Khal finished the bite of stew on his spoon and spoke to Emory again. 

“So why do you think your daddy is a hero?” Khal asked. 

“He saved those people.” Emory repeated, as though the answer was so obvious. 

“Saved them how?” Khal asked. 

“There was a big, it was a big storm. Biggest storm ever in town, and it snowed us all out. I was with mommy Ari, and dad was home sick. Daddy was at the library and he was about to head home, and he saw people. There was a crash. A car crash. And there was a fire. And, and, there was a crash, then a fire…”

Emory frowned as she stumbled over her words. 

“It’s okay, Em. Deep breaths.” Rene said, gently touching her arm. 

She paused and took a deep breath in. Instead of trying to continue the story, she turned to Misha. 

“Dad, can you explain it? I never get it right. And daddy won’t tell all the good parts.”

“Oh.” Misha looked from Emory, to Rene, to Khal, who nodded in assurance that he should continue. 

“Well,” Misha said, “it was the day of the biggest snowstorm ever in this town. I was home with the flu, anxiously waiting for Rene and Emory to get home. The way one of the survivors told it, there was a car crash in the white out conditions next to the library. My knight in shining armor rushed out into the cold and snow to check on the drivers. One of the cars caught on fire, and Rene had to think fast to release all the people inside. He saved a whole family with two children and a baby in the backseat. He pulled the mom out of the driver’s seat. She was completely unconscious, and he pulled her to safety before helping the fella out of the other car.”

Misha looked at Rene, “accurate so far?” 

Rene shrugged. Misha went on with the story as Rene’s mind wandered back to that strange day. The mother wasn’t just unconscious, she had stopped breathing. He’d handed the baby off to the oldest child and ushered the kids into the library, while the driver of the other car got out in time to avoid the rising flames of the family car. Rene had dragged the mother’s limp body into the library, where Frank had been standing, looking at him in utter shock. 

“Take the kids to the reading section,” Rene had said, gingerly laying the mother on the ground and grabbing his phone to call 9-1-1.

The children, a boy and a girl, were crying, whimpering for their mother. Frank quickly ushered them away as the 9-1-1 operator answered. She calmly talked Rene through CPR. He remembered her voice being so kind and soothing, a strange counter to the excessive force he was applying to this poor woman’s chest to make sure blood pumped to her heart and brain. It felt like hours, but only minutes later, the ambulance arrived and the EMTs took over. 

Rene stood back and watched in shock as they managed to get a line, and in a few short minutes, they were transporting the poor lady to the ER. They ended up using her phone to contact the children’s father, who arrived several minutes after his wife had been driven to the hospital to pick up his children. The father was crying and distraught, but he ended up pulling Rene into a tight hug and thanking him profusely for saving his family. Rene hadn’t really known how to respond in the moment, so he’d just nodded and done his best to reassure the husband that everything was going to be okay. 

He certainly hoped so anyway. 

The EMTs later found the other driver wandering down the road, lost in the whiteout. He too made a full recovery, despite some minor frostbite and a concussion. 

Several weeks after the event, the entire family had shown up at the library with a bag full of gift cards and chocolates for thanks to Rene. He remembered blushing as he assured them they didn’t need to do that. The husband and wife had looked at him with such profound appreciation that he felt uncomfortable, as though they were thanking the wrong person. The wife had a few healing marks on her face, and was wearing a huge grin and she hugged Rene repeatedly and told him that she now had the chance to wake up every day with her babies, and that might not have been the case had he not been there. 

Though Rene hadn’t said anything, Frank had been sure to tell the whole library about the incident. Katrina had made a huge deal about it, to Rene’s chagrin, and entered him in a number of contests and even brought its attention to the town mayor. Of course, their manager, Carl, had very much encouraged this, as it all reflected well on the library. For a few months, Rene was a bit of a celebrity to the patrons, but eventually the wonder of the whole situation wore off and most people stopped asking about it. Until, that is, he won the librarian of the year contest. 

The family he’d saved sent him baked goods on the holidays, and had actually been to their house a few times for dinner. Emory and the children, Stephanie and Eric, had gotten along very well. 

“Rene? Are you okay?” Khal was talking to him. Rene looked up to see everyone at the table looking at him. 

“Hmm? Yes.” Rene blinked. “Sorry, I was lost in thought.”

