Feenys' Revelations (Chapter Five)-
Sunday Afternoon- Living Room of George and Lila Feeny, Philadelphia,Pa.
"Lila, put on those spectacles that don't dim a jot of your beauty and look at this," George Feeny insisted as he held up the image of Katharine Daly and Martin Alveira's Junior Prom picture from 1982 from Katy's Smartphone.
"Very well, but only because this could be important for these young folks- not because you're attempting to boss me, George!" Lila conceded as she took out the glasses she had secreted in her grey blouse pocket after wiping them with a handkerchief she'd had in the pocket of her khaki slacks.
" Well?" Mr. Feeny asked.
"It's Katharine D, as I knew her back then before. .. George, I'm not sure I should say .. " Lila gasped.
"You'll get your time when the time is right- just like Orson Welles had Citizen Kane's ruined ex-wife postpone her side of the story of his fall until after the others had told of Mr. Kane's rise," Mr. Feeny cautioned.
"Citizen Kane? What does that have to do with Katy's mother? Apples and oranges," Shawn scoffed.
" Chronology can help make more sense of any account both fictional and not. Am I right, Mr. Feeny?" Katy asked.
" You've got a bright one, Mr. Hunter!" Mr. Feeny half-laughed.
" I know. She got through to me as few have before," Shawn admitted.
" So, Mr. Feeny, you first met Katharine. .. I mean . . .my mother when she came to your high school, right?"Katy asked.
"In actuality, I had made her acquaintance off an on before that time. My late first wife Lilian became acquainted with her mother, then known as Charlotte Angela Lubotsky Daly shortly after. .. our own offspring was not born," Mr. Feeny deeply sighed as he took off his glasses and wiped them and sniffed slightly.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Mr. Feeny," Katy sighed as she hugged his shoulders while Shawn patted his right knee and Lila patted his back
"Now, now, Lila, Mr. and Mrs. Hunter. It was quite a long time ago and I've had to learn to make my peace with what happened and not dwell on what might have been since that time," Mr. Feeny sputtered as he cleared his throat while the Hunters and Lila looked at each other and nodded- not entirely believing that he was totally reconciled to what had happened.
"Mr. Feeny, I had no idee-," Shawn gasped.
"No need for pity. In any case, Lilian made Charlotte's acquaintance while seeking the services of the same obstetric physician. Charlotte had been married to her first husband Rupert Daly for some ten years and wanted a child,too," Mr. Feeny recalled as he sipped on the kale smoothie with a grimace while trying to make it more palatable with the carob and goji berry raw bar.
"Until I found Katharine Daly's obituary, I had thought Jordan Hart was Mommy's. I mean.her Mommy's only husband and . ." Katy gulped as she scrolled her Smartphone over to that image.
" He was neither that nor your father but your step-grandfather but I'll explain in more detail when the narrative is best suited," Mr. Feeny cautioned.
"Very well. Go on, sir,please," Katy sighed - as she sipped some of her kale smoothie but somewhat indifferent to the taste.
" In any case, after some time , the obstetric physician's course of treatment worked for Charlotte enabling her at age 37 to bear her daughter Katharine, "Mr. Feeny recalled.
" So. . Katharine was a wanted baby, right?" Katy asked as she noticed Mr. Feeny emphasizing Gammy Hart's given name.
"Absolutely. Charlotte and Rupert Daly were overjoyed while the late Mrs. Feeny and I were happy that they had success in that endeavor," Mr. Feeny recalled with the other three nonverbally noting not a little sadness on his part in pronouncing the word 'they' despite his best effort to conceal it.
" So you knew her when she was born! Was she a happy baby? Maya was despite our chaotic beginnings," Katy recalled.
" Yes, I can attest that she was a healthy, intelligent and beautiful baby, to be sure ,but my personal acquaintance with her and her family thereafter became somewhat sporadic. Once in a while, Lilian would have the Dalys over for bridge and the four of us would take in occasional concerts at the Academy of Music. Your grandmother Charlotte had a laugh that could pierce through the loudest orchestral movements!" Mr. Feeny recalled with a grin while shaking his head.
"Mommy sure did until her stroke! She always prided herself on being clearly heard in the remotest theater rafters," Katy half-laughed and half-sniffed.
" She had been a singer and theater person from an early age and wanted young Katharine to do the same. She took over Katharine's kindergarten dance recital and directed every single student and even Lilian herself," Mr. Feeny laughed.
