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Pine, as well as other trees, had been made before, and he thought that he might have to add a few more to his collection before he was ready to start pouring resin in the mold. He was pleased too that he’d been able to make people too that were on the homestead that looked a great deal like his grandparents. There was even a little cemetery up near the hill where he’d put his parents’ names on the markers.
When the door opened behind him, he knew it was his brother Mark. Telling him to come to have a look at what he was doing, Mark pointed out some of the things that Frazier had put down last year that he’d forgotten about.
“This is going to be magnificent. This is for the shop, isn’t it?” Frazier told him that grannie had mentioned it this morning as he was leaving after talking to her. “I love the way that you’ve incorporated things from around the park in here too. Are you going to put a sign that says it’s from the Smokies?”
“I thought about it but decided I’d just put a label on the end where it’s not so noticeable. For some reason, I have it in my head that it would be somewhat distracting.” Mark said he could see that. “Dexter is going to give me the little slivers of glass he has left over when he blows something I can use for windows if I want. Also, I thought they’d make great reflectors in the water too.”
“I have to get going on my project too. Grannie wants me to make a couple of 3D maps of different parts of the park so she can put them out. I thought last year when she asked for them, I’d have no trouble with it. But now that I’ve sat down to think about it, it’s not the work that will be hard. It’s picking only a couple of places to do.” Frazier asked him why he didn’t just do them all. Add to it when he gets it done. “Don’t you think that would take up a lot of space?”
All he had to do was point to the table mold, and Mark laughed. “This is going to be eight and a half feet by six feet when it’s done. It’ll more than likely weigh about a ton with the legs on it too. This is going to sit in the store forever because no one is going to put this sucker in a shopping bag and walk around town with it.” They were both laughing when Gibb joined them.
“I can see that since you’re working out here that Grannie hit on you about her project too. She wants me to get some starters from our property to put into pots to sell. Then she said when it’s done for the season, if there are any left, she’ll plant them around the shop, which will be nice too. I wonder if she thinks that people will actually buy herbs from the mountainside to take home.”
Both he and Mark said yes at the same time. “It’s a bit of fun for someone to have a plant that they got from around here. Besides, this way, they can legally take home some of the park and not be arrested when they’re found out. Grandda is finding some small trees that he’ll put in small pots for tourists. I’m not entirely sure how that will work. Trees aren’t something that you can just put on a window sill if your weather doesn’t support them. But grannie gets what she wants.”
He was still working on some of the pine cones after showing Mark how to do them when grannie joined them. She had made some tea and was wondering if they’d try it for her. All of them simply loved her homemade teas and were more than glad to have a try. Today she and the women were going hunting for the flowers and other items that she needed to make more for the store.
Frazier had always loved the cornflower tea that she made. The pretty blue color of the water when it was seeping made him think of the blue skies in the summer months. It was why he’d had his brother Dexter, who blew glass for the shop, make him a set of clear glass tea cups so that he could enjoy the tea and the stunning colors.
“I have some cookies too that I’m going to be making as well. You all will try them after dinner, won’t you?” Agreeing that they’d try anything that came out of her kitchen, she blushed a little. “You boys. I just don’t know what I would have done without you here all these years. I’m so glad that we’ll be taking our last breaths here, too, you know.”
No one said anything, but Mark did get up to hug Grannie. Then it was a free-for-all with them all taking turns hugging her. She’d been down of late, and he and grandda had been talking about how she needed to be getting out more. A decision came to him then.
“I have an idea. Instead of you making dinner for all of us, why don’t we order a bunch of Chinese food and bring it back here to have a feast? I know that grandda would leap at the chance to have some egg rolls and crab Rangoon for dinner. What do you think?” Mark suggested that so as not to overwhelm one restaurant, we make a list and divide it into the three places we loved so there would be plenty of food for us all to be stuffed. “I like that idea better. Yes, that’s wonderful.”
As they began listing off the things that they should order, grannie was making a list. It was quite extensive when they were finished, and most of the food was in the way of appetizers and such. They were going to see if they could get a gallon of hot sour soup from each place to eat. It was by far his favorite soup when he had a chance to get it. By the time grannie had the list worked up, she handed each one of them what they were to order. His comprised of being fifty egg rolls. He only hoped that a place could handle that many. He asked Mark about it.
“It’s only nine in the morning. That should give them plenty of time, don’t you think to get them made up or whatever they do to make them. Even if we don’t get all we want, it would be plenty enough for us all to get at least one or two.” Frazier looked at his brother. “All right, we should all get about four, but I was hoping for leftovers.”
