2. A Night at the Round Table
The bookstore on the corner of 700 East and Main shouldn’t have even been there. In the age of the Kindle and Amazon Unlimited, it was irrelevant; a relic; a lingering blemish on the surgically perfected face of human advancement. Its only regular patrons were a handful of geriatric wanderers desperately seeking anything to transport them back to when the world was theirs. They found it at the corner bookstore and so did its owner.
So, Monday through Saturday, 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., if anyone ever wanted to find Avi Hawthorne, they knew where to look: in the corner bookstore, sitting alone at a round planked reading table. There, Avi would be making her daily escape into the old worn pages of archaic novels, with similarly old souls.
However, the bizarre happenings earlier that day at the law offices of Dole, Everman, and Dole, led to a very atypical evening at the corner of 700 East and Main. The twins took turns running each other back and forth on the rolling ladder. Josh bounced baby Bree to the beat of I Gotta Feelin’ as Gracie and May danced and sang along with Gracie’s phone. Laptop Corey even got involved with the celebration by rejecting a business call on her Bluetooth. Most evenings, the vibes at Avi’s bookstore made game night at the old folks” home look like Mardi Gras, but that night, they were giving B-I-N-G-O a serious run for its money. Still, all the while, Avi sat at the round planked reading table forcing a subtle and exhausted smile.
“Oh! Where’d you put the bubbly, Babay!?” Josh asked May.
“I think I left it in the car!” she replied, raising her voice over the music.
As Josh gently handed Bree over, Avi’s smile became unforced. Babies, like puzzles, allowed Avi to be herself. Bree didn’t expect her to carry a conversation or abide by arbitrary social signals. She just wanted Aunt Avi to hold her, look at her, and love her; three tasks with which Avi had no complaint.
Two minutes later, Josh burst through the front door with a bottle of sparkling cider in each hand and a bag of red plastic cups cradled in his arms. He sat the bottles down on the round planked reading table, tore open the bag with his teeth, and called for his twins, along with his dancing wife and sister to come gather. Before pouring everyone a cup of Martinelli’s finest vintage, he turned her screen slightly so Corey was facing Avi. Kai and Devin couldn’t hear their father’s call over their imaginations, but everyone else was seated. The music was off, their cups were filled, and everyone was ready for Josh to make a toast.
“Let’s all raise a glass to the most legendary grandma in the history of grandmas! A grandma so epic she undoubtedly sits alone as the only eighty-something-year-old woman in the history of the world…to buy Bitcoin…in 2015!”
Everyone laughed and cheered except Avi, whose smile had turned brittle. She raised her cup then put it to her lips…
“Hold on, dude,” Josh said, stopping her from drinking. “There’s more…and to Avi; the most amazing oldest sister that any of us could have asked for!”
“Hear hear!” May yelled, raising her cup even higher.
Josh continued, “Sissy, we love you. You deserve this.”
Corey unmuted herself and added, “And Grandma was right…you need this, Avi Hawthorne.”
“So true,” agreed Gracie.
As Avi peered down to hide the rouge of bashfulness spreading through her cheeks, she noticed that even Bree’s expression seemed to be one of conceding pity. She knew what they meant, why they were saying it, and she knew they were right. Better than anyone, she understood how painfully and peculiarly predictable she was. She knew she needed to take risks and move forward, but every time she heard someone say “You need this, Avi Hawthorne” it felt meaner than when she thought it herself. It was like when Mom used to vent about Grandma Carol’s invasiveness but then got mad at Dad whenever he’d agree. Avi preferred Josh’s take: she deserved this.
“Who am I kidding?!” she thought. I don’t deserve that ridiculous sum of money! And judging by the conference room pandemonium that ensued after Grandma announced my inheritance, the rest of the extended family seems to ardently agree.”
Had she not made a promise to her prerecorded grandmother, she would have without question divided every last Bitcoin with every last Hawthorne. Avi hated confrontation, and she hated being hated. No money was worth feeling that way; even if it did amount to a life-changing quantity.
“And Sis,” Corey cut in, “don’t worry about the extended family. Anyone who would let five-point-two million dollars come between blood like that…like, come on. Go work for a couple of years if five million dollars means that much to you.”
While Josh laughed out loud, and Avi tried to conceal the grin that accompanied the disbelief in her little sister’s lavish detachment from reality, May made an empathetic attempt to explain, “Actually, Corey, that would take closer to fifty years for the average household to earn.”
“Oh,” Corey said before the realization manifested in her expression. “Oh! Wow! I had no idea.”
“So, Avi…” Gracie said, clearly trying to avoid any further awkwardness.
