116It had started out the loveliest of days on that mid-August morning in 2017. Natalie was happy that she and Adrian were about to get back to a sense of normalcy, just as soon as they helped Adrian's brother Ambrose and his wife Heather pack for Boston. Adrian was happy that he was finally going to get a chance to clean up the old Monk homestead. He had tried to be respectful, since Ambrose was the one paying the bills and maintaining the home, but his skin literally crawled every time he went over to the house he grew up in and saw piles of papers and bills and items which should have been thrown away years before. It would be good having Ambrose nearby, especially since he was becoming braver and taking on new adventures. But, right now, his mind was focused on one thing - closing down that old house and sealing in the bad memories that those walls contained.
"Ambrose, Heather, we're here!" Natalie Monk said knocking on the screen door. "Ready to roll up our sleeves and start getting you packed.
Heather came walking towards the door, holding a pitcher of lemonade, with Ambrose following closely behind her. Pregnancy wore well on her, giving her a glow that made her appear much younger than her 48 years would indicate. Considering that Natalie was now an expert on high-risk pregnancies, she and Heather were suddenly growing much closer, a phenomenon that strangely drew the two brothers closer as well. There was nothing like the bond of family ties and the knowledge that wherever one was, there was always someone there with whom one had a shared history and shared worldview. Familiarity could often breed contempt, but in this case familiarity bred comfort which was fitting since the word familiar itself came from the latin, familiaris, which related to belonging to a family or on a family footing.
"Coming!" Heather said as Ambrose scurried around her trying to grab the pitcher from her.
"Heather…hand that to me." He said nervously. Of course, using the words Ambrose and 'nervous' in the same sentence was to risk a charge of redundancy. He was naturally a worry wort and now that his wife was carrying his child, this tendency had increased exponentially.
"Ambrose, stop! Seriously? I've got it. I'm fine." She scolded, holding the pitcher in her right hand and opening the screen door with her left. "Come on in!" she told Adrian and Natalie. "Glad to see you. Maybe you can do something to keep him busy."
"I'm just trying to help." Ambrose said, like a wounded child.
"I know you are, but you're driving me nuts. Why don't you go someplace and start working on cleaning some of this stuff up with your brother." She suggested. "Adrian would love that, wouldn't you, Adrian?" she said.
Adrian nodded and smiled. "I've been looking forward to it all week. Come on Ambrose, lets go see what needs to be done."
"Everything!" Heather said. "Not only is my husband a pack rat, but your parents were pack rats and we have to go through all of that stuff because we're not taking it with us to Boston."
"We can move some of it, can't we?" Ambrose asked.
"Yes. Some. But the majority of it has to go. Out with the old! Just keep telling yourself that! We don't know if we're even going to have room to store things, so our first priority needs to be downsizing so that we can get everything we need for when the baby arrives." Heather said.
"I'll take care of him." Adrian said, taking Ambrose by the arm. "Hey, big brother. Why don't we start upstairs in Dad's office."
"Dad's office?" Ambrose said. "But he might get mad if we throw away his things."
"He won't get mad. Trust me. I started to clean things up several years ago when I was here at Halloween. There's so much stuff in there, he won't miss a thing." Said Adrian.
"Are you sure?" Ambrose asked.
"Trust me." Adrian said, as they climbed the stairs to the forbidden room above.
"So, what's it like?" Heather asked, as she and Natalie went into the kitchen and Heather finally did something with the pitcher of lemonade.
Natalie looked at her with curiosity in her eyes. "What's what like?"
"Being at a crossroads with Adrian. Possibly looking at slowing down a little. Not being so much the guy always on call for everybody's murder or crime?" Heather asked.
"Oh, I expect we'll still be very busy. You know people aren't going to leave him alone. Not with his powers of observation." She said.
"How do you feel about that?" asked Heather.
