Greek Salad

Greek Salad

happyhugo

Romance

18,791 Words

Copyright (c) 02/28/09 

Readers score  8.09

Truck driver picks up a hitchhiker
that is escaping her former husband.
Love ensues.

If you categorize a person’s life: Baby, preschool, grade school, high school, young man/woman, middle age, old age, and cut it into slices, you could write about just one slice. This is a slice of the life of Roger Thomas.

What in hell is that up ahead? Christ, it looks like a woman staggering down the road toward me.

I eased up on the throttle of my eighteen wheeler and came to a stop opposite the woman. She came across the road and up to my door. “Can you give me a ride? The car I was in is in the ditch about a half mile up the road ahead of you.”

I glanced at my watch and saw it was two a.m. “I guess. Are you hurt? I can call for rescue if you would like. You look as if you are injured.” I could see blood on her face, down the front of her and all over the sleeve of the sweater she had on. “You’d better report this to the police.”

“No I’m not hurt, so don’t call anyone. When we get to the car, maybe we can get my luggage and then you can drop me off in town.” I climbed down from my rig, went around and helped her up into the cab. I will say I admired the view as her jeans tightened over her butt as she took the last step up and in.

You never know what you are going to find or see along the road. I had been a long-haul trucker for the last ten years, but I was on my last run. I thought about accepting a job as dispatcher with a trucking company located in Malone, NY, but I had other options I was considering. This, my last road run, was from the docks in Boston, MA. I had on a load of extruded steel. I had a part load to drop off in Brattleboro another part in Bennington, VT, and the remainder and final destination was in Albany, NY.

I had traveled through Wilmington, VT, and was just a couple of miles before grinding my way up Searsburg mountain. This was a shit route and I couldn’t make any time over the hump. With the load I had on, it would take me an hour to climb to the top, then I had seven or eight miles of narrow winding road before hitting the downgrade into Bennington. It was going to be lowest gear up and lowest gear down, so this twenty miles from Wilmington to Bennington would take awhile.

I came up to the car. It was tipped into the ditch alright. One rear wheel was actually in the air so with no traction it was impossible to back it out. I stopped and looked at her vehicle. My heart jumped. Christ, there was a person in the driver’s seat and not moving. “Who’s that? You didn’t say anything about someone else being with you. What’s going on?”

“That is my drunk and passed out ex-husband. He is okay. I checked him over. You can look at him if you want while I get my suitcase. I only have one suitcase and one overnight bag.”

I climbed down and went over to peer in at the driver. With my flashlight I could see that he was breathing okay and then I heard him snore. “Don’t you think we should lay him down in the back seat? That seat belt must be cutting into him.” The woman had got down and followed me.

“If you want, but I don’t care if it does hurt him.” She said this as she was stripping off her bloody sweater. She threw it into the trunk and took her suitcase over to the rig.

I climbed down the bank on the other side of the car and opened both right side doors. The passenger seat in front had quite a bit of blood on it from the woman’s nosebleed. I reached to the seat belt catch on the console and the man fell toward me and almost out of the car. I grabbed him and wrestled him out and around to the back door.

He was as limp as a rag until I shouted, “Stand up if you want me to help you!” He stiffened momentarily and I tipped him onto the back seat. I had to bend his legs so I could close the door. Disgusted, I went back across the road and climbed into the cab of my truck. The woman was already in and waiting for me to start.

I had some blood from the woman’s side of the car on my driving gloves and I peeled them off as I said, “I better hear your story before I get to the top of the mountain and it better be good or I’m setting you out.”

“Fair enough. To start with I’m Erline Thomas. I was Erline Jones up until a week ago. My divorce became final and I took my maiden name back. I’m twenty-nine and live in Connecticut. That was Tom Jones, my ex, in the car. We have been up in Manchester, VT, where he was trying to convince me to remarry him. I said I would consider it if he could demonstrate he still loved me and wouldn’t flirt with other women. He promised that he wouldn’t act like he always does when he talked me into this trip.

“We have been up there for the last week. I went up to our room to lie down after dinner last evening. He didn’t come up and I went looking for him. I found him in the lounge with some bimbo on his lap. His hands were up her skirt and his tongue was tickling her tonsils. I slapped him and then he chased me up to the room. We argued all the while I was packing and finally he agreed to drive me home. I know this isn’t the shortest way home, but he took a wrong turn in Bennington and we ended up here on Route 9, heading east.

“He had a bottle and started swigging on it. In fact, before we reach the top of the mountain you can see where he finished it. He threw it out and it smashed in the road.” The woman paused. “By the way, you haven’t told me your name.”

“Roger Thomas.” I let it sit there.

“You got to be kidding. We have the same last name. Where are your people from? Maybe we are related.”

“My family was originally from Canada. Yours?”

“Virginia, I think. I never bothered to find out much about them.”

“So you’re twenty-nine, divorced, pretty and riding through the countryside with a long-haul trucker whom you know nothing about. Don’t you think that is a little dangerous and what are you going to do now?”

“I have no idea. I’ve loved and hated Tom so much over the last year and now that I am free of him, I just feel like doing something crazy. My friends would say just being here with you is crazy. Do you have any suggestions?”

“Jesus, no. I don’t do crazy women and especially ones I don’t know. Say, you must be tired if you’ve been fighting with someone for the last few hours. Why don’t you crawl back in the bunk there and snooze awhile? It’s going to be a couple of hours before I get to a stop. What do you want for breakfast? We will get some when we get into Bennington. That’s when I update my log and eat. You can decide then what you want to do.

"Okay, I'd appreciate the chance to get some rest."

I stopped the rig just before I got into Bennington. The diner here was going to be open in about a half hour,  so I just sat there listening to traffic on my CB. I picked up one call that said that the police would need an investigator for an accident just the other side of Searsburg. Blood had been found in a car that was off the road and there was a person passed out in the rear seat. There were no cuts on his body that would explain the blood.

“Erline, I may be questioned about anything I saw when I went by your car. I have just come over the road and the police will be looking for vehicles that might have seen your car. Do you want me to wait here or shall I move on to my destination and skip breakfast? I think your ex is going to have some serious explaining to do when he sobers up. How do you feel about that?”

“Let him handle it. I thought I was going to get killed with him drinking and driving. I’m just lucky I wasn’t, so I’d like to see him being hassled.”

“Okay, I’ll move then. My drop off is on the other side of town, just off of Route 7. Maybe we will be close enough to a MacDonalds and can walk there for breakfast. Your Tom will be in some trouble if they find out he was the driver, anyway, as drunk as he is.”

“Not my Tom anymore.”

I was on my way by ten after off-loading my delivery. I had to backtrack through Bennington to hit the road to Albany. Erline was still with me. “You’re getting farther and farther away from Connecticut, you know.”

“I know, but if you don’t care, I’m having a ball so I’ll go as far as Albany with you.”

This was okay by me. It wasn’t often that I had anyone with me on the road. I wasn’t supposed to have a passenger in the cab, but I said as long as Erline had the same name, I could say she was my wife. I had really looked her over when we did eat breakfast and I was wishing at the moment we were married.

I have never tried to hook up with any woman permanently. I know some truckers did, but it had to be hell on a lonely wife or woman waiting at home. This is why I was quitting now at thirty-one. I had lived conservatively and picked the best rides that were the most lucrative. That too was possible because I didn’t care where in the country I ended up on any given weekend or holiday.

"Roger, so what do you do for fun?”

“Well, I like country music and I listen to where the country stars are appearing. About once a month I usually find myself somewhere near a concert or an appearance, so I take one in. If I have time I like to get up in the morning and go for a run. To me it has become an addiction and I have been doing it for years.

“You notice that I don’t look like a lot of truck drivers. Many have a big gut and a big ass. I don’t have a big frame and it wouldn’t take much extra truck-stop food to make me balloon up. Another thing is I’m a closet gourmet. My sister operates a little family diner in Ogdensburg, and I make my home with her and her family when I’m not on the road. She lets me tinker around in the kitchen when I am there.”

“Don’t you ever get lonely?”

“Sure I do. That’s why I’m getting off the road. My sister worries about me all the time because I’m the only family she has except for her husband and two kids.”

“So, do you ever come up with any great recipes?”

“Sometimes. I came up with a Greek salad that makes Connie some extra money. Just about half of her customers order it once a week and sometimes more. I try to stay with food that is good for a person, and taste is a big consideration.”

“It sounds to me that you have enough going for you to enjoy life. You aren’t gay are you?”

“Christ no. If you had seen me checking out your butt five minutes after I met you, you would know I’m not.” Erline looked just a little fearful when I said that. “Hey, that didn’t come out right. My Mom and Pop taught me to respect women, so you have nothing to worry about as long as you are with me.”

I wound my way down into the manufacturing district and parked my rig. I went into receiving with the paperwork. “Hey, your dispatcher called here looking for a call back as soon as you arrived. You can use that phone over there on the wall.”

Tim answered, “Hi Roger, I have one more load for you. Just out of Saratoga Springs I got a load of logs that are headed for Canada. Well actually it will be by two or three tomorrow morning. It was a load that got spilled and the rig was pretty well smashed up. There is a cherry picker that will be reloading it onto another bed and you are to drive it up to the border where another horse will take it into Canada. You’re coming this way anyway. It’s a few extra bucks.”

“I don’t want it. I got a woman for the night and maybe longer. This was my last ride and I am going to lay over a couple and see what develops.”

“Oh come on, bring her with you and you can lay over on this end of I-87 as well as that end. Tell her you’ll find her a ride back with another trucker when you get sick of her. I’ll even spot you an extra fifty if you do this. The mill owners are waiting on that load of logs.”

“Okay, give me the details.” I shunted my load into the unloading area and decoupled. “Erline, I just got another hookup in Saratoga Springs. What are your plans? I can drop you off anywhere you want.”

