They say that even the most normal of days can become an adventure. All you need is the right attitude, not to mention the right circumstances.
Oh, and taking Despayre to the local grocery store certainly couldn't hurt, either.
It was a big day for Despayre, after all. His mother, Margaret, was venturing from Vancouver for a visit with her son. There had been epic progress since the days when Synn had harbored a bitter resentment towards the mother of his only son, under the misguided belief that she alone had kept his identity secret from him and had been solely responsible for Despayre's cruel mistreatment in his former stay at the Broodmoore Mental Facility.
The tan van weaved it's way around the parking lot of the local Kroger grocery store, in search of the closest spot to the store so as to minimize the distance walking while carrying the packages and goods purchased. Behind the wheel, Theresa looked around with close scrutiny when in the seat beside her, Despayre practically bounced in excitement as he slapped his palm against the passenger door and then pointed.
"Oo! There's a good spot! Right in front!"
"We can't use that spot, Joshua."
"How come?"
"It's reserved for the handicapped."
"I'll limp! See? Problem solved!"
Theresa turned her head only slightly to look at Despayre who gave her a bright smile and nodded eagerly. More out of a desire to lend her a bit of helpful advice as opposed to the light hearted mischief that seemed to follow Despayre wherever he ventured.
She said, "This spot will do." As she pulled the vehicle into a spot that had no other cars on either side. A ways away from the front of the store and Despayre frowned with an audible "Aww!"
Theresa turned the engine off and as she began reaching for her purse, Despayre called out, "Wait wait wait!"
He scrambled to undo his seat belt and open the passenger side door. He hopped out and turned to adjust the seat and slide it forward so he could reach into the back. For what you might ask? Silly question, because if you knew Despayre, you'd know that he went nowhere - nowhere - without his very absolute bestest plush pal, Angel. The teddy bear had been secured snug and safe in a child's seat in the back and Despayre fumbled briefly with the safety harnesses before retrieving his buddy. Then, as Theresa watched in a blend of curiosity and amusement, Despayre slammed his door shut and ran around to her side of the car and popped the door open.
"Angel says a gentleman always opens the car door for a lady!" He beamed and took a sweeping bow as in the old days before standing upright.
Theresa stepped out of her car and nodded, playing along. She said, "Well, thank you Angel." She then winked at Despayre. "And you too."
The two headed for the entrance to the store and Despayre pointed over to the corral of shopping carts.
"Do we need one?" He asked.
"I suppose so." Theresa said. "We have a fair few things to get for your mom's visit."
Despayre 'whooped' and took off for the line of carts and pulled the nearest one free from the round up of others. Then, as would be expected, he pulled out the basket seat normally reserved for toddlers and plopped Angel down into it. He then fastened the small belt around the bear and pulled it around and headed for the waiting Theresa.
The funny thing? Some might be a tad embarrassed at Despayre's childlike behavior and antics. Afraid that strangers, unfamiliar with him or his behavioral tendencies, would frown or laugh at a young man treating a teddy bear with such high regard. Theresa? Not a chance. She had lived with the boy for well over a year and was used to such things. Synn explained that there was still so much that neither he nor anyone would fully understand about the way this boy's mind worked, but in the meantime, she simply did not care what anyone thought. She was quite proud of this 'family' she helped to take care of and if anyone had something smart to say, then they would get an earful back.
Despayre arrived at her side and the two (three if you count the bear -- always count the bear!), stepped up to the entrance where the doors automatically slid open and they walked inside. Despayre paused inside and looked back and watched as they slid shut again and he smiled with a barely audible "Cool." So much was still a wonderment of mystery to him. Theresa, of course, took charge of this little shopping excursion, and Despayre was only too happy to follow eagerly after her.
"Hello Theresa. Called a man in a white polo shirt and tie, waving toward them. The store manager who knew her from the frequent visits to the store.
"Hello Saul." Theresa called back with a friendly wave.
