When the show ended, the meal was finished, and the bill was paid, Alastor drove Vaggie back to the circus.
"Thank you for dinner. It was very nice." She told them. "Goodnight."
"Don't I get a goodnight kiss?" Angel asked.
"Goodnight." She replied in an irritated tone before returning to her tent.
"Why don't you leave her alone?" Alastor asked. "It'll never work out."
"Says you, I think she likes me."
Fifteen minutes later, Alastor dropped Angel off at his apartment and then drove on back to the house. As they were walking inside, Charlie noticed that Alastor was gazing at her.
"Is something wrong?" She asked.
"No I was just wondering about something."
"What?"
"Have you ever had a boyfriend?"
"No but my parents have been trying to set me up with this one guy since I was fifteen. He was from another king- Commune! Commune that my father wanted to merge with."
"What's he like?"
"Trust me, it would have never worked out between us. He was far too arrogant and proud. Not to mention the commune he came from was very violent."
"Really? How strange. Don't hippies oppose violence?"
"It was a...A...A radical commune."
"Ah. Another reason why hippies get on my nerves. They can be such hypocrites. No offense."
"None taken. But why do you want to know if I ever had a boyfriend?"
"Oh well..." He willed himself not to blush. "I just wondered because you're...You're very...Very pretty and I thought that because of that you probably had a lot of boyfriends."
Charlie blushed.
"You think I'm pretty?" She asked bashfully.
"Not always." She looked up at him confused. "Sometimes you're beautiful."
Her blushing increased and she found it very hard to make eye contact.
"What's the matter?" He asked. "Have I offended you?"
"No. But no one has ever said that I was pretty or beautiful before. No one except for my parents and I always assumed it was because I was their daughter."
"You can't be serious. No one other than your parents have ever called you pretty or beautiful?"
"That boy they wanted me to date said that I was pretty enough."
"Pretty enough?" He seemed aghast. "You're positively lovely. Especially your eyes. I've heard people say that they sparkle like sunlight on the ocean surface."
"Who said that?"
"Uh..." He couldn't hide his blush any longer. "I forget. But the point is you're...You're one of the most beautiful women I have ever met."
"Who are the others? Old girlfriends?"
"No. I never had a girlfriend. I never had the time for one. Actually I never had time for any friends except for Angel."
"So what did you do for fun?"
"I never had time for fun either. I always had too much to do. I barely remember what it means to have fun."
"Then I think it's time that we change that."
"What do you mean?"
"It's Summer and you're in a place like this. A place where there are countless activities and events guaranteed to get your blood pumping. Why don't you ask Rosie for the week off and we spend it doing every fun thing imaginable?"
"Interesting idea but there's no way Rosie is going to give me a week off. I'm her best act."
"Alright, how about this then? Ask her for the week off tomorrow and if she says yes then you cannot work or worry at all that week. Just relax and have fun."
"Deal but I'm telling you, she's not going to give me the week off. I haven't even worked for her for a complete month."
But to his surprise, Rosie did give him the week off. He agreed with Charlie that Alastor had spent too many years being the responsible adult. He needed time to be young and dumb, and Charlie was going to make sure that the entire week was one of laughter and sincere smiles. For extra measure, she got Beth and Angel in on it and they were more than happy to assist. The three of them came up with a plan to give Alastor seven fun-filled days.
On Sunday he, Charlie, and Beth collected seashells on the shore during the day and at night they chased fireflies and built a fire. Alastor told ghost stories while the girls roasted marshmallows and made smores. But no one got any sleep because Beth had secretly eaten six smores that led to her bouncing on the walls and running around all night.
"Elisabeth Renee Boudreaux you are never having sugar again! Do you hear me?!" Alastor shouted as he tried to grab the girl running back and fourth on the sand.
"More marshmallows! More chocolate!" She cried. "Sugar gives me power!"
"Get back here!"
"You can't catch me! You can't catch me!"
On Monday it was very cool so Alastor thought it would be a perfect day for bike riding and invited Angel to join them. And he invited Vaggie. Problem was though, neither Charlie or Vaggie knew how to ride a bike so the boys would steer the bicycles and the girls would ride on the handlebars.
"I don't know about this." Vaggie said as they stood at the top of a steep hill. "I mean riding on the handlebars doesn't seem very safe."
"Relax toots, Al and I used to ride our bikes like this all the time with our sisters." Angel said. "When we were kids we'd even take turns on the handlebars."
"And nothing bad happened?"
"Nothing bad happened. Well there was that time I was thrown into Mrs. Russo's Holly bush but that was because I tried to ride with no hands."
"And this thing, this device has brakes, right?" Charlie asked Alastor.
"Yep." He assured her. "Just hold on tight."
Charlie and Vaggie shared a glance of uncertainty.
"Okay." Charlie complied reluctantly.