“According to what I’ve heard, it sounds like you’re a bona-fide hero,” Khal said. “They didn’t have too many details for me when I took the job, but damn. You’re the person I’d want having my back if a crazy situation arose.”

Emory looked at Misha, “Dad, he said a bad word.”

Misha waved his hand at her dismissively.

“Oh!” Khal looked at Emory in surprise. “I’m sorry! I promise not to swear from here on out.”

Misha snickered. 

“So Emory,” Khal said. “What else can you tell me about your daddy?”

“Well,” Emory chewed absently on her spoon as she thought for a moment. “He works at the library. He reads a million books. He loves people, but he can’t look them in the eye very well. His favorite color is turquoise. He loves me and dad very much. Oh, and he wishes we had a million cats, but dad is super allergic, so we can’t.”

Misha grimaced, looking shamed to be the reason they couldn’t keep pets.

“But that’s okay, dad! Being sick is not your fault.” Emory patted Misha on the arm. Rene was so pleased with the gesture. 

“And Misha,” Khal turned to him. “What can you tell me about Rene?”

“Hmmm.” Misha looked at Rene as he carefully considered his words. “Well, he is the most attractive man I’ve ever met. He has a singing voice like an angel. The patience of a Saint. But man, does he hog all the blankets at night.”

Rene burst out laughing, and Khal looked at him with an amused expression on his face. 

“But seriously,” Misha continued, “he’s one of the most dedicated people I’ve ever met. He’ll try to go to work when he’s at death’s door just so no one else will have to pick up the slack for him. We get Christmas cards every year from dozens of foster siblings he grew up with that are always appreciative of the fact that he looked out for them when others wouldn’t. He’s passionate about his beliefs, and that we should always look out for others. And like Emory said, he is always terrified that something bad is going to happen. You can thank his shitty, sorry Emory, upbringing for that.”

Rene felt so warm from all the unnecessary compliments and attention. He began to eat more stew to distract himself from how uncomfortable it all was.

“But he is only human,” Misha added. “Sometimes he even forgets to take out the trash. Or, maybe I do. Either way, do you know how bad two week old trash smells?”

Emory giggled and Rene smiled as Khal took a small notebook out of his pocket and began to write some things down. 

“And, what is a typical day in the life of this family?” Khal asked. “You mentioned someone named mommy Ari. Emory’s mother?”

“Ari is my bio-mom,” Emory said proudly. “She helps my dads raise me.”

Khal nodded and wrote some more. 

“As for our routine,” Misha said, “I sort of just run around like a chicken with my head cut off while Rene makes sure everything is packed for us in the morning. Emory is pretty good at taking care of her own routine. Then after work and school, it’s generally dinner, and family time. Games, or TV, or whatever.”

“She usually does her homework with Ari after school,” Rene pointed out. “But we’ll help her with bigger projects.”

“And what is it like for you working at the library?” Khal asked, looking up at Rene. 

“What’s it like? Well, it’s my dream job,” Rene said. “I’ve loved libraries since I was very little. No matter what family I was living with, I always found a way to get to the local library. I was reading everything I could get my hands on from the age of five. I was even straightening the shelves when I walked around looking for the next book. It just felt natural to be there, you know? It felt safe.”

“He’d live there now if he could.” Misha said, before taking a sip of his wine. 

Khal smiled. 

“It’s great to see that kind of devotion,” Khal said. “Would you be comfortable telling me any more about your childhood? How you ended up in foster care?”

“Oh. Uh, sure.” Rene was sort of hoping to gloss over this point, but he didn’t want to disappoint his guest. “I’m told I was born in Wales. My mother died in childbirth, so I was placed in an orphanage. An American couple adopted me when I was three. Ginger and Jonah Egerton. Unfortunately, and please don’t write about this, Ginger was severely mentally ill. She tried to drown me as a child to protect me from evil. Her words. Of course, that’s when I ended up in the foster system and she ended up in an asylum. Jonah didn’t want to care for me, as it was just too much for him. Not sure I blame him.”

“I do.” Misha muttered. 

“Anyway, I moved from foster family to foster family. Had twelve in all. Some were fine. Some were awful. One was absolutely amazing. A little old lady named Doris, who actually worked at the library. She was the last family I went to. She was going to adopt me. Was actually in the process, but she died of cancer a few weeks before it could be finalized. To this day, I consider her my mother.”

