The Popsicle Tree (5 page)

Two plus two equals four, Cramer!
I thought.

“Would you like me to talk to Arbuckle?”

Again he shook his head. “No. I want to talk to Judi first. If it's true, I'll fire his ass in a heartbeat and call my lawyer to get every red cent back!”

He looked at me and extended his hand, as he started to scoot out from his seat.

“Thank you, Dick! If there's anything more I might need you to do, I'll call. And any time you're in the market for a really good deal on a used car, you come to me, okay?”

“Okay,” I said as I released his hand and he stood up.

“Just send me your bill.”

“I will.”

He walked away much more briskly than he'd entered, leaving me to eat my cheeseburger and fries alone.

*

Back at the office, I had a call from a straight lawyer I occasionally did work for. His paralegal was in the hospital with a broken leg following an auto accident. He wanted to know if I could do some research for him at the Hall of Records and the library.

Hey, money's money, and I'm not above doing just about anything legal to get it.

I told him I'd be happy to and agreed to drop by his office after work to pick up some materials I'd need. Since his office was on the other side of town from home, I called Jonathan to tell him I'd be a bit late.

I arrived home a little after six to find an excited Jonathan waiting at the door, my evening Manhattan in hand. “I was watching for you,” he explained as we exchanged our customary hug.

“Something going on?” I asked as he led me to the sofa, where his Coke was waiting on the coffee table.

“I've got some fantastic news!” he said as he sat beside me. Then he paused.

“Actually there are maybe two pieces of fantastic news, depending on what you think.”

“Okay, you've got me. Now, what's the news?”

He was sitting on the edge of the couch, turned halfway toward me. “I just got off the phone with my brother Samuel, and you remember when we were in New York I talked to Sheryl, and I told you about the contest that John Deere was having for its salesmen where the winner got a trip to Hawaii?”

I think I followed most of it, so I nodded.

“Well, Samuel
won
! They're going to Hawaii!”

One nice thing about Jonathan is you seldom have to try to figure out how he feels about something. His delight for his brother was written all over his face.

“That's great!”

“And they're going to take cash for the airline tickets between Wisconsin and Los Angeles—his boss said they could do that so they'd have more spending money for Hawaii—and they're going to drive out to Los Angeles and back. They've never had a real vacation, and I don't think Sheryl's been out of Wisconsin much, so this way they can see the country. The Hawaii trip's for a week, and Samuel's taking his other week's vacation and a couple of extra days for the drive!

“And since they have to come this way to get to L.A. they're going to stop here and stay with us for a night! That'll save them some motel money, too! I'm so anxious to see them, even if they can't stay long.”

“Are they going to take Joshua with them?”

The speeding freight train of Jonathan's part of the conversation suddenly stopped in mid-stroke. He deliberately took a sip of his Coke before answering, and he didn't look directly at me.

“Uh, well, no. I mean, the trip is just for the two of them, and…”

Oh-oh,
one of my mind-voices said softly.

“Will one of your sisters take care of him while they're gone?”

Another pause. “Uh, Rachel and her family live in Florida, and Ruth already has more kids than she can possibly handle, and Sarah and Sheryl really don't get along all that well, and my dad can't do it, being on the road as much as he is, so…”

“So?” I prompted, knowing full well what the “so” meant, but not willing to let him off the hook so easily.

His face reflected his anxiety over a perceived rejection, but he took a deep breath and forged ahead. “So I was wondering if it would be okay if we could take care of him while they're gone.”

I set my drink down on the coffee table and took his hand, looking into his face until his eyes finally came up to meet mine.

“We both work, Babe.”

“I know, but I was thinking we could put him in the same day care Kelly goes to. It would only be for ten days. Samuel and Sheryl will pick him up on their way back…and I haven't seen Joshua for a long, long time, and I know you'll love him, too, and you won't have to do anything. I mean, I'll watch him when we're home, and…” His mounting anxiety was clear in his voice, and I couldn't torment the poor guy any further.

I squeezed his hand and kept my eyes on his. “So you told them we'd do it?” I kept my voice very calm.

He looked momentarily startled, and shook his head.

“No! I mean, I told them I'd have to talk to you first, and if you don't want to do it I'll understand, but if we don't do it I don't know what they'll do. Maybe they'll have to cancel their trip, or maybe they can buy another ticket and take him with them, but they haven't had a vacation just the two of them since…well, I don't think they've ever had a real vacation, and…”

“Okay, Babe,” I said, with far more conviction than I felt. “Okay, we'll do it
if
we can get Joshua into day care for those days.”

Jonathan threw his arms around me and gave me a lung-emptying hug.

“Thank you, Dick! I'm
so
glad I found you!”

He released the hug and got up from the couch to go to the phone to call Wisconsin.

So it's only ten days,
I told myself.
You'll survive.

*

While Jonathan was checking on dinner, I called Carlene and told her what I'd found out about her ex, Jan's, being on vacation until Monday. I asked if she had received any further notes or harassment, and she said no. I was still curious as to why the phone had been disconnected, but didn't bring it up.

Jonathan came in from the kitchen.

“Is that Carlene?”

I nodded.

“Can I talk to her?”

“Sure.” I handed him the phone.

“Can you go turn off the potatoes for me?”

I nodded and went to the kitchen to do it. When I returned, Jonathan was writing something down on the inside cover of the phone book.

