Thanks! That makes me feel good about my writing. Haha.
Chapter Nineteen: The Revolution
“Rex…” his spirit echoed.
“Chris, is…is that you?” I wanted to reach out and touch him, but my fear took hold of me.
“Rex…you must come out of mourning.” Suddenly, his ghostly figure had colors and form; he looked whole instead of translucent.
“Don’t cry for me anymore. I want my daughter to grow up in a happy, content family. Your boys will look after you, and you will never be alone.” His voice sounded firm, instead of echoing.
“I need you to be strong. Let my little girl see the Rex I had planned to marry, the strong woman that you were before my death, the one who never let her emotions control her life and always stood up for herself.”
“But…but how?” I looked up at my dead, floating fiancé.
“Hear me out, Rex; I want you to go find true love. I know I seemed like the only fish in the sea for you, but there are plenty of willing men who would kill over for you. I want you to find a man and not make a mistake in the relationship. Get to be his friend, date him, go out with him, kiss him, love him, marry him, then have a family with him. You are a beautiful, wise woman, and I loved you…” at that moment, the figure vanished back into the grave.
I knew what I had to do then.
Days went by, and I did just as Chris’ soul had requested of me. I didn’t cry, in fact, my own soul felt at peace. I paid more attention to my boys who had fallen behind after Chris’ death, so I consoled them when they needed, and encouraged them to try harder on their schoolwork. Everything started to work out, too. With Asclepius and Apollo obtaining their driver’s license soon, Ares would also be celebrating his birthday to adulthood. Themis learned quicker than Ares had in her own teachings of walking, talking, and using the potty; she learned them in a matter of hours.
After a few days, the boys earned some badges from their afterschool activities, Themis read all of the books and had started playing with her toys, and I continued to grow closer to mastering my guitar (seemed it took forever.) Ares, though, didn’t have much longer before he graduated high school and my own birthday would arrive with his. Asclepius had gotten a part-time job at the bookstore and Apollo, feeling his paintings sold for the equivalent of a regular paycheck, had no desire to get a job.
On Monday, I went to the school to attend Ares’ award ceremony. Apollo and Asclepius stayed home to watch after Themis, so it would just be Ares, his award, and I. He looked so handsome in his suit, too. Afterwards, I hugged him outside the school.
“Ares, I want to tell you something before we go home to celebrate our birthdays.” I had a hold of both of his arms, having him in full view.
“What’s that, Mom?” he held his award in his hand at his side.
“When I found out I was pregnant with you, I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t have any training in taking care of a child, I knew nothing about changing diapers or preparing a bottle for an infant, and quite frankly, and as harsh as it seems, I didn’t want you.”
He looked down in shame, but I pulled his chin back up to look at me.
“But then I saw you…I saw you come out of me, screaming strongly, a healthy baby boy, and you know what? I wouldn’t have traded you in for all the money in the world.” His frown slowly turned into a shy grin.
“I want you to know that I am so very proud of you. I knew you would do great things when you got older and that’s why I named you ‘Ares’, you were so strong and you still are.”
He instantly hugged me, squeezing me tight.
“Thank you, Mom!” I could tell he had started crying.
“Now come on, there’s cake waiting at home!” I kissed the temple of his head.
We celebrated our birthdays, I went first and I didn’t really age a bit, at least not to myself, I didn’t think. Ares, however, aged really well, no, I mean really well. I could see some of Stiles in him, but not a lot, not anymore. Ares had grown into himself, he didn’t look like me, he didn’t look like his father, he only looked like the person I knew him to be: my son. He had grown to be quite muscular and I could tell he would become very successful in the military. I had taken out a loan earlier that week for around $15,000 as a birthday present for him, that way he could buy his own house. We all said our good-byes to him, and with that, one of my kids had entered the world on their own.
Unfortunately, with the death of Chris, neither Apollo nor Asclepius had the chance to attend prom, they assured me they didn’t mind because they didn’t even have dates. With diligent saving and much penny pinching, though, we were finally able to save up enough money to buy the house Chris and I had especially built for our ever growing family. However, with his death, it took a little longer to save up the right amount of cash to buy the bigger home. It’s what he would have wanted.
