Chapter 28

Dan 1.0's turn:

We're going back to where it all started – Mizz Helen's RV park. This time, the concert's been announced widely.

Let's see what we got. Vocals – Cindy, of course, duets with me, also with Nikki on Cajun numbers, and with Teresa on a couple more numbers. Yes, I'd been cajoled (not really – a simple "Baby, let's go visit the Hardestys so I can sing with Teresa" worked perfectly) into a couple of weekend trips back to Helen and Charlie's.

"No, you absolutely will NOT stay at a hotel, Dan! You're MY son-in-law or something like that!" Mizz Helen told me. "We have guest rooms. You 'n' Cindy get one. Donna 'n' Bill get one."

Cindy giggled. "Mizz Helen, thank you. I love you."

"You're my adopted daughter, baby. Me an' your mom get to split you. How's 'er pregnancy going?"

"She's in the morning sickness, crazy craving stage," Cindy giggled. "We have FOUR pregnant women in the group now."

"Four?"

"Yes, ma'am. Tina, Susan, Johanna and Mom."

"I don't think I've met Johanna," Mizz Helen said.

"No, when you'n Charlie came up here, they were out. The last time we played there, they weren't around. You'll love 'er, though. Beautiful redhead that plays the flute like the choirs of heaven. She'll be there for the concert. You'll see."

Okay, sorry about the diversion. So that takes care of the vocals. Instruments – three fiddles (or violins – depends on the music) with Kara, Bert and Ann. A flute – Johanna, naturally. Two banjos – Stoney and Jim Hardesty, one guitar – me, maybe two, if we can get Billy Hardesty to play guitar. He's good on his electric bass, but he's shy about guitar. And don't forget Laci on drums.

In amongst the travel back and forth, another reconciliation has taken place. Let Donna explain.

Donna's turn:

"Bill, I need to go face Mizz Helen."

"You sure, baby?"

"You know the answer, Bill. She knew the old me, the one that dumped off my daughter on her, all that old stuff that I put behind me."

"That we put behind us," my Bill replied. "How do you think she's going to receive it?"

"Gracefully," I said. "Helen was a decent woman."

I called her. "Helen, I need to come meet you and talk."

"Why, Donna?"

"Because I was a total ass. A lifetime ass. I was trash, Helen."

"You're not any more. I let Cindy explain it all to me. If she says it's so, then it's so."

"Still..."

"Donna. Lost niece. You've been found. Nothing that went on before, none of that, do I hold against you."

"But Helen..."

"Donna, really! Best outcome. Cindy's off to Lord only knows where with Dan. You're married. Cindy says you've stopped smoking and that other stuff, and you even got your tattoos removed. What else?"

"Just to ask you to forgive me for being such a huge fool, Helen."

"If you need to hear me say it, I forgive you, Donna. Now, will you stop worrying about it? Why don't you bring your husband down here and we'll have dinner?"

"Me 'n' Bill?"

"Yes. I remember meeting Bill a few times. Cindy thinks the world of him. I like him. If Cindy and Bill talk good about YOU, then I know you're good. Come on!"

"Baby, you'll get a hug when you get here..."

"Prodigal niece," I said.

Dan 1.0's turn:

So that ties a ribbon on a bit of adverse history. As the other Dan says, it's an ill wind that blows no good. Had Donna been supermom, I'd have a much duller life, because Cindy wouldn't've shown up in that pool at the RV park. Now that Donna is back with us, we have a happy solution.

Stoney and Johanna flew in. New (to them) plane. Cindy's giddy over it, a Micco. I've never heard of it, but on the practicality scale it's an order of magnitude up over the Pitts biplane.

"Rare," Stoney said. "Some doctor outside Houston had one, wanted more seats, put it up for sale. We found out about it, laid down some earnest money until we got it checked out. Sold the Pitts. I almost cried over the Pitts, but this thing'll do plus six and minus three G's. Aerobatic enough for the two of us, and it actually has room for luggage."

I watched Cindy and Johanna talking animatedly, then...

"There goes your airplane, Stoney."

The door closed and the engine turned over.

"Yeah, I sort of expected that..." he smiled. "Two redheads. How's 'er doctorate?"

"Coming along," I said. "I looked at some of her texts and her dissertation and I swear, I'd have better fortune reading the walls of Tut's tomb."

"I suspect I'd be equally lost. Nikki there with 'er?"

"Oh, yeah. I'm surprised she's not here today. She's on campus."

"I saw the latest Bot-bot video. Really? It misses somebody?"

"Google liked that. Wasn't that hard to do, according to Terri and Nikki. Hardest part was testing it. We had to keep one of Bot-bot's friends away for a few days. It's painful watching Jason lock himself in an office..."

"You used Jason?"

"Yeah. He did an overnight road trip, then came back, avoided Bot-bot for another day. Bot-bot followed Susan in. Bot-bot saw Jason, beeped Ode to Joy, for pete's sake. Terri's got Bot-bot closer to autonomy. We're gonna automate a door to Bot-bot's Bluetooth. Crossing the street by himself, though..."

I heard the plane's engine howl at max RPM as Cindy and Johanna took off. Yes, it's a sleek-looking thing, but I did so much enjoy seeing Cindy in that helmet, her red hair curled out around the edges. I said so to Stoney.

