

Tom's Treasure

Published by Henry Givens

Smashwords Version

Copyright 2012 by Henry Givens

Revised 2014

Cover Art by Henry Givens

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Tom's Treasure is a work of fiction. Though some actual towns, cities, and locations may be mentioned, they are used in a fictitious manner and the events and occurrences were invented in the mind and imagination of the author. Any similarities of characters or names used within to any person past, present, or future is coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author. Brief quotations may be embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty One

Chapter Twenty Two

Chapter Twenty Three

Chapter Twenty Four

Chapter Twenty Five

Epilogue

# CHAPTER ONE

Tom looked at the date on the airline tickets and wrote 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon on a sticky note. He walked to his refrigerator and placed it under an Atlanta Braves magnet. As he stood there staring at it for a moment, he wondered if he was doing the right thing.

As he walked back to his easy chair in the living room apprehension began to gnaw at him once more. He slid his 6'2" frame into its cushioned comfort and began to pray, "God, when I left Elmhurst fifty years ago I made up my mind that I would never go back. For some reason, You've placed a desire to go back there one more time before I pass on. Am I supposed to see something?"

A shudder went through his heart as he asked, "I know that feeling enough to know that there's someone I'm supposed to talk to. Is it my kin? Is anybody left?"

The ache that he had once put behind him began to return as he finished, "What if they don't want anything to do with me? It's been fifty years. What if they don't understand why I left? But, what if there's nobody left? I know You enough to know You're telling me to go. I trust You enough to know You'll give me divine appointments when I get there. Just lead me by Your peace and not by my fear, in Jesus' name, Amen."

*********

The school bell rang and Arthur got up from his chair and slung his back pack over his shoulder. Normally he would be bouncing out of his seat and making a mad dash for the door. Several of the girls in his class had learned to keep their seats and piddle with their paperwork or something until he was out of the room. His antics on Thursdays were one of those giggly things that fifth grade girls always whisper about.

Such was life on Thursdays at Bartlett Middle School in the little town of Elmhurst, Georgia. Elmhurst Elementary School was a bit overcrowded so they had to shuffle the fifth graders to the middle school. At first, the sixth, seventh and eighth graders did their best to ignore the 'younger' fifth graders, but for the most part they took the change with grace and dignity. And, Thursday nights were the main reason why.

The Bartlett Middle School Wildcats played their football games on those nights. The majority of the fifth graders showed up at the Thursday night games. Most of them sat together and cheered for their team. When the parents and students saw the enthusiasm and support that these fifth graders brought to the games, it eased the tension a lot.

Was there anyone any more enthusiastic than Arthur Hollis? You would have to look hard to find somebody that would even come close. When he first started going to the games, he got so excited that he would stand up and cheer when the Wildcats broke their huddle and came up to the line. His parents, Olivia and Ryan, kindly explained to him that it was not necessary to do that. AND, they pointed out that he was the only one doing it. He was embarrassed just a little.

But, this Thursday he was not as anxious to leave as he usually was. Instead of going out the main entrance of Bartlett Middle School, Arthur chose to duck out through one of the side doors. He just had to avoid Ramon Rodriguez.

Why? One reason was that Ramon was a seventh grader and Arthur was just a fifth grader. Another reason was that Ramon was taller and had a few more muscles than Arthur. Uh, make that a lot more muscles than Arthur. And, the most important reason of all, Ramon wanted to whip Arthur.

But, why would a big guy like Ramon want to beat up on a sweet little fifth grader like Arthur Hollis? Ramon's standard answer was, "Because he was there for me to beat up." Ramon didn't really need a reason. But, this time, he thought he did.

You see, for the past couple of years, Arthur had this inner urge to be a Ninja. It seems that his mom and dad had taken him to see a couple of movies about them. Then, he did this dangerous, wild and scary thing. He went to the local library and actually STUDIED about them. He wanted to know how to fight and jump and scream and be a full-fledged, bad-guy-whuppin' Ninja.

However, he found out that being a Ninja was a lot of hard work. But, instead of being severely disillusioned, though, he became more fascinated than ever. He just HAD to become a Ninja. Or, at least make all those mind-blowing moves like they did.

The more Arthur read about Ninjas, the more he realized that they used more brain power than they did muscle power. So, since eleven-year-old Arthur didn't have the muscle stuff down pat, yet, he ate up the 'smarter than your enemy' stuff. Yeah. That was more his style.

So, what does this have to do with Ramon wanting to beat up Arthur? It all went like this. Arthur's parents bought him a real Ninja robe for his birthday. Arthur's fifth grade teacher had asked for volunteers to talk about their hobbies. When the day came for Arthur to present his hobby, he brought his Ninja robe and told about Ninja history and their training. The class was fascinated. So much so, that when they went to lunch, several of his classmates asked to take a closer look at the robe. Arthur was more than eager to oblige.

As he was stuffing it back into his backpack, Ramon happened to be walking by their table. He made a snide comment about Arthur bringing his pajamas to school. All Arthur did was correct him by telling him it was a Ninja robe. It was the other guys at the table that began to make fun. Ramon was so embarrassed that he swore he would beat up Arthur after school and tear up his new pajamas. And that's where we are right now.

Arthur made his exit from one of the side doors of the school in order to avoid being seen. Unfortunately, Ramon had prepared for just that possibility. He did not wait in front of the school. He waited at the corner of the school building so that he could watch two of the exits at the same time. If Arthur didn't show soon enough, he would have gone to the other side of the building in hopes of catching his fleeing victim.

His plan worked well and he spotted Arthur just as he was coming out of the side door. Quickly, Ramon slumped behind a gaggle of sixth grade girls that were walking in Arthur's general direction. Arthur must have been too scared to notice because Ramon got pretty close.

He would have gotten closer but one of the guys on the other side of the street yelled out, "Hey, Ramon, whatcha doin' sneakin' up on those girls for?" This brought several hoots and shouts from the guys. Just like any teenager, when Ramón gets laughed at, it kinda made him mad.

Arthur turned whiter than ever and stumbled around two of the bicycles chained to the bike rack. Ramon on the other hand glared at the guys across the street as he started after Arthur. Of course, he didn't watch where he was going and knocked a couple of the girls down. Papers and books went everywhere.

The principal happened to be watching and came running to the rescue, yelling at Ramon all the way. He not only made Ramon pick up the girls' books and papers, he made him apologize to each one of them, personally. This embarrassing delay only caused Ramon's temper to grow.

While the little diversion gave Arthur some time to get a good head start, Arthur was almost wishing that it had never happened. Ramon was looking madder by the second. He knew that Ramon was a fast runner and would eventually catch up to him.

He started running toward the park and racking his brain for an idea. A Ninja idea began to form in his scared little head. A Ninja would create a diversion to confuse the enemy. He turned left on Appleton Street and ran toward the big cave across from the park. Actually it was just a two-story mound of dirt left over from some job the city had done years ago. While exploring it one day, Arthur found a neat ledge at the entrance of the cave. He hoped that it would be a good enough hiding place.

Aha! The Johnson place. The Johnson's were gone to the mountains for a few weeks. Arthur stopped long enough to open their front gate. He pushed it open enough to get it caught on some grass and stay open. Hopefully, Ramon would see it and think that he was hiding around the house somewhere.

The Edison's who live next door had a mean Doberman chained up in their back yard. If Ramon went into the yard and looked for him on that side of the house, Boomer would put up quite a fuss. That would give Arthur time to slip out of the cave and double back away from him.

He quickly looked to see if Ramon had made the turn on Appleton. Nope. Good. He ran across the street and ducked behind a row of red tips that created a fence in front of Randy Littleton's front yard. They wouldn't mind Arthur running through that side of their yard anyway. Just about every kid in town used that as a short cut to the cave. There was a well-worn path in their yard from years of kids running to their playhouse.

When he got into the cave, Arthur stopped and thought before he climbed up on the ledge. What if Ramon knew about the ledge, too? Just about every kid in Elmhurst played in this cave at some time or other. There was an open field right next to it which was just right for playing ball, soccer or just chasing each other. The front of the cave was also the place where everybody loved to come and roast hot dogs or whatever. Everybody knew about this cave.

The best thing for him to do was just hang around the entrance of the cave and listen just as hard as he could. With all of his 95-mile-an-hour beating heart, Arthur hoped and prayed that Ramon would take the bait.

His heart was pounding in his ears so hard he wasn't quite sure if he could hear the dog bark or not so he decided to hold his breath. All of a sudden, he heard a twig snap and the bushes by the cave rustle. Arthur froze. A shadow crept into the entrance of the cave. Oh, no! And he didn't even get a chance to say good-bye to his mother.

The Johnson's neighbor's dog started barking. He heard Ramon's voice yelling, "I gotcha now, you little punk. You can't hide from me here. I'm gonna smash your puny face and tear up your new pajamas." The dog sounded like he was going to tear the fence down to get at Ramon. From down the street he heard, "Come out from under that house, you dirty rat. I know you're under there."

If Ramon was down the street, then who was that at the edge of the cave? Arthur decided to run out the far side of the mouth of the cave. Maybe that would scare.........

"Arthur?" a familiar voice called out quietly. Four figures stretched themselves across the entrance of the cave and avoided looking into it. They acted like they were talking to each other but only one of them said anything out loud, "Arthur are you running away from Ramon?"

He recognized Sam Bonner's voice. He was the captain of the football team and a heck of a nice guy. With him was, Murphy, Elrod and Marco. They were all seventh graders who played football for the Bartlett Wildcats. They must have been on their way to get ready for tonight's game.

"Y-y-yeah, I g-g-guess so," he answered. The sound of his voice brought him back to reality. His fear made him lose touch with what was actually happening. He looked down and found out that his voice wasn't the only thing that was shaking. His hands had been shaking so hard that he had dropped half of his papers and hadn't even noticed. His knees were knocking and he realized that he couldn't stop them.

Sam resumed his conversation with him without looking, "Marco is going to step forward just a little bit, so you get in behind him. Me and Elrod and Murphy will form the letter 'C' around you nice and easy like. When I say 'Go,' start walking right behind Marco. Stay right with him but don't walk on his heels and trip him. We'll get you out of here and to a place of safety. You got it?"

"O-k-k-k-ay," Arthur stammered as he stepped behind Marco.

"Arthur?" Sam asked.

"Yeah?"

"Pick up your papers."

"Oh, yeah, thanks."

"Arthur? Did you pee in your pants?"

"No, but I'm thinkin' about it awful hard."

The other guys snickered at poor Arthur. Sam cut it short as he said, "Gather up and...Go."

Almost in unison they stepped to the far side of the cave and got to where Ramon could not clearly see what they were doing. When they rounded the cave enough to be clean out of his sight, Marco suggested, "Follow me, guys, I know a few yards we can cut through and a fence we can climb and get to the alley at Ed's Bakery."

Arthur was immediately all for that. Mr. Ed made the best butterscotch filled donuts he had ever tasted. "Ok, I'm with you," he agreed.

"Figured," Elrod giggled.

