The Metatronic Chronicles: A Minor Inconvenience

The next morning was Sunday, time to go to Mass, but instead of the usual flurry of activity, Mary noticed that there was little movement going on in bedrooms upstairs. From the sounds of it, Alice was up and moving around but there was nothing else emanating from the second floor. James was getting dressed in their main floor master bedroom and when he came out, knotting his tie, she took a hard look at him. “Your sons didn’t come home last night.”

“They’re not up there?” James asked as he glanced in a mirror to put the finishing touches on the tie. “Did you check?”

“I’m a mom and don’t have to check. There is no movement up there from them whatsoever and I can hear Alice plainly.”

As if in confirmation, the back door opened and two dirty, bedraggled looking young men in tattered shorts entered the kitchen. Their adventuresome sons had returned. “Good morning,” Michael smiled slightly, heading for the coffee pot. Daniel went straight past them and upstairs to get ready for church.

“Did Derasthe keep you out all night?” Mary asked. “You’ re usually home by 3AM or so, but it’s almost nine o’clock now.”

“No, Derasthe was working and didn’t spend much time with us last night.” Michael took a sip of the coffee and relaxed visibly. He had the look of a satisfied man in his eye.

“Then where were you? Exercising?”

“Yes.”

“All night!”

“We don’t need sleep so we thought it would be fun to do some exploring while we were out. We made some stops.”

Mary was getting very irritated with Michael’s non-answers and was ready to pop when James stepped in. “I’ll take it from here, mother. Why don’t you go finish getting ready for church?”

She glanced at the two of them, realizing that she probably didn’t want to hear what was going to be said. “All right, but we have to get to church!”

James turned to Michael. “I want it understood that you must never do that again without letting us know where you are and what you are doing. You may be nearly eighteen, Michael, but you can still get into terrible trouble that not even Derasthe or Asmodeus can get you out of, do you understand? And now your first responsibility is Alice and the baby.” He gave Michael’s filthy, ragged state a quick look. “What in hell happened?”

“Nothing much,” Michael answered defensively.

James’ eyes grew very hard and there was a glint in them that told Michael he was capable of getting the real answers out of his reticent sons. “Answer my question.”

“All right, we stopped a few places. The Solomon Islands, some island in the Indian Ocean and Damascus. We got into a fight in Damascus, that’s why we’re such a mess. Daniel was shot a few times, I was shot a few times—no big deal.”

“You didn’t kill anyone, did you?”

“No, we didn’t kill or even harm anyone. The shooters were some crazy fanatics with MR15s who were trying to kill each other. It just looked like fun to mix it up a little with them. Derasthe said that bullet wounds were usually not a problem for angels and we just wanted to test out his theory. He was right.” Seeing his father’s astonished look, Michael tried to tone down the story a bit. “Honest, we just landed in the crossfire, that’s all.”

Still amazed at his sons’ idiocy, James couldn’t speak for a moment. He looked down at Michael’s body and noticed that it was covered with fading bloodstains and his shorts were also bloodstained and full of holes. Finally, he managed to ask a question. “How many rounds?”

“I counted twenty seven holes for me personally. Daniel counted thirty-eight holes. I guess he was more curious than I was.” Michael couldn’t suppress a smile as he pointed to a slight scar nearly between his eyes. “Look, I took one square there and it still didn’t slow me down! I even took one in the eye and could still see perfectly. Weird, huh?”

James had to admit to himself that it was weird all right. “Michael, getting shot on purpose is ridiculous. MR15s are small caliber weapons. Sure they can shoot fast but the bullets really aren’t much of a test. If you had done that with a larger caliber automatic weapon, you wouldn’t be so cheerful right now. A weapon shooting 44 caliber or larger will hurt! Believe me. What you both did was incredibly stupid and if you ever pull a stunt like that again, grown up or not, I will make you wish you hadn’t. Is that clear?”

