A Pleasant Story - Chapter Twenty - Memorial
Dear Kanzen--I added something just for you! lol
A Pleasant Story
Chapter Twenty
Memorial
Cassandra and Dina had worked together to turn the living room into a beautiful memorial space with light carpet, lots of seating, and the orange lilies that Brandi had liked. Mortimer had worked hard to create two lovely paintings of her that showed how young and beautiful she had been.
People began to gather, sharing their memories of Brandi, and Beau listened happily as he heard people saying such nice things about his Mom.
He felt like Cassandra would be a new friend. She was really nice and funny, and she said nice things about his Mom, too. He invited her to come visit at his house, and she said she'd love to.
"You have to meet my new baby brother, too!" he chirped.
Beau then went to greet Kaylynn and Mary-Sue, and they told him they were very sorry about his Mom and hoped he’d feel free to let them know if he needed any help. He invited them to come visit him and meet his baby brother, too. Kaylynn said, “We have a baby at our house too and you can come over and meet him any time!”
Mortimer asked Carla if she'd gotten in touch with Tom's father yet, and she responded in the negative. "Not yet--we've been so busy getting the boys settled, and Kaylie's been working on the social services paperwork so we can foster the boys legally."
She went on, "But I wanted talk to you about the house you recommended--it's the one right across the street, right?"
Mortimer affirmed this. "Did you like it?"
"Oh, we love it! It looks so homey. We just need to get all the permissions in place so we can move there with the boys."
"Well," Mortimer said, "You let me know if I can be of any help."
Dina had gone to serve the food from the buffet in the dining room when she was suddenly struck by a wave of sadness and began to cry. Cassandra saw her and ran over to give her a hug. The more she got to know Dina, the more she was ashamed for thinking she was nothing but a gold-digger. She seemed to have a very kind heart. Cassandra was glad they'd get the chance to be friends.
Darren arrived and Cassandra greeted him pleasantly, saying "Thank you for coming!"
Darren tried to take her hands in an intimate gesture, but she avoided it by gesturing toward the paintings of Brandi. "Look what Dad did!"
"She was beautiful," he said. "I am sorry I never got to know her better. How are the boys doing?"
"Beau is okay, I think," Cassandra said, "But Dustin seems to be taking it pretty hard. Ever since his father died he's thought of himself as the man of the house, and now he feels all that responsibility."
Darren said, "He's Dirk's age--I'll ask Dirk to try and be a friend to him."
Beau went to the foyer to say hello to Anthony and asked his Auntie Dina if she remembered him.
“Remember? You met him and he has the cool space room!”
Dina nodded and told everyone how nice it was to see them.
Dustin was sitting quietly next to Mortimer when Lilith walked up to him.
"I'm so sorry about your Mom," she said. "Angela said she was always really nice. Are you doing okay?"
Dustin didn't trust himself to speak, but he nodded briefly.
Nina arrived and sought out her sister for a hug. "Have you seen Don?" she asked Dina. "He said he'd come, but when I went to his house to pick him up he didn't answer."
"I haven't seen him yet," Dina said. "But why don't you talk to the boys? Dustin's really down."
"Of course he is," Nina said. "I'll talk to him in a bit."
A girl he didn’t recognize walked up and greeted Dustin. “Hey, I’m Ginger Newson. My brothers and sisters and I moved to town not long ago.”
Dustin nodded. “Did you know my Mom?” he asked.
Ginger explained she’d met Brandi when she was shopping for baby supplies. “I have a brother and sister who are toddlers and I was buying some diapers and stuff and I met her at the store. She was really nice and helped me pick out some cheap stuff that was good.”
She then explained that she wanted to come to the memorial because she knew what it was like to lose your parents.
Dustin wondered if he should mention that she seemed to be wearing some unusual makeup, but instead decided to tell her about his interest in entomology.
Dirk walked up then and said to Ginger, “Hey, I’ve seen you at school!”
Ginger replied, “Yeah, but I can only go sometimes. My brother Gavin and I have to take turns staying home to watch the other kids.”
“Damn, that's rough,” Dirk said, then went on, “Um, did you know you have black marks under your eyes?”
Ginger gasped and put her hands to her face. “Damn—my sister was practicing her makeup skills and I forgot. Which way to the bathroom?”
Dirk pointed and Ginger ran off in that direction.
Dustin watched all the people chatting and laughing and was becoming furious. How could anyone joke at a time like this? Dustin didn't understand yet that people often deal with grief by laughing.
He jumped up and went toward the buffet to get something to eat. At the entry to the dining room, he stopped suddenly.
He hesitantly walked into the room, and Angela stood and approached him.
"I'm . . . I'm sorry about your Mom, Dustin," she said quietly.
Dustin was going to thank her, but she suddenly turned and ran from the room before he could speak.
Dustin walked into the foyer. Angela might be shallow and difficult, but he guessed it was nice she'd come to speak to him.
