Desi sat in the school's newspaper office quickly typing her newest story into the database. The school had so much trouble deciding on what should be the senior play, they decided to write one. 'The Collective Tales of Everwood.' Stuff like how the town was formed, the Kissing Bridge, even the Gordon house. So far the only positive cast was Ephram Brown at the piano. Besides that nothing was for sure. Casting was being done this week.
"I don't believe you put my name in the paper," Ephram said as he and Desi walked down the sidewalk in front of the school. Ephram held a piece of paper out in front of him, reading his girlfriend's article. She smiled.
"It's fact, and I have to write fact."
"Couldn't you have just written 'the piano player?'"
"I have to write as much fact as I have, rather," she corrected herself. He chuckled slightly. Then they both yelled in surprise as balls of snow flew at them. They looked over to see Jig and Orrie renewing their attack. Ephram and Desi started laughing and bending down to pick up snow to throw in return. When the paper got hit to the ground Desi raced to recover it.
"Not the paper! Not the paper!" she yelled laughing.
"Forget the paper!" Ephram said tackling Desi and pulling her into the snow with him. She laughed and threw snow on to him. Jig and Orrie walked over to them, both laughing.
"We won, right?" Jig asked Orrie. Orrie nodded with a smile.
"Oh, yea," he said. Ephram and Desi got to their feet.
"We were ambushed," Ephram told them. Jig laughed.
"You let your guard down!" Jig corrected him.
"How'd you get so good at throwing snowballs anyway?" Desi asked Jig. She shrugged with a smile. Orrie picked up the fallen paper and handed it back to Desi.
"I read your article, I liked it," he told her. Desi smiled and thanked him.
"Are either of you trying out for the play?" Desi asked Jig and Orrie. They both laughed.
"No, we're vowed spectators," Jig informed her.
"Oh come on, Jig, why not lend your musical talents to the play?" Orrie asked her. She smirked and elbowed him in the side.
"You play an instrument?" Desi asked her surprised. Jig grinned and the two boys started laughing.
"Eleven of them!" Orrie answered for her.
"Well, ten and a half…" Jig corrected him.
"I'm teaching her the piano," Ephram explained to Desi. She nodded.
"That's cool, I wish I could play an instrument," Desi said with a sigh.
"Yea well, I wish I had a big giant mansion and my own horse," Jig said.
"Instead you have two people who love you very much and a cool raccoon," Desi told her and Jig smiled.
"I suppose you're right," she said. Orrie subtlety took her hand in his.
Edna sat on a bench on Main St. She sat there, very quietly, watching everyone walk by. It had snowed, and just as snow always seems to do, it covered up all painful memories. For everyone but Edna, that is. She let out a long, genetic, heavy sigh and looked over to the empty space on the bench next to her.
~
"Are you sure you have everything?" Edna asked as she zippered up the coat of the five month old baby. The mother sighed and rolled her eyes.
"We have everything, Edna. Everything has already been sent to the train station, and whenever the bus decides to get here, we'll be joining it," Kathy reassured her. Edna nodded.
"Right, right. And this place you have in LA…"
"It's beautiful, beach front property. Mom and Dad are footing the bill until I can handle it myself," Kathy reassured her. Edna nodded again. She leaned out into the road a bit to see the bus heading toward them. Kathy handed the baby Juliet to Edna and picked up a backpack from the bench next to them. She put the backpack on and took the baby back. The bus pulled up next to them and opened its doors. Kathy and Harold hugged, and Harold kissed the baby's head.
"Now don't worry about us, Edna, Harold. Juliet and I are going to be fine. You'll see," Kathy said. Edna took the baby from her hands.
"Now I trust you. I'm just going to miss Jig here," Edna told Kathy. Kathy smiled but was confused.
"Jig?"
"Her initials…" Edna told her. Kathy smiled again.
"So they are, I hadn't realized that. But, Aunt Edna, you don't have to miss her. You'll see her again, I promise," Kathy reassured her. Edna smiled and handed the baby back to its mother.
"See you later kid," Edna said as Kathy walked onto the bus.
"Aye Sir," Kathy said with a small salute as the doors closed.
~
It was night and the door was locked but he had his key. He could barely see in the house but he could make out enough to be glad he was home. The only sound to be heard as he walked through the living room was Edna's snoring coming from upstairs. With a smile and a shake of his head he dropped his bag on the ground and slid off his coat. The coat went on the back of the couch and he made his way over to his room. The door opened with the familiar soft creak. It was too dark to see any of the walls but the light coming through the curtains made out the shape of the bed. He kicked off his snowy boots and made his way over to his old bed.
