Pon-Pon

by Cronk, LN

  “Why don’t you boys come in and let me make you some breakfast?” she asked.

  “Oh, no,” Tanner said, shaking his head. “We can’t do that, we’ve got to go to Wilma’s . . . don’t we Jordan?”

  Jordan narrowed his eyes and glared at Tanner. I bit my lip and tried not to smile. Just because I wasn’t going to tease Jordan didn’t mean that I couldn’t enjoy watching Tanner do it.

  We pulled away and Tanner rolled down the windows and took a deep breath.

  “Ahhh . . . do you smell that, Dave? It’s springtime, and love is in the air.”

  I turned my head away and choked down a laugh.

  “I hate you both,” Jordan muttered.

  “Whatdaya hate me for?” I cried, looking back at him. “I didn’t say anything!”

  “You were thinking it.”

  “I was thinking what?”

  “Never mind. I don’t know why I even agreed to go fishing with you two.”

  “Oh, I do!” Tanner said. “Because you knew we’d be going to Wilma’s for breakfast!”

  Tanner and I both laughed at him and he rolled his eyes, crossed his arms, and looked out the window for the rest of the way. I don’t think he was really all that mad though and when we got to Wilma’s, Jordan ordered a slushy and Charlotte brought him one.

  ~ ~ ~

  MY BIRTHDAY WAS four days later . . . on Good Friday. I was more than a little disappointed to find out that Ashlyn had scheduled a full day of work for us at the church for scenery completion, dress rehearsal and a then a dinner for all the workers and kids that evening. I knew she’d picked Good Friday because everyone had the day off and lots of parents were going to be able to come by to help, but still . . .

  “It’s my birthday,” I complained to Laci at breakfast before I left.

  She smiled at me sympathetically.

  “Maybe I’ll leave early . . .”

  “You can’t just leave Ashlyn there in charge of everything all by herself!” Laci said. “Besides, it’s not like we had anything special planned. I’ll get someone to watch the kids tomorrow night and we’ll go out and celebrate then.”

  “It won’t be the same,” I grumbled. “Today’s my birthday.”

  Now I’d always liked Ashlyn – never had a problem with her – that is until my birthday. By the end of the day I was ready to smack her.

  It was dark by the time we were finally finished with everything and she’d kept me hopping all day. At noontime I’d thought I might actually get away and eat lunch with my family, but she’d suddenly decided she needed me to set up the tables in the fellowship hall. Apparently it had to be done right then because the moms were going to be there any minute to set up for the dinner and she’d promised them the tables would be out when they arrived.

  All day long she came up with one thing after another that she really needed me to do. Waves of people came and went, helping for a few hours and then leaving, while I stayed and worked and worked and worked . . . on my birthday.

  Jordan and Charlotte managed to forget about each other long enough to wish me a happy birthday . . . barely.

  At least I got to see Dorito (Jessica brought him and Cassidy by to practice with the children’s choir) and my mom.

  “Hi, honey. Happy birthday.”

  “Uh-huh,” I said as she hugged me.

  “What’s the matter with you?”

  “Nothing. Where’s Dad?”

  “Working.”

  “On Good Friday?”

  “Yep.”

  He was an accountant and we were nearing the end of tax season, but that still didn’t sound like Dad at all. I didn’t get a chance to question her about it further though, because (surprise, surprise) Ashlyn needed me to do something.

  When dinner time finally arrived I figured I could surely leave, but as I ran this idea past Ashlyn she confessed that the ladies had made me a birthday cake and they were going to be very disappointed if I left before dessert. After everyone sang Happy Birthday to me and I’d eaten my cake, Ashlyn all of a sudden remembered that she’d gotten her prints back from the wedding and I had to sit and look at them. All of them.

  I was almost out the door when Ashlyn called my name from the other end of the fellowship hall.

  What now?

  I turned around. She had her phone up to her ear and was holding up one finger, signaling for me to hang on for a second.

  I looked at my watch and sighed. The kids were probably already in bed.

  “What?” I asked when she finally ended her call.

  “I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday again,” she smiled

  “Thanks,” I said, trying not to roll my eyes at her. I headed for the door before she could think up something else for me to do.

  When I got home the house was quiet and I discovered that the kids were indeed in bed – already sound asleep. I went in and kissed Dorito on the forehead, picked up The Count off of the floor and tucked it back in bed with him. Then I went over to Lily’s room and just stood there looking at her for a few moments. Feeling very sorry for myself, I realized that I hadn’t even gotten to hold her all day.

  I wandered into our bedroom, half expecting to find Laci sound asleep too, but she wasn’t there. I went back into the empty living room and then into the kitchen. I even peeked down into the basement, but it was dark. Finally I called for her.

  “Laci?”

  “Out here,” I heard her reply through the screen door that led from the kitchen to the back deck.

  It was a cold spring night and I couldn’t imagine why she’d left the sliding door partially opened or why she’d be out there all by herself. I went onto the deck and couldn’t see her, but I heard something and turned to my left.

  “Happy birthday,” Laci said, smiling at me.

  She was sitting in my new hot tub.

