Safe Harbour

Safe Harbour

In the early morning, sail bravely out to sea.
Visit distant shores, be all that you can be.
But when storms or darkness threatens,
Come sailing safely back to me.

Lenny was in the den, lost to the world, totally engrossed playing chess on-line. Phillip was in his bedroom, lying on his bed covered in comic books. Becky was in her bedroom, lip-syncing to music when she suddenly screamed out...

"Aaaaaaaargh! Sweet suffering shih tzus! Not again. Get out! Out, out, out, out, out!"

Running from her bedroom to the top of the stairs, she shouted, "Moooooooom! Booger Boy's rodent is in my room again!" She then hurried down the hall to her brother's room.

"Get your hairy little vermin out of my room now!"

"Alright, alright. Keep your shirt on. I'll get him. I'll get him."

Phillip's hamster, Rover, had been living up to his wandering name recently. This was the second time this week Phillip's furry Houdini had escaped and managed to find his way into his older sister's bedroom. The two siblings quickly made their way back to Becky's room only to discover Rover wasn't by the bureau where Becky had last seen him.

"Hurry up and find the furball before I get Smidge or Barney in here and let them find him." Becky threatened, referring to their cat and dog.

"You better not. I'll find him. Where are you Rover? Come here Rover."

"Yeah right. He's not a dog. Like he's actually going to come to you when you call. He doesn't know his name." Taunted Becky.

"He does too. Rover is very smart. He taught himself how to use his wheel without any help from me at all."

"So he's smarter than you. Big deal. That's not saying much."

"Shut up and help me look."

Minutes later Phillip located Rover under the bed. He was happily filling his cheek pouches with fuzzy green synthetic material from the holes he was chewing in one of Becky's fuzzy slippers.

Becky peered under her bed alongside her brother and yelled."Not my favourite frog slippers!" (Becky likes to collect all things frog related) "Look at the holes your rat has made in my frog slipper!"

"He's not a rat. He's a hamster. A Chinese dwarf hamster." Phillip scooped up Rover and hurried back to his room while Becky once again rushed to the top of the stairs.

"Mooooooooooom! Phillip's Chinese midget mouse has ruined my frog slippers! They're the slippers Aunt Emma from England sent me last Christmas. The ones I instantly fell in love with. The ones I wanted to get married in and buried in when I die. (Becky also likes to be overly dramatic) Now they're completely ruined. Mom! Mooooooooooom?"

By this time the commotion upstairs had been sufficient to partially break Lenny's chess game concentration. "Sam. Can you see what the kids are arguing about?" He shouted without taking his eyes off his laptop screen.

"Sam? Samantha?" Lenny repeated when Samantha didn't reply. (Samantha was usually the person everyone shouted for concerning menu inquires, the location of lost car keys, school books and clothes, or to resolve Chinese dwarf hamster/frog slipper disputes) Not hearing Samantha respond, Lenny messaged his on-line chess partner saying he'd be back shortly and went upstairs to see what all the fuss was about.

A few minutes later Lenny had, (somewhat), calmed things down with Becky by grounding Phillip for the rest of the night, making him promise there would be no further Rover breakouts and having him agree to use his Christmas/birthday/chores money to replace Becky's fuzzy green frog slippers, (although that might be easier said than done). It was around this time that Lenny realized Samantha still hadn't responded to this latest Stevens household crisis. That wasn't like her.

"Sam? Sammi?" Called Lenny as he headed back down stairs. She wasn't in the kitchen, living room or dining room so he checked on the back deck and then outside in the yard, eventually coming back through the garage. As he entered the basement he heard what sounded like crying coming from the laundry room.

"Sam?" He asked, knocking on the door. (The laundry room door was never kept closed) "Can I come in?"

The sounds of crying subsided and moments later from behind the closed door came a weak "Yes. Come in". Lenny slowly opened the door, finding Samantha sitting crossed legged, Indian style, on top of the dryer. Her eyes were red and her head hung down. She was looking at her laptop which she held in her lap.

Without looking up Samantha said, "I came down here because I didn't want everyone to see me crying again.", her left palm reaching up to dry away a tear and wipe her nose. Lenny stepped in front of her. As she looked up he gently swept the hair out of her eyes, placing the long soft blonde tresses behind her ears.

"I had been doing so good lately. I haven't cried in weeks."

"It's okay Sammi. We understand. Would you rather I leave?" Lenny asked.