Auntie Nina greeted him in the foyer and asked him how he was doing, then went on, "Dustin, I know you feel responsible for your brothers, but I want you to know that Dina and I will help you as much as you need. You don't have to carry this burden all alone."
Dustin wasn't sure what to say; what Nina had said was exactly what he'd been worrying about. What he couldn't explain to her was that it didn't matter how many people offered to help; he was the only one related to his brothers, so they were HIS responsibility.
But he nodded and said, "Thanks."
Kaylie greeted Cassandra and told her, "Thank you so much for having this memorial. It's really beautiful. I love the flowers."
She looked around the room and suddenly stopped in surprise. There was a cow on the mantel over the fireplace! She didn't want to bring it up during the memorial, but she made a mental note to investigate later.
Mary-Sue had come up to Dustin and told him how sorry she was about his Mom. He nodded sullenly. He was getting tired of hearing that same phrase over and over.
Mary-Sue didn't push him to answer; just patted his hand and went to talk to the other guests.
Kaylie found Mortimer and gave him a peck on the cheek, thanking him for being such a nice host. Then she said casually, "That's an interesting cow on your mantel. Where did you get it?"
Mortimer pondered, then shook his head. "I hadn't noticed it before. Maybe Cassandra got it."
Beau was getting a bit bored. Talking to all these grownups and hearing how sorry they were for him over and over was getting old. He finished his gelatin and wandered around, looking for someone to talk to.
Suddenly, he heard a whistling sound from outside and looked out the window to see a strange rocket-shaped thing flying through the sky.
"What could that be?" He wondered. "It looks like a bomb coming at us."
The shape turned and soared into the sky and he realized it was only a bird.
He turned his attention back to being bored.
Then he bounced happily--his friend Tina Traveller was here! He really liked her. She was fun to play with and liked running and jumping. Tina had traveled all over the world with her parents and knew lots of cool stuff.
Beau listened attentively as Tina told him about learning how to sing a sea chanty from a pirate ghost.
Beau was happy she hadn't said anything about his Mom. But he knew she was sorry because she had come to the memorial. Sometimes, things didn't need to be said out loud.
Beau asked his Auntie Dina if it would be okay if he and Tina went outside to play, but she said it was dark now and they should stay in the house because the ghosts would be out.
"But why don't you two go in the dining room and get something to eat?" she suggested.
Instead, Beau jumped on the couch and looked out the window to see if he could spot a ghost . . . and he did! He yelled excitedly at Tina to come see, then he looked more closely. In addition to the ghost, he saw a figure with her back to him, but she didn’t look transparent like a ghost. It looked like she had her hair up with a gold clip, just like his Mom used to wear, but she was wearing a long dark dress.
“Auntie Dina!” he yelled. “Come see! I think it’s my Mom!” Beau climbed off the couch and grabbed Dina’s hand and pulled her to look out the window.
She peered out. “I don’t see anyone Beau.” She looked at him kindly then said, “Sometimes when we really miss someone, we think we see them just because we really want to. After my husband died, I’d think I’d see him walking down the street, or I’d turn a corner and think he was walking toward me. It’s perfectly normal.”
Beau looked at her doubtfully, but said, “Okay, I guess it was just because I miss her.”
Beau then asked Tina to come get some more food with him and they headed for the dining room.
Suddenly, the guests heard Beau shouting "Whoa! What's going on?"
When they ran to see what had happened, they found Beau had turned into a teenager!
Carla ran up to him and said, "Beau! I'm so sorry we didn't get to have a birthday party for you!"
Kaylie gave him a hug and said, "Your Mom would be so proud of you! What a fine young man you grew into!"
Auntie Dina told him he had grown into a handsome young man.
Dustin gave him a hug then and said, "Dude, are you taller than me?!"
“Probably, shrimp!” Beau replied.
They laughed together, and Dustin started to understand why people might laugh at a memorial. For a few moments at least, he hadn't felt sad about his Mom.
Dustin suddenly realized he was starving, and sat down with some of the others to get something to eat. Carla told him, "Dustin, I spoke to your boss. They said it would be okay if you took a few days to start your oceanography job. They understand about what's been going on."
Dustin nodded, then wandered into the foyer after he finished his plate. There he encountered Jace Lieve, who offered his condolences.
Dustin thanked him for giving the child-support money for Tom, and told Jace that he was doing really well.
“That’s good, that’s good,” Jace said.
Dustin asked him to wait while he went to tell Carla and Kaylie that he was here.
“They wanted to check with you about something,” he explained.
“Oh yeah, sure. I’ll wait here,” Jace said. “See you soon!”
After Carla and Kaylie greeted him, Kaylie explained that they’d like to use some of Tom’s child-support money to buy a bigger house for the boys and wanted to make sure that was okay with him.