Marco took off across one yard and turned down Simpson Street. He turned left and took the alley beside the Elmhurst Hardware Store. That led them to Main Street. He motioned for everybody to stop as they got to the end of the alley. "Let me check to make sure the coast is clear," he suggested. He took a couple of steps onto the sidewalk and looked both ways. "Let's scoot across the street, down beside Aunt Ruby's house and across the back fence. Then, we'll be in the alley beside Ed's Bakery. From there we're only four blocks from Arthur's house. How about it?" he asked.

Sam spoke up, "Sounds like a plan to me."

"Yeah, to me, too," Arthur said with a wide grin on his face.

Elrod piped in, "I figured you would." He reached up and ruffled Arthur's hair a little bit.

Before he could stop himself an almost girlish giggle gushed out of the sweet little fifth grader. He stood in the middle of those four bigger guys almost embarrassed to the bone. That was until Murphy let out a giggle almost as girly as his was and suggested, "Hey, guys, Arthur's so cute we ought to adopt him as our mascot. Whatcha say?" He reached over and tapped Arthur's shoulder with his fist.

Elrod answered, "'Sokay by me, but who's gonna feed him and change the litter box."

The guys snickered at each other while pretending to look up and down the street. Sam tried rubbing his eyes as if they were tired to try to stifle the laugh that was trying to come out. It was Marco's turn with a chastening remark, "Change the litter. Elrod that's demeaning." He paused and looked away to hide his own grin as he finished, "You mean change his diaper and hold his binky."

That did it. The Elmhurst Comedy Tour broke out into laughter that Arthur thought the entire city must have heard. However, as he looked at the passersby he saw that no one was looking their way so maybe no one heard. Arthur had to admit that it was very funny and he couldn't get mad for laughing at them. He finally giggled out, "Ok, you guys. Your jabs at me ain't getting us across the street and me safely home."

"Peanut is right," Sam offered. "Lead on Marco."

One more look to the left and right and Marco sprinted across the street with the others fairly close behind him. They ran through the always open gate of Aunt Ruby's house and down the side yard. As they passed the back porch on the way to the fence that led to the alley, they passed Marco's Aunt Ruby.

She was calmly sitting on her back porch with a bushel of peas on one side of her a trash can in front of her and a 5 quart pot in her lap. She was busy rocking in her old wooden rocker and shelling peas as usual. As the five of them trotted past her and on to the back fence, she called out, "Marco you ain't in no trouble are you?"

He answered as he pulled up a milk crate to help them over the fence, "No, ma'am. You might say we're playing hide and go seek."

"No-o-o-o," she responded with her voice trailing upward. "YOU might say y'all are playing hide and seek. I say you're running away from somebody. But, since I don't see any bloody faces and torn clothes, I figure it's probably alright."

Marco looked at her and just grinned as he helped the guys over the fence. She knew him like the back of her hand and he knew that there was very, very, very little that he could hide from her. "We're not in any trouble, Aunt Ruby," he assured her. As he stepped up on the crate to vault the fence he called to her, "Love you."

Her standard answer came out, "I love you too, you little rascal." Then she raised her voice as they scampered down the alley, "And you stay out of trouble, you hear?"

"Yes, Ma'am," Marco answered as he trotted after the guys. He had looked back to wave good-bye to his aunt and didn't realize that the guys had stopped in front of him. Before he could stop himself, he ran into the back of Arthur and the two of them fell to the ground.

Murphy put his hand over his mouth and said, "Calling all cars, calling all cars. Respond immediately to the alley beside Ed's Bakery. Repeat. Respond immediately to the alley beside Ed's Bakery. We have two men down, that's two men down. Possibly drunk and intoxicated by the fumes bursting forth from the bakery. No deaths yet, but we're working on it."

They tried to help Marco and Arthur up but their laughter hindered them. Murphy's imitation of a police dispatcher was just too authentic sounding. That twangy nasal sound he spoke in and that "k-k-k-k-k-k" in between were just too funny for words.

Sam just shook his head as he gave Arthur a hand up. "Arthur, did that mean ole brute, Marco hurt you?" he asked as he bent down to pick up one of Arthur's books for him.

"Uh, uh,....no....I'm...OK, I g-guess," Arthur stammered as he got up. "Uh....you OK, Marco?"

"Shucks, yeah, man. It takes more than a smack from...." he looked around at the other three, "...our little bitty bubba to hurt me," he said with a big grin as he slapped Arthur playfully on his back. Of course, he hit the back pack which was not full of books like he thought. "Say, what's in that back pack? It sure ain't books."

Murphy chimed in, "Maybe it's an extra set of clothes just in case you go potty in your pants, huh?" That brought another round of laughter and back slaps on Murphy.

"Yeah, what do you have in there?" asked Marco as he stepped toward Arthur and began to reach for the back pack.

He opened the back pack and took out the robe and continued, "My Mom bought me a Ninja robe for my birthday. That's what I would like to be like, a Ninja. This robe is the reason Ramón wants to beat me up. I brought it for Hobby Day in class and at lunch some of the guys wanted to see it. As they were looking at it, Ramon came by and made a remark about it being my pajamas. A-a-n-n-d-d, the other guys corrected him and made fun of him. I guess I would have been pretty mad, too. That's when he threatened to beat me up."

Elrod reached over and felt Arthur's biceps, "Hey, looky here, little bitty Ninja bubba. You're a little puny to be a Ninja. You better put on some muscles if you're gonna fight the big guys."

Arthur offered this explanation, "But, guys, Ninjas are not about big muscles. They are more about being in better shape than their enemies. You know, outsmart them and catch them by surprise. Fake 'em out."

"Hey," said Sam, "that's pretty close to what the coach said we should do when we face bigger football players. Play smarter, not harder."

Before they could say anything else, Arthur put on a little demonstration. "Watch this," he said as he acted like he was going to hit Sam, then spun around, slipped his left leg inside Sam's right leg and then nudged him a little. Sam lost his balance a bit. "See," Arthur said, "with a little harder push, you would have been on the ground and I could have taken the advantage and put you out of commission."

The light came on in Murphy's head. "Hey, that could be a neat move with a little practice. I bet I could get through the biggest line and into the backfield with a move like that." There was a collective "Ye-e-a-a-h" from the others. As they looked at each other and nodded, the light began to come on.

Sam picked Arthur's brain for a moment, "Arthur, have you read or studied any of the Ninja moves? Well, what I'm getting at, could Ninja defensive type moves be adapted to playing football?"

Arthur thought for a minute, "You know, I just believe they would. U-m-m-m, you know when the offensive guy gets set just before the center hikes the ball? Well, if instead of the defense going straight forward every time, you kinda leaned back, and put your hands on the guy's shoulders...wait a second. U-h-h-h, Elrod, be the offense, I'll be the defense, Sam say down, set, hike and come at me in about half the speed and see if it will work. I can probably show ya' better than I can tell you."

Elrod got down in his set position. Arthur stood in front of him with his hands outstretched, Sam stood to the side. Sam gave the signal in measured tones, "Ready, set, hike."

Elrod started toward Arthur. Arthur turned to the right, put his hands together and let Elrod's left shoulder hit the cup of his hands and let the force of Elrod's charge spin him around. Then Arthur took three steps toward where a quarterback might be.

Murphy's eyes got wide open. "Oh, my gosh, I think I got it," he said. "Elrod, get down there one more time and do it again in real time. Sweet mother of pearl, I think I can do this."

Elrod got down in his set position again. Sam took up his position and then barked out the cadence. Elrod came charging and Murphy imitated Arthur's move. However, he didn't take into consideration how hard Elrod's charge would be or how to time his push so he almost got thrown to the ground. However, he caught his balance and in the middle of the street he let out a big, "Yahoo! I can do this. I can do this. With some practice and timing, man, we can pull some surprises on the last few games of the season. And if we win those, we get a shot at the state championship and get a chance to whip Summerville. W-o-o-o-h-o-o-o."

The other guys were just as excited about what they saw. High fives and "Yeahs" were abundant. To Arthur's surprise, Murphy picked him up in his arms like a little baby and swung him around and around until they almost fell.

Marco offered, "Say, little bitty Ninja bubba, why don't we make a deal. You can come over to my house on Saturdays and the five of us will work out on the new equipment my father bought me and you can teach us some of those moves. It would be a win-win situation."

Murphy came up with, "Why don't we talk to the coach? Maybe we could incorporate some of this Ninja stuff in our plays. It could be the edge we have been looking for."

Arthur was flabbergasted, "Sure, sure...that would be a great idea. Me, a....I mean on the football team.....with all you big guys. I..I.. Thanks, guys." He could hardly contain his excitement. However, his excitement was brought to a screeching halt as he looked toward his back yard. "Oh, no," he groaned, "it's Ramon."

"What about Ramon?" Elrod asked as they all turned to look in his direction.

Murphy grabbed Arthur around the shoulder and turned him toward his house and said out loud to the other guys, "Like Elrod asked, little bitty Ninja buddy, what about Ramon? C'mon guys. It's time we walked our new trainer home." Then a little lower so only the guys could hear, "Just catch on and play along. I think I just got a Ninja idea." Then a little bit louder as they got closer to Ramon. "Now, Arthur, we need to talk to you a little bit about practice yesterday."

"Huh?" Arthur looked up at him a little confused.

Murphy continued, "Yeah, I don't want to hurt your feelings or nothin' but you gotta lighten up when you hit us at practice."

Elrod caught on, "Oh.,uh...yeah. You gotta remember, this is just practice, man, just practice. Save your best hits for the game, dude."

Sam caught on, "Hey guys, you might not have paid attention, but as team captain, I made it my business to watch little bubba here on every, I mean, every hit. Let me tell you, I've never seen anything like it." His voice got louder as he started waving his arms for emphasis. "Every hit, I watched, it was EVERY hit......" he paused for effect and then pointed toward the ground as he finished, "BAM.....somebody hit the ground with Arthur on top of him. EVERY HIT I TELL YOU."

Marco started rubbing his stomach as he chimed in, "Yeah, dude, my stomach still hurts from when you pounded me."

"Aw-w-w-w, does the big bad football player's tummy hurt? Maybe he needs to get somebody to look at it," Murphy said in mock pity.

"Hey, my sister would like to look at it, she says you're a hunk," Elrod added as he nearly doubled over with laughter.

"Funny, re-e-a-a-l funny, Elrod," Marco replied as he laughed in embarrassment. "I'll get you back for that."

They finally joked and walked their way to Arthur's house. They had to pass Ramon as they did. Each one of them said "Hello" or "Hi" in their own cheerful and excited way and treated Ramon as if he was the best friend they had ever had. Boy! He sure had a confused look on his face as they walked past him. They got to Arthur's driveway and said "Goodbyes" and "See ya's."

As they walked away from Arthur, there were plenty of one-liner smart remarks. Then Arthur realized that he was alone and only four or five steps away from Ramon. Arthur took a deep breath and decided that he would face Ramon as if they were good friends. Maybe that would throw him off enough to get to the safety of his home.

"Hi, Ramon," Arthur said to him with all the happy enthusiasm he could muster.

"Uh..Hi, Arthur," Ramon said as Arthur started walking up the driveway. Then he called after him, "Say, Arthur, wait a minute."

'Here it comes, stay cool, Arthur, stay cool,' Arthur thought to himself as he turned around.

"Did I hear those guys say that you were on the football team?" he asked.

