"You ready, Steph?"
"Definitely! Let's go. Bye mom!"
Stephanie followed Virgil out her front door and climbed into his car, saying hi to Charlie who was in the back seat.
"So, Virgil, you're sure it's ok with Zeke that we're having it at the Carpenter's?" Charlie asked once they started going.
"Yeah, he said it was."
"Ok guys, explanation time," Stephanie said, looking over at Virgil. "What do you mean 'the Carpenter's'? I thought Zeke said it was at his house. Isn't his last name Thompson? And why wouldn't it be ok to have it at his house? Or wherever we are having it? Ah!" She held her head in her hands. "I am so confused."
"Look, Stephanie," Virgil said slowly, "I would explain it to you all, but I think Zeke wants to tell you himself. Everything will make sense in a while. Oh, Charlie, by the way, Jeanette's gonna be there tonight, too."
"Jeanette?" Stephanie asked. "Ok, now I really am confused."
Virgil smiled a little bit but didn't say anything. Charlie started talking about some new invention he was working on, but in not too long Virgil pulled over to the side of the street in front of a small house. "Here we are."
The three of them walked to the door and Virgil knocked. He turned to Stephanie with a smile.
"Brace yourself."
"Huh?"
The door was immediately flung open. "Virgil! Charlie!"
A crowd of kids flung themselves on Virgil and Charlie, all talking at once. Then suddenly all six pairs of energetic eyes turned to Stephanie.
"Are you Stephanie?" a small girl asked.
"Yeah, I am," Stephanie answered with a slightly confused but kind smile. "Who are you?"
"I'm Sarah!" "I'm Billy!" "I'm Ellie!" All the kids started saying their name's at once, trying to be louder than their siblings. Stephanie laughed and held up her hands.
"Ok, one at a time. Now, you start." Stephanie bent over with her hands on her knees so she was almost eye-level with the kids, then pointed to them one by one and they told her their names.
Virgil and Charlie watched with amazement. This was the quietest they had ever seen the Carpenter kids, but all six of them were just staring at Stephanie with wide eyes, like she was an angel or something. Virgil knew Stephanie had always been good with kids, but this was amazing!
"Ok, so, it's Sarah, Carrie, Billy, Ellie, Andy and Jamie. " Stephanie went down the line again, remembering every kid's name. They all beamed when she got it right.
"Ok, munchkins, let them come inside for crying out loud."
Virgil, Charlie, and Stephanie looked up to see Zeke with his arms crossed, head down, but a big smile on his face. The kids smiled up at him like they thought he was the greatest thing in the world, then scampered inside.
"You call them munchkins now? To their face?" Virgil asked as he stepped inside.
Zeke shrugged. "They seem to like it. Sorry about all that, Stephanie."
"You don't have to apologize, I love kids."
"Are they here, Zeke?" a woman's voice called.
"Yeah, they are," he yelled back. "Want to come meet Stephanie?"
A smiling lady emerged from the kitchen, wiping her hand on an apron, then extending it to Stephanie.
"I'm Elaine Carpenter."
"I'm Stephanie Jameson. Thank you so much for letting me come to your house."
"It's my pleasure! I'm sorry my husband can't be here, he usually works on Friday nights. But don't let me keep you with all my talking, I think your show is starting." Mrs. Carpenter said hi to Virgil and Charlie, then went back to the kitchen with a smile.
"So what we counting down tonight?" Virgil asked, sitting down on the couch. Stephanie took a seat next to him, starting to wonder if anyone would explain things to her, because she was really getting confused.
"Floods, I think," Zeke answered, sitting down on the floor, while Charlie took the recliner.
Stephanie bit the corner of her lip, looking at the tv screen, but thinking totally separate thoughts.
I'm sure someone will explain things soon, stop worrying. So let's see, Zeke's last name is Thompson, not Carpenter, but that's Mrs. Carpenter, and this is the 'Carpenter's house', but Zeke said it was 'his place'. And I didn't think he had any siblings. Then again, I don't know very much about him at all. Just stop worrying and enjoy yourself tonight.
She blew out a little puff of air.
"Steph, you ok?" Virgil asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Oh man, you're probably still confused, aren't you?"
Smiling a little bit, she nodded. Zeke suddenly looked up and between her and Virgil.
"You guys didn't tell her?"
"No, we thought we'd leave it to you."
"Oh boy." Zeke ran his hand through his hair. "Uh-"
"Guys! Hush! You're missing the first flood!" Charlie exclaimed.
"Come with me, Stephanie," Zeke said softly, looking slightly uncomfortable. He got up and started walking to the hallway, hitting Charlie over the top of the head as he walked past.
Stephanie looked at Virgil. "Is this ok? With him, I mean," she whispered.
"It'll be fine, don't worry about it. Just go."
Stephanie stood up and started walking slowly, glancing back at Virgil as she went. He smiled, gave her a small thumbs-up, and went back to watching the tv. Zeke was standing in the hallway in front of the stairs, watching as she walked over to where he was.
Calm down, Steph, he's just a guy.
She was usually really good with people. Just about everybody. Stephanie hated to admit it and felt like a dork, but she was really intimidated by Zeke. Not only was he really big, pretty much towering over her, he was a biker guy who was almost always glaring at someone. Over all, kind of scary. She sighed a little bit as she reached him and tried to smile.
"So, is something up?" She hoped her voice was casual, but that was hard.
"Oh come on, don't even pretend you haven't noticed," Zeke said softly, looking down at her.
Stephanie looked down at the floor, unsure of what to say.
Zeke sighed. "My name's Thompson, their's is Carpenter. I don't have siblings that young. Stephanie, these people aren't even related to me."
The pieces started to come together in Stephanie's mind even as Zeke slowly said:
"I'm a foster child."
Stephanie wasn't really that shocked, just sort of surprised, but for some reason she couldn't speak. What could she say? She was thankful when a voice cut in.
"Oh, hi Stephanie!" Jeanette waved from where she was coming down the stairs. "Hi Jeanette."
"Jeanette, Charlie and Virg are in the living room," Zeke said simply.
The spunky girl walked past them and into the living room. "Hi bluebird! Hi Virgil!"
Stephanie looked at Zeke with a questioning glance.
"Babysitter."
She nodded her head. Everything made sense. Why did she feel so weird about it?
Zeke shrugged. "Look, plain and simple, I've been a foster child my whole life. I've never been to juvie and my parents aren't criminals, if you're wondering. They just gave me up for adoption when I was born. So, now you know."
Stephanie nodded and smiled, but she still couldn't think of anything to say. The two of them walked quietly back to the living room.