Daddy looked at all of us with an uneasy look on his face. "Well, Charlie, I was, uh, I was out-"
Grandpa John stood up abruptly and walked around the coffee table to stand in front of Daddy, pointing at him. "Dean, this is irresponsible of you, you can't do this type of thing anymore, you're not in high school-"
Daddy interrupted Grandpa John, putting his hands on his hips. "This coming from the man who would leave his sons alone for days on end while he was out hunting fuglies? I don't need to hear it from you-"
"There's a difference!" Grandpa John barked loudly. His face was angry and his brown eyes were dark and intense.
Daddy scoffed and rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Dammit, Dean! I know that you think I was a shitty father and yeah, I made mistakes and did some things I'm not proud of, but when I was out, I was out hunting and making the world a safer place, not chasing tail or hustling pool! I was doing what I did to help others, not just for my own selfish needs!" Grandpa John was full-on shouting by now.
I cringed into Uncle Sam's side and felt his hand tighten on my shoulder.
Daddy's face got red and angry-looking and he stepped up to Grandpa John, their chests puffing out and their chins up. Daddy squared his shoulders and I noticed that his fists were clenched.
Uncle Sam got up quickly and got between them, facing Grandpa John. "All right, everyone take a step back and cool down for a minute. Dad, why don't you step outside and get a breath of fresh air-"
"You need to grow the hell up and start thinking of people other than yourself," Grandpa John snapped as he left the room, "That little girl on the sofa needs you to be responsible!" and he slammed the door.
I started to cry harder.
"Goddamn sonofa-"
"Dean, he's right," Uncle Sam said in a hard voice, "I really don't know where your head is lately, you're all over the map, and you need to get it together. You've got not one, but two kids depending on you, and now is not the time to be playing 'stay out all night and stumble in late the next morn-"
"Jesus, you too?" Daddy snapped, "What the hell, I would've at least thought you'd take my side-"
"There shouldn't even be sides, because you should be behaving differently than you are! You should be acting more like a father and less like a teen-ager who's-"
"Well I didn't exactly have the best role model, now did I?" Daddy said.
"Man, when are you going to stop pinning the blame on him? I never thought I'd say this, because I'm the one who constantly butted heads with the man when we were younger, but dude, take some responsibility for your own life! Yeah he screwed up plenty and he screwed us up, but we're adults now and we've got to step up and start dealing with our lives. And with you, it's not just your life, it's the life of your kids." Uncle Sam put his hands on his hips.
"Well I don't think the man should get a free pass for the shit he pulled-"
"No one's saying that, Dean! But the focus here is on you, not what a crappy father you think he was!"
"Oh, are you saying I'm a crappy father now?" Daddy was defensive again, getting all red-faced and puffed up again.
"No!" I exclaimed, "You're not-" I didn't know if I'd get in trouble for saying 'crappy' or not, so I didn't. "Daddy it's my fault, I'm sorry-" I sobbed.
Daddy and Uncle Sam both turned and looked at me, and it was as if they had forgotten I was there. Daddy's shoulders slumped, and Uncle Sam came back over to the sofa and put his arms around me again.
Daddy walked around to the other side and sat down next to me. "No, sweetheart, I'm sorry," he said apologetically.
"Where- where were you?" I asked, turning my head to look at Daddy.
He looked uncomfortable. "I was, uh, I was out with a, uh, friend, and we, uh, spent some time together. And I, uh, fell asleep accidentally."
"You fell asleep accidentally?" I asked, "How'd you do that?"
"Uh, sometimes- sometimes when you're an adult, it happens," Daddy looked sheepish again. He took my arm and turned my body towards him, "Baby, I'm sorry I stayed out and I'm sorry it scared you. I won't ever do that again, all right? I promise. You- you're the most important thing in the world to me, and I need to show you that."
I nodded, and he leaned forward and kissed my forehead. "I'm so sorry," he murmured again, pulling me into a hug. I climbed onto his lap and put my arms around him.