Arthur answered, "Well, not exactly." He knew he had to answer truthfully. "I guess you might say that I am just practicing right now before anyone makes any permanent decisions." Another Ninja idea formed in his head. He looked at Ramon and asked real seriously, "Ramon, I've seen you running at P.E. Man, you're fast. Why don't you join the football team?"

Ramon was borderline shocked. Most people tried their best to avoid him. He stammered, "I....I...well, I never gave it much thought. They,...probably don't need anybody."

Arthur started to get a little excited as he continued, "Yes, they do, man. In last week's game, one of the guys in the backfield sprained his ankle....and I've seen you run....and we've only got a few games left....and we've gotta win....and...." He tried to calm himself to think and talk straight. "And, I'm going to the game tonight and then I'll see the guys this Saturday. I could ask them about you joining then. How 'bout it?"

Right then, Arthur being so nice and friendly kinda took the edge off of wanting to beat him up. Ramon just turned around and started walking away as he mumbled, "Yeah. Whatever."

As he watched Ramon walking with his hands in his pockets and his head looking down at his feet, it dawned on Arthur that he had not noticed Ramon hanging around with any other guys. As he turned and walked up the driveway to his house, he wondered if he should try to be a friend to Ramon. He could only imagine how awful it was not to have anybody to talk to or make jokes with. A challenge hit Arthur. He made up his mind that, from now on, he was going to find some way to speak to Ramon every day. Maybe they could become friends instead of enemies.

# CHAPTER TWO

The more Arthur thought about what had happened that afternoon, the more excited he got. Frankly, he had been so obsessed with the fear of getting beat up by Ramón that the new relationship he had developed with the leaders of the Wildcat's football team didn't sink in at first. But, lawdy, lawdy, when it did, it began to build inside of him like a steam locomotive leaving the train depot.

His mom, Olivia, called him to the table for their normal early Thursday supper. Wendy, his baby sister was already in her high chair dropping every other handful of green beans on the floor. By the time he got to the table, Arthur had built up a pretty good head of steam.

"Sam's the captain of the football team and he likes the Ninja stuff I showed him," the babbler started, "and then when......no let me tell you about when Marco ran into me...well, no that's not important. Oh, yeah, it is too, but not as important....Mom they invited me....oh, but the reason they invited me...."

Olivia was used to his prattle and recognized immediately that if she did not go into interrogation mode she would listen to this all night. She did the only thing any sane mother would do. She opened the palm of her hand and firmly patted the table with every word she said, "Arthur....shut....up."

Now her hand was horizontal and flat on the table at that time. Arthur, being the brilliant child that he was, knew from experience that her hand could become vertical at any time and she was not so far away that it couldn't reach the very middle of his forehead.

He stopped talking immediately, but began giggling profusely. "You're going to interrogate me aren't you?" he asked with those dark eyes sparkling in anticipation.

This was a game that he and his mother enjoyed. Number one, his mother knew how to ask the right questions that got him to the point quicker. Number two, Arthur was aware that his mind wandered from point to point without making sense most of the time. It also meant that he would be more of the center of attention than his little sister was. Arthur liked to be the center of attention.

"If I want any peace the rest of the afternoon I had better," she replied with a smile. "Whatever has got my little man worked up must be very important to him, and I want to know all about. You and I both know that this is the fastest and easiest way of getting fact from fiction. Ain't that right, Wendy?" Olivia asked as she looked at the baby.

Wendy was just over a year old and knew exactly what that flat hand meant. As always, she knew that she could get a lot of attention if she imitated her mother. She, too had her hand outstretched toward Arthur but looked over at her mother for approval, which she always got.

Olivia reached over and grabbed her hand and gave it a shake while praising her, "That's my girl. Rule the roost well. Let's see that hand in action."

Wendy banged her hand on highchair's tray and laughed at her mother's attention. Green beans went everywhere. Samson, their Rottweiler, was going to have a feast later on. He so much enjoyed supper time at the Hollis house.

With her hand flat on the table, her eyes glued on her son and a smile on her face, she declared, "You know the rules, don't ya, Mister Blister."

Arthur giggled out a, "Yes, Ma'am."

Arthur has a bit of a problem when he gets all excited. He has this tendency to ramble on without making a whole lot of sense. More likely than not, he would say everything that needed to be said but not in the right order and very seldom in complete sentences. It was a problem that he had had forever and it drove his mother crazy. All she wanted was the facts. She preferred that it be short and sweet and to the point. Hence the game.

Here are the rules of the game. They were made up by, and you had better believe they were enforced by, Mrs. Olivia Hollis. She would hold her hand flat on the table. She would ask a simple question to which she required a simple answer. When Arthur rambled, scrambled or jumbled his words, she would raise her hand. A raised hand meant that Arthur must stop talking immediately. And, Olivia enforced THAT rule of the game with a quick thump on his forehead. Sounds like a silly but fun mother-son type game doesn't it?

Was it harsh on Arthur? Maybe it was at first. At first it was because Olivia was pretty frustrated with his meanderings. However, at the fourth and fifth time Olivia played the game, she noticed that Arthur rambled less and less. He began to think before he spoke. He actually began to catch himself getting hyped up and would calm himself down before talking. Olivia didn't know it but her little game began to change the way Arthur processed information and used it. And, that along with the Ninja ways that Arthur studied created a very astute awareness in him that would serve him extremely well in the future. Just you wait and see. Right now, game on.

"First question," Olivia started, "Who is Sam?" She always asked the questions slowly and was very careful to pronounce every word very clearly.

Arthur smiled as he calmed down and answered slowly and distinctly also, "He is a seventh grader and he's captain of the football team."

Hand up. "Next question," Olivia said. "Who were the other guys?" Hand down.

Arthur answered, "There was Elrod and Marco and Murphy. All of them are seventh graders on the football team."

Hand up. "But who was Ramón, the guy who came to the house and asked where you were?" she asked. "Which, to a mother who was waiting for her normally punctual son to come home from school, was a very pertinent question....Sport." Hand down.

"He was the guy who wanted to beat me up," Arthur giggled.

Hand up fast. "Beat you up? What on earth for?" Hand down on the table with a 'pop.'

As he giggled profusely at his successful attempt to rile his mother a bit, Arthur's brain went into super-careful-sort-the-info overdrive and he gushed proudly, "Oh, Mom. Listen to this answer. He saw my Ninja robe and called it pajamas. I corrected him. My friends made fun of him. He got mad and chased me after school. How do you like that answer?"

Hand up. She replied, "Good for you, bad for Ramón. He's a big kid. You couldn't outrun him. Tell me how you got away from him." Hand down.

Arthur smiled as he thought a few moments and then answered, "I ran to the cave across from the park. The guys saw me running and Ramón following and figured I was in trouble. They came to the cave, made a plan and got me away without Ramón seeing me. Marco came up with an alternate way of getting close to the house. We took it. But, Ramón must have decided to wait for me here."

With a very confused look on her face, Olivia pulled her hand back, crossed her arms and leaned forward on the table. Interrogation was over for right now. She just wanted to make sense of this whole situation. Besides, Arthur was calm now.

She continued her questioning, "Sweetie, I heard y'all talking but it sounded more like just guys carrying on. I didn't hear any yelling or even any loud voices." She tilted her head and squinted her eyes and asked, "Why were you and Ramón talking normally if he was that headstrong on beating you up? I mean, he was waiting for you and I could see him out the window."

Arthur's eyes grew big in bewilderment and he attempted to answer, "Gosh, Mom, I really don't know." After a few seconds he reasoned with a sheepish grin, "It might have been that little trick the guys played on him."

Arthur carefully related to her the whole scenario of how he showed the guys some Ninja stuff. He told her how they wanted him to come over to Marco's house to work out with them and show them some Ninja moves that they could use in football. Finally, he told her about the story they made up to make it look like Arthur was big and tough. It must have worked because Ramón obviously calmed down.

For whatever reason, whether it was the story or the way that Arthur told it, Olivia started chuckling and wagging her head. There was not an intelligent question in her head at this time. She did not know if she was satisfied with the interrogation or pooped from the mind boggling details.

Arthur's eyes got big and he began to get a little excited again as he continued, "And Ramón thought I was on the football team. I told him that I was just practicing with the guys." Searching for the words Arthur looked down as he tried to make sense of his own feelings, "Mom, I don't think Ramon has any friends at school. I don't remember him hanging around anybody and just talking and laughing. Do you think it would be a good idea if I tried to be his friend? That is, if he would let me."

Olivia reached over and pulled her precious bundle of joy to her and gave him a kiss on the cheek and a big old hug. As she held him tight and ran her fingers through his hair, she looked into his dark, handsome eyes and said, "Mama's proud of her little man. And you're growing up before my eyes. Arthur, it is real important for you to have good friends. It's even more important if you can gain the favor of those who might not like you. Who knows? They might become one of the greatest friends you would ever have."

*********************

After the first Saturday training session, the guys invited Arthur to Monday's football practice. During the session, he asked if they would be interested in having Ramon on the team. They guys were pretty excited about it, since their starting fullback had gotten hurt. When Arthur told Ramon that morning that the coach wanted to see him at practice, Ramon was so flabbergasted that all he could do was mumble, "We'll see."

Since Bartlett Middle School didn't have a field to practice on, they all met at the park. The city had set aside a flat, open area right next to the main road for them to use for a scrimmage field. The guys loved it because it gave them an audience to play to. People strolling through the park would stop and watch them all the time.

And, just like all ball teams, the Bartlett Middle School Wildcats had several diehard fans waiting on them to get there. Some, mostly parents, would stay for the whole practice and even cheer for their favorite player.

The last ones to the field were Sam, Ramon and the coach. Ramon had on the team shirt that the injured player used to wear. They were a little tight on him. Ramon was a pretty big fellow for his age. The three of them stood on the sidewalk and talked for a few minutes. Coach Wimberly slapped Ramon on the shoulder pads as they finished talking. Sam tapped him on his arm and they began to trot to where the rest of the team were gathered.

The two of them talked as they jogged. Arthur couldn't help but notice the smile on Ramon's face. It was the first time that he had seen Ramon smile. One of those gooshy feelings came over him. Everything was going to be OK. He just knew it.

The coach seemed to like the idea of the team learning moves that could give them an advantage. However, the rest of the team was not as receptive. Arthur was introduced and the coach explained the reason he was there. Someone from the rear of the gang muttered, "Punk." Most of the guys snickered at the very thought of a fifth grader telling a middle school football team how to block and move.

Marco looked around at Sam, Elrod and Murphy with a smile on his face and said, "Gentlemen, it sounds as if we have some doubters in our midst. Perhaps a little demonstration is in order." He looked at his comrades and then at the coach.

Coach Wimberly looked at the team and turned to Marco and asked, "What do you have in mind?"

Marco crossed his arms and looked at the other three. Before he could say anything, Elrod clapped his hands and said, "How about some four-on-four scrimmage. We'll be the defense against any four of you that want to be the offense. Coach Wimberly can stand behind the line as the quarterback. When he says 'Hike,' we'll have just five seconds to get through and touch Coach. If all four of us get past the offensive line two out of three times, everyone agrees to at least listen." He smiled real big and then crossed his arms. Sam and Murphy did the same.

The rest of the team just looked at each other, wondering where all of this was going. Have the leaders of the mighty Wildcats gone slap nuts? Have they been taking drugs or smoking wacky tobaccy?

Before any of them could answer, and before he realized what he was doing, Arthur crossed his arms, stepped forward and issued his own challenge. "Make that five-on-five and best three out of five. And, if anybody can put me on the ground I'll go home RIGHT NOW," spoke Mr. Alligator Mouth.

'Oh, good Lord,' thought Arthur to himself, 'what am I saying? Those guys are a foot taller and 20 pounds heavier. I might not even live until supper time. Why didn't I just keep my big mouth shut? Holy Moley. I'd better make some good moves or I'm dead meat.'

Well, you could almost see the steam coming out of several guys' ears as the five biggest guys pushed their way to the front. The first one to the front pointed his finger in Arthur's face about two inches from his nose and said, "You're on, Punk." Then for emphasis, he jabbed his bony finger in the middle of Arthur's chest.

PUNK?! It was now evident that Eddie Schwartz was the guy who muttered the word that started the whole challenge. Why did it have to be Eddie? It could have been anybody but Eddie. Arthur just stared at him with no emotion whatsoever. Ninjas never let their enemies see their emotions. But, inside his emotions were on a roller coaster. First, he came face to face with the guy who called him punk from the back of the crowd. Second, his finger hurt! Third, and most important of all, Eddie's dad owned the bakery he liked to hang around.

Just the short thought of the bakery brought the taste of a butterscotch cream filled doughnut sprinkled with powdered sugar to his mouth. M-m-m-m-m-m-m! Or was that the taste of his heart that had just jumped up into his throat? He wasn't very sure right now.

As the two fives lined up against each other, Eddie made sure he stood right in front of Arthur. The look on Eddie's face made Arthur wish he was anywhere else but here. Ooops! Was that his mother calling? Nope, guess not. Besides, running away would be letting his friends down. They all got down into their football stance.......except Arthur. He wasn't quite sure what to do.

"Watsa matter, Punk?" Eddie said loud enough for all onlookers to hear. "You get football mixed up with hopscotch or duck, duck, goose?" The other guys broke into laughter.

Arthur tried to look thoughtful instead of so dog-gone scared like he really was. He wrinkled his brow as if he was in deep thought. Since he was in the middle of the five, he looked up and down the line as if he was pondering his move. He took a couple of steps back, held out his arms as if he was measuring something.

Eddie smarted, "If you're wondering how far away the ground is, I'm fixin' to show ya." Chuckles abounded, even from the sidelines.

Arthur acted as if Eddie wasn't even there, which only infuriated him more. One thing Arthur learned in studying Ninja moves was that a calmly thinking warrior could out-wit an angry foe. Now, for more fuel to the fire, he stepped back up to the line, did an about face, took one giant step away from the line and turned back around to face Eddie who was still in his four point stance. Then, like a good outfielder, he bent over at the waist and rested his hands on his knees.

Eddie had enough. He stood up and tried to mock Arthur through his anger, "You call that a stance? In case no one told ya, Punk, this is football and not baseball." Eddie bounced back down to his four point stance. "Ok, Punk, if that's the way ya wanna' go down. It'll be my pleasure. Believe you me, it will be my pleasure."

Arthur saw Eddie's face turn redder than a tomato. One more shot ought to do it. So, without coming out of his crouch, he spread his arms out as if he wanted to give Eddie a big hug, and said, "I really feel more comfortable like this. You don't mind do you, Eddie?"

Out of intense frustration Eddie growled, "A-a-a-r-r-g-g! Come on Coach. Yell hike so I can cream this yo-yo."

Coach Wimberly had no idea how this was going to turn out. He wondered how he was going to explain this to Arthur's parents if he wasn't as good as Marco and the others said he was. Something about Arthur's calm attitude made him go on. "OK, guys, I say ready, set, hike and you start on hike. Ready! Set! Hike!"

Eddie charged out of his stance intent on laying Arthur out flat. However, Arthur watched the way that Eddie leaned his head to the left in order to throw his right shoulder right into his gut. Arthur stepped to his left, gently pushed off of Eddie's right shoulder and let the energy of his charge spin him around. Then, he was able to get through the line and to the coach with no problem.

Eddie, on the other hand, was just standing there with the most perplexed look on his face. His look was matched by his friends as they looked at the coach surrounded by four, slippery, ear-to-ear grinning team mates...and that fifth grader.

Eddie and his friends walked back toward their positions in front of the coach and quickly got into a huddle to develop their strategy. Arthur and the guys did the same. As they all took their stances, Arthur quickly realized their plan. They all lined up with their right hands on the ground. That meant that they intended on hitting with their left shoulders. Arthur yelled out, "Regal Eagle." The "R" in the word before eagle meant to be prepared to shift right.

When the coach yelled, "Hike," everything ran like Arthur had planned the whole thing. Arthur's guys were around Eddie's before they even knew what happened. As Eddie's guys turned around, you could see that they knew that the next time had to work. There is no way they could be put down by a...a...fifth grader.

Eddie and his guys huddled longer, their mean looks toward Arthur were growing stronger and their actions more animated. Arthur and his group just watched with anticipation wondering what they were up to and how they would counter the attack. Finally, Eddie and his guys broke their huddle. No more smiling faces. No more taunting gestures. No terrifying talk. Just mean and hard stares right at Arthur. There was no way they could let Arthur pass this time, or leave him standing up for that matter.

As Eddie's guys lined up, they did the unimaginable. Instead of lining up side by side, they began to line up behind each other at five yard intervals while motioning the coach to back up. Coach Wimberly objected, "Hey guys, what gives? This isn't a relay race, it's a football scrimmage."

Some of the people on the sidelines began to call out, too. "No fair." "Wassup, dudes?" "Hey, that's all wrong." "Leave poor Arthur alone, will ya?"

Arthur saw his chance to play to the crowd. He turned toward them and held up his hands and said, "That's OK. No, no, it's gonna be OK." Then after everyone got quiet, he smiled and finished by saying, "Besides, this is the first intelligent thing they have done so far. I was wondering when I was going to get a real challenge."

Hoots of "Way to go Arthur." "We're with ya' Bud." "Don't let 'em get ya'." rose up from the sidelines which didn't go very well with Eddie and his guys.

Arthur turned back towards the playing field and huddled with his friends. "What'll we do now?" asked Murphy.

"Yeah, with the way they lined up it looks as if they are only going after you," said Elrod.

Marco suggested, "Let me talk to the coach, this just isn't fair."

Arthur motioned for the guys to gather around him and whispered a plan to them. As they broke the huddle, they all snickered as they took their places in the line. That is, all of them except Elrod. He broke out with a case of giggles so bad that he couldn't get down into his stance. This time, Arthur walked about ten steps backward and got down into a regular football stance. When the coach started his cadence of 'Ready, set, hike', Arthur timed his run towards the line to get there about three steps after 'hike.'

Eddie, who was the first one in line, was so confused, that on 'hike' he just stood up straight and prepared for Arthur's hit. He didn't realize the other four behind him had started running.

About three steps away, as the coach said "Hike," Arthur leaped toward Eddie with his hands towards Eddie's face as if he was going to scratch Eddie's eyes out and let out a rebel yell that would have made Gen. Stonewall Jackson proud. It unnerved Eddie so much, that he fell back a step right into the guy who was running up behind him. They fell into the path of the third one and went crashing to the ground. At the same time, Marco and Elrod from the right and Sam and Murphy from the left ran at the last two who were by now in a great state of confusion. As they got to the last two behind Eddie, they just touched them on the shoulder and yelled, "You're it!" and kept running toward Coach. Eddie's five just stood there scratching their heads.

Of course, the people on the side lines broke out into laughter and well deserved applause. To say that Eddie and his crew were embarrassed is an understatement. However, they had to admit that they had been outsmarted.

Arthur took a chance at making peace with them and started walking toward them. "Hey, guys," he started, "it's not about who's the biggest or anything. On the football field, you're always going to face bigger and tougher guys. All I did was plan some moves that you didn't expect, use a magician's ploy of misdirection to confuse you just for a moment. That's all it took for a little guy like me to get by big guys like you and get to the quarterback. I don't know about you guys that have been practicing football for a couple of years, but I don't like the idea of getting hit by someone bigger."

Tim, one of Eddie's guys, "Eddie, I hate to say it..........no I don't. I like to say it. I re-e-e-a-ly don't like getting hit by bigger guys. You know like that big goon from Summerville."

"Yeah," said Elrod as he and the others began to walk toward Eddie and his crew. "Don't you think he failed the third grade on purpose just so he could whip us?"

Everyone started laughing and they all walked back towards the coach. Coach Wimberly began to put it in perspective. "Guys, some of the moves that you forced Arthur to go through would probably never make it on the football field, but the idea of surprise and mis-direction........what did you call it Arthur? Planned deception? Well, I have always taught you, that planning and execution were the two greatest allies that a team could have. What do you say? Let's take a look at what Arthur can offer us, put it into football moves, practice and beat all the big guys."

The team agreed with a chorus of "Yeahs" and "Alrights" and a couple of "Woo-hoos". They even got several shouts of encouragement from the sidewalk crowd, who by this time had grown larger than it ever had. Practice went on for about another hour or so. The team was quite enthusiastic, as was the crowd. Everyone on the team, including Eddie, seemed to enjoy practicing before a bigger audience.

The coach made Arthur an official assistant manager. That not only meant that Arthur would help in planning the strategy for the team, but he also had the unique opportunity to keep the water keg filled. Woo-hoo.

# CHAPTER THREE

Tom was finally tired of walking around Elmhurst. He had spent an hour and a half just looking through the town cemetery. He found Ellen and Brian's grave in the same general area of Ellen's parents. To his dismay, there was no sign of Billy's grave. There were no other Dandridges there besides his parents and grandparents. Just to make sure he hadn't missed anything, he made a second trip around the cemetery. He still found nothing.

Maybe Billy moved away. None were listed in the phone book. His casual walk around the town revealed no mail boxes with the Dandridge name on it. He didn't want to start asking questions. Someone might recognize him or start asking questions he had rather not answer.

The town had changed since 1954. All the beautifully meandering streets in town had been straightened, more or less. The mighty oaks in the park had been cut down. He remembered the five great big ones that were pretty much in a row. It didn't take much to recall the races they used to have around them when he was growing up. Then, they all got bikes and used the trees for a slalom course. Man they had some great times at that park.

They had even better times at the old mounds across the street from the park. How those mounds got there nobody remembered. Just a great big mound of dirt with five big holes dug out of them. Every one of them was a pretty good camping spot. They were all deep enough to keep the rain from getting them wet. It was a great place for the guys to hang out and a great place to play pranks on the girls.

Now, it looked like they had cut down the trees and used most of the dirt to level the park. They even covered up the little stream that used to flow through it. The guys had spent countless hours there, too. The water came from an underground spring and was ice cold even in the middle of the summer. He had no clue what they had done to the spring. Obviously, they had stopped it up somehow. Or, maybe they piped into the city water system.

