It was a perfectly relaxing sunday morning; the LaChances went to church with Maggie in tow and Gordie and Jean discussed stocks and favorite films over brunch. After a pleasant walk around the town's scenic roads Gordie happened upon VT Motors without even meaning to. He stood frozen in his place, staring up at the business Vern had made himself. "Hi can I help you with some- Gordie?" Vern's eyes widened like a "deer-caught-in-the-headlights"
"Hiya Vern, things are looking good here, real good."
"Yeah, I like it, keeps me busy"
"I bet" Gordie said unsure of what Vern would bring up next.
"So how are things with you Gordie..." Vern began rocking back and forth on the heels of his shoes "...you still go by Gordie don't you?" he asked jamming his hands in the pockets of his denim pants. "Actually I prefer Marian if you don't mind" Gordie said, never cracking a smile. Vern remained silent for the next few seconds, gape-mouthed in disbelief. "Vern?"
"Y-y-yeah Gord"
"I was kidding Vern" a wave of relief washed over him. "Things are- well things are- things---" Gordie just couldn't put it into words. "Things are good overall" he finished
"overall?" Vern asked immediatly concerned.
"Its nothing man, look don't worry about it"
"listen Gord, this isn't easy for me to say, especially with us not being as close as we were when we were kids" Gordie nodded, already anticipating what Vern would say next.
"I just want you to know that I think its wonderful, you know, a real nice thing that you're doing, being a father myself, I would have done the same thing you are. Chris stopped by yesterday on his way home as I was closing up shop and he told me everything." Vern started to walk inside the small office he had and Gordie followed suit. "So what I'm askin' is, is it true?"
"About Maggie being Teddy's?" Vern nodded. "Yeah I mean I'm just about as shocked as you are" Gordie repeated.
"Hell I'm not even sure Teddy ever had a pet he could keep alive..." Vern suddenly got excited "remember Jerry the hampster?!" Jerry was an unfortunate case; Teddy was so swamped with practicing his multiplication tables, that feeding just "slipped his mind" as he put it. "Vern, this isn't like some dumb rodent, this is a human being, she deserves to know her father even if he doesn't know what the hell he's doing!" Gordie exploded
Feeling guilty, Gordie placed his hand around his friend's forearm, trying to comfort him "sorry man, I didn't mean to snap like that, it's just so frustrating!" Gordie exhaled deeply in his dissapointment. "You know what Verno, I don't care what happens, Teddy is gonna take responsibility for this, if I have to beat him til he comes to his senses." This brought a smile to Vern's face
"never thought I'd see the day when Teddy would take a beating from good ole Gordie LaChance"
"me either man".
"I'm telling you Gord, anything you need, I'll pitch in, no problem." "That's great man...say! why don''t you and Chris come on over for dinner tomorrow night, you can even bring the wife and kids if you want."
"That'd be good, maybe Chris could figure out what to do next, I'm here for you Gord, we'll make it work."
"Sounds good, dinner's about six-six-thirty, spread the word to Chris will ya Vern?"
"Done" Vern said, shaking his old friend's hand.
Gordie walked back to his house in a slightly better mood than the one he had left in. "How was the walk?" Jean asked meeting him at the door with a kiss.
"Productive. Do you mind if we have company tomorrow night for dinner?"
"Sure who's coming?" she asked inquisitively
"Chris and Vern and maybe Vern's kids"
"comin' over to talk about Teddy?"
"yeah"
"that's great"
"I thought so too". Gordie squeezed his wife tightly and the two walked into their comfortable living room.
Vern was just about to lock his office door when he remebered his promise to Gordie. He sighed sleepily "well I guess that meatloaf can wait another five minutes" he said to noone. Chris had given Vern his private number at his office and he dialed it carefully, staring at the slip of paper he had taken it down on. "Hey Chris, its me Vern"
"Oh hi Vern listen I'm on my way out so---"
"me too, I just wanted to tell you Gordie invited us to dinner tomorrow."
"Oh that's great, what time?"
"six-six-thirty" Vern added, qouting Gordie himself.
"I cannot wait for school tomorrow!" Michael shouted from the top of the stairs.
