Chapter Two

Chapter 2

“I don't believe an accident of birth makes people sisters or brothers.  It makes them siblings, gives them mutuality of parentage.  Sisterhood and brotherhood is a condition people have to work at.”

Maya Angelou

Something cold and wet was trailing across the exposed skin of her back and her sleep addled mind struggled to grasp what it could possibly be.  When she felt the thing move to the back of her head and sniff, she realized what it was and grinned.  Turning over, she blew a puff of air into the large black lab’s face.  He woofed a loud joyful woof and turned around in excited circles before propping his front legs on the bed, begging to be pet.

Brielle sat cross legged on the bed and scuffed the ears with both hands.  “Vigo!  Who’s a good puppy?  Who’s missed me?”  He licked at her face and barked again, tail wagging at sub-sonic speeds.  Bending her head down, she shook her dreds in his face and he barked, trying to get at her face again.

“Vigo!”  Nate’s voice was loud.  “Get out of there!  You're going to wake her up!”

“Like yelling at your dog wouldn’t have woken me up?”  She yelled back, a grin on her face as she encouraged the dog to hop up on the bed.  Vigo didn’t need any prompting and he instantly curled up with the front half of his body in her lap, head up and awaiting the incoming attention from her hand.  She obliged and was rewarded with a lick to the chin. 

Nate appeared in the doorway and shook his head in mock irritation.  “Dumb dog.  What are you doing bothering Brielle?”

“Oh, Nate.  He’s not bothering me."  She fluffed up Vigo's cheeks and kissed his nose.  "What time is it?”

He glanced down at his wrist watch.  “About 10:45.”

She stretched her arms over her head and sighed at the satisfactory crack her back made.  “See?  You would’ve had to wake me up in fifteen minutes anyway.”

“Yeah, but I wanted to wake you up.”  He kicked at the door frame before leaning against it, the emphasis on the “I” arousing suspicion in his sister.

She narrowed her eyes at him before throwing one of the pillows at his head, which he easily caught and tossed back.  “You jerk.  You were going to body slam me, weren’t you?”

"Maybe..."  The grin he shot her reminded her of those years long ago when they were growing up.  She had missed her brother a lot since she had moved to California and when he had told her that he was moving to Vermont, she had instantly written up a contract that required them to talk at least once a week and required her brother to place his signature next to hers.

Running a hand over her dreds, she cracked her neck and moved fluidly off of the bed, Vigo following eagerly, tail still going.  "So, what's the plan today, Nate?"

He pushed himself off the door frame and motioned towards the kitchen.  “Lunch, first.  Then I need to run up to the shop.  Joe called over while you were sleeping and needs me to come in.  An unexpected appointment showed up and Chris is late again.  I’m going to have to talk to that kid about calling in if he‘s going to be late.”

Brielle sat herself down on the tall stool that rested at the serving bar in the kitchen and propped her chin up on her hand.  “Who’s Chris?”  Her sock covered foot absentmindedly rubbed under Vigo’s chin before he walked away towards his water dish, nails clicking on the kitchen tile.

A loaf of white bread appeared on the counter and soon cheese and sliced meats joined.  “Chris?  He’s a 17 year old punk kid who’s a real whiz with cars.  The trouble is, the kid is always late.  Some days I can excuse, like today, for instance.  He owns an 86 Honda Accord and it has troubles starting on days like this.”  He shrugged and opened the cupboard to pull out a couple of plates and motioned to the refrigerator.  “Help yourself.  I’m not your slave.”

She made a face at his back and proceeded to remove her own sandwich building materials, pushing lightly at the black lab as he went to investigate the cold air coming out of the refrigerator.  A multigrain loaf of bread, a plastic container of humus spread, some fresh spinach, and a tomato soon rested beside Nate’s sandwich fixings.  Stealing a slice of turkey meat, she set to making her meal.  “Any pickles or chips?”

His eyes grew comically wide as he pulled his mouth away from the sandwich, a gaping cavern where he had taken a bite.  He glared at her giggle and spoke around the huge bite.  “You always manage to do that.”  Reaching up into the cupboard with his free hand, he yanked a bag of Lays Barbeque chips and removed the clip.  “Chow down.”

She placed a small handful of chips beside her sandwich and smiled at her younger brother.  “Thanks.”  Chewing down a bite, she pointed at him.  “So, after lunch we go to the shop.”  Her eyes flashed over to Vigo who had plopped down by the door and was currently whining.

“Oh right.”  He quickly ate another bite and applied some chips to his own plate.  “I know that it’s cold and snowing, but I want to give you a tour of my property sometime today, preferably before the sun sets.  This place is colder than Dante’s inner layer of hell when it gets dark.”  He stood up and opened the sliding glass door to allow Vigo to dash out to romp around in the slowly drifting snow.  “How do you feel about a drive around town after we see Joe and Chris?”