When all of the screaming and yelling stopped, two people sat on the couch and two people stood in front of them. The two standing people were Edna and Irv, neither one very pleased at being woken up at one o'clock on a Wednesday morning. One of the two on the couch was of course Jig, no more pleased than Edna or Irv, but a deal more shocked. The other person on the couch was a boy. He was 19, Black, about six feet tall with dred locks just long enough to tied behind his head. He was unhappy and shocked just like Jig. He was also the topic of Irv's loud voice.
"I told you I was coming for a visit!" the boy said in his own defense.
"Yes but generally you actually specify a date before you show up! And why one o'clock in the morning Mack?" Irv yelled at him. Edna was keeping silent and Jig was too astonished to say anything. Irv was yelling…
"I thought I would come in and surprise you guys!" Mack explained.
"Well mission accomplished!" Irv said turning away from the boy. Mack sighed.
"Look, I think I should be allowed to get away with concealing one little thing like an arrival time if you can get away with concealing something more!" Mack said. Irv turned back to him.
"What have I ever concealed from you?" Irv demanded from him.
"Oh, I don't know. How about, who the Hell is she?" he asked motioning his hands to Jig. Irv looked at Jig and realized the boy was right. Irv hadn't meant to conceal Jig from Mack, he just kept forgetting. He sighed.
"Mack this is Jig, Jig, this is Mack Reidy. Mack's my grandson," Irv told her. Jig's eyes widened in surprise.
"You have a grandson!" she yelled. Irv nodded.
"Yes he has a grandson! Now who the Hell are you?" Mack asked her.
"She's my great niece," Edna told him.
"Do you remember Kathy?" Irv asked him. Mack thought about it.
"Vaguely."
"Jig's her daughter," Irv explained. Mack's eyes widened slightly in surprise and he turned back to Jig. He had a vague memory of the mother, but for some reason he had a better one of the baby.
"That still doesn't explain why she was in my bed," Mack told his grandfather. Irv sighed.
"Mack your bed is in Seattle," Irv told him, "you can sleep in the guest room while you're here. Now let's get to bed, it's late and I'm tired."
Dr. Brown peeped out of his office door to watched Edna stomp around the waiting room, slamming books and folders. Something was wrong and Dr. Brown wasn't brave enough to ask her what. The only person who could ask Edna was one who had two heads and didn't mind one of them being bitten off. It looked personal anyway, and Dr. Brown didn't want to pry where he didn't belong. He could just ask Ephram if he knew anything about it. Maybe he could talk to Irv. Irv probably knew. Dr. Brown could ask anyone, but not Edna.
"Mack's in town?" Amy asked excitedly sitting down next to Jig. They were at lunch and originally the table had occupied Orrie and Jig on one side and Ephram and Desi on the other, but now it occupied Amy as well. Jig had just been regaling the tale of the night before.
"You know Mack?" Jig asked her surprised. Amy nodded.
"Yea, he's my cousin, kind of…" Amy said with a smile.
"Well who is he?" Ephram asked her.
"He's Irv's grandson," Amy said simply. Jig nodded.
"Yea but, Irv has a grandson?" Jig said, the fact still surprising her. Amy nodded smiling.
"Yea. Didn't you guys know Irv was married before?" Amy questioned them.
"Well, I did…" Desi said. She didn't know much but she knew there had been a first wife.
"Right, well, Irv and Maggie had a daughter, Lily. Then Lily had a son, Mack."
"Okay, but why is my room his room?" Jig asked her. Amy went on.
"Well Mack's father had come and gone before Lily even knew she was pregnant. And he travels the world or something. No one can find him," Amy explained.
"I know that feeling…" Orrie muttered just loud enough to be heard.
"When Mack was two his mother died of breast cancer. So he came here to live with Irv and Maggie," Amy continued. Ephram looked at Jig but she just bit her lower lip and said nothing.
"Then ten years ago Maggie died, and it was just Irv and Mack. Until Irv married Grandma, of course," Amy finished. It was nice having people listen to her. She had almost forgotten what it was like. Orrie chuckled slightly and turned to Jig.
"I suppose that makes him your brother, Jig," he told her, taking a sip from his bottle of water. Jig turned to him.
"How do you figure that?" she demanded.
"Well," Orrie started, "his legal guardian is Irv, right? And you're legal guardian is Edna, right? Well Irv and Edna are married, so you're like siblings." Jig stared at him blankly for a few moments before turning away from him, shaking her head.
"No, Orrie, just, no…"
