Nerd and the Marine

by Grady, D. R.

  Someone kept the camera informed of the action, usually Ed or Greg. The women made the men clean up, but her mother and grandmother supervised. The ladies had enough with dividing the remainder of the food to send home with the participants.

  The men returned to their games and Ed kept the camera rolling. He told her he planned to send one of just the game, and another of the Morrison men watching the game. Lainy figured if Mitch didn’t like football, he’d find someone on the base who did. At least he’d be able to enjoy the game with her family.

  The other women and men who didn’t care to watch football moved into separate rooms. The men who didn’t do dishes helped to put the living and dining rooms back to rights. The game players moved into the dining room and others clumped around the living room to talk.

  Conversations varied, but Lainy worked on showing Mitch and Ben the gist of each. Or at least gave them a sampling of what they could have enjoyed. She got caught in a conversation between Ed and some of the nieces and nephews and stayed to offer her opinion on the electronic they discussed. Mitch would see what a nerd she was. But maybe that would help his decision on whether to keep her. Besides, she’d built him a computer, so he had an inkling.

  She was also snagged by Dustin, Will’s son. Ed admitted he’d filmed Dustin’s previous truck woes while they were at camp, so she knew Mitch had seen Dustin’s beater. She doubted he’d mind her asking how the new one was working for him.

  “So, Dust, how do you like your new truck?”

  “Aw, Aunt Lainy, I wish I would have had this one from the beginning. All I have to do is put gas in and check the fluids. I’ll change the oil when it needs it.”

  “How long have you had it now?”

  “Let’s see, I got it at the end of August, so about three months.”

  “And you’re getting to school on time, no worries?”

  “No problems. It hasn’t let me sit at all. I haven’t missed a class. All my professors are like, happy. I mean, I used to miss all the time last year.” Dustin used much teenaged animation.

  “Good. I’m glad it’s working out so well. Let this be a lesson to you.” Lainy smiled at him.

  “Dude, I’m not taking my dad car shopping ever again.” Dustin intoned and Lainy nodded before moving on.

  “So, we’ve got that little problem taken care of,” she told Mitch via the video. “I swear he used to miss class every other day. He’s a sophomore and goes to Penn State in Middletown this year. Did you go to main campus all four years? He’ll probably go to main campus in the spring, I imagine. He needed reliable transportation though. I don’t know how many times he had to borrow one of our vehicles to get to class. But he’s good now.”

  She moved on to another conversation and then another before shutting off the camcorder. She didn’t know she could miss a person so much, but she did. Last year, she’d been fine at family gatherings. Because she hadn’t known Mitch. Now she needed to share the holidays with him but what about her life?

  Lainy passed the family room and remembering the dogs, let them out. She turned the camcorder on again. A nephew beefed the song, “Who let the dogs out?!” and the other kids entered into the song with him. Which set off the crowd in front of the TV, because they couldn’t hear the game.

  Bentley and the other dogs swept the floor, looking for anything edible. Lainy’s mom took pity on them and gave each dog a morsel of turkey. Bentley also snagged a dog biscuit. Somehow.

  “Your dog is so spoiled,” she told Mitch in an undertone. “He’s going to be really fat when you get home.”

  “Mitch, just so you know, when Bentley’s good, he’s her dog, but when he’s bad, he’s yours. I hope you know what that means.” Melly laughed, her face glowing with animation.

  “Melly, your kid is drawing on the wall,” Melly’s husband bellowed from somewhere in the house. “See?” Melly left to take care of the problem but others picked up where she left off and it took Lainy twenty minutes to escape.

  When she finally turned the camera off, she didn’t feel quite so lonely. Everyone treated Mitch as they did Ben. Gone, but not forgotten. They appreciated what he did, and were glad he could do so, but were sorry he couldn’t be with them. They also made certain he understood he was welcome to participate next year. Provided he had returned home by then.

  Lainy didn’t know what next year would bring. After this year, she couldn’t even contemplate. Would she have the courage in herself and trust in Mitch to allow him in when he returned? Had her previous experiences been wrong? Was love beautiful? Her family certainly showed something far different than her experiences, and Mitch seemed to think her past situation had been due to her partners. Could a relationship be different with him?

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  The Christmas meal turned out similar to Thanksgiving. But the cacophony had escalated at least ten fold. Lainy managed to record the chaos on video, somehow. Excited kids ripping into gifts, tearing from one cheerily wrapped package to the next.

  Gag gifts abounded among the adults, which had somehow become a tradition. “Some ying yang gave Ed a whoopee cushion. His wife, Zara, got blamed and has taken the burden of guilt well, but we still don’t know whether she’s actually guilty,” Lainy informed Mitch as she recorded.

  Ed snuck the cushion under anyone he could with a maniacal glee. No one was immune to his newest gift. “You have to be very careful where you sit. Even then, you still could have problems,” Lainy warned on video. She hoped her voice indicated her feelings on the matter. Ed was the limit.

  “He’s like a child tucked into an adult’s body.” Lainy caught her mother saying to an aunt.

  “See, Mitch, this is what you’re missing. Lucky you.” Laurie shook her head as she went after yet another kid. Toys caused more than one accident, and traffic congestion of the human kind provided delays in the food being delivered to the tables. Several people toppled due to a sack of marbles that “accidentally” spilled on the floor. Someone pointed in Tom’s direction since someone had given him the sack to replace his lost marbles. Yet no one ruled out Ed, either.

  Someone else received itching powder, but Lainy’s mother intercepted the stuff and threw it into the toilet. Much to a nephew’s disappointment. She handed him a candy cane and kept going. “How my mother manages to be everywhere at once and still prepare dinner is beyond me, so don’t ask, okay?”

  Stepping over and around cars, dolls, modeling clay, coloring books and crayons, a few MP3 players she itched to take apart, and various other toys for the kids and teenagers, Lainy showed Mitch the study where most of the population had gathered due to her mother’s orders. They watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and in testament to the number of times her family had seen the holiday special, her rellys were able to speak most of the lines with the cartoon characters.

  “Here we have the entertainment my mom bought to keep everyone quiet and out of her way. As you can see, it’s not working.” She panned the room. The audio could barely be heard by anyone other than the kids in the front, as her brothers and brothers-in-law and their children spoke the lines.

  And adlibbed most of them.

  Lainy rolled her eyes and kept going. She took him into the kitchen. “Here are the Christmas dinner preparations. As you can see, the meal is very similar to what we ate at Thanksgiving.”

  “There’s nothing different,” Lainy’s mother inserted and Lainy laughed.

  “The desserts are.” She panned the dessert table. Snagging another cookie, this one a sugar cookie snowman with lots of frosting, she left the room. Nieces and nephews set the table. Eventually. Arguments broke out on a regular basis and Lainy had to intervene several times.

  She showed the older fellows talking in one corner of the living room not taken up with the tables and also the stairwell where others congregated to get out of the way. The bathroom doors had signup sheets, compliments of Ed and Max, for times when you were allowed to use the facilities. Strict penalties were
set in place for anyone disregarding those rules. Of course, no one paid any attention to Ed or Max, currently causing more ruckuses in the next room. All of the teenaged nieces’ names took up every slot on the sheet, anyway. “Brothers,” Lainy muttered.

  She headed upstairs to find some quiet and discovered that’s where the mothers with babies clustered. Each held a baby to her breast, and Lainy made a mental note to edit that section should there be something taped Mitch wouldn’t care to see or know. Because, of course, the women were talking about baby stuff, and she didn’t believe a Marine would appreciate hearing about baby poop or spit up or nose mucus.

  She found more ladies, these older, in another room admiring a quilt her mother had purchased. The next one held a group of college age kids talking about things Lainy didn’t feel she could contribute anything to. They all waved to the camera when they discovered the video would go to Uncles Mitch and Ben.

  “Miss you,” many of them said.

  Lainy ran out to the garage to fetch something for her mother and found more people. Mostly men in her father’s age bracket and above, drooling over a vintage Thunderbird her mother purchased for her dad for Christmas.

  The day progressed much like Thanksgiving, so Lainy didn’t record everything. Just those things that would be new to Mitch. She didn’t want to overwhelm him and he only had so much time before returning to the field again.

  New Year’s she recorded more good footage of the family party and of sleepy children who’d declared they’d stay awake until midnight. Few of them did. The only ones who seemed alert were her college age nieces and nephews and the teenagers. They all rang in the New Year and she plodded home to bed. Bentley’s New Year’s ribbon as droopy as she.

  She’d already sent both the Thanksgiving and Christmas DVDs to Mitch. So, he’d have the Thanksgiving one waiting when he returned to the base. She hoped he’d have the Christmas one by now, too. She sent the video as soon as possible, hoping he’d be able to view it before he’d have to leave again.

  Smiling, she thought he’d be back to base soon, so she began checking her e-mail every day, several times a day.

  She should hear from him anytime now.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Mitch opened the package, figuring he’d find exactly what he did. He’d already sent Lainy a quick e-mail telling her he’d arrived on base. No rockslides this time. He had a few days leave again and looked forward to watching the newest DVDs.

  He was surprised to see the videos came from Lainy and not her brother, and was especially heartened he’d be a part of the Morrison family celebrations, if from afar. He popped the Thanksgiving DVD in and munched on a cookie from the newest stash. He had to make two trips, there’d been so many packages awaiting him.

  More toiletries, more treats, more game cartridges, more pictures, and some clothing, all gift wrapped in bright Christmas paper. The merry greetings from all the rellys and the tons of cards warmed him. He felt like he was a part of the Morrison family, and he liked the sensation.

  He appreciated the cookies, as much as he did the videos, especially when Lainy showed him all the food preparations. He didn’t even have to taste the wonderful looking creations to know they’d been delicious. He could tell by watching the way everyone dug into the plentiful amounts of food.

  He was a little disappointed no food fights broke out. But laughed through Ed and Max’s antics.

  Ed had included two football videos for him. When the rumors of his possession of the Thanksgiving football game hit base, he had every football fan packed into his quarters to watch. Most of them had missed the game altogether due to various duties, but a few wanted to see the game a second time. The Marines appreciated the Morrison men’s comments. Some of them pithy, at best.

  He tensed when Lainy came into view and one of the guys wolf whistled, but Al beat him in commenting. “Yo, boys, that’s Major Monahan’s woman, lay off,” Al used a far more mild tone than he would have, but the statement proved effective. The men quit their racy talk and Mitch didn’t have to break any heads.

  Later, when the Christmas video showed up, they all congregated into his quarters again and he shared it with them. He guessed they missed their families more than he’d suspected.

  The guys oohed and aahed over the Christmas dinner so he passed his supply of Christmas cookies around. The stash got sorely depleted, but he only had a few days on base before he’d leave again and they’d be stale by the time he returned anyway. Plus to see his fellow Marine’s faces light up at the sight of something so simple made him feel good.

  They howled at Ed’s antics with the whoopee cushion. Who knew a man of his brilliance could so easily entertain himself and his family?

  “Now, remember all, this is the man responsible for our cameras and scopes,” Al said when the laughter died down.

  “That guy with the farting cushion is the Ed Morrison?” one of the officers sputtered.

  “Oh yeah.” Mitch tried not to laugh, but he wasn’t successful.

  “He’s a complete fruitcake,” another man said and just then Ed nailed his mom with the cushion. Which started off the hoots again.

  Mitch didn’t know what this said about men in general. This tendency to believe farting was the funniest thing in the world. Not that he cared. These guys saw little to laugh about, so if he could help by showing Lainy’s video, great. So men were simple creatures, oh well.

  They also thought the How the Grinch Stole Christmas antics and adlibbing pretty funny, especially since they all kind of knew Ed, as many a man had trusted his equipment in the field. Lainy must have thought the movie antics funny, too, because she ended up in the room several times.

  The men didn’t seem too impressed with the women with babies or the quilt gathering. Some of the guys perked up when Lainy popped into the room with the college aged kids as there were several attractive young ladies seated around the room. Mitch realized how young some of the men on base were. Practically kids, and they’d missed their family celebrations.

  They all leaned forward when Lainy hit the garage and they caught sight of the vintage T-bird. More oohs and aahs went round the room. A big hit.

  When the video ended, the guys dispersed. Mitch called up his e-mail and started a letter to Lainy. She’d given him the best gift of all.

  He accidentally hit the button to check e-mail and had to wait for it to download. He saw a message from Lainy and clicked on it.

  The date indicated she’d sent it right after he’d left in October.

  To: m_monahan@yahoo.com

  From: l_morrison@gmail.com

  Subject: I’m sorry you’re going, again

  Attachment

  Hello Mitch,

  Thank you for letting me know you’re going again. I hate this. I know I tell you so every time, but I really do despise when you have to leave. Not being in touch is awful. The days have gone by fairly quickly and with the kids in so many sports, we remain busy. It’s probably good I can work from home since my time is spent in a lot of bleachers.

  I’m keeping warm. I dug out all my extra blankets and sit on some, curl up in others. It works. Some of the games I can actually take Bentley to, and he’s quite popular. Which is good, since the squirrels are beginning to disappear. There aren’t nearly as many to chase. The birds are mostly gone and I haven’t seen a butterfly or lightning bug in ages.

  The sporting events are good for him. The younger kids can romp and play with him, and if they’re not, the older kids take him for walks. He’s so patient with all of them.

  You’re right about the holiday season being upon us. It’s nearly Halloween now and the kids are all excited about costumes. I’ll probably get roped into helping with those. They like to light up so that’s my job. Their moms’ make them and I add the extras. We don’t buy costumes. Rachel has called three times already to coordinate times to get together.

  The kids will come home with lots of bounty, I’m sure. Just the relatives alone.
.. They don’t have to go very far here for a bag full. They’re usually done in an hour or so. I’m starting to stock up. Now if I can just keep Bentley out of the supply... just kidding! He’s not the problem, unfortunately! Chocolate is a weakness of mine.

  Well, all for now. I want to send a bunch of pictures, so I’ll try to keep this short.

  Please return safely.

  I miss you!

  Your’s,

  Lainy

  Mitch reared back in his seat. She had signed her e-mail the same way he’d signed his three months ago. Your’s. A definitive sign of custody. Like she did want to belong to him. Like she approved of his signing that way before he’d left the last time. Like she trusted him with her heart.

  They’d passed a major place in their relationship, and Mitch started to whistle. And she’d shared her holidays with him, like he mattered. The comments from her family added to that feeling. He felt as though he mattered whenever he had contact with her. No one had ever done that for him before. Except for the Fandrichs, but this was different.

  This was indicative of love between a man and a woman. Something he didn’t know much about. His former girlfriends had proven less than stellar, for sure. One had dated his best friend while she dated him. Another had still been in love with her ex-boyfriend, while the last had informed him that he would marry her and they’d have twelve children. They’d only been on their third date. Still, he was willing to try again if it meant he could have Lainy.

  To: L_Morrison@gmail.com

  From: M_Monahan@yahoo.com

  Subject: Your videos were...

  Big hits!

  Dear Lainy,

  Thank you for the holiday videos. The guys loved the football ones and they all stayed and watched your Christmas one, too. Definitely another hit. They liked the T-bird in your dad’s garage, of course. Nice machine.