by Megan Rivers
I creased my brow. This guy wasn’t going to give up. “Ah, yes, yes,” I began. “Ohnly im-port-tant people gets zee own person-ale trahns-lay-tore.”
“Who is he, then?” he asked, intrigued. Meanwhile, Galvin straightened the collar on his jacket and put on an heir of importance. I suppressed a good-humored sigh.
After a few seconds of studying this man, I turned to Galvin; he owed me big for this. “Zappa liken hitcha booster?” I asked him, wondering where those words came from.
Galvin looked directly into my eyes and, with a nod, replied, “Booben.”
I nodded back at him and faced the stranger again, still amazed that I was keeping a straight face. “Vee dahn’t vant dees to get oot, boot ‘e is Preens Tucket frahm Croak-ee-toh-ah, veesiting Ah-mere-ee-kah.”
“Wow, that’s excellent.” He turned to Galvin and offered his hand, “Pleasure to meet you.”
Galvin glared at the man. “Fritchel zippen koogen!” Galvin said in disgust, taking two steps backwards.
I quickly grabbed the man’s hand and said, “Um, yes, een our con-tree, theese hand theeng is no goot. Ah, you 'ave jahst insahlted ‘is excellencee.”
“Oh,” he looked from Galvin to me. “I’m terribly sorry, please tell him―”
“Gushter poonapple ahben,” Galvin muttered, turning away and crossing his hands over his chest.
I looked at Galvin, lifted my eyebrows (suppressing another smile) and put my attention on the poor man. “Yes, ah I theenk eet vould be beast if vee go now. Pease. Dank you.”
“Yes, of course, I’m sorry to bother you.” A bit worried, he gave Galvin one last look and quickly walked away.
When the man was out of sight I nearly fell over in laughter. “Never do that to me again!” I exclaimed in a rage of giggles, playfully slapping him on the arm.
“Me? You! I can’t believe you kept going! That was priceless!” He wiped away a tear and we laughed until our sides hurt, reliving different parts of the conversation.
Galvin was always so much fun to be around when it was just us. He seemed to put up a wall when cameras were around; he was afraid that they'd capture something he didn't want to share with the world. He was very charming around strangers, but guarded. I think he thought he had to live that way as a price to pay for loving music the way he did.
XIII.
Calm, Before the Storm.
“All That Good” – Entrain
Throughout the next three days, Galvin joined us as easily as two drops of water through our everyday routines. I woke up one morning to find Meadow and Galvin on opposite ends of the kitchen table. “Stie! Look what I learned to do!” Meadow exclaimed as she saw me enter the kitchen. Galvin tossed a piece of a broken Oreo in an arch across the table and Meadow caught it in her mouth.
“I love your boyfriend,” she said chewing the Oreo piece. “I shall keep him and name him 'Vin.” She mulled it over and took a swig of milk. “My Fri-bro, Vin.” She nodded at her cleverness.
Galvin rose from the table to kiss me good morning. I smiled still finding the sight of him a bit surreal. “Oh my gosh!” Meadow exclaimed. “Your Hollywood name would be Stie-Vin!”
“I'm not sure that's how it works.” I smiled and poured a cup of coffee. “Where is everyone?”
“They're at the hall, meeting the table people,” Meadow informed getting up to put her glass and plate in the dishwasher. “We have a list of things to do.” She pointed to a sheet of paper with Kevin's handwriting sprawled all over it.
Kevin usually held a New Year’s Eve party that he had put on every year since Meadow’s mother died. “When Mom died, he was very depressed,” Meadow admitted to me once. “I was only seven, but I knew something was wrong―he just wasn’t happy. I told him, ‘Let’s have a party. Parties always make people happy.’ It was a small party the first year, mainly family that came by to make sure we were holding up. As the years went by it grew and more people attended, it’s become a legend in its own right. It helped him get his life back and it’s been tradition ever since.”
This year they combined it with an engagement party and moved it from the house to a hall just outside downtown. They had set a date for April first.
“Store, bakery, dry cleaners,” I began reading off the list. “We have to do all this by five o'clock?”
