A/N I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of the people that have taken the time to review my story; your feedback means a lot to me and I appreciate it greatly. I also want to apologize because I feel like I'm missing a lot of good stuff as the story progresses and I suppose I am; but there is a reason. The crux of the story occurs at New Years, and I was wanting to get to that as swiftly as possible without compromising the characters or the plot. I'm sure there were some of you who would say to yourselves 'Why didn't he expand on this or that, there was some good stuff still there' and I would agree with you. But I don't want to forget what the focus of the story is, and going off on a tangent that has just cropped up is a great way to do that. So if you're thinking to yourself that I've missed some great opportunities for side stories, you're right; but you wouldn't be thinking anything that I haven't thought myself. Maybe some day I'll go back and fill in the spaces and corners, or you; gentle reader, could do that yourself. But I really want to get this story told, so for now it's full speed ahead. I again appreciate your reviews and your tolerance for my shortcomings; thank you.

POE1911

THE LEGACY – CHAPTER 8

Ruthie was feeling like she was on top of the world. She and Simon were making the four hour drive from San Francisco to Glen Oak. In the plane she had decided to find out just how much he knew about her and the success that she had enjoyed.

It turned out that Simon knew a bit, but not everything. He had read the magazine article and thus knew about the National Gallery pictures, but didn't know about her winning the Guggenheim or having one of her works there on permanent display. He knew that there were collectors who wanted to buy her paintings, but was blown away by how much had been offered. Of course he had asked her why she had turned that down, but when she answered, he seemed to understand exactly what she was saying. He didn't say anything about compromising her principles or just giving in cause she needed the money, and as far as Ruthie was concerned, that qualified him for sainthood, again. She had asked him about Lily, but Simon had just blushed and said that there was nothing there. 'Yet' Ruthie added in her mind.

Once they had rented the car, Ruthie asked her brother if he had told their parents anything abut what he knew.

"Nah, that was your news, not mine."

"So they don't know."

"WHAT, you mean you never told them?"

"I've been waiting for them to ask about it, but they never have, so I've never said anything."

Simon just whistled "that'll be an eye opener."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Gary was actually looking forward to this Thanksgiving for a couple of reasons. The most important was that over the last few months he had converted the upstairs storage room into a guest loft, so his parents wouldn't be staying in the same apartment as he and Toni. The other was that Toni's sister Marie was coming. This had the amusing side effect of Toni going completely bonkers, working to make sure that everything was perfect. Of course the paper would have something to say about that.

Gary didn't know what it was, but something about the holidays seemed to bring out the idiot in everyone. As he checked the paper, it looked like a busy day. Two guys in line at Midway were going to start punching each other because of a dispute over who was in line first; a guy in Niles was going to the hospital because he was trying to grill a beer can turkey without popping the tab on the beer. The can and grill were going to explode and he would end up with second degree burns. Finally some bored kid was going to try and escape his relatives by climbing out onto the buildings fire escape and running off. Unfortunately he was going to slip off the escape and fall three stories and break his back.

Now all of these took place at close to the same time, but none of them were near each other, so Gary was going to deal with the kid and have his parents deal with the other two. He told his dad to take care of the grilling accident because if he was trying to break up a fight in an airport, Bernie would probably end up arrested. Gary loved his dad but the man was just not subtle. Toni was beside herself. "How the hell am I supposed to get all this ready?"

"Don't worry about it Brigatti just do your best, we'll be back soon."

"Come on Hobson, you know I'm a disaster in the kitchen."

"Get your sister to help; it'll give you two a chance to catch up."

"Marie" Toni laughed "she's more of a kitchen terror than me."

"Just do what you can, but we've got to run." With that he sprinted out the door to the McGinty's van where his parents were waiting. Toni just shook her head and wandered back into McGinty's kitchen. She looked at the 'to do' list that Lois had made for her and surveyed the kitchen again. "OK" she said to herself "what the hell is a yam."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Lois Hobson got off the El near Midway Airport. She figured that the best way to stop this would be delay one of the men, that way they wouldn't get to the line at the same time and thus, no fight. She had the names of the men from the article, so she was going to play the former acquaintance game just to slow one down. There was one headed for the Northwest check in "William is that you"?

The man turned around "excuse me"?

"Now I'm hurt William you don't remember me, it's Lois, you mothers old friend."