"We found some of Katharine Daly's ballet recital pictures,too. Have a look!" Katy insisted as she scrolled to show the Feenys images of Katharine in different costumes from about ages 3 to roughly nine.
"So the late Mrs. Feeny had become a kindergarten teacher and Katharine became her pupil, right?" Shawn asked as he sipped some of his kale smoothie from the tea cup.
"That is correct, Mr. Hunter," Mr. Feeny noted while looking at the some of the pictures of Katharine.
" But did little Katharine enjoy performing? I know that I always have and so has Maya !" Katy asked while scrolling Katharine's baby pictures.
" Lilian always thought Katharine took more after her somewhat shy accountant father, Rupert Daly in that regard instead of her . .boisterous mother and attempted to advise Charlotte to not push her too far in that direction but Charlotte stayed convinced that since Katharine was a beauty, had the raw talent and had been named for Miss Hepburn, that she'd one day outgrow her shyness and embrace the stage with Charlotte's same gusto," Mr. Feeny recalled.
"So was Gammy Hart a pushy stage mother?" Shawn asked while avoiding Katy's glare.
"I never saw or heard of her being overtly harsh to her young daughter in that regard. But Rupert Daly suddenly died of a ruptured appendix when Katharine was nine. Lilian and I went to his service and I could tell that Katharine already was not as docile as Charlotte would have liked," Mr. Feeny sighed.
" But she just lost her father!" Katy gasped as she put down her teacup.
" I know they both were understandably quite devastated and we lost touch with them after that and neither of us would see Charlotte or Katharine again until she became a student in my Junior English class," Mr. Feeny recalled with a deep sigh.
" How was she as a student?" Katy asked as she ate a carob and goji berry rawbar.
" She was still a very bright girl but, at that time, seemed distracted and troubled. I knew that her mother had remarried Jordan Hart, an industrial engineer, when Katharine was about eleven but she kept her own counsel about any troubles at home. Does that sound familiar, Mr. Hunter?" Mr. Feeny asked.
" OK, I've had plenty of time to realize that that wasn't the smartest move on my part back then but . .." Shawn sputtered.
"But Shawn survived his teens," Katy pleaded.
"Yes, to his credit, Mr. Hunter did. However, Katharine Daly was among those who were not that fortunate," Mr. Feeny sighed.
" So are you saying Katharine's not sharing her troubles doomed her?" Shawn asked.
"Not in of itself, I admit," Mr. Feeny pondered.
"Did she share them with her fiance Martin?" Katy asked.
"Fiance?! HA!" Lila snorted.
" Lila, you know more about Katharine and Martin Alveira ?" Katy asked.
" Well, before I became a Dean at Pennbrook, I had worked to help young people in different capacities for a few decades," Lila recalled.
" Wow! As Maya would say, you really rock! Being a career woman when it was barely acceptable. Awesome you were a trailblazing feminist," Katy exclaimed as she shook Lila's hand.
"No trailblazing . Just the age old reasons of trying to support myself and give some purpose to my life while my then-husband Curtis Kincaid was on the other side of the planet attempting to be a proto Indiana Jones while leaving me high and dry," Lila scoffed.
"Lila, you helped countless young people long before you set foot at Pennbrook which is but one reason I happily have forsaken all others for your company," Mr. Feeny beamed.
" Go on, George! "Lila scoffed.
"I think the Junior Prom could be key in this," Shawn pondered..
"So what do you know about the Junior Prom of 1982, Mr. Feeny?" Katy asked as she scrolled back to that image.
" We were renovating the gym that spring so we had to push it back to January of that year," Mr. Feeny sighed.
"What difference does that make?" Shawn scoffed.
"That's about the time Mrs. Hunter was conceived by Miss Daly and the somewhat . .roguish Mr. Alveira," Mr. Feeny sighed as he first pointed to Katy then back to the image of her then-teenaged biological parents.
" So they ARE my parents instead of Jordan and Charlotte Hart," Katy exclaimed with a deep sigh.
" Yes, and I'm sorry to say that theirs was a bond that was not fated to be as starred as the one with the future Mr. and Mrs. Cory Matthews," Mr. Feeny sighed.
"So did he break their engagement after. ..?" Katy asked.
"What engagement?! " Lila snorted.
" Not exactly. He bragged to his friends about their time spent together while she was ridiculed over it by them and nearly all the girls. I shared with Charlotte my suspicions that Katharine was, what's now referred to, self-medicating with alcohol and the lot,"Mr. Feeny sighed.
