"I think that we should have a séance after dinner," Sarah stated, standing up. Her stomach chirped and the others snickered and got up too. "We got stuff to make hamburgers. We got corn too, but I think we'll save it for tomorrow. After our little adventure with the tree, we were hungry." They returned to the kitchen and Roger stood to one side while the ladies started making the preparations. "Roger, maybe you can crush the crackers." She handed him a half-dozen soda crackers. She was surprised when, instead of a squawk of protest, he got an "I have an idea" expression.
"As you wish," he replied. He dropped the crackers into the bowl into which they were about to put the meat for mixing, grabbed a dinner plate and put it on top. Debbie put her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes, anticipating what was coming next. Roger's left index finger flared and he said "That's a crummy job you gave me." A small bolt of light shot from the finger into the bowl and there was a rapid machine-gun sound as the crackers shattered. He lifted the plate and said "Damn, how I wish that I could have done that years ago!"
"I'll start the barbecue," sighed Debbie, going back outside and removing the cover as Sarah dropped the meat, cracked three eggs, and added Worcestershire sauce to the bowl. "Dammit!" she called out. "The sparker isn't working!"
"Come on baby, start my fire," said Roger loudly.
"Don't temp me, buster!"
"You know what you have to do," Roger replied through the open window, which was over the sink and away from where Sarah was working.
"Aww, do I HAVE to?" she demanded, hands on the hips again.
"Yup!" Her response was an unladylike gesture with a middle finger.
"Fine!" she muttered, standing back and thinking a moment. Her right index finger suddenly lit up. "Would you trust an electrician named Sparky?" The bolt shot into the barbecue, which lit with a loud whoomph and flash of flame. She turned the heat down and closed the lid so it could heat up and stomped back into the kitchen. "Don't look so smug, Roger! Pun-powered magic has you right in your element, doesn't it?" she scowled.
"Hey, don't knock it. I am a professional punslinger! We even have an association. Look!" He pulled his wallet from his right rear pocket and extracted a card from it. "See? I have even sworn an oath to pun responsibly."
"Puns," said Sarah darkly, finishing the arrangement of six large burger patties on a platter and grabbing a flipper from a drawer. "They promote chaos and disorder in language. They are not funny!" Roger hastily opened the door for her and they all went out again. The barbecue was hot and the patties sizzled invitingly when they were put on and the lid reclosed.
"You could have started the barbecue without the sparker," said Roger innocently. "You two are so hot, it would light up at once!" The ladies exchanged a glance and a smile.
"Was he a sweet talker with you, back in the day?" Sarah asked Debbie as she opened the barbecue and flipped the burgers with a small flare of flames and smoke.
"Oh, he was," she replied as if he wasn't there. "And his timing was always so good. Just when I was feeling down, he'd come up to me in the hallway or class and say some sweet fiction, and it would make my whole day better."
"They weren't fiction. They were just as true now as they were back then!" Roger interrupted, looking as innocent as possible. He leaned up against the house by the window with a wistful smile, remembering back to the days of the relationship. There was a long pause as Sarah tended the barbecue and Debbie also reminisced. Roger felt a pang of something as he saw a tear run down Debbie's cheek.
"Would you say he was a keeper?" asked Sarah softly, flipping the burgers again. The only sounds seemed to be a breeze in the trees and the crackling and hissing of the barbecue. "Could Roger, and I, be the ones to help you let Joe go to wherever he needs to go?" Sarah flipped the burgers again.
"Roger, you were my first love. When I made that decision to ask you out that day, I had no idea what was going to happen. You were so shy and gentle when the other boys were grabby and obnoxious. You unlocked something in me that I'd never felt before, you taught me about my body and yours, and you provided love and support for me in a very difficult year." At Sarah's inquiring look, she added "My paternal grandparents both passed away that year, first Grandma from cancer and then Grandpa, from natural causes they said, but I knew that it was a broken heart. When I had to leave for Alberta the summer after we graduated, I was heartbroken. I wanted to call you every day, but couldn't because there was no way we could be together again. So eventually I moved on. During my final year, I met Joe and soon realized that he was cut from the same cloth as you, and even though he was black and I knew that it would cause some problems, there was that same chemistry between us. When I finally laid my claim, he had no chance at all." They all smiled. "We worked together, created two beautiful girls and a boy, and lived together for more than 30 years before he died and I came here." Sarah had to hastily flip the burgers one last time while wiping away a few tears.
"If it had been anybody but you, Roger, I don't think I'd have the strength to let him go. When I saw you and Sarah in those videos, I knew in my heart it was you, but I just had to be sure, so I came over here on a mission. So, in short, yes, I can finally let Joe go and put my heart in the care of you two." Sarah held the platter over the barbecue as long as she could to sterilize it, then quickly loaded the hamburger patties onto it as Roger and Debbie held onto each other as desperately as a drowning swimmer holds a rescue float. They broke apart as Sarah approached, and Roger held the door open.
"We are love lost, love found, and love reborn," he said after they'd re-entered the kitchen and Sarah put the platter on the counter. He paused and watched the two women working to get the burgers set up. "It's only been a day," he thought to himself. "I do not know these women. They know each other, but they don't know me. I feel like an outsider here in this house, yet a part of me is screaming that these are the women who will complete me, and fill the hole left in my life when Jeannie died. And if Jeannie needs me to let go so that we both can finally move on, this has got to be it." He tentatively cleared his throat and when he had their attention, said:
"After Jeannie died, my soul seemed to have died with her. I lived and worked like a robot, with no hope or feeling, or love. In this past day, my soul has been showing signs of life, and I've felt things that I have not felt in a long, long time." He paused and got down on one knee. "Sarah Burns, Debbie Malloran, I swear on my living soul that I will love and cherish you until death do us part. Would you accept me, a total stranger, to be your second partner?" The two women were frozen in surprise.
"Never in my wildest dreams," said Sarah softly as she put down the cheese and grater to which she was applying it, "did I ever expect to see a man on his knee, offering himself to me." Her memory flashed back to when John had proposed to her. The blighter had very carefully planned it for an outing with them and a group of friends to celebrate the end of exams just before graduation from teacher's college. She'd been expecting him to pop the question at some point, but when the restaurant staff came out of the kitchen with a cake illuminated by candles and one of them tooting Happy Birthday on a trombone, she'd thought it was someone's birthday. Instead, when the cake was put on the table in front of her, it had said "Sarah, will you marry me? Love, John". And there he was beside her, down on one knee, eyes sparkling, and she couldn't help a little scream of shock. Of course she'd said yes and everyone cheered, the trombonist tooted happily, and even the others in the restaurant applauded as they'd kissed. The cake had been yummy too, and what happened later after they'd gotten home... she had to yank her mind back to the present as she knelt in front of him and took his right hand in her left.
