"Welcome to Tool Time! Over the years, we've received mail from astute visitors that have noticed that both Tim and I are left handed," Al smiled.

Today was just another day of me taking Hannah to Tool Time. There was nothing out of the ordinary aside from the fact that this was starting Thanksgiving break. There would be no new Tool Times after this until next week. The reason for that was obviously Thanksgiving. Anyways, I had Hannah sitting on my lap and she was babbling at me.

"That's why we're doing a salute to lefties," Dad grinned and gave a small wave to Hannah who babbled at him.

"Perhaps that's why there's so many derogatory phrases about us lefties."

"Such as left-back, left-out. When I use my left-handed scissors with the blade on top, I can now cut with confidence," Dad started cutting the paper.

He cut it into the word "Tool Time" and we clapped. Well, I did the best I could with a sleeping baby. This was around Hannah's naptime and she'd usually sleep since she was a baby.

"And here we have left-handed pruning shears. If you go with these, your pruning will go a lot faster."

"If you go with prunes, you'll move a lot faster. Let's show the audience how fast two left-handed people can prune."

Klaus started some music and I laughed, rocking Hannah. If I kept rocking her, she'd stay asleep and stay quiet for Tool Time. A couple of times, I had to take her out and sit behind the stage since she was being too noisy. Mom told me that in the future, that was a punishment for when she didn't behave.

"Looks like I won," Al grinned.

Dad frowned but looked towards Hannah sleeping and his smile widened. Like Brad and me, Dad had a special love for her. She was his only daughter and had to be protected at all costs. Still, we thought of her as a warrior. Though she was a princess, she was a warrior.

….

"Tim, it stinks even worse than before!" I plug my nose and scoop up Hannah.

With a whimper, Hannah started crying from the smell and buried her nose into my shoulder, starting to settle when she did that. Most babies preferred the smell of their mother over any other smell. Especially one that was so pungent and smelled worse than being sprayed by a skunk.

"Cause I knocked some holes in the floor," Tim had a bandana covering his mouth and I felt that he was lucky.

"Did you catch the dead rat?" I asked as I rocked Hannah.

"No, but I'm hot on his tail. I'll take care of the smell. I got industrial disinfectant with the zesty smell of lemon."

I sighed and the smell was worse than before. With a whimper, Hannah was trying to muffle the smell, so I cuddled her close and she seemed to calm down. Though I was grateful to Tim for trying to help, I really preferred that he stop spraying the spray, but I couldn't control him.

"Hi, can I help you?" I plugged my nose but had Hannah snuggled into my shoulder on one side, trying to hide into me.

"I'm the bank appraiser from Royal Oaks Bank." The guy sniffed it and I made a sympathetic face while rocking Hannah. "Right now, I'm thinking low."

I looked at him and was trying to calm Hannah down. She wasn't colicky but the smell was bothering her poor little nose.

"We have a dead rat in the house. I think you have the wrong house," I kissed Hannah's head and rocked her.

"508 Glenview Road?"

"This is 510 Glenview. 508 is right next door."

The guy left and I walked towards Tim with Hannah who was crying into me for the smell to go away. The poor baby wouldn't stop crying and it wasn't colic which we had an idea of how to soothe. Until we got out the dead rat, we couldn't make the house smell any nicer.

"Why would he have his house appraised?" Tim asked and bounced Hannah on his hip, who was crying from the smell.

"I don't know. People do it all the time. Maybe he's refinancing."

Hannah was crying so Randy took her upstairs and let her cuddle into him. She stopped as they got upstairs and I sighed in relief. With Hannah having stopped crying, Tim and I could freely discuss Wilson's problem. We hoped he wasn't moving but that was foolish. Wilson was a grown adult who could do whatever he pleased and we knew that.

"Or maybe he wants to know what it's worth so he can sell it."

"I don't think he'd sell the house without telling us. I hope he's not having financial problems."

….

"Why do we have to get all dressed up?" Mark complained.

Brad, Randy, Mark and I were in suits that we'd wear to church. Jill was in a red button up shirt with a a black shirt under it and black slacks. Hannah was in a cute red dress that made her look just like Jill.

I held Hannah on my hip and looked at Mark. "Our parents made us now we're making you, Mark."

