A Rock and Family Vacation
[33]
Clare kept looking back at the police station as they left. She knew what she saw. The officer helping them was a nice man named Ross and then when the ring flashed with lights in her hand, the officer was a nice lady named Rebecca. Clare carefully ate the brownie while turned into the breeze so that whatever crumbs fell off would be blown away and not mess up her clothes. It was good. The chocolate was both too sweet and too bitter, but it was a gift, so she didn’t complain. She made sure everyone had some.
Lacy wore a weird expression while she ate her piece, like she was enjoying it but also chewing something nasty. Clare imagined it was a cow cud. Blair ate it like a normal human being with a little cough. Clare shared her water. Dad just smiled but mom absolutely marveled at the brownie. She felt the same rise and dip of sweetness and bitterness as Clare but with intense swings. It was funny to see her so animated when she usually saw her mom more subdued.
Blair wouldn’t let them forget about the shop with the streamers out front on the way back to the car. Eliot held onto a cautious sigh when they were in front of it. He had so many things on his mind, especially the admission from Blair that she saw the three creepy folks from yesterday not too far from their rental house. It had plenty of passive video cameras and motion alarms, which they activated before leaving, but the anxiety of being away clung to him. It would’ve been his call to head back to the house, check on things, and maybe change out of their brunch clothes. He was out-voted though, even by Brooke who eagerly grabbed for the door.
A plush peacock with a billowing tail made of translucent kite parts was featured at the front. It led to something even more dazzling, a display of all sorts of rounded stones in a myriad of brilliant colors with miniature toy balloon lights sparkling above. Clare was the first to check it out. It was easy to find stones similar in appearance to the one that rolled into their lives. But none of them were exactly the same. They tended towards the appearance of pinwheel galaxies trapped in the earth.
Lacy dodged far away from the bauble display. She drifted over to the flowers and perfumes while Blair marveled over the boxed hobby starters and science experiment kits. The place vaguely reminded Brooke of the defunct Natural Wonders shop that she always liked to take Brooke to, even though they rarely bought anything.
Kites like arches high in the ceiling formed a path to the back. Small card games and oversized dice filled one wall, along with sculptures of winged dragons. It didn’t take long for Blair to hunt down a variety of rubber band-powered balsa wood gliders and modest kites that looked manageable enough for even Brooke. A combo kite plane that furiously flapped its wings like a bird also soon became a must-have.
To round everything out, Eliot insisted on a bubble wand that could be shifted into different shapes with a twist and a pull, along with a large bottle of quality bubble solution. It wasn’t their least expensive purchase of the trip, but Brooke did her best not to worry about that. Blair exuberantly explained every clever trinket to a bouncing Clare as Lacy did her best not to let anyone think she was interested in a pearl bracelet. Despite Eliot encouraging Lacy that she could get whatever she wanted without judgment (and so long as it was less than $10), she dashed away from the bracelets and folded her arms to peer solely at the peacock.
Brooke definitely noticed that Lacy was glancing in one of the mirrors up front while her eyes wandered to the glittering earrings and rainbow hair ties. She wondered if she could tempt Lacy with nail polish in similar colors, since she still had an open offer to paint Clare’s nails. As though she could sense what Brooke was thinking, Lacy folded her arms so that her fingers and nails were hidden.
Blair and Clare handled the super-sized bag of everything as they hustled ahead and receded back to the group with prancing excitement. Lacy made a show of dragging her feet and slumping. Brooke stretched out as the breeze pushed her hair around. She soon slowed to hold her husband‘s hand. There was a slight crowd, so Eliot looked nervously around before resting his eyes on his wife. It felt so weird, even though they both knew that no one was watching them or seeing anything out of sorts.
At the intersection, Brooke carefully checked both ways and frowned for a moment over a flicker of white heading left back over towards the police station. Had she seen a white van? No way to tell and only Blair had actually seen the vehicle in question. Blair was currently too wrapped up in playing some sort of stepping and stomping game on the stone tile with Clare.
Back in the car, everyone took their usual spots. Brooke had to do a lot of adjusting of the seat but delighted in how easily the belt rested against her when secured. Eliot left some time on their meter for the next person even though Brooke figured that a meter maid or some draconian sensor system probably reset them as soon as they left.
They had to loop around a few times with the one-way streets before they could merge back onto Broad. Several signs in blue with white trim advertised that the zoo was just a few miles north. That was definitely something they intended to see before the end of this vacation, likely as a capper. Brooke quietly wondered if she could get in at a discounted rate. The cliffside park to the south had already been designated and mapped out by Blair as the ideal place for all kites and planes. Reviews on Google said that it had perfect winds.
Taking a side route back, they were afforded a glimpse of the fancy-schmancy hotel with an Egyptian aesthetic and a junior pyramid flanked by water fixtures. The wharf on the far end of the boardwalk was more appealing to Brooke. As they turned into the driveway again, Blair diligently scanned all around for signs of the van or the tall guy but saw nothing. The door was still locked and everything inside was fine. Checking the alarm, Eliot found nothing amiss and no warnings, intrusion, or alerts between it being set and when they returned.
Brooke released a long breath as she flopped down on the couch. She stretched out and kicked her legs, relishing the absence of pain. Walking all the way to the wharf would be no problem. She bounced up and helped with bringing everything in. Darting along the steps, she opened up the closet of the master bedroom to put her brunch clothes away. Instantly, she froze in surprise.
What she found in her side of the closet were not her regular clothes. Instead, there were dresses more suited to a young girl, slim one-piece swimsuits, and plenty of denim. Her specialty support bras had also been replaced with practically flat sports tops and training bras. That was all fine for the moment, but some of that stuff she spent a pretty penny on. A commotion downstairs brought her hustling to see what was going on.
