Unacceptable.(Kevin Hughes) She smiled as she looked down at the freshly carved tombstone. It had a pretty drawing of a rainbow, a horse, and the outline of a paper airplane on it. All testimonies to the artwork produced by a small child for someone they loved.

She smiled at her Sister’s drawing of a horse, here reproduced on marble. If you squinted, used your imagination, and could see the expression on the Man’s face who it was given to, well, then it was a beautiful horse.

To a casual viewer…well, it looked like a boulder with legs…and a saddle. Her sister was six years old when she drew that horse…for Him.

The Rainbow was hers. She admired the way the Stone Mason somehow managed to get colors like that to stick to grey marble. The little stars stuck in the middle of the rainbow, were exactly the same size and shape as the ones she drew as a nine year old girl. She drew it for Him.

And the paper airplane that her younger brother drew…that was so life like that she swore you could just reach down and pluck it from the headstone and fling it into the air. Just like her little brother and He had done all those decades earlier.

There was the usual date carved into the tombstone. His name too. But the entire top of the headstone had only one word on it: Unacceptable.

She thought it was perfect. So did her two younger siblings standing by her side. Tears fell from each of them as they remembered why that word was so powerful.

****

“Unacceptable.”

They just stared at the man. He was talking to their Mom. He had just bought them all lunch at the Fast Food restaurant….and a milkshake too. It was the first meal they had eaten in two days. Well, full meal anyway.

Now, he had walked over to their car. He looked inside and saw that they all lived in that car. The three small children, their Mother and a cat named “Sir Whiskers.” The Man did not look happy.

He repeated that big word out loud…again:

“Unacceptable.”

Their Mother looked like she was about to cry. The Man took her hand in his.

“You cannot raise a family like this. I have a big house. I have a few acres of land around it. And a small pond. You will follow me. You and the children can live in the house. I shall stay in the small cabin I built by the Pond. “

Our Mom was trying to protest, but there wasn’t any strength behind it. She was so tired of trying to make ends meet…and running from the man she once loved. She often beat herself up at night over how she managed to miss all the red flags. He was tall, cute, and dangerous, and to her young mind, a catch.

Three children and years of abuse proved her wrong. When her Ex slapped little Billy so hard that he flew from the high chair to the wall, and then had to be taken to the ER…she found the courage to leave.

She tried to stay in town. But her Ex found her and the kids. They had a “Peace Bond” and “Protection Order” but they weren’t worth the paper they were written on. The last time her Ex showed up drunk and threw her around…was the last straw.

She just up and left. Everything they had, was in the car. For two months she had been driving across the country trying to make it an adventure.

It wasn’t.

And now, this kindly man, a bit older than her. Okay, a lot older, maybe twenty years or more, was telling her that her plan was unacceptable.

“You will move into my house. Now. Today. The kids need a home. You need someplace to start thinking. Running without a plan isn’t working. You just need to be safe for a while so you can think.”

She heard his words. But trust and hope were both in short supply in her mind and heart. She was just so tired. It wouldn’t hurt to at least check out the house. Maybe stay a day or two…and then run away again.

So they packed into their car and followed the man out to his house.

When they pulled up in the gravel driveway all four sets of eyes grew wide. The house was beautiful with a wrap around porch that curled around three sides of the two story dwelling.

The purple door stood out. The whole rest of the house was yellow siding with white trim. A series of rose bushes lined the front of the house, on either side of the wide steps leading to the purple door.

The man got out of his car, came over to their car and spoke again.

“Okay, kids. Leave everything in the car for now, and follow your Mom and I into the house. But first the rules.

(She laughed as she remembered him telling them the “rules.” )

“No shoes in the house. There is a rug just inside the door with a small rack for your shoes. Take them off, put them on the rack. Socks or barefeet are fine.

Second, coats get hung on the pegs above the rack. There is a hall closet for putting them away after you are done going in and out.

And all common areas are to be kept clean. And I mean clean. I don’t like messes. They are unacceptable.

Understood?”

Of course we were little at the time, so we all nodded. Not realizing he meant every word. We learned.

“Upstairs are three bedrooms. Downstairs is a Master bedroom, with an ensuite bathroom. (Pointing to our Mom) That will be your room. I will move my stuff out while you take the kids up to pick out their bedrooms.“

My little brother and sister stared at the man. Shelly (who was they youngest and only four years old) spoke first:

“We…we…we can have our own room?”

The man smiled down gently: “Yes, young lady. Anything else would be unacceptable.”

And so it went. When they emptied the car of all their belongings…the man looked at the small pile that amounted to all their earthly possessions.

He had a grim look on his face. He turned to our Mom and said:

“Unacceptable. Get in my car.”

“Where are we going?”

“Target.”

Three little hearts and one bigger one skipped a beat.

“What for?”

“Clothes mostly. And some other things.”

“What other things?” Said three children in one voice.

The old man’s face cracked into a smile.

“Well, toys for you little ones…and for your Mom…well, shoes. I never met a woman who only had one pair of shoes. I don’t intend to start now.”

He was embarrassed but didn’t try to stop the flock of hands and shiny eyes that seemed to bundle him up in what had to be the most comfortable hug ever.

“Now now. It is just a shopping trip.”

Not to them. To them it was…a miracle.

And so it went. Over the next three months the children found it really was their home. Over the next six months the Mom slowly let down her walls.

One night while the kids were asleep, the fire was chirping away nicely, and outside the weather was finding its way to Fall, the young woman asked the man if he would like to spend the night with her…in his own bed.

She saw his eyes. They grew wide with something she couldn’t describe. Joy, wonder…hope?

But then he said:

“Unacceptable.”

She was crushed. She had somehow violated his standards. She started to get up, embarrassed by her offer. He pulled her back down to his side. Looking right in her eyes with all the strength of character she had learned to rely on.

“What would be acceptable is if you accepted my marriage proposal. I have loved you since we met in that Fast Food place.”

In the morning they told the kids. Again there was a collection of shiny eyes, hands and arms linking them into a swarm of love and trust.

They were married as soon as the blood tests came back. When he pulled back the veil to give her a quick kiss, she laughed:

“Unacceptable!”

And then kissed him in a way that made little Billy exclaim loudly:

“Oh, for crying out loud.”

The laughter was acceptable.

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