Chapter 15
Homecoming
(Andrea)
This time going home couldn’t help but feel failure. While no one would say otherwise, Andrea knew the truth of the situation, that she had failed. At least that is what she told herself.
Honestly, other than Misha, Andrea’s first attempt at adulting was terrible. She had failed at marriage, failed at keeping her daughter safe, and despite knowing that she needed to protect her daughter, she couldn’t help but feel she let her down by somehow messing up the date of the stupid class field trip.
She had been so busy that she all but assumed she had written the date down correctly, now she had taken to writing notes to herself in a journal. This way her systems would be redundant and backed up.
This way if she needed Milk, and it was on her list, it was also written down in her notepad.
Slow rumble.
Her car turned off the main road and went down the old mile long gravel road that led to what was once an old farmhouse that had been modernized by her parents.
Seeing the trees and freshly cut fields of grass, Andrea took in a deep sigh.
“This is our new home.” Andrea said, to Misha who as usual sat quietly in the passenger seat silently watching everything that happened around. While staring off in the distance was nothing new, most kids would have some form of reaction. A few would have the look of awe as to how green and clean cut everything looked, as Andrea’s father was meticulous about his care of the yard.
While her family had long ago sold their acres of land to commercial developers, the family still had and maintained a vast ten-acre plot that would serve as the inheritance for the kids. At least that was her father’s statement. Really Andrea thought it was because Phil hated dealing with people and thought it would be easier having at least two acres minimum between his family house and the next nearest residence being built.
“Okay.” Misha said, in her almost robotic tone.
Hearing her speak, Andrea couldn’t help but be frightened. Granted this was how she normally was, somehow unflappable about anything life threw at her. You go to therapy and get the equivalent of ten tasers worth of voltage going through you, and what happens, but she asks to go back.
Then she goes on a class field trip, has a stone melt on her, and she wakes up asking for granulated sugars.
While this response was nothing out of the ordinary, well other than her randomly asking for sugars. And she and the doctors all noted the same exact oddity, that she asked for granulated sugars, not cookies, donuts, or energy drinks. She just asked for granulated sugars.
After that, she had been asked to monitor her daughter's progress over the next few days. To see if anything was out of the ordinary.
Honestly, Andrea could have dealt with ordinary, well other people’s versions of ordinary. When you have a daughter that is like Misha, trying to see if anything off about her is challenging. Which was why she pressed to see if she could get her to talk more.
“Remember all that new construction coming in, and the super center?” Andrea asked.
“Yes.” Misha answered.
“Well, that all used to be part of the farmland owned by our family.” Andrea said, a form of pride and nostalgia in her words.
“Okay.” Misha answered.
Hearing that Andrea could only chuckle at herself, as she knew that would not be something that would interest Misha. Then off in the distance, she saw the old barn. Seeing the barn, a slight smile came to face, as she tried another topic, as they made their way down the long winding road.
“You see that big barn.” Andrea asked, pointing towards the building that had one time held three harvesters.
“Yes.”
“Well, that is Granddad Phil’s secret shed.”
“Okay.”
“Yep, all types of mechanical devices in there, from a tractor used to mow the lawn, to many other devices.”
Hearing that, Misha’s ears perked up, as she turned to look directly at Andrea. Seeing her response, Andrea couldn’t help but smile as she had finally found a subject that Misha was interested in.
“Oh?”
“Yeah. In fact, I bet if you ask granddad nicely enough, he might even put up a net that you can practice shooting at over there.”
“Okay.” Misha said, but this time there was the faintest hint of emotion in her words. This wasn’t the obligatory response she normally gave to get Andrea to be quiet, but rather the tone of someone who actually looked and acted interested.
With that, Andrea was just about down the long driveway when she found herself asking the most important question.
“You doing okay?”
“Yes.”
The answer as mechanical as all the others.
Gears braking.
With that Andrea finally found her parking spot, a spot that looked like it had always been well maintained just in case she ever decided to come back.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“No.”
Hearing that Andrea could only nod a defeated sigh of a mother who had expected that answer, but had foolishly hoped that there might be something more if she pressed.
“Well this is our new home. We should go and check it out.”
“Okay.”
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Click-clop.
Then like that Misha had unbuckled her seat belt and exited the vehicle faster than a seal team member. In the time Andrea had to reach down unbuckle her seatbelt and look back, her daughter was already out of the car, heading off to the barn.
“Wait, you can’t.” Andrea began, calling out to Misha.
“Oh, it’s okay, Granddad is already there working.” Julie said coming out to the porch after hearing the car slowly grind its way up the long driveway.
“He is?” Andrea asked, but only got a head nod in return from Julie.
Andrea gave one last glance towards Misha, but then realized that if she wasn’t safe here, then she likely wouldn’t be safe anywhere. Nodding to herself, she turned to face her mother.
“How was your drive?”
“Long.”
