For the past year, I was quite ineffective in using the tickets to remove Kristen’s addiction. The explanation I was given (by Kristen under influence of the tickets), was that no ticket could be more powerful than any other. I thought about this limitation, and I had some questions about the inadequacy of that explanation. For instance, if no ticket was stronger than another, then how could the first wish prevent the second or any other subsequent wish from undoing it? Didn’t that make the first wish more powerful?
The magic behind The Monkey’s Paw, however, did not have this particular limitation. It was the traditional “you have three wishes” story that was made famous by the genie in Aladdin’s lamp and the Irish leprechaun stories.
The tickets I had weren’t limited to three wishes. Apparently, a couple of hundred wishes had already been granted, although the majority of them hadn’t been granted to me. However, they still had that stupid limitation.
Patty once told me that this limitation on my tickets made it nearly impossible to fix any rash decisions made. “You need to think very hard before you use them, Jim,” Patty told me. “If you use them when you are in an emotional state, you’ll regret it.”
Patty’s explanation tied back in to The Monkey’s Paw. After all, the person who knew about the paw actually explained in the story that sorrow would befall anybody that used it.
On the other hand, the tickets were responsible for Kristen and me being together, even if indirectly. That would be a good thing, wouldn’t it?
I took a deep breath, and realized that we were just driving past the gate at the Swift’s residence.
“I’m sorry, Kris. I’m not good company right now.”
“You’ve got a lot on your mind, Jim,” Kristen said softly. “I understand.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“If it makes you feel better, whatever you decide with regard to Sherry is all right with me.”
“Thanks, Kristen. Can we talk about something else?”
“Like what?”
“Like, what are we doing tonight?”
Kristen smiled as she parked the car. “What do you want to do?”
“Kris, I know you have plans. I’ve already had a surprise party. So, why the surprise now?”
“A girl has got to have her secrets, Oogie!”
I laughed, and Kristen joined me.
The burden of the tickets had been temporarily lifted.
Lynette was already at the apartment, having stayed home the entire day to bid Camille and Will off instead of attending cheerleader practice. Harry drove Camille and Will to Chicago about an hour before we got home to catch their flight to Boston.
In the apartment, I could smell that Lynette was cooking up one of her meals that would make a gourmet salivate.
“What’s cooking, Lynette?” I called into the kitchen.
“Your favorite, Oogie.”
I had grown quite partial to Lynette’s schnitzels. By far, my favorite was Jägerschnitzel, served with a burgundy-cream gravy with wild mushrooms. “Schnitzel,” I said, making a yummy sound. “Sounds great.”
“I’ve made some spaetzle and some butternut squash as well.”
Lynette and Kristen were trying to get me to eat more vegetables and we found that I liked most of the various squashes, especially the way that Lynette would prepare them, lightly spiced.
The dining room table had Kristen’s good china set, the ones with the gold trim. She inherited this set from her grandparents after her grandfather died when Kristen was very young. This was the first time that I saw them set out.
There were two unlit candles in shining silver holders on the table.
“How long will it be?” Kristen asked.
“That depends on how hot you can make Jim,” Lynette called back.
Kristen sighed. “You’ve been hanging around Camille too long this week. She’s a bad influence.”
“Maybe you should pun-ish Lynette, huh?” I asked.
A groan from Kristen was my response.
“We’ve never used these plates before,” I said, changing the subject back to what I was thinking earlier. “I mean, I’ve seen them in the china closet.”
Kristen had lit a candle lighter and was lighting the two candles. “It’s a special occasion. Lynette asked if she could set them out, and of course I said yes.”
“Those were your grandmother’s, right?”
Kristen nodded. “On my father’s side.”
Lynette came out with a platter containing the veal. I started to head inside the kitchen to get the rest of the dishes when Kristen stopped me, and pointed to the chair at the head of the dining room table.
“The birthday boy sits there.”
I took my seat, and Kristen and Lynette went into the kitchen to retrieve the rest of the dishes. Kristen had a bowl with the spaetzle in it, and Lynette had the squash and a china gravy boat with some extra gravy.
After setting up the dishes, Lynette approached me and gave me a big kiss. “Happy birthday, Oogie!”
That wasn’t the first time I heard that particular expression all day, and I smiled.
Kristen was next, and did the same, and afterward, the two girls took the seats on either side of me. The girls looked at me expectantly, and I reached out and took a piece of veal and placed it on my plate. I then helped myself to the noodles and vegetable, and then put a generous helping of the mushroom gravy on top of my noodles.
Once I was done, Kristen and Lynette did their own plates, and we ate.
The meal was excellent, as was anything that Lynette cooked. I talked about the cheerleaders’ little game of having the entire school greet me by nickname.
“I thought Sherry’s idea would be cute,” Lynette said.
“You knew, too?” I suspected as much when Lynette said “Happy birthday, Oogie,” at the table.
“Yeah.” Lynette looked a bit concerned. “Of course, Sherry hasn’t been looking well over the last few days. I’m sorry I missed the practice today, but on Tuesday, something seemed a bit wrong with Sherry. She was easily distracted.”
“She looked weird today, too,” Kristen said.
Of course, Kristen and I knew Sherry’s problem. We agreed a while back not to let Lynette know about the tickets, and this meant that we sometimes had to keep other things from Lynette as well. Neither Kristen nor I liked this situation at all, since it was sometimes hard keeping secrets from somebody who was such an intimate part of our lives.
“Maybe it’s problems at home,” I suggested.
Lynette shook her head. “Sherry would tell me if that was the case.”
I shrugged. “Maybe I’ll talk to June to see if she has any idea.”
Kristen shrugged off the matter, but then said, “I’ve decided on my birthday present for you, Oogie.”
I remembered Kristen’s last birthday suggestion, and hoped this wouldn’t be a repeat of it.
“Yeah?” I said, a bit warily.
“I’d like to go shopping tonight. We need to pick you out a nice accessory.”
“Accessory?”
Lynette giggled. “Kristen wants you to learn to accessorize, Oogie.”
This discussion was a bit over my head. I thought “accessories” in a fashion sense meant gloves or a purse. Those didn’t sound like things I needed. “Whatever you think is best, Goddess.”
Of course, my response earned me another kiss from Kristen.
At the mall, we went to a place named “Sky Catchers.” The place seemed to contain a lot of specialty stuff, and I had never gone inside the store before.