The kids did what they had to do to get their parents 30th anniversary set up. Maddie and Delilah were even going to be in on giving David and Brie hot stone massages during their of rest, relaxation, and rejuvenation. Malachai told his buddy Greg to put his parents’ meal on his tab and that he’d pay it the next time he was in town. Greg was happy to oblige. “Hell, ‘Chai, if you weren’t so insistent, I’d just comp the meals”, he said. “I’ve been a Disturbed fan since I can remember. My parents would play Disturbed in the house all the time. Hell, they’d blare that shit in the car as they drove past Utopian soldiers.”
“That’s some cool shit there, bro. But, though this is free for Mom and Dad, it’s not free for us kids. Jordan’s paying for their suite while they’re there and Jake and the quads are going to pay for airfare.”
“What’s you little sister Maddie doing?”
“She’s convinced a friend of hers to let her borrow her spa for a day. My parents are going to be pampered spoiled because they’ve been together for 30 fucking years.”
“That’s really good man. They must be really in love.”
“I swear my Dad worships the ground my Mom walks on, bro. They’re supportive of each other no matter what. Mom inspires Dad; Dad treats Mom like a queen.”
“That has to be sickening to watch at times.”
“It can be, but they’re happy and in love. Dude, this whole thing that we’re doing is for their 30th anniversary.”
“Damn. They’ve been together that long?”
“Yep. They’ve been together that long. She’s his inspiration; he’s her strength. They’re soul mates, bro. And growing up watching them together had made all fucking ten of us want to find out soul mate. So far those of us that are married or about to get married have been lucky.”
“That’s fucking awesome. Ok, so, I’m charging any meal they come here for to your tab and you’ll pay it the next time you’re in town?”
“Yes.”
“You got it. Man, I hope this doesn’t blow up in you guys’ faces. I can just imagine the hell you’ll all catch should their 30th anniversary not go the way you plan.”
“Oh, bro, you have no idea. My mother is the world’s worst with guilt. I don’t even want to think this is going to fail. It has to work. There’s no other option.”
“I’m glad you see it that way. That means it can’t fail.”
“Precisely. It can’t fail. We won’t let it. There are far too fucking many Draiman children to let this fall apart.”
“How many of you assholes are there now, including spouses and significant other’s?”
Malachai had to think for a moment and count in his head. “Fifteen, I think. Four of us are married and we’ve got a wedding coming up in June.”
“Nice. Which brother’s tying the knot?” Greg was rather familiar with the Draiman family not only from ‘Chai talking to him about them, but from meeting them all personally. He’d been a huge Disturbed fan since he was a young child. His parents had always wanted to meet David Draiman but never got the chance too. His father deserted the Utopian Army after being forced to join from the US Army. When his family was found, his father was immediately executed along with his mother. The children were all adopted out. The Resistance saved them in a raid. Greg would always be grateful for David’s words in the ‘Never Again’ speech he gave so many years ago for those words inspired the soldiers that saved his and his brother’s and sister’s lives.
“’Miah”, he replied. There was a long silence. Malachai hated when Greg got like that. “Hello? Earth to Greg Hanson. Come in Chef Hanson.”
“Sorry about that. ‘Miah, the tall thin one that played football?”
“No, that’s his twin brother James. Jeremiah’s the tall thin one that plays drums.”
“Oh, yeah, along with Meagan, right?”
“Yep.”
“And Makayla was the cheerleader.”
“Exactly.”
“Ok. Glad you set me straight on that. I keep getting your family confused. Why did your parents have so damn many?”
“They wanted a houseful.”
“I’d have to say they got it. Well, ‘Chai. I’d love to stay on here and chat all day, but I have a restaurant to run and idiots to manage. So, I’ll have to chat and get caught up another time.”
“Alright, brother. I’ll catch you later. I’ll be sure to let my parents know they have a standing reservation at Shangri La Fine Dining.”
“Do that. I’d love to see them here again.”
---------------
Young Miranda Draiman was a very intelligent young woman. She knew a great deal of things that her parents had no idea she knew about. One of those things was sex. She’d read about it plenty, but she’d never actually seen it happen. She had just come out of the upstairs bathroom from helping her little cousin Miri “use the potty”. Miri had run ahead. Miranda was really in no hurry to go back downstairs to listen to her father and aunts and uncles try to plan something that she didn’t understand. What so important about an anniversary anyway? It’s not like it was a birthday or anything, right?
