Chapter 17: Tragedy

Sandy and her family were in Tanzania at one of their newly built schools. Sandy immediately set up classes with the young girls in the village to teach English (and quietly, her sex-ed class for the older girls). Her parents and Randy were building a water purification system that Randy had previously designed as well as installing the solar and battery power for the school.

It was September, and Sandy & Randy’s 17^th birthday was coming up. Around the table that evening, Mom asked them what they would like to do for their birthday. Sandy as usual, just asked for the four of them to be able to spend the day together relaxing.

But Dad spoke up, “Ah, well, I have something more for you two planned.”

The two teens looked at him.

“How would you like to see the Mountain Gorillas and Chimpanzees on a tour?”

“Of COURSE!” the two replied.

“Ah, well, it will be a few days after your birthday, but ... I just found out that, ah, Jane Goodall will be going to Rwanda next week for a meeting with their park rangers, and she agreed to have you two come along.”

“JANE GOODALL!!” Sandy shouted, “NO WAY!”

“Well, you two have to go to meet her in Dar es Salaam. She wants to show you some of her work. She was impressed with both of you working with the kids and of course, with you, Sandy, teaching the young girls. She knows how little help they get in life.”

“She is then flying to Kigali and offered you guys to come with her to meet with the park managers at Volcanos Park and see the gorillas and then to Nyungwe Park for the chimps.”

“This is INCREDIBLE!” the two said in unison, then looking at each other and laughing at their synchronicity.

The two were packed in no time, days before the trip. Sandy turned over her teaching duties to her assistant, who she had been training and would one day take over. They boarded their plane to Dar es Salaam, waving bye to their parents.

In Dar es Salaam, a driver met them and brought them Jane’s house. They discovered that they were going to stay there for a couple days...

“Staying with Jane Goodall!” Sandy couldn’t believe it, “ ... and not at a hotel!”

The two, hand in hand, wandered around the house looking at all the books and items there. Most were actually a friend’s, as the house wasn’t really Jane’s, but was a good friend of hers. It didn’t matter to the two teens.

They met Jane that evening at dinner and were star struck the entire time. Jane looked carefully at each of them, her hand turning their heads this way and that as if deciphering their facial and bone structures.

She smiled at them and told them, “You have very good genes!”

Sandy blushed and looked at Randy.

The next day, their driver packed them all off for their flight to Kigali. Jane held Sandy’s hand, patting it, and told her, “I fly a hundred times a year, and I still don’t like it!” she confided. Sandy held her hand for much of the flight, in awe of her new mentor.

After arriving at Kigali, they transferred to jeeps and headed to Volcanoes National Park and the park headquarters there. One of the young rangers showed them to their room, just cots and sleeping bags, and Jane disappeared off to meet with the managers while Sandy and Randy were given a tour of the compound.

That evening they were told, “Go to bed early. We leave at 4am.”

At 3am, their alarm went off, and the two quickly got dressed. Though they slept in the same room, the cots obviously didn’t allow for much togetherness. Faces washed, breakfast eaten and teeth brushed, they were off in jeeps into the park. They had been briefed about the gorillas, the park, and the rugged hike ahead. Jane joined the group, and Sandy got to ride with her. Jane talked about the gorillas and her chimpanzees as well. When they stopped, the guide told them how to keep quiet going thru the jungle, how to hold themselves: arms close and not to use flash cameras or talk above a whisper.

They hiked in steep, rough, muddy jungle trails for what seemed like hours, finally coming to a small clearing where they all sat down and waited. The potent smells, humidity, and bugs were something that never came across in documentaries. Eventually, a gorilla appeared, a young female. Then another older female and a small young one. Last, a bigger male came out, young, not like the big silverbacks, but still formidable. He walked around the clearing acting like he didn’t notice their party sitting off several dozen yards away, but Jane whispered to Sandy, “That’s Rombo. He’s just checking us out.”

