Chapter 23

The next evening, Kim and I were on our way to a Christmas Eve party at Hector’s house. We were expecting something completely different and we weren’t disappointed. Hector and Inez lived in a modest house on James Island. Art and Melda were already there and so was Manny. Gail was on the way. There were others I didn’t know. We were introduced but it was hard to keep up with all the names. Kim found Melda and Inez in the kitchen.

I joined the guys and had the chance to brush up on my Spanish, which had quickly grown rusty. They were talking about home renovation projects and I shared what I was helping Franklin with. They gave me well-deserved grief for my sloppy Spanish. The vocabulary was a lot different for renovation work than it was for landscaping.

Tecate was the drink of the night and there weren’t any hors d’ouevres. Around seven, food was ready and we ate. Everything was homemade and tasty. I sat with Kim, Manny, and Gail and we feasted on tamales, menudo, elote and beans. Menudo is tripe in broth with a red chili pepper base. Elote is sometimes called Mexican street corn and it’s delicious. Grill corn on the cob, then add crema, lime, chili, and cheese and you’ve got elote. I don’t think Gail knew what menudo was either.

“Kim no sabe lo que hay en menudo. No se lo digas,” I said to Manny. He agreed that it would be best if we didn’t tell Gail, either. We both thought it was pretty funny.

We’d been enjoying the party for a couple of hours when Hector’s uncle Luis showed up. He came in, probably a little tipsy and trailing a six-piece mariachi band. I knew what a mariachi band was but I’d never seen one before. They all had on the same outfit with black pants that had silver studs up the sides, white shirts with huge red bow ties, and black jackets. There were two guitars, two trumpets, and two violins. One of the violinists was a gal and she was really cute.

There wasn’t room in the house so Hector ushered them out the sliding glass door to the covered patio. Before they started, I heard Luis tell them, “Jugar para todas las vecinas.” Play for all the neighbors, meaning they should go ahead and play loud. They did.

When they started, I was sure the entire neighborhood could hear. Mariachi bands are festive. There’s no other word to describe them. It was perfect. I could see Kim at a distance and she smiled her glorious smile. This was awesome.

Luis had a stack of Lotto tickets and he handed each person a ticket. “Feliz navidad,” he said to each person as he handed them a ticket. Talk about making an entrance.

I had no idea how Lotto worked. “Scratch it off,” Manny said, using a quarter on his. “Nope. Nothing.” I was a loser, too and I could hear groans of disappointment around the room.

“Mine says ‘one hundred dollars. Did I win?” Gail asked.

“You won,” Manny said. “We have a winner,” he announced and everyone cheered.

“What do I do?” she asked.

“Give me the card,” Manny said, holding his hand out.

“No, you crazy Mexican. I won,” she said and we all laughed.

At eleven, the band stopped playing and we all applauded. Kim joined me and we shook a couple of their hands and said ‘thanks’ as they left. “She’s really cute,” Kim said, speaking of the violinist.

“I hadn’t noticed,” I answered and she shoved me, laughing. She was impossible not to notice.

Then, all the little kids got to open one present. Wrapping paper went flying as the chaos began. It was hard not to smile. With Christmas music playing, the smell of good food in the air, and kids laughing and playing you had to be happy. What could have been better? Manny told us that if we wanted more to eat, grab it, because everyone would be leaving soon. I was stuffed but it was tempting.

At eleven thirty, everyone packed up to go to midnight mass. Kim and I weren’t Catholic so we didn’t go. We offered to help clean up but Inez declined the offer and gave us a plate of tamales. “Next year, you can help us make them. It’s a lot of fun,” she said to Kim. “Feliz Navidad.”

Sitting in Kim’s truck with the engine off, we just sat there, watching everyone leave for church. “I think I want to be Mexican,” Kim said.

“God and family,” I said. “It was really nice that they invited us. Art told me you can tell the difference between tamales made early in the evening and those made after midnight.”

“How is that even possible?” Kim asked.

“Midnight tamale makers have put away a bottle or two of tequila by then and they’re not quite so careful.”

“That’s hilarious. The invasion of the gringos,” Kim said as she started the truck. We tried to hum El Son de la Negra on the way home but it was impossible. Every time one of us started, we’d break out in laughter.

