Mark was setting the table for the whole gang once again. His entire family was coming over for a Saturday barbecue. His son, Sam and his boyfriend, William, have volunteered to do the cooking if he and Terri would supply the party place. Of course, they agreed. The deck that stood outside the dining room was built for barbecuing as Mark had a smoker and gas grill stationed on it. A small refrigerator stood near the door into the dining room held the beverages required for cooking as well as plenty of space to keep other items cool and at the ready. Sam had come over last night and prepared a variety of chicken and beef kabobs and they were marinating in that refrigerator. Sam and Terri laughed throughout the prep time in the kitchen and Mark enjoyed listening to it from his recliner in the front room.
Sam was always a kind boy when he was growing up. When someone was hurt, he would sooth them even when he was two years old. For Christmas one year, Mark recalled, they had given him a toy medical kit that had a stethoscope, a shot, blood pressure cuff and a box of Band-Aids. Sam would use his sister’s dolls and play doctor with them. Mark was hoping Sam would become a doctor, but he was happy that his son became a nurse at Children’s Hospital. Sam had met William there in the hospital’s lunchroom and Mark wasn’t surprised when Sam brought him home for dinner one night. He was happy for Sam. William, not Bill, Mark had learned that the first time he met him, was an x-ray technician. Mark liked him right away when William joined Terri and Sam in attacking him over his dislike of Tupperware.
Mark smiled at the memory. It was an everyday occurrence and running battle with his wife and it flared its ugly head during the dinner they had met William. Terri kept the empty Tupperware containers in a cabinet above the sink. Mark volunteered to clear the dinner plates and do the dishes. There were some leftover vegetables that Mark wanted to place in a container and when he opened the cabinet door, all of them cascaded down, falling on him.
“I hate Tupperware!” he yelled in exasperation .
“And you!” Terri yelled as she entered the kitchen to help him. “Don’t know the value of Tupperware!”
“What?” he said to her.
“I said you don’t know the value of Tupperware.”
“Yeah, Dad, you don’t know the value of Tupperware,” Sam chimed in from the dining room.
“Sorry, sir,” William added. “I don’t believe I have ever met a man who didn’t know the value of Tupperware.”
And with that they all began to laugh at him and all he could say was, “I still hate Tupperware.” They laughed even harder.
Mark stepped onto the deck. It was covered in the shade of the tall, old oak tree, even this early in the morning. He walked to the table that had a rainbow colored umbrella centered in it and sat down. Terri’s gardening skills were paying dividends as her flowers were looking, well, really nice. He wished he knew what varieties they were but, to him, it didn’t matter because it looked nice.
“Whatcha doing?”
He looked over his shoulder and saw his daughter walking through the doorway carrying a small box.
“Well, hello there,” Mark said to her. “Aren’t you here kind of early?”
“Yes,” Marie said as she sat down next to him and opened the box. “Yes, I am. David will bring the girls later and I brought you doughnuts.”
“Boston crème?”
“Of course,” she said as she pointed it out to him.
Mark selected it and took a bite. He chewed slowly watching his daughter as she selected one herself and leaned back and looked at him.
“And?” he asked her as he took a second bite.
“I want to talk to you about something, but I am not sure if I should.”
“Hmmm,” Mark replied. “Can I get a subject and maybe I can help you decide?”
“I don’t know,” Marie said as she leaned forward in her chair and looked over the doughnuts.
Mark watched his daughter and reached out and placed a hand on her head. “I see your favorite one in there, too.”
She selected the chocolate long john and sat back.
“I went searching for its origin last night,” Mark said looking over the doughnut box again. “Online.”
“Dad,” Marie said as she looked at him. “The window is exactly what I want to talk about. I knew you would do this.”
“That’s what I do, honey.”
“I know,” Marie leaned forward again. “I know that is what you do but I am worried you will try to do too much. Did you find out?”
“I believe it has an Indian origin, the Fox tribe, I think. But it was going down an awfully long rabbit hole and I decided it didn’t matter. I should just enjoy it,” Mark said.
“No, Dad, I think that would be dangerous.”
“What would be dangerous?”
Both of them turned toward the doorway and saw Terri standing there with a coffee pot in her hand.
“We,” Mark answered. “Were discussing whether or not I could climb up that tree right now.”
“That would be dangerous,” Terri said as she sat down next to Marie.
Marie looked at her Dad and said, “Told you.”
Later that night Mark walked up the stairs in an effort to get away from the chaos of his loud family. He walked into his office, sat at his desk and looked out the window. His computer screen flared on when he bumped the desk and the family picture appeared. It was an old one of just the five of them. He looked so young and, right now, he felt so old. The floor creaked beside him and he looked over his shoulder. Marie was walking into the room.
“I like your office,” she said walking toward him. “And your view.”
He turned from her to the window and joined her in looking out the window. They remained silent for a while. Mark sat straight up and looked at his daughter, who had sat down beside him, Indian-style, beside him. He smiled at her. She frowned back at him.
“Hey,” he began. “I wonder what would happen if two people could go back together.”
“No, Dad, that’s crazy. Who knows what would happen? I think it’s too dangerous and why would you want to do that anyway. We have gotten to a good place now. There is nothing that we need to do over. Except for this moment right now.”
“Maybe not change anything,” Mark countered. “Maybe we could just relive something together.”
“Dad, you forgot that when you back into time, it’s like you are looking through a window into yourself back then and you know what’s going on.”
“And you can make yourself make changes to the story, right?”
Marie got up on her knees and took her father’s hands and quietly said, “I don’t want to make any more changes, Dad. It is wrong to change things. I decided not to and so should you. Come on, let’s go back downstairs and join your family.”
Mark looked at her closely. Her hair was shorter than he liked but the firm, dark brown eyes were the same. They were quite startling as to how deep, dark brown they seemed to hm just now. Marie’s eyes reminded him of his wife’s eyes when she got, well, stern with him. He smiled.
“You are right honey,” he said as he stood up and helped her to her feet. “Let’s go join the party.”
To be continued…
My First Stories 