April 16th 2020

Chapter 107
Their Road to Family

Monday morning had come along and with it an idea for this year's Halloween party. Lucas had been feeling out plans for his and Maya's anniversary already, though thankfully not so much that this switch of duties would require him to cancel or reimburse anything. He could always put those bits of a plan away until the next anniversary he'd be planning… They'd have two of those pretty soon, wouldn't they? Halloween and the day that followed could not be swept aside once they got married, no way.

Right now though, there was this anniversary, which was just a few weeks away, and he might not have been in charge of November 1st this time around, but he had Halloween, and the party, and he already knew what he wanted to do for costumes. The idea had only come as he'd already hit the road, on his way to school, and he could have waited until that night to explore it, but he had an hour ahead of him and no one to talk to, so he put in the call and sound of Maya's voice soon floated through the car via the speakers.

"Miss me already?" she asked, a smile in her voice.

"You know the answer to that one," he smirked. "I wanted to run this idea by you for Halloween."

"Wow, that didn't take long. I get to be told, too?"

"It's just not the kind of thing I'd be able to keep a surprise until then, people would have trouble picking costumes."

"Good point, yeah," she laughed. "So, what's the idea?" From what he could make out of ambient sounds, he guessed she was driving, too, off to the theater.

"Well, I was thinking about seeing my grandparents this afternoon, and that made me think about Halloween, when I was a kid, and how my grandmother, Marianne, would always come around on that day so she could get her picture of me in my costume…"

"I really wish I had known you back then…" Maya commented, which made him smile.

"Me, too," he assured her. "Which is sort of where I got the idea. A lot of us didn't know each other back then, so I thought it could be funny… and interesting… if we sort of dug up one of those old costumes and had them again. Not the actual costumes, just like… a reproduction… an update… We could have everyone bring one of their old pictures, if they have them, in their original costumes." He paused. "Is it bad? Too corny?"

"No, it's great," Maya laughed. "I'll have to do some digging on my end, but I'll get back to you on that." After they hung up, Lucas drove on in silence for a few seconds before putting in another call.

"Good morning!" Melinda Friar cheerfully greeted her son. Her voice emanated from the speakers like caffeine turned loose. "Are you on your way to school?"

"Yes, I've got you on speaker," Lucas informed her, before she got it in her mind that he might be driving and calling at the same time. He explained how he and Maya had switched 'assignments' this year on Halloween and the anniversary and he was finding himself charged with the Halloween party. "You know all those pictures Granny Marianne would have taken every year?"

"Oh, you were so adorable in those…" his mother immediately slid into that other register in her voice, the one that came with memories of her mother, dearly departed as she was. "My favorite will always be that first one, five months old and just the sweetest little pumpkin…"

"You got those pictures in an album, right?"

"Yes, of course. Mama had them all set, with the inscriptions in that fine hand of hers."

After Marianne Sullivan had passed on, Melinda had done her best to keep up the tradition. Lucas had a distinct memory of that first Halloween after his grandmother's passing. He was eleven, and the idea of just taking those pictures with his mother now had left him with this pit in his stomach, reminding him of how much he missed his grandmother and how this had been their tradition. It had taken his father pointing out how much it would mean to his mother, and how his grandmother would have wanted him to do it, before he could be convinced to even put on his costume. Now that he was grown, and especially since he had moved away from home, they didn't do the whole thing every year, but he still made sure to send a picture to his mother, knowing it would remind her of Marianne and make her happy.

"Would it be alright if I borrowed it? I'll give it back after, I promise."

"By all means, yes. Would you like to come and pick it up on your way home tonight, or no, I forgot, you finish late today, don't you?"

"That's fine, I can come and get it, I don't mind…"

"No, no, that would be silly. I have to go out this afternoon, I will bring it to Maya at the theater," his mother replied with a chuckle he swore could only be classified as 'knowing.' In this case, it was 'knowing that Maya will have a field day with these pictures.' He guessed he could deal with that, on the compromise that making Maya Hart happy was one of the things he loved to do the most in life.

Lucas didn't explain specifically what he wanted the pictures for, knowing that was an invitation to his mother going on and on about this year or that year and what he'd worn and how she had acquired or made the costume and what she thought of it and how much candy he had and how the weather was… He would reach school and she'd still be going. So, he just thanked her and wished her a good day and that was that.