“Do any of you need any money?” Corey interrupted with genuine concern.
Avi dammed in a giggle while the rest of them exploded with laughter. Corey muted herself and took what Avi assumed was a pretended business call on the other line.
“Ah, come on, Corey. Don’t be like that.” Josh laughed. “Come back to us.”
But Corey just held up her pointer finger to her webcam and lip-synched a phony conversation. As the amusement began to die down, Gracie asked the question that had been on everyone’s mind since Grandma’s video ended.
“So, Aviva…what are you planning to do with all that money?”
“She’s gonna have an adventure, of course!” Josh said as he stood up and pushed the twins on the rolling ladder behind him.
“Well, even the most adventurous pirates buried treasure for a time of need. And I heard the guy from Free Solo got a rush buying life and health insurance, sooo….”
Gracie’s hint was subtler than usual but completely expected.
Corey unmuted herself and added her take, “Stock options. If you want to know what it means to feel alive, stick it all in options and enjoy the ride.”
Before Corey even finished her thought, Josh was cutting in with his two cents.
“I can’t even believe what I’m hearing. The woman is an instant millionaire and neither of you think to mention world travel?”
“Eh,” said Corey, “it gets old after a few continents.”
For seemingly centuries, her three siblings went back and forth debating which adventure Avi should have. But the more they talked the more she just felt like their stodgy, stale sister. All the while, Avi kept glancing over their heads to the books on the shelves she wished she were reading. It was May who first noticed the defeat in her posture and the longing in her eyes.
She followed Avi’s veering line of sight, and with a voice so meek it overpowered the contention in the room, she asked, “Avi, what do you want to do?”
Avi hated the attention but loved the question. If she could have anything in the world it would be another world; a world where a woman of very few words was perceived as a mystery rather than weak. A world like the regency novels she adored, where men and society overall were held to a higher standard of goodness and moral courage. She envied the simplicity of that era like she ached to return to the simplicity of her childhood; when everything was right and nothing was wrong.
Avi’s eyes must have been staring at her favorite book because May stood up from the table, walked over to the shelves behind Gracie, and pulled down Pride and Prejudice. She was embarrassed that of all the choices, her go-to novel was such a commercial phenomenon. If she could favor one of the thousands of others she’d read, she would, but it wasn’t a conscious choice. She felt like a music aficionado who wanted to claim the greatest song of all time was some forgotten, unreleased, B-side track from a band no one had ever heard of but secretly listened to Bohemian Rhapsody all the livelong day. Some things are just too incredible to keep hidden from popular culture, and Pride and Prejudice was one of them.
May returned to the table with the gold-embossed, red-leather, Franklin Library edition and asked, “What do you love most about this book?”
Avi thought for a second, and while trying to subvert the real question, replied, “The tight leather binding. The gold gilded pages. The font is elegant and legible and…”
“…You know what I mean,” interrupted May with an unassuming smile.
Avi hated being vulnerable, but if she was going to keep her promise to Grandma, the risk-taking had to start somewhere. What better way to begin than with those who loved her most?
Avi sighed and unleashed the truth, “For starters…the time and place, I suppose…”
“Okay! Perfect. Now that gives us something to work with.”
“What? England?” Gracie asked.
“Yeah. There’s not much she can do about the time period, but Avi, if you’re in love with the place, why wouldn’t you make England part of your adventure?”
While the romance and history of Britain were intriguing, without a time machine, she was nothing short of certain she”d find the same graffitied walls…the same rampant crime…the same…
“Well…” Corey said before pausing. “There may be something you can do about the time period…”
The whole bookstore fell silent in anticipation. Even the twins seemed to read the room and knew to pause their play. Corey”s frantic fingers drum-rolled on the keyboard in front of her.
“...I mean, it’s not a time turner or anything, but I think it’s as close as you’re gonna get to those books. Check your emails. I just sent you a link.”
Everyone, except Avi - whose laptop was serving as Corey’s face and whose phone couldn’t access the internet - pulled out their phones and clicked the link. Avi waited with apparent patience, but inside she felt like a toddler at the DMV. Why wasn’t anyone showing her what they were looking at? Why were they drooling over what was on their screens? Was whatever it was truly that incredible that they’d all forgotten to show her?
Gracie broke the silence without peeling her eyes from her phone, “That’s...pretty incredible.”
“What!? What is it!?” thought Avi.
“Wait, are we talking like visiting… or like a…a permanent move?” asked Josh with tender, brotherly concern.
She couldn’t answer that question until she knew what they were all staring at…
May answered for her as she scrolled through the webpage, “It’d have to be permanent. If this was your life, I don’t think you could just visit.”