“You mean this is the end. I was enjoying myself and I am having fun. You really are an interesting person. I wanted to hear more about your life on the road.”

“It doesn’t have to end here. I even have permission for you to travel with me up the thruway to Canada. I can find someone to bring you back to your home state if you want from there as well as here. The only thing is I need to get a motel and get my eight hours off the book. How do you feel about getting a room with me if I promise not to bother you?”

“God, a shower would be the best thing I can think of and I’ll promise not to bother you either. I really need that shower. How soon can you provide?”

“Well, we have quite a jaunt, but we can stop anytime. It’s about thirty miles to a place I stop when I can. The diner there even has my recipe for that Greek salad I told you about. You want to go that far?”

“Sure.”

Erline and I bobbed up to the motel and diner. “You know, you haven’t told me much about yourself. When are you going to break loose and share with me?”

“Soon. Before we reach the end of I-87 for sure. I’ve led a pretty boring life. It might take all of half an hour for you to find out how boring.”

I booked into the motel. I always stayed here when I could and this was the first time I had a woman with me. The clerk raised his eyes when I came in, but I was a familiar customer and he didn’t say anything. I said, “Let’s get a snack and we will have dinner before we have to leave.

“Jim,” I asked the clerk, “will you put me down for a midnight call? I have to be in Saratoga by two a m to snap onto a load of logs. It takes me a little longer to get ready now that I have my wife with me.” Damn, that sounded so natural. Erline beamed.

Pete and Mrs. Pete ran the diner. I introduced Erline to them as my wife. “We only want a shake and then we will be in later for dinner. Erline wants to compare my salad with yours. She will tell you who makes the best one.”

“God Roger, that puts her on the spot. She almost has to say it is yours.”

Erline laughed, “No, I will be truthful. I promise.”

There were a couple of truckers that I knew and Mrs. Pete announced loudly that I had my wife with me and isn’t she pretty. The truckers came over and congratulated me, more to look Erline over and see who had finally snared me. I almost wished it was true. Later in the motel, Erline was serious when she said, “People genuinely like you. If you are contemplating finding a wife, I think I would like to apply.” She disappeared into the bath.

I didn’t wait for her to come out. I peeled off my khakis, shoes, socks, and my shirt and crawled into the double bed on the far side. I was asleep before Erline finished her shower.

Erline was as pretty in sleep as she was awake. I quickly put on my spandex running clothes and belted down a side street and out onto a country road. I got my three miles in and worked up a pretty good sweat by the time I returned. I knocked softly on the door before I opened it. Erline had put on an attractive summer dress and was brushing her hair. My running clothes didn’t leave anything to the imagination and Erline had a good look at me before I went in to get my shower. “I’m going over to the diner while you change. See you there.”

Mrs. Pete was sitting in a booth when I came in. She got up and hugged me. “Oh, I just love your wife, Roger. Dinner is on us so order anything you want.”

Pete hovered around as Erline sampled the salad. “Pete, I can’t tell the difference between your salad and his and that’s the God’s honest truth.” It had to be, because I had never had a chance to make one of mine for her. That made me kind of sad. I was truly going to hate for her to leave me when it came time.

I could get four more hours of sleep before my wake up call. Finishing dinner and crossing to the motel, I immediately started taking off my clothes. We had our backs to each other and with the lights out we got into bed. “Don’t you have anybody you want to call and tell them where you are? Somebody must be worried about you.”

“No, my mom is dead and Pop won’t be concerned for another few days. I don’t have any sisters. My one brother lives out on the west coast. The hospital where I work will just be pissed when I don’t show up. Tom is the only one that will wonder and I don’t care. I can’t believe I was taken in by him, not once, but twice. He romanced me so hard after I filed for divorce. I had my doubts, but still almost fell for him again. I can be so stupid sometimes.”

“Well, don’t think about him then. Go to sleep thinking about all the beautiful scenery we are going to see tomorrow.”

Pete had left the lunch I had ordered at the checkout desk ... sandwiches and coffee. Mrs. Pete had included a sweet bun for Erline. We had been on the road a few minutes when a truck went by us with horn blaring. “Turn on the CB. We’ll listen in and catch the news.” I suspected what it would be. It was.

“Hey breaker 19, did you hear the news? Old Roger-Dodger has got him a ball and chain and she's in with him now. Meatball saw her in Pete’s this after. He says she’s a beaut with a nice set top and bottom. He’ll be coming up the trail tonight. They got them toothpicks remounted after that spill near the track and he’ll be hooking on and heading for Frenchyville. He better put the silk up so we can give him a toot. This is Big Honky, over and out.”

“Did you get all that?”

“Not really. That is you they were talking about isn’t it?”

“Yeah. Roger-Dodger is me and I just got married and my wife is with me. Meatball is one of the truckers you met in Pete’s. He says you are pretty and have nice breasts and nice legs. I am headed for Canada with some logs that got spilled and put on another bed near the Saratoga racetrack.

“You had better get a hanky out and wave back when these guys see us. That will make me look good and make you safe if you are ever in trouble and need help. See those lights and flares two or three miles up ahead. That’s our load. When I get coupled everyone on the road will recognize us.”

“What did he mean when he said you should put the silk up?”

“He wants me to put a pair of your panties on the antenna.”

“I’ll get some out when you are hooking up.”

Erline had her undies waving in the breeze from Saratoga all the way to Canada. Maybe this is a little crude in some folk’s mind, but it relieved the boredom on the road for a lot of lonely truckers. We dropped the trailer load of logs just north of Champlain, going bob all the forty miles or so to Malone.

This was my last time in this truck, or any other I supposed. Damn I was going to miss the over-the-road trips. In the last ten years, I had been in every state in the union and into almost every big town and city. I made a lot of friends, not all of them male. A driver was bound to meet up periodically with the same drivers over and over again. We met the same women too. If some woman was nice to a trucker and was friendly and a good companion, the word went out. I was particularly friendly with one on the west coast. I said goodbye to her less than three weeks ago. She even shed a few tears when I told her I was quitting driving.

Here I am now with a woman in my truck ... no I didn’t think of her as “woman,” I thought of her as “lady.” She was a little crazy maybe, but who could blame her, if you believed her story.

She told me a few things about herself, or at least I think she did. Born into a successful middle class family, she never had to want for anything. She had a good education. Her family wanted her to marry into a family who they thought would give her some extra advantages. She said she resisted, but finally succumbed making the biggest mistake of her life. This was the Tom Jones that I had seen drunk. Sober, he was a charmer, but he had this thing about his name.

Tom Jones, not the singer by that name, but the one that was written about in the bawdy tale of the 1700s. He wanted to emulate the character in the story, and did his damnedest to follow the fictional character. So when she had been humiliated a few times by his actions, Erline divorced him. But then he charmed her again and I saw the end of that on the road the other night.

After Erline had graduated from high school, she went on to become a nutritionist. She was now working as a dietitian at a hospital. This didn’t fit in too well with her husband, but it also left him time to fool around on her. He felt he had to perform the same as the character he was named for. Tom had a title in his family’s banking business, but never worked very hard at it.

Erline concluded with her story, saying for the next month she was going to do just what she wanted to. She wasn’t even going to call home. “I’ve made the decision and now I have to decide what to do. Would you be upset if I tagged along with you for a while? We seem to get along together pretty well. You said you were going to visit your sister. What was the town?”

“Ogdensburg.”

“Yeah, that place. I never have heard of it.”

“If you are going to take a month off and if you want to stick with me, I can take a month off too. I think we ought to set some rules though. Does this little hiatus come with benefits?”

“Let me ask you, Roger, in the next month if I wasn’t with you, would you be getting laid?”

“No, most likely not.”

“So, if I say no benefits, how much is that going to change our time together?”

“Not at all. Just as long as I know where I stand. If one of us wants to terminate our travels in the next month, though, don’t beat around. Just say you want to split and I’ll do the same. Okay?”

“Sounds good. Now what’s next? Where are we going after leaving the truck?”

“Massena. We are going to follow the Canadian border west and then south a little until I get to my sister’s diner. We may stop somewhere tonight if it gets too late. How do you want to handle the room situation? Like we did last night?”

“Sure, if it doesn’t bother you.”

When we arrived at the trucking company to leave the truck, everyone there was waiting for old Roger-Dodger and his wife. Word had flown on the CB. There are no secrets in the brotherhood of truckers. Erline handled it just as if she was my wife and my co-workers were impressed with my choice of a woman. I felt a little guilty with all the congratulations, but figured when the truth came out everyone would see the joke, not on me, but on them.

We were on our way. Just outside of Malone we turned onto Route 37 and made our way to Massena. We took the bypass around the city and were almost immediately coming up on the junction of 56. “Watch out Roger. He’s going to h...!”

                                 ______________________

I was hurt ... and hurting. I knew that because I was in a hospital room. Connie, my sister, was sitting by the window reading. Christ, how come she is here? Then I remembered I was in the car and saw something coming at us from the corner of my eye. Erline was screaming something. Erline? Is she all right? Oh God, I hope so. I never even got to kiss her.

Ten fuckin’ years on the road traveling all over the country in all kinds of weather, I quit and within two hours I have an accident. This stinks! And that woman ... I just found her and now I’ve lost her. Then my thoughts were fading and I couldn’t think anymore.

I could feel someone holding my hand. It was so warm and comforting. I gave it a little loving squeeze and got one in return. Then I felt my hand raised to a cheek and a kiss planted on the back of it. I opened my eyes. It was my sister. “Hi, Roger. You gave us a scare. The doctor says you’re going to be fine. You remember what happened, don’t you? A car hit you broadside in the driver’s door. That was a week ago yesterday.”

