Shack Man – Heading To Baltimore

Catch up here – Shack Man

Chapter Twenty-one – Heading To Baltimore

We woke up the next day intending to head to Baltimore to meet, Shack’s mother and possibly his sister and her husband. Adhering the plan, we were to spend some time Sprout and the Italian and the kids… but not too much time, because the mother would be waiting. If we took too long to arrive, guess what? She’d wig! It was funny, because everyone in the house knew this, including the kids! Clock was ticking.

When we came upstairs for breakfast, the Italian and the kids were teasing, Sprout, about her sprouts. Yep. She had various herbs one her windowsill, like any NORMAL Virgo would. She also had a storage container for stuff to compost. They were all shocked I was familiar with it.

“It’s fresher and it’s cheaper,” she said, trying to inform her family, yet again.

“I agree!” I said, causing everyone to spin their heads and stare.

Next thing you know, Sprout and I went to out to see her compost setup and the LEAVES. The men were going to pack the car. I wondered if my sister was watching this, psychically, because she’d been right about everything.

We had a nice talk out there; primarily about her brothers. How she’s been worried about them, because they’re alone. How much she loves them. How glad she is, I’m around. Also, how they can never visit them because they both have bachelor pads.

In turn, I showed her my hands. That’s either Italian or Cowboy slang for the act of revealing your intentions. I don’t know which or where I got that, but I know it’s what honorable people do. Plus, they’d been speculating! I wanted to offer some facts!

I told her how kind her brother had been to me; and how thoughtful he was. I let her know how much I appreciated him and her other brother as well.

She told me both her brothers loved me; they’d told her. I said I loved them both; I was extremely happy and I’d do anything I could for either one of them.

It was “leaf pick up time” in DC. I’d never seem so many leaves, piled as high as the snow around the shack, this time of year. I mentioned this and we discussed having Thanksgiving at our house, the next year.

I told her I would plow the drive, when they came to visit, mentioning the mountain socks, Shack gave me the night before.

“He gave you socks, last night?” she asked. “When? I didn’t see that.”

“After we went downstairs,” I said.

She laughed. “Well that sounds like, Shack. He’s always full of surprises.”

I thought this was a cool exchange. Neither of us could have been more pleased with what we were hearing. We had a real moment out there.

It must have been wild for her. She’d not had a conversation with one of her brother’s girlfriends, for twenty years! This gave me some inkling why his family was burning up the phone lines, though I was still 99% in the dark about that.

I also noted the oldest brother died in the same time frame. I’d heard he was the mother’s favorite. Her surviving sons had jointly tried to fill in and make it up to her, their whole lives.

I knew of this, but I’d not had a chance to think it through. When I thought about, Shack, being seventeen, when they got the phone call, I had to hit the brakes. It takes time to try to fathom something like this, but I did have strong sympathy for his mother…. well, for everyone involved.

We hung around until noon or so, then hopped in the beat up station wagon, which actually was fun and funny to me. My Aquarian father had similar beater cars. My sister and I used to hide on the floorboards so our friends wouldn’t see us. Hey! We have Capricorn!

In whatever case, we were off like a herd of turtles, with Shack’s brother driving. This is so we would not be sitting together in the front seat, with him in the back. Shack thought about things like this and so did I. I was struck many time at how often we were automatically simpatico on different things. This was not a common happening for me.

Sister Mother Father Memorial? New York?

So far, so good! My heart was racing though. The visit had been stimulating for everyone.

I was wondering if the brothers would discuss the Italian’s comments in the car. I was trying to brace myself for God knows what, at the mother’s house. Let’s see. Dog and pony show for a few hours and then, Shack and I were going to dinner, alone. Come on, Elsa. It’s not that big a deal. Game face, please!

The brothers did talk, but not at length. They were both pissed, but the brother was the most pissed and he let be known. I think, Shack, was more mad at Sprout. She’d have been the one he was talking to. This was dirty laundry and I’m sure he told her now to wave it around.

I kept my mouth shut, but I sided with the brothers, on this. While I appreciated the Italian’s candor,  I didn’t know if when he said, “family”, he was talking about the parents being unsupportive or if the was actually denigrating the brothers as well, right there at the kitchen table.

I thought he meant the parents, because I thought, Sprout, would have defended her brothers had he been accusing them of being unsupportive. I didn’t know if they took it personally, but either way, they did not like their family being spoken about in that way. The Aquarian was off script!

I guess he liked to shock as well! Can’t say anything about that. I’ll climb fifty feet up into a tree in front of a shack, to surprise. I count three disrupters.

They were not fond of the remarks but they were subdued in expressing this. I remained as neutral and as cheerful as possible. I was literally trying to stay in (unflappable) character. Hey! Three more days and done! We could and would, deal with whatever conflicts arose, when we got home.

The beater car was in fact, fun. We were all on edge, to a degree, but laughing and talking about how much we loved the bad traffic, delaying our arrival. Shack brought road music so we got to sing on the way. It was pretty cool crew, if you ask me!

I had questions, namely, what did the family do to the Italian’s family?

Also, he implicated the mother in more than just being a person who tends to wig out. He clearly stated I would need a defense to be in her home. That was one hell of a statement, and the father was worse?

I was pretty sure no one in that house would have anything to do with the father, ever again. Shack’s brother, clearly felt similar, plus there’s a barracuda!

I still didn’t think this mattered much, outside of the effect on the men. I’d spent years in hell, in my lifetime. This was joke from my perspective. These men had lives on the other side of the country. You see your kids once a year and act an ass? Why?

I pictured my sister, pacing and chain-smoking, which is what she does when she’d trying to track someone. She and I have essentially, the same ascendant so she had the Uranus Neptune transit as well. I expected her to find me in her psychic field as we were having a shared experience.

We arrived at the mother’s house. Showtime! I was unprepared for how fast I was put on the spot.

For one thing, I thought we’d be knocking on the door. Instead, we just walked in. I don’t usually walk into people’s houses; that’s how you get shot!

Before I could reset my brain, the sister glides into the room like, Bette Davis, to deliver her line in a mocking tone.

“Elsa! Are you here to read our fortunes? Did you bring your crystal ballll?”