Tom was in no mood to wander around to find out about it. As a matter of fact, he had seen about as much of Elmhurst as he had wanted to. There was nothing there for him anymore. That old feeling of returning to your home to tie up some loose ends must have been just that, an old feeling. It was hard for him to admit but he must have missed God somehow. The idea crossed his mind that maybe he was getting old and senile. At 82, he guessed he had a right to be.

As he walked back toward the hotel, he was tired and borderline depressed. There was nothing much else to do. He figured he would eat supper, spend one more night and then head back home.

Home. He thought that that's what he had done. Come back home. Nope, sadly he had to admit that Elmhurst must not have been home anymore. It was just another town.

As he walked past the park he heard some adults and kids cheering. He had nothing better to do and a little time to kill so he walked over to see what it was all about. He had no idea what was in store for him.

At first, Tom had been almost mindlessly watching a group of boys going through the routines of hitting, pushing and running, the normal things that a football team would do. It might have been boredom, or it might just be the game he used to play when he would start attending a new church. He began to look from the team to the adults on the sidelines to see if he could guess who belonged to who. He enjoyed playing the game, especially today. It seemed to take his mind off of.................other things.

However, that little kid, was his name Arthur? He hung around the coach a lot but they didn't favor. And, he called him Coach Wimberly. Nah, not related. The most peculiar thing was, it looked like this Arthur kid was always talking to the coach and trying to show him something. Most of the time, the coach would shake his head 'no.' Ooops! That time he didn't. What was that? Arthur showed the coach again and Tom instantly recognized it as a classic Ninjutsu block. Or was it? There, he did it again. Tom was absolutely sure. It was Ninjutsu alright.

A shrill whistle was heard. Most people didn't pay attention to it. It was kinda like they were used to hearing it. Arthur looked up quickly, though. In the crowd was a lady holding a precious red-headed little girl who squealed when Arthur looked their way. The three of them exchanged excited waves. The lady held the baby up and pointed in a direction. Arthur shook his head, 'yes' and the lady started walking away in the direction she had pointed. Tom surmised she was going home and Arthur was to follow after practice.

From the opposite side of the field, Tom got a great look at the youngster's face throughout the little pantomime. 'That kid sure loves his mother and baby sister, alright," he thought with pleasure. 'Hmmm. He threw them a kiss. Wasn't ashamed of it either.' It was refreshing to the retired youth leader to see a parent and a child share a loving attitude.

As Tom watched the mother and daughter team return his kiss, something began to roll around inside of him. He had felt it before when he had been around troubled teens in the different churches he had taught at. It was that gentle urging from the Lord that was pulling him to spend some time with young Arthur.

Or was it God? Tom had a hard time discerning the tug. He had started out the day with such high expectations. The hours of walking had only left him tired on the inside as well as the outside. He silently prayed, 'Lord, I am almost too tired to recognize if that's You or not. He's a cute little boy. He doesn't look like he's having any trouble at all. I really want to leave this place, but I think it's You I feel. I'm gonna see if I can strike up a conversation with him. I'm trusting You to open the door or shut it from there. But, I'm tired, God. And, I just want to go home. Where ever that is. I just want to lay before you and cry my hurting soul empty. I mean real empty.'

Football practice was about to be "whistled dead." There was only thirty minutes left but nobody showed signs of wanting to stop. Arthur's 'push-away' movement was more like a new toy than a football move. Everybody wanted to be on the defense so they could try it.

Just like always, one new twist gave birth to a whole slew of ideas. Most of them fell by the wayside but a couple of them had merit. The coach, with advice from his helpers and some of the players, began to experiment with some of them. To say the least, the defense was cooking. And, the onlookers, mostly parents and siblings of course, got just as excited about watching things develop as the players and coaches did.

Coach Elliot, the teacher in charge of the offensive line had a brainstorm. "Coach Wimberly," he called from across the field, "let's put the offense against the defense in a little bit of a scrimmage. Let's see who can keep who guessing."

Who knows if Coach Wimberly was all for it or not but the team and the crowd sure was. There was plenty of 'Yeahs" from the onlookers. The highly partial crowd began cheering while seventy five percent of the team began either jumping or dancing.

Coach Wimberly smiled and hung his head as he wagged it back and forth. He finally looked up with a big grin, winked at the crowd and agreed, "We-e-e-l-l-l, it'll be alright as long.......as the offense doesn't go around sulking and pouting because my mighty defense ruins their every plan."

Oh, talk about throwing down the gauntlet. That did it. One little sentence polarized the entire group around their respective coach. The friendly taunts between the two groups, as well as the encouraging shouts from the sidelines breathed greater energy into the team. During all the prattle and carrying on, they continued to split into two groups at opposite ends of the practice field without being told to. That left Coach Wimberly and Coach Elliot in the middle all by themselves. With hands outstretched and shoulders shrugged, they just looked at the laughing parents and trotted to their waiting combatants.

"Thirty minutes is all we have left, team, so let's make the best of it," encouraged Coach Wimberly.

As you may have guessed, it was the shortest thirty minutes of those warriors' lives. New plays developed and failed. A tweak here and a tweak there brought some success. At times, the defense fell apart. At times, the offense looked like goobers. When those times came, the respective coaches huddled their charges and asked, "What can we do to make that play better?" This was almost like starting over for this team and they were open to any and all suggestions. They practiced hard, laughed hard and then moaned hard when the coach told them that time was up.

Alas, alas, it was over. So, thirty-two tired but excited middle school football players began gathering the equipment together and packing it away in the school's van. Arthur was faithful in his commitment to the team and helped until the last piece was securely tucked away.

To his pleasant surprise, Ramon came over and helped him put the water cooler in the school van. As he closed the van door, Arthur said, "Thanks, Ramon. You looked good out there today."

Ramon flashed him a smile and stated, "Thanks, man." As he turned to walk away he continued, "But, I still hate your pajamas."

As Arthur began walking toward the street to go home, Eddie called out to him, "Hey, Arthur! Meet me at the bakery in an hour and I'll have you a butterscotch creme-filled waitin' on ya'. On the house."

"A-l-l-r-i-i-ght," Arthur exclaimed. He started talking to himself as he walked toward home, "Hot dog-a-Moses! A butterscotch creme.......aw...Mom would never let me have one. No use getting my hopes up."

From behind him, Arthur heard an unfamiliar voice calling to him, "Arthur. Arthur, would you wait a minute? I would like to talk to you for a little while if you don't mind." He turned and saw an elderly gentleman walking toward him.

Arthur figured him to be around 70 years old, yet, he walked briskly. His back was ram-rod straight and he had a great big smile. He had on khaki pants and a plaid shirt like most of the folks in southeast Georgia. However, the thing that immediately captured Arthur's attention was that this guy was wearing white tennis shoes. That just wasn't normal for someone his age. He should be wearing support shoe thingys, or at least a pair of loafers. But, white tennis shoes? What was up with that?

As he approached Arthur, the genuine smile that the stranger had on his face brought his fears to a halt. The young lad just could not put his finger on it at that particular moment, but there was something about this distinguished gentleman that made Arthur feel at ease.

He stuck out his hand and introduced himself, "Hi, I'm Tom. I was just passing by when I heard the commotion. Some of those adults were so riled up, I thought there must be a fight going on in the middle of the park. I never figured there would be a football team practicing here. On top of that, you were showing them some martial arts moves. Where did you learn to do that?"

This stranger was immediately Arthur's best friend. He had used the words 'martial arts.' Plain and simple, this guy couldn't be bad at all. "Well, sir," Arthur was glad to respond, "I have always loved Ninja's. I used to get a great big kick out of seeing them fight on TV and at the movies. My mom and dad bought me a video of them and I watched it and watched it until I practically memorized every move they made."

"You say you USED to get a kick out of watching them fight? What changed your mind?" asked Tom.

"Well," Arthur explained, "I started reading some books at the school library. Then, my mom got me some books from the big library down town. The more I read, the more I understood that there was more to Ninjas than just fighting. AND, I found out that the movies didn't tell the whole story about Ninjas."

"Oh, really?" A smile played across his face as Tom crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows in preparation to hear the answer to his next question. "And what might that be?"

Arthur hesitated before he answered. What was this adult up to? Adults very seldom took up time with him. That is, with the exception of his parents. But they were supposed to, weren't they? Well, no. Some of his friends at school talked about how much their parents didn't even try to spend time with them. Mr. Tom was different. It seemed as if he was genuinely interested in him.

Tom quickly noticed the hesitation and said, "Well, I didn't mean to impose myself on you, son. I know your parents probably taught you not to talk to strangers. So I'll be going. I just wanted to tell you that I recognized some of your moves and I felt that you could have a good career in the martial arts field, that's all." Then, as he turned to walk away, he said, "Keep up the good work, Arthur, you could do great things someday."

Arthur was befuddled. No one had even said anything like that to him before. And Mr. Tom's encouragement 'Keep up the good work, Arthur' was more than a statement, it was like....a.....a...command, sort of. Then it dawned on Arthur that he had said that he recognized some of his moves. Just what did Mr. Tom know about Ninja?

Quickly, he ran after him, calling out, "Wait, Mr. Tom. I want to talk to you."

Bobby Holmes, a Lieutenant on the local police force, and his friend Frank Runyon were not too far away from Tom and Arthur. Bobby was off duty and had taken his son Chauncey to watch the team practice.

Elmhurst was a small community in the countryside of southeast Georgia. Everybody knew everybody. That's the way it had always been. And, since industry had not found its way into this little farming community, it would probably stay that way for quite some time. Without making it very noticeable, the two of them kept a careful watch over their young citizen.

While they attempted to look as if they were just ambling through the park, at least one of them was always facing the two. Both were ready for action if need be. They had already made a plan. Bobby, the younger of the two would toss Fred the baby and the chase would be on if that's the way it turned out.

Sitting on a park bench by the fountain, also within earshot, and pretending to read the paper was Fred Lee. He was about Tom's age. During his 40 years in the Army, which included WWII, he had worked in espionage and counter-espionage. Watching people and looking for characteristic traits was second nature to him. Did he detect something sinister in this stranger? No. So far, this stranger's actions along with his age did not define him as having any dangerous tendencies. However, there WAS something very familiar about this....Tom. And, it was about to drive Fred crazy that he couldn't put his finger on it. Sitting on that park bench, he fidgeted more than usual.

Tom instinctively knew he was being watched by all three. He could tell it in the way Frank and Bobby walked and turned, and in the way Fred fidgeted. It was way too obvious. Tom never let on and it did not deter him from what he felt that God had wanted him to do. He needed to give this impressionable young man a word of encouragement and perhaps have a chance to lead him to the Lord if he wasn't a Christian already. So, he turned around with a big smile on his face and said, "For a minute there, I thought maybe the cat had your tongue. Or, maybe your parents told you not to talk to strangers."

Arthur stopped right in front of Tom and said, "They did but.......uh.....I don't feel like we're strangers. It's like.....it's like we've got something in common." Then Arthur changed the subject quickly by some rapid-fire questions. "Didn't you say that you recognized some of my moves? Well.....what did you mean? Are you a fighter? Wow! How many fights did you have? Did you ever......"

Tom put up his hands and said with a chuckle, "Whoa, tiger. You're throwing more questions at me than I can catch."

"But, Mr. Tom, it sounds like you knew stuff about what I only think I know and maybe if I can talk to you for a while maybe I can....." Arthur blurted out.

"Just a minute, son," Tom interrupted with a smile, "you're babbling."

"Yeah, my mom says I do that a lot," Arthur said with an embarrassing giggle.

Tom pointed towards a bench in the park and suggested, "Well, take a few minutes and get all your questions lined up in your head. Let's go sit down on that park bench in the shade and I'll answer as much as I can." Tom made sure that he talked loud enough to be heard by the three gentlemen who were now Arthur's guardians. He really wanted to set them at ease.

Arthur was so excited he wanted to run to the bench and get started talking, but he knew that walking to the bench with his new friend would be the polite thing to do. It was awesome walking beside this older man who walked so straight and tall. He seemed as if he commanded authority, a real somebody. Arthur wondered who he really was. Maybe he was a mayor, or a governor. O-o-o-o, what if he was a general that fought in the war. Wow! Wait a minute. What if this guy was a black belt whatever and he had won some martial arts championships and Arthur Hollis was walking right beside him. And, this world champion wanted to talk to him. Arthur's brain was in a tizzy.

They got to the park bench and had barely gotten seated when Arthur unleashed another torrent of questions. "OK, we're here. Now tell me. What parts do you know? Which move did you recognize? Who taught you? Is there a school around here?" Then looking him right straight in the eye, Arthur gushed out, "You gotta teach me everything you know, Mr. Tom. You just gotta."

Tom was pleasantly surprised at this sudden outburst and interrupted him with, "You're really interested in this Ninja business aren't you? But it's not the fighting, you say?" Then shaking his finger in mock anger, but a big smile, he asked, "What is it about being a Ninja that interests a young whipper-snapper like you anyway?"

Arthur giggled like his little sister would and began to explain, "Ya gotta think, Mr. Tom. That's why I like it so much. Ya gotta use your noodle. You know this thing?" he said pointing to his head and grinning real big. "Ninjas try to make moves that their opponents don't know about. Ya know, kinda like its top secret stuff. And I love secret stuff. Besides, if I ever need to defend myself, being a small kid and all, I could trip my opponent and run away before he could ever catch me."

"That's all well and good," Tom began while trying his best to look as if he did not know the answer to his next question. "But, why did Ninjas have to do secret stuff? Isn't that kinda sneaky?"

Ho-o-o-o-o, boy. That question was right up his alley and Arthur had a ready-made audience. He had studied so much history about Ninjas that he didn't have to wait to get his thoughts together. It just came rolling out much to Tom's amusement. "You see," he began, "Ninjas got started with the local farmers and monks who were always getting beat up by these fancy-dressed samurai warriors. The samurai guys were always well trained and had weapons and so forth. The farmers and monks didn't. All they could do was figure out how to outsmart the guys bigger than they were. So, they created disguises so they could sneak up on the bad guys and figured out real neat moves that would help them get the upper hand. And, we've got a couple of tough games ahead of us and then if we can beat them, we can go to the state championship and beat Summerville. And, I showed Sam, the captain of the football team, some moves one day and he took me to the coach and today was the first day I could show 'em stuff. Neat, huh?"

Tom thought to himself, 'This kid could earn himself a spot on the six o'clock news being able to spout off information like that. Guess I'd better be careful what kind of questions I ask him from now on.' He couldn't help but smile at his own thoughts and at the youthful exuberance of his new student. He stood up and said, "OK, so you can talk a good talk, let's see how good you can give account of yourself. Stand up for a minute, let me see just what you know." As Arthur stood up, Tom thought better of it and suggested, "I tell you what. Let's walk over here in the nice, soft grass just in case one of us, mainly me, happens to fall down, hmmmm?"

An excited Arthur asked, "What are we going to do?"

Frank, Bobby and Fred all went on the alert as they saw the two get off the park bench and walk to a grassy area. Tom easily caught their movements out of the corner of his eye. His suspicions were correct.

"I'll be the mean, over-stuffed samurai warrior and you be the poor, defenseless ninja."

"Alright."

"What's the first thing you're going to do?"

"Nothing," Arthur replied with his arms folded across his chest and his feet about shoulder width apart.

"Nothing?"

"You sure do hear good,....." Mr. Giggles said as he caught himself before he went any further.

"For an old guy?" Tom threw the question to him in mock surprise.

"You said it not me."

"So what's the second thing you're going to do?"

Arthur replied with a smile, "Watch your eyes. If you're not too smart, you'll look in the direction you are fixing to attack. Then, you'll flinch before you throw your punch or kick. My arms are folded so that when I see your strike coming I can throw a back hand protective hit."

"OK," said Tom as he raised one of his eyebrows, "what will you do if I try to strike you with the knife I have in my right hand." Tom raised and lowered his right hand in slow motion.

Arthur explained as he, too, reacted in slow motion. "I block your blow with my left arm and bring my right hand up to try to catch yours. If I catch your right arm with my right hand, I'll turn my body to my left and extend your arm away from your body. Then, I can kick you in your right knee and do either of two things."

"What's that?" Tom asked as he allowed himself to be stretched into a vulnerable position.

"Kick you in the right knee so I can run away. Or, if I have any kind of weapon hiding in the lining of my robe, I snatch it out and use it on you," he finished with a big grin.

"You've got a good head on your shoulders, my boy," exclaimed Tom as he chuckled and pulled his right arm from Arthur's grasp. "I hope you consider me your friend and not your enemy. It's refreshing to see a young man interested in something else besides cartoons and yo-yos."

"Y-e-e-e-a-a-h," drawled Arthur with a sheepish grin, "but I like cartoons also."

Tom chuckled, "That's normal, I reckon. But it hasn't shaped your life now, has it? Which would you rather watch, cartoons or Ninja videos?"

Arthur had to reach over to playfully punch Tom in the arm as he exclaimed, "Ninjas, silly," and then laughed.

Tom laughed real big, too. As he did, he reached over to give Arthur a 'pay back' tap on his shoulder. Tom's tap with his left hand was slower so Arthur would know he was playing. As he reached over to Arthur, the long sleeve of his shirt pulled up a bit and showed the end of a horrible scar.

Arthur's eyes grew wide, "A-a-a-a-a-a-g-h! What on earth happened to your arm?"

# CHAPTER FOUR

Tom chuckled as they walked back to the park bench and sat down. "Yeah, it's a doozey alright. Just misses reaching my shoulder by a few inches. I have another one that reaches from my right hip up to the top of my chest. It ends right where I put my hand over my heart to say the pledge to the flag. I need a mirror to see them but I have a couple of burn marks on my back, too. Pretty scary, ain't it?" Tom asked with a kind smile.

Arthur's eyes grew wider and wider as he stared at Mr. Tom in awe. "What happened?" he asked softly. "Did you get in a car accident or something? My grandparents got killed in a car accident back when I was two years old. Mama and Daddy said it was gruesome."

Tom put his left arm on the top rail of the park bench and crossed his legs and began to explain. "Let's just say that I served in the Army and I was behind enemy lines," then Tom paused to choose the right words and continued, "and I was doing what I had promised God and the United States Army that I would do." Tom looked at Arthur very seriously as he continued, "You see, I swore to them both that I would faithfully serve my country and defend it from any enemy. If I expect God to keep His Word to me, then I have to be faithful to keep my word. Sometimes that means doing hard stuff. Just like Jesus did."

Arthur's eyes grew wider than wide as the words he just heard began to come alive in his mind. Goose bumps began to rise up on his arm. A real honest-to-goodness war hero was right here on the park bench with him. He would have never thought in a million years that he would be sitting on the same park bench with a war hero. He had actually touched a war hero. How many of the other guys at school had ever even seen one.......and he..... Arthur Hollis..... not only knew one, but had actually sat down on a park bench and touched and talked to one.......almost like they were family.

Wh-o-o-a! Wait 'til the gang hears about this. Just thinking about it made Arthur so excited, that he was almost beside himself. He stammered, "You....actually..fought.....I mean, you were where the guns were exploded....gosh, and the bombs shot..that can't be right....I mean. What do I mean? Holy, moley. Hey, maybe you know Frank Runyon. He was in Vietnam, too."

The scarred veteran stared at Arthur and chuckled. Then the chuckle turned into a small laugh. Then Tom pulled his arms across his stomach and bent over. Throughout half of the park an old soldier's laugh was heard. As people turned to see who was laughing, they saw a normally straight-backed man bent over with his head almost between his knees laughing one of those contagious belly laughs. He would sit up straight only long enough to catch his breath. Then, he would slap his knees with his hands and laugh all over again.

Everyone in earshot chuckled. Some came closer to the park bench to see an almost hysterical old man and a wide-eyed, chuckling eleven-year-old sitting together. As a small amused crowd gathered, Tom pulled himself together to explain to the crowd, "He thinks I fought in Vietnam," and then started laughing again. All the men close by laughed, too.

Arthur just looked around, still chuckling but wondering what in the world he said that could have been so funny.

"You owe him a Coke for that one," someone called.

"No you don't," yelled another voice, "you owe him two."

Several "Yeahs" were heard.

Tom had to stand up just to catch his breath. Arthur got up and stood beside him just in case he needed to keep Tom from falling over. However, Arthur was beginning to giggle so hard it would be anyone's guess as to who would fall first.

Frank and Bobby came over to shake his hand and exchange their military experiences with him. "I'm Frank Runyon," one said as he extended his hand. "Vietnam, 1969 and 1971. 1st Infantry."

Tom shook his hand, "Pleased to meet you. I'm Tom Baxter, 6th Ranger Battalion, behind the lines in Japan." Then with a smile he looked at Arthur and stated, "That was in World War 2, my boy."

The others laughed again as Arthur sheepishly replied, "O-o-ps. I guess I did make a mistake."

"That's OK," chimed in a young gentleman with a baby in his arms. "Hi, I'm Bobby Holmes. I'm a Lieutenant on the police force here. I served in Iraq." Then he held up his baby and continued, "And this is little Chauncey, a future brigadier general in the Army." Of course, everyone chuckled and little Chauncey smiled at all the attention.

Lt. Holmes looked down at Arthur and then to Tom. In mock authority he said, "Capt. Baxter, sir, is this young man bothering you? If he is, I know his daddy and the sergeant at the jail. I can get him a good whipping or 30 days in jail."

Arthur looked at Lt. Holmes then up at Tom, "I'm not bothering you, am I, Capt. Tom?"

Tom replied, "It's Sgt. Tom, and if you were a bother, you would be the most pleasant bother I have ever had."

Arthur blushed and giggled while the others just laughed.

"Besides that," interrupted Frank, "I'm the best lawyer in town, and not only would I get you off the hook, I would help you sue the city for 17 thousand quadzillions of dollars for publicly embarrassing this fine football legend, Arthur.........whatever his name is."

"It's Hollis, sir," Arthur said and there he went giggling again as he stood just a little bit closer to Tom.

Lt. Holmes pretended to be upset, but with a smile on his face, he went on, "Yeah, that's just like you Runyons, you bunch of fast-talking lawyers. Always want to start something."

Frank answered, "Oh, yeah? But we're not as bad as you bunch of Holmeses. Why there's been a Holmes sitting in the mayor's seat for over 150 years."