Movement from upstairs attracted their attention. Alice was wearing a pretty pale yellow dress that didn’t show her rounded belly much and was on her way down. “Good morning,” she beamed at Michael, who had instantly used his well-practiced quick-change magic and was now wearing a t-shirt and jeans. The bloodstains were mostly covered up now. “I didn’t hear you get up.”

“I was pretty quiet,” Michael answered, smiling back in spite of himself. She really did look very pretty. “You look nice this morning.”

“Well, I’m going to church with your family so I have to look nice for God,” Alice answered. “Aren’t you going? You’re not dressed.”

“I’ll be dressed very quickly,” Michael answered. “So you are coming with us? I thought your mom was going to pick you up to go to your church over in Rosewood.” Alice’s family roots were in Rosewood and they attended St. Vincent’s church in that town.

“I talked to her last night and she said I could go with you while I was staying here. It would save them a trip and give us a chance to have some together time.” Alice came up to him, took his arm and hugged him. “You would look handsome in a jacket and tie, Michael.”

“Thanks…I think,” Michael glanced at his father. “Why don’t you two have some coffee while I go and get cleaned up for church. Give me ten minutes.” He gently extricated himself from her arms and headed upstairs, leaving James and Alice alone together.

“Well, hi there,” James said, smiling at her. “Want some coffee?”

“Can’t.” Alice patted her tummy. “The baby, you know. But I’ll take a glass of milk.”

“You’ve got it.” James pulled out a chair for her at the kitchen table and made sure she was comfortable before he attended to her needs. “So how do you like it here so far? Are you all settled into your room?”

“Oh yes,” Alice smiled. This was the first time she and Michael’s father had spent any time alone together so she wanted to make a good impression on him. “Your house is so nice and big. I like my parents house—it’s cozy but sometimes just a little too small when you have a brother like mine.”

“Louie gets out of hand sometimes, huh?” James poured her some milk and then took out a slice of the special cake that Mary had made for her. “This should do it for you,” he said as the cake seemed to warm up on its own. “We’ll have a big breakfast after church.”

“Yes, he’s a monster but he’s my brother so I love him.” Alice went to work on the offerings, showing that she was indeed starving. The cake disappeared quickly as did the milk. “Thank you,” she finally said, wiping her mouth with a napkin. “I needed that, I guess. No communion for me today.”

“God won’t mind,” James settled into a chair across from her. Movement from upstairs and the master bedroom indicated that the rest of the family was nearly ready to leave. “Mary tells me that you’re not going to school tomorrow. They won’t let you go because you’re pregnant?”

“That’s the excuse,” Alice nodded, her face reddening a bit. Talking about her pregnancy with Michael’s stunningly handsome youthful father was not something she really wanted to do.

James thought a moment, and then smiled at her. “You know what. I think if you just go ahead and go to school, everything will be fine. No one will even mention it. Did you register for the semester?”

“Yes, at the end of the fall term, I registered so my classes are set. They just don’t want me there. I guess they’re ashamed of pregnant girls.”

“Then you just go and I’ll take care of it. I know your principal. He’ll change his mind. I guarantee it. I’ll talk to him this afternoon.” James would talk to him all right—and the rest of the school board who made the decision—only it wouldn’t be on the phone. With Derasthe’s help, he would do a little angelic snow job on them and people in authority would no longer perceive Alice’s condition as shameful.

“You will?” Alice couldn’t believe her ears. “You mean I can just go tomorrow and no one will mention it?”

“Well maybe you might hear something from the students, but no one else will bother you about it and I’ll see that any special consideration you may need will be provided for you. And that will go for any other girls with the same problem in the future.”

Alice’s face fell. “The students will tease me mercilessly.”

“Not with Michael there, they won’t and I’ll make sure that he is looking out for you, all right?”

Her smile slowly returned. “All right. Great! Thank you!”

Mary appeared at the master bedroom door. “James, can you come in here and zip me up?”

