Chapter 13 #2
“What is it?” Angelle asked, her voice lowered to a whisper.
Boon leaned his head toward the window in a different angle, then the tension in his body relaxed. “It’s your mom and dad,” he said, speaking in a normal tone of voice as opposed to her whisper.
“Oh! I was wondering. You were acting all concerned.”
“Just heard footsteps approaching and wanted to be sure we wanted to be home for whoever it was,” he said.
Angelle laughed, just as Daniel knocked on the door.
Boon, who was already standing near the front door unlocked and opened it, leaving it wide open for Daniel and Avaleigh to walk in.
“That’s a happy sound,” Daniel said as he entered the house.
“It is,” Avaleigh agreed, walking in and moving past him to go hug Angelle. “What’s so funny?” Avaleigh asked.
Angelle had stopped laughing but was still grinning. “Boon got up and snuck over to the window to see who was coming when he heard your footsteps.”
“That’s it?” Daniel asked.
“No. He said he was being careful not to be heard in case we didn’t want to be home for whoever it was that was coming to visit.”
Avaleigh laughed. “Sounds like you crawling on all fours to your bedroom to hide whenever your cousins would come knock on the door to try to get you to go outside and play with them.”
“That’s why I laughed! I do the same thing,” Angelle said, still smiling.
Boon grinned. “Birds of a feather…”
“The more I learn about you, the more I realize how alike you two really are,” Daniel said.
“Want some coffee?” Angelle asked.
“No, thanks. We had a little this morning,” Avaleigh said.
“We ought to get dressed so we can get over to my parents’ house,” Boon said.
“No, rush. Whenever you’re ready,” Daniel said. His words were immediately followed by a rumbling from his stomach.
“From the sounds of that, we better hurry,” Angelle said.
“I am starving,” Daniel admitted.
“Give us a second or two and we’ll be on our way,” Boon said.
Daniel watched as they both went toward the bedroom, but Boon soon walked right back out with clothes over his arm and went into the next bedroom down.
A little later Angelle came out of the bedroom dressed and with her hair in a ponytail.
She went into the bathroom and they could hear her brushing her teeth.
By the time she was coming back into the family room, Boon was already dressed and waiting with socks on his feet.
“Shoes?” Angelle asked, looking pointedly at his feet.
Boon smiled at her. “Boots outside on the porch. I didn’t figure you’d appreciate the mud on the floor.”
“That was very thoughtful. Thank you,” Angelle said.
“My mama taught me that it’s just rude to track mud across somebody’s floor, and near dangerous to do it to your own mate,” Boon said with a grin, as he walked out of the house to get his boots on.
Daniel and Avaleigh followed Boon, but Angelle hung back for a minute, checking that the stove was off and that there was no lantern unintentionally left on.
Avaleigh watched her through the open door, then nudged Daniel.
Daniel nodded, smiling at her sudden signs of independence, and attention to things in what was obviously to them, going to be her home.
“You coming, hon?” Boon called out from the porch.
Angelle’s head turned toward the porch; she didn’t even see her parents standing there waiting.
All she saw was Boon, who’d just used a term of endearment to refer to her, and it made her stomach all fluttery.
“I’m coming,” she called back. She managed to smother the smile, but there was nothing she could do about the blush when she realized her parents heard Boon call her hon.
Daniel and Avaleigh descended the steps, then stood at the bottom of them, watching as Boon waited while Angelle locked the door, then joined her hand with Boon’s and they came down the steps together.
Daniel’s arm rested around Avaleigh’s shoulder and he tightened his hold briefly, causing her to look up at him.
They shared a knowing look, as Daniel nodded. “This could be good.”
“I think this is very good,” Avaleigh said.
~~~
Carolena sat on her deck with her feet up, sipping her coffee.
“Foouuuuaaahhhhh!” Carnage bellowed.
“Oh! That was a fantastic shot, my love,” Carolena said as she watched the gum ball soar through the air.