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In the side bedroom, Blair and Lacy discovered similar changes to their wardrobes. Lacy stared, mortified, at a polka dot, two-piece bikini that barely looked like anything. There were girl jeans with hearts on the pockets, vibrant yellow blouses, and so many dresses. Blair had a lot of similar offerings but with the same sort of accommodations as her brand-new, red swimsuit.
Fuming and billowing like a bull, Lacy proclaimed, with a finger pointing at Blair, “This is YOUR fault! You talked to that stupid rock and you probably woke it up and that’s why it’s been haunting us! Now it took away all my clothes!”
Blair pointed out that now they actually had more clothes they could wear, but Lacy didn’t care. “We’ll have nothing when we turn back!” To this, Blair shrugged and clarified, “If. But we have something for now.” This set her sister off, as she pounded the wood with her feet. Brooke listened quietly and held her hands up, encouraging everyone to take a breath. Lacy zoomed out of the room before she could say anything else.
Chasing after, Brooke still wasn’t quite fast enough to catch her as Lacy dug into the back of the car and grabbed the special bag that Blair used to carry around the rock. Yelling at her to stop was pointless, as Lacy set the rock in one hand like an oversized shotput and heaved it across the driveway. It rolled around awkwardly before coming to rest thirty feet away, nearly at the sand. Before she could march over and chuck it again, Blair dashed over and saved it.
“Darn it! Chill out! Just because you’re mad and probably about to drop eggs, doesn’t mean you can mess around! What if the rock decided to mess with you again? I don’t want to lose you. None of us do. Come on!” Blair fumed, but also felt her voice crack. Lacy was still mostly trying to process the idea of “dropping eggs” before a blush flooded her cheeks. Brooke smiled to herself at the visual from Blair before she went over to comfort Lacy.
“I’m not… acting like a weird girl on you know the thing and stuff. I’m not spewing blood and organs.” Brooke took a deep breath. She realized that even attempting to explain biological things to Lacy would probably send her running and screaming. Instead, she just put an arm around her and led her back inside as Blair lingered behind. It was frustrating to not have enough body to wrap all the way around her child, but she did her best.
Things eventually quieted down as they discovered that Clare also had a re-purposed wardrobe matching the stuff that they purchased yesterday. Before Brooke could wonder whether they might be able to return some of the extraneous items with a receipt, Blair noted that the rock seemed perfectly undamaged, neither chipped nor scratched. Although, she remarked that the driveway had a fresh divot in it. Brooke just hoped that the owner didn’t notice.
Turning the rock around a few more times, Blair squinted close and fiddled with the strange part stuck on. It wiggled before like one of Clare’s baby teeth, desperately wanting to come loose. Now, there was enough leeway to begin pulling it away from the rest of the rock. But still not enough to tear it off.
Blair was about ready to just tuck it back in her closet, with maybe a quick kind word of appreciation for changing her clothes without mentioning changes to Lacy‘s wardrobe, when she noticed that part of the attachment was peeling off.
She didn’t have the longest nails, but she was tenacious. Small slivers flaked off at first, seemingly weakened by smashing against the pavement. It was like peeling off a very tiny, black sunburn. She brushed each little piece away and onto the floor despite a quick glare from mom before she asked, “What is it?”
Blair shook her head and kept digging. Her fingernails were soon discolored underneath, but she managed to pull most of the paint off. The strange attachment to the rock was a dull, metallic silver. Twisting it around a few times, Blair squinted before she gasped with her mouth hanging open.
“MOM! Look!”
Despite the fact she had tested herself with the rock, Brooke still flinched when taking it. At first, she wasn’t sure what her child was freaking out about. Yeah, it was gray and metallic and had some markings on it. So what?
*Ding ding! Ding ding!*
The front door chimed twice. Brooke’s attention immediately went to the front. It was impossible to see who was there from this angle. Were Raymond or Rebecca already stopping by to check on them or did they have an update?
With a sigh, Eliot got up from the couch and volunteered. “I’ll get the door.”
Brooke nodded and returned to squinting at the weird things stuck on the rock. If she had her regular eyes then a magnifying glass would have been absolutely necessary, along with the bright light on her phone. The light through those darn tint-shifting windows was low, even though the sun would’ve been a blinding laser if they were at their clearest option. She decided there was enough illumination, she just needed to turn it.
Then, she saw it, what had freaked out Blair. On the side, beside the paint that had just peeled off, was a logo. A logo she was intimately familiar with. After all, she helped design a few variations of it.
The Muller Corporation logo, with the gullwing M leading to the base of the C like a crude, open makeup case. It was the design her father hated the least.
“Hello, Elie.”
Brooke dropped the rock, barely missing her feet as it rolled towards Blair, and she picked it up. That voice. The voice that could turn every part of her body cold and fearful. Her father‘s voice, coming from the front door. And that name.
She vaulted over the couch without a thought for the pain lancing through her legs. Despite how fast she ran, it felt like running in a dream, running through sludge with everything slowed to a crawl.
Her father stood in the doorway with the door half open. No emotion crossed his features as he raised a hand. A ring just like the one Raymond showed off adorned his finger.
Eliot turned to look at her as she opened her mouth to scream. He looked strikingly confused, as though he were in the middle of a dry spell with a parched desert of unknown scenes, invisible characters, and not enough words to adequately describe everything. Then, a melancholic realization spread over him beyond tears, followed by warm and quiet serenity as though Brooke was a cheerful vision of love he only dreamed to touch. Her love, her everything that mattered.
Her father snapped his fingers with piercing light.
And her husband was gone.