James did make an appearance on Tuesday and the rest of the week, he didn't play chess at all this week. He would make small talk and dominate the conversation and here and there he would try to be funny with a joke or two. I was grateful that I didn't have to talk much. The twins stayed away the entire week, Dad would phone them every night before they went to bed and I would talk to them as well.
They were having a blast. My Grandfather is a diabetic and would always sneak ice cream into his garage freezer and hide it from Grandma. He would then take the twins to play and hand them each an ice cream and eat one himself, he would then make them swear not to tell Grandma as she would then be mad at all three of them.
They explained how much fun they had at the party and interrupted each other so much that you could only catch a few words here and there. It sounded as though they had a great time and my Grandfather had to add that when they got into the car to go home, they were both passed out within minutes. The twins had to be carried to bed and got up late the next morning.
Ted was so excited to tell us that he even lost his costume when he went down the slide, "I sliding and it fell off, I was nakies, fell in pool and Grandma gave me it back, saw my willy."
Rose had apparently asked my Grandpa where her willy was after she looked down her shorts. She was worried that it fell off because the water was too cold. According to Grandpa she then spent 10 minutes with Ted trying to find it, it took my Grandparents that long to compose themselves and stop laughing and then they had to explain that only Ted had one. She spent the rest of the day upset because she also wanted one. She soon forgot about her missing appendage when the cake was brought out. My parents never changed or bathed them together so this was a first for them. Around Thursday my Mum surfaced and tried to go on as normally as humanly possible. She did break down every now and then but that was expected. Mary and I had planned on going to our favorite secondhand bookstore and after to get a coffee, you see as 16-year olds we didn't have a lot of money. We would save by doing some chores around the house or odd jobs for the neighbors. We loved the smell of fresh coffee and warm biscuits straight from the oven; if you pair that with the feel of a book, that should be what heaven feels like.
The plan was set, it was Saturday and we had a lot of ground to cover so we met each other bright and early at the doors of our local secondhand bookstore, this store was one of three in the area but the biggest by far. This store was the size of a small-town library but had a second story packed with books as well. We could be here for hours. It was roughly the size of your normal living room times two. There were a lot of shelves and in some places you had to shimmy sideways just to get through. They had something of everything, educational, politics, fiction, fashion, romance, and cooking. You just had to look. We never knew what we were going to pick up and that was half the fun. They opened at 8am and we only left at around 11am. We each had a sack full of books that didn't cost more than two large pizzas at a fast food joint. We were so proud of ourselves, my father was going to have a fit. My room was stacked with books and I would have to soon start donating books myself. My bookshelf was never empty, he had built a second one for that very reason but that one would be overflowing now too. Oh well, couldn't bother with that now, we were going for coffee, chatting all the way and giggling as we went along.
When we got to our favorite coffee shop, we ordered our mochas and chocolate chip cookies, this is truly heaven. We paid and went to sit down, still chatting away. In the corner of my eye I could see a figures walking toward us. Mary and I were so deep in our conversation that neither of us noticed that they had stopped at our table. One boy cleared his throat and both me and Mary turned towards them. In front of us stood Dean and Michael, two boys in our school who played for the first rugby team.
They were large and brutish and both were two years ahead of us. Dean was blond and had brown eyes, Michael was blond as well but had blue eyes. They walked around the school most days as though they owned the place. Today they had on t-shirts and shorts that looked far too small for them. With every movement that they made, it looked as though the fabric was hanging on for dear life and would rip at any time. It was only mercy holding their clothes together. They are muscular mostly and some girls would go crazy if they only looked in their direction. Dean spoke first as he usually appointed himself the leader of their group even though he wasn't the team captain but we all knew he was gunning for that position. "You look better out of school uniform, I bet you would look better with even less on," he said looking at Mary. Michael giggled behind him and Mary was visibly uncomfortable.
I hadn't said a word, there was no need. You see Mary didn't have a filter once you enraged her and Dean was in for it. "You would look good if some of your clothes actually fit and even better if you put on some more, nobody wants to see that", she started and pointed in the direction of his groin that was practically popping out of his shorts. Dean started getting red "No self-respecting woman would even look at you, let alone jump into bed with you. Have some self respect man..." Mary continued. She was seriously sounding like a mother scolding her 4-year-old for taking a cookie out of the jar before dinner. Dean started lowering his head in embarrassment as the entire coffee shop was now invested. Michael still behind Dean couldn't contain his laughter and was howling with laughter. To my utter surprise, Dean apologized to Mary and bowed his head before walking right out of the coffee shop. Michael followed, he stopped at the door, turned his head, and winked at me. Did I imagine that?