Mana Pool

Chapter 2

“Yeah, I get it. How’s Dad? Has he stopped being a worry wart about the Mayan calendar?” I went back to the bedroom for my robe. I had to juggle the phone while pulling it on.

“He’s calmed down a bit. I have as well. You know he almost stayed up all night guarding the front door with the shotgun until Robert told him to get to bed. And you were right, Katie, nothing happened.” She sighed, knowing she had made the right choice.

I wrapped the robe around myself and tied the belt around my stomach. “Does this mean you’ll stop worrying too and go on vacations as normal?” Running a winery is stressful, especially when you have to get the merlot and chardonnay perfect in taste and color.

“Not quite. I want to wait out the drama in the news. I’m still feeling off about the religious freaks out there.”

“Good point.” The last thing my family needed was something depressing on the trip back. I could imagine Tom popping out of nowhere.

I heard a door open and close on the other end. After living there all my life, I knew that it was the heavy oak door from the wine store next to the warehouse. 

“Brenda, who’s that on the phone?” My Dad asked. Mom told him and he responded with, “Tell her to hurry up, the wine is selling and I don’t have my star stock and sample girl to help.”

Dad always said that in a time of fast money, like in year 2012, the alcohol sold out more than anything else. From what I could hear of the chatter of the wine tasters through the phone, it seemed that I was missing the holiday season excitement.

“Thanks Dad.” Mom reiterated my comment. “What about Robert and Jared? I suppose they’re pulling their weight as well?” I sat down on the foot of the bed.

“Oh, they are, don’t fret.” She paused. “Hang on, Robert wants to say something.”

Robert is my big brother, just three years older than me; he’s the family jokester and freelance ghost investigator. Oh yeah, he chases ghosts. Kind of cool ain’t it?

Robert voice came on the line. “Hey, Katie. Do me a favor and bring me presents!”

I laughed. “Stop bugging me or you won’t get anything for Christmas. Is Jared staying out of trouble?” Jared is the youngest out of my siblings. He has a habit of starting trouble and blaming it on the closest person he can find.

“Yeah, I have him with me at the register bagging the goods, very carefully. I got to go; Mom still wants to talk to you.”

The phone switched hands again. “So when are you coming back home since the world is not ending?”

“Tomorrow morning, like we discussed. Once Scott closes the lease and the car’s all packed, we’re leaving. We’ll see you in time for dinner, if the traffic isn’t too bad.”

“Why not right now?”

“Mom, don’t rush us.”

“Okay.” She paused again, longer this time, and then she said, “You know, I never understood why you had to go with him at a time like this. You two could’ve been happier here than the mountains.”

“Mom,” I said feeling stern, and my words showed. “It was my choice. Scott needs to get his life together and he can’t do it alone. Please, Mom, I don’t want this talk again.” I rubbed my knee from an imaginary ache. That talk with her took everything out of me when we moved to Big Bear. “I love him. Enough said. What am I supposed to do? Lay around at the winery writing while Scott works at a bar earning less tips than a ski resort?”

She was quiet for a second. Her huff expressed her frustration with me. “Right, sorry for bringing it up. How is he?”

“Happy, as he’s supposed to be.”