February 27th 2022
Chapter 58
Our Reach Toward Exchange
He could think of several people who would have liked to be here with him this morning, waiting for the pair to arrive. Juliet would have been here, no doubt, if she wasn't held back by business over at the ranch. The same went for Donna. And then there was Rosemary Adewumi, who had apparently exhausted any and all valid reasonings for her to miss school just to be on hand, at the airport, when her soon-to-be roommate arrived. As much as she wanted it, she wouldn't have skipped school no matter how many times she'd tried to get excused, so right now she would be in class, where she was supposed to be. Lastly, there was Marianne and, oh, he'd come very close to giving in to her pleas. Not only did she love going to the airport to see the planes and get snacks and wait for people, but she knew who was coming and, strangers as they presently were, she was so eager to meet them. Lucas had compromised with the offer of a few treats picked up for her while he was there and the reminder that it was Friday, which meant green group day, which meant going to the ranch. She would get to meet the new arrivals there, just as their host families would.
Now, here he sat, with part one of his promise to his daughter acquired and waiting next to him in a paper bag on the bench while he kept an eye on the arrivals. The two flights were supposed to land roughly an hour apart from one another, which should allow him to receive and greet one before it came time to do the same with the other. With any luck, there wouldn't be too many delays.
The first flight to arrive, having departed from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, landed with a ten-minute delay, giving him plenty of time to collect eighth-grader Patrick Mahoney. The fourteen-year-old was flying out on his own and, when Lucas spotted him, his first thought was that here was a kid who'd never been on a plane in his life, and he was glad to be off of it. He looked so much younger than he was, which, coupled with the fact that he looked like he'd been nauseated the whole way in, made Lucas that much more sympathetic to him.
"Hey, welcome to Austin. You alright?" he asked. The boy looked up at him and gave a brief nod. "You sure?" Another nod. "Do you need to…" he tried to make himself clear with a gesture. Another, more contained nod. "Yeah, okay, let's go…"
As soon as they were able to go, they went with haste to the nearest men's room. Lucas estimated another ten seconds would have been too late.
"I'm sorry…" the boy finally emerged from the stall, looking paler than he'd done when he'd gone in. "Please don't tell my parents about this? Or… anyone?"
"It stays in the airport," Lucas vowed, and the boy nodded. "Are you good now?" He was. "Alright, let's get you something to drink before we go wait for the other flight, yeah?"
They still would have had time to make their stop and get to the needed gate without it, but the extended delay they discovered when they got there afforded young Patrick the chance to sit and pull himself together a little more, in the confidence of the only other person who would ever know of his awkward arrival. As was to be expected, he didn't talk a whole lot for a while, answering any questions put to him with single words or a nod or shake of the head. Lucas mostly let him be through that time, though by the end he at least managed to get a bit more out of him. It had been something of a surprise to his parents that he'd wanted to be part of this program at all. Yes, when he'd been small, they'd lived on a farm, and they'd had a horse, but that was years ago and, frankly, he'd never looked the type to still be thinking about it all that much. But he'd made a compelling argument, to them and in his application, enough so that he'd been selected, so here he was. Without saying it aloud, which might have embarrassed the kid, Lucas hoped he would fare better on a horse than he'd done on a plane.
Finally, the second flight landed, bringing them seventeen-year-old Aliana Moore. The eleventh-grader out of Anchorage, Alaska had thankfully fared a lot better than her fellow exchange camper on the long flight. Oh, she was really glad to have finally arrived and get off the plane, but that only translated into her being very upbeat and talkative. She had grown up around horses, too, enough so that it was a common suggestion around her family that she'd ridden a horse before she could walk. Whether that was true or not, by now, she was very simply a natural up there. She regretted not being able to bring her own horse, Smoky, but if the trade-off was that she got to be out here, in Texas, for the next little while, then she would get through it. She'd never left her home state before, and she'd just sort of jumped at the opportunity when it presented itself. Lucas was more than happy to have her with them. He could already tell she would get along very well with Rosemary and in school, with Maya and the others.
With all bags retrieved, Lucas escorted Patrick and Aliana out of the airport and to his car. Making a conscious effort to drive extra smooth for the boy's sake, he took something of a scenic route from the airport as they neared the area that would be their home until the end of the school year. He pointed out a few things to them, places of interest. He pointed out the high school and the middle school when they passed them. They would start there on Monday morning. The nearer they got to Sullivan Stables, he gave them a bit of a history on the place, sharing how it had been created by his grandparents back in 1970, nearly sixty-four years ago already.
