Chapter 48
While a female guard kept a close watch outside the visiting room, a couple of seconds passed without a word said between the five adults until…
'We have pleasant news to share with you," Sara began, showing a twinkle in her eyes then paused for one second, "We're moving to Royal Woods," then waited in anticipation for her in laws reaction.
Rita's eyes widened in astonishment and blurted out, 'That's wonderful Sara, what part of town are you moving to?"
"We're moving to the Royal Springs area of town. We're also sending our younger children to Crescent Academy," Sara added.
Crescent Academy, the only other school in Royal Woods was comprised of a smaller population of students from wealthier and a few middle class families living in the town.
'So Sara do you have plans to open another private practice in Royal Woods," Lynn, her brother in law inquired out of curiosity.
"No, but I applied for a position at the Royal Woods Regional as a Clinical Psychologist and passed the online interview," Sara answered.
"Congratulations Sara," Rita exclaimed enthusiastically before she decided to broach the subject regarding her two oldest daughters, "Dad, how are Lori and Leni?" she asked.
"Rita you'd be glad to know Lori's working at a Smoothie Queen that just opened in the mall and Leni starts work next Monday at Reiningers," Albert informed.
Both parents' eyes sparkled a bit hearing their two oldest daughter's success in finding jobs.
"Oh Luan got a temporary summer job at the senior center entertaining residents on the shuttle," Albert added hastily.
'Tell them we're so happy for them and good luck," Lynn Sr. declared.
Lucas who'd remained silent for quite some time glanced at his watch and realized time was passing quickly.
"Speaking about jobs, have both of you started thinking about what to do for a living when you get out of here," Lucas questioned the couple.
'Well we haven't thought about it yet," his brother replied in all honesty.
'I really hate to leave but we have a long journey back," Lucas informed Rita and Lynn Sr. while he rose out of the chair with Sara and Albert following suit.
'We really appreciate you coming and bringing dad Lucas," Rita commented.
"Say hello to the kids for us," Rita added in a bit of a sorrowful tone before her in laws and father turned their backs and walked away.
Eventually Lucas was turning onto Franklin Ave to drop Albert off before he and Sara went on their merry way to Huntington Oaks.
Once Lucas stopped in front the Loud house Albert said, 'Lucas, thanks for having me come along,' before embarking from the passenger seat behind Sara.
"It was no problem," Lucas declared.
At a distance Albert noticed Mr. Grouse wearing a straw hat to shield his face from the sun bending on his knees before his flower garden extracting some weeds from the dirt with a spade. The neighbors back was turned towards Albert preventing any sort of conversation occurring between the men so the grandfather of eleven continued walking.
Inside Luna, Luan and Leni were watching an old Mick Swagger concert on TV at a moderate volume while Lily and Lisa napped. Lola just finished having one of her tea parties with her stuffed animals in attendance while Lana busied herself fixing the toilet which had another breakdown.
As Lola walked down the stairs to join her sisters Albert entered the house. The four girls impatient to hear about what transpired during their grandfather's visit with their parents instantly surrounded him with eager looks on their faces asking him a barrage of questions.
"How are mom and dad," Luan asked.
"Are they doing okay," Leni chirped.
"When are they coming home?" Lola demanded impatiently.
"Girls, girls," Albert said somewhat sharply in an attempt to quiet them down, "Your parents are doing fine, they asked me to say hello to all of you and Lola they have twelve months left before they come home."
A disappointed look crossed Lola's face then she went back upstairs to her bedroom. The teenage sisters resumed watching their concert while Albert went into the master bedroom to lay down for a while before it was time to start preparing dinner.
But first Albert who accidentally left his phone behind in Lynn Srs. nightstand retrieved it to find out if anyone left any messages.
Only finding one from his friend Bernie who also lived at the senior center which read, "Hey Al just checking up on ya, hope everything's okay with you and the grandkids."
Albert just smirked a little after reading the message then returned the phone to the nightstand before laying down.
We journey back to the McBride residence where Lincoln spent a portion of the day in his new bedroom hanging his various posters on the walls and placing his books and comics into a bookcase with three shelves. He'd already stored his underwear and socks yesterday into the chest of drawers and his video games and video game controller into the bottom drawer. Regarding his model airplanes Lincoln opted to display them on top of the bookcase Howard kindly brought from the study for him. In one corner was a study desk Howard bought Saturday for Lincoln. The boy grateful to have a nightstand and his own lamp removed a picture hanging over the lamp to put his Muscle Fish clock. For Lucy she finished putting away her belongings from yesterday which included hanging her Princess Pony poster that she now had the freedom to display. She'd merely remove the poster if by chance her sisters came to visit. Later on dinner was the usual take out the McBrides did every Saturday to give themselves a break from cooking, today was from a relatively new place named Aloha Comrade.