Rombo walks around a bit closer, in front of the other gorillas. He stops and looks straight at Sandy. She sees his dark eyes staring at her, his face droops, and almost looking sad. An instant later, he turns back to his females and the young one.

Jane whispers, “The younger female, Bibi, is his daughter. Sometimes, fathers and daughters mate. The child is theirs, not her mothers. It’s not a problem if they have good genes.”

Sandy blushes, thinking of her father and her. Jane is back watching the gorillas. Eventually, the troop moves off, and their own group heads back down to their jeeps and headquarters. At dinner, they all sit around talking about their amazing adventure. Jane asks Sandy many questions about her schools and world travels teaching girls. She is really fascinated with Sandy’s sex-ed classes.

“Most girls have no idea about sex when they are married off unless their mothers are good. Mating is so important!” Jane tells Sandy.

Sandy blushes at Jane’s forthright, almost anthropological study of her and people in general.

Another day of meetings and then they are off for the day-long drive down to Nyungwe National Park and the chimpanzees. Sitting with the chimps, Sandy watched as Jane lit up while around them. Finally, they all had to leave, with Jane headed back to Dar es Salaam and on to London while the two teens headed back to Tanzania and their folks.

As they departed, Jane held Sandy’s hands and told her, “Stay strong, no matter what happens in the future.” ... almost a foreshadowing.

Several weeks passed, and the two newly 17-year-olds were back to their routine.

Then one evening at dinner Dad announced, “Randy, you have been given an award for the design of your water purification system. They want to present it to you in Stockholm next week!”

Randy looked surprised, “Me? Stockholm?”

Dad laughed, “Yes, but no, it’s not the Nobel Prize, but it is still a big honor. Your mom and I decided that you and she should go as I still need to finish work here, and I didn’t want to leave her and Sandy by themselves anyway.”

Mom spoke, “I get to show Randy where my grandparents came from,” as she ruffled up Sandy’s long blond hair.”

Sandy interjected, “Well, we got the hair gene, but not the height gene!”

A week later, they all kissed and waved goodbye as Randy and Mom took off to Dar es Salaam and there to go off to Europe. Sandy went on back to the schoolroom and took over the class from her assistant.

Nearing noon, dad appeared in the classroom door. Sandy looked straight at him and knew something was wrong, very wrong. She walked down the aisle towards him, dismissing the class early. The girls were happy to leave and hugging her as they went by her. Her father held out his arms, tears forming in his eyes. Sandy froze. After all the kids were gone, he sat her down and spoke.

“Randy and Mom’s plane has crashed ... they’re gone.”

Sandy sat in disbelief, tears starting to stream down her face.

“No ... how? We just saw them leave.”

Dad put his arms around Sandy, “The plane went down about an hour into the flight. The authorities have already arrived at the site. There were no survivors.”

“I don’t understand. There were here. They are flying to Stockholm!”

He knew he had to be blunt and not to try to sugarcoat or give her reason to hold to hope where there was none. The unreal situation left Sandy completely lost. It couldn’t be true. They were alive and in her arms just a few hours ago. Sandy’s life blurred. He held her for over an hour before taking her back to their house. She shook like a leaf in his arms, crying the entire way. He was in shock and knew he had to stay strong for her, now his only child and him a widower.

That night, Sandy lay curled up in her bed, not eating, not talking. Dad talked to officials and made arrangements. He was taking them all home. Home to where Mary had grown up. Home to where Sandy and Randy were born.

The flight to John and Mary’s home town was a blur of tears for Sandy. She lay curled in her seat, her head against her father’s shoulder, and her arms wrapped around his.

They pulled up to the driveway of Mary’s childhood home. John had bought it from her parents when they moved to Florida and left a caretaker to maintain it. He had them leave everything her parents didn’t want just as is. Sandy held tightly to her dad’s arm as he opened the door, and they entered. Tears filled his eyes. He kissed Sandy on the forehead and said this is where Mary, her mom, grew up. Sandy looked through tear-filled eyes at the empty house. It seemed as lonely as she felt. She cried all that night while her father sat in the bed, rocking her.

