by Phil Wohl
and then assess the value of these discoveries in town at Beach Haven Pawn Shop.
Emily was trying to get the rules down for the day one challenge with Belinda.
“So, is it just one sweater and one scarf or are we going for volume here?”
Belinda surveyed Emily and knew that she would make more mistakes if she was also focused on churning out the product and creating volume.
She smiled confidently and replied, “Let’s go for volume.”
So the advantage on day one decidedly swung to Belinda. The day two quilt challenge was tailor-made for Emily, as she was an expert at pieces things together. But the day three challenge was unchartered territory for both women. Thaddeus and Garrison often complained that their babies would be cold out in the garage – albeit a temperature-controlled garage – during the coming winter. So the ladies took it upon themselves to make separate car covers, Emily making a custom-fit Camaro cover for Thaddeus and Belinda doing a Mustang cover for Garrison, with no real odds on who would be victorious, or even how a winner would be decided.
Max and Aaron were heading into a battle of the ages, where the big guy was literally taking his younger counterpart back in time. Day one would be a pong battle, you know those two paddles on either side of the screen making a blip every time they connected with that small dot that doubled as a ball. Aaron obviously had the day one advantage, but there was no reason to discount Max’s incredible learning ability and his tremendous eyesight and reflexes. The day two challenge was all about the game Centipede and the slithering monster within the huge game console. Max had fallen in love with the game during his research of everything trivial, and had been challenging Aaron’s all-time scores in recent days before Claire Vinson showed up and effectively slowed his progress. The third day would put the two boys under the big dome of USA vs. USSR slide hockey. Aaron was the only one with experience on this game, but that was back in college some 20 years prior and he was always drinking a beer or three when playing.
The final battle was a charitable play with Kayla and Maggie, as they were quite possible the two nicest and most decent people in the house. Day one was all about feeding the homeless, with Maggie choosing to simply serve people at the Beach Haven Shelter and Kayla opting to hit the streets with her own food and feed as many people as she could find. The second day would be a house-building challenge working with Habitat for Humanity. The matchup was fairly even because they both had speed and strength, but Kayla was younger and had an eye for schematics and architecture. The third and final day would be a fundraising challenge, as Kayla would be raising money for families in need while Maggie would be soliciting funds for something very near and dear to her heart, new libraries for the entire Beach Haven School District.
TWENTY-THREE
Back in Portland, the twins came home for school the day after Ariel was born and were befuddled by Ariel’s progress.
“Mom, she’s the same size as us!” Cheryl yelled as Ariel met her cousins in the hallway.
Bryce didn’t even have time to remove his backpack and Ariel was coming up to him to see if she was taller.
“How can she be taller than me already?”
The fifth graders were in the process of becoming peacemakers and hybrid creatures, but the process was a snails’ crawl compared to the explosive start by Ariel, who was focused on only one thing.
“I’m gonna’ be big by the time when we go to New York,” she said to the twins in more of an excited than bragging tone.
Katherine Winters walked into the front hallway from her bedroom and greeted everyone her children.
“How was school today kids?”
The children were still fascinated by Ariel.
“How come she doesn’t have to go to school?” Cheryl asked and then her brother piled on, “Yeah, why doesn’t she have to go to school?”
Katherine was trying to as diplomatic as possible.
“Because she was born yesterday and tomorrow she will be a teenager and the next day she will look like your bigger sister. We were a little concerned how the school would react to her growth.”
The twins took in the information and then Bryce asked, “Can she help us with our homework?”
“Yeah, I need help with math," Cheryl added.
Ariel had never opened a textbook let alone seen one, but she had the gift of information assimilation, and could download great amounts of data and be able to process and comprehend it in about the time it would take one of the kids to recite one of their multiplication tables. She was also able to explain the subject matter in such a way that connected with the individual capabilities of each child. They all sat together at the oval kitchen table and Katherine Winters smiled that her kids and new grandchild were getting along so well. She was also happy to be relieved of her home teaching responsibilities.
