Chapter Twelve
I’d never been happier to see my mother than I was that day.
Not only had there been a large lapse in our communications, wholly on me being a moronic twit who clung to the words of a jerk, but simply because she had been there and done that in terms of parenting.
I hugged her and my aunt Joey close, tears flowing down all three of our faces, as other travelers hustled around us. They both were statuesque women, not as tall as my six feet but close, with striking red hair. Clad in flowy blouses, capris, and sandals with silver beads, they looked like matching city slickers from head to toe.
“You two are the best things I have seen all day,” I said, kissing both of their rouged cheeks. People hurrying by gave us odd looks. Maybe they’d never seen such glorious gingers all crying on each other in one airport before. “Let me get your bags.”
My mother gave my aunt a look. I knew that glance well. There were times as a kid, and even now to this day, that I suspectedtwins could communicate telepathically. Yes, a man of science like myself should scoff at such beliefs. But there were times that I found it hard to discount. Like now. I gathered their suitcases and began leading them outside, the wheels of their luggage rolling along to join the din of hundreds of other wheeled cases.
“You’re throwing off some very worrisome vibes,” Mom said to my left.
“She’s right. Your aura is decidedly layered with red and orange,” Aunt Joey commented to my right. She claimed to see auras. Again, as a man of science, I tittered at such things most of the time, but she was right on the money this afternoon. “Lots of anger and passion filtering from your chakras.”
“My chakras are good, Aunt Joey,” I tossed out with a weary smile that neither of them bought. I might not read auras, but I read their faces pretty darn well. “It’s just been a day. We’ll talk about it on the way home.”
They exchanged glances—and probably telepathic words—but said nothing more about it. I got them and their bags loaded into my SUV, and we set off for home. Mom, who insisted on sitting up front, pulled her glasses from her purse and slid them onto her nose. The better to see me with.
“Joey is right. You’re beset with several disturbing radiances.” Aunt Joey made a sound of agreement in the back seat. I rolled my eyes and merged into traffic, leaving the airport in the rearview mirror. “While my skills aren’t as sharp as Joey’s in seeing auras, I am fully capable of ascertaining the influx of unhappy energies that are attracted to the vibes that you’re sending out.”
Yep, this was all very familiar. My mom and her sister were spiritualists who divined not only auras but the vagaries of the energies of space and earth that battered our defenses down on the daily. My childhood was an interesting one for sure. I was loved, make no mistake, but I spent the first ten years of my lifefully believing that there were dark energies seeking out those with evil souls. Once I’d joined the science club, I began to slowly peel away the unscientific beliefs of the women who raised me. Although there were times that I maybe sort of thought they could speak to each other via mind power.
“It’s been a day,” I said again, pulling around a slow-moving van to enter the left lane. Traffic was heavy at this time of day in or near Tulsa. “Dahn got into some trouble while I was gone.”
Both of them gasped. “Our Dahn?!” they both exclaimed in perfect sync. “But his aura is always such a peaceful pink and green frequency.”
“I know.” I didn’t really, but they said it was, so I went along with it. “Ever since his dad decided to move to Spain and relinquish custody to me fully, which I am thrilled about, he’s been struggling. And we moved to Oklahoma, and that was also another emotional upset.”
I filled them in on everything from Cash’s death to the large pink penis on Isiah’s statue. Mom seemed undisturbed about her ex-lover’s slash father of her child’s death. She and Joey did whisper some words to the universe for him, so that was more than most women who’d been left to raise a baby alone would probably do. They said little but exchanged several dozen looks as I vomited up my worries and woes while crossing the Sooner State. Mom, I was sure, had gotten a goodly amount of info about Cash dying and the move here from Dahn. I’d never forbidden the boy from speaking to his grandmother. I’d just pulled back to lick my wounds and sulk. It was hard to admit that someone had been right and you had been a blind moron.
“So many upsetting vibes in this car,” Aunt Joey said from the back. A moment later, thin but pungent smoke began to waft to the front. I knew the scent well. Fresh yet peppery with a touch of camphor. She was burning white sage incense. “Breathe that in and let the smudge cleanse this space of negative energies.”
“Aunt Joey,” I coughed and quickly lowered my window. “Put that out before you catch the back seat on fire.”
“Spirits know we could use some positive energy in here,” she muttered while my mother continued to study me through her glasses.
“I can see that you’re tense, Dodge. Perhaps you should purge that before we arrive back at the ranch to meet with Dahn about this bad behavior. Oh! Joey and I read that there was a Cherokee reservation near your new home. I’m sure they have a smoke purification ritual you could all take part in that would carry away the bad energy trapped in your body.”
The hiss of my aunt pinching out her incense in the back filled me with relief. I really didn’t want burn marks on the carpeting or upholstery.
“Yes, there is a reservation close by to where we live. No, I am not going there to ask if I can take part in something that is a sacred ceremony that’s deeply rooted in their culture.”
“He does make a good point,” Joey said from the back. “We can do a good smudge when we get to the ranch house. That will help.”
“Okay, yes, that’s true. We’ll do that before they have their talk. I’m not sure why I even suggested that. I truly know better.” Mom looked deeply chagrined.
“It’s okay, darling, we’re all highly agitated and not thinking clearly,” Joey said as she reached up to pat my mother’s shoulder. Mom nodded in thanks.
Cool. One situation averted. “Aunt Joey is right. We’re all upset. And that’s part of the problem. I have no clue how to evenbeginthis conversation with him. I’m still very upset with him for even agreeing to take partandskipping out on the final class before the fair. I’m tempted to just not allow him to show at the fair at all as punishment.”
I glanced at my mother chewing on her lower lip. The smoke had cleared out, but I feared the scent would be in my seats for months now.
“Well, this did happen to you as a child. Your father left, and you and I moved to a new place to live.” I recalled quite clearly. It had been a rough time for both of us. Aunt Joey had taken us into her home with open arms and showered me with the love that Cash should have been giving me as his child. It helped, sure, but I still grew up without a father. “I think the best thing you can do as his parent is to discipline him with gentle guidance.”
I gave that some thought as we slowly left the city behind. The air out here was a little sweeter as it blew in the window.
“Like that time you and those two Humphrey boys stole all the frogs from the science labs and placed them in the cheerleaders’ pompoms before halftime of the homecoming game,” Mom reminded me with a smile that was now filled with humor, but back then, she had not been amusedat all.“Your aunt and I took away a few things, but not everything.”