"How did Mommy. ..Mommy Charlotte react?" Katy asked.
"As so many other parents have done down the ages in that situation. She protested 'Not MY daughter' with far more vehemence than needed to declare mere disbelief," Mr. Feeny recalled.
"But how did Katharine and . .Mommy Charlotte react when finding out I was on the way?" Katy asked.
" If I recall correctly, both were shocked initially but then your grandmother wanted the best for both of you and could no longer ignore the many signs. That's when Charlotte called Lilian in desperation who in turn called. .." Mr. Feeny started.
"Forgive me but I can't violate a client's confidentiality even all these years after my retirement and the client not being in this world," Lila sighed.
"Client? What are you talking about?!" Katy asked.
"Wait! You knew Mr. Feeny's first wife?" Shawn asked.
"It wasn't too big a pool for women educators in Philly back then," Lila recalled.
"You think you're surprised Lila knew Lilian? It was news to me I didn't discover until after we got married!" Mr. Feeny chuckled.
" Mr. Feeny, Lila and Shawn, as fun as that bit of trivia is, it has nothing to do with my mother," Katy exclaimed not a bit annoyed.
" I guess we got sidetracked a bit," Lila sighed..
"Please, I'll never meet her. If you could tell me anything about my mother Katharine Daly, I'd be most appreciative and not harshly judge her," Katy pleaded.
"Very well. Forgive me for being the bearer of bad news but Lilian put Charlotte in touch with me because she knew her daughter Katharine had become an alcoholic and had experimented with marijuana and harder drugs," Lila sighed while she took Katy's hand.
"Oh,no! " Katy gasped.
"At that time, Lila was a counselor at a detoxification center for youths," Mr. Feeny explained.
"She wasn't what you'd call a 'bad girl'. Of course, many of them that others thought were bad weren't actually underneath- if you actually listened to them," Lila insisted.
" So why was she on drugs? Was it her stepfather? Her rejecting boyfriend? And .did she want me?" Katy sniffed in the tiniest voice.
"She DID want you- just as George says her mother Charlotte had wanted her and I know you wanted Maya and want this baby. You should know that, Katy. That's why she worked so hard to get clean for months so you'd be healthy," Lila recalled as she clasped Katy's right hand.
"So do you know I was healthy when I was born? What about her? And where was my bio father Martin?" Katy asked.
" She had been clean for months by that point and had stopped using early enough so you were born completely healthy," Lila recalled.
" Something we were all quite relieved and grateful for," Mr. Feeny added.
" Where was Martin? Did he take off and leave her like . . Jordan and Kermit?" Katy asked.
"I'm sorry to say that he never was there for your mother. She had had this idea that she could escape her sad home with her indifferent stepfather and a an . .. overwhelming mother by having a torrid romance with hearts and flowers forever but Martin wasn't a lasting Latin lover," Lila sighed.
" I get it! She let him use sex to try to get romance while he used romance to get sex. Men! " Katy boiled as she hit Shawn in the right arm.
" What did I do? You know I was no choir boy before Angela and wasn't a monk all those years on the road but I'm happily monogamous and a willing dad now!" Shawn pleaded.
" Sorry, but I just hate that four generations of women in our family have had to deal with rejection," Katy sniffed.
"No fun,to be sure," Lila sighed.
" So what happened with my teenaged mother-in-law after she bore my wife?" Shawn asked.
" She attempted to return to John Adams High to complete the education that had been disrupted to help provide for the future Mrs. Hunter a few weeks after she was born . However, I'm very sorry to say that the boys were no less jeering and the other girls were no less catty than before despite my classroom pleas for respect and courtesy toward her," Mr. Feeny groaned.
" So she died of teasing a month after I was born?" Katy asked.
" Not directly but most definitely a contributing factor, I have to say," Mr. Feeny sighed.
" You say she had been on drugs before. Could she have OD'd?" Shawn asked.
"Shawn! You heard the Feenys, she loved me and wanted me! She couldn't have done that! Tell Shawn he's wrong!" Katy pleaded.
"I wish we could, Dear," Lila sighed as she hugged Katy.
" November 3,1982 was a Thursday and there was a test on Chaucer the next day.," Mr Feeny started to recall.
"Why is that important?" Shawn asked.
