Chapter 13

This was one of those completely informal occasions, done the way my family had done it as far back as I could remember. There was a stack of bowls by the stove, the big cast iron pot of gumbo was barely simmering, and there was the requisite pot of rice next to it. People served themselves and went to sit at the dining room table.

That was how evenings with family were supposed to be, food, laughter, conversation.

Elise started with Terri. "Baby, you've grown so much since last time we saw you."

"Thank you, Aunt Elise," she said.

"Did you an' Tina decorate that tree?"

"Uh-huh. Yes, ma'am. I love it. Don't you?" she smiled.

"It's very pretty. Tina, I know that's you an' Terri. Your husband has NO sense of style. Not when it comes to that stuff, anyway."

"My skills lie elsewhere. I have two beautiful females in my life to help me with my aesthetic shortcomings."

"And it's a good thing," Elise laughed. "I've watched what he wears. Scary!"

"Did he tell you what we got married in?" Tina giggled?

"No, what?" Elise asked.

"Work clothes. He had a knit shirt with a pocket, cargo pants like these, THESE exact shoes."

"Don't leave out the rest of the story, baby," I said. "You were wearing that blue and gold rugby shirt that I like, and jeans, and, uh, these shoes."

She slid over and kissed my cheek. "But it still counts, doesn't it?"

"Yes it does, princess. And Tennessee won't put me in jail, either."

"Yeah, about that," Joe asked.

"I honestly didn't know. I mean, me and Tina, we were going to get married when she could sign for herself, and..."

Tina raised her hand. "Mister Joe, you need to realize that we'd already exchanged marriage vows. It was just a formality."

"Uh, yeah, so we were rockin' along, and then a friend of ours who's a lawyer broke the news. He thought she was my wife. We acted like that when we met him and his wife at a concert. So that was that mad flight from Tennessee, so we could get the judge who'd given me guardianship to fix the paperwork. And he married us."

"I never got the whole story," Joe said. "I wasn't prying..."

"Oh, no, Mister Joe," she said. "It's okay. We're kinda like a fairy tale, happy ending an' all." She stroked Terri's sleek blonde tresses. "Complete with our own princess."

The next day was pretty, one of those clear, crisp winter days. Terri and Tina were cooking breakfast. Terri came running to me.

"Daddy! I want Tina to take me flyin'."

"Can I go with you?" I asked.

"Of course," she said.

"Okay, then if Tina wants to take you, we'll go." I smiled and held my arms to receive my daughter. She was a giggly feather in them.

"Thanks, Daddy!" she called over her shoulder, "Tina! He said yes!"

That pretty much defined part of our day. After breakfast, we dressed for the chilly air and drove out to the airport. I went into the office and arranged payment for fuel while Tina taxied the plane to the pump.

"She's licensed?" the manager asked.

"Yep! Seventeen. Been flying for what, like three or four months. Just got her private a week and a half ago." I patted Terri. This is my daughter, Terri. That's Tina out there. We've been married for a month now. We're taking Terri flying. First time for her in this little plane."

"Have fun, Miss Terri," he said.

We went out to the plane and I handed the fuel nozzle up to Tina as she stepped on a little ladder to reach the wing tanks. Refueled, we pushed the plane clear of the pumps. I buckled Terri in the rear seat and showed her how the intercom headphones worked so she could carry on a conversation. Tina climbed in the left seat. I got in the right.

"Am I ever going to get to fly the left seat again?" I asked, laughing. "I created a monster."

She turned her head, the headphones doing something whimsically alluring to her hair. "Uh-huh. And I'm YOUR monster!" She taxied us to the end of the runway, completed the checklist, and we were off.

"Are you okay, Terri?" Tina asked. I looked back at Terri. Her nose was stuck against the window, looking at the ground below.

"It's like, magical, Tina!"

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," I said.

I directed Tina's route, carrying us over the fields of south Louisiana, over wintering flocks of geese numbering in the tens of thousands, over marshlands tawny in their winter phase, down to the coastline and then looped back, heading home. After landing, we pulled up to the pumps and topped the tanks off. Terri sat patiently in her seat.

When we pulled up on the flightline, I exited and unbuckled Terri, lifting her out of the door to the ground. Her grin was a mile wide. She ran around to the other side of the plane where Tina was tying down the left wing.

"Dad had his arms folded the WHOLE time! You REALLY did fly!" Terri squealed.

"I told you I could, didn't I, baby?" Tina returned. "You dad did that for me!"

"Dad's pretty cool, huh?" Terri said.

"Yeah, he really is," said Tina. "We're luck y to have 'im."

"An' he's lucky to have us, huh?" Terri said. "That's what makes us a real family."

We got back in the car and headed to the house. "What about lunch," I said.

"Grilled cheese sandwiches," Tina suggested.

"Uh-huh," confirmed Terri. "You must've had Dad's grilled cheese sandwiches."

"Uh-huh, we live in his little trailer in Tennessee. And I've eaten his grilled cheese. And maybe we can make some soup?"

"Chicken noodle?" Terri squeaked. It didn't take much to impress a seven year old, and grilled cheese sandwiches and a bowl of canned chicken noodle soup was more than enough.