Hannah was teething on a teething ring and seemed blissfully happy. That was the thing about babies—they were usually happy. Most knew that their caretaker was going to take care of them so they were over the moon. Hannah was like that. She loved when I put her on my feet while laying down and acted like an airplane.

"Let me find out while Wilson's having his house appraised. It might be a sensitive subject and you don't know how to be subtle." Jill looked at me.

"My middle name's Subtle," I grin.

"And your first name's 'Not'." Jill smirked and kissed Hannah's cheek.

"Well, hi-de-ho Taylor lads," Wilson opened the door and Hannah cooed at him with a happy look. "Welcome to my humble haven."

"How much does a haven like this go for?" I asked.

Jill elbowed me which caused me to wince but Hannah hadn't noticed.

"I brought you a pumpkin pie for dessert," Jill handed him the pie.

"Thank you, Jill. This smells lemony."

We walked in and looked around. It looked like it had last time we were here. It was still curious to Hannah whose eyes were wider than the doorknob. The things babies found curious were stuff that we'd find boring. Still, they were learning and didn't know what certain things were.

"What's in the tropical room?" I asked as I peeked in.

"Myna bird," Wilson answered and Hannah clapped her hands at the bird.

"It's got a beak on it, doesn't it?" I asked the bird bit my finger. "Wilson!"

"Mozart, let him go."

The bird let go and I followed Wilson, with Hannah chewing on her stuffed lion. I knew she was pretty tired, so I figured she'd fall asleep on the way home. Things like this wore babies out—which was why we kept doing it. Still, it was her first Thanksgiving and it was cute.

"I never noticed this mask," I grinned at Wilson.

Hannah buried her face into my shoulder, terrified of the mask.

"Yeah, me either. I never pictured you as much of a hockey goalie."

"Actually, Brad, that's from a tribe in Uganda. It was a ceremonial mask that was used when a young man was circumcised."

That seemed to startle Brad so he had no further questions and we walked towards the table where there were six placemats and a high chair by one of them. It looked very much like painted pictures from the first Thanksgiving and it looked nice. This part seemed much better to Hannah.

"It looks wonderful! You went all out!" Jill smiled. I put Hannah in the highchair.

"I tried to re-create the first Thanksgiving. I brought out my traditional Algonquin artifacts."

I shook my head. "You overcooked it, Wilson."

"That's Indian corn, Tim. Make yourselves comfortable. Turkey will be done in ten minutes."

"Do you think I could check out the waterfall?" Brad grinned.

"No, but if you want, you can play with my Orient Express trainset."

I nodded approval (Jill did too) and Randy scooped up Hannah. The kids headed to where the trainset was and Jill and I sat down at the table. With the kids out of the way, Jill and I could talk to Wilson about the appraiser. I knew that it wasn't our business, but we didn't want to lose our favorite neighbor.

"Hey, Wilson. Speaking of move—trains move, people move." Jill elbowed me in the ribs and I grunted. "I think my rib just moved."

"Wilson, these hors d'oeuvres are amazing," Jill and I started eating them.

"That's eel pie," Wilson told.

Jill and I spit it out when Wilson wasn't watching and I wasn't about to give Hannah any. For one, it was too crunchy, but it looked disgusting.

"Do you need cash or are you moving?" I blurted out as Jill glared at me.

"Very subtle, Tim," Jill frowned.

"Why didn't you just ask me in the first place?" Wilson asked.

"You know us. We're a couple that doesn't like to pry."

"Well, I was afraid that it would put a crimp in the holidays, but since you brought it up, I'm moving."

"Why?" Jill looked at him.

"It was very difficult and I did some soul searching. It's just something that I feel like I have to do."

"I hope nothing's wrong."

"No, nothing's wrong. It's been a lifelong dream of mine to go to the Mindo-Nambillo forest of Western Ecuador."

"Ecuador? We all have that dream but no one runs off and does it. What are you gonna do there?"

"I'm gonna renew my spirit, fill my soul and discover my place in the universe."

With that happy thought, we sat down and started eating. It was an awkward dinner and one that was a less than memorable Thanksgiving. Hannah was blissfully unaware of what was going on. Randy was helping feed Hannah and was acting like a bodyguard toward Mark. It was good to see Mark be protected by Brad and Randy since they weren't always nice to him.

