Jack escorted Melissa towards the community house for Thanksgiving Dinner. There were twenty cars parked up and down the street in front of the house. There were a lot of strange cars in the neighborhood that day. Almost every occupied house had a strange car parked in front of it and Jack was pretty sure that he knew the reason why. He sighed and said, "This is not going to be a good day for a lot of people."
The reminder of people facing bad days reminded Melissa of Jack's roommate. She asked, "How is Abby?"
"She's in pretty bad shape. She just sits there and stares off into the distance. She doesn't talk to anyone," Jack answered worried about Abby. The concern he felt was evident in his voice.
"Is she working?" Melissa asked knowing that this was not the time to miss work. Companies were letting people go over the flimsiest excuse. People were getting rid of employees who had worked for years in order to hire family members. Stories were circulating about people getting fired for missing work because they attended a funeral. The world was becoming a pretty cutthroat place to live.
"Yes. In fact she's at work now," Jack answered.
Melissa said, "Spending Thanksgiving at the Taco Emporium has to be pretty depressing. I imagine she is feeling pretty miserable about now."
"I know," Jack said. "She's also been helping to clean up the house next to mine for a little extra money."
"That should help her finances a little," Melissa said.
Jack opened the door of the community house for Melissa. The small house was packed with people. Jack paused at the door and dropped some money into the collection jar that was by the door noticing that it was nearly full of money. Melissa said, "Wow. There's a bunch of people here."
"And you were afraid that you'd be intruding," Jack said winking at her.
"Not anymore," Melissa said. Once she had learned that Melissa didn't have any family in the area, Frau Shultz had insisted that she come over for Thanksgiving.
Jack said, "My parents should be here soon."
"Let's see. We already have the wedding dress and now I'm going to meet your parents. I'm sure that Frau Shultz is pleased with how things are progressing," Melissa said with a smile. Poor Jack had not really recovered from having discovered the wedding dress that first morning when she had come over there. He had dropped like a rock on seeing it there. She was going to have to be careful in reeling him in.
"Let's not even joke about that," Jack said flinching. He noticed that Frau Shultz was making a beeline straight towards them. He said, "Here comes Frau Shultz."
"I'll talk to her," Melissa said patting Jack on the arm. She smiled at the elderly woman and said, "Guter Tag."
With the German language flying hot and heavy, Jack left the two women to chat and looked around the room. The smell of food hung heavy in the air. It would be at least an hour before they were ready to eat. He always felt that the smell of Thanksgiving dinner cooking was essential to making the holiday special. While this was supposed to be a festive occasion, the atmosphere in the small house was less than happy. He was passing by Bev when he heard her son announce, "You're moving in with us."
Bev glared at the middle aged man and replied, "Like hell I will."
"Mother, you are getting old," her son said as if he was talking to a young child.
Bev stood up straight at hearing the condescending tone of voice. She was ready to light into him and give him a piece of her mind. Feeling sure that Bev could use a little support, Jack went over to her and asked, "Bev, is everything all right here?"
"For the moment," Bev answered giving her son a dark look.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Jack."
"Don't butt in where you aren't wanted," the man said getting tired of the interruptions. He had wanted to talk to his mother alone and the huge crowd here made that impossible. Every time he brought up the subject of having her move in with his family someone showed up and interrupted.
Wanting to slap her son silly, Bev said, "Jack, let me introduce you to my rude and obnoxious son, Harry."
"Nice to meet you Harry," Jack said. He was about to mention that Bev had nice things to say about him, but considering the introduction he thought that would not be wise.
Giving Jack a dark look, Harry said, "I was talking to my mother. Now if you don't mind, run along."
When Bev grabbed his arm so that he wouldn't leave, Jack asked, "How's the turkey coming?"
"It should be done in a little while. I was going to check on it, but Liz said she would do that for me," Bev answered. Liz had recognized that Harry would have followed her over the house and really cranked up the pressure on her. Cutting her son out of the conversation, she asked, "Have your parents arrived yet?"
"Not yet. I expect them any time now," Jack answered glancing back at the front door.
Harry interrupted, "We haven't finished our discussion."
"Yes we have," Bev replied. Looking him in the eye, she said, "I'm not moving out of my house. I'm not going to live with you."
"Mother! You don't understand," Harry said. There was an edge of desperation in his voice.
"I do understand. You're looking to me to help you out financially now that your wife has lost her job. I can't do that," Bev said. She wasn't going to give away all of her money and become a plant that sat in a room all day long.
