Chapter 12: Cuba

One morning a few days after we moved to Miami, Cindy wanted to go skateboarding with a bunch of kids down the street. Penny said, “Go, be a kid for once! Dinner is at six, call us if you’ll be late!” She had friends and was having fun. I was very happy for her.

The next day, Penny showed me an article in the business news. The chain of wedding shops where she got her gown for our pirate wedding was going out of business. Penny sadly said; “My wedding gown was so pretty. It’s too bad they’re shutting down.”

Being a businessman at heart, I said; “It probably didn’t help the place is called “‘West Side Weddings’ and they are only open 4 days a week. Plus, they probably had to carry a huge overhead for such a small cap company, and they have twelve shops within a twenty-mile radius. The market’s oversaturated in that area.”

Penny got an idea; “You’re a such whiz with this stuff, and I love weddings and pretty dresses so much. Is there any chance that maybe we could help them?”

“Well, if they diversified their product line, hired a few staff to cover the other days of the week, and spread out their locations ... Let me do some digging and crunch some numbers.”

That night the four of us had a nice dinner. Penny commented; “Cindy helped me stuff the chicken and make the vegetables. This apple pie Kelly made is delicious!”

As we were finishing the pie, Penny asked; “So Karl, any ideas about helping the wedding shops?”

“I was wondering when you would ask. Girls, Penny and I will be driving around taking care of some business for a few weeks. Penny is now 60 percent owner of twelve wedding shops, and I’ll help her reorganize and make them successful.”

Penny was floored; “WOW! Karl! That’s so amazing!” She hugged me; “I love you so much!”

In the second month, the shops started making a profit after being in the red a year. I got a friend of mine from college to take over as CEO, with a “board” of Penny and I, so we would only need to check on the business occasionally.

Penny was very happy that it went so well. She arranged for a master tailor in Milan to make me a hand stitched suit as a “thank you”.

I joked; “I’d be happy to do the same for you, Kelly; but these days, high seas piracy is a bad investment.”

Kelly stuck out her tongue at me, then blew a raspberry on my cheek. We all laughed and laughed.

Penny asked; “So when do we fly to Milan for your suit?”

I said, “Forget flying. Let’s get there in style, and sail the Castle to Italy.”

Kelly jumped up and down in her chair; “Oh my god! YES! YES! Let’s do it!”

Cindy happily agreed. “Yeah, let’s go! It’ll be tons of fun!”

Kelly got up from the table and took a suitcase out of the closet. “Come on people, let’s get packing!”

I had to spoil her fun; “How about we get ready in the morning, when the sun’s up and we’re awake?”

Kelly made a show of pushing out her lower lip and crossing her arms in a pout; “Oh, ok, I guess.” She looked comically pitiful.

I said, “Looks like I’ll have to rape and pillage my saucy sea wench to make it up to her.” I threw Kelly over my shoulder and carried her toward the bedroom.

Kelly waved her arms, kicked her feet, and shouted; “Yay! Pillaging!” That got a big laugh from everybody.

The trip to Italy and back was happy and uneventful. While we were there, we ate absurd amounts of fresh pasta and real Italian pizza, of course.

Kelly’s opinion of my new suit was “WOW! That thing is sophisticated sex on a hanger!”

At her prenatal checkup, ultrasound had discovered a nice surprise. Kelly was carrying twin boys. Twins! We celebrated that night with cake and double scoops of ice cream.

We settled into calm family life. Penny and I would spend a few hours checking on business once or twice a week, otherwise we pampered and fawned over Kelly, with the new babies coming.

Cindy would usually hang around the neighborhood with her friends, or at the skate park a few blocks away most of the time. One day she asked if she could bring a few friends home for dinner. I told her, “Of course! We’d love to meet your friends!”

When school was out for the day, a couple of cute Hispanic teenagers knocked at our door. Cindy introduced them, “These are my new friends, Maricel and Marco. Their houses are two blocks down from us.”

We had a nice meal, and got to know them a little. Maricel’s parents were doctors, and Marco’s parents were an architect and a bank manager. All their grandparents left Cuba when Castro took over. They were generally funny, bright, good kids.

