Comfort And Joy

“Don’t encourage my mother-in-law.”

When Kelly left, Olivia put on her coat, scarf and gloves. She couldn’t find her hat, and she wondered whether one of her students had worn it home. Finally giving up the search, she headed for the diner, not a block from the school. The biting air made her wrap her scarf more tightly around her neck. Although the temperatures had been right for the season, there was still no sign of snow. A big disappointment, in Olivia’s mind. What were the holidays without snow? The skeletal tree limbs arching overhead appeared downright spooky, as if Halloween still lurked. The branches needed at least a light dusting to flip the calendar to the appropriate page. This is the famous New York snow belt, she silently reminded the leaden sky. So produce!

She pushed through the diner’s doorway into the crowded and steamy interior. “Olivia!” several people called out as she made her way to an empty stool at the counter. Ignatz, the ancient cook, winked at her from his side of the pass-through.

“The usual?” Maggie, one of two midday waitresses, asked from behind the counter, her Christmas bell earrings tinkling cheerily.

“Yes, please.” Although, suddenly, Olivia wanted something unusual. It was such a strange and overwhelming sensation. A craving. An itch. A nameless longing. For something she’d never experienced before. She couldn’t even tell if what she wanted was food or something bigger. Some adventure right out of a genie’s lamp.

But what she got was chili and a large glass of milk.

“Thanks, Maggie.” The odd feeling lingered as familiar voices around Olivia hummed in conversation.

“Who knows what your usual will taste like come Monday,” Maggie said. “Ignatz’s last shift is Saturday.”

“That reminds me, I have a little retirement present for him. I’ll bring it by Saturday afternoon. So who’s the new cook?”

“Marmaduke’s talking to him now.” Maggie nodded to a booth in the corner. “I know the boss is relieved to finally sit down with him face-to-face. He got so many responses to that Internet ad, but he hired this guy on his reputation and his connection to Hennings.”

“His connection to Hennings?” It couldn’t be.

“By way of New Orleans. He’s definitely easy on the eyes, but it’s anyone’s guess what the specials are going to taste like. Spicy, I’m betting.”

Olivia turned to see the owner of the diner in conversation with a man who had to be Gabriel Brant. His back was turned to her, but she could see the crowns of two small heads beside him. Justin and Jared. Someone had put crayons on the table. She could see a small hand coloring a place mat.

So this was the job Gabriel had taken until something better came up elsewhere. From the short interview they’d had in her classroom, she suspected he wasn’t thrilled about the opportunity. Why not? Marmaduke, who’d started out as a short-order cook himself and still worked the breakfast shift, was known to be an excellent employer. One who hadn’t forgotten his roots. One who prided himself on providing his employees with jobs that could actually pay the bills.

At that moment, Sasha, the second waitress, brought a tray to Gabriel’s table and began to clear dishes. Stretching out his arm, Marmaduke rose to leave. The two men shook hands. The twin on the outside of the bench seat turned around and spotted Olivia. His tentative wave melted her heart.

She ate her chili and drank her milk and wondered—for the umpteenth time—if she would ever have children of her own. After getting her degree, she’d turned down a more lucrative teaching position in a bigger system to come home and help her aunt as that extraordinary woman’s health began to fail. It was the least Olivia could do, after all her aunt had done for her.

Plus, she loved Hennings. Loved the big, old Victorian house in which she’d grown up, loved the small city’s quirky rhythms, loved knowing her contributions made a difference. Her students became her children for ten months, and although she enjoyed watching them grow beyond kindergarten, she always felt a sadness at the end of the school year, when she could no longer pretend they were hers.

Someone tugged at her shirttail. “Teacher?”

She looked down to see Justin and Jared standing next to her stool, colored place mats in hand. Their father, serious and eagle-eyed, watched from the booth.

“Hello,” she said. “I can see you’ve both been busy.”

“We want to give you our pictures,” Justin said. Olivia had determined that Justin was the twin who did all the talking. “Mine’s a dog. If I could have a dog, I’d want him to look just like this.”

Olivia took the picture and examined it. Two primitive figures cavorted across the drawing space. One, an obviously happy child, the other, an enormous dog. “This is very good, Justin. Do you know the story of Clifford, the big red dog?”

“The bookmobile lady read it to us.”

“Well, we have that book in our classroom. On Monday, when you come to school, I’ll find it for you. In fact, we’ll read it together.”

As Justin’s eyes grew wide with anticipation, Olivia felt a fairy godmother pleasure at being able to grant this simple favor.