"Alein! What the hell have you done with my son?!" Gordie screamed, running up to him and tackeling him at the foot of the stairs.
"Dad, get off of me! Tomorrow is the last day of school!"
"Oh, don't worry Jean, the alien has returned our son!" Gordie smiled at his son. Jean laughed, Gordie could be strange sometimes but that's what she adored about him. "Am I weird?" he asked taking her hand "Definitly" she said pulling him closer.
"Why don't you just get a room?!" Michael asked disgusted.
"Shut up!" his parents said jokingly. Mike mumbled something that Gordie automatically recognized
"I don't shut I grow up and when I look at you, I throw up".
"Yes yes yes yes yes yes no more techers, not more books, no more teacher's dirty looks, junior high here I come!" Michael sang childishly.
"I swear you get stranger every day" Maggie scoffed.
"School's over and I have a whole three months off, this is like christmas!"
"Okay I get it, you're excited"
"hey you would be too if you actually went to school" he shot.
"Oh two points, very nice"
"are you a drop out or something?"
"No!" she smacked his shoulder playfully.
"What happened?" Maggie took a seat beside him in preperation for her explanation.
"After my mom died I knew I had to find my father, and everything in my hometown reminded me of her, I mean I lived there my whole life, so I just had to get away."
"What grade are you in anyway?" he asked
"I'll be a sophomore this year."
"Wow you're old!" "shutup Mike!"
"No, I'm serious it's all down hill from here."
"Why don't you get jump start on your summer reading?" She suggested trying to get him to leave her alone
"why don't you get a life?" he teased ridding his backpack of all his school supplies.
Gordie sauntered into his kitchen to see his son and Maggie being civil; the two had become astonishingly close since Maggie had ran away that night. Maggie sat playing a game of solitare at the table while Michael snacked on a oversized bowl of cereal. "Hey dad what time's dinner?"
"six-thirty don't get filled up Mike we're having company." "Company?" Maggie asked putting another card down.
"Yeah, Chris and Vern are coming."
"who're they?" Michael stopped slurping his corn flakes.
"I never told you about them?" both children shook their heads. "Chris, Teddy, Vern and I were best friends all through grammer school."
"What about after that?" Gordie had peaked Maggie's interest.
"After that Vern and your father went into the shop courses and Chris and I went into college courses, we saw less and less of each other and just like that it was like we had never known each other."
"Are you nervous?" Maggie inquired trying to think of how she would feel in Gordie's awkward situation.
"A little, I mean I've only seen them once in the last ten years or so, twice including yesterday so yeah I'm a little anxious, not nervous" he corrected. The two nodded as a sign of understanding. "Well why don't you two get washed up for dinner?" Gordie recommended "okay" they chorused.
Chris shut the door to his fairly new car to see Vern drive up next to him in his beat-up work truck. "Well I don't know about you Chris but I'm starved."
"Where's your family?" Chris questioned
"Jennifer's got the flu and my wife thinks its just a matter of time before the other kids get it too."
"how many kids do you have now Verno?" Chris asked Vern as the two pairs of feet scraped the gravel beneath them.
"Well as of this morning four, some days I swear they multiply like friggen bunnies or something" he laughed.
Chris recalled his astonishment when he read Vern and Julia's wedding announcement in the weekend paper nearly twenty years ago. The couple married shortly after their graduation from high school and it came as no suprise to the people that knew them. Sometimes Chris wished he had been invited, he would have loved to sit next to Gordie, congratulating the newly weds. The two men charged the stairs finding the air muggy, hot and uncomfortable. Vern was the first to the door and knocked on the the wood frame loudly.
"One second!" Gordie cried, hurridly setting a bowl of pretzels on the end table. He opened the door wide enough to see both of his guests, graciously inviting them in. Jean , always the perfect hostess extended her arm to take Vern's cap and put it safely on the hat rack in the hall. "Mike, Maggie, company's here" Gordie said and the two children obeyed just as two model children should.
