Harvey and Lori Ferguson Ch. 20 Living at Grandpa Shep's

Valrae's Journal

Since the fire my family is staying at Grandpa Shep's house and there are a lot of things I like about that. Mumma says we are fortunate to have this chance for "multi-generational" living. She tries to be cheerful but the day after the fire she started crying and crying up in her room until Daddy went up there and talked with her. I was in my room so I don't know what he said to her but when Mamie called us down to dinner they came too. Mumma's face was dry but all red and puffy from crying. She was smiling at Daddy, though, so I knew it was all right. Then she kissed both me and Gray on the top of our heads.

Anyway, Gray and I get to spend lots of time with Grandpa Shep and Mamie. They are Daddy's parents and I will tell you about them. They have a big old house with a porch that goes all the way around and it's right by the lake. Grandpa Shep is Sheppard Ferguson and he used to be a policeman and then a private eye in California. He met Mamie there in San Francisco. He's retired now, though. Mamie's real name is Madeleine Judith Ferguson, but Meme is French for Grandma. She spells it Mamie so it's easier to know how to pronounce it, she said. 

They have six kids and Daddy and his twin, Aunt Holly, are the 4th and 5th children. Aunt Gillian is the oldest, then Aunt Margo and then Uncle Nicky. Next come the twins, and then Grandpa Shep and Mamie adopted Aunt Debbie. She is funny and very nice, but she is away at University right now. That is why there is plenty of room for us at Grandpa Shep's. Gray and I are sharing Aunt Debbie's room across the hall from Grandpa Shep and Mamie except Daddy put her double bed in the attic and bought twin beds for us. We have our own bathroom! Daddy and Mumma have their bedroom on the third floor and they have their own bathroom, too, and a tiny little l living room with a TV and a pinball machine. Mumma said that's where they lived for the first year when they got married until their house was built. Not the new one that got burned up; but the very first house, the one Gray and I were born in. When Aunt Debbie comes home for Thanksgiving break I guess one of us will have to sleep on the couch downstairs. I hope it is Gray so I can sleep in the same room with Aunt Debbie.

Every morning when Gray and I wake up Grandpa Shep and Mamie are already awake and downstairs. We have cereal with them and then Mumma and Daddy come downstairs to have breakfast, too. Then the school bus comes and we go to school.

Daddy and Gray go swimming in the big pool almost every day when Daddy gets home from work, but it is usually too cold for me this time of year. The pool is heated but the air is cold when you get out because it is autumn. Don't you love the word autumn? I think it is a much better word than "fall". Anyway, half the time they show up for supper in their swimsuits and Mamie pretends she is shocked and yells "Naked men!" and covers her eyes for a couple seconds. That always makes me and Gray die laughing.

Mamie says she is especially thankful to have us here because now Dad has been helping Grandpa Shep with a lot of "projects" around her that he's been putting off. He's not as young as he used to be she is always saying when she makes him rest or even take a nap. It makes Grandpa Shep grumpy and he says he is not an invalid, for crying out loud, woman. He is only pretend grumpy, though, because Mumma says he is "crazy" about Mamie and he actually falls asleep every afternoon, anyway. Sometimes sitting up.

Daddy rakes the leaves for Grandpa Shep now who would rather work in his garden all the time when he isn't painting. He and Daddy put in swings and a merry-go-round and monkey bars for Gray and me. Then they put in a lot of new flowers and bushes and added new awnings. Well, Daddy mostly did the awnings on the second and third floors. I have always loved Grandpa Shep's house because it is old fashioned, but now it looks even prettier.

Mumma loves to sew and Mamie has a nice sewing room, but Mumma doesn't want to interrupt Mamie's sewing. So Daddy put a sewing machine in their bedroom. All her patterns and material and supplies burned up in the fire, but she got some more. Not as many as she used to have though. She is trying to save some money by making clothes for us so that we don't have to spend as much money getting new ones. She always made most of my clothes anyway. I get to help her pick out patterns and material.

One Saturday it was really warm for October and we had Melinda Howard come over for lunch and for swimming. Even Mumma and Daddy went in the pool but not Grandpa Shep or Mamie. They said they would wait for summer because they had "old bones". I didn't know things inside your body got old just like gray hair and wrinkles but Daddy said they do.