The next day, dubbed screen free Sundays for the McBride household found Lincoln, Lucy, Clyde and his dads sitting quietly in the living room reading once Clyde finished his chore cleaning the kitchen and loading the dishwasher then turning it on with Lincoln assisted wiping down the kitchen countertops and table after breakfast. Lincoln placed his comic face down on the coffee table because he wanted to address an important matter.
"Say Mr. McBride's, I've been wondering if Lucy and I are getting chores like we got at home," Lincoln asked causing the shorter man to ponder for a moment.
"Well Clyde doesn't get much besides cleaning the kitchen, loading the dishwasher, feeding the kitties and keeping his bedroom clean," then knitting his brow slightly Howard asked Lincoln, "What did you get for chores?"
"I take out the garbage, clean Cliff's litterbox and clean the kitchen floor and Lucy helped wash dishes and fold washed clothes," Lincoln explained.
"I see, okay besides being responsible for keeping your rooms tidy, Lincoln you'll take out the garbage, wash your clothes and Lucy's. Lucy you can dust the furniture and vacuum the carpets with the Roomba (robot vacuum cleaner)." Harold continued.
Cleopawtra and Nepurtiti were sleeping in their cat beds near the fireplace at the moment with peaceful expressions on their faces.
'Thanks Mr. McBride," Lincoln uttered then turned his attention back to the Muscle Fish comic he was reading.
Later
It was dinnertime for the McBrides and Harold prepared a roast chicken with a tossed salad made with the vegetables he picked from the vegetable garden situated in the backyard along with five roasted Irish potatoes
Throughout the meal, Lucy's maintained her stoic demeanor while the McBride husbands chatted about where to go for summer vacation while the children
'How about going to the Bahamas again like we did two years ago,' Howard suggested.
'Why not," Harold agreed.
The meal was completed with a crème brulee that Clyde, an award winning junior baker with many awards and plaques to prove it baked for dessert. Howard asked Lucy, "So how'd you enjoy your first McBride Sunday dinner Lucy."
"It was delicious Mr. McBride," she responded in a somewhat bright tone of voice. On a few other occasions when Lincoln stayed over for the weekend had eaten Sunday dinner with the family.
'Lest I forget Lincoln you know we send Clyde to the summer program at the community center after his birthday so you and Lucy are going with Clyde tomorrow,' Harold said.
The realization came to Lucy and underneath her bangs, her eyes widened in surprise. Her close friend and fellow Goth Haiku attended the same program for the past three years.
'At least I'll have someone to hang out with," Lucy thought.
'They begin at nine in the morning but were dropping you off at nine thirty, but since we don't send Clyde on Fridays, you're staying home," Howard explained.
Suddenly remembering another thing Howard added, "Oh and tomorrow we're putting both of you on our phone plan so give us your phone numbers."
Monday
Today would be Lenis first day working at Reiningers, a department store that opened at Royal Woods Mall in 1980. Of course she was ecstatic about this opportunity to work in a clothing store. Her boss Mrs. Carmichael gave Leni a pamphlet listing the employee perks offered which were a fifty percent discount for employees, a flexible schedule and two Saturdays and two Sundays off every month.
Later Albert finished putting a meatloaf in the oven then grabbed Charles leash so he could take the dog for his afternoon walk. The younger girls were upstairs resting one they were picked up from the library and Luan working on a comedy routine for Wednesday, as for Luna she was over at Sam's house practicing with two other friends Sully and Mazzy for music gigs they might book during the summer. Albert exited the house with Charles and noticed Mr. Grouse in his front garden beside something covered with a large tarpaulin, by the shape of the object Albert gathered it was a car hidden underneath.
'Hello Albert, how's it going," Mr. Grouse greeted making sure to sound as friendly as possible.
'Afternoon Mr. Grouse," Albert said cordially then remarked, "Did you buy a new car?'
The elderly neighbor smirked a little before unveiling the car, a red one with a white top.
"Whew, what a beaut," Albert declared.
"Yep I've had this baby from my college days," Mr. Grouse stated, "That's how I met the missus," then waggled his brows a little.
Charles who'd been waiting patiently all this time started whining. Before Albert could leave however Mr. Grouse asked to his surprise, "Say Albert I've seen that van of Lynn Sr. breakdown a lot so I'm wondering if Lori would be interested in this car after I get it fixed at the auto shop."