Our power flickers at the same time my phone rings. I choose not to see it as some sort of omen. Out here in the woods, the first thoughts tend to lean in that direction, and it takes effort to steer the brain back to rationality.
“Tina,” I say into my phone.
“Bastian,” Tina replies. “How’s the Grizzly Adams life going?”
“Well, there’s a severe lack of grizzlies around these parts. I’ve heard rumors of a black bear in the neighborhood, but I have yet to be presented with any evidence, so the jury is still out on that one.”
“Black Bear Adams doesn’t have quite the same ring to it,” she says.
“Much less poetic,” I agree. “What’s up?”
“Okay, look,” she says. “I’m not supposed to say anything, because it’s going to be a surprise.”
“I hate surprises.”
“I know. That’s why I’m about to ruin it.”
“I appreciate you, Tina.”
“You’d goddamn well better. So, everybody is planning on coming out.”
“Coming out where?” I ask.
“You know. To see you guys.”
The power flickers again, off and then on. The oven beeps as the clock resets to a blinking 12:00.
“Who’s everybody?”
“Me. Boone. Rivi.”
“Well, shit,” I say.
“Right?”
“And it’s supposed to be a surprise, you guys flying across the continent and just showing up at my doorstep?”
“Obviously.”
“This is all Rivi’s idea, isn’t it?”
“Obviously.”
“Well, fuck me,” I say.
“Yep. I should have told you before now, but you know. We’ve had tickets for three months already.”
“I’m glad you’re telling me now, at least.”
“Well, it’s not cool to just show up, after all. You don’t even like that when we’re living in the same city.”
“I do appreciate a little warning, true.”
“I’m sorry,” Tina says. “It’s a little presumptuous.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I say. “It’s not like we don’t have room for you.” We do, certainly. The house is old and huge, and there are five bedrooms on a second floor that we don’t really use. And yes, we have two second floors here, the result of an addition in the early aughts that put a new living space at the rear of the original old farmhouse, without actually connecting the second floors of either halves together. It’s a little awkward at times, having to go downstairs on one side and then upstairs on the other to cover a distance of about five feet, but we are disinclined to tear down any of the walls in the old house to create a passage.
“Just don’t let on that I said anything, will you?” Tina says. “Rivi will kill me, and you know I don’t mean that in any way other than the bloody and stabby kind.”
“We will feign ignorance and genuine terror upon your arrival,” I promise.
“That’s a dear,” she says.
“So when is this surprise supposed to be happening?”
“The 18th.”
“Of December.”
“Exactly,” she says. “A little Christmas surprise for you.”
“It is the best of surprises, it is the worst of surprises.”
“Consider us your Christmas ghosts.”
The power flickers again, and then this time goes completely off. It’s nearly three in the afternoon here in Maine, which means this time of year that the sun will be setting roughly an hour from now. I will need to make sure the generator has gas in it soon, just in case.
“I’ll be glad to see you all,” I say. “Even if I’m not allowed to say it ahead of time.”
“I’ll pretend that I didn’t hear that,” Tina says. “But it’ll be nice to see you, too. The left coast ain’t the same with you guys around.”
“The right coast is lacking a certain amount of weirdness without you as well. Most of that is Rivi, of course. You and Boone are closer to normal on the weirdness scale. She’s the one who really blows the curve for everyone else.”
“If you have a bedroom there that’s more haunted than the others, be sure to give it to her.”
“I will make a note, and be sure not to prepare any beds ahead of time. Have to pretend I’m in the dark, after all. Speaking of which, I’ve got to get off the phone, Tina. The power went out here and I’m going to be literally in the dark in a few minutes if I don’t get the generator going.”
“Yikes. Is it snowing?”
“Nope.”
“Windy?”
“Nope.”
“Raining then.”
“Nope. Just random and completely normal power outage for no reason whatsoever, because we live in the middle of the woods.”
“Should I have second thoughts about coming out there?” she asks.
“Why are you asking me? I don’t know anything about you coming out here.”
“Solid, Sebastian. Solid.”
“Talk to you later, Tina.”
“Boo from a ghost,” she says, then disconnects the call.
I put my phone into my pocket and head for the mudroom to get on a coat. As I’m opening the door, the power comes back on again. The stove beeps at me. Still, I’m going out to check on the generator.
I don’t like surprises.