“Piece of cake!” Meadow said waving her hand. She glanced at the microwave clock. “Here's the plan,” she began, rubbing her hands together, then ran down the hall and called back, “last one to the car sits in the back!”
Galvin lifted his eyebrow at me then sprinted down the hallway after Meadow. Knowing I was doomed to be squished between boxes, bags, supplies and dry cleaning, I took my time. I met them in the car twenty minutes later, changed, with an English muffin and a fresh cup of coffee in my hands.
Several cramped hours later, we walked back into the house after dropping all the supplies at the hall and helping Mom with the decorations. Meadow immediately took me by the hand and started pulling me up the stairs. “You heard my dad, we have to be ready by the time he gets here!” she reminded us.
“But we have like an hour and a half,” I said trying to detach her hand from my arm.
“Yeah!” she exclaimed, stopping half way up the stairs. “Only!” She turned to Galvin who was still standing at the bottom of the stairs, carefully balancing his leather jacket on the mounting coat rack. “Sorry Vin, but I have to steal my Frister, but I'll bribe you―her for the left over turkey sandwich in the fridge.”
“Done!” Galvin said without hesitation and started to make his way to the kitchen.
“Hey!” I called after him, pretending to be offended (I would have chosen food too).
“I love you!” he called back over his shoulder.
Prior to that night I had only been to one formal dance in my life. A colleague of my mom’s had a son who couldn’t find a date for his senior prom and asked me if I would be his date. Me, a not-yet fourteen year old, accompany an eighteen year old man to his prom? Hell yes I’d go!
Of course the night ended up a disaster. I had to buy my formal dress at a thrift store and it definitely screamed 1980s. My date was a nervous, scrawny guy who spent the entire night against the wall with his friends. I sat on the stairs outside the bathroom because no one wanted to be seen with the thirteen year old girl imported straight from 1985.
Therefore I had a right to be extremely nervous that New Years Eve night. I had never slow danced with a boy before and I had never worn heels either (never mind that they were barely an inch in height). Meadow let me borrow her silver dress that I spent so many evenings adoring and she pinned my hair in a curly up-do with an entire can of hairspray.
When Meadow popped into the shower, Mom had peeked her head through the bedroom door. Words caught in my throat when I saw her―she didn’t even look like my mother. She borrowed a black gown from one of her friends in the International Affairs office at the university and had just gotten her hair professionally styled. She was refined, elegant, and so classically beautiful it was as if she had stepped out of an old black and white movie. I again caught myself wishing that one day I would look as stunning as she did. “You look beautiful,” I said in awe.
Mom smiled. “Thank you, honey. I just wanted to let you know we're leaving in half an hour, tell Meadow to shake a leg.”
“Okay.” I turned away and sat back down on the bed.
“Are you all right?” she asked walking into the room.
“Yeah,” I smiled reassuringly, “just nervous I guess.”
She came in to sit across from me on the desk chair. The short lace overlay on the hem of her dress fell over her knees and I noticed that her shoes had tiny silver heart pendants above the open toe. She reached out to touch my arm, “Honey, you are a gorgeous, smart, young woman, you have nothing to be nervous about.”
“I know,” I said touching her hand.
“Listen, how's about we have a Jammie Day when Galvin leaves? We have
a lot to talk about and a lot to catch up on―just you and me?”
I nodded with a grin. “It's a date.”
“Good, now, tell Meadow to kick it into gear.” She stood up and pulled me up with her. I stole a hug from her and breathed in her familiar scent. “Oh, I love you honey,” she said and rubbed my back.
“Ditto.” I suddenly felt a lot better. “I'll make sure Meadow's downstairs in twenty minutes.”
“Thanks, hun.” She waved back as she disappeared into the hallway.
Several minutes later I was helping Meadow pin back her gelled curls with a silver butterfly clip when the doorbell rang. “Meadow, hurry it up!” I heard my mother's voice travel from downstairs.
“Beauty's never late!” Meadow called down the hall then turned to me, frantic. “Where are my freaking shoes? Dad hates it when I'm running late!”
