Beyond the Moon

Chapter 27

 We visited George one last time before we left. It was brief and consisted of nothing more than our well-wishes and goodbyes. Then, of course, Jamie, Rhea, Molly, Elliott, the kids, and I were off, not really sure when we would see each other again.

The whole ride home was uneventful. We stopped at a few gas stations for nothing more than to fill up and use the restroom, and then we were right back on the road. We didn't even really get to stop to get food, none of us were really hungry.

Our days resumed to normal quite quickly afterwards, almost completely forgetting about George. There wasn't reason to think about him really, we were busy and we didn't hear about him, we were confident things were going to be okay.

He did pay us a surprise visit that Christmas, along with Jamie and Smith. None of them were expected, and we didn't have much more than a tree set up, with Molly around. We hadn't even put the menorah away even though Hanukkah ended over a week prior. But we invited them in, happy to see them.

We ate our dinner together, most of the food provided by the guests. It was a more traditional Christmas dinner, with turkey and ham and mashed potatoes, and cherry pie for desert. I hadn't had this type of dinner since I was a little kid, and I wasn't sure Molly had quite experienced this ever.

"Uhm... I hope this doesn't offend you all, but it was hard to find gifts for everybody," George began, pulling out a small flat square, "but I saw this and thought that Jamie would like it, and I couldn't resist. I'm sorry to everyone else."

I wasn't offended at all, and I doubt the rest of us were, as we assured him we weren't. "What is it, Jamie?"

"Edge of the Century" he exclaimed.

"Why don't you play it," Molly suggested, "we've got a stereo in the dining room, it should play in there."

Jamie enthusiastically dashed to our dining room and within a few minutes we heard the music playing, and it sounded like exactly what it was. Styx without Tommy Shaw. The vocalist we heard in the first track, however, was not Dennis DeYoung. It sounded great, but I wasn't sure who it was.

The second track appeared to be a hit, Show Me the Way. Those were DeYoung's vocals. It sounded fitting for Christmastime, just all of the biblical references. Jamie said something about DeYoung writing it for his son. Love at first Sight was another good one.

There was one track towards the end, however, that really caught my attention. Not necessarily the musicality of it, as great as it was. It was called Carrie Ann, which is DeYoung's daughter. I had never heard that name before, and it really had a nice ring to it. Carrie Ann, Carrie Ann, Carrie Ann.

The ending track was another DeYoung composition called Back to Chicago, and maybe it's the Chicago in me, but it was definitely a banger. Jamie, Elliott, Smith, George and I felt compelled to sing along with the chorus.

"I'm makin' my way back to Chicago," Jamie and I, the only trained singers in the room, were looking at each other as we sang, "I'm makin' my way come rain or shine." I struggled with the slide on "shine" much more than I should've. "I'm gonna find true love waiting for me," we continued, ignoring my weary vocals.

The lyrics weren't very descriptive of my hometown, but it was still nostalgic. It mentioned Lake Shore Drive, which was along the coast of Lake Michigan. I think it's something everyone in Chicago is familiar with. Sometimes we would abbreviate it "LSD" which was completely innocent at one point, but of course the teens of the sixties and seventies twisted it.

The song ended and the whole room looked a little bit happier, even those of us who weren't as connected with Chicago. Molly definitely got some of it, spending her college years there, but I believe Rhea was completely lost. She was still smiling just as much as the rest of us.

There was no room for anyone to stay at our place at the time, so the rest left. I wasn't sure where they stayed, but they seemed to have everything figured out, so we said our goodbyes only to see them briefly in the morning before they left.