Dog Days

Chapter 9_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I woke with the feeling that I just heard a sound and that I wasn’t alone.  I had left the tree lights on before I hit the sofa, and that was usual practice on Christmas Eve.  I opened an eye carefully and saw that the lights were still on and all seemed well, so I turned my face into the back of the sofa I was on and tried to go back to sleep.  Then I heard another sound, or maybe the same sound again.  The sound was soft, almost nothing, so I kept my eyes closed and hoped it would go away.  The sound came again and I opened my eyes to the upholstered back of the sofa.  I thought the sound came from that direction anyhow, so I sat up above the sofa back and was surprised to see Dana and Gil sitting by the door.  They were both staring at something and didn’t notice my head, so I turned to see what had them so enthralled.

I opened my eyes wider.  Someone had been busy while I slept, and I didn’t know who. Well, Santa probably. The area under and around the tree had been absolutely loaded with gifts when I went to bed.  Now the entire room was full except the space right around the sofa I was on.  There were fat stockings hanging from the mantel, while packages of every size and shape cluttered the floor and all available level surfaces.

I smiled to myself and said aloud, “Santa was here, and I slept through it again.  It happens every year.”

Dana focused on me, “You were right there and didn’t wake up?”

“I didn’t hear a thing until just now when you woke me up.”

Gil said, “We didn’t make any noise.”

“No.  You didn’t make much noise, but you still woke me up.  So tell me how somebody put all these things in here without me hearing anything.  How does that happen?”

Both of them stared at me.  I said, “It’s the same thing every year.  I never see how it gets here.”

Gil turned to Dana and asked, “Is he putting us on?”

Dana looked at me for a long moment before he shrugged, “I don’t know.”

I shook my head, “Gil, did you hear anything during the night—anything at all?

“No, nothing.”

“I didn’t either, and Daisy must not have.  If somebody came in the middle of the night he would have woofed up a storm.  You live here, so you know there’s no way in hell that this much stuff was hidden anywhere inside the house.  All these things showed up and nobody made a sound.”

Gil and Dana both looked at me, no doubt trying to determine if I was kidding them.  I just held their look until Dana said, “I’m hungry.”

It was still dark outside so I asked, “What time is it?  Maybe we should start breakfast.”

Gil said, “It’s kinda early… just a little after four.”

My jaw dropped.  “What the hell?  Go eat if you want, but I’m not done sleeping yet. You know where to find me.”

Dana nodded at Gil and they stood to leave.  I said, “Don’t make any noise,” as they left my field of view.  I put my head down and wondered if I’d be able to get back to sleep, but that was apparently no problem.

The next thing I heard was Ally’s voice, “There’s one in here. Merry Christmas, Paul.  Wake up!  There’s heavy lifting to do.”

“Huh?  Didn’t I port and bear enough yesterday?”

Ally snickered, “I would have thought so, but your father is on the way and said he needs help, so get ready.”

I got up into a sitting position and looked around before turning to Ally.  “Is he bringing more people?  There can’t possibly be any more stuff.”

She also seemed to be surprised by the number of gifts in the room.  “Did you boys wrap all night?”

I shook my head, “This all showed up after I went to bed and before Dana woke me up at four o’clock.”

“Four o’clock?  Good grief, did you kill him?  Is that why he’s nowhere to be found?”

“He’s missing?  He’s probably out playing with the dog.”  I looked under my blanket to make sure I was covered properly, then got to my feet.  “I didn’t kill him.  Maybe Dory did if he mucked up her kitchen.”

“The dog is asleep on your bed.  Gil is missing, too.”

I located my slippers and toed my feet into them.  “Did you look in my bathroom?  Gil and Dana like to hang around in there.”

Ally eyed me and said, “I always thought that was a girl thing.  Whatever; go round them up to help you.”

“Okay.  Uh, is there anything ready for breakfast?”

“There’s coffee.  If you want hot food, you’d best hurry up and get ready.  That kitchen is going into high gear with Christmas dinner any minute now.

I smiled, “What are we having?”

Ally blinked, and again before she said, “Let’s put it this way.  We’re not making tacos or frog’s legs, but I won’t rule out anything else.”

I laughed and said, “I have to get dressed.  I’ll be right back.”

I ran up the stairs, through my room, and into the bathroom.  It was unoccupied, so anybody’s guess where Dana, Gil and Russ were hiding.  I washed up and brushed my teeth before I tried to comb my hair.  The planets must have lined up or something because, for once, my hair stayed where I put it, and didn’t go out of place even while I shaved.

I got dressed in decent clothes–charcoal slacks and a light blue dress shirt topped off with a blue-spruce crewneck sweater.  Daisy had been sprawled out on my bed all this time, and when I made a kissy sound he lifted his head lazily to look at me for a moment before he went back to sleep.  I was hungry, so I ignored the snub and hurried downstairs for some breakfast.

I almost bumped into my mother, who was coming from the kitchen just as I rushed in.  She put her hand out in time to stop me and grinned, and then pulled me into a hug.  “Merry Christmas, Paul.  I was just coming to call you, but I see your appetite is leading the way.”

I kissed her and said, “Oh, I’m not really hungry; I just found out Russ brought his porn collection and I want to see it.”

Ally barked out a laugh in the kitchen while Mom pushed me away saying, “You really are incorrigible.”

“I am not.  I’m completely corrigible; I just don’t seem to know any corrigibers.”

Ally called out, “That word is corrected.  There is no corriged.”

I grinned at Mom, “I just got up and already I’m being edited.  I’ll be good after I eat.”  I started to turn toward the kitchen again and stopped to give Mom another hug, “Merry Christmas!”

Ally said, “Sit.  There’s French toast ready.  Do you want some eggs, too?”

I sat at my usual place and said, “No, just French toast and some milk.”

“Bacon, ham or sausage?”

“Okay.”

Ally brought me a plate of food and a glass of milk.  I had just filled my mouth when Dory appeared and greeted me cheerfully.  I smiled just as cheerfully in return and managed to say, “Hi,” after I swallowed.

I heard the side door open and there was suddenly a lot of noise from that direction.  I turned to look and Dana stuck his face into the kitchen to announce, “Dad’s here!  He needs help unloading the car.”  Then he noticed I was eating and said, “Breakfast is ready?  Count me in.”

I said, “What about Dad?”

“He already ate.  Let me get my boots off.” 

Dana turned around and said, “Breakfast is ready, guys.”

In two seconds Gil and Russ came through the doorway into the kitchen.  Dory looked at Gil and asked, “Where have you been?”

Gil said, “We went across the street to see Hector’s snowmobile.”

I remembered that those two hadn’t seen the machine when Hector used it to help find Daisy.  “Did you see what brand it is?  It looked really good at night.”

Gil looked like he was trying to remember, and Russ said, “It’s an Alpina, made in Italy.  It was customized for them.”

“I can imagine,” I said, picturing rocket launchers, flame throwers and machine guns, along with afterburners and, most likely, wings. Cup holders for sure.

Ally was suddenly beside me with her arms crossed, a foot tapping on the floor, “Didn’t someone say your father is waiting outside for help?”

That stirred me into action.  I pushed my plate to the center of the table and stood up.  “Don’t throw that away.”  I rushed to the hall to get my boots on, and opened the door to yell, “I’m coming!  I’m on my way!  I’ll be right there.”

I got into my boots, pulled a jacket on and hurried outside.  I felt bad for making Dad wait, and I felt worse about it when I went outside.  The air wasn’t particularly cold, but it felt damp and the wind was gusting up.  It wouldn’t be very pleasant standing around waiting for a tardy me.

Dad and Elenora weren’t standing around, but sitting in the car with the engine running.  I knew my father had a new car, but this was the first time I’d seen it.  It sure didn’t look anything like his old one even though it was the current version of the same thing, and it was red.  My father, for all his smarts and all the money those smarts earned him, was conservative to the point of being invisible.  His last car was gray, a darker gray than a battleship, sort of like metallic pencil lead.  This one was red, a very nice red that reflected light like a pearl, and I approved.

I had to tap on the window to make them aware of my presence, and a little beep followed by a soft whir alerted me to the fact the tailgate was going up by itself.  Dad shut the car off and they got out.  I said, “Sorry I took a while, I was eating.”

Dad smiled and Elenora kissed my cheek, “Merry Christmas, Paul.”

“Merry Christmas.  Did you bring this wind with you?”

Dad said, “It was waiting when we got here.  How do you like the new wheels?”

“Very nice.  Santa finally got you your little red wagon, huh?”

