Anything But Normal

Well hello shoppers. Aisle 2 was fun, No? Aisle 3 is a bit tense so wear your rubbers (rain boots for you American type shoppers)! It may get a bit rainy in here! Let’s grab our carts and get shopping.

When I woke up, it wasn’t to my alarm clock, or even the kids. It was to someone knocking on the door. I glanced over at my clock to see that it was 8:00 am. I groaned and rolled out of bed, checking in the mirror above my bureau to make sure that my hair looked alright. I was wearing a tank top and some yoga pants so that was okay to answer the door in. I padded down the hall and heard Ella crying in the room that she shared with James. She must have had nightmare. I thought to myself. I went into the room real quick and picked her up. James, who had been woken by Ella’s cries and had tried to comfort her, followed behind me like a little duckling.
By the time I had reached the door the knocking had stopped. I unbolted it hastily and pulled it open. There on the front path stood Rhonda and Derek. Rhonda had turned to leave but Derek still stood there on the porch.

“Sorry. I had to get Ella, she had a nightmare. Won’t you come in? I’ll put on the tea and make some pancakes.”

“Miss Ella had a nightmare? Oh that won’t do at all. I think I might just have to come in now.”
Derek came in the door and took Ella from me as I turned to go into the kitchen so that I could make their tea. Jamie took my hand as we walked. We made and odd little procession on our way into the kitchen, Me in the lead with Jamie holding my hand and trailing along behind, Derek holding Ella, who had cuddled into his chest, and finally Rhonda bringing up the rear and shutting the front door. I sat James down and indicated to Derek that he and Ella could sit at the table as well. Rhonda took a seat at the head of the table.

“Now I don’t think that I can make these pancakes all by myself. Jamie, Ella, will you came and help me get them started?”

They jumped up and came to the counter where we always made pancakes. I put out all of the ingredients and got out the mixing bowl and a fork for each of them. As they made the batter, they knew it by heart now, I went ahead and put on the tea kettle and heated up the griddle that we used for making pancakes. I pulled out five mugs, the little ones would have hot chocolate, and put teabags in the other three. Then, since Ella and Jamie were done making the batter I ladled the first four pancakes out on to the now heated griddle.

“Ms. de Luca, we have come here this morning to discuss the price and market for your house. I calculated the figures and I must confess that I do believe that your house will sell very quickly. Would you mind if, after breakfast, we took a tour of your lovely home?”

“That would be fine. We already started packing so some of the rooms are full of boxes. Then there is the matter of one of the rooms. The master bedroom will need a cleaning crew and possibly new carpet and paint. I will have to see about that later on. The rest of the house is in good shape though. It appears a bit drab on the outside but nothing a few flowers can’t spruce up.”

~<3~||||||||~<3|||||||

After we had all eaten breakfast I showed Rhonda and Derek the house. Ella and James provided a constant source of chatter for them. Rhonda suggested that I add new curtains in all of the rooms to give them a bit more privacy. When I had shown them all of the rooms, with the exception of the master suite, Rhonda told me that she would have the details made up and my house would be on the market first thing in the morning. As we waved goodbye to them, Ella ran back into the house and I had to follow her. I found her cured up in a ball in her room, sobbing lightly.

“Ella, love, what’s the matter?”

“Derek is my friend and now he’s left. Will he come back?”
I smiled at how cute this was and nodded. She burst in to a face cracking grin and tackled me in a hug. Jamie came into the room and insisted that we go to the park because it wasn’t raining today. I packed a bag full of toys and snacks for them and we drove to the little park in the center of town. There weren’t very many children there but that was mostly because it was so early, it was barely half nine yet and most of the kids who played here were probably still watching cartoons, or getting ready to go to church since it was Sunday.
We played at the park for a few hours before going to the store to get some dinner. I got steaks because we didn’t have them very often and I wanted to give the kids a treat tonight. We also got enough groceries for the rest of the week and then I let them each pick out a snack that they wanted to take with them to their friends’ houses this afternoon. It was tradition for them to go over to a friend’s house on Sunday afternoon while I drove up to Seattle to visit my Aunt. She didn’t care very much to have little kids around which seemed odd to me because she had had six kids.
*~*~*~*~*~*
I visited with my aunt and then drove back home. It was almost five o’clock so when we got home I started making dinner. As I was setting out the meals, the doorbell rang. It was Ella’s friend Cassidy and her brothers, Alex and Seth. Alex was Jamie’s age and Seth…well you’ve met Seth.
“I hope we’re not intruding but Ella left her toy over at our house and Cass insisted that we bring it over.”

“Why don’t you stay for dinner? I made more than enough and I’m sure that Ella and Jamie would be delighted to have you stay. I know that I would.”
So Seth, Cassidy, and Alex stayed for dinner and ended up staying the night at our house. It was big enough for that anyway. Seth stayed in my room and Cassidy and Alex stayed with Jamie and Ella. I could hear their giggles from my room and I smiled as I fell asleep.
My dreams that night were odd.

I was walking down a street that was paved with wooden clocks. The buildings had no windows, no doors.
A strange blue light hovered over the whole world it seemed and it washed all of the color out of everything.
A fierce wind whipped around me and blew gray leaves past where I stood. The wind caused an eerie sound, like wind chimes made of bones, to echo all around.
Malicious laughter surrounded me and a great clawed hand reached out from the gloom and snatched me away.

I awoke shuddering and gasping in the blackness of my room. Seth sat up and, seeing that I was awake, came over and held me close. We stayed like that for who knows how long but we eventually fell asleep, me in his arms. It was the first time in a very long time that I felt warmth as I slept. I finally felt like maybe, just maybe, someone cared about me.