Intermission // Van McCann

25. A Piece of Me With You

Van's parents arrived one week before his graduation. Although he was done with his dissertation, he was busy with other things. This is his last week at work; his last day is Wednesday. And then his engineering graduation is on Friday, and the main graduation ceremony at Husky Stadium on Saturday. He was busy making sure his parents were doing just fine. He was thinking they'd be bored so he suggested tons of tourist attractions for them and restaurants to eat at. The funny thing was that they didn't care about any of that stuff. All they wanted to do was see us and spend time with us.

Van had packed up most of his stuff at work, carrying items home slowly, day by day. Over the years, he acquired a lot of stuff at the lab. Most days he'd sit on his bum sorting through the boxes of stuff, deciding what to take home and what to leave. Once finished, he had a lot of stuff to take home that we wouldn't be able to take with us on the light rail. We'd have to drive in and pack it in the trunk when we have time. Lucky for Van, Bondy wasn't eager to kick Van out so if he couldn't bring everything home before his last day, he's welcome to stop by anytime after.

"You're changing the passcode and not telling me?" Van asked, hurt.

"Van, that's the protocol. We can't have you messing with our shit when you're no longer an employee," Bondy answered.

I don't think Van's upset about not having access to the lab because he will as long as one of us is around. I bet you he's more upset that the passcode will no longer be 0912, the date of our anniversary. He's probably worried I'd forget, that piece of shit. You forget one time and he forever holds it against you. Van opened his mouth to speak but Bondy cut him off.

"And no we're not changing it to 2609 for your wedding day," Bondy said quickly, rolling his eyes.

"How'd you know?" Van questioned, surprised.

"You're not hard to read, Van," Bondy responded. I let out a sigh, relieved that Bondy felt the same way I did about it.

Bondy finally finished updating the job description and submitted it to HR to be uploaded. HR isn't the fastest here so we knew it'd be a while before we found Van's replacement. When I first applied, they didn't get many candidates because they couldn't describe in detail what the job entailed. I figured it was going to be the same for finding Van's replacement. Van opened his mouth again but Bondy cut him off.

"No, we're not gonna hire the turtle farmer," Bondy said quickly. "Unless he applies again which I don't think he will because this position is different. We're looking for someone with an engineering degree, and if I recall correctly, he didn't have one. You're very easy to read."

"Fair enough," Van replied.

While we were at work, his parents would do a bit of sightseeing, and as soon as we came home from work, they'd join us for dinner and stay for a few hours before retreating back to their hotel. We showed them around our tiny apartment and they immediately noticed Van's graduation regalia, making him wear the darn thing again to his dismay. First they'd take photos of just him and then it'd turn into him with his parents. His parents were loving it—being able to spend time with their son while Van was constantly reminded of why he decided to go abroad for school. It was sweet seeing him with his parents once again. They absolutely loved spoiling and embarrassing him.

Van's mom decided to help me in the kitchen today, teaching me how to make one of Van's favorite meals.

"He always asks that I make this when he comes home," his mom told me. "I taught him how to make it but he always tells me it's not the same so I'm teaching you how to make it. That way when I'm not around, you can make it for him."

I smiled at how sweet this whole thing was. She wrote the recipe down and I watched her get to work. She was explaining what she was doing and why, giving me important tips to get it right. I followed along and did as I was told. Van was busy catching up with his dad, talking about music, but once his dad walked off to use the toilet, Van briefly joined us in the kitchen.