In the end, they were able to get the egg rolls and soup, but they weren’t going to be able to get any dumplings. That disappointed all of them. It was perhaps his second most favorite thing when it came to eating Chinese food.
Frazier was glad about his progress when he was ready to leave to pick up his part of the food. Not only had he gotten the other three log cabins made and drying, but he’d been able to get all the pinecones that he thought he’d need to finish the table. Also, he’d been able to put in the first layer of resin, the support layer he called it, where he sat the things that were going to be in the ‘water’ to make sure that they stayed when the rest was poured in the mold.
While he was driving into town, he thought about the piece again. Where the water met the falls, he had several bears catching salmon to eat. So far, he’d been able to get the first layer of the fish painted in, and he was more than pleased with how that had turned out. Pulling into the lot where he was going, he heard from Amelia.
“I’ve had the best time today. And I’m to understand that we’re having a feast of food too.”He told her about where he was, and grannie had filled her in on the rest.“I love your grannie so much, Frazier. She’s so funny and honest. Oh, before I forget, the place where the car was is completely empty of the crime scene now. You’d never know that anything happened there unless you saw it. I’m glad that they did such a good job cleaning it up. I’d hate to have to turn someone into something because they left us a mess to clean up.”
“I think that’s what they were thinking. Only it was grannie that got on their asses. She told the local police that it wasn’t of her making, and if they wanted us to find other things like this, then they’d better not make her regret it the first time.”He could feel Amelia’s laughter.“I think that everyone in town is a little afraid of grannie. She doesn’t take shit from anyone and won’t put up with littering.”
He was a little early for the food, so he sat at the table reserved for to-go orders. Frazier asked Amelia if they were able to get enough flowers and such for grannie. She said that it helped them a great deal that she was able to find them with the help of the earth.
“We managed to get some things that she’d not been able to find for a while too. I had no idea that she hunts truffles, too, when she can. She said that her stupid pig got himself killed by a cougar one day, and she’d not been able to find them since. I tell you, the things that come out of her mouth in that sweet southern drawl are amazing.” He smiled when his name was called. “I guess you’re kind of busy picking up food. I’m nearly to town to make a trip to the store, too, so that I can get something to drink. Grannie told me to get gallons of sweet tea and unsweet tea so that we could all have something to drink.” He told her that the only one that drank the sweet stuff was grannie and grandda and to not get more than two gallons of that. “I will. Thanks.”
He and Mark got to the house at the same time. Amelia pulled in a few minutes later, and the two of them went out to help her bring in the tea. He was glad to see that she’d gotten ten gallons of unsweet because he was going to be able to take a couple home with them. Gibb showed up a few minutes after the table was laden with food with still several more bags to empty. He also had some great news.
“I got dumplings. I think maybe we all did, as a matter of fact. When I went to pick the stuff up, they told me that they’d gotten in a shipment today. Calling the other two restaurants, which I guess he owns, he told them to make sure they added some to our order since we were such good customers.” Mark just pulled the tray of them out of the last bag when Gibb mentioned that. “I hope you have some too, Frazier. It’s all I’ve been able to think about since I found out that we were getting them.”
Not only did he have some as well, but they discovered that they had been given bottles of soy sauce as well as the sriracha sauce that his brothers loved as well. There was so much food on the table that they had to have trays to use their plates. But it was by far the best food he’d eaten in a while simply because of the company of his family with him. Frazier wondered what it would be like when the rest of the mates came and then the children. They’d have to eat outside with tables put together in a long row, he thought. And he’d enjoy that too.
~*~
“Do I know you?” Amelia had been followed by the woman that had finally spoken to her for the last hour. Every time she turned around, there she was. After finally asking her what the hell she wanted, she asked her if she knew her. Like that was not suspicious or anything. “I think I know you. Didn’t we go to school together?”
“Doubtful. You’re human.” She started to turn away, and the woman grabbed her arm. “Don’t touch me. Remove your hand from my person, or I will remove it from your wrist. You’ve no reason to touch me.”
“You’re not very nice, are you?” Amelia agreed with her, which through the woman off for a few seconds. Just enough time for her to step away from her. “I’m thinking that the only way to get what I want is to be straight up. I want you to call your friend here. I want to talk to Jamie Cross.”
“No.” Turning away again, she felt the gun or what she thought was a gun, jab her in the back. “You’re really starting to piss me off here. Do you want to die? I’ve no trouble with that. I can even make it look like you killed yourself so I’d not end up in jail. I’m not going to call Jamie or anyone else here.”