One day I was driving back home, and saw them playing. A boy was doing a skateboarding trick where he rolled down the driveway, hit a small bump and flipped the board, jumped over the mailbox, and landed on the board as it came down. Pretty impressive. Cindy tried it next, but the board didn’t flip the way she wanted. She banged into the mailbox, cut her shins badly, and scraped her cheek on the sidewalk. Luckily her helmet saved her from a more serious head injury.

I stopped the car and ran over. By the time I got there, Marco had his shirt off and was wrapping it around her leg that was injured worse. I pulled my shirt off quick, tossed it to Marco, and told the kids; “For her other leg.” I ran home and got the first aid kit. Somebody got a first aid kit from a closer house, and by the time I got back, Marco and Maricel had almost finished bandaging Cindy up.

Maricel told me, “I know what to do, my Dad’s a trauma surgeon. There’s nothing broken, she just needs some stitches.”

I reached to pick Cindy up, but she pushed my hands away. “Dad, I’m not a baby. Quit embarrassing me!”

I thought, “She rejected my help. That’s the first time she called me ‘dad’ instead of ‘daddy’. She’s growing up.” I was proud, but felt a sad emptiness at the same time.

Maricel and Marco wrapped her arms on their shoulders, and they helped her limp to the car.

I drove her to the hospital, and guess what the doctor said? “There’s nothing broken, and she will be ok in a few weeks. I just need to put a few stitches in the two worst cuts.” A nurse cleaned the wounds and covered them in fresh bandages.

Marco and Maricel came over and sat on the couch with her watching tv every afternoon, until she felt good enough to take her skateboard out again three weeks later.

Penny returned from checking on the business one afternoon and said, “I got something for you and Kelly. Let’s go show her.”

Kelly was sitting on a towel at the edge of the pool, holding her baby belly, with her feet in the water.

Penny took off her blouse. Kelly commented; “Nice bikini! Where did you get it?”

Penny showed us the new tattoo on her shoulder.

It was a two-headed ogre, holding a heart over its head. On the heart was “Kar-ly”

Kelly and I nearly cried. It especially touched me that the ogre was mostly blue. Kelly didn’t like blue since she was 7. “Yuck, blue is only for boys.”. She didn’t even have to say it, I knew the color was for me.

Penny and I leaned down to give Kelly a three-way French kiss. Yup, the Kar-ly magic was still there.

Cindy’s twin brothers were born two months later. Penny and I had several other suggestions, but Kelly decided on Jean Lafitte Thompson, and Pierre Lafitte Thompson.

Truly names fit for sons of the Pirate Queen.

One day the next year, Penny and I were watching the kids outside through our front picture window. It was just Cindy, Marco, and Maricel, merrily walking down to the skate park, with their boards under their arms.

The three of them were holding hands, with Cindy in the middle. We saw both Marco and Maricel lean toward Cindy, and kiss her cheeks at the same time. I made a mental note to stock up on condoms. Penny lamented, “And the cycle of life continues.”

She would be 17 and get her driver’s license in a few days. I was losing my baby girl, but it was time.

On her birthday we left our baby sons with the nanny, and the rest of our family drove to a car lot out of town.

I told her, “We’re concerned about your safety, and we know you have lots of friends, so I think we’re getting you the right vehicle.

Cindy was very happy. “A car! Great! What kind! What kind!”

We pulled into the car lot, and climbed out. Kelly pointed to an old school bus and said, “All your friends should fit in this!”

Cindy was disgusted and furious. “NOOO!! NO! What were you thinking!” She shook her fists in anger. “I HATE YOU! YOU PEOPLE ARE SO HORRIBLE!”

Penny, Kelly, and I laughed.

I calmly said; “Kelly, that was mean. Funny, but mean. Cindy, walk around to the other side of the bus, please.”

We walked around the rear of the bus and Cindy discovered her new neon green Sequoia SUV with a huge bow on the hood. It had seating for 8, and I bought it with every safety feature known to mankind. I would have gotten it redesigned for safety by NASA if there was a way.

Cindy changed her mind; “IT’S AWESOME! I LOVE IT! I LOVE IT! I LOVE YOU SOOOO MUCH!” We shared a group hug.