"Oouff!!", Ander coughed.
"Hi Dad! We were going to play Pachamo and we need you for it!", Daevin shouted a bit too loudly at the still prone Ander.
"Ok, pachamo it is, just give me a few minutes, alright?"
Lora's call was audible from down the hall, outside the door, "Daevin if he is asleep, you musn't wake him...". She pushed the door in to a depth more suited for an adult to pass, "I'm too late."
Ander sat up, "No, don't fret, I'll be along in a moment. Listen though, I'd like to take you, Daevin here and your mother on a trip, It'll be kind of like a present, sort of. Can you come?"
Lora considered. "I've got nothing on my plate I can't gobble up quickly, when do we leave?"
"Later tonight, I should think", Ander rose and picked up Daevin with him messing up his already chaotic hair. "But not until I've whipped you at Pachamo!"
After losing the way a father should, Ander spotted Vaughn between an entryway. "Ahoy there mate!", he called out.
"Ander, good to see you. My how domestic this castle be after the big shakeup", Vaughn approached and removed his reddish brown gauntlets.
"Indeed, and now it is your turn. Daevin, Uncle Vaughn is going to try to give you a better game than I", Ander said, grinning at Vaughn, "And when you're done, he might take you to visit with your Great Aunt Flora."
Vaughn blanched and murmured inaudibly, "Cruel and sneaky, daddy's being bad"
"Actually no, I need to speak with mother for a few minutes, quietly", Ander replied and headed for the door.
Victor stared at the trump intently and frowned as it cooled. "Carl?"
"Awh, good, it does work still", the card spoke back, "You'll call me in a week, then?"
"Yeah, six to eight days from now, 'call' you with this and you'll be on Earth", Victor feigned incredulity for Ander's sake. Little surprised him these days.
"Good, now put your hand over the face of it... that's it-"
And the contact was gone. "Home,... on Earth", Victor muttered absently before turning back a couple of pages.
"Daevin's asleep."
"Oh, thanks Sandy", Ander looked over his shoulder then turned with a tray full of teacups, "Here, try this. It's Dragonroot tea from a place called Dylo"
Sandy Krushkall, took her cup a bit shakily, and led Ander around to the breakfast nook where Katherine and Victor sat. "Lets seal these forgivings with a cup of tea"
Sandy helped serve and Victor started uneasily, "If Carl's forgiven you, then I suppose I can too, but I still don't understand why you can't talk about it"
Katherine opened her mouth to speak, but it closed and she looked down at the table as if there were an interesting scene unfolding down in the mica. Victor continued.
"I have you to thank, really, for getting me into all this, but what about what this has done to my wife and kids?"
Sandy put her hand on Victor's as a gentle reminder that his voice was rising. After a long pause, she spoke, "You know, even though everyone around here was treating this like, well, that you had died, on a certain level, I felt as though you hadn't, dear. The kids felt that way too"
Ander nipped a quick sip in then set his cup down, "I see that Tomasz is happy to see you..." He tipped his head up slightly, gesturing toward the back yard.
In the back, Tomasz was nervously entertaining Lora inside the tree fort he'd outgrown years ago.
"I think my son's hormones have the best of him where Lora's concerned", Victor chortled.
"Well, we know where he lives...", added Katherine.
Victor smiled, "He's seen Carl here hit guys real hard for less, I don't think you've anything to worry about"
Atop the gentle laughs, Ander added, "Tomasz has little to fear from me after Lora herself"
The foursome continued to talk about this and that. Katherine spoke of the trip, Victor continued to explain Amber, Ander listened mostly and Sandy talked excitedly about the new discoveries that were popping up around Shadow Earth.
"So my dad and you dad went travelling around a bunch"
"Yeah, I'm sure your dad, Victor will tell you all about it"
"So where did you go to high school?"
"I, ... I don't think you've heard of it."
Lora felt uncomfortable with the conversation. She could tell that Tomasz was attracted to her, and he was cute in a boyish way, but she was both his elder by two years physically and eons older emotionally. She'd always conversed with adults; this boy's excitement was unnerving at first, then maybe a little flattering she admitted to herself. Tomasz maintained a steady barage of eager questions until Lora relented and spoke of the trip that her father had just taken them on.
"It was kind of like a musical tour. Everyday we were either performing or attending a new show. We just gradually worked our way through all of the kinds of music my dad likes. At first I thought it was dorky, but now I think it was neat"
"Wow, tickets must have cost him a ton"
"Ah yeah maybe. He played violin in a couple of places. He was even better than mom had told me. Mom even played Oboe while dad conducted..."
"What's an Oboe?"
"Its a wind instrument. Mom's pretty good at it, but she plays other things too. I had to learn piano growing up. I'm glad I did. We were at this one place, I don't remember the name and dad just pulls out this music, right. He gives it to me and says, 'we'll play in two hours, you'll want to have a look over this and make some notes'. It wasn't anything hard, but my god. Where music is concerned he can be pretty demanding"
"He made you play and you didn't even practice it?"
"Well, I practiced alright, quickly. I was nervous that night, but then it got kind of cool... he would walk us through shadow right there on stage... it was like the music was providing the movement he needed to shift things... It was hard for him, I think, but then the whole trip was exhausting on all of us, in a good kind of way."
"So your little brother played too?"
"No, but when mom was sleeping somewhere, dad would practice with him. He schooled him on the piano, but taught him to play drums too"
"What did you mean by 'walking in shadow'? Is that a music thing?"
"Ha! It was on this trip. Your dad maybe will show you what I'm talking about. I think my dad is going to fix it so he'll be able to ... 'call' him. We'll meet up again sometime."
"So what kind of music do you like? Do you like Smashing Pumpkins?"
"Smashing Pumpkins? I haven't heard a pumpkin, yet."
"No the band. You know, dum-dee-dee dum-dee-dee-doo"
"Ah, they're ok. It's kind of hard to pick one thing. My dad showed us so much stuff. It was pretty cool. We started with baroque music. My dad played and conducted like I told you. I think he wanted to show off a little actually. Then we moved into classical and high classical music. It was neat, but then things got a little wierd, we started playing orchestral jazz. Have you heard of that? It's kind of out there, but a good ear can really get alot out of it. We hung out with the blues, learned some reggae and country. Got lost out there with some latino big band, then found our way back with roadhouse rockabilly. Did a little doo-wap and some acapella, before landing ourselves here with techno. An incomplete tour, to be sure, he only had six days to work with, but I think I-, I don't know, understand my dad a little more now."
"'You wanna go check out my CD's?"
"Sure, lead the way."