by Ann McMan
“Whatever will I do to fill the lonely hours?”
Syd laughed. “You might consider making some headway on all those broken toaster ovens in the barn. It looks like the back room at Black & Decker out there.”
“Yadda, yadda, yadda.” Maddie sighed. “I knew that having you move in was going to be a mistake.”
There was silence on the line. “Okay. Let’s take these in order, shall we? First: mistake? Second: when did I move in?”
“Um. Well. ‘Mistake’ might be an overstatement. I was really going for dramatic effect, there.”
“Uh huh. And the moving in part?”
“You can’t blame a girl for trying. I mean, you like being there, don’t you?”
“Maddie, a gnat with a lobotomy would like being here.”
“Was that a yes?”
Syd sighed. “You’re making me crazy. You know that?”
“Crazy can be good.”
“So can cautious. I don’t want us to screw this up. It’s too important.”
“I don’t want us to screw it up, either. And one thing I’ve learned in the last week is that I’m not going to waste any more time.”
“Baby, we’ve only been . . . us . . . for two weeks.” Her voice softened. “I don’t think we’re wasting any time.”
“I agree. But I think we’ve been us ever since that day we met on the river road.”
There was silence again. “I do, too.” Syd’s voice was low and earnest. “I’m not going anyplace. You have no worries.”
“So, you’re saying I’ve got squatter’s rights?”
Syd snorted. “Now there’s a phrase that’s taken on a whole new meaning for me.”
Maddie gasped. “Well, I never.”
“Oh, really? Just wait until you get home. I’ll make sure you always.”
Maddie sighed happily. “From your mouth to god’s ear.”
ANY PLANS MADDIE had for catching up on her sleep during the long flight back to Charlotte from Los Angeles were short-circuited by an inquisitive five-year-old UM. The United flight attendant responsible for the little boy asked Maddie if she would mind having the unaccompanied minor seated next to her in business class, since that section was near the front galley of the aircraft, and she would have an easier time keeping an eye on him. Maddie was poised to decline until she made the mistake of glancing at the tiny passenger as he stood there gawking up at her.
“You’re really tall,” he said. “My daddy is tall, too. He’s in the Army. My name is Henry. I’m five.”
Maddie smiled at him as he stood there clutching the flight attendant’s hand. He was wearing a lightweight denim jacket with a bright blue “I’m Flying Solo” sticker over the breast pocket. She looked up at the harried flight attendant and sighed.
“Sure. I’d be happy to sit next to Henry.”
The blonde woman smiled gratefully and winked at Maddie. “Thank you. Once we get underway, I’ll be back by to take your beverage order. Ask for anything you want. It’s on the house.”
She got Henry settled in the seat beside Maddie and stowed his tiny suitcase in the overhead bin. She handed Maddie a plastic bag containing several comics and coloring books.
“I’ll be back to check on you shortly, Henry,” she said, before she disappeared down the aisle toward the rear of the aircraft.
“What’s your name?” Henry asked, turning his small body in the seat to face her.
“I’m Maddie.”
“How old are you?”
Maddie chuckled. “I’m thirty-four.”
Henry looked confused. “I’m older than you, ’cause I’m a five.”
“Well, a five is a bigger number than a three, but I’m a three and a four. If you add those together, they’re bigger than five.”
Henry appeared unconvinced.
Maddie decided to change the subject. “Who are you going to see in Charlotte?”
“My gramma. My daddy went to Afostan.”
“Afghanistan?” Maddie asked. Henry nodded. “Where’s your mommy?”
“I don’t have a mommy.” His round blue eyes searched her face. “Do you have a mommy?”
“Yes, I do.” Maddie wanted to hug him. “I was just visiting her. I’m going home now.”
“Where do you live?”
“I live on a farm in Virginia.”
“Where’s that?”
“It’s not too far from where we’re going on this airplane. Where does your grandma live?”
“Can Place. She makes socks.”
He means Kannapolis, Maddie thought. She must work in a textile mill. “Have you visited your grandma before?”
