"I can' b'lieve another year's gone by," Jean-Luc commented to Tante Mattie as they put the groceries away in the kitchen of the LeBeau mansion. It was December 30, and they had just gotten back from the store, where they had been getting party things, like pop, chips and bags of ice, for the huge end-of-the-year bash they were having the next night. The Thieves Guild always made a big deal out of celebrating the New Year even though nothing ever really changed for them. And any resolutions any of them made never stuck more than a few days. But they still made them.
"De time seems to be goin' by so fast now," Mattie replied. "I get a kick out of de young ones, dey complain dat de time is flyin' by for dem. Feel like tellin' dem to wait until dey're us, den see how fast it goes."
Jean-Luc laughed. "Dere time will come, Mattie," he said. "In de meantime we can have our fun watching dem."
"True enough." Mattie replied, putting the bags of ice in the freezer. "Do you t'ink we got enough food for de party?"
"If Remy, Emil and Genard don' get to it first, yes. If dey do, we're screwed."
At that moment, they heard the front door of the mansion slam shut. The sound of three laughing voices filled the air. The boys were back. Suddenly, Remy's voice called to them.
"Papa? Tante? You back yet? We're starved!"
As they listened to the sound of the three young men make their way to the kitchen, still laughing and joking around, Jean-Luc and Mattie looked at each other, looks of defeat on their faces.
"We're screwed." They said in unison as the kitchen door opened.
"Aaaaaahhhhhhhh!"
Remy stopped combing his hair and scratched his head. Raising an eyebrow he decided to investigate. He left his room and went down the hallway. He poked his head around the doorway of Mercy's room timidly.
"Merce?" he asked. "What's wrong?"
Mercy looked at him. It was very obvious she was pissed off about something. Remy got the impression he shouldn't have bothered her, but it was too late now. Mercy answered his question, biting off each word at a time, sounding angrier with every word. "I. Just. Broke. My. BRUSH!"
Remy looked at the comb he was still holding in his hand. He hadn't realized he'd brought it with him when he left his room, but maybe it was a good thing. He held it out to his sister-in-law and said,
"Um, would dis help?"
"Don' you need it?" Mercy asked, her voice softening.
"Nah, I have another one somewhere. You can use dis one." Remy told her.
Mercy took the comb from him with a smile. She was no longer angry, although she'd have to get a new brush as soon as the stores were open again. "Merci, Remy. I appreciate it. An' I'm sorry for snapping."
"Don' mention it, Merce." He replied. Walking back down the hallway to his own room in search of his spare comb, Remy thought to himself,
'Whew! Crisis averted!'
"You know, it's pretty funny that we have this party every year and there's not even ten of us." Zoe commented.
"Oui, but we always manage to have fun," Genard replied. "Isn' dat de point?"
"I suppose." Zoe told him, taking the glass of pop he handed her and giving him a bright smile.
"Someone always manages to get into a fight too, but dat only adds to de fun," Remy grinned, joining Genard at the table as Zoe left to talk to Mercy.
"My money's on Theoren startin' somet'ing with Zoe. Emil t'inks Zoe'll start it. We'll see who wins."
"Yeah, let me know, would ya?" Remy asked. "I'm goin' go see what's buggin' Tante. She's not enjoying herself, or it doesn' look like she is."
"Sure." Genard replied, waving Emil over. "An' yeah, if anyone can cheer her up, it's you. Good luck."
"Tante, what's de matter?" Remy asked, kneeling down beside the rocker and looking at her, tilting his head like a confused puppy.
Mattie smiled at him and shook her head. "Dere's nothing really de matter, child." She told him, frowning slightly. "Don' worry 'bout it. I'm fine."
Remy raised an eyebrow, returning the frown. "You don' look fine."
Mattie ruffled Remy's hair with her free hand and tried to give him a convincing smile. "You wouldn' understand, Remy," she explained. "I mean it, don' worry 'bout me, go have fun with Genard an' Emil. Dat's what tonight's for anyway."