On top of dance classes, Miranda and her twin brother Isaiah were taking acting lessons. The troupe they were a part of was putting on a production of the classic Tony award winning Broadway musical Phantom of the Opera. She when she’d auditioned, she’d wanted to play the role of Meg. The director had other things in mind. She was to play the young beauty Christine Daae. They’d been rehearsing for months and were blocking and choreographing the Don Juan Triumphant scenes. Though she understood what sex was, she didn’t understand what passion was. She contemplated this regularly as she was having trouble accessing what she needed to so that she could be a convincing Christine. She’d watched the movie countless times and she knew there was something missing from her performance in that particular scene.
As she made her way down the hall toward the stairwell, she passed her grandparents’ bedroom. The door was cracked just enough to hear whatever it was they were doing and get a decent view of the bed. She’d been in her grandparents bedroom before. She knew the layout quite well. She spent many Hanukkah in there with her brothers and cousins trying to find the Hanukkah presents that Gramma and Grampa had gotten for everyone.
She tried to ignore what she heard, but curiosity got the best of her. She stopped for what was supposed to be just a moment and peaked in through the cracked door to her grandparents room. What she saw didn’t frighten her. It didn’t excite her. It moved her. As she stood at the partially open door, she didn’t see two people together in a bed. She saw two halves of the whole. Yin and Yang in perfect balance. She put her back to the wall and rather than watching, she listened. As she listened, she thought of the piece she was having trouble with. When she could clearly hear the piece in her head, she hummed quietly to herself as she listened to her grandparents. “Past the point of no return, one final question. How long should we two wait before we’re one? When will the blood begin to race? The sleeping bud burst into bloom? When will the flames at last consume us? Past the point of no return, no going back now, our passion play has now at last begun…” She could hear the crescendos and diminuendos clearly. She sat there for what felt like only a few minutes and imagined the entire scene in her head. She saw the choreography that they had been doing and felt it was all wrong. She started over again once the song ended the second time. “The bridge is crossed so stand and watch it burn, we’ve passed the point of no return”, she and Brandon would sing together and she saw what they should do. From beginning to end, she had Point of No Return choreographed for herself and her Phantom.
When she opened her eyes, she felt something wet roll down her cheek and realized that she was crying. She couldn’t let anyone catch her sitting there, let alone catch her there crying. When she realized that her grandparents were no longer engaged in their passion play, she pushed herself to standing and ran back down the hall toward the bathroom. She shut the door quietly, locked it and sank into the floor with her back to the door. After drawing her knees to her chest, she sat and recalled what she heard. What a funny thing passion is, she thought. It doesn’t seem to matter what the tempo is, if the passion is strong enough, you can still get the message across. She sniffled. Passion can be hot and dangerous like a fire or warm and soothing like a hot bubble bath. When I watch my parents, they have the warm and soothing. They seem to still be trying to find that spark that takes them from embers to a full blown flame. Gramma and Grampa, however, seem to have their flame, but they can make it calming as well. That’s what my performance has been lacking. Taking the residual heat from the embers of the fire and converting it back into an inferno, then back to embers again. Crescendo and diminuendo. Up and down. Intense and not so intense. Yin and Yang. Like life, the piece musically is all about balance.
Someone knocked on the door. “Miranda, are you in there, baby girl?” her father asked.
“Yeah, Daddy. I’ll be down in just a moment. I forgot to wash my hands after helping Miri.”
“Miri’s been downstairs for a while now, baby and it doesn’t take that long to wash your hands.”
“Well, I don’t think you need to know this, but I needed to go pee too and I didn’t want Miri in here when I did. Geez, Dad. Nosy much?”
Her father laughed. “Just hurry up and get back downstairs. It’s almost time to tell Gramma and Grampa bye. They’re leaving for Chicago soon.”
“Are they going to see Great- uncle Danny and Great- aunt Nikki while they’re there?”
“Maybe, sweetie. I don’t know. Just hurry up and get downstairs.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll be down in a moment.”
“Ok, sweetie. I’ll leave you to finish what you were doing then.” She heard her father’s heavy footsteps go down the hall as he walked away. When she couldn’t hear them anymore, she stood and went to the sink. She looked at her reflection carefully and you could see the tear stains on her cheek clearly. She didn’t want her grandparents to think she was crying because she didn’t want them to leave. She was crying because of what she witnessed. What she saw was pure poetry in motion. It was sheer beauty and she hadn’t watched most of it. She’d heard the song at least three times as it ran through her mind. The first time was a continuation of what she saw them do together.
Once she washed her hands, she headed out of the bathroom. She saw that her grandparents’ bedroom door was opened. They were no longer inside. They had to be downstairs waiting to say goodbye to her before they left. She made her way down the stairs and tried not to cry when she saw them sitting on the couch telling her brothers and cousins good-bye and that they’d be home soon.