"Despite it being a school night, as Lilian would tell me later, when some of the girls asked Charlotte if her daughter could go shopping with them, Katharine pleaded with her to let her have a night out -her first since you were born .To Charlotte's eternal regret, she allowed it," Mr. Feeny deeply groaned.
"Oh, no! They didn't take her shopping, did they?" Katy gulped while Shawn gasped.
"No, instead they took her to a party and, as details often do with teen parties when things go horribly wrong, 20 people told at least 40 different stories all trying to point the fingers towards others- after having called for an ambulance too late,"Lila sighed.
"You mean. .." Katy sniffed.
"According to the toxicology report, somehow she got marijuana laced with angel dust and crack cocaine and all the tolerance that her system previously built up had been erased by all those months of sobriety. It was never clear whether she knew what was in that joint. However, she got it, it was too much for her! I'm so sorry, Katy," Lila cried as she, Shawn and Katy all hugged each other while sobbing together as Mr. Feeny sadly nodded.
"Poor Katharine! My poor Mommy losing her and me losing her!" Katy sobbed.
" The entire school turned out for her funeral but it brought no solace to Charlotte. She angrily denounced them all as backbiting hypocrites then kept sobbing over and over 'I should have never let them take her shopping!' as she tightly clung to you for dear life, Katy," Mr. Feeny added
" Neither Lilian, George or any of us saw either of you again until George married you to Shawn, Katy. However, a few years later shortly before her own death, Lilian did tell me that she'd heard that Charlotte had left town and somehow persuaded her otherwise dud 2nd husband to adopt you with her so those two became your legal parents," Lila sighed as she took a Kleenex out of her blouse pocket and held it up to Katy's nose which Katy then loudly blew on.
After a few more minutes of the Hunters and Lila having a good cries over the fate of Katharine Daly.. . .
" So what of Martin Alveira? Did he just take off and where is he now? Not that I have much I want to say. .." Katy asked.
" He got into even more trouble than did Mr. Hunter at his nadir- and instead of college, he joined the Air Force possibly to do right by our nation or possibly to avoid hard time. He died in a plane crash in '85. I'm sorry, " Mr. Feeny sighed.
"Well, even though he did wrong by my mother, he was my father and I'm sorry that I'll never get to meet him either and it looks like this is where my eyes came from, Do you know anything about his family?" Katy asked as she zoomed in his face on her Smartphone that still had the prom picture pulled up.
"The Alveiras ran a concession stand outside the Eagles Stadium and they had emigrated from Portugal three generations before but I have no idea what's become of them," Mr. Feeny noted.
"Blow one more time! Come on!It'll make you feel better!" Lila insisted as she held a Kleenex up to Katy's nose.
" Thank, Lila, Mr. Feeny! You don't know how much this means to me, to us!" Katy exclaimed as she took a big sniff.
" A great deal of knowledge to impart at once,to be sure," Mr. Feeny noted.
"George, could you give Katy a student roster from '82? John Adams may have alumni contact info," Lila exclaimed.
"Great idea!" Shawn added.
" I'm not sure about contacting them just yet but I'd like to have that list in case one day I may be ready," Katy pondered.
"I have files on all my classes down the years. I'll see about forwarding a copy to you, Mrs. Hunter," Mr. Feeny insisted.
"Great! It's k_g_h_hunter .. ." Katy started.
" I mean I'd mail a . ..what's that called? A hard tack to your street address. Right, Lila?" Mr. Feeny asked.
" That's hard copy, George. Katy,if you scroll it up for me on the Smartphone, I can write it down," Lila insisted.
Katy did so and Lila wrote it down for Mr. Feeny.
"Well, I can't say I'll ever think of a kale smoothie with wheat grass juice and goji& carob raw bars the same way after this!" Shawn laughed.
" Yes, thank you for your hospitality,Lila," Katy added.
" I must say I'm relieved that you DID pick a smart one with good manners. I wasn't sure you would done so again after Angela Moore, "Mr. Feeny sighed.
" She was good to help me get where I needed to be before I could chose to be with Katy forever," Shawn proclaimed.
" She and her husband have become good friends to our family," Katy added.
" And she sent a touching email wishing us all the best after we shared with them the news of future offspring and another one consoling Katy over Gammy Hart," Shawn recalled as he clutched Katy's hand.
"Well, I'm glad we could help. I know this is a great deal to take in and here's our phone number if you want to talk," Lila offered as she wrote it down and gave it to Katy.
