Ghost Granny (11 page)

Luna told the adults to close their eyes.
Luna counted to ten and when they opened their eyes again there
were apples on long strings hanging from the flood lights and
overhead beams. Catherine vaguely remembered something Sebastian
had told her about the apple game, but she could not remember now
exactly what he had told her. A person dressed as a ghost came out
onto the stage and handed each of the adults a pair of blind
folds.

Luna told them to position themselves, two
by two, so that each apple had an adult on either side of it. Then
she told them to put their blindfolds on and put their hands behind
their backs.

Count Dracula appeared again after the
blindfolds were on and told them that he was going to give each
apple a little swing and their job was to eat the apple. They could
not use their hands, but one could somehow secure the apple between
their neck and face or however they wanted to do it, while the
other took bites out of it. He also said they might want to both
try and get the apple into their mouth and chew that way. He told
them the ropes the apples were attached to were strong, but that he
was going to give them a little swing from time to time so that
they would have to search for them while blindfolded. The first
couple who had their apples entirely eaten, would win.

Luna started to say loudly “On the count of
one – two – three – GO!” But on the count of three Thelma appeared
to be floating above the adults and with one point of her finger,
all of the apples and strings flew up into her hands. What was left
was a stage full of blindfolded adults with their mouths working
like fish, trying to find the allusive apples. The children roared
with laughter.

Halloween music started to play and
eventually Luna told them all to take off their blind folds.
Everyone had another good laugh when they realized how foolish they
must have looked.

When the adults went back to their tables,
each table had an assortment of salads, chicken, potatoes, candies,
cakes and chocolates on them. While everyone was enjoying their
meal, a video screen appeared on the stage and a movie of the
adults on stage trying to find the no longer there apples appeared.
Now it was the adults turn to roar with laughter. However, Thelma
and Hugo the Vampire were not on the film.

Luna, Hugo and Thelma appeared on the stage
and told everyone to come up and dance. The music was very loud and
the blue lights and glitter made Catherine light headed, as if she
had drank Champaign, when in fact, although there had been several
beverages to choose from to drink that night, no alcohol had been
served.

She and Cody danced and she and Sebastian
laughed and danced as well. Isabel and Nick seemed to be having a
very good time and even Max seemed to have recovered from his
embarrassment or whatever it was that had upset him while on the
stage.

Right before midnight when everyone had left
the stage and gone back to their tables to get their sweaters or
whatever they had brought with them, the lights again went out.
There on the stage was what looked like a large blue tornado and in
the middle of it was Luna, Hugo and Thelma. They waved, the entire
building went black again and when the lights came on, Luna, Hugo
and Thelma were gone.

Catherine asked Isabel who the man and woman
with Luna were, but Isabel told her that she did not know.
Catherine then remembered something Luna had told her a few days
ago in the Chocolate Shop. “Luna said something about her husband
once to me. Maybe that man was her husband.”

Cody looked like he was about to fall asleep
right then and there. “It has certainly been an action packed
weekend so far.” Catherine said. “I am so glad tomorrow is Sunday
and there is no school or work.” She then looked around and thought
about what she said. “Oh, I guess we will be doing a lot of clean
up tomorrow come to think of it.”

“I guess so, but let’s not think about that
right now. We need to get these little fellows back home.”
Sebastian said.

“You guys go ahead, Nick and I are going to
take a walk down by the lake.” Isabel told them. Sebastian looked
at his sister and then at his friend. The look to Nick clearly
saying be a gentlemen or you will have to answer to me.” Catherine
told Nick and Isabel goodnight and walked out into the cool
midnight air with Sebastian and the boys.

When they got outside they noticed a woman
sitting on a picnic table looking at all of the people walking by,
as if she were lost. Catherine walked up to her and asked if she
needed help or a ride home. The lady looked at her and at Cody and
said that she was looking for her son.