When we got back to my house I said, “Different. Obviously. In a lot of ways. The last two parties, there was a lot of drinking and it got kind of crazy. There was drinking when they made tamales and a lot of empty beer cans tonight, but it was just fun. I’m not worried about anyone being dangerous on the highway.”

We’d both had the idea that nothing good came from alcohol for a long time. The party at Hector’s changed that a little. Neither one of us really knew what to think about that. We went in and split our motherlode of tamales. Inez had given us a bunch. I wrapped cellophane over the plate and put a note on it, “Jack’s tamales.”

“You’re bad. Share those,” she said and we laughed.

She pulled me under the mistletoe and we kissed. “I still have stuff to wrap,” she said. “We’ll all be here tomorrow afternoon. This should be fun.”

“Do you think it’s too late to hire a mariachi band?” We both laughed.

“Oh, my, God, I can’t imagine. They were really good. I wish I had a cassette of their music. It would be fun to play tomorrow.” We kissed again and she left. I could not imagine life without her.

I looked in the rec room and saw there were a lot more presents under the tree. Sally would have had a big package delivered. I hoped she waited to open it. I hoped she liked it. She would. I knew she would. I hit the sack with visions of sugar plums dancing in my head.

Christmas morning was officially ‘help mom’ day. She’d spent a lot of the previous day cooking pies and side dishes and now it was clean up and set up time. Dane was working that morning but he got off at one. Mom said doctors and staff used creative scheduling for Christmas. Doctors with little kids at home wanted Christmas Eve and Christmas morning off. Other doctors took either the whole shift or part of it so they could. We weren’t opening presents until the afternoon so it worked.

I pulled the good stuff out of the dishwasher and set the table. Then I put a half dozen poinsettia plants in three or four locations each because Mom was taking her sweet time figuring it out. Then, Mom pulled out her checklist. I set up folding tables for serving, extra chairs in the rec room, ran tablecloths through a quick rinse and dry, put trash cans by the back door to get rid of spent wrapping paper, and stacked records in a specific order.

“Mom, how many people are coming? Altogether.”

“Including us, sixteen.”

“Have we ever had this many people over before?” I couldn’t think of a time when Ronnie was around that we had more than five or six. She shook her head and I thought she was thinking the same thing. She seemed sad for a minute and then got busy again.

Right at four, just about everyone showed up at once. Most of the ladies gravitated toward the kitchen and the guys ended up in the library or rec room. We had a cast of the usual suspects with the addition of a couple of engineers from Franklin’s work whose families were in other parts of the country. One looked familiar and I think he might have helped with the map of our property but I couldn’t be sure. New mustache, I thought. I’m sure he had to waste a lot of valuable time trimming it.

Talk went from work to Christmas and what guys were doing on their break to football. In the rest of the country, a lot of people watch football mostly on Sunday. In the South, football games that mattered were played on Saturday. Conversation gravitated to the Cotton Bowl and whether Bear Bryant could bring another win to Alabama or if the Longhorns would win. No one cared about Georgia Tech. Oh, well.

Mom called us to the table and we sat down to a feast. Kim and I were sitting across from Doctor Calhoun and Doctor Legare. Lula Mae asked how we liked the party on Wednesday night and Kim told her about all three of the parties we’d been to. When she described the party at Hector’s house, she was fascinated by the differences.

“Everyone,” Doctor Calhoun said a couple of times, but she was too soft-spoken to get everyone’s attention. Doctor Legare fixed that and everyone turned to see what she had to say. “I found this quite interesting and I think you will too. Kim and Jack have been to three parties this week and I think her observations are enlightening. Won’t you share them?”

Kim did. Kim and I had talked about this a lot so she had plenty to share. When she described the party at Hector’s house you could tell that everyone was interested. The food was quite different, but they had their party in a small, crowded home, with live music, and then everyone went to mass.

When she finished, Doctor Legare said, “I don’t think anyone from the MUSC party would have been capable of attending mass afterward.”

“A lot of Hector’s crew and family have been here for a party,” Dane said.

“Two,” Mom added. “Still, it sounds different. It sounds fun.”

Conversation didn’t necessarily center on that but I could hear a couple of different people talking about it. In this group of doctors, lawyers, and engineers from upper-middle class and at least a little bit of wealth, there was a solid degree of respect for Hector and his family and friends. I liked it a lot.

