Ashes to Asher

 

Emil did exactly as he said he would, and when he woke up after his nap he got dressed to go back to the diner for dinner. Just as he got to the door, he was shocked to see a note on the floor that had clearly been pushed under the door. He opened it curiously and found that it was from Danny's mother.

Dear Mr. Corneau,

First, let me say that my heart is saddened by what you have had to go through today. I may not have lost the man that I loved to death, but I lost him all the same when he learned that I was pregnant with Danny. That is not to say that I know how you feel, because I do not. I feel differently about the death of my father than my Uncle Ash does, as an example. Likewise, he feels differently about the loss of his friend Robert than you do. Every loss is felt differently by every survivor, even shared loss.

Speaking of survival, I want to thank you for saving my child today. I have received one version of the story from Danny, and a slightly different one from Uncle Ash. I'm sure each have some truth to them just as I'm sure there is truth of which neither of them is aware. Regardless of the exact facts, one point is clear and it is that you are responsible for my son arriving home today breathless both from his run down the canyon trail, and from his laughter over your performance with the snake.

Whether you were 'completely crazy' as Danny believes, or 'adorably gay' as Uncle Ash believes, and yes, those were his exact words, the result is the same. My child is unharmed and taking a nap on a sofa very near me as I write this. Danny would never admit to such a thing, but he knows that there was a chance today that he would not see me again, so he's being a little clingy at the moment, for which I also thank you. My hope is that before you leave town, I will get the chance to properly thank you with a hug. Ok, my real hope is that you don't leave town, but that might be overstepping your own wishes. At any rate, I remain,

Affectionately yours,

Ashley Danvers

Fortunately, there was a chair nearby when he read the letter, because several of her comments left him so bewildered that Emil basically fell into the chair deep in thought. What could she mean when she said that she believed there was more truth about the snake incident? If Danny and Asher didn't know anymore, how could she? She hadn't been there. That didn't even count the effect that he had apparently had on Asher. Adorably gay? How like the man to complement him with an insult. The whole situation left Emil feeling as if he should perhaps eat somewhere other than Asher's diner that evening.

He walked down the stairs to inquire at the desk of the hotel, but there was no one there. He did see a map of the town in a little rack on the desk, though. He opened it up and scanned the list of businesses. Asher's diner was literally the only place in town to eat out. "I'm in a fifties sitcom," Emil mumbled as he left the lobby of the hotel, walking toward the diner.

He had barely taken two steps inside the building when he was attacked from two sides. After the day he had up the canyon, he felt he was totally justified in screaming as his first response. Once he realized that he had Danny attached like a leech on one side, and his mother glomped onto the other side, he did settle down some.

"Hi, Auntie Em," Danny spouted with a laughing grin.

"Asher!" Emil yelled out. "Help me. I've been attacked by a mother and baby bear."

"BABY?" Danny growled as ferociously as one would expect from a rather scrawny pre-adolescent teddy bear. "See if I hug you again," the boy grumped as he walked away to ask if the constable needed a refill of his drink.

Asher didn't appear, but everyone in the place could hear his laughter just before he called back, "You'll live, Violet." Emil was about to respond to being called a woman's name even if it was a really nice color, but Ashley's voice stopped him.

"Thank you so much for bringing Uncle Asher to life," the woman still hugging him whispered into his ear. "He only ever seemed to spark for Danny, but since you've come into our lives, he's blazing as I've never seen before."

"Ash, let the man sit down so we can feed him the best meatloaf he's ever had," Asher called out from the kitchen once more.

"Meatloaf?" Emil questioned softly. He looked at Ashley in desperation. "I'm not exactly a fan. I ate my mother's but only because she was my mom, you know?"

"If you really don't like it, I'm sure he'll understand," she told him as she guided him to the table next to the constable who politely waved as he sipped a coffee. "I mean he only changed up the whole menu for tonight, and bought extra ingredients just so he could make his favorite, most special dish, his pride and joy, just for you. It'll be fine if you hate it, I'm sure."

"Here's your coffee, Mr. Emil," Danny announced proudly. "Did I put enough caramel syrup in it?" he asked, putting the cup in front of the man.

Emil took a tentative sip before turning to smile at the boy. "It's perfect," he announced as he sat the cup down and slid it away from himself slightly.

"Awesome!" Danny cheered happily. "Grandpa told me to just put a fourth of the regular coffee in the cup, then fill it to halfway with milk, and then the rest of the way full with caramel syrup." The boy practically skipped back to the window into the kitchen to brag of his success to Asher.

"I'll switch you out for another cup," Ashley said with a grimace. But as she reached for the cup, Emil stopped her.

"Actually it really is perfect; I just didn't want to drink it all before I get the meatloaf."

"I'll still tell him to tone it down a bit next time," Ashley whispered. "Don't want you going into a diabetic coma before we convince you to stay," she added as she walked away, leaving Emil to reflect on the idea that mothers tend to mother the world, not just their own kids. He was now guilt tripped into his least favorite meal and would probably never again get coffee made the way he wanted it, all thanks to her.

"You've got her on your side, too, then." Emil looked over to see the constable smiling at him. "How does it feel to have won over the whole Danvers clan? That's mighty impressive, I must say. The three of them are friendly to every soul they meet, but not a one of them have ever gone as far as they have for you, and I've known them all for a good long time. Maybe one of these days you can put in a good word for me with Ashley."

"I would, but now that my business here is done, I should probably be leaving soon," Emil told the man.

"I knew that snake was going to scare you out of town." Emil looked up to see Asher standing beside the table, holding a plate of food.

"Hey, I got here ten minutes before him," the constable complained. "Where's my food?"

"Ashley told me she'd bring yours out as soon as she put the little green peas on it, since you don't like green beans," Asher dismissed with a wave.

