Chapter 63
The house was a flurry of activity. Lively, though overtired, the occupants of the kitchen buzzed about performing a timeworn holiday ritual, albeit somewhat altered this year. It seems this year, like probably every year in the past, and most likely, the future, there was going to be far more food than could possibly be consumed in this Thanksgiving meal. John and Gennie had never spent the holiday together, nor, quite surprisingly to him, had she and Stacey. They’d both always spent the holidays with their respective families. Everyone brought to the festivities their own traditions and ideas on what should be prepared. Not wanting anyone to feel like they’d been denied their rightful Thanksgiving, they opted to have it all.
Everyone had been put in charge of their favorites. Gen baked pies (baking wasn’t cooking, she insisted) one pumpkin and one apple for the non-traditionalists. She also made some turkey and pumpkin shaped sugar cookies for the kids to munch on till dinner was ready. Stacey was making a traditional Fisher family potato cheese casserole that her mother had prepared every year since the dawn of time, some sweet potatoes that she’d learned to fix to mouth watering perfection from, of all people, Josh’s mother, and a cranberry Jell-o salad sort of confection that Megan had tasted at her school party on Tuesday and had insisted that they have. Meggy also, incidentally, had insisted that they all wear paper collars and pilgrim hats to be authentic, but Josh thankfully had decided to draw the line at that one. John had opted to prepare the turkey, but he’d also taken on the mashed potatoes- real, not instant, gravy- again real, glazed carrots, and strange new type of stuffing (his own recipe), that everyone thought sounded odd but tastier, actually, than anything they’d had in their own family feasts. Josh, by default, was given all the easy items- green bean casserole- the kind with the onion rings crumbled on top, which everyone agreed was a must-have tradition, heating up canned corn for the kids, and sliding the jellied cranberry sauce out of the can and onto a silver tray. He was also assigned the task of watching the kids, one he gratefully accepted because it meant that he could actually sit in the living room watching the game.
Jovial fun loving conversation filled the room. The three of them challenged each other to tales of Thanksgiving dinners gone bad. They had to agree, John won by a long shot. They were laughing at his tale of the first pumpkin pie he ever helped make. Seems he was pretty young and couldn’t keep tsp. and tbsp. straight. That particular year, the Rzeznik family was treated to one of the saltiest pumpkin pies ever consumed, but they ate it, not wanting to hurt their sensitive little brother’s pride in his culinary accomplishment. He was blushing as he told the story, but fortunately for him, before he had to unleash any more embarrassing stories on the two giggling friends, the phone rang.
Gen giggled when she realized it was a call from home. “It’s probably Gladdy,” she hollered to him while chatted happily with a sister “She wants your pumpkin pie recipe!” He dignified her comment with a roll of the eyes and a salute with his middle finger.
When the giggles died down, Stacey seized the opportunity to have a quick semi-private conversation with her best friend. “So, you’re really happy here?” she asked as she sidled up along side Gen. “You look happy, you sound happy, I hope you really are!”
“God, Stace, I love it here!” she beamed before her smile faded slightly. “Well, I hate California, Hollywood anyway. But I’m so happy here! It’s great.”
“Really? Be honest. Do you ever see yourself moving back home?”
Gen paused with a thoughtful look on her face. She’d never posed that question to herself before. Admitting to herself, much less to Stacey, that she didn’t ever see herself going back to Oklahoma for anything more than a visit was a tad bit daunting. Logic still told her to ‘wait and see’ on this whole relationship thing. It was still really early. “Oh, Stace,” she sighed, “I hate to think about it. I mean, we’ve only known each other for like, four, five months. But no, I honestly don’t see myself moving back there.”
Stacey couldn’t say she was shocked; it was actually the answer she expected from day one. But hearing the words actually coming from Gen’s mouth was a bit more of a surprise than she would have guessed. “Wow!” was all she could muster in reply.
“Don’t get me wrong, y’know,” Gen continued, “I’m not working, so I can go back as much as I like and all, but I can’t imagine not being with him.” She shook her head in disbelief. “Doesn’t that sound stupid? I mean, I never thought I would say that about anybody. It sounds so dependent and shit…”
“No,” Stace interrupted her. “It doesn’t sound stupid. I know exactly what you mean. You’re not dependent on him, you just… well, you’ve made a life with him. It makes complete sense. This is your life now and he’s part of it.” She got almost teary eyed just thinking of her best friend’s new found bliss. She’d known Gen long enough to understand that her utter happiness came as a complete shock to her. Since her divorce, Gen had always been very independent and somewhat cynical when it came to men. She never in a million years imagined being this kind of scenario…. Stacey always knew she’d find the love of her life… but Gennie really never believed it. “I’m happy for you, Gen, I really, really am.”