"Honestly? I feel like we are just about in a perfect spot in life. I can't imagine him being happy not working, so we're at the stage where he can take what jobs he wants and reject those he doesn't want. We don't really have money worries. We are at a fantastic spot in our relationship. Honestly, we've never been happier. We have two happy healthy children. We'll be living near Julie. I'm loving it!" Natalie said.
"And, we'll be nearby!" Heather reminded her.
"Yes! You and my parents. They are moving to Boston too!" Natalie said.
"Really? What do you guys think about that?" Heather asked.
"Uh…I think it will be good for Lee and Abby to have their grandparents nearby. Where do you want to start on packing by the way?" she asked.
Heather blushed. "Oh yeah. That is what you're here for isn't it? We can start over here with the dishes. Remember that Ambrose likes to have everything numbered."
"I remember. Came from their mother." Natalie said. "And the infamous mug number 9. Adrian told me about that one."
"Yeah, Ambrose still gets upset whenever it gets brought up. Swears he didn't mean to break it." Said Heather.
"Poor Ambrose." Natalie said, folding out a cardboard box to place the dishes in.
"Poor Adrian. I just don't get it." Said Heather.
"Get what?" Natalie asked.
"How did two men who grew up in a home that was essentially run by two people who didn't know what it meant to demonstrate what true love was…how did they end up being such decent, sensitive guys?" Heather asked.
"I think Jack tried. A least for a while. He used to read Sherlock Holmes to his boys and set up a play set for them." Said Natalie.
"Yeah, I heard about that." Said Heather. "Boys never played on it. What it must have been like growing up in that household."
Upstairs, Adrian and Ambrose walked into Jack Monk's study. Other than perhaps a few more layers of dust, nothing had been done to it since Adrian angrily took a white plastic bag and started haphazardly filling it with items, only to be stopped by a phone call from Leland which led him to believe that Ambrose had been poisoned.
"Wow. Exactly the same." Adrian said. "Do you ever even come in here?"
"No. Dad wouldn't like it." Ambrose said.
"Dad doesn't even think about this place. When is the last time you've seen him?" asked Adrian.
"He dropped by about a week after Heather and I got married. Only stayed for about ten minutes. Said he had a delivery to make up in Portland and wanted to say hi." Ambrose said.
"Well, at least he stopped by." Adrian replied. "So..where do you want to get started?"
"You're the one whose idea it is to touch Dad's things. You choose." Ambrose said.
"Ambrose, you can't take his office with you. Remember…you're downsizing." Adrian replied. "You start over there with his books. I'll be over here going through his file drawers."
After about three hours of hard work, Natalie decided it was time for a break.
"You up for some lunch?" she asked Heather.
"Oh gosh, yes. We're starving." Heather laughed, holding her tummy.
Natalie smiled. "I'll go ask the guys if they want something to eat. What do you feel like? You get to choose."
Heather's eyes brightened with excitement and she smiled "I would like…a couple of cheese enchiladas, extra cheese, and a bowl of Spanish rice!"
"Okay. Is Habaneros still there?" Natalie asked.
"Yeah. Place is just the same." Heather replied.
"Okay. I'll go take their order and see if maybe Adrian or Ambrose want to go with me to pick it up." Natalie said.
When Natalie got upstairs, she was surprised to hear that all was not harmonious. Ambrose was distressed and Adrian was being his typical impatient self.
"Ambrose, put that back in the bag." Adrian said.
"No! You can't throw that away!" Ambrose replied.
"It's just a stupid program." Adrian said. "Why would you want to keep it?"
"It's from the circus. Dad took us there. We saw the flying acrobats." Ambrose replied.
"I remember that trip. He also took us into the area where they had the circus sideshow – the six legged dog, the two headed cow…" Adrian said.
"Oh yeah! That was neat!" Ambrose said dreamily.
"Neat?!" Adrian exclaimed. "Ambrose, he tried to leave us there! I heard him try to sell us to the owner for a couple thousand dollars!"
Ambrose looked at Adrian, "Adrian, he was just joking. You have never learned to take a joke."