“I want to be a Mexican,” Kim said softly to me, repeating what she’d said the night before.

“Te llamaré Camila Marie,” I said, and she laughed. I wasn’t going to change her name to Camila Marie but the thought amused her.

We decided to wait on dessert and migrated to the rec room to open presents. Dane and I slipped out the back to uncover Kim’s trailer and roll it back so she could see it when she stepped out front. Back inside, Mom apologized if there wasn’t something for everyone under the tree and that we were just happy they were with us.

We were enjoying handing out gifts and opening them when Franklin opened a gift that was the same size and shape as several others. Mom had wrapped different colored remote-control cars for Franklin, Dane, Doctor Legare, Doctor Tipton, Mr. McTighe, and me. About ninety seconds after Franklin’s car went zooming across the rec room floor, five other cars joined it. It looked like a demolition derby. The ladies cautioned us not to destroy anything, but nothing was getting hurt and it was super funny.

I discovered that I could change frequencies on my controller. Yeeha. I took over Dane’s car, zooming it around the corner and into the kitchen while he watched, helplessly wondering what had happened. Doctor Legare’s was next. I took over cars one at a time and drove them out of the room. I had no idea which car I’d get because the frequencies weren’t labeled. One by one, they drove into different rooms.

Mr. McTighe put his hands up, showing that it wasn’t him. I was driving Doctor Tipton’s car toward the kitchen when I realized it had gotten quiet. Everyone was looking at the only person still working a controller, me. “I don’t have a driver’s license yet. This is all I’ve got,” I said and they all laughed. Mom encouraged us to wait until the rest of the presents had been opened before we continued. It was pretty funny. Great idea, Mom.

Kim pulled a couple of presents from under the tree, handing one to me from Doctor Legare. I wasn’t expecting one from him and I didn’t have anything for him so it felt a little weird. I looked at him to see if the label was right and he nodded.

I nodded ‘thanks’ to him and unwrapped the box. I popped it open to see a baseball glove. It seemed a little strange since I already had a glove and he knew that. Plus, this glove was used. I tried it on and it fit great.

“Someone did a great job of breaking this in, Doc. Thanks.”

“The someone who broke it in signed it,” he said.

I looked in the pocket but that would have been a stupid place to sign it. On the outside little finger, I tried to read the signature. I thought I had the cursive signature figured out but it couldn’t be right.

“Is this who I think it is?” I asked. Once again, everyone was looking at me.

“It is. I do work for the Braves occasionally and I asked their center fielder if he had an extra for my favorite center fielder. He was happy to do that. He used that glove when he played in the minors for the Kingsport Braves.”

“This is awesome. This is his actual, no kidding, glove,” I said.

“That is, in fact, his actual, no kidding, glove. He said they don’t buy their own equipment. They just tell their equipment manager what they want. He said he’d rather have an up-and-coming center fielder using it than collecting dust in the back of his locker.”

“I don’t know how to say thanks.” I was dumbstruck.

“All I did was ask. Maybe you can tell him sometime.”

“Who are we talking about?” Mom asked.

“Dale Murphy,” I answered. “He’s the All-American Boy, Mom.” Dane leaned toward Mom and said something to her and she smiled.

“There’s no way I can top that,” Kim said, setting a pile of boxes in front of me. “But I hope you like ‘em.”

“I’m sure I will.”

“You’re going to think it’s weird,” she said.

I pulled the wrapping off the smallest one to find a heavy-duty pair of gloves. The labeling said they were for use when operating a chain saw. The second box had a hard hat with a visor and hearing protectors, and the third had a pair of chaps. “I would never have guessed,” I said, not really knowing how to react.

“I want you to be safe. Cutting down trees is dangerous.”

“Well, then, I shall be safe,” I said, putting the helmet on. With the visor down, and the hearing protectors in place, the room suddenly became very quiet. Mom moved her lips but she didn’t say anything. These were great. “Thank you, Baby,” I said and her lips silently moved. I leaned closer and put a hand up to my muffled ear.

She pulled the muff away from my ear and said, “Dufus.”

“Thank you, Baby. Really. I never would have thought to get this stuff but I do need it. Want yours?”

“Of course.” She looked at the tree. There were two large boxes and two slightly smaller, but still pretty large boxes left and they were for each of us. Matching somethings.

