Chapter 21

“Hello the roof!” shouted Dan from the stairwell. Ling had told him the men were upstairs waiting for him so they could watch the sunset together. She also said there was something the men wanted to discuss with him. He guessed the topic of discussion.

“Come on up here, Dan,” said Leroy in response to the man’s call.

Sitting in his chair wearing his blue jeans, work shirt, boots, and cowboy hat, Ed could have been the poster child for relaxation. Ed put down the glass of iced tea he was drinking and said, “Yeah. Come on up here, Dan.”

Ed and Leroy exchanged a glance while waiting for Dan to make it to the roof. The wives had really let them have it when they had come home from the bar. Their ears were still ringing.

Dan climbed up the stairs with a light step. He was wearing blue jeans and a western style shirt with boots. It didn’t take long for Dan to settle into his usual chair and accept the iced tea Leroy handed him. Dan looked at the horizon and said, “I love sunsets.”

“Yeah. Looks like it will be a nice one tonight,” said Ed.

Taking a sip of his iced tea, Dan relaxed and watched the horizon. Although it had been a horribly hot day, a simple mister cooled the air and made it comfortable. Ed didn’t usually use the mister except on days when the temperature was well over a hundred and he was expecting company. Dan appreciated the consideration; thinking once again how he enjoyed these times on the roof with Ed and Leroy.

The minutes passed as the sun lowered on the horizon. This particular evening, the colors were not nearly as spectacular as usual, but no one cared. It was beautiful and the men appreciated beauty in all its forms. Finally, Ed said, “About this morning. I’m afraid that we were rather abrupt.”

“Abrupt?” replied Dan glancing over at Ed and then Leroy. Abrupt wasn’t exactly the word he would use to describe how they sprung the news on him. The two men had surprised him that morning. He decided a more appropriate word would have been ambushed.

“I hope we didn’t insult you or upset you in any way,” said Ed. He didn’t think that he had upset Dan, just surprised him. They had placed him in a rather difficult position in that any kind of answer would have been given without input from Claire. He knew it wasn’t fair to Dan or Claire to put Dan in that position.

“Not at all. I’ll admit I was surprised. I already consider you like family, but I had never thought about becoming a member of the family. Claire and I discussed the matter for a bit after I left the bar. I’m still having a hard time believing it.”

“We’re serious about having you and Claire join the family,” said Leroy figuring that the couple might have decided it had been a bad joke.

“We know you don’t joke about serious matters so we took what you said at face value. We talked about it for quite a bit. I won’t bore you with the details of what we discussed. We came to the conclusion that if we were asked, that we’d say yes.” Dan took a sip of his iced tea to hide his nervousness.

Taking a sip of iced tea, Ed thought about what Dan said. That Dan and Claire were interested in joining the family was good news, but the wives wanted them to go through the whole dating process before making an official proposal. Kelly wanted assurance that the pair would be willing to make love to every member of the family. Ed couldn’t blame her. It was one thing to consider the matter abstractly, but it was another thing to actually have sex with a member of your own gender. In this case, it was necessary that both Dan and Claire perform since the two of them were already a couple.

Dan knew it would be a while before Ed or Leroy would continue the discussion. That was their way. They’d touch upon a topic and then think about the exchange for a while. He understood and favored that form of conversation himself. Perhaps that was way he enjoyed his times with them so much. Willing to wait as long as it took, he took another sip of his tea and turned his attention back to the sunset.

It wasn’t until after the sun set on the horizon, that Ed turned to face Dan. Setting his glass down on the table, he cleared his throat to get his guest’s attention. In a serious voice, Ed said, “Our wives reminded us this afternoon that we’d need to date for a while to make sure that everyone was comfortable in the relationship.”

It wasn’t an unreasonable request once he thought about it. Dan asked, “How would that work?”

Seeing that Ed wasn’t going to answer the question, Leroy said, “Each of you would go on a couple of dates with each of us. That way, we’d get to know you one on one.”

“Well, I don’t know about Claire, but I expect to be wined and dined in a most extravagant manner,” said Dan in a serious voice. He laughed at the surprised look on Leroy’s face before the black man realized that Dan had been kidding.

Chuckling at the joke, Ed said, “Speaking of wining and dining, it’s time we headed to Maria’s Cantina to celebrate the engagement of Nathan and Mona.”

