"Well, here you are." Meghan's host-parent said as he lowered to clunky suitcases to the floor. "Welcome to your room."
Anthony, who'd pretty much been as silent as his napping little brother the whole time, immediately swung the duffel off his shoulder and dropped it to the floor with a thud. He then made a quick exit as his father went on talking. As many teenage boys do, Anthony only had one thing on his mind: food. More specifically, the roast turkey downstairs in the refrigerator.
"I imagine you'll want to be getting into bed straight away. Don't bother changing tonight. You'll unpack tomarrow. Go ahead and sleep in your clothes. If you're hungry, we've got turkey downstairs. Would you like us to warm some up for you?"
"Oh, no, thank you. I ate on the plane."
"Right, wonderful. Well, you can go on to bed then. Faye will be doing the same in a few minutes."
Meghan was relieved not to have to dig through her bags for her pajamas. As the others started out of the room, she suddenly remembered something she'd been instructed to do.
"May I call my family?" she asked. "I mean, to let them know I made it?"
Mr. Winthrop stopped. "Oh - most certainly."
And so, Meghan found herself on the phone back downstairs, struggling to hold her eyes open. She spoke to the operator.
"I need to make a collect call to the U.S., please."
Soon enough she heard a familiar voice on the line.
"Reynold's residence."
"Mom?"
"Meghan!"
Catherine's voice was crackly, but Meghan was, all the same, happy to hear it.
"Yeah, it's me."
"Did you make it there alright? We miss you already."
"Yes I did, and I miss you guys too."
How true that was. How very true.
"How are you doing? Did the flight wear you down?"
"I'm tired, but otherwise I'm fine." Meghan replied. "Um, what time is it?"
"Here? Oh, about 8 o'clock."
Again the traveller was shocked.
"8 o'clock! That's crazy! Do you even know how late it is here?"
Catherine gave a knowing chuckle.
"No. How late is it, Meghan?" she said teasingly.
"It's 1am! 1am! Do you believe that?"
"No, I don't. I guess you're living in the future then, am I right?"
Meghan was beginning to feel not only tired, but ridiculous.
"Well, anyway, just wanted to let you know that I..."
She heard someone talking in the crackly background.
"Yeah, it's her. Hol - hold on." she heard her mom say, away from the phone. She came back on again. "Wanna talk to your aunt?" she asked.
"Oh - sure."
Meghan began to feel a bit nervous and awkward as her mind touched on a certain object in her purse. She readied herself.
"Meg? Is that you?"
She took a deep breath.
"Yes, it's me, Aunt Libby."
"Hey! Did you make it?"
"Sure did."
"Good. They treating you well?"
"Of course. Too well, actually."
Meghan glanced into the kitchen a few feet away, where Anthony hungrily sliced a slab of the turkey she'd been offered a portion of.
Her aunt laughed.
"Oh, well, I'd expect that. So, you ready to come home yet?"
"Not even! I'm just ready to go to bed."
"You sound like it."
Meghan leaned against the wall.
"Well, anyway, I can't talk long - is Daphne there?"
"Uh, sorry honey. She's in the shower. I'll have her call you tomarrow."
"Oh."
There was a pause.
"Meghan...you did get my... "
"Yeah, I did."
Another pause. Meghan wasn't quite sure what to say. She searched her mind for words.
"Aunt Libby?"
"Mmmm?"
The weary girl gave the best words she could come up with, packing them with meaning and sending them across the Atlantic.
"Thank you."
By the time talkative Faye went to bed, she had no one to talk to. I was already long gone.
I hadn't even bothered to turn down the covers. I'd fallen asleep right on top of them, with my denim jacket hanging over the footboard.
I woke up in Foofy Pink Land at about 10am. Faye was tugging on her ruffly pink quilt, making her bed. I drowsily raised my head as she moved to arrange about a truckload of ruffled and tufted accent pillows in the shapes of hearts and circles.
"Oh, good! You're awake!" she chimed happily.
Propping myself up on my elbow, I brushed hair out of my face. I watched her through foggy eyes.
"Mother's making special breakfast downstairs. You're going to adore her hash..."
Faye's nightgown moved back and forth as she skittered around the bed. Her slippers flip-flopped against the floor. While she talked, I noticed some beautiful white shears flowing in the breeze that blew in through a slightly open window. The sun shone brightly through, making the pink room look luminous and calm.
I was watching the dancing fabric when suddenly there came a huge thump on my bed. I snapped up with a start to see a big orange tabby next to my leg.
"Oh! Well, hi there."
Faye laughed.