“Bring me with you,” Gracie pleaded without looking away.
“I know, right? I don’t even remember how I found these…I think one of my clients needed international accommodations, and these came up in one of my searches.”
“Oh-ho-ho…no way! I didn’t even know this sort of thing existed. Look at that!” Said Josh, now seemingly on board with her permanent change of residency.
She couldn’t take it anymore! A mere second before she would have lunged across the table and ripped Gracie’s stupid, smelly phone right out of her stupid, smelly hands, Corey shared her screen and said, “Oh my gosh you guys…check out this one.”
Time stopped.
Avi’s jaw gently dropped.
It was the thing of dreams if dreams could sing. It was everything she never knew she could hope for.
Of the hundreds of regency novels she’d ever read with their hundreds of mansion houses and estates, her mind could never seem to agree with the authors’ descriptions. In her imagination, there was only one, and it was somehow miraculously staring back at her from Corey’s shared screen.
Its two-story exterior was equal parts white stone and window pane with sporadic green accents of English ivy meticulously allowed to grow. Its once-orange roof tiles had aged to brown and blended in beautifully with the building’s ten chimneys. In the back, a fountained pond in the middle of a well-sheared garden was framed by hedges a few shades darker than the hue of the lawn which ran flat until it became the grassy banks of a gentle winding stream. Its light currents no doubt were full of fish and frequented by swans.
A modest stable and paddock sat on the very last acre of the grounds. The sides of the sprawling estate were dotted with detached buildings, each serving its own functional and aesthetic purposes, and everything backed up to the forested hills of the vast English countryside.
With every new picture of the 17th-century mansion Corey scrolled through, Avi wanted to scream, “Stop!” only to find herself equally enthralled with the next angle, detail, or room. From the master suite to the library to the small ballroom with two twin crystal chandeliers, each picture of each room made it all the more for her. Her heart felt full as it seemed to whisper, “You need this, Avi Hawthorne.” While its words betrayed her pride, they did not betray the truth.
That’s when Corey said, “There’s also this one…”
But before Corey could back out to the home page and find something doomed to fall short of the perfection she’d just seen, Avi said, “No.”
Her assertiveness must have startled them. It startled her. Avi had never said anything before with such boldness or certainty.
“This is the one.”
“Corey, how much is it?” Gracie asked.
“Four-point-five U.S., but it’s been up for like six or seven months. I bet I could get it down to four and a quarter…maybe even four million.”
May clapped her hands together with glee and said, “That’s so doable! Avi, are you gonna do this?”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let”s just ease the brakes a little bit, huh? Sissy, you know May and I are going to support you no matter what you decide to do…so will Corey and Gracie, but I’m not sure this makes any sense. For one, you aren’t a British citizen. I don’t think you could live there even if you wanted to.”
“Well, that’s not entirely true,” said Gracie. “Jason…”
Jason was Gracie’s husband. However, his philandering ways had preceded their divorce and Gracie’s knowledge of his affairs, by a couple of years.
“...was always going on about how we should sell the house and move to Europe. Probably because of all the nude beaches…”
Gracie’s eyes widened as she looked over her family, who - like Avi - were clearly trying and failing to conceal the awkwardness they felt.
“Anyways…he looked into it and found that many countries in Europe have investor visas where they offer citizenship in exchange for a financial investment in their country. I’m not sure how much you have to invest to qualify, but I assume putting four-plus million dollars into their real estate sector would do the trick.”
“Mmm…I doubt it.” Corey responded. “If she’s just buying a place of residency, I don’t think the government would count that as a business investment.”
Avi sat in silence, thinking about all the possible scenarios that might work. Was the mansion house worth it if she had to keep traveling back and forth? If it was only going to amount to a vacation home, did it even qualify as the type of adventure Grandma made her promise she’d have?
Josh broke her train of thought, “I’m sorry, Sissy. I don’t mean to squash a dream or anything… I just…I mean, even if you could live there forever, would you even want to? I just picture you, all alone, living in a huge house in another country dressed up in some Cosplay…Etsy…gown. I want you to be happy, and…I don’t know…it just doesn’t seem like any happiness you could get from that would even last a week let alone a lifetime.”
It was painful to admit, but her brother was right.
“No, I know,” said Avi. “I was more thinking out loud than anything.”
“Well then, what else do you love?” Josh asked.
“No, Josh!” May protested. “You’re not just going to push your sister along until she gets to the adventure you want her to have. Avi, I’ve never seen you light up like that. If that’s what you want, there has to be some way to make it work.”
The whole room sat in quiet contemplation. However, Avi could tell Josh’s silence stemmed from not wanting to say anything to get in any further trouble with his wife.
