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Sean - Old Friends, Part 2

The next evening, after we received a call from Jack that he had finished all his day runs and would head to our house around sunset, we all set about a bonfire with a variety of foods and drinks for us to eat. Jack said he would take me and Cara out afterwards to drive around and get the tour from residents instead of a pricing tour guide.

Grampa and Grandma started fixing a traditional meal from their native Eastern Europe heritage. Grampa Alec had brought out his crepe maker and mix. Grandma had cut up and prepped the foods for crepes and warmed up the pita bread, seasoned, sautéed and thinly sliced the pork, then she pulled out her homemade Tzatziki Sauce from the freezer. She set all the dressings and ingredients out on a long table. Grampa made his homemade crepe recipe that had been handed down the generations. He set out a mix of fruit, almond spread, cheese, and pepperonis for his ingredients. Since it was a special night and we were older, nearing graduation, Grandma brought out a Greek wine for all of us to enjoy.

A knock on the door startled us as we set out the last few items on the tables and did one last check that everything was ready.

Cara declared dashing through the house that she was getting the door. I followed behind her walking along. When she swung open the door Jack came with a bouquet of flowers and a bag of wrapped packages. Cara was too anxious to wait long enough for him to come in and put the things down. She reached for everything and handed them to me as I came close. When Jack’s hands were free, she wrapped her arms around him nuzzling into his chest. He looked to me as he embraced her kissing the top of her head. He could only laugh at her child-like excitement. He had to wiggled his way through the open doorway, finally giving in and lifting her up so he could finish coming inside.

“You stay up way to late,” she commented finally releasing him. She took the bouquet of flowers and headed to the kitchen to locate a vase. She took them out to the back porch, placing them in the middle of the table as the centerpiece.

He opened his mouth about to comment to her, but instead best to just leave it be. Jack looked to Sean and gave a muffled laugh.

“I guess some things just don’t change, after all.”

“With Cara, no, what you see is what she allows you to see and what you get. If she doesn’t like you, you’ll know right off the bad and she never strays from that.”

“Then, I guess, I got the good end of the deal, if she mauls me at the door.” Jack continued to laugh as I showed him to the back porch and yard where everything was nicely decorated and prepped.

Jack looked around at the tables piled with food and fixings for them.

“Guys, you didn’t have to go through all this trouble,” he said. He ran his hands over his neck while he shook his head.

“Trouble, who said trouble,” spoke up Grampa Alec, his smile lighting up his face at Jack’s arrival.

Grandma Loren playfully batted at Alec’s joke and motioned for Jack to have a seat.

“Oh no, ma’am,” he said. “Elders first, my moral code. Besides, I’ve been sitting a good portion of the day. I need to let these ole boys stretch for a bit.”

Grandma took a seat as Grampa started making the crepes. He was making them to order according to whatever they wanted. Grandma started pouring out the wine into glasses.

Jack declined the food, but did take the wine. He lifted it up to his nose inhaling the fruity liquid and swirled the glass. The purplish-red liquid sloshing around the edges of the glass. He placed the liquid to his lips and savored the taste after sipping it. He licked his lips with a serene smile.

“This is some very good stuff,” he said. Jack held the glass, sipping on it occasionally as foods were being made and plates fixed. Everyone sat down with their plates of food, even Jack eventually as conversations started getting intense. The twins were too busy eating and listening between bites to have much say. The adults, and Jack, seemed to have the expertise to eat and talk at the same time with proper etiquette.

The twins went for seconds as the adults finished off a portion of their plate, while wrapping up their meal with sipping more wine. The grandparents spoke a bit about the meal theme revolving around their heritage and that they were the first generation to come to the US. Telling a bit more about their genealogy as far back as they personally knew.

Sean decidedly kept quiet with the tidbits, that only he and his mother knew. He wasn’t certain if his father knew just how much research their mother did, but figured he had a clue which is why he requested that the twins take care of the trunk in the effect something happened to him. He wanted it safely guarded. Sean definitely was the prime person to protect it’s contents and keep it private.

When the plates were nearing empty and the grandparents went back for a small second helping, Jack dispensed the gifts out to the family.

“I’ve been doing some extensive traveling. Me and a close acquaintance of mine visited many larger cities that I hadn’t ever been to, and then they treated me to a travel abroad. I learned so much about other cultures, I have a new profound respect for those I thought differently about beforehand. One of those places was Israel. It is very surreal to visit the holy land. We even had the opportunity to have natives guide us around and takes us on the same paths that many of Jesus’ disciples took spreading his word.”

Sean watched as he talked about his grand expedition and it was like something brightened him up. He could tell how enlightening a journey it was. Sean agreed that he’d love to visit some of the countries Jack had the pleasure of going to. He made many mental notes he would ask Jack, for now, he was keeping record.

After everything was said and done, Jack, along with the twins, headed out in his restored 1969 baby powder blue Ford Mustang. Sean and Cara had him tour the area they grew up in most of their lives. While they weren’t able to go inside the military housing, he still got the general idea from passing by. They took him to several of the places that they spent with their mother, the park, theatre, some of the overlook areas of the city where they would have lunch under the shade trees. It was a tourists recap of where they spent most of their childhood before he met them.

When they headed back, it had grown very late. Cara claimed the backseat even though she was the primary force behind the routes to take. She’d found Jack’s trench coat and curled up in it, head resting against the window.

The ride back to their home, Sean and Jack had a chance to talk privately. The radio was playing a local station softly to muffle some of their conversation allowing Cara to remain sleeping.

“Sean. Did you have time to think over what I mentioned last night?”

Sean had been attentively keeping an eye out for various places to point out that was of interest. He thought back on what all they’d talked about in the hotel.

“Do you mean the idea you had when Cara goes East?”

“Yes, that,” he confirmed.

“A bit, but not in depth. I guess, I just need to know more about what you’re offering.”

“Good thinking. Where I live near Outer Banks, NC, several country club and golf resorts are looking for young people to train and hire. They want to build them into an employee that will stay and not get bored enough to leave. If you stay with them long enough, you can work your way to whatever station you wish to be in. Even so far as alternating stations by the day or week, it would all be up to you and your willing to be open-minded and flexible. I think you could be what they are looking for, if you are up to it. I can pull some strings. You just say when and I’ll get it rolling.”

Sean thought about it even harder, especially if it meant he could be close to his sister while she was going through college.

“That does sound more like my speed. I don’t mind doing this and that. Routine and mundane is not my thing. I enjoy being near the beach. Kind of my niche, you know? I think Dad knew that me and Cara were beach babies. Wherever we lived, even if he were stationed inland, he found us a place with a beach within walking distance.”

Jack raised his eyebrow interested in Sean’s view of things. “Think maybe your mom could have played a major role in that too?”

Sean snickered at Jack’s question. “She always did. He said move, she said okay. Here’s where we’re living. He would say okay back. That was that. He worked, but she was the director of the house.”

Jack replied whimsically. “Smart woman.”

“Indeed.”