When he came in, she closed the door and turned her back to him for the chore. “Did I hear you right? You’re going to pull a magical whammy on the school board and staff?” she asked as he zipped up her pink dress.

“Yes,” James answered. “Got a problem with that?”

“No,” she grinned, turning back to him. “But I thought you were all human and couldn’t do that stuff anymore? And that you hated it when angels used their powers to influence people in that way?”

“I’m not completely powerless as you know, and Derasthe will help me with it. This is our future daughter in law here, I believe and our future grandchild. We have to help her live a normal life and sitting here in this house day after day with only us for social contact is not the best thing for her. She needs to be in school with her friends. Michael can look out for her there.”

“He’ll be thrilled about that,” Mary said as she put on a pair of small diamond earrings, then carefully placed a small white Jackie Kennedy pillbox hat on her head. “I hate hats, but it’s better than the folded Kleenex that some of the ladies put on their heads!”

“Michael will warm up to the idea.” James admired his wife’s ample figure. “You look nice in pink!” he complimented her, referring to her dress.

She glanced down at it. “I look like a bottle of pink bismuth but it is Chanel, just very old Chanel from Gimbel’s bargain basement store in Madison. I couldn’t resist, but maybe I should have tried harder.”

“You look great.” James gave her a quick kiss. “We’re late. Got to go, sweetheart.”

Outside in the dining room, they were treated to a shock as they saw Michael descending the stairs. He had taken a quick shower, his black waves were brushed into a long ponytail and he was wearing a rarely seen blue jacket, white shirt and gray paisley tie with black dress pants over black polished shoes. This was a far cry from his usual church wardrobe of khaki pants, a long sleeved shirt or sweater and clean sneakers.

“Well hello, stranger!” Mary grinned, noting his embarrassment at being noticed. James just stifled a smile and pretended not to notice the radical change.

“Laugh while you can,” Michael answered, loosening the tie a bit. “But I thought it would be nice to dress up for Alice’s first time at our church.”

“Michael, you look even more handsome!” Alice was nearly swooning at the sight of her baby’s father spruced up.

“Let’s not get out of control here,” Michael kidded as he took her arm. “Where’s Daniel?”

“Coming!” Daniel came bounding out of his bedroom and vaulted over the rail to the first floor, landing easily and without apparent harm in front of them. Seeing everyone’s shocked look, he shrugged. “What? I’ve been doing that for years!”

“Not in front of Alice!” Mary reminded him. “We’re used to seeing you try to kill yourself, but she isn’t! You could shock her into labor!”

“Oh. Sorry! “ Daniel waved at her. “How ya doin’, Alice?”

“F-fine!” Alice couldn’t believe what she had just seen. It was fully fifteen feet from the second floor to the first and Daniel had jumped it and landed without apparent harm to himself. “Daniel! You could have broken a leg—or both legs!”

“I drink my milk!” Daniel let her comment slide. “You look like a pretty yellow flower this morning! And you look sweet too, mom!” He gave Mary a quick kiss. “So let’s get going!”

Twenty minutes later, the family plus one had entered the church and were seated in their customary back pew. Alice nestled in at the end next to Michael, happily ignoring the glances back at them from a few of the other parishioners. The family knew most of the congregation and Alice’s attendance, condition and apparent affection for Michael were a surprise to most.

“They’re staring at us,” Michael said to his brother telepathically. “It’s embarrassing.”

“Shut up and let the angel do your talking,” Daniel answered back the same way. “He makes more sense than you do.”

Michael gave him a quick glare but an even more intense glare from their mother shut them both up for a few moments. It was truly incredible how she knew when they were talking telepathically even though she was not telepathic herself.

Michael let Alice cling to his arm, finding some strange comfort in it and idly scanned the church, ignoring the goings on as usual and taking his cues from the other parishioners as to what to do next. Stand? Sit? Kneel halfheartedly? Whatever.

