Chapter 23

I used a tire and rope to make a swing to sit on when I was bored. Jasper watched as I laughed merrily. He grabbed it and started to push. He watched as my hair flew up and fanned out. His smile became more innocent. I had noticed that since the fire Jasper has become a little feral. He softened his heart when we are together but when I am out of sight he becomes angry. He smiled at me as I stared at him in wonder. He stood staring at me as I swung back and forth. He chuckled as he saw my expression.

I was sad that my mom was long gone so I imagined going to our house where I had stayed shortly before I had changed into this thing. I walked past the wild flowers and the broken Lamborghini that was crushed by a tree. The thing now resembles a hatchback. I saw the mailbox that shattered because it was struck by lightning. The tree that fell down pulling the grass around. The grass looked it like it was a huge carpet. I walked past a cedar tree that had split open. I thought that thing had exploded. I saw Mrs. Maple pour crushed ice on a table and pouring maple syrup on it. She used a stick to wrap the frozen maple syrup like it was a lollipop and ate it. She turned around to see her husband was behind her. He started to remind her that she has diabetes so she needs to watch her blood sugar level. I walked past the Henderson property where Mrs. Windom was yelling at her husband for skipping his diet to eat burgers. She had bought bicycles so she can exercise with him much to his dismay. He had to put down the plate of half eaten burger, lamb ribs and brisket burnt end bits. He stomped off with his wife as the onlookers giggled. He turn around and waved not at the host but at the plate of food before he sighed at the grill. The wife got bored and dragged him away. She greeted me as she walked past me. The husband asked me to rescue him but I wished him good luck.

I walked to the uneven pavement and saw mom was making dinner. I was shaking head to toe. I didn't know if I should move forward or go in. I felt a strong hand on my shoulder. It was grandpa. He smiled at me as he nudged me aside for grandma as she carried a birthday cake. I looked away to see Jasper leaning against a tree watching me from a distance. He had an enigmatic smile on him. Irene opened window and stuck her head out. She yelled at me for being late. I walked in through the window and mom reminded me of the high tech gadget called the door. Grandpa reminded mom of the days she used to climb the windows. This made mom blush furiously as she tried to finish deep frying dumplings. She knows that I am addicted to eating them. I have been know to eat those without concern for my waist line. This made Sonja chastise me.

Karolina was on the phone yelling at the lawyer for letting her son get high before going to court. Victoria was laughing as she was saw a photo in one of the old albums of my childhood. She was laughing at me for doing what I like to call the 'Ice cream Pose'. It involves me sitting like the Japanese samurai does before the Emperor. Except my hands are extended away from me like I am balancing cups. This made Jasper and all the wolves that were observing the memory laugh. So I had to stop for a moment before I went back. This time I walked out of the bathroom to see that the place was ready for me. People screamed, "Surprise" They sang me happy birthday as I cut the cake and fed it to mom. I looked out the window to see Jasper staring at me. He was still leaning on Mrs. Ford's beech tree. He looked like the day he did when he became my consort. Handsome, mysterious and kind.

I plucked up the courage to ask mom to step aside. She smiled naughtily as she promised to go out to dinner tomorrow night so we will eat three course meals from five different restaurants. Like last time the waiter is going to give us a look that asks which asylum did we escape from so he can inform the police. Then mom can wave her badge for him to convincing him to apologize profusely. I remembered that moment as well and laughed merrily. I imitated the expression the waiter had as he left to get the bill. Mom laughed as did the others. I remembered telling Daisy and she was bummed that she couldn't come with me. Daisy is the lazy one of the group. I remember the last time we went on a shopping spree we ended up going by bus. We had taken her to the nearest restaurant on foot. It takes five minutes to get there. But she whined as though it will take days to get there.

Batou walks in and asks me not to kick the washing machine. This made mom burst out laughing. I blushed as I mumbled a shut up. Annie wanted to know why he would say that. I tried very hard to distract him but unfortunately that didn't work. Mom butt in to explain and everyone started to laugh. In my defense I was a baby so they let it go. I dragged mom to the window and showed him Jasper. I asked her if she thinks he is good enough for me. She said that she thinks that Jasper looks too old for me but if I am happy than she has no problems whatsoever. So I asked her for grandpa's ring. She asked in shock, "Are you trying to have babies with him"

I blushed as I pointed towards the window. The scenery changed to show her my dream life with Jasper. She saw her grandchildren. They all had silver hair and were of different age groups. There were twins as well. Some were adults with kids of their own. I was seen walking out with a swollen belly that Jasper was holding as though I was about to pop. I lightly smacked him in the back of his head and he gave me a testy look before he picked me up. He sat me on a swing as the kids were waving sticks as they did pretended to have sword fights. Rolling on the leaves like they were wrestling. Some were practicing war cries. It was silly since the volume of their cry would go up or down. Some would stumble and they would get up and start screaming like they were Vikings. When the scene ended mom tapped me on the shoulder and gave me the ring. She asked me to have a happy life that I always wished for her. I opened my eyes to see that Jasper and I weren't alone. There were other wolves there too. They were staring at me amused. I had to get up and walk back to the house in a dignified manner. When I entered the house the others laughed happily. I realized that I was still connected to Jasper. The others had only one request. To let him stay in my mind since it was a refuge for him.