Chapter 20: Summer

FRIDAY’S EXCURSION required two vehicles, and out of consideration for our driver, we decided to spend our last night in London at Jane’s apartment instead of traveling all the way back to Plympford. Her apartment was spectacular. It had five bedrooms, one of which was occupied by her cook/housekeeper, Penelope. She was a very kind grandmotherly type and instantly took to Toni and Alex. Jane led us on a tour of all the rooms and we were bowled over. The windows even had a view out toward a beautiful park, though there was no balcony.

“Jane, we have to have our bosses approve the location and cost of rental, but this is a wonderful apartment. I can’t believe you’d give it up,” I said.

“Peter’s apartment is far more to our liking. It has only three bedrooms. He has a day staff that comes in to clean and cook when we are there, but none live in, like Penelope does here.”

“About that,” Ronda said, “I don’t know that we can pay a staff.”

“Oh, Penelope comes with the apartment. You have no obligations to her at all, but she will clean and will want to cook at least part of the time. She’ll even take care of the kids when you need to go out.”

“Really? All that? It seems so far above our station,” Patricia said. “We actually invited Adrienne out to help as a nanny for a couple of weeks while Nate and Ronda were gone to Japan. I’d been thinking of asking her to come with us.”

“She’s welcome,” Jane said. “If you have the room, why not fill it?”

All the rooms were furnished and Jane said the furniture came with the flat, so we didn’t need to move anything with us.

After we’d gone out to dinner, Peter went on to his flat as Jane stayed with us. She definitely came with us, right to bed. Friday morning, our driver picked us up to go to Heathrow for our return flight to the US. We’d had an exhausting trip, but it appeared we would be back in just a few months.

Ronda and I couldn’t take the next week off from work when we’d spent most of the previous two weeks with our friends and not technically working. We reported to Mr. Martin Monday morning and explained that we’d found a place to live in London. He was pleased that the flat was furnished.

“We’ve located a plane that has been surplused and expect to have it in London before you get there. This week, you need to coordinate the shipment of our next year’s supply of equipment to the warehouse there. Order enough for all of Europe and the Middle East, though we will be monitoring the safety of our representatives in several countries behind the iron curtain and in the Middle East. You are aware of the Palestinian terrorist attack at the Olympics last fall. America is not universally loved through Eastern Europe and the Middle East.”

“How many countries are we talking about?” I asked.

“Twenty-nine more in Europe and a dozen in the Middle East,” Ronda responded.

“Wow! I should have studied geography more.”

“Those are going to take most of your time while you’re in London. You might be able to squeeze in some of North Africa, as well. Ronda, you’ll need to track how many of the countries have consulates and embassies. I’ve created a list of criteria for you to use in determining which offices will need the equipment and services. We’ve done pretty well the past year without that, but we’re getting a better feeling for where the services are actually needed and for what, based on your installations so far,” Martin said.

“We can do that,” Ronda responded.

“Nate, while you’re off this summer, see if you have time to think about how to better secure the equipment and materials used to create passports and visas. We are increasingly aware that our embassies and consulates are vulnerable to attacks. There was once a time when the embassy was simply immune to such things, but more and more, people in volatile areas see the embassy or the consulate as the representative of American imperialism. They can’t reach out to attack America directly, but they can create havoc for the embassy. So far, that has been pretty disorganized and we’ve kept you out of such areas. But the threat of an embassy takeover has been identified. How secure are our documents and equipment? How much time would it take to dismantle and/or destroy all sensitive materials and processes? How can we improve our security?”

“That’s a lot to think about.”

“I don’t want you to spend your summer working, but if you happen to have ideas, jot them down and bring them with you when you return in September.”

“Yes, sir.”

At home, we spent every evening packing our house. The government had a housing agent it worked with, frequently needing to find places for people coming in or renting for people who were leaving. We had a meeting with the agent and agreed to rent the house furnished, but we were moving everything we didn’t want touched to the boathouse. That portion of the building would be locked and the tenants would not be given a key.