"Yeah, me too. Jo looked good in that Pitts. Back to Bot-bot. What about radar? Low-power stuff, like K or X-band?"

"Talk with Terri and Rachel and Vicki. Bounce some ideas..."

"You know, every time I come here, I end up discussing electronic engineering topics with a bunch of little girls."

I laughed. "You'd rather 'Do you like My Little Pony'?"

"Nope. Had that discussion already. Won't make THAT mistake again."

"That paper got Terri a high school equivalency in language arts and social studies. At least it was part of the process."

Stoney shook his head. "I think I'll just go plunk my banjo."

"Oh, you're lined up for much banjo-plunking," I laughed. "We're scheduled for where Cindy made her musical debut."

"Audience?" he asked.

"At least the denizens of the RV park. And I know that the Hardestys have publicized it at their church."

"Hardestys. Oh yeah. Other banjo and a violin. Daughter sings."

"Son plays guitar, too."

He smiled. "Yeah, I'm remembering more. She's kind of short blonde, he's a former Marine pilot."

"Aviator," I corrected.

"Dude's a Marine, for pete's sake, Dan. They need all the glory they can get."

"Good. YOU tell 'im that!"

"It'll be a hoot, Dan! Audience? That's plain lagniappe. Me 'n' the redhead love playing with this bunch in your back yard."

A howl of a speeding propeller drew our attention skyward. I saw the sleek airplane on the downhill part of an inside loop.

He laughed. "Jo and Cindy. You KNEW that was gonna happen."

"Why did you tell Jo about Hanna?"

"Why should I suffer alone?" I laughed. "It's gotta be a redhead thing. None of the other girls are interested in aerobatics. Just those two." I pointed over my shoulder at the big Air Tractor under the open hangar of the ag service. "Have you heard THAT story?"

"I guess not," Stoney replied. "I'm guessing Cindy and the Air Tractor."

"Yeah. I think I'm not supposed to know, but she made Wally promise that if she gets her doctorate and her commercial license, he'll let 'er fly it. And..." I paused for emphasis, "She'll get to do a job with it."

Stoney shook his head. "Thereby adding 'Commercial Pilot' to 'Cindy Richards, BS, MS, PhD'." Grinning. "And you're not supposed to know?"

"Wally thinks I'm gonna kill 'im."

"Can she handle that thing?"

"He says that if she brought him sign-offs in her logbook for the Extra, she could darned sure handle the Tractor. Might just ask 'er about it."

"I dunno, Dan," Stoney said. "Some of the most lovely expressions I see on Jo's face come from when she thinks she's surprising me. Do you really wanna miss one of those?"

I mused briefly. Stoney's right. Cindy bopping into the office and announcing 'Doctoral program in Physics' was a moment I will relive forever. There are plenty of others, starting with the day I decided to take her out of the RV park for dinner. "Yeah, I guess that I'll play ignorant. What's the harm?"

"Big pile of smoking aluminum..."

I laughed. "And Wally hunting me down with a pistol. Nahhhh, it's Cindy. She can FLY!"

Stoney and I positioned the mikes and cameras of the multi-media recording system while Nikki and Cindy and Jo set up the computers and monitors. Yes, full recording system for this one. Might not make anything but a new flurry of YouTube videos, but we were going to record it.

Donna and Bill took care of dinner for us, a spread of meats and side dishes from a barbecue joint that he remembered from when we were working the project together.

Dress for the concert? That isn't who we are. Auburn sweatshirts showed up on Cindy, Nikki, Kara and Bert. Bert's still a little moon-eyed over his good fortune in marrying Kara. Who can blame him? They seem to fit like two odd bits of a surreal jigsaw puzzle. I guess, though, that you can say that about any of us.

At six-thirty we took the stage. I do the MC'ing. "Welcome folks. Just like the flyers say, this is The Greater Alabama Cajun Bluegrass Mozart Ensemble. And that doesn't explain it all. We're subject to break out into a little Irish stuff, some folk songs, or if you really want to get exotic, some Klezmer as well. We're going to start off slow with This Land Is Your Land. And folks, if you know the words, you're welcome to sing along. It's still our land, folks!"

Two banjos, a guitar and Billy on bass. Cindy and Teresa on vocals. Stoney led off on this one and we all came in, strings ringing, voices lifted. The first words told me we were where we were supposed to be. Audience participation. Great!

We backed away from folk and poked our noses into bluegrass with me and Cindy doing Salty Dog Blues. Nikki and Cindy picked up the Cajun with Kara and Bert fiddling, Dan 2.0 on the accordion, me on guitar. I glanced back at Laci. She was smiling, zoned out, popping away at the simple rhythms of Cajun music.

Somewhere in the first hour, we backed off, let Johanna and Stoney and our violin trio step forth. "We've been playing some good music from the last couple of centuries. Now we're gonna back up another hundred years. Today's classical music was that day's chart-toppers. This one's done by Stoney and Johanna, and has been a hit on two continents. In America they've done concerts in several venues in eight states so far. Mozart didn't write music for a banjo, but Jo and Stoney fixed that. Here's Mozart's Concerto for Flute and Harp." Enthusiastic applause.