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Max ended up spending a miserable night at the airport. No flight had been available, except the one he'd previously booked for 9:30 the next morning. He could have returned home and slept in his own bed, or even in a hotel, but his unconscious need to punish himself for his reactions at his going away party kept him at the airport, where trying to sleep sitting up in an uncomfortable seat made him as miserable physically as he was emotionally.

Max stepped out of the airplane and walked down the shuttle tube into the terminal, expecting LAX to be something like Kennedy in New York City, but was surprised at how big and open it was. It was also very clean, even the industrial carpeting. He, again, expected to have to walk for miles through the airport to get to his luggage like in Dallas, and was surprised that it was only a short walk to an escalator and then down another short hallway to the carousels.

As the luggage started appearing, he heard an announcement requesting him to please go to the customer assistance office. He bounced from one foot to the other waiting for his suitcases to appear, wondering what was wrong. From nowhere came a vision of Joseph lying in a coffin. He blanched, and nearly collapsed from the image. But his suitcases started appearing, so he hurriedly loaded them onto a cart and then ran down the concourse looking for the office. His mind screaming that he'd caused Joseph to kill himself. Max saw the sign and approached it with trepidation.

A man in casual California business attire stepped forward and inquired if he was Maxwell Brown. Max nodded and gave him a questioningly look.

"Mr. Brown, I have your new car waiting in the parking structure. I need your signature on this receipt, and I'll give you the keys."

Max blinked. This was too surreal. It took a moment for him to understand what the man had said, and he looked at him askance. "What are you talking about? I don't have a car."

The man grinned. "Well, you do now. A Mr. David Gates purchased it via the internet and had us bring it here to you at the airport."

"Uncle Dave bought me a car?"

The man leered and laughed. "I wish I was young enough to have that kind of uncle."

Max considered telling the man to fuck off, but instead, he said, "When I'm your age, Sir, my uncle will still be my mother's brother."

The man lost his grin and apologized for being out of line.

Max took the paper from the man's hand, "Where do I have to sign?"

"Right where the X is." The man pointed.

Max laid the paper against the wall, signed it, then handed the paper back to the man, and held out his hand for the keys.

"It's a bright red Miata, upper deck, section K, space 253," he said as he handed Max the keys and a sheaf of papers. "The license plate number is on the registration." The man tapped the top sheet of paper.

"Thank you." Max turned to follow the signs to the parking structure, not giving the awful man another glance.

As he trudged through the parking structure, it dawned on him that his folks probably knew, thanks to his generous uncle, that he had slept in the terminal and had taken his previously scheduled flight. He was sure they were all amused, and that rankled. But he forgot all his problems of the last twenty four hours when he laid eyes on the sporty little red car.

Max had reservations at a Holiday Inn in West L.A. He had no idea of how to get there. He'd originally planned to just give a taxi driver the address and trust him to get him there. As he approached the car, he decided that he'd just stop in a service station and ask directions. But when he settled behind the wheel of the beautiful little Miata, he immediately saw a global positioning system. After reading the 'use' directions, and a little fiddling, he discovered that he only had to speak the address he wanted and the appropriate map appeared on the screen. He confidently headed out of the airport.

Half an hour later, traffic was totally at a standstill on the 405 as it intersected with the 10. He decided that he couldn't get totally lost with the GPS, so he exited onto La Brea Blvd and headed north. The system changed its instructions, and soon it instructed him to turn left on Pico Blvd, heading west again

He was idling at a red light when he noticed a homemade card board sign taped to a post that advertised a garage apartment for rent. On impulse, he turned onto the side street. He fell in love with the large lacy trees covered in pale purple flowers that lined the street. He had a laugh at the ridiculous tall spindly palm trees sticking up everywhere, looking as out of place as dandelions in a manicured lawn. That pines were growing next to the old spindly palms blew his mind

He stopped at the curb, got out his new car and leaned back against it. He studied the neighborhood, liking the strange mix of trees around the neat upscale pre war houses, all painted white with red tiled roofs, and unattached garages at the back of each lot. It was easy to spot the house that had the apartment for rent because it was the only apartment built over the garage. It stuck out like a sore thumb. Having worked with his dad and Uncle Joe constructing new houses, he wondered how they acquired a variance permit to build it.

A face peered out the window from the advertised address and then the front door opened. Out stepped a dainty little white headed lady who, with her hands on her hips, stared at him. He nodded to her, pushed off his car and walked toward her.

"It's about time you got here, young man. I've been waiting since two fifteen for you," she said.

'Two fifteen?' Max thought. 'That was my arrival time.' The tone of voice made Max feel like he'd inconvenienced the eccentric little woman. "I'm sorry. The traffic on the freeway was horrendous and I had to find my way on the streets."

"Well, what is important is that you arrived safely." She took his arm and escorted him into the house. "Now, the apartment is sparsely furnished. But the essentials are there, a bed, a sofa and a club chair, a table and two straight chairs. You can add whatever you want. There is a wonderful Salvation Army store nearby that gets some really good pieces of furniture. You just have to keep looking until they get what you want." By the time she ran down, Max had been escorted into the kitchen and seated at the table.

"May I see the apartment?" he asked.

"Of course, just look out the window, it's above the garage," she giggled. "I'll show you the inside as soon as you have a little refreshment and relax. Traveling by air takes so much out of one." She filled a tea kettle with fresh water and set it on a burner to heat for tea, and then pulled a pie out of the refrigerator. "I baked this especially for you," she said, placing it on the table in front of Max.

"Lemon Meringue. It's my favorite," Max exclaimed.

"I know." She smiled at him and turned to get plates, cups and saucers.

Max couldn't take it anymore. "How do you know? Were you really waiting for me to arrive to rent this apartment?"

She turned and looked at him as though she didn't understand why he was asking. "Of course… I dreamed… I saw you coming. No one else has even noticed the cardboard signs which I put up early this morning. And sometimes, like the pie, I just know things."

"So, do you know my name?"

"No, but I'm sure you'll tell me, just as I will tell you mine."

Max thought about how strange the situation was, but found he was not uncomfortable. Actually, he'd taken a shine to the eccentric little woman. "Do you think I'll like this apartment?" he asked?

"I know you will. The rent is right. It's not far from the UCLA campus and the hospital. It is perfect for you."

Max thought he'd figured it out, and asked, "You're in cahoots with my uncle, aren't you?"

"I don't know your uncle. So, I've certainly never spoken to him."

"So how do you know that I'll be going to school here to study medicine?"

"I dreamed that you were, and in the dream you wore a white coat when you went into the hospital."

Max sat quietly, digesting what she'd said. He wasn't sure he believed in precognition, but this little woman certainly seemed sure of it. He watched her cut the pie into quarters and place a full quarter on a plate which she set in front of him. Handing him a fork, she said. "Lemon Meringue was my husband's favorite, too. Dig in," she said in the same tone of voice Grandma Angie used when she said, "Mangi, Mangi."

"This is a big piece of pie."

She turned from the stove where she'd just put a couple of spoonfuls of something very aromatic into the kettle. "I'm sure you can eat every bite of it and still crave more." After savoring the first bite, he agreed. It was the best he'd ever tasted.

A cup of tea was set before him. Max picked up the cup and sniffed. "This smells really good."

"It's my own mixture of things. You'll find it very restoring."

"It tastes as good as it smells," Max said, setting the cup back in its saucer.

She smiled and nodded. "Why did you choose UCLA when there are other medical schools as highly rated?"

He had no intention of telling anyone the real reason, but there was something about this little old lady that made him want to tell her. He instinctively knew that when he did tell her, she would understand and accept him. But for the moment, he said, "I always wanted to come out to California. This gave me the chance."

She nodded, knowing there was much more to it than that, but changed the subject. "My son just moved to Connecticut, having accepted a position with a large company back there. I'm all by myself now. He wanted me to move with him, but I told him I refuse to be uprooted. My husband built this house just for me, and I intend to live here until I join him. I told Blair not to worry about me because there was a young man coming from the Midwest that will help me. And here you are." She smiled brightly.

Max smiled back and shook his head in wonder as he stuffed another bite of meringue topped lemon pie in his mouth.

Once the piece of pie had been consumed, Max stood up. "The pie was the best I've ever eaten. Thank you. My name is Max. Max Brown."

"And I am Claire Lunari. And I'm delighted you liked it. There's plenty more for later." They shook hands.

"Thank you for the tea, too."

She nodded. "You're welcome, Max. Now, it's time to see the inside of your apartment. Come with me." She led him out the kitchen door into an immaculate jewel of a back yard, to a stair going up the side of the garage. She stopped at the opened garage door. "You will notice that the apartment is bigger than the inside of the garage. That's because there is a large storage room behind it. Since it's mostly empty, there's plenty of space for anything you want to put in there. You're welcome to use it. You may park your pretty little car next to mine. There's plenty of space."

Max noted that the garage was a good bit wider than most older garages of the same period. He glanced in, seeing that it was even a couple of feet deeper than the huge old Cadillac parked in it. He followed her up the steps. She used a key to open the door and then ceremoniously handed it to him without comment. Opening the door, she stood back and let Max enter first.

Max stepped into a kitchen area, separated from the rest of the room by an island that contained the stove top and an under counter oven. Next to it, there was an enclosed bathroom and a small walk in closet."My husband was an architect. He designed and built most of the houses in this neighborhood. This was his office and 'lair' as he called it. He was a big bear of a man," she said.

Max grinned. "My Uncle Joe is an architect. He and my dad own a construction company that builds new houses."

Claire smiled and nodded. "Those are movable walls," she said pointing to several long panels lined up against the far wall. "They are on rollers so even I can easily move them. You can put them anywhere you want to divide off areas."

"I like it. How much is it?" Max asked, pivoting around, looking again at everything.

"Well, if you are willing to do the little odd jobs around the house for me, I will rent it to you for nine hundred a month." Max looked at her with a frown. She quickly added, "Oh, the jobs are nothing much. Little things I have trouble doing. Like rolling the trash cans out to the street and bringing them back in."

Max shook his head. "I can't accept that," he said.

"Why not? That is half what this place is worth."

"That's exactly why I can't accept it."

Claire looked confused. Her dream had shown her that Max clearly was the one to rent it. "So what would be acceptable to you?" she asked.

"I would be willing pay sixteen hundred a month and still help you with the chores, including mowing your lawns."

She studied this young man who was rather an enigma to her. Chewing on her lower lip, she answered, "I already have a man who takes care of my lawns. I can't put him out. I'll accept, if you agree to let me fix dinner for you every evening."

Max almost yelled 'yes', but this little charade was too much fun. He looked around the room, and then with a big exaggerated sigh, he said, "Okay, but only if I'm allowed to pay for at least half the food."

Claire smoothed the front of her dress, pursed her lips and then looked up at Max with a devilish smile. "You drive a hard bargain, young man." Max just grinned at her. "It's a deal," she said, and stuck out her petite hand for Max to shake. She grasped his hand with both of hers. Her smile turned to a frown.

"What?" Max asked.

"I need to set you on the road to healing."

"What are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

Max pulled his hand away. "Please, just leave it alone. I'm fine."

"And you don't lie very well, either." With an exaggerated sigh, she said, "I'll leave it for now."

She started to leave, but turned back and said, "Dinner is at six thirty. You are expected every evening unless you tell me beforehand. Oh, I forgot. The cabinet in the closet is stocked with towels and sheets and such. Men never think of such things until it's too late, you know." She went down the stairs leaving Max in the middle of his new apartment.

After spending the rest of the day getting unpacked and settled in, he sat down and called his parents to let them know he'd arrived safely, had rented an apartment and had moved in.

"My goodness, Max, you don't waste any time."

"Well, it was all foreordained according to Claire my new landlady. And I tend to agree with her. I got off the plane and there was a brand new Miata waiting for me from Dave.

"I set the global positioning system for the hotel, got on the freeway as it indicated and traffic was at a standstill, so I got off and started driving surface streets, and ended up stopping to check out this hand written sign for a rental.

"Dad, Mom, she seemed a little exasperated that I was late. She said she'd been expecting me since two fifteen. That was the time my plane landed. I want to tell you I was shocked."

"So, you rented this place without looking at other places?" Lloyd asked.

"Dad, she was going to rent it to me for only nine hundred dollars a month."

"And you haggled over that price?" Max had discussed the prices for apartments in LA with his dad, so Lloyd didn't comprehend Max's attitude, especially toward the little woman that he obviously had taken a liking to.

"I wasn't going to pay that ridiculous amount for this place."

"So what did you end up getting it for?"

"Sixteen."

Both of his parents yelled, "What?"

"Well, you should see this place, it's huge. It should be renting for two thousand or more."

"Max, you're too much for your own good," Mary said.

"Plus, I do the chores she needs done around the house, and I have my evening meal with her, for which I get to pay for half the groceries."

"And I'll bet you parleyed that into the agreement, right?" Lloyd said.

"I couldn't let her be paying for my food, Dad."

"We're proud of you, Max. You're about the most moral person I know," Lloyd said.

"Thanks, Dad. But I learned it all from you guys."

"I received three more letters from Joseph today," Mary said.

Max ignored her and started telling his dad about the car that Dave had waiting for him at the airport. And after a couple of more minutes of visiting, he promised to call back soon.

He then called Dave to tell him how much he loved the Miata and how he appreciated it being at the airport waiting for him.

"Hey, anything for my favorite nephew."

"Thanks for not telling Mom and Dad that I slept in the airport last night."

Dave laughed. "I thought about it, you know."

"Well, thanks again. They would have worried."

"Are you going to apologize to Joseph, Max?"

Max wondered if any of his family had any idea about how much pain he suffered every time Joseph was mentioned. "I haven't thought about it," he finally answered.

Dave could hear the pain in Max's voice. "He's only human, Max. I don't know if anyone has told you, but he hasn't dated at all since you broke off with him. Just thought you should know that."

"I am aware of it. I'm sure he knows I haven't either."

"Well, enjoy your new world, and keep in touch, Max. I miss you already. You know I love you."

"I love you too, Dave. Bye"

He collapsed into the big easy chair and studied the room, planning how he would set up the movable walls. A vision of Joze sitting at a desk writing to him popped up in his mind. It had been months, and neither of them had moved on. The anger and hurt had eased, and now it had become a habit to just push all thoughts of Joze away. He wondered if, and how, they could ever get back together again. He thought about asking his mother to send the box of letters to him. Instantly he thought, 'No. Joze betrayed me. I can't trust him anymore,' then the thought crept into his mind that it wasn't a matter of 'can't', but one of 'won't'. He sighed, dismissed the thought and decided to go for a run to explore some of his new neighborhood… his new world.

Joseph had overheard someone at Max's going away party tell someone else that Max's flight was at 9:40 a.m. At 9:00 a.m. Joseph was parked outside the high, barbed wire topped fence at the end of the runway. He didn't know which airlines Max was leaving on. It didn't much matter anyway - Joseph watched every plane lift off the tarmac and roar over his head until 10:30.

He'd kind of had in mind that it would bring some closure, but he still felt hollow, as strung out and taut as the multiple rows of barbed wire that separated him from the runway. In the hour and a half that he sat there, he did formulate a plan for his immediate future. He, for sure, wasn't going to stay and mope around home for the summer.

His Uncles Dave and Joe had invited him for lunch a week before school had let out for the summer. Dave had explained to him that he'd set up a trust fund for him just as he'd done for David and Max, and as he would do for each of their other four nephews and niece^*.

Dave had explained to him that he could draw funds from this account in limited amounts, and as long as he didn't go overboard, there would be no governing of how he used the money. Joseph'd had a bank and savings account since his twelfth birthday. When he'd turned sixteen, his dad had helped him get his first charge card. Joseph had always been thrifty with this money, however, he didn't hesitate to spend it on anything he thought was really worthwhile. So he had plenty of money to follow through with his plan.

When he explained his plan to his parents, Rence exploded. Joseph had expected him to get upset and maybe attempt to talk him out of it. But he had never seen his dad get so upset and angry. For a few moments, he'd even thought his dad was going to strike him. His mother had stood tight lipped to the side with her arms folded tightly across her breast, not saying a word.

When Rence had calmed down, he collapsed onto the sofa next to his son and asked, "Why? All of your life they have ignored your existence. Why would you want to get to know them now?"

"Even if they continue to ignore my existence, Dad, they are a part of me. I'd like to have the chance to at least try to get to know them. I have six weeks before I have to be at Harvard. I'd like to spend that time in New Orleans trying to break through their shell."

Rence spent a little more time trying to convince Joseph that he was setting out on a pointless venture. In the end, he relented and gave his approval. Although it had been nearly twenty years since he'd last spoken to his parents, he'd kept up on their lives. He gave Joseph all the information he had on them, along with his blessings and well wishes.

Miki had remained tight lipped all the while. She had never quite recovered from the harsh scathing words Rence's father had spewed at her during the few minutes she'd spent in his presence. She often heard people use the term 'reverse prejudice'. She thought the term ridiculous. Prejudice was prejudice, plain and simple. And there was nothing reverse about the senior Darcy's prejudice towards her. It had been straight forward, abusive hatred.

Rence had done his best to talk her out of meeting his parents. But Miki had thought it only correct and proper to do so. She had regretted it the moment she saw the look in his father's eyes as Rence, with a protective arm around her, had introduced her as his fiancée. The meeting hadn't lasted three minutes. Rence had ended up telling his parents they would never see him again. And his father had retorted that that was just fine, because he was no longer his son. Rence had looked to his mother, but she had her head bowed, silently praying. He had often wondered what she was praying about.

Miki had often wondered if they had lived in the same city, might they have eventually had a change of heart. Her father had been almost as bad as the Darcys, but after twelve years of ignoring them, he'd finally come around to accepting them and welcoming Rence into the family. Now it was as if Rence were one of his sons, instead of just a son in law. The two men often played golf together, and many a Sunday afternoon they watched football at one or the other's home.

Miki had always felt fortunate that her mother and her siblings all accepted Rence and treated him as one of the family from the very beginning. She knew that Rence had adopted them as his family.

A week after Max left for L.A., Joseph left for New Orleans. His mother secretly wished him success on this useless venture

^* The four other nephews are Lex, Joseph's brother, Gary, Max's younger brother, and Eve and David's twins who are in a unique position since Eve is Joe's sister and David is Dave's nephew, which makes Eve, Dave's niece by marriage as well as his sister-in-law. If you're not now confused, I give up.