“Open the door, doofus.”

Ben yanked on the handle a few more times and finally dropped his hand in defeat, looking back to Kitty. “What the hell?”

“Push the button…what’s the matt-“ She pushed the button to the latch and the door popped and opened easily. “What a minute…”

“How’d our door get fixed?” They walked in, looking at the screen like it just might attack, and plopped their book bags on the couch.

“No idea…was it still broken this morning?”

“Yeah, remember? Amy ran out butt naked before school.”

“Oh god, yes…how could I forget?”

“You got a lot of homework?”

“Not too bad, why?”

“Let’s go to the center and ask mom. We haven’t visited her there yet anyway.”

“Yeah…okay. Keep my mind off that blonde across the street.”

Kitty shook her head and ruffled her brother’s hair. “She’ll come around, Ben...”

“Maybe…”

“Hey…how’s the world’s best secretary?” Kitty was so proud of her mom. She didn’t even try to hide it.

“Kitty! Ben! Hi…I’m good. How was school?” Patty straightened up from the file cabinet to greet her visitors, fidgeting with her shirt. She still felt self-conscious about her weight and her clothes. She knew she didn’t look professional, but she was trying. Pound by pound. Just…a lot of pounds to dump.

“Eh, school.” Ben flopped on a chair and Kitty made herself at home by snooping around her mom’s office, opening containers of paper clips and rubber bands. Mom had a job. A real job. Anything was possible.

“What brings you here today?”

“Just thought we’d come by before Jack and Liz got home…did you know our front door was fixed?” Kitty picked up a manila folder and started snooping through it, but Patty yanked it from her hands, scolding with her eyes.

“Confidential, young lady…and how in the heck did our door get fixed???”

“Oh…we thought you’d know.”

“Nope. I’ve been here all day. It didn’t work this morning. Amy ran out again…I had to chase her in my underwear.”

“Oh no! Maybe the neighbors did it…sick of seeing our naked butts.”

“That’d motivate me!”

“Hey guys…come to see Mom work?” Solana peeked into the office winking at Ben. They had too many secrets between them now. Right. Wrong. Neither cared. It was fun.

“Yeah…someone fixed our front door and we thought she’d know.”

“Oh…a little gremlin did it.”

“You know!?”

Finally, realization dawned on Ben. “Wait a minute…Nick’s in LA again. He didn’t do it, did he?”

“Well, no, not personally. Can you see him fixing a screen door?”

“Not hardly.”

“No…but, he arranged for it, I think. But uh…shhh…I didn’t tell you anything.”

Ben and Kitty did the universal lip zipping sign and Patty just stood in amazement. “Why’d he do that?”

“Because he cares about you and didn’t want the neighbors calling the cops on some lady streaking at 7 am.”

“Well, that had to be frightening…hope no kids were outside.”

“Ben, I wanted to let you know, Steve and Ron are on their way. I, uh…didn’t know if you wanted be around or not.”

“Eh, I have a right to be here. They just have to! Not a problem.”

“Good enough. No trouble now.”

“Nope, not worth it.”

“Good boy…Patty, I have something else we need typed up whenever you get a chance.”

“I’ll be in in a sec.” She turned to her kids and scooted them out of the door. “Okay, shoo. I have a job.”

“Yes, you do…we’re proud of you, Mom.” Kitty kissed her mom’s cheek and pulled back…it had been years since she’d done that. She liked it so much, she did it again.

Not wanting to get all teary, Patty kept up the stern mother mode and wouldn’t look her daughter in the eye. “Yeah, well…show me how proud you are and have dinner ready when I get home, huh?”

“Deal.”

Patty watched her kids leave, amazed at the turn of their lives. She’d finally accepted Ben’s admittance to the abuse by her ex. Thanks to counseling, and his insistence. It ultimately explained so much of his out of control behavior and she couldn’t deny it. Now, she was on medication to help get her motivated again and feeling like a productive member of society. Maybe, just maybe they’d get out of the hell hole they lived in and she could provide a decent home for her kids. She really had just resigned herself to the mess they were in…and now, it was changing. And she couldn’t be happier.

She made a fresh cup of coffee and went into Solana’s office and sat down across from her desk. “More coffee.”

“Oh thanks…”

“So, he fixed our door, huh?”

“He arranged for it, yeah. I wasn’t supposed to tell you, but I told him one of the kids would probably figure it out.” Solana pulled out a creamer and dumped it into her cup. This assistant business was wonderful. Patty didn’t mind doing mundane things and she could do more one on one work with her clients and…get hot coffee before she even thought about it. Can’t beat that.

“Yeah…that was awful nice of him. I’m not used to people being nice to me.”

“He cares for Ben an awful lot…all of your kids. And I think he’s feeling guilty for being away so much lately.”