“A literary reference, Nate?  I’m surprised.  I’m cool with whatever, Bro.”  Brie shrugged and took another bite.

Nate’s plate made a clink as he set it in the sink.  “I do read, you know.  I bet I read more than you do.”

“You probably do.”  She surprised her brother by agreeing.  “I do more writing though, what with my blog and my job.”

“Don’t forget World of Warcraft.  How many level 85 characters do you have now?” 

He would deny to the bitter end the girlish squeal that escaped at the look of pure death she shot his way, the knife she had been washing glinting menacingly in the kitchen lighting. He would deny until his dying breath that his big sister still intimidated him at times.

“Can it, dumbass.”

-------------------

The fire pit was even more elaborate than she had noticed when they had driven up.  The rough stone wall that made the pit itself was moss covered on the outside and blackened from use on the inside.  The charred wood on the inside was dusted with snow and she had to smile at the beauty of the scene.  Paw prints decorated the snow all around the pit exposing the pink feldspar that made for the floor surrounding the pit.  The rustic, treated wood chairs were waiting for company to enjoy the fire.  It was obvious that the pit had been built by her brother, the skill he had for things like this never ceased to amaze her.  The pink feldspar rock also made up the path that lead up to the back door and was almost completely cleared due to Vigo’s playful dashing about. Holly bushes lined the walkway with aspen saplings interspersed between the bushes, creating a sort of “Colorado” feel.

“This is beautiful, Nate!”  Vigo was dashing between the siblings and every other direction chasing the green tennis ball Nate would throw for him, barking in the joyous abandon dogs have.

He smiled a toothy smile and threw the ball again.  “I love it here.  I’m close enough to town for business and far enough to avoid traffic.  I’m surrounded by solitude.”

“How did you even afford this place along with the shop?”  She tucked her mittened hands under her arms and glanced at her brother imploringly.

He shrugged and snatched the ball from Vigo to toss it again.  “Well the house and the shop are technically on the same property.  I have 6 acres here, mostly forest.  It used to belong to Joe but he sold it to me at a ridiculously cheap price on two conditions.  First, that he’d be allowed to continue to work at the shop with me until he couldn’t work any longer.  And second, that he’d be allowed to live in the little cabin that sits behind the shop.  I was more than happy to concede to his terms and have been here ever since.”

Brielle kicked at a lump of snow and sighed.  “I know it’s a bit selfish, but I wish you had never found this opportunity so we lived closer to each other.”

A poof of snow exploded around her head and dusted around her like sparkling dust.  She turned to glare at her brother.  “Did you seriously just throw a snowball at the back of my head?”

“Well someone had to shut your depressing yapper up!”  His baritone laugh was soon joined by her own alto and Vigo’s woofs and yips and snow began to fly around the pair and dog.  Brielle dove at her brother’s knees and succeeded in knocking him to the ground and Vigo was instantly on the action, assisting by licking his master’s face.

“I give, I give!”  He chuckled and sat up, pushing the hyper lab away from his face.  “Settle down, Vigo.”  Throwing the ball again, he jumped up to his feet and stared down at his sister.  “Be happy for me, okay?” 

“I am, Little Brother.  I am.”  She smiled happily at him and allowed him to help her to her feet.  She wrapped her arms around him and sighed.  “And I am so, so very proud of you.”

A cheery grin colored his face and he returned the hug.  “Thanks, sis.  Means the world to me.”

It was a happy atmosphere that surrounded them as they walked towards the shop.  As they neared the building, they could hear an old, wizened voice scolding an unseen person. 

“Chris arrived.”  Nate said dryly.  “Joe has no tolerance for tardiness.  Vigo, stay outside.”

Vigo barked and dashed off in the direction of the house, presumably after a rabbit.  Brielle simply laughed and followed Nate into the shop.

“Mr. Nathan, help!”  A young teen frantically attempted to flee towards the 24 year old. 

“Oh no you don’t.”  A gnarled old hand reached out and grabbed the boy by the collar of his jacket.  “We ain’t finished with this conversation, kid.”

Nate stood there, arms crossed, looking quite menacing in his long trench coat and sunglasses.  The smile, however, ruined the look a bit.  However, the idea was still obvious to the old man and the young teen.  Pay attention to me the stance practically yelled.  And their attention he had.

“Listen up.”  His tone was stern and almost dark.  “We have three cars waiting to be worked on and oil change waiting on the floor.  This conversation can wait until after the rush.  If it has to happen after closing, then that’s when it happens.  Until then, I expect both of you to work.  Chris, get started on the oil change.  Joe…”

“You ain’t gotta tell me what to do, Nathan.  I’ve done this longer than you’ve been alive.”  The old man grinned and bowed slightly at Brielle.  “Now, who’s this young lady?”