"Don't be that way. Look, the girls have agreed to share a room so that you'll have a room all to yourself. It will be great, you'll be surrounded by your family and we'll take care of you," Harry said. He wasn't going to say that the girls were all that happy about sharing a room.
"No."
Fred came over and said, "Hello, Bev. How are you doing?"
"I'm fine, Fred. I'm glad that you could make it," Bev said giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. Harry glared at Fred on seeing that little demonstration of intimacy.
Fred leaned over to Jack and said, "You can go help Claire."
"Thanks," Jack said heading over to where Claire was facing a middle-aged woman who appeared to be a little angry.
"Jack," Claire said as soon as he was within calling distance.
"Hello, Claire. How are you doing?" Jack asked sauntering over as if he didn't have a care in the world. He checked out the woman with Claire and could see the family resemblance. It struck him that Claire might have been an attractive woman was she was younger.
"I'm doing fine," Claire said relieved to have a little support.
"Mother, we were talking about something important. Can you just pay attention to me for a minute?"
"Jack. This is my daughter, Denise. Denise, this is Jack," Claire said.
"Hello, Denise. Are you enjoying Thanksgiving?" Jack asked acting as if this was just another little discussion at a party.
"I was talking to my mother," Denise said looking around to see where her husband had gone. He hadn't wanted to be involved in this discussion and had disappeared into the crowd at the first opportunity.
"Thanksgivings are great family holidays. We get to take a moment to thank God for the good things that have happened to us and to appreciate our family," Jack said smiling at her.
"Speaking of family, I would like to talk to my mother," Denise said pointedly. She had been trying for two hours to get her mother alone where they could talk without half a dozen people getting in the way.
"Jack, I can't believe how many people showed up," Claire said gesturing to the crowd in the room. There were loud angry voices originating from different areas of the house.
"I know. It is amazing," Jack said. He didn't think they could squeeze another two people into the house.
"Why don't you talk to Denise for a minute? I'll be right back," Claire said. She moved away before her daughter had a chance to react.
Left face to face with basically a total stranger, Jack asked, "So, how are things?"
"Shitty," Denise said and stormed away.
"That went well," Jack said. Hearing some shouting from the area near the television, he headed off to help diffuse the tensions. Johnny and his father were standing toe to toe. It looked to Jack like it was about to get violent. Gail was standing beside Johnny looking upset. Jack went over to the trio and said, "Hello, Johnny. How's it going?"
"My dad is being an asshole," Johnny answered without looking at Jack. He glanced at Gail and said, "Sorry Grandma for the language."
"You're right. He's being an asshole," Gail said.
"What's the matter?" Jack asked seeing that Johnny's father looked like he was about to hit Johnny.
"He wants me to move to a retirement home," Gail answered.
"That doesn't sound good," Jack said.
"I'd have to give up the support of a whole community of people, Johnny would have to move out, and I'd lose a fortune trying to sell my house in this market," Gail said.
"You do have a point," Jack said.
"I know, but my son doesn't seem to understand that," Gail answered.
"I can have you declared incompetent," her son said.
"Over my dead body," Johnny growled stepping up to his father and poking him in the chest with a finger.
Trying to keep his anger in check, Johnny's father said, "Son, you don't understand how bad things are. We just want to get Mom situated while she can afford it."
"Fuck you," Gail said giving him the finger and marching off.
"I don't think I've ever heard her use those words," Jack said staring at Gail's retreating back.
"Way to go, Dad," Johnny said sarcastically. He turned and followed Gail through the crowded room.
Jack looked at the man and asked, "Are you having a good Thanksgiving?"
"Fuck you," the man said before storming off.
Having overheard part of the exchange, Melissa came over to Jack and said, "Fun party you invited me to."
"Sorry about that," Jack said shrugging his shoulders.
"At least you warned me," Melissa said. She had broken up one argument already. She had seen Jack break up two intense discussions and figured there would be more before the day was over.
Looking at the tight angry faces in the room, he said, "Everyone was afraid that it was going to be ugly today. I'm sorry to see that they were right."
"People are scared," Melissa said. The atmosphere in the house was very uncomfortable. Even the people who weren't fighting were tense.
"I know," Jack said. There were a lot of scared people in the country. He wondered what would happen when things got even worse.
Melissa said, "Tomorrow is Black Friday."
"That sounds ominous," Jack said.
"It isn't," Melissa said wondering if Jack knew what it was.
"I know. It just sounds like some kind of disaster about to happen," Jack said.
"Do you know why they call it Black Friday?" Melissa asked.
"No. All I know is that a lot of stores have sales that day," Jack answered.
Melissa said, "That is the day that most retailers go from running at a loss for the year to running a profit. I've got a feeling that isn't going to happen this year."