He shook his head.
“Are you going to stay with your grandma while your daddy is away?”
He nodded. “I’m going to a new school.”
She smiled at him. “Kannapolis is very pretty. I hope you’ll like it there.”
“Is it close to your farm?” he asked.
“It’s not too far away. Maybe a few hours.”
“Are you a farmer? Do you have animals?”
“I have a dog. But, no, I’m not a farmer.”
“What do you do?”
“I’m a doctor.”
Henry’s eyes grew wide. “You are?”
Maddie nodded. “Yep.”
Henry tilted his head as he regarded her. His dark hair curled over the tops of his ears. “Why do you have a farm if you don’t have animals?”
“It was my daddy’s. I live there now.”
He seemed to accept that explanation. “Can I come play with your dog?”
Maddie smiled at him. “I don’t know. We’d have to ask your grandma about that.”
“She won’t care. She doesn’t like kids.”
“Why do you say that?”
“My daddy told me that when he left. He told me to be very good and not to bug her.”
“Oh.” Maddie felt a surge of sadness as she regarded the earnest little boy. “I’m sure your grandma will like you a lot, Henry.”
“She will?”
“I think so. I like you.”
“I like you, too.” He looked down at her purse poking out from beneath her seat. “Do you have a picture of your dog?”
“I don’t have one with me. But I’ll tell you what. Once they tell us that we’re allowed to get the crayons out, I’ll describe him to you, and you can draw a picture of him.”
He brightened up. “I like to draw.”
“It’s a deal, then.”
Henry continued to look at her. “You’re really pretty.”
Maddie smiled at his sweetness. “Thank you, Henry. I think you’re very handsome, too.”
“Are you married?”
She smiled. “No. I’m not married.”
“Do you have a girlfriend?” he asked.
Maddie was stunned by his question. “Why do you ask that?”
He shrugged. “My daddy had a girlfriend, but she left.”
“Oh. Well.” She thought about it. “Yes, I do have a girlfriend.”
“What’s her name?” he asked.
Maddie smiled. “Syd.”
“That’s a boy’s name.” He laughed.
“You’re right. It usually is a boy’s name. Her real name is Margaret, but Syd is her nickname. Do you have a nickname?”
He nodded. “Daddy calls me Sport.” He frowned. “His girlfriend called me Henrietta. I didn’t like that very much.”
“I can see why. That’s not a very good nickname for a little boy.”
The plane started to taxi down the runway for takeoff. Henry tensed as they picked up speed. He plucked nervously at his seatbelt.
“Are you afraid?” she asked.
He nodded.
“It’s okay, Sometimes I get a little scared, too. But we’re really very safe. Would you like to hold my hand?”
He nodded again. Maddie took his tiny hand and held it as the plane rolled faster and faster and the buildings along the runway flew p
ast their window. When the nose lifted up, and they left the ground, she felt Henry squeeze her fingers. He jerked when he heard the loud rumble of the landing gear retracting.
“It’s okay, Henry,” Maddie said. “That’s just the sound of the airplane wheels being put away.”
He looked at her with luminous eyes. “Why do they put the wheels away?” His curiosity was plainly overcoming his fear.
“Because they don’t need the wheels when we aren’t on the ground. In the air, they use the wings to fly—just like birds.”
“Oh. Do you like birds?”
“Yes, I do. I like to hear them sing early in the morning.”
“Do you have birds on your farm?”
Maddie nodded. “I sure do. Lots of them. My dog likes to chase them.”
“I wish I had a dog. The army won’t let Daddy have one, and they make Gramma sneeze.”
“Well, maybe when your daddy is out of the army you can have one? I never had one, either, until I moved back to Virginia. Pete was my father’s dog.”
“Pete?” He giggled.
“That’s his name. Pete. He’s a big, yellow dog.”
A bell sounded in the cabin, and the flight attendant announced that the Captain had approved the use of seat-back tray tables and electronic devices. She also stated that they would shortly be beginning their beverage and breakfast service.