"Boys! Boys!" Natalie said, stepping into the room. "No arguing! Break it up! Now Adrian, if you and Ambrose can't learn to play together nicely then we're just going to have to go home!"
Adrian snarled his face at her and folded his arms. "Very funny."
She laughed. "I can be. I just came up here to take your guys order. Heather and I want to go pick up some Mexican. What would you like?"
"Mexican? Which Mexican? Who is she talking about, Adrian?" Ambrose asked.
Adrian rolled his eyes. "Mexican food, Ambrose. She means Mexican food."
"Oh." Ambrose said, blankly, then looked up with excitement. "I like tacos!"
"Great! That was simple. One Taco dinner. You want Guacamole with that?" she asked.
"I don't know, do I?" Ambrose replied.
"Yeah. You would like guacamole." She responded.
"Okay, then yes. I'll have guacamole with that Natalie." Ambrose said smiling.
"Excellent, and you my handsome hunk of a man?" Natalie asked.
Adrian smiled. "Flattery will get you everywhere." He said. "Do they have just plain grilled chicken?"
Natalie looked at him, contorting her mouth. "I imagine so."
"Okay, then I would like plain grilled chicken, with sautéed peppers on the side…in a separate container…some plain rice…in a separate container…and a dollop of guacamole." He said.
"On the side?" Natalie asked.
"You know me too well." He said.
She winked at him and said, "like nobody else."
"Natalie!" Adrian said, blushing.
"I didn't mean it that way, silly!" she replied.
"Well, my brother has always been a regular Casanova." Ambrose said, joining in on the fun.
Adrian twitched his neck and fake laughed, suddenly feeling self-conscious at the attention. "Very funny, you guys. Ha..ha…" he said, as Natalie came up to him and lightly punched him in the arm.
"Oh, we're just teasing…" she said. "Did you want anything else?"
Adrian grimaced. He had gone to putting back a drawer in Jack's desk when it got stuck. "No. I don't think so." He said, distracted, as he wiggled the drawer, trying to get it to fit.
"Don't scuff that. Dad won't be happy." Ambrose said.
Adrian looked up. "We're selling this." He said, taking the drawer out of the hole and putting it on top of the desk. He examined the side rails of the drawer closely for anything might cause it to hang up, and then bent down and peered inside the hole in the desk.
"What the?" he said, reaching his arm inside the drawer.
"What?" Natalie asked, leaning forward as Ambrose did the same.
Adrian fished around for a moment and then pulled out a single key, attached to a satin ribbon through the key hole. He held it up to his face and then turned to show it to Ambrose and Natalie.
"What have we here?" he asked, his eyes dancing with excitement and a smile on his face.
That single discovery kept Adrian and Ambrose busy for the next forty five minutes while Natalie hurried out and picked up some food with Heather. Much of the time she was gone, they argued like school boys over whether or not they should try to find what the key went to. They could tell that it was the kind of key that would go to either a lock box or a safe, but beyond that they didn't know. In the end, by the time Natalie and Heather came back home with the food, Adrian was seated on the floor ripping the lining out of a leather chair while Ambrose was pacing and talking about how much trouble Adrian was going to be in when Dad saw what he had done.
Natalie walked into the room. "What… are you doing?"she asked, shocked at the display.
Adrian smiled and reached inside the bottom of the chair and pulled out a metal lock box, about twice the size of a shoe box.
"This!" he said, with pride. "I'm uncovering this!"
She walked towards him slowly…"What is it?"
Adrian smiled, clutching the box. "I…I don't know? It might be all of Jack Monk's deep dark hidden secrets!"
"Adrian, you put that down. If Dad wanted us to see those things, he would have showed them to us!" Ambrose protested.
"If Dad cared about it, he would have taken it with him when he went out for Chinese and abandoned his family!" Adrian replied. "I'm going to see what's inside!"
"Adrian don't!" Ambrose responded.
Adrian took the key and stuck it in the lock at which point Ambrose lunged forward and snatched it from his hand, and then stuck it in his mouth.
