Denver Cereal -- Chapter 700 (part five)

Return to normal?

Sunday morning — 12:07 p.m.

“I see what you mean,” Sam said.

“It’s too dry!” Delphie said. “I don’t know why Jacob thought that I could do this. He’s really better at this kind of thing, but. . .”

Delphie gave such a deep sigh that Sam looked up from the sheet of paper and smiled at her.

“If you don’t want to do this, you don’t have to,” Sam said.

“I want to do it!” Delphie said. “I just want to do it better!”

Scowling at the sheet, Sam nodded.

“What if we do it together?” Sam said after a moment. “Would you like that?”

Delphie nodded.

“Okay, well, who have people asked about?” Sam asked.

“You,” Delphie said. “Noelle. Jill. Oh, Sam, I can’t do this! I keep forgetting who people want to hear about!”

“You are doing it,” Sam said. “What would you say about me?”

“I’d say that you’re doing okay,” Delphie said. “You’ve mostly recovered from Covid except that sometimes, when you’re tired or stressed, you get brain fog and migraines.”

Sam nodded.

“I stepped back from Lipson again,” Sam said.

“What would you say that you’re doing now?” Delphie asked.

“Annoying you?” Sam asked with a grin.

Delphie was too frustrated to respond in kind. She just looked at him.

“Fine,” Sam said. “What am I doing? I’m helping Jake and Jill with their remodel projects. Since the pandemic, many people want work on their homes. Jake has three teams. I’m running two teams.”

“Jill hired an assistant,” Delphie said, nodding. “Someone from her school.”

“They are doing even more work than we are,” Sam said. He shook his head. “It’s like people came home to work and realized that they hate their houses. Jill’s doing updates on new homes and for people who’ve owned their homes for decades. She has had to subcontract to a bunch of painters because there’s so much work.”

“Jill graduated from school,” Delphie said.

“With honors,” Sam said. “That’s right. Her final project was updating the Governor’s Mansion. It was so good that the Governor had her redecorate his private home.”

“The Governor got married, too,” Delphie said.

“I bet no one cares about the Governor,” Sam said.

Delphie nodded.

“Let’s run down the kids,” Sam said. “Everyone loves kids.”

“Paddie and Katy are doing good,” Delphie said.

“After their trip,” Sam said. “That Gorgon is still around.”

“She babysits sometimes,” Delphie said, nodding. “I think she’s happy to have a more normal life.”

“Who wouldn’t be?” Sam shrugged. “Kids?”

“Tanner and Bladen are doing good,” Delphie said. “Jake’s been working with them to do less psychokinesis and more actual work. Tanner’s better at it than Bladen.”

“But it’s harder for Bladen because his abilities are so strong,” Sam said, nodding. “Jake has them working on tiny pieces of carpentry. It’s good because they can really see the difference between psychokinesis and actual hands-on work.”

“It’s what you did with Jake,” Delphie said.

Sam nodded.

“They are such sweet boys,” Sam said.

“They were holy terrors as toddlers,” Delphie said. “I think they changed when all of those other kids were here. They had to be more responsible, more grown up. They couldn’t just be little babies anymore.”

“I think it’s hard with twins,” Sam said. “They have a built-in best friend in their twin. They don’t have to learn to be friends with other people. I think you’re right that having other people here helped. They made friends outside of each other.”

Delphie nodded.

“Valerie’s been working a lot,” Delphie said.

“She signed onto three mini-series?” Sam asked.

“Three,” Delphie said. “Because of Covid, they’re filming all at the same time, so she just goes from set to set. She says that she’s having fun.”

“Mike and Val’s kids are doing really well, too,” Sam said.

“They’re at the Marlowe School rather than traveling with their parents,” Delphie said.

Nodding, Sam added, “That’s something Jill’s doing.”

“Taking care of Val’s kids?” Delphie asked.

“They live in the loft with Jill and Jake when Val and Mike are gone,” Sam said.

Delphie nodded.

“Sandy’s finally one hundred percent,” Sam said.

“That’s been a really long road,” Delphie said. “I’ve been amazed at how she’s just taken it one step at a time.”

“She and Aden are back to working out every morning,” Sam said. “Aden’s still sober.”

“Miraculously,” Delphie said. “Charlie and Tink are, too.”

“Charlie and Tink got into college,” Sam said.

“They’ll start in the fall,” Delphie said. “It’s really hard to believe how far they’ve come. Charlie is so handsome. Sometimes, I catch him coming down the hall or the stairs, and I can’t believe he’s the same surly young man that Sandy brought home.”

“Sissy’s still enjoying the Opera de Paris,” Sam said.

“Dancing in the chorus,” Delphie said. “She’s going to be in their next production. The first since the pandemic started!”

“Amazing.” Sam said.

“Amazing,” Delphie said.

Denver Cereal continues tomorrow...

Denver Cereal will continue tomorrow. This chapter is a quarterly review of what's going on in Denver Cereal. It is available to everyone. To receive chapters as they come out, please subscribe.