That was my sister, the compulsive talker. If there was something to be said, Connie said it and all at once if possible. I struggled to speak, finally croaking, “Erline?”

“Your wife? Oh she’s fine. Didn’t get hurt a bit.”

One worry over, Erline is okay. “Did she leave?”

“Leave? What do you mean? You just got married. She wouldn’t leave you. That head injury must have scrambled your brain more than the doctor thought. I never thought you would get married and here you pick a beauty.” Connie kept talking and I tuned out and shortly slid into blackness again.

“Hi. Connie said your first word was my name. You know, for some reason that thrilled me no end. Have the doctors told you the extent of your injuries yet?”

“No, I haven’t spoken to anyone. I don’t even know what happened. The last thing I remember was you screaming.”

“We got hit by another car as we were traveling through the intersection. An elderly lady approaching from the south apparently had a heart seizure. The police think she was dead before she made contact with our car. Her husband was with her and the authorities are relying on his explanation.

“Her car hit us in the left front fender and door. You were pinned in the car with a broken leg. The worst injury is to your head where it bounced off the roof rail above the door. You’ve had a massive concussion and some internal bleeding around your brain. The surgeons had to drill a hole in your scalp and drain some fluids out to relieve the pressure. They then put you in an induced coma so you wouldn’t thrash around so much.

“That was a week ago. They tell me you are going to be fine, well that part anyway. Your leg is pretty well messed up. They were able to set the bone, but the muscles are going to have to have a lot of therapy to regain their strength.”

I must be pretty well doped up because I wasn’t in much pain. I did feel I had to pee though. “Would you call the nurse? I have to relieve myself.”

Erline smiled. “No you don’t. That is the catheter you feel. You are plumbed right into a bag below the bed.”

I debated something that had gone through my head sometime earlier. “Erline, would you kiss me in case I don’t make it? When I woke up the first time, I thought that I had this beautiful lady I was just getting to know and we never had a chance to kiss. Just in case, you know?”

I didn’t get much of a kiss, for the nurse showed up to take my vitals and reinforce my meds. Erline was cautioned to not tire me too much. When she left, my sister came in talking a steady stream as usual. I tried to listen for awhile, but gave up and went to sleep.

I glanced at the clock on the wall and could see it was a little after two. Must be in the morning for it was dark outside. The nurse bustled into the room and did the usual. She gave me a running commentary on my condition. She told me I was a lucky man and that the doctor who performed the surgery and was on call at that particular time was the best.

“I’ll tell your wife you are awake. You certainly are a man blessed with her for a wife. She comes in every morning this early to be with you. She said she works in a hospital and this is the time that the spirit slips away. She wasn’t going to let that happen, so she comes every morning. She just went out to the beverage center and will be right back.”

As I lay there waiting for Erline, I was thinking back over how we met and our trip across Vermont and up the northern part of New York state. That was almost ten days ago. Erline was still with me. I guess she must be hanging around to see if I had any promise. I hoped fervently she saw something in me. I was no stranger to women, but Erline certainly caught my interest and I wanted to see where it would go.

All of a sudden I wondered if Erline had called her father or the hospital where she worked. The feeling that she should do so was so intense, I almost felt like blacking out. Just then Erline came in and stood looking at me. “What’s the matter Roger? Are you alright? Shall I ring for the nurse?”

“No, no. I’m okay. I just felt a little woozy. How come you are here? Don’t tell me they have round the clock visitors hours?”

Erline laughed. “No, but they do make exceptions sometimes for fellow hospital workers. Are you glad to see me?”

“More than you know. I was just lying here thinking how we met, how long ago that was and how little we actually have been together. I’ve got a million questions. What hospital am I in anyway?”

“This one is in Potsdam. It isn’t the nearest one to the accident site, but you were transported here because of the surgeon in residence. He is the one that took care of your head trauma. Next question.”

“Where are you staying? You seem to have met my sister too.”

“I’ve met your sister. In fact I called your trucking company to get her address so I could notify her of the accident. She came up that night.” Erline giggled. “She hasn’t stopped talking since she got here.” Another giggle. “She asks questions, but never waits for answers. Has she always been like that?”

“Yeah, that’s Connie.”

“I don’t know if you approve of where I’m staying. I’m actually staying at the home of the man whose wife ran into you. The old dear is lost without his wife and is so sorry about the accident. I’m there to help him over the worst of his loss, I hope. It is so sad. They were married for almost sixty years. I even went to her funeral.”

“That’s one for the book, he hits us and you take care of him. How come? I’ll bet you aren’t telling me all of it.”

“Well, I kind of helped him at the accident too.”

“Tell me.”

“I wasn’t hurt at all except shook up a little. I looked you over. I could see metal twisted around your leg, so I couldn’t get you free. You, of course were unconscious. I went over to the other car. I could tell the woman was dead, and then I saw blood spurting from the passenger’s arm. When he slammed forward, the ashtray dislodged and tore into his arm. I held my finger on the pressure point until the rescue squad came. They told me he would have been dead by the time they arrived if I hadn’t done that.

“I went up to the hospital in Massena the next day to see how he was doing. At first he said he wished I had let him die, but then he had to make arrangements to bury his wife. I helped him. So he asked me to move into some extra rooms he has. Connie is there with me. He only lives a mile from the hospital here. He has offered to put you up while you are recuperating too. He feels awful and wants to make up for the trouble he put us in.”

“He sounds like a pretty good guy. Say, have you called home yet? Your father has to be worried by this time. What about your job? Have you called them?”

“Oh, they are probably okay. This is a whole different world I’m in. I don’t want to go back to the same old me back in Connecticut.”

“Maybe, but I want you to call home. Promise me you will, please? I’m asking as the one who is your husband before the world. From what Connie said you haven’t told her otherwise either, have you?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“How come?”

“Nobody gives me a chance to deny that we are married. The truckers didn’t and the police saw my new driver’s license and assumed I was your wife. The accident report lists me that way. The newspaper reported the accident and they made a big deal out of me stopping the bleeding on the old guy and saving his life. I’ll bring the write-up in this afternoon and you can see what a hero your wife is. Then I’ll let you deny that I am married to you.”

I felt good about this and I guess I wasn’t going to do any denying soon. “I’m getting tired Erline. Why don’t you go home and get some sleep and I’ll see you later. The nurse said the doctor was coming in to talk to me about ten. I’m hoping they’ll take the damned catheter out. By the way how are you getting about?”

“Mr. Ransom is renting a car and I’m driving it. I’m driving him around too. This accident has shown him what can happen when you least expect it. He says he is never going to drive again. He is over eighty, so it is time for him to quit.”

“You’re sure you will call home aren’t you?”

“Okay, I will if you insist. Now is it okay if I kiss you before I leave?”

“Please.”

It was a busy morning. Connie stopped in early saying she was leaving. She made me promise that just as soon as I could travel I would come home. I had made my home with her when not on the road, but I was seldom there. She also said she was taking out my old lumpy bed and wanted to know if I wanted a king or queen sized one put in its place. King of course.

The doctor came in. He had a bubbly, brash personality and was cracking jokes all the while he examined me. Finally he said, “I think you are ready to have that catheter removed. It’ll hurt and it will take some hours to get comfortable after it is removed. It’ll probably burn some. We can’t help that. Now, I want to get you up and see how your balance is. You will feel awkward with the heavy cast on your leg. You seem to have all your faculties so we are going to start your rehabilitation almost immediately.”

“How soon can I get out of here, Doc?”

“Can’t tell yet. You are a long way from being healed. It will be three more days with the solid cast on your leg and then I’m going to take it off and see how the muscles in your leg are. It’s going to take time and with an air cast on you are going to have to be very careful when you move around. Your head is okay. Where we had to go into your skull is healing nicely and I can see from the exam I just gave you, that there will be no long lasting effects.

“You know what your wife did at the accident scene don’t you? Boy, you hang onto that woman. She is one in a million.”

Meatball and his buddy came in. “We didn’t come to see you Roger, we came to see Erline. God, how did you ever pick a winner like her?”

Before they left, Erline did come in. She had on a cotton dress that she looked superb in. Meatball embarrassed her by his compliments ... not so much how she looked, but for what she had done in saving someone’s life.

Erline was nervous, I could tell. She kept it hidden enough while my trucking buddies were with me, but as soon as they left, she said, “We have to talk. I’m going to close the door.”

Erline was pacing up and down the room. “I talked to Pop. He was glad to hear from me. He almost had a heart attack when he answered the phone. The police in Vermont informed him I was missing and maybe I was a victim of foul play. They blamed Tom for me being missing. The authorities held Tom as long as they could, but didn’t have enough evidence to charge him with anything except with DUI. The police suspect that he killed me in a drunken rage, but they couldn’t find my body so they had to let him go.”

“Calm down, I don’t think you did anything wrong.”

“I got that nosebleed so there was blood all over the passenger seat. Then when I got my suitcase out I threw my bloody sweater in the trunk of the car. When Tom sobered up enough to talk, he told them where we stayed in Manchester. I guess a lot of people saw and heard us fighting, so the police assumed the worst thing possible. Tom was held in jail and his father had to come all the way from Connecticut to get him out.”

“Erline, don’t forget he endangered your life and you were pretty much held captive while he was drinking and driving. That is the way to play it up. You have to go to the police here and tell them to contact the police in Vermont and report you are alive. You didn’t even know you were supposedly missing.”

I thought a minute. “Call the police and have them come here and we can tell them how I found you, how we left your ex-husband and why we didn’t report the accident. We will tell them we made sure he was not injured, just drunk. You will have sympathetic listeners in the police after what you did at my accident. It will be better if the police do the reporting to the authorities in Vermont.”

