Miri was up at the crack of dawn waiting for the people from the shelter to come and drop off her horse. She was so excited. Ranger was going to be her big project for the summer. If she could get him calmed down enough to go back to the shelter to be adopted by the time she had to go back to Chicago for school she wouldn’t feel like her summer was wasted. And he was her only responsibility for the shelter for the summer. She was glad. She wasn’t sure if she would have been able to handle her summer online courses that she signed up for the week before, as well as Ranger and other responsibilities at the shelter. And, thankfully, her work with Ranger would be applicable to one of her classes.
When the truck pulling the horse trailer carrying Ranger pulled up to the house, Miri ran out the door. “Hey Sheldon!” she said excitedly.
“Hey Miri. How long have you been up?”
“Since 5. I’ve been bouncing. Ask my poor Grandparents who have had to watch me go crazy pacing.”
Sheldon laughed. “Are you ready for this skittish horse?”
“I think I am. I’ve had to calm down a few spooked horses before.”
“Well this one is chronically spooked. Can you handle that?”
“We shall see, shant we?”
“I suppose we shall. Can you show me back to the stable?”
“Let me get one of the ATV’s out of the garage and I’ll lead you back. Can your truck handle the drive?”
“I think so.”
Miri ran into the house and grabbed a set of ATV keys. “I’ll be back in a little while”, she called as she bolted through the house; only hearing her grandparents laughs as she moved through the house. After finding the ATV the key belonged to she grabbed her helmet, hit the garage door opener, and roared out of the garage toward the stable with Sheldon on her tail.
---------------
David and Brie sat on the couch in the living room and watched as their granddaughter sped through the house and vanished with a call out that she’d be back after a while. “You’d think that the horse had arrived”, David laughed.
“You’d think. But, there’s no way she’d be that excited over a horse”, Brie responded.
“What are you two going on about?” Jeremiah asked when he came in.
“Your niece. She just sped through the house and called out that she’s be back later”, David said.
“Why?”
“Her horse is here.”
“The horse she’s going to caring for over the summer?”
“Yes. She’s been up since 5.”
“How do you two know?”
“I fell asleep on your father’s shoulder again last night and Jake said, ‘Just take the guest room’ to Dad and carried me up the stairs”, Brie answered.
“Why do you fall asleep like that, Mom?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess that because I’m getting older I need more sleep than I used to. Anyway, I’m making up for all the sleepless nights I spent tending to you and your siblings over the years and the times I jumped up in the middle of the night to go catch a stranger’s baby.”
“I hated those nights. They seriously sucked”, David said softly.
“I know. But, I had to do it. It was part of the job.”
“I told you that you didn’t have to go back to school.”
“Continuing Education was required of all massage therapists in the country to keep our licenses. I’d done everything I could during the War to keep my license up to date and there really wasn’t too much else I could learn. I took it in the direction I was going to go in after Malachai was in grade school and went to nursing school to become a midwife because that’s what I wanted to do. Thankfully, I had most of my core stuff out of the way from the classes I took online during the war while the kids were all in their lessons.”
“How you found the time to do that is beyond me.”
“I’m talented like that. You didn’t know?” she laughed.
“I did. I just wanted to be sure.”
“You two are insane”, Jeremiah said with a chuckle as he grabbed an orange from the fruit bowl Delilah had taken to keeping on the coffee table. “You know that right?”
“Are you just realizing this?” David asked the youngest of the quadruplets.
“No. I’ve known for a very long time. This is just one of the first times I’ve said anything”, he called over his shoulder as he walked away.
---------------
“Are we all packed and ready to go?” Ira asked his cousins.
“I believe we are”, Anthony said as he zipped his suitcase.
“Look out VEGAS!” Levi said with a laugh.
“You think they’ll treat us like high rollers because out last name is Draiman?” Anthony asked.
“Tony, we’re David Draiman’s grandkids. That alone got us a suite set aside”, Ira laughed. “At the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino no less.”
“What about the Château? That was another one of Grampa’s party spots?” Anthony asked.
“It was. There were times when he and Gramma would travel for award shows and they’d go different parties. Hell, I think he took her to the 48 hrs. Festival out there where he hosted a few after parties, but that was after Uncle Marc and Aunt Jessi graduated from high school. All the while they were trying to plan Uncle Jeremiah’s wedding, plan for Grampa’s retirement, find a place in Israel, and get ready for Grampa’s being honored with the Kennedy Center Medal”, Ira said. “Once Gramma retired, she hated to sit still. She was ready to go at a moment’s notice. She always had a couple days’ worth of clothes packed at all times in case Grampa said, ‘Baby, I booked us a flight to- insert city here-. Are you ready to go?’. When he said in October that year, ‘Hey baby, wanna go back to Vegas?’ she jumped at the chance”, Ira explained.
“Back to Vegas?”
“They were originally married in Vegas. They took one witness each, I think. Gramma asked a neighbor she’d befriended that was single to be her witness. Grampa had Uncle Danny there as his witness. They said their vows in a little chapel in Vegas then Grampa adopted Uncle Malachai”, Levi said. “Not too much after they picked him up from Great- Grandmother and Great- Grandfather Cartwright’s house in Tennessee, Gramma discovered she was pregnant with our parents.”