Dad chuckled, “Yeah. Go on inside, Ellie; Paul and I can get these things in.”

There were a couple of medium-size cardboard boxes in the back.  “Are these heavy?” I asked.

“Not really, but they’re clumsy and I was afraid it might be icy.  It actually looks okay, so just grab one.  You should still be careful.”

I pulled one carton out.  It wasn’t really heavy, but it was bulky enough to block my view of the walk.  Dad got the other one, and when we were walking to the house I asked, “Did you buy Dana a Mercedes for Christmas?”

“A Mercedes?  I did not.  Are you saying the blue car in the driveway is his?”

“I’m not saying it; Dana is.”

“Hm, I gave him my old car.  I guess he won’t need it if he has a Mercedes.  Is that thing new?”

I stopped at the door and turned to Dad, “If you didn’t buy it for him, then I don’t think it’s really his.  Who else could afford something like that?”

I realized my question was pretty dumb while it was still coming from my mouth.  Elenora could afford it, and Rhod most likely could.  Hell, Dana could have bought it for himself if he wanted to.  I decided to forget the matter when the door opened.  Gil came out and held the storm door open while Dana kept an elbow on the inner door.  Dad and I brought the boxes inside and I hesitated while Dad looked around, and then I followed him into the dining room, which was all set up for the holiday meal.  He stopped and said, “Not much room in here.  Let’s go up to the office.”

I followed Dad, and we put the boxes on my bed.  There were wrapped gifts inside.  From the shapes of the packages it looked like shirts in one box and gloves in the other.  I didn’t see any tags, so I asked, “Who are these for?”

Dad looked at me kind of sheepishly and said, “Oh, I had your friends in mind, but I guess they’re for anyone who wants one.”

I looked in a box and said, “I don’t know if I have this many friends.”

“Oh, sure you do.  Your friends from the wedding party, for starters, then there’s Gil, your skiing pals … you’ll find homes for them.  One is for you, or one of each if you like.”

“Oooo-kay, so they don’t go under the tree?  I ask because we’ll need an excavator to get anything else under there.”

Dad laughed and bopped my shoulder, “How about we just get started opening things?”

“Good thinking.  Maybe if we work straight through we’ll still be able to go to Canada tomorrow.”

“What’s this?  Are you complaining about too many presents?”

“Absolutely not, but just think about it.  Until this year they were mostly for me, and now they’re mostly not.  It’s gonna take some getting used to.”

Dad grinned, “Didn’t you say that you always get too much, and wasn’t that only last year?  Think of this as a correction of sorts, like when the markets adjust to reality.”

Dad went ahead of me and I smiled, because he was exactly right.  I’m sure that, within reason, I will always be able to get whatever I want as long as what I want can be bought.  Still, just a year before, it was my idea to be generous with others and cool it with gifts to ourselves.  That turned out to be a happier choice than either of us could have ever imagined.  When we found Dana under ice on a road, we had only one intention.  That was to thaw him out, yet bringing him home with us changed all our lives forever, and for the better.

Now Dana is my brother and my father’s second son, and Elenora is married to Dad and is another mother to me.  I knew there was a lesson in all that, but the main thing is that I felt a lot better on the giving end of things, and I planned to stay right there.  Without him saying so, I was positive my father felt the same way.  I don’t know all of what he’d been up to, but I was well aware that he was quietly giving help to a lot of people when they needed it most.  I didn’t even know if everything he did turned to good, although it seemed unlikely.  Greed seems to be in the nature of some people, and to them there is no such thing as a simple act of good will.  When people like that get something for nothing they act like it’s a birthright being fulfilled, and they become edgy while they wait for their next favor.

I liked my father’s attitude about that: so what if they do?  They aren’t everybody, and you don’t help people because you want to earn their gratitude.  Boiled down to its simplest, it’s a fun way to spend money, and it takes a little more creativity than pulling things from a store shelf and dropping them into a cart. 

There is a feel-good factor, too.  Factors, actually, and three of them and a dog were in the living room waiting to open gifts.  I went and found the Santa hat and brought it in, holding it out to Dana, Russ and Gil.  “Who wants to be Santa?”

My father said, cruelly if you ask me, “Why don’t you do it, Paul?  It will slow us down if one of them has to stop every two minutes to open his own presents.”

“Mom!”  I called, “You want to be Santa?” There was a pause before four giggling female voices replied, “No.”

“Daisy?”  I had second thoughts, “No, never mind.  When I get sore somebody’s going to have to take over.”

After I pulled a hassock over as close to the tree as I could get it, I glanced at the fire.  It was well stoked, so I sat and picked up a package.  It was for Rhod.  I didn’t know if he was coming, but he wasn’t there so I handed it to Dana and picked up the next package.  It was for me, and I set it between my feet while I tried again.  Tommy.

I decided to try my other side, and I found a big box.  “Dad!  This is from … me.”  I grinned, “Merry Christmas.”  At least that got the ball rolling, and when the ladies joined us we had already opened a few gifts each. I had been setting things aside for the maternal gang and handed those out when they sat down.

There were a lot of things for people who weren’t coming, my friends mostly. and When they got to be too much Dana, Gil and I lugged them up to my bedroom.  There was still a daunting number of packages under and around the tree, and others that had been placed out of the way behind furniture.  I took a breath and dug back in.

Nothing happens in a vacuum, of course, and there was a fairly steady stream of incoming phone calls.  Dad filled in for me as Santa when I had my turn talking to my own relatives, Ally’s relatives, Dana’s relatives, Russ Glover’s family, Bernie Sutton, and various friends.  One or another of the ladies headed off to the kitchen from time to time, and invariably came back with things to nibble on.  It was a wonderfully loud and cheerful morning, full of wows, oohs and ahhs, laughter, and funny commentary as different presents were opened.  Once Gil had allowed Daisy to tear a gift open there was no stopping the dog; he wanted to keep tearing paper, and was delirious with doggy glee when a present was actually for him and he could shred it all the way.

I had picked up quite a few things for Gil so he wouldn’t sit there feeling left out, so of course everyone else had the same idea.  He was floored by the number of presents with his name on them, but no more so than Dana and Russ were.  I had no idea Russ was even coming, so I had quickly stuck his name on a nice Chilean alpaca scarf.  Dad and Elenora made up for that, and Mom and Ally gave him a lambskin jacket from New Zealand.  They gave those to Dana, Gil, Dad, Elenora, Dory and me, too, and Mom’s supremacy as a shopper remained unchallenged.

Gil is the best present opener I ever met.  He exclaimed excitedly over everything he opened, and demonstrated an amazing repertoire of grins, smiles, gasps, squeals, hand gestures, and hair pulls.  Every time I handed him a gift there was a lull in the background noise as we all paused to watch his reaction.  He was our chief entertainer that morning.

I received plenty of things, but less than anyone else except Dad.  Mom and Ally insisted, since I had asked for no gifts, that the things they brought were just souvenirs from their trip, not really Christmas presents.  Well, okay, but I got enough leather and wool to construct a few sheep of my own, and some gorgeous original Maori carvings.

When we were finally done I moved to an armchair and sat back.  All that time on the hassock left me with an ache between my shoulders and another in my lower back, plus my legs were cramping.

Ally led the women and Daisy toward the kitchen while Dad headed upstairs, probably to be alone.  Dana and Russ left right after him, speaking in quiet but excited voices.  That left me alone with Gil, and he pulled the hassock I’d been using over and put it in front of my chair.  For a second I thought it was so I could put my feet up, but he sat down and leaned toward me, his eyes wide.  I raised my eyebrows and said, “What?”

Gil shook his head quickly and said, “I don’t believe all this!”

I smiled, “Lots of presents, huh?”

Gil nodded, “Yeah; that and everybody made it feel like me and Mom are part of the family.”

“Oh yeah, they treat me like that, too.  Dana and Russ get the same.”

Gil stared at me and asked, “Can you be serious just for once?  I want to know this, and I need you to help me figure it out.”  He lifted a suspicious eyebrow, “Okay?”

I said, “Okay, but before we start I think you should be aware of my holiday fee schedule.”

Gil’s lips moved before his face darkened and he started to stand.  I put my hands up quickly and said, “Okay, okay…just kidding.  I don’t know what you can’t figure out, though. You get treated like everyone else because that’s what we do around here.  I’m surprised you haven’t noticed before, but it’s kind of an equal opportunity environment.  You seem to be even more equal than me today if the number of presents counts for anything, but I kind of asked for that.” 