Of course, all our clothes were going with us, first to Canada and then to England. Toni’s toys would make at least the first leg of the trip with us and we’d select what we’d be taking on to England. I was packing the contents of the small darkroom in the boathouse and would ship it to England with us. There was an office in Jane’s apartment she had used for a darkroom, and I planned to do so, too. We’d be back in Stratford the next summer and considered it likely that Mr. Martin would suggest another location where we should move the family for the following year.

We might not get back to the house in Antioch until the following fall, making it two and a half years before we were back. That was sobering, but we all believed that when that term expired, we’d be just as happy to live in Stratford while we considered where we should go for a studio and new home.

By the weekend, we were all exhausted, but we really needed to spend the weekend with our families back in Tenbrook and Sage. Ronda and I took the microbus to work on Friday and left for Tenbrook right after. Anna and Patricia took the children to Tenbrook earlier in the day.

“How was your little trip to London?” Mom asked when we’d all settled in for one of Dad’s Saturday night dinners.

“It was great,” Patricia said.

“In fact, we liked it so much we decided to move there,” I added.

“What?” Dad exclaimed.

“Well, our boss suggested it would be good for the next season we’re working to not have to fly back and forth across the Atlantic every week. So, he suggested we spend nine months in London and do our travel from there. When we were there last week, we found a place to live and we’re packing up the house so we can leave,” I said.

“Dear, it looks like we’ll have to make another trip to Europe this winter,” Mom said. “I’m not going to wait a year before I see my granddaughters again.”

“Gamma and Gampa come to Engand to see Toni and Alex,” Toni said.

“Absolutely, sweetheart. Gramma and Grampa are definitely coming to England,” Mom said. “We’ll need to know where to stay and book our flights so we can afford the trip.”

“Why don’t you let us take care of that?” Patricia asked. “We could even put you up in the flat we’re renting. We’re only going to use two of the five bedrooms most of the time. Well, and the housekeeper lives in one.”

“A housekeeper?” Dad asked. “Getting up in the world, aren’t you?”

“She comes with the apartment. She’s employed as the caretaker by our landlady. And she is a sweetheart. She just loves Alex and Toni,” Anna said.

“And has made us promise to let her prepare dinner at least three nights a week. That will make it a lot easier when Nate and Ronda are on the road,” Patricia said.

“How can you possibly afford such a place?” Mom asked.

“Well, Ronda and I both get a housing allowance to take our family with us. We’re renting out our place in Antioch. And our landlady is a dear friend. She’s the one whose wedding we went to.”

“Well, we won’t complain about saving some money on the trip. We still need to pay for Kat, and that’s been a stretch,” Dad said. “My job isn’t strenuous, but it doesn’t pay much, either.”

“And who knows what you’ll find when we move to DeKalb.”

“DeKalb? Is that where you’ll be moving?”

“That’s the plan. I’m to become the associate pastor at the church there, responsible for outreach to the University community,” Mom said.

“That’s wonderful! You’ll be clo...” Patricia broke off what she was about to say. “Oh, no!”

“The conference cabinet thought it would be a nice move for us to be closer to our grandchildren,” Mom sighed. “I guess that won’t be an issue, though.”

“Oh, Mom, I’m sorry. I wish we’d known.”

“Nonsense. How could you have made a different choice if you’d known? You should still take this opportunity to go to England. This probably won’t be a long term assignment anyway,” she said. “It’s an experimental position and the conference wants to prepare me for different responsibilities.”

“Different responsibilities? Like a bigger church, you mean?” I asked.

“That’s a possibility. Or they might ask me to work in campus ministry or Christian Education or even an inner city congregation. There are many opportunities.”

“Wow! I never considered that you’d be in anything but a church with a regular congregation. And children. Toni is already talking about story time with Gramma tomorrow,” Patricia said. “You know that’s always meant a lot to us.”

“Well, it is a fun part of the job,” Mom laughed.

The next week was even more chaotic. The housing agent had already located a renter and we needed to be out by Friday the first. That was the day we planned to head to Stratford for the summer anyway, so it wasn’t so bad. It just put the pressure on us to make sure everything was ready for the tenants.

