The Hathaway

The Morning After

I awoke to the smell of bacon and eggs and fresh brewed coffee. The door to the kitchen was closed, but I could hear the faint sounds of dishes being set and quiet conversation. I managed to remove myself from the puppy pile without disturbing anyone else and went to see what was going on. Sylvia and Beth were putting together a huge breakfast. “What time is it?” I yawned as I entered the room.

“Oh, we didn’t want to wake you,” Sylvia apologized. “A little after ten.”

I chuckled to myself. I hadn’t slept until ten for years, and when I had in the past I usually woke up with a hangover. “I suppose,” I smiled, “It must have been after four by the time we finally went to sleep.”

“We got here about an hour ago,” Beth chimed in. “And when we saw you all curled up together on the floor like that…It was just so adorable.” She gave Sylvia a look like her heart was melting.

“Yeah, we’ve been trying to be quiet so you could sleep.” Sylvia added. “Sorry if we woke you up.”

“You didn’t wake me up,” I smiled, “The coffee did. Any chance of getting a cup?”

She handed me a mug and motioned to the coffee maker. “Help yourself.”

As I poured myself a cup I realized, “Wait, didn’t you two go off somewhere for the weekend? What are you doing back so soon? You shouldn’t be back until at least tonight.’

They gave each other knowing looks and Sylvia confessed, “Sammy called me in the middle of the night to give me a heads up. He said everyone was ok and there didn’t seem to be any real damage, but he thought I should know.”

“Yes you should, you’re our lead administrator. I should have called you myself.” I gave her an apologetic look. “Why didn’t I think…?”

“It sounds like you were busy doing what needed to be done,” she offered gently. “Don’t kick yourself. There was nothing I could have done, and you needed to keep your focus on the kids. From the looks of things You did a pretty good job.” She nodded towards the rec room and shot Beth an indulgent smile. “They were pretty adorable weren’t they?”

Ben wandered in, rubbing his eyes. “I haven’t slept on someone’s floor since I was an undergrad.” he muttered as he stretched his arms and reached to make himself a cup of coffee. “I think my back prefers the bed.” Once he had poured it and taken a sip he added, “Did you notice? Every one of the kids is lying on top of Helmut. Every one of them.”

I hadn’t, so I crept in to take a look. Sure enough, he had all five of them gathered in his arms in peaceful slumber. Phil and Andi were both awake, but motioned for me to remain quiet. They were also enjoying the sight and it seemed they were content to stay in place until the kids awoke.

When I returned to the kitchen all I could say was, “Oh my god.”

“Adorable, right?” Beth shot me a playful smile, daring me to use the same word she and Sylvia had used.

“Beautiful, how about that?” I shot back.

She chuckled, “That works”

Ben and I proceeded to fill them in on the details of the evening until the kids began to stir. “We’ll tell you the rest later,” I said as three of them followed their noses toward the bacon. I asked them, “Is everyone awake?”

Jodi muttered a slow “Yeah,” as she filled her plate. “I think so.” Passing through the door to the rec room, I heard her add, “This looks good.”

Phil and Helmut were helping Andi get up off the floor, and when she caught sight of me she let out a little curse, “Damn, I’m never going to hear the end of this.” Once she was up she struggled to stand up straight, holding on to the back of the sofa as she slowly stiffened her spine. “Maybe I should have listened,” she smiled, “But it was still worth it. I wouldn’t have missed this for the world. Once she had reached her full stature she looked at me defiantly and said, “Well, What are you waiting for? Aren’t you going to offer an old lady your arm?” When Helmut moved toward her she swatted him away, “Not you!” she insisted, “The smart ass in the door.”

“Of course,” I laughed, “Whatever you want.”

After breakfast Ben and I excused ourselves to have some alone time in our own apartment. We both took showers and spent time catching up with the internet and just enjoying the quietness of being together alone. We had a nice long cuddle in the early afternoon, but were still emotionally drained enough that neither of us wanted to do anything more than just hold each other. Ben did a bit more crocheting and I read another couple of chapters in the book I was working on, and the afternoon passed without event.

At about four thirty we heard a gentle knock on our door. It was Sylvia. “How are you boys doing?”

“Fine,” Ben said, “Come in.”

As we settled in the living room I asked, “What’s up? Do you need something from us or just visiting?”

She smiled, “I need to do more of that ‘just visiting’ thing with you guys. I miss you being at the boarding house.”

“We do too,” Ben admitted, “But we have another kind of family here, so…”

“That you do, quite the family. But still…”

“Besides,” Ben looked at me for confirmation, “You probably see us more now that we’re here.”