Carnage grinned at her and nodded. He stood across the deck from her, about three feet from the outer edge of their back deck with a golf club in hand.
He had a pile of gum balls he’d collected from nearby groves of Sweet gum trees, and was methodically working his way through them.
He’d balance one precariously on a round cut of log, then stand back and line the gum ball up with his golf club, pull back and whack the hell out of it.
He’d yell a warning that it was coming, “Foooouaaaahhhhh!”, then stand back and watch it go until it was out of sight.
“My do eet ‘gin,” he said, placed another gum ball on the small piece of wood he was using as a tee, and raised his club over his shoulder to whack it when he heard his name being called.
“Pop?!” Boon called from down below their raised home.
“‘Mon!” Carnage yelled. Carnage lifted his hands in the air and wrinkled up his face in an unspoken question to Carolena when Boon shouted for him, rather than just fly up and land on the deck.
“I don’t know. Ask him,” Carolena said, sipping her coffee again.
“Drop the stairs, Papa!” Boon called.
“My goff,” Carnage complained to Carolena.
“I know. But he obviously wants you to lower the stairs. Maybe he’s bringing you something.”
“Choc’ate,” Carnage said excitedly.
“I don’t think so. He’d just fly over the edge and hand it to you.”
Irritated again that his game of golf had been interrupted, he scowled, dropped his club to clatter on the wooden deck, and stomped over to the opposite side of his deck to look down at Boon to see why he insisted on the stairs being lowered.
The minute Carnage’s face came into view, Boon smiled and waved. “Angelle is here, with her parents.”
Carnage smiled warmly — though a little frighteningly — at Angelle, and then waved at her parents. He disappeared from sight just as quickly as he’d appeared, then the squeaking of metal on metal could be heard.
Daniel looked up, trying to identify where the sound was coming from and realized a large ramp, folded in half was suspended from the side of the deck above them. Lowering it to the ground was a series of metal gears. “That’s unique.”
“It’s a safety measure. When they first built the house, my father still didn’t trust too many people.
He wanted to be sure that no one could just walk right up and into the house when my mother might be home alone.
She was the only human in Whispers, and quite the curiosity among the residents,” Boon explained.
“The folding ramp is something he and my Uncle Murder came up with while building. Only those who can fly could get up here without the stairs being lowered for them.”
“It’s clever,” Daniel said.
“It does its job. No wildlife can wander in, and no one can get in unless they have wings,” Boon said.
“Like you,” Daniel pointed out.
“I do have wings. As does my father, and the other Gargoyles in the area. Of course, there are other beings that have the ability to move about freely, including up and down, but they know better than to just show up in my parents’ house without announcing themselves.
Except Lore. Lore just goes wherever he wants whenever he wants. It’s kind of expected.”
As soon as the ramp was lowered, Boon led the way up to the house, unlocking the little gate that hit him about waist high, and pushing it open to give them easy access to the deck.
“We put the gate in when Tempest was little to keep her from running up and down the ramp without one of us. Plus my mom used to teach all the kids of Whispers at one point or another, and the little ones for some reason loved to run and up and down, too. This kind of stopped it.”
“‘Manda’,” Carnage said as they walked down the side of the house toward the back of it, and came out on the largest part of the deck that opened onto the woods surrounding the home.
“Yes, Commander. We had to contain him sometimes. He usually didn’t leave the house if I was here, but occasionally something would lure him out.”
“Commander?” Angelle asked.
Boon’s face took on a soft expression. “He was my best friend. Since I was a little kid. We had some great adventures, he was always at my side.”
“Wo’f” Carnage said.
“Wolf?” Angelle asked.
“‘Es. Goood Wo’f,” Carnage said.
“He was the best. He was gray and white, kind of silvery on the tips of his hair. And huge,” Boon said. “I miss him so much.”
“I’m so sorry you lost him,” Angelle said.
“It’s okay. He lived a long, happy life. When it was his time, he just went to sleep on the foot of my bed one night and didn’t wake up the next morning.”
“You were torn up, though,” Carolena said.