"I woke up 'cause I had a bad dream and you-you weren't there, and it—it made me feel more scared!" I told him, getting tears in my eyes again.
"I'm so sorry," he repeated, "What was this bad dream about?"
"I, uh, can't remember," I said, "Just, darkness and feeling scared."
He stroked my hair back from my face. "Well, you're safe now, and I'll be here at night from now on if you have any more nightmares, okay?"
I nodded.
Uncle Sam looked at Daddy. "We'd better go talk to Dad," he said.
Daddy sighed. "Yeah, all right."
He set me on the sofa and they both stood up and walked outside the room. I heard muffled voices, and every once in a while one of them would get loud.
It sounded like Grandpa John said, "I don't need this shit right now!" and then Daddy was talking in a low voice. Then Daddy said loudly, "I don't know, maybe I am, but it was one last time before I settle down for good!"
In a few more minutes they came into the room. "Let me get changed and we can go," Daddy said. He looked at me. "Get dressed, we're going to go out for breakfast this morning."
"Okay, Daddy," I agreed. I followed him into the bedroom. He got some clothes and took them into the bathroom and I got clean clothes out of my duffle and changed out of my pajamas.
After we ate at a diner, Grandpa John said he wanted to stop by the library.
"Can I get some more books?" I asked Daddy as we walked in.
"No, you need to finish and return the books you have," he told me.
The library had different themes every month, and right when you walked in, there was a huge, long glassed- in display case that had stuff in it that was related to the theme. When school had started the theme had been "Back to School" and there had been photographs of old-time school rooms and old-fashioned items like antique school books and school supplies.
I noticed that the display window was open when we walked in, and there was stuff on a table next to it. I went with Daddy to the kid's section, and Grandpa John and Uncle Sam went to different parts of the library. Daddy told me to stay in the kid's section while he went to the restroom.
But I couldn't help it- I walked out to the lobby where the display case was, I felt—drawn-to it somehow.
As I walked over, I could see there was a sign inside the display case that said, "A Fateful Garden Party".
A woman was pinning fake vines around the sign and there were vases of fake flowers in the case.
There was another woman who was standing in front of a long table that had an old-looking wooden box on it. She was wearing a white smock and tight white gloves on her hands. She was removing smaller boxes from the wooden box and putting them on a table. There were a couple of small leather-bound books and a small pair of wire glasses with oval lenses on the table, and then as I watched she opened a flat box and removed a small pair of yellowish-white cloth gloves. She placed them on the table, and then a librarian came over to the women.
"You've got a phone call, Mrs. Thompkins," she turned and walked back to the desks.
"All right," the woman in the smock removed her gloves and put them in her pocket.
"I'll show you where you can talk privately," the other woman said, putting a vine down in the case, and they walked away.
I stood there for a moment, thinking about how I'd wanted to touch something old and maybe find out information about a ghost, but Daddy and Uncle Sam had told me not to. I found my feet moving forward without even thinking about it, and then I was right there looking down at everything.
There was a faint musty smell coming out of the box. I felt pulled by the things on the table-
"Little girl!" I heard a woman call angrily.
Suddenly I opened my eyes and looked down- and was shocked, one of the gloves was on my hand! My head felt like it was full of clouds, all moving around.
"What are you doing!" the woman in the smock hurried up to me, frowning.
"I, uh, I, sorry," I babbled, shaking my head to try and clear it.
"These things are priceless antiques, not toys! They are not to be handled by just anyone- you need to wear special gloves and treat them with caution!" she snapped.
I pulled off the glove and set it on the table.
"Where are your parents?" she demanded, "Let's call them to the front desk."
As we walked towards the front desk, Daddy came out of the Children's section, Uncle Sam came out from the New Books section, and Grandpa John came over from the Reference Room. They all looked worried, but then as they noticed me, I saw relief on their faces that quickly changed to anger. They all walked up to us at the same time.