“Misha’s still the same chatterbox as ever I take it?”
Chuckle.
“Yeah, I guess you could call her that.”
Julie looked and realized something was off, but then after a moment she realized what was wrong. “She’s not wearing her gloves?”
Hearing that Andrea just shook her head. “Nope, apparently she is too old for those now too.”
Julie also shook her head at that revelation. “Almost like this world keeps forcing her to grow up too quickly.”
“I know.”
The two watched the little girl go off and enter into the open barn, never taking a wayward step or looking around. It was clear that she was on a mission to go straight to the barn and see her granddad.
“Well, why don’t you come on in and tell me about everything.” Julie finally managed.
“All right ma.”
***
(Phil)
The girl came, and immediately Phil took in a deep calming breath. He was waist deep within the engine of his last working riding tractor, trying to get the lines to figure out why the maintenance required light kept coming on.
With so many dangerous pieces and parts around Phil wanted to send out a warning to the girl, particularly with how accident prone she had been recently.
He waited for her to do what every grandchild inevitably did, and that was get off the gravel path and try to touch his toys. At least, that was what he expected. Which was why he stopped all movement as he sat there waiting like a shark to pounce.
Crunch.
Yet, his time to strike never came. Her steps skid to a stop at the edge of the gravel line.
He paused, waiting to see if she would do anything, but then he remembered this was the smart grandchild. The one with more patience than Jobe.
“Well come on, get over here, where I can at least see you.” Phil said, waving his long arm over the top of the tractor and pointing to a safe spot that was directly behind his back.
Grinding.
The crunching of feet over rocks was the only indication that the girl was even there and obeying his words.
Hearing her move, or rather, not hearing her, Phil was once again reminded of why he liked this grandchild the best. Yes, he wasn’t supposed to have favorites, but dang it, this kid was nearly perfect. At least in his eyes.
Phil waited until she had taken up her position behind him, then he began working. This was one thing Phil always believed in instilling in the kids, and grandkids, the need to work. Thus, he didn’t mind it when the kids stood behind him and watched him work.
“It is nearly summertime, as such, I am going through the different lines, checking them. Cleaning them out and changing the fluids where needed.” Phil said, as he went through his annual process of winterizing the equipment. Now that he was down to his last tractor, he wanted to make sure he took good care of it.
Phil looked back to see the girl just standing there, feet shoulder width apart taking in everything he said. Not asking any questions, not saying she was bored. Again, to Phil, she was the perfect kid, and he was very proud to call her his own. Even if she was cocky, going around with her helmet and gloves, that was just her ready to drive a tractor, in Phil’s opinion.
Finally, Phil got to a point where he could finally begin to relax as he managed to reassemble the tractor with all of its pieces attached.
“Phew. That was some work.” Phil said, closing the engine door and wiping his forehead. Then turning to see Misha, he paused as he saw his daughter. Well what could very well be the spitting image of his daughter.
Blinking.
Phil blinked trying to understand what was happening before he realized that the girl behind him was his daughter, well obviously not, but the looks and similarities were striking. He tried to remember when she managed to look like his daughter. Obviously when she was in the hospital, he saw her, but then she was all hooked up to wires, with tubes running out of her mouth. The whole sight was a bit too much for him, so he ended up waiting in the waiting room, opting to go on food runs or necessity runs to help out the girls.
Now though, there was something wrong with what he was seeing.
“No gloves or helmet?” Phil asked, finally articulating what was throwing him off.
“No.” Misha answered flatly.
“Any particular reason why?” Phil asked.
“I outgrew them.”
Hearing that Phil just nodded his head. In his mind he couldn’t help but feel a bit ashamed at that, as he had been one of the people talking the most about her needing to be normal, but now that he saw her normal, well he knew it wasn’t right.
“Okay.” Phil said, suddenly having a hard time explaining what he was feeling. Then realizing this was a great time to bond with his granddaughter, he spoke up. “Do you want to take the mower out one last time?”
“I wouldn’t.”
“Why not?” Phil asked, wondering if she was suddenly frightened of riding in the mower. Given everything that had happened to her recently, he couldn’t blame her, but would try to give her a bit of encouragement to help her get back on the horse, or mower as it were.
“You didn’t connect the tubes correctly.” Misha said.
“What?” Phil asked, and suddenly felt like she was playing him for a fool.
“Also, you didn’t add in your winter supply of oil.” Misha said, pointing towards the still sealed oil canisters.
“Well yeah, I couldn’t add those until the engine was put back together.” Phil said, going over to the oil.
He had been so excited about his granddaughter that he nearly forgot the obvious. Smart as a whip this one, not that Phil could let her know that.
With the warning Phil went over to the first container of oil, opened it and began to go over and was about to pour it in, when Misha spoke up again.
“I wouldn’t do that.”
Hearing that, Phil turned to face the girl.
“Oh, and why is that?”