“Yeah, I was. Hi, Mom!” Boon said walking over and leaning toward Carolena to embrace her.
“Hi, baby. And Angelle! Welcome. I didn’t know you were coming so soon. Lily mentioned that you might, but I had no idea it would be so quickly.”
“Hello. Thank you for welcoming us to your home. Do you remember my mother, Avaleigh, and my father, Daniel?” Angelle asked.
“Of course. I’m so happy to see you both,” Carolena said, getting up and hugging each of them. “Have you eaten yet?”
“Not yet,” Boon said. “We thought we’d surprise you for breakfast.”
“We haven’t eaten either. I’ll throw something together. I just love company.”
“Are you sure? We don’t want to be any bother,” Avaleigh said.
“Absolutely.”
“Okay, but I’d like to help,” Angelle said.
“Deal,” Carolena said.
Carnage had picked up his golf club and was busy preparing another gum ball to be shot through the woods.
He stood over the gum ball, lining it up with his club, then pulled the club back and whacked the gum ball as hard as he could, sending it spiraling out of sight. “Foouuuuaaahhhhh!” he bellowed.
“What are you doing?” Boon demanded.
Carnage looked over his shoulder prepared to answer, but Daniel did it for him.
“Golf! You’re playing golf, right? And that explains you shouting fore, so people know to watch out because there’s something coming their way.”
Carnage grinned. “Trawl show ‘Arnge.”
“Enthrall showed him how to play. And he doesn’t really care if he hits anybody since he’s switched to gum balls now. He just likes to shout fore as loud as he can,” Carolena said. “But he has a lot of fun, and it’s not hurting anybody, so I’m happy he has a new hobby,” Carolena said.
“‘P’ay?” Carnage asked Daniel.
“It’s been a while, but I could try,” Daniel said.
“Just make sure you hit it off the little round of wood he’s got there. He was digging a hole in my deck he was hitting the gum ball so hard, so I made him get something to balance the gum ball on when he hit it,” Carolena said.
“Gum ball?” Avaleigh asked.
“From the Sweetgum trees that grow around here. At first he was hitting real golf balls, but Terrus said he was tired of collecting them so the animals couldn’t eat them.
So, he brought Carnage a whole bag of gum balls from the Sweetgum trees to use instead.
Now when he runs out, he just goes and collects more.
It’s a never ending supply,” Carolena explained.
Daniel walked over to where Carnage stood placing another gum ball on the piece of wood so Daniel could try to hit it.
Carnage handed the golf club to Daniel and stood back to watch him try. Carnage’s arms were crossed over his chest as he waited to see what Daniel could do.
Daniel lined up the club, took a few small practice swings, then prepared to fully swing.
“Nooo!” Carnage insisted.
Daniel looked over his shoulder at Carnage, an unspoken question on his face.
“Fouah” Carnage said.
“Ahhh, of course,” Daniel said, getting back into position and preparing to swing at the ball again. He paused, sucked in a breath, “Fore!” he shouted, then swung the club, hitting the ball and sending it in a perfect arc across the tops of the trees and out of sight effortlessly.
Carnage’s eyes narrowed.
“Oh! You’re good,” Carolena said.
“I wouldn’t go that far, but I’m at least familiar with it. We go play sometimes at home. But honestly, it’s more of an excuse to drive golf carts in circles and drink beer all day. I enjoy it, though,” Daniel said.
Carnage held his hand out and Daniel gave him back the club.
Carnage put another gum ball on the wooden support and lined it up for a shot.
He pulled back and swung at the gum ball with all his strength.
The gum ball flew into the trees, splintering into pieces as it went.
“My ween!” Carnage announced, scooped up his wooden support, and stalked toward the house.
“He’s a bit of a sore loser,” Carolena whispered with a grin.
“Nooo!” Carnage yelled from inside the house.
Carolena laughed as she motioned toward the house. “Come in. Please. Let’s share a meal and get to know one another. I’m so happy you’re all here.”