"Charlotte Anne, why did you leave the kid's section?" Daddy's voice was that deeper tone that meant he was angry.
"Are you supposed to go wandering off by yourself?" Uncle Sam asked, and his voice was deep too. Uh-oh.
"Which one of you is her father?" the woman asked tightly, looking from Daddy to Uncle Sam.
"I am, what's going on?" Daddy asked.
"I'm one of the historians over at the Bloomesbury House and I just caught your daughter trying on one of the antique gloves that I'm getting ready to put on display."
Daddy glared down at me and a muscle in his jaw twitched. "Charlotte Anne Winchester, you'd better apologize-"
"I did, Daddy!" I blurted. I looked up at the woman. "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry!" I said, and started to cry.
Daddy stepped forward and took my hand. "I'm very sorry, ma'am. I'll be having a long talk with her about touching things that don't belong to her," Daddy gave me a look and I gulped.
We walked out to the car, Daddy holding my hand tightly. My ears were ringing and my head was starting to feel like it was spinning a little bit.
We stopped by the side of the car. Daddy turned to me. "What were you doing?" he demanded, "Were you trying to read an object?"
I looked up at all of them. They were all still frowning. "Wh-what?"
"Were you trying to get information from an object to find out about a ghost? Like you said you wanted to do? Like I told you NOT to do?" Daddy's face got even angrier.
"Yes, but-" I felt dizzy now, and like there was something turning around and around in my head-
"I can't believe you, Charlie, I cannot believe you," Daddy said tightly. He opened the back door of the car. "What is it going to take, to get it through your head-"
"Charlie?" Uncle Sam asked with concern, "Are you okay? Sit down-"
I sank down on the edge of the seat, and the heat coming out of the car made me feel even worse.
All of a sudden I knew—I was seeing in my head—it was a bunch of images and feelings pouring into my head like water from a pitcher-and it was attached to the glove I had put on- "I'm looking down and there's a cat on my lap, with thick stripes in his fur. He's called Mack because he was a mackerel tabby," I said, looking up at Uncle Sam, "What does that mean?"
"I don't know," said Uncle Sam, shaking his head.
I could see pictures in my head, and it was like I was the person it was happening to- "A lady who's there, she has a thick braid wrapped around her head and little glasses on her face, she says let me see the ring, and I look down and take the gloves off. It was s'posed to be a 'gagment ring but it wasn't white like they are now, it was a little ring with a bright green stone in it and it was square, and I hold my hand up to show the ring an' the lady looks at me and says, he found one with your birthstone, how lovely!"
I looked at Uncle Sam, and then at Daddy and Grandpa John, and started to talk faster as more information spilled into my brain and out of my mouth. "The lady's name started with a E. El- Ellie? I-I dunno,"
All of a sudden the point of view switched and it was like I was looking at the scene, the woman with the gloves was sitting at a table and a woman was standing in front of her- "And she had a dress on with lots of sewing on it, what's it called, broidery? Lots of flowers broidered all over. Just like in the garden, there were big bushes of flowers all over and the air smelled all sweet and flowery all the time, and you could hear bees buzzing-her-her name was Delly, that's what they called her, it was two sisters, Elsie and Delly, an', an' they wrote together-"
I felt overcome with dizziness, and there was pressure in my head all of a sudden, and then I felt like I was sliding down into darkness, something moving over my head, and everything was turning gray, and then it was going black-
"Charlie?" I heard Daddy saying, "Charlie!"
I could feel that the car was in motion and hear Baby's engine. Someone was stroking my hair slowly, over and over- I opened my eyes. I was laying down in the back seat of the car, with my head in Daddy's lap. I shifted, trying to sit up, and he looked down at me, and his face filled with relief.
"She's awake," he said, then he said to me, "Charlie? How are you feeling, baby?"
"M' okay," I mumbled.
Uncle Sam was in the front passenger seat, and he had turned back to us.
"Ah-ah, Charlie, lay back," he said.