We rented a trailer to tow behind Patricia’s Rambler. It wouldn’t pull anything too big, but we could load everything we were taking to Canada. With luck, we wouldn’t find we’d left anything important behind. It proved to equalize the speed of the two vehicles a little more, slowing down Patricia’s car to what the microbus could keep up with.

We loaded the cars and drove away from the house just as the agent was pulling in with another car. We waved and headed for Canada.

Of course, we weren’t there to take photos of the first two productions to launch, but they were reviving King Lear and She Stoops to Conquer from the previous season, which were the first shows to open. However, it was only a week until The Taming of the Shrew and A Month in the Country would open, so we were in business on the stage as soon as we got to town.

“I’m so glad to see you,” Anita said when she came off the stage during Shrew. “Which of us is next to get a job in the movies?”

“Um ... I don’t think I can get anyone a job,” I said as I hugged the actress. “I hardly did anything on the new movie and it opens in three weeks.”

“Oh, well. I’ll have to look for something new. Which means, I’ll need a whole bunch of new photos. Okay?”

“How are things with you and Damien and Kathleen?” I asked.

“Oh, great. I know Damien wants to talk to you. And Kathleen is on stage with She Stoops this weekend. She’s already upset that I get to see you before she does. She’s in rehearsals for Pericles.”

“Well, I’m looking forward to seeing them both.”

“I’m sure Damien will be out soon. He’s been arguing with John about the set all weekend. I think it will work fine, but there was some problem with noise on the show cart.”

It wasn’t long, in fact, before Damien appeared and rushed to hug both Anna and me.

“Can you believe this chaos?” he asked. “I should never have agreed to direct this, but it was the price I pay for getting to do my show in July.”

“Your show?” Anna asked.

“Yes! They approved my adaptation of The Bacchae. And The P Pirates will be here the entire week before we open. They’re doing all the music.”

“The P Pirates? Seriously? Are they decent people as well as good musicians?”

“And beautiful women,” added Anna. Might know Damien would choose an all-female band to score his rock musical.

“Yes. And they’re clean. Before the Festival agreed to have them here for the show, they had to show they were drug free. I mean, nobody cares if they get a little high on weed, as long as they don’t get caught. It’s hard drugs the theatre is uptight about. Four weeks ago, one of our principals was arrested for possession of cocaine. Big scramble to get a replacement in Lear.”

“Sorry to hear about that. I think I’m supposed to do some photo updates later this week.”

“Well, let’s get started on this one,” Damien said.

He started running the show and I could tell it was going to be very funny. He was making use of a character who is often cut from productions of Shrew. The show opens with a drunk wandering around and nearly being killed by a traveling troupe of actors. When he wakes up, they pretend he is a prince and has ordered the players here for a performance. He’s constantly in and out of the action.

It took two days to get all the action photographed and I spent the evenings pulling proofs. Anna took the proofs over to the Festival office while Patricia joined me at the Avon Theatre to work on photos of A Month in the Country by Ivan Turgenev. It’s a Russian play and reminded me of Chekhov, though I gathered it had been written long before. The program was listed as a comedy, but ... Well, it was Russian. It was funnier than War and Peace.

“Nate, we got some mail forwarded from Antioch,” Anna said when I came out of the darkroom Friday afternoon. “It all came with a healthy amount of postage due. At least the post office bundled it up and sent it as a single package.”

“Anything interesting?”

“The usual stuff. I requested they not forward catalogs and the like. This is only first class mail. There’s a letter from your alma mater. They want to know if they can depend on your support in the annual fundraising campaign.”

“Oh, sure. Can we afford to send them something?”

“Hmm. That’s a more considered response than when you volunteered to pay for Kat’s expenses in Minneapolis,” Anna laughed.

“That directly affected my family’s well-being,” I said. “When I found out Mom and Dad were struggling to support her, what could I do?”

“Exactly. We’re all proud of you for jumping in. You need to call Rachel’s parents, the Hannitys, and simply tell them you’re taking over Kat’s housing expenses.”

“I never considered how expensive it would be to send Kat to Minneapolis, since she had a scholarship. I should have realized housing wasn’t included, based on how much it cost me to go to school in Chicago.”