“I don’t think there is anyone else in the
Rec Center right now, everyone has left. Could your son had left
with someone else?” Catherine offered, knowing how panicked she got
losing sight of Cody for even a moment.

The lady stood up and looked at Sebastian
and Max walking out of the Rec Center. “Max!” She screamed. “Max!”
and she ran up to Sebastian and Max.

Sebastian’s reaction was to instantly put
his arm around Max and was prepared to protect him at all costs.
But when Max heard his name and looked up, he ran to the woman.
“Mommy! Mommy, where have you been all this time?”

Catherine had a lump in her throat. She was
happy that Max and his mother had found each other, but was also
sad because she knew how much Sebastian had grown to love Max.

Sebastian and Catherine stood there while
mother and son reunited. After a few minutes Sebastian introduced
himself and asked Max’s mother what her name was and said that they
needed to talk.

The woman said that her name was Ashley and
that she and Max had gotten into an accident last winter on the
expressway. She claimed to have been looking for him since she was
released from the hospital.

Catherine told Sebastian that she was going
to take Cody home and then looked at him, trying to gain insight on
just exactly what he wanted her to do. If Cody hadn’t been almost
asleep at this point she would certainly stay and try to be of
help, but this was between this woman, Max and Sebastian, so she
and Cody started to walk to the top of the hill.

When she saw the wagon at the bottom of the
hill with Caramel ready to take them back to the house, she was
glad that they did not have to walk back to the house. Caramel
stopped in front of the main house and then trotted back to the
hill once Catherine and Cody were safely on the porch.

Catherine settled Cody into his bed and then
she took a shower and put on jeans and a sweater, made herself some
hot chocolate, picked up Twinkle, who looked annoyed at being
disturbed, and went to wait for Sebastian on the front porch.

There had been a giant sized basket on the
front porch that was filled to the top with chocolates and cookies,
apples and other goodies. The basket was tied with a big blue
glitter bow. There was also a nice fire in the fireplace that
Catherine didn’t even think to wonder who lit it. She had so much
on her mind.

A half hour later Catherine saw another
wagon coming down the trail. It was Isabel. Catherine went in to
pour Isabel a mug of hot chocolate and then stood on the porch to
greet her friend. She first asked Isabel if she had a nice walk and
when Isabel smiled and said yes, Catherine then told her about
Max’s mother.

“Where has she been all this time?” Isabel
asked. Catherine told her that apparently the mother had been in
the hospital, but that she did not know anything else because she
wanted to give them their privacy and it was not her place to hang
around to find out, although she had wanted to.

“Well, I would have given that woman a piece
of my mind!” Isabel said. Catherine told her that the lady really
did look frantic and extremely happy to find Max, and that Max was
very happy to have his mother back, but it did little to soften
Isabel.

“You don’t understand. Sebastian had always
said that he would never want children. We had, well, we didn’t
have the best childhood and neither of us really wanted to raise a
child of our own. We were not exactly equipped with the knowledge
or emotional maturity to put any kid through that.” Isabel
explained.

“But, I have noticed Sebastian with Max. He
has been very protective and you yourself have been kind towards
him.”

“Well, yeah, now. Since we didn’t have a
choice. I mean, look, Max is a good kid, but I think we were able
to help him and come to care for him because we always knew he
wasn’t really our responsibility. Not really. There was only so
much we could mess up with him since he wasn’t a baby. But now his
mother comes back and takes him away from us just as we were
becoming a little family, you know? It is just not fair!” Isabel
began to cry.

Catherine put her arms around Isabel. “Look
at it this way. Because of Max, you and your brother now know that
it is possible to love a child and be good to one. That you can
make sure the child is loved and protected from whatever negative
events you two had to go through as children. Now you can each find
your own mate. You will always have each other, but it’s not you
and Sebastian against the world anymore. Forgive me if I am out of
line here. I know you don’t really know me.”

