One night in late August after dinner, Tim had lit a fire in the huge fireplace. They were sitting in the living room, having drinks by the fire. Robyn had gone off to her bedroom, where she was chatting on the ham radio with her friend in Tahiti, and would be there for hours.
“Tim, Izzy and I really do appreciate your hospitality,” Holly said tentatively.
“I knew this was coming,” Tim sighed, sitting down on the big leather easy chair. He looked over at both of them, and didn’t say a word, face calm and not revealing a thing.
“Tim, it’s not easy saying this.”
“You’re both leaving. I kind of figured it was going to be soon, the way you two have been acting.”
“This isn’t easy, Tim,” Izzy said. “But we all knew we would be leaving at some point.”
“No, it isn’t easy. When are you going?”
“We’ll be leaving at the end of the week,” Holly said. “We’d like to take one of your Hum-Vees, if that’s ok.”
“Yeah, I got three. I can only drive one at a time,” he said with a rueful smile.
“Have you told Robyn yet?” Tim looked right into Holly’s eyes. “Because I think she’ll be devastated. She adores you both.”
“No, I was going to do that tonight,” Holly replied.
“Well, you’d better do that right now,” Tim said, pointing to the stairs. Holly got up and climbed the stairs. When she was out of sight, he turned to Izzy, “I understand why you’ve got to, Iz, but I don’t have to like it.”
“We both know that, Tim,” he said with a sigh. “We really don’t want to go either. It’s just, well… we have to.”
“And here I just learned how to cook for more than two people,” he said, with a sad chuckle, looking away. “You know, it’s just not me. I’m thinking of Robyn. She really does adore you two. You’re like family to her… you’re family to us.”
“Tim, have you ever been driving, and just decide to turn off somewhere you had no intention of turning, but not know why? You just had to go there?”
“You know the answer to that. It’s how I found Robyn. I’ve told you the story.” It’s also how I found The Football, he didn’t add. He hadn’t told them of that.
“I know, and that’s my point. Holly and I have to go there. It’s like it’s calling us and neither of us can explain it. We really don’t want to leave here, we have to.”
“Do you have the GPS coordinates for it?” Tim asked after a pause.
“Yes. Holly told me them. I’ve tried to find it on maps from the library, but it doesn’t show anything there.”
“Could I have them, please?” Tim asked, getting a small note pad and pencil. Izzy gave them to him from memory, and Tim wrote them down and stood. “I’ll be right back,” he said, and walked through the kitchen and down to the basement. He came back up after a short while, and sat back down in the easy chair.
Izzy looked at him with a puzzled expression on his face.
“Just want to check on something,” he said, and Izzy knew Tim wasn’t going to elaborate, so he left it go.
A tearful Robyn came bounding down the stairs just then, right into Tim’s lap, arms around his neck, and buried her face into his shoulder. “Daddy!” she cried, and Tim hugged her tightly.
“I know, baby. I know,” he said, sighing and closing his eyes.
Holly came down right behind her and walked over to the easy chair, kneeling down beside it, and putting her arms around both of them. She’d been crying too, it looked like. Izzy became teary eyed as well as he looked at them. They looked like a perfect family, and he was deeply saddened that he and his wife never had children. It wasn’t like they hadn’t tried, they had. Izzy was sterile, he later found out. Now here was something beautiful, and in a few short days it was going to be gone forever.
“Everybody I ever loved gets taken away!” Robyn wailed. “Uncle Jake, Mama, now Holly and Izzy!” she said, followed by another round of crying.
“Honey, we both knew they would have to leave someday,” Tim sad, rocking her gently.
“But I thought they’d change their minds!”
“So did I. But remember a long time ago, I told you that someday you were going to have to make the real hard decisions, the ones you really didn’t want to have to make? Well, this is one of those times, baby. We don’t have to like it, but we do have to accept it.”
“It’s so hard!”
