A Great Surprise

Daniel delivers on a promise. Halloween fades into the sunset. Life is mostly routine.

Daniel telephoned Brenda at the shop to say that he had a surprise, and would drop it off after work, and before he went home to Henry. He avoided talking about Caitlin he said, because she had become "beyond abrasive."  Brenda promised that she would wait for him, and then went back to listing  the required mannequins that she would need to fill the Blundon house "to the rafters." 

A Farleigh mannequin was definitely in order, as was a Mr. Griffin, but Brenda wondered if it would be "jinxy" to have a mannequin for someone who was still embodied in default consciousness. Brenda had a way of seeing things differently from most people.

She was a Catholic "in theory" but found fault with most of the patriarchal society, and dogma. Her interpretation of the Nativity Scene had rubbed a few people the wrong way, and she longed to rub them a little harder this 1952 Christmas. Her idea of the nativity was to include "everyone and everything" during the birth of Jesus. An armadillo was not out of the question. 

If Jesus was born of a virgin with hymen fully intact, the Almighty could surely teleport an armadillo to greet the three wise men ? She had argued on many occasions about lambs in the dead of winter. Or the wise men being astrologers, or which animals got closer to the child due to "some silly pecking order." 

 "The Eccentric Miss Grayson" was determined to make the window a "doozie" once again. Thanksgiving would possibly be spent with Farleigh. If all else failed, she'd eat alone, or invite the ghosts to stop by. She loved Daniel and Farleigh on equal terms, but her heart longed for a permanent relationship to accompany her into the "Sunset" years.

Brenda unlocked the shop door, and let Daniel in from the cold. He had settled into a rut with Caitlin that made him long for the company of a woman who "clearly understood his deepest needs." The "Closed" sign was engaged right away because they wouldn't have much time to talk, or make love. 

Caitlin would be opening a can of "something" for dinner, and Henry would be banging a toy drum or "something" to amuse himself. Daniel said that Caitlin was "predictably unpredictable." Her moods were foul if he didn't take her out to eat at Hot Shoppe's "at least once a week."

Daniel handed Brenda an envelope and sat down on an old chair. She opened it carefully and found a newspaper clipping with a picture of THE Mr. Joseph Blundon. He appeared almost exactly as she had imagined him many times before, when she'd wondered how members of the family looked.  She thought of him as "rather understated, with kind eyes, some facial hair and a determined expression."  He had every bit of it in the grainy picture. 

She kissed Daniel and asked where he had found the article. He said that it was in a folder at the police station, and that Gerard had been able to get it, but there were no records of the train accident, or coroners report in an official capacity. Daniel promised to "keep digging" for more facts when he had time. Brenda promised to frame the clipping, and that she had "just now felt"  that Mr. Blundon was making a remark about "handsome old dog" in a self effacing way.

Daniel was getting used to Brenda's telepathic "flashes and insights" from the great beyond, but rarely experienced such things in the same manner as Fiona, Brenda and Farleigh. He kept a light attitude, but never berated her for what she believed. The two lovers kissed, and the "family man" headed for his tiny home across the tracks from The Blundon house. Brenda walked home in the dark, and hugged the news clipping to her chest.

CJ Marks

January 10 2015