He noticed that the Kleinschmidt family’s sixteen-year-old twin girls Sara Beth and Annie were filling out their blouses nicely now and made a mental note to check back on them at school. Daniel had already been with both of them and they were shyly glancing back at his brother. In another pew was an entire row of eleven Smithson kids, six of them girls. Though two of the girls were too young to consider now, the eldest, Tricia, was getting quite ripe and though she had a football player boyfriend, Michael filed her name away too.

“You’re being an asshole,” Daniel’s voice said in his brain. “I can hear you scoping out girls here. Stop it. Alice is right there!”

“Stop eavesdropping on me.” Michael knew his brother was observing his thoughts but was so used to it that he paid him no mind until he interfered. “I can’t help it. It’s like being at the best restaurant in the world and not being able to eat anything but white bread. I want more and somehow every girl here just seems to invite me in.”

“Alice isn’t a loaf of bread, she’s the mother of your son and you should treat her with more respect.”

“She doesn’t know I’m looking, what can it hurt?” Michael got his answer when she squeezed his arm and looked hopefully into his eyes. Sighing, he just smiled back, enjoying a quick dip into the depths of her eyes before turning away. Another moment of that kind of joy would have him nursing a big boner in church. “All right, maybe she knows somehow. I have to figure out a way to tell her what I am or I am going to be far too much for her to handle. I have to tell her that even if we got married, I would have to hunt for sex every night even after I make love to her. I could do it dozens of times a night and still not be satisfied!”

“I appreciate the fact that you are not saying fuck and screw to me here in church,” Daniel returned, blithely ignoring the fact that he had just used the two tried and true verbs. “You don’t have to tell me this. I feel it too, Michael. When I meet someone I want to settle down with, as apparently angels do, I will have the same problem.”

Michael glanced over at Daniel, careful not to draw his mother’s attention. “You will have it? You don’t now? Who are you screwing besides the ones I know about? And the ones on our little trips around the world? We’re not going to get shot gunned again, are we?”

“If I am not in your presence, Michael, I am screwing someone.”

“Liar!”

“It’s true. This morning, between the time I went upstairs to change and the time I came down, you didn’t see me, right?”

“Right.”

“It took about ten minutes or so for me to change and come down. I spent about seven minutes of that time elsewhere.”

“But no one saw you leave.”

“I have been working on my magic. I can get as far as a mile down the road without flying now. Did you know that? Of course, I’m not mighty St. Michael the Archangel zapping us around the planet like a UFO…”

“I am not St. Michael!”

“The hell you aren’t. Anyway, once I get away from the house, it takes me about thirty seconds to find someone and another minute or two to screw them. Anyone.”

“Anyone?”

“Anyone.”

“Like who?”

“I never kiss and tell.”

“You’re a frigging liar.”

Daniel fell silent for a moment, and then changed the subject. “Did you notice that the church building has a certain change to its energy?”

“No.”

“I just noticed it. Maybe it’s because Alice and the baby are here.”

“Maybe.” Michael didn’t want the church building to have any energy. It had already had enough to do with sending his life into a spiral.

Daniel suddenly giggled as if he was being tickled. “Did you feel that?” he asked after his mom silenced him with a sharp look.

“Feel what?”

“It was like a vibration. Very strong. I felt it clearly. You sure you didn’t feel it?”

Michael sighed. “Okay, I felt it. It felt like a truck going by to me. So what?”

“There was no truck. It came from below the building. Hey, maybe we’re having an earthquake! That would be cool.”

“Wisconsin is not known for having earthquakes, Daniel.”

“There was a big earthquake along the Mississippi river over 100 years ago,” Daniel reminded him. “It was one of the biggest quakes ever. Maybe we’re due for another one.”

“It wasn’t an earthquake.”

“Maybe we should ask Derasthe about it.”

“Maybe.”

“I’m serious! But why don’t we have mom and dad ask him to come for dinner. That would be cool to have a movie star come visit, wouldn’t it?”

