Chapter 37: Meeting the Family

17 December 1994 – Doubleday Village Road, Dana, Massachusetts

Jeff opened the door without knocking and motioned for Keiko to enter the house. Even though he told her this was the norm on this day, she still hesitated before stepping through the door. Jeff took Keiko’s coat and hung it next to his in the front hall closet.

“Hi, Jeff!” a dark-haired young lady exclaimed.

“Denise? Holy crap, when did you get so tall? And don’t tell me you’re in college already!”

Keiolis family rules stated you must be either eighteen or out of high school before you could attend the Christmas party since alcohol plus the Keiolis family equaled shenanigans.

“No,” she laughed. “my brother, sister, and I are just helping out today. First, we’ll score some killer food, then hide downstairs while you old folks have your fun.”

“‘Old folks?’ ’OLD FOLKS?’ I’ll show you old folks as soon as I find my cane, you damned whippersnapper.” Denise laughed. “Anyway, before you run away in fear, Denise, I’d like to introduce you to my girlfriend, Keiko Takahashi. Keiko, this is my cousin Denise Sellers, Monica’s oldest.”

“It is nice to meet you, Miss Sellers,” Keiko offered.

“Wow, Jeff!” Denise exclaimed as she shook Keiko’s hand. “You found someone with manners who would hang out with you? It’s nice to meet you, Keiko. Please call me Denise. Are you sure you want to be here today? This is a no-holds-barred, full-contact family event.”

“Shaddap, kid,” Jeff responded. Denise mimicked him, laughing. “No respect, I tell ya! No respect!”

She kissed her cousin on the cheek before flouncing away.

“I believe this will be an interesting day,” Keiko observed.

“Oh, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Come on.”

As he did with Heather in 1998, Jeff led Keiko to the kitchen first. He found his aunts standing in the kitchen, gabbing as were then also. They gave Jeff a hero’s welcome before his Aunt Marilyn greeted him with another sloppy kiss. Then, his aunts greeted Keiko with enthusiasm.

“Where did you find this one, Jeff? I remember you met Heather and Jane at Westover.”

“I met Keiko at Fort Bragg, Aunt Marilyn, about six or seven months after you met those other two blonde troublemakers.”

“Are you calling Keiko a ‘troublemaker,’ Jeff?” his Aunt Carolyn asked. “She is a very nice young woman!”

Jeff gave Keiko a look. She gave him a doe-eyed innocent one in return. “She’s got you ladies wrapped around her little finger already!” Then, switching to Japanese, Jeff asked Keiko, “Did you put something in their drinks while I wasn’t watching?”

“No, Jeffrey, and you know it,” she responded in the same language while shaking a finger at him.

“What was that?” his Aunt Gwen asked in English.

“Jeffrey asked me if I put something in your drinks. I answered ‘no.’ I apologize for speaking Japanese if you ladies do not. That was rude of both of us.”

“Jeff speaks Japanese?” Aunt Jeri asked in surprise.

“Yes, my brother taught him while they were roommates in the Army. Ken and I are considered ‘Nisei.’ Our parents are immigrants from Japan, and they raised us to speak both Japanese and English.”

“I had forgotten that,” Marilyn said. “I am sorry I never got the chance to meet him, Keiko. If he was Jeff’s best friend, then he was an exceptional person. I know it’s been nearly four years, but you have my deepest condolences.”

“Thank you for your kind words, Marilyn. It still hurts at times, but the years have allowed my parents and me to remember him without the crushing pain.” The other aunts were not in contact with Jeff and his family as much as Marilyn was and gave her strange looks. Keiko answered for her.

“My brother Ken died in the Gulf War.” The other ladies gasped. They almost ran each other over, trying to hug Keiko. The conversation became stiff, stilted, after that, so Keiko and Jeff excused themselves.

“Your family does not hold back with their welcomes, do they?” Keiko asked as they headed for the sunroom and his grandparents.

“Wait until the alcohol kicks in,” Jeff warned her.

He ushered Keiko into the oversized attached porch with the enormous windows. As usual, his Grandpa Keiolis talked animatedly about something. While he waved his right hand around making his point, his left hand held on to his wife’s. Forty-seven years of marriage, and they were still going strong.

“Blah, blah, blah, old man,” Jeff cracked as they walked in.

Grandpa smiled. He rose from his chair slower than Jeff liked to see, but at least he was still able to rise on his own. Grandma rose at the same time. Grandma gave him a hug and a kiss before Grandpa shook his hand.

“I’ll ‘old man’ you, Jeff!” Grandpa said. “And who is this beauty with you?”

“Hittin’ on my girl with Grandma right next to you? Grandma wasn’t in the room when you hit on Heather years ago! So you’ve got even more stones now! And I don’t mean kidney stones!”

“Oh, really, Nickolas?” Grandma K. asked.

“Marion, he’s exaggerating.”

“Right,” Jeff snorted. “You’re the one who told Heather you’d show her how a real gentleman treated a lady.” Grandma glowered at Grandpa while Grandpa glared at Jeff. “But I digress. Grandma, Grandpa, I’d like to introduce you both to my girlfriend, Keiko Takahashi. Keiko, these are Mom’s parents, Marion and Nickolas Keiolis.” Grandma hugged Keiko and gave her a peck on the cheek while Grandpa kissed the back of her hand.

“Clearly, you get your humor from your grandfather, Jeffrey,” Keiko remarked.

“I do come by it honestly. Keiko, these gents are my uncles. Uncle Fred, Carl, Frank, Gene, and Paul; this is my girlfriend, Keiko.” The men all greeted her.