"Thanks, we need to be getting back to the Matthewses soon, but it's been great seeing you two again and I sincerely thank you being here for me and now for Katy, too," Shawn proclaimed as he gently shook both the elderly Feenys' hands.
" We look forward to seeing you again, Mr. and Mrs. Hunter," Mr. Feeny proclaimed as he started to stand up.
Shawn helped to lift him out of the chair as he could seem him struggling.
"It's fairly good once I'm on my feet but I admit I can no longer take for granted the journey from backside to standing," Mr. Feeny sighed.
"Lila, before we leave. May I ask you to help clear up a much smaller mystery from my past?" Shawn asked.
"Sure, Shawn. I'll see what I can do, "Lila replied as she started to stand with less effort than Mr. Feeny though not as comparatively effortlessly as the Hunters.
"How did you know it was Cory and me that vandalized Mr. Kincaid's collection instead of Mr. Feeny?" Shawn asked.
" Oh, come on, Shawn. It was obvious that anyone who'd managed to split that preserved brain in half had had to have been using only half a brain," Lila laughed.
"With all due respect, Lila, no fair!" Shawn protested.
" I said only 'using' not that you and Cory didn't have good ones. Besides, I knew that you and Cory were using your full hearts to encourage me to see what I needed to see in George and that you love him for what he is," Lila proclaimed.
"Even though we had to scrub all those windows and repay Mr. Kincaid for the damage, it was worth it, " Shawn insisted.
"Well, I was only using half my brain buying for the umpteenth time his surface instead of seeing him for what he was. Besides, you do know that virtually all his supposed 'artifacts' were plaster reproductions which seems apt for him," Lila scoffed.
" You never run out surprises, My Love. I still can't wrap my head that you and Lilian had been acquainted even though I do vaguely recall you at Katharine Daly's funeral," Mr. Feeny pondered.
" As I do you. However, even though I was still unhappily wed to Curtis at that point, I wouldn't have gone after a friend's husband- especially at a funeral," Lila recalled.
"So, since you and the late 1st Mrs. Feeny knew each other and compared notes about my teen mother-in-law Katharine Daly, did she ever talk to you about Mr. Feeny?" Shawn asked.
" Shawn!" Katy protested.
" No, it's a fair enough question. We almost always just talked shop talk about the young people's issues we were trying to help and not our personal lives. However, in 1985- about a month after she phoned me with what she learned about Mrs. Hart and Katy, mutual friends told me she was in the hospital and asked me to visit her," Lila sighed.
"Really? You never told me that!" Mr. Feeny gasped.
" Oh, it was shortly before my own dad died in Wisconsin so that whole time became a sad blur," Lila sighed.
"As that time was for me," Mr. Feeny groaned.
" I know, George. Well, our mutual friends told me she was in the hospital for terminal bone cancer in the back and when I got there to try to offer her some support because I knew she had to be in horrible pain, Lilian told me she was sad that I had missed you by an hour," Lila sighed.
" Were you in the classroom while. .? " Shawn asked.
"Mr. Hunter that's not your. ." Mr. Feeny started to sputter.
"No, Shawn. The doctors had put HIM in the hospital on another floor as he had collapsed from exhaustion trying to tend to Lilian. She told me all about how attentive he was to her for their whole marriage and how he had left John Adams High to join her teaching in her grade school so they could be together while she battled the cancer that last year," Lila recalled.
"Oh, Mr. Feeny!" Katy gasped as she and Shawn patted him on the shoulder.
"I was qualified to teach all levels so it was most pragmatic I make use of the skills there at that time," Mr. Feeny scoffed.
"She never once mentioned her pain to me- only how thankful she was for George to have always been there for her. She asked if Curtis was there for me and I had to be honest and admit no he never was- then she asked why I stayed with him and I told her it was so I wouldn't be alone. Half a brain!" Lila scoffed as she pointed to herself.
"Lila, you shouldn't be so harsh on yourself. You were seeing what you wanted," Katy consoled.
" I know, Katy. Anyway, Lilian looked me in the eye and noted that I already WAS alone so I needed to ask myself whether that was worth staying with him. Then she took my hand and wished me well on my journey before she went to sleep," Lila recalled.
" Journey?" Shawn asked.
"Oh, I was about to take a trip to France for two weeks to see if I could meet up with Curtis so I thought she was talking about that. However, as it turned out, my dad died two days later so I had to be at his funeral in Wisconsin and, later I found out Lilian died the next day. Although I sent him a return-receipt letter disclosing it, Curtis never so much as sent a card or even phoned about my dad but Lilian somehow found out and DID send me a card," Lila recalled.