Gil looked away, “That’s what I don’t get.  A lot of those presents are expensive things. I didn’t do anything to deserve them.”

“Oh, I get it. Listen; first, you don’t earn presents.  People give presents to make themselves feel good.  Someone like you makes it easy on the giver, too.  They’ve had me to make happy for years and have practice buying for a fourteen-year-old, so they know about all the good stuff already.  I should tell you that you’re going to get things all the time now, ‘cause you go so ape-shit over everything you open up.  Parents love that shit.  Grandparents even more, because it gives them something to talk about when things get slow back home.”

I couldn’t read Gil’s expression.  His eyes were narrowed a little, but he didn’t look exactly doubtful.  Then he worked his face almost into a smile and asked, “Are you serious?  Who could open things like I got and not get excited?  I’m used to maybe some books, a game or something, and then clothes.  I got neat clothes today, not like long johns and socks, and who would ever think I’d get a real, handmade Maori spear?”

I snickered at that.  I figured I’d get something made of wool from New Zealand, but Mom and Ally had loaded up with a lot of more interesting things once they discovered how highly-developed and stylistic native Maori arts are.  I’m sure they came home with a lot more jewelry than we saw, but they bought Dory a duplicate of the movie ring from Lord of the Rings.  There was a small bag full of little wrapped boxes for Lisa and the other girls who served in their wedding, and larger boxes for the guys: wool shirts, no doubt.

I said, “Gil, I hope you realize that just your being here is a real service to our whole family.  If you hadn’t shown up right when you did, I don’t know what would have happened.  I most likely would be living in Stockton, and I don’t even like to think how miserable I would be if that happened.  And let me tell you, when I’m miserable then everyone around me is miserable times ten.  I really owe you; we all do.”

I watched Gil while he absorbed that. I pictured the gears turning in his head, but he spoke pretty quickly, “Really?  So all this stuff is for… what’s that term … services rendered?  Is that what you’re saying?”

I sighed and shook my head, “No, you said that, not me.  What I said is that you get treated like family because we value your presence here amongst us.”  I thought for a second, wondering where amongst came from and if I’d used it properly, so I added, “I didn’t mean amongst.  Well, maybe I did, but I don’t think I know what it means so let me take it back just in case.  We value your presence, period.  You’re family, Gil.  Get used to it.”

Gil looked pleased, and suddenly broke out the best smile I’d ever seen from him.  “You really mean that, don’t you?”

I nodded.

“So… so I’m like your brother now?”

I thought about that, but he wasn’t saying that I was his brother so I smiled, “Yup!  You’re like my brother… my little brother.”

”Younger.”

“Huh?”

“I’ll be your younger brother.  Little makes it too easy for you to call me a runt.”

I laughed.  “Okay.  Let’s get out of here before we have to set the table or something.  Where’s Daisy?”

+  +  +  +  +  +  +  +

An hour later we started what felt like an almost endless meal, after which everyone seemed to be ready for a little time alone.  The house was full of people so that wasn’t exactly possible, but we spread out in smaller groups.  Mom and Ally disappeared into their room while Dad and Elenora claimed the living room.  Dory also excused herself so she could rest for awhile.  I wanted to stretch out too, but felt obliged to hang around with Dana, Gil and Russ.  We were expecting other people, so we camped out in the kitchen while Daisy snoozed in the mudroom.

I wasn’t hungry and don’t believe anyone else was, but there were nibbles all around us so we nibbled, and didn’t do much else.  We were talking about skiing and our trip to Whistler.  I tried to keep Gil involved since he wasn’t going with us, and I knew he felt left out.

We were in a good position to see when someone arrived, and we had only been settled for about half an hour when a car pulled in.  The kitchen windows were steamed up and I could see two people approaching the house, but couldn’t tell who they were.  I went to the door, and opened it on the first knock.  A man I didn’t know was standing there, and there was a wobbling pile of gifts behind him.  I looked at him warily.  “Yes?”

The guy smiled, “Hi.  Are you Paul?”

I nodded, “That’s me.”

He glanced behind himself and turned back to me, his smile now a bit sheepish.  “Um, I’m here with Rhod.”

The pile of gifts said, “Hi, Paul.  Can we come in?”

I laughed and stood back, saying, “Let me give you a hand.  You missed a great meal.”

I took a bunch of presents from Rhod while they stomped the snow off their feet and went inside.  I said, “Go left; everyone important is in the kitchen.”

Dana and Gil helped Rhod with the other gifts while Rhod introduced his friend as Larry Cohen, and we introduced ourselves to Larry.  Rhod said, “We’re heading north for some skiing.”

When Dana asked where they were going, Larry said, “Killington for sure.  We might spend a day or two at other areas.”

Rhod grinned at me, “We’re staying at your house, so we’re open to suggestions about other things to do … places to eat and the like.”

I noticed that Gil looked kind of downcast.  He got skis from Dory, but had nobody to ski with.  I had asked around, but the people I usually skied with couldn’t accommodate Gil during the holliday for one reason or another.  Rhod noticed and grinned at him, “I understand you’re going with us… you and your friend.”

Gil stammered, “I am?  I … I … really?”

“Yup.”

Gil looked around like he was confused and needed help.  “Does my mother know?  When are we going?”

Rhod shook his head slowly and snickered, “Yes, of course she knows.  She’s coming with us too, just to keep you out of trouble.”

Gil’s expression was priceless right then, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open while he sorted out his thoughts.  Rhod watched him expectantly until Gil finally swallowed, looked around, and squeaked out, “Where is it we’re going?”

Rhod put a hand on Gil’s shoulder and said, “Skiing.  We’re all going skiing, and you got the short straw so you’re stuck with us.”

Gil looked a little confused but very pleased, and his lips quivered a bit when he smiled.  I said, “Gil, let these guys get past you so they can sit down.”

Dana laughed, “Leave him alone, Paul.  He’s busy being rude right now.”

Gil’s ears reddened as he backed out of the way. “I guess I am rude.  Sorry.”

Rhod patted Gil’s shoulder as he went by, and turned a chair so he could sit facing us, with his back to the table.  Three of us were still holding the gifts he brought, and I held my pile out a bit, “Um, where do these go?”

After a quick glance around, Rhod said, “Mostly right here.  The tags are on them.”

I put the ones I was holding on a counter, and that cued Gil and Dana to put the ones they were holding on top of them.  The first one I looked at was for my father, and the next for Ally, so I took a second and separated things into two piles before I handed a box that looked like it might contain shoes to Gil.

He was surprised, “For me, really?  Wow, thanks!”

I handed a similar box to Dana, and another to Russ.  I muttered, “Everyone knew you were coming except me, Russ.  What gives with that?”

Russ grinned and shrugged so I started to open my own present, which looked just like the others.  The box had a picture of a bird and the name El Ganso printed on it.  I pulled off the lid to reveal sneakers that were really classy looking, mostly beige canvas with black suede toes, and a black and white accent stripe.  I liked the look of them, and the shoe I pulled out was as light as a feather.  I toed my right slipper off while I laced up the new one, and it fit perfectly when I tried it on.

I grinned at Rhod and said, “Thanks, I really like them.”

“They fit alright?  I got the sizes from Dory.”

“Perfect.”

The other guys all had the same shoes but in different colors.  Dana’s were deep red with a black toe and blue stripes, while Russ got even darker red ones without the contrasting toe.  His had yellow and blue stripes and blue laces.  Gil’s were green with a black toe, orange accents, and red, white and blue stripes.

Gil was delighted.  “Where did you get these?” he asked.  “I never saw them before.”

Rhod said, “The shoes are from Spain.  They don’t sell them in the States, at least not officially, but they’re a hot item in New York.  I figured you’d be the first guys in Vermont with them.”

Russ gave Rhod a confused look.  “If they don’t sell them here, how do you buy them?”

Larry answered, “Some things are imported outside the lines … they call it the gray market.  They’re the real McCoy and acquired legally, or semi-legally.  They aren’t stolen or anything like that, but they probably come off the ship labeled as something else.  It happens all the time with hot fashion items, otherwise they’d chance being out of style by the time they made it into a normal distribution channel.”

I looked at Larry, thinking that was a pretty glib answer.  “Tell me, are you in the importing business?”

Larry’s smile seemed sly, “Well, not officially.”                                                                          

Rhod barked out a laugh and slapped Larry on the shoulder.  “Such a comedian!  You should be on TV.”  He turned a grin to me and said, “Not officially means he’s pretty deeply into the gray market for things like your shoes.  It’s nice work if you can get it.”

