Intervention: A Science Fiction Adventure (9 page)

Joe held Mary close.
“Well, he isn’t even three years old yet. What else did they
say?”

“They suggested we
get him a tutor or work with him ourselves until he’s at least
five, and to contact them again then.”

“Well, what would you
do all day if Christopher was gone at school? I know how much you
enjoy the time you two spend together. Come on, admit it. You’d
miss him so much you wouldn’t know what to do with yourself.”

Sometimes, Joe could
say just the right thing. “I guess I didn’t think about that,”
Mary admitted.

“Besides, who would
care as much, or give as much as you—his mother?” Joe was batting
a thousand.

“Of course, you’re
right, honey,” Mary replied. “I just want him to have the best.”

Joe looked deep into
Mary’s eyes and said, “Mary, you’re the best.”

* * *

“Back for more?”
The clerk said as he totaled Mary’s most recent purchase of
supplies for Christopher.

“Yes. He just can’t
seem to get enough of these, especially the puzzle books,” Mary
replied.

“I like puzzles,”
remarked Christopher.

“It seems you do,”
said the clerk as he handed Mary her change. “You have a nice day.
We’ll see you next time.”

“Thank you.” Mary
responded.

“Thank you,”
Christopher echoed. “Bye.”

Mary had taken it upon
herself to work as closely with Christopher as possible. Making sure
he worked as much on reading, writing, and math as he did on his
favorite puzzles. Mary encouraged him to play with other children,
but Christopher just didn’t seem interested. He would rather work
on his reading and math with Mary than play and he would rather work
on puzzles than anything. It didn’t matter if it was a maze, a
picture puzzle, or find-the-difference—as long as there was an
unknown end to be achieved, it was fine with Christopher.

The days, weeks, and
months went by. Mary continued to work with Christopher, trying
desperately to keep up with his desire for more and more things to
learn. Mary was careful to teach Christopher a sense of right and
wrong as well, although he never seemed to need it. He seemed to
naturally be a well-behaved and loving child. But Mary knew he would
soon have to interact with other children when he started attending
school.

Was
that the car door already?
Mary thought.
The
time just seems to fly by working with Christopher each day.
“Hello, honey,” Mary purred as she opened the door and gave Joe a
big hug.

“How’s my boy
today, huh?” Joe said as he picked Christopher up and gave him a
big hug, too.

“Hi, Daddy,”
Christopher responded.

Joe carried Christopher
into the living room. “So, let’s see what you did today.”

Mary smiled as she
watched them together. “I’ll get dinner ready. It’ll be just a
minute, so you two better go wash your hands.”

“Your mom says we
better wash our hands, so we better go wash our hands.”

Joe waited till the
middle of dinner before breaking the news to Mary. “Mickey’s
uncle passed away last week. He had a house in a nice area just
outside the city on the other side of town, and Mickey will be
handling the sale of the house. He asked if we might be interested.
When I told him it would be too far for me to drive to get to my
territory, he said if we wanted to buy the house, he would let me
work not only the north side, but also the northern part of the city.
It seems old Hal Fletcher is slowing down a little and Mickey thinks
he wouldn’t mind if I worked part of his territory.” Joe waited
for Mary’s response.

“Oh, Joe, a house?
That would be wonderful, but how could we afford it?”

“Well, Mickey said
that since the house is paid for, he would hold the paper and take
the payments right out of my pay each month, and with the northern
territory to work plus part of the city, well, I don’t see why
not.”

“When can we go look
at it?” Mary asked, as if already giving her blessing.

With a big smile, Joe
held up the keys. “How about first thing in the morning?”

“Did you bring the
camera?” Joe asked as he glanced at Mary before starting the car.

“Yes, and some
sandwiches and crackers. I also brought a thermos of cold milk to
drink with the sandwiches. I thought since it’s in the country, we
could make it like a picnic.”

“You’ve thought of
everything. Well then, let’s go.”

Their flat was on the
southern fringes of the city, which meant they had to drive right
through the heart of the city. Once out of the city, they were more
able to appreciate the trees in the midst of their autumn color
change. It could not have been a nicer time of year for a trip like
this—a nice cool fall afternoon with the sun shining. It seemed to
reflect the change about to happen in their lives.