The next couple of days were worse still, seeing their coffins, their graves. High school friends, Mary’s parents, her math teacher, her coach, some of her old cheerleader squad all came to the funerals.

After all the thank you’s were said, after the good-byes, after it was all over, Sandy lay on Mary’s old bed still curled in a ball.

Dad came in and sat on the bed, “You know, this bed has a lot of memories. You and Randy were conceived here.”

Sandy untangled herself and wrapped herself around her father. Her eyes red and sad. His filled with tears as he tried to hold them back.

“Daddy, tell me, please tell me all about you and mom!”

He smiled sadly and wiped their tears.

“Our first time was here. This was a forbidden place to me at that time.”

“Looking at you, at 17, at your eyes, your face, I see Mary just as she was at 17.”

Sandy cried and hugged her father tightly. They cried together for a long while.

“Sandy, you know that I love you more than anything. And I will do anything to protect you.”

He laid her back in the bed and covered her with a blanket. He could tell she was utterly exhausted. He was going to have to figure out a way to bring her out of this. He lay down beside her, and they held each other as she fell asleep, dreaming of her mom, of Randy, and of her father.

The next morning she smelled cooking eggs and bacon. Though she didn’t want to, her body forced her to get up. She hadn’t eaten in days. As she came down the stairs, her father looked up and saw his teenage Mary. He almost said her name to greet her. He felt like he was that young teen boy with his beautiful cheerleader again.

“Sandy, good morning sleepy head. I hope you are hungry” he tried to sound brave and normal for her.

Her stomach growled loudly. They both laughed. Her tears returned. He wiped them away.

“I guess that’s an affirmative,” he served her breakfast.

“Did you know you are sitting exactly where I taught Mary math ... and biology?”

Sandy blushed. She had a warmth flow over her. Mom. She cried. He held her and fed her spoonfuls. After a half dozen eggs and a whole pack of bacon, she finally felt full and could talk again.

“Dad, show me. Show me around. Tell me the stories.”

He laughed. He could see her eyes again, tears dry for now.

“I probably could make you blush ... a lot!”

She smiled. She hadn’t been alone with her father since ... since that hurricane back three, almost four years ago and that hotel room in California, months later. She blushed at the thoughts of her and her father, making love back then.

“Mary’s mom made us move to the kitchen for our tutoring class as Mary and I spent most of our time holding hands and sneaking kisses while in the dining room.”

“How did you meet?”

Dad smiled, remembering back to when he and Mary were just 15.

“We were in math class together. I sat behind her. She was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. She didn’t know I existed ... until one day, she turned around and nearly slapped me. I had been inadvertently tapping my foot nervously on her desk. I got so flustered I ended up knocking all mine and her books off the desk. That proved I was a nerd ... but she looked at me and...”

Sandy’s eyes bright, “Instant Love!”

“Well, instant she needs a tutor to pass math. I cheated for her.”

“You cheated on her??”

“No, no, FOR her. I did her math homework for her. But then she invited me over to tutor her, and it went from there.”

Sandy came over and hugged her dad. She sat down in his lap as he described things like him watching her practice after school and their first date.

“Oh, I want to show you something,” he said. Her eyes following him.

He leads Sandy by the hand down to the basement. There, the pool table still sat.

“Mary taught me how to play pool here.”

Sandy’s eyes lit. Her mom had told her more than that. That this was where their first real kissing and make out session was.

Sandy blushed, “Mom said other things happened here as well ... DAADDD”, with a twinkle.

It was his time to blush. “Oh, Jeez, you are just like her. So much.”

She came to him. Arms wrapped tight around each other.

“Dad, I love you so much. I missed being with you and...” she lowered her voice to a whisper “ ... making love.”

They kissed.

They held each other for a very long time, just swaying to unheard music. He couldn’t believe that he wasn’t holding his Mary. He loved the smell and feel of Sandy holding him. Sandy felt comforted by him.

He finally spoke up, “Go get cleaned up, and I will take you by my old house and by our school.”

