Midnight in Suburbia

NaNoWriMo Day 21: Chapter 21 - Thanksgiving Day Surprise

Chapter 21: A Thanksgiving Day Surprise

"Isn't it getting a bit chilly in here," said Ralf

"Not that I can notice," Daniella replied getting up off the couch and going to the window and opening the draps. "It's starting to snow!"

"Wonderful," growled Ralf, getting up off the couch. "I'd better go out to the car and get our coats, Pop." He left the room.

"What's wrong with him,' Daniella closed the curtain and returned to her lunch.

"The snow," Rodger smiled. "It was snowing when we left Colorado."

"So, Uncle Rodger, you and Ralf brought the snow with you when you came," Daniella laughed.

"Didn't they predict snow for today," Rodger took a sip of coffee.

"I don't know," Daniella finished her coffee. "I didn't listen to the news or the weather this morning." She used her fork to cut a piece of whipped cream covered pumpkin pie. "I was too busy fixing breakfast for everyone and then helping Mom get ready for her lunch with Ethan and Alice."

"You don't listen to the new while you're fixing breakfast anymore?"

"Not at Aunt Emily's house," she laughed. "She doesn't have a television or radio in her kitchen."

"Well," he smiled. "That does prevent her from getting distracted and burning the eggs."

Ralf came back into the house with two ski jackets. He handed the red one to his father and put the brown jacket on. "I knew I should have brought something heavier." He laughed, "Every time I come here for Thanksgiving, it either snows or rains. Oh well, perhaps we won't get snowed in this year."

"Ralf," said Daniella. "It's been at least two years since we were snowed in in Oklahoma. I don't think we have to worry about that this year," she got up. "But just in case, I'll go to the bedrooms and get some heavy blankets." She left the room, just as the telephone ring.

"I'll get it," said Ralf.

"Hello."

"No, Aunt Amity isn't here. Can I take a message?"

"No, I don't know when she'll be back." He hung up the phone.

"Who was that," ask Rodger."

"Not sure, Pop," Ralf frowned. "I think it was either George or Frank, but he wouldn't leave his name."

"Probably Frank," said Daniella coming back into the room dragging three quilts. "George would have given his name and Frank..."

"What about Frank," said George coming into the living room from the foyer."

"I think he just called," replied Ralf. "Since you're here then it must have been him that called. I can't tell the diffenerance between your voices."

"What'd he want," grumbled George.

"He didn't say. He just ask if Aunt Amity was here, but didn't want to leave a message."

"Shit," George frowned. "I suppose the little bastard is up to something, which means someone should stay in the house tonight."

"I presume you have a good reason for not trusting your brother," said Ralf.

"Yes! He and Mom have been conspiring ever since they heard about the fire." George sighed, "That's why I came here this afternoon, I thought someone should warn Daniella, so she could arrange for somebody to stay in this house tonight."

"I'll stay," said Ralf. "This couch still makes into a bed... doesn't it?"

"I think so," said Daniella. "I don't remember Mom saying anything about getting new furniture." She got up and motioned for the others to get up. "Ralf, could you and George move the coffee table."

"Sure," they said in unison. Then with Ralf on one end and George on the other, they moved the coffee table aside. Then, with the help of Rodger, Daniella opened the bed into a couch.

"What are we going to do with the silver," ask Rodger.

"I'll take it to Aunt Emily's," said Daniella. "I just wish I could find the rest, but I can't figure out where Mom hid it."

"Where have you looked," ask Rodger sitting down on the love seat that was setting in front of the fireplace.

"I've looked in the china closet and the kitchen."

"I'll check the linen closet," said Rodger. "Is t here a flashlight in the junk drawer?"

"No," replied Daniella. "It's sitting on the dining room table with the other stuff from the junk drawer.

Rodger started to get up, but Ralf started for the dining room. "Stay where you are, Pop. I'll get the flashlight and look in the linen closet. If I remember the layout of that closet, you have to get down on your hands and knees to search the bottom shelf."

"Be my guest, Son," Rodger laughed. "Ever since my last birthday, he's been preventing me from getting down on my hands and knees."

"Artherites, Uncle Rodger," ask George.

"Unfortunetly, yes."

"Mom is having problems with it herself," he laughed. "However, she won't let me or anyone else help her."

"I thought about not accepting Ralf's help, but then I remember something Grandma Hattie said just before she died."

"What was that, Uncle Rodger," as Daniella.

"It was her birthday and I was sitting with her in her hospice, she woke up looked at me and smiled." He sighed, as tears began rolling down his cheeks. "Ethan, she said looking at me; I think she confused me with Grandpa Ethan."

"That's an easy mistake to make," said Daniella. "From the pictures I've seen of him you look like him."

"Anyway," he continued. "She said, Ethan, remember to let the boys help you as you get older. After all, it's the least they can do for their father and it teaches them gratitude."