“Are you hungry?” Maddie asked Henry.
He nodded.
“Well, let’s eat some breakfast, and then we can draw some pictures of Pete.”
They each had waffles with hot maple syrup. Henry had apple juice, and Maddie had a large mimosa with her coffee, thanks to her grateful flight attendant. After they finished eating, and their breakfast trays collected, Maddie got out the crayons and paper and helped Henry draw pictures of Pete, and pictures of the birds at her farm.
Henry proudly signed his name in large block letters at the bottom of each drawing, and gave several of them to Maddie to keep. She carefully tucked them inside her briefcase, after promising to show them to Pete, and to her girlfriend with the funny name.
After an hour or so, Henry began to yawn, and Maddie noticed his eyes were drooping.
“Are you sleepy?” she asked.
He nodded. “I had to get up in the dark.”
“Do you want to lie down across the seat and take a little nap?”
He nodded. Maddie pushed the call button and asked the flight attendant for a pillow and blanket. She tucked their center armrest up to give him more space, and was surprised when he immediately stretched out across the seat and laid his head on her lap. He was sound asleep in minutes.
She smiled through her amazement. Reminds me of someone else I know, she thought, tucking the blanket in around him. Reclining her own seat, she closed her eyes and decided to try and catch a few winks herself, but she guessed that sleep would elude her. Her mind was too active and too full from the events of the last week.
Henry whimpered in his sleep, and Maddie rubbed a calming hand up and down his arm. In moments, he quieted down. She looked down at his small form with an affection that surprised her. God. I’m so fickle. How do I break the news to Syd that I’ve lost my heart to a five-year-old stranger I met on the airplane ride home?
Henry’s apparent resiliency and unaffected innocence moved her. Here he was, facing an uncertain future without a mother, and a father on the other side of the globe, and still he was able to fall sleep on the lap of a stranger. She shook her head in wonder as she thought back over her own early childhood years—doted on by both parents in a fairy tale-like environment, surrounded by every possible advantage. And for so many years, after the end of her parents’ marriage, she thought of herself as a victim—a loner and an outcast.
Looking down at Henry’s sleeping form now, she realized with sadness that nothing had been further from the truth. Her mother had not rejected her. She had withdrawn from her own pain and loss in an ill-fated attempt to insulate Maddie from a truth her father believed she was too young to understand. As the years passed, that mistake became a deception, and even the revelation of her own sexual orientation was not enough to shake her father’s resolve. She knew with certainty that she would mourn that loss now—that loss of her father’s faith and trust—in the same way she mourned his untimely death.
She ran her fingers through Henry’s long, curly hair.
But life ebbed and flowed. The universe took things away and gave things back. She smiled as she thought about her final few minutes with her mother that morning. Laszlow had graciously offered to drive her to the airport for her impossibly early departure. She wanted Celine to stay in bed, but her mother stubbornly insisted on getting up to see her off. She stood in the breezeway next to her while Laszlow stowed her bags in the trunk of his old Peugeot sedan. They were mostly silent—both aware of the awkwardness that still lingered between them. Celine was fully dressed in slacks and a loose-fitting cotton shirt that was large enough to accommodate the cast on her left arm. Finally, she turned to Maddie. She was only a few inches shorter, and their eyes were nearly level.
“Call me when you get to Charlotte?” she asked, almost shyly.
“Of course,” Maddie replied, with a small smile.
“I can’t thank you enough for being here. It means more to me than you’ll ever know.”
Maddie searched her mother’s blue eyes. “Me, too.” She stepped forward and embraced Celine, careful not to jostle the arm that was supported by a bright blue sling. She closed her eyes as she recognized the tangerine and sandalwood scent of her mother’s beloved Farouche perfume. It was something she remembered from her childhood—from a happier time, when she lived with both of her parents in Virginia.
“I love you, Mom.” Her throat felt thick.
Celine’s free arm tighten around her back. “I love you, too, Maddoe.”