Erline made the call to the station in Massena. She had been questioned several times about what had happened to us here and was able to talk to one of the same investigators. The officer and her exchanged pleasantries. “I have a situation that I want to report. I just found out that I have been reported missing in Vermont. Would you come here to the hospital and take a statement? Roger will corroborate, because he also knows what happened.”

When the officer finished taking our statements, he said, “So you went off and left your ex and he’s been sitting in jail some of the time? And the authorities thought he had killed you and the poor guy didn’t have any idea what happened because he was too drunk to remember? And you two aren’t married and it is a coincidence of having the same name?” We nodded.

Then he said, “Lady, I’ve heard about women getting even with their ex-husbands, but this has to be right up there near the top. I don’t blame you for leaving him if what you say is true and I’m taking your word for it. I’ll straighten everything out for you with the Vermont authorities, so put it behind you and go on with your life.”

Still weak, I drifted off to sleep. Other than being roused up by the nurse coming in, I didn’t wake for quite some time. When I did I could feel the presence of someone in the room. I was hoping, and it was. I said softly, “Hi.”

“Hi yourself. I thought you might be waking up along about now. I sat up listening to Mr. Ransom tell stories about him and his wife and their life together. He has a big old Victorian house and it creaks and moans. It was making me nervous, so I came in to see if I could calm down. He wants to come in today sometime and apologize for causing you so much pain and agony. I said you would welcome him. You will won’t you?”

“Of course. I am sorry he lost his wife. This was not his fault so if it makes him feel better, have him come in.”
                                     ________________

“I called my father again last night to tell him I talked with the police and they are going to straighten things out for Tom. He got a little pissed at me. While I was telling him about everything, I thought of what the officer said about getting even with Tom. I started laughing to myself, but Pop heard me. He didn’t think it funny at all. He always liked Tom and thought he was a great man for me, so I’m not surprised he got mad.

“Anyway, he wants to know what in hell I’m doing up here in the north country hanging out with a truck driver. He even asked me if I was shacking up with you. I told him I hadn’t had the chance yet, but I was considering it. So you are going to see him this afternoon about three. I’m picking him up at the airport and we will come directly here.”

“He thinks enough about you to catch a flight up here. I’m impressed. He must really love you.”

“Oh, I don’t know. He just has an excuse to get out and fly his plane. I’m sure I’m a secondary consideration.” With head down, she was looking at the floor.

I stared at her. “Erline, somehow I get the feeling you haven’t told me everything about yourself.”

The silence dragged on for several minutes before she looked at me. “Basically everything I have told you is true. My ex-husband, all true. I do work at a hospital. Small charity hospital, but I’m a volunteer, not a paid employee and I’m happy doing that. When you picked me up and I found out what a nice person you are, I wanted to stay with you. For once in my life I was doing what I wanted to do.

“I just never wanted it to end and then you asked me to promise I would call my father. I knew the minute I said I would my new-found life and happiness was over. I was hoping and expecting it to last longer and I loved being Mrs. Roger Thomas. It’s too bad, I think we could have had a great life.” Tears of self-pity were seeping from her eyelids.

“I probably shouldn’t even bring my father here. I should just pack and have him turn around and fly home and take me with him.”

“Is that what you want?”

“No, but it doesn’t matter does it?”

“We agreed in Malone that we would have a month together and either one of us could opt out. That is why I’m asking. I’ll admit sitting around a hospital room for a month isn’t a very attractive option for you so I guess you better leave. I guess I’m not sorry that I asked you to call your father either. If we were together for a month, I’d be so in love with you I’d never forget you. If you leave now, maybe someday I can forget you.”

Tears dripped all over me as she came, leaned down and kissed me. Then she turned and walked out the door. Hers weren’t the only tears flowing as I turned over with my face in the pillow.

The nurse saw the change in me almost immediately, so I had a visit from my doctor. When I explained, he said he was sorry. He could fix broken bodies but wasn’t trained in the repair of damaged hearts. He was sure I would recover though, it might take time.

I did have a visitor when the hour came. Mr. Edward Ransom came in with a satin dressing robe for me. After introductions and an apology he said, “Here son, I want you to wear this. Erline told me what size you are and I had this and don’t have any reason to wear it anymore. No, I don’t know if you will see her again, but if you do, you should look nice for her. My barber is coming in to give you a haircut and shave just before lunch.

“I’ve got past my Millie dying, enough so I can function anyway. We never had a daughter. I wish my Millie could have known Erline. Such a loss for both of them. A loss for me too. Erline cried all morning. I’m hoping she will come to her senses and come back from the airport.”

The steam seemed to run out of this old man. “I knew and loved Millie for sixty years. Erline saved my life and I thought it was so I could come and apologize to you for Millie’s accident. Then I thought maybe God did it so I could be happy until it was time for me to go and be with Millie. Now I don’t know what to think. When you get out of here, would you be kind to an old man and come stay with me until you get well? I know you will have to move on, but for a little bit you could, couldn’t you?”

How could I refuse? I promised I would take him up on his offer.

Later we pushed thoughts of Erline into the background and talked about different things. He was a rabid Democrat and explained what the Republicans were doing to ruin the country. Me, I had never taken much note in politics, but if I was going to stay with him, I was going to have to learn to take an interest. I told him some about my days of driving truck and said I missed it already. I even recounted what Erline had heard over the CB and how we were tooted all the way from Saratoga to the Canadian border. How he laughed when I told how Erline had put her panties on display.

“Son, you get well and go after her. You two were meant for each other. You got any money?” That question came out of nowhere.

“Yeah, enough I think.”

“What were you planning on doing when you stopped driving? You must have had something in mind.”

“I did. I had it all planned out I thought. My sister owns and runs a family restaurant in Ogdensburg. She wants to expand. We have reached an agreement that the expansion will contain a section where patrons can get smaller, more tasty and healthier portions of food. I’ve thought of nothing else in the last few years. Wherever I could find a kitchen to try out recipes I thought of while driving, I would experiment. I have even made love to a few women on the condition I could use their kitchen after.

“I can sit two men down at a table. Two men that are used to eating twenty-ounce steaks. I can give one his same steak and the usual potatoes and side dishes. For the other, I can cook a five-ounce steak and some different side dishes. When they finish and leave the table they will both feel full. One will have consumed nineteen to twenty-one hundred calories. The other less than seven hundred and be just as satisfied. Five hours later, one will be hungry again, the other won’t for two hours after that.

“I admit patrons have to teach their bodies to want and eat the smaller meals, but it doesn’t take long to get acclimated. And they have to have a place in the immediate vicinity to get a meal like this. I’ve convinced my sister to let me try it. I said there are enough trucks going through Ogdensburg so if it doesn’t work, she will have more room to serve her twenty-ounce steaks. I thought when Erline said she was a dietitian and nutritionist, I had someone that would work with me on this. It is too late now, I guess.”

“Did you tell her your plans or ask her to help you?”

“No, I was going to wait until we got to my sister’s to spring it on her.”

“Boy, you screwed up. Maybe you will get another chance, but I don’t know. She left the car and took a taxi to the airport. I can believe the way she was crying that you won’t see her again. Then again, rich people are different.”

“You think she is rich? She never acted it.”

“Maybe not rich, rich, but think about it. Her daddy owns his own plane and she has just divorced a person who was running around on her until she caught him. She must have a nice settlement from that. If she hasn’t acted rich, maybe she is a person that doesn’t want to be. If she is like that, you have a pretty good chance with her.”

The barber came in and then I had lunch. Ed Ransom promised he would return later in the afternoon. He was going home and if Erline by chance showed up there, he was going to run interference for me. I watched the clock. Erline had said three. At three-thirty I asked the nurse for some pain medicine. Nine o’clock came and the nurses changed shifts. My vitals were taken. This nurse was the friendliest one that I had.

I asked for more pain killers. “Is this for your leg or your heart?” I guess there are no secrets in a hospital.

I was in the habit of waking between one and two in the morning. I awoke and listened to see if I could hear or feel anyone in the room as I had for the past few mornings. I couldn’t tell, but maybe? I whispered with my eyes closed, “Will you marry me?”

Warm tears were falling suddenly on my face again. These were tears of happiness though. I could tell the difference, especially when they were backed up with a whispered “yes.”

A burst of happiness washed over me. I opened my eyes as Erline came around the bed where I could see her. I was smiling broadly now, where just a few hours ago my life was in the pits. “Okay, we seem to have come together on the most important thing. Let’s see if we can make it work.”

“Oh yes, I’ve never been so miserable as I have been in the past twenty-four hours. I had to come back to see if you were serious about falling in love with me. I’m sure you are in love with me now, or you would not have asked me to marry you. I’m ready to tell you everything about me. I’m also sure that you wouldn’t have asked me if you didn’t have a plan for the future that included me.”

I lay there in bed telling my soon-to-be wife what I had planned for myself to do when I stopped driving. She sat in a chair beside me and squeezed my hand giving me encouragement to continue as the plan unfolded. “Do you have the financing to do this?”

“Yes, more than enough. Part of the plan calls for me to attach the business to my sister’s family restaurant, but I do have enough money so I can start it anywhere if I have to.”

“You’ve got to be kidding? Truck driving has paid that well?”

“Yes. You must remember, I have been planning this from day one when I began driving. When you told me you were a nutritionist and dietitian, that made it all the better. You have been included in my plans ever since you told me about your profession.”

“Roger, I was so wrong about you. I didn’t think you cared about me. You have to think how long we have known one another. You have been in a coma more time than you have been awake. I had a feeling you wouldn’t let your wife support you. Yes, I have some money. I didn’t want to insult you by suggesting we marry and I take care of you. You would come to hate me if that happened. But then yesterday I decided I would come back and we would talk it out. I decided I would live your life and I would give my money to charity if necessary. Money is important only if it doesn’t interfere with love.”

