Chapter 41

Yi didn’t make it to church with her employers, and they never made church attendance a requirement. However, even if Yi had wanted to attend church, she was not in condition to go. At some point early in the evening, Paul had mentioned a combination of coffee, hot chocolate, and Peppermint Schnapps, which Yi tried and enjoyed a lot. Yi rolled out of bed about an hour after the Jarecki family left. Yi tried to steam the alcohol out of her system in the basement, and she baked cinnamon rolls, which would be ready in time for everyone when they arrived home from church. She was in the garage taking inventory of the huge upright freezer when they returned from church. She was fully dressed, but rather than put on a coat to go out into the garage, she pulled on her heavy bathrobe, which turned out to be warmer than any of the jackets she brought from Florida.

Andi pulled her Explorer up to the garage and emerged, then ducked into the back seat of her SUV and released the twins from their child seats. But Paul was nowhere to be seen. At the sound of the twins being released from the car, Wonka burst out of the doggie-door and scampered down the steps like a young pup eager to spend time with his girls. The twins immediately started making snowballs and tossing them as high into the air as they could for Wonka to catch, then the three of them ran off into the backyard, the girls following Wonka’s tracks through the snow.

As Andi collected hats, mittens, sippy cups, and coloring projects from Sunday School, out of the back seat of her car, Yi asked, “Where’s Doctor Paul?”

“Oh, he bought a new truck, one he said was more appropriate for the farm. He’ll be home with it shortly.”

“What is he going to do with the Ranger?” Yi loved the four door, coffee brown, small pickup.

Andi tossed Yi a set of keys. “We’re going to trade it for something appropriate for a larger family. Here, you drive it until then,” and she walked into the house with her arms loaded with the twins’ possessions. Yi was nearly in shock as she stared at the key fob in her hand, and as soon as the spell allowed her to do so, she sprinted back to the garage to inspect her new toy.

The features were incredible, four-wheel drive, 10 speed transmission, Waze navigation, Alexa interface, the list of features went on and on, and when she loaded up the Ford app on her cell phone, she found she could remotely lock, unlock, and start it. She could spend all day playing in this truck and never have to leave the driveway. The keyless ignition was just too cool for words, and the features went spiraling upward from there.

When Yi exited the garage, still dressed in her bathrobe and boots, she found a 1978 Ford F-250 half-ton pickup truck in the driveway. It was in great shape for its age, but everything about it just screamed “antique” to Yi. From the five amber clearance lights on the cab roof, to the camper/cap on the back, to the 102-inch whip CB antenna, it was a relic of a bygone era. And it was huge! It had a cab with four doors and an 8-foot-long bed. Yi guessed it had a manual transmission. The twins were upset that there was a seat in the covered bed and from their complaining attitudes, Yi guessed that someone had just told them they can’t ride in the camper. Andi was looking at it with a look of disapproval on her face, too. As Yi got closer, she heard their discussion.

“I know I have to learn, but I really don’t know if I can reach the pedals,” said Andi.

“If you want to drive my car when I put it back on the road, you will have to drive this first,” insisted Paul. “Let’s take it around the block and I’ll show you some advantages in this old girl has over the Ranger.”

“Ok,” said Andi with a big sigh, and she turned to Yi. “Can you watch the munchkins for a couple of minutes while Paul shows me his new toy?”

“Sure, I didn’t know you guys were into antiques.”

Turning her back to Paul, Andi gestured toward him and mouthed the words “I married one,” then she stepped up to the passenger door and tried to get in, but she couldn’t, her legs were too short for the step up into the cab. “I can’t get in,” she said sadly.

As Paul walked over to the passenger side, he said, “Maybe this old antique can help you.”

“I can’t believe you heard that.”

“Heard what?” He grinned and gave Yi a wink, then helped Andi in the cab of his new acquisition. Then, patting the fender and hood, he walked back to the driver’s side and swung in with ease. He fired it up and eased it out onto the street.