"That had to suck that Mr. Kincaid didn't address his father-in-law's death," Shawn sighed.
" Even though he and Dad never had any use for each other (with Dad calling him 'Curty Kinky'), it still stung that Curtis didn't at least attempt to console me over Dad's death," Lila sighed.
"So even though Lilian Feeny herself was in incredible pain and knew she was dying and had hardly known you, she sent you a card about your father! She sounds like she would have been wonderful to have known," Katy exclaimed while Lila nodded.
"Indeed," Mr. Feeny sighed.
"So I guess it was the last straw with Mr. Kincaid, " Shawn pondered.
"You got it, Kiddo!" Lila exclaimed.
"You think she may have wanted you to eventually marry Mr. Feeny?" Katy asked.
"She didn't want either of us to be alone, that's for sure," Lila reflected.
" Even if Lilian had never met you, I can't imagine our destinies not intertwining," Mr. Feeny insisted as he took Lila's hand and kissed it.
"Aww!" Katy cooed.
" We'd like to invite you two to join the Matthewses and us for an Afghani meal at that restaurant- our treat!" Shawn insisted.
"We may have to take a rain check, inasmuch as we will soon be needing to attend our aquatic therapy at the natatorium after which we'll tend to our quadrangular rhythmic bipedal jaunt this evening, " Mr. Feeny explained while Lila shook her head and laughed.
" Oh, I see a challenge!" Shawn exclaimed with eager eyes.
"I think you're right!" Lila laughed
"What do you mean?" Katy asked.
" He wants us to put on our thinking caps and I think I may have the first one. Aqua Man lives in the water so aquatic means something with water and natator is Latin for . ..swimming so you're going swimming in water in a swimming pool! "Shawn exclaimed.
" Very good, Mr. Hunter! I see your uncanny language skills have not deserted you!" Mr. Feeny proclaimed.
" But what could a quadrangular rhythmic bipedal jaunt be?" Shawn asked.
"I got THIS one, Gorgeous! Square Dancing! " Katy exclaimed.
"Square dancing?! How did you get that?!" Shawn laughed.
" Quadrangular means 'square shaped 'and bipedal means ' two feet' so, with rhythm you get dancing- and I spend a good part of my youth in Arkansas so no way can you hide a square dance from an Arkansan !" Katy laughed.
" Yes, Mr. and Mrs. Hunter, we are about to go swimming and .. .square dancing," Mr. Feeny groaned.
" Oh, it's not so bad! If you can walk, you can square dance and it's a good exercise for us, George! " Lila insisted.
" She's got you good, Mr. Feeny! No way will Katy get ME to a square dance," Shawn laughed.
" Oh, give him a few years, I have every confidence you can wear down his resistance," Lila laughed.
" You think?" Katy laughed.
" Well, I still refuse to wear the bolo tie," Mr. Feeny scoffed.
" It will look so good on you, George. I'm wearing a gingham skirt with crinolines for this," Lila laughed.
" Hasn't my being willing to compromise via wearing the denim trousers and plaid shirt sufficed enough for you? First my diet then . . Square dancing," Mr. Feeny snorted.
" You're right, Dear. I'm doing this for totally selfish reasons. In another six months you're having your 90th Birthday and I want you to stay as hale and healthy as possible for it and as many years after as can be," Lila insisted as she kissed Mr. Feeny on the cheek.
"90 years! Wow!" Shawn beamed.
" By no means, a done deal, Mr. Hunter," Mr. Feeny scoffed.
" Well, when it DOES happen, you two, your daughter and all the Matthewses are invited to the party I'm throwing for him!" Lila insisted.
" We'll do our best to be there, ma'am!" Shawn agreed with Katy nodding.
"If you can persuade Ms. Lawrence- Matthews to bring her chocolate torte cake with apricot jam filling, that would be the icing on the proverbial cake!" Mr. Feeny laughed.
" We'll see what we can do. Are you sure you can't join us for dinner?" Katy asked.
"I'm afraid not, the square dance could last until at least nine," Lila sighed.
" Could we stop by and watch it?" Shawn asked.
"NO, Mr. Hunter and don't think of sending them a Smartphone moving picture of it, Lila!" Mr. Feeny warned.
"Very well. But we'll see if you wear the bolo tie, George," Lila laughed.