  ~ ~ ~

  EVERYONE HAD BEEN told to bring their bathing suits when they came over the next afternoon for my birthday party. My dad, Laci’s dad, my brother-in-law and Tanner all arrived about two hours early to finish the work they had not quite gotten done the day before. Apparently after the workmen had set up the hot tub and left, the four of them had spent the rest of the afternoon adding on to our existing deck so that it wrapped around and enclosed the hot tub.

  They’d almost finished – they just had to complete the rails – but then Ashlyn had called.

  Now I thought I’d been pretty civil to her all day, but either I’d been a lot shorter with her than I’d realized or she was very perceptive, because her exact words to Laci were: “If I try to keep him here any longer I think he’s going to smack me.”

  Laci had told her to let me go home.

  When they finished the rail they wood-burned their names and the date into the decking and my dad also burned Dorito’s name into it because “he had helped a lot too”.

  Everyone showed up with a side dish and we grilled hot dogs and hamburgers. When Ashlyn saw me she asked if I was still angry at her.

  “You’re completely forgiven,” I assured her.

  “That’s good,” she said. “You shouldn’t be mad at a pregnant woman.”

  “You’re pregnant?”

  She nodded and grinned.

  “Congratulations!” After I gave her a hug she stepped into my new birthday present.

  “You’re not supposed to get in a hot tub when you’re pregnant,” I warned her.

  “No, you’re not supposed to let your body temperature get elevated,” she corrected me. “I’m not going to stay in long enough to do that. I just want to try it out . . . I worked hard for this!”

  “Two minutes,” I said, looking at my watch. “Then I’m kicking you out.”

  “Deal,” she said, sinking down into the water, leaning her head back and closing her eyes. “I’m going to enjoy my two minutes.”

  “He’s got it bad, doesn’t he?” Tanner asked, nodding toward Jordan. He and Charlotte had spent the entire afternoon together, soaking
in the hot tub, walking around the yard or sitting on the grass. Right now they were each in a swing on the kids’ play set, talking intently.

  “Yeah,” I agreed. “I think she does too.”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Jordan with so much to say in his entire life,” Tanner laughed, shaking his head.

  “I wonder what they’re talking about?”

  “Don’t you read lips?” Tanner asked.

  “No, that’s Lily, remember?”

  “Oh, yeah. You can only spy on people if they’re talking in Spanish.”

  “I bet they aren’t talking about how white their teeth are though,” I grinned.

  “No,” Tanner said, laughing again. “Probably not.”

  “Look at ’em now,” I said, nudging Tanner. Jordan was apparently trying to teach Charlotte how to sign. “Now if they start doing that I’ll be able to tell you what they’re talking about!”

  “What’s he saying?” Tanner asked.

  “Um . . . I’m not sure . . .” I answered. Jordan kind of had his back to me.

  “It’s Twinkle, Twinkle,” Dorito piped up from the other side of Tanner. He had a better view of the whole thing than I did.

  “Are you sure?” Tanner asked him. “Twinkle, Twinkle?”

  Jordan turned in his swing just enough so I could see what he was doing.

  “Yep,” I nodded. “He’s right. It’s Twinkle, Twinkle.”

  “I cannot believe,” Tanner said, shaking his head in disgust, “how boring it is to be a spy.”

  I had a nightmare in the middle of the night. I won’t go into all of the gory details, but I dreamed that I couldn’t find Lily and I realized I’d left the cover off of the hot tub and that she’d fallen in and drowned.

  When I woke up my heart was pounding and even though I could hear her breathing over the baby monitor I had to get up to check on her anyway. Then I went into Dorito’s room and checked on him too and then I went out onto the deck and made sure the cover was on the hot tub.

  By the light coming from the kitchen I looked at the cover carefully and noticed for the first time that it had a place for a padlock, so I went into the garage and found one. I went back out to the hot tub, opened the lid and checked inside, closed it again and locked it with the padlock. Finally I sat down on the cover and lay back, listening to the hum of the filter and looking at the stars overhead.

  “What are you doing out here?” I heard Laci ask me softly after a few minutes. I propped myself up on my elbows and smiled at her.

  “I’m bonding with my hot tub.”

  She walked over and sat down next to me and then we both laid back and looked up at the sky.

  “I put a lock on the cover,” I said, holding the key over her face.

  “Oh! That’s a good idea. We can put it on the keychain with the freezer lock.”

  “Okay.”

  “So what were you thinking about out here?”

  “Oh, I don’t know.”

  “You think things are getting ready to fall apart, don’t you?” she asked.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You’re worried something bad’s going to happen.”

  “No, I’m not,” I said, not too convincingly because I wasn’t sure if she was right or not. “Why would you say that?”

  “Remember how good things were right before Greg died?”

  “What about it?” I asked.

  “Well, this is the first time things have been really good for you since then,” she said.

  “No, it’s not,” I argued. “I’ve had lots of great things happen since then.”

  “I know,” she agreed, “but there’s always been something missing, like kids or friends or home . . .”

  “Or you,” I said, smiling at her.

  “Exactly.” She smiled back. “So now that you’re finally happy again you’re just waiting for something bad to happen.”