“Erline, let’s talk about love. When did you first think you might love me?”

“I don’t know for sure, but it happened during the time you were lying there in a coma. How about you?”

“I don’t know either. I know when that car hit me, I hadn’t thought about love with you, but when I woke up, I was in love. I think talking to Ed Ransom yesterday brought it home to me. He was telling me about his wife Millie, and how much they loved each other. I was just so hoping I hadn’t lost someone to love like that. And then I woke up this morning and here you are.”

“I was looking for the same thing. I looked at my father yesterday and realized he never loved my mother like that. Married to Tom, I never loved him with such intensity either, but I know I can love you like Ed and Millie did. Maybe we should call Ed cupid. He seems to have been the cement for our unstable feelings for each other. I’ll go with that.”

“Erline, you know, I think Ed would enjoy being called cupid. So tell me about meeting your father at the airport yesterday. No, tell me about yesterday morning first. Ed said you were crying.”

“I was. I was so mixed up. You really shook me up when you told me to leave because if I stayed you were going to fall in love with me. No one had ever said anything like that to me before. The thing of it is, I believed you. I thought back and asked myself, why didn’t I tell him all about me. That I had some money. That I just played at a job. Don’t get me wrong, I am trained in that type of work and I am good at it.

“I came to the conclusion that I had cheated you out of knowing me the way I really am. Therefore, I didn’t deserve the love that surely would have developed between us. I said goodbye to Ed. I didn’t want to say goodbye, but when I got into the taxi, I had no intention of returning.

“I got to the airport before lunch and I went and found a diner. The specialty of the house was a Greek salad. I ordered it. It was crap. Crap compared to the one that Mrs. Pete served me. I haven’t even tasted yours yet. And then at the terminal, Pop came in and right away started in on me about lowering myself by hanging out with a truck driver. Christ, he looks more like a truck driver with his big whiskey gut than you do.”

Erline was looking mad at the memory she was recalling. “Finally I told him you had ditched me because I hadn’t told you the truth about something and you couldn’t stand to fall in love with somebody like me. He said he thought you were still after my money and wouldn’t believe me when I said you didn’t know I had any.”

“Where is he now? Did you send him home?”

“He is with Ed Ransom. Ed burst out laughing when Pop said he thought you were an opportunist and wanted me for my money. You must have had a long conversation with Ed yesterday.”

“We did talk a bit. Actually we were crying on each others shoulders because we feared you wouldn’t be back. Ed says you are like his Millie and was crushed when you got into the taxi to leave. How come you didn’t come to see me last night? I thought you were gone forever.”

“Our best times together have been around two in the morning. I thought if I ever had a chance to get you back, it was this time and this morning.” Erline let the statement lie there.

“There wasn’t a minute yesterday I wouldn’t have taken you back. I have never missed anyone so much as I have you. I hope you never feel such pain.”

“I think I have.”
                                ___________________

“I have asked you to marry me because I love you and you have said yes to my proposal because you love me. What is the next step for us? Where and how do we start to build a life together?”

“We should begin by talking about our families and our backgrounds. You are going to be in here for several more days. I really love this time of day. I’ll just come in and be with you.”

“That’s good. My hard cast comes off later this morning and the doctor said I was going to be hurting with the intense therapy to follow. Would you come in before the evening meal for a few minutes and talk while I eat? I will sleep and then be fresh for our early morning tryst.”

“Roger, we can make this work. Just two lovers getting to know each other. I will be bringing my Pop in this afternoon to meet you. I don’t have the slightest idea if you two will get along, but you have to meet sometime.”

“Why won’t I get along with him?”

“If I said ‘pompous twit’ would that give you a clue? Sometimes I wonder why I even love him, he is so obnoxious. I suppose I have to don’t I?”

No matter how Erline spoke about her father, I could see the affection she held for him. She was just giving herself an out in case her father and I disliked each other. “Erline, don’t worry, he will have to be a real bad-ass to turn me against you. When we are married for real, I will meet his family, and will act accordingly.”

“Now I know why I said yes to your proposal. Look, I’ll be running along. You are in for a lot of pain with the doctor coming and taking the cast off this morning, so get some rest.”

It was as bad as the doctor warned me it was going to be ... the pain, I mean. It was shocking to see the condition my leg was in too. Of course it was shriveled up from the cast, but the muscles were pretty well mangled beyond recognition. This was a leg that I was used to running on every day. Would it ever be of service to me again? It didn’t look like it.

I missed lunch. The doctor prescribed painkillers for me, and it was nearly three before I woke up. I made do with a toast and tea. Erline and her father would be here in an hour or so and I wanted to look my best. When I explained to the nurse about my impending visitors, she came in and helped me shave and put on the velvet sateen robe that Ed Ransom had furnished.

Ed, himself, preceded Erline and her father by a few minutes. He had hurried on ahead to make sure I was awake. He approved of how I looked as I waited anxiously for my guests. “You’re doing well, boy. You don’t know how happy I was when Erline came back. She told me she was coming in early this morning and beg you to take her back. Guess she didn’t have to beg too hard, did she?”

“No, things are on an even keel with us. I want to thank you for telling both of us about you and your Millie. That’s what brought us back together.” I shook his hand as he stood with the other one on my shoulder.

Erline came in ahead of her father. She was hesitant at first, but when she saw me groomed and with the robe on, she quickly came over and gave me a kiss. Her father watched the show of affection between us with distaste on his face. “Roger, this is my father, Henry Thomas. Pop, this is Roger, the man I love.”

I stuck out my hand and he had to cross to the bed to shake it. His movements were reluctant. “Hello.” There were no “pleased to meet you” or “how are you?”

I said, “Sit please, all of you. I had the nurse bring in extra chairs.” Erline sat on the bed and held my hand. Ed sat nearest to me in a chair and Henry sat as far away from me as he could.

He started in on me. “So ... Erline tells me you are a truck driver?”

“That’s right, or I was until I met Erline. I think we are going to start a business together. Health food. Fifty-one percent of the people in this country are overweight and thirty percent are obese." Henry was definitely overweight and bordering on obese. His face flushed.

“I can’t understand her taking up with a truck driver. Nothing against you personally, but she had a good man. He was a vice president in a bank and made good money.”

“That would be Erline’s philandering, borderline alcoholic, ex-husband you are referring to, right? I met him. He was passed out in the driver’s seat of his car after running it off the road. He could have killed her. You wouldn’t want that for her would you?”

“No, of course not. You know what I mean.”

“No I don’t. Tell me.”

“What I mean is, she is comfortably well-off and I’m fairly well-to-do. She doesn’t have to throw herself away on a truck driver.” There was a lot of tension in this room. Erline was really worried. Ed was an interested observer.

“I’m not ashamed of what I’ve been doing for the last ten years. What do you do?”

“I’m president of a corporation that owns six shoe stores and two footwear boutiques. I have my own airplane, a big house and belong to the Hartford Country Club.”

“In other words, you are a well paid shoe salesman. That right?”

Erline was really worried now and close to tears. “Pop, you and Roger stop trading insults. You both are good at what you do. Roger hasn’t caught up to you yet Pop, but he will.”

Henry backed off and I was more than willing to do the same. Henry was staring at my injured leg that was covered with a sheet and asked a question, “What’s the matter with your foot? You’ve been moving it continually since we got here.”

“Nothing is the matter with my foot. I was used to running three miles a day before the accident. I want to run again and the doctor told me to flex my foot as if I was running to keep the muscles from atrophying.” I reached over to my stand and picked up a photo of how my leg looked this morning when the cast came off. Erline glanced at it and a look of horror crossed her face. She handed it over to her father.

“Jesus Christ, get that out of my sight. This is what your leg looks like and you lay there moving your foot and talking as if it was alright?”

The one I hurt the most with my unthinking desire to shock Henry was Ed. He saw the picture and it crushed him. “Oh God boy, did my Millie do that? I’m so sorry.”

Erline went and put her arms around Ed and held him to her. I said, “Ed, it isn’t as bad as it looks. That picture was taken when the doc first removed the cast. It doesn’t look like that now. Look Ed, you couldn’t help what happened. It was an accident. I feel bad about you losing Millie. You’re hurting a lot more than I am. I’m going to be as good as new soon. The doctor said so. I just have to work at it that is all.”

I motioned for Erline to take Ed out of the room. After they left Henry said, “You can’t tell me that isn’t hurting you. I never saw anything so mangled.”

“It smarts considerably. God what was I thinking? I forgot that Ed was in the room.”

“The doctor did tell you it was going to heal okay?”

“He hopes so.”

He wanted to say something, so I waited to find out what it was. “Tell me something? When did you and Erline get married? To be honest, I am pretty hurt she didn’t invite me.”

“Henry, you will be invited when it happens. Erline and I aren’t married. I have asked her and she has accepted though. We both have the same name of Thomas and everyone including the police assumed we are man and wife. How much of a problem is this going to cause?”

“You mean she can walk away from you? You have no hold on her?”

“Just the big one. That is the hold I’m counting on to bind us together long enough for me to get well so I can romance her as she deserves.”

Henry didn’t say anything, just looked at me while he digested what I had said. Finally, “What have you promised her? Money? You can’t have that much. What do you want from her anyway?”

“I want her love. I want to be with her. I have never wanted anything more in my life. I don’t come to her empty-handed either. I’ve worked and saved for ten years to get where my dreams could be fulfilled. With Erline at my side it will be much easier, but when I made these plans, she wasn’t even on the horizon. Even then I worked an extra year for insurance to be sure I wouldn’t fail.”

Just then the door opened and Erline came in alone. “Ed is sitting out in the lounge. I don’t want to stay much longer. At least you two didn’t spill any blood while I was with him.”

Henry took up the fight to get his daughter back from my clutches. “Erline, Roger says you aren’t married to him. I need you at home. We can fly back in the morning. Now say goodbye to him and we will be on our way.”

