Chapter 39

Tim’s turn:

We have a (somewhat) new receptionist, Sabrina. She buzzed my phone and said, “Bill Hardesty here to see you, Tim. Do you have a few minutes for him?”

I said, “Send him back, Sabrina. I’ll make time for him.” Shit. Just got rid of Karen, and it cost me about $18K to do it. Worth every nickel, because now, thanks to Jack Haggarty, her hands are VERY tied, although she doesn’t know it. And now this -- I’m pretty sure what’s coming. Vicki’s been running around with a very odd smirk and Kim’s been dropping little hints.

Bill stepped in, put a fresh roll of duct tape on my desk. What the hell? He said, “Mister Tim, I’m having trouble with Vicki -- can you help?”

Couldn’t help it -- I had a good belly-laugh out of that. I wiped my eyes and asked, “What kind of trouble, Bill?” Play stupid, Tim. It’s your best move right now. “Is there something wrong with her tutoring? Is she unable to explain what you need to know?”

He said with a sigh, “Sir, academically, she’s so far ahead of me that I’ll never catch up. With her tutoring me, I’ll be graduating in two years, I’m pretty sure, and probably with a 4.0, or close to it. That’s not the problem.”

I said, “OK, Bill. Don’t make me drag this out of you. What’s going on?”

He steeled himself, a pretty good move. The boy was a college-level football player. He’s still built in a way I never managed. “Sir, she’s scaring me nearly to death, and I don’t know what to do about it. She’s beautiful, she’s so much smarter than me that it’s not funny, and I absolutely love her. And she’s thirteen. And last night, she kissed me. Sir, this can’t continue, no matter how much I’d like it. I could go to jail for YEARS for this.”

I thought for a minute, and asked, “OK, Bill. I think I understand. Now, let me ask you a couple of questions. First, do you currently have any girlfriends, or “friends with benefits”, so to speak?”

“No sir, not since my knee got messed up. The ‘I wanna do a football player’ bunch quit showin’ up. And those girls, you could take any ten of ‘em, add their IQ’s, and you might get about half of Vicki’s, even if you gave ‘em a bonus for their tattoos.” He surveyed my face. “And honestly, when the bottom fell out of the football thing, I sort of re-assessed my lifestyle. I guess that I expect more of a girl...”

“OK, Bill,” I said, “I sincerely understand your point. Let me think on this a bit, and I’ll have a discussion with Vicki, and with Kim, and we’ll get back to you. But if this is headed where I think it is, we’ll need to figure out a way to get you an appointment with Mister Charlie.”

“Now understand: You didn’t start this, but you have been targeted, and I don’t think you have much choice. I didn’t either, with Kim. But if you somehow hurt Vicki, you won’t like what happens next.”

Bill said, “Sir, I couldn’t hurt her, ever. She’s entirely too precious. And Kim said the same thing – don’t hurt Vicki.”

“Thank you, Bill. You’re right. Changing the subject, what’s the duct tape all about?”

Bill said, “Sir, it was Dad’s idea. I called him last night, asking for advice. He suggested that it might make you smile, a little.”

Had to laugh out loud, again. I said, “By God, he’s right, and you can tell him I owe him a Shiner, for that one. You tell him to get his butt over here, and bring Ann and his banjo with him.”

The boy looked relieved. “That’s TWO, sir.”

“Two what?”

“Two people I’ve told and expected to be ripped apart. Dad ... I thought Dad would come unglued. I know he didn’t approve of my college exploits, not in regards to women, not in regards to taking off, thinking football was gonna do me for a career. But when I mentioned Vicki, he reminded me that Cindy was fourteen when she married Dan Richards, and he had to accept a new range of possibilities.”

He continued, “And I seriously thought that you’d run me out of here and tell me to never get near your daughter again, but...”

“You’ve talked to Kim, I know. Not necessarily about Vicki, although we’ll HAVE that conversation, you and our family. But Kim ... She looked at me for the first time, said that she made up her mind, and here we are. So yes, it’s possible.”

“I didn’t start anything ... seriously.”

“Like I did? Yeah, I was forty years old. Naturally I go to swimming pools to pick up high school chicks, huh?”

“Uh, no, I don’t suppose...”

“Well, I didn’t. But she was so certain, so honest ... And so damned perfect...”

“Yessir ... Like that. Somebody that popped up and said that it’s possible, likely, almost assured.”

“You got my baby girl’s first kiss, most likely, Bill.”

“I wish it was mine. She’s like that...”

“Bill, you’re entering a really odd universe here. It no longer matters what YOU think. It no longer matters what I think. The only thing that matters is what SHE thinks, and may God have mercy on your soul. And on mine, for that matter. Do you understand?”

“Sir, I do, and it’s pretty scary, to me.”

“Good. Now, get back to your studies, while I try to sort out the home front. Maybe we can make sense of all this. I doubt it, but it’s possible.”

“You were serious about talking with Mom and Dad?” he asked.

“Let me have a serious talk with Kim and Vicki, and then we’ll drag you in, if you still reside in the state.”

“Ain’t going nowhere, sir.”

“Good. After that, I think a meeting of the two soon to be joined families would be in order. And her birthday’s coming up. Fourteenth. That seems to be the magic number.”

“I know. Cindy. Terri.”

“You know what you haven’t said in this conversation, Bill?”