The young man gave a bit of a grin "I'm sorry, I don't remember you; what did you say your last name was?"

She was spared from answering when a fight erupted in the check in line; she had picked the wrong William.

Lois ran over to break up the fight before it became too serious. In her best mother/drill sergeant voice she bellowed "you two stop that right now, or so help me".

Both men froze (as all intelligent men will when hearing that tone from a woman) and looked at each other warily. Lois took this as a good sign and continued "now if you want to keep this up you'll get arrested and then you definitely won't get wherever you want to be. So figure something out and do it quietly before the Air Marshal's decide to intervene."

The men understood the logic of this and decided on a coin flip. Checking the scrap of the paperthat Gary had given her, Lois saw that the article had changed. She headed back to the El station to catch the train back to McGinty's, Lois figured Gary and Bernie didn't need to know that she had started out with the wrong guy.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Get away from that you moron."

"You screwed this up; I'm just tryin' to fix it.

"What'd I screw up?"

"You're doin one of those beer can turkeys, right?"

"Yeah, but how did you know?"

"Did you remember to pop the tab there Einstein?"

"Well of course I popped the tab; you think I'm an idiot or something."

"Yeah, I do think you're an idiot, because this doesn't sound like one of those beer can turkeys, you can tell by the sound and the smell."

"So what are you, the turkey inspector?"

"Nope, just some guy passing through."

"Well I'm telling you I popped the tab and everything, right now all you're doing is pissing me off."

"Hey if you say so mack", just then a high pitched noise started coming from the grill. The guy looked confused, trying to figure out what it was; Bernie, knowing what it was tackled the guy and started crawling towards the pick-up truck in the driveway. The guy was starting to really get pissed when his grill blew up.

Bernie just looked at him "you sure about that tab?"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Steve Wallace always hated Thanksgiving. It wasn't that he had anything against Turkey or Pilgrims or anything like that. He hated Thanksgiving because this parents always dragged him to his Grandma's place. That wasn't too bad, his Grandma was OK for an old lady; the real problem was her two sisters. Neither of them had ever married, and since he was the only grandchild, they focused all of their very annoying attention on him. They would pinch his cheek and tell him how big he was and ask about school and everything. As far as he was concerned, they were just as relentless as the tide, and just as inevitable. Well not this year. He had found the exit to the fire escape from his Grandma's apartment and had already checked it to make sure he could get out of there without making noise.

He had told his parents he was going to the bathroom and had headed for the escape instead. But when he got there, there was already someone on it, an older man.

"Hello Steve"

"Hi"

"Need a break from the family?"

"Just my aunts, they drive me crazy."

"With me it was my parents."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I'm an only child, so I never got a minute to myself; it was always something, and usually something embarrassing."

"So did you ever try to get away?"

"Every holiday, sometimes they found me, and sometimes they didn't, but I always tried."

"Are they OK now."

"Yeah, I always knew they loved me, just sometimes it was a bit much."

"You think I should go back in?"

"Not right now, just sit here a while. You can go back in later."

"He sat there with the boy in a very comfortable silence. He thought about his family, and how much he loved them, and how much they drove him crazy. In a lot of ways, it reminded him of his relationship with Brigatti. They could drive each other so crazy so easily, but how much they loved each other as well. He was looking forward to getting back to a nice dinner, but especially his wife. He checked the paper quickly, and saw that the article had changed. Scanning the Sun-Times quickly, he couldn't find anything else that required his attention, so he headed back to McGinty's, saying goodbye to Steve first of course.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

It had been a while since Toni Brigatti had seen her sister, but she looked just the way Toni remembered her. Marie Brigatti had been married once, to a guy that turned out to be a real creep. She had ditched the creep and gotten a job with Delta Air as a stewardess (or whatever the correct term is). She had used what free time she had to take classes and get her pilots license, and now she flew all over the world without having to worry about dealing directly with crabby passengers.

Marie hugged her sister and looked around. "So where's your husband?"

"He had to run some errands with his folks, he'll be back soon, how was the trip in?"

"No problems."

"They letting you loose behind the stick yet?"

"No, not yet, and it's a yoke, not a stick; got it?"

"Yeah I got it, soon?"

"There are a couple of domestic routes opening up soon, I'm sure I'll be considered, I've just got to be patient." She looked around "so you married a bar-tender."

