Chapter 5

I do know one thing. Dad was going to be one tired puppy by the time we left the fair. He did it all. The rides, the ring toss, the gambling booths and the shooting gallery. He watched the horse pull and walked through the animal barns. He took them through the craft displays and I think they sampled every food booth on the grounds. Phyllis was reserved at first, barely speaking to her father.

Dad caught me alone for a minute. "Phyllis is watching me every minute. Why?"

"I think she is looking to see if you are worth becoming a friend with. Don't disappoint her. I wouldn't push too hard either. She will come around."

"I hope so. She is so much like Sandra. God Adrian, what a fool I have been." He turned and went to meet the kids as they came up the bank where I had been watching the horse pulling.

Andrea sat down next to me. Tammy and Rich decided they needed another hot dog, so Dad got up and went with them. Phyllis stayed with us. It was hot and the sun was shining. I dozed where I was lying. Andrea and Phyllis were talking in a monotone. There were hundreds of people all around and it was noisy. I guess I dropped off. Suddenly I felt some lips brush mine and linger for a minute. Then a whispered, "Thank you." I felt the person get up and I heard her run down the bank.

I opened my eyes. Andrea was looking at me. I asked, "What was that all about?"

"Adrian, that was Phyllis saying good-bye to the man that has been closest to her recently. One she has always looked up to. I told her that things were going to be a lot different for her with her father here. She said she knew that. She asked if I thought it would be okay for her to kiss you. I said I thought it would.

"I do know one thing. If Dad treats these kids like he treated us, I just may end up in jail for killing him."

"Amen to that."

Rich was my passenger for the ride home. He slept the half hour it took. Dad stayed at the trailer with Andrea, and I took the kids down Western Avenue to their home. I didn't go in. Let them be the ones to tell Mom and Sandy that their father was in town.

The phone was ringing when I reached the trailer. Sis picked it up as I came in the door. "Dad is staying here. Adrian, as you know, is going back to school Monday. I'll be leaving tomorrow night. Dad has a job so he will be working during the daytime. That's all I know about anything."

She listened and then again said, "Dad is living here in the trailer. Look, if you want to talk to him, call him in the evening anytime."

She hung up and turned to me. "That was Sandy. I'll tell Dad she called."

"Where is he?"

"He went for a walk as soon as we got here. Boy am I glad I'm leaving tomorrow. You can get in the middle of Dad and his wives if you want to, but not me."

"I'm not coming home for a week. Things should be all settled down by then. I wonder what is going to happen." I looked at Sis and then we both started to laugh. "Maybe I won't come home for a month." This set us off again.

I didn't get a chance to get home to see Dad until Thursday evening. He was sitting on the couch when I arrived. He glanced up at me, but didn't say anything. "How's your job?"

"It's fine. It's just as if I never left thirteen years ago. In fact I'm working on an account from the same business."

"You seem down. Want to tell me about it?"

"I saw Sandra. She came by last night. I wish someone would kill me. She is beautiful. Not only that, she seems to be happy without me. There just is no hope for me. I called your mother. She spoke to me, but hung up just as soon as she could. Son, I should have stayed in Texas. At least I had a dream that things would get better and all of my problems would go away."

"Dad, Sandy is going to let you see the kids isn't she?"

"Yeah."

"Well, make that enough for awhile. I admit right now it doesn't seem as if you have much going for you. Remember that there are other women out there. Of course you may never find one as nice as what you had. Remember also whose fault it is. You can call it retribution if you want to put a name to it. You eaten yet? I'm hungry."

"Steak in the fridge. I've been saving it until we could eat it together. Oh, Barbara wants you to call. That Paul Black she cares for is in the hospital."

I went with Mom to see the patient. The nurse informed Mom that Paul's life had just about run out. I tried to talk to her about Dad.

"Adrian, I want nothing to do with him and I have no feelings left at all for him. I just wish he would go away."

"I don't think he will do that. He had a great time with the kids at the fair last weekend. He's working and plans on being a part of their lives."

