The Between Years

“I don't think so, Dad.”

    “ Come here and I'll give you some chicken balls and rice. That shouldn't be too hard on your stomach.”

    Randy felt an answer was unnecessary since Randy had always made his aversion to Chinese food known. That still hadn't kept Dad from forcing it on him anyway.

    Dad paused; he knew something was wrong as all good fathers did. Surely that was part of his Fatherhood 101 course. Still, he seemed afraid to ask.

    “ I would have figured you guys might've called ahead if you were all going to be here, that's all.”

    Dad smiled, but ignored the comment. Randy had never quarrelled with his father, but he knew what his expression meant: there was no reason for them to call ahead because it was their house, they were his elders, and it didn't matter if Randy didn't like it. That part of Dad's fatherhood lessons still applied to him as an adult and a father himself no matter how passively the old man utilized it.

    Robin, Stan and Herb wandered around the main floor as though they had stepped into a museum for the first time while Dad ladled out the food. Randy stayed on his relatives at all times, sometimes sneaking up behind them, so he would always know what they were looking at. More than anything, he wanted to make sure they didn't venture upstairs and find the hole, or-God help him-wander into Kenny's room.

    Moreover, he worried that they would ruin everything. Kenny would be able to see and hear the proceedings from within the walls, and Randy knew he wouldn't appreciate the company. They had come to take things away, to sell the house, so someone else could learn the truth about the place. Kenny didn't even like having Randy there and he worried that he wouldn't appear at all tonight if he remained agitated.

    When the crew sat down to dinner, Dad pulled a seat out for Randy and pointed to it, but he wandered into the living room instead. No disrespect to his father, but his mind had become too consumed to eat anything. Then he sprinted upstairs and searched high and low for anything he could find to cover up the hole in the wall. Something heavy but inconspicuous, he decided. He spotted a round, wooden table leaning against the wall in the front room, so he stood behind it and rolled it down the hall. The table nearly tipped over on its side, and he managed to rescue it, but not without nearly causing himself a hernia. The hole covered, he closed the door to Kenny's room to make certain he had a few extra seconds to block anyone who tried to enter.

    After dinner, the family scattered about the house, checking out what trinkets and antiques they'd like to keep in their homes, and which ones to sell. Aunt Robin naturally voiced her desire to keep the music box and Randy knew that the others would let that happen over their dead bodies. Stan and Herb both rolled their eyes. Dad, ever the peacemaker, reminded her that they would have it appraised first and come to a resolution later.

    Uncle Herb would surely be interested in the abundance of tools downstairs. Bupa had owned a power saw that could slice a person in half-or so he'd said. Dad himself would have liked to have bought the house if not for the endless amount of work and aggravation that came with it. He'd told Randy's mom that he'd spent every weekend working at that house for years and it was time to let the place go.

    When he saw Robin climb upstairs, he sprinted after her. She looked to be alarmed at first-something Randy took a moment to clue into-before she relaxed.

    “ So, how's this old place treating you?” she asked.

    “ It's okay, can't complain. It's a place to eat and sleep for now.”

    Certainly, she was eager to bring up the problems between he and Carol, and his muscles tensed, but Robin surprised him. She simply fixed her hair in the bathroom mirror and didn't say a word about it.

    “ This place is going to need a lot of work before we can sell it,” she said.

    Randy noticed that she'd veered off onto her own topic faster than usual and now he almost wished that she would ask him about his and Carol's turmoil.

    She headed for Kenny's bedroom, but he jumped in front of it before she could enter. Surely, that looked as natural as his pose when Dad had walked through the door, he supposed.

    “ And all this stuff.” She pointed at the round table. “What are we going to do with it?”

    “ I dunno.” Randy felt winded and light-headed. “I think it's a shame to let this old place go when