Olá Gabriel, 1. I would have expected him to say "... I had one merchant call me ..." [without the word 'to']. The word "had" here is very hard to explain. It is a colloquial usage, typical when one is telling a story. For example (exaggerated usage of the word 'had'): I was walking down the street and I had this guy come up to me and ask me for a cigarette. I didn't have any, and kept walking. Then I had this other guy drive by and yell at me. Finally I decided I had enough of all this, and just came home." There is no grammar guide that can explain all this. It's just one of those things native speakers hear, know what is meant, and don't think about it. 2. I agree with Ninfa. Yes, you can say "have a social gathering", although it sounds a little too proper. By the way you should say "creeps up on them" and "catches them by surprise". I also agree with Ninfa that the use of 'does' provides emphasis. The meaning is something like "You may think I should have been home by now, but you should remember that it takes a long time, in fact, four years." In the original sentence, when the person says it, they will emphasize the word 'does'. 3. The phrase "went ahead and" is another colloquial usage, used by certain people in more informal conversations. It often means that the speaker wasn't originally planning to do something, or maybe put off doing it, or maybe was discouraged by others from doing it, but finally decided to do it. But in some cultures, the usage is often used in pretty much any situation. 4. "Tripping" here is slang that originates from the drug culture of the 1960s, in particular, LSD. An 'acid trip' is the consequence of psychedelic recreational drugs such as LSD. In this usage, it doesn't necessarily mean Mom took drugs. It more likely means that she just had a bad emotional reaction when Dad left. Boa noite!

Olá Grabriel! 1) Let me try explain. In that sentence, "I had one merchant to call me.." the 'had' is simply to emphasise, I think. But "The merchant called me", would fit in too. 2) Yes you could say "social gathering", and people would understand what you mean, but it isn't commonly used. Secondly, "creeps up on them" sounds okay to me too. And she uses DOES take, to emphasise how long it took. It DOES take 4 years. Just like you'd say for example: Oh, I DO remember you saying that. or It DOES make me feel good. 3) I went ahead means simply that she went. Just like the other things you pointed out, sometimes words are used to put emphasis on something but don't change the overall meaning of the sentence. Does what I say make sense?