January 29th 2022

Chapter 29
Our Call to the Past

She'd been putting it off for too long already, or… 'put off' didn't feel like the right expression. She'd been wanting to do it all along, there just never seemed to be an appropriate time, or when she did think about it, she would just not be able to focus on it properly… She could have seen to it little by little, but… no… So, for several weeks, the pile had been growing, making her feel at once very happy and eager, yes, but then the bigger the pile grew, unattended… Today, now… Today was the day she would do it.

About as long as she'd been a teacher, Maya had told her students they were not only permitted but also encouraged to correspond with her after they'd graduated from the high school and started out into the world. It didn't matter how many years went by, she wanted to hear from them, and if they all knew her the way she'd opened herself to be known all this time, they'd know that the invitation was entirely genuine. And over those last few years, many of them had reached out this way. She received more and more cards at Christmas as the numbers of her graduates increased, and that was the bulk of her correspondence, enough so that the administrative office joked that they'd need to install her a special mailbox.

Beyond the cards though, she also received letters. She had some students who would keep up regular correspondence with her, exchanging news every month or two, others who would drop in with more sporadic letters. All of them would be received and met with a response. She kept them all, in a box up in her art room, separated by graduation year and sender. This pile she had here today was sizable and had been growing since late August, suggesting that many of these kids had written following the birth of the triplets.

Lucas was off at basketball practice today, and he'd taken Marianne with him. Eliza and Emma were at home and had been more than happy to look after their little nieces while Maya headed up to the second floor and started going through her correspondence. So, she sat at her desk, stationery set at the ready. It had been a mother's day gift, from Ella and Marianne together this year, and if she ever ran low on supplies, all she had to do was tell the Sheriff, who would then ask one of her parents or aunts to help her call her big sister, so they could go to the stationery store together. She loved looking at all the designs they had for paper, envelopes, and cards, and picking some for her mother…

Dear Mrs. Friar,

I was so happy to hear that you and your babies are doing well. I thought about going to see you when August went, but the truth is that I couldn't bring myself to go into the hospital. It makes me think of when my mother was there, and it's been years since she passed, but I still can't do it unless I have no choice, you know? I know you'll understand. I'd love to come by and see all of you some time, maybe in a few weeks. I figure you and Mr. Friar will be pretty busy with three new babies to look after. Please let me know when it'd be okay to come, okay?

I start my new job next week. Did it feel strange for you, too, finishing college, starting off on your own? Maybe not strange, but just… like at any second someone will realize you have no idea what you're doing? I know what you're probably going to say, that I do know what I'm doing, that I just have to start, but right now part of me wonders if I'll do so well when it's not just about how good I am at researching, learning facts, writing papers… You and I both know I haven't always made the best choices. What if I mess it up?

It sounds silly when I read it back. Maybe by the time you get to read this I will have started, and I'll have my answer already. Hope it's the good one. Anyway, you have much more important things to think about than my panicking over nothing. Congratulations on your little girls! You'll have gotten my gift by now. The woman at the store said you could never have too many of these, especially with three babies.

Much love,

Milena Janacek

It could have been pointless to pen a response by now. She had seen Milena since she'd written, she'd visited as they were doing the yearly pumpkin harvest, helped with the deliveries along with boyfriend August Matthews. Actually, as of that day, Maya and Lucas had been informed that she was now fiancée to August Matthews. The wedding would take place in the spring, and when the young couple had come over to visit and see the triplets, they had been assured that whatever assistance the Friars could provide was only a call or a message away.

As to Milena's worries over her job, they had been for the most part eradicated by the day of the visit. Oh, there was still a part of her that worried about stumbling on her brand new path, but as Maya had pointed out to her then, reinforced by Lucas, too, that was alright. It was a touchstone to reality for her to hold on to.

Dear Milena,

You know of course that this response is very late. We have spoken since your letter, more than once, but I still felt the need to respond, and at the same time I thought I might share a story with you. Reading your letter, thinking back to these 'bad choices' of yours back in school, it reminded me of some juniors of mine. Maybe you would have a valued insight to share…

X

It had been two years now. Two years since he had run into Jacob "Trace" Tracey at the mall and been recruited to join his basketball team. Already, Lucas was surrounded by so many people in his life, clusters that would sort of weave and cross together in places. He had his own family, some branches nearer, others spread out in or beyond Texas, and by his marriage to Maya he had gained a whole other family tree that now counted him as one of their own. He had his friends, some who had been in his life so long that they might as well have been family. And he had Sullivan Stables, which in a way was one more extension of his family, too. And for these past two years, he had slowly but surely come to count the basketball team as that kind of community around him.