He told them how he'd spent his childhood out here, and how he'd been gone for many years, after his grandmother's passing. He told them how he'd found his way back here, and how it had led to him finding what he wanted to make of his life. He told them about the various iterations of camps he'd created for the place, and the fact that Katy's series filmed out here, based on the book of stories he'd collected. Neither of them had had any idea that this was the place, but for once since he'd picked them up their energies seemed to level up and meet. They both knew the show, both watched it and loved it, so to actually be in the place… Oh, it had only made things better.
"I thought some of the pictures looked familiar, but I couldn't figure out why," Aliana was all smiles as they got out of the car and made their way to Juliet's house with their belongings. They would stash them there until their host families came to pick them up.
"We considered mentioning it, but we didn't want it to influence anyone the wrong way," Lucas explained, recalling how they had actually gone out of their way not to include any images that made the connection overly evident. Apparently, it had worked… mostly.
By the time Juliet was able to come and join them, they were in the stables, getting a look at the facilities and their occupants. Aliana looked like she was just itching to get on a horse and ride, so they soon paired her up with Blanca. The horse had clearly taken to her already, and when she'd get out there with her… Yeah, she really did just come alive in a whole other way when she was riding. She got out there, hair flowing in the wind, and it was as though she and Blanca had been partners for as long as the horse had been out there with a rider on her back.
For his part, Patrick didn't feel up to getting on horseback just yet, which Lucas helped him chalk up to wanting to find just the right mount first even as he'd clearly started bonding to one of their late-summer quartet. Polka had not warmed up this fast to anyone since she'd first met the little sheriff. But she was growing more and more into her name, and Lucas' belief that she could be great with a rider, given time, was becoming more and more of an established fact. Maybe, with Patrick, she would show them what she had in her.
Leaving to pick up Marianne and Winnie, Lucas returned to find the exchange campers had left the stables in favor of awaiting the arrival of the after-school kids with Carson, up at the archive. The girls would get to meet them, along with Dylan and the rest of green group, when they kicked off their afternoon the way they usually did, with story time. Casting herself as the hostess/ambassador as was 'her birthright as Melinda Friar's grandchild,' Marianne made fast work of approaching the teens, introducing herself, and insisting that they come sit with the group on the floor to listen to Mr. Carson's story.
While her family would arrive later, same as the other host family, Rosemary arrived as they were leaving the archive on their way to play some games, to get the four and five-year-olds moving. Maya wanted to come out to meet the 'XCs' so it was only natural that she would drive out the junior girl along with her. Just as he'd predicted, Rosemary and Aliana made an instant friend connection. They swapped stories, one talking about how she'd been waiting all day, how she'd tried to get out of school to go to the airport, while the other talked of what she'd done on her way here, how she'd nearly missed her connecting flight…
Rosemary also got to be the one to introduce Aliana to her soon-to-be/temporary art teacher, and the impression was immediate here again that Miss Moore and Mrs. Friar would get along just fine. While the girls were still chatting away though, Lucas could just see Maya spying young Patrick as he stood aside, quietly observing his surroundings and looking sort of lonely. The teacher/mom reflexes were too strong for her to stand by and not do anything, naturally, so she approached him, and they got to talking. He may not have been going to her school, but he would be going to their old middle school, which she mentioned to him.
The fourteen-year-old definitely went the way of being shy around new people, especially girls, in the way that made him latch on to any and all topics he could think of that felt relevant. He mentioned how Lucas had told him about the show being filmed here, and when she told him that Katy was her mother, he was awed. It was really too bad that they weren't actually filming at the moment or at any point while the XCs would be in Austin, but at least Maya could consider the possibility of bringing some of the cast along to meet the two teenagers. Not all of them were local, but there was her mother, and Stevie, and Tilly…
Eventually, Mr. and Mrs. Adewumi arrived to meet Aliana and bring her and Rosemary home, while Patrick was introduced to and went with not one eighth-grader but two. As it turned out, there had been a last minute change of plans – already explained and agreed upon by the Mahoneys back in Pittsburgh – with the boy's host family. There had been a death in the family and, feeling that it would not be a good environment for their guest, they'd sought out their neighbors, who were in the same class. If this worried Patrick, he was soon reassured. He would be staying with Bobby and Ethan Davis and their parents, and both Lucas and Maya could vouch for them, promising that the next few months would be great. To see how the twins welcomed their new roommate, the promise was in good standing to be kept.
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