“Yessir,” he said, open, honest face and all. “The ‘L-word’. It’s just that I think that I should say it to HER first.”

“This is a strange place, Bill. You’re smart enough to realize it. When it comes to relationships, words mean things. That little girl, if you say that to her, is going to think it validates what she’s determined about you and her.”

“I know, sir.”

Dan Richards’ turn:

New receptionist, Sabrina, is a perky little thing with a 4.0 in business courses who puts in twenty hours a week in our offices, fielding phone calls – we don’t get a lot – and keyboarding and whatever she and Beck cook up.

My phone rang from the front desk.

“Hi, Sabrina. What’s up?”

“Judge Charles Peebles would like to speak with you.”

Good thing I don’t have an aneurism working because the blood pressure spike would’ve popped it right then. “I ALWAYS take his calls.”

“Yessir. Line one.”

“Mornin’, Judge Charlie,” I said.

“Mornin’ to you as well, Dan. Everybody’s well over there?”

“Yessir. How about at your end?”

“The Good Book says ‘threescore and ten’ and to be blessed by everything past that. I’m blessed. Sometimes I wish I didn’t remember how it felt so good to be young, though...”

“You just keep perkin’ along, sir. You’re our patriarch.”

He laughed. “You have to know, Dan Richards, when I was in my twenties, I thought at times I’d have a more likely future as a parolee than a patriarch.”

“Judge Charlie, we ALL did...”

“That’s part of the reason for the call, Dan.”

“I have ideas...”

“YOU have ideas? EVERYBODY up there has ideas. I strongly suspect that when you and that little redheaded girl of yours joined, you bent time and space and opened up a rift to a new universe...”

I had to laugh. “Strange things happen around ‘er, no doubt...”

“Okay, son,” he said, no detectable anger in his voice, so I think we’re good. “I have married a bunch of you, and made it possible for others, and I’ve already had the conversation with Sim and Beck Weismann and Tara and Aaron Kettler about Derek and Rachel. I put that one in my heart for prayer and thought...”

“Shocked us,” I said. “Everybody thought they’d wait...”

“Could you have made Cindy wait?”

“Lord knows I tried, sir...”

“Didn’t work with her, either, did it?”

“One of the blessings in my life, sir, is that YOU married us instead of presiding over my incarceration.”

“Those two won’t get incarcerated. I have ideas, though. Nonetheless, that is not what precipitated this call.”

“I’m listening.”

“I know Jim and Ann Hardesty. We go to the same church. I’ve watched him and his family from when they first moved here. I’ve watched his children grow.”

“Yessir.”

“He called me yesterday.”

“Allow me a guess.”

I heard his soft chuckle. “It’s happening again.”

“I fear so, sir.”

“They’re coming in bunches now, like bananas at the grocery.”

“Her dad’s office is up the hall. He’s in a daze.”

“The girl, Vicki. Is she?”

“She’s a repackaging of Cindy. Or Dana. Or Nikki. Or Terri. Something about mental maturity – emotional maturity – cultivated by her home life, both with her mom, who’s a piece of work, and her dad and step-mom, who fit this place like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle. Out of all that, sir, she does what she says. Magical.”

“I suppose that’s an ‘I think she’s ready to handle this’, then?”

“As a somewhat distant observer. Vicki’s on Cindy’s team. Cindy might be the one to give you a different angle, but she’ll concur.”

“Dammit, Dan ... Jim and Ann are lookin’ to me for an answer to a problem.”

“I would imagine that Tim and Kim are, also. And I suspect that Vicki and Bill are, as well.”

“Jim says the boy got serious about his studies.”

“He did. Cindy read ‘im the Riot Act, assigned the four munchkins to tutor him. Well, one munchkin got married, the other two are essentially married, leaving Vicki...”

“Are you saying that Vicki and young Bill wouldn’t have connected, but for that?”

“No sir. Just that things turned that way. I think Vicki would’ve made the leap if they were in the same crowded gymnasium.”

“Probably so,” he said. “Well, let me make a few more preliminary calls, then I guess I might prevail upon my adopted grand-daughter to bring us up there in her magic carpet for a sitdown.”

“She can get Jim and Ann at the same time,” I said.

“Good idea, son. You take care, y’hear?”

“Yessir. You as well. And hug Helen for us.”

“As always, son. Goodbye.”

I leaned back in my chair, squeezed my eyes shut. Judge Charlie’s right, of course. This place is an island, like the Galapagos, nurturing and allowing growth in ways that the mainland won’t allow.

I thought about giving Tim a warning but decided that it’s best if he starts off raw. The guy’s level-headed, or he wouldn’t be working here. I don’t see a negative outcome here.

Judge Peebles’ turn:

Morning prayer, a bible reading, a cup of good coffee on the back porch with Helen, pleasantries with Eletha. My head is clear, as are a few steps on the path before us.

It’s time, so I called Sim Weissman. He answered, “Good morning, Judge Charlie. How are you today?”

I said, “Sim, we’re well here, and I trust that you and yours are, as well. I believe I have a solution in mind, or at least a path forward. Would this weekend be too soon?”

Sim said, “Thank you, sir, and the sooner the better. Shall I call Cindy to arrange transport?”

I said, “Thanks for the thought, Sim, but if you don’t mind, I’d like to call her myself.”

He laughed lightly. The man is relieved, I think. Woe to the man who has headstrong daughters. I’m blessed that I have one son.