Up in her Mom’s old room, she looked around, picking up little items, touching her mom’s old things as if to absorb some of her mom’s spirit. She looked in the closet, amazed that some of her clothes were still there. She looked at them. A bit old style, but holding them up ... they would fit. She had to try them. It just felt right to do that. Mom’s cheer outfit still there. Sandy always liked hearing her mom talk about that.

Sandy came down the stairs, her mom’s cheer outfit dancing with the little bounce in her step. Her dad looked up, his eyes lit.

“Sandy! Oh ... my ... God!” he started tearing up. “My Mary. My Sandy!”

She ran up to him and hugged him, and they kissed deeply.

He held her at arm’s length, and then she did a little twirl.

“Do you like it, daddy?”

He wanted to pick her up and take her upstairs. Memories flooded.

“Take me on a date, daddy!”

“Oh, God, sweetheart. I love you so! I will take you anywhere!”

“Pizza, I want pizza,” as she remembered her mom and dad’s first date.

They walked hand in hand to the little pizza parlor a few blocks away, still there. He was unashamed of showing his affection openly towards her now. He loved dating his darling little cheerleader.

That evening, back in her mom’s room, she changed into a nightshirt, and without thinking about it, she reached up as if guided and picked out a book. It was mom’s old biology book, never turned in. In it, Sandy found a note. It described a dream, a dream her mom had while making love with John, here in this bed, for their very first time. A dream about babies; twins, a boy and a girl, named Randy and Sandy.

Tears streamed down Sandy’s face. Her mom’s spirit had led her to this note. Her mom’s love had brought her into this world. Yes, she and Randy were conceived here, later, but this note was years before it actually occurred. She put the letter into her luggage bag, still not unpacked. She went to her father.

Sandy tiptoed into the bedroom where her father was staying. She came up beside his bed.

“What is it, my baby girl?” he whispered.

“I need you,” she said matter-of-factly. She crawled into his bed and cuddled against him. She kissed him and turned on her side. He spooned her as they fell asleep together.

The next morning, she seemed to have changed. She had come to a decision, drastic, unusual, but typically Sandy. Down the stairs and full of determination, she brought up the subject that she was resolved to accomplish.

“Dad ... John...”

He was worried. She never said his name.

“MARRY ME!”

He was too shocked to answer.

“We have good genes.”

“What?” totally confused now.

“Jane said we had good genes. We can make good babies.”

“Jane?” now wholly lost.

“I want to marry you and have your babies. Jane Goodall said we have good genes and that it’s ok.”

“What?”

“Close your eyes,” he did, “take a breath,” he did, “open your eyes.”

He looked at her like 17 years had disappeared. The world spun backward.

“Where did you get that, that technique?” he stammered.

She ignored him. She closed her eyes, breathed, and opened them.

“Will you, John Cunningham, be my lawful, ok, unlawful, wedded husband?”

“What the...”

“This is what we are going to do. We are going to move to ... Tahiti. We are going to marry, well, not exactly, but ... and we are then going to make babies.”

“Sandy, are you ok?”

“I am perfectly fine. Now repeat after me: Sandy, will you marry me?”

“Sandy, will ... will you marry me?” he felt like that 17-year-old kid again.

“YES!”

She rushed into his arms and kissed him deeply on the lips, not separating for minutes. Then, she bounced off him and frolicked up the stairs.

Singing to herself, “He wants to marry me!” as John stood frozen.

She called back, “Buster, what are you waiting for? Get packed. We have a wedding to arrange!”

John slowly unfroze, wondering if his poor daughter had finally lost it.

Back in her mom’s room, she seemingly at random, picked up items, and dropped them in her luggage. She pulled out that old faked wedding certificate she had made for Randy and her and penciled in ‘John’. She’d make something better later. She could feel her mom wrapped around her telling her this was right. She felt Randy hugging her and congratulating her. She felt that gorilla’s eyes stare into her soul as if in approval of her. She heard Jane tell her they had good genes.