"No, I married a bar owner, there's a difference."

"So he owns the whole building?"

"Yep, him and his partner."

Any other questions Marie might have had were forgotten when she got a look at McGinty's kitchen. It looked as though several explosions had taken place and there was half prepared food everywhere. "Toni, what did you do?"

"I tried to cook Thanksgiving dinner" she said sheepishly.

"Yeah, this I can see, but what happened?"

"Honestly I'm not quite sure, I got the green beans cooking, but that's about it."

"Well you get on with the cooking and I'll try to get some of this disaster cleaned up."

With that, the sisters went to work.

When the Hobson's arrived back at McGinty's they noticed all the sound coming from the kitchen. The walked through the doors to see what was happening, when a delicious smell hit them; it was garlic toast. A great smell to be sure, but not something you would traditionally associate with Thanksgiving.

"Is this your sister" Lois asked.

Toni looked up from what she had been doing; she hadn't even heard the Hobson's come in. "Yeah, it is; Marie, this is my husband Gary and his folks, everyone, this is my sister Marie, the airline pilot."

Marie was greeted warmly, and she deftly escorted her brother in law and his family back out of the kitchen. A few minutes later, Toni yelled out for everyone to sit down and she brought out Thanksgiving dinner. Bernie already had the carving knife ready to go; but there wasn't anything to carve. Toni brought out a huge plate of manicotti. There was garlic toast, an antipasto plate and a good Chianti to wash it all down. To say that the Hobson's looked confused was a huge understatement. "Where's the turkey" Bernie finally asked.

Toni blushed furiously "It didn't turn out quite right, and we were kinda running out of time, so I made the only thing I could think of. My Grandma always served a huge plate of manicotti at holiday meals, so it just seemed right.

The three Hobson's just shrugged their shoulders, after all, who was to say what was traditional at Thanksgiving. Seeing them dig in the way they did, warmed Toni's heart; what could have been one of those epic family disasters had turned out right because her in-laws were willing to bend a little. As she was eating, Toni just had one question that she had to have answered. "Lois, what the hell's a yam?"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

They were a half hour away from Glen Oak when Ruthie asked the question she'd been wanting to ask since Sunday "so what'd you think of the play, Simon"? Ruthie was interested for several reasons, not the least of which was the fact that Simon had shown up to both performances with Lily as his date.

"It was good, I'm not usually a theater kind of guy, but I liked it."

"What did you like the most?"

"The two main characters, they were great, and the scenery and costumes were pretty cool. Did you do the set?"

"Partially, I did the scenery and costumes, but Teressa helped me with the set, actually it was mostly her with me helping."

"Well the guy in the paper really liked that stuff. You'd never done anything like that before, had you?"

"Nope, but Bonnie, she's the director, seemed to think I showed promise and said she could help if I decide to do that full time."

"So what are you gonna do after you graduate?"

"I'm not sure, I'd like to find something in Chicago; I really love it there."

"Well, wherever you end up, you'll do great things, I'm sure of it."

Ruthie smiled at her brother, he sincerely did have confidence in her, much more than she had in herself certainly. Further thought on the matter was cut off because they were entering Glen Oak. It was strange for Ruthie, because for the first time in her life, it didn't feel like she was coming home, but rather visiting someone else's home. As they pulled into the driveway, the entire clan came out to greet them. Annie had indeed been successful in getting everyone home for Thanksgiving, even Mary and Carlos had shown up. Ruthie was practically carried out of the car and into the house, she wasn't really sure if her feet touched the ground or not, but she really didn't care, she was with her family.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

For Ruthie, the surprises started coming at dinner when Mary spoke up. "Carlos and I were down in New York City for a weekend back in October, and stopped by the Guggenheim museum. We saw some really interesting art, including a painting by an artist named Ruth Camden, ring any bells?"

The entire table became silent as the whole family, even the guys at the little table, turned to stare at Ruthie in enquiry. Her furious blushing was all the answer most needed, but Kevin spoke up "you mean there's a famous artist out there that's also named Ruth Camden?"

"No" Matt said "the only artist named Ruth Camden is sitting at this table."

"The Guggenheim" Annie spoke up "is that good or something?"

