Ceramics & Celebrants
“This week is going by so fast,”
Robert said, as he and Rebecca arrived home from school.
“Yeah, it’s Thursday already and
getting dark so much earlier than last month,” she replied, closing the front
door behind them.
“Did I tell you I got an ‘A’ on my
poem, Becca?”
“No, you didn’t. Congratulations.”
“What did you get?”
“Only an ‘A-’.”
“That’s all? What else could I
expect from my twin sister?”
Their mother and father watched them
silently from the living room.
Mr. Dance called out, “Come see what
I have, kids.”
Approaching, Robert commented,
“You’re home early. Is something up?”
“No, we just have a surprise or two
for you.”
“A surprise?” questioned Rebecca.
“Not exactly,” Mr. Dance replied, “I
picked up the ceramics we made in San Francisco today. They were finished
already. I was in the area at the time, so I stopped by the shop where we made
them.”
“They came out really nice,” Robert
commented, looking them over carefully.
While they were checking out their
handiwork, Kelly came up from the basement. She had been working on a homework
project and needed a short break.
“Dad, I didn’t know that you were
home too.”
“I just came in about fifteen
minutes ago, honey. Come and see your vase, it really is beautiful.”
Kelly drew closer, observing
Robert’s coffee cup. It was really nice and really did look like a nighttime
silhouette of the City. “Rebecca’s bowl came out just as she thought it would
and even mom and dad’s coffee cups look good. It looks like we all have a bit
of artistic talent in our blood,” she thought.
“Where is Uncle Jim’s coffee cup?”
she asked curiously, “Did you already give it to him?”
“Yes, I did. I dropped by during his
training course and waited outside until they took a break. I used the down
time to finish some details on one of my reports while Suzie did the same.”
“Suzie was there too?” asked Kelly,
“Of course she was there, she’s your partner.”
“I took a photo of your uncle’s cup
with my cell phone, take a look.”
“It’s a bit hard to see, but it
looks good,” remarked Kelly.
“Anyway, the other surprise is that
Uncle Jim will be here for Thanksgiving Day dinner with Suzie. How’s that sound
to you all?”
Positive affirmations resounded.
Later that evening their uncle
telephoned to say goodbye and that he would be catching a plane flight directly
after the conference. He added, “Suzie Chow is driving me to the airport.”
After Mrs. Dance cooked dinner and
Mr. Dance did some vacuuming around the house, the family had dinner followed
by a quiet evening in front of the fireplace. The kids went to bed a little
early so they could read for a while. Mr. and Mrs. Dance sat in the living room
discussing some plans for the not so distant future. It was the time for the
season of holidays and birthdays. A time of year for the Dance family that was
very special and held wonderful memories.
The next few weeks went by too fast
to count. Halloween came and went so quickly it was barely a memory. On one of
the Dance family’s favorite Thursdays, Uncle Jim flew in for Thanksgiving Day. He
and Suzie joined the Dance family for a delicious holiday dinner.
“Pass the turkey and the gravy,”
requested Robert.
“Here you go,” responded Uncle Jim.
“Would anyone like more sweet
potatoes?” Mrs. Dance asked, before dishing herself another helping.
“I would, please,” replied Kelly,
“and some butter to put on them.”
“Ok,” Suzie said, passing them over
to Kelly.
“Remember to save some room for
mincemeat pie, or pumpkin pie with whipped cream,” mom reminded.
“And don’t forget the fruitcake,”
Mr. Dance joked, knowing none of his children were very fond of fruitcake.
“I’ll pass on that, dad,” Robert
affirmed, followed closely in like response by his sisters.
“What, you don’t want any
fruitcake?” dad questioned.
“Next year,” Rebecca said in a way
that everyone knew it means never.
Suzie commented, “I rather enjoy a
fruitcake with nuts in it and not too many of those green and red things.”
“One with a little rum in it is also
not so bad,” Uncle Jim said, grinning.
“Yuck,” Kelly responded quickly,
“That sounds even worse than a regular fruitcake, but maybe one with only nuts
in it wouldn’t be so bad.”
