Her Journey Begins (3 page)



   Seeing Mrs. Clancy peeling potatoes Chris walks over to her.

  
“
I can do that if you want.
”

  
“
Oh no, I
’
ve got everything under control.
”
Mrs. Clancy sees Chris wiggling her fingers.
“
If you want to help, you could set the table for me. Would you like to do that?
”

Chris smiles and nods her head. Pointing, Mrs. Clancy tells her,
“
The plates are up there and the silverware is in that drawer there. And
…
Brad should be home soon.
”
Looking over at Chris, Mrs. Clancy sees the puzzled look on her face and smiles.
“
Mr. Clancy
”

  
“
Oh
…
so I need to set three places. Okay, I got it.
”
Chris places the plates on the table in the kitchen.

  
“
Oh not this table Chris, we are going to eat at the table in the other room tonight.
”
 

   Done setting the table, Chris inquires with Barb,

  
“
Mrs. Clancy what else do you want me to do?
”

  
“
Well first, you can quit calling me Mrs. Clancy, it makes me sound old and I
’
m only 29.
”
She confides to Chris with a chuckle and then begs.
“
Call me Barb, please? Then have a seat here at this table.
”
Barb dries her hands and pulls out the chair for Chris before grabbing a piece of paper and a pen.
“
And we will make a list of everything you need, and then go back through it and see what we can afford, and then narrow it down to what you can
’
t do without, while the potatoes are cooking.
”

   With their heads bent over the list, they hear Mr. Clancy call out,
“
I
’
m home.
”
Coming through the door he stops when he sees Chris.
“
Well, hello. Who are you?
”

Barb gets up and gives him a kiss.

  
“
Brad, this is Chris, and she is staying with us for the weekend.
”
Brad holds out his hand to Chris.

  
“
Hi Chris.
”
Chris smiles a shy smile at him and shakes his hand.
“
Well I see you two have everything under control in here, so I guess I can go watch the news.
”
As he
’
s leaving he bends his head down next to Chris
’
and whispers,
“
Watch her and don
’
t let her burn our dinner.
”
At first Chris is worried that Barb will get mad at him for saying that, but Barb laughs and throws the dish towel at him.

  
“
Get out of here and go watch your news or I will burn
your
dinner.
”
Brad walks out chuckling.

   Gulping down dinner, Chris gets up to take her plate in the kitchen.

  
“
Chris
”
Chris stops and looks at Barb.
“
Come back here a minute.
”
With her head down, Chris does what she
’
s told. Barb points to the chair.
“
Sit down.
”
Chris keeps her gaze down as she slides back into the chair.

  
“
Did you have enough to eat?
”

  
“
I had enough.
”

  
“
Didn
’
t you like it?
”

  
“
No, I mean yes, I mean
…
it was very good.
”

  
“
You can have more. We can
’
t let Brad eat it all, or he
’
ll get fat.
”
Not knowing what to say, Chris continues to look down at her hands. Barb reaches over and squeezes Chris
’
hand.
“
Chris honey, help yourself to some more. It
’
s here to be eaten and you don
’
t want to hurt my feelings, do you?
”
  Chris shakes her head and helps her self to more potatoes and gravy.

   As Chris is finishing off her second helping Brad belches and pushes his plate away. Chris figures this is a signal that she should start clearing off the table. Barb stops her again.
“
I
’
ll tell you what. Why don
’
t you go grab that book I seen you carrying in and have a seat on the couch and read for a little bit while I do up the dishes. Tomorrow, you and I will talk about you helping, but for tonight, just relax, okay?
”

Hearing a knock on the door Chris jumps. Brad gets up from the table, walks over, and opens it. He exchanges greetings with the man and woman standing there and then yells out to Barb.

  
“
Tim and Judy are here.
”

Barb walks into the living room,

  
“
Hi, what are you two up to?
”
They exchange small talk and then Barb introduces them.
“
Chris, this is my brother Tim and his wife Judy. Tim and Judy, this is Chris, she is staying a couple of days with us.
”
They say hello to her before Barb and Judy go into the kitchen. Chris goes up to her room to get her book and decides to stay there and read. An hour has passed and even though the door is open Barb knocks on it.

  
“
I was wondering where you wandered off to. Come downstairs with us for a little bit.
”
Chris slips her piece of paper in between the pages and follows Barb downstairs. Walking into the dining room Chris sees the other three sitting around the table.
“
Here, sit down here and I
’
ll be right back.
”
Barb pulls out the chair for Chris and disappears into the kitchen. As Barb is coming back everyone starts singing,
“
Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you
”
and Barb sets a cake with 12 lit candles in front of Chris.

