Chapter 21

Once and again they are asleep on the couch together when they are woken up by knocking at the front door. Christopher looks over at the clock and it is seven.

"Good morning, sir. Are you Christopher Turner?"

"Yes."

"I have a special delivery for you, but I will need to see some identification."

"Seven in the morning on a Sunday, you're not kidding, a special delivery."

Wrapped up in the blanket, Sarah leans up against the back of the couch as she is watching the early going-on. Her hair is bedraggled and she is resting her pretty head on her folded arms. Christopher has never seen anything so precious in his life. He smiles, grateful that even bright and early she can warm his heart.

Christopher is not quite ready to wake up, so he lies back down on the couch on his back. Sarah cuddles into him. He wraps his left arm around her and sets his hand on her back and starts rubbing it. With his right hand he pulls the covers back over them and that is how they joyfully go back to sleep this Sunday morning.

"What time are we going to visit Nana today?"

"Why don't you go get dressed and I'll pour us some cereal and then we can decide what to do over breakfast."

Sarah replies, "Okay," as she turns and runs up the stairs.

Christopher stretches himself awake again and gets the bowls. She comes down wearing formfitting black pants that look more like leggings than regular pants, and she has on a red and black top that goes down just to the bottom of her tush, making for one very cute and elegant outfit.

"I say we visit Nana early so we can go do something today, because as of tomorrow I am going to have to start in on the screenplay full bore. After that I will need silence and time. One thing we can do is go get some headphones for you so you can still listen to your stuff while I have my silence, and that way we can still be very harmonious around each other. Maybe we'll get one of those things that you can put music on. What are those things called?"

"You mean an iPod?"

"Yeah, I think that's it."

"Really! I've wanted one of those for a while."

"Good! When we go to Hartford we'll see if we can find something fun to do." Just then the phone rings. It is still only eight-thirty in the morning. "Hello."

"Good morning, Christopher."

"Good morning, Cathy. My, aren't you the early riser? It is what only five-thirty out there?"

"Yes. I just wanted to make sure you got your special delivery."

"Yes, ma'am, at seven o'clock this morning."

"Good."

"Hey."

"What?"

"Sarah and I have been thinking, and we have decided when you come out here that we'll go to the ocean, the three of us, and hang out together. But I've also been thinking now that it is baseball season we'll go to a Yankee game."

"Yankees!"

"Yeah. It would be nice if they were playing Oakland, I'll have to check, but it will make for a nice day, and if possible we'll see if Nan can make the trip."

On the other end of the phone Cathy is in near shock. She's got a funny half grin on her face as she is sitting up in her bed wearing pink silk pajamas. "Sounds fun. Who is Nan, again?"

"She is my neighbor. The grandma to Sarah."

"Oh. Sure, it all sounds fun." As she is talking, Christopher waves Sarah over to him.

"Hang on a second, someone wants to say hi. Say hi to Cathy."

"Hi, Cathy, I'm Sarah."

"Well good morning, Sarah. I hear you have been doing wonders with Christopher, keeping him out of trouble and stuff."

"Yep!" she says proudly with a divine smile. "Guess what, Cathy?"

"What, Sarah?"

"Christopher likes you."

"Hey!" Both of the girls start giggling. "Okay, that's enough of that."

"I can't wait to meet you, Cathy."

"Me too, sweetheart."

Christopher takes the phone. "Great, just what I need, two of my favorite girls teaming up on me."

They both giggle again. "So what are you two going to do today?"

"I told Sarah that we are going to do something fun today, because as of tomorrow or maybe even tonight I am going to start in on the screenplay. So I will pick you up on June first at noon in Hartford. Our reservation is for the second and third, and we'll leave on the fourth and come back here. Then either the fifth or sixth, the fifth is a Tuesday, the three of us will go to the ocean or a ballgame. If the Yankees aren't in town we can see if Baltimore is in town. It's not that much further."

"What about Boston?"

"Yeah, I would love to go see a Boston game at home, but I think they have been sold out forever."

"If it would help out I could stay a couple more days."

"Hmm, let me think about it. Okay, you talked me into it." Cathy giggles and smiles, and if Christopher could see her through the phone he would have fallen madly in love with her right then. "Talk to you later?"

"Absolutely!"

"Have a nice Sunday, Cathy."

"You and Sarah too, Christopher." They hang up smiling, and then Christopher turns to Sarah and says, "Christopher likes you!" Then he gives an over exaggerated sigh.

"Well you do!"

He playfully shoves her. "Butthead!"

"You're a butthead."

"What!" he exclaims, in mock rage and attacks her with tickles and kisses.

They decide to finish eating their cereal at the living room table rather than the dinning room computer desk. For whatever reason, they have sometimes taken to eating at the computer desk in the dining room. Christopher doesn't fully understand that drive, but he thinks he will move his computer desk to the stairs' wall and get an actual dining room table. The thought of sitting down at a dining room table like a real family puts a smile on his ever-easing face.

"It's eleven and visiting hours should be going now. You ready?"

As they are driving to Hartford, Christopher looks down at Sarah at his side and hopes he wasn't being unfair by asking her if she wants to be his. Since childhood, he has always done rash things, and it took the Army some effort to squelch those things because there is no need to be a hero when heroes surround you.

But if things don't work out and he can't adopt Sarah if Nan dies it is going to crush her, possibly sending her back into the deep recesses of pain and tragedy that he found her in. For now she is happy and beautiful, and every second Christopher is around her he continues to heal.

"So, Nan, I have a lady friend coming up."

"Her name is Cathy and he likes her." Sarah elongates the word, likes.

"Yes. Anyway, she is coming up in early June and we were hoping to take Sarah to the ocean."

"Tell her the other thing, too."

"I'm getting to it. Relax. Also I was hoping to maybe take all four of us to a baseball game. If you are feeling up to it, of course."

"It would be nice to see one more baseball game." Christopher looks at her sharply but doesn't say anything. "My dad used to take me to see Boston Red Sox games." It is at that moment Christopher decides he will try to get them to a Boston game. Luckily, being stinking rich it is almost always easier to find a way. "So, this Cathy, is she your girlfriend?"