Crescendo

Chapter 4

Soundtrack for this chapter:
Comfortably Numb—Pink Floyd
Smells Like Teen Spirit—Nirvana
Chasing Cars—Maria Levinson

4

Theo

Father Davies kept his word the morning after I helped him on the art museum steps. During Sunday mass, he peeked out from one of the side doors behind the altar and scanned the gathered parishioners. When he locked eyes with me, he smiled and gave me a nod of his head. I couldn't break a promise to him; he was a priest.

It turned out to be a good morning, so I was glad to have been there. Mom and dad had brought my youngest sister, Erin, and I was able to drag Aiden with me; Danny came along of his own free will. We often joked about how mom and dad really went the extra mile by not only having a true pair of twins through me and Danny, but by also having a set of Irish twins in Erin and Aiden. The two were just eleven months apart.

I remember mom and dad telling us we were going to have another set of twins in the family and being unbelievably confused when they came home from the hospital with just one baby.

The only one missing was my oldest sister, Mary. She was two years older than me and Dan, and she'd already settled down with her husband in the suburbs outside of the city. He was a good guy; not good enough for my sister, but no one ever could be. Our family was large, but we were close, and strong, and there could never be anyone else in the world I'd trust like I trusted each of them. Of course we fought and had our disagreements at times, but we're a loud, boisterous, loving, Irish-American family; find me one that isn't.

After mass, we went back to mom and dad's for brunch. It had been a tradition we had every Sunday when we were growing up, and it was one of the things I missed most when I was in the military. Mom's spread of pancakes and bacon, both dripping with syrup, creamy coffee, and her own take on homefries was a welcome addition to my diet after months of MREs.

At mom and dad's enormous table, we all sat around waiting for the word that it was okay for us to start digging in. After nearly thirty years of practice, mom had us trained to the second. The moment she finished saying grace, we looked to her with hungry eyes.

"Well, go on," she said with a smile.

Dad was to my left, and he choose to hold the pancakes ransom for the more intricate details of my life.

"I'll give ya a pancake for each new thing you tell me you've got going on."

"Dad, come on. I'm practically starving over here." He held firm in his gaze at me. "Fine. The show we played Friday night went really well. Owner told us we'd be put first on his backup list."

Dad put a single pancake on my plate. It was a challenge not to roll my eyes. "Work's been good. Considering getting my paramedic cert." Another pancake flopped onto my plate.

"Any plans on finding a nice young lady to bring home to us?"

Aiden couldn't help himself. He laughed into his cup of orange juice and looked up at dad. "No worries, pops. Theo has no problem bringing ladies back, in fact Dan said—"

I sent Aiden a glare that was equal parts shut the hell up and I will fucking end you. His mouth snapped shut.

Mom turned to me with concern. "Oh, Theo sweetheart, you're almost thirty. You need to find a nice girl who you can settle down with."

"She was a nice girl, I—listen, can we keep my personal life off the dining room table? I'm sure Aiden would love to tell you about how he doesn't even sleep at our house on the weekends on account of the partying he's doing  downtown all hours of the night."