With the city just
barely behind them, Joe made the turn onto the gravel road, around a
curve, and there it was. It looked like a picture postcard, Mary
thought. There was a small rustic wooden bridge marking the beginning
of the winding drive leading up to the house.

“Oh Joe! It’s
beautiful. Are you sure this is the right house?”

“Well, we’ll see if
the key fits,” Joe remarked with a big smile but he knew it was the
right house since Mickey had described it to him the day before.

As Joe turned the key
in the front door lock, Mary was practically holding her breath.
Although she knew the key would fit, it still seemed too good to be
true. As Joe opened the door, he stood aside to allow Mary to enter
first. Her eyes were wide with a twinkle like the morning dew in the
sun. She entered the living room and tried to take everything in.
Instantly, to her left, her eyes fell upon the doorway leading into
the kitchen. Her body seemed to follow her eyes, and she found
herself standing in front of the window over the kitchen sink. Mary
knew she was home.

Out the kitchen window,
Mary could see the large oak tree in front and the wooden bridge
beyond. She would be able to see Joe coming home every day as she
prepared dinner.
This is
perfect
, Mary thought,
just
perfect.

“Are you going to
stay in the kitchen all day, or would you like to see the rest of the
house, too?” Joe’s voice rang from another room.

“Oh, honey. It’s
wonderful,” Mary replied as she entered the living room. “You
guys going to wait for me?” Joe and Christopher were already at the
end of the hall looking at the back bedroom.

“Take a look at our
new bedroom,” Joe said as Mary joined him in the doorway of the
back bedroom.

“What’s in here?”
Christopher asked as he opened the door of the stairs leading up to
the loft.

“Wait for us,
Christopher.”

As soon as Christopher
reached the top of the stairs, he announced, “This will be my
room.” Joe and Mary looked around at the semi-finished attic.
“Well, we’ll have to do a little fixing up first, but I don’t
see why not. What do you think, honey?”

Mary thought for a
moment. “Sure. I can make some drapes for the windows and, well, it
will be nice.”

“Till then, your room
will be downstairs,” Joe remarked.

“We don’t even know
if we can get the house yet, do we, Joe?” Mary asked.

“All I have to do is
tell Mickey we want it, and it’s ours. What do you think?” Joe
looked at Mary with that why-not look on his face.

“I haven’t seen the
bathroom yet,” Mary responded.

“Well,” Joe said,
“let’s go have a look.” They left Christopher to explore what
would soon become his new bedroom, and Joe and Mary returned to the
ground floor to inspect the bathroom.

“Joe!” Mary
exclaimed. “A tub! A
real
bathtub!” Their flat had only a shower. Mary had gotten used to not
being able to enjoy the pleasures of a long afternoon bubble bath.
Thoughts of relaxing in a tub full of hot water topped with a thick
layer of bubbles filled Mary’s mind. “So what do you think,
honey?” Joe asked.

“It’s perfect Joe,
just perfect. Why don’t you go get Christopher and I’ll get the
sandwiches out of the car. We can eat out on the porch.”

“Good idea. We’ll
be there in a minute.”

The porch ran the
entire length of the front of the house. It was enclosed with a
simple railing, opening at the center where the steps were. There was
a porch swing big enough for two or three people. It faced the front,
giving its occupants a beautiful view of the shallow valley and
gentle rolling grass-covered hills in front of the house. There were
several other houses in the area, but none very close. Most were
scattered throughout the valley. Many trees, mostly oaks, were
scattered in the area—not so many as to let one think they were in
the woods, but enough to let you know you weren’t in the city. The
air was clean, and there wasn’t a factory in sight. It may not have
been a mansion, but for Joe and Mary, it was a dream come true.

“Do you think we can
really afford it, honey?” Mary asked.

“Well,” Joe stopped
to take a drink of milk, and then continued, “the payments will
only be just a little higher than what we’re paying now. Besides,
I’ll have more territory to work, so I think we can safely assume
we’ll have a little more income to work with. Plus, the furniture.”

“The furniture? What
about the furniture?” Mary asked.

“Didn’t I tell you?
All the furniture comes with it—everything. So we can sell what we
have now. I mean, anything we don’t want to keep. All we really
have to do is bring our clothes and toothbrush.”