The men stood and collected the glasses. Leroy picked up the tray and carried it down the stairs. Ed went to the edge of the house and looked over the town. Now that the sun had set, lights were coming on in the houses below. The houses were small. Some of the houses had yards decorated with little status of Jesus and Mary. There wasn’t a grass lawn in sight. The streets were still dirt rather than paved and cars were parked along their length in a crooked line. The people who were out and about wore plain clothes - jeans and shirts. The overall appearance of the town hadn’t changed since he was a kid.

Dan followed Ed and looked over the town. In the short time that he’d lived there, he had come to love the quiet little town. It was a home that he had never known until he moved here. In a quiet voice, Dan said, “I love this town.”

For a moment, it was as if Ed was talking out loud without realizing it. Dan’s comment had echoed exactly what was going through his mind. He looked over at the young man and nodded his agreement.

Pointing to a young man getting into a car down the street, Dan said, “There’s the Rodriguez boy. He’s studying to be an electrical engineer. He’s a smart as a whip and will go far if given half a chance.”

“How do you know him?” Ed asked out of curiosity.

“He came by the house one day and introduced himself. He was looking for a summer internship to get some job experience. I suggested he try where I work,” answered Dan. “He now works down the hall from me and is doing real good work. He’s a real nice kid.”

“Did you help him get the job?” asked Ed.

“Not really. He got it on his own merits,” answered Dan. All he’d done was bring home some applications and then hand-carried them over to employment along with his letter of recommendation. The rest had been up to the young man.

Ed smiled at the answer. His truth sense let him know that Dan had done a little more than encourage the boy to send in an application. After a quick glance at Dan, he turned his eyes back to his beloved little town. It was good to know that someone else shared his love for the town.

“Wow, Maria and Jose really know how to send someone off in good style. I bet Rosa is going down to Maria’s Cantina because she knows you have reservations there,” commented Dan after seeing the kisses exchanged at the front door of the Ortiz house.

Catching part of the farewell kiss, Ed had to agree. It amazed him how passionate people remained, particularly when they were in relationships that had lasted for more than twenty years. It seemed like people here fell in love and stayed in love with greater commitment than people living anywhere else in the country.

Watching Rosa walk down the street reminded Ed that they should be going downstairs. Putting a hand on Dan’s shoulder, he said, “We better head out.”

“Sure,” replied Dan. He took a few steps and, with a large grin, asked, “By the way, who’s my date tonight?”

“Claire,” answered Ed with a chuckle. It was good to know that Dan was anxious to get started dating.

They joined up with the rest of the family and staff in front of the house. Rather than drive, they all chose to walk down to the restaurant. Claire and Walt were the last ones to leave the house. When the reached the end of the driveway, Ling watched them activate the security system that locked down the entire building. Bars to keep intruders out appeared that literally covered the doors and windows. Floodlights came on that covered the entire yard.

Impressed by what he saw, Ed hadn’t realized they had installed such a system. Curious, he started to move towards the house, but Ling said, “Don’t go any closer. You’ll set off the alarms.”

“When did you do this?” asked Ed.

“While you were away at the Druid College,” answered Walt. Pocketing the control, he added, “We wanted to be able to lock up and leave on a moment’s notice if you needed us.”

“Ahh,” replied Ed not knowing how to respond.

As was commonly the case for Ed, the walk down the street took more than a half an hour even though he could have covered the distance in five minutes. Their progress was frequently halted when neighbors came out to chat. The chats included all members of the Carter Clan and staff. The news about the engagement of Nathan and Mona had already spread through town. Everyone wanted to wish the young couple good luck. Ed was proud that his neighbors took such an interest in fortunes of others.

They reached Maria’s Cantina a little after their reserved time. Rosa, knowing they would be late, greeted them at the door and led them to the large private dining room. He hadn’t thought about the fact that they now had eight people working for them. With the six of the family, Mary Gold’s child, spouses, and dates, there were sixteen in the party. Ed noticed that there were more than sixteen settings. He wondered who else would be showing up.

The table had been set and five pitchers of iced tea were placed down the center of the table. There was also a pitcher of milk for Betsy and Lucy. Baskets of chips and bowls of salsa, both red and green, competed for space with the pitchers of beverages. There were small bowls of pickled vegetables, tortilla warmers, and plates with pats of butter filling in whatever space remained.