Isabel looked at Catherine for a long
moment. “You are right. In a way, Max has healed Sebastian and me.
My heart hurts that Max is being taken away from Sebastian, but I
know that Max needs to be with his own mother. Our own mother died
when we were younger than Cody and Max are now. We know that pain.
Is Sebastian home yet? Where are Max and his mother?”

“I don’t know. I left them in front of the
Rec Center. Isabel, I never told you this, but I lost my husband.
He died in Iran when Cody was just two years old. Even at that
point I had no family left, just one uncle, who tried his best to
help us. It was hard, very hard, raising Cody all alone. If I had
known that I was going to be a widow that young, well, I don’t know
for sure if I would have wanted to put myself and a child through
that. But you find a way and it is so worth it. I cannot imagine my
life now without Cody in it.” Catherine said.

“But that is what worries me about
Sebastian, what if he can’t deal with no longer having Sebastian in
his? I know it’s only been about nine months that we have had him
with us, but we have both grown to love him.”

The night air got colder so Catherine and
Isabel came into the house and sat on the couch covering up with a
throw blanket in front of the fire. They talked for a while longer
and wanted to stay up until Sebastian came home, but they fell
asleep.

Catherine woke up when she heard the front
door shut at the exact same time that Twinkle decided to pounce on
her. She jerked and fell off of the couch and on to the floor.

Sebastian walked over to her and helped her
up. “Are you O.K?”

“Yeah, fine, what is going on? Where are Max
and his mother?”

Hearing their voices, Isabel woke up and
gave her brother a big hug.

Catherine made a pot of coffee and took
three muffins out of the giant basket and she and the siblings sat
down in the kitchen.

“She is Max’s mother alright. Max is over
the moon happy to see her. But I couldn’t just hand him over to
her, you know? I mean, I know Max is her kid and all, but what if
she is unstable? We went back to the hotel where she was staying at
and I got a room there and had Max sleep in the room I got. Then
his mother, her name is Ashley by the way, me and Ashley had a good
long talk.”

“I am convinced now that she does love him
and she had searched for him. Apparently she was hurt in an
accident and could not remember exactly where she was when she last
saw Max. There is no father figure, apparently she and Max’s father
never married. He also does not have any brothers or sisters.”

“Did you and Ashley talk all night?” Isabel
asked.

“Actually, once I was convinced of her
identity, and by that I mean that I asked to see her driver’s
license and other papers she had with her. After I was convinced
she was whom she claimed to be, I asked her to sleep in the room I
had gotten. I came back here to get all of Max’s clothes and stuff.
Couldn’t let the poor kid leave in a dragon costume. When I got
back, Max was awake and I had him and his mother eat a big
breakfast and then they were back on the road. Oh, there was a big
basket, much like this one, outside of the hotel room door.”
Sebastian said, pointing to the basket Catherine had found on the
porch when she got home last night.

“I know what you are thinking, Isabel, and I
am sorry. There was no time for Max to come back here to tell you
goodbye. His mother has a mother who will watch Max while Ashley
goes to work and she was supposed to be back at work later today
and apparently they have a long drive ahead of them. Max did tell
me to tell you, Catherine and Cody goodbye for him though, and he
also said to tell you thank you, Isabel. The mother also was very
grateful for us taking such good care of him. I didn’t want to let
him go, but once I was sure that was his mother and that he did
want to leave with her, what else could I do?”

After the Halloween party, things went back
to the norm. Monday morning came and Cody went back to school and
Catherine headed back to Thelma’s Chocolate Shop.

It had been a week since the party now and
Catherine hadn’t done much except come to the Chocolate Shop and do
chores inside the house. She did not understand why, but Catherine
felt antsy and standing there in the shop, even with the steady
stream of customers that came in, she was feeling down.

She felt sad for her son for losing his best
friend, but Cody surprised her by telling her that he was happy
that Max had found his mother again and that he would be back where
he belonged. Catherine started to question if here is where she and
Cody belonged.