Larry said, “I don’t deal with shoes very often… not before now, anyhow.  I usually broker construction equipment that’s brought in legally by foreign contractors.  They have to dispose of it when their projects are done.”

I was surprised that he could make a living at that.  “Wow!  That’s interesting.  There’s really enough of that to keep you busy?”

“Me and a whole lot of other people,” Larry replied.  He noticed the others fidgeting and added, “Let’s talk later, okay?  Just keep handing out those gifts to justify our presence.”

I was being a crappy host.  Tying up the conversation for a minute is one thing, but I hadn’t offered a thing to Rhod and Larry.  They both wanted beer when I asked, so I got two bottles out and started uncovering more food for people to pick at, and put sliced roast beef and ham out when I realized Rhod and Larry were hungry.

My father and Elenora wandered into the kitchen just then, and it got louder, though not loud enough to drown out the doorbell.  Dana was closest so he went to answer it, and I was paying attention to the conversation in front of me when he came back, followed by Lisa and her family.  I jumped up to help them with their coats, and asked them to come into the living room and get comfortable.  Lisa’s parents excused themselves to get something from the car, while the others exclaimed over our decorations and the number of presents strewn all around.

I was behind Lisa to help her with her coat, and I put my face next to hers to whisper, “Merry Christmas.  I’m glad you’re here.”

She made a smoochy sound and said, “Me, too. Do you like the comforter?”

“Love it,” I said as I reached for Dina’s coat, then Aldo’s.  I looked at her little brother and said, “Want to give me your coat, Lou?”

Lou looked at me like I’d asked if I could pick his nose for him.  “Why should I give you my coat?”

Dina said, “So he can hang it up, moron.”

Lou gave her a dirty look and sat pouting in the nearest chair, still wearing his jacket.  I smiled at him and asked, “Want a candy?” which earned me a glare.

I turned to Lisa, “Somebody’s tired, huh? Or doesn’t he like Christmas?”

She smiled, “He can be tiring.  He liked Christmas till he opened his final gift, then it went downhill.”

I glanced at the tree and said, “There’s no such thing as a final gift.  C’mon upstairs and give me a hand.”

Lisa followed me saying, “Are you saying there are still more presents?”

“My father’s trying to keep his taxes down, so he hired a bunch of elves.  They make all the toys in my bedroom.”

Just as we crested the stairs, my mother’s door opened and she spotted Lisa.  “Oh, my!” she cried.  “Lisa, dear, come on down here; there’s something I have to show you.”

Lisa trotted down the hall, and they were hugging when I turned into my room.  I was just putting the boxes Dad brought together with other things that were still in the room when I heard a shriek, from down the hall, followed by an even louder shriek.  By the time the screams turned to laughter I had too much momentum to stop myself before I was in the room with my mother, Ally and Lisa, who were in hysterics.

I knew I was dead.  If I had bothered to think of what my mother said to Lisa … that she had to show her something … not give her, or tell her something, then I would have known I was in for a major embarrassment.  I could have stopped Lisa, or maybe run out and hid in the woods until everyone went home.

At that point there were a lot of things they might have been looking at, but it was the first picture ever taken of me that Lisa had in her hands, and it seemed to get funnier and funnier.  The picture wasn’t one of the ones done later, where I was cuddled in something soft they call swaddling clothes.  No, this picture was taken by my father when I’d first been yanked from the womb, as naked as … well, the doctor held me by the waist and I was upright, but still all red and wet, covered with goo.  My expression was one of sheer terror at the sudden and complete change in my living arrangements.  Oh, and I had a nasty looking umbilical cord instead of a belly button.  It was a pre-snip picture.

Lisa had her voice back, “Look at the hair!  And, oh my God, he already had a cowlick.”  She laughed some more, “It looks like a whisk broom on his head!”

They tittered some more, and Lisa’s eyes lowered as I knew they would.  “Oh, my …”

My mother giggled, “Oh yes.  Our Paul was born with a real pair.  Frank used to open the baby’s diaper whenever one of his men friends came by, just to claim bragging rights.”

I groaned, “Mom!” and three heads turned in surprise to find me there.

I’d seen Mom blush a lot of times, and Lisa a few times, but Ally was equally red-faced.  That was a first.

Mom managed, “Don’t be rude, Paul. We were talking about you, dear, not to you.”

I stared at my mother before I turned to Lisa and said, hoping I didn’t come across as meekly as I sounded, “I need your help, Lisa, and I have a favor to ask.”

She just nodded.  I looked at my mother and said levelly, “Thanks for sharing that picture.  If I can ever return the favor…” 

I put my hand on Lisa’s shoulder and pulled her away.  I could feel my ears still burning as I walked the few steps to my room, and when Lisa followed me in I closed the door behind her.

Lisa winced when I looked at her, and it made me smile.  “Well, now you’ve seen everything.  I don’t have to explain how embarrassing that was, do I?”

“I guess not, but I didn’t ask to see the picture.  I’m sorry, but I thought you were cute.”

“You said I looked like a whisk broom.”

Lisa narrowed her eyes, “I did not.  I said it looked like you had a whisk broom growing out of your head.  It never really went away, you know, but your head is bigger now so it’s not so prominent.”

I tried to look surprised, “So I used to be cute and now I have a big head?”

Lisa giggled, “If that’s your opinion I won’t dispute it.”

I just looked at her for a while before I smiled, “Do you have a kiss for me?”

“Ooh, I have lots of those,” which she started to dispense.  Sadly, we had to bring more gifts downstairs, and that led to a night of mingling.   People dropped in until we had a houseful, and when some left others showed up, so we were entertaining people until well after eleven. 

Hector had spent the day with Zoner’s family and she came with him back to our house for the evening, so Lisa and I left with them when Hec went to bring Arizona home.  It had been a long day, but it was fun.  I only regretted that I was leaving Lisa behind in the morning and we hadn’t had any real time alone, so our kiss goodnight was kind of bittersweet, knowing I wouldn’t get another for over a week.

I was tired when Hector dropped me off at the house, but decided I should at least get some of my things packed.  It was after midnight, which didn’t worry me because we were flying out at around eleven in the morning.  With the time difference we’d still get to Vancouver in mid-afternoon, and it should take about two more hours to clear the airport and drive up to Whistler.  We’d have time to settle in before dinner. I knew I’d struggle to stay awake until a normal bedtime anyhow, but the later I could sleep in the morning the less I’d feel the time change.

I started pulling out clothes I knew I’d need, and then looked for things to wear when we weren’t skiing.  I didn’t really need a lot, yet I still had a formidable pile of things on the bed and I hadn’t even found my thermals.  I had new ones downstairs but didn’t feel like searching for them.  I had just started thinning out the pile when there was a tap at my door.  I turned and Russ was standing there.

I asked, “What’s up?”

Russ smiled, “I need some peace and quiet.”

I hadn’t heard any noise. “Where’s the commotion?”

“Oh, Gil and Tyler are like a couple of girls going shopping.  The ladies are in the living room and I spent all afternoon in the kitchen.  I’m hanging out with you.”

I shrugged, “I didn’t know Tyler was here. You can help me pack. Where’s Dana?”

“He went with Rhod and Larry.  He doesn’t get to see Rhod often.”

“That’s true. I feel the same about a lot of people. Oh, you never told us when your father’s going to get his bones rearranged.”

Russ raised his eyebrows, “It’ll be a while.  There’s a lot they have to do first, like make up replacement parts and create a plan.  I don’t know all that much, but they can’t do everything at once, and they can’t do something like work from both ends toward the middle, except maybe they can.  They have this 3-D thing of his lower body that’s life-size, so they’re able to know exactly what everything looks like now, and they can get good measurements from the unbroken parts.  The engineering is one thing, but they still have to open him up a lot of times to put things they way they should be.  There’s healing time in-between operations, and nobody can predict what that will be.  Dad wants to stay functional, and that will probably push the end date out, but it’s all fuzzy right now.  It could be a year and a half, or it could be two or three times that.”

“Wow,” is all I could think to say.  “Well, I hope your dad has the same healing skills as you.  You did a lot better than we expected.  My father said that everyone is confident they can fix up your dad, and you don’t sound doubtful at all.”

Russ sat at my desk and smiled, “You’re right.  All we talk about is a good outcome.  It’s weird how this worked, isn’t it?  If I didn’t end up in the hospital, then Dad would have never got together with the guy who can help fix him up.  I know you don’t like to hear it, but your family has been right in the middle of all this.  You didn’t have to put yourselves there, and I’m never going to forget it.”

