O bounded up the stairs of the small one-story house. Mel and Ike followed behind. She fingered the two friendship bracelets that she now wore on her wrist. Both O and Ike had insisted they’d made them for her. It was silly, but they calmed her. She wasn't sure what to expect of O's friends. But she was reassured by the little tricycle tipped in the front yard, the sidewalk chalk strewn around the concrete steps, the laundry hanging on the line.

It reminded her of her home with Ike back in Vegas. She watched a tiny T-shirt flap in the breeze, pinned by clothespins, and she suddenly got a bone-deep ache. She missed having a baby. And Ikey had been so dang cute. She had never been sad or ashamed to be a single mother. Her only regret was that some days, occasionally, she'd wanted to share his loveliness with someone else. She had just wanted to know that somebody else was seeing what she was seeing.

Mel sighed again. Those days were behind her. She watched O knock in a jaunty rhythm on the front door. Her stomach did a curious little flip as he turned around and winked at her. Everything about him was just so relaxed, his posture, his smile, even his wavy blonde hair peeking out from the pink baseball cap he wore again today.

Ike leaned into her a little and Mel's hand found its way to his shoulders as they heard heavy footsteps come to answer the door. Neither knew what to expect. She was sure that O wouldn't lead them into danger. But still, she found herself holding her breath.

The door swung open and a giant of a man filled the entire frame. This guy's muscles had muscles. His short brown hair was the same amber-ish color as his eyes and his mouth instantly turned into a frown when he saw who had knocked on his door.

"Great," the man said. "Just what I fucking needed today. A visit from Bozo the Psychic."

His comment immediately got Mel’s back up. She bristled at his tone, but O just leaned on the doorjamb, rolled his head to the side. "Psychics are amateurs compared to what I can do. You should know that by now, Amos."

Amos' eyes raised to the heavens but before he could say anything else, a tiny body pushed his way through the middle of Amos' legs.

"Uncle O! Uncle O!" A little dark-haired boy absolutely flung himself out the front door and into O's waiting arms.

Mel took a deep breath and mentally yanked her lady parts to heel as she watched the man she loved rip the shirt up from the kid’s back and blow a loud wet raspberry on his bare skin.

"Drake the snake!" O yelled and squeezed the kid hard enough to make him grunt. "How ya been living?”

“Good! Uncle O, I got a new bike and Lila got my old one!” Mel pegged the kid at 5 or 6 years old.

A little curly black head of hair poked out around Amos’ legs, a little bit shyer than her brother. She was maybe 3 years old.

“Uncle O!” she clapped her hands over her mouth like she was embarrassed that she’d spoken up.

O’s grin for her was earth-shattering. He dropped Drake in a laughing heap on the ground and swooped the little girl up in the air. “Well, if it isn’t Lila the croc-o-dila. What’s a girl like you doing in a place like this?” he asked, with a loud smacking kiss at the end.

She giggled and squinched her face against his whiskers. “I live here, Uncle O.”

“That explains it, then. Wait a second.” O furrowed his brow and pretended to think. “Who else lives here?”

Lila’s face lit up with the answer. “Me and Drake and Daddy and Mommy and Rudy.” She threw her voice into an intense whisper and held a pudgy finger in front of her mouth. “But be quiet because Rudy is sleeping.”

The man, Amos, softened a little as he watched O greet his children. It would take a heart made out of stone to not be softened by that. A moment later, a small curvy woman with a mess of curly black hair nudged the man aside and stood in the doorway, too.

"Oh, jeez," she said when she saw who was at the door. "We didn't expect you back so soon, O. Is it good news or bad news?"

Mel's heart sank at the woman's tone. Regardless of how these people felt about O as a person, they obviously deeply dreaded seeing him. Being an oracle, she supposed it was natural for people to assume that he was always bearing some sort of news. But what a burden. She wondered if all of his friends treated him in the same way.

"No news," O said, a lazy grin on his face. If their reaction to him bothered him, he didn't show it. He tossed Lila back through the air toward her parents and she squealed in delight as her father snagged her safely out of the air.

"We're actually here trying to get some information from you."

At the word 'we', the woman looked behind O and saw Mel and Ike standing down on the sidewalk.

"Oh, I'm sorry. You brought people. Come on in." The woman gestured for all of them to come inside, a genuinely friendly smile on her face.

Mel still wasn't sure if she liked the man, but the woman seemed nice enough. Taking her son firmly by the shoulder, Mel and Ike trudged up the stairs and inside.

"I'm Mel and this is my son, Ike," Mel held out her hand to the woman. They shook hands.

“I'm Lucy. This is Amos, my husband. And this is our son Drake and our daughter Lila. Our youngest, Rudy, is asleep in the other room."

Amos nodded to Mel and Ike as they walked into the small house. It was surprisingly spare for such an obviously loving family. No decorations or anything. The bare minimum. It almost looked like a hotel room.