Lt. Holmes retorted, "And they say that politicians stretch the truth. Why Elmhust didn't become an official city until 1874. That was only 130 years ago."

Frank thought a minute and then said, "You know, Lieutenant, you've got a good point. It doesn't amount to much, but you've got a good point."

They both laughed and punched at each other. Tom looked at them and then posed the question, "You are right. Elmhurst became the official name in 1874. But, do either of you know what the original name of the city was and for whom and why the city was named Elmhurst?"

The two of them got quiet and looked at each other. They shrugged their shoulders and looked kind of sheepishly at Tom. "You've got us," Frank said. "Obviously, you know."

Fred Lee felt that the time was right for him to make himself known. This Tom Baxter, if that is who he really is, knew an awful lot about the history of their fair city. As a matter of fact, he knew more than the average citizen did. Mr. Baxter proved that very handily just now.

Fred had to find out. If this stranger is his old friend, why did he change his name? Where had he been all of this time? The most curious thing on Fred's mind was....if he wasn't killed in action as the Army had reported, where had he been and why?

He approached and said to Tom. "Correct me if I'm wrong. Before it was named Elmhurst, it used to be known as.....," he smiled as he continued, "Dandridge Forks." He watched the stranger closely to see if there would be any kind of tell-tale flinch from him. There was none that Fred could see, not at this moment, anyway.

Everyone looked at Tom who was calmly nodding his head. The small man continued, "It was named Elmhurst after Elmer Dandridge, who first settled in this area about a mile away from here where this road forks." He stepped up to Tom, stuck out his hand and introduced himself. "Fred Lee, Mr.........Baxter I believe it was? Eighth Air Force, London, England, WW2. My official title here is the property appraiser. My unofficial title is the town historian."

The two men locked eyes for a moment. Tom came to Elmhurst thinking that most of the people he knew had either passed on or were in a nursing home somewhere. He never expected that one of the most knowledgeable men in the city would be one of the guys he used to run the streets of Elmhurst with. Could God be bringing them together so that Tom could solve the lonely puzzle of his life? He had no way of knowing for sure. All he could do was think a short prayer to God, 'Father, do what You need to do. You know I'm Yours.'

Bobby looked at Frank and winked as he said, "Yeah, Fred here knows everything there is to know about Elmhurst."

Frank caught on and added, "That's right. Of course, you know how old timers are. If they can't remember something they just make it up as they go along." That brought a big laugh from Frank and Bobby.

Tom drawled, "Say...Uh...Mr. Town Historian. I remember catching a Greyhound bus here in 1942 to take me to the Army Depot so I could join. I came back around 1954 just to see it again. This town had meandering streets. There used to be a whole bunch of big, beautiful oak trees around here somewhere. There was a nice little stream running by them. It was a beautiful place. But now, 50 years later, all the streets are changed, their names are changed, big oak trees are down. Whose fault is that?"

Fred looked over at Frank and Bobby and answered, "You boys want to 'fess up to the sins of your fathers? How about telling him whose dad it was that came up with the idea of changing Elmhurst into a modern city? H-m-m-m-m, and which father was it that declared he had the idea on how to fund it with all the tax dollars from the wild influx of businesses that we would have flocking to our very doorsteps? Or should I just step out of the way and let Tom whip you?"

Bobby and Frank looked at each other and chuckled, "No offense, Tom, but you couldn't catch either of us even if you do have those white tennis shoes on. What's a man of your age doing wearing runner styled tennis shoes anyway?"

Arthur chimed in, "Yeah, Mr. Tom. I've been wondering about that, too. Why ARE you wearing white tennis shoes?"

With a smile playing across his lips and a twinkle in his eye, Tom set his right foot on the seat of the bench. "You BOYS need to take a better look at these.......government issued tennis shoes," he suggested.

Frank was astonished as he took a closer look. "Oh, man, I'm sorry, Tom," he said as he recognized them. He looked up at his friend and continued to explain, "Bobby, you remember Herman Hoosier? The guy at the gun show we met last month. He had on a pair just about like these." His eyes got a little glassy as he continued with a little softer voice, "I remember the day that he stepped too close to a land mine in 'Nam. That's a pair of specially enhanced shoes for vets who have had extensive foot and lower leg surgery."

Tom raised up his pants leg and pulled down his sock to give everyone a look at the scars from the operations he had been through. Tom pointed to an exceptionally ugly scar that looked like it ran up his leg. "That one goes to within two inches of my knee," he said. "Something at the time of the explosion tore through my calf. When the doctors finally got a hold of it, they figured the force of the blast must have knocked my ankle bones out of joint. But, they're not quite sure." He pointed at various places around his ankle and continued, "They had to do several little surgeries to get it as good as it is right now. Kinda like, do a surgery, let it heal. Do another surgery and let that one heal. Then, they got to a point to where they did all that they could."

He put his pants leg down and set his foot back on the ground. It was his way of saying that the show was over. He did not want to get into anything else.

Arthur could hardly take it all in. He had stood there with his mouth open and had stared at Tom's scars. In the softest voice he had spoken with in ages he stated, "Gosh, Mr.....I mean Sgt. Tom, you've got scars on your arms and legs and ankles. You've got burn scars on your back." Arthur felt a little weak and had to sit down before he could finish by asking, "What happened?" But as his eleven-year-old mind began to grasp the magnitude of the injuries, the only way he could ask the question of his heart was, "Why didn't you die?"

Fred interjected and tried to defend Tom, "Uh....Arthur, maybe he doesn't feel like.....uh....."

Tom stopped him by putting his hand on Fred's shoulder and replying, "It's OK, Fred." Gently, he sat down beside his awestruck new friend.

Frank and Bobby realized the tenderness of the subject and decided to leave Tom and Arthur alone. They raised their hands as a silent 'Good-by' and nodded at Fred. He nodded back and mouthed an, "OK."

Tom took a deep breath. He looked into Arthur's eyes and saw a thousand questions that Arthur did not have answers for. He raised his weathered hand and gently ran his fingers through a tangle of hair on Arthur's head. In that brief moment, a connection was made.

Tom knew why he had come back to his home town. He only thought that he wanted to tie up some loose ends that had been bothering him for fifty years. And, yes, that still might happen. But, right now, he knew he was on an assignment from his Master, Jesus Christ. The events of that fateful day in the middle of the Tagalog meeting house became vivid once again as he remembered the promise he had made to Him. Anyone, anytime and anywhere. Tom was in Elmhurst for as long as Jesus wanted him to stay.

Boldly, Tom opened up with a question, "Arthur, do you know Jesus Christ as your personal savior?"

Arthur shook his head 'yes' and explained, "Last year, at summer camp, I gave my life to Him and was baptized."

"Good," Tom said. He moved his hand from Arthur's head to his shoulder and continued, "Then you know what I mean when I say that God wanted Jesus to die when everybody else wanted Him to live, don't you?"

"Yes, sir," Arthur answered. "God had a purpose in Jesus dying. He died for my sins and yours, and everybody else's."

Tom sighed before he went on, "The best way that I can explain it is this. Just like God wanted Jesus to die when it looked like He should have lived, God must have wanted me to live, when by all rights, I should have died. And, Arthur, I should have died in that explosion or in a remote village in the Philippines."

He placed his hands on his knees and began rubbing them as he continued, "During all that awful pain that I went through, and the operations I went through, I even asked to die. But, He kept me alive for a purpose." For emphasis, he patted Arthur's knee and finished with a smile, "And I am bound and determined to do what Jesus says."

With an impish grin, Arthur framed his mouth with his hands, turned his head to the side and said in his deepest voice, "Tom Baxter, you are to stay in Elmhurst and teach Arthur some Ninja stuff." Arthur gave it his best try, but the last three words giggled out of him so bad that he almost fell off of the park bench.

Tom looked at Fred in surprise. The quickness of Arthur's wit had him thoroughly befuddled. In his lifetime, he had seen some strange behavior in boys, but nothing like this. He changed from solemnly worried to hilariously funny within seconds. Slowly, Tom held his hands out, shrugged his shoulders and asked, "What......?"

"Oh, Tom, don't worry about it," Fred assured him. "He comes by it quite honestly. He gets it from his mother."

"Mother!" It hit Arthur like a ton of bricks. His face turned white, his eyes got wide and his mouth dropped open. "O-o-h-h my go-o-o-o-o-sh," he cried out in disbelief. It might have been fear or just pure adrenalin, but, Arthur went from sitting on the bench to standing on it in what seemed like a millisecond. Standing on it? It was more like trembling on it.

"I forgot that I told Mom that I would be home right after practice," he unceremoniously blurted out. Instead of jumping down and running around the bench, Arthur vaulted over the back and tore out for his home while yelling, "I've gotta go. I've gotta go."

It's a good thing that Tom still had quick reflexes. He ducked just in time to keep from getting hit by Arthur's shoes. As he stood up to brush the dirt left behind by the eleven-year-old tornado, he chuckled his exclamation, "Holy Moses at the burning bush. I hope his mama doesn't tan his hide for being a bit late."

A small chill ran through Tom as he realized what he said. For a moment, the smile left his face. Quickly he brought it back and asked Fred, "Is he always like that or is his mother that strict?" However, Tom could tell from the knowing look on Fred's face that he had made a serious fax pas. He instantly went back to work on his clothes as if he were meticulous about how they looked.

Fred's tone of voice changed as he began to answer his question. He began by speaking in slow deliberate tones, knowing that he would be conveying to Tom a different kind of message as well. "No-o-o-o," he started, "his mother is not that strict. And, yes, Arthur is pretty much like that all of the time. I wouldn't call him hyper, he's just dead set in pleasing his mother. They have a fantastic relationship. Olivia and Ryan are great parents. You ought to make plans to meet them if you plan on spending any time in our fair city."

"Well, I had originally planned...." Tom started but got cut off by an irritated Fred Lee.

"Tom Dandridge is the only person I have ever heard use that phrase," he said very stiffly.

Tom stopped messing with his clothes and looked at Fred dead in the eyes and groped for the right words to speak. Bitingly he replied, "Yes, I knew Dandridge. We fought in the same outfit that was given orders to rescue 525 prisoners of war at the Japanese POW camp at Cabanatuan in the Philippines. Some guerillas had radioed to us the positions of a couple of the Japanese ammo sheds at the back of the camp. They told us that only two soldiers guarded them. Everybody else had orders to dig in deep and persevere.

"Several of us volunteered to sneak into the camp and blow up the sheds as a diversion for the attack. With the info the guerillas gave us, it sounded like an easy job. Just sneak in there, set some timed explosives and get out. What we didn't know was that one of the guards was sleeping in the shed while the other guarded.

"Unfortunately, Dandridge stepped on the guy and woke him up. The other soldier came running in. Shots were fired by all three and then there was an explosion and a pretty big fire. When the search teams came looking for bodies and survivors, all they found was a few pieces of a human body. Nobody could say for certain that any of the body parts belonged to Dandridge."

Tom's voice and physical mannerisms changed as he talked. He looked away from Fred instead of looking at him. His eyes played back and forth. His voice hardened. His hands shook. Fred recognized the signs of emotional trauma still lingering around in him. He knew that there must be a lot still bothering him. However, this park was not the right place to try to get him to come clean. And, from the sound of his voice it was not the time, either. Fred remained silent. He had no idea of what to say next.

