Chapter 3 - Waft Me Away

“Waft me away in the north wind, waft me away in the south wind, waft me away in the east wind, waft me away in the west wind,” the words of Crystal’s song echoed in Penny’s mind.

“Crystal has such a beautiful, soft voice!” she thought to herself. “What a night that was!”

“Half of something is nothing, I am nothing. I have no anchor…have no anchor…no anchor,” her words continued. It was a haunting melody to Penny. “Waft me away in the wind.”

What really surprised her was how Crystal had ended her song. She concluded it stating, “You are my anchor, replied the wind. You are my anchor.”

Marie commended Crystal for her new song in front of everyone, which surprised both her and Penny, considering how she had been treating Crystal lately.

The twin’s dilemma with respect to a new mother coming into their life so unexpectedly, confounded Penny.

“How could that woman say something so cruel to eight year old girls who she had just met?” Penny wondered. “That was so mean!” She knew that it was probably Tanya’s way of assuming immediate authority over them.

Even more surprising to Penny was the way Terry had told his little girls about his engagement. He should have talked to the twins about his relationship with Tanya, when they were alone. That is what she would have done.

“Maybe Terry is right. There is no right time to tell children they are going to have a stranger for a new mother.”

Terry and Tanya had been drinking beer.

“They will get used to the idea,” Tanya had replied angrily, when Terry’s first wife told her that the girls seemed upset. Devastated, she had walked away from Terry and Tanya, rather than give them her best wishes.

“They are my children, not yours.”

Ron and Marie did not seem to see any problem with the engagement; neither did Franklin and Irene, so the majority of the best wishes came from them. Penny politely offered her congratulations and then got ready to head home, as it was getting late.

“Let the families work this out together,” she thought to herself. “They are the ones that own the problem. The twins will likely come see me tomorrow.” Penny hugged them and their brother, reassuring them they could always come and talk to her about anything.

Crystal seemed to be lost in her own thoughts, after Terry made his engagement announcement. Seeing the disappointment on her face, Penny decided to take what was left of the birthday cake to her apartment for the children.

“Want to give me a hand with my guitar, Crystal?”

“Sure. It looks like Terry is not ever going to be my dad,” she said to Penny, as she put the guitar in the back seat of the car for her. “Maybe it is better that way.”

“Extended families happen,” Penny suggested to her. “It will all work out, somehow.”

“I wanted more family, but not this way,” replied Crystal. “I feel sorry for the twins.”

“Crystal, I can give you guitar lessons once a week, if it is all right with your grandparents. You can let me know and we will set a time.”

“I have to ask them.”

“Your new song was beautiful and you sang it very well. I will teach you chords for it. You can add more verses too, if you like.”

When Crystal showed up the next day, Penny had not seen the twins yet. She immediately spotted the gold lighter in Crystal’s hand and recognized it as one that Tanya had left sitting on the picnic table next to her cigarettes.

“Maybe Tanya gave it to her as a gift for singing her new song?” she thought to herself.

Penny knew it was not an appropriate gift for a twelve-year old girl. She decided to ask her about the lighter, but just then, the twins showed up with a gift for Penny.

“We have to talk to you about Tanya. She said she is going to be our new mother. We don’t like her,” said Dana.

“We brought you a present,” said Dani, holding out small package, wrapped in leftover wrapping paper from the birthday party.

“You did?” replied Penny, with amazement. “You two are so sweet, but it is not my birthday yet.” She untied the ribbon, took the wrapping paper off and opened the tiny box. Inside, she found two miniature gold hearts, nestled in soft, white tissue paper.

“Our mom gave us those hearts when we were just little,” said Dana. “We had chains for them,” said Dana. “But, we broke them.”

“We want you to have them, not Tanya,” added Dani. “We don’t want her for our mother.”

“These are very special,” replied Penny, as tears welled up in her eyes. It was obvious that the twins wanted her to assume the role as their mother. “How can I accept these under the circumstances?” she asked herself. “Tanya is going to be their mother.”

“Thank you, girls,” said Penny with a smile. “But, I can only be your friend.”

“They are our gift to you,” said Dana.

“We love you,” said Dani. “Now, may we have some cookies and milk?”

“Maybe we should have leftover birthday cake?” suggested Penny. “There is enough for everyone.”

Penny made a quick decision. She would accept the hearts graciously, as the girls had given them to her in the spirit of love. She would also purchase new gold chains for them and at some time in the near future when the moment was right, give them back to the twins.

“Thank you again, Dana and Dani,” she said, giving each of them a hug. “That is a wonderful present.”

Crystal slipped the lighter into the back pocket of her blue jeans, along with a handful of red and white peppermints Penny had left sitting on the kitchen table.

“One or two,” said Penny.

“Thank you,” replied Crystal, putting the rest back.

“May we have some, too?” asked the twins, at the same time. “We love peppermints.”

“Thank you!”

“Penny, I brought you a gift, too,” she said, as she reached in her pocket and pulled out the lighter. “This is for for helping me with my song.”

That was the last thing that Penny expected to happen.

“Crystal, I cannot accept that lighter,” replied Penny. “You and I will have to have a talk about it, after the twins go home.”