“I know. Now come on, let’s get you to bed,” he said, lifting her up to her feet. He took her hand and led her up the stairs, disappearing onto the second floor. Holly went over and sat next to Izzy, and put her head on his shoulder. He put his arm around her, and she began to cry.
“I know it was hard. But you had to do it,” Izzy said.
“I never, ever want to have to do that again, Iz. The look on her face tore my bloody heart out.”
“Tim’s not showing it, but it’s tearing him apart too,” Izzy said.
“Typical man,” she laughed through the tears. She sat up and wiped her eyes. They sat like that together and watched the fire, which was slowly burning down, forgotten. Tim came back down the stairs, and into the living room after a while.
“I think she’ll be okay after a while. She’s in shock right now, really. She’ll cry herself to sleep tonight and be her old self in the morning.”
“I hope so, Tim,” Holly said, and stood.
Izzy stood also. “I think I’ll retire and leave you two alone. Good night,” he said, and wandered up the stairs. Holly looked at Tim through red, teary eyes, then came over and put her arms around him tightly, burying her face in his chest. She didn’t say a word, just held on, and he hugged her back. They stood there for a few minutes, then she pulled away, looking up at him. “Let’s go to bed, soldier,” she said, with a sad smile.
They went to the master bedroom, and Tim brushed his teeth, undressed and climbed into bed, watching Holly through the open door to the bathroom as she pulled her hair from the ponytail she’d had it tied in and brushed it out. She saw him staring at her through the reflection in the mirror and smiled. When she was done, she turned off the light and came into the bedroom, undressing and climbing under the sheets. Tim turned off the bedside lamp, as she cuddled up next to him, her arm around his chest.
“God how I love these sheets,” she said.
“Fifteen hundred thread count, pure Egyptian cotton. Survival after the end of the world is easy when money is no object,” he said, holding her tightly.
“Aye, tis’ true!”
“Would you like to fraternize with me in an unlawful manner, Flight Leftenant MacFarland?”
“Are you trying to seduce me, Sergeant Major?”
“Well, you are an officer, and I a lowly enlisted man, and there are rules you know,” he said gravely.
“Aye, but I like breaking the rules,” she said, giggling. He rolled over on top of her, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. “I think we’ll both get court martials for this,” she added, and kissed him deeply.
“And we’ll be drummed out of the Corps.”
“Drummed out, heads hanging in shame,” she said, and gasped as he found the spot…
After it was over, they fell asleep entangled with each other, and woke the next morning to the smell of coffee brewing. They got up sleepily, dressed, and went down to find Izzy at the table eating toast and Robyn in the kitchen making waffles.
“It smells divine,” Holly said, and went to Robyn to help her. Tim poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down.
“I’d give anything for some eggs and bacon,” he said.
“Daddy, we have plenty of powdered eggs.”
“I mean real eggs. And bacon,” Tim said.
“We did try those duck eggs once,” Robyn said, making a gagging noise, and Tim laughed.
“Yeah, we did. Not going to do that again,” Tim said, and turned to Izzy, who had a questioning look on his face. “We found these duck eggs in a nest. Thought, hey we’ll t
ry them. Every single last one of them was fertilized.”
“Oh, I can see where that would spoil the appetite”
Robyn and Holly brought over the food when they were done, sat it on the table, and sat down.
“Typical men, leave all the cooking to the women,” she said, with mock severity.
“Now wait just a minute!” Tim said. “Who cooks dinner and kills the tasty animals we eat?”
“He’s got a point, Holly,” Robyn said.
“Aye, I’ll give you this one,” Holly said, and took a bite of waffle smothered in margarine and fake maple syrup. “I had an idea this morning,” she said, after chewing.
“Yeah?” Tim asked, eyebrow raised.
“Robyn and I will go to Flagstaff today for a ‘girls only’ shopping outing.”
“Oh, I don’t like that at all,” Tim said.
“That sounds like fun!” Robyn burst out. “Come on, Daddy! We’ll be alright!”