I scooped a pair of strappy white shoes from beneath the foot of her bed and gave them to her. “I'll go downstairs and buy you some time,” I said heading out the door.
“Thank you, Stie!” she called and I caught a glimpse of her clumsily putting on her shoes and stumbling into her dresser as I left the room.
As I carefully descended the stairs, I saw Meadow's date, Dorian, sitting on the couch with Galvin and Kevin sitting in the chairs across from him. Mom was rummaging through her purse on the credenza looking for something. Kevin and Galvin were asking Dorian questions and he answered in short, nervous answers while Mom exclaimed that she needed to find a camera.
I paused on the stairs to soak in the moment and everyone in it. I felt my cheeks pulling my lips into a smile, revealing my toothy grin. I had a family. I had Galvin with me. Everything was so wonderfully natural, I didn't want it to ever end.
“Ready!! I'm ready!!” Meadow announced as she came galloping down the stairs, passing me up. Everyone looked towards the staircase. She popped into the living room, breathless, holding a wrap, purse, camera, and a can of hairspray in her hands.
I'm sure Dorian came over to say hi and Meadow rolled her eyes at her father and mom snapped a few pictures, but when Galvin's eyes met mine, everything else dissolved in the background.
I forgot how to breathe at that moment―he actually was breathtaking. You could hardly notice him as Galvin Kismet without his jeans, t-shirt, and leather jacket. He rose from his chair, passing through the sea of Meadow's attention, and stopped at the bottom of the staircase. His smile melted my heart. When I reached the last stair we stood eye-to-eye. “You are absolutely breathtaking,” he said and kissed me on the cheek.
I couldn't tear my eyes from his, nor form coherent words. “Shall we?” he asked, offering me the crook of his elbow and led me to the car.
IX.
Happy Yellow Galoshes .
“BS #13” – David Garrett
For the first few songs of the night I was still standing next to Mom and Kevin being introduced to certain guests and welcoming others while Galvin chatted with Dorian near the hors d'oeuvres. I didn’t mind. Secretly, I was scared to death of stepping out onto that dance floor. After all, I only knew of the chicken dance and I had never successfully made it through the hokey pokey.
At eight o’clock I was talking to one of my mother's past students, Amy, when Galvin interrupted. “Excuse me,” he smiled at Amy apologetically and turned to me, “would you like to dance?” He held out his hand as an invitation. You know how most people are afraid of heights or spiders? Not me. Bring on the skyscrapers and arachnids; just don’t put me on the dance floor!
Meadow had been dancing for the past hour with different people and she seemed to be having the time of her life. She was definitely in her element. I was too embarrassed to ever tell Galvin that the only time I ever officially slow danced in my life was with a teddy bear when I was six and that he might lose all his toes in one song. “I'll take good care of you, I promise,” he said as I tentatively took his hand.
When we stepped onto the dance floor, where only a handful of couples were dancing, I suddenly lost all intellect in me and I couldn’t remember what I was supposed to do; I literally froze. There had to be so many people along the walls watching, waiting for me to screw up. My eyes widened in fear, my arms were tense and I think I might have crushed Galvin’s hand in fear.
But he smiled, that most wonderful, amazing, beautiful smile that always put me at ease. He put my right arm on his shoulder, grabbed my other hand, pulled me close, and knew exactly what to do. Leaning down so he could whisper, I smelled him and felt his warmth. He was so close to my ear I could hear only his voice. “Baby, it’s cold outside,” he sung low and softly.
I closed my eyes and barely whispered in response, “I really can’t stay.”
I felt us moving but I continued to stay hidden behind my eyelids. “Baby, it’s cold outside,” he said and I could feel his warm breath as his mouth still hovered above my ear.
“I’ve got to get away.” I said it more to myself than to him.
He pulled me closer to his chest. “But baby it’s cold outside.”
My eyebrows pulled together and I feared that if I opened my mouth again my courage would escape through it.
Galvin lifted my chin with his finger and smiled when it made me open my eyes. “Been hoping that you’d drop in.”
His smile was an anesthetic that loosened my tense muscles, but I still didn’t dare open my mouth. I let myself get lost in Galvin’s vibrant, passionate, warm eyes.