"No babe." Samantha pointed to her laptop. "I just found a post to my Facebook wall...from Jackie. She posted it just before..." Samantha trailed off as her voice began to quiver. Lenny took the laptop from Sam and hopped up onto the washer beside her. Leaning sideways, he wrapped his right arm around her, drawing her head in to rest on his shoulder.

Samantha hadn't logged into Facebook in a little over two months, but even so, she was surprised to see an old unread post from Jackie. (Two months previously Jackie had died in a tragic car accident)

Jackie had been one of Samantha's closest friends. They'd known each other since high school. Once a month Sam, Jackie and five other girl friends gathered together at McCloskey's coffee and book store in town to talk about books. (It was supposed to be about books but eventually the conversation would turn to food, kids, movies, local gossip, work, clothes, men, sex and anything else that caught their fancy) The month immediately after the accident the book club had been canceled because the pain was too fresh for some in the group. The following book club, (held after the accident), was the most difficult get together the group had ever attended. They had a brass engraved plate made, honouring Jackie, installed in the side booth at McCloskey's where the book club hold their monthly get togethers. The group felt very much different now without her. Many things now felt different without her.

Lenny stroked Samantha's head with his left hand, his other arm fixed around her shoulder. When he felt her body begin to meld with his and her breathing become more relaxed, he asked, "What did she write?".

"Nothing really. It wasn't even written to me." Samantha said, reaching for the laptop and turning it towards Lenny. He scanned down Sam's Facebook wall until he found Jackie's post. It was only a two word post and a winking smiley face...

"I'll bet. "

...It was in reply to a post Jenn had made. (Jenn was another of Sam's friends. Jenn had wrote she was nervous about her upcoming blind date. That would have been Jenn's first date since she got divorced two years ago).

"Seeing Jackie's post brought all the pain and memories rushing back. It's made me think about Lisa and Leroy, (Jackie's kids), and Roger, (Jackie's husband) and how they're coping now without her. Did I ever tell you what happened at little Leroy's baby shower?"

Lenny shook his head. "No. I don't think so."

"Rachel, (one of the girlfriends from the book group), bought this really nice swing set-slash-activity center as a baby shower gift. It had an overhead moving mobile and other nifty features...variable speeds for the automatic swing, lights, music, the works. It must have cost a small fortune. I felt embarrassed when I had to follow that, only giving her Pampers, baby wipes and a few other odds and ends. I wish I had bought a gift like Rachel's. In so many ways I could have been a better friend. I should have been there for her more. I've still got one of her casserole dishes. I never got around to returning it after the accident. I miss her soooooooo much.

"I know you do Hon." Lenny said rubbing Samantha's cheek with his fingers . "I know how much you cared about Jackie...her family and your friends know too...but more importantly, Jackie knew."

"Look at the date Jackie made that post." Samantha said. "It was made the night before she died. That was the last night she was alive. I wish I could go back in time and tell her not to step outside her door the next day." Sam began to cry again.

Lenny squeezed Samantha tightly and stroked her hair and cheek. The two of them sat side by side, crossed legged together on the washer and dryer for several more minutes before being interrupted by their dog, Barney, standing in the doorway with his leash in his mouth.

"Sorry buddy, You're gonna have to wait some before I take you out." Said Lenny.

"No. I'm fine now. Take Barney for his walk, but you best change that shirt." Referring to the dark wet patch from Samantha's tears.

"Are you sure Pumpkin?"

"Yes. Go...but first could you help me down from here? I think my legs have gone to sleep."

"I so love you Samantha Jean Stevens." Lenny said after he helped her off the dryer and kissed her.

"And I very much love you too, Lenny Bartholomew Stevens."



Author's note...I'm Canadian so I spell words like "harbour", "colour" and "favourite" with a "u". (That's "harbor", "color" and "favorite" for my American readers) In Canada we spell some words like the Brits, and other words like the Yanks.

...Also...speaking of spelling...I didn't realize, (that's "realise" for my British readers), the correct spelling of "shitsu", (the dog breed), is "shih tzu". Thanks Becky.

...Another also...I replaced the original Philip, (from Life With Lenny), with this new and improved Phillip when I discovered the original Philip spelled his name wrong.

...And finally...I wanted Harrison Ford to appear in this story but obviously he doesn't. Sorry. (I couldn't afford his asking fee) I went with the Chinese dwarf hamster instead.

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