“Poppa’s so mean,” whined Sandy. “He got a neat truck and won’t let us ride in it.”

“It doesn’t have a back seat, so he can’t put your b ... safety seats in it.” Yi almost said, ‘baby seats,’ which would have set Sandy off.

“It has a seat in the back,” insisted Madeline. “Mister Ernie showed us.”

“There’s no heater back there, you’ll get awful cold.”

“We got our coats on,” pouted Sandy.

“There’s no radio back there either, no Baby Shark songs.”

For a moment Yi thought the girls were going to agree with her, but after a long pause Madeline said, “We know the words, we can sing it.”

Before Yi could respond to that statement, the big white pickup truck pulled into the driveway, and Yi saw Andi was almost sitting on Paul’s lap with his arm around her. It’s been a long time since Yi had seen a vehicle with a front bench seat, and she was far too young to have ever taken advantage of that design. The blissful smile on Andi’s cute face showed Yi that her boss approved of the arrangement, and the twins didn’t miss the kiss their momma gave their poppa after he shut down the truck. They walked back to the house, singing the song that Yi taught them at the cabin.

John and Macy arrived not long after, and the family gathered in the kitchen for fresh coffee and the cinnamon rolls that Yi baked earlier in the morning. “Where’s Mister Ernie?” asked John as he looked around, expecting to see Ernie and Mary Kraft. “we saw his truck in the driveway.”

“That’s my truck now,” said Paul as he set out plates and coffee cups for his brother and sister-in-law.

“You got Ernie to sell you The Great White Whale?” John was shocked. Ernie loves that truck.

“Ernie needs a new hip and refuses to admit it, shifting that four-on-the-floor got to be too painful so I got him a special ‘Old Friends’ discount on a new Maverick but only if he’d trade in his old F-250, which I immediately bought from my dealership.”

“Sweet!” John then held his coat out to Yi, “Be a dear and hang this up for me.”

“No.” Yi never looked up from her conversation with Macy, who sat down next to her.

“No?”

Yi finally leaned back and stared him in the eye. “You heard me. I’m not your nanny, I’m not your maid, and I sure ain’t your momma, and you’re tracking snow all over my clean kitchen floor. Grab a mop!”

Macy whooped with laughter and gave Yi a high five “Vas-y meuf!” (You go, girl!)

“Guess she told you,” said Paul as he sat down next to Andi.

“I don’t have to come here for this kind of abuse,” muttered John as he mopped the footprints from the floor. “I can get it in the comfort of my own home.”

“Oh, come sit down. I’ll even let you bring me some coffee,” scolded Yi.

John brought the coffee carafe to the table and topped off everyone’s cup before sitting down. “I can’t believe Ernie gave up his truck.”

“Momma’s kissy truck,” giggled Sandy, which made Madeline giggle.

Andi saw what was happening. “Please don’t start...”

The twins started singing at the top of their lungs, “MOMMA AND POPPA SITTING IN A TREE...”

“Thank you so much for teaching them this Yi,” groaned Paul.

“K – I – S – S – I – N – G”

“It was no problem, really,” said Yi as she sipped her coffee.

“FIRST COMES LOVE, THEN COMES MARRIAGE...”

“Take the batteries out,” groaned John as he covered his ears.

“THEN COMES BROTHER IN A BABY CARRIAGE!”

“That was so amusant,” laughed Macy, “so plein d’esprit.” Macy clearly had never heard the children’s song before.

“I can assure you darling, it’s neither amusing nor witty, not when you grow up hearing eight-year-old girls singing it over and over,” said John with a glance at the giggling twins.

Paul leaned over to John and quietly asked, “Who was it that the girls always used to harass you about? Was it Crystal?”

“Crystal Tailor? Oh lord no, I would have loved to spend some time kissing Crystal. It was Alicia, Alicia Cuomo.” John shuddered at the thought.

“The one who looked like she was run over by an ugly truck? Sorry, dude.”