“Right. And maybe Alice would go for him instead of me.” Michael was being facetious but the thought suddenly appealed to him. “Well…maybe it would be all right. He hasn’t been here in quite a while and Alice hasn’t met him. She might like that.”

Another dig in the ribs got Daniel to pay attention to the church service, letting Michael relax and notice that Alice was hanging on to his arm very tightly. “Are you all right?” he whispered to her.

She looked up at him with an ashen face. “Just having some cramps, I guess. The baby is kicking me hard.”

Michael did a quick scan of her. “I think maybe we should take you to the church sickroom so you can lie down for a few minutes.” She nodded in agreement and after Michael telepathically told Daniel where they were going, his brother passed it on to his parents. With a node to James and Daniel, Mary got up and followed along to the church sickroom, a converted closet with a single divan, in the basement.

“Is she all right?” Mary was asking as Michael helped Alice get down onto the divan.

“I’m fine,” Alice said but her worried expression betrayed her true feelings. “Just the baby kicking, that’s all.”

Mary quickly put her hand on Alice’s stomach and felt a foot give Alice a sturdy kick. “Lordy, that kid is strong! Michael, you did the same thing to me and it hurts like the dickens!”

“Sorry,” Michael shrugged. “Is there anything we can do to quiet him down?”

“If this keeps up he could really hurt her,” Mary said. “Maybe we should take her home.” She went to retrieve the rest of the family, who filed out quietly and presently Alice was back at the house, in a pretty cotton nightie and tucked into her new bed.

“I’m sorry to be such a bother,” Alice was saying, tears in her eyes as Mary covered her and tried to make her more comfortable. “The baby seems to have calmed down now. I think I’m all right.”

“I’m sure you’re fine. We just don’t want to take chances.” Mary closed the curtains and turned out the light, leaving Alice in semi-darkness. “You rest here for awhile. I think the trip to church was too much for you. I’ll check back on you in a little bit, okay?”

“Thank you.” Alice stifled her sobs as Mary closed the door.

“How’s she doing?” James asked as his wife returned downstairs. Michael and Daniel were sitting sullenly in the living room a few feet away, listening.

“She’s all right but I think maybe she needs a little extra help. Can we call Derasthe?” Mary asked. “He helped me quite a bit with this problem.”

“I’ll call him,” James said, heading for phone. “With luck, it’s Sunday and he’s not too busy to come.”

A few moments later, he had Derasthe on the other end of the line. “Absolutely, old boy! I’ll be there in a few minutes,” the actor was saying. “Just do me a favor and put the lass to sleep before I get there just in case she knows me. Don’t want to surprise her into labor, you know.”

“How do I do that?” James asked. “If you recall, I gave up most of my influencing powers. Otherwise, these boys of mine wouldn’t be in so much trouble.”

“Have Michael do it. He is getting quite proficient at that sort of thing and all he has to do is envision her sleeping nicely. You caught me at a good time—Cara and the kids went off to Disneyland and our shoot was rained out today so I’m sitting at home twiddling my thumbs. I’ll see you in half a ’mo!” Derasthe hung up—or at least James thought he might have. It was hard to tell when the individual you were calling could answer the phone and hold a conversation completely in his mind.

“He’s coming,” James said to Mary. “In fact, he said ‘half a mo’, so count to ten and he’ll be here. Michael!”

His eldest son responded to his call with a depressed sounding “what?”

“Go upstairs and put her to sleep before Derasthe gets here. He said you could do it. Just envision her sleeping nicely, in his words.”

Michael sighed and then got up from the chair he had been lounging in to head upstairs. Maybe she was asleep already.

It was not to be. When he opened the door, he heard a happy voice saying “hi Michael.”

“Hi,” he said briefly, coming into the room. “How are you feeling?”

“Better,” she smiled up at him through the semi-darkness. “Now that you’re here.”

“You should get some sleep.”

“I’m not sleepy, just resting a bit. I’ll be up soon.”

