Chapter 12: Magic Man

Fitness For Boomers, Tuscaloosa, AL
Late Afternoon, Thursday, January 9, 2003

When we were in the parking lot, Kaleigh asked me if I wanted to come to her place for dinner and to stay the night. She told me she lived in her own house on her parents’ five acre property. In addition, she said we would eat with her family before heading to her ‘small’ house, if I was OK with it. I told her that would be good, but I’d need to run by my apartment to grab some clothes and stuff, as well as take care of my aquarium.

Kaleigh suggested we meet up at the TCBY at 5:45pm on University Blvd., in Alberta City. That worked for me and we went our separate ways. I got to my apartment in about ten minutes time and tended to my saltwater aquarium first, before getting together my clothes for tomorrow, plus a few overnight things. I remembered to grab a medium weight jacket as the temperatures were going to drop a good bit tomorrow. With my clothes and overnight kit ready to go, I double checked the auto-feeder and timer on my aquarium lights, then hit the road to TCBY.

When I met up with Kaleigh, she asked if I wanted to get something small and cold from TCBY. When I asked about it spoiling our dinner, she said we still have forty-ish minutes to her parents’ place and then dinner would probably be at 7:00 or so. A small frozen yogurt wouldn’t hurt, I agreed. Kaleigh ordered a pineapple sorbet in a waffle cone, while I had a pralines and crème small waffle cone. As the temperature was returning to a more January like chill, we agreed to finish it while sitting in my Camry. Our conversation was light and easy as we talked about my first day of school and how her meeting with the coaches’ wives went. She was excited because both coaches’ wives agreed with her radio spot script, and with having their pictures taken during their workout; just not today as both ladies didn’t like their current workout clothes.

With our sweet treats finished, Kaleigh gave me some basic directions on where she lived. She told me that Highway 216 was a very twisty, windy road in spots, and to watch my speed going around a few of the wicked curves. I mentioned that I read about several recent deaths on 216 in the Tuscaloosa News.

Kaleigh then lowered her head some and said, “Two of those kids were friends of mine ... from my church. If I could take another road down here, I’d do it in a heartbeat as uh, our community, our church has seen too many bad things on that road lately.”

I gave her a hug and whispered that I was sorry about her losing those two friends to accidents. She smiled weakly back at me, and again mentioned that I should be careful when we get past Brookwood, and into the windy part of the trip. I said I would, seeing how I would be following her, and that she should tap her brakes a couple of times before the worst turns. She agreed, kissed me and jumped out of my car and into her Maxima. With that sad discussion out of the way, I was on my way to meet her parents, not as Kaleigh’s professor, Dr. Nevins, but as her new beau.

The trip on Hwy 216 was good, with Kaleigh using her ‘brakes’ to let me know which of the many bends in the road were of the major variety. I could clearly see that if folks, especially ‘invincible’ teens or early twenty-somethings, didn’t take the slower speed sign seriously, then they could be in for serious trouble. When we turned in the Lakeview community, I could see that there was definitely a little money involved with living in this country neighborhood. As I followed Kaleigh around a bend at the crest of a hill, I saw a beautiful mansion about half mile ahead on the edge of the big ‘ski-lake’, which Kaleigh’s dad told me about later than evening.

When she slowed down to turn into the drive just before the mansion, I was wondering where Kaleigh’s smaller house was because she said it was on a small parcel of land off the side of her parents’ five acres. As she stopped and waited for the garage door to open on this good size house, I saw that this concrete drive continued on towards the huge mansion. It was at this point that the ‘Doctor’ part of my brain kicked in and I said, thankfully with the windows up, “Holy shit!” I then thought, ‘What am I getting myself into here? Her family must be loaded.’

With her car safely in the garage, Kaleigh jumped out and yelled, “Be right out. Keep your car running.” After a minute or so, she came running out of the garage with a bottle of wine in one hand and a garage door opener in the other. She jumped into my car and said, “Here’s a door opener. Can I hook it here for you?” as she slide it over the passenger visor. “Ok, this way,” she said and pointed up the hill. “Just follow the drive over to my parents’ place.”

I looked at her, probably with my mouth open or some other stupid look on my face. Kaleigh saw my consternation, and climbed over the console to give me a welcomed kiss on the cheek. Her show of affection helped me get my focus back. She moved back to her seat and said, “I’m guessing you didn’t know much about my family, which says a lot about you. You were all about me, caring for me, not about my family or my family’s wealth.”

“I figured you weren’t hurting for much in school but...” I replied with a smile.

“You’re right. I’ve had pretty much everything I’ve needed growing up, but I’ve worked real hard too. My dad values that very much. So I’ve earned a good many things, by doing what my folks have required of us kids, like that house, and my car.”

I sat there looking at her and was thinking how lucky I was, not because she’s well to do, but because she has that strong work ethic and drive to succeed, even with having access to everything she could want.

I hushed her explanation of things by saying, “Hey, hey, Kaleigh, I know how hard you’ve worked for your education and with your new business. I’ve told you before I was proud of you for those things. You coming from a ‘well-to-do family’ hasn’t changed a darn thing about how I feel about you. I told you that I loved you before seeing this, and that hasn’t changed since I’ve seen your family’s spread.”

