Dad dropped Eva and me off at the airport, where we met up with Mark. It was a quick one-hour early morning commuter flight into Jacksonville and Stacey was there to pick us up in White Ford Flex with a pink Ford emblem in front. Mark stowed our bags in the trunk, and he took the shotgun seat, while Eva and I piled in the back. I kept my backpack parachute on in R2. I was glad that I hadn’t needed it for this flight, but it was better to be safe than sorry. My power didn’t protect me from a fall from 30,000 feet.
Stacey gave her son a big hug and turned to greet us. “Welcome to Jacksonville. It’s so good to see you guys again. How was the flight?”
As she drove, we talked about the flight, school, the beautiful weather that they were expecting for the next week, and about the family. Some of Mark’s aunts and uncles were staying over, along with their kids, so we’d be in for a busy week. Mark hadn’t bothered to mention the family gathering to me and I’d be sure to make him pay for it later. Somehow. Maybe I’d do a Kung Fu demonstration for the family and use him as the punching bag.
“Connor and Rose wanted to come along to pick you guys up, but I figured that you should enjoy your last few quiet moments before you joined the circus.”
“Usually it’s just dad and me at home, and he mostly works in his forge, so watching your family circus might be fun.”, I said hopefully.
“You’ll definitely learn to appreciate the quiet of home during this trip.”, Mark replied.
“Oh, and Mark, thanks for the heads up on the family reunion.”, Eva quipped. Thank you, Eva!
“Mark! You didn’t tell them? What kind of a dirty trick was that?”, Stacey said and then proceeded to give Mark a lecture on proper manners. Mark looked a bit sheepish, but I caught a slight mischievous smile escape when he though no one was looking.
I glared at him until he looked my way with an innocent expression on his face. I mouthed the words, “What the hell?” and he answered, “Mom, do you have any bottled water in here? I’m feeling kind of parched.” My jaw dropped. This was revenge for my teasing him months ago? He was so going to pay for this. This was war!
We arrived at his house shortly after that. I’d had just enough time to quietly explain to Eva why Mark had set us up and for us to come up with our plan of revenge. Since he’d invited us to a family reunion of sorts, we’d be sure to include all of them in our plan.
Mark’s family came out to greet us and we were introduced to what seemed like fifty people, but was actually just three families, besides Mark’s immediate family. Andrew’s older sister, her husband and their two kids, and Stacey’s two younger brothers, each with a wife and three kids. Most of the kids were Rose’s age or younger, except for one boy that looked to be around Connor’s age.
Rose took over and showed us to our room, where we washed up and changed from jeans and tees to shorts and fresh tees. The coast was several degrees warmer than the western part of the state. All refreshed, Rose led us on a tour of the house, which was actually a mini mansion, with a pool, a gym, a billiards room, a bunch of bedrooms, and an enormous kitchen, where Stacey sat us down for a late breakfast.
We spent the rest of the morning by the pool, tanning and occasionally playing games with anyone who was there, and listening to music on Eva’s speaker. It was good to relax and let my cares fall away for a few hours. I didn’t even think about practicing with my field once. Since I’d found out about Serpentine, I’d been so focused on my goals that I’d forgotten that I have a life too and that I’m supposed to just enjoy it every now and then.
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Mark joined us for lunch and afterwards he took us out for a tour of the area, showing us the history of Jacksonville, as well as the trendier sections of town. Mark surprised me when he told us of Jacksonville’s firm support for the 13th amendment, which made slavery illegal, in the form of Freedom Day and how they’ve passed resolutions against modern day slavery. I found it ironic considering that there was human trafficking ring only an hour away.
That evening, after dinner, Connor told everyone about my magic tricks, and I had to go into my swami routine again. Connor had a ball ready for me this time, but I surprised him by asking for three disposable cups. He ran to the kitchen to get them and made sure that everyone could see that I placed the ball under one of the cups. Then I moved the cups around at various speeds and asked the kids, and adults, to try to guess what cup the ball was under. It was an old trick, but with a new spin on it. They almost always guessed right, but because I had the ball in a field and kept shifting it to R1, they never saw it. The kids loved it and I decided to get a bit creative with it and had Mark do the trick from start to finish, without me touching anything at all. He was stunned. He knew I hadn’t touched the ball or the cups, but the ball was gone.
The kids clamored for more and I said, “One more, but on the condition that you all have to help me with a special project tomorrow. It’s not magic, but it’ll be fun. Who’s in?” All the kids were in and I did a final trick where I turned the cups right side up and dropped the ball into one of them. As it hit the bottom, everyone heard the sound of the ball landing in the cup before I shifted the ball to R1. Then I picked up the cup and poured the ball, that only I could ‘see’ with my field, into the second cup. They just saw that the ball wasn’t in the first cup. I did the same thing with the second cup to the third cup, appearing to them like I wasn’t doing anything but holding an empty cup and tilting it over. Once the ball was in the third cup, I brought it back to reality and poured it onto the table. Andrew cheered out loud and started clapping and the kids joined in. I got a lot of “How did you do that?” and I reminded them about the swami and my promise again. I loved that swami. He got me out of so much trouble.
Mark kept looking at the cups and at me and shaking his head, while Eva had a look on her face that said we’d be discussing this later. I just looked back at the and mouthed, “Swami”, with an apologetic shrug of my shoulders.
Before going to bed that night, I asked Mark if there was a bicycle that I could borrow for a ride tomorrow morning. He took me to the garage and we tried out a few, until we found one that fit. He checked the tires, made sure that the chain was oiled and found me a helmet to use.
“Are you sure that you don’t want me to join you?”, Mark asked.
“I really don’t think that you want to be getting up that early. Besides, it’s my meditation time. With no Kung Fu for the week, I need a way to relax.” I needed him to let this go. I couldn’t very well have him come with me to Serpentine.
“I forgot that you do that too. I don’t know where you find time or the energy for all the things that you do.”
“It’s easy. I don’t watch much tv and I’m barely on social media. It’s amazing how much time you don’t waste that way. What about you? You seem to keep yourself pretty busy as well.”
“That’s just my geology studies and mining. I enjoy it so I do it all the time.”
“Nothing wrong with that. You know what you want to do and you’re working towards it. Just don’t forget that it’s ok to relax every now and then. I was just reminded of that this morning, when I was sitting by the pool. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d just let everything go and done nothing except enjoy myself for a few hours. You should try it. Join us tomorrow.”
“Maybe I will.”, he answered. “Anyways, make sure that you have your phone with you tomorrow in case you get lost.”
“No worries. I’ve got my route all planned out.” That at least was the truth.