When it was suppertime and we came in from the pool Mamie cried "Naked men! Naked women!" I think she scared the heck out of Melinda. Gray has a major crush on Melinda so he patted her shoulder and said in what he thinks is a manly voice, "It's okay. Mamie is just joking. My family is kind of--unusual."

So I made a "crazy" face at him, sticking my tongue out to one side, crossing my eyes and waggling my hands up by my ears. Melinda looked like she had a brain freeze, but Mamie just winked at me. 

I overheard Daddy and Mumma talking in the upstairs living room and she was asking him couldn't all of us please just get away for a while? Okay, I didn't really overhear more than a couple words and then I stood outside the door and listened, which is bad. I was supposed to be putting towels away for Mamie. But if you ask me--which you didn't, but if you did--I think if kids didn't snoop they would never know what was going on in their own family! Anyway, she was kind of upset and sad and she said she knew a vacation would help all of us forget about the fire for a while. Daddy has been saying we will rebuild and this time he will oversee a lot of the work because in the house the wiring was not good and that's what caused the fire. Anyway, he told Mumma now that they should think about it for 24 hours to be sure. He said it means closing her bakery while we are gone--which just opened a few weeks ago--although his health spa could stay open because he has a good assistant manager. 

Daddy doesn't like to make decisions in a hurry. Mumma says you just can't push him and we only make it worse when we hop from one foot to the other, saying, "Pleeeeez, Daddy! Pretty please!!??" Of course, he doesn't take 24 hours to decide in most cases like whether or not he will take us for ice cream at Sam's Snappy Service, or if we can buy the latest version of Sims or some other game with our OWN MONEY (for crying out loud). But he pauses while he thinks it over. It can be torture, believe me. Mumma is really good at coaxing him, though. She gets her little "cute face" on and flirts with him. My parents are pretty romantic anyway; they kiss a lot and Gray says it is mushy and gross but I like it and, anyway, I'm used to it because they were like that at our old houses, too. He should get over himself. Both sets of my grandparents are kissy, too, but I don't think Nana and Poppa are so much now. That makes me sad. I don't think all parents are romantic. I'm going by when I go to some of my friends' houses and their parents act like they are only friends, or maybe even just work at the same place. I guess it might be they are just shy about kissing in front of strangers or 9 year old girls.

A couple days later before we went to school was when Mumma and Dadddy told us we are going to the family place at Twikkii Island. That is the best news ever! The house belongs to Nana and Poppa and Mumma's been going there since she was a little girl. It's her favorite place and it's where she and Daddy went for their honeymoon. We go at least once every year, we went last summer in fact, but it's never enough for Gray and me. It's right on the ocean and close to all the attractions on the island including the pirate ship. Gray and I CAN'T WAIT!

I love you and you love me,

Valrae Diana Ferguson

Next blog update: Harvey and Lori Ferguson Ch. 21 Vacation Part 1

When Mumma's family went to Twikki Island the first time

Mumma and Daddy's honeymoon at Twikkii Island

Harvey and Lori Ferguson Ch. 19 A Learning Experience

My name is Valrae Diane Ferguson and this is my very own personal journal. So much has happened to our family lately that it's hard for us to keep track. Mumma said we should look at all of it as a "learning experience". So Daddy took me to Staples tonight and bought me this book. The cover looks like an antique photo album and I like that because I'm a very old-fashioned girl, everyone says that. I plan on putting pictures and drawings in here, not just words, so I guess it is actually a journal and a scrapbook.

First I will tell you about my family. My Daddy is Harvey Ferguson and he owns and manages a health spa called Feel the Burn. He's very handsome and has a mustache. One thing about him is that's he's always calm. Mumma says he's "mellow". He can lift me and Gray at the same time, Gray on his shoulders and me in his arms and we weigh 75 lbs. each and then walk around for a long time without getting out of breath at all because he's a fitness expert and he exercises all the time. It's easy to tell him stuff, even if you're a kid; which I am, being nine years old. 