I stared at Russ and grinned, waiting a moment before I spoke.  “You’re good. You said all that with a smile. Everyone else I know, me included, would have gotten all sappy, and I hate when that happens.  It’s all the thanks I need and … listen closely … it’s all the thanks I’ll ever need, so let’s talk about Whistler and Blackcomb and skiing on glaciers.”

We did just that, and I finished my packing while we talked.

+ + + + + + + +

We were in a car headed for Hartford at nine-thirty in the morning, wearing our Ganso sneakers.  Hartford was a change in plans, but the charter company said they couldn’t land the plane at Keene.  It wasn’t a problem for us, just a bit more time on the road.  And car is a misnomer; the vehicle we were in was like a fancied-up airport shuttle.  It was nice enough, and there was plenty of room for us, our luggage, and our ski equipment.  We also had a big cooler full of Thanksgiving leftovers so we wouldn’t starve on the plane. 

I was excited to be on the way.  We all were, but we were also tired from holiday celebrations and didn’t talk a lot during the hour-plus ride.  Hector fell asleep right after he buckled in, and Dana was out shortly after him.  Dad and Elenora were sitting right behind the driver, and I sat in the wayback with Russ.  He knew I’d been to Whistler before and I told him what it was like, although I knew there had been a major expansion when they hosted the Olympics.  It was already a huge place before then, with two mountains, miles of groomed trails, off-piste areas, glaciers, and a full mile of vertical drop.  Russ had read all of that, and he looked to be kind of apprehensive about it all.

I said, “You seem kind of unsure about this.  Are you nervous about getting hurt again?”

Russ didn’t respond immediately and then mumbled, “Not really.  I mean, not about the place, and I don’t have to be skiing to get hurt.  I really can’t take any big knocks right now.”  He glanced at me, “It’s just that when I ski with Dana he always gets me pushing harder and harder.  I just hope I can keep myself in check. I really want to ski and I also want to go home in one piece.”

“Well, not skiing with Dana when he’s on the same mountain would be hard to do.”

Russ smiled, “Because he’s everywhere?”

“Yup, and he’s there before you, and he can be there again behind you if you’re not fast enough.”  I thought for a second, “But wait!”

Russ grinned, “There’s more?”

“There is one thing that might slow Dana down, and that’s Gretchen.  He’ll ski with her.  He might show off, but he won’t leave her; I don’t think he would, anyhow.”

“Gretchen’s his girlfriend, right?”

“That’s her, and he’s seriously in heat.”

Russ smirked, “Tell me about it.  Saturday afternoons there’s a radio program from some German Hall.  Dana listens to it to hear the accents.”

I grinned, “Not the oom-pah music?”

Russ made a face, “That too.  My father listens to it with him.  It sucks very much.”

After a few minutes of silence I noticed that Russ had closed his eyes, so I took his cue and did the same.  I didn’t sleep, and I sensed when we left the highway to enter the airport.  I sat up and looked outside, where the weather looked just like what we’d left behind at home.  I said, “Hey, Dad,” hoping that would be enough, and it was.  Dad’s eyes opened and he looked my way, so I said, “We’re here.”

He woke Elenora when he turned to look out the window. Hector and Dana both stirred, and I gave Russ a gentle poke with my elbow.

“I’m awake,” he yawned, and we all watched out the windows during the few minutes it took to travel the access road.  My father gave the driver directions to the spot in general aviation where we would meet our plane.

When the driver stopped the vehicle, Hector told us to wait on board while he had a look outside to make sure everything was ready for us.  Russ looked confused so I said, “It’s just security.  Flying on a private plane doesn’t mean Homeland Security gives us a pass, but it shouldn’t be a big deal.”

It wasn’t a big deal at all.  Once we had everything out of the bus, a little vehicle came by towing a trailer, and the man driving it told us to put everything on the trailer except the things we’d bring with us on the plane.  The security check was a simple comparison of our passports with the list they had.  We used the toilets and then followed Hector outside.

I asked, “Which plane’s ours?” when I saw that there were several business jets sitting outside.

Hector pointed and said, “The blue one over there.”

The only blue plane I could see looked like an airliner, and I said, “Wow!  Why do we need that thing?”

Dad mumbled, “Planes are scarce during the holidays; don’t complain.”

I shut up.  I stayed shut up while we walked to the plane and up the boarding stairs, where we were welcomed at the door by our co-pilot.  My dad crowded me to hear what the man was saying, and when he finished, Dad and Eleanora went ahead of me and back through the curtain.  When it was my turn, I took a few steps in to clear the curtain, and I was suddenly deafened by people screaming, “Merry Christmas, Paul!”

I looked up and realized that this plane was indeed a commercial jet, only with all first-class seating.  It was filled with the faces of my friends, and I thought they were all there, along with their boyfriends and girlfriends.  There were even some parents in the mix, and I recognized our phys-ed teacher from school.

I’m sure I looked like an idiot, but thankfully I kept my mouth shut.  Well, not shut, but not talking either.  I was speechless … dumbstruck is a better word for it, because my thoughts seem to have frozen at the sight of all those people.  It wasn’t just my thoughts, I had the odd feeling that time had stopped too, and I was looking at a photograph of the moment that had just passed.

I focused and realized that the plane was decorated for Christmas, with red bows above each window and evergreen garlands draped along where the overhead bins met the ceiling. I know it sounds corny, but I was charmed by the idea and found myself smiling as I looked around.

My smile maxed right out when I saw Lisa standing a few rows down, and I headed down the aisle.

I said, “I don’t believe this!” as I got closer. “What exactly is going on?”

Lisa leaned close and put her hands gently on each side of my face, then kissed me.  She grinned, “I’m learning to ski, and I’m learning to snowboard, and I’m going to see the big mountains for the first time.  What are you going to do?”

I laughed, “Well, I brought a book. Do we have seats together?”  I looked around, “Who-all is here, anyhow?”  I looked again, “Let me rephrase that and ask who isn’t here, and whose idea was this?”

Lisa led me toward the back where some seats and tables were set up more like the ones on a business jet, with pairs of seats facing each other over a table.  My father and Elenora were just settling in at one, and I was surprised to see Bernard Sutton and his daughter, Alana, already there.  Of course, everyone we passed along the aisle was a surprise to me.  As far as I knew, this trip was for Dad and Elenora, Dana, and me.  Russ showed up with Dana.  That was a surprise, but mostly for the fact that he was going to be able to ski so soon. One more person wasn’t a big deal.

A planeload of people was a different matter altogether, and while questions built up in my head it occurred to me that it might be best not to ask them.  The plane started to taxi out as soon as we were all seated, and I decided to just go along with things and enjoy my amazement at the fact that a crowd like this could come together while I remained completely in the dark.

The pilot did his welcome greeting while we taxied, and announced that we’d fly toward Minnesota where we would make a fuel stop, then continue west to Vancouver.  The trip, including the fuel stop, would be about six and a half hours.  We’d land in Vancouver at about two thirty local time.

When we reached altitude, a server came around with a beverage and snack cart.  I was already smiling at the whole situation, but when I saw her I could feel my face forming a grin that I had no control over.  I looked around the plane again, only able to recognize a few people whose faces I could see, and I asked Lisa, “How many?”

“Forty-one,” she said.

When that registered I asked, “Who did the inviting?  Do I even know all these people?”

Lisa glanced over at where my father was sitting, and then back at me.  “Your father asked me to do it.  I enlisted Jim and Tom to help, because I honestly don’t know who you know and who you don’t, other than our little crowd.  We tried to keep it to skiers and snowboarders who know what they’re doing, but that would have left me out, and others, too.  Everyone here, all the kids anyhow, are at least interested in learning.  Your father asked the adults, and he started with Mr. Winslow, who asked the other teachers that he knew were skiers.”

Mr. Winslow is my teacher for phys-ed and health, so it made sense that he’d be familiar with the sports that interested the people he worked with.

I was surprised about Gary, though.  “I wouldn’t have thought Gary would come for this.  Is he going to be okay?”

Lisa grinned, “Gary’s more excited than anyone.  He doesn’t think his condition will keep him from skiing, but if he can’t do that he’s positive a snowboard won’t be a problem, other than he’s never been on either.”

“Yeah, well there’s that first time thing.”  I was really happy for Gary.

We yakked until the seatbelt sign went off, and then Lisa and I walked to the front of the plane, and back down the aisle so I could talk with all our passengers.  I’ll tell you this; I’d never before been on a flight with so many excited and happy people.  We hadn’t gotten very far when we came to Jim McNaughton sitting with his mother, of all people.