Terry and Lynn, the employees of his consulting company, showed up while everyone was still milling around the room. Ed hadn’t been aware they had been invited, but it made sense. As his personal aide, Nathan had done a lot of work with Terry. It was no different from the household staff.

Ed made his way to the head of the table squeezing past Mary while she was busy putting Lucy into a high chair. Betsy had taken the chair across the table from Lucy and was making funny faces causing the little girl to giggle. Ed smiled at the scene knowing that Betsy’s energy would keep Lucy entertained and entertaining Lucy would keep Betsy busy.

Sitting down, Ed grabbed a tortilla warmer and removed a hot corn tortilla from it. After slathering it with butter, he loaded it with pickled carrots. After dribbling some salsa on it, he folded over one end and then rolled it up. Gesturing with it, he called out to Rosa, “Even if everything else in this place was horrible, I’d come for this.”

Shaking her head, Rosa knew that he was telling the truth. She glanced at Marguerite and the two shared a look of amusement. They watched as he took a bite. A look of ecstasy appeared on his face as he savored the conflicting flavors -- the corn sweetness of the tortillas, the creaminess of the butter, the sharp edge of the pickled carrots, and the spiciness of the salsa.

Mona, staring at him in wonder, still had a hard time believing that food could have such an impact on a person. With a trace of awe in her voice, she said, “It’s amazing when he does that.”

Smiling at Mona, Rosa said, “You’ll be lucky if one out of a thousand customers have that kind of experience as a result of your cooking. It’s not because your food isn’t good. It’s just that most people don’t take that little bit of time to savor it. Don’t let it get you down when you go to Washington. Those customers who take the time to really taste your food will be the ones that make it all worthwhile.”

Winking at her intern, Marguerite said, “I always found it best to ignore customers like Ed.”

Ed sat back in his chair and said, “Mona, now that you’re leaving us. I’ve got a few things to tell you. I know you think highly of her as a cook, but, sometimes, Marguerite doesn’t quite know what she’s doing in the kitchen. She has been known, on multiple occasions, to forget that the meat goes between two slices of bread and will serve some bread-like concoction sandwiched between two pork chops.”

The two chefs were laughing as he went through his little speech. They’d both heard it many times in the past. Marguerite said, “It’s called stuffed pork chops.”

“She even gets creative in her denial of mistakes. The poor deluded woman, you just have to feel sorry for her,” said Ed shaking his head sadly.

Rosa laughed and said, “I’d make him eat his own cooking and see what he says then.”

Shaking his head, Dan said, “You’ve never seen him cook when he’s out on the trail. He eats well.”

Surprised, Marguerite looked at Ed and said, “You know. I’ve never tasted anything Ed has cooked.”

Not expecting Marguerite to agree, Ed said, “You know. I’ve never seen you on a horse. I’ll tell you what, you ride a horse and I’ll cook you dinner.”

Grinning like the cat that swallowed the canary, Marguerite said, “Okay. Bring it on.”

“Okay.”

“You heard him everyone. I ride a horse and he’s going to cook me a meal.”

Based on the expression on Marguerite’s face, Cathy was convinced that the chef would go through with it. She asked, “Marguerite, when would you like me to have a horse brought by the house?”

“How about next Saturday?”

“That shouldn’t be a problem. Ed doesn’t have an appointment that day,” answered Cathy as she made a note in her ever-present notepad.

Rosa said, “You know. I’d like in on that.”

“So would I,” said Mary Gold.

Kelly remembered her first date with Ed when he had taken her out to the desert and cooked swordfish steaks for her. They’d been very good and she knew he would surprise everyone. Ling and Linda nodded to each other since they had both eaten Ed’s cooking. Ed said, “No problem. I’ll cook enough for everyone who rides a horse that day.”

The discussion was interrupted by the appearance of a young waitress. She had fine aristocratic features with long black hair that come down to her buttocks. With her body and flawless skin, she could have been a model. After glancing at her, Ed went back to munching on chips and salsa.

In a purely business-like fashion, the waitress went from person to person getting their order until the only one left was Ed. Looking at him in awe, she finally sidled up beside Ed. Her confident façade cracked. In a nervous voice, she said, “Dr. Biggers, could I have your order?”