“No!”

“Why not? I said I needed you. I’m your father, remember?”

“Yes, and you are the one that pushed me into a marriage I came to hate. And then you urged the same person to come and romance me and promise me all kinds of things. That almost got me killed. No, I’m staying with Roger. I know how he feels about me and I feel the same for him.”

“But the shoe convention is in two weeks. I have to give a speech on the history of women’s shoes and I need your help. Besides I was counting on you to be by my side. What is it going to look like if I go there with the speech on women’s shoes and don’t have a lovely lady at my table?”

“I can’t help it Pop. I’m staying with Roger. It isn’t that he needs me so much, but I need him.”

“Christ, what am I going to do?”

I broke in. “What is the theme of your speech? I may know someone that could help you, and she lives right in your own back yard.”

Henry looked at me with disbelief. Erline too, but not so much. “I wanted Erline to research how heels became a part of women’s footwear, and maybe find some pictures of what famous women wore. I don’t know because I was counting on Erline.”

“Heels didn’t start with women’s shoes you know. They came about in the courts of England and France. And men first wore them, not women. Men’s wardrobes had much more splendor and the shoes were an integral part.”

I sure had the attention of father and daughter. I continued, “I’m sure this lady I know would be willing to display a pair of shoes that Emelda Marcos wore. She has a news item to prove their authenticity too. That is, if I ask her.”

Henry didn’t want to ask, but he knew he was going to. Besides, he had to find out how some dumb-ass truck driver would know about shoes, let alone know a lady who was able to own a pair of shoes that the whole world talked about. And Erline was wondering about me too. I could see it in her eyes.

“Would you put me in touch with her?" He hesitated. “Please?”

I reached for the phone and dialed for an outside line. I then dialed a number. “Hello Celine, how is my favorite cook today?” I listened as my name was squealed loud enough for those in the room to hear. After a few minutes of pleasantries, I asked, “Celine, how would like to go to a convention in South Carolina in a couple of weeks? No, not that kind of convention.

“This is a shoe convention. I’m talking to a person here that has promised to give a speech on the history of women’s shoes at the convention. He has no idea of what to say and his daughter, whom he was depending on, is being held hostage by me. You see I’m planning on making this person my father-in-law and I want to get on the good side of him.” I listened as she exclaimed disbelief and why wasn’t she the one to finally lead me down the aisle.

“Celine, if I hadn’t met Erline I was coming to get you next month  ... truly.” This was a game we played when we talked. “You might get a chance to show off that pair of Marcos shoes and I know there is nothing special about those Princess Di shoes, but the people at the convention might be interested. I’m sure Henry would be relieved if you gave his speech for him. You know so much on the subject, but you can decide that when you meet him.

“He will be flying into Bradley tomorrow afternoon. I will give him your number and you can plan when to meet.” I glanced at Henry. “Oh, don’t be bashful if you have your eye on a pair of shoes somewhere. Tell him about them. I’m sure he would love to add to your collection.”

I hung up and turned to hear what Henry was going to say. “You set this all up just like that. Why?”

“Didn’t you hear me when I said I was going to make you my father-in-law? You said you needed help. I helped. That is all there is to it. This may cost you some money, but when you meet this woman, you’ll gladly spend whatever it takes. Now don’t go getting pompous on her for she’ll see right through you. You treat her right because I’m going to be married to your daughter and you need me to be friendly.”

Henry didn’t know what to say. “You wait a minute, I want to write a note for you to give to her.” I took the pad by the bed and furiously scribbled several lines, then I tore the note off and handed it to Henry.

He looked at it. “Jesus H Christ, this is a recipe. What in hell would she want of this?”

“I asked Celine to do me a favor. This is the way I pay her. Those are the ingredients. She can figure out the amounts. She is just one more of my steps to success. Someday I’ll tell you all about us and our relationship. Don’t go thinking it’s sexual either, for it isn’t. Her phone number is on the bottom. Use it when you land in Connecticut.”

Henry came over and shook my hand, still shaking his head in bewilderment as he left the room. Erline came and kissed me saying I would see her in the morning at two. “Boy, have we got a lot to talk about.” She kissed me again.

I had a rough evening and night. Erline had to shake me to wake me up. “I’m sorry I’m so dopey. I had to ask for some painkillers last night, but I’m awake now.” I didn’t feel like it though, and I was having trouble concentrating.

“Roger, would you like me to leave and come back mid-morning?”

“No, just give me a few minutes. Kiss me, that will wake me up if anything will.”

I got my kiss and as that was happening, Erline slid her hand down under the covers. Not to be outdone, I raised my hand to her breast, kneading and caressing it gently. Suddenly Erline laughed and stepped back. “I think you are awake now. That was like an electric shock going through me. Do you realize that is the first really intimate motion you have made toward me? I loved it.”

“I’ve thought about doing that more than you know. I just never had the chance to follow through. I’ve lain here imagining what I’m going to find when I get to undress you.”

“I’ve seen you, you know. The trouble is, when I saw it, it had a catheter stuck in it. I felt sorry for your poor thing.”

“I’m hoping you think it will get the job done when it comes time. Yes or no?”

“That would be a definite yes.”

“Good. Now you said we were going to have a lot to talk about. I imagine it is about Celine and how I know her. Right? Before we get to that, tell me how Ed is? I didn’t mean to shock him so and bring back his loss of Millie in such graphic detail. My apology didn’t go very far.”

“Oh yes it did. He accepted it and thinks you are wonderful to not hold your accident against him or Millie. He is quite a guy. I do think he is just waiting for the time when he can ease out of this life and go to her.”

“I hope to get to know him better before he does.”

“He is planning for you going home with him just as soon as the doctor releases you, so I’m sure you will.”

“Tell him to come in the afternoon and not wait for that.” I smiled at Erline, knowing she would relay my invitation.

 “You wanted to know about Celine. I’ve known her for five or six years. First of all, as you have gathered, she collects shoes. I trucked a load of leather from a tannery near Chicago to a factory in Mexico. I was to pick up a return load of shoes destined for Boston.

“I was called into the shoe factory office and asked to deliver a small package to an address in Hartford, CT. I figured it was drugs and I refused until I saw what the item was. It was a pair of shoes supposedly worn by an Aztec priestess. The shoes weren’t much more than a few feathers and what looked like deerskin soles. There was a provenance with it. It was my job to get this across the border through Customs without being caught.

“I had been through Customs dozens of times. My load had been checked for contraband a few times, but my rig never had more than a cursory glance. I figured I could do it. I worried, though, for moving artifacts out of Mexico is a serious crime. I had about three hours of driving to reach the border and I puzzled for two of them. I hit on a scheme and put it in motion.

“This time, however, Customs went over my rig looking for drugs. The agent even handled my artifact and passed me through, never knowing what he had in his hand.”

“So where did you hide them?”

“You know those soft dice cubes that some drivers hang from the rear view mirror? These shoes weren’t much bigger so I hung them from the mirror. The agent reached up and turned them and thinking them a good luck charm, went on to search elsewhere. I’ll tell you, I was pretty nervous and figured he could smell my fear ... but he didn’t.”

“So what happened when you reached Hartford?”

“I had no idea where the address was in the city. I parked my rig and gave a cabby the address. He parked in front of The Meadows, a high-rise apartment complex. I was directed to the eleventh floor after speaking to the owner over the intercom. “I was met at the door by a woman about twice my age. She obviously had extraordinary beauty at one time, but now it was beginning to fade. She also seemed sad until I presented my package to her.”

“She exclaimed, ‘Oh my God, he wasn’t kidding. They are so beautiful!’ The woman threw her arms around me and kissed me. I then passed the provenance to her and she smothered me with another kiss. I backed off fast. I was in my driver’s clothes and had been on the road constantly since leaving Mexico. I had taken the required breaks, but years ago I wasn’t as disciplined as I am now about time off the book. I used to cheat some. Anyway, I was beat, a lot left over from the nerves I had getting across the border I think.

“She noticed and made me sit while she brewed coffee. I was asleep before it was finished. It must have been the middle of the night when I woke up. Celine was sitting at the table slowly turning the artifact in her hands. I was nervous now, for it looked like from where I was sitting, all she had on was a robe. She realized I was awake. ‘Go take a shower. You will find a robe that fits you hanging on the door.’ I did need the shower and I thought ‘why not?’

“There was a razor laid out for me to use on the vanity. There also was a small washer/drier in the corner of the bath. There was a sticky pasted to the washer, directing me to use it if I wished. I said to myself, oh-what-the-hell and tossed my clothes in. When I made it back to the table where she was sitting she said if I looked in one of the rooms, I could find some boxers if I was uncomfortable in just a robe.

“She then said, ‘I suppose you want breakfast.’ I did. And then she said she was the world’s worst cook, and she was. When I saw what she was attempting, I took over and made her breakfast, and lunch, and then dinner that evening. The rest of the time we talked. Yes, she was an evening lady.”

Erline broke in. “You said that there was nothing sexual between you and her. You lied,” and she burst into tears.

“Wait Honey, let me finish. You wanted to know about us so I have to tell you my own way, slow as it is.”

“But you sent Pop to this woman. Did you do that on purpose?”

“Wait, please. He will be alright. Honest. So Celine and I talked. I found out she was almost retired from her ‘business’ although she still provided services to a half dozen on an intermittent schedule. She was very lonely though, never really loving anyone normally. In fact she came across as being depressed. She asked me what she should do. I don’t know where the words came from and why it was me to give her advice. I just winged it.

“What I said to her changed her life. All of these men that she was seeing were married and most had children. I said she should pick one of them, turn the others away and be a mistress to the one she chose exclusively. This way maybe she could build as solid a relationship as the situation presented. I also said to really get interested in her hobby of women’s shoes.