“What about all the
dishes and silverware and—”

Joe cut Mary off midway
through her sentence, “Even the television. That’s right.
Everything stays just like you see it. Mickey and his family don’t
have any interest in anything in the house.”

Mary couldn’t believe
her ears. “Well, then I say we take it. What do you think
Christopher? Do you like the house?”

“Yes, let’s live
here,” Christopher responded.

“Then it’s settled.
I’ll tell Mickey first thing Monday morning that—no, wait.
Actually, I’ll call him when we get home.”

Mary spoke up, “Let’s
call him right now, Joe. I saw a phone in the kitchen. Let’s see if
it works.”

Joe finished his lunch
and then tried the phone. “Hello, Mickey? Joe here. I’m sorry to
call you at home, but I’m at your uncle’s house with Mary and
Christopher, and we love it. We’ve looked at it and talked it over
and we’ve decided we want to buy it. Are you sure everything in it
stays? Uh-huh. Yes. Sure. Okay. I’ll see you Monday morning. Right.
Bye-bye.” Joe paused for a moment. “Well, it looks like we’re
home. Mickey said we’ll do the paperwork on Monday, but we can move
in right now if we want.”

“Oh, honey!” Mary
exclaimed as she put her arms around Joe and held him close. “Let’s
go take another look around our new house. How about we move in
tomorrow. We can pack up most of the things we’ll need and bring it
over in the car tomorrow. We can get the rest over the weekend. What
do you think?”

Joe thought for a
moment. “I don’t see why not. We should be able to fit all of our
clothes in the car plus the food out of the cupboards and the
refrigerator. What we can’t fit in, we should be able to get this
weekend. I’ll call the consignment shop and have them pick up the
furniture in the meantime, so after we load the rest, we can clean up
before we leave. Then I can drop off the keys to Mrs. Davis and get
our deposit back.”

“Then it’s settled.
We move in tomorrow.” Mary smiled. “Move into our new house. I
still can’t believe it—our new house. Pinch me, honey. No
don’t—if I’m dreaming, I don’t want to wake up.” Mary
laughed. “I love you so much, Joe.”

“I love you too,
honey.” Mary leaned back and looked at Joe. “We had better get
back to the flat then. We’ve got some packing to do.”

Joe stopped at the
grocery store to get some boxes. As soon as they got to the flat,
they started right into packing. “Joe, how about you start packing
the food in the cupboards while I pack the clothes. Christopher, why
don’t you take a box and pack all your books and things, okay? And,
Joe, leave the things in the refrigerator till we’re ready to leave
tomorrow so they won’t go bad.”

Joe smiled, “Yes,
Mom.”

Mary set out
everybody’s clothes for the next day and packed the rest in boxes.
Joe loaded all the food from the cupboards into several boxes, while
Christopher was busy carefully filling a box with all of his books
and puzzles. It was starting to get late, but they were all so
excited about their new house that no one was tired.

“It’s going to be a
long day tomorrow, so we all had better get some sleep. What do you
say?” Mary always the realist, had as much trouble falling asleep
as anyone. Visions of their new house kept swirling through her head
until the Sandman finally won out and let her sleep.

All were up with the
sun and ready for the adventure of moving that lie ahead. After a
quick shower, Joe went into the kitchen to find Mary had already
whipped up a light breakfast. Joined a moment later by Christopher,
they all sat down to eat. No one was really hungry, but Mary knew the
importance of a good breakfast. Besides, it was a good chance to
discuss the game plan for the day.

“As soon as we finish
eating, I’ll wash the dishes while you start loading the boxes into
the car. When you finish that, you can help me pack the rest of the
food and, well, then we should be ready to go. Christopher, you can
bring me the dishes and silverware from the table, okay?”

“Okay, Mom.”

It was a strange
feeling that was shared by all as they pulled out of the driveway.
The car was packed full of so many of the things that made up their
life. Joe took it nice and slow, being careful negotiating bumps and
curves so as not to disturb their precious cargo. This was more than
a trip across town. This was a journey into a new life. A chance to
put down roots that Mary and Joe had waited for since getting
married. A place to come home to that was really a home. The trip
seemed to go by fast and in no time at all, they were driving across
the little wooden bridge and up the driveway to their new home.