Back @ Laveau House
Val was packing her last items. She was taking down the altar piece by piece and packing that more careful than anything else in the whole place. She was wrapping each little figurine, every knick knack, every stone. She’d even roll up the little prayer mat. The carpet was tucked into the side of her carry-on. That’s what would be inside her carry-on. It was the one thing she didn’t trust to movers or anyone else.
Scout was doing the same thing with her own final packing. It was more along the lines of her favorite tees and sox. There were a few robots she was taking with her. But, both Thomas’s gal’s had a very start fresh attitude. They’d packed up their rooms, but they’d also cleaned out. They were taking small things to New Zealand. Almost everything else would be new or at least newly made as they went, new treasures found along the way. Buying new beds or things like that was just going to be way easier than shipping from America. So, anything they did bring with them was more than likely clothes or sentimental.
Everyone was going to meet in the living room before Zeke dropped them at the air port. Valerie was being hesitant about leaving the bedroom for this final goodbye. She really didn’t want anyone to get sentimental and that fear was backing down the Val inside. She’d look up at Thomas from the floor as she was zipping up the last item. She really wanted to catch this plane as Val, step on NZ soil as Val, but Val becoming a whole person was hard. It meant she was trying on emotions Flotsam never let her feel before. Flotsam handled the hard stuff. Valerie was the escape. Walking out of this house felt like the hard stuff.
She looked down into her hand. She held the little mother of pearl necklace that had been through so much now. She wore a tank again, black, this one said, ‘Banging Gears, Breaking Hearts’ and had the picture of a hot rod on it. She had on cuffed jeans again, a black jacket, her hair up in one of those head wrap ties she got so accustomed to in NZ. Then she was wearing a pair of converse at the bottom. They were Scout’s. She was trying to get cozy for the long flight. She wasn’t quite as fancy as she often was. But, it was Val and she held up that necklace. She was scared to put it on. It was like cementing it in. She was Valerie and she’d have to take it if anyone got emotional on her.
“Can you help me?” She’d ask Thomas still down on the floor holding up the pendant.
Out in the living room Scout was already there, all jazzed up. She’s already given her hugs and private goodbyes to her siblings so it all didn’t build up at once. She’d tell every single one of them they were her favorite.
But, she’d give Summer something now. She’d hold up a basket with the ultimate Twizzler assortment inside from wax melts, to bath sprays, to actual Twizzlers from ropes, to cherry bites, to original, pencils and notebooks. She’d say, “Here. I know you already have a stash under your stash. But, you can have another secret-secret only not so secret stash from me. Never too much I say.”