Despayre frowned toward him and leaned forward to call in what he had hoped was a hushed whisper but carried enough for others close by to overhear. "Is he your boyfriend?"
This drew snickers from other store employees as Theresa kept moving and shook her head. "No! Such silly ideas..."
Despayre started singing in time to their march around the registers and further into the store, "Theresa and ... man, sitting in a tree..."
"Hi Joshua!" A symphony of girlish voices called out from the direction of the cash registers. Two female employees, both in their mid-twenties, were standing together and smiling at him as he walked past them.
Poor kid. The idea of girls being interested in him as a completely alien notion, but he reacted like most toddler boys might; He flinched and hung his head, practically burying it in his own chest to shield himself from their gaze.
"Hi..." Was all he could manage and they giggled and returned to their work. Oh yes, the employees of the store were most familiar with him and his nature. If not for the fact that he was a local celebrity in wrestling circles, than just for how he would act on the rare occasions he would accompany Theresa for a trip to their store.
Dutifully, the first stop for this trip, as her others with Despayre, Theresa headed straight for the bakery. Not that she intended to buy anything for herself, but rather for an age old trick mothers everywhere used for when they took their children out.
The young man working behind the counter had seen them approach and was prepared. As they approached the counter, he slipped the door to the case open and with a tissue, pulled out a large gingerbread cookie in the shape of a heart, aptly decorated for the Valentine holiday.
"Hello Derek." Theresa said as he reached over the counter and handed her the cookie.
"Hi Theresa." He answered back. "Having fun?"
"Oh lots." She rolled her eyes and turned to hand the sweet bounty to an eager Despayre. Yes, the trick of a treat in order to keep a "child" quit for the remainder of the shopping trip.
Despayre snapped the head off without thinking and popped it into his mouth, then looked at Angel in the seat of the cart and he frowned. "I did not kill it!" He barked at the teddy bear for the unheard accusation. The few people at this area of the store at the early hour turned and looked, but nobody said a word or reacted once they saw who it was that caused the outburst.
"Come on, Joshua." Theresa said and she started to move away and Despayre followed, munching again on the cookie and he looked down at the bear.
He said, "Because it's mine. He gave it to me, that's why."
"Hey, we can't forget him, can we?" The clerk said with a good natured smile. He reached into the case again and grabbed a second cookie from it and held it out over the counter toward Despayre who looked at it warily. The clerk nodded, "For Angel, you know?"
"Oh." Despayre nodded and he slid a step closer and cautiously accepted the cookie himself. Sneaking glances back at the clerk, he placed the cookie in the teddy bear's lap. "Thanks." He said, then leaned a step over and whispered, "Teddy bears have a very voracious sweet tooth you know."
"Oh I know." The clerk nodded, playing along. "My little sister's has practically eaten my parents out of house and home."
Despayre's eyebrows rose nearly to his hairline in wonder. "Is that so?" He said, turning back around to join Theresa who mouthed a silent 'thank you' to the clerk who laughed and waved back.
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Theresa was in an aisle, looking at the spices when Despayre came up beside her with the cart and he held out a tray covered in small finger sandwiches.
"Want one?" He asked.
Theresa turned and looked down first at the tray, then at him.
She asked, "Where did you get those?"
"Over there." He turned around and pointed -- toward the end of the aisle where a very flustered elderly woman was standing at a sample cart and staring toward them.
"Oh, Joshua." Theresa said in a light scolding and she took the tray from his hands and headed back toward the sample lady to return her goods. Despayre looked at Angel in his cart seat and shrugged.
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Theresa turned to Despayre and said, "Say right here Joshua. I have to visit the bank really fast."
"Okay." He nodded and he pulled the cart with the few items in it parallel to the end cap of the aisle display.
Theresa started to walk away when she paused and turned back. She held up a forefinger and tilted her head, "No sneaking junk food into the cart. Agreed?"