I grinned and said, “Excuse me, madam.  Are you Jim’s date?”

“Hi, Paul.  I guess you could say that.  His brother had a conflict and my husband has too much going on. I’m just here to keep Jimmy in line, and to see if he’s half the skier he claims to be.”

I looked at Jim and said, “I never knew I had so many sneaky friends.  How long have you known about this?”

Jim seemed to be a bit surprised, “You really didn’t know anything?”

“Not a thing,” I said. “I can’t believe so many people could keep this a secret.  I didn’t even see people looking at me funny.”

Jim shrugged like it was no big deal and said, “Lisa called me back in October when it was just a maybe thing.  It was about a month ago when it was all finalized.”  He smiled, “If it’s really a secret then your dad is the sneaky one.  He never did anything directly; it was all between Mona, Schnoodlemeyer and Naughty Mickey.”

Lisa nudged me and said, “I’m Mona, as in Mona Lisa.  Jim says I can’t ski without a nick.”

I agreed, “Oh, that’s true.” I smiled, “Mona Lisa, huh?  The most beautiful girl in the world. I like that.”

I looked around while Lisa blushed. “Roger’s not here?”

Jim shook his head, “No.  I don’t know what happened, but he was all up to go and then backed out just a few days ago.”

I looked at Lisa, who shrugged and shook her head.

I was disappointed because I like Roger, but I had other people to talk to so I continued down the plane aisle with Lisa.

We stopped to talk with everyone, and we were about halfway down the aisle when they announced breakfast, so we started back to our seats.

On our way down the aisle I felt a hand tap my wrist, so I stopped to look. There was a familiar looking girl sitting there beside another girl, and the first one asked, “Remember me?”

I said, “Sort of.  I’m trying to remember…”

“Don’t worry, she said.  I’m Lara, and we only met for a few minutes.  I’m in charge of this year’s dance committee.”

I smiled, “Sorry, now I remember.  Lara Baldwin, right?”

She nodded and I asked, “Are you related to Bill?”

Lara smiled and said, “He’s my brother.  Actually, I’m here in his place.  He changed his mind about going, and I love to ski.”

I was a little bit embarrassed.  I never knew about this trip, so I had no idea who had been invited.  I’d known Bill since we moved to Brattleboro, but we’d never really hung around together.  Suddenly he was popping up all over the place.  I said, “Well, sounds like your gain and his loss.  He’s okay, isn’t he?”

Lara gave me a look and said, “Tom told me you were totally out of the loop about this trip.  Billy has a new boyfriend and they decided to stay home and have Brattleboro all to themselves.” 

My brain went ‘o’ but I didn’t voice it, and I know I must have blushed.  I know a few people who go around wondering if this person or that one is gay, but I’m not one of them, and Bill Baldwin never gave me any reason to think he might be gay.  Well, he joined the GSA at school, but so did a lot of us who I know aren’t gay. It started out as support for gay kids, but kind of turned into the cool thing to do at school, and I’m sure straights outnumber gay kids in the group by a whole lot.

Lara spoke up, probably because my confused face amused her. “Go and eat, Paul. I do need to talk to you about leftover money and fundraising and all that.”

“Problem?” I asked.

She shook her head, “No, not at all.  I just have an idea, and some questions that go with it.”

I grinned, “A questionable idea, then?” and Lisa smacked me.  I said to Lara, “I’ll come get you after breakfast,” turned to give Lisa a dirty look, and we went back to our seats.

Breakfast was only special for the portion size, which was twice what I’d expect on an airline, but it was pretty much the usual stuff.  There was a choice of scrambled eggs or waffles, but  everything else was the same: sausages, yogurt cups, a couple of twisted orange slices, and the usual breakfast drink choices.

Lisa chastised me for being mean to ‘poor Lara’ and I wasn’t having it. “How was I mean?  I just made a play on words.”

Lisa crossed her arms.  “Her words.”

“Huh?”

“You made a play on her words, Paul, when she was trying to be serious. If she was kidding around it would be different, but I think she was nervous already, then you go making fun of her.”

I stared at Lisa while I digested her words. I never intended to make fun of Lara, but if Lisa thought I did then Lara might have thought that, too. Lara hadn’t seemed nervous to me, but Lisa was better than me at spotting things like that.

Before I responded, Lisa looked back at me with an odd expression and said, “Mind if I change the subject?  There’s one thing that’s been bothering me, and it’s not really my business. If you don’t want to get into it, just say so.”

I smiled.  “Lisa, if something bothers you on the day after Christmas, then it bothers me. What is it?”

She grimaced and then said, “It’s Gil.  How has he reacted to all the money he sees being spent, by, for, and all around you?  You told me his circumstances were pretty grim when he first came to live with you.  Now it’s only a month later and he’s seen a Christmas that might have cost the budget of some towns around here. I know your family’s money bothers you in some ways, and at the same time you and your parents are nothing if not gracious about including everyone around you and sharing it.”

I looked at Lisa and said, “All true. I talk about those things to Gil, and just yesterday after we all exchanged gifts he seemed … I don’t know … kind of overwhelmed, maybe undeserving of all the things he got. He wasn’t really upset or anything, but he was surprised for sure, and I think he felt kinda blind-sided.” I smiled. “Anyhow, we talked and I told him the he was appreciated, and explained that if he wasn’t with us, then I would be living in Stockton now. He and Dory are my saviors in that way, and I really do appreciate them both.  I think he was satisfied with that, and I’m sure he’s bright enough to know that it’s not Christmas every day.”

Lisa looked at me for a moment and said, “I’m glad you’re talking to him.  I was a little worried about the future, and I don’t know how you’d do it, but you might want to set some expectations.

I thought for a moment, and I knew what Lisa was saying.  One day a year ago there was no Dana but he was there the next day, and within a week Dad was taking him around to see doctors and buying him things he needed.  He bought a Laundromat for Dana and his mother and literally poured cash into it, while he built them a deluxe new apartment at the same time.

If Dad ever sat Dana down to set his expectations I never heard of it.  I was glad at how well he treated Dana and Eleanora from the first, but not really surprised. Dad and I had several previous little talks about doing something with his money, like spending a bunch of it on people who needed it more than we did.

It was my mother and Ally who recognized how Gil’s mother might rescue me from a life away from Lisa and my friends, and I never heard of a dollar amount attached to that.  I’m sure their deal was costing money, but it was mostly for my benefit. The thought of knowing how much I was worth to them was pretty daunting, so I never asked about it.

Gil was a different story, and I hadn’t really tried to sort out his place in the scheme of things.  Gil had caught our attention in school with a bout of serious misbehavior.  Jim, Tom and I had started to call him out on that behavior, and in doing so we ran up against his own story of abuse.  He was being abused sexually by his stepfather, also by some of the stepfather’s friends.  He had pretty much fallen apart in front of us, so we alerted the powers in school and left Gil with them.  I gave him my number to call if things got worse at home, and promised that I could help if he needed it.

Gil never called, and I never thought of him again until we ran into him at a park in Brattleboro.  I learned that Gil’s home life had become far worse financially with the stepfather out of the picture, and could see by his clothes and things he said that his situation was dismal.  I brought him home with me for a good meal, asked neighbors for any clothes their son might have outgrown. Things took off from there, and at the end of that week Mom and Ally introduced me to Gil’s mother, Dory, and proposed that I stay in Brattleboro with her as a sort-of caretaker for me and the house.  Gil came with that deal, and they settled in with me.

I guess I started spending on Gil right away.  He got a dog, and I hired a contractor to fence in part of the yard in a project that went from a little fence to a pretty elaborate project in no time, and within a couple of weeks we owned thirty-five thousand dollars worth of illuminated fencing, a heated doghouse, and some new stonework that paves the way to the house from the new enclosure.

I could see that Lisa was waiting for me to say something, and I started talking before I turned to face her.  “I’m going to have to think this out.  I never considered some kind of plan, and I have no idea how I could limit what I spend on Gil.  His situation reminds me too much of Dana to not compare them, and Dana became accustomed to money fast enough when he figured out he wasn’t being limited.  I guess I figure that I’ll pay for the things Gil does with me and our friends, and let him use his own resources to do his own things. I’m sure I could give him some paying chores to do if he wants more cash, or just give him money when it’s not much.  Still, if I take him somewhere with our crowd, I’ll pay his way for whatever we’re up to.”