Then she was gone. But they had promised to keep in better contact, and they had talked about seeing each other again in the summer. Celine had even hinted at possibly coming back to the farm for a visit—a suggestion that shocked and pleased Maddie.
Who knew? Maybe she would make some headway on those toaster ovens so the barn would be clear of clutter when Celine came back. Syd would be amazed.
Syd. She smiled to herself as she thought about going home to Syd. Right now, life was awfully good. She glanced down at Henry, now drooling on her trouser leg. I wish I could say the same for you, little man. I wish I could spare you what looks like a rough road ahead. She tugged the blanket up around his small shoulders, leaned back, and closed her own eyes, drowsiness finally winning out over conscious thought.
PASSING BY THE two passengers sleeping in row seven, the lead flight attendant shook her head and smiled. With their dark hair and blue eyes, they looked like they belonged together. She congratulated herself once again for correctly tagging the right person to watch over her UM.
Half the passengers on board were now dozing, and they had a good tail wind. The rest of this flight was shaping up to be a breeze.
IN THE BUSY Charlotte-Douglas Airport terminal, Maddie waited with Henry and the United gate agent until Ada Lawrence, Henry’s grandmother, arrived. All around them, other passengers were noisily reunited with friends and family members before bustling off to waiting cars or the lower level baggage claim area. Over the throng of people, Maddie could see the taller form of Michael Robertson making his way to them. She waved him over with a smile.
“Henry, I’d like you to meet a very good friend of mine,” she said, as Michael approached them.
Maddie could see the surprise and confusion on his face as he realized that she was standing there with a United Airlines employee and a child. She stepped forward and warmly embraced Michael, before gesturing to her small companion.
“Michael, I’d like you to meet my new friend, Henry Lawrence. Henry kept me company on the long ride from California, and we’re waiting here for his grandmother to arrive.”
&nbs
p; Michael raised an eyebrow before kneeling in front of Henry and extending his hand. “Hello, Henry. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Henry pressed a bit closer against Maddie’s leg, but gamely held out his hand. “Hello. Did you know that Maddie is a doctor?”
Michael chuckled. “Yes, I did know that. In fact, Maddie is my doctor, and she’s given me lots of shots.”
Henry’s eyes grew wide. He looked up at Maddie. “You have?”
Maddie sighed. “Yes, but not nearly as many as he deserved.” She gestured to the smiling United gate agent. “Michael, this is Denise. She’s waiting with Henry, too.”
Michael shook hands with her. “Hi, Denise. These two give you any trouble?”
“Not so far.” Denise laughed. She looked past Michael toward the escalators. “I think this might be Mrs. Lawrence.”
They all looked at the advancing woman with interest and anticipation. When she saw Henry, she waved and made a beeline for them.
“Is this your grandma, Henry?” Denise asked.
He nodded, but Maddie noted that he didn’t seem particularly excited. He remained closely pressed against her leg, clutching his bag of coloring books and crayons.
Ada Lawrence was a medium-sized woman who appeared to be in her early sixties. She had graying, dark hair and watery blue eyes, and she appeared to be more tired than anything. Maddie noticed a slight limp in her gait as she approached them and suspected that she might be suffering from sciatica or fibromyalgia—not uncommon maladies for people who made a living standing in one position for long periods of time. She was nearly breathless by the time she reached them.
“I’m Ada Lawrence, and this is my grandson, Henry,” she said. “I’m sorry I’m late. I couldn’t find a parking space out front and had to go into the big lot.” She bent over and reached out a hand toward Henry. “Hello, honey. Do you remember me?”
Henry nodded and shyly stepped forward to allow the older woman to hug him. Then he quickly retreated to stand next to Maddie. Ada looked up at Maddie with confusion, then at the United agent.
“Mrs. Lawrence, I’m Denise Wilson. Henry has been a model passenger.” She gestured toward Maddie. “This is Dr. Stevenson. She kept Henry company on the flight from L.A.”