“Uncle Jake and Aunt Jordan?” Levi and Ira nodded. “Wow. How do you two know so much?”
“They always came here for Miri and Matt’s birthdays and Aunt Makayla and Uncle Marc would have to bring their kids that shared the birthday with them here. We had a lot of time to ask questions.”
“Why Miri and Zeke’s birthday and Matt and Connie’s?”
“Miri and Zeke share Gramma’s birthday and Matt and Connie share Grampa’s”, Ira said. That got him to thinking. “I know that there’s a strange story about Miri’s birth, but no one really told me about mine. I’m curious.” He looked at his cousins. “Do you think Gramma and Grampa would know and if so; would they tell me?”
“More than likely. They make it a point to be at the births of each grandchild”, Anthony said. “They were even at the hearing when my Mom adopted me. I’m sure if there’s a story to tell, they’ll know it and be happy to share.”
“There’s only one way find out”, Levi said. “Why don’t we go ask?”
---------------
The boys all ran down the stairs to the living room so Ira could ask his question. “Gramma, Grampa, can I ask you guys something?” he asked as they hit the bottom of the stairs.
“When have we ever told you no?” David asked.
“When I asked you about sex”, Ira was quick to reply.
“Yeah, that’s true”, Brie said with a slow nod. “What I don’t understand is why you didn’t go to your father with those questions?”
“Because I wanted the basics, not having it broken down into graphic medical and anatomical detail. Thankfully, when you sent me to Dad, I didn’t get that.”
“You’re not about to ask another sex question, are you?”
Ira shook his head. “No. I know that there’s a story that goes along with Miri’s birth. The car wreck that put Mom into labor a month early and it happened to be Gramma’s birthday. What I’m wondering is if there’s a story about my birth?”
“Your birth, not really. You were born right here in this living room. Your father delivered you and I helped”, Brie told him as his cousins listened in. “How you came about your name is the story.”
“What happened?”
David and Brie laughed. “Well, your parents took the honeymoon that they had postponed while your Dad was doing his TBI research”, David explained. “While they were gone, your Dad started having dreams.”
“Like what Miri and Matt have?”
“Yeah. Like those. Gramma has them too, if you didn’t know. Where do you think they got it from?”
“So, Dad passed it to Miri after getting it from Gramma?”
“Yes. Now, do you want us to tell you this damn story or not?”
“Sorry, Grampa. Go ahead.”
After clearing his throat, David continued. “Anyway, while your parents were in Europe on their honeymoon, your Dad started having dreams about you. He had no idea what your name was supposed to be. He had the feeling that he was supposed to name you after Great- Uncle Ben and a relative that your grandmother had no idea existed.”
“Really?”
“Yeah”, Brie said with a nod. “On their way to Auschwitz, we called him to let him know that he’d gotten his approval for his treatment and he asked me to dig through my family records. After we hung up with him, Uncle James and Uncle ‘Miah climbed up in the attic and got the boxes down for me. Grampa and I sat down here alone and sorted through everything until I found an article. An obituary, to be exact, dated four months after I was born. I had an older brother named Ira Shane Cartwright who died at the age of three from complications of pneumonia.”
“Do you have a picture of him handy so I can see it? I’d like to see a picture of the person I’m named after.”
“Go upstairs into the guest room where Grampa and I have been staying and grab my purse. Since that night we found his picture, there’s one that I’ve been keeping in my purse.”
Ira jumped to his feet and ran up the stairs to the room to get the object asked for. When he returned, he handed it to his grandmother. “Here, Gramma.”
She took the bag and dug out her wallet. Setting the bag next to her on the couch, she opened it and pulled out the picture. “Here boys.” She held it out to them.
Ira took the picture and looked at it. “So, which one is Great- Uncle Ira?” he asked. The picture contained two boys and an infant girl.
“Come here and I’ll show you.” Ira stood and held the photo in front of his grandmother after leaning over her shoulder. “This one is Great Uncle- Matt.” She pointed to the taller of the two boys who was holding the little girl. “He’s hold me as a baby.” She pointed to the little boy next to them. “That’s Uncle Ira.”
Ira took the picture and studied it, looking long and hard after the child he had been named after. “How old is he here, Gramma?”
“Three.”
Ira reached up and wiped a single tear from his eye. “Wow. That is a story. Is there another picture that I can have?”
“Keep that one. I don’t need it. It’s just a reminder of a brother I never knew and a brother I miss dearly.”
“You sure, Gramma?”
“Keep it, Ira. I’ll get to meet him on the other side when I finally do go. I don’t plan on it being any time soon, but it will happen eventually and when it does, I’ll finally get to hug the brother I never knew.”
Ira tucked the picture into his wallet. “Thanks Gramma. Say, do you know of any other stories that we all might want or need to know?”
They both thought about it, exchanging a look, then shook their heads. “Not that we can think of off the top, but if we should think of one before you three leave in the morning, we will be sure to let you know”, David said. “Now, you three run along and go get ready for your road trip.” They didn’t have to be told twice. The boys ran up the stairs to Ira’s room to make sure that they had everything in order for the trip they were leaving on in the morning.
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