Mel and Ike settled themselves on the couch as Lucy came in from the kitchen with a pitcher of iced tea and a glass of juice. "Hey, muscles, will you grab that banana bread I baked yesterday?"

Mel grinned at the woman's nickname for her husband. It was incredibly apt. Ike looked up and caught Mel's eye. The same smile swept over his own face.

"So how do you two know each other?" Lucy asked.

Amos walked back in and set the banana bread down on the coffee table. Both waited for O's answer.

"Oh. Mel's my wife,” O said, as he distractedly watched the kids start building block castles.

Lucy froze halfway through setting down their drinks. Amos' mouth dropped open. Ike turned to stare at his mother. Mel felt herself slowly lifting away from the couch like a helium balloon on a very long string.

O looked around at all the shocked faces and grinned sheepishly. "Ah, crap. Sorry. I was distracted. I guess I got the future confused with the present." He dragged a hand over his face in an embarrassed little gesture that strangely endeared Mel to him even more. She’d never seen him look embarrassed before. “I haven’t asked you yet, have I?”

For a second Mel thought he was talking to her, but then she realized that O was looking at her son. Ike just stared back at O, a completely blank expression on his face.

 O sighed. “Ike, in the future, I ask you if I can marry your mom.” O’s eyes were a little cloudy, as if he were both in the present and in the future at the same time. “You give me a hard time about it for a few weeks, but eventually you say yes.”

Ike was still frozen, staring at the Oracle. O wasn’t finished. “I ask you in about 6 months.” Now he was talking to Mel. “We’re lying next to a river after a long hike. You say no to me at first, when I ask.”

Amos let out a little chuckle from across the room.

Ike stared back and forth between O and his mom.

O continued on. “You tell me that you would never say yes without talking to Ike first. So, you go talk to Ike. He says that you should do it, that he’s kind of looking forward to having a guy around. This time, you ask me. I say yes. I give you a ring, but you don’t really like it. You don’t say anything, though, because it was my mother’s ring. And in a few months you start to really like it.”

Mel held her hand up into the air, indicating for him to stop. Silence pulsed in the room as Mel felt her life list to one side. She watched pretty much all her plans for the future tip right off the seesaw.

Lila lifted a little action figure, making him fly through the air. The sounds of the toddler playing jolted Mel back into reality.

“I. Um. Wow.” It was the best she could do.

“Of course, it’s not gonna happen that way now,” O continued, an intriguing blush playing over his cheeks. “Because I told you about it. So, that changes our future from what it was gonna be. But, you know, that’s what was gonna happen. If I hadn’t said anything.”

Ike leaned forward and picked up a slice of the banana bread. “Shouldn’t you guys kiss or something?” he asked his mom and O.

“What?” Mel felt like everyone’s words were coming to her through a bowl of Jell-O.

Ike shrugged. “Isn’t that what people do when they’re gonna get married?”

“Are we gonna get married?” Mel asked. But she wasn’t asking the Oracle. She was asking her son. For permission? Maybe not. For his blessing? Maybe.

Ike took a honking big bite of the banana bread. “This is good,” he said to Lucy, spraying crumbs on the couch. “I don’t know.” Ike turned back to his mother. “I’m confused with all this past and present stuff. But if you’re asking me if I’m okay with it, well, it feels kinda weird. But it sounds like I’ll get over it.”

Ike turned to O, a question forming on his face. “Hey, what does the future say about you and me? Am I always gonna call you O? Or am I gonna start calling you dad?”

O turned an even brighter pink and tucked the hat a little further down his brow. “I’d uh- rather not say.”

“Holy SHIT.” Mel covered her face in her hands and leaned forward, taking deep breaths. “What in the name of fuck just happened?” She didn’t even care that there was a toddler within hearing distance. She was beyond caring.

The couch dipped beside her and O’s arm came around her shoulders. When she uncovered her face she looked up to see O gripping Ike’s hand. Ike’s eyes were closed. When they fluttered open, he immediately sought out his mother’s gaze. “Whoa. Mom. You gotta try this.” He picked up his mother’s hand and shoved it into O’s.

Immediately a feeling washed over her. Not images. Just a feeling. One that she could tell was coming toward them soon. It was a family feeling. A tether that went from Ike’s heart to hers to O’s and back to Ike’s. In the future, they were a unit. That much was clear. O wasn’t showing them the details. But he was showing them enough.

She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. When she opened them, she realized that Amos, Lucy, Drake, and Lila had cleared the room. Given them a little space.

“Crazy, huh?” Ike asked, scooting a little closer to his mom. “Can’t you sort of feel the echo of the feeling? Even after he stops showing you? Can’t you feel it right here?” Ike touched his own chest. Then his mother’s. Then O’s.

“I feel that feeling all the time. Since the moment I met you guys,” O said. “Most of the future I block out. It’s too much. Too much information, too much wasted time trying to sort through it all. But that prophecy? That one just keeps banging down the door.”