“That’s…that’s so much tragedy. How do you deal with all of it?” Khal asked. 

Rene shrugged, “I just remind myself that life is short, but it’s also beautiful. And I bury my face in a book and forget about the horrors of the world for a while.”

“So, is Doris the reason you came to work at this library?” Khal asked. 

“She certainly is.” Rene smiled. “She and Frank, the security guard, go way back. Together, they managed to talk my boss into hiring me. Despite the fact that I don’t have a masters. I didn’t even have a Bachelor’s degree at the time I started working, but I managed to finish one and work part time for a while.”

“That’s amazing.” Khal said, writing down some more information. 

“The library is where we met.” Misha pointed out. 

“Yeah.” Rene smiled. “One day this handsome guy was just wandering around so lost, looking for a specific book for a presentation he was supposed to be doing. The next thing I know, we’re having coffee together. Then dinner. Our first date lasted 24 hours. We were living together less than four weeks later. “

Khal scoffed. “True love moves fast, I guess.”

“He even helped me with the presentation.” Misha said. “I promise that’s not why I kept him around.”

Khal laughed, but Rene couldn’t help but notice it was a little forced. His stomach clenched at the idea that Khal might not approve of their lifestyle. That he might just be acting professional, but deep down he couldn’t stand the idea of two men being together. Just like so many others.  

Rene glanced at Misha, who was looking puzzled, but appeared to shrug it off. 

“You should ask Rene about his dreams.” Misha said. “Those are a trip.”

“Your dreams?” Khal looked at Rene, who began to squirm and try to change the subject. 

“No, but like he lives all these other lives. Like vividly lives them in his dreams.” Misha said, potentially oblivious to Rene’s discomfort.

“Now I’m intrigued. Please, tell me more.” Khal said. 

Rene looked down at his spoon, then at Emory, who was staring at him expectantly. 

“They’re just dreams.” Rene muttered. “I think they’re based on books I read. In a recent one I was in Ireland during the Irish Civil War, working on a farm. The details are fascinating to me, but I doubt a stranger would be interested.”

Khal shrugged, “Try me.”

Rene looked at Khal, trying to discern if he was genuinely interested or just humoring him. He decided it wasn’t a big deal, and continued.

“Well, there was one dream where I lived in a village on the Sunda Strait when Krakatoa erupted. The imagery is so vivid. I’ve had this dream repeatedly, and it’s always the same. I’m there with a friend, and we’re watching the explosion. The sound wave hits us, and my ears are bleeding, my head is splitting. All I can think of is the pain. And that’s when the wave of water hits. A grand tsunami. It sweeps us away, along with everyone else. My friend is calling for me, trying to reach me, but I can never see his face. I can feel the water, I can hear the rushing and the crashing waves and the chaos, and then darkness. Utter darkness. In the dream I died, of course. But there was this whole vivid life beforehand. I’m a fisherman. My friend and I make a great living just catching fish. We’re an important part of the village, a thriving community. And one day we’re all wiped out like it’s nothing.”

Rene paused and looked around. Everyone was watching him with rapt attention. 

“Wow. That’s quite the dream.”

Rene nodded sheepishly. There were so many more, but he wasn’t about to explain them all. Different lives. Different times in history. He was happy to tell Misha about them, but he felt weird telling anyone else. 

Khal only asked a few questions and the rest of dinner was calm and comfortable. An hour later, Khal was putting on his turquoise coat and bidding them all a goodnight. 

“It’s been great to meet you and get to know you.” Khal said. I hope to see you again at the award ceremony on Saturday.”

“We’ll be there.” Misha said, holding out a hand, which Khal promptly shook.

“I won’t.” Emory said glumly.

Khal knelt down in front of her, “Well, it was a pleasure to meet you. You’re a very bright little girl. Your dads are very lucky.”

They shook hands, which Rene found adorable. Finally Khal stood up and shook his hand. 

“It has been an absolute pleasure.” Khal said. “Goodnight, Rene.”

“Goodnight, Khal. Thanks for joining us.” Rene said. 

Khal smiled and turned to leave. 

Once the door has closed behind him, Misha spoke up, “Well, that went well.”

Chapter 6 https://storiesfrommontana.com/2023/02/12/2023-writing-challenge-part-6-untitled/