As his mother had recalled, today was his 'long day' at school. It wasn't that he was overloaded with classes, no. And he didn't even finish that late, but with the drive back, it made the day seem even longer. The fact was that he had two classes in the morning, then most of the afternoon off before his last class of the day, which was the thing that kept him back so late. The semester had barely started before the routine had kicked off for Pappy Joe and Patty to drive up from Houston and have lunch with him every Monday. By some chance, Professor Robinson was not teaching at this time, which allowed for her to join her husband in spending some time with the young man who'd become her grandson at the tender age of twenty-three.

It was kind of amusing to see how widely known Professor Patty Robinson was known in academic circles. The first time she'd come to visit at his university, he'd caught more than one professor going around and stealing a look toward them as they went by, the slender white-haired woman being led along on her grandson's arm. It wasn't even for support, more like she was having him escort her through these halls which were presently his 'domain.' Pappy Joe would laugh and insist it was more to do with her essentially marking him for her family, as though to tell any and all 'this boy is important to me, treat him well.' Lucas couldn't say that he had gotten preferential treatment in any way, or that he would seek to have it, but there would still be those who would suddenly go and address him when they clearly hadn't known him or cared about him before. Maya had taken to refer to him as Prince Huck from time to time, as though he didn't have enough nicknames as it was.

Driving home after his last class that day, Lucas thought back to his lunch with the grandparents. They had ended up back on to the subject of Halloween, as he'd mentioned the album from his maternal grandmother. Pappy Joe remembered Marianne Sullivan fondly. She had gotten close to Susannah and him from the time Thomas and Melinda had become part of one another's life, of course, and she had been something like a sister to his late wife. When Susannah had passed, Marianne had been on her last years as well, whether they knew it at the time or not, and she had been right there to support him in his loss.

"I remember, when you were four years old, you told your mother you wanted to be me for Halloween," Pappy Joe laughed. "Your grandmas had you over at the house, looking around, deciding what would be the most me, and then they worked together to get everything right for you, little as you were."

"I thought I was dressed like a firefighter that year," Lucas had blinked, trying to remember.

"On the day, you were. You saw what all the neighbor kids were going as, and you changed your mind, an hour before trick or treating. Your dad had to go to the store all in a hurry to get you a new costume," Pappy Joe revealed, fishing his wallet from his back pocket. "I didn't mind. I still had this," he pulled out a folded image and handed it over to his grandson. There they were, as promised, twenty-one years younger the both of them. His grandfather's hair had been darker at the time, though the gray already showed. There he sat, on the front steps of what was now Lucas and Maya's house, fixing the hat atop his young grandson's head. Little Lucas was looking up at him, smiling and dressed identically to him, a perfect mini me.

His grandfather had agreed to let him borrow the image, which presently sat wedged in the pages of one of his textbooks, in his schoolbag on the passenger seat. He knew Maya would get a kick out of it, almost as much as Marianne's album. For his part… Lucas was left with something of a dilemma. On the one hand, his original thought had been to talk Zay, Asher, and Dylan into reuniting the Ninja Turtles of old, for one more ride, but now… Now it almost felt like he'd been handed this perfect idea. He had backed out of his original plan all those years ago, when he had been meant to go as his grandfather. Maybe this was his chance to make up for that time. It wouldn't be the flashiest of costumes, and people might not get what he was going for, but it was entirely possible that he didn't care whether they understood or not. His friends, they would know. Pappy Joe was nothing short of a legend in his closest circle.

"It's a miracle that it took eleven whole years for me to get a hold of this… masterpiece…" Maya declared with rousing drama when he walked through the door that night and found her waiting with the album still in her hands. Sam was off in the kitchen, setting up for their late dinner. Lucas leaned over the back of the couch, looking on as she slowly flipped the pages, showing all Halloweens, the costumes… His grandmother's smiling face was what made him happiest.

"I've got one more," he pulled out Pappy Joe's photo and set it on the open album. Maya gasped, picking it up. "How would you feel about me letting my beard grow out for a little while?" Four-year-old Lucas hadn't exactly been able to reproduce that part of his grandfather's look, but twenty-five-year-old Lucas didn't have that problem…

"I would be lying if I said I haven't wondered what that would look like on you," Maya turned her head up to look at him. "What if I love it so much I start lobbying for you to keep it?" she teased. He chuckled, giving the thought a bit of consideration.

"I'll have to think about it."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners