LONDON TOWNE
BY: TOPHAT

Chapter Five
Southern Hospitality

The air was warm as Allie finally stepped out of the airport in Atlanta. She found her rental car and made her way to the O’ Hara’s residence. No one was home. “Big surprise, Allie, real big.”

          “Can I help you dear?”

          Allie looked for the source of the voice.  A neighbor lady knelling in her garden motioned Allie over.

          “Hi!” Allie held out her hand, “I’m looking for my friend Shauna O’ Hara. She told me this was her father’s house, but it doesn’t appear that anyone’s at home.”

          The neighbor laughed, “Oh, no, dear. It’s Sunday. The whole clan is at Brian’s house, ah, that would be her oldest brother. They’ll wind up there after mass lets out. Brian’s wife is going to have another baby so the family meets over at their house lately rather than here. I doubt Shauna will be with them though, she’s not around much lately.”

          “Oh, that’s too bad. I’m only in Atlanta for the weekend. I would have come by sooner, but I couldn’t find the phone number. Is there anyway you could tell me how to find their church?”

          “Dearie, you’d never find it. But, it just so happens that Patrick invited me to come by and have lunch with them. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if you tagged along, being a friend of Shauna’s and all.”

          “Are you sure it would be all right? I don’t want to impose and I’ve never met her family.”

          “You must have known her when she was at Tech. I always wondered why she stayed in the military instead of coming back to finish her degree. Anyways, come in dear and I’ll get you a glass of lemonade. I wouldn’t want you to think poorly of Southern hospitality. Shauna of course never stood on formality, but she did throw some marvelous parties for her father.”

          Allie walked in her new friend and sat down in the kitchen.

          “You have a lovely home.” 

          “Why, thank you dear, it’s so nice to hear that. Patrick helps out a bit by cleaning the gutters and mowing the lawn. My Henry passed on a few years ago and Patrick has been so nice. He tells me it’s just to repay me for helping out with the children after Michaela died, but you’ll know all about that won’t you?”

          “Actually no, I don’t. Shauna never talked about her mother much. It made her sad.”

          “Well, she died when the Shauna was just a girl, and Shauna took it harder than the rest of them. Her father did his best of course, but I don’t think anyone could ever fill the whole in her heart Michaela left when she went on. But, there I go, rambling on and on, give me just a moment and I’ll change my clothes and we’ll be off.  I’m Mrs. Campbell by the way.”

          “Allie.  It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Campbell.”

          Mrs. Campbell kept up the conversation practically by herself the entire way to Brian O’ Hara’s home. It turned out that all Allie had to do was supply a minimal of interest and a few short stories about her adventures, like the time she and Shauna had kidnapped the guys and rented a house boat for a long weekend. It never occurred to Mrs. Campbell that Allie wasn’t exactly who she said she was. Of course it helped that Allie had brought pictures along. Mrs. Campbell just loved them, and after Allie had offered to let her keep an especially nice one of Shauna, her status had gone from friend to adopted family member instantly. Allie just hoped that her status wouldn’t drop just as fast when Patrick got a good look at her.

          “Here we are dear. Just as I suspected, you can always pick out the O’Hara residence by the noise level and the number of red haired Irishmen wandering about. It’s not just Patrick and the boys, you know, it’s them and all their families, and all their close friends. You should see it when Shauna and her friends are here; equal number of single men to single women. You’d think you were in high school again with all the hormones.” She laughed

          A man that looked remarkably like Shauna waved from the front porch and wandered down to the car. Mrs. Campbell eyed the open beer bottle in his hand and clucked her tongue. “Now, Sean, don’t you think it’s a bit early to start drinking?”

          “Hell no, Mrs. Campbell, Dad’s already downed several shots of whiskey. I’m pacing myself!”

          “Sean, this is a friend of your sister’s, Allie.”

          “Hiya Allie, sis isn’t here today, but follow me and Mrs. Campbell and I’ll introduce you around.”

          “Thanks, I’d appreciate it. I hate that I missed her, but maybe you can put me in touch with her.”

          Sean laughed, “I’d love to, except no one can keep track of my wanderlust sister for more than a few weeks. Ever since she joined the army, she’s never home more than a few days. Hey, Dad! Look who I found outside!”

          At last Allie was about to come face to face with the man who held all the answers. “Mrs. Campbell! It’s delightful to see you! I’m glad you changed your mind! Come in and I’ll find you a seat. See how much this one’s grown? It’s only been a week, but I swear the tot has grown a foot!” Patrick’s laugher and obvious pride in his new grandbaby was infectious as the whole clan joined in. And what a clan! All these people couldn’t possibly be related to Shauna.

          “I brought a friend with me Patrick, one of Shauna’s friend’s actually. You really should teach that daughter of yours how to dial a phone, why this poor girl only had your address.”

          Patrick’s laughed died as he turned and faced Allie. Patrick O’ Hara may have never served in combat, but you could have fooled just about anyone then. His back went absolutely rigid and his eyes narrowed to slits. Gone were his laugher and welcoming smile.

          “What are you doing here?!” he demanded

          “I came looking for my friend.” Allie knew she would have to be careful what she said to this man. He obviously recognized her from photographs but she hadn’t expected his hostile nature.

          Patrick turned and handed his grandbaby to Mrs. Campbell and grabbed Allie by her arm.

          “Hey dad, what’s up?” Sean asked, this rudeness being uncharacteristic of his father.

          “Go find your brother, Sean.”

          Patrick marched Allie out to the front porch before laying into her.

          “How dare you, come here and threaten my family?!” he asked her

          She was reminded of being a small child caught doing something wrong, it would have better if Patrick had let loose that Irish temper of his and yelled. This low menacing voice was not at all comforting.