"Mom" Simon said with some exasperation "The Guggenheim is the most prestigious museum for modern art in the country, practically in the world." Turning to his sister he asked "is it a temporary exhibit."

Ruthie shook her head and quietly said "no, it's part of the permanent collection."

"Well" Matt said "that certainly explains this article I read in Time that was talking about new artists and mentioned a certain Ruth Camden for a few paragraphs. I honestly did wonder if it was you, Ruthie, but I figured it had to be."

Now Ruthie was practically crimson, she had wanted her family to find out, but now that they were, she found it really uncomfortable. The stunned bunny looks that her parents and Lucy were wearing didn't make her feel elated either; it just made her feel sad for them.

"Well, I told you all that school was going good for me."

"Yeah, but 'arguably the best artist under thirty in the United States', you certainly didn't hint it was going that well" Matt accused.

"I guess we have different definitions of well; that and somehow it felt like bragging. I was getting all of this attention for doing something I loved, something I would do anyway, and it just felt wrong to talk about it. You know I didn't even keep the Guggenheim fellowship that I won, I mean I kept the award and the statue, but I donated the money to the school."

"How much was that" Eric asked.

"It doesn't matter" Ruthie said.

"No" Eric pressed "I really want to know."

"One hundred and fifty thousand dollars; along with my work on permanent display at the museum. I accepted the second part obviously, but it just felt wrong accepting the money, so I gave it to the school."

"You gave away more than a hundred thousand dollars" Lucy gasped, looking at her little sister like she was insane.

"More than that" Carlos chimed in. "A collector wanted to buy a painting, Ruthie said no. The guy was offering half a million dollars, and she said no."

Now the silence in the house was deafening, everyone wanted to ask the question, but no-one knew how. Finally David voiced everyone's opinion "were you on drugs or something?"

The room erupted in laughter, strained a bit, but still laughter; and the tension eased off a bit. "No David, I wasn't on drugs or something, I tried to explain this to my boss when he asked about it, and I do have a reason, but if you're not an artist, it does sound kind of crazy, so stick with me a second." She turned to her mother "mom, if some lady came up to you and said 'my daughter is a tramp with a horrible reputation, marrying your son would redeem that, so would you sell me Sam'; or 'my daughter spends money like it's going out of style, sell Simon to me so he can take care of her', you'd give her a very polite version of 'get lost' wouldn't you?"

"Of course"

"But if someone said 'my daughter is in love with David because he is such a great kid' you wouldn't have a problem with him dating the girl, would you?"

"No"

"That's how I feel about my work, it comes from me, it was created by me; if you want it because my name is on it, or because you look at it as an investment, those reasons aren't good enough and you shouldn't have it. But if you love it for what it is and what it says, then you should have it. If that's the case I give them away, I could never sell my paintings for money any more than you could sell your children for money. I know that sounds really pretentious, but that's how I feel."

Silence reigned at the dinner table for a while, then conversation started up again, but it was subdued. Nearly everyone had to re-evaluate someone they had thought they knew, and that was never comfortable.

After dinner, Ruthie sat with the guys watching Chicago pound the snot out of Detroit. She smiled to herself thinking how Toni and Gary would be while they were watching the game. As she sat, she sketched her family; trying to capture their souls in paper and charcoal. It would never be perfect, but she loved the attempt.

"I never had any idea" said a voice behind her.

"About what" she asked Lucy.

"That you like football. Come on Ruthie, what do you think I was clueless about? How could I have missed how talented you are?"

Ruthie thought for a second, seriously considering the question "well, you have your life, and I have mine; you don't share your hopes and dreams with me, they're too private. All mine are tied up with art, if I don't talk about my dreams, I don't talk about art, it's as simple as that. I always wondered how you could be a minister. I don't understand how anyone can stand up in front of people every week and talk, let alone advise anyone on spiritual matters; there's no way I could do that."

Lucy thought about that for a moment, then asked something she had always wanted to know "so does it take you a long time, I mean how long does a painting take."

"I guess it depends, sometimes weeks sometimes hours. The one I did that won the Guggenheim I painted in forty eight hours. I remember a quote from some composer, I think it was Beethoven but I'm not sure 'sometimes my work is the product of toil and anguish, and sometimes I just stand back in awe of the majesty of the hand that is guiding mine'. Don't you have to work on some sermons for weeks and others seem to write themselves."