Robert joked, “I’ll get you one next
week.”
“Ha, ha.”
The smell of the dinner filled the
house with an aroma unique to Thanksgiving. Turkey, gravy, sweet potatoes,
mashed potatoes, dinner rolls, green beans, corn, cranberry sauce, pies and
lots of whipped cream; that is what dinners on this holiday were always about.
“Before the Plymouth Pilgrims
celebrated Thanksgiving in 1621, the Spaniards claim to have had a Thanksgiving
Day in 1598 in what is now El Paso, Texas,” Kelly informed the group, “That is
before the Virginia Colony celebrated it in 1619.”
“You seem to know quite a bit about
this holiday, Kelly,” Suzie said, slightly amazed by the soon-to-be-teenager’s
historical knowledge.
“And on October 3rd 1789, President
George Washington made an official proclamation and created the first
Thanksgiving Day, and he did another one in 1795, but it was President Abraham
Lincoln in 1863 who proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day. He made it to be
officially celebrated on the last Thursday in November that year and it has
been celebrated on that day ever since.”
Rebecca commented, “The one who
created the turkey for us to eat also deserves some credit.”
“And our mother who fixed this
wonderful dinner deserves some thanks also,” Robert added.
“Yes,” responded everyone, “Many
thanks.”
“What ever became of your reward
monies for finding the dog and solving the coded message from the book?” Uncle
Jim asked the youths.
“We bought a whole library, or at
least a whole one for us, of books,” Kelly responded, “and we purchased a
couple of educational computer programs.”
“You should take a look at their
library, Jim,” Jonothan suggested to his brother, “it would make most private investigators
and a few police officers green with envy.”
“It’s that good, huh? Suzie and I
will definitely take a look at it before the evening is over.”
Robert proudly stated, “My dad and I
built a huge bookcase along one whole wall for all of the books. It turned out
great.”
“Tell them what else you three did,”
mom requested.
“Oh, mom,” replied Kelly, “It is
sort of private.”
“Private?”
“Well, each of us donated fifty
dollars to a fund to get books for children with terminal illnesses. It was a
program at the hospital, so they can collect a lot of books for their library.”
“I am so proud of you,” Uncle Jim
responded, “That was very noble and unselfish of you three to share your reward
money with others in need.”
“We did have a lot of money, Uncle
Jim,” Rebecca replied, defending their humility.
“That doesn’t matter, Becca,
sometimes those with the most money give the least in comparison to the average
person.”
Mrs. Dance changed the subject,
“Kelly will be doing a solo performance at her ballet school in mid-December.”
“It’s called a ‘Variation’ and the
whole group will each be doing one, just a short dance though,” added Kelly. “A
few of us performed one a while back and now we will all do it.”
“I wish I could see that,” moaned
Uncle Jim.
“Mom is going to film it. We can
send you a copy if you like.”
“I would like that, thank you.”
The family continued conversing,
eating and enjoying one another’s company, while Uncle Jim and Suzie waited for
the right moment to make an announcement to the family. Finally, as the
conversations at the table waned down, Uncle Jim gathered everyone’s attention
by tapping his water glass with a fork.
“Suzie will be traveling to Norway
for Christmas to visit with me in Oslo. See the sites, visit the embassy, shop,
you know.”
“Congratulations,” Mrs. Dance said,
cheerfully, “I hope you two have a wonderful time together this Christmas.”
“I can hardly wait to see Norway
during Christmas,” said Suzie, “We may even have a white Christmas if it snows
enough.”
“Snow at Christmas?” responded
Robert, “I wish we had snow in Berkeley during Christmas.”
“I don’t think the commuters driving
their cars would like that though,” Robert’s dad replied, being a commuter in
the Bay Area himself.
“I guess you are right, dad. It
would take longer to drive to work than there are hours in the day, I bet.”
“Now that is probably the truth.”
After dinner Uncle Jim joined his
nieces, nephew and Suzie for a look at the books in the basement that the kids
had purchased.
