The Classic Rock continues to pour out of the walls as I walk down the stairs towards the others in the kitchen.
"Goodmorning!" chimes Aunt Nancy whose standing at the counter wearing a tennis outfit -- visor and all.
"Good morning," I say and give a half-smile because all three of them; her, my mom, and Uncle Hank are grinning bigger than beauty pageant contestants just before their name isn't called.
I think they aren't sure what to expect.
"Are the speakers in the wall?" I ask, as one of the waitstaff from the hotel hands me a cup of coffee as she continues to make omelets for the others.
Uncle Hank bolts from his seat at the table and bee-lines towards a converter on the arm chair of one of the couches near the fireplace,
"[garble, chuckle, squeal~!]...on dem dere flights and I's a thinking now wouldn't that be grand for der cottage?" and begins to laugh like a three year old who just opened their prized possession on Christmas morning.
He fiddles with the buttons on the converter to increase and decrease the Bass and Treble. The Classic Rock crescendos and decrescendos on cue.
I pour some milk into my coffee, stir, and take a sip.
"It's wonderful," I tell Uncle Hank who has completely become mesmerized with some new function that opened up ceiling speakers he didn't know he had.
"Men and their toys," Aunt Nancy says as she shakes her head, rolls her eyes, and gestures for me and my mom to follow her out to the deck while Uncle Hank balances himself on the armchair of a sofa trying to figure out where the ceiling speakers are exactly.
"What a gorgeous day!" my mother says with a big smile as she slides into a chair, Aunt Nancy takes the one beside her and I pull up a lounger to lay near them.
The sun is bright, but not necessarily hot. It's soothing, sanitizing. Not intense.
"How'd you sleep?" my mother asks as the waitress brings out omelets for the both of them.
"Good," I tell my mom, and then tell the waitress than I'm alright for now and I might order something in a bit.
"You should eat something, you know, keep your energy up." say Aunt Nancy matter-of-fact. "You want some juice with your coffee?" she says to me.
I shake my head 'no'.
A moment later there is a loud blast of music, immediately followed by a garbled yell and then a crash of some sort. Without missing a beat, Aunt Nancy hollers; "HaaANK! Quit messing around!" and then laughs it off.
"Don't worry Nancy," says my mother and then turns to me, "Your father will be up soon enough to keep him company."
They dig into their omelettes and try to pretend as much as I am that everything is fine. But despite the nice weather and the peace and solace that surrounds this place; deep deep down, I'm starting to realize that everything isn't fine. No matter how badly I want it to be.
