21st Birthday arrival.
Ally is turning 21. Big deal normally in western society. Here's the thing though. She's been brought up 'born again' by my sister Elle and her husband Tray. I wanted to be an influence of reason in their lives, as I know it was my sister who was indoctrinated by Tray at first and Ally had the misfortune of growing up with it.
I've been waiting for a chance to speak properly to Ally about her religion, but we live on opposite sides of the planet so I only get to see her about once every 3 years. This is why this story starts here. I'm visiting them after several years, and it's the first time I will see Ally as her own adult, which she has been for exactly 3 years now. Ally and I always get on well over the phone and when we do get time together but I really don't know her that well. Not like I know my sister, which, given how well I know Elle, it really gets to me that she was indoctrinated. She was so logical and clear thinking until she started living with her now husband.
Anyway, discussing a complex topic like religion doesn't work on the phone, and I want to see her face to face when I to finally get to explore her mind, and invite her into my own head too. Luckily, there's never been social issues caused by our different lifestyles, but I do want my niece to know a few more facts about life, such as witchcraft and magic being not real. I want to reassure her that the world isn't out to judge her, and that there are people who love her unconditionally, and won't condemn her to hell if she doesn't feel the same way.
It's been a long flight. 20 hours plus a stop over, and now I am nearing the end of my 2 hour drive from the airport to the town my sister lives in. The rental man gave me a coffee while he went to sort out my car. Much needed. I'm 46 years old and, while I do stay fit and healthy, my salt and pepper beard gives away a life of work and stress. Yes, I haven't even had time to make my own family. But I do have money because of these choices.
I finally arrive at the house. They've moved again since my last visit, it's a large bungalow with garage, front garden spanning the length and who knows what the back yard is like. I noticed a lot of fields sometimes separated by strips of forest that seem to run with the waterways around here. The car rumbles into a silent slumber as I press the engine stop start button and, as I draw a longer than normal breath to open the car door and get out, I hear the front door clunk open and 3 heads poking out the door. I smile warmly at them as the temperate sun strikes my face properly for the first time in more than a day, not shielded by treated windscreen glass.
They run out to greet me, Ally racing out first and slapping the concrete sections of the drive with her bare feet. She's... more than 4 years older than the last time I saw her and it shows. Her summery dress dances over her freckly bare thighs as she prances over with her arms out. I leave the car door and ready my arms to catch her as she bumps into me.
"Elpy!" Her voice cracks as her chest softly yet decisively bumps against mine. My arms close around her hourglass waist and delicate shoulders. Her light brown hair is soft and long.
"Hey, Ally! Happy birthday lass!" I whisper as I squeeze her into me just a bit and definitely, definitely soak in the fact that she is now utterly and most fully a woman. Her body is not anything I remember hugging in the past. A lot has changed. It's still her though. Before I get carried away and start pinching her with my fingers, I release her and move towards my sister for a cuddle.
"Sis!" my sister approaches a bit more slowly, yet without hesitation, towards me. She's 49 in a couple of months so I don't crush her too hard when we embrace. She's stick thin, has been for years, and I feel her squeeze as much as she can, although there isn't a lot of power in it I can feel that she means to hug me like I'm her brother, as she always has done. I do the same, crushing her to the point she can still just breath. Just to let her know that nothing has changed, I am a constant that she will always be able to refer to for her grip on reality.
I give Tray a solid handshake and shoulder bump, and then hop back to my car to drag out my stuff. I try not to see the pain in Ally's eyes as I have whispered happy birthday, but she isn't even supposed to celebrate it. It's like one of those deep primeval impulses, to celebrate the day you were born. And she's had that all but stripped away. Not if I can do anything about it.
Once they settle me in with coffee and lunch and we have caught up on news, I ask my sister to put on "Thank God You're Here" which ironically isn't a religious show, but it's incredibly funny and at least the title puts my sister's family at ease. We watch telly and laugh the afternoon away, and I thank the spaghetti monster that mirth and joy derived from humour is not outlawed in the household.
I notice Ally, whilst toing and froing from the kitchen, bathroom or wherever hasn't quite kicked the urge of jumping into my lap. It took her 3 times of bowling back into the living room and just beelining for my legs before she managed to actually not sit on me. Each time getting more hilarious. The first time I just sat there, perfectly fine and unphased by it for a few seconds until I realised I had wrapped my arms around the waist of a full grown adult woman with frilly summer dress, all thighs and bust and soft skin pressing into my legs. The second time I refrained my arms and the third time I just chuckled.
Ally seems a little embarrassed at first and her parents gave her the stink eye initially, but then they realised it was just force of habit from when I used to visit.
"So Ally, remind me again what you're studying?" I began with her.
"How to not sit in laps apparently." She feigned sarcasm and began laughing by the end of her sentence. I roared in laughter, the TV program already had me in a laughing mood and she finished me completely for a moment.
"You get an F." I squeak my comeback with tears of hysteria. She got me good but now I got her back and she started laughing out of control.
After we pull it together I look at her and raises and eyebrow, hinting for an actual answer.
"Pharmacologist." She bluntly says between laughs, wiping a tear away. Her parents are chuckling too, just glad everyone is getting along and no serious conversations have started.
"That's awesome!" I am genuinely impressed by the career path she is going up.
After dinner, my sister and her husband have to go out to an errand, leaving me and Ally. We sit in the living room and share the couch that her parents were on earlier, instead of the two separate chairs. There isn't any alcohol in the house for obvious reasons, and no obvious way I can help Ally celebrate 21 years on earth.
"Ally, happy birthday!" I say it loudly this time, stating my belief that her day should be noted.
"Ohh, you shouldn't..." Ally smiles as she tries to discourage me. Obviously, she knows I am right.
"No one is getting hurt kiddo." I state flatly, and squint at her with a smile. She chuckles and I'm glad she isn't too upset or taking it too seriously.
"Ally, let me take this opportunity to give you something." I get up and go to the spare room I am staying in across from her room, and rummage through my bags to find the presents I bought her. It makes her a bit nervous now as when I come back she is twiddling her thumbs.
"Ohh no uncle this is not a good idea! I can't accept this." She explains.
"Ally. It's just a gift, call it of my arrival if you a have to, of us seeing each other again after 4 years! We can at least celebrate that!" I hand her 3 wrapped gifts.
"Oh heck, okay..." She agrees for the time being. I point her to the smallest one to open it first. She takes a moment to admire the wrapping and then the novelty of unwrapping the gift. It's a long necklace with a small silver heart. Simple, elegant. She tears up a little.
"Oh this is so amazing, thank you Elpy... I wish I could wear it!" I am visibly shocked on hearing this.
