Peculiar Treasures

by Robin Jones Gunn

  “It’s still normal, Katie. Don’t worry. Rick went to Arizona with Josh yesterday. He came over to ask Todd to pick up his mail.”

  “Didn’t his new roommate move in yet?”

  “I guess he hasn’t. I don’t know. All I know is that Rick told us he was leaving messages on your phone, but you were out of range or something.”

  “It’s worse than that. I left my phone on the whole time I was gone. The battery died. Now something’s wrong because it won’t charge. I can’t listen to any of my messages. The phone store is my first stop after I leave here.”

  “Do you think you might be able to come over tonight, then?” Christy asked.

  Katie nodded. “Is 7:30 okay?”

  “Perfect.” Christy’s nutmeg brown hair was pulled back, and she was wearing a button-down, royal blue blouse with a crisply pressed collar. Her blue-green eyes stood out. Katie remembered how Rick used to call Christy “Killer Eyes.” If he were here today, he undoubtedly would pull that nickname out of the past.

  “May I borrow your cell phone?” Katie asked.

  “Sure.”

  “I want to call Rick before he forgets who I am.”

  “You know what? Just keep my phone the rest of the day and bring it over to the apartment tonight. If anyone calls for me, you can let the voice mail pick it up.”

  “Great. Thanks, Chris. That helps a lot. I’ll see you tonight.” Katie dashed out to Baby Hummer, punching in Rick’s cell phone number. She got his voice mail.

  “Hey, it’s me. My phone is having a personal crisis. I’m on my way to buy a new battery for it now. Call me back on Christy’s phone. I’m hoping my phone will be recovered within the hour and that you’re having a great time with your brother. Arizona, huh? So, you’ll have to tell me all about it. And I’ll tell you all about Catalina when — ”

  The voice mail recording cut her off and announced she had exceeded the limit for a message.

  “Okay, fine.” Katie put Christy’s cell phone in her cup holder. She was almost to the phone store when the phone rang. Assuming Rick was calling back, she answered with, “Hey, how are you? I miss you something awful.”

  “Katie?”

  “Todd? Sorry. I thought you were Rick!”

  “That’s okay. I miss you something awful too.”

  “Very funny. My phone is dead, so I borrowed Christy’s for the afternoon. She’s at work. But then you probably knew that.”

  “Yeah. So, how was Catalina? Rick said you went over there for your training retreat.”

  “Catalina was amazing. We should all go camping there sometime. I loved it. It’s pretty rugged, and the campground where we stayed was remote; so we had to hike in, but I loved it.”

  “Did you stay at the one on Mt. Orizaba?”

  “Yeah. Have you been there?”

  “No. I checked it out one time for a youth retreat.”

  “Well, if you ever decide to take a group over there, I’d love to go back.”

  “Okay, cool.”

  “I’ll see you tonight,” Katie said. “I’m coming over around 7:30.”

  “Cool again. Is Rick back from Arizona?”

  “No. At least, not that I know. I just left him a message.”

  “It’s wild how everything happened so fast with the building in Arizona. If anyone can get a business going from the ground up, it’s Rick.”

  “Yup. Rick, Rick, he’s our man. If he can’t do it, no one can.”

  “Was that a cheer or something from your high school days?” Todd asked.

  “Yup, again.” Katie was pulling into a parking space in front of the phone store and signed off saying, “I have to go, Todd. I’ll see you tonight.”

  Katie got out of the car but stopped in her tracks before entering the store. Did Todd just say Rick was going to get the Arizona café running from the ground up? How can Rick do that unless he moves to Arizona?

  Katie tried Rick’s number again. Voice mail answered again. Katie was about to leave a message along the lines of, “What’s this I hear about your moving to Arizona?” But she hung up without saying anything. It had been a wild week. A lot had happened to both of them. She hadn’t told Rick she was going to Catalina, so she hardly was in a position to jump all over him for not telling her about Arizona. He probably had left a bunch of messages on her phone. Once her battery was fixed she could listen to her voice mail, and then she would know what was going on.

