Chapter 2 - Part 12: Atoms Dream in Technicolor

Over the past few days, Morand's paintings have been reflecting a topic which has been plaguing his mind.  He was mainly occupied with worring about time, how it was flying by so quickly and he wasn't getting any younger.  However, all he could do was enjoy the time he had left, spending it with his family.

Flora continued helping her mom with the garden, picking up any tips and lessons on how to keep a garden fresh and producing the most perfect harvests possible.  She was really looking forward to using these amazing ingredients in cooking incredible home-cooked meals.

What she wasn't looking forward to was tonight's "festivities".  It was her prom night and she hadn't found anyone she wanted to go with.  That wasn't necessarily true, she did have someone in mind, but lacked the nerve to ask him.  Besides, he never attended school events anymore.  She kept that fact to herself when discussing the problem with her mom.

"You should still go, honey," Faith tried to persuade, "I went to my prom by myself also, and ended up having a great time."

In the end, she took her mom's advice, but still wasn't sure why she was going.  Not knowing any of the boys and only having a small handful of girlfriends, she really didn't think she was going to have any fun.  However, you only get one prom, and it would be a shame to regret not attending.

Morand knew that his granddaughter was having doubts about this big night, so he splurged and rented a limo for her.  He hoped it would make her feel special and as glamorous as he thought she was.

"Oh, grandpa, thank you!" she said, giving his frail frame a big hug.

He smiled at her and helped her inside the stretched car, "You just have yourself a great time, sweetie.  Now go get 'em," he shut the door and signaled to the driver to go.

On the luxurious ride to the school, she wondered what the evening would bring and tried to remain positive about the whole experience.

Several hours later and close enough to midnight, Flora returned home to find Morand still up, waiting to hear all about her night.  The house was dark and quiet.

The two of them sat at the kitchen table as Flora scarfed down a plate of leftovers, for some reason they didn't feel it necessary to feed the students at school dances.

"So...," her grandpa started, "tell me all about it!  I want to hear it all.  Did you dance?  Did you meet anyone?  Did you have a good time?" he rushed with questions.

She took a moment or two before answering him, trying to put into words how she was feeling and what she experienced.  "I had a magical evening, grandpa, it was so much better than I expected," she gushed. She indicated the crown on sitting on the table, "as you can see, I was named queen of the prom, which was a total surprise," she said.

"That makes two queens in a row for this household, we should probably put in a moat!" Morand joked.  "And what about boys, did you dance with anyone?  Perhaps get a first kiss?" he hinted.

Flora blushed and stared at her grandpa with eyes wide as saucers, how could he have known?  "I... how did you...?" she giggled, embarrassed to be talking about this with her grandfather, "I might have!"

He simply smiled and waved it away, "I was just guessing, it happens a lot at proms, the dancing, the music, it's easy to get caught up in all that.  I'm happy for you, sweetie, hopefully we'll get to meet this guy soon?"

A small smile crept across her face as she said nothing, the truth was, the guy she kissed wasn't supposed to have been there at all.

Morand continued painting, wanting to get as much out there as he could.  While he knew the impact he had made as Fire Chief, saving dozens upon dozens of lives, there was something very satisfying about putting something tangible out in the world.  He was particularly pleased with this pop-art portrait of Faith he was working on as a surprise for her next birthday.

His grandsons humored him as much as they could when he attempted to play with them.  Playing tag with grandpa was a bit on the easy side, seeing as he wasn't a very fast mover.  Hide and seek would have been better, but no one seemed to know how to play that game.

Yet the time for game-playing was coming to a close, however, as the twins were about to celebrate their birthday.  Family and friends were once again invited to the Cagley household to engage in dancing and cake.

Morand entertained his son with the latest photos of his grandkids.  Cecil always humored him even though he's the one that sent his dad most of the pictures to begin with.

Faith spent some time getting to know her youngest niece, Leeann.  From what she was told, this was yet another spitting image of Cecil's estranged mother, Cheri.  However, the girl seemed much nicer than her grandmother ever was.

Vincent kept himself busy by making faces at all the guests.  His aunt Khalilah responded by making them right back at him while Flora wondered why the older woman encouraged her misfit brother.

The real excitement was just beginning, however.  As the boys gathered to blow out the candles on their cake, Vincent graciously let his brother do the honors.  

As Julius leaned over and blew as hard as he could, all hell broke loose.

The candles exploded into a fiery ball sending everyone scrambling away from the counter in a panic.

Having lived with a fireman her whole life, Faith leaped into action, grabbing the extinguisher and dousing the cake with foam.  While everyone screamed and was generally paralyzed with fear, one family member stood by calmly, a small smile playing across his face.

Once the flames had been extinguished the older family members could only look at each other, thankful that the prank didn't do any more than char the birthday cake beyond recognition.  Vincent continued to clap and laugh, feeling pretty good about himself and his latest trick.

Julius wasn't thrilled at having been the target of yet another of his brother's jokes, but could only shrug it off.  That's just the way Vincent is, he thought to himself.

Luckily they had a spare cake, so the party didn't end up a complete bust as the boys transitioned into teens... 

OUTTAKES

Faith doesn't know what to do with her delinquent son...

*sings* "One of these things is not like the other..."

Title / Jet Plane Landing