He put down his knife and fork and closed his eyes, knowing he wasn’t going to win this argument. Against all his better judgment, he relented. “Okay. You guys go. But take the hand held radio, leave it on and keep it with you at all times. And stay together.”
“And I’ll take my American Express Card,” Robyn giggled.
After they were finished with breakfast, Holly and Robyn went to their rooms, changed into jeans and t-shirts, bringing jackets just in case. Robyn came down with an M4 carbine across her back and a pistol belt with two canteens and a magazine pouch.
“She does know how to accessorize,” he said to Izzy, winking. Holly came down a minute later wearing basically the same thing, her hair back in a ponytail. She looked naked without a gun.
“You can’t go out like that,” he said, disappearing into another room, and coming back holding a small box. It was about the size of a hardback book, and had a red bow tied around it. “Here, I was saving this for Christmas or something. You might as well have it now.”
She smiled as she opened the box, then her eyes grew wide. “Where on Earth did you find this?” she finally said, picking up what was inside. It was a Belgian Browning Hi-Power 9mm pistol, exactly like what was issued to the British military.
“I found it in the gun shop in town. Figured since you guys didn’t have any firepower, you’d like a little something you were familiar with.”
“You bloody Yanks, giving pistols as gifts!”
“Just call it an insurance policy. At least I’ll feel better with you having it.”
“Thank you,” she said, and kissed him. She quickly loaded it and placed it in the waistband of her jeans. Turning to Robyn, she said, “Are you ready to go?”
“Yes. I’ll drive, I know the way.” She walked out the door with Holly behind her.
“You can drive?” Holly asked.
“Sure. I even drove a tank once,” Tim heard Robyn say with a giggle as the screen door closed. Tim rolled his eyes and looked over to Izzy, who was smiling.
“You have let her off on her own before, Tim.”
“Yes, but not all the way to Flagstaff. Sure, she’s been out all over the place around here by herself, but never this far.”
“You sound like a worrying, overprotective dad,” Izzy said, ribbing him.
“I sound that way, because that’s exactly what I am.”
“They will be alright. Let’s make ourselves busy and clean up the kitchen, shall we?”
They cleaned up the kitchen, and afterwards Izzy excused himself to read a book, so Tim went to the barn and fired up the diesel engine on the log splitter, then spent the rest of the day splitting the wood he’d cut earlier in the summer, stacking it neatly, and worrying about Robyn and Holly. It was around four PM when he decided to call it quits, his frustrations spent on five cords of wood. He showered and dressed in clean clothes, then went out to sit on the porch, smoke his pipe, and fret some more.
Izzy came outside holding a beer and sat down in the chair next to Tim. The sun was sinking low behind the pine trees to the west, long shadows growing across the meadow, and Tim was sitting there, gazing down the dirt track, open beer sitting forgotten on the table between the chairs next to the radio.
“If you’re that worried, why don’t you call them on the radio?” Izzy asked.
“If I do that I’d sound even more like a worrywart than I already am.”
“Suit yourself,” Izzy said, taking a pull of his beer. When he sat the bottle down, they heard sounds of an engine. Tim stood up and walked to the railing to see the Hum-Vee emerge from the trees. It pulled up in front of the house, and both women climbed out, laughing.
“It’s about time,” Tim said, with mock severity.
“Oh, Daddy, you’re such a worrywart!” Robyn giggled. They were both carrying large bags, and laughing conspiratorially. “So what did you guys get?”
“I can’t tell you, it’s a secret!”
“Aye, and if we told you, then we’d have to kill you,” Holly said.
Both girls breezed by him and went inside the house. Tim turned to Izzy and just stared, and Izzy burst out into laughter. “You’re a big help,” he grumbled, pouring out his warm beer and going inside.
As they ate dinner that night, the two women continued to share glances, and would burst into fits of giggles from time to time, driving Tim absolutely bonkers. After dinner, they disappeared into Robyn’s room, leaving Izzy and Tim to fend for themselves. They cleaned up the dishes and the kitchen, and watched a documentary about the War of 1812. When that was over, Tim excused himself and retired to bed, exhausted from a day of log splitting and worrying for nothing. He sat up for a while reading a book, but after the fifth time he’d read the same paragraph, decided to turn off the light and go to sleep. As he put his book down, Holly came into the room.