Buzzers sounded signaling the end of their heart to heart. Both women jumped to attention of their respective creations. Cookies needed icing, sauces needed stirring and toppings needed crumbling. When John noticed the outbreak of activity, he wound up his conversation and jumped back in to cooking mode.
Without warning, little feet urgently padded up to Stacey. “Oh Mommy!” Alex entered the kitchen and whispered loudly, in breathless awe. His eyes were wide as saucers and he looked like he’d just seen a ghost.
“Alex, honey, I’m busy. Can you get Daddy to help you?”
The little boy approached his mother in slow motion. “Mommy, I’ve got to show you something!” He took her hand and tried to pull her away from her task.
Whatever it was, he was clearly moved by something. Stacey was curious as to what had put her son in such an awestruck mood, but she was so preoccupied with other things that she really couldn’t pull herself away from her kitchen duty. “Honey, go show Daddy,” she commanded dismissively.
“No Momma. I’ve got to show you!” he stressed.
“Sweetie,” she smiled, squatting down to his level. “Momma’s busy. If you can’t show Daddy, can you show me later?” She watched the heartbroken expression appear on his little face. His lower lip stuck way out and his chin dropped to his chest. Stacey started to worry; it was a surprisingly similar look to his ‘I’ve been bad’ one. Maybe it was best if she just went with him. “Gen, I’ll be right back,” she groaned with a roll of her eyes as the little boy pulled her along behind him.
Slowly and deliberately, Alex trudged up the stairs with his mother in tow. He was relieved that she’d decided to follow him. This was very important, and he just didn’t think his daddy would understand. They walked past the pink bedroom that he was sharing with his sister while they stayed here. She lay on her stomach playing with her Barbies and didn’t even notice them sneaking past.
“Where are we going, sweetie?”
He stopped at the end of the hall and reverently pushed open the door. “Look Mommy! Look what I found!” he whispered. He stretched his arm out as far as he could without touching. He was in awe alright. He’d found John’s studio and was standing before a row of guitars just like a real rock star would have. He’d never seen anything like it before in his life!
“Wow Alex!” she grinned, trying to keep the giggles to herself. “This is really cool, huh?”
Alex nodded, still amazed with his find.
“You know whose those are? They belong to Johnny.” She smiled as she saw her son’s eyes get big once again. It would appear that he wasn’t making the connection between the picture on his bedroom wall back home and the fact that John was, indeed, a bona fide rock star. Apparently, to Alex, finding this room was just a happy coincidence. “I bet if you ask nicely, he’ll show them to you.”
“Really?” he smiled enormously. “Cool!”
“Yep,” she nodded. “Now, I’ve gotta go back down to the kitchen. Why don’t you come along and ask him?” She took up the tiny hand he offered her and led him back downstairs to the kitchen.
“So what was all the fuss about? Everything Ok?” Gen asked cheerily.
“Well,” said Stacey brightly, “Alex, here, made a bit of a discovery. Seems he has some things he wants to discuss with John.”
John’s eyebrows shot up in a ‘who me?’ expression. “What is it, big guy?” he asked curiously. He looked calm, but on the inside, his mind was racing… what did this kid find? Whatever it was, he hoped it wouldn’t embarrass him.
“Johnny… um… would you… would you show me your guitars?” he asked bashfully.
“Oh!” John replied with a sigh of relief. “Is that what you found? Sure, I’ll show ‘em to ya! C’mon.” His immediate cooking responsibilities out of the way, he squatted down and let the curious boy climb on his back for the piggyback ride up the stairs.
With the boys out of the way, Gennie and Stacey each grabbed a knife and started to ice cookies while Stace recounted in painstaking detail Alex’s reaction to seeing, not one, but six guitars up close. “You’d think he’d died and gone to heaven,” Stacey laughed when the quiet girls-only moment was suddenly interrupted.
“So Gen, when’s the wedding?” It was Josh, which therefore meant that it must be half time since he’d come in to start on his green bean casserole.
Gen got up from her seat at the counter and went in search of a casserole dish for him to fill. “Whatever,” she responded with a roll of her eyes. “What is it about you men? You always think that we aren’t happy unless we’re married.”
“Now, I never said that!” he retorted with a goofy smile and raised eyebrows. “All I’m sayin’ is that I just saw the guy walk past me with my kid on his back. I’m thinking daddyhood ain’t far away for him, is all. You’re gonna make an honest man of ‘im, arentcha?”