"She knows I don't like green beans?" the constable asked as he looked to the kitchen.

"You've known each other your whole lives, you knucklehead," Asher told him. "I think you'll find there ain't much that she don't know about you."

"It wasn't the snake," Emil told Asher when it was obvious they had lost the constable's attention. "It's just…. Well, I thought it was time for me to move on, to stop bothering you… all of you."

"Who said you're bothering people?" Danny blurted as he rushed up to Emil's side of the table. "That's my job. Mom says I'm so good at it, I'll be able to annoy people professionally when I'm grown up. I wouldn't bother you, though. I promise."

"You haven't bothered me at all, buddy," Emil assured the preteen. "Besides, you're good for my health. Last night you volunteered to eat my dessert so I wouldn't get fat, and today you helped provide me an excellent cardio focused workout."

"It looked more like the snake scared you into some kind of seizure," Danny giggled. "You were jumping up and down and waving your arms all around and screaming just like Mom did when she saw that spider in her bedroom."

"Yes, well, I'm sure she was just caught off guard, by surprise," Emil suggested. "I'll bet she calmed right back down and got it out of the house, right?"

"Not hardly," the boy snorted. "She kept screaming until Grandpa came in and killed it. Then he had to clean her whole floor before she would get down off the dresser and go to bed."

"Danny, you're not supposed to tell everyone all the family secrets," Ashley scolded as she handed a plate to the constable. "Here you go, Johnny."

"Thank you for the peas, Ash," the man told her. "I'm sorry for the spider thing, too. I swear if I had known you were scared of them, I would never have listened to your dad and given you one for Valentine's Day."

"My dad?" the woman demanded. She whirled around to confront Asher. "Did you know about this?"

"I swear I didn't know," Asher vowed with his hands up in surrender. "I always thought this idiot did that brainless wonder on his own. Makes sense that it was Bert's idea, though. He did not want you growing up and leaving him for some boy."

"I was twelve," Ashley practically yelled. "I wasn't going to marry Jimmy the next day." She spun back around to glare at the constable once more. "And you, Dummy. My mother died from a spider bite. Everyone in town knew that. How did you miss out on that memo?"

"I wasn't that observant?" Jimmy squeaked.

"You weren't…. I… You…. not that observant!" she sputtered and fumed. "I am going over to the hotel to find Aunt Moony. Men are overrated." She then stormed out of the diner still wearing her hair net and apron.

"Don't worry, Mr. Jimmy," Danny came over and smiled at the constable. "I know she likes you, so she'll get over this in a day or two. Maybe bring her some flowers to the library tomorrow?"

"Yeah, flowers…." The man then turned his attention to the boy. "Now what's this I hear about you and a snake today?"

"I was fine," the boy said, blushing a bit. "I was scared at first, but I remembered what you told me and I got as still as I could and I stayed that way until Auntie Em here scared the snake away with his cardio workout." The boy had done the air quotes gesture as he said the last two words very sarcastically.

"Well, you did exactly right, then," the man smiled. "I'm proud of you, little deputy. Maybe you should go make sure she gets to the hotel okay, though. Give her and Miss Moony some cuddles so they know you're alright."

"I'll go, but only so I can ask Miss Moony for some of her brownies." Danny agreed as he walked toward the door.

"You ask her about those brownies first," Jimmy called out. "Don't just grab them and start eating. She makes some with medicine in them just for her."

"Medicine in the brownies?" Emil wondered out loud. "OH, you mean that kind of medicine."

"She's old enough to eat what she wants, but he ain't," the constable nodded.

"For the record, Jimmy, I never had a problem with you until that spider incident," Asher began. "I thought that was incredibly cruel, but now I know you were put up to it and you were probably trying to make points with her daddy and her at the same time. It was stupid, but I don't blame you anymore, and I apologize for not thinking better of you all these years."

"Thank you, Mr. Asher, but you're right. I was stupid."

"Maybe so, but what I just saw between you and Danny… well, you're on the right track now."

"I sure hope so," Jimmy sighed. "I'd go after her now, but I don't think she's ready for that, and I dang sure don't want to waste a helping of your meatloaf."

"Well, if it really is that good, I suppose I should at least try it," Emil finally spoke as he took a bite.

"I might be old, but I still know how to serve a man a good helping of meat," Asher said. He instantly blushed beet red and stood up. "And on that embarrassing note, I'll take my big mouth back to the kitchen." He moved remarkably quickly considering how tired he must have been from the long day.

"I suppose that makes it your turn to do something embarrassing," Jimmy laughed as he rested a hand on Emil's shoulder. "Oh wait, you already did that up the canyon today. Or did you?" he asked shrewdly.

"What do you mean?" Emil asked as he studied his plate thoroughly.

"Well, judging from where Mr. Ash said you two were, you'd have had to see where that snake was just as easily as he did," the constable began as he moved his food and drink to the same table as Emil. "You probably had a better view than he did, in fact. So, when you started hollering and stomping, you were deliberately scaring that snake away from Danny, weren't you?"

"I thought you weren't that observant," Emil tried to redirect.

"I wasn't an observant twelve-year-old boy, but I'm not a twelve-year-old boy anymore." Jimmy smiled. "You can bank on Ashley knowing you were faking that fright, too. She never missed a beat, not even when we were kids. Your secret is safe with us, though. Provided you stick around a while, of course."

"Am I being blackmailed by the town constable?" Emil asked.

"That depends," the man chuckled. "Is it likely to work?"

"Well, I would hate to get a speeding ticket on my way out of town," Emil joked.

"See, now you're insulting me," Jimmy told him with a laugh. "I would plant stolen goods on you so you would have to come back to town."

"Dang, I really am being blackmailed," Emil said in wonder. "If I do stick around, I think you and I might become friends."