I pulled a little box out of my pocket and handed it to her. It was a little jewelry box I borrowed from Mom. She unwrapped it and popped the top to see a little key.

“Brinks, it says. I bet this opens something.”

I stood and she followed me with a half dozen people right behind us. I asked her to close her eyes and I opened the door and we went outside and down the steps. I looked back and the front step was crowded with people who wanted to see.

“Okay,” I said and she opened her eyes.

She took in a breath and squeaked out, “You didn’t. K and J Ranch and Dance? That’s awesome,” she said walking closer to her trailer. She walked around the side to where I’d stenciled Diva’s name under the window, then opened the back and went in.

“I think she likes it,” Dane said, putting a hand on my shoulder.

“It’s perfect, Baby,” Kim said walking out of the trailer. “This is because of the Myrtle Beach Ride for Rescues, isn’t it?”

“One of the reasons. You like it?”

“It’s perfect. I couldn’t have done better, and I love the name K and J Ranch and Dance,” she said and hugged my neck.

“A couple things you should know,” Dane said. “Lorraine helped him find it and he put a lot of time and energy into making it look great. He put new tires on it, spiffed it up, and, obviously painted it.”

“Perfect,” Kim hollered to everyone who was watching. Then, to me, “Let’s close it up and park it. It’s cold out here.”

Dane and I rolled it back to the side of the house, and followed Kim inside. “Thank you, Baby. That’s so perfect. I know when I’ll be using it, too.”

“When’s that?” I asked as we followed Dane inside.

“Springtime. Moncks Corner Pro Am Rodeo. I’m going to race. Yeeha.”

When we got back inside, Karen handed me a small package. I opened it but it was weird. It was like some sort of big, black, hairy spider. “What is it, Karen?”

She helped me ease it out of the envelope. It was a mustache! An enormous mustache that would hang down to my chin. She helped me put it on. It was great! I turned to look at Kim.

“Oh, lord. Karen, really? He’ll never take it off.” I’m pretty sure everyone thought it was very becoming.

“Waiting on you, two,” Mrs. McTighe said. “Pat can’t wait to see what he bought you.”

“Mary and I got to talking, and, well, they’re the same so why don’t you just pick one,” Mom said.

They were the last presents under the tree. Actually, they were too big to be under it. I let Kim have the honors and she opened one of the big ones, then the smaller.

“This looks like work, to me,” I said.

“I don’t know what these are,” Angela said.

“It’s an Apple II Plus computer and printer. They can do everything. The school is getting a computer lab next year and I tried an Apple II in Miss Durand’s office. No more White-Out. You can type, then move text around and stuff. They’ll make typing homework papers a lot easier,” I said.

“When I was your age, we had to walk a mile to buy new typewriter ribbon,” Mr. McTighe said.

“Uphill, in the snow,” Mrs. McTighe added.

“I didn’t know they had typewriters when you were their age,” Doctor Legare said.

That started the battle of when-I-was-your-age stories while Mom and Karen went to get dessert. Kim and I were sitting on the floor, reading about our computers, while the old-timers competed in historically accurate hardships, when Franklin sat down next to us.

“These aren’t hard to set up. We’ve got several at work. You’ve got your planning room, Jack. I’d set up in there. CPU, monitor, mouse, and keyboard all have jacks on the back and the cables are either different or color-coded. It’s a bit like connecting a stereo. I can help you set up one and then you can do the other, if you like.” He looked at us, recognized our state of mind, and said, “Or not. Let me know if you get stuck. It’s nice to have another week of break. You’ll need it to get all the software loaded and figured out and there’s a chance you’ll want some different software besides what it comes with.”

“It’s packaged with Apple Writer and VisiCalc. That’s good, right?” I asked.

“Definitely. You’ve got a word processor and a spreadsheet tool. Very powerful. I’ll leave you to it. If I know you two, you’ll have this all figured out by noon tomorrow,” Franklin said and stood. “What am I thinking? You’ll have it figured out before midnight.”

We’d been reading instructions and figuring out all the wires and connectors for a few minutes when Kim said, “We’re being rude.”

I stopped what I was doing and looked around. The rec room was empty, except for us. Everyone else was back in the kitchen. “They’re packing up and getting ready,” I said. We need to go mingle and thank.”

“Yup.”

