The Folds Read online

  Tommy looked his wife squarely in the face and made the deal. “One dance!”

  Sarah clapped to herself, quietly.

  “One. That’s it!” he firmly stated.

  “One dance!” Sarah repeated. “One dance and I’ll keep one cold for ya.”

  “She better not try to kiss or pinch me!” Tommy warned with a grin.

  “You leave that to me!” she whispered seductively in his ear. Sarah kissed her husband’s neck and tenderly said, “I love you, baby!” before giving him a slap on the rear to send him on his way.

  “I love you, baby!” he replied over his shoulder, weaving his way through the partially cleared floor.

  Tommy worked his way over to Sarah’s great-grandmother Marguerite. She and her other senior friends sat near the back wall at a large round table, trying to talk over the noise. Tommy strutted to the table, extended his arms, and crooned out with a long Texas drawl, “Ladies, ladies, laaaaddies!”

  “Woo, woo! Arrest me! I’m guilty! Take me away!” the table of senior’s replied.

  “My, my!” he exclaimed. “So many attractive offers from so many young fillies. How ’bout you, Marguerite?” He sauntered over to Marguerite’s side of the table, pleading his case as he approached her. “I know I’m prob’ly just another face in the crowd to you, but it would be a mighty honor if you would dance with me.”

  “Go on! Go on!” Marguerite’s friends encouraged. “How often do you have a chance like this? What’re ya waitin’ for?”

  “Well?” Tommy pushed, holding his hand out.

  Marguerite pondered a moment then reluctantly gave in, with a smile. “Okay. Maybe just one.”

  Tommy helped the great-grandmother of ninety-six years to her feet then escorted her to the dance floor. The guitar and fiddle were just leading into a waltz that was written by Lynnly for her grandmothers. Sarah rushed to the side of the dance floor to watch and stood in amazement of how gracefully her grandmother still moved. After the first verse the other couples took notice and pulled themselves to the side to watch Tommy and Marguerite. Sarah could hardly hold back her tears of joy and love for her husband and grandmother.

  Marguerite was all smiles as she floated across the weathered plank wood. She looked at Tommy’s face and suddenly all became a blur as visions of her and her husband Ernest dancing together flooded her mind. Years ago, because they lived so far out of town, Marguerite and Ernest would go on group dates with their friends. They would all park their vehicles in a circle, turn on their headlights, crank up the radios, and dance together under the wide Texas sky with the stars looking down on them.

  The music slowed down a bit, drawing to a close when Tommy lightly leaned Marguerite back for a small dip. Lynnly, the band members, Sarah, and the crowd of onlookers applauded generously for the couple as they exited the dance floor.

  “Who’s up for some fireworks?” came a voice over the loudspeakers as the large, sliding side doors opened to the grassy slope on the west side of the metal building. Sarah and Terri went to help Marguerite to a chair on the covered patio. Tommy and the others wandered out into the early night air as the raspy speakers blared out, “The Eyes of Texas are upon you.” It warmed Marguerite’s heart to see all the children running around the edge of the pond, waving their sparklers before the big show started. Holly, Joey, and Monica, along with the assistants for the nursing home, escorted the remaining seniors to their chairs under the awning to watch the fireworks.

  A loud crack pierced the mild hum of casual conversations as the first of many rose clusters flew into the air, exploding in a sprinkling of blue that turned red, then white. The “Yellow Rose of Texas” began to play over the speakers; cheering, laughter, screaming children, and applause could be heard for miles around. A couple of explosions later, Sarah joined Tommy and their friends at the top of the rise and wrapped her arms around his waist. She leaned into his ear and whispered, “I love you. You make me so…” then buried her head into his shoulder, crying with joy. Tommy turned to respond, but instead remained silent and stroked her head as he watched the fire in the sky.

  Danny and Jessica were walking in the playground just as the fireworks began. They climbed the ladder into the enclosed landing of the tall rocket slide. Danny then shimmied through the rails and onto the top of the capsule. Like a true gentleman, he extended his hand to help Jessica. The two sat quietly, side by side under the full moon, the stars of Texas, and the eyes of God. Danny reached out and placed his hand on Jessica’s. Jessica smiled and closed her eyes.