"Gratitude?" Ask George, "What did she mean by that?"

"George, my boy, I have no idea. Grandma Hattie was one of those women who was always confusing her cliches and mixing her metaphors."

"Is that why my mother always says she was crazy?"

"Part of the reason," Rodger laughed. "I gather Dolly never says much about Mom any of her husbands."

"Mom, talks a lot about Step-Grandpa Joe, but she never says much about Grandpa Ethan."

"George, your Grandma Hattie was married at least six time."

"She buried five husbands?!"

"No," said Rodger. "As near as I've been able to determine, Uncle Joe outlived her, she buried three husbands, divorced one, and one disappeared on the honeymoon so she had him declared dead after a year."

"Mom never said anything about that," George frowned.

"I gather she never said much about Hattie's lovers either."

"Lovers? Just how many lovers did Grandma Hattie have?"

"We're not sure," said Ralf coming back into the living room carrying half-a-dozen soup spoons. "But as near as we can figure about four or five."

"Just out of curiosity, George," said Ralf. "Have you ever seen your mother's birth certifice?"

"No," she shook his head. "Mom always said she didn't have one, something about it being lost in a fire or a flood."

"It wasn't lost," Rodger laughed. "All though a copy of it was torn to shreds after Dolly got a look at it."

"Why would mother rip up her own birth certificite?"

"Because," said Ralf. "She didn't want anyone knowing who her father was or rather wasn't."

"This is getting more interesting all the time," George smiled. "Ralf, could you or Uncle Rodger get me a copy."

"Sure," said Ralf, laying the soup spoons on the coffee table. "Dad and I go copies of all the birth records last Thanksgiving. Aunt Amity let us copy them so we could do a family tree. Then she put them back in a trunk," he frowned. "I hope that trunk wasn't destoryed in the fire."

"Was it in the attic," ask Daniella.

"No," said Rodger. "George and I helped Amity put it in the closet in her bedroom."

"That's a good place to hide it," said George. "Unfortunetly, I suspect that is the first place Frank would look."

"Why would your brother want the family birth records," Daniella ask. "Is he doing a family tree?"

"No," George shook his head. "Mom's decided she can prove that Ethan isn't Uncle Larry's son and she need the exact date of his birth for what ever con artist his attempting to overthrow Grandma Hattie's will."

"I see," Daniella laughed. "She's that upset about not receiving the antique silver."

"Daniella, my mother is obsessed with Grandma Hattie's silver." George sit down by the fireplace. "I swear she's going crazy."

"George," said Rodger. "Dolly isn't any crazier then the rest of us." He laughed, "She just doesn't like the idea that she's on of Grandma Hattie's bastards."

"What are you talking about, Uncle Rodger?"

"George," Rodger sighed. "Larry was the only one of the three of us who was Grandpa Ethan's son. Dolly and I were fathered by one of her lovers!"

George stared blankly at his uncle for a few minutes and then he began to laugh. He continued to laugh for five minutes before he got choked and began coughing. Ralf went over and stuck in flat handed on the back to stop the coughing.

"I have to admit, George," said Rodger. "You've got a better since of humor then your mother."

"That's probably because I'm willing to admit that I'm a bastard."

"Huh," Rodger's brow winkled. "What are you talking about?"

"Let's just say, Uncle Rodger, that my mother take more after Grandma Hattie then she will admit either publicly or privately."

"I see," Ralf shook his head. "Do you know you know your father's name?"

"Yes," George smiled. "It took me a couple of years, but I finally figured it out." He sighed, "Tell me, Uncle Rodger, who was your father?"

"Curtis Rodger Shupe and, yes, he's related to Grandpa Ethan by blood... In fact, he's Grandpa Ethan's brother."

"Uh," George frowned. "I didn't know Grandpa Ethan had a brother."

"I didn't either," said Rodger. "Until I started reading Grandma Hattie's journals. It turns out that Great Grandpa Jonas was a real rounder and enjoyed marrying women without getting divorced from any of them."

"Well," said Daniella. "I guess that explains why resemble Grandpa Ethan and look so much like Great Grandpa Jonas."

"What other family secrets did Grandma Hattie's journals reveal?"

"Let's just say, George, that the Shupe's have various intriguing characters in our ancestory."

"Do you know if Grandpa Ethan knew about Hattie's affairs?"

"I have not idea, George, I'm still going through Hattie's journals, but if you're courious I think that there are several letter from Grandpa Ethan to Grandma Hattie and visa verse in one of the trunks."

I'll have to check those out sometime," he laughed. "In the mean time, we need to find the rest of the silver and move the trunks to a more secure place." He rubbed his chin, "Daniella, would you mind if we shipped the trunks to your place in Las Vegas."

"Of Course not."

288