  


   Staring at the cake, Chris starts to cry.
“
I
’
ve never had a birthday cake before.
”

  
“
Oh Chris, I didn
’
t know. Honey I
’
m so sorry.
”
And Barb puts her arms around Chris in a protective hug and whispers,
“
Blow out the candles and make an extra special wish.
”

Chris places the backs of her hands against her eyes to stop the tears and sniffles. Moving her hands away from her eyes she can see the candles are melting all over the frosting. Barb whispers again,
“
Want me to help you blow them out?
”
Chris nods.
“
Okay on three. One, two, three.
”
And they both blow.
“
Did you make a wish?
”

Whispering Chris tells her,

  
“
Yes, I wished for
…”

  
“
Shh
…
You aren
’
t supposed to tell your wish. If you do, it won
’
t come true.
”
Giving her another hug, Barb tells her,
“
Happy Birthday Chris. Now who wants ice cream with their cake?
”



    Chris is lying in bed when Barb knocks on her door. Before Chris can reply, Barb opens it a few inches and pokes her head in.

  
“
Can I come in?
”
Chris nods. Barb walks over and sits down on the edge of the bed.
“
I just wanted to see if you were okay.
”

     
“
I
’
m okay
”

     
“
Is there anything you need?
”

     
“
I don
’
t think so.
”

  
“
Okay, but if you need anything, we are in the room just on the other side of the bathroom, okay?
”
Chris nods her head. Barb reaches under the bed and pulls out Chris
’
book.
“
You can read for awhile if you want, just not too long.
”
Chris blushes, because she knows that Barb must have seen her shove the book under the bed.



   Chris wakes up early and sees its 6:15 a.m. Stretching and yawning she climbs out of bed and gets dressed. She tugs and pulls to get all the wrinkles out of the covers and then tiptoes downstairs to the kitchen. Opening cupboard doors she finds a skillet. Pulling the carton of eggs out of the fridge Chris notices a bottle of orange juice and decides to get that out also. Just as she
’
s going to crack the first egg into the skillet, Barb grasps her hand. Chris jumps and looks over her shoulder. Barb smiles and whispers,

  
“
It
’
s Saturday and its too early for breakfast, besides making breakfast on Saturday is Brad
’
s job. So let
’
s put these away
…”
Barb puts the eggs and orange juice back in the fridge.
“
And get you back upstairs and back into bed for another hour, okay?
”
  Putting her hands on Chris
’
shoulders, Barb marches Chris back up to her room. Opening the door, Barb feels bad seeing Chris has already made her bed and did a good job of it too.

  
“
7:30 a.m. okay?
”
Barb closes the door and goes back to her room. Chris looks over at the bed and sighs. She sits down at the desk and reads until she hears Barb and Brad going downstairs.



   Chris walks into the kitchen. Brad is scrambling eggs while wearing a white frilly apron and Chris giggles. Brad turns around and looks at her,

     
“
Hey!
”

Chris covers her mouth.

  
“
Sorry
”

He grins at her.

  
“
Are you laughing at my apron?
”

Barb looks up from behind the newspaper and winks at Chris.

  
“
Funny looking, isn
’
t he?
”

Brad goes back to stirring his eggs.

  
“
I hear you were up early trying to take my job away from me?
”
Again Chris tells him sorry.
“
No problem, next weekend I
’
ll let you make breakfast and I can go fishing with Tim, besides you are probably a better cook than I am.
”

Barb reaches back and smacks him on the butt.

  
“
Oh you can go fishing alright. After you make us breakfast. Here Chris sit down.
”
Barb pulls out the chair and Chris sits down. Watching Brad cook, Chris is thinking she has never been around people like this before. They are nice. They talk and joke around with each other. And they actually do things that she normally has to do. Barb puts down her paper, gets up and pours Chris a glass of juice, then pours herself another cup of coffee, before picking her newspaper back up. Chris notices that Barb has on a sweatshirt, a pair of sweatpants and no makeup and yet she is still very pretty. Chris turns her attention to Brad. She sees he is just a hair taller than Barb and has these amazing bright blue eyes, which are a big contrast to Barb
’
s warm brown ones. He has light shaggy brown hair, not really long, but not your typical man
’
s haircut. Dipping up eggs on a plate and placing a blueberry muffin next to them, Brad puts the plate down in front of Chris and then fixes the next plate for Barb. He snatches the newspaper from Barb before placing her plate on the table.