  SATURDAY, SUPERMAN, AND FISHING

  Saturday, 5 a.m., July 23, 1978. Just seven hours ago the whole town was whooping it up at the VFW. Now, Tommy, Sarah, their friends, and boys were busy loading up for the first all-man, two and a half day retreat to Lake Texoma. Since Sarah assisted with the dispatch and scheduling of the officers, it was easy for her to get all the men’s territories covered for the long weekend away.

  Tommy and Sarah’s home more closely resembled a war zone than a house. In the garage and driveway there appeared to be enough trucks, boats, and camping gear to sustain New York during a nuclear holocaust.

  Joey stood at the kitchen island and sorted through the seemingly unending supply of grocery bags that Terri and Sarah brought in from the garage. As she threw another empty brown paper bag on the floor, Joey called out, “Sarah? Do you want me to put all the meats into one cooler and dairy in another?” Sarah did not reply. While unpacking one full Piggly Wiggly sack of wieners, Joey asked herself, “How many hotdogs can five men and five boys eat in forty-eight hours?”

  Sarah peeked her head around the doorframe then stealthily tiptoed directly behind Joey.

  “Sarah!” Joey yelled again. “What do you…?” then turned to see Sarah standing directly behind her. “Oooohhh!” she screamed and dropped to her knees, covering her eyes.

  “Separate!” Sarah playfully answered.

  “I can’t believe you! Augh!” Joey grunted, red and shaking. She proceeded to pick up the packages of wieners as Sarah laughed out loud and bent down to help. “I hate being scared! You’ve known that for thirty years!” she exclaimed, slamming the wieners into the cooler. “You just…stand there and scare me! Ugh!”

  “I’m so glad some things never change!” Sarah stated evilly. “Otherwise I would never have had so many years of fun at your expense.” She placed a kiss on her friend’s cheek.

  Joey retorted with her traditional and sarcastic, “Nuh, nuh, nuh!”

  Terri and Casey sat out in the middle of the driveway in folding aluminum chairs. Stacked between them were cases of Shiner Bock, some water, and one case of Dr. Pepper. Terri compared the large stack of beer with that of the short stack of soft drinks and water. As she pulled the plastic rings off the cans, she softly suggested, “Case, don’t you think you should have gotten more sodas or water?”

  “Nah!” Casey refuted. “Sodas and water are for the boys.” With a slap to the side of a rather large cooler not yet filled halfway with beer, he added, “We got our own cooler.” He then nonchalantly returned to unpacking more cans.

  “You amaze me!” Terri snapped before rising to walk away, throwing her stack of plastic rings at Casey.

  “What?” he asked, confused. “They got plenty o’ DP!” Terri was already in the garage when he thought out loud to himself and opened a can of warm Shiner, “How much Dr. Pepper can five boys drink in two days?”

  Tommy, John, Monica, and Holly were all in the living room. The two men sat in the middle of the floor with their fishing tackle scattered everywhere. Both had been prepping their rods and reels for two hours already as the girls began to pack the necessary toiletries and first-aid supplies.

  While reeling in a new line on one of the rods, Tommy asked John, “Did you get the licenses?”

  Monica handed Holly items to pack and called their names out loud as she marked them off the checklist. “Toilet paper, paper towels, batteries, mosquito repellent, Band-Aids, sunscree
n, medical kit, tooth paste…”

  “Good God, ya’ll!” John exclaimed. “We ain’ gonna be out there but all of two and a half days!” He rolled his eyes to Tommy before answering, “Nah. I figured we can stop either in Gordonville or Dennison for the licenses. They’re cheaper there.”

  “What’re ya’ll thinkin’s gonna happen?” Tommy asked with a slightly devilish smile. “We gonna be fishin’, sleeping, and eatin’! That’s it! We’re going to Texoma. Tex-o-mah! It’s not like we’re gonna be searching for a lost civilization. We do know what we’re doing.”

  Holly, with one hand on her hip, pointed a finger at Tommy and exclaimed, “You never know what’s gonna happen! Any one of ya’ll can have an accident at any time. You could run up on someone who might be hurt and need your help!”

  The two emergency nurses continued their packing when John decided to chime in with his two bits. “When we was kids we didn’t have to worry ’bout skin repellent, Band-Aids, ’n sun block. We just got up ’n went. Got hurt? Rub some dirt on it and get on with it!”