“I’ll hold your hands, they’re just like ice.” I felt him move his hand from my hip to the small of my back and we spun.
“I wish I knew how.” The corner of my mouth twitched, almost pulling into a smile.
His eyes latched onto my gaze. “Your eyes are like starlight now.” Through a crooked smile he said, “Baby, you’re doing swell.”
I kept my eyes locked with his, sending us to our own little bubble, our own universe. Every evil nerve that made me a frozen, terrified block of ice had dissolved and synchronization was molded into its place. My feet moved―I’m not sure how―without smashing Galvin’s toes. I didn’t stumble or trip. I felt Galvin’s warm arm curled around my waist while the other delicately held mine, his fingers tapping on my knuckles with the music. My other hand cupped around his shoulder, so close to his inviting neck.
A smile finally broke across my lips as the music we danced to slowly filtered into our world. “Does this make it our song?” My voice was quiet, not wanting to interrupt the harmony in our world.
His eyes still didn’t dare to leave mine. “We don’t have a song, we have a whole album.” I drunk in his response and wafted through my memories to find a song that fit us.
After a few silent moments, Galvin asked, “Do you think it should be?”
I felt the cuff of his tuxedo brush across my wrist and his breath traveled down my face with his question. Galvin’s face moved closer to mine until it was only centimeters away.
“If this isn’t perfect, it has to be close.” And we stayed on the dance floor, locked together, until Kevin cut in (I'm sure due to my mother's paranoia).
Midnight began to creep up on us. Everyone started to count down, “Ten, nine, eight…” and the whole time I watched Galvin, wondering what it would be like the next time we counted down the New Year.
Where would we be? Would we be here? Germany? What would the next year bring to us? To my family? What would my plans be with a semester left of high school?
In a single instant it was here and everyone yelled “HAPPY NEW YEAR!” and began singing, Auld Lang Syne while releasing confetti poppers and noisemakers sounded. Without even thinking about it I grabbed Galvin by the neck and laid one right on him. I was so overwhelmed with love and joy and happiness at that moment that I just couldn’t help myself. He grabbed me around the waist with a smile and put his forehead against mine as we sang along.
He pulled me into a corner, dancing through the energetic crowd. What was I so worried about when it came to dancing? It was a p
iece of cake! “I wanted to ask you something,” he said as we nestled into a quiet nook.
“Shoot,” I said noticing how his hair was beginning to fall into his face again.
“Samuel called a few days before Christmas.” I lifted my eyebrows, nodding. “He told us that we've been nominated for four Grammys.”
“Galvin!” I exclaimed, “That's wonderful!”
He bit his lip to try and hide a smile. “I get to bring a date,” he said and my smile grew larger. “And I already talked to your mom about it. Would you like to go with me in February?”
The fact that he had taken the time to talk it through with my mother made my eyes become glassy. I nodded profusely and reached up to embrace his neck. I was so happy that we wouldn't have to wait too long to see each other again; that we would have a plan before he flew to LA in two days. He tucked a piece of hair behind my ear before our lips met again.
We pulled apart when we heard the clinking of glasses. I wiped my eyes and Galvin stood behind me with his arms around my waist. Kevin was standing near the DJ, beside my mother, tapping his glass with a fork. When he had the majority of everyone's attention he put down the glass and picked up a microphone.
“Happy New Year. I just wanted to thank everyone for coming to our celebration,” Kevin started, beaming. “You know, ten years ago I lost my wife and Meadow lost her mother and she was only seven years old. To help us get through, Meadow, dressed in her yellow galoshes and tutu,” he waved to Meadow as people chuckled (she curtsied, dramatically), “asked if we could have a party to make us happy again. Ten years ago my brothers Paul and Brad showed up with their families and we ate pizza in the living room.” He raised his glass towards his brothers and smiled.
“Each year the party grew as we began to heal. Today I'm happy to announce that Meadow and I will be adding to our family. This beautiful woman by my side is my fiance, Cindy. She and her brilliant, beautiful, daughter Christie,” he scanned the crowd and waved at me, “will marry into our family on April first.