“No…sleep is important for you now. The baby is taking up so much of your energy.” He reached out to caress her soft brown hair. “Just close your eyes…” he let the vision take over. “And sleep for an hour.”

She yawned. “You’ re like a hypnotist,” she said sleepily. Then nothing more was said as she sank into slumber.

After making sure she was only asleep and not comatose or worse, Michael got up and left the room. He emerged in time to see Derasthe enter the house wearing his usual garb of loose white linen drawstring pants and a matching long sleeved shirt. African reed sandals that he had probably taken off a dead man after a kill protected his feet. At least that’s what Michael liked to think.

“Hello hello!” Derasthe greeted everyone in a friendly manner as the family gathered around him for a greeting and a hug. “How is everyone this fine day? Your weather here is atrocious!” He was referring to a light snowfall that no one had even noticed.

“We’re just fine,” Mary said. “We just need a little of that calming magic of yours.”

“Little Metatron is stirring up in fits, is he?”

“Yeah,” Michael answered. “He started in church today and just wouldn’t give up until we left and came back home.”

“He must have sensed something going on he didn’t care for,” Derasthe nodded. “That’s normal for a Metatronic child. Their sensory perception is highly developed even in the womb.”

“I felt a vibration in the church,” Daniel volunteered. “Could that have been something that upset him?”

“A vibration?” Derasthe echoed. “Like what? Heavy? Light? A truck going by perhaps.”

“No, it felt like it was coming from below the building. Michael and I were the only ones that felt it—and the baby, I guess.”

“Well then, let’s not take the baby there again, shall we?” Derasthe suggested.

“It’s church. Alice is religious—she won’t like skipping Mass,” Daniel answered. “Neither do I.”

“Daniel, chances are it’s nothing—just some water movement far below the building or even just minor geological shifts. But if it is the baby, he’s going to make himself heard and she will be miserable if he acts up. Even calming magic won’t help much if you go out of your way to aggravate the child.”

“Maybe we can have Father Thomas come here on a visitation every Sunday,” Mary suggested. “He can give her communion too. And if she wants, she can watch Mass for Shut-ins on TV.”

“Well I didn’t want to insinuate this to be the case,” Derasthe shrugged. “But it might be that the act of going to church in the first place is what is causing the baby to kick so hard. He might not have objected so much when it was just Alice and her family, but now with the energy of two angels nearby, he may be having issues. Metatron is not particularly fond of religious ceremony and ritual. He will tolerate someone’s religious views and even allow an angel to attend church as he does with you, Daniel. But if you make him go, he’s not going to like it. And today you made him go to church.”

Michael wanted to laugh out loud but Daniel’s hurt look caused him to stifle his laughter. Mary just started laughing anyway while James made a point of checking out the light bulbs in the chandelier overhead for a moment.

“So I guess you’re saying he wouldn’t like TV church any better then?” Mary finally asked, getting over a case of the giggles.

“He would probably tolerate that better,” Derasthe said, stifling laughter himself. “But if you feel the house vibrating, I would turn to another channel.”

“You people are hilarious,” Daniel growled.

“He will probably allow the home visits and the communion for Alice, as she is his mother and what she wants is all good with him. But if you make him go to church, he will object. That’s all I’m saying.”

“What if she wants to go to church?” Daniel asked. “Isn’t that all good with him, as you say?”

“He has limits, just like anyone else. You can experiment of course, but I think the same thing will happen. He will set about to shake the church down if he has to, kick mommy until his foot pops through and probably yell quite a bit.”

“Ooh, I hated that yelling part,” Mary nodded. “Michael and Daniel both yelled in church. Everyone thought I was doing it.”

“I would recommend having her stay home on Sundays until after childbirth and then see how it goes after that. If she wants to take him to church then, he might tolerate it as he gets older and can be in the crying room where he can entertain himself better.”

“Note to self,” Mary said. “Donate toys for the crying room.”