It wasn't just him and the other players, meeting up for practice, playing at their games. It was all the families, the significant others, the children… Once a month, they would have a team dinner, out at Chubbie's, and it would almost have to be a private party with how many of them there would be. They would all have one another to count on, if any of them needed help in some way. That was what brought them together today.

Yes, they still had their practice, they never missed their set time if they could help it, knowing that some among their group of doctors, nurses, and paramedics either had complicated schedules or could be called away out of the blue. They met at the center, as they would, and they played their practice time. When they were done, some had to leave, but the rest of them made their way out to the home of teammate Inga Fielding.

She was a pediatric nurse and generally the one you could count on for a come-from-behind rise to victory on the court. She lived with her husband, Ted, and in about a week, she was to bring her mother from the hospital over to her house, to live with them. Her mother had been in a terrible car wreck over the summer, was lucky to be alive. Now as she continued to recover and to adjust to the new reality of her life, Inga and Ted were preparing for her arrival. One major step was the construction of a wheelchair ramp outside the home and the installation of other necessities inside. And so, the team was on the case.

"Daddy, I showed Mark how to do 'hands to yourself,'" Marianne informed her father as he passed by with some materials for the ramp. She pointed to Trace's two-year-old son sitting nearby, mittened hands held to his chest and looking on to the work that was being done.

It wasn't uncommon for several of the team's families to be in the stands or on the sidelines during practice, especially the children, who would love watching their parents out on the court. At some point, they would get to go out there, too, and they would try and toss the ball at the hoop. When they'd agreed to come and help Inga, they'd debated sending all the kids home rather than bring them where they might get injured, but in the end, they'd decided to bring them anyway. They liked to play together, and they might be curious about what their parents were doing… If all else failed, they could be taken inside the house and put in front of a movie. So far, they were doing just fine where they were. They were enjoying the show.

"That's good, bud," Lucas chuckled, nodding at the boy. Little Mark Tracey hopped up and down when he smiled, keeping his hands at his chest the whole time. "You're okay out here? Need anything?" Lucas turned back to Marianne, poking the fluffy top of her hat, and making her laugh.

"No, thank you," she shook her head in response to his question… and to feel the pompom move on her head.

"You sure?" Lucas asked, and the pompom was given a shake. "Really sure?" Nod, shake, giggle… "Last chance?" he squinted, and now the laughter was on a roll. "Alright, just checking," he smirked before moving to rejoin his teammates.

"They good out there?" Trace asked as Lucas put down his load. At the question, he couldn't help himself.

"Hold on, let me check," he told the man before turning and calling out. "Hey, pumpkin, you good?" Being her mother's daughter, he wasn't surprised one bit when she responded by performing a pitch perfect rendition of their old call. "Yeah, they're fine," he told Trace, still hearing laughter in the distance. "And she taught Mark a new trick," he went on before explaining the long practiced maneuver.

"Yeah, that should come in handy," Trace chuckled. "Older he's getting, he just wants to do everything his brother does, and Jake, well…" he looked out to his older son, one of the bigger kids in the bunch today. Jake Tracey was seven years old, and he wasn't exactly to the level of the Dylan Orlandos of the world as far as accident prone, but he had lost a tooth that had nothing to do with baby teeth and fractured his arm after taking a dive to fly like a superhero… They weren't looking to have little Mark pull a stunt like that.

"After we're done out here, we should take them somewhere, yeah?" Lucas suggested. "Ma Maggie's broken out the winter extras."

"Oh, now, you had me at Ma Maggie's," Trace nodded. He would joke that one might think he should have had his fill of the place by now. His wife, before she'd been his wife, or his girlfriend, had been the girl he had the biggest crush on. She'd also been a waitress at the restaurant, and young Trace had become a very regular customer in the days leading up to and following the first time he'd gotten up the courage to speak to her. "You're on."

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners