brought huge tons of pride to my heart, and your parents’ hearts as well. And you, Phil, are a brave and strong companion for my little grandson.”
“Thanks, Grampy Kee,” Phil replied, his eyes growing a little dewy.
“Aw, thank you, Grandpa.” That warmed me internally like a bowl of hot soup. Oh man, soup sounded so good. “Can we possibly have some hot and sour soup for lunch?”
“Of course, anything for the courageous and kind paranormal investigators of Kee and Kestrel!” Grandpa crowed, then stuck his tongue out at a state trooper exiting his car. Monique chastised him. Phil threaded his fingers through mine, lifted my cold hand to his warm lips, and kissed my palm.
“Don’t be upset that he put our name first,” I whispered while the two lovebirds in the front bickered about which was the fastest route to Cornwall Cove.
“Never. I don’t care whose name is first. He can call it Kee and cornball with a K for all I care. I’m just happy to be part of it with you.”
Yeah, I was feeling that same feeling right down to my toes. I could face just about anything with Phil at my side and my slightly offbeat family in my corner.
***
Nothing says home and hearth like soup made with love—Grandpa always makes the best hot and sour soup in the world—and special friends. Sadly, Phil would have to enjoy it later as he literally crashed after he took his hot shower.
Everyone was here waiting when we walked in.
Immediately, Roxie and Tray enveloped us in hugs.
Reggie was over by the register dabbing at his eyes with the corner of his red coat, leaking faux tears of joy.
Ghosts don’t cry, but he was quite good at being dramatically weepy.
Even Sir Thomas seemed happy to see us, giving me a soft little purr and leg rub before walking through the front door to make his spectral alley pass.
After our greetings, Phil and I excused ourselves so we could take a hot shower.
Phil went first, dried off and then stretched out on the bed to wait for me while I took mine, but when I came back into my room wearing my slippers and a thick robe, he was out cold, snoring like a bandsaw.
So I bussed his cheek and covered him up to his chin and whispered we’d save him some for later.
I dove into the soup, chewing the bamboo shoots and shiitake mushrooms as my eyeballs sweat.
Tray had to give up after a few sips, the soup being far too spicy for his tastebuds.
Grandpa did have a heavy hand with chili flakes and white pepper.
After two bowls, my cheeks—both sets—were toasty, so I sat back, patted my tummy, sipped tea and nibbled on an egg custard tart.
“I love this soup so much,” Roxie slurped another spoonful while Reggie sat atop the fridge, listening while preening like a turtle dove.
Why he was fussing with his hair, I didn’t know, but it would all come out in the wash, as Monique liked to say.
“I’m really sorry I jumped the gun so badly on this episode.
It was a cluster from the beginning to the end, so you have my word that the next stream will be done right.
Permission from everyone and their beagle, research out the ass, and a few more cameras. ”
“Just a couple more,” Tray mumbled around a bite of his own tart. “I think we can swing it with the new numbers.”
I looked from him to Roxie. Monique gave us weary smiles and snuck off down the stairs. Grandpa was puttering about cleaning up his soup.
“New numbers?” I asked and got a happy nod from our tech/PR team.
“Three thousand new subs and a new sponsor! Lasting Light Memorials.”
“That old house with all the cement tombstones, urns, and rather frightening angels out on Luck Run Out Road?” I lowered my fork. She nodded. “Well, that’s cool and pretty fitting. Glad to see the numbers going up, since we’ll probably get a fine for trespassing.”
Roxie hid behind a handful of braids. “I’m really sorry.”
“Don’t be. We’re grown men. We had to know there was a good chance someone who owned that place would find out. You didn’t hold a bazooka on us or anything. Next time we’ll do better.”
“Mistakes are the bridge between inexperience and wisdom,” Grandpa chimed in before handing Roxie a container of soup to take home. “You finish up the tarts, but keep one for Phil. I’m going to go meditate and then take a nap. I think you should join Phil in bed, Archimedes.”