Brielle smiled widely and shook the gnarled hand warmly.  “My name is Brielle.  The stern one in black is my brother.”

“Brielle, huh?”  He said loudly and patted her shoulder in a friendly way.  “Sounds like a fancy cheese the Hendersons serve at their fancy-shmancy parties.”

“Speaking of which,” Nate interrupted his sister before she could comment on the cheese bit.  “Are you going tonight?”

The grey haired veteran laughed vociferously and slapped a hand down on Nate’s shoulder in a painful-looking way.  “Prance about with those peacocks?  No thank you.  I’ll be sitting at home enjoying my fire and polishing my gun.”

“Protection or hunting?”  He grinned at his mentor who returned in like.

“Neither.  Gotta protect myself from Santa and his reindeer.”

“Joe…”  Nate groaned, knowing what would happen next.

Brielle coughed lightly and tilted her head slightly in confusion.  “Excuse me, but protect against what?  Santa isn’t…”

“What, isn’t real?”  Joe barked.  “Lemme tell you a story young lady.”

“Work first, Joe.”  Nate interrupted before the onslaught of words could commence.  He handed his house key to Brielle and smiled apologetically.  “WiFi password is TheAmericanCar, capitalize each word, no spaces. Try not to work too much, okay sis?  I’ll call you when we’re done.”

The pride she had felt earlier grew as she watched her baby-now-grown-up brother take charge and lead as a man.

 -------------------

The young dog enjoyed the romping back and forth, even though he kept looking back at the shop as if to alert Brie that they had left a man behind.  She simply threw the ball towards the house and chuckled at Vigo.  “It’s okay, boy.  He’s got to work, and you get to play with me.”  The ball by now was crusty with iced slobber and snow and she grimaced at the thought of touching the ball Vigo dropped at her feet.  Winding up, she kicked the tennis ball as hard as she could and watched it land a mere 7 feet away.  She burst out laughing at the affronted look the dog shot her as if to say ‘really?  That was the best you could do?’

“I guess snow isn’t a good field for kicking tennis balls on.”

Vigo seemed to nod solemnly in agreement before barking and running little short distances, telling her to throw the ball for real this time.

Manning up, she gingerly picked the ball up and tossed it towards the woods, watching it bounce off a tree back towards them.

“Aright, time to be done.”  She muttered to him with a small smile.  Vigo, with the newly retrieved ball, trotted by her side and nosed her leg as if to say ‘move it, I’m cold and want to go home now.’  He received a scratch behind the ear in response and a small laugh.

Glancing around the backyard, and then up at the sky, she determined it would be prudent to sweep off the inch of dusty snow from the rock before footsteps froze into the snow and made it harder to clear off later.

“Broom, broom.  Or a shovel.”  She noticed an old-looking broom resting against the wall next to the sliding glass doors and set off towards it.

The next 10 minutes were spent chasing snow off of the rock in the direction of the barking dog who would chase the sparkles of snow and attempt to eat them.  “Vigo, you make doing almost anything fun.  Except for dishes.  I can’t imagine how a dog would make that interesting at all.”  She threw the ball in the direction of the house.  “Go on!  Let’s go home!”

Stamping her feet to remove the access snow, and brushing off the dog of snow, she opened the sliding door to let him in and absently thought of telling her brother that locking the front door was worthless if the back one was left unlocked.

Brielle took it upon herself to explore the house in her brother’s absence.  The beautiful wood staircase led up to the master bedroom and an office of sorts where shelves of books on cars and different novels her brother had collected over the years rested.  She could see the large iMac sitting on a desk and she shook her head.  Of course he’d have the most expensive iMac.  Nate never did anything half assed.

She avoided opening the master bedroom door to explore inside.  Bedrooms were private affairs, she had been taught that as a young child after barging into her parents’ bedroom one night.  She shuddered at the memory of what no child should ever witness and continued on her self-guided tour. 

Opening random doors in the main floor exposed a linen closet, a coat closet, a half-bath, and the stairs leading down to the basement.  Gleefully, she stepped down the stairs and gaped at what was there.

He had turned a small part of the basement into a sort of storage place for boxes and whatnot.  The rest of the large room was like a small movie theater.  A projector hung from the ceiling and was pointed at the blank wall.  Expensive looking, obviously well-made surround sound speakers

Humming to herself, Brielle situated her laptop at the kitchen table.  She rummaged through the cupboards until a large mug was located, filled with water, and heating in the microwave.  She had to laugh when she saw an entire shelf in the pantry had been dedicated, and labeled, “Brielle’s Gross Food.  Touch at your own risk.”  Pulling out the can of loose leaf New Zealand Sunrise and the empty tea sheaves, she set to filling a bag with the fragrant mixture.

