“I can’t believe you went trick or treating until you were sixteen! Now that’s embarrassing.” Jonah chuckled.
Luna knew better than to comment on that to her son who barely knew about trick or treating and knew the Easter Bunny and Santa weren’t real at an early age. People of diverse cultures lived in the Caribbean, so she felt it important to tell him the truth. “Well, embarrassing or not, my sister decided to hide the eggs in all these difficult places. No one could find them for two hours after the hunt started. Parents were mad, and the kids were disappointed. Phoebe ended up having to give out hints on a piece of paper so the kids could find them. When they did, they were gifted with extra special rewards, as our parents thought it necessary to make up for her cheekiness by giving free Sunday boat rides to each family.”
Jonah smiled. “She sounded like fun.”
Luna found her backpack from high school as she cleaned, dusty and sitting in a corner of the boathouse. “Yeah, she was a lot of fun. Like this. This was her book bag from her senior year in high school. If I knew my sister, she’d have gotten out of school and raced straight over here to take the boat out, leaving her bag here.”
Luna opened it, finding a journal. Surprised, she pulled it out and fanned through the pages.
“What’s inside, old school books? How’d she get away with that? Our teachers would penalize us for losing textbooks and school materials.”
“It looks like a bunch of poems. She loved writing poetry, too. I’d find her penning away notes on paper at night when she had to be in bed. She almost never slept. She must have used this for when she went on the water.” She sat thinking about this.
“Well, she was pretty talented then. Do you ever think she just ran off? Maybe nothing bad happened to her, but she fell madly in love with some dude and just never came back.”
“No, there is no way she’d have done that. We were so close I won’t believe she’d just abandon her family. Aunt Phoebe was many things, but not that.”
The ocean is my home, forever the place that calls to me.
Deep in my soul, I shall never rest until I am in her gentle waves.
Like the air in my lungs, she is forever a part of me, gentle or wild. I love her always.
One day I will find my twin, the man who loves her as much as I do, and we will sail around the world forever.
I long to live atop her gentle rocking waves, raise babies and float to the ends of the earth.
Spreading joy and happiness as I show others her beauty.
The poem was sweet, and exactly as Luna imagined it would be, like her sister. Many thought her rough, strange, and even a little unusual in that not-so-good kind of way. Luna knew her better than anyone, and she knew none of those things were true.
She smiled, closed the journal and set it aside so she might read it again later. “God, I miss you, Phoebe.”
Before nightfall, Shaun and Emma returned, bringing food. “Here you are working again, just like me. Can’t keep those hands still for five minutes. Come, let's eat.” Shaun held up his hand to help her up. Luna smiled, taking it dutifully after dusting off her hands.
“Yes, well, it will not get done if I sit and look at it.”
“It's so beautiful here. It knows it’s a boathouse, but the craftsmanship is amazing. I’ve seen nothing like it. I wish I could have seen it as you all did when you were young.” Emma smiled, her eyes lingering here and there.
“Yes, it is beautiful. My father built it with his father. Grandpa had been a master craftsman as well as a fisherman. He loved to work with wood as much as he loved the water. He left his personal touch on each wall so we’d never forget. Somewhere around here are his initials on one board.”
“We can look for those another time while we’re cleaning. Come on, ladies and Jonah, we brought some delicious food to eat.”
As they sat down at the kitchen table, Luna did her best to relax. So many things were swirling around in her mind. Memories of the past, thoughts about the future, and her many feelings. She knew it was time to let go of them.
“It feels strange sitting here again. I remember the time I asked your father if I could take Phoebe out on a formal date. There he sat in that chair, arms folded over his chest. When I was done, he laughed, saying I had it easier than Ronan did.”
Luna could still remember the moment Ronan formally asked her out. In their house, her father had to give permission before either she or Phoebe could go on a date, and he had to meet the young men.
She smiled, wrinkling her nose a bit as she remembered the very bold comment Ronan made. “Dad was bursting at the seams. He’d come home from being on the water all day. He was tired and still had work to do. Ronan came over to ask if he could take me to the movies Saturday night. I was listening with my mother from the other room when he sat at the table with my father. When asked why my father should let him take me out, Ronan simply said because he asked and he was going to do it anyway, whether Jack liked it or not.”
“That’s Ronan. Emma, I have to tell you, you think I’m scary with these muscles. Jack Grace was worse. He was double my size in muscles and all the young men in town feared him. Only Ronan and I had the guts and determination to win the prize of a date with one of his girls. I have to admit, I was quaking in my boots just sitting at this table. I could barely get the words out when I spoke.”
“I remember once you got the green light, you never left. Emma, I don’t know how Shaun was when you met him, but he practically moved into our house. He slept in the boat house sometimes. He was at our breakfast table, in our gardens and shower sometimes. I remember a few times when my mother said he was her third child.”
Luna saw Shaun's amused look. “Yes, well, that’s what happens when you welcome a young man into your home. Let him date your daughter and he has no family left in his life. He’s fending for himself and that’s the way he fends, by mooching off others. You loved it and you know it. If it weren’t for Ronan and me, your lives would have been mighty boring.”
“Not Phoebe’s.”