Kaleigh squealed and lunged back across at me. “Oh, I love you. I should have told you a little about my family, other than those few tidbits my mom and dad said. Come on, my folks will be expecting us as I’m sure they know we here.”

As we drove over to her parents’ huge house on a point of the ski-lake, Kaleigh said, “I’ll hop out and open the garage. You can pull in to keep the car semi-warm for our drive back to my house, later.”

Pulling around to the back, I saw one of four doors open and drove in. Kaleigh led me through this monster garage to the entrance of her parents’ abode. “Hey, Mom, we’re here. You can start the grill now, Daddy!” my little fireball yelled out.

As we entered the kitchen, Mrs. Plyer greeted us, “Hey Kaleigh. Hello, Dr. Nevins. It’s wonderful to see you again. I hope your drive up Two-sixteen was good.”

“Yes, Ma’am, we made it in one piece. I can see how that road can be pretty dangerous in spots. And it’s Mike, please. I’m not real big on titles. Kaleigh can tell you ... I didn’t make my students call me Doctor. They could if they wanted, but here, Mike definitely works.”

“I can live with Mike, and I’m not a ma’am then, I’m Tammy,” she replied back. “Come on in and have a seat in the family room. Kaleigh, will you get Mike a drink, while I get the baked potatoes going and put the salad together. Mike, how do you like your steak?”

“Medium please, Kaleigh, I’ll have a coke or sweet tea.”

“Steven, did you hear how Dr. Nev, excuse me, how Mike wants his steak?” Tammy said into ‘blank space’ it appeared.

Then over a set of speakers, I heard, “Yes, Dear. Have Kaleigh bring him out here on the deck, and if you can give him the seasoning bottle, that would be great. I forgot to get it before I came out here.”

“Yes, Daddy, I’ll bring him out there, as well as the seasoning,” Kaleigh replied from the refrigerator.

“Thanks sweetheart.”

With our drinks and the bottle of steak seasoning in hand, Kaleigh lead me through the large family room, and out onto the back deck. This large, bi-level composite deck overlooked their large wonderfully landscaped yard, brick boat-house and beautiful moon-lit lake. Kaleigh’s dad was tending to a built-in grill, and he turned to greet us as we came over to grilling/eating area of their deck.

“Hello again my good man, and please call me Steven. I hope my daughter here hasn’t been too much of a pain in your posterior these past few days. When she gets an idea in her head, she’s a devil to reach it!” He reached over to his daughter and gave her a big squeeze as he said that.

“No, Sir, Steven. Kaleigh has been wonderful. She really outdid herself for my birthday yesterday, and she allowed me to workout at her club today for free ... so I can’t complain,” I replied and winked at Kaleigh.

“K-K, why don’t you go in and help your mother with the salads,” Mr. Plyer suggested to his daughter. “Grilling is man’s work, and Mike and I can handle it, I believe.”

Kaleigh looked at me with bit of trepidation but said, “Yes, Sir,” and then walked back into the house after squeezing my hand.

I knew enough to remain quiet, until Mr. Plyer was ready to discuss what he wanted to say to me in private. I saw him hit a button on a control panel beside the grill, which I assumed was part of the speaker-microphone intercom system. When he heard the door to the deck close, he turned to me and said, “What we’re saying is now private. Just know, I’m not going to be grilling anything or anyone, but these steaks here tonight. I’m definitely not going to give you the typical – ‘What are your intentions with my daughter?‘ type speech. I know you’re a good man, and that you’ll be good for Kaleigh.”

Steven turned to flip the steaks and brushed on some type of seasonings, and then he turned back with a concerned look on his face. “I know you were her advisor and one of her major professors, but do you know why she transferred from Troy to Alabama?”

“Yes, Sir. Kaleigh talked a little about her experiences at Troy with me last night. I asked if I needed to get involved with that situation as I have faculty friends down there, who can look into things. She told me she was okay, and that her experience there is history. She mentioned something about getting counseling help, and that she was over those feelings and nightmares.” I was wondering why he was asking this, but didn’t have to wait long to find out.

“Okay, good,” Steven said with a sigh. He then quickly added, “I was just concerned about Kaleigh dumping a world of emotions or hurt on you. From her conversations with us, she really trusts you and thinks the world of you. With you being her first real gentleman friend, I didn’t want you to be bombarded or overwhelmed if she unloaded everything on you. You see, we also talked with her counselor a time or two, and she said that the first person Kaleigh develops feelings for will need to be prepared for a powder keg of pent up emotions. The counselor even joked that this person might need to be a ‘magic man‘ to handle all Kaleigh was going to throw at him.”

I smiled at his reference to a powder keg, because that was a superb description of Kaleigh at times yesterday and this morning. “Steven, I won’t ever comment on what we’ve done, as it’s not part of my makeup to ‘kiss and tell’. However, Kaleigh was indeed a fireball of emotions yesterday. On top of the world at one point and then as low as a snake’s belly at others ... like when she described her troubled past at Troy. I’m not a magic man,” I chuckled, “but my head was working overtime trying to comprehend all the things she said regarding her previous experiences.”