She went to them and hugged them both. “Bye, Grampa. Bye, Gramma. Have fun”, she said as a tear rolled down her cheek.
Her grandfather felt the tear soak into his shirt. “What are you crying for, Miranda?” he asked.
“I’m just gonna miss you guys, that’s all.”
“We’re only going to be gone for a couple of days, baby”, her grandmother said. “Did you cry like this when we went out of the country?”
“Yeah.”
Her grandparents looked at her father. “Did she?” her grandfather asked.
Her father nodded. “Yeah, she did. Mandy and I have noticed that her emotions come out of her eyes and it
doesn’t matter what emotion it is.”
“She’ll cry at the drop of a hat?”
“Something like that.”
“She’s got a soft heart”, her grandmother said. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Mom, Dad; we’ve got to get out of here”, her Uncle Jay said.
“Patience James Matthew”, her grandmother said sternly. “We’ll leave in a moment. Keep rushing us and I’ll break my foot off. Do you understand?”
Her uncle hung his head. “Yes, ma’am.”
Her grandparents finished saying their good- byes and left for the airport. Isaiah, her twin, pulled her aside to talk for a moment. “Randa, what’s wrong, sis?” he asked.
“Saia, I just witnessed the most beautiful thing in the world. You know how I’ve been struggling with my performance of Point of No Return in the play?”
“Yeah.”
“I now know what passion is and I have our grandparents to thank. Problem is, they can never know and neither can Mom and Dad.”
“What did you see?”
---------------
As they rode to the airport with James and Kimmy, Brie laid her head on David shoulder and sighed. “A weekend getaway paid for by our kids. Are you serious?” she said with a sigh.
“Apparently this is happening. It’s slightly frightening, but it’s happening”, he sighed. They rode in silence for a several moments- just enjoying each other’s company- when he spoke again. “I wish I had a private plane”, he said from out of nowhere.
She looked up at him from where he head rested on his shoulder. “Why?”
He looked down at her and grinned. “The Mile- High Club. You’re not a member, are you?”
She laughed. “No, I’m not. Why am I not surprised that you are?”
“Because I’m me?”
“Because you’re a total Lech.”
“I’m a man. I’m supposed to be a little lecherous.”
She shrugged. “Touché.”
“Why aren’t you a member of the Mile- High club?”
“How often do I usually travel?”
“Not often to be perfectly frank. I see what you’re saying. Before we move to Israel, that’s going to have to change.”
“Mom, Dad… REALLY?” James laughed. “You two have no shame.”
“You’re an adult, James. As well as an expectant father. Get over it”, his father said very matter- of- factly. James couldn’t help but laugh.
“What do you think they’ve got in store for us?” Brie asked her husband.
“I’m afraid to speculate, to be honest. If Maddie is the one in charge of the planning of the biggest portion of it, then there’s not telling.”
“Would you two relax?” James said. “It’s not bad.”
“Then what’s going on?” Brie asked.
“We can’t tell you, Ms. Brie, it’s a surprise”, Kimmy said with a smile.
“What can you tell us?” David asked.
James’ face screwed up in thought. “I can tell you that we focused on things that Mom would like because we know that if Mom enjoys it, you’ll enjoy it, Dad.”
“You and your siblings are far too observant for comfort at times.”
“Things I’d like, huh?” Brie said, her voice distant from thought.
“Yes, things you would like, Mom”, James responded.
“I like a lot of things, James.”
“And that helps us be vague about it. If you can’t pick out of the millions of things you enjoy doing what it is that me have planned for the woman who has everything, then you’ll never figure it out. Now, please, stop trying to figure it out what’s going on tomorrow and try to enjoy what we’re doing for you guys. Look at it as our way of saying thank you for everything you’ve done of all of us in our lives. All we’re trying to do is give back to you.”
“Show a little appreciation for raising the ten of you monsters?” Brie didn’t sound convinced.
“You don’t sound convinced, Mom.”
“I’m not. I know my children. There has to be an ulterior motive.”
“There’s not, Mom. Come on. Give us some credit.”
“We give the ten of you all the credit you deserve”, David said.
“You’ll be thanking us all over the place once the weekend is over, Dad. I already know it.”
“Maybe so; but that’s only if you can pull it off.”