“Thanks so much, Carlene. I'll call them right now. Tell Kelly I said ‘hi.' I'll talk with you later. Bye.”

Hanging up the phone he turned to me. “Can I call them right now, or should we wait until after supper?”

By “them,” I was quite sure he meant the sisters who ran the day care center.

“Maybe you should wait until after we've eaten,” I suggested. “Probably it's their dinner time, too.”

“Yeah,” he said, a bit reluctantly, “we should eat first.”

*

“So, exactly when are Samuel and Sheryl and Joshua coming?”

“Didn't I tell you?” He looked surprised. “I'm sorry! I was just so happy to know they were coming, I…”

“That's okay, hon. So, when?”

“Well, Samuel actually asked for an extra day in addition to his extra week. They'll leave Cranston a week from this Friday, be here sometime Sunday, then leave Monday. And if we can get Joshua in day care by then, they can come with us…or me, or whatever…when he goes in the first day. I'm sure he'll be more comfortable his first day if they take him in. I just hope Happy Day will take him.”

By the time we were about done with dinner I could tell, by frequent glances toward the living room, that Jonathan was chomping at the bit to make his phone call, so I told him to go ahead, and I'd clear the table. He hurriedly finished what was left on his plate and got up from the table, coming around behind me and putting his hands on my shoulders. He bent over and nibbled the top of my left ear.

“I love you,” he whispered, then went quickly to the living room, and the phone.

While I was more than a little conflicted over the idea of living with a four-year-old for ten days, I knew how important it was for Jonathan. And I was happy to see that he was taking control of the situation by making all the arrangements himself. I suppose I was also thinking, selfishly, that riding herd on a rambunctious—is there any other kind?—four-year-old boy for ten days might dampen his enthusiasm for our having a kid of our own.

Don't get me wrong, I really love kids, but I just didn't know how I'd feel about being around them 24 hours a day. Ten days I could manage: eighteen years…?

I'd cleared the table and started washing the dishes when Jonathan came back into the kitchen.

“They think they can take him! They don't usually do it, but when I told the one I talked to that Carlene recommended them, and that it will only be for ten days, she said they probably could. They want to see us tomorrow at one o'clock!”

“Us?”

“Well, she said me, 'cause I was the one who called her, but I'd like you to come. I can take a long lunch, and…”

“I'd like to, Babe, but this job I took on just before I came home is going to stick me in the library and at the Hall of Records most of the day. But I can take the bus, and you can use the car.”

He looked disappointed, but said only, “You're sure?”

“I'm sure.”

*

Riding the bus to work wasn't bad, but I missed the flexibility a car provided. On the way into town, I thought again about George Cramer, and wondered how his talk with Judi had gone. I'd held off sending him a bill, just in case he might need me again, but not having heard from him, I assumed the situation had been resolved, and I made a mental note to send it the next day. And I also thought of George's offer to perhaps give us a break on a car. I'd decided it probably would be better all around if Jonathan didn't buy my car. It's not that he'd blame me if I sold mine to him and something went wrong, but…I could just hold onto it for a while, letting him use it, then trade it in on something a little later, maybe using some of the money he'd been saving. Or maybe we should just get Jonathan a car for work and I could keep mine a bit longer.

*

I was able to stop by the office for about half an hour, just to check mail and phone messages and drop off the materials I'd gotten from the Hall of Records and the library. I would put it all together the next day and get it to the attorney. I got home only about ten minutes later than normal. Carlene and Jonathan were having a cup of coffee when I came in, seated on the couch in front of the coffee table, which was almost completely covered by photographs. Kelly was seated on the floor busily playing with several toy cars. He paused in mid-”
rrrrrrrrrr
” to look up at me.

“Hi,” he said, and picked up his “
rrrrrrrrrr
” where he'd left off.

“Hi, Kelly. Hi Carlene,” I said, moving to the couch to sit beside Jonathan.

“We got
in
!” Jonathan proclaimed, obviously delighted.

“Well, good.” I was still not exactly one hundred percent sure if it was good or not and realized I had no idea how much day care might cost—though I knew Jonathan would insist on paying for it, even if it meant dipping into his “car fund.”

“And our New York photos came back! They all turned out fantastic! I asked Carlene down to look at them, and to tell her about Happy Day. It's great, Dick. Joshua will love it, and he'll be there with Kelly, and the sisters who run it are really nice.”

He leaned over quickly to give me a peck on the cheek.

“Here,” he said, gathering up all the photos. “I'll put them together so you can look at them a little later.” The stack was about four inches high.

“It looks like you had a wonderful time,” Carlene said. “Jonathan was telling me all about it.”

Gee, what a surprise!
I thought.
He's usually so shy about talking.

“And he's right about Happy Day, Dick. It's really a nice place and they are wonderful with the children.”

“How many kids do they have there?”

“Only eight!” Jonathan said, rising quickly from the couch and moving past me to go to the kitchen. “Be right back.”

“I wonder how they can run a business with only eight kids. They must charge a fortune.” Though I realized even as I said it that I doubted that Carlene had a fortune.

“Not really,” Carlene said. “They come from a wealthy family, so they don't really need the money. It's really more a labor of love for them. They only accept children with working gay parents.”

Jonathan returned with my Manhattan and handed it to me.

“Can I have a cookie?” Kelly asked.

“Not right now, honey,” Carlene said. “We'll be having dinner in just a little bit.”