Chris held his breath, the muscles in his body tensing in anticipation. He was about to meet Teddy's daughter. Would she look like him? Would they be able to tell who her mother was at first sight? Shoes pounded the floor as the two teenagers arrived in the foyer. Gordie's son was the spitting image of him, he looked young for his age just as Gordie had. His long fingers clasped Chris's in a friendly hand shake, the deep brown in his eyes reminded Chris of what girls always thought was adorable about Gordie. Gordie was wide-eyed and innocent but he was tough even if people didn't see it at first. "I'm Michael, it's nice to meet you" he said, his pubesant voice cracking slightly.
"Chris, nice to meet you too, you look just like your dad."
"Don't tell him that, he'll get a big head" Michael chuckled softly. The girl, Maggie, stayed just to Michael's right as if she were afraid. Chris turned to Gordie
"this is Maggie" he said putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Chris, glad to meet you" he smiled taking Maggie's small hand in his own. She was one of the tiniest things he had seen, she was so slight she almost looked younger than Michael; but this of course was decieving, she was almost sixteen.
"Well we can sit down, dinner should be ready in just a minute" Jean said leading the family and their guests into the dining room.
"Holy shit, this place looks the same as it did when we were kids" Vern commented admiring the china that was only used on special occasions. "How old is this anyway?" he asked pointing to the set of china.
"My Grandmother gave it to my parents on their wedding day"
"shit, no wonder your mom screamed at me the time we were playing ball in the house"
" yeah I got grounded for a whole weekend" Gordie recollected. "Coming through" Michael bellowed carrying two dishes full of potatoes and sliced pork respectively.
"Here we go" Jean said cheerily placing a pitcher of lemonade on the table
"Maggie why don't you put the bread and the corn right here so it's out of eveyone's way?"
"Ok" Maggie replied taking her place next to Michael.
It wasn't until the natural sunlight hit her that Chris noticed how much Maggie looked like her father. They had the same face; a face that seemed to read they had seen alot of suffering and experieced alot of pain. Her hair was the same dirty blonde, with strands that were stick straight falling in her eyes. However, in many ways she looked different; but it was anyone's guess at the moment if she looked anything like her ghostly mother. Her eyes were her most striking feature; they were tiny and held the most beautiful combination of green and a golden brown.
"I'm so sorry your family couldn't make it Vern" Jean expressed simpathetically.
"It's probubly just as well I know they wouldn'tve' behaved half as well as Mike does, those little buggers are animals!" Vern laughed affectionaltley. Even though his children drove him crazy he loved them more than anything.
"Well we're happy you could make it" she smiled happily, spooning a small dollop of mashed potatoe into her mouth.
Maggie remained silent, it was almost as awkward as the night she first arrived at the LaChances and she just knew it was only going to get worse. While the old friends got reaquainted, sipping a fine brandy in the small sitting area Maggie decided to help Jean with the dishes. Without saying a word Maggie grabbed a plate and began drying the excess water off with a rag in swirling strokes. "Are you okay?" Jean asked piling one dish ontop of the other.
"Yeah, I'm fine I just wish I could be sure of what I'm doing."
"What do you mean?" Jean questioned
"Any day now I'm about to meet the man who helped give me life but somehow never gave a damn about me!" she excalimed, fumbling for the cream colored plate as it splintered into a million peices. "Oh oh Jeez, Jean I'm- I'm- I'm- I'm sorry!" she cried bursting into heaving sobs.
"I think tomorrow I should just go and tell Teddy exactly the way it is."
"Do you have a choice?" Chris asked
"not really".
"I think its going to fine really, I do, I think Teddy will love meeting his daughter"
"I'm not so sure."
The three men heard a crash in the kitchen and the noise sent Gordie rushing to the kitchen to investigate. There he found Maggie gathering peices of a broken plate, she was wiping moisture from under her eyes, she had been crying. "Is everything alright?" Gordie ventured being careful as he approached her.
"I'm fine I just got a little upset, I guess I'm anxious about meeting my father", Gordie couldn't blame her.
"I think we're going to go take care of that tomorrow, if that's okay with you"
"I just really want to get this over with" she sighed.