…...

"I can't stand that smell anymore. I'm gonna get that rat," Tim put on gloves and started reaching in one of the holes to get the rat out.

Randy had taken Hannah upstairs so we were once again kid free. That meant that we could get the rat out without hearing crying. Well, there may be crying, but not for that reason. I felt my eyes start to tear up after hearing that Wilson was moving. He felt like a second father to me and like a grandfather to the kids. He was always willing to listen and he never complained about babysitting.

"I just can't believe he's leaving. Why would he pack up and go like that?" I asked as I put away leftovers in the fridge and put clean bottles in the fridge.

"You heard him. He's going to Kumbayah-Gumbah to rekindle his spirit and refill his soul."

"He's always been there whenever we needed him. You can be honest with him and he never judges you. I always felt like a member of the family."

Tim was reaching and looking for the dead rat as I watched him.

"I like him better than most of your family," Tim reached in. "Oh, oh, I got it."

"Are you sure it's not another glove?"

"Here's a real smelly rat. Grab the bag."

I grabbed it and held it in as Tim found the rat and dropped it in the garbage bag. With a grossed out look, I twisted it shut and gagged at what I was holding. It was worse than the smell of a dirty diaper (yet I was used to smelling that). I gagged and Tim grabbed the bag, taking it outside.

"I just don't wanna lose my best friend," Tim walked back in. "Who am I gonna talk to when things bother me?"

I indicated myself loudly. "Gee, who could you talk to?"

"I can't tell you about what's bothering me."

"Why not?"

"Most of the time, it's about you."

"It's not gonna be the same without him."

….

"Hi there, Wilson," I was painting the side of the house while Jill had taken the kids to see a movie.

Hannah was cuddled against my back and she slept happily. It was fun to get time with my daughter by myself. Nothing and no one could take her place in my heart. I was a proud dad and everyone knew that. I constantly bragged about my boys and my little girl who was advanced.

"What are you and the youngest Taylor doing?" Wilson asked as Hannah was starting to wake up.

"Patching up the hole I think the rat got into," I told. "What are you doing?"

"While it's warm enough, I'm trying to patch up some cracks in my driveway, but the cement seems too lumpy."

"I'll take a look at it for you," I walked over. "So did Mr. Happy and Mrs. Go Lucky make you an offer yet?"

"No, but they seemed really interested."

"That's really too thick. Give me your hose and I'll show you how to thin it out."

"Tim, would you mind listening while I ruminate?"

"No, just do it by the bush by the gazebo."

"No, I mean, can I use you as a sound board?"

That made a lot more sense since I didn't see Wilson as the type of person to pee on someone's yard. He was too sophisticated for that. How he managed to listen to me and not get annoyed was a miracle. He even gave me advice and spelled things out for me that Jill would probably get.

"Tim, the last few days I've been thinking. Do you remember how I told you and Jill a long time ago that I was married?" Wilson asked as I handed Hannah a toy. "And that she died before I moved in here?"

"Yeah, you didn't say much else, so we figured it was hard to talk about."

"It still is, Tim. We would have been married this month for 25 years. You see, Tim, I met Kathryn in Mindo-Nambillo. We made a vow to return for our silver anniversary."

"So that's why you wanna move back there."

"You see, Tim, my memories of Kathryn are starting to fade. It's like I'm losing her all over again and I can't let that happen."

"She sounds real special, Wilson."

"Yes, indeed. She was one of a kind. She was the kindest person you ever met."

"When you talk about her, doesn't it seem like she's still here?"

"It's been a long time since I've spoken to anyone about her."

"I'm reminded of what one of the great thinkers of our time said. Mario Andretti. Just as he retired from racing, he told people you don't need the ignition in the car to keep the thrill of racing alive. You just gotta keep in touch with your pit crew."

"How does that apply to me?"

"You don't need to move to keep the memory alive. You just need to tell those that are here, like Jill and me. I might not understand every word, but I'll listen."

"I'll take you up on that offer."

"You're not gonna move?"

Wilson shook his head and reached to hold Hannah. Since Hannah considered him to be family too, she had no problem with him holding her. She cooed happily and had the cutest look on her face .