Despayre crossed his heart and held up his hand as if taking an oath. Only then did Theresa nod and she turned and headed off.
Minutes later....
Theresa returned and stopped short at the sight of the mountain of cookies and candy piled in the grocery cart. Despayre was trying his best to look innocent -- which was not very good at all. He did a double take toward her and her expression. She set her hands on her hips and he casually pointed at Angel.
"He did it."
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After being forced to put back every single additional item that Despayre had piled high into the cart, a visibly pouting Despayre sat still at a table in the deli cafeteria with his arms folded over his chest and a frown on his young face. Making him put back all of those goodies instead of Angel! Boy! Angel got away with everything! He stole a glance at the teddy bear now seated at the chair to his right and a smile slowly spread on his face.
You just can't stay upset at such a fuzzy little face, no matter how hard you try!
"Stop making that face!" Despayre started to giggle. "I'm mad and I'm going to stay that way!"
He shifted in his seat and closed his eyes. He stayed that way for a few seconds at least, then he slowly opened one eye and looked at the teddy bear.
"*snort!* Stop that!"
"Stop what?" Theresa said as she returned to the table with something behind her back.
Despayre pretended indifference and turned his head away from her. He said nonchalantly, "Oh, nothing."
"Now Joshua," Theresa said. "You know all those things had to go back. Your father said there was enough treats in the house. We came just for a few things."
"Then why are we sitting down here?" Despayre mumbled.
The answer came as Theresa brought her hands out from behind her back and in each one was an ice cream cone covered in rainbow sprinkles from the deli. Despayre's eyes lit up like headlights at the sight and Theresa smiled.
"Am I forgiven?"
Despayre nodded eagerly and he reached out and accepted his. He said "Thanks!" and started licking at the chocolate ice cream lavishly as Theresa took the chair opposite him and started to enjoy her own. Despayre paused and looked at the bear and he practically stuck his nose in the air as he said, "It was your fault I got in trouble. So you don't get any!"
Despayre started to go back to his ice cream cone then stopped and sighed. he looked at Angel again and rolled his eyes.
"Fine!" And he promptly shoved the ice cream cone over to the bear, almost burying the teddy bear's nose in the treat. He shook his head and looked at Theresa. "Have you ever seen such a messy ice cream eater?"
Theresa sat back in her chair, preferring to remain silent -- a testament given Despayre already had the chocolate all over his lips and around his mouth.
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Their treat finished, Despayre was busy putting Angel back in his cart seat while Theresa went up to the deli counter for some napkins to clean up with. After securing the bear in, Despayre jumped upright as he heard the booming voice overhead;
"We need customer service in aisle three, please! Customer service in aisle three!"
Despayre looked around and saw the young woman at the counter with the telephone speaker in her hand as she spoke into it, and he could tell it was making her voice go across the entire store. He watched as she hung up and turned and walked back behind the wall of the department. His eyes never strayed from the 'telephone thingy' she had used to make her voice do that 'very cool' booming thing across the entire store. He looked over at Theresa who had paused to chat with another customer. He then looked at Angel and then the phone again.
...
Theresa waved goodbye to the retreating form of her friend when the voice came overhead...
"Two priests, a Jew and a Rabbi walked into a bar..."
Her eyes snapped wide open and she turned and darted around.
"Joshua!"
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Theresa's vehicle pulled into the drive of the house in Las Vegas that served as the home of Synn and Despayre, herself, and now Gabriel who had moved in following his recent troubles with Odette Ryder. She turned the ignition off and turned to give Despayre her hardest stare.
"What would your father say?" She asked.
Despayre blinked and looked up at her and tilted his head to the side and answered, "He's the one who told the joke."
Theresa clucked her tongue and shook her head when she looked out the van window. She smiled and directed Despayre's attention with her hand. She said, "Look who's here."
He tuned and looked out the window and the smile was immediate as he saw Synn at the front of the drive, talking to two women. One he had expected. The other was a surprise!