"I know. The kids told me about going to the fair and how much fun they had. This has upset Sandy as well, you know. Personally I think she still loves him a little."

"He doesn't know that. He was crying on my shoulder when I got home tonight. I didn't give him any sympathy."

"I haven't got any for him either. I hope he is as lonely as I was for so many years."

"You are divorced from Dad. Don't think about him. Mom, I don't need a stepdad, but when Paul dies that will give you some more freedom. Find someone for yourself."

"What chance would I have to attract a man?"

"At least try if the opportunity presents itself. Mom, I have to get some sleep. I have to go back to school in the morning. I'll be home again on Saturday. We'll talk some more." Paul passed away on the following Monday. I was down for the funeral Friday, as was Andrea. Dad didn't attend as this was a part of a life he wasn't involved in. Paul had outlived all of his relatives and most of his friends. It was a small, short ceremony. Sandy, all of the kids, and Rena were there. Rena shed a few tears on Mom's shoulder for she had enjoyed living in the same house with the old man.

It finally came out what Dad was trying to do for Mom by having her record cleared up. She had been approached about having a lie detector test. Mom made a hurried call to me while I was in class. My advice, "Get a lawyer. This is going to be played out in the courts and the Department of Corrections. Dad has been planning on how to right one of the wrongs he did. Go with it. I doubt you will ever have to testify. If you do, just follow your attorney's advice."

I didn't hear Mom saying so much against Dad as she did when he first arrived. I think she was looking forward to having her record cleared up. She had to give Dad the credit, for he was the one behind the effort.

Sandy was seldom mentioned by Dad. He did see the kids every chance he could. Maybe he thought the way back into Sandy's heart was through their children. It might just work, too. They had always been her first concern. After he purchased a small vehicle, Dad often asked if he could take them to McDonalds or a Saturday matinee. Sandy never refused him that pleasure.

I went up to Montpelier about one weekend a month and spent it with Andrea. She was dating and sometimes she would have a blind date for me. Sometimes I even got lucky, but I always cautioned my date that I still had one more year of college before I would even get serious with a woman. Usually it didn't matter, for these dates Sis found for me had the same goal as me and weren't too anxious to settle down.

In late September the whole state was being splashed with color. The fall foliage was beautiful. I took Mom and Rena on a tour and we stayed overnight up in the Northeast Kingdom. It would take a couple of weeks for the full color to reach its peak in the south, but the two women could drive part way up the state and see it as it progressed.

Rena informed me at Thanksgiving time that she was considering moving from the apartment and across the street to Melrose Terrace where she could live by herself. Those places were small and compact and were taken care of by the Housing Authority. She was part owner of the house with Mom and Sandy. She worried about keeping the building up.

"What brought this on? I thought you were happy with Mom, Sandy and the kids?"

"Adrian, I think your Mom is considering moving out as well. That would leave just Sandy and the children. The property is way too big for her. We have talked it all over and have decided to sell."

"Mom has a boyfriend?"

"I guess, but I'll let her tell you about him."

"Have you met him?"

"Of course. He teaches at the high school. It started with him coming in to get a coffee in the morning at the store. It took awhile but he asked her for a date."

"Does he know about Mom's past?"

"Yes. She told him all about it on their first date. She was so happy when he asked her for the second one."

"I'm happy for her. She deserves every bit of happiness that comes her way."

Dad was still living in my trailer. He had taken over paying the park rent and he kept the home immaculate. This surprised me no end for he never lifted a finger to do household chores while he was married to either Mom or Sandy. I asked him how things were going with getting Mom free of the black mark on her record. Sometimes he was up if there had been a new development. The evening he told me that Mom had passed the lie detector test with flying colors, he could hardly be contained.

The last big hurdle was to get on tape the drug dealer admitting that he had accepted $500 to lie in court. Dad had actually bought the drugs from him and was the one to place the drugs in the car. When Dad told me that, I almost hit him. What a bastard my father was! That wasn't the issue now. The issue was to get Mom free of the black mark on her record.