"You've got that right," Jack said. He was trying to figure out what to do for Christmas presents for everyone.
"Jack! Your parents are here!"
Jack turned around wondering who had called out. He saw his mother and father standing by the door. Taking Melissa by the arm, Jack said, "Are you ready to meet my parents?"
"Yes," Melissa said taking a deep breath.
Jack went over to where his parents were. When he reached them, he said, "Mom and Dad, I'm glad that you could make it here."
His mother immediately turned to Melissa and said, "You must be his girlfriend, Abby."
Glancing over at Jack, Melissa answered, "I'm Jack's girlfriend, Melissa."
"I... ," Jack's mother said stuttering. She was thinking that Jack should have warned her. Finally, she managed to say, "I was expecting to meet Abby."
"Frau Shultz told me that Abby is at work and won't be back for another three hours. I'm sure that you'll have a chance to meet her," Melissa said.
Leaning over to Jack, his mother asked, "Do you have two girlfriends?"
"No. I have one girlfriend, Melissa, and one roommate, Abby," Jack answered. He resisted the temptation to roll his eyes.
Jack's father was busy checking out Melissa thinking that his son had pretty good taste in women. Seeing that the conversation had come to a very uneasy halt, Jack's father said, "Melissa, I'm Jake and you've met my wife, Lisa."
"Nice to meet you, Jake," Melissa said.
Jake said, "The pleasure is ours. Jack, where did you and Melissa meet?"
"At the university, Dad," Jack said. "She's a European History major."
"That's real interesting," Jake said thinking that Jack had done real well for himself. He said, "I watch the History Channel all of the time. That and the Military Channel. You might say that I'm a World War II buff."
"I study medieval history," Melissa said.
Feeling a little uneasy discussing a topic that she didn't know much about, Lisa said, "That's interesting. What does a history major do?"
"I study history," Melissa answered.
"So how did you meet?" Lisa said feeling like an idiot.
"Jack was in my office fixing the carpet and we started chatting in German..."
"You know German?" Jack's mother asked turning to face Jack. She was shocked at that little bombshell.
Jack answered, "I speak a little."
"He does a little better than speak a little German," Melissa said taking his arm in hers.
"When did you learn German?" Jake asked.
"Frau Shultz has been teaching me to speak it," Jack answered.
As if hearing her name, Frau Shultz appeared at his side. She said, "Stellen Sie mich zu Ihren Eltern vor."
"Ja. Dieses ist mein Vater, Jake Dunne. Dieses is meine Mutter, Lisa Dunne," Jack said earning stares of amazement from his parents. Turning to his parents, he said, "This is Frau Shultz."
"You did that well," Melissa said. She turned to Frau Shultz and said, "Er tat den gut."
"Ja," Frau Shultz said. She turned to his parents and said, "Sie mussen auf Jack stolz sein."
"She said that you must be proud of Jack," Melissa said.
"We are," his mother said. She was kind of impressed that Melissa was a college student and knew how to speak two languages. She had always figured that Jack would get hooked up with a woman who was a clerk in a store or something like that.
Jake said, "You really rattled that German off like a native."
"Not really," Jack said. He heard a shout and looked over to see Johnny and his father facing each other. He said, "Excuse me for a moment."
While Jack went off to take care of the problem, Melissa remained with his parents and Frau Shultz. Lisa said, "I didn't mean to suggest that Jack had another girlfriend."
"I know all about Abby," Melissa said.
Hearing Abby's name mentioned, Frau Shultz said, "Dumme Frau."
"What did she say?" Lisa asked thinking she had just been called a dumb woman.
Melissa answered, "She was calling Abby a dumb woman. Frau Shultz thinks that Abby was not very smart by letting Jack get away."
"That's interesting," Lisa said feeling very uncomfortable.
Melissa and Frau Shultz exchanged a few words. Melissa said, "Frau Shultz says that it all worked out for the best. He got me."
Looking around at the crowd, Jake asked, "What is going on here? Why are there so many people around?"
"This is Jack's commune," Melissa answered.
Lisa looked horrified and said, "Oh, God. My boy turned into a hippy."
Melissa laughed at the reaction of Jack's mother and said, "It is not that kind of commune. They share food and work together for the community. Frau Shultz is a member and so is her daughter. Most of the members of the commune are retired."
"What do they do in this commune?" Jake asked.
"Mostly it is about making their money go further. They all contribute a little money each month for food. They share dinner in this house. This is a community house and they come here for entertainment and to share ideas on how to save money," Melissa answered.
Lisa asked, "Are you a member?"