“Whoa, hold on pilgrim!” Stacey chimed in. “One thing at a time,” she smiled as she handed him the necessary ingredients and pointed out the recipe on the back of the can. “You don’t need to rush her into getting married!”
“Thanks, Stace,” Gen grinned, then stuck out her tongue at Josh. Theirs was a pretty jovial relationship; she and Josh had been known to rag pretty hard on each other on occasion- all in the name of fun, of course. “I’ve seen Stace live with her mistake everyday. No way I’m making the same mistake!” she winked, then added more seriously. “Truthfully, I don’t know if I want to get married again, y’know. And kids… god, kids are something I don’t even want to think about now! But for your information, I'm on the pill now, so we don't have to worry about that issue.”
“Yeah,” he said with suspicion, “I’ll be hearing wedding bells before long. C’mon, you know it’s true,” he teased.
“For cryin’ out loud,” Stacey took a swipe at him with a dishtowel. “Let her alone about the wedding. You do realize that if she did get married, that would be four more plane tickets and one really expensive wedding gift that we’d be havin’ to ante up for.”
“Not to mention the cost of that wildly expensive bridesmaid dress!” Gen interjected.
“And the flower girl dress,” Stace added.
“Yep, those aren’t cheap, y’know, Josh.” Gen grinned.
“All right, all right!” he insisted, his hands tossed up in surrender. “So I’ll leave you alone about the wedding for now.”
“As well you should,” Stacey insisted. “But, you know, Gen. A baby would be nice,” she said with a teasing smile.
“See! I’m tellin’ ya. Wedding bells! We’ll just see how besmirched his reputation is when the baby comes. He’ll marry ya.” Josh gloated in the midst of his casserole preparation.
“Besmirched?” Gen and Stacey both called out in unison as they shot Josh curious, disbelieving looks.
“Dude, have you been reading the dictionary again?” Gen laughed.
“Hey, man, it’s a five dollar word I’ve been waiting a long time to use!”
“Well, I, for one, am dumbfounded!” Stacey giggled.
“I’m feeling a little addlepated myself,” Gen chuckled.
Stacey sighed, “You know what this means, don’t you?” to which Gen gave her a big smile and a knowing look, while Josh stared blankly at her. “It means it’s time to break out the wine.”
Gen cheerfully flitted over to the cabinet with the wine glasses while Stace slid a slightly chilled bottle from the fridge. With glasses filled and happy smiles on their faces, they offered a casual toast to friendship. Josh took a quick sip then immediately kicked green bean casserole production into high gear. The end of half time was drawing near.
Just as Josh slid the dish into the oven, a loud reverberation blasted above their heads, followed by silence then an outburst of youthful laughter. It was enough to send Stace and Gen, once again, into fits of giggles.
Gen shook her head, “I guess we owe it to ourselves to find out what they’re doing up there.”
Stace looked excitedly to Josh. “I think this may even be a Kodak moment.” That was Josh’s signal to grab the camera off the table.
With wine glasses in hand, they snuck up the steps. They crept quietly down the hallway so as not to disturb the mini jam session that had begun once again in all its discordant glory. What they found when the reached the open door was truly a sight to behold. A Kodak moment at it’s best! John sat on the floor, cross legged, cheering on the two kids who were barely big enough to hold the guitars, much less play them. Megan and Alex both wore headsets and strummed along, unmusically, to some tune that only they could hear. Alex was trying his best rock star posturing as he stood, feet wide apart, arm swinging wildly at the strings. He showed remarkable creativity as he belted out words to a song he made up as he went. They both smiled enormously when they caught a glimpse of their parents, but never let up from their rock n roll masterpiece.
John smiled and invited them in to join him on the floor. “This is outrageous, isn’t it?” he laughed. “You got a couple of manic musicians here.”
“What’s with this song?” Gen asked.
“They’re playing along with some demo stuff, but the words are all their own, I promise. Pretty cool, huh?
They were original, to say the least. Not every word could be understood, but it was clear it was a rock song with a Thanksgiving theme.
“Turkey’s cookin’, yeah!” Alex bellowed.
“At one point I think it may have been called Rock n Roll Turkey Parade,” John chuckled. “But now, I’m not so sure. He’s also mentioned Barbie and football games so it’s a little unclear to me the direction he’s taking it right now.”
“God,” shrugged Josh. “Why did I have to forget the video camera? This is classic!”
“Well, I won’t have it on video for ya, but I’m running tape so he’ll have this for all posterity. MTV’ll no doubt wanna get their hands on a clip of this someday,” he joked.