“Yeah, Ben found a new friend from baseball…he has the internet. His sister is a big fan and they’ve been downloading interviews and stuff that Nick’s been doing. I don’t know how, but she burns them on CD’s and he brings them home and they all gather around the boom box and listen to him. They miss him.”

“Aw, does he know Ben’s doing that?”

“I doubt it. Ben would be embarrassed if Nick knew.”

“Can I tell him anyway? He’d be really touched.”

“Yeah, just…let him know…”

“Yeah, he’ll keep it on the down low.”

“When does he come back?”

“For good, I have no idea. I think he’s just going to fly in town for a day or two at a time so he can see Ben. He won’t be here for any length of time for a number of months, I’m sure.”

Patty nodded and looked out of Solana’s window. She needed a better view. How boring. “We’re all gonna be okay, aren’t we?”

“Yes, Patty you are. You’ve taken control of your lives instead of letting life control you.”

“I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

“Well…it might…”

“I don’t know if I can deal with anything else, Solana.”

“Well, if that shoe drops, you just have to pick it up…and see if it fits.”

“Hey guys! Come here…we got a package!” Ben lugged a huge box from the front porch into the kitchen, yelping again for his brother and sisters.

“What? A package? Who from?” Liz was the first to come in, covered in paint from decorating her small pumpkin for trick or treat night. A week away…she couldn’t wait.

“I dunno…” He lifted the box onto the kitchen table and got a knife, standing on a chair to get to the top of the box. “Post mark is…New York City.”

Jack came stumbling in from the back yard and Kitty finally unearthed herself from her bedroom. “Good God, it’s huge!”

“Yeah, no kidding…” Ben slid the knife into the tape and popped it open. “Oooh, there’s a note.”

Jack yanked the note from Ben’s hand and quickly opened the envelope. “I’ll read it.”

“Jeez…grabby.” Ben hopped down from the chair and waited on the note before going any further.

“Okay…here we go.” He skimmed down the note and smiled. Big. “It’s from Nick!”

“Alright!”

“Cool…read, read!”

“Okay, okay. Let’s see….

Ben, Jack, Kitty, Liz and Amy;

I’m so sorry I won’t be home for Halloween this year. It’s my favorite holiday and I’d love to be there. But…work calls. So, I sent some stuff for you to pick out what you want to be. If you don’t like any of it, that’s cool. Just take it to the center for other kids to use. Also, you’ll find a couple of disposable cameras in the box. Take lots and lots of pictures and we’ll get them developed on one of my trips back.

I miss you all and I’ll call soon.

Love, Nick

“Oh cool. Ben, slide the box down here so we can get into it!” Liz was jumping up and down like a loon.

“No…keep it up there. Just take stuff out one at a time.” Kitty wasn’t in the mood for Liz’s excitability. She was too busy being excited herself, even if she was too old to go trick or treating. This was neat.

“Yeah…one at a time.” Ben climbed back up on the chair and pulled the tissue paper out, his eyes bugging out of his head at how packed the box was. “God, guys…there’s tons of shi-…er, stuff in here!”

“I wanna be a princess! I wanna be a princess!”

“We know, Liz…chill. God.” Jack climbed up on another chair and helped Ben dig through the items.

Spiderman for Jack. Punk rocker for Kitty. Pirate for Jack. Female pirate for Liz. Clown for Amy. Camouflage for Ben. On and on it went with costumes, packages of make up, masks, hats, props. Everything anyone would need. Finally, they got to the bottom.

“Oh Liz…”

“Yeah?” She didn’t care about the princess anymore. She had make up and jewelry and a cool skirt from the pirate costume to keep her happy.

“Looky here…” Ben pulled up a frilly pink dress, complete with crown, shoes, and tons and tons of lace.

“A princess!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m gonna be a princess!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“Well thank God for that. I don’t think any of us could have slept otherwise.” Ben hopped down from the chair and gave Liz her outfit, sorting through every one else’s. “I can’t believe he did this.”

“Me either…bites he won’t be here.” Jack found his Spiderman mask and put it on, sticking his tongue through the small hole in front.

“Yeah. We should put all of ‘em on and get pictures though.”

“Definitely. And then take everything we don’t use to the center…they can just keep it there for dress up.”

The shrill ring of the phone, snapped them all out of their celebration. “I got it…hello?” The phone was typically for Kitty anyway.

“Kitty? Nick.”

“Nick! Hey…we were just opening your box!”

“Already? Cool.” He could hear Liz in the background, still chanting about being a princess. “I take it Liz is happy.”

“Yes…you done good. With everyone. This will be fun.”

“Good. Lemme talk to Ben, huh?”

“Yup…hang on.” Handing the phone to her brother, she had to tease. “Thanks for being such a jerk, Ben.”

“What!?”

“Cuz if you weren’t…we’d have never met Nick…so, you know. Thanks. You finally did something right.”