“So, Jared,” she said, turning to the quiet twin, “let’s look at your picture.”

Silently, he handed it to her. In the corner, three sad circle faces peered out of a tiny car. A swirl of brown and black and blue covered the rest of the paper, threatening to engulf the travelers. Stick figures floated in the deluge.

“Tell me about your drawing, Jared,” she said ever so softly.

“It’s what he experienced during Katrina,” a deep voice replied, equally softly. Gabriel stood over his sons. “It’s all he draws, in one variation or another. I figure if I let him get it out on paper, the nightmares will eventually stop.”

And he’ll eventually talk again, Olivia thought. She’d watched CNN, horrified as the hurricane had devastated a city. But that was two years ago. Evidently, to this little boy, the horror still hadn’t diminished.

“Maybe I’m wrong, though,” Gabriel said. “It hasn’t happened yet.”

“I don’t think you’re wrong,” she replied, looking into adult eyes that held a world of pain. “Now that the boys will have the structure of home and school, I think you’ll see a marked improvement.”

The set of his jaw told her he wasn’t convinced, and made her wish she could offer him a guarantee.

She turned to the boys. “Thank you for my pictures. Would you like me to hang them in the classroom or on the refrigerator in my house?”

“In your house,” Justin said. “So you won’t forget us.”

“It’s not likely I’ll ever forget you two,” she replied, placing a hand on each twin’s shoulder. Every kindergartener who walked through her classroom doorway needed her, but clearly these two were special. Their needs ran deep, maybe deeper than a single teacher could or should explore. Would she be able to help? She looked into the wary eyes of their father. Would he let her?

Suddenly, for Gabriel, the air in the diner was too close. He nudged the boys toward the cash register, but they wanted to linger with Olivia. She’d won them over already, which was a good sign they’d settle into school. If the memory of his own schoolboy crush on one pretty second-grade teacher rang true, his sons would be head over heels in love with doe-eyed Ms. Marshall before next week was out.

He wasn’t certain he wanted the boys to form that great an attachment to anyone or anything in Hennings. The diner job was fine for starters. Knowing the difficulty of getting and retaining good cooks, Marmaduke paid well. Wanting to distance himself from fast-food places, he served traditional comfort food, but he was open to new ideas. Experimentation. Although he wouldn’t change his long-established menu, he’d promised Gabriel the daily specials would be his to play with. Even so, Gabriel planned on using his off time to use the public library’s Internet hookup to find a better position. Most likely an out-of-town position. And that would mean a commute. Or a move.

As he stood in line to pay for his lunch, he watched his boys with Olivia. Somehow, he didn’t think she’d approve of him uprooting the twins again. She seemed like the quintessential kindergarten teacher—sweet, traditional and rooted. But he firmly believed he and his sons could make it anywhere—hadn’t they already?—as long as they were together.

When his turn at the cash register arrived, Marmaduke refused to let him pay. Gabriel fought the urge to insist, but his new boss matter-of-factly told him all employees got one full meal per shift. He should consider today a signing bonus. Finding it almost impossible to regard the act as a handout, Gabriel switched his attention to Jared and Justin. “Ready to shop for turkey day?”

“Grampa says we need more PasgettiOs,” Justin said, waving goodbye to Olivia.

“Oh, I think my leftovers will replace the Grampa Walter special for a few days. Then we’ll think about buying more O’s.”

“I like SpaghettiOs,” Olivia said from her stool as Gabriel opened the diner door.

“Heaven help us,” he muttered, stepping out into the cold.

“When are we gonna see snow?” Justin asked, trudging alongside his father as the three made their way the few blocks back to Walter’s house and their car.

“Any day now. And if it snows enough, I’ll take you sledding on Packard Hill.”

The boys, who’d spent their short lives in a climate that didn’t require winter gear of any sort, gave him puzzled looks.

“Trust me,” Gabriel said, opening their car door so the boys could pile in, “you’re going to love it.” Hey, that was the first positive thing he’d said about the return to Hennings. Maybe Ms. Olivia Marshall’s quiet optimism was contagious.

At Wegmans, they made an “I spy” game out of shopping for their Thanksgiving groceries. The boys were wide eyed at the hustle and bustle, the colors, the choices, the piped-in music and the employees stationed throughout the store, handing out food samples.

For his part, Gabriel was glad to finally feel anonymous. Sure, he was a hometown boy, and a couple of people recognized him. But as far as being a Katrina evacuee, he didn’t register on anyone’s radar.