"Mom! Gramma!" He shouted in glee.
Theresa had already gotten Angel from the bar's seat as Despayre threw the door open. He grabbed the bear from Theresa and took off running up the drive and ran right into his mom's waiting arms. He then turned and his grandmother quickly took him into her own and embraced him with a fierce showing of a love only a grandma could give.
"Look Angel!" Despayre cried as he took a step back. "Mom and Gramma came!" He looked back at the women and then at his father. "I didn't know Gramma was coming too!"
"We were saving it as a bit of a surprise." Synn proclaimed. "Surprised?"
Despayre nodded eagerly and then asked, "Where's Gabriel? Does he know?"
"He knows." Synn nodded. "He was here when they arrived. He's in the back right now finishing up the touches on ... you know what."
"What?" Despayre asked, an then as Theresa joined them, he nodded, "Riiiight!"
"So." Theresa said as she joined them. "Did you tell your parents and grandmother what you did at the store?"
Despayre went silent and looked down, shaking his head in the negative.
"Uh oh." Synn murmured. "Do we want to know?"
"I said I was sorry!" Despayre wailed.
"What happened?" Margaret asked with a sincere curiosity. They were always telling her stories about her son's antics but to date, she had yet to witness any for herself.
"Oh the trip went fine." Theresa said. "Right up until we were leaving the store. The cashier, a very nice older woman who was missing two fingers on her hand? She waved goodbye and your son got the wrong idea and gave her the finger back."
All four adults turned to look at Despayre who was looking in the air, pretending not to notice their stares. Synn shook his head and Margaret and her mother could only smile and they turned and headed toward the gate that led to the homestead's spacious back yard.
Synn stepped up to Despayre and smiled. "How come you never do those things when your mom is around?" He asked.
"Because I'm mommy's little angel." Despayre coyly whispered back.
"Well mommy's little angel." Theresa said. "Are you going to help me bring the groceries inside?"
"A little later." Synn said and he stepped over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Right now I need to see you in the back yard."
He started to escort her up the walk and toward the gate, as a confused Theresa said, "The back yard? What could be so important that it can't wait for me to bring everything in?"
"Well, you're going to have to forgive me Theresa." Synn said as he stopped at the gate and turned to her. "Truth be told, we really didn't need any of the things at the store so whatever adventures you went through with Joshua... well, they pretty much served as the perfect distraction."
"What?" Theresa frowned at this dubious deception and before she could ask anything further, Synn opened the gate and beckoned her forward. Synn had his mysterious ways, that was a thing of certainty, and when he had a secret, he had his reasons and nothing could coerce him too divulge them. Shaking her head but seeing little alternative, she walked through when she was greeted with a hearty ...
"SURPRISE!"
Every member of the Seven Deadly Sins; Gabriel, Rage, Shane and Fantasia, were all there on the luxurious back patio along with Margaret and her mother. A virtual feast was laid out along two tables and something large was parked in the back and covered with a tarp.
"Surprise!" Despayre shouted, almost in the older woman's ear, making her jump. She looked at him for a moment, and then at everything else.
"What ... is all this?" She asked, eyes wide.
"What's all this?" Synn repeated. "You know, if I were the sensitive sort, I could have been offended by your forgetfulness. Fortunately for you..." He turned to face her and winked. "Seven years ago today you entered my employ, and agreed to put up with whatever quirks and awful little habits that I have."
"And God knows there are enough of those!" Shane called out.
Synn looked back from at him over his shoulder and smiled at the diminutive woman before him. "Indeed. So, this is just a little something to say how much we appreciate everything that you've done for this household. And everything that you've done for me."
Theresa was a strong willed woman, but she was fighting a losing battle as she used her finger tips to wipe quickly at her eyes. Synn was not a man who enjoyed much physical human contact, but he did not object when she stepped into his arms and hugged the man who had given her work when she had needed it and made certain that she had no burdens more than she could bear. There was a light scattering of applause from those present, and then Synn stepped back and shook his head.