  “What are you now?” I asked her. “A psychiatrist?”

  “Am I’m right?”

  “Maybe a little,” I admitted.

  “So what’s the worst thing that could happen?”

  “Ummm . . . Lily could drown in my new hot tub?”

  “You know what?” she asked, propping herself up on one elbow and looking at me. “Dorito and Lily and I could all get killed in a car accident tomorrow and I know you’d get through it and be all right.”

  “Okay, well then that’s the worst thing that could happen . . . are you trying to be comforting here Laci? ’Cause I gotta tell ya, you’re not doing a very good job . . .”

  “We’d see each other again someday,” she went on, quietly. “I just know that no matter what happens, everything’s going to be okay.”

  She waited for me to nod and then she laid her head on my shoulder and I put my arm around her.

  “Guess what?” she asked me after a moment.

  “What?”

  “It’s Easter.”

  ~ ~ ~

  THE KIDS DID a fantastic job with the Easter pageant, and Tanner was at the service. I know he may have only been there to see Jordan perform, but it was still nice to see him in church for a change. We left from church and went directly to the airport for our visit to see Greg’s grandmother.

  Our flight left at three in the afternoon and it was dark by the time Greg’s grandmother pulled into her driveway with us in her car. Dorito and Lily were both sound asleep, and Laci and I weren’t too far from it ourselves. We tucked the kids into sleeping bags on the floor and crawled into the double bed in the guest room. In the morning we woke up with Dorito bouncing up and down between us.

  “I wanna go to the beach! I wanna go to the beach!”

  Greg’s grandmother still had a lot of pictures on her mantle and Laci and I spent a few minutes looking at them before breakfast. There was a large one of Greg and Natalie at the prom, taken during our junior year in high school.

  “Wow,” Laci said, picking it up and holding it. “She looks so different now.”

  “That was ten years ago,” I reminded her.

  “I don’t think we’ve changed that much, have we?”

  We looked at each other for a moment and then shook our heads and laughed.

  “I’ve got to get a picture of Charlotte and that new boy she’s seeing,” Greg’s grandmother remarked, peering over Laci’s shoulder.

  “You mean Jordan?” I asked her.

  “Yes, Jordan. Tell me all about this Jordan.”

  “He’s the worst of sorts,” I told her. “Nothing but trouble.”

  She raised her eyebrow at me.

  “I’m just kidding. He’s great.”

  “My Charlotte deserves the best.”

  “I know she does,” I smiled. “He is.”

  After breakfast we took the kids to the beach. Lily was a little overwhelmed by the ocean and spent most of her time playing in the sand under Greg’s grandmother’s huge beach umbrella, but Dorito was absolutely beside himself.

  “This is SO COOL!” he cried.

  I grinned at him, “I know.”

  Laci thought it was pretty cool too . . . she’d never been to the beach before either.

  We had someone take a picture of all five of us on the beach with my phone and then Laci took a video of me signing “Ha, ha . . . you’re not here!” I sent them both to Charlotte, figuring she’d have Jordan translate for her.

  The next day she sent me one back of her and Jordan and Hoover. Hoover’s fur was purple . . . completely purple!

  Jordan was signing back: “Who’s laughing now?”

  The next night Greg’s grandmother took the kids out for pizza and insisted that Laci and I head to the beach by ourselves to watch the sunset. She packed us a picnic basket and sent us on our way.

  We watched the sun drop over the Gulf of Mexico and then lay quietly for a few minutes.

  “You know what I was thinking?” Laci asked after a while. I had my arm around her and my face was buried in her hair and neck.<
br />
  “Hmmm?”

  “How happy Greg would be if he could see us now.”

  I nodded.

  “Do you think he knows?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. If he doesn’t, he will one day.”

  “I hope he knows,” she said. “I mean, we wouldn’t even be together if it weren’t for him.”

  “Yes, we would.”

  “You really think that?” she asked.

  “I know that.”

  “How would we have gotten together?”

  “I don’t know, but we would have.”

  It was getting cold and we moved to one edge of our blanket, covering ourselves up with the rest because we weren’t ready to go back yet.

  Greg had spent five years pushing me and Laci together. I laughed whenever I thought of all the times Laci and I had just “happened” to wind up together. I could just about hear Greg now.

  Hey Dad! When you make the plane reservations . . . put me and David and Laci next to each other . . . and put Dave in the middle!

  Plus he’d quietly encouraged Laci for all those years . . . telling her that I’d come around one day and get over my stupid obsession with Samantha. Not to mention that he’d finally just come right out and told me what an idiot I was being for chasing after Sam instead of Laci.

  I knew that God had wanted me and Laci to be together and I knew that He had used Greg to make that happen, but if He hadn’t done it through Greg I still believed He would have done it some other way. I didn’t know how it would have happened, but it would have happened.

  Laying there with the stars and the waves and Laci – it was really . . . perfect.

  I thought about how I couldn’t have asked for anything more than I had with Laci and I thought about how thankful I was that God had decided I should be with her and I wondered again why He’d chosen to bless me so much.