“Now as to why I sent your father to her ... the shoe part is a given. Her being a mistress to one man, only, was the best thing that ever happened to her. She found love and had a good five years of it. I met her lover many times and he was a nice man and wonderful to Celine. He begged her to marry him when his wife passed away, and although his children knew of her and approved, she was afraid it would cause some friction, so they never did tie the knot. Unfortunately, he passed away a few months ago.

“There was no reason why she couldn’t learn to cook either. The apartment she owned had a full service kitchen. I envied her because cooking was my passion. I have used her kitchen many times to experiment with different meals I have thought to try while driving. I have had a lot of kitchen disasters and I think on them. When I could figure out what went wrong or how something could make a dish better, I phoned her. She purchased the ingredients and held them until I was next in Hartford.”

“So you sent my father to meet a fifty-year-old, over-the-hill tart to go to a convention with. Will he be humiliated in any way? I hope not for that could come between us. Oh Roger why did you do this?”

“Erline, listen. Celine has more class than most people I know. Honest. She is a well-to-do lady in every sense of the word. Even her lover’s children still visit her often, they think that much of her. As far as being acceptable in upper-class circles, she was on her lover’s arm for the last couple of years he was alive. His business would make your father’s appear insignificant. That is nothing against your father either. I just wanted to point out that he is safe with Celine.”

“So you really did my father a favor by giving him this Celine’s address?”

“I believe so. Remember I’m in love with his daughter. Why would I want to jeopardize that? The one thing I didn’t mean to share is Celine’s age. Please don't tell your father what I think her age is, if he asks? She is very sensitive and I wouldn’t want to upset her.”

“Okay, I won’t say anything. Do you think I will ever meet her? I’m very curious about this woman.”

“I will take you to meet her as soon as I can. She is my best friend. I don’t want you to replace her though, but I want you to be my best, best friend.”

“I don’t want to be your best, best friend, I want to be your lover. How about that?”

“I can hardly wait.”

“Hey, I think I’d better go home. I promised Pop that I would drive him to the airport. Is there anything I should tell him?”

“No, if there is anything he needs to know, Celine will tell him. Are you coming in for a few minutes this afternoon? If you do, would you bring Ed with you? I still feel terrible about yesterday.”

“I will, and don’t worry about Ed’s feelings. He understands what you were trying to do when you showed Pop the picture.”

I got another kiss and copped a quick feel of her breasts. Erline stayed still for me to explore just a little and then laughed as she went out the door. Tease!

My leg looked better this morning when the doctor examined it. I told him about the pain last night and that I needed more medication to cope. He asked if I had moved my foot much and I said I had. He explained that he would give me the meds as long as I moved my foot the way he wanted and quoted the adage, “no pain, no gain.”

Erline related that Henry had questioned her about Celine on the trip to the airport. Erline told him that she was a well-to-do lady interested in shoes and had taken up cooking at my direction. Henry stated that he couldn’t figure out the man his daughter had claimed to love. There was definitely more to me than met the eye. He hoped I was as good as she thought I was and cautioned her to go slow.
                              ______________

Erline came to see me every morning about two. I would have died if she missed a day, but she was always there for me. We played a little. Not much, just enough to whet our appetites for what would develop when I was better. I was going every day to therapy now. I wanted to get on my feet, but it was going to be two more weeks before I was to put substantial weight on it. The mangled mess that were the muscles were slowly regaining their function and I could move my foot now without any pain.

Three days after Henry left he called Erline to say he and Celine had come to an arrangement on the convention trip. Erline, fishing for information, asked him to describe Celine. He said she was a beautiful, elegant lady about forty-five he thought. She had invited him for dinner the night before and served him a concoction made mainly of fish, shrimp and vegetables. He said when he saw it he wished he had taken her out for roast beef. That was his usual fare.

He said she had also given him pointers how she wanted to be treated when they dined. How she had him seat her, how he should serve the wine and how to portion out the food from the serving dishes. All the time she talked to him about the food and why they were being served.

The very dry wine was to open the taste buds to bring out the flavor of a little cocktail appetizer which consisted of three melon balls, three globe grapes and six raisins in a little cup. Then it was time to serve the main entrée consisting of lightly grilled fish, white as snow ... one filet and four breaded shrimp. The vegetables were steamed broccoli, raw cauliflower florets and uncooked spinach leaves rolled in cylinders to dip into a hot horseradish sauce that was placed next to your plate.

When he saw the food he was to eat, he thought to himself he could go to MacDonalds after the meal. She even told him how to eat to get the most enjoyment out of the food. She told him to take small bites and chew many times before swallowing. Take just a sip of wine between one dish and another to keep the taste buds aware of what was going over his palate.

Celine served the dessert and coffee. She had a little waffle iron and put one waffle on a plate spread liberally with an iced raspberry sherbet. She made him drink his coffee black. After dinner Celine questioned Henry about what was on his mind for the speech that was to be made. Henry said the speech was supposed to last an hour, but admitted that if he had one longer than fifteen minutes, it would be a miracle.

Celine said she had some thoughts and wanted to run them by him. Henry said Celine sat and talked about women’s shoes for a solid three and a half hours without losing his interest. In fact he was sorry when she concluded. He implored her to give the talk instead of him. He said she tried to show reluctance, but he convinced her to do it. Celine was pleased because this was the first time she had a chance to showcase her collection and her interest in shoes. Henry said he had also convinced Celine to a night out and dinner with him.

Erline asked, “That was one of your meals Celine served Pop wasn’t it? Pop is beginning to think I have made a wise choice in sticking with a dumb-ass truck driver. Boy am I going to throw that in his face someday. Now I’m worried that Pop may fall for this woman and she will hurt him.”

“Don’t worry Honey, Celine won’t hurt your father. She may never be more than friends with him, but he will come to value that friendship more than any he ever had. I promise.”

One month from the day of the accident, I put full weight on my foot for the first time. X-rays showed the bone was knitting well. The muscles in my leg were healed, but still needed therapy. Ed Ransom followed up with an invitation to stay at his place by moving all the rugs on the floors so I wouldn’t trip. He wanted Erline and me to make our home with him. I said I would think about it. This was to be a change of location for me and the restaurant I planned if I did. I did promise to look around for something suitable.

I moved to Ed’s the week of the shoe convention and Erline and I were anxious as to the results of the talk. Erline had repeatedly called her father’s home to no avail. I called Celine once with the same result. We both began to worry that Henry’s plane might have gone down and we hadn’t been notified. We need not have worried, for one afternoon both were at Ed’s front door asking for us. He had flown up and they had taken a taxi from the airport.

Erline hugged her father as Celine was being introduced to both her and Ed Ransom. I managed to rise from where I was sitting and Celine came and hugged me, asking how I was. I claimed I was almost new. Celine was smiling and whispered, “Thank you, I’ve had a wonderful week. I think I have put in a good word for you too in the meantime. Erline is lovely. I shall enjoy getting to know her.” Celine made much of Ed too, extending her condolences over his loss.

Henry was excited at the success he had at the shoe convention. He was giving all of that credit to Celine, who had enthralled the audience with her knowledge of the history of women’s shoes. Her collection of shoes worn by various well-known and some not so well-known women was small, but each had a story. She had even related the story about one Roger Thomas and how he had managed to cross the Mexican/ US border and bring a much desired pair of shoes to her.

That night I directed Erline and Celine in what to prepare for dinner. It was basically one-eighth inch thin-sliced sirloin marinated and then slapped onto a hot frying pan in real butter. Twenty seconds each side brought it to the desired doneness leaving it tender and juicy. A small sweet potato baked in the microwave and leafy garden vegetables rounded out the entrée. A lite beer was the beverage and dessert was a popover drizzled with a lemon creme hard sauce. A small Brandy and Benedictine completed the meal. This was a meal that even Celine had not made before. This was totally my effort, though the women did the preparing.

The meal was critiqued as to food value, taste, calories, visual attraction and the satisfaction of feeling replete. The consensus was that the hard sauce made with cornstarch and sugar probably added more calories than necessary. A substitute was needed and a soft yogurt was to be tried next time popovers were served. I explained that this was how I was putting together a menu for the proposed restaurant.

After dinner Ed went to his own quarters and left me, Erline, Celine and Henry sitting companionably on the patio. Henry said to me, “Roger, I have asked Celine if I could date her. She has told me that there are some issues in her past that I wouldn't like. I can’t think of anything that I couldn’t overlook. She has put me off until we were here with you because she says you are her closest friend. She wanted to be near you for support if what she told me made me blow up.

“Celine is young, to me anyway, vibrant and very interesting. I have never enjoyed myself more than I have in the last couple of weeks. I want that to continue. What in her past is so bad that I wouldn’t want to date her?”

I looked at Celine. “I can only confirm what I know about her in the last six years. I can’t think of anything either that would hold up your getting to know each other better. I think she wants to go forward with you with no secrets about her past. Celine do you want me to tell him what I know about you?”

“If you would, Roger. You have always been able to couch your comments in a more acceptable way than if I just stated my past.”

“Okay, if you wish. Henry, I think the first thing that she thinks would bother you is her age. She is considerably older than she appears. When you talked to Erline about her age you said she must be about forty-five. Actually she was five years older than that when I first met her. I believe she is fifty-seven which would make her still younger than you by about four years. This shouldn’t be a problem. Am I not right in thinking this?”

Henry stared at Celine. “I can’t believe it. Are you really that old?”

“Yes I am. But I want to declare that I would look sixty-five if I hadn’t met Roger when I did. It is his meals and his teaching me how to prepare them that has done this for me. Oh, I always knew how to make myself look younger through make-up etc., but it was beginning to be a losing proposition. Of course I was pretty unhappy at the time too. You can go ahead and tell him the rest about me, if you would. I’m not proud of it, but I’m not denying it either.”