"I think that's enough of that, before the rumors begin to start that I actually have a heart."
"God forbid." Gabriel said from his seat at one of the tables.
"Now," Synn said as he tucked an arm around her shoulder and guided her over toward the tarp covered mystery. "... What would an anniversary be without a bit of a gift?"
"Gift?" Theresa looked from him to the covered surprise. "Now, there was no need to..."
"Shane?" Synn interrupted. "Rage? Would you be so kind?"
The two big men stepped up and grabbed the tarp, and with two mighty tugs, whipped it off and revealed the surprise -- a beautiful silver 2012 Kia Sorento. Synn had wanted to purchase her something a little more 'sporty' but he knew the woman well enough and that Theresa would have none of that. She preferred something useful, ignoring Shane's debate that a sportier car would be a real "dick magnet". (Yeah, that one earned him a smack upside the head.)
Theresa said nothing. She couldn't. Such a display had rendered her speechless. She could but stare at the beautiful vehicle that was now revealed, a gift for her. Such a gift, and all as a display of the grateful feelings this family had for her and everything she did for them -- which she humbly felt was not deserving.
Despayre hopped over to her side, "I picked the color!" He looked at the teddy bear in his hand and nodded, "Yeah! Angel helped. Do you like it?"
Theresa wiped at her eyes and said nothing. She just nodded. Despayre frowned, "Then how come you're crying?"
"It's okay." Synn assured his son as he took their beloved housekeeper and guided her to a seat at the table as Margaret brought another plate of food over to set upon it. "Come. This evening it is all about you."
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"I guess those that believe they know me would think it impossible that I could show such feelings of appreciation toward ... well, anyone. In truth, I admit surprise myself. For the longest of times I had no use for anyone. I never had and never believed that I could. Oh don't get me wrong. I will openly say that the vast majority of mankind yet leaves me unsettled and with little use for, but there are those select few who have shown me a different way of beliefs and thoughts. Those are the ones with whom I share a rarity with. I'm sure Kain would have a field day with such a belief, but this time things are not about him."
"I know, if he ever heard someone say something -- anything -- was not about him, he's probably have a heart attack in the mere insinuation."
"No, tonight we must think closely on only two others; a man and a woman. Trevor Irons and Amanda Cortez."
"I will not waste much time in discussing Miss Cortez, as lately she has not shown me much reason to think her worthy of my time. Anyone who tries to pass Despayre off and say they don't know of him or what he is capable of... well, clearly her mind is not fully in the game. One-half of the current NWA World Tag Team Champions. Formerly one-half of the SCW Tag Team Champions for eight months, longest title reign in SCW history. You know the difference between those reigns, and your own, do you not Miss Cortez? Despayre earned his. You were handed your own."
"But Trevor Irons, you indeed are the one I intend to have Despayre focus his talents solely against. You two met briefly in the triple threat title match where Blood Omen walked out as the new tag team champions, but this time things could be a little more personal. You see, Despayre sees it being the fault of you and your partner, Max Burke, as the reason he and Gabriel are no longer the SCW champions. So you might think of this as something of a grudge match to right a wrong. Though that wrong won't be corrected until the eventual return match between Blood Omen and Sinful Obsession. No, this time around it's between just the two of you. We'll let the ladies keep things to themselves while the boys have their own fun, shall we? Oh now I understand that the roulette stipulations could throw quite the monkey wrench into everyone's plans, but that's the beauty of being Despayre. The boy has a knack for having fun in any given circumstance. A pity though, Trevor, that this time around -- you will be his play thing."
"This time we honor the legends of the past, and move on toward the future. The pairing of Despayre and Karina Koji are the future. Amanda Cortez and Trevor irons will be a mer wisp of the memory's past."</color.
