What makes us feel truly connected to another person? Is it blood relation? The sharing of genes and traits all amassing together to create a sense of true comfort and self when we hold them close after a sad event?
Or is it love that's been built over time? A lifetime even to know exactly the thing to say or the time to offer to help someone along in recovery?
I don't suppose there's a concrete answer. That bothers me. There must be some way to piece it out one day, though I don't know that I'll try. The logical part of me desperately wants to dissect it, while the romantic part just accepts and wants it to be. I mean, surely there can't be an explanation for everything. But all the same, surely there must be.
For example, why would a man repeatedly and literally burned by his love of jelly beans continue to tempt fate?
And why would my mother's daughter-dar go off right when I was about to have a perfect romantic moment?
"Etta, is that your mom?"
"Shh, no."
"Rosebud, I'm taking a photo!"
And she did. I guess it's not awful. I hung it in my room. So I can reflect on the combination of embarrassment and giddiness I felt when it was taken. I did get my revenge though. I alerted Grandma, who has been beefing up her photography skill, when this happened.
"Stay still, Pea, I'm taking a picture!"
"For Watcher's sake, Mother!"
"Smile!"
Ha Comeuppance. .
That night, little Freddie aged up to a child while out on a walk with his Mommy.
He developed the animal lover trait. He's developing into a right hippie. Look at the clothes he picked out, for crying out loud! It's so insensible.
"It's polyester, Rosetta. I would never wear real buckskin."
"Okay."
"Really, though, the clans who wore the buckskin originally did so out of necessity, not cruelty."
"Okay."
"Do you want to see the dreamcatcher I made while you were at school?"
"... Okay."
Honestly, I was pretty worried about him fitting in at the scuola. I mean, I never went to elementary school, but after I won prom queen, I came to realize what a dog-eat-dog environment school really is. In addition for the constant competition for my incredibly flirtatious boyfriend, my intelligence and ambition is treated with derision. When I won debate club president, someone wrote an editorial about my "sense of entitlement" in the school paper!
I'm not an emotional girl. I realize, logically, that these other teens are being harsh and cruel because they are insecure and jealous. I also know it is not necessarily personal. Freddie, who hasn't a mean bone in his body and is often very concerned about the feelings of others will be fresh meat to those little monsters.
It went just as badly as you think. That night, after we did our homework, I was hanging out with Hiram at Moonlit Stroll Park and telling him about Freddie coming home in tears.
"My sister's kids went to a hippie boarding school that would be perfect for the little guy," he said. "I'll have her call you tomorrow if you think your family would go for it."
"Hmm," I said, running it through my head.
I had a sit down with Mom and Ophelia and explained the situation. I promised I'd tutor him to an A before he even left (and NOT just because it's part of my supermax requirements)! That night before bed, Ophelia asked Freddie if it sounded like something he'd like. He got positively giddy with excitement. She wrapped his little body in her arms, buried her face in his sweet-smelling hair, and told him to call her as often as possible.
We used the weekend for our tutoring. After 12 hours of intensive lessons, Freddie was well ahead of his classmates. I realized I quite liked this teaching thing. I think I have a knack for it, though it did keep me from the final days of the spring festival with Hiram.
"Babe, you're blowing me off to hang out with another dude. Should I be threatened?" he says with a grin.
"Should I be threatened that you won Spring King by dancing with every girl in sight?"
"Nah, none of 'em are you, and at least one of 'em was your Grandma. But really, love. You gonna marry that kid when he grows up?"
"Only if you think I'm capable of Oedipal attractions."
"Babe. English."
"He turned himself blue eating the jellybeans that killed his father. I don't think it'd work out between us."
Once the tutoring session was done, the enrollment was paid for, and the taxi scheduled, Freddie spent his last day in Monte Vista hanging out with his parents.
When it came time to say goodbye, I confess I did feel a bit ... clogged. In my sternum. But I am truly hoping he will be happier with other strange, hippie children. Because family is relative, right? Freddie is like a brother or a nephew or a son. He's mine and I'm his, but there will never be romance or a bloodline between us. Just love.
I was stressed out at school all day that day. Had I left the sink on? Had Ophelia remembered to turn the stove off before she left for work? Was Emmett eating jelly beans again? I went a bit crazy at the chemistry station after school to calm myself down and managed to max it out. Check out all those vials of Rosetta-created chemical goodness!
I still couldn't sleep though. I went into Freddie's room and checked under his bed and around every corner, making sure he'd left nothing dangerous about.
"Worrying again, Rosebud?" I heard, and snapped around, but there was nothing there. "Maybe a nice bath will sort you out."
"G...grandpa?" I called to the nothingness, and then there he was, floating through the wall. "Oh Grandpa!" I said, a big smile spreading through my face. "Tell me, what is it like to be a supernatural? Do you have unfinished business? What is floating like? Oh, I miss you so much!"
He smiled. "I only have an hour. I just wanted to see you girls and make sure your Mom is ready for her elder birthday tomorrow."
"She's asleep, but Granny is feeding the dog. You should be able to catch her before bed!
He floated out and the next thing I heard was, "Camillo! Oh, Camillo!"
The birthday party was already starting by the time I woke up the next morning. Have I ever mentioned Guillermo? He asks me out sometimes, even though he's friends with Hiram. That's him on the right.
He's nice looking, but what kind of friend can you be really to try to get your friend's girlfriend to go to pizza with you? I'm so glad Hiram got to meet my family properly. He did very well.
"This is going to be horrible," my mom mused, a small ironic smile on her face. "Everyone ready?"
She was right. It was extra bad.
Ophelia's wasn't nearly as strange. Though her first words after sparkling were, "Ach! I'm dowdy."
They both headed to the mirrors as fast as they could.
They are like sisters, my mom and Ophelia, but again, they aren't related at all. It just proves my point. Family's important, blood or not. As though the universe knew what I was thinking, Ophelia's phone rang, and we could all hear a giddy Freddie on the other end. "Happy Birthday, Mom!" he said. "I love you, I love you, I love you."