A year flew by, and with Asclepius and Apollo only being a year younger than Ares, they also celebrated their adulthood birthdays. They had done so well in school, Apollo especially, and they both earned quite a few awards. I had finished teaching them both how to drive. Apollo caught on quite rapidly. They helped around the house with cleaning and caring for Themis when I couldn’t. Asclepius never lost his uncanny resemblance to Parker, while Apollo on the other hand, had only gotten larger, not to be offensive. Asclepius told me that he had an eye on a girl that he wanted to date, and so with that, my second son had moved out. Apollo, though, said he didn’t have much of a desire to get married or date any time soon, but he did want his own place and moved back into my very first house…
With much consideration, Asclepius announced that he wanted to become a surgeon and Apollo wanted to become a famous book author. I didn’t think about it at the time, but my boys had been living up to their names. Ares (the Greek god of war and strength) had aspired to join the military, Asclepius (the Greek god of medicine) wanted to join the medical career and become a surgeon, and Apollo (the Greek god of poetry and music) desired to become a famous writer. As I had told Ares so long ago, everything happens for a reason…
I had been left that day with it just being my daughter and I. Themis had grown to be so smart, I honestly couldn’t have imagined life without her. I spent most of the days while she played with her toys, practicing, yes, my guitar. With most of all the distractions gone, I had so much time on my hands to finally finish learning my musical skill.
One morning, as Themis giggled playing her xylophone, a knock on the door interrupted my precious guitar playing time.
“I’m so sorry to bother you, miss, but have you seen a dog run through here?” a man stood there and I thought I would faint at his striking good-looks.
“No, I haven’t seen a dog run through here. What does your dog look like and I’ll keep an eye out.”
“It’s an Australian Cattle Dog, her name is Sasha, she's not very big and she's light gray in color.” He sounded very frantic, “She’s so independent, it’s no wonder she ran off.”
“What’s your name in case I see her?”
“Oh, the name’s Sam, Sam Cool.” He stuck out his hand for me to shake it.
“Okay, Sam, if I see Sasha, I’ll give you a call.” I smiled.
“Thank you so much!”
I didn’t know it yet, but that encounter would move on to something more…
A very special birthday dear to my heart had finally arrived, Themis had read all of the books, mastered walking and talking, learned to use the potty, and found no interest in playing with her outdated toys any longer. She grew up beautifully, she didn’t really like to wear her hair up, but she still looked amazing with it to the side; she would have no trouble with the boys, I could tell. Her birthday did come with a small surprise though…
A gray cattle dog had found its way to our doorstep as we ate the birthday cake.
“Look, Mommy! Can we keep it?!” she pointed outside the living room window.
“Oh my, that’s Sam’s dog!”
“Who’s Sam?” she looked up at me with her hands on the window pane.
“He was the guy that came by the house a couple of weeks ago looking for his dog. We’ll have to return her to him. I think her name started with an ‘S’. Stay here, I don’t know if the dog is friendly.” I slipped out the door and approached the dog who patiently panted in the walkway.
“Hey girl.” She wagged her tail, “Let me just look at your collar.” I reached out my hand for her to sniff, her tail started to create a wind from wagging so hard.
“Well, you’re definitely not aggressive.” I looked at her collar:
Sasha Cool
45-980-34
55 Water Lily Lane
“Themis, come on, let’s go return Sasha.” I grabbed a hold of the dog’s collar and Themis opened the door of the car for me. The dog hopped into the backseat, ready for an adventure. Themis got in the front seat with me and we drove to the not so high-end part of town.
We arrived at a trailer with flamingos out front and a man sitting inside. I grabbed Sasha’s collar and we rang the doorbell.
“Just a minute.” A voice called inside.
Themis looked at me as if scared of who lurked in the trailer.
“Don’t worry.” I told her.
“Hey!” he opened the door and then looked down at his dog, “Sasha! You brought her back! Thank you so much, how can I ever repay you?”
“Well…” I held my arms behind my back and twisted my right foot behind me. Sam began to blush a little, “You could come over to my place to hang out.”
“Deal.” He shook my hand to affirm the deal.
I knew this had been what Chris wanted when I saw his ghost and as Themis and I drove back home that afternoon, I vowed to not screw up this relationship.