“You didn’t tighten the oil lines correctly.” Misha said.
“How do you know?” Phil asked, curious.
“The fifth line on the right side, you only tightened it seven full rotations.” Misha said, pointing to a spot under the hood.
“Really? Well seven is a lot of rotations.” Phil replied.
“Yes, but the others you tightened to seven and a half rotations.” Misha added.
“A half rotation?”
“I counted.” Misha said.
Chuckle.
Hearing her, Phil couldn’t help but laugh, she was so serious that it was comical. Unfortunately, Phil was too tired right now to back in and try to find one random hose that was not tightened fully. Also, he was fairly certain that this girl was pulling his leg, I mean who counts rotations, Phil thought to himself as he decided to pour the oil in and deal with the consequences.
“It will leak.” Misha said, in that same warning tone that all the women of this family seemed to somehow inherit.
“Yeah, well, let’s pour this in, and then check back on it in the morning. If there is a leak, then you can tell me that you told me so.” Phil said, curious about whether there would actually be a leak in the morning.
“Okay.” Misha replied.
This was the same monotonous tone that she always had, though Phil could swear that he heard a bit of the typical Collins woman I told you so, in that reply.
Working quickly Phil emptied all the canisters of oil into the tractor.
“Come on, we will see how it works tomorrow. This will be our little science experiment.” Phil said, wanting to both prove his granddaughter wrong, while also coming up with something that the two of them could do together.
“Okay.” Misha said. Then began picking up a few of the pieces of trash that had fallen.
Again, nothing asked, no needing to be prodded, she just saw something and decided to help quietly. This only added to her tally of why Misha was his favorite.
“Come on, let’s put the trash in here then wash up before supper.”
“Okay.”
Then like that, Phil felt a little bit easier about having his daughter and granddaughter come back into the house. While he might have made a few mistakes while raising his daughter, he had the chance to fix those this time by spending quality time with his granddaughter. It might not be enough to fix his relationship with his daughter, but she was old enough now that she didn’t need him to be perfect.
Whereas this girl, she clearly needed something to go right for her. The deadbeat husband left her, despite all his warnings to his daughter at the time.
Still, looking back at Misha who followed him like a living shadow, Phil couldn’t help but be thankful for that creep’s existence. For without him, he wouldn’t have his Misha, not that he would ever admit that to Andrea. That was one where he was right from the beginning and would forever claim that as a win.
***
(Midnight)
It was midnight and Phil couldn’t sleep.
Rustling.
Phil tossed and turned in bed all night, until finally he decided to get up and check the motor.
“You alright?” Julie asked, somewhat angrily, somewhat concerned.
“Yeah, just going to check something in the barn.”
Humph.
With that Julie decided to lie back down, as she knew better than to try to get Phil to stop once he was in one of his moods.
Putting on his overalls and work boots, Phil made his way out in the chilly night air to the barn.
As he got there, he turned on the light, and stared at the tractor.
Then looking under the tractor he saw a particularly dark patch of shadow under the engine. Going over to the pool, he put in his finger and found that it was a small pool of oil. Seeing it, he couldn’t help but hiss silently to himself. Then popping the hood, he looked and in a matter of seconds he found the line that was slowly dripping oil down the line before it dropped.
Pulling out his wrench, he went over and tightened the hose that was the clear offender, as it was covered in oil. Then doing a quick count, he realized that the girl was right, it was the fifth hose on the right-hand side. Thinking back, it was as she said, just a half turn was needed to fully tighten the hose in place.
Putting the tool away, and closing the engine, Phil decided that this would be one of his wins as he was not technically caught.
That thought lasted until he got into the back room, where he managed to strip off his boots, wash his hands in the outside basin. Then go into the kitchen where he would then take the back staircase up to the master bedroom. The trip was something so mechanical to him that he never had to turn on the lights, in fac the preferred it this way as it was often easier to get back to sleep afterwards.
Click.
Phil entered the house and quietly as possible closed and latched the door. He was so focused on his task, that he nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard someone speak from behind him.
“You fixed it.”
“What the?” Phil shouted.
Click.
His hand moving by reflex to turn on the kitchen light, showing Misha drinking a cup of water by herself in the dark.
At this, Phil realized one thing, this girl had the patience to wait and catch him red-handed.
“I had to check on something in the barn.” Phil replied, not wanting to admit his defeat, at least not yet.
“Good.” Misha said, getting up from her chair, and placing the empty cup directly into the dishwasher.
The girl was creepy, did Phil ever mention how this girl was not his favorite, particularly when she tried to scare him half to death in the dark.
Phil gripped his chest, as he felt his still pounding heart finally beginning to calm down.
“Goodnight granddad, see you tomorrow.” Misha said.
Again, while there was seemingly no emotion behind those words, Phil could tell she was looking forward to spending quality time with him. And like that, Phil realized she was his favorite still, even if she was a little scary at times.