Return to Neverland

Chapter 6

When I woke up there was a full gallon of milk in the fridge.

Dad was off of work that day. He had day offs every Friday and Saturday, while Mom had Saturdays and Sundays. Having Dad around all day was fun. You always knew he was there when you smelled the bacon and pancakes at seven in the morning.

"Bon appetite," Dad served the plates with pride. Charlie and Jamie had their food formed into a smiley face, which made them giggle. Jamie picked off a strawberry that was used as a pupil and popped it into his mouth.

Grandma stayed to eat this time. She talked to Jamie and Charlie about grade school coming up soon. Charlie couldn't wait to tell her about the school that Jamie and she went to. I listened while chewing on bacon. Dad watched them and sent me a wink. Not knowing what that meant, I just stared at my pancakes.

Dad had us get dressed as he did the dishes. I was relieved to have been lifted from the chore for one day. I slipped on a pair of jeans and a loose tee shirt and ran the brush through my long hair. Once Charlie entered the bathroom, longing for the brush, I cleaned my teeth.

My dad ordered us to all meet him outside. Even Grandma edged her way towards us. She sat down, watching as we threw a football. She held a jar identical from the ones on her ceiling in her lap.

Dad taught us how to spiral the football, which Jamie had a raw talent for. He had a good arm and was able to throw it to Dad without a sweat. We passed, tossing it gently to Charlie, until we nearly starved ourselves to death. Dad made us sandwiches and we ate outside. Charlie whined that she was itchy from the tall grass, but that didn't stop Dad from our stay outside weekend.

"What's that?" Charlie asked, pointing at the jar. I didn't realize that Grandma hadn't shifted her position the whole time. Instead of a strange object inside of it, there was a liquid that filled it up a quarter of the way.

"It's special water," she replied.

"Like holy water?" Jamie piped in.

"No," Grandma's eyes brightened at the conversation. "It's even better."

"Can I drink the magic water?" Charlie and Jamie pleaded. I sent them a dangerous stare that could've burned holes into their tiny heads, but they didn't seem to notice. Grandma shook her head. Charlie and Jamie continued to plead, nearly getting down on their hands and knees.

That's when Grandma started to freak out. She shook her head frantically. Her body trembled, too, especially her hands. Her shaky hands couldn't hold on to the jar and she dropped it. The jar didn't break, surprisingly, it just bounced off the cement and rolled onto the grass.

Jamie and Charlie tried to grab it, but Grandma was up and charging. She pushed my siblings away and scooped up the bottle. The cap was popped off and the water poured out of the jar. Grandma started muttering words under her breath, not keeping her eyes off of the jar. She tried to grab the water from the grass and scoop it back into the bottle but all she got was wet grass stuck to her wrinkled fingers. She screwed the cap quickly. Grandma looked from side to side as if she was looking for something. A wild look was in her eye. As her head snapped towards every direction, she locked eyes with me. Her pale blue eyes made my heart pound and even I felt scared. It wasn't the Grandma that talked to me or had read to us that night.

I felt like that I was looking at a new person. A wild animal off leash.

"Wendy, would you like me to get you more water?" Dad offered. Grandma shook her head. There was that name again, Wendy. I never realized that Dad even called her by her name. Actually, ever since I realized that Wendy was my grandmother's name, I've heard it everywhere. In stories, at the store, even our neighbor had a dog named Wendy!

Dad pried the jar from her hands and went into the kitchen. Charlie broke out in tears, apologizing repeatedly between choked sobs. I rested Charlie on my lap, trying to calm her down. Grandma was taking deep breaths, trying to soothe herself. She was still shivering like crazy, though.

Jamie just froze, looking at Grandma with fear. I realized that it was the first time that he had ever seen her do something crazy. I set Charlie down on the chair and wrapped my arms around Jamie, trying to block his eyes.

Dad came back with the bottle full of water. He whispered something into Grandma's ear, and her shoulders relaxed. She stopped shaking and she took the water. I released Jamie. We turned around to see our once berserk grandmother was smiling from ear to ear, hugging the jar. Charlie ran to Grandma and squeezed her into a hug.

"I'm so sorry Grandma!" she cried. Grandma set the jar down and rubbed Charlie's back. Jamie assumed that this was a safe way to say that he could join. They locked into a big hug. Dad rested his hands on my shoulders and gave me a squeeze.

"Good job, Juli," he whispered. I felt proud. I realized right then that when there was chaos in our backyard, I was the only one that stayed calm and tried to help while Dad was gone. My smile seemed bigger than Grandma's.

We all went inside and took out a deck of cards. Grandma took this as an opportunity to escape to her room. Dad didn't seem to notice, or if he did he didn't pay any attention to it. I decided to follow his example and shuffled the cards.

Grandma didn't come in that night. Jamie and Charlie handed me the book and I read them Alice in Wonderland. It seemed perfect for today since crazy unusual things seemed to happen when things should've been normal.

I knew that what happened today was the craziest Grandma could've ever acted. If I could handle what happened today, I knew that anything thrown at me would be a piece of cake. I flipped the page and read with a smile tattooed on my face. Maybe Mom and Dad were right. Grandma might've been crazy, but I was old enough to keep my cool and handle it.

Boy, I was wrong.