Brian laughed and clapped his hands. He pulled off another ring and babbled something to Ted. Ted put that one on top of the other. This progressed until all rings had been stacked on top of Mia’s head.
“Hey, Cooper! Told you, your head was flat,” Mike called up from the yard below.
“Krrrownnn,” Brian said.
“My son says it’s a crown,” Mia answered.
“I knew it the moment we met. I said to Burt, that is one Queen Bi…”
“Whoa, baby ears!” Mia scolded, her crown falling down into her lap.
Brian’s face fell.
Ted picked up the yellow one and pulled some strands of Mia’s hair through it securing the ring to the top of her head. “There. Mommy has a crown again.”
“Krrownnn,” Brian repeated.
~
Mark walked nervously through the tall men who were standing around, talking outside one of the big recreational vehicles.
“Can I help you, Mark?” Cid asked.
“I wanted to see Mia.”
She’s up on the deck,” Cid replied.
“Thank you.”
Cid, Mike and Burt watched as the twelve-year-old put a sweaty hand through his hair before climbing the steps. In the other hand, he held a handpicked bouquet of wild flowers. He wore what Cid assumed were his church clothes. His shoes shone from a recent polishing.
“Ted’s in trouble,” Mike said. “That boy has come a courting.”
Mia had closed her eyes to nap, after Ted had taken Brian in for his, when she sensed a presence. She opened her eyes and turned her head in the direction of the steps. “Hello, Mark, it’s good to see you.”
Mark was spellbound. Mia had a halo. It took him a minute to realize it was a baby’s stacking ring on her head. “I like your halo.”
“It’s supposed to be a crown. My son and husband’s idea. You know that a halo is an artistic representation of the aura that arises from the angels, right?”
“It’s how they see them,” Mark agreed. “Oh, I picked these for you,” he said, skirting the playpen.
Mia reached out and took the bouquet. “Thank you, they are beautiful. I’ll have Ted put them in water when he returns. Please, pull up a chair and sit down.”
Mark did so.
“I’m sorry about this afternoon.”
“It’s okay. The house isn’t going anywhere, and I got all my chores done for the week.”
“I’m sure your grandmother is pleased.”
“I don’t know about that. She’s always happy, so I can’t really tell.”
“It must be wonderful to be around happy people.”
Mark thought a moment. “It is when I’m happy, but when I’m crabby, it’s annoying.”
“We are very much alike. We need our crabby times.”
“Audrey explained how you got hurt. I’m sorry I told you about the old house.”
“No, don’t be. You see, Mark, the house has something dangerous in it. I’m going to figure out how to get it out. I’ve asked an expert to come and help me with this. He also happens to be my grandfather.”
“The painter?”
“No, another grandfather.”
“My dad’s parents aren’t living, so I only have one grandpa.”
“I didn’t know I had any until this year.”
“Really?”
“I wouldn’t lie to you, Mark.”
Ted came out and saw Mark and the flowers Mia held so tenderly. He backtracked, found a vase and put some water in it, and returned. “Let me put them in here,” he said. He placed the flowers on the small table next to Mia and left the two alone.
“Your husband isn’t mad I’m here, is he?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Good, because I wouldn’t want to tangle with that giant.”
Mia laughed. “Ted’s tall, but he is a softy. You could take him.”
Mark laughed.
“He saved my life, Mark.”
“Really?”
“A psychopath tossed me down eighty feet into a well of ice cold water. Ted climbed down and rescued me.”
“Wow. Eighty feet!”
“I’ve been lucky to have heroes around me like Ted and Murphy and the rest of the PEEPs. I tend to run into the fray before thinking things through. Today, I was caught unawares. All I could think was that I had to get Mike and Cid to safety. I’m built a bit different; I can take a little more of a beating than most people.”
“Is it because you’re an angel?” he asked.
“Oh my, I’m no angel. I do, however, know one.”
“Really?”
“As I said before, I’ll never lie to you. You may not like all that I have to say, but I’ll always be honest with you, Mark.”
“I can see things other people can’t,” Mark blurted out.
“Go on, I’m listening.”
“When my dad was getting ready to leave the last time, I saw him coming home in a coffin. I begged him not to leave, but he went anyway.”
“That must have been hard on you. But he did return alive.”
“He might as well be dead.”
“Mark, I want you to listen to me. Things that you see are warnings or possibilities. They aren’t necessarily going to happen. But for the moment in time that you see them, they could. Your dad didn’t die because there were hundreds of moments that happened in between.”
“He still got blown up.”
“Yes, but there was a medic there, who was trained, who stabilized him. Doctors and nurses who cared for him… He returned a broken man, but he returned. He needs you. Hopefully, Ted and Cid have worked out the bugs, and you’ll be able to better communicate with him.”
“He’s going to die.”
“Everyone dies, Mark. Our time here on earth has a limit, but when we move on, there are infinite possibilities. What a wondrous adventure awaits us, when our time comes.”
“That eighty foot drop killed you, didn’t it?”
“Yes. I was lucky to have Murphy around to start my heart when it quit, Ted who climbed into the well, and Burt and Mike who were there to pull us both out. Glenda had a warm bath to take the chill out of me while a lady named Beth called for help. I survived. If it was foretold that I would fall into that well, and I hadn’t met Murphy or PEEPs, I’d be dead. Nothing is for certain. Don’t give up on your dad, Mark.”
Mark sat there