The LaChances and Maggie bid their guests a good evening and parted for the night. Maggie sat up in bed unable to sleep. She tried popping a tape into the cassette deck, a recording of "soothing sounds". Five minutes later she found the chirping of crickets in the summer heat annoying and tapped the "stop" button in frustration. She began to think the confused feeling that was overwhelming her would never end. Truth be told she hadn't gotten a decent night's sleep since the day she arrived in Castle Rock.
Morning broke rapidly as Maggie watched through her bedroom window. Everytime she thought she was mentally prepared to start her day she would find herself waiting five more minutes. Golden light was flooding the small room as daylight approached. Slowly Maggie scampered to the bathroom to take a shower. The water stimulated her whole body, washing away the fuzziness of early morning. Fully cleansed and nearly ready to start her day Maggie hurried to her room. She would wear what she was expected to, if she was going to meet her father, she sure as hell wasn't going to do anything special for him. Maybe Maggie was bitter but she honestly couldn't see how the love of her mother's life could be blind to the fact that she was carrying his child.
Gordie woke startled by the sudden sound of water running in the bathroom. It must be Maggie he thought logically, Michael wouldn't be up untill much after ten. When Gordie heard the taps stop running, he set out his clothes and picked up a towel from the linen closet. It was a good fifteen minutes before Jean interupted Gordie's hot shower, flushing the toilet sending splashes of freezing water onto Gordie's body. "Some of us would also like to take a shower" she said "yes dear" he said obediantly.
Gordie was fully dressed and ready to leave when he noticed Maggie sitting on the couch in the living room. "Gordie?" she asked "am I going to meet him?" she was almost trembling.
"I'll call from my office as soon as I find him, I'll have a better idea then" "okay" she sighed.
Castle Rock was busy for a tuesday morning in early summer. Chris had been kind enough to have found were Mrs. Thomas Duchamp's was now living. She had sold her house shortly after her sixteeith birthday. Gordie arrived at 109B Sycamore street and checked his watch. It was just around 11:30 and he figured if Mrs. DuChamp was asleep he would come back later on in the afternoon. He knocked just loud enough so she could hear. Deborah answered the door dressed in a heaby sweater even though the temperature was already bordering on ninety. "Hello, I don't mean to be rude young man but whatever it is your selling I really have no use for it" she told Gordie.
"I'm not here to sell you anything Mrs. DuChamp."
"I beg your pardon, have we met?"
"It's Gordon LaChance, Mrs. DuChamp and I was wondering if Teddy was here."
"Gordon LaChance! You look wonderful and I hear you're doing well at the paper, congratulations!"
"Thank you Mrs. DuChamp but about Teddy..."
"Well Gordon, Teddy hasn't lived with me in some years but you can try him at his apartment, its on Cole Street, apartment 3E."
Cole Street was not in the best part of town. It was somewhere between where the Chambers had lived and the section eight housing. Memories of walking to Chris's house for study sessions raced back to Gordie's mind and he struggled to keep focused. The building was just above ramshackle, no doubt close to being condemned and Gordie was afraid the stairs would callapse as he climbed them. Apartment 3E was all the way down a narrow hallway full of families cramped in small living quarters. Gordie was just about to press the doorbell when an elderly man stopped him. "It's broken" he said crossly, as if Gordie should have known.
"Oh, I didn't realize that, thank you."
"He's not home, he goes to work real early, when works that is" the man grumbled disgruntally."
"Well do you know where he works?"
"Last I heard he was working at Green's Furniture"
"thank you".
Carl Green was one of the most noted carpenters in Castle Rock and probubly provided Gordie with every peice of furniture in his house. When Gordie entered the shop Carl greeted him warmly and asked if he had found any of the furniture defective. "I was told a Teddy DuChamp worked here." Carl growled angrily and slammed a hammer he was using to fix a wooden chair down on his work bench. "That son of a bitch better not come anywhere near this place again after he gets out or I'll have him arrested again!"
"Again?" Green nodded dissapointed.
"Night before last he broke into my office in the back, he was looking for his last pay check because I wouldn't give 'im it, he missed too many days, so I was just about to lock up, heard a noise and had him arrested."
"Shit!"