“Between your father and grandfather, it is a wonder your humor has not gotten you into trouble,” Keiko stated.

“Well...”

“Ah, it has then?”

Jeff noted that his grandparents and uncles were smirking at him along with Keiko. “Oh, look! Heather, Jane, Alice, and Tom just arrived. Let’s go say ‘hi!’” he said while he pulled Keiko out of the sunroom. The grandparents and uncles laughed when they exited.

“Heather and her family are family?” she asked, trying to place everyone on a mental family tree.

“Not technically, no. They don’t have any other family beyond the four of themselves, so we started inviting them to our family stuff after I met them in ‘88. So they’re like family now.”

Keiko stopped Jeff right in the middle of Monica’s living room and gave him a firm kiss.

“You are a good man, Charlie Brown. I can see how you and Ken became such good friends.” Jeff blinked. “I know the cultural references, Jeffrey. I grew up watching those shows as well,” she reminded him while shaking a finger at him.

“I should know this by now, shouldn’t I?”

“It is all right, Jeffrey. At least you appear trainable.”

Jeff and Keiko stood at the security checkpoint at Boston’s Logan Airport the following Thursday afternoon. They awaited the arrival of Keiko’s parents’ connecting flight from Detroit. Classes for both of them let out the day before, in advance of Christmas. Jeff also took a week and a half’s vacation to cover most of Keiko’s parents’ visit. He’d report back to work on January third.

Keiko wrung her hands while they gazed down the concourse.

“Why are you so nervous, Keiko? It’s not like they don’t know me. Heck, your dad let me drive away with you within fifteen minutes of our meeting!”

“I believe it was twenty,” Keiko corrected him, laughing. Her laughter helped her relax, and she squeezed his hand in gratitude.

“Oh, well, that’s different. Maybe I’m the one who should be nervous because it took so long?”

Two minutes later, her parents came into view. From a distance, Jeff saw no visible difference in their appearance compared to when they first met in 1989. He saw none when her parents stepped past the security cordon and walked up to them, either.

Hiro extended his hand in Western fashion before Jeff could bow. “It’s good to see you again, Jeff,” he said in Japanese. “You’re looking well.”

“Thank you, Sir, you as well. I don’t think you or Mrs. Takahashi have aged a day since we met.”

“It’s the Asian genes, Jeff. And please, call us ‘Hiro’ and ‘Mayumi.’”

“That’s going to take a bit of getting used to, Sir.”

“So long as you get there. How is your family?”

“All are doing very well, Sir ... uh, Hiro, thank you. Everyone was quite happy to meet Keiko this past weekend.”

“Would you two stop talking long enough for me to say hello?” Mayumi asked the men before she hugged Jeff and kissed his cheek. “Hello, Jeff!”

“Ma’am.” She glared at him. “Mayumi,” he corrected.

“That’s better. So, what do you two have planned for us?”

“Well, tonight, we figured we’d just get you over to your hotel. From what I hear, west-to-east air travel is hard on a person. The restaurant there is pretty good and has the added benefit of being right downstairs from your room. For the weekend, we’ve got more than a few tourist-type options for day trips. We’re dining with my folks on Christmas Day, in the afternoon, and then at another friend’s house next week. Other than those meals, there’s nothing set in stone.”

“That all sounds good, Jeff. Let’s go get our bags.”

“So, Jeff, Keiko tells us that you’re in paramedic school?” Mayumi asked at dinner that night.

“That’s right, Mayumi. I started about the same time as Keiko started her classes at BC. So we’re halfway through the classroom studies. We’ll start our in-hospital clinical rotations in June. Ambulance shifts will follow once we finish those rotations., and I should take our paramedic exam around Labor Day next year.”

“All that while you work full-time?” Hiro asked.

“Yeah, it makes for a crazy schedule,” Jeff admitted. “I’m lucky that your little girl puts up with it.” Keiko put her hand in his and smiled at him.

“What sort of things do you learn in paramedic school?”

“First, there’s a review of what we should already know as EMTs, which they then expand on: medical-legal issues, splinting, bandaging, basic airway management, proper body mechanics while lifting, and fundamental psychology. Then they add blood chemistry, anatomy and physiology of individual body systems and the body as a whole, cardiology, pharmacology, endocrinology, intravenous access, and advanced airway management to include endotracheal intubation – putting a breathing tube in the throat. Finally, the clinical rotations are in the emergency room, operating room, obstetrics, ICU, CCU, psychology, and the field internships on ALS ambulances.”

“That’s quite the list. How long does all of that take to learn?”

“It depends a bit on the program. The program I’m in is held Mondays through Fridays from nine to five. Some programs hold classes twice a week after ‘normal’ working hours. I’ll finish my entire program and be a paramedic by the time other folks start their clinicals. The trade-off is the crazy schedule, next to no social life, and higher tuition.”

“You are balancing it well, Jeffrey,” Keiko said.

“With your help, Keiko. It’s been a team effort.”

Mayumi and Hiro shared a quick look, each smiling around their drinks while they sipped at them. It was evident to them where Keiko and Jeff would wind up.

The Takahashis picked Keiko and Jeff up at her apartment at noon on Christmas Day for the ride to Enfield. Their full-sized rental car would be more comfortable than either Keiko’s compact car or Jeff’s pickup. Their ride to Palmer was easy and lacked the regular Boston-area traffic since it was a Sunday and a major holiday. Jeff directed them to West Ware Road in Enfield once they got off the Turnpike. They pulled into his parents’ driveway just after one.