MC Part 2 #24
For beings from the spirit world, they could certainly hold up their end (and anyone else’s) end of a conversation. John sat, sipping from his glass of water, and listened to his In-Laws ramble.
They looked as uncomfortable as he felt. It was all a hell of a surprise to everyone.
“Are you sure you want to do this tonight?” Cam asked him. “By your clock, it is pretty late.”
“Logan gave me tomorrow… today… off. He wanted me to have some time to recover before our big event on Wednesday.”
“What is happening then? Something good, I hope!” Ginga smiled and leaned over to hear the story.
“Oh, it is good, I just can’t tell anyone about it. By Wednesday night, though, the whole area will be buzzing.”
“Intriguing, son, most intriguing!” Cam smiled. “Still, if you’d like to get that rest, I can tell everyone to head home instead. Don’t push yourself.”
“Mr. Pendy, Cam, dad… It sounds like you’re trying to get me to change my mind. You two told me that I have to be greeted by my ‘siblings’ the same way you did me. There’s no time like the present, when physical distance doesn’t mean as much to you as it does to us.”
“I think Cam is being overprotective,” Ginga reached over and messed up his hair, “because we’re still sorting out all of these things, too.”
“She’s right. It may take some time before we get down to the brass tacks of how all of this will work… to say nothing of what our cultures expect from what roles.” Cam massaged his temples. “I can feel hours of pounding headaches in the future.”
“Well, at least we’ll be in good company with the headaches.” John smiled. His guard was relaxing, slowly.
The first of the Pendys to arrive was Murra. She materialized, hands on her narrow hips, and glared at John.
“He’s not dead!” She turned to her parents. “Did he renounce her, or what? What’s with the formal greeting thing, too?”
“My darling daughter, tact isn’t your strongest personality trait,” her father sighed, “that’s for sure.”
“Murra, we’ll explain to everyone when they arrive.”
Ginga barely got the words out of her mouth when Shoal, Kassa, and Lur appeared behind John’s chair.
“I’m glad you’re not dead, Mr. Frost.” Lur rumbled, merrily waving his paw.
“I’ve heard this twice now. The two of you came here prepared to kill me?” He sincerely wished he hadn’t left the cleaver in the kitchen.
Cam and Ginga sighed. They would have preferred to avoid that aspect of the conversation entirely, but their children’s comments gave them no choice.
“That was a possibility, yes.” Cam met John’s eyes, and wished he’d said something before the kids required him to. “We came to get to know you, and give you excellent reasons for you to renounce Etty. If that failed… the other option.”
“You understand, Father-in-Law, I feel a little lied to right now.”
Ginga swore she felt the room grow as cold as John’s voice in the fraction of a second before the children reacted.
Murra, Kassa, Shoal, and Lur yelled the same question.
“Father-in-Law?”