  Unfortunately, Katie’s phone had bigger problems than a battery replacement. The salesman, whom Katie noted couldn’t have been more than eighteen years old yet acted as if he had invented the Internet, was adamant that she purchase a new phone. Yes, her phone was old. Yes, she hadn’t taken very good care of it, especially while it bumped around in the bottom of her backpack during the retreat. And, yes, she knew that even the least expensive new phone would have twice the power and options of her defunct unit.

  In spite of all those “yeses,” Katie said no and walked out in a huff without making a purchase. She couldn’t believe a new phone was her only option. She hated feeling pressured to make decisions that involved withdrawing a significant chunk of her limited funds. At moments like these Katie hated being what she called “alone in the world.” She was an adult, true, which meant she was responsible for her own decisions and for covering her expenses. But she hated not having anyone to turn to in moments like this.

  Rick had supportive parents, and Christy had her wealthy Aunt Marti and Uncle Bob as well as her parents. Katie knew it would be pointless to call her mom and tell her she needed a new cell phone. Her mother would likely say, “Why do you need one of those gadgets anyway? Don’t they give you phones in your room?”

  Katie’s attitude improved when she entered the Bargain Barn and looked through the bins of random items to fulfill the shopping list she and Nicole had come up with. Katie loved this crazy warehouse. She always found what she needed — and lots of things she didn’t need. The prices were rock bottom, and besides, she was shopping with money from the Crown Hall account this time. Craig had given her more than enough petty cash for the decorating items they needed.

  As Katie loaded her Bargain Barn plunder into the back of Baby Hummer, Christy’s cell phone rang. This time it was Rick.

  “Katie.” His voice sounded golden. “I can’t believe I finally got ahold of you.”

  “Rick, I miss you something crazy! I just found out you’re in Arizona. What’s happening? I haven’t been able to pick up any of your messages.”

  “I miss you, Katie,” he said slowly, as if they had all the time in the world to talk.

  “I miss you too.” She leaned against the side of her dirty car and turned her face up to the midmorning sun. Closing her eyes, she realized this was the first time in her busy week she had stopped to think about how much she actually did miss him.

  “I don’t think you and I have gone this long without seeing each other since last fall,” he said.

  “I know. I didn’t mean for it to turn out this way.”

  “Neither did I. This Arizona trip happened pretty fast. Some property opened up here in Tempe. My brother and Dad flew over a few days ago to have a look, and then they brought me here yesterday. We’re probably going to buy the building. The location is fantastic, and another buyer is lined up right behind us so we can’t afford to hesitate.”

  “Wow.”

  “I know. Unexpected, but definitely, as you would say, a God thing.”

  “And how is it all going to work?” Katie asked cautiously.

  “Do you mean will I have to move here?”

  “Yeah, that’s what I mean. I didn’t want to say the words aloud.”

  “I don’t know. We haven’t gotten that far. Carlos can run things at the Dove’s Nest without me. They need me here . . .”

  “Rick?”

  “Yes?”

  “Can we talk about this when you come back? Face-to-face? I’d rather have this conversation when we’re in the same
room.”

  “Okay.”

  There was a pause. Katie switched the phone to her other ear. “So, when are you coming back?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe in two or three days.”

  “Wow.”

  “You said that already.” Rick’s voice sounded deep, and if Katie wasn’t mistaken, he seemed sad.

  A tear rolled down her cheek right there in the Bargain Barn parking lot. Katie didn’t think it would be helpful to tell Rick she didn’t want him to move to Arizona. He might say something flippant the way she often was or repeat back to her one of her lines such as, “Learn to live with disappointment.”

  Instead of saying what she felt, Katie decided to guard her heart. The conversation lasted only a few more minutes before Rick said he had to go. He hung up without their discussing Carley’s being back at work or the odd incident of Rick and Carley’s trip to the movies together a week ago.