          “Mr. O’Hara, I came here looking for your daughter, she’s a friend of mine and I need to find her.”

          “Unlikely. She told me you people would come, but I had hoped we had a little more time.”

          “Please, Mr. O’ Hara, if she’s in trouble I can help. She has friends who are worried about her! It’s not like her to just disappear like this!”

          “I really don’t care what you say, Ms., but I want you gone. I won’t stand here and let you threaten my family!”

          “I didn’t come here to threaten anyone! I just came to ask you if she’s all right. You can tell me that much can’t you? She left behind people she loved, whatever the reason she left I know it was important, she wouldn’t just abandon us to think the worst! But there are people who do, and if you care about her career at all you have to tell me how to find her.”

          A man appeared wearing an apron and wielding a spatula. Allie assumed this must be Brian “What’s wrong dad? Who’s this? Mrs. Campbell said she was a friend of Shauna’s?”

          “Yeah, dad, what’s up? Is something wrong with sis? Has something happened that you haven’t told us?”

          “I’m a friend of your sister’s. My name is Allie, Allison Hart-Burnett. If you look in her room you’ll find pictures of us together. She disappeared and I’m trying to find her. She could be in danger, we don’t know, we’re all worried.”

          She seemed to be getting through to Sean. Unfortunately, he didn’t look like he had all that much influence with his older brother and father.

          “Leave, now. If something’s wrong with my little sister I’m sure dad has his reasons for keeping it to himself. I won’t have you scaring my family.”

          “OH, come on Brian, what would the harm be in just talking to her for a few minutes?”

          “Sean.” His father called sharply. “Come back inside now, Ms. Burnett knows she not welcome here.” The three men went back inside and slammed the door shut. She heard someone throw the lock. Allie sat down on the front steps for a minute to collect her thoughts. That had not gone well. She looked up as she heard footsteps approaching.

          “Hey, is what you said true, about you being friends with sis?”

          “Yeah, Sean. She’s my best friend and I’m worried about her. I just want to know if she’s okay.”

          He offered her a hand up, “Come on, I’ll drive you back to wherever you left your car.”

          “Thanks, I left it at your father’s place.”

          “You have to understand that Dad is just worried. He’s real protective of us, but he’s a fanatic about Shauna. She reminds him of mom, sometimes, a little too much. Mom was a bit of an adventurer herself.”

          “Shauna didn’t talk about her much, she didn’t talk about any of you much.”

          “She doesn’t. Family is separate from everything else. If she’s in town she comes to mass and spends Sunday afternoon with the family. The rest of the time she does whatever. Usually, she helps out with a class or two. Mrs. Campbell had time to tell me that you were a friend from Tech.”

          Allie tried to decide if this was something she should agree to or tell him the truth. She decided with Sean, lying wasn’t going to get her anywhere.

          “Mrs. Campbell assumed I went to Tech with your sister and that’s where I met her. I didn’t even know your sister went to college at all.”

          “I knew you didn’t know her from Tech.”

          Allie reassessed him, deciding there was more to his easy going nature than was apparent. “How did you know?”

          “Easy. She wasn’t in there long enough to make a friend I didn’t get around to meeting. I went with Jackson every time he went to see her. I learned more about women following Jackson around my sister’s dorm than I did when I was at Tech. She had a few friends, but the really close ones followed her home on the weekends. You weren’t one of them. Besides, you don’t look like a desk jockey and you sure don’t look like a pilot.  You look surprised; I know she the whole reason she’s staying in the Army is so she could fly those jets. There’s nothing she loves more than flying.”

          “I thought she learned to fly in the Army.”

          Sean laughed, “My sister saved every cent she earned from the time she was in high school to the time she moved into the dorms. As soon as she had control over her own finances she bought a plane, got Jackson and Rodger to teach her how to fly the thing, and she bought a space at a local airstrip.”

          “It sounds like this Jackson was important?”

          Charlie started laughing hysterically, “Lady, the next time you see my sister, you ask her about Mr. Jackson Daniels and all he did for her. It’s an insight into my sister that I just can’t tell you about. He was her one and only great love, and man, what a love it was. She got into more trouble just by being friends with Jackson than she ever got into the rest of her life!”
          “You sure you don’t want to tell me about it? The guy certainly has an interesting nick name.”

          “That’s not his nick name, it’s his parent’s idea of a joke! You sure you don’t want to tell me what kind of trouble my sister’s in?”

          “If I knew, I’d tell you Sean.  There’s my car.  Thanks for the lift.”

          “Hey wait a minute! Come inside for a minute.” He jumped out of the car and strode up the walk to unlock the door. “Come on in.” Allie followed him in, “Up the stairs, last door on the right.”

          Allie opened the door and walked in to what must have been Shauna’s room. Martial Arts posters warred with movie posters, posters of rock stars and Irish landscapes.

          “I know, she’s got eclectic taste. Look on the dresser.”

          Allie directed her attention to dresser opposite the window. Here, stuck in the sides of the mirror were pictures of her with the Joe team. The fishing trip she had told Mrs. Campbell about. Ticket stubs, from one of Allie’s performances, a picture of the girls sitting on Flint’s car, a picture of a group of Joes out on the town. Allie recognized the scene from a bar they visited after a mission was completed. Even then Duke had his arm wrapped around Shauna’s shoulders, a big goofy grin on his face matched the megawatt smile on Shauna’s face.  Allie took the picture out of its place on the mirror and smiled. She ran her finger gently over the photo, a sad smile on her face. “Wherever you are sweetie, I hope you know what you’re doing.”

          Allie thanked Sean and promised to be in touch as she drove back to the airport. Sean had promised to let her know if he got any information out of his father and in return she promised to keep him updated on any information she found.

        

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