Mumma is Lori Ferguson. She has long black hair and Daddy calls her 'Brat' but he says she's a beautiful brat. Anyway, she makes the best brownies in the world. When I have a nightmare she rubs my back and in the summertime she paints my fingernails and toenails pink. She plays the piano and she loves art and almost all crafts. Graylan is my twin brother, he's a boy, but he's still my second best friend after Scarlett Caswell. Gray has red hair like our Nana and likes to tease but I guess all boys do. He's smart about nature and science and drawing. He draws superheroes mostly. But I'm smart about history and games and music.

So until recently our family was very happy living in our brand new house--it was so pretty. We even had a little pond with a waterfall in the backyard. Gray and I had kids over after school almost every other day. Friends like Christabel Smith, Randy Hanzlik and Melinda Howard.

                                                              Randy Hanzlik with Gray and Me

                     Melinda Howard and me              Christabel Smith and me

Probably the most dramatic thing to come along at that time was when Mumma decided she wanted to have an operation. I don't know if I should put this here but I will. I'm trying to tell everything and be honest. Actually the truth is Mumma wanted her puffles to not be so big. That is, her "bosoms". Scarlett and I always call them "puffles" because that word fits better and sounds more like ladies' chests look than the weird word "bosoms". You know, booo-zums? Dumb word. When I told Mumma once that Scarlett and I preferred the word puffles she laughed and laughed, but every time we hear bosoms that makes Scarlett and me laugh. Okay. Mumma told me she was tired of not being able to wear prettier clothes although I think she always looks pretty. And her back hurts a lot from it. Mumma's mother--Gray and I always call her Nana--well, she has a little bit of the same problem, but I guess she's used to having her back hurt because she said she was not having any bosoms surgery, no way, no thanks, nossiree.

The night before her operation I heard Mumma on the phone to Melanie Caswell, who is her best friend since they were very small and the mother of Scarlett.

"Yes, it's tomorrow, but don't worry, I'll be back and healing soon. Mom and Harvey's mother will both help with the twins. Harvey? Oh, poor Harvey, he cried all night."

I couldn't believe Daddy had cried for even five minutes. He never cries.

Then Mumma laughed like crazy and said, 

"Oh, I'm kidding, Melanie; you know nothing fazes Harvey! Even though he's not all that pro on me having what he calls 'unnecessary surgery' he's been supportive and says he'll like me any size I decide to be."

I could hear Melanie laughing over the phone, too. So I waited around until Mumma hung up and went in her room.

"Why did Daddy cry all night about your surgery?"

"Oh, he didn't, sweetie, I was just joking."

"But why would--"

Mumma asked,

"Have you done your homework?"

She wanted to change the subject. Usually she asked if I brushed my teeth, but it was the same thing.

"Yes, I finished it, but--"

"Do you want to help me with supper tonight? You can use the mixer and mash the potatoes."

That made me happy, I was learning to cook like her and she would let me make the frosting, or stir the stew, tenderize the meat or sometimes tear the lettuce in bite-sized pieces but only when she was in the room. Once I helped make biscuits and I couldn't get the dough right and kept working on it even though Mumma said not to do that because the biscuits would be "tough". When they were baked they did feel a little hard but I put a pretty towel in the wicker bowl and put them in, covered them and set the bowl on the table. Mumma gave a long look to Daddy and when Gray fished a biscuit out and tried to break in in three pieces to put butter on it he couldn't even do it. I just kept watching while my face was all hot and turning red. Then Gray tried to use a butter knife, but did it work? No. So he said, 

"I think I need a saw. Like a chainsaw. A real big one."

"Never mind the dramatics, slick," Daddy told him, "No one said you had to eat them."

"I guess I messed with the dough too long," I told Daddy, trying not to cry.

"You're still learning, honey. Don't worry about it--anyway the mashed potatoes were really good!"

Mumma smiled at me and it was all right then. Except after supper I saw Gray and our cousin, Ryan, out in the yard throwing biscuits at each other and ducking. I think that was mean.

And I never did find out why Mumma joked like that to Melanie. It didn't make much sense to me.

