The Douglas Farm
The fifth day following Lisa's homecoming, Oliver awoke to a beautiful, sunny morning. He got up and began to get ready for the day. After showering, he went into the bathroom to dress and shave. Soon he found that his electric shaver was missing. He searched the house and found it in the refrigerator next to a bowl of peaches. He realized that Lisa had used it to try to shave off the peach fuzz again. Two months ago, this would have greatly irritated Oliver, but now he realized he couldn't care less.
He walked back to the bathroom, finished getting ready, and returned to the kitchen to find Lisa up and preparing breakfast. He kissed her good morning and sat down at his usual spot to await his meal. Soon after, Lisa placed a plate full of hotcakes in front of him. Oliver grimaced, insulted her culinary skills as usual, and told her he would just drink his coffee instead. Lisa pouted at the insult and shot back by challenging him to make his own breakfast one day. At this, Oliver laughed, choking on his coffee in the process. If only she knew, he thought, thankful that his coughing covered up his laughter.
After his coughing and sputtering subsided, Oliver apologized for his insult, kissed her goodbye, and headed off to tend to the farm. He looked all around for Eb and shook his head when he realized that he had overslept as usual. Oliver woke him up and urged him to start the days work. Eb reluctantly complied, complaining the whole time that he didn't get paid enough to do this job. Oliver ignored him as best as he could and continued on with his chores.
At noon, Eb and Oliver returned to the house for lunch. Lisa served them the hotcakes leftover from that morning. Eb and Oliver exchanged wary glances and choked them down to spare her feelings.
Suddenly, there came a large crash from the bedroom. Oliver let out a "what the…" and then headed toward the bedroom with Eb and Lisa at his heels. He found Alf and Ralph bickering with each other while an overturned tool box lay at their feet. They looked up at Oliver and quickly blamed the other for the loud crash. Then Alf insulted Ralph's homely looks and Ralph threatened to belt him one. At this point, Oliver broke up the fight and demanded that they get back to work. Alf and Ralph exchanged one more anger glare at each other and then complied. Oliver sighed and returned to his farm chores with Eb at his side.
During the day, Mr. Kimball stopped by to say that he had Oliver's soil samples with him. Oliver asked for them and Mr. Kimball pulled out a package addressed to Mr. Kiley. Oliver asked where his package was and Mr. Kimball responded that he didn't know. He figured he must have left it back at his office. He climbed back into his jeep and waved goodbye to Oliver, calling him by the wrong name as he left. Oliver shook his head in disbelief and then continued on with his work.
Later on, Mr. Haney stopped by. Oliver groaned, but Mr. Haney insisted that it was a social visit and he had nothing to sell him. He claimed that it was tea time and that he didn't want to sit through it alone. He asked if he could join Oliver and Lisa in their tea time using their tea set. Oliver responded by saying that they didn't have a tea set. Mr. Haney feigned shock and proceeded to try and sell him an old, chipped tea set that he "happened" to have on his truck. Oliver refused and shooed him away. Mr. Haney left defeated and Oliver once again tried to get back to work.
Six o'clock came around and Oliver decided it was time to quit work and join Lisa for dinner. When he arrived back at the house, however, he found that she wasn't even in the kitchen. He searched for her throughout the house and found her just as she was walking out of the bedroom. He asked her why she hadn't started dinner and she responded by apologizing and saying that it was because they had a guest. He peeked into the bedroom to see Arnold sitting on his side of the bed, watching television. Oliver quickly kicked Arnold off the bed and shooed him out of the bedroom. Lisa told him that he had hurt Arnold's feelings, but Oliver didn't care. He never did see why everyone was so fond of that pig. Lisa sighed and began to prepare dinner.
After dinner, Oliver and Lisa sat quietly together in the living room, Oliver reading a book and Lisa polishing her diamonds. The peace didn't last long, however. Soon, Eb barged in and begged Oliver to borrow his car. Oliver refused at first, but as usual, Lisa used her charm to convince him to let Eb borrow it. Eb yelled, "Thanks dad," hugged him madly, and ran out the front door with the keys. Oliver shook his head and laughed, figuring that at least he wouldn't be around to disturb the peace.
About an hour later, Oliver and Lisa went into the bedroom, changed, and climbed into bed. Lisa fell asleep right away, but Oliver lied awake for awhile, staring at the ceiling and thinking.
All day he had felt a tremendous sense of comfort and security, but he hadn't been able to figure out why. It wasn't until just then that it hit him. Things had finally returned to the way they were before Lisa's kidnapping and the fire. His days were once again filled with bad food, hard work, and irritating friends.
Oliver smiled when he realized the twisted turn of events that had taken place during all the drama. Two months ago, he would have flown off the handle at his wife and friend's irritating habits. Now, he couldn't be happier that they had returned to their old ways, no matter how aggravating those ways may be. It just made him love them all the more.
Oliver looked over at his wife and smiled, thinking back to that morning when he found his electric shaver in the refrigerator and when she placed those awful hotcakes before him. An overwhelming feeling of love flowed through his heart and soul. He scooted closer to her and wrapped his arms around her from behind.
Just another day in paradise, he thought contently. He then closed his eyes and fell into a peaceful sleep.
THE END
Well, that's it! The end! The story is finally over! Don't worry, though! You haven't heard the last from me! Far from it, actually. I plan to write plenty of more stories in the near future. In the mean time, I hope you enjoyed this story and it was my pleasure writing it for you! TTFN, ta ta for now!