"Here we go."
Alastor and Angel pushed off at the same time and down the hill they went. Charlie gripped the handlebars tightly, she was very afraid at first. When Alastor hit a small bump she closed her eyes and leaned back fearfully, he chuckled and kept his arms securely around her and on the handlebars.
"Don't worry." He whispered into her ear. "I'd never let anything happen to you. Believe me."
The ride became steady and smooth, Charlie began to feel at ease. She opened her eyes and very soon a smile was on her face. She was laughing, laughing at how the speed and the wind tickled her belly.
"This is fun." She cheered. "What do you think Vaggie?"
"Well I'm not dead yet so I guess I'm inclined to agree." Her friend answered.
"Babe you work in a circus." Angel told her. "How can something like this freak you out?"
"Just don't throw me off, okay?"
When Angel went over a bump, Vaggie's hand instinctively went on top of his and gripped it. All Angel did was smile and slowed down. Eventually she too overcame her initial fear and was able to enjoy the ride.
On Tuesday Alastor and Charlie took Beth to the Louisiana wild life sanctuary. Beth never really approved of zoos, she much preferred to visit sanctuaries because the animals were only brought there to be cared for if they were injured or sick and once the animals healed, they were set free. They saw a bobcat who was recovering from a broken foot, a brown pelican who broke his wing, a mother fox who had become lost in the city during her pregnancy and had now given birth to six kits, and an alligator who recently had surgery from swallowing too much litter that had been left in the bayou.
"Here we have the American Alligator." The tour guide said directing them over to makeshift habitat. "This poor creature had swallowed tin cans and plastic jugs left behind by careless litter bugs. He probably would have died if our team hadn't of found him and removed all that trash from his stomach. That's why it's important that you respect nature and try not to leave garbage in just any place."
"Hey where's the alligator?" Beth asked looking over the fence.
"He's probably just hiding in the water."
"Or standing right over there."
One kid pointed over to the giant reptile chewing on a trash can.
"Oh shit!" The tour guide grabbed her walkie-talkie and talked into it. "Jim get the tranquilizer! The gator got out again!"
Alastor immediately picked up Beth, grabbed Charlie by the hand, and ran out of there as fast as he could. The other tourists followed suit while screaming in a panic.
"Why is everyone so scared of that creature?" Charlie asked as Alastor was pulling her along.
"Because alligators will literally eat anything! Including people!" Alastor said.
"Actually as long as you don't provoke alligators, they'll leave you alone." Beth said watching the animal from over Alastor's shoulder.
"Well we can't provoke them if we're far away from them!"
"Alastor will you put me down? I can run you know."
"I'll put you down when we're in the car!" He said holding her securely to his chest.
On Wednesday Charlie and Alastor went to a book fair and later a poetry reading while Angel took Vaggie and Beth out for Italian style pizza and to the arcade. On Thursday the five of them went to see a movie and on Friday they went fishing. On Saturday they had a fish fry at the house, and Beth had a water balloon and water gun battle with Angel, Vaggie, and Fat Nuggets while Alastor taught Charlie how to cook the fish.
"Alright Fat Nuggets we have to have the element of surprise." Angel said carefully scouting the yard with a loaded water gun. "I refuse to be defeated by a chick and a kid."
"Hey bleach head!"
Angel heard Beth's voice come calling from above. He looked up and saw her and Vaggie hiding in the tree tops with countless water balloons. They threw those water balloons on to Angel like hail from a storm.
"Sorry Angel but it looks like the element of surprise is ours." Vaggie laughed as she climbed down.
"That's what you think!"
Angel dropped his water gun, threw Vaggie over his shoulder, and ran down to the edge of the road.
"What are you doing?! Put me down you freak!"
But he just smirked and jumped right off the edge, falling into the ocean and taking Vaggie along with him. Splash!
"How's that for a surprise?" Angel asked when they came back up to the surface.
"Oh you jerk! I'm gonna drown you for this!"
Vaggie then started shoving Angel underwater. He in turn would just pull her under with him. Beth and Fat Nuggets jumped in after them and she instigated a splashing fight.
"Hey!" They heard Alastor call thirty minutes later. "The food is ready and you better come and get it now while it's still hot."
The two adults, one child, and pig pulled themselves out of the water and quickly went back up for a delicious dinner of fried fish, coleslaw, fries, and hush puppies. Throughout the meal, Alastor paid close attention to the smiles on everyone's faces. They were so carefree, so natural, so unrehearsed, so genuine. Nothing at all like his smiles. In fact he wasn't sure if he could even make smiles like that.
Little did he realize that throughout this entire week, he had been smiling exactly the way they were all. During that week he had felt genuine happiness and was able to genuinely smile for once. Which didn't go unnoticed by Charlie, and that's what she wanted. She wanted to make him sincerely happy and make his smiles real instead of false.