“I was just turning off the light,” he said, smiling.
“Give me a moment and I’ll join you,” she winked at him, and went into the bathroom. She came out a few minutes later, and smiling, undressed and climbed into bed. Tim turned off the light and held her close. “So, I take it you girls had a nice time today?”
Aye! That we did.”
“So how much would this have cost me if we still actually had to use money?”
“You know the saying, the one that goes ‘if you have to ask the price, you probably can’t afford it’?” she said with an evil grin, and he groaned. She ran her hand down his stomach, and then lower, and he groaned some more.
The next day, Robyn and Holly took off early and went out into the woods, leaving Tim and Izzy alone to fend for themselves again. They busied themselves with the preparation of dinner. Tim wanted it to be a special one, this being Izzy’s and Holly’s last night with them, and had hauled out a huge turkey from the chest freezer he’d shot earlier in the year and was saving for Thanksgiving. He set it out to thaw early in the morning, hoping it’d be ready in time. He spent the rest of the morning and half the afternoon getting everything ready, and around four PM, the turkey was ready for the oven.
“Iz, I hope you’re not too hungry. It’ probably won’t be ready until around seven thirty or eight o’clock.”
“That’s quite alright, Tim. Anytime is fine for one of your wonderful meals. Sure beats eating canned soups or beef stew.”
“I know what you mean,” he agreed, and saw the girls coming up the porch steps. They came inside, said a quick hello, and said they’d be down shortly, rushing upstairs. Tim said he would call them when dinner was ready.
At 7:45 Tim opened the oven, pulled out the turkey, and the aroma wafted through the house. He set it up on a cutting board, carving it perfectly, and getting the sides ready, put them in bowls on the table. He had two bottles of wine chilling in the fridge, and one in an ice bucket on the table. Everything was ready, and Tim looked at his watch.
“Tim, haven’t you ever learned that when a man says he’ll be five minutes, he means five minutes, and when a woman says five minutes, she means an hour?”
&nb
sp; Tim laughed and walked to the bottom of the staircase to yell up to them. A muffled reply was heard, and Tim, grumbling, came back and stood at the table. Izzy was leaning against the kitchen counter sipping a beer. A few moments later they heard a door open, and footsteps coming down the stairs. When Holly and Robyn got down to the bottom, Tim was slack jawed and speechless. Izzy just let out a long whistle.
Robyn was dressed in a black evening gown, hair in a French braid down her back, makeup done perfectly, and wearing matching high heel pumps, in which she stood quite wobbly. Holly had her hair in an up-do, and had on a jade green evening gown that matched her eyes, and her makeup was perfect too. They both looked stunning. They could have been entering a fine restaurant in Paris or a high fashion modeling shoot, they looked that good.
“Doctor Ginsberg,” Tim said, not taking his eyes off the two beauties across the table from him. “I do believe we’re underdressed for this dinner engagement.”
Tim walked around and kissed them both, then held out their chairs for them. When he was close enough to Robyn where she could, she whispered in his ear, “Daddy, she had me shave my legs!” with a scrunched look on her face.
When they were both seated, Tim motioned for Izzy to sit down, and poured them all some wine.
Izzy held up his glass, “I propose a toast!”
“I make a toast to the most beautiful girls in the world!” Tim said, his eyes lingering on Holly, whose eyes were sparkling gleefully.
“Here, here!” Izzy said, and took a sip.
Tim started passing the food to the right, and looked over at the women again. “I’ve got to say, you two look stunning!”
“Thank you, Daddy,” Robyn said blushing. “I feel, well… I feel all grown up.”
“You are, Pumpkin,” he said. He turned to Izzy. “Let the girls out shopping, and they run up the credit cards.”
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