“Not that many homes have basements in
California,” Suzie commented, as they made their way down the stairs.
“There are a few in Berkeley, but
not that many,” Robert responded.
“It is nice to have a basement. A
place that is completely separate from the rest of the house,” stated Uncle
Jim.
Suzie continued, “I remember my
grandmother had an attic in her house. That was a lot of fun to play in when I
was little.”
Kelly added, “We have an attic too,
but we haven’t fixed it up yet.”
“Maybe we can make a room up there
someday,” Robert said, contemplating the possibility of another special area in
the house for seclusion.
“That would be nice. Maybe a girl’s
room,” suggested Rebecca, knowing it will bug her brother, “Just kidding.”
“Ha, ha,” Robert replied, “Very
funny.”
Showing Uncle Jim and Suzie the
bookcase and collection of literature, Kelly said, “Here is what books we have
so far.”
“Your father is right,” commented
their uncle, “This collection of books would make any person in the crime
prevention field jealous.”
“You must have over one hundred
books here,” surmised Suzie, studying the topically arranged shelves one by
one.
“One hundred and thirty seven, to be
exact,” responded Kelly.
“How did you manage to get so many
books for,” Uncle Jim wondered, “an average price of?”
“Just under five bucks,” Robert
blurted out, before his uncle could calculate the price in his mind.
“Mr. Walkinhawk helped us,” Rebecca
informed them, “He was able to get some books for a dollar and others for
seven, nine, and it averaged out to less than five dollars each.”
“He didn’t want to make any profit
on any of the books he acquired for us,” stated Kelly.
“What a nice man,” Suzie commented,
“He did seem so nice, as did his father, at the picnic that day in Golden Gate
Park, but I didn’t get to talk that much with him.”
Remembering that her uncle and Suzie
went for a romantic walk together, Rebecca reminisced, “You guys were a bit
preoccupied I think.”
“Yes, we were a bit preoccupied that
day,” Suzie blushed.
“Better preoccupied than
unoccupied,” stated Rebecca.
The library contained a wide variety
of topics all related, or indirectly related, to crime and investigations.
Investigation handbooks; criminal classification manuals; books written by
detectives and investigators and even a former retired police detective from
Los Angeles; crime science; forensic psychology; profiling; code
breaking; extinct languages; unsolved crimes; police report writing; Homeland
Security techniques; and even a few videos on some of these topics.
“This is very impressive,” Suzie
said, continuing her study of the titles in earnest.
“I hope we get more books like these
for our upcoming birthdays,” Kelly said.
Uncle Jim replied with a smile, “Is
that a hint I detect?”
“When are your birthdays?” Suzie
asked.
Rebecca answered, “Rob’s and mine
will be December fifth. We will be fifteen. Kell’s will be on January
fourteenth and she will be thirteen.”
“A teenager, wow,” responded Suzie
to Kelly, “What an exciting time of life to enter into. And to think you are enjoying
reading much more than the typical teenage distractions.”
“I love to read.”
Suzie replied, “I also enjoyed
reading at your age.”
“I will see what kind of books I can
send you for each of your birthdays and for Christmas,” Uncle Jim said,
“Something unique, but related to your theme here. I’ll do a bit of research.”
“Thanks, Uncle Jim, but you don’t
have to do that,” Rebecca said.
“I want to. Look at it as an
investment.”
“An investment?” questioned Robert.
“An investment in the future,” he
paused, “of crime solving.”
Kelly added. “Sort of like paying it
forward and investing in the training and education of future possible law
enforcement personnel.”
“Exactly, I couldn’t have said it
better myself.”
The family enjoyed their Thanksgiving
Day’s dinner so much they planned to repeat the get-together again the next
year. The following morning Uncle Jim returned home. Suzie was home spending
the day with her parents in San Francisco and the Dance family caught up on
some projects around the house. Robert even climbed up into the attic to do a
little measuring and thinking, “What could we make this area into up here? A
crime lab, or?”
Next Chapter
Chapter Eighteen: Christmas Stalkings
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