"His name is Benjamin." she told me before I could ask. "Benny for short. I think he rather likes you."
The cat plopped down and gave me a hard stare, as if in examination.
"He sure is big." I commented.
"That's because he eats everything in sight." Faye explained. "And Anthony seems to quite enjoy sneaking him table scraps, which isn't any help." A look of disdain fell over her face.
I was now completely sitting up. I gently reached out to stroke Benny's head with apprehension. He gave me a wary look, but allowed me to touch.
Faye finished arranging pillows and sat on her bed. "Did you sleep well?" she asked.
"Hmmm...did I sleep well...I think I did. I mean, the last thing I remember is falling into this bed, so I obviously slept through the night. And...I guess I feel pretty refreshed, seeing as I can now peice together marginally coherant speech."
Faye smiled wider.
"Very glad to hear that. You're going to want to be awake - there's a lot in store for you. Today, we're just getting you settled in, but tomarrow! What with the first day of school and shopping - oh, it'll be just brilliant! There's this store Mum and I love to go to, it carries the most sublime handbags! Oh, we're going to have the most wonderful time..."
I stood up and walked over to the sunny window, brushing more hair out of my eyes and behind my ears. As Faye went on talking, I pulled back the shears and looked outside.
There view was very charming - not spectacular, but charming. In other words, just how I would want it. Behind the Winthrop house was a short fence, and on the other side of the fence I could see a small, grassy park. I didn't see any jungle gyms in this park, just walking paths, picnic table, and benches. But it was beautiful. Beautiful and green.
The fence was wooden, and surrounded the entire back area of the house. I looked down and observed a grouping of lovely, well-kept potted plants. Also, I saw an outdoor table with chairs, near a barbecue grill. It looked much like our neighbor's roof back in New York, where we were often invited to join them for hamburgers. Mr. Therman, our neighbor and the cook, always made the best hamburgers; he beat McDonald's by a landslide.
As I gazed out of the window, the sun warmed my face. The air was fresh and crisp as I took it in. As I watched an old lady walking her scottie dog in the park, Faye came up to stand beside me. She placed her hands on the windowsill.
"Isn't it a lovely park? I think so. We'll have to go there one day while you're here. Oh - did you see the lilies? They're quite gorgeous."
"Yes, they're very nice." I told her. Though I was glad to be so warmly welcomed by Faye into her room, she seemed a bit, well, perky to me. And usually, extremely perky people get tired of me pretty fast. I get along better with goofy people that look at life with quiet humor and optimism. Although, my cousin's pretty perky at times...I guess it depends on the person. I stared out the window at some trees at the other end of the park.
We heard somone calling from down in the kitchen.
"Breakfast's on the table!" I heard Faye's mother call in her lovely celtic dialect.
"Come on. Let's go down to eat. You're going to like this, my mother's an excellent cook."
I could tell that Faye wasn't lying, for I could already smell something scrumptious. I turned away from the pretty window and followed my roomate, straightening out my rumpled NY t-shirt.
We gingerly stepped down the stairs. As we passed into the kitchen, I glanced into the living room...or parlor...or den...or whatever, and I saw in there an old, chubby man with large glasses. He muttered to himself as he watched some weird sport on TV.
"Uh...who's that?" I whispered to Faye as we walked.
"Oh, that's my great uncle Wallace. He can be a rather cantankerous fellow sometimes. Most of the time he just likes to sit in that room and watch cricket matches. He often yells at the television and throws crackers when someone he likes is losing." she said with a laugh.
Intriguing.
When we got into to the kitchen I saw the adjacent dining room with vibrant red walls. At the table sat Mr. Winthrop and Anthony, as well as Jacob in a high chair. Jacob was giggling sweetly as he banged a plastic bowl. As we got there, he dropped it on the floor and looked over the edge of his chair with confusion. I bent to pick it up for him, and he gave me a playful little smile.
As I gave the bowl back to him, Mrs. Winthrop walked over, holding a huge tray of food. It looked delicious.
"Delighted to see that you're up, Meghan." she said, beaming. I sat down with Faye grinning next to me. I was more than ready to eat.
Hope you all liked that! What do you think of the host family? I put tons of thought into their personalities.
Next ones up soon! Bye until next time
-rf-
WARNING!!!!!: As of Tuesday, February 20th, 2007, I will be changing the title of this story from Best Friend to Never Too Late, as the current title is lame and only the best I could come up with at the time when I first posted my story. I hope this title is better, but no big deal if it isn't. Hope you guys keep reading no matter what, because that's what is really important. :)