G III: Chapter 20

That very evening, Daphne answered a call for problems with furniture possession. She was on the clock for work and went to help the family straight away.

 Daphne was not there long, but had finished evicting the residing spirits, when the woman of the house went into labor. Apparently the stress of the ghosts sent her body into early delivery. Unfortunately for the woman, her husband fainted and was unable to help her. Daphne couldn't just let the woman suffer so she kindly escorted her to the hospital, and even stayed with her while she delivered. The little baby boy may have been early in his arrival, but all his parts worked fine. The newborn and his mother were sent home.

Daphne only had one call that night, and she was thankful for it.  There was something she wanted to do, and hadn't gotten the chance to in the daytime.

The Mayor had called the Fuller family and informed them that they needed to place a mausoleum on their cemetery. That would make it a legal burial ground. Daphne had made some calls and appointments for the mausoleum to be constructed. Just earlier in the day she had been phoned and informed the it was complete and she was due to make an inspection.

Since the kids had just arrived home from China she spent time with them all afternoon and did not get to the cemetery. Now, she was awake and ready to work, but she had no calls, so it would be the perfect opportunity to check it out.

 When she arrived, she was shocked to see that the manager of the crew she had hired to build the place was there.

"Hey, have you come to check out the building?" He had recognized Daphne and greeted her when she came in.

"Yes. I'm on the clock for work but I had some time to stop by." Daphne told him "Actually, I'm dying -please forgive the expression in this place- to tell someone - I got promoted tonight! The last job I just did put me at the top, I've reached the top of my career!" Daphne was so thrilled by her promotion, and the reach of her lifetime dream, that she was bursting from the seams. She was happy to tell anyone, even strangers, what she had accomplished.

"Wow, that is really awesome. Congratulations. I'm still sitting right where I have been for years, and the future doesn't look to promising, but who knows." The manager said. He was happy for Daphne, but didn't know her well enough to celebrate with her.

The two of them entered the mausoleum together and did a pretty thorough examination. It seemed sturdy and well built. Daphne didn't know much about construction but it seemed fine to her. She took the managers word that it was the best they could do. She believed him mainly because she knew money worked magic. They had paid the manager and crew more than what usually would be charged, just to make sure they did a great job.

Daphne finished talking to the manager and he left. She glanced over to the back corner of the cemetery. She hadn't visited Charlie since they put his headstone there and she felt like doing so now. Daphne stood at her husbands grave and talked to him about the kids, and their trip to Shang Simla China. She knew that he would have been excited for them. She told him about her reaching the top of her career like she had always wanted. Her voice started to crack as she talked about reaching her goals.

Finally she broke down and cried. "I wish you were never taken away from us. Charlie you were still so young, why? You hardly had a chance to be. Hardly time to see your kids grow!" Daphne cried at Charlie's grave until she had exhausted her tears. She said farewell to her late husband and went back to the house. Promptly, she went to the bed she and Charlie shared and fell asleep on his side.

 In the morning, James and the kids ate breakfast. For some reason though, James has made it a routine to eat his meal outside on the picnic table. Johanna assumed it was because the weather had been nice lately. She and the boys preferred to eat indoors though so they could avoid the bugs.

Johanna had framed the snapshots she had taken in Shang Simla and placed them on the mantle in the sitting room. Out of the fifty or so pictures that she did take, only four of them turned out. Two of them weren't even taken by her. Actually it seemed that Brian was better at photography than she was, and it was her camera.

Daphne awoke after the kids were off to school and James at work. It felt odd to her with the house empty. Isabel used to be there all the time, but now that she wasn't everything seemed different. Daphne showered and ate her breakfast in silence. She still felt emotionally drained from the night before.

After her morning routine, she went out to her garden. The plants always made her feel better in a certain way. She weeded and she watered until she could find nothing else to do. She took a quick shower after her work and a small lunch, she was napping upstairs when the kids got home from school.

 

Dylan had been stressed out at school in his math class that he hated so much. He got home and went directly up to the game console to start shooting zombies and have some fun. Brian and Johanna took time out to complete their homework, Brian finished his first and helped Johanna on the last half of her homework.

They had brought a friend home this day, but she seemed to have disappeared already. It was suspected that she was enjoying the hot tub, but not confirmed. When Johanna and Brian finished, they were in need of some fun as well so they joined Dylan upstairs.