With steaming cup in hand, she sat herself down at the table and stared at the laptop, the desire to work vanishing the longer she gazed.  Powering up the computer, she mulled over the idea that had been working in her mind since the car ride from the airport.  Opening up her web browser, she set to work researching and planning.

 -------------------

“Par-tay!”  Nate shouted as he walked in the front door.  Hanging his coat in the closet and shucking off his shoes, he ran-slid into kitchen bumped into the center serving counter. 

“Even at 24, he can still act like he’s 15.”  Brielle said gravely to the dog, who stared at her unblinking before licking her face and dashing to his master eagerly.

Nate ignored his sister and wrestled his dog to the ground, the two of them growling at each other. 

She rolled her eyes and turned back to her computer.  “Yup, still 15.”  A call from Grant had prompted her to begin working on a problem they were having a work with a page on the website.  Trying to ignore the ruckus the pair was making, she tapped out a number on her phone and put it up to her ear.  “Hey, Grant.  It’s Brielle.  I fixed the problem, want me to email the code to you or hack into the server and fix it from here?”  She laughed at his response and sent the email that had been waiting.  “Yeah, I know, you’re more than capable to do this on your own.  Have a good Christmas, okay?”  She set the phone down on the table with a click and turned to her brother only to shriek when she found in mere inches from her face.

“You ASS!”  She whacked his arm with a closed fist and took a deep breath.  “I HATE it when you do that!  You damn near gave me a heart attack.”

He simply grinned at her.  “I have a secret to tell you.” He leaned in closer and said loudly “Par-tay tonight!”  He jumped back and started dancing around with his dog.

An eyebrow quirked up.  “As in, Christmas party?  With festive Christmas music, festive Christmas costuming, nasty eggnog, and most importantly people I don’t know?”

A halt in the celebration from the brother.  “Yes?”

“You’re going to make me go, aren’t you.”  It was a statement rather than a question.

“Yes!”

 -------------------

“Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock.  Jingle bell swing and jingle bell ring.”  Amy Grant’s melodic, muffled voice grated on Brie’s nerves and she hadn’t even entered the unfamiliar house yet.  Garishly bright lights twinkled sporadically and created a nauseatingly cheery atmosphere, for someone on acid that is.  “Too bad I left my acid at home.  Can we go enjoy Christmas eve with Joe?”  She muttered sarcastically to Nate who chuckled at her discomfort and rang the doorbell. 

“Relax, Sis.  You can survive this, I promise.”  He patted the top of her head in a condescending manner and she ducked away with a scowl that could have melted the snow. 

“Out of all the artists who have Christmas albums they could be playing, it had to be Amy Grant.”  She ground out as Amy’s voice warbled on.

The sound of footsteps approaching the door halted her bitching and the door swung open to reveal a peppy blond haired elf.  “Come in!”  She motioned with a skinny arm towards the festivities awaiting them inside.  

Nate lead the way almost too eagerly.  Brielle frowned a little at this, wondering what had happened to the Grinchy brother from their childhood.  He seemed to notice this and whispered to her.  “Spiked eggnog.”  She chuckled at that.

The inside was worse than the decorations that littered the outside of the house.  Santas of every variety covered every available surface of the house including tables and bookshelves.  The piano had three different sized fake trees decorated to the nines a red and gold theme.  The “real” Christmas tree sat beside the piano in a blue and silver theme, blue ribbons with silver balls adorning the branches.  Gaily wrapped presents rested under each tree.  Brielle figured they were empty and merely there for decoration.

A large white fluffy cat meandered under the piano and Brie found herself imagining the cat climbing the perfectly decorated tree.  Up and up the fluff ball climbed until he was perched on the top branches.  Looking down and around at the people around him, he realized how high he was and with a startled yowl, panicked.  The angel fell off the tree with a crash and silver balls started to shatter on the hardwood floor.  People started shrieking and fleeing the house as a short in the string of white lights ignited one of the branches mere inches from the fluffy white cat.  He cried a howl of terror as the branch he was perched on started to crinkle and crack in the heat.  He made a leap for freedom and crashed onto the piano keys, creating an even louder disturbance in the party.  She started giggling at the havoc her mind was creating and suddenly remembered it was all in her imagination. 

Glancing quickly at the still-perfect tree, she looked for the cat.  The dumb animal had simply curled up underneath the black baby grand and watched the people milling about who had started to stare at her as if she were crazy.  She thought she saw Chris in the dining room flirting with a trio of teen girls but other than him and her brother, she knew no one else in the room.

A wave of discomfort threatened to send her running screaming from the house, but she resisted the urge and forced herself to move towards the buffet table.  What had happened to her social skills?  She used to be able to talk to any and every one she chose.   The sooner she left this place, the better.  And with a look at her brother, she knew that by the end of the evening, he would be one drunk man.


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