James didn’t know how to respond to that, so he just shut his mouth. They rode the rest of the way to the airport in silence. They dropped his parents off at the airport, said their good-byes and left. David and Brie checked the ONLY bag either of them were putting under the plane and headed off to their gate. Once they were on the plane and comfortable, they simply pulled out their reading material and waited for the captain to go through the safety protocols. Having traveled as much as he had, David usually continued to read while the captain went through his script. Hell, he practically had it memorized. Seat in upright and forward position for takeoff, buckle your seatbelt until the light goes off, he seat cushion could be used as a floatation device, oxygen masks will fall from over head should the cabin decompress during the flight, so an and so forth. It was really rather boring and never changed.
Once they’d taken off, Brie looked around at the rest of the plane then at her husband. “Baby”, she said softly.
He looked at her from the corner of his eye. “What’s wrong?” he asked just as quietly.
“Look around the plane and you tell me if you’re seeing what I’m seeing.”
He looked around the cabin of the plane and saw that there was no one there. “Are you not seeing people either?” He looked back at her.
“No”, she said with the shake of her head.
He grabbed the flight attendant’s attention. “Ma’am”, he said politely. “Where are the other passengers?”
“This flight was reserved for a David and Brie Draiman by a Dr. J. Micah Draiman”, she said in a bubbly voice.
“The entire flight?”
“Yes, sir. Are you David Draiman?”
“Yes, I am. Thank you very much. That’s all I needed to know.” She smiled and walked away. “Jake reserved this entire flight for us?”
“You can ask him. Just send him an SMS message via messenger”, Brie responded.
He pulled is laptop out of his carry- on and booted it up and connect to the Wi-Fi on board the plane. After everything was connected, he sent the family neurologist a message. “The ENTIRE plane, Jake? Really?”
“Yeah, about that...” Jake replied.
“Why the entire plane?”
“Just because I could ;)”
“You’re a dead man when we get home, your mother says. I hope you’re prepared to deal with it.”
“Mom doesn’t scare me, lol”
“She should. She’s a hell of a lot meaner than I am. Has your mother ever thrown a shoe at you before?”
“-looks confused- No. Has she ever thrown one at you?”
“A time or two, and let me tell you, she’s has an arm. Where do you think Jessi got her cannon from?”
“Oops. Ok, well, I’ve got to get to work. Enjoy your anniversary, Dad. Give Mom our love.” And like that, the conversation was over.
David got the flight attendant’s attention again. “Miss, is there any way my wife and I could get some privacy?”
“The parcel you’re in converts to a bed if you need to lie down for some reason and you can pull the curtain behind you around the parcel for privacy.”
“Believe me, you’ll want to be elsewhere after my wife and I get started.”
She just smiled blankly and nodded. “Would you like me to convert the parcel for you?”
They stood and got out of the young lady’s way. “Be our guest.”
She converted the seats into a bed for them. Once they were situated she pulled the curtain partially around then spoke. “Don’t hesitate if you need me again, sir.”
David nodded as she pulled the curtain around fully. “Remember how I said that you not being a member of the Mile High Club had to change before we moved for good?” he asked his wife.
“Yeah, what about it?”
---------------
Lola "Candy" Gilmore and Maddie were good friends when they went through massage school together. Candy moved back home to Chicago after school where Maddie stayed at home in Colorado, but they stayed in close contact. When Maddie told Candy that she needed to borrow her spa for her parents’ 30 anniversary, Candy was excited. Not only was she getting to see her old friend from school, she was getting to help with her parents’ big day. 30 years was a long time to been together. Now, Maddie was in her spa and they- along with Maddie’s sister in law Delilah- were trying to put together the perfect day of rejuvenation for Maddie’s parents. “My esthetician could always do masks for them”, Candy said.
Maddie and Delilah both shook their head no. “My father would rather die than allow something to be put on his face.”
“So I guess giving him a wrap of some sort would be out of the question, too.”
“Yeah, it would”, Delilah said with a nod. “Mom would love it, but Dad would tell you, ‘If you touch me with that shit I will be very angry. Trust me, honey, you don’t want to see me come unglued’.”
“Would they both enjoy the sauna?”
“That they both could enjoy”, Maddie said with a smile.
“How long should we let them bake?”
“Mom will want at least an hour. She’s done saunas and sweats before, and hell, Dad’s been to Israel many, many times and he’s a performer. It’s not like they’re not used to sweating. But, I’m warning you, your sauna may need to be cleaned after they come out.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because they take every moment they can get alone together to…” Maddie intentionally let the sentence drop off.
“Oh. Wow. They’re still active in their 60’s?”
“Yeah. They’re still active”, Delilah said with a grin.
“You say that as though you’ve walked in on them before”, Maddie pointed out.