“Which brings us back to your alma mater. Contribute? A little? A lot?”

“I’d like to make some kind of contribution. What are you doing for your college?”

“Mostly ignoring them. I sent them twenty bucks. But there are two factors there. I got a decent education, but I have no emotional attachment to Rockford. As soon as I could arrange my schedule, I spent four nights a week in Chicago. I did not make friends there, despite the one guy who wanted to date me because I was just average. So was the school. Secondly, I don’t earn massive amounts in my job. You do.”

“Massive amounts?”

“You and Ronda each earn about $1,900 per month you are working at the State Department. Your boss has indicated that will go up when we move to London. Even if you didn’t have the business here during the summer, you’d be making more than most people in our parents’ generation.”

“Wow! I’m floored. I guess I never really paid attention to money, thanks to you,” I said. “Um ... Did Ronda make any kind of donation to her University?”

“Yes. She sent $500 to a scholarship fund. You don’t need to base your contribution on hers,” Anna said.

“No, but it’s good to know how the family thinks. Since I’m making a contribution to Minneapolis, how about if I start with $200 to Columbia. That will be good for now. Um ... Am I taking care of my family? Here? Anna, if something happened to me, are you and Patricia and Toni and Alex taken care of?” I almost panicked, thinking of my family being penniless if my plane suddenly crashed.

“Yes, love. Dad set up a kind of trust for Alex and Toni that we all contribute to each month.”

“How does everyone contribute?”

“It comes out of the business before any distributions are made.”

“Oh, good, I guess.”

“Patricia is the beneficiary of your insurance policy through the State Department, just like I’m Ronda’s beneficiary. If anything happened to one of you the rest of us would have enough to get us started,” Anna said. “Why so morbid all of a sudden?”

“I don’t know. I guess it’s part of growing up that I never considered. I’d rather not think about it. I just want to make sure our family is secure.”

“I love you, Nate, and I know you love me. That makes me feel secure.”

Monday morning, we went to That Scottish Café for breakfast and met up with several friends—all of whom wanted to coo over baby Alex.

“How do you like having a baby brother?” Kathleen asked Toni. Toni looked miffed.

“No baby brother! Alex is baby sister. I read to baby Alex. I teach her to dance. I teach her to sing. Alex is not a brother!”

“Oh, my! I’m sorry. I just assumed ... You know you didn’t exactly send out birth announcements,” Kathleen accused Patricia. We all started laughing.

“We almost named her Nigel to be hard on you Brits,” I laughed. “You’re forgiven, Kathleen. For all the rest of you, this is Alexandra Serenity Hart.”

“I suppose that means you’re off the market now,” Anita whispered to me.

“I think I’ve always been off the market,” I said. “Ronda, Patricia, and Anna are my wives.”

“And those of us who come to the studio?” she persisted.

“My clients?” I said. “We still take pictures.”

“Well, you know I want a full set this summer.”

“Anna sets the schedule. We aren’t always in the theatre taking pictures.”

“Speaking of pictures, here come the Weird Sisters. You’ll have all you can handle with them.”

I looked over and saw the three women who played the witches in Macbeth. Greta, Tessa, and Emma walked into the café like they owned it, striking a pose as soon as they entered. Then they broke up laughing and started circulating around the room, kissing fellow actors and friends. Eventually, they made their way to our table, where chairs had been pushed up to accommodate them.

“Oh! Our photo friends are here!” Greta exclaimed. I couldn’t remember if she’d turned twenty yet or was still in her teens. All three women wore gauzy tops that clearly showed there was nothing beneath them but their glorious boobs.

“Hello, Greta,” I said. “Come meet the newest member of our family. This is Toni’s little sister, Alex.”

“Oh, wow! She’s a cutie,” Greta said, scarcely glancing at the baby as she pressed herself against me for a kiss.

“Don’t bother with Greta,” Tessa said, leaning over Patricia’s shoulder to see the baby and give the mother a hug. “She’s allergic to children. On the other hand, hang on tight when Emma’s around. She might walk out with her.”