“A capital idea!” Derasthe agreed. “Now, where is our little mother?”

“Michael, show Derasthe to Alice’s room. She’s asleep, right?”

“I put her to sleep a few minutes ago. She was snoring when I left the room,” Michael nodded as he led Derasthe upstairs.

“Oh isn’t she lovely?” Derasthe said as they entered to room and he saw Alice lying there sound asleep. “What a pretty girl, Michael! Metatron will be quite pleased with her as a mother.”

“Yeah,” Michael nodded. “She’s nice looking.”

“Lovely tits,” Derasthe continued as he pulled up a chair and had a seat next to the bed. His wings disappeared as he reverted back to his human form, his clothes automatically shrinking to fit him.

“You have to show me that trick,” Michael said, amazed. “I’ve never seen you do that before!”

“What, shrink my clothes?” Derasthe asked. “Elementary, my dear Michael. How many clothes have you ruined?”

“Half my wardrobe is shredded or torn because I forgot to get out of them before I let the angel take over.”

“Now that’s not very smart, is it?” Derasthe said, giving him a quick glance as he scanned Alice for any health problems. “Just stop and think, that’s the trick to it. Now, she seems very healthy—nothing unusual turns up in my scans. The baby is normal for Metatron as well—when is her due date?”

“March 30th, I think,” Michael answered.

“I sincerely doubt she will make it that long. The baby is nearly ready to come now.” Derasthe placed a hand gently on her abdomen and a warm glow of energy passed from his hand through her to the baby. “He’s fighting it, but it’s working.”

“He can fight it?”

“My dear boy, he may seem quite helpless but he is capable of putting up a fight if he doesn’t want something. But for now the big grown up angel has wisely prevailed over the little baby angel who is still learning and all is calm now.” He seemed to be addressing the baby inside Alice. “And he will behave himself and not hurt his mommy anymore, right?”

“Can he understand you?” Michael asked, surprised.

“He certainly can. He knows who I am, what I am doing here and why and if he continues to misbehave, I will come back.” He addressed Alice’s abdomen again. “All said with love, of course.” Derasthe rose from the chair and together he and Michael exited the room, leaving Alice to sleep for another hour.

“I would like to stay until she wakes up,” Derasthe was saying as they descended the stairs again. “But I don’t want to shock the poor girl—unless of course, she has never seen one of my pictures?”

“You’re out of luck there she’s seen them all and is a huge fan,” Michael answered. “I noticed a lot of teen magazines in her stuff, most of them with articles about you.”

“Ah yes, the teen mags,” Derasthe nodded. “Can’t do without them, can we?”

Mary heard the conversation. “Why don’t you stay for brunch, D.? We’re having omelets, steak, pancakes--the works. Then we’re all settling in to watch the Packers.”

“Delighted to, thank you!” Derasthe seemed pleased by the invitation. “I haven’t had any one on one time with your sons lately. Maybe we can take this time…”

“Not a chance,” Daniel interrupted him. “The Packers are on. They’re playing the Bears and we don’t budge from the TV for three and a half hours.”

“Ah…” Derasthe took it in stride. “Gridiron football then? I haven’t seen one of those games in quite a while. May I stay and watch with you?”

James had been observing the conversation with some amusement. “Why not?” he said. “Of course, you meant by ‘quite a while’ was since you couldn’t renew your season tickets for the LA Rams.”

“My schedule grew too tight to go,” Derasthe sighed. “I miss those games. I really did enjoy those three years.”

“You follow football?” Daniel asked, surprised.

“I wouldn’t call myself an expert, but I know a touchdown from a field goal and a center from a tight end, so yes…” Derasthe nodded. “I would love to watch the game with you.”

“Well this all depends on Alice,” Michael said offhandedly. “When she wakes up she may not want to watch football and…” His voice faded as he realized what he was saying. His entire family was staring at him. “Sorry, the angel took over for a moment,” he finished up. “Football comes first.”