  Katie wasn’t sure the detailed answer to either of those questions would change how she felt. If she and Rick had been face-to-face, she might have decided to pick a decent fight over the Carley stuff. But why? None of that seemed to matter. She was content to shake it off. All the questioning and uncertainties had melted right along with her heart when she heard Rick’s voice and the way he said he missed her.

  The way I feel right now is a good gauge to measure how I really feel about Rick, right? Things have been so up and down with him. I need to see him. We need to have another DTR.

  Thinking about what she would say to him the next time he called, Katie realized she hadn’t told Rick her phone was beyond resuscitation. The next time he called, would she still have Christy’s phone?

  That was it. She needed a phone. Her phone. Today.

  Getting into the driver’s seat and revving up the engine, Katie drove directly to the phone store, stomped inside, and bought the best phone she could afford. She didn’t want to miss Rick’s next phone call.

  20

  Rick’s tour of duty in Arizona lasted until Thursday, the day before the new students were to start moving into the dorm. In the four days he was away, Katie and Nicole had gone all out preparing their hall. The two of them spent hours pouring their creative energy into the decorations.

  With Nicole’s creativity and Katie’s tenacity, they were an unstoppable machine. The theme they had agreed on for their floor was Peculiar Treasures. Katie couldn’t have been happier. Nicole was effusive whenever she told anyone about it.

  Nicole had an artist friend prepare a banner that went over the double doors opening to their floor. Both Katie and Nicole loved the font and colors the creative artist used. What they liked even more was the thought that every time anyone entered or exited their hall all year long, that person would pass beneath the Peculiar Treasures banner.

  For each of the women on the floor, Katie and Nicole prepared a small treasure chest, one of Katie’s fabulous finds at the funky Bargain Barn. Nicole and Katie filled the treasure chests with gold foil coins that had chocolate doubloons inside the circular wrapping. Another Bargain Barn special.

  Katie taste-tested the chocolate coins and made a face. “They’re edible but not exactly fresh.”

  “Maybe the women will consider them as decoration only. They’re too perfect not to use with our treasure theme,” Nicole said.

  “We’ll just tell them the taste puts the ‘peculiar’ into the phrase ‘Peculiar Treasures.’ ”

  In the midst of their creative efforts, Katie came up with an idea that Nicole hesitated over. Katie wanted to put up a picture wall like The Kissing Wall from last year, only Katie wanted to title this one “The Peculiar Treasures Wall.” Her idea was to put up all the Bible verses they could find in which God expressed his affection for his children and called them by a loving name.

  Nicole said some of the women would protest not having The Kissing Wall, but Katie convinced her that The Peculiar Treasures Wall went with their theme. Nicole finally agreed.

  Then Katie had to convince Nicole that the banner verse, which would appear directly under the “Peculiar Treasures” header, should be a phrase from Exodus 19:5 in the King James Version: “Ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people.”

  Nicole wasn’t sure about sticking with King James to keep the word “peculiar” in the verse. New translations used terms such as “special treasure” or “treasured possession.”

  “I really want to stick with ‘peculiar,’ ” Katie said. “For one thing, Christy’s grandmother was the one who told Christy that we were Peculiar Treasures, and I’m sure she only read the King James Version her whole life. None of these other paraphrases and translations was available way back when Christy’s grandmother was growing up. To me, it’s like a blessing, a legacy. I like the ‘ye’ and the ‘shall.’ Besides, we can put the same verse in the other versions on the wall too. Saying the same thing a variety of ways will only give a fuller picture of how God views us.”

  Nicole agreed again, and they set to work filling in the wall space with a variety of verses. In between the quotes, they left room for pictures. The plan was to take a photo of each woman the day she moved into the dorm and to put her photo up on the wall next to one of the verses.

  While Katie and Nicole were deep in their creative burrow, Rick remained in Arizona. He called several times each day, and a couple of times they talked for more than an hour. Katie felt as if they were getting back into a rhythm. A different rhythm than being in the same space for hours every day, but they were connected, and she was content.

  She loved teasing Rick that, every time he called, somewhere in the conversation he would say, “It’s so hot here.”