“I am, Grandpa,” I vowed and finished my tart and walked Roxie and Tray to the front door of the shop. After another round of hugs, I locked the locks behind them and turned to see Monique sitting on the plum sofa.
“I’m quite glad you’ve returned to us all in one piece,” Reggie stated as he floated down the stairs looking quite dandy if I did say so myself. All his buttons polished, his boots gleamed, and his hair combed back from his face.
“Wow, you look pretty spiffy. What’s the occasion?” I asked. Monique looked up from whatever she was fiddling with, then smiled at me and returned to her work.
“No occasion. Can’t a military man simply shine his boots without undue tawdry gossip?
” Reg snapped just as Caleb entered the shop via the front window.
“Oh, it’s you. Why I completely forgot you were dropping by to borrow a book.
Well, I am quite slumberous, but I suppose we can find a fitting novel for you and spend a few moments reading it aloud. Come along!”
Reggie floated back to the romance section. Caleb bowed to Monique before haring off after the marquis. I made my way to the little alcove under the stairs and sat beside Monique.
“What’s our resident phantom getting into tonight?” She lifted a smallish doll made of straw from the table. I stayed her hand.
“Is this what I think it is?” I enquired as the small drawing of a star on the moppet’s chest grabbed my eye.
She tucked the doll into one of her bulging totes. “I can’t say as I don’t know what you think it is.”
Oh, she knew what I thought it was. “Tell me more about Papa Legba. You do know that for him to appear to you is a testament to the powers you possess with the denizens of the land of the dead. Not everyone can be heard by a deity.”
“Well, he never actually spoke to me, and the offerings that you probably blessed and supplied were what brought him through the gate.”
“Pfft, you’re too quick to belittle yourself.
Your powers are impressive. For a young man who just recently began to open himself to the gifts of your lineage, your abilities are truly admirable.
Imagine what you’ll be able to do with some age and more experience!
” She gave my leg a pat. “Papa Legba would not have visited you if he was not curious. The Kee seeing eye is a marvelous talent. Hone it and nurture it. You’ll be able to do great things with it. ”
“I’m going to try to keep helping the spirits instead of destroying them right off.”
“Good, good. Positive energy sent out into the world always comes back tenfold. Now, you should go to bed.”
A yawn escaped unbidden. We both chuckled. “Yeah, I’m heading to bed. So, uh, that doll in your satchel, that wasn’t Detective Kubo, was it?”
She blinked up at me innocently through her tiny glasses. “Doll, what doll? I’m making kid-sized scarecrows for next Halloween’s craft fair at the senior center.”
Okay, that was how it was going. I’d read enough over the years to know that vodou dolls, contrary to what Hollywood said, were not always fashioned or used with evil intent.
Most times the moppets were used for healing, attracting positive energy to a person, or for protection.
Sometimes they’re used to aid in communicating with the deceased.
Perhaps she had whispered something in Detective Kubo’s ear to help him open up his spiritual side a bit more.
She wasn’t talking, so we’d probably never know.
I bent down to kiss her soft cheeks and then hauled my weary ass to bed.
Phil was spread out like a starfish, but I managed to wriggle in under one beefy arm after dropping my glasses on the nightstand.
I slung a leg over his thigh and slipped my hand up under his tee.
Phil sighed in his sleep. He was hot as an oven.
I snuggled closer, my eyes growing heavy as my breathing began to match his.
With weighty eyelids, I lay there staring at his hair as a flash of memory danced before my sleepy eyes.
Phil, me, and a little guy wearing a jersey and a bright grin.
Was that our future I had glimpsed?
As I drifted off, I found that the possibility of Phil and me having that kind of future, one that included a kid, didn’t seem nearly as scary as the twins across the alley. Actually, it seemed pretty okay. For the future. Waaaaaay in the future.
Like at least two years after graduation.