The Ballad of Michael & Beulah

A famous American president once said, "The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family."

Thinking that quote over, it puts a smile on my face because as I sit here in the attic of my grandparents' home, amidst photo albums and old journals galore, I can see how the same was true for my family as well.

Across my right leg, an opened photo album lay draped on my knee like a wilting banana peel, browning with age. On my left leg, a journal buried beneath a pile of letters that were addressed, but never sent; although clearly opened and read many a time. Perhaps over and over.

I let my hands graze over each surface of the letters and the journal, picturing the much younger hands that held pens and pencils to recount the events of a day, to recollect the events of a decade, and to reminisce on the events of an era.

What were they thinking as they wrote these notes back and forth to each other? My grandparents, that is. What was in their hearts, on their minds...

Flitting my blue eyes to the photo album, I found myself looking down at a photograph that was taken almost fifty years ago, and matching it to the letter on the top of the pile I'd created, I could just imagine the scene of that particular moment...

* * *

There was a buzz of life amongst the streets of Beijing as the Chinese citizens and residents went about their daily lives, not paying one iota of attention to the Caucasian American family holding hands as they stepped into a gourmet Chinese restaurant that served the real deal in Chinese cuisine.

Having spent the day shopping almost endlessly before making a brief pit stop at their hotel to leave their new purchases behind, this much needed meal was just what the doctored ordered.

Amidst the atmosphere of the Xinjiang Red Rose Restaurant, Michael Pritchard, better known as Mike Dirnt, sat across the table from his wife of ten years, Beulah, who smiled at him, despite feeling slightly frazzled by having four children in their company.

On one side of the table sat twenty-year-old Estelle and nine-year-old Aurora 'Rory' Pritchard. Across from the sisters were the brothers: sixteen-year-old Bailey Armstrong and eleven-year-old Vegas Pritchard. All four were talking animatedly as their parents tried to talk over them to the waiter who was trying to get their order.

"Wo lai dian cai," Mike muttered in Chinese to Beulah so that the waiter could hear as well, then turning to the man standing beside them with a smile.

"Ni xiang he ying liao ma?" he asked; notepad and pencil in hand.

As Mike did his best to order in the native language of the country and not be the typical American and expect everyone to speak English, Beulah turned to Bailey who was egging his younger siblings on and being a general pisspot.

Ever his father's son.

"Bailey, act your age," she snipped.

Turning his green eyes upon his mother, the teenager ceased all movement and sat back in his chair but only giving Vegas a small punch to the shoulder. "Not my shoe size, right?" he added with a devilish smirk.

Rolling her eyes, Estelle made a face of irritation but then turned her attention toward her father when she realized he was rattling off her order to the rather handsome Asian waiter.

"Dad, no...Vegas wanted the roast pork lo mein with duck sauce...I wanted the--"

The rest of Estelle's correction was lost to Beulah as she turned her face upon Rory who was drinking from a bottle of water and clearly swinging her legs back and forth underneath the table. And it was quite amusing.

To Beulah, it was like looking in the mirror sometimes. Where Bailey was like a twin of Billie Joe, so was Rory to Beulah.

She had the same light blonde hair she'd had as a child, the same shade of blue eyes, the same shape of face...it was uncanny.

When Rory looked up at her mother, she gave her a quirky smile worthy of Mike's and, at that moment, she was all her father.

"You like China, honey?"

Rory nodded. "Uh-huh." Then she added. "Bailey bought a book on how to say stuff in Chinese and he showed me how to say some things."

This worried Beulah a little. "What kind of things?" she asked warily, subtly glancing at her oldest son.

"Zhu kou," Rory replied nonchalantly, and Beulah let out a sigh of relief.

"Alright, that just means 'shut up.'"

"And ta ma de."

Beulah's eyes widened, snapping her head to Bailey just as the utterance of words from the little girl's lips also caught the attention of her father and the slightly bemused waiter who had finished taking their orders.

"What?" Bailey questioned, clearly dumbfounded.

Mike was trying to be the stern parent, but he couldn't help but smirk, if only faintly, as he looked upon his stepson. "You taught you sister how to say 'fuck you' in Chinese?" he whispered, knowing his baby girl had no idea what it was she'd been taught.

Bailey looked back at his stepfather and shrugged. "It's not like I told her to say it in English. And, plus, if someone tries to steal her away or something while we're here in Beijing, she can shout that at 'em."

"Bailey...that's not the point," Beulah chastised, suddenly feeling older than her thirty-seven years. Shaking her head, she washed her hands of the situation for the moment, just wanting to enjoy their dinner.

And as their meal was served, an enjoyable evening is just what happened.

"That nice cam'wa, miss," complimented Beulah out of the blue as she was listening in on something Estelle was saying about her roommate from college. Turning to look up at the waiter, she smiled.

"Wha--oh. Xie xie," she thanked.

"Yoh fam'ly very happy. You want I take photograph of all you? Foh many mem'ries?"

"Uh...yes," she nodded, looking over to Mike with a nod.

As the six of them all hunched together, the waiter took their picture and then handed the camera back as well has handing over their bill, which Mike took.

* * *

Later that evening, Mike was laying on their bed in their hotel suite, flicking through the channels of Chinese television and not really getting any of it. They did, however get to see reruns of Friends that was dubbed over with Chinese voice actors speaking the parts of the six New York City thirty-somethings.

Closing his eyes for a moment, the punk rocker, who'd finally reached the age of forty-five, smiled lazily when he felt the shift of weight on the mattress and the hand dragging up the length of his chest.

The hand that had done that almost every night for the last decade and then some.

Opening his eyes slowly, he looked down to see Beulah curling up against his side and holding her digital camera in her hands to show him a picture.

"They're growing up too fast," she spoke solemnly.

"Sometimes not fast enough."

Turning her head up to him, she shot him a look. "How can you say that?"

"Well, because in nine years we can run naked through the house without worrying about the kids walking in on us banging like wild monkeys on the kitchen table."

"We do that now," she reminded nonchalantly.

"You know what I mean." Smirking, Mike leaned his head forward to press his lips upon her forehead as he snaked an arm around her shoulders to glance at the picture that was shown on the camera.

It was all of them huddled around the dinner table at the restaurant.

"They are growing up fast, though."

"Told you," Beulah muttered. After a moment set aside for quiet reverie and general thought, she reached across her husband to set the camera down on the bedside table on his side and then laying her weight on top of him; looking up at him with her chin resting on his chest. "You still wanna run around naked with me when we're old and gray?"

"I wouldn't have married you if I didn't."

Beulah smiled. "Good answer." Pulling herself up, she leaned on her elbows on either side of his chest and kissed him on the lips; a gestured his happily reciprocated.

"I think we need to vacation in Beijing more often."

"Why's that?"

"It's turning out to be the new City of Love."

"You said that about Cairo, Egypt and Edmonton in Canada."

Looking her in the eye ever so softly and cupping both sides of her face, he grinned. "'Cause I had you there with me..."

Beulah just grinned right back. "Keep it up and you always will."

"Oh, don't worry, babe. I plan on it."