“Oh, yeah,” he said, “I don’t mind. That sounds good for Tom.” He smiled and hummed to himself for a moment, then continued, “It would be good for the other boys, too, I guess. Is there food here?”
Carla and Kaylie thanked him and told him where to find the food and he said, “Okay then. Uh, think I’ll get some food now," and wandered off in the wrong direction.
Carla looked at Kaylie and said, “I hope Tom inherited his mother’s brains.”
In the living room, Cassandra was talking with Trent and Trisha Traveller, who had come with Brandi's friend, Sanjay.
When Dustin saw Trisha, he thanked her for the necklace that he had given to his Mom.
"She really loved it!" he told her.
Then he remembered that Carla had asked about the necklace, so he told her that these were the people he'd bought Brandi’s necklace from, and that maybe they could tell her something about it.
Carla introduced herself to Trisha and Trent, and told them that they thought the necklace Dustin had gotten from them was missing. She asked them where they'd gotten it, and if there was any possibility it had been stolen.
"Stolen?" Trisha said, "I don't think so. We bought it at a store on Twikii Island. So unless the store was dealing in stolen goods, I don't think it could have been."
"Was it expensive?" She asked.
"I don't remember exactly what we paid, but it wasn't noteworthy. It's a pretty common necklace on the islands. We have other ones sort of like it. We offered to give it to Dustin, but he wanted to pay for it as a gift for his Mom."
Carla thanked them for the information.
Sanjay was standing nearby and introduced himself to her. "I'm so sorry about Brandi. She was one of the first people I met when I got to town and she was really nice. I went to Beau's childhood birthday party."
Carla told him he was welcome to visit anytime. "We'll be moving soon to the house across the street."
Tina Traveller was talking to Cassandra. "I'd like to talk to Beau, but he's big now," she said sadly.
Cassandra said, "Oh, I'm sure he'll still like you. Besides, you'll be a teenager yourself soon, and then you'll be the same age again!"
Tina cheered up at this. "Oh yeah! I forgot how we grow up all at once! And maybe he can come to my party! That would be fun!"
As his father had asked him to, Dirk was being friendly to Dustin and trying to show his support. He found Dustin to be a bit stubborn though--he kept talking about his brothers as though he was their father. He was nice though; Dirk just felt sorry that he felt like he had to be a grown-up so soon.
"How about we go to the roller rink sometime?" Dirk asked. "We can check out the girls!"
Dustin seemed to consider this as he said, "Maybe."
Alexander walked up then and asked, “Did somebody mention girls?”
Dirk laughed and said, “Yeah. Dustin and I were talking about heading to the rink sometimes. Lots of girls there.”
Dustin said, “Speaking of girls, that Ginger seemed nice. Did you get to meet her?”
Alexander and Dirk both nodded and said “Yeah, she was cute!”
They paused and stared at each other.
“So, Alex,” Dirk said, “you like her?”
The boys were interrupted, perhaps luckily, by Dina carrying champagne into the living room.
She tapped on the side of her glass and said, “As it’s getting late, I thought we could gather together for a toast to Brandi.”
As the other guests helped themselves to a glass, Dina said, “Brandi Broke was my best friend, and one of the kindest people I’ve ever known. She was giving, gentle, and a wonderful mother. She’ll be sorely missed. To Brandi!”
She raised her glass and the other guests joined her.
When they’d finished, Sanjay spoke and said, “Brandi was the first person I met when I moved here to Pleasantview. She offered her friendship immediately and made my first lonely days here much more bearable. Here’s to Brandi!”
After the toast, the guests began to make their way to the door.
As the Travellers were leaving, Tina stopped to speak to Beau in the foyer.
“You look really tall now, but I hope we can still play together.”
Beau nodded as she continued.
“I’ll be growing up soon just like you, so I hope you’ll come to my birthday!”
Beau smiled and said “Sure!”
Beau then waved Anthony over and introduced him to Tina and she told him he could come to her birthday, too. Anthony seemed pleased about this, but he thought a little sadly that all the kids his age seemed to be growing up.
Dustin was glad that people were finally leaving. He was tired and sad and wanted to go . . . home. To Carla and Kaylie's. It didn't feel like home yet.
Alexander came up to him and said, "So, I hear you guys might be moving in across the street. We can hang out after school if you want."
Dustin said, "I know Carla and Kaylie want to move to a bigger house, but I don't know where it will be yet."
"Hey, well, wherever," Alexander said. "We can go to the mall if you want. Later."
As Alexander turned and went upstairs, Dustin realized Alexander was the only person there who hadn't made him feel sad by talking about his Mom. That was pretty cool.
Dustin looked at the pictures of his Mom. Mortimer had told him and Beau they could take the portraits with them to keep forever. Dustin thought he'd like to hang this one in his room--once he HAD a room--because his happy, smiling Mom looked just like he wanted to remember her.