Chapter 5: Decisions

There were no child care facilities on Hunter Army Airfield. It was all handled at the Army Hospital at Ft. Stewart nearly 30 miles away. Luckily, in a bit of one-upmanship the Hunter Base Commander (who was also the assistant Division commander for the 24^th Infantry Division based at Ft. Stewart) offered transportation. Being a general he could approve civilians to ride in the most readily available transportation at hand.

Thus the first five wheelchairs delivered by Tammy's Wheels were delivered by Tony, Tina, Rebecca, and Kyle in two Huey helicopters on Monday afternoon.

It got a little out of hand in Tony's opinion. He wasn't quite sure why the delivery required a military band but such seemed to be the way of the Army.

Rebecca and Tina were absolutely fawned over by all of the soldiers and both absolutely loved the helicopter ride.

As with all good things speeches had to be made ensuring that the commanding general and the colonel in charge of the hospital could attach their names to the teen's work. It took the better part of a day to get the chairs delivered and five older chairs loaded up on the helicopters and flown back to Savannah.

The next day was a more of the same. This time, the corporate sponsors sent representatives to the Shriner's Hospital in Macon. Tony, Rebecca, Tina, Dewayne, Kyle, and Chrissie drove up to help load and unload the chairs. This time the Mayor of Macon was involved somehow as well as the grand poo-bah of all Shriner's. Tony had only dealt with the one man all those months ago. Then there were the PR guys from National Pacific and Southern Sugar, at least those two had earned some recognition.

Tony said a few brief words. Brief because Rebecca had his left hand in both of hers and was squeezing as hard as she could and Tina had his right hand in a similar vice-grip. The message was clear, shut-up and smile.

The next Saturday, however, was a blast. There were another 27 chairs that weren't spoken for. Simply driving up to an unsuspecting small hospital (it turned out there were six small ones between Macon and Atlanta) in the brightly painted Tammy's Wheels truck and offering to trade the decorated chairs for old chairs was a blast!

No politicians, no press, no PR people, just kids helping kids. It was utterly satisfying.

"What do you mean you're not going?" Tony asked Jerry. It was a Friday night late in March.

"Just that. I mean, why bother, I don't have a date."

"No date huh? So have you actually asked anyone?"

"Well yeah, I asked Beth, but her prom is on the same night and she already had a date for that one."

"Jerry don't be a moron. There are fifty girls in school who would go to the prom with you if you'd just ask."

"Yeah, if I want to just go up to a total stranger. No one I could have fun with."

"No one, huh?"

"Nah, I mean why bother with the whole thing?"

"Not one girl that you know?"

"No. Why is it such a big deal? You guys will have a good time."

"Yep, Rebecca and I, Dewayne and Gwen, Kyle and Chrissie will have a blast. And you don't know one girl you could have a good time with? Not a one?"

"Tony, leave it alone will you? It doesn't matter."

"Not one girl, who, you know, won't get to go to the prom because she's a freshman? Someone you like? Someone you see everyday? Someone who's insanely jealous because all of her friends except, it seems you, are going to the prom together and she can't go. Ring any fucking bells pal?"

Dewayne chuckled at this point, and Kyle joined in. The three were in the salon on Kalliste after being abandoned for the night as all the girls went on a night out to a birthday party that was girls-only. In spite of what Tony told anyone else (including several Coast Guard inspectors) he most certainly did have the key to the liquor stores. The guys were taking the opportunity of their abandonment to imbibe. Of the girls only Gwen was known to drink much at all.

"Oh, eh, hmm," Jerry muttered. "I never thought of that. That wouldn't bother you?"

"Jerry if you fuck my little sister I'll probably kill you."

Dewayne spewed his rum and coke out of his nose. Which caused Kyle to laugh again and Tony joined them.

"If you take her to the prom, that won't bother me."

"I can't believe no one has asked her."

"Frank McConnel"

That caused Jerry's drink to go down the wrong way and he sputtered.

"You wouldn't let that ass..."

"Relax Jerry, it's not like Tina isn't smarter than the four of us put together. She wouldn't go with him." Frank was a 275 pound senior lineman and the reports from the couple of girls he had managed to coax into a date were not good.

"OK, we'll go. I mean assuming she wants to go with me we will. I'll talk to her, happy?"

"Not as happy as she'll be, but that will do for now. By the way, this conversation never happened."

"Yeah, yeah, OK."

"Guys?" Tony said. "It never happened, and that means to your girls as well. Tina would murder me and you'd have to find another second-rate singer."

The guys simply nodded their assent.

"Now about this trip. We need to talk about that. No way all eight of us and all our gear is going to fit on Kalliste, we wouldn't be able to move. Maybe we can take the people, but we'd have to ship our stuff up on a truck."

"Can't we just rent a truck and just drive it up?" Kyle asked.

"Are you volunteering?" Dewayne asked in return.

"Well yeah, Chrissie and I will do it. I mean, I'll ask her, but neither of us is all that big on sailing. I don't know anything about this boat but where the bathroom and kitchen are. You're talking about six or seven days, right? We could drive there in three, probably two."

"Yeah," Tony replied. We aren't going to be in a hurry, we'll probably stop over most nights, maybe even for a day of sightseeing. You'd be missing a lot. But yeah we could rent a truck. At this stage I might just fucking buy one, we can't even carry the gear we have now without a rental and that's a huge hassle at our age."

"What do you mean?"

"Dude it's almost impossible to rent a car or a truck if you're under 25. The Tammy's Wheel's truck was cheaper to buy than try to just rent one when we needed it. The insurance is still a bitch on it so we can drive the thing. Dad said if we needed it full time it would be cheaper to hire a driver."

"Really though Kyle, do you think Chrissie's parents would let her go on a cross-country drive like that? They'd have to know you were sleeping together in the hotels along the way."

"They're cool with it. It's out in the open. I assume Dewayne and Gwen are fine. Their parents let them bring the boat back from Virginia. Have you talked with Mr. Harris?"

"Fuck, not yet. Her mother won't be a problem, but he knows, or he's a total idiot, and I seriously doubt that."

"You know I'm not a total idiot," Chris Harris said.

Tony chuckled. Mr. Harris was grilling steaks in the backyard of his home where Tony was invited for dinner. "I never thought that for a minute," he said. "I know that you know, but we do try to be discreet."

"I know I've asked this before Tony, and I'm pretty sure I know the answer this time, but do you love my daughter?"

"It's a lot easier to answer this time Mr. Harris. Yes, I love her more than I even thought was possible. I was gone what, a week when I picked up Kalliste? Just not seeing her was like a physical ache. I don't know how to explain it, but there really is no Tony anymore, there's only Tony and Rebecca. It's something hard to put into words, she makes me somehow better than I was or even could be."

Mr. Harris shook his head. "I was married for ten years before I figured that out."