Adrian winced. "Ambrose! Please! The germs!"
Ambrose thought for a second and spit the key out at which point both brothers just stared at it on the floor.
"Okay, great time for a break!" Natalie said, taking both men by the arms and dragging them towards the door.
"Let's just leave that here and get back to it after we eat." She replied, pulling them out of the room as they glanced between the key and each other each step of the way.
A half hour into their dinner, Adrian excused himself saying he needed to go to the bathroom.
"You're not fooling me!" said Ambrose suspiciously. "You're going up to get that key!"
"Ammmmbroseee! My brother! I'm hurt! Are you saying I would actually lie about needing a biological break?" Adrian responded.
Ambrose looked at him unphased. "You can hold your water until we'll done!" he said.
Adrian lowered his head as if ashamed, and said "Okay... I'm done!" He jumped up as quickly as he could and went running towards the stairs. Ambrose threw down his napkin and tried to follow, but Adrian was too quick for him and got to the study first, shutting and locking the door.
With Ambrose banging on the door to let him in, Adrian's eyes lit up when he saw the key, and he bent down and used a handkerchief to pick it up.
Walking over to the lock box, he pushed the key into the hole and gently turned it, releasing the latch. The lid creaked as he opened it, having picked up rust from years and years of storage. He blew dust off of the top layer of items within the box where he found some knick-knacks and souvenirs from years past. He ran into an obscene photo of a woman who was not his mother and quickly shoved it aside, and then he ran into a stack of bills and other papers at the bottom of the box.
"Why would he hide this ?" he thought, as he leafed through the papers. "It's just a bunch of old papers and photographs."
Disappointed, he opened each document and looked at the contents therein.
"Marriage license for he and mom. Baptismal record. Inoculation record. Pay stub. Doctor bill for Ambrose having the mumps as a baby. Doctor bill for Mom having the flu. Doctor bill for dad…what?" He put the other papers down and blinked hard three or four times, then shook his head trying to convince himself that he was just reading things wrong.
Outside, Natalie came upstairs when she heard Ambrose complain that Adrian wasn't answering him.
"Adrian? Come on now! Let your brother inside!" she said, knocking on the door. "Enough is enough. Play like a good boy and let Ambrose in."
Twenty seconds passed and they heard the door unlock and the handle turn. Adrian opened the door and both Natalie and Ambrose were stunned at his appearance. White as a ghost, he looked at them both with a look of lost desperation.
"Oh my gosh, what is it? Honey? What's wrong?" Natalie said, putting her hand on his shoulder.
He looked at her in the face and great tears began to form in his eyes as he put his hand up to his forehead. She had seen this look only once before and it was frightening. It happened when he thought that his late wife Trudy might be alive and he was on the edge of a psychological break.
"Adrian? What's wrong?" Ambrose said with no response.
Adrian walked two or three paces more to the top of the stairs and turned and looked at them both, wadding up the piece of paper in his hand as he did. He then spun around, and with his arm over his face ran down the stairs and out the front door as fast as he could move, dropping the paper on the front porch as he left.
Natalie ran after him, but was unable to catch him and Ambrose and Heather stood on the porch watching until she came back.
"Something is very wrong!" Natalie said. "Get my keys! I have to go after him."
Ambrose, turned to go back into the house and then looked down on the ground, finding the crumpled up piece of paper. He bent down and picked it up, reading the contents therein. He stood stiffly and then his arms dropped to his side. He shook his head no, and then turned around, looking down the street in the direction that Adrian had run.
"What? What is it?" Natalie asked.
Ambrose said nothing, but handed the paper to Natalie.
She began to read. "It's a hospital bill for Jack Monk. Male sterilization. Dated September 18th 1958." She looked up at Ambrose with worry in her eyes. "That..that was…" she began.
"Thirteen months before Adrian was born." Ambrose said, completing her thought.
"Oh, no! Oh…Adrian!" Natalie said, in shock Then pulling herself together she said "Get my purse and keys! I have to go find him! Now!"