Chapter 7, Team Finster
Charles, Rachel and Melenda, all approached the front door of Charles and Rachel's house.
"Come on, let's go." Said Charles, as he took his keys out of his pocket, and unlocked the door, leading his little sister and Melenda inside.
They were alone, because Charles and Rachel's parents and grandparents, were spending the day at the Java Lava, so the three of them, went into the living room, where they took a seat on the couch to talk.
"So, you live here with your parents and grandparents?" Melenda asked.
"Yep. Our dad has lived here with our paternal grandfather since he was born, and later, our grandfather met our grandmother Kira in Paris, who's the biological mom of our aunt Kimi, who's now queen of the Confederacy." Explained Charles.
"So you were named after your dad and grandfather." Said Melenda.
Charles nodded.
"Rachel, were you named after anybody?" Melenda asked.
"As a matter of fact, I was!" Replied Rachel.
"Who?" Melenda asked.
"Well, my dad's best friend since infanthood's and Adam's dad Tommy, his first girlfriend was named Rachel. They met when they were in Hebrew School in their middle school days. While sadly, Rachel moved away, my dad was always partial to the name, so named me, after her." Rachel explained.
"Well, it's a good thing Rachel moved away, and eventually, Tommy got together with Lil, otherwise, Adam wouldn't exist." Said Melenda.
"True, there's that. So, who were you named after?" Rachel asked.
"Me? Well, my full name is Melenda Kira Finster, I was named after both of my grandmothers on my father's side of the family. My dad's biological mom, Melinda, and his stepmom, and my aunt Kimi's biological mom, Kira. However, my name is spelled with an e in the middle rather than an I, because the hospital made a mistake on my birth certificate, spelling it wrong, so the new spelling, stuck." Explained Melenda.
"So, do your parents own the Java Lava in Pittsfield, Massachusetts?" Charles asked.
"No. My dad Chuckie, is a Psychologist, and my mom Nicole, is an elementary school teacher. My parents met when they were in middle school, but Chuckie pretended to be some foreign exchange student named Chongo to get my mother's attention. Once my mother learned who he really was, she was mad at him at first, for lying to her, but after Chuckie proved himself worthy to her, she asked him out on their first date at Valentine's Day in the seventh grade, and they've been together ever since. My grandparents, Chaz and Kira, continued to run the Java Lava in Yucaipa, California, until New Years of the year 2040, when I was only three-years-old. At this time, Starbucks bought the Java Lava from my grandparents, and the Java Lava, became a world wide chain, as every Starbucks in the entire world, changed their name, to the Java Lava. After my grandparents sold the coffee shop to Starbucks, they moved to Sunnyville, Florida, where they bought a condo and retired, still living there to this day, and because my mother studied at Yale University, and my father, completed his college education at Prinston and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, this in turn, caused my parents to relocate to the Eastern part of the United States, and because the majority of their friends lived on that side of the country by this point, they saw no reason in moving back to California, thus, I've been living in Massachusetts, my entire life." Explained Melenda.
"Wow! What an interesting story!" Said Charles, as he looked around the room, in search of puzzle pieces.
"And that's interesting how your mom and dad met, as that's how our mom and dad met too. But as you can see, where we live, my father owns the Java Lava, now that our grandparents have retired, not Starbucks." Said Rachel.
"Well, I can't seem to find any puzzle pieces anywhere by just glancing around the room. Care to take a tour of our house?" Charles asked.
"I'd love to!" Said Melenda excitedly, as the three of them, toured the house, in search of the puzzle pieces.
While they toured the house, they learned that Chaz and Kira were still using the master bedroom they've always used, Chuckie and Nicole fixed up the basement, to give them a master bedroom, and Charles, had his dad's old room from childhood, while Rachel, had her aunt Kimi's room from childhood. While walking through the house, Rachel found a puzzle piece on the floor of Chaz and Kira's closet, and Charles found a puzzle piece hidden in his nightstand drawer. But Melenda, had an even more interesting adventure when searching for her puzzle piece.
They were in the living room, looking through a closet, when they found a small box.
"What's in here?" Melenda asked, taking the box down from the shelf.
"I don't know, let's open it up and find out!" Said Rachel excitedly, as they took the box over to the coffee table, and opened it up, to find an assortment of several items.
Charles pulled out a trowel, Rachel pulled out a picture of a woman with orange hair and freckles and a pink paper heart with some red hair stuck to it, and Melenda, pulled out a book from the bottom of the box.
"Hey! I know what this stuff is, it's a collection of items from our parents childhood, and some items, that belonged to our late grandmother Melinda." Said Charles.
"Look! Here's Melinda's trowel, that she used to plant the flowers in our backyard." Continued Charles, as he held up the trowel for everybody to see.
"And this is a picture of our grandmother Melinda, and the first valentine our father gave to our grandfather Chaz." Said Rachel, showing off the picture of Melinda and the paper heart.
"Our dad tells us that when he was making his valentine for his dad, he had an itch on his head, and went to scratch it, causing the heart to get stuck, and upon pulling it loose, his hair stuck to it as a result." Said Rachel.
"So let me guess, dad and his friends, went to the valentine's day party our grandfather was helping to serve punch at, to give it to him." Added Melenda.
"Yes that's right!" Said Charles and Rachel in unison, amazed at how similar Melenda's family history was in comparison to theirs.
"And this is the diary that our grandmother Melinda kept, when she was in the hospital, before she died." Said Melenda, as she opened up the book to the last page.
"Wow! So in your universe, your late grandmother Melinda, also kept the same diary too?" Rachel asked.
"Uh huh? I just love the poem she wrote for our dad at the very end." Said Melenda, as she began to read the poem out loud.
My sweet little Chuckie
Though I must leave you behind me,
This poem will tell you Where you always can find me.
When a gentle wind blows That's my hand on your face,
When the tree gives you shade That's my sheltering embrace.
When the sun gives you freckles That's me tickling my boy,
When the rain wets your hair Those are my tears of joy.
When the long grass enfolds you That's me holding you tight,
When the whippoorwill sings That's me whispering night-night.
After she finished reading the poem out loud, she looked inside the bottom of the box, to find another puzzle piece. Melenda picked up the puzzle piece, and placed it into her pocket for safe keeping.
"Well, now that we've found all of our puzzle pieces, shouldn't we be heading to the park?" Charles asked.
"Yeah, but first, let's pick this stuff up and put it back where it belongs." Said Rachel, as the three of them, put the diary, trowel, picture, and paper heart back into the box, and put the box back on the shelf where they found it.
Ten minutes later, Charles, Rachel and Melenda, all with their puzzle pieces in their pockets, left the Finsters house, and headed to the park, where they ran into Rosemary, Abbigale, George, Darin Barrow, Kelly, Keith, Danielle, Megan, and Benjamin, all playing a rousing game of baseball. They sat down on a nearby bench, watching the others play, and waited, for the rest of the gang, to meet them.