Meanwhile Macy looked confused, and Andi tried to explain it to her. “That’s an old rope skipping song that little girls sing to keep time with their jump ropes.” But this appeared to confuse Macy even more.

“I don’t know jumping ropes,” she shrugged.

“They don’t have jump ropes in Canada?” asked Yi, amazed.

Macy didn’t answer. She merely looked embarrassed. Finally, John said, “Yes, they do have jump ropes in Canada, but not for little black girls.”

Yi was shocked. “I thought Canada was such a friendly country.”

“No, Canada is a polite country. Friendly differs completely from polite,” said Macy softly. “There are many ways of telling people to go to hell yet remain polite, and Canada is exceptionally good at all of them. And I wasn’t a little black girl, I was a very tall black girl, a full head taller than the next tallest girl. Taller than all the boys, so my opportunities to skip rope and sing songs with other young girls were nil.”

Andi was shocked. She had heard Macy talk about her unhappiness with the modeling industry, but like many Americans, she thought Canada was a land of peace and love and free healthcare. Sandy and Madeline appeared at Macy’s side and peered up at their new aunt. “It’s ok Aunt Macy,” said Madeline in a sorrowful voice as she patted Macy’s leg, “you can skip rope with us all you want.”

“Uh huh!” affirmed Sandy with an emphatic nod of her head, “and you can teach us how.”

Macy looked down at her nieces, their blond heads bobbing up and down like little bobblehead dolls. “Ok, but I was hoping that you would teach me how. I don’t know how to do it. Maybe your mommy can teach the three of us.”

Andi just shrugged. “I don’t know how either. I didn’t do a lot of girly stuff. I was into softball and bowling.”

Yi looked around the table. “Seriously? I’m the only female here who knows how to skip rope?”

Just then Lucy’s voice could be heard from the mudroom, “I know how to skip rope!”

The twin’s sad faces lit up with they heard her voice, and they dove under the table, scrambled underneath it, then dashed into the mudroom shouting “Auntie Lucy!” Soon Lucy and Gus emerged from the mudroom, each carrying an excitedly chattering 5-year-old girl. The twins weren’t sure what skipping rope really entailed, but if it included singing at the top of their lungs, they were all for it.

“She’s got a professional grade jump rope,” grinned Gus. “it’s a marvel of engineering. Ball bearings in the handles, non-slip grips, Kevlar reinforced rope, it’s even got Bluetooth, it’s got everything!”

“It’s for training,” explained Lucy. “I use it a couple of times a week.”

“Does it sing songs when you skip rope?” asked Sandy as she hugged Lucy.

“No, I’ll need some little girls to help me with that.”

Madeline’s eyes popped open wide, and her expression took on an aura of someone who had just had the meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything pop into her head. “We know a song!” she gasped as she leaned far out in Gus’s arms. “It’s momma and poppa’s kissy truck song!”

“Yeah!” chimed Sandy, whose head bobbed up and down furiously.

“ENOUGH SINGING TODAY.” Andi put on the Mom Voice of Doom. Once the twins were startled into abeyance, she continued more calmly. “You can sing it when you’re skipping rope, or when you’re alone with Miss Yi, but this weekend that’s enough.”

“Ohhh Kayyy,” moaned the disappointed girls. Then Sandy looked up. “Can we sing it at croaky?”

“When God lets daddy and me have a baby, yes, you can sing it at karaoke.” On a couple of occasions, Paul and Andi have taken the twins to karaoke at The Cricket House and the girls loved it, they wanted to get up and sing but they were disappointed to find out that the Cricket House karaoke machine didn’t have the Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round.

“Yay!” The girls squirmed to the floor and started tapping their thumbs and index fingers together like little snapping mouths and sang at the top of their lungs “Bay-bee shark doo doo doo doo doo doo, bay-bee shark doo doo doo doo doo doo...”

“ENOUGH!” The Mom Voice of Doom came out, but it came from Macy this time, surprising even John. The twins stopped their singing in mid doo and stared at their aunt in wide-eyed surprise. “Take Wonka outside and play!”