“Yeah, you’re always here, even on your days off,” I chided.

She laughed, “True. Anyway, I just wanted to see if you could clarify some of the details of what happened last night. I’ve been hearing some pretty wild stories from the kids and I’m not sure what to believe and what might be exaggeration.”

“It was a pretty unbelievable night,” I agreed. “What would you like to know?” Ben and I did our best to answer her questions. Sometimes she just nodded, and others she would ask more questions and shake her head in amazement.

Finally she offered, “If I had not experienced what happened two years ago in the basement of the boarding house, I probably would refuse to believe this. But I know better.”

“I’m sure the firefighters who actually witnessed what happened last night are having a hard time believing it too.’ Ben said.

“What to you think was behind this? I mean, do you think it was some sort of spirits, or maybe something else?”

“No,” Ben added thoughtfully, “I’m pretty sure they were spirits. At least, they felt like spirits. Besides, there was that weird singing. That was definitely human voices.”

“I had forgotten about the singing,” I realized. “It was the same singing that we heard when we first discovered the ruins in the back of the property.”

Ben looked at me as if I were out of my mind. “I remember the ruins, but I don’t remember singing.”

“Probably not,” I agreed, “The singing was hypnotic, they had both you and Helmut in a trance of some sort, Remember? Andi had to smudge you to bring you out of it.”

“I guess,” he looked dubious, “It’s all kind of foggy, but if you say so.”

Turning to Sylvia I conjectured, “I’ll bet it was the spirits embedded in the ruins. That must have been what Maggie meant when she said ‘the sleepers have awakened’.”

“Could well be,” she agreed. “Well, thanks, I’m going to have to write some sort of report about last night, and I’m not sure how I’m going to do that.”

I laughed. “I get it, remember the struggle I had telling the story of the boarding house? I finally had to call it fiction. But you don’t have that option.” I thought for a moment, “Euphemism! That helps, or just leave out the unexplainable bits.”

“I’ll figure it out,” she laughed. “By the way, what are you guys doing for supper? I’ve ordered pizza for the kids again, their favorite. There’ll be plenty if you want to join us.”

“I’m not sure if I’m up for pizza again so soon,” Ben volunteered. “I’d really like to go for a nice long walk, what do you think?”

I agreed, and promised we would stop and check in with the kids before we left. Of course, when we got there, they wouldn’t let us leave until we had each eaten at least one slice. It was remarkable to see how they had all gone back to normal so quickly. Once they knew Helmut was safe they once again began teasing him and ignoring him as they had before. Life was going on almost as if nothing had happened. Of course, something had, and I was sure we would see changes in the long term, but for now, there was a comfort in returning to the routines of life. Helmut told us that he was going to be sleeping at the boarding house for tonight, and maybe until the carriage house was given the all clear. I could understand his hesitance to occupy the space while the arsonist was still unknown and free to strike again. We had not managed to get a perimeter fence up yet, so we remained vulnerable

Sylvia had asked if she should talk to the police during her visit and I encouraged her to do so. I told her of my earlier interactions with the police chief and his promise to keep an eye on things. I’m not sure if she had a chance to call them or if they acted on their own initiative, but as we headed out the front gate we noticed a cruiser sitting on the road within sight of the driveway. We waved at the officer and greeted him as we walked by. He smiled and nodded, asking how we were.

We decided to take some of the back country roads and enjoy the green lushness of the forest in high summer, before everything made an earnest attempt to turn orange. It was a beautiful cool afternoon, or was it evening? and we had not been paying much attention to where we were going. We had no destination in mind, but we knew when we arrived. We began to hear singing again, but this time there was nothing supernatural about it. A small white clapboard church sat back from the road in a clearing, and behind it a modern metal addition loomed in it’s blandness. The double doors in the front were propped open to allow the gentle forest air in and the sounds of singing out. The parking lot held more than a few cars, and according to the sign in front, they must have just begun their Sunday evening service. As well as giving the times of services, the sign also identified this as the Pentecostal church, the one we knew to be hosting our protesters.

We stopped and spent a moment considering what we were looking at. Neither of us were particularly religious as adults, but we had both been brought up attending churches. Ben was ostensibly Methodist, while I was an Episcopalian. As we looked around we noticed another cruiser, mostly obscured behind the overgrown bushes that lined the driveway of an empty house down the road. Clearly the police had their suspicions as to who might have started the fire last night, and I had to admit, I agreed with them. We looked at each other but didn’t speak, we didn’t need to. Ben reached for my hand and squeezed it tight as we climbed the stairs to the entrance.