 

Not too long after the kids, James came home. He arrived at the same time a random visitor did and invited the gentleman inside. He and Jacob stood and chatted for a while about their jobs and what each entailed. James' stomach made it's presence known with a loud growl during their conversation. So he excused himself, "Make yourself comfortable." He told Jacob. "I will be done shortly."

James went into the kitchen to make something to eat for everyone.

 

Jacob talked to the classmate of Johanna, Brian and Dylan's while he waited for James to finish. It wasn't long before everyone was called to share a delicious Key Lime Pie. James and Jacob took theirs outside to eat while everyone else stayed in.

Johanna, Dylan, Brian, Lakeisha, and Alana sat at the table together.

"This is such a lovely house," said Lakeisha, "I wish I could live here!"

Dylan and Brian agreed with her. "It is pretty great, but you wouldn't need so much space your family is small. You would probably think it too big if you did live here." Brian told her.

"That is true, it's just my mother and I at home. Two would get lost in a place like this." Lakeisha said.

After pie, Lakeisha, Alana and Jacob said goodbye and left the family to settle in.

As it had become part of her routine, Johanna fed her minnow Karla, and went to bed with the rest of the family.

The night passed by without interruption. Daphne was working again and got a call from a local business. They apparently had some kind of poltergeist in their break room and she took care of it. Also the restaurant called her to get rid of the spirit residing in their kitchen. It constantly threw pans around and it was hard to cook when half of the ingredients went missing.

Before the sun was up the kids were out of bed and dressing for school. At least Johanna and Dylan were. Brian was dressing for Martial Arts practice. They had brought home a dummy and board breaker from China, and he couldn't wait to use it. After he practiced a while on the dummy, with Dylan watching, he thought he would give the board breaker a go.

 

He failed, and it hurt. Brian realised then that he wasn't quite skilled enough, or centered enough, to break a board. He would have to practice with foam for a while before moving up to the hard stuff.

Dylan stifled his laugh as much as he could, but he couldn't help the small sound that did escape his lips. Brian heard and turned to scowl at his brother.

"Let's see you do it then?" Brian challenged.

"Oh no, no, I'm good. I'll practice a little more first thank you." He put on his own belt and started to work on the dummy.

Brian had hurt his hand so bad that he gave up practice for a while. 'The school bus would be here any time anyway' he thought to himself. 'At least I won't have to go to school much longer.' He smiled at that thought.

Today was Brian's birthday. After this he wouldn't have to attend highschool, he could put that behind him, and that made him happy.

Just a short twenty minutes passed before the three teens boarded the bus for Brian's final day. At least he wouldn't have any homework to do when he got back. He could burn that little notebook.

Daphne was stepping outside as the bus pulled away. She was off to do her gardening for the day. She had taken such good care of her plants the previous day though, that they hardly needed her attention today. She planted some more seeds she had in her storage to give her something to do in there. She would be planting a pomegranate or two once a few of her older plants died, but she wanted to plant those seeds first before they were no longer viable.

School was over quicker than a blink and the kids were back home. James always gets home about two hours after them and Daphne gets to work an hour later than that. So Brian's birthday celebration was held as soon as his Uncle James walked in the door.

 Daphne watched her boy as he blew out his candles. She thought of Charlie, and wished he were there to see their son grow up. In her heart though, she knew he was. She knew he could see. After all she knew very well that there were spirits in this world, and that they could watch over their loved ones if they so choose. Charlie would do that, she knew it. Thinking this made her smile.

The family cheered him on as he reached into his young adult stage. He stood proudly to show off his new body form and then everyone grabbed slice of cake. Daphne's phone was already ringing for three jobs for the night, so she at her share quicker than the others. She embraced her son as he sat and kissed his cheek.

"Congrats my guy. Your old." She said with a chuckle. "Now, go get a job and a girl."

Brian gave her an odd look as she walked out the door. He shook his head when she disappeared. Johanna and Dylan laughed.

When they finished their cake, the teens and new young adult went upstairs to play some video games. Brian may have entered a more mature age group, but he still wouldn't give up his games.

James went to do some laundry and random house chores that needed to be done. Then he went to bed early. He was feeling very tired these last few days. He had been working really hard at his job, but it finally paid off. He got promoted today, his final step up that ladder. He had reached his goal in life and become an International Super Spy. The news wasn't shared with the family today because he didn't want to ruin Brian's spotlight. Maybe he would tell them tomorrow, or save it for when he had a retirement party.