I stood, then held my hands out to help Kim up. We joined the crowd in the kitchen where Mom was packaging up food for people to take home with them. We circulated and thanked everyone for their gifts and for coming and helped carry packages and food out to cars. Kim and I offered to help clean up but Mom just put the food away. “The maid will take care of it all in the morning.” We didn’t have a maid.

Kim and I took one of the computers back to my office and spent the next two hours setting it up, then exploring the software. Dane had given us some extra software, which was pretty cool. We had the entire Encyclopedia Britanica on just a couple of disks. The best part about that was that you could search through the whole thing without having to flip pages. We each typed a page, used the cut and paste feature, changed the fonts, then printed a page.

Satisfied we could do the basics, we looked at some of the other software that was included. We explored them one at a time and finally found one we wanted to mess around with for a while. I went to the kitchen and came back with a plate of tamales, salsa, potato salad, and drinks. We took turns playing and coaching each other, laughing at our failures.

We’d been playing a lot longer than we thought when Mom came in. A lot longer. “Are you two still up?”

“Yes, ma’am. Time got away from us,” I said.

“What are you doing?” she asked, looking at the screen.

“Dying, mostly,” Kim said. “So far, we’ve died from snake bite, starvation, cold and, let’s see, cholera, typhoid, and some other things.”

“It’s a game,” I said. “We’re trying to get to Oregon but we keep dying before we get there. I’ve gotten dysentery three times, had measles, and died of exhaustion.”

“You died of exhaustion. That’s a laugh.”

“If you think that’s funny, he died of drowning,” Kim said. “It’s called Oregon Trail. It’s fun and it’s obviously addicting.”

“I’ll say. You two need to knock it off and get some sleep.”

“Crap. I broke my arm,” I said.

“That’s a good place to stop. Get some rest and let it heal.”

Kim left her stuff and went home, planning to return that afternoon so we could cart her goodies back to her house. I thanked Mom for the computer again and she informed me it was supposed to be for my school. I told her I’d learned a lot on my way to Oregon.

Late the next afternoon, I helped Kim prepare dinner for her parents while they sat in front of her computer trying to figure out how many oxen, wheels, and bullets they’d need to get their wagon to Oregon. It was fun to listen to them trying to figure it out. “Every now and then, we’d hear, “Dysentery, again!!” and we’d have to laugh. I was beginning to think it was impossible to make it all the way, and certainly not with the five travelers you started with.

Kim called them to dinner. “Alright, you kids, dinner’s on.”

They pretended to complain but joined us for dinner. We talked about the game and the challenges pioneers would have had. From that, we moved on to computers and how we thought they would change the world. Mrs. McTighe said she thought they would change the world the way microwaves had changed the kitchen. Kim thought the change would be a lot more profound. That got us to talking about Jules Verne and how insightful he had been.

I didn’t stay late. We were both way behind on sleep so Kim drove me home right after dinner. It seemed like Mom was hollering for me before I got the door closed. “Messages. That you, Aquaman?” She sounded urgent.

“Hey. What’s up, Mom? Everything okay?”

“Yes, and no. Let’s see, Lorraine, Vince, and Coach Miller Called, well, not actually called but stopped by to give you your trophies now that they’ve been engraved and if you want to hang onto them, you can or bring them to school when you start again but they’re there on the counter, oh, and Sally called but that was yesterday, and I forgot, and I’m sorry, but...”

“Mom. Slow down.”

“Okay. Whew. The phone. Okay. Lorraine called and wants you to call her back. She said she would have called Kim but she wanted to be sure first. Vince is going to Coastal Carolina on Wednesday and wants to know if you’re interested in making the trip with him. Sally called to say thanks and I totally forgot to relay the message. Please tell her that’s all my fault.”

“These are pretty cool,” I said, checking out the trophies. They were all the same except for the event. There was a little gold guy’s upper torso, swimming on three little wavy things, with a map of South Carolina behind him. The engraving had my name, the date, event, and first place. “Man, these represent a lot of miles in the pool.”

“They’re each one-of-a-kind, Buddy. I’m really proud of you.”

“Thanks. Do you know what Mrs. Denton wanted?”

“Yes. Two kids are lost in Francis Marion National Forest. Almost everybody they use for search and rescue is gone for the holidays. Kim has done it before but she wanted to make sure Kim had her trailer and everything. She didn’t want to ask her if the trailer hadn’t worked out.”