After her surgery Mumma looked just as pretty as before but just with nice regular puffles instead of really big ones. Now she could have new clothes and Daddy said for her to buy a new wardrobe, whatever she wanted so I guess he thinks she's still pretty, too.

Daddy paints nearly as well as Mumma so they loved the new studio up on the third floor of our house. Gray had been asking to be able to learn to paint and have his own easel so Daddy had said he would get him one soon.

It was a big day when Mumma opened her new bakery. Daddy's mother and Nana are both very good bakers and they will help Mumma part-time but on opening day Daddy was with her and one of her first customers was Melanie. Like I said Melanie is the mother of my best friend, Scarlett, and pretty soon she is going to have a baby. Then Scarlett will have a baby brother or sister. I kind of wish Mumma was going to have a baby. Then I could rock the baby and feed it and take it for walks.

That night was when everything bad happened. But really it started out good. Gray and me ate frosted brownies left over from the bakery's grand opening and Nana was watching us while Daddy took Mumma out to a movie and a fancy dinner to celebrate even though she said they really ought to be going to bed early.

It was a new restaurant in Bluewater Village and Mumma told me later how pretty it was, with big windows to look out at the water. She said maybe the whole family would go to dinner there sometime.

But then came the fire. It was lucky Mumma and Daddy were out late because it was when they got home and getting ready for bed that Daddy smelled the smoke. When he went into the hall he saw flames at the top of the stairs to the third floor. Nana had already gone home and Gray and me were sleeping in our room.

All I remember is waking up as Daddy said my name and scooped me up out of bed. I looked over and Mumma was helping Gray put on slippers and a robe. Daddy told her to go ahead with Gray; that he already had my slippers and robe and he could put them on me when we got outside.

"What is it? What is it?" I kept asking.

"The house is on fire, honey, we have to get out now. The fire department is on the way," Daddy said in his quiet voice. He carried me downstairs and out the front door and I was looking over his shoulder at the house as smoke was following us into the foyer. Mumma and Gray were running to the street.

I don't have any pictures of our house when it was on fire, but online I found a picture of firefighters and in the picture they are fighting a house fire. I'm pasting it here because that's how they look in real life, too. It's how they looked that night trying to save our house. They worked so hard, but the house burned anyway. At least it did not catch any other houses or trees on fire. My grandparents, Grandpa Shep and Mamie, came over from two doors down and my Aunt Gillian and Uncle Jeremy who lived right next door were there with our cousins Robby and Ryan. Mamie went over next door to stay with Aunt Gillian's baby twins, Stephen and Sabrina. And then Mumma's parents, Poppa and Nana, were suddenly there, too. Mumma must have called Nana and then Nana called Poppa because they don't live together right now. I'm not supposed to know that, but I do. I just don't know why Poppa doesn't live there.

I still remember standing out in the middle of the street with Daddy and Mumma and Gray. I was in my pajamas with the bunnies on them that matched my bunny slippers and my flannel robe I got last Christmas. The heat from the fire was making it like you stuck your head in a gigantic oven and the firefighters were shouting to each other. Then the fire roared just like an animal and everyone rushed back. It felt like the fire wanted to get us and it was angry we got away. It made me jump and I started to cry.

All our photographs and our books, the drawings Gray and I made for Mumma and she taped to the refrigerator were in there. And Mumma's grand piano and all our paintings, some from when Daddy was a baby, and my sweet doll, Gemma, all our clothes, and even Gray's and my homework. They were gone. Forever.

By the time I thought of that I was crying so hard I could hardly breathe even though I could feel Daddy's hand on my shoulder. Tears were running down Gray's face, too, I knew later on he'd be embarrassed about that. I grabbed his hand anyway and he looked at me, he wasn't even mad about it. Mumma, who cries so easy, had not one tear that night. Her face was still and white as she watched our house disappear. That's what it was like--our house disappeared into the fire. Daddy had his arm around her.

Gray whispered to me,

"We don't have anything, now, not even a home," 

And I nodded, but then Daddy said that they were only things that we had lost and that we were all safe and that's what mattered. Then he said that we would sleep at Grandpa Shep's that night.

Next blog update: Harvey and Lori Ferguson Ch. 20 Living at Grandpa Shep's