Thirty-three

“CLOSER TOGETHER. Now everyone smile!” The flash went off and my mother had yet another picture of Wendy’s graduation, this time with Lissa, Melody, and me. The next picture was with Carma and Clarice. We were all glad the three-hour ceremony was over. Mom and Dad lined up on one side of Wendy with Lexi and Jack on the other and I took the next picture with Century Link Stadium in the background and the Sounder’s band playing nearby.

Finally, we all headed for Carmine’s.

Wendy had scarcely let go of my hand since she found her way out of the stadium. She was shaking like a leaf after nearly five hours pressed in the crowd of her classmates.

“I did it! I did it! I graduated!” she kept whispering.

Not only had she graduated, but President Girard had even mentioned her in his commencement address, not by name, but describing what she’d gone through to be a student. The big screen that usually showed Seahawks players on the field showed a picture of Wendy in the crowd. How did they ever pick her out in the sea of caps and gowns?

Carma had reserved a table for ten, but she kept jumping up to go check on things in the kitchen. None of us ordered. We just ate the food and drank the wine that she had set in front of us. Wendy had worked for Carma for four years.

“May I have everyone’s attention, please,” Wendy spoke up. We instantly fell silent. In fact, many patrons in the restaurant who knew Wendy paused to look at her. She’d just taken command of the audience. “I have an announcement to make. Tony, Melody, Lissa, please don’t think I’ve been hiding this from you. I just found out at the school celebration Wednesday and I wanted to surprise everyone at once tonight. I’ve been accepted by the graduate program in the School of Social Work and my advisor has indicated that I will continue to have a full ride scholarship. I’m going back to school for two more years.”

The whole restaurant burst out in applause.

“Wow! That’s wonderful, Wendy! I’m so proud of you,” I said.

“Carma, I hope you haven’t replaced me. I still need a job.”

“Wendy, you are like a daughter to me. You will have a job here whenever you need one. You can even have an office here like Clarice,” Carma laughed. Clarice didn’t have an office. She had a booth.

The party on Sunday was the most unusual graduation party I’ll ever attend. We had to get a special permit from the city. When Wendy told us what she wanted for a party, she got our full cooperation. When word got out there were grads from three colleges that joined with her and a mysterious gift of $3,000 arrived to help pay for it.

There’s a park right behind Pike Place Market, a well-known hangout for the homeless of Seattle. Invitations went out to the residents of all the homeless shelters and camps we could identify. At eleven o’clock, we moved tables into the park and Carma’s catering truck started unloading trays of lasagna, bread, paper plates, salad, and ice cream. At noon, grads in three different colors of caps and gowns started serving food to all the homeless who could get to the park. We served for three hours and fed over 500 people. Baristas from the local Starbucks across the street, showed up with urns of coffee and kept pouring all afternoon with us. Those of us who were family and friends of the grads, refilled the steamers and salad bowls, collected paper plates, and policed the grounds. Of course, a couple of city council people and a college president or two showed up along with the news crew, but this was all about the grads making the world a better place. A lot of people dropped off donations, which went into our fund to help the homeless. If people thought we were done when the mural was painted, they thought wrong. This was going to continue for a long time.

We attended various celebrations over the next week, including SCU’s commencement where we wished Amanda, Walt, Sonia, Thor, Bree, Justin, Eric, Tonya, Rachel, and June well. There were half a dozen parties, but our focus shifted. Lexi was staying at Jack’s house, which we all thought was cool. Mom and Dad took the extra bedroom downstairs and said it was easier to just stay than fly home and come back in two weeks. The boys were crazy with having three grandparents at their beck and call, though they hadn’t quite figured out if there was anything strange about Grandma Lexi staying with their Dad.

There was so much going on preparing for the wedding that you would think none of us would have time to be depressed, but life isn’t like that. It seemed there was always something we depended on Kate for, only she wasn’t there. Every question, even fixing coffee in the morning, was a reminder that she was missing. None of us had heard from her. Even the Trips.

I tried to keep my funk from showing by escaping to the gym every afternoon for a couple of hours. I’d become so aggressive on the court that without Lissa there to temper me, no one would play with me. Dad came over one day to watch me play a half-court game against myself. Yeah. Half-court. If the ball went past the short-line it was a point deducted. Once I lost fifty points I was done. It took two hours.

Dad had a guest pass to the club and came into the locker room to join me for my cool-down. We both relaxed, first with a good steam and then in the spa. We sat there in silence for a while before he spoke.

“You were brutal out there.”

“It’s how I work out my frustrations.”

“You have a lot of those lately.”

“Yeah. I don’t think I ever thanked you for getting me involved in racquetball. That’s how I got together with Melody and Lissa.”

“You’re not losing them, Tony.”

“I know, Dad. It’s just that with Kate gone, all four of us are hardly holding it together. Mel and Liss throw all their energy into the wedding. Wendy insists she’s responsible for meals and keeping the house spotless. I come here and beat the hell out of a blue ball. You know I broke one yesterday? I split it. I broke a fucking racquetball.”

“Tony...”

“Sorry, Dad. I didn’t mean to cuss.”

“I don’t care about that. You’re a fucking mess.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“Don’t give up, Tony. None of the rest of us are. We love her, too.”

“I blew it so bad, Dad. I didn’t even know. I didn’t know.”

“Did you know I left your mom, son?”

“Dad! No!”

“Not recently. You were a year old.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“I wish I was. It was the worst two months of my life, followed by six that were even worse.”

“What... ? Why did I never hear about this?”

“We put it behind us.”

“What happened? Why did you leave?”

“Something stupid. I got a job offer in a Lincoln suburb. Nearly double what I could get in Fremont. I was a hot commodity for a teacher. Everyone wanted a male for their problem classes. Your mother didn’t want to leave. I went anyway. I thought it was no big deal. I’d commute home every other weekend and eventually Deb would join me. It didn’t work that way. There was always something in the way of my getting back. It was six weeks before I came home. You and your mom weren’t there. My dad told me she was visiting a friend, and if I wasn’t going to be home, I couldn’t expect her to be waiting for me. I lasted two more weeks before I quit my job and moved home. It took your mom and me close to six months to heal from the wounds.”

“Why are you telling me this now?”

“Because when she comes back, you’ll have to forgive her. That will be harder than having her gone.”

“The first time I met Melody and Lissa was in Tempe at Tony’s racquetball tournament. I knew there was something special about Lissa. Then Tony called Melody and Deb to introduce us to his family. I remember Tony saying he had three-way conferencing on his phone and I thought that must come in handy.” Everyone laughed. We were at the rehearsal dinner. We’d found a nice little Unitarian church on the Eastside. The minister was a lady who’d been in the newspaper doing weddings on the first day gay marriage was legal. We decided to have the rehearsal dinner and reception at a nearby hotel.