" Great seeing you- and ask Mr. Feeny about the time he danced onstage with Mr. Matthews, Eric, Jack, Cory and me to 'Hot Stuff'!" Shawn laughed as he and Katy hugged both the Feenys.
"' Hot Stuff' by Donna Summers, George? You're also full of surprises!" Lila laughed.
"Nice going, Mr. Hunter. Now I'll HAVE to wear the bolo tie!" Mr. Feeny snorted as he and Lila closed the door after the Hunters left.
.
.
As they were walking back to the Matthewses from the Feenys' back yard.
"They sure are nice! I'm so happy they're in our lives," Katy exclaimed.
"I never would have admitted it back then for so many years but I'm grateful for that,too. And now I'll have countless laughs thinking of the Mr. Feeny square dancing!" Shawn laughed.
"To say nothing of swimming," Katy added.
"You laugh at what you want. I'll laugh at what I want," Shawn replied.
" You DID cancel the Airbnb reservation, right?" Katy recalled.
"No, I didn't and it's almost 5 o'clock! " Shawn gasped.
"Oh, no! You'd better do it soon or else it'll get charged to your card! Quick get out your Smartphone and. ." " Katy pleaded.
" Oh, I left mine in the overnight bag inside Morgan's old room- which I might add looks like its out of HGTV," Shawn recalled.
" You'd better get it soon!" Katy warned as they knocked on the Matthewses' back door.
" The Matthewses must have gone out!" Shawn groaned a minute later after hearing no response.
"Now, don't think of jiggling their doorknobs or breaking any of their windows, Shawn," Katy warned.
" No need! There's another way! " Shawn insisted as he walked up to the old treehouse tree.
" Really, Shawn? Shawn. Don't" Katy sighed.
"I climbed this tree hundreds of times to see Cory back then, " Shawn recalled.
" Shawn, why are you taking off your boots and socks?" Katy asked.
"I'd forgotten how much fun it was to go barefoot until Fiji," Shawn explained as he started climbing.
" But those are hiking boots! Get down," Katy pleaded.
"Hiking not climbing! Yeah, until Virna figured out that hospital visits for infected glass cuts and resulting court hearings were more expensive than Keds, I was barefoot all the time as a kid," Shawn shouted as he got to the Matthews' Boys' Room Window.
"Shawn, be careful! You're not a kid anymore!" Katy shouted.
" I'm there and the window latch turns as easy as ever. What can possibly go wrong? "Shawn shouted.
At that moment , a very loud alarm sounded.
"WARNING! WARNING! ARMADILLO SECURITY HAS BEEN NOTIFIED OF YOUR INTRUSION!" a loudspeaker barked while sirens wailed.
"Shawn?! What the Hell's going on?!" Alan Matthews yelled as he, Amy and Joshua came from inside the house.
" I was thinking about old times?" Shawn sheepishly laughed.
"He needed to get his Smartphone to cancel the Airbnb before he got charged and you guys weren't home. I tried to talk him out of this," Katy sighed.
"We believe you, Katy," Alan sighed.
" We just got back this minute from picking up Joshua from tae-kwon do practice," Amy explained.
"Yeah, Joshua's car's in the shop, " Alan added.
" Alan, could you turn off the alarm! It's not just the Feenys who've noticed this this time," Amy pleaded.
" Oh, yeah!" Alan shrugged as he punched the code on his Smartphone to disable the alarm which immediately went silent.
" Well, I got my Smartphone and cancelled the Airbnb," Shawn chuckled as he climbed back down the tree.
" Do you have anything else to say, Shawn?" Alan added with folded arms.
" Great seeing you again, Joshua! The Afghan restaurant's five blocks away so we can all walk there," Shawn exclaimed as he shook Joshua Matthews's hand.
" Aren't you forgetting something, Shawn?" Amy asked as she pointed to his bare feet while he picked up his boots and socks- and dropped them into his car backset.
" Yeah, it's got booths where we can eat with our shoes off so I say why not stay barefoot the rest of the evening!" Shawn laughed.
"Cool! I can get back like I was in tae kwon do," Joshua proclaimed as he took his own shoes off and carried them.
"Fine but you two boys better scrub those dogs clean as a hound's tooth before getting into bed," Amy insisted.
" Mrs. Matthews, you just made me recall a positive memory of Virna just then!" Shawn sighed.
" Have we got some news to catch you and everyone up on over dinner!" Katy exclaimed as they all walked towards the direction of the restaurant.