  The night before Rick came home, Katie saw his number on her dandy new cell phone screen and answered with, “Is this my regularly scheduled Arizona weather report?”

  “What?” Rick asked.

  “Let me guess. It’s hot there, right?”

  Rick laughed. “You got it. I don’t know how people live here, Katie. I go from the air-conditioned car to the air-conditioned building, but in between I’m walking on melting asphalt. The temperature readout on the bank across the street from me right now says it’s 103. It’s 8:30 at night!”

  “Yes, but it’s a dry heat, right?”

  “Don’t start with that. Dry heat is still heat. I’ve never drunk so much water in my life. It evaporates out of the bottle before I can drink it.”

  “I, for one, am thrilled that you don’t like it there.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because if you don’t like it in Tempe, that means you’ll try to come home as quickly as you can, and that makes me happy.”

  “Then you’ll be happy to know my flight leaves here at 8:30 tomorrow morning. I left my car at the airport in San Diego; so by the time I drive home, I’m thinking we could go out to lunch someplace pretty wonderful to make up for our being apart for two weeks.”

  “Ohh!”

  “Is that a happy-good oh or an I’ve-got-to-work oh?”

  “The latter. Tomorrow at noon is when the students start to move in. I’m going to be on duty for like forty-eight hours while Nicole and I help everyone settle into their rooms.”

  “Forty-eight hours? That puts us at lunch on Sunday. Should I make a reservation somewhere or wait to see if it’s a true forty-eight hours or more of a projected forty-eight hours?”

  “Better wait on the reservation. But don’t wait on coming by the dorm. You know where Crown Hall is, don’t you? You can come by while everyone is moving in and at least give me a big k — ” Katie almost, almost, almost said “kiss,” but she salvaged the moment by trying to turn the work into “hug.” It came out “kug.”

  “A big kug, huh?”

  “Yes, a big kug.” Katie smiled.

  “Are you smiling?” he asked.

  “How did you know?”

  “I can hear your smile over the phone, Katie Dear.”

  “Katie Dear? Ew.”
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  “Don’t bother to comment on that one. I’ll toss it out right now.”

  “Good choice, Rick Dear.”

  “Don’t mess with me, Katie,” he said with a playful laugh.

  “You started it, Rick Dear.”

  “I’m warning you!”

  “What? Warning me about what, Rick Dear? What are you going to do? Come home and what? Try to haul me out to the dumpster again?”

  Rick didn’t answer immediately.

  “I can hear you smiling,” she said.

  “Hold that thought,” Rick said. “I have to take this other call. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Can’t wait.”

  Nicole didn’t say a word about Katie’s conversation. She simply pulled out a pair of sunglasses and put them on even though they were sitting on the floor inside Nicole’s dorm room.

  “What are you doing?” Katie asked.

  “It’s a little bright in here,” Nicole said. “Someone, who shall remain unnamed, is radiating a whole lot of sunbeams of lo-o-o-ve.”

  Katie cracked up. She and Nicole were getting along great. Rick would be home soon, and the two of them could pick up where they had left off. Life was sweet.

  The next morning Nicole and Katie were ready for what Katie called the arrival of the happy campers. The two of them had taken off the night before at 8:30 and hit a discount clothing store that closed at 9:00. In twenty minutes both of them found new tops to wear for their first official day as Crown Hall North RAs.

  Neither of them needed a new top, but the thrill of the hunt, on the clock, and the subsequent success was an exercise that jollied up both of them after so many days of staying on task with their hall preparations.

  Sitting at the front table in their new tops, with the list of their fifty-two residents, Katie and Nicole came alive with the challenges before them. The first challenge was an inordinately nervous pair of grandparents who were at the beginning of the line with their granddaughter.

  “This is Emily. Her parents are on the mission field in Mozambique. Both her parents came here to Rancho Corona. She’s on a scholarship. She has all her papers completed.” The grandfather leaned closer. “This is very difficult for us. She’s only been with us for five days, and we’re not sure she’s ready for this.”