  “Yeah!” Tommy agreed with a nod of his head, smiling. “When Daddy was a kid, he’d just get his pole ‘n take off with a Sears and Roebuck catalogue and look, we all turned out okay.”

  Monica elected to take her turn in the great debate. “Well, that just goes to show how lucky you are you didn’t have any accidents out there by yourselves!”

  “Accidents!” Tommy scoffed. “Man, I busted so many bones ropin’, playin’ football, fishin’. Accidents gon’ happen. So just accept it and then keep on fishin’! Helps you enjoy it all the more. It’s like a war wound or a trophy!”

  “Amen!” John praised.

  “You survived it!” Tommy continued. “It’s like when a woman gives birth. It hurts, but you keep on pushing and pushing, and you get a baby, so you love your baby, even though it hurt some. We men get hurt just as bad! And just keep on fishin’. ’Cuz we love our fishin’!” The two men extended their hands and gave each other five, laughing.

  “You two are pathetic!” Monica complained. “I can’t believe—”

  “You can’t talk to them,” Holly interjected smartly. “They prob’ly don’t even recognize us. They have their beer, fishing poles, guns, axes, and fire.” The two women then threw a couple of toilet paper rolls in defiance at the unruly men as they left the living room.

  Before exiting, Monica added an insult. “Bunch of Neanderthal cavemen!”

  Tommy and John grunted and shook their fishing poles over their heads in playful retaliation.

  In the kitchen, Joey, looking confused, peeked into one of the coolers and asked Sarah, “Did we get enough meat? I thought I only saw wieners and steaks!”

  Sarah searched through the remaining grocery bags with Joey then replied, “I thought Ron was supposed to get chicken.” She took a few steps to the garage door and shouted, “Holly?”

  “Yeah?” she answered, handing supplies to Jason who was standing in the boat.

  “Did Ron get the chicken?”

  Ron, who was then leaning over the passenger-side back seat of his car, backed up and struggled to lift a large cooler out of the car, leaning back from the weight. “Oh! I got the chicken!” he proclaimed loudly.

  It took both Ron and Holly to lift the large cooler of chicken onto the boat to Jason. The weight of the cooler, along with the rest of the camping materials, was enough to make the hitch of the boat rise a bit into the air. Jason quickly grabbed the rail to steady himself. Laughingly, he asked Ron and Holly, “Think we got enough or do we just need a bigger boat?”

  Terri leaned into the living room from the kitchen doorway to John and Tommy and suggested, “Shouldn’t one of ya’ll be checking the boys’ packing?” Both men raised their heads and screeched at Terri. Terri shook her hands in front of her and mumbled to herself in irritation before climbing the stairs to Danny’s room. As she approached the top of the landing, she could hear the boys wrestling around. She sneakily peeked her head in and was unable to find the floor from all the sleeping bags, blankets, clothes, hats, shoes, duffle bags, and suitcases.

  She marched back down the stairs into the kitchen and, with a disgusted look on her face, testified, “I can’t believe this morning! I don’t know why we married any of them!” Stopping dead in her tracks, she stood in amazement at the sight of the kitchen island covered with bags and coolers, and asked, “My gosh! Who are they feeding?”

  “It’s always like this,” Sarah admitted lightly. “You’re just never here to see it. Here’s how it works,” she explained as she stacked the food by the door. “They leave ya’ll, come here, then I deal with ’em ’til it’s time to go. But you know what?” she asked softly, leaning in to the other girls with a sly grin. “There will be absolutely no men or boys around for almost three days.”

  The five women glanced at each other, smiling broadly. At that moment, Casey, Ron, and Jason emerged from the garage. As they entered the kitchen, the women suddenly stopped their talking and stood upright. The three men looked at them curiously, silently, as they passed on through to the living room. No sooner were all five men in the living room when they heard the women again whisper something then laugh out loud.

  “Oh no!” Casey grumbled. “They’re planning something!”

  “I don’t wanna know what it is,” Ron added. “I’m just glad to be leaving.”

  “You ’n me both,” Jason quipped.

  The five boys finally came down stairs, dragging their luggage and sleeping bags behind them as they filed out. Danny led the group to the kitchen garage door, put his two bags and pillow on the floor, then made a U-turn to head back to his bedroom. The other impressionable boys followed their leader’s example by throwing their belongings in a pile, then attempted to pass their mothers with not so much as a word.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Jason howled to the line of anxious young men, placing his foot on the stairs to block their path. “What do ya think your doin’?”

  “Giving you our stuff to put in the boat!” Daryl answered meekly.

  “You’re big boys now, you pack your own,” Ron commanded, crossing his arms.

  “Do ya think I pack Tommy’s clothes or roll up Doc’s sleeping bag?” Casey inquired.

  The boys looked at their dads with questioning faces and big eyes.

  “Get your stuff on up and out to the second boat!” John ordered.

  The five sloths reluctantly and sluggishly gathered their belongings and headed out to the garage.

  “First boat is food and drinks!” Tommy bellowed.

  The boys sluggishly went to the two tightly packed vehicles and boats.

  “Man, I’m telling you,” Danny predicted, “they’re gonna make us do everything for the whole weekend!”

  “The whole weekend?” Billy asked as he and the boys tossed their luggage into the first boat on top of the food, ignoring what Tommy told them not just two minutes ago.

  “Chop the wood! Get me a beer!” Daryl demanded as he flung his bag on top of the chips and bread. “Make the fire! Get us a beer! Clean the fish! Get me a beer! I can just hear it!” he added with an aggravated shrug.

  Tommy gathered his friends close to him in the living room, and under his breath he excitedly said, “Man, we ain’t gonna have t’ lift a finger the whole weekend!”

  Holly announced with a giggle to all the women, “I’m not cleaning a thing ’til Monday night.”

  Billy kicked at the gravel in the driveway leading up to the concrete and whined, “Well, maybe we can go out exploring on our own and not have to do so much?”

  “You dork!” Danny snapped. “You know how big Texoma is?”

  Sarah entered the living room and took Tommy to the side. “You wanna do this now, so we can get some stuff organized around here?”

  “Yeah, might as well,” Tommy agreed, looking out the window. “It’s gettin’ light outside.”

  “You think our dads are gonna just let us loose?” Jimmy asked Bobby. “‘Sidew
ays, we’ll be on the boats most the time. I wanna go fishing, too. But, man, I don’t wanna be with my dad all weekend! He’ll just gimme more chores to do than I already have!”

  “Danny?” Sarah shouted from the garage kitchen door. “You and the boys come in here for a sec!”

  Judging from the tone in Sarah’s voice and sensing trouble, the intimidated cluster hesitated to move.

  “C’mon!” she demanded.

  Danny slowly led the brood of slugs through the kitchen and into the living room. His eyes burst open wide with surprise as he was greeted by all the parents standing behind Tommy and Sarah in the middle of the room. Sarah held a birthday cake, all decked out with lit candles and plastic cowboys on horses stuck into the icing. The adults started singing “Happy Birthday” to Danny as he approached the cake.

  The song ended and amidst the clapping and whistles, shouts of, “The Big Man! Ten years old! Whooo!” and, “Girls beware!” rang out. Danny leaned over the cake, took a deep breath, and, with one burst, easily snuffed out all ten candles.

  “My little boy…getting to be a big man!” Tommy proclaimed as he swept Danny up tightly in his arms. Just as Tommy set him down, Danny received a barrage of pats on the back from his friends, kisses and hugs from the mothers, while the men took turns spanking, nuggying, and giving tiny Indian rope burns to the proud boy.

  Tommy led Danny to his armchair, sat him down, and enthusiastically began his presentation. “All right now! Ya ready?” he asked, clasping his hands together then sliding them back and forth to raise the level of excitement. “You gotta close your eyes on this one!” he demanded as he crept to the hall closet.

  Danny closed his eyes slightly and Ron quickly barked, “Ah! Shut those eyes!”

  All of the boys placed their hands on Danny’s face to keep him from peeking.

  Tommy crept over to Danny and the boys, paused, then softly said, “Okay.” Danny’s friends removed their hands from his face, allowing him to open his eyes. Tommy stood in front of Danny with an envelope in one hand and a gun in the other. “All right now!” he stated. “This is the first gun your granddad ever had. He gave it to me when I was your age. Now he and I want you to have it. He couldn’t be here this morning, but he wanted me to give it to you.” Danny’s eyes popped open as Tommy placed the shiny, well-oiled and kept .22 rifle in his hands. “We’ll all go out shootin’ some time and I’ll teach ya how to use it safely and to take care of it.”