“I knew Celine was, from the moment I met her, a loving caring person, sometimes to her detriment. You see, Celine was a call girl in Las Vegas for many, many years. She had an exclusive clientele and it paid very well. Eventually she moved east to Hartford, CT, and bought that apartment she now owns.

“The night I brought the shoes to her, she was having a bad time, and very lonely. She still had a few clients, but her looks were leaving her. She was fifty and she couldn’t see much in the future that held any happiness. She couldn’t even cook herself a decent meal. For some reason she opened her life to me and asked me what she should do. I just threw out some suggestions never anticipating that she would listen or act on any of them.”

I smiled fondly at Celine and continued. “What you see before you now is the result of my off-the-wall comments and a lot of dedication to making herself happy. I think she wants me to tell you the rest. I suggested she say goodbye to all but one of her clients and concentrate on the one she liked the most.

“For the first time in her life she had love. The man was an extraordinary gentleman and needed love as much as she did after the loss of his wife. He had two grown children and they were happy for their father and her when they found a measure of happiness together. Celine and her friend never married for Celine didn’t think it proper. Unfortunately he passed away a few months ago. Celine has cherished the few years she had with him.”

I looked at Celine and then at Erline. After all if Henry and Celine started dating, Erline had to have some thoughts about it. I was about to find out how liberal my future wife felt about her father dating someone of questionable lifestyle, albeit in the past. I found out. “Pop, if you date Celine and fall in love, can I call her Mom?”

“I guess Honey, that would be up to her. We have a long way to go and remember your old man isn’t perfect by a long shot. Give us a chance to get acquainted first. Just because you fell in love in two days doesn’t mean we are going to.” It was more than two days, but I wasn’t going to quibble.

We had three bedrooms at our disposal that night. I had not slept with Erline yet, although we had talked about it. Gees, and now it was forced on us. What a horrible fate. Henry took one room, Celine another, and Erline and I were forced to share. Henry assumed that we already had, so by morning his assumption was right.

                              ____________________

The Gods started throwing me curve balls again, some I hit and some almost put me out. Ed Ransom wanted very much to have Erline and I stay here in Potsdam. I turned him down saying I had promised my sister Connie that I would go into business with her in Ogdensburg. She was the only close family I had and over the years had provided me with the only home I knew. Ed was disappointed, but said he understood, saying he was sure going to miss me ... and more specifically, Erline.

Then I almost lost my best friend and my future father-in-law. Henry and Celine flew up every weekend on Friday evening, returning to Connecticut on Sunday. The romance between them was developing along nicely. Three weeks after Henry learned about Celine’s past, Erline and I expected them by seven-thirty. We were really worried when nine-thirty came and they had not appeared. There were no calls from them and we could not reach either one by phone.

Five thirty in the morning the phone rang. “Hey Roger, this is the Hammer. I’m relaying a message. Can you get down route 56 until just before you hit route 3 and pick up your wife’s father and his girlfriend. Right at the minute they are sitting on top of his plane about two hundred yards off the road in a bog. Something happened to the engine and he ditched it in the softest spot he could find. This happened about dark and nobody saw them there until daylight this morning. Somebody will figure how to get them out of the swamp and to the highway by the time you get there. Hey man, I gotta put the hammer down, see you around...out.”

Erline and I bailed into the car and headed south on 56. When we got there, we saw several police car lights and vehicles parked along the road. I could see the plane off in the distance in the middle of the bog. As we pulled up opposite where all the action was, an airboat was just nosing up to the bank. A policeman was handing Celine down from the boat. She didn’t have a hair out of place and was as beautiful as ever. Henry was covered with mud, but he was smiling and as happy as could be.

He walked to the other side of the highway where you could see a wheel with a blown tire on it. It was still on the spindle with the strut attached. Celine quipped to Erline, “One thing about dating your father, it sure is exciting. One other thing, he said if we got out of this alive, he wanted to marry me. I might just hold him to that too.”

It took more than an hour to give the details to the police and make arrangements to have the plane retrieved by a chopper. On the way back to Potsdam we had the details and a little bragging to go along with them.

Henry told us what happened. “I was following by sight the roads through the mountains. Visual flying is the best way if you are unfamiliar at all with where you are going. About ten miles back before we hit the junction of 3 and 56, I heard the engine skip. I think it must be a loose or broken wire. I was looking for a long level stretch of highway to set this bird down. Not much traffic so I attempted it here.

“Just as we started to touch down a deer came up out of the swamp and toward me. I got over as far as I could, but I was afraid I was going to still run into the deer. I powered up and started to rise. I didn't see the concrete post at the end of a culvert. I clipped it and it tore one wheel off. Well you saw it.

“I missed the deer and under full power like I was, we were airborne again. My machine started skipping badly, so I knew I couldn’t go much farther. I circled around and could see the wheel on the ground. I couldn’t set down on the hard road with one wheel or I would have flipped and most likely have been in the same shape as if I hit that deer. I did what I did in Nam, twice. I set that little old puddle jumper right in the middle of that swamp. I knew we wouldn’t sink and with this slow bird I knew I could do it without even getting wet.”

Erline spoke up, “Not wet, huh? You’re all mud.”

How Henry roared with laughter. “The mud is for effect in case someone with a camera came along. I had to make it appear I was trying to rescue my girl after a death defying landing. Actually we sat on top of the plane and talked and maybe a little more all night. I jumped in the mud about daylight to see how deep the water was. It was all mud and I couldn’t get anywhere.

“A truck stopped just before dawn to look at the wheel and I shouted to him. He got on the CB and then things started happening. Luckily there was an airboat on some reservoir not many miles away near here.”

He turned to Celine. “Cecee, I’m sorry about this. I really didn’t mean to put you in danger. Thank God things worked out the way they did. You won’t hold it against me will you?”

“Of course not. It just will be a story we can tell our grandchildren.”

“Did I hear you right?”

“I believe you did.”

Erline was driving and she reached over and squeezed my hand.

Curve balls? Oh yes, I mentioned them. My sister Connie, husband Jim and their two kids drove up and arrived on that same Sunday morning. This was unusual, but she said she wanted them to meet Erline. I knew there must be more and there was. Ed knew something was up too and that we probably wanted to talk family business. He took the two kids out to the little attached barn in back. He wanted to show them what he courted his wife in more than sixty-three years ago.

Connie hadn’t said too much and was quiet up until now, which was so unlike her. “I’ve got bad news. The people that own the restaurant building won’t renew my lease. They sold it to somebody who is going to make a dance hall out of it. They didn’t even give me a chance to make an offer on it. It’s the pits!”

What she just said dashed my hopes for opening up my business. Connie was an integral part of my plans as I thought I knew food okay, but for the management, I was going to rely totally on her expertise. There was room for expansion where she was and I had built this into my future.

“We will just have to find someplace else. How long do you have left on your lease?”

“Three months.”

“We will have to get busy then.”

Ed and the kids came back from the barn. The kids were all excited about seeing a buggy and a sleigh that Mr. Ransom went to visit his girlfriend in. That was so cool!

We told Ed what was happening. He didn’t seem all that concerned. “Look on the bright side. This may be a chance to have something even better than what you have now. I take it Connie, that you know the food business. Fine, look in the Massena paper. There are two restaurants that are looking for managers right this minute and one of them is here in Potsdam. I’ve been trying to think of a way to persuade Roger and Erline to stay in the area near me.”

“But Ed, our home is in Ogdensburg. I wouldn’t think of moving.”

“Home is just a house that you have made into a home. Take this house, I bet if you owned it you could make it into a home if you lived here. I’ll make you a deal. If you get work here, I will sell you this house and you don’t have to pay until your other house is sold.”

“What about Roger and Erline? They live here already.”

“Oh, don’t worry about them. They had plans to look for a little ranch in Ogdensburg when they got there. They can look here just as well.”

I looked at Connie and she shrugged as if to say, “Maybe it would work.”

Ed had more to say. “Roger and Erline, I’d like to make a deal with you too. Millie owned a three acre lot outside of town. It is grown over with brush. At one time before the Seaway went in, it was part of a productive farm and good cropland. It is dry with no swampy areas. If the land was cleared it could be built on. I bet it would be a nice place for a restaurant like you are planning.

“The deal...if you will take care of me until I die and put me down beside my Millie, I will give you a deed to the property. I don’t think I am up to living alone again and this would keep me out of a nursing home before I’m ready for one. This doesn’t mean I might not have to, but I want to stay out of one as long as possible. Think all this over amongst yourselves.”

                                 ___________________

So it came to pass. Ed lived to eat at the table nearest the kitchen where the action always is. Henry was always proud of my cooking and recipes and totally happy with his new wife. He looked down on the truck drivers I still associated with, that is until I suggested he ride with them for a week. I arranged through dispatch for him to go from here to Denver and back. With respect for the drivers, he bragged about that trip the rest of his days.

Cecee (Celine) became a loving grandmother to our twin boys and a year later to a little girl. She still collects shoes and goes and gives a talk at the yearly shoe convention. Henry said the only time he ever saw her cry was the fifth year she went to the convention. She was presented in appreciation with a pair of shoes worn by Josephine Bonaparte, provenance included. She is still my best friend.

I never met Tom Jones, Erline’s ex-husband. We heard he changed his ways after flirting with one of the bank’s customers. An irate husband showed him the error of his ways. Oh well, he never wanted kids anyway.

Those recipes I was always trying out, refining and serving? There is a book of the best ones coming out soon. Guaranteed to make you satisfied, feel full and maybe lose a little weight. My father-in-law did.

The curve balls that were thrown at me? I think I was able to take care of them. Some of them I hit out of the park.

The End