"Yeah, I do; so what you're saying is that we are pretty much alike except for what we turn out talents to?"

"Sure, you do things I could never do, and vice versa, that doesn't mean I'm more talented or more admirable than you, we just excel in different areas."

Lucy looked down at her little sister "so what have you got there?"

"Just some sketches, what do you think?"

Lucy looked at what her sister had done in the last few minutes. Lucy found the sketch Ruthie had done of Kevin to be simply remarkable. Somehow in a few strokes of charcoal on paper her sister had captured his essence, his humor and passion and goodness, tears sprang unbidden to her eyes. "May I keep this, please?"

"Of course, it's your husband after all."

"Thanks Ruthie and I wanted to apologize."

"For what?"

"For not seeing you for a long time, I just saw what I wanted to see, and that wasn't fair to you."

"No problem Luce; hey, you wanna watch the game?"

Lucy just shuddered "football, how can you stand watching that Ruthie" she asked and then left the room.

Ruthie looked around the room at her brothers, both natural and by marriage. They loved her; she admitted to herself that she had forgotten that from time to time, but never again. Picking up her pad, a little smile on her face, she went back to sketching.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

After the fireworks on Thanksgiving the day after was anticlimactic. Marie went shopping with her sister but was surprised when Gary came along, leaving his parents and Marissa to cover the bar. She was also surprised when Gary and Toni broke up a rather nasty dispute between two shoppers. She wasn't surprised that Toni had butted in, that was just how her little sister was, but she was a little shocked when Gary was right there with her helping out. They hit some specialty shops that you had to know about to find, and the sisters found some real bargains. All in all, they hada pretty good day.

In California, the Camden women had gone shopping with a vengeance. Unfortunately for Ruthie, it seemed as though she was everyone's project for the day. Lucy and Annie were trying to make her look something a bit more peppy preppy, while Sarah and Mary were pushing in a power suit direction. Unfortunately for all, except Ruthie, she found a store that specialized in vintage concert T-shirts. The young girl was instantly in Nirvana, and any hope of change went out the window. When they got home, Ruthie relaxed, she thought that after yesterday, there were no surprises left; but Simon had different plans.

At dinner, he announced that he had a video he wanted everyone to see. Not knowing what it was, the whole family crowded in to watch. Simon toldthem it was something a friend had taped off the public access channel in Chicago. Without any more information he put the tape in and shot an evil smirk at his little sister. Ruthie felt her stomach drop, she was afraid of what would come up. The opening title justified all her fears: The Orchard Street Shakespeare Company presents 'The Taming of the Shrew'. About two minutes into the show, Matt suddenly leaned forward, looking at the screen. He whipped around "Ruthie is that really you?"

The fact that his sister was turning an interesting shade of red was all the answer he needed. The family watched the rest of the show, then the questions flew thick and fast. Ruthie told them about how she had just been there to do the scenery and props and stuff, but then had been roped into playing Bianca after the original Bianca got transferred.

"So Ruthie" Eric asked "you designed the set and the scenery and the props and the costumes."

"Yeah, although my friend Teressa did most of the set."

Everyone thought that the sets and stuff had been really good, and now they realized that their sister had done that as well. A lot of mental eyebrows went up.

"And you said the lead actor and actress was your boss and his wife" asked Mary. "Are they like that in real life?"

Ruthie shook her head at that one "they're pretty great, but Toni does have a bit of a temper". Then she happened to casually mention that Simon had been to both performances with the same girl. Simon glared daggers at her, while the family shifted focus and rained questions down at him. Eventually he satisfied their curiosity enough so that they turned back to Ruthie.

There were a few more questions about what she had done specifically, and Ruthie recounted a few funny backstage stories to them. The conversation then drifted into acting in general and plays that everyone had seen.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Annie, what are you doing still up?"

"How could we have missed it?"

"Missed what?"

"Ruthie, how could we have missed her talent, how much she loves what she does; we're her parents, how could we not have seen that?"

"I guess we just weren't looking at the right things."

"I just feel so bad, all those years with no support no encouragement."

"Don't beat yourself up too badly over it; after all she wasn't the most talkative daughter in all the world."

"True, but I still feel like we should have known something."

"Maybe, and I see the wheels going in your head, what are you cooking up sweetie."

"Well, what do you think about . . . . ."