Back in Beach Haven, the day’s events began just after everyone enjoyed a wonderful breakfast. The mood in the house had returned to the pre-Lowery siege and Claire mind control days as these special beings were fully engaged in some friendly competition.
Hartwell and Cal began the ping-pong marathon with a rousing 20-minute warm-up. It had been quite a while since Cal had played table tennis and even longer than he actually thought about the game. But the one thing that Hartwell appreciated about Cal was that he never stopped advancing, no matter how high the hurdle or vast the impediment.
Game one was an easy win for Hartwell, 21-11, but Cal got steadily closer in the subsequent games before lunch as the scores of 21-14, 21-17 and 21-19 indicated that the play in the afternoon would be of the tightly contested variety that both men had become accustomed to over the years.
While the outcome of the day one competition was no longer in doubt, the two men simply competed against each other after stopping for a bite to eat at the Beach Haven Games snack bar, which somehow had a limited healthy menu amidst frozen food that was either reheated or fried.
“What happened to us?” Cal asked Hartwell as they munched on grilled chicken sandwiches on seven grain bread.
Hartwell smiled, “You mean, as a couple?”
Cal nudged him and reiterated his point, “I mean the last few days.”
“I don’t know,” Hartwell replied. “I thought we had it all under control then it all went blank.”
“Do you think it has anything to do with Lowery’s death?” Cal asked after thinking about the group’s plight.
“I thought about that,” Hartwell replied.
“Do you have any other things about your past you need to discuss?” Cal playfully asked, but he was really interested in the response.
Hartwell smiled, “I have some things like everyone, but nothing quite like that. The only other connection to the outside world I have is Brandon, and you know all about that.”
“What about women?” Cal asked.
“What about them?” Hartwell panned.
“Have you left your mark anywhere?” Cal asked, implying of Hartwell had left his seed behind and was a baby-daddy to any kids.
Hartwell thought about the question and then figured out what Cal was getting to, “No, I made sure that none of my boys were swimmers.”
Now it was Cal trying to interpret the somewhat cryptic statement by his counterpart, “Swimmers?” He then looked at Hartwell’s best macho face and then side, “Oh, swimmers! Good call on that one!”
The two men had aided in the production of only one child in their long lives, and this child also happened to be the same person in various forms of Daniel.
“We did good with that one kid, eh…” Cal stated proudly.
Hartwell picked up his glass and Cal met him in a clank, “The best,” Hartwell concurred.
The men finished lunch and then spent the rest of the afternoon until dinner playing only one more game of ping-pong. The over four-hour marathon tested each man’s ability to concentrate and endure bad breaks an
d bounces. Cal served for the match about half-as-many times as Hartwell had his destiny on his racquet in the 104-102 marathon. Ping-pong games are scored by single points with the winner securing 21 points. However, the victor must be two points clear of an opponent once the score reaches 21 or the match continues until there is a clear winner. The men were both tired when the clock move past 5:00 pm, with Hartwell serving with the score at 103-102, but the next point of the match was probably its best-played and most dramatic.
Hartwell flipped the white ball up in the air and then sliced the ball with his paddle with all of the precision of a Chinese Hibachi Chef. Cal had become used to Hartwell’s various spins and arm angles, and he aggressively moved to his left as the ball floated toward the middle of the table so he could set up for a forehand. It probably wasn’t Hartwell’s best serve of the day because Cal smashed the ball to the extreme left side of the table and past a surprised Hartwell, who had only one play on the ball so he dove to his right and made contact with the ball just as it was about to touch down about an inch from the floor.
Cal was ready to celebrate the win of the point, but the sight of the ball floating up from the floor back over to his side of the net made him transition from a restful to a completely aggressive state. Hartwell had recovered to his knees by the time that Cal whipped his right arm and smashed a thunderous forehand right down the center of the table and straight at the vampire’s