He passed a bottle of water back to Daddy. "See if you can get her to drink a little, Dean."
Daddy propped me up slightly and held the bottle up to my lips. I swallowed once, twice, then said, "That's all I want right now."
Daddy handed the bottle back to Uncle Sam.
"We're almost home," Grandpa John said over his shoulder. He was driving. "I'll call Missouri as soon as we get in."
I looked up at Daddy and my eyes filled with tears. "Daddy I know you said not to touch anything like that, I couldn't help it, I tried not to but I—I- it was like the things wanted me to touch them! I—I didn't even know, I—I was looking at them and then the next minute I was there with the glove on my hand, and I don't even 'member putting it on-"
"Shh, don't worry about it-" Daddy said.
"M' s-sorry, m' I in trouble?" I exclaimed, and I started to cry.
Daddy looked uncomfortable. "I know what I said before—no, sweetheart, you're not in trouble. I just want—I want to make sure you're okay."
We got back to the room and Daddy told me to sit down. Uncle Sam brought me a glass of ice water and told me to drink it all. Then they all went into their bedrooms to make phone calls. I sat quietly on the sofa and tried to drink the water.
Grandpa John walked into the room, saying, "-seemed almost like she was channeling, but she wasn't. All right, I'll ask," he sat down next to me, "Charlie, I need to know- what happened with the glove- you said you don't remembered picking it up?"
"No, I walked over, but it was like I was walking there on on my own without trying to and- I wanted to touch- everything, but I don't remember picking anything up."
"Did you hear that?" he said into the phone, "Did you see anything right away, or did that come later?" he asked me.
"I—I didn't see anything at first, just- felt like there was stuff in my head, clouds, and, and then I felt dizzy and then when I started talking it was like it just took over, it was like it was all pouring out-"
Grandpa John listened for a minute. "Yeah," he said, "I agree. All right, let me check with Dean-" he got up again and walked into our bedroom, where Daddy was on the phone. I heard them talking quietly for a few minutes.
"-yes, thank you very much." Uncle Sam was saying into his phone as he came into the room from his bedroom. He disconnected and looked at me.
"How are you feeling, Charlie?" he asked.
"Uh, okay I guess," I shrugged.
Daddy and Grandpa John came in from the bedroom.
"Well, I checked with the library," Uncle Sam looked at all of us as he spoke. "The display that they're putting up is to celebrate this author who had passed away this month in the early 1800s, she was a contemporary of Louisa May Alcott. She wrote that short series that was similar to 'Little Women', about the girl who was taken in by her aunt's family?"
"I don't know," Daddy shrugged.
"Anyhow, get this, the woman had announced her engagement at a garden party, and then during the party she drowned, and it's kind of a mystery, no one knows if it was accidental or murder. The author's name was Adelia Young, and she was called Delly by her family."
They all turned to look at me and I felt like there was roaring in my ears.
"There's also apparently a school of thought that says that her sister, Elsie, actually helped her write the books," Uncle Sam said.
"E-Elsie and Delly," I said uneasily.
Daddy came over to me. "Sweetheart, are you all right?" he asked, sitting down next to me.
"That- that means the things I was seeing- they're true, they're real!" My eyes filled with tears and I felt scared. "I didn't- I didn't really want to be able to do that, I didn't try, and I don't-"
"What? What's wrong?" Daddy put his hand on my back.
I curled up in a ball and wrapped my arms around my legs. "I don't want to be able to do that with things!" I wailed, bursting into tears, "I won't be able to touch anything or anyone, ever!" I buried my head in my knees.
"That's not true, Charlie," I felt Daddy's arms around me.
"Listen, darlin', we're going to go visit Missouri as soon as you get back from the waterpark," Grandpa John told me, "And you can talk to her about all of this, and she'll help you, all right?"
I raised my head and looked up at him. "Okay," I said.
Daddy let me go. "I talked to PT, and we changed plans. Tomorrow will be your last day of PT, so they're going to have a little celebration, and then we'll leave straight from there. And then when we get back we'll go to Missouri's."