Lisa was already looking at me, and I waited for her to say something as I considered the things I just said.  She smiled and said softly, “I made you nervous, didn’t I?  I’m sorry. I can see that you’re ahead of me with this, and your ideas sound reasonable.”

I grinned and said, “Thanks. I don’t want you to think I’m reckless.  If you think about it, I’ve socked you more times than you hit me in our attempts to preserve our purity … not to mention our lives, at least until we can get out of sight for a good, long time.”

“Oh, a long time alone would make for a good long time.”

I narrowed my eyes, “Was that a play on words? My words?”

Lisa smirked and kissed my cheek.  “Whatever makes you ask that?  I think we are facing a long time right now and It would be nicer if we were taking a nap together.”

I sighed, “That’s a good idea, but I’m not exactly done thinking about Gil.”

“Gil again? Did you leave something out?”

“Gil is a little more complicated than Dana.  I’ve been paying for his friend, Tyler, when he does things with us, like the ski lessons the other day.  I don’t want Gil to lose his friends because they can’t afford to do the things he’s doing, and Tyler’s folks don’t seem to have much to spare.”

Lisa’s look went from blank to a cute smile while she considered what I’d said.  “You are so sweet.”

I smiled while wondering how helpful I was being to those kids.  I did have to think things over and have a talk with them.  I have spent enough time with Gil to believe he’s both level-headed and pretty reasonable.  Tyler seemed like a good kid, but I would need more time with him to know him at all. I had no idea what he thought about me paying his way for skiing.  I just figured that Gil would be happier to be with his own friends, and if money could help him with that it would be my money, so my doing.

Lisa had just called me sweet, so I cuddled up to her and said, “I hope I can stay sweet. I should add Tyler when I talk to Gil, or maybe have Gil find out what Tyler is thinking.”  That made Lisa frown, so I touched her chin and grinned, “It’s only money, girl.  Should I worry about everyone on this plane getting mad at me for a free ski trip?”

Lisa inhaled deeply and sighed, “That’s not gonna happen. I bet a lot of people are already wondering why they were chosen, but I doubt they’ll ask you that.”

“No, I don’t expect they will.  Were they really chosen, or just asked because someone else knew they either skied or wanted to?”

Lisa smiled and shook her head gently, “No idea.  Not even the beginning of an idea.”

I sat back and put my arm over Lisa’s shoulders.  “A little nap sounds better than ever.”

Lisa fake-snored, I giggled, and our nap became real after a few minutes.

The announcement woke me up, but I hadn’t heard it, so I looked at Lisa and asked, “What did he say?”

“I didn’t hear all of it, but we’re stopping for gas.”

“Oh, yeah; They said that before we took off.”

Lisa looked out the window, “Can we get off here?”

I looked over her shoulder and saw clouds. “I doubt it.  We’ll be at the general aviation terminal where the odds are that this plane will be a lot more comfortable.  They’ll have the fuel truck right here; and maybe they’ll de-ice the wings. It won’t be safe to get off the plane.”

Lisa smiled, “So back to our nap?”

I snickered, “That’s where the smart money is.  Put your seatbelt back on, pull your seat up straight, and maybe they won’t wake us up to land.”

That was wishful thinking.  People kept us awake with their checking things and questioning other things, so we weren’t allowed to relax until we were on the ground and stopped.

Lara came by to talk, and we went further back in the plane where we could all sit together.  Another girl came with Lara and she was introduced as Bryndris Andresen.

The name intrigued me and I asked, “Is your name Norwegian”

“Maybe,” she replied. “My father says it’s a Viking name, and the Vikings came out of Scandinavia, so Norway, Denmark, Sweden, maybe even Iceland.  The country names were probably different then, but that’s the area.”

I couldn’t hide my grin.  “That is very cool, and you’re my first Viking, and as my first Viking, you are my favorite Viking.”

Everybody chuckled, and Lara started, “Paul, I only want to know if you think we need to raise money for this year’s dance since there is so much left over from last year.”

I looked at Lisa who looked back at me.  Lisa raised her eyebrows, which I meant that I was it.  I looked back at Lara and said, “Lara, that money is there in the fund we set up just for the dance.  Last year the dance was a new idea, and we had no way to learn how much we’d need even for bare minimum, so we made an estimate and decided to raise that much, which was three thousand. Lisa and I started out with that in mind, but decided to shoot for five thousand just in case.  We had some luck and ended up with thirty-five thousand dollars that night, but still went ahead with other fund raisers, and by dance night we had about thirty-seven thousand.  That’s a lot of money for a school dance, but we raised it specifically for that purpose and didn’t want to change it.  The way the account was set up is for that specific dance … as in an event in memory of Jamie Jenks only, but you’re in charge of it now.  I know that if I give you the list of big donors from last year and you call them, they will repeat this year, and maybe even up their donations for inflation or whatever.”

Lara appeared to be lost, while Bryndris had a look that suggested she might not quite believe me. I smiled, “Am I going too fast?”

Bryndris said, “Tell me if I heard this right.  You estimated  that the dance would cost three thousand dollars, so you decided  to raise five thousand instead, and in one night you just went ahead and actually raised thirty-five thousand dollars, and since that wasn’t enough, you kept at it and came up with two thousand more?  I’m feeling kind of astounded here.”

Lisa said, “If you’re astounded hearing about it, just imagine how I felt when I was promised five thousand dollars with my first phone call … and again with the next one, and the next one.”

Lara and Bryndris were both wide eyed, so I went on, “Okay.  Last year that dance was free for everyone to come, and I think that was the primary reason the turnout was so great.  We know we can raise money to make the dance an entity by itself, so it can go on for free, basically forever, once we have a big enough stash built up.  That’s why we should keep up the major fundraising; it’s to get to a point where future classes can just have their dance without worrying if they can afford it.  Until then, there’s no good reason to not spend more to make the dances even better.  We had a DJ last year, but he charged as much as a band, so you have options there.  Maybe have that DJ come back anyhow, as kind of a master of ceremonies.  He was great at getting everyone to join in and have fun.  And food.  We just had little snacks last year.  They were fine, but boring … probably not too healthy, either.  You might look for someone to cater, or pick a theme like Mexican or Cowboy or whatever.”

I noticed that both girls were looking over my head, and when I turned to see what was there I saw a bright, toothy smile on the face of my old friend and former roommate, Dan Paynter.  I tried to stand up while still belted in, so I sat right back in my seat. “You’re here?” I asked as I undid the buckle and stood up grinning.  Dan’s hand was out, so I took it in mine and put my left hand on his shoulder.  I was returning his grin and said, “Dan, it’s great to see you, and I should be surprised that you’re here on this airplane with me. What are you doing here, and how did you get here, and did someone call you?  I’m not picking on you … I have to ask all these people the same questions.  When I woke up this morning I was leaving on a ski trip with my father and brother, and now we’re stopped in the middle of the country to pick up … what?  Are you a hitch-hiker … no, can’t be, so what? Maybe a parachute hiker?  All these other people snuck on the plane before I got here and yelled surprise like this is some aerial birthday party.”

Dan was still grinning, and his eyeballs were skipping around, looking for someone to blame I think.  I asked, “Is this Detroit?”

“Minneapolis,” Dan stated. “I think I’m here legally, except whoever it was that called me said I’d need a nick before I could ski with you guys.  I told him I’d need a lesson or two first, and even with that you might not want to be seen skiing with me.”

I grinned, “Did anyone mention that Alana is here somewhere on this exact plane?”

Dan’s eyes went wide and he grinned, “I was promised that she’d be there at Whistler.  She’s on the plane?”

“I saw her earlier, but didn’t get to say hello.”  I looked over Dan’s shoulder toward the front of the plane. Alana and Bernie were about fifteen feet ahead of us and posed alike, eyes closed and mouths open as they slept. I smirked at Dan and said “I hope you’re feeling brave.  She’s a few tables behind you, sleeping beside her father.”

Dan turned to look that way, and had his back to me for almost a minute before he turned around quickly. “I think I’ll play it safe. Can I sit here?”

I slid over and said, “Here’s fine.  How’d you get here, anyhow?”

“I came over yesterday, stayed at my brother’s last night, and took the train out here.”

“Are you ready for some high-mountain skiing?”

“I hope so.  I’ve been out eight times already. But our big mountain only has three hundred and some feet of vertical.”  He grinned, “I did the math.  Where we’re going has 15 times the vertical of our biggest, and there’s not enough time in a day to do the longest run fifteen times.  I’ve had to project a little.”