Wait…I’ve got it!” May said, brimming with excitement. “Avi…what if you turned that old mansion house into a business?”
“You mean like a bed and breakfast or something?” asked Gracie.
“Kind of…but what if it was more…an all-immersive regency excursion?”
“Like Austenland?” Gracie asked.
“I’m not sure what that is,” May replied, “But I am sure that people spend thousands of dollars to travel and immerse themselves in the worlds of Harry Potter, Disney, Pixar…Marvel…Star Wars…I mean there’s gotta be enough people out there who love this stuff as much as you and are willing to pay for the experience.”
Josh laughed, “What would they do all day? Sit around and take turns playing the pianoforte?”
“I don’t know!” May shot back. “Avi, what did people back then do for fun?”
Avi had the answers at the ready, “They rode horses, went to dances and parties, practiced archery, played games, enjoyed the outdoors, watched fireworks…”
“All things I couldn’t do here in the States…” Josh said with a sardonic smile.
Feeling herself beginning to emerge from her shell, Avi shot a dagger of a glare back at her little brother and accentuated, “...shooting contests.”
“You could have all those activities,” May said with gleeful excitement. “Not only would this address the whole investment issue, but it would surround Avi with like-minded people who share her interests, so she wouldn’t be alone in some foreign country. It’d be perfect!”
“Well,” Josh said, “if you’re gonna have dances and parties, be ready to hire tons of male actors because every last one of your paying customers is gonna be a woman. Guaranteed.”
“Not necessarily. Once most businesses…at least the successful ones…get a website up and running, they tend to have a promotion like an online contest where anyone who likes and shares a particular post gets entered to win something. Sis, you could offer an all-expenses paid trip to the inaugural experience. If you do it that way you can choose a few guy winners to even out any potential demographic imbalances.”
“She couldn’t afford to do that every time,” said Gracie.
“No, but once is all she needs. Just make sure a social influencer is one of the winners, and hire a film crew to get a few shots and testimonials from some of the men in the group, and before you know it, closet male Regency fans will be lining up with cash in hand. And if that doesn’t work, we play up the angle of it being a great way to meet chicks.”
“Eww. No.” Avi appreciated the genius of Corey’s business mentality, but if she was going to buy the estate, it was going to be a romantic residence of elegance and propriety; not some scandalous haven for unhinged hedonism.
“Avi…speaking of meeting people…”
She recognized the playful tone in Josh’s voice, and she knew what he was implying. Avi smiled and shook off his teasing, but she’d be lying if she said the thought hadn’t crossed her mind once or twice since May had her epiphany. After all, any modern man who’d be caught dead, let alone alive, in tight-fitting breaches and a comely cravat had to be made of the same stuff as she. He had to possess the old soul she’d been waiting for her entire adult life.
Still, one problem persisted. She wasn’t business savvy or a community builder. How would she hire strangers, oversee activities, or play the lead role in what amounted to community theater? This was their idea, not hers, and even though she loved it, Avi didn’t know where to begin.
“I appreciate all your help, but I feel something like this is so much bigger than me. I don’t think I can do it alone.”
“Duh,” Gracie said, “that’s why you’re bringing me with you. Let”s be honest: you and Josh’s family are the only things keeping me here. Put me up in one of the rooms and feed my bony butt, and I’ll do whatever you need.”
“And Josh has plenty of vacation days to at least get things up and running. We’d be happy to help. Plus I’m sure the boys would love to see platform nine and three quarters.”
“And I got the purchasing, visas, website, and marketing covered,” Corey said, before muting herself and getting to work lowballing the seller’s agent.
“See…no more excuses. You need this Avi Hawthorne.”
Avi matched May’s grin with her own, as the group worked all night and into the wee hours of the morning planning every last detail of the immersive excursion.
It’s amazing what can change in the confines of a day, but with the means provided and the stage set, the greatest change was still ahead. As they left the bookstore on the corner of 700 East and Main and made their way to the small parking lot around back, Avi stopped to admire Gracie and the selfless care Avi had often mistaken for invasiveness. As well as Josh and May for the love between them and the family they created, as they carried their sleeping children to their van. She couldn”t believe how willing they were to sacrifice invaluable hours of sleep to help her, especially her sister-in-law who contributed well into the next day like she was bound by blood to do so.
But as dawn broke, Avi also caught a glimpse of her sun-kissed reflection in the last storefront window. She stopped and stared for a moment but could not think of anything worth admiring about the person whose silver-green eyes stared back at her. As the realization set in, she saw the woman in the window mouth the words, ”You need this, Avi Hawthorne.”