"Where does she live?" I sniffled.
"She lives in Kansas, it's about 8 or 10 hours away, depending," Grandpa John said. "Not too far."
"Okay," I agreed.
"So we need to do laundry and pack today so we can be ready tomorrow," Daddy told me.
"Do you feel up to doing any school work today?" Uncle Sam asked, "It might help keep your mind off of things."
"Yeah," I said, "Just no math!"
They all chuckled when I said that.
"All right, I'll start lunch," Uncle Sam said.
I went into the bedroom to help Daddy sort clothes so he could do some laundry. Then I sat down on the bed to pack some toys to bring with me. I wanted to bring all my 3DS games so that Ben and I could play together.
I woke up slightly when I heard Uncle Sam's voice- "Charlie, do you want—oh, she's asleep-"
"Let her sleep," I heard Grandpa John say, "Missouri said that Charlie may be physically and emotionally drained after this morning."
I hadn't realized that I had fallen asleep, and I wanted to sit up and say I was going to come and eat lunch, but I was too tired, and I felt myself drifting back to sleep...
I slept for a long time and did some school work with Uncle Sam when I woke up. Daddy went to pick Ben up by himself, and brought him back to the room even though it was Thursday and he had baseball practice. We still had to finish packing and Daddy wanted to give Baby a tune-up.
"Can I help?" Ben asked Daddy from the desk.
"Can we both help?" I asked.
"No, I'm going to be changing the oil, and that's messy, you two can help me next time, all right?" Daddy said. He went outside.
Ben turned to his math book and bent his head. In a few minutes, he crumpled his paper in frustration.
"What's wrong, Ben?" I asked.
"I just—I can't get this stuff with fractions, I don't get it!" he grumbled.
Uncle Sam was at the stove working on dinner, and he walked over. "Let me see, maybe I can help," he said. He picked up Ben's math book. After he read over the page, he set the book down.
"Show me what you're doing," he said.
"Well, I can't get this- see, I always end up with the wrong answer," Ben wrote something down and then looked up at Uncle Sam.
I went to the bathroom, and when I came out, Ben was saying, "That makes sense, thanks, Sam!" Ben smiled at him.
"No problem," Uncle Sam ruffled Ben's hair and walked over to me. "You want to help me with dinner?"
"Okay," I agreed. He had me peel some carrots and cucumbers.
While we were all eating dinner, there was a knock on the door. Daddy walked over to it and looked through the peep-hole.
"It's Lisa," he said, opening the door.
"Hey, I left work early today so I could come home and pack," she said as she came in. I saw her hand a small bundle to Daddy and it sounded like she said, "You left your socks."
Daddy slipped the bundle in his pocket and smiled at her. They walked over to the table.
"You want some dinner?" Uncle Sam asked, "It's just meatloaf and mashed potatoes, but it's filling."
"I'd love some," she said, and Daddy motioned to his seat and picked up his sat down where Daddy had been sitting, and Daddy leaned against the counter. Uncle Sam got up and brought a plate over and handed it to her, and she put some food on it and started to eat.
I looked around at everyone and realized that we were almost like a "real" family, we had a mom and a dad and kids and an uncle and grandfather all together. It made me feel good. And then I thought of my mommy. And I felt guilty. If I loved everyone here and felt like we were a "real" family then did that mean that my mommy and I weren't? She had tried her best even though it was just the two of us- we had been best friends, and then she had gotten sick. And it was like I didn't have a parent after that because I had to take care of her. Was that a bad thing? I felt my eyes filling with tears and lowered my head so that no one would notice.
~ ~ spn ~ ~ spn ~ ~
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm putting this at the end of that chapter because I didn't want to "spoil" what happened with Charlie 'reading' the glove. Louisa May Alcott is a real author, but the author and the story that Sam talks about are fictional. The names Elsie and Adelia are actually names of ancestors of mine!