“I have”, Delilah said simply. “I would be heading into the kitchen to get juice for one of the kids and they’d be in there on the counters.”
“It didn’t bother you?” Candy asked.
Delilah shook her head. “I could care less. So what, they like to do what they do all over the house? The way I see it is they pay the bills. They can screw around wherever they want to.”
“But you’ve seen my parents naked, Delilah”, Maddie said.
“I have no modesty. I don’t care. The human body is what it is. Short, tall, fat, thin… it is what it is. I guess having a background in dance helps.” She shrugged.
“What do you mean?” Candy asked.
“Well, when you share a dressing room with twenty other girls and you have to change in between numbers you quit caring who sees you bare assed naked. I mean, it’s nice to have someone helping you zip a skirt that slits clear up to your hip and know that they’re not going to flinch if they see your no- no parts.”
Candy and Maddie exchanged a look and let out involuntary shivers. “I don’t even want to think about it”, Maddie said.
“I have it on good authority that both of your parents like glute work done. Are you going to flinch and not work their glutes because they’re your parents and you don’t want think about what they look like naked? If so, let me know now, Maddie”, Delilah said sternly.
“Why?”
“So that we can find someone to cover for”, Candy said. “I see what you’re getting at, Delilah.”
“I’m still lost”, Maddie said.
“You can’t treat them like they’re your parents. You have to treat them like every other client or someone is going to have to do it”, Delilah said. “You work on Mom with no problem.”
“No, I can’t work her glutes. I just can’t do it. I don’t know why.”
“Because you’re still thinking of her as the woman who raised you and not the client that’s going to pay you”, Candy said.
“I have no problem working on Dad”, Delilah said. “I’m completely ok with it. He’s just another client to me. Hell, while Mom was down with that flu a while back, I worked on Dad for his weekly massage. I worked the glutes and he said it was one of the best he’s ever had and he was glad that I didn’t treat him like ‘Dad’, but like a client.”
“See, they raised me, though. I don’t know if I can.”
“And you’re gonna hear Mom, ‘Maddie, you need to work in my glutes. You know that I don’t consider the massage complete without glute work. They’re muscles too and they need attention.’”
“Candy, do you think you can do it for me tomorrow?”
“I’ll work on your Mom. To me, she is another client. I may have met her that one time when she came up to Greeley from Colorado Springs and gave Abel an earful over you, but she’s still just another client.”
“So, I can just supervise and make sure this all goes off without a hitch?”
“Yes, Maddie. You can play my boss for a day. Now, what kind of massage are we giving Mr. and Mrs. Draiman?” Candy said.
“My vote is stones”, Maddie said.
“Didn’t Dad tell Mom once that if she touched him with stones he’d find another therapist?” Delilah asked with a laugh.
“Yeah, then later that day she needed to get heat into his back because it just wasn’t letting her in, and she used her stones. Afterward, he asked his she got her hands so hot and she looked him in the eyes and said, ‘Those were stones, asshole. Couldn’t tell the difference between them and my hand, could you?’ He said, ‘No, actually. I thought it would have felt like you were massaging me with rocks’. He hasn’t bitched when she’s needed to use stones on him since.”
“Well, I like the idea of doing stones. It’s a brilliant idea if you ask me”, Candy added.
“Delilah?” Maddie asked.
“Stones it is, I guess. Good thing I brought mine.”
“If you hadn’t I have a set you can borrow. They’re the community stones”, Candy said.
Delilah shook her head. “We have a set like that too, and I can’t use them. There’s this glitch in my brain I guess, because I can only use my stone because I know the energy. The energy of community stones is way too random and jumbled. I think it’s has to do with my Body- Mind training. The energy is residual unless you cleanse those bloody things daily. I appreciate it though.”
“How would you do that?”
“Smoke. Burn sage and smudge them every day”, Maddie said.
“Hmm… never thought of that. Where did you guys learn that?”
“My husband. He’s a Navajo Indian”, she said with a shrug.
“Hmm… nice. And I’m sure that after the Stones they’ll want to just relax somewhere just the two of them and maybe eat a little bit of a romantic lunch?” Candy asked. “I could always have the Chef here to make your parents a gourmet meal for their anniversary lunch.”
“Do that.”
“What do you think they’ll want to eat?”
“I don’t know and I’m not going to try to speculate. I guess just have your Chef put together a small menu and let them chose.”
“We can do a fondue appetizer if they want.”
“Have the stuff here and run it past them at lunch time. That’s all I can tell you. I try not to speculate when it comes to the things my parents eat.”
“No problem. I won’t make you speculate.”
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