“Don’t worry.  I haven’t been skiing with everyone here… hell, I don’t know a lot of these people, but I know some are beginners and some are just occasional skiers.  Nobody has come right out and said it, but a lot of these guys are just waiting to learn how to really ski with Me, Dana and Tom.”

Dan rolled his eyes, “Oh, man, give me a break. Where have they heard about your skiing genius?  From you?”

I nodded sideways, “Well, from me a little, and some from Tom, but mostly from videos we got in Chile, starring mostly Dana.  Of course, Dana is always more than happy to talk about his own super abilities.”

“I don’t suppose I’ll have a chance to ski with you guys, then.”

I shrugged, “I’m sure that anyone with enough nerve can find a few challenges with us, but I also think you’re probably in the upper half of ability levels. There’s a lot of newbies here, and plenty of novices.  Anyhow, Gretchen is from a skiing family in Germany so she’s probably very good and will be able to keep up with Dana.  Lisa has never skied before, and there’s no way I’ll let her go off on her own.  The guys we ski with all the time are good, but they’ll find fun on their own.  And there’s this kid, Russ Glover, with us.  He’s getting over a concussion, so he’ll be taking it easy.  Dana says he’s really good, and another racer, but he has to watch his head.  Anyhow, we all want to ski with everyone else.  After the Andes, Whistler isn’t such a big deal, except they probably have better lifts, maybe even lifts that make sense.”

Dan was staring at me.  I snickered, “Did you get that?”

“I think I did. Do you mean it … that I’ll be mid-pack with all these kids?”

I may have said too much, or said it too early. I’d never seen Dan ski, and most of his experience had been on cross country skis.  Still, that’s skiing, and so is water skiing, so I thought he’d be fine.  I learned early that I, at least, improved my skiing a lot when I went with friends, even when they weren’t particularly good themselves.  It just rubs off, and when I failed to pick up on something someone in the group would stay back and help me.  That was more impatience than kindness.  Nobody wanted their fun interrupted because someone else couldn’t keep up.

I had learned and relearned the very core of skiing from Dana, and it was rare that he slowed down to show me anything.  I learned by keeping up and was at the point where it would be me most of this group would be keeping up with. Well, me, Tom and Dana.  If they ever saw us again.  I smiled at him and said, “We can ski on a glacier here.  Let’s do it together first thing and it will be new to both of us.”

Dan eyed me, “A glacier, huh?  On our first run?”

I nodded. Dan gulped. “I think … well, what do I think?  I guess a glacier would be nice … at least if it’s moving slower than we ski.”

“There’s a thought,” I mumbled.  “Want to meet the people?”

“You can,” Dan said with his eyes focused off to my side.  I looked and spotted Alana as she looked around, so I patted Dan’s shoulder and said, “Say hi for me.”

On his grin I turned back to Lisa. “Still looking for a nap?”

“I am.  Can you find a spot that’s a little quieter?”

I snickered, “I hope so,” and held my hand down for her.

We looked around the plane, and it seemed a lot quieter.  After a bit Lisa said, “Over there,” and I looked forward from her pointing finger to see two empty rows.  One was an exit row, and the other was right behind it.  The exit across the aisle was also empty, and I figured the crew was keeping them open.  The row behind was fine, and held no belongings, so they were indeed free, and we made ourselves comfy with two little blankets from the overhead bin.

We leaned into each other and shuffled things around until we were both comfortable.  Lisa had the window, and when I looked past her to see out there was nothing but gray clouds.  Lisa said, “Not anything to see today.”

I asked, “Ever seen the Rockies?”

“Only from the air. Do you like flying?”

“Not always,” I cuddled up and took her hand. “I kinda like it today … I mean with you.  Where we’re going is pretty rainy, but you can usually stay away from it when you get up high. When we came here the first time It was raining in the village.  They gave us plastic bags to wear on the lift, and we came into sunshine before we got halfway up the mountain.  We pretty much stayed up there, and that was fun.”

Lisa sighed, “Is it as nice as where you went in Chile?”

“It’s different, like a lot different.  We stayed in the city there, and drove back and forth from the areas every day.  We ate in places around town that the local guys knew about.  One thing we didn’t want was to spend all night eating fancy meals, so they took us to places that were small and simple.  We ate a lot of fish that was straight out of the ocean, and it was all wonderful.  I got Dana and Tom trying things that they never would have, and the next day they’d be looking for those things on their own.  We ate in the hotel a couple of times when the cops were giving us grief, and we ate at the hotel we stayed at when we went cat skiing.  The last week we ate at the house we were staying in.  They had a cook there, and we were kind-of in hiding anyway.’

I looked at Lisa’s confused face and realized I hadn’t answered her question. “About here, I’m not even sure where we’re staying.  There are a couple of villages where most people stay in the hotels, and there are regular resorts around that are pretty much self-contained.  If my father made the plans we’ll probably be able to go wherever we want to eat … unless he has some special thing in mind.

Lisa sighed, and in a second she was giggling.  I had to ask, “What did I set off now?”

She giggled again and said, “Wedding bells, I hope. I do not want to miss out on the rest of your life.”

That wasn’t exactly what I expected. “I don’t want to miss it either; and I hope we do stay together.” I faced Lisa and grinned, “Wanna marry me?”

She leaned forward and kissed me. “That’s exactly what I want … if you mean it.”

“Oh, I mean it. This is the way love goes, isn’t it? Or is it a little bit faster? Sometimes it goes a lot faster.  Sometimes I think time just goes away to somewhere else.”

“Like when we’re taking a nap?”

Lisa giggled, “If that’s what you call it, yes, except I usually don’t know I’m taking a nap until I wake up.”

“Yeah, there’s that. This love thing; it’s just the opposite. You know you’re doing it, even if everything is new to you and …” I didn’t have a complete sentence there, so my pause was long.  “Um, maybe it’s only me, but when I’m loving you it’s like all new every time.  The time gets lost but I remember everything, every little thing, but an hour is two hours is three hours – the time is just gone. The memories are there, but they don’t take up any space.”

I was sure I’d just sounded stupid until Lisa kissed me and said, “You have a way with words.  Let’s sleep. A nap will be safer with this big audience around.”

“You got it.  Wake me up if I’m still asleep, and I’ll do the same.”

It didn’t take me long to doze off, and I was pretty sure that Lisa was already asleep when I closed my eyes. 

The cabin attendant woke me up with a gentle pat on my shoulder, and when I turned to face her she said we were nearing the Rocky Mountains. The captain didn’t want anyone who was looking forward to that to miss it.  Oh, yawn.

“That bores you?” Lisa asked, startling me with her presence.  That brought me into the moment feeling strange.  Strange because the last moment of the dream I’d been in was still staring me in the face, and the staring face was Gil’s.

Lisa said, “What?”

I thought for only a second. “How serious were you when you mentioned Gil before?”

“How … what are you talking about?”

“Before … before everybody sat with us, you were asking about, um, I think you wanted to know how I was going to treat Gil.  Not now, but in the long run, at least that’s what I think you were asking.  It must have got to me because Gil was in my dream just now.”

“In your dream?  What was he doing there?”

“I’m not sure.  His face was there when I woke up, and the rest of the dream was gone.”

Lisa nodded. “My dreams are like that.  If I remember anything at all it’s just some vague feeling I get, not like a real memory.”

“I don’t know. His face being there was all I remember about the dream; then that lady woke me up.”

Lisa yawned and said, “It’s nice that you do think of him sometimes, in your sleep anyhow.”

“It’s probably a good sign that the steward woke me up, not the dream.”

Lisa started to say something and I went on, “It wasn’t a nightmare, anyhow, but you’re right; I do like the kid, and I haven’t really done much to let him know I do.”

“And how will you correct that?”

“Oh, let me think.  While we’re here on an airplane Gil is skiing with Rhod Daniels and one of his own friends.  I don’t think I can compete with that scene.  Gil has gotten along with Rhod from the first time they met, but …”

“But they don’t have to live together.  Who has the friend, Gil or Rhod?”

“Both of them, actually.  Rhod showed up with a friend from New York; the guy who imported my fancy footwear from Spain, and Gil asked a friend to go. Actually, Gil didn’t even know about anything till Rhod told him, so someone else invited Tyler.

Lisa was silent for a minute before she said, “It sounds like Gil is being well cared for.”

I said, “Yeah, I guess he is.  And I’m thinking I like him better than I thought, and should start paying him more attention than I do.”

“That would be nice,” Lisa whispered.  “Think we could sleep until we land?”

I nodded and closed my eyes, and to Lisa’s question; we could, and we did.

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