Remy sighed. "Okay…" he agreed reluctantly, getting up. He wondered what she was talking about, but did as she said rather than push it further. Tante was weird sometimes, and he had the impression she really didn't want to talk about it. He walked over to Genard and Emil, who were still hogging the table with the pop and chips on it.
"What's eatin' her?" Emil asked through a mouthful of ketchup chips.
Remy grinned at him and winked at Genard, something Emil didn't catch. "You know, dose chips match your hair, Emil," he snickered. "We're goin' to have to start callin' you Ketchup from now on."
"Ohhhhhh…why do I keep doin' dis to myself…?" Emil groaned, putting his head in his hand.
"Ooh! Ooh! Ha! Emil, pay up!" Genard exclaimed.
"Huh? What? Where?" Emil replied, looking around frantically, trying to see where the fight was happening. Seeing Theoren and Zoe in the middle of what was obviously a very heated argument, he sighed. "Theoren started it, didn' he?"
"Oui, dat he did." Remy replied. Genard nodded.
Emil pulled ten dollars out of his wallet and handed it to Genard. "Here. An' don' expect me to make dat kind of a bet wit' you again."
Genard laughed, putting the money in his pocket. "You said dat last time, Emil."
Across the room, Tante Mattie had gotten up and was standing by the fireplace that never got used. She still looked like she wasn't enjoying herself, but in a sense she was, in her own way, because she had realized they weren't alone in the LeBeau mansion. Mattie was a spiritual person, a mystical healer, and someone who, from time to time, could sense the presence of spirits. In other words, ghosts. This wasn't the first time she'd sensed this particular spirit in the LeBeau mansion, but so far no one else knew about it.
She looked at one of the pictures on the mantle of the fireplace and smiled. "You've never gone far from dese people, an' I can' say I blame you," she whispered to the picture. "Dey may not know it, but dey need someone watchin' dem, an' who better to do dat den you?"
"Mattie, what are you sayin'?" Jean-Luc asked, coming up behind her.
Mattie looked away from the picture and turned to her friend. "He's here, Jean-Luc. I know you can' feel it, but he's here. He's always here."
"You can sense him?" Jean-Luc asked, eyes widening. Mattie nodded.
"His presence is always stronger when everyone's together here," she explained. "He's never left you. I don' t'ink he ever will."
"Like a guardian angel…do de other's know?"
"Non…I've never told anyone until now." Mattie replied. "It would only bring dem down…maybe I'll tell dem sometime, but not tonight."
"Can you tell if he's happy, if he's okay?" the father in Jean-Luc had to know that. He knew Mattie probably couldn't really communicate with spirits, but maybe she could sense feelings.
"He seems to be, again, especially when everyone's together." Mattie told him. "I t'ink he stays close to Remy an' Mercy mostly. An' you. As for de rest of us, I t'ink he realizes we don' need lookin' after quite so much."
"I wish I could talk to him…" Jean-Luc sighed. Mattie shook her head.
"Non, Jean-Luc. One can' actually communicate with guardian angels. Just know dat he is here." She looked at her watch. It was two minutes to midnight. "Now come. It's almost midnight an' it looks like we have to break up Theoren and Zoe or dey'll fight through the comin' of de New Year."
The fight was broken up, and the thieves counted down the last remaining seconds of the old year. Remy, Emil and Genard blew noisemakers when the New Year arrived and everyone cheered. Then, they all sat around with paper and pencils and started to talk over resolutions for the New Year. None of them, except for Jean-Luc and Tante Mattie, realized that they were being watched.
Sure enough, standing behind the rocking chair Tante Mattie always claimed as her own when she was there, the invisible spirit of Henri LeBeau smiled with contentment as he watched his family and friends argue over their resolutions. He wasn't able to join them for real, much as he'd like to, but keeping an eye on them was good enough for him.
And they couldn't hear him, but as they talked over their resolutions, he said softly,
"Happy New Year, mon famille. I love you."