“I don’t get it. She wants Kim to go help search for kids. Why would she need a trailer?”

“She wants both of you. The forest is a quarter of a million acres.”

“Holy cow. I didn’t realize it was so big.” I tried to figure out where the boundaries were but couldn’t do it.

“That’s why she wants you two. Call Kim and let her know. If you do it, she’ll want you up in Huger at the break of dawn. Can’t search tonight. Not by horseback, at any rate.”

“Oh. That explains that.” I had no idea what they needed the trailer for.

I called Kim and let her know. She definitely wanted to do it and hung up to call Mrs. Denton. Calling Sally might take a while so I called Vince. It was ninety minutes each way to Conway and he had a lot of stuff to figure out and wanted my company. That was a no-brainer. Time to call Sally.

“Oh, a bunch of us are going dancing at the Belmont on New Year’s Eve. You can go if you want to. It’s dress up, and there will be dancing.”

“And drinking. What about Angela?”

“Karen said they were going to ‘camp out’ in their unfinished new house and watch Marx Brothers movies. You’re invited to that, too.”

“I think I’ll pass.” I went to the library and called Sally. “Hey. Mom forgot to give me your message.”

“Uh, huh. Thank you so much. It’s perfect.”

“You like it? I remember what you’d said earlier about piano and guitar.”

She loved it and told me about her world and the family they’d had visit for Christmas. She said they had family visit them in Nashville that had never come to Charleston and she didn’t get it. She liked Nashville but she loved Charleston. She asked and I told her about our Christmas and all the new people in our lives. I told her about being on the news and how one thing led to another. I promised to take a picture of my trophies and send them to her. It was late when we finally hung up.

Kim picked me up before sunrise the next day. She looked me over and nodded. I had on my riding boots and a warm jacket. “Here,” she said. “I know where I’m going but make sure I don’t get off track.”

“Okay. You already picked up the horses?” She nodded. She would have had to have been up really early. “What’s the scoop? I’ve never done this before.”

“I did, once. It was in the summer and it was up near Sumpter. This is different.” She had her game face on. “Mrs. Denton says we’ll be looking for two groups of two girls. They were primitive camping for some sort of merit badge and their scout leader gave them the wrong maps. They were out there on their own last night but it only got down to fifty. Tonight, it’s supposed to get down below thirty. Mrs. Denton said if we don’t find them today, we’ll probably be looking for bodies tomorrow. Don’t tell anyone that. They already know, anyway.”

“Don’t they normally search on foot?”

“That, too. People on foot will probably start closest to where they were last seen. Oh, and you’re not riding Ghost today. Sandra has him up in Myrtle Beach.”

“Who am I riding? I haven’t ridden that many different horses, you know.”

“I know. You’ll be on Scout. He’s a good horse. You’ll be fine.” Scout. A few miles passed by and Kim asked, “Did you ever watch The Lone Ranger? Tonto rode a paint named Scout. Your horse for the day looks a lot like Tonto’s Scout.”

“Sounds good, Kemosabe,” I said, proving I’d seen the show. We pulled into Ralph Hamer boat landing on the Cooper River. There was one other trailer and a forest ranger already there.

“You’re Kim and Jack, is that right? Good. And you’ve done this before but you haven’t, is that right? Can you read a topographical map?”

“I can,” I said, having had at least some practice with the map of our property. “We can.”

“Alright. I’ve got a map for each of you,” he said handing us each our map. He showed us where he wanted us each to search. Kim got an idea for what we were doing and switched maps with me, explaining that she was more experienced.

“You’ve got something these girls don’t have and that’s radios. Stay off the radios unless you have something to report or need to ask a question. At four, head back. It will be dark by five and I don’t want to have to send a team out for you. Here’s an airhorn for each of you. If your radio dies, you get lost, or you’ve found them and are trying to help us to you, blow the horn. Any questions?”

“When we find them, how do we get back?” I asked. “I guess if I have two girls, they can ride and I can lead Scout back.”

“That’s a good start. I don’t have any idea what kind of condition they’re in or if they will be comfortable on a horse. If you find them, radio back. Chances are, you won’t be coming out of the forest the same place you went in. Thanks for helping and good luck.”