The remainder of the Christmas vacation followed in much the same vein. Tina made my two weeks with Terri a much bigger pleasure than previous sessions where it was me and a seven year old, and two days after Christmas I actually regretted seeing her depart on the flight back to her mother. It was a bit of nasty winter weather, and that was enough to delay me and Tina from flying back to Tennessee.

"No sense in pressing our luck, baby," I'd told her. "My instrument rating is old and I don't want to have to go that way."

"I can't imagine it myself," she said. "And Mister Charlie says that this isn't the plane to go busting fronts with."

"Charlie's a retired air force transport pilot. He knows," I said. "So I guess we'll just have to spend a night or two down here with the house to ourselves, big shower an' all."

"Oh, I fear I am sooo abused," she tittered.

My cellphone rang. Elise. "Hi, Elise," I said.

"Well, did you get 'er on the plane?" Elise asked.

"Yes, and I was crying an' she was crying and Tina was crying and hell, the flight attendant was sniffling too," I said. "She really fits in with me and Tina."

"I was worried," Elise said. "Daddy's little girl and all that. So when are ya'll comin' over? I got plenty for dinner."

I turned to Tina. "Elise has food, baby."

"Imagine that," Tina laughed. "Let's go."

"We'll be there in a little while," I said.

"See ya then," Elise said. Click.

"Elise was worried about you an' Daddy's Little Girl," I said.

"Me too, honestly. But it was actually a lot of fun. She's a good kid. A little exuberant at times, but a good kid."

"I'm glad it went so well," I said.

"Yeah. Maybe we can do something special with 'er this summer."

"Let's think about that some," I said.

She held my hand as we drove back, ending up in Elise's driveway. We walked in. I sniffed the air. I looked at Elise. "Sausage, steak and gravy?" I asked.

"Just like Momma used to make," she said. "Joe'll be here in a few minutes and we'll eat." I was sitting on the sofa with Tina on my left and niece Haley was on my right and other niece Deb was between her and the arm of the sofa.

Haley was the gutsy one. "So Tina, my Uncle's a little OLD, don't'cha think?"

Elise's face dropped and she started to say something, but Tina jumped right in. "Oh, yeah ... Old. Smart. Stable. Funny." She paused. "An' if you're thinkin' about..." she left the word unsaid. "Don't. gosh ... Any better and I'd DIE!"

Elise said, "HALEY! I can't believe you..."

"It's okay, Elise," Tina said. "If I was in her shoes, I'd have questions too." She turned to Haley. "We have a perfectly normal life, Haley, except that we live in that little trailer. He goes to work. I go to school. When we get home, we either cook or go out to eat. On weekends we have places to go and friends to go with. Just like everybody else. Except I'm seventeen and he's a little older."

"Mom," Haley said, "She makes it sound normal."

"It IS normal," Tina said. "We're partners. Friends. Like a marriage is supposed to be. It's about love and friendship." Tina drew a breath. "Everybody wants to think about the sex, but it's not about sex. Sex is easy to find. Try looking for love and friendship and appreciation between two people. We're lucky!"

Elise said, "I should be taping this. Joe needs to hear it for damned sure!"

"Oh, yeah, Mom," Deb interjected. "Like you an' Dad have a horrible marriage..."

"Your dad is a beast, I tell you," Elise laughed. And that's where Joe walked in. He knocked, actually, and Elise let him in, and when he entered the living room, we all looked at him and laughed.

"What?!?! Do I have toilet paper stuck to my butt?" He asked.

"No, dad," Deb said. "Mom was just tellin' us how horrible it was being married to you."

"Was not, baby," Elise said. "Your elder daughter was nosing into Alan an' Tina's private business and Tina gave 'er both barrels. You should've heard it. And when I SAID you should've heard it, YOUR daughters gave me crap about how horrible you treat us."

Haley giggled. "Dad, you KNOW how we are about you an' Mom. I was curious about Tina an' Uncle Alan. They look different, is all."

It was my turn. "Believe me, ya'll, Tina and I talked about this before we came down here. I know some folks can't handle it."

"But we CAN handle it, Uncle Alan. I was just curious..." Haley said.

Joe looked at her, "So you just popped up and asked in general conversation? You got your momma's sense of tact."

Elise huffed.

"I would've asked her in private, but I never got a chance," Haley said. "Tina, I wasn't tryin' to be nosy. I'm sorry if it came out like that."

"I didn't think it was tooo nosy, Haley. It was a good question, really. Mister Joe, she wanted to know how things work between Alan an' me."

Joe looked at his daughter. "I thought your mom gave you that whole 'Tab A – Slot B' speech."

"Daaaa-aadddd!" Haley whined, "That's not what I was wondering about. I mean, like music. You an' Mom are stuck in the Eighties..."

Tina jumped in. "Oh, Haley, that's the easy part for us. We're hopelessly lost two or three centuries ago."

Deb caught the inference. "You mean he's still on that classical music thing?"

"And I discovered it on Day One, before we even started thinking about an 'us'. What are the chances?" Tina smiled.

"Pretty slim," Deb admitted. "Although I do like some of it. Just not a steady diet."

"Bottom line is, Haley, we KNOW each other. We don't have to escape or take a break or whatever."

"And that's a good thing in a thirty-something foot trailer," I injected.

"Yeah," Tina said. "Like that!" And she gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"Yeah, but like I said before," Joe said, "before you get any ideas, Alan's got a job an' Tina's got a plan that doesn't involve magic like winnin' the lottery."