Christmas at Royal Woods Spa

Snowed Out

Thursday

Lynn Sr. was awoken by the alarm he had set on his phone. He groped at the nightstand until he found it and slammed the dismiss button. The sound of the winter wind was all that could be heard. He stayed quiet until he was sure Rita was still asleep before getting out of bed.

He put on his clothes and walked out of the suite. As he passed by the rooms he heard no noise, as it should be. He had woken up early to make breakfast sooner so he could get to work cleaning up their latest and greatest mess this season. He called the elevator and descended to the ground floor.

The bronze doors slid open for him and he walked through. He turned through the hallways until he came to the toppled tree. He paused to look at it for a few seconds before continuing on, walking over the fallen pine needles on the polished floor. He flipped on the lights of the diner and walked into the kitchen.

Something quick to make was in order. He walked to the back where the storage rooms were and began looking through them. He found the perfect thing, a tub full of oatmeal mix. He carried it into the kitchen and set it down on the counter. He scooped out twelve bowls of the stuff and separated two of them. He took the two bowls of oatmeal for Rita and Lily and put in diced fruits and sprinkled in cinnamon. The rest was for the other kids and himself.

He put the bowls onto the cart and pushed it out into the diner. He set out the oatmeal on the table leaving the one for Lily in front of the high chair. He then placed the other one at the table where he and Rita usually sat. He took the last bowl of plain oatmeal off the cart and walked out of the diner.

He came up to the piano. He took it all in before walking to the other side and sitting at the edge of the piano bench that wasn't under the fallen tree. He ate a spoonful of oatmeal as he contemplated how to clean this up. He put the bowl on the piano and began lifting the tree off the piano. He heaved it off the piano onto the floor knocking off some more needles.

He stepped over the tree and walked to the entrance to grab the sleigh. He grabbed the reins of it and pulled it back to the tree. As he began to move the tree onto the sleigh he heard footsteps. The kids. He kept his head down and refused to look at them. Even after he finished putting the tree on the sled he made himself look busy until the last of the footsteps faded away. He glanced up and saw that the coast was clear. He stood up and dragged the sled to the entrance and outside.

He trudged up to the tree line and continued in. The wind blew against his face throwing snowflakes into his eyes which he wiped away. He heard the river before it came into view. He passed through the trees and onto the gravel edge of the river bank. He turned the sled so that it was adjacent to the running water. He then stepped back and kicked the tree off the sled. It rolled down the slope and into the river and he watched it as it slowly disappeared into the icy gray water.

Lincoln slowly ate his oatmeal as he looked around the table at his other siblings. They were also feeling just as down as he was, except for Lily, who kept eating up the only oatmeal that wasn't plain. That hadn't escaped the kids attention, nor did the fact Dad hadn't even looked up at them.

"So... what do we want to do today?" Luan asked, finally breaking the silence.

"After the unmitigated disaster that was yesterday I would advise against group activities," Lisa said.

"So... nothing?"

"No."

"Nope."

"Nada."

Lincoln looked down at his oatmeal and continued eating. Well then. He could just play some solitaire in his room until things blew over. The rest of his siblings seemed content to keep to themselves and their roommates as well. They started standing up from the table and Leni began reaching for Lily when Mom said, "Leni, Dad's going to be looking after Lily today."