"No. I live over at the university. Coming here is kind of a breath of fresh air after being around a lot of people who feel isolated and alone. The people here have taken control of their lives. They've created a community," Melissa said finding it hard to put into words the sense of community that existed here.
Frau Shultz tugged on Melissa's arm and rattled off some German. Melissa smiled and nodded her head. Turning to Lisa, Melissa said, "Frau Shultz wants a chance to talk to you. She's wanted to meet the woman who raised such a nice gentleman like Jack for a long time."
"I don't speak German," Lisa said looking at the elderly lady.
"That's okay. I'll translate," Melissa said. She looked around and noticed that there were three chairs in the corner. She said, "If we sit over there, we'll be able to talk."
"Okay," Lisa said. She watched Melissa explain the plan to the little old lady. Turning to her husband, she said, "Why don't you mingle a bit and meet some of Jack's friends?"
"Sure," Jake said. He ambled off to find Jack in the crowd of people. There were almost too many people in the house for it to be safe. He wondered how many of them belonged to the commune. He wandered around the room listening to middle-aged folks trying to talk the elderly into moving in with them. The elderly, without exception, were refusing the invitations and claiming that they had things under control.
Jack appeared at his side and said, "Hey, Dad. Let's go outside for a bit. I'd like to check on the kids and the quiet will give us a chance to talk."
"Sounds good," Jake said. There were too many people around to have a meaningful conversation. He had a feeling that they had done that intentionally.
Outside, Jack asked, "So how are things at the shop?"
"Business is great. People have to have heat when it gets cold outside. They might turn the thermostat down, but they won't turn it off," Jake said. Not every business was suffering because of the hard economic times.
"People will repair the essential items," Jack said with a nod of his head. "They won't buy or build something new."
Well aware that things had been tough for Jack, Jake said, "You could have come to me for a job."
"Things turned out okay. I've got a regular job at the university," Jack said. He wasn't going to run to his father because times got rough.
"What's all this stuff about you belonging to a commune?" Jake asked.
Jack said, "This area has been hit hard with increased property taxes. The retired folks in this area weren't able to afford to eat. We started chipping in a little money to make the food bill lower. Things kind of escalated and we've become a commune. Money is real tight."
"Tell me about it. I've been sending money every month to your grandparents so that they can stay at home," Jake said shaking his head.
"How are they doing?" Jack asked. He wasn't worried about them because he knew his father would take care of things. He did feel a little guilty about not calling them more often.
"Money is a little tight, but I do my best to help out. I just hope their health holds out," Jake said. He worried about his parents and in-laws.
"Money is tight everywhere," Jack said.
Jake said, "I noticed that things were a little tense in the house. What's going on with that?"
"It is a bad situation," Jack said shaking his head. "We had a lot of people who invited themselves over for the holidays."
"Holidays are for family," Jake said.
"A lot of the little old ladies have children who want them to sell off their houses and move in with them. They feel that their kids are really after their money. The kids were nowhere to be seen when they were having money problems. Now that the kids have money problems they suddenly appear out of the woodwork. It doesn't look good," Jack explained.
"When you look at it that way, moving in with their children doesn't sound like an attractive proposition," Jake said. He had thought about making that offer to his parents and in-laws. He was going to have to rethink that idea.
"We've gotten a bunch of our economic problems to a point where they are manageable and these little old ladies aren't willing to give that up," Jack said. No one had explicitly mentioned it, but Jack wondered how many of the kids were waiting for their parents to die so that they could inherit some assets.
"Times are tough and things can change really quickly," Jake said pointing out the obvious flaw in the situation.
"That's true. It seems to me that a day doesn't go by without some minor crisis," Jack said. He gestured around the street and said, "There are so many houses for sale that you can't get any money for them. I'd be surprised if you could sell one of these houses for twenty-thousand dollars. That isn't going to help any of those families get out of their economic problems. I doubt that they have even started taking major steps towards getting their economic situations under control. I bet half of them haven't even given up cable."
Jake had to agree with his son's assessment of the situation. He looked at the community house and said, "I noticed that you got solar energy for this house."
"Yes. We might actually make some money off of it during the summer," Jack said. The meter wasn't exactly turning backwards, but it was saving them a fortune. With all of the cooking taking place in the community house, the energy bills for the other houses had gone down. Everyone was using the washer and dryer in the community house to do their laundry. They were keeping the community house a little warmer and saving money on heating their own houses.
"That's good," Jake said. He said, "I guess it is all about money."
"Not anymore," Jack said, "We've built a community here. I appreciate that a whole lot more than the money I'm saving."