Tom thought, 'This is just not the way I thought things would unravel. I guess I wanted to be in control of when and where and what. What. I guess that's it. I don't know what. Wait. My military ID. That should tell him two things about me if he notices it. If he doesn't, then I guess that God has something else in mind." Tom smiled to break the tension, reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He flipped it open to show Fred his ID. "I'm sorry, Fred. You deserve more info about me than that. Here's my ID."

Fred looked at it for a moment and then reached out for it. Gently he turned it so he could look at it in the light. Like a doctor examining his patient he grunted, "H-m-m-m-m." Then, after turning it another way to let the light catch it better, "Uh-huh. That tells me all I need to know. You are Tom Baxter, all right. In my Army days in the Intelligence branch, I saw enough buggered up ID's to know the difference between a real one and a fake one."

Then, he smiled as he apologized, "Please forgive me for being so forward." Then he softened his voice in hopes he was sending a coded message also, "You see, Tom Dandridge was one of my best friends all through school." He chuckled as he continued, "We got into quite a few bits of mischief together. I'll............always have fond memories of him. No matter what."

An impulse. That's the best way to explain it. It was an impulse. Tom came to realize that it was more than an impulse. The New Testament called it an unction. Before he put his wallet back in his jeans hip pocket, he opened it and pulled out a business card. He held it in his left hand and flipped it nervously as he put his wallet up. It was Tom's turn to come up with a grin that gave the impression that something funny was going to come next. "Does the name General Horace Bennett strike fear into your soul?" he asked.

With a knowing chuckle Fred answered, "You mean ole War Horace Bennett?"

"Yep, the same," continued Tom. "And, by the way. That is the moniker that his teen-age son, Charles, gave to him."

"You're kiddin'?"

"Nope. He blurted it out in front of a bunch of non-coms at one of the Christmas parties he used to give."

"You don't say? Yes, I knew him only too well. Just like almost everybody else that served under his command, I've had the occasion to come in front of those pummeling 'hooves' of his a time or two," Fred admitted with a chuckle.

Tom held the card up for Fred to see as he explained, "Gen. Bennett commanded our operation and knew Tom Dandridge very well." Without blinking, Tom held his gaze solidly into Fred's eyes as he spoke. "Tom Dandridge died on those mountains. He left behind a wife and son that he loved more than life itself."

He paused and gathered his emotions before he finished. "If there was any way for Tom to have worked situations out any differently than how they happened, I promise you that Tom Dandridge would have done it." He held out the card for Fred to take, and finished, "Old War Horace has gone on, now. But, his son, Gen. Charles E. Bennett knows everything there is to know about Tom Dandridge. It might be worth giving him a call if you are really interested."

Fred slowly took the card, looked at it and placed it in his shirt pocket. "I just might do that someday, but, not today. I would like to buy my new friend, Tom Baxter, a cup of the best coffee this side of those European coffee houses I used to roam. How 'bout it?"

"Free coffee?" he asked with a smile, "Why, it's in the Uniform Code of Military Justice that a soldier HAS to accept a free cup of coffee when it's offered."

Fred put his arm around Tom's shoulders and the two of them started on their journey to Ed's bakery across the street as he agreed, "You know, I was just reading that section the other day, myself. And, that's the important........" His witty comment was interrupted by a 'ding' from his cell phone. He took it out of his pocket and stopped when he saw that it was a new message for him.

"Aw, Tom," he said in ho-hum fashion, "why can't people let 80 year old handsome looking gentlemen retire. How about going to get us a couple of seats at the bakery and tell Ed you want a couple of cups of his Fred Special. It's brewed a little tougher than his normal stuff. It won't take me but just a minute to get rid of whoever this is."

"Two Fred specials and two seats by the window coming up," Tom echoed and he walked toward the bakery.

Fred pretended to be reading the message he just got. He was really waiting for him to get out of earshot before he made his phone call. Nervously he punched in the number. A "Hello" sounded in the earpiece of the phone. "Olivia?" he asked.

"Fred," replied the voice on the other end. "Arthur was just telling me...."

Fred sharply spoke her name again, "Olivia. That's not important right now."

Olivia was shocked at the unusual shortness in Fred's tone. "What on earth is it?" she asked.

It was Fred's turn to gather his emotions together before he spoke. When he did, he said in measured tones, "Olivia......he's here."

# CHAPTER FIVE

Olivia froze when she heard Fred's statement. Her face got hotter and she knew that it must have been beet red. Arthur had been trying to tell her in 'Arthur babble' about all the excitement he had that afternoon. But, when he saw the look on his mom's face change as quickly as it did, he knew something was wrong. As red as Olivia's face got, Arthur's began to pale. "Mom" he asked as timidly as he dared, "is something wrong?"

There was a small standoff between Olivia and her son. Fred's voice was calling on the other end, "Olivia? Olivia? Are you OK? Can you hear me?"

Olivia's mind was racing between several things. Fred's statement, 'He's here' could only mean one thing. Arthur didn't know anything about the person they were talking about. There was no time to explain it to him right now. She didn't know what she could explain to him that would make any sense. Then again, she didn't know a whole lot and Fred was trying to tell her something. She had to get away from Arthur so she could talk freely to Fred without Arthur's inquisitive ears overhearing something that may or may not be.......

Panic. That's what she was in right now, real border-line panic. Olivia was torn between two things that were equally important. She stammered into the phone, "H-hold on for just a minute. Let me walk outside."

She held the phone away for a minute and went to one knee until she was eye-to-eye with her son. Her hands were shaking and her voice was quivering as she tried to act like she was in control, "Honey, this is a very important phone call to....uh... Mommy right now." A tear escaped the confines of her eye lid. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, it was a tear that she didn't want her son to see. He tended to go all to pieces when he saw his mother crying and he was just about there right now.

She put the phone on the floor and held onto his shoulders and consoled him, "No, no, no, it's not bad, sweetheart. I promise you, it's not bad." She forced a smile and when she did, the excitement of the moment began to get to her as she continued, "In a way, this could be the best news ever. Oh, Arthur. This could be......." She took a hand and wiped away tears from both cheeks. Then, she held him in her arms cheek-to-cheek and she began to babble a little herself, "I didn't know.....well, none of us knew..we just thought and hoped. That maybe.....that there was always.......a chance. And, it could be right now."

As she pulled away from her son she gave him some orders, "But, baby, I've got to go outside onto the porch to talk to........, uh, this guy. And I need you to promise me that you'll watch out after Wendy and don't eavesdrop on me now cause.......I WILL tell you....but. Oh, you know what I mean, don't you, Sweetie?"

"But, it's nothing bad, though?" Arthur asked as he shook his head no.

As Olivia shook her head also, she said, "No, no, no. This could be the news that I have been praying for....for.....forever." She finished with a happy giggle.

With his mother's laugh, Arthur finally relaxed. "OK, Mom," he said as he hugged her neck, "you just go out there and get that good news and I'll take good care of my little sister."

"That's my man," she bragged as she kissed him on the cheek. She picked up the phone, headed out the door and blew Arthur a kiss as she closed it behind her.

As per the rules of the game, Arthur acted like he caught it and slapped it onto his cheek with a loud "pop."

He then turned his attention to his little sister Wendy. "OK, little lady. It's just you and me and o-o-o-o-o-o-o what a mess you are." He went to the sink and dampened a small washcloth and he and Wendy began to play at washing her food-splattered face. He wound the cloth around his finger and acted like he was tickling her face and then her neck and then a spot on her arm. As always, she fell for it hook, line and sinker. She laughed and giggled at the game while Arthur was wisely getting rid of every scrap of food that had found its way to her body.

Olivia closed the door behind her and said into the phone as she crossed the back porch, "Fred? Are you still there?"

"Yes, but are you alright?"

"Well, other than practically falling apart in front of my son," she acknowledged. "I must have looked like Mrs. Frightmare herself by the look on his face. But, Fred who is he?"

Fred took a deep breath before he spoke. He had it all planned out in his mind how he would say it, but when he began to put it into words, the reality of what he was saying began to play with his emotions. He stammered, "It's.........my best friend.......and your......grandfather."

She froze again as she heard Fred's normally clear and strong voice become like Jell-O as he tried to talk. With understandable anxiety, she chided him, "Are....are you sure? Fred, how can you be sure? You can't.....Arthur said this is the first time he had seen him. I mean it's been years......"

Fred began to sob as he interrupted her, "It IS him. I (sob) just know it. His mannerisms....his eyes. Tom had (sob)......had this way of looking at you when he wanted to make a point. You know how someone will tilt their head down and look through the tops of their eyes? Well, Tom would do that and also tilt his head to one side. It's him. I know it." Fred stopped and took a deep breath to try to calm himself. He fought to continue, "Lord, I've got to get a hold of myself before somebody sees me, especially him. I told him to go order some coffee and he said he would get us a place by the window. Oh, Lord, help me."

Something that hadn't been said in the conversation dawned on Olivia. "Wait a minute. You said you that you knew it was him by watching his actions. Do you mean to tell me that he didn't tell you his name?" she asked incredulously.

"That's just it," Fred began to explain. "He introduced himself as Tom Baxter. (sniff) He even showed me his military ID with the name 'Tom Baxter' on it."

Olivia groaned real heavily, "Oh, mercy. Then it might not be him. The military doesn't make mistakes on their documents do they?"

"Not necessarily," Fred answered. "But, I have known the government to create alternative IDs for their counter-intelligence agents. And, when some of them retired they had to give them a different name to help protect them from our enemies."

"But, why wouldn't he want to use his real name? I mean, that's who he is? Is he trying to hide something like those spies do?"

"Olivia, you've got to remember. Tom was listed as being killed in action. The government declared him dead. They paid Ellen his benefits and pension and all that. No, something has happened that we don't know about. The government wouldn't issue him an ID if he wasn't working for them," he continued. "AND, the ID I saw showed that he has retired from the military service. There are some sensible pieces to this puzzle that we just haven't found out, yet.

"And, there's something else you need to know. He talked about Tom Dandridge as if he was a fellow in his platoon. He might be suffering from an identity disorder. He might not want to come back to be Tom Dandridge because of all that has happened to him."

"Fred Lee, how can you say that?" Olivia demanded as her voice trailed off into tears. "Why...(sob), oh, my God.... would he want to be somebody else?"

"It's either of two things," Fred stated. "Number one, if he is suffering from some kind of trauma, he might not WANT to be Tom Dandridge. We might do him even more damage if we insist on bringing him to his real identity. Then again, he might be trying to come out of the trauma. If so, our best bet is to help him come out at his own speed. Number two, if he is NOT suffering from some trauma and had to take a different identity because of his supposed death, then he's come here to try to find out if he has any family here. Our best bet is to talk to him and love on him and let the Lord bring about his recovery in the way He sees best."

Hope and joy seemed like they had taken a giant step backward as fear began to try to break the door down. She gasped, "You mean to say that we might not get him back? He might not ever want to be my grandfather again?"

The only thing Fred could do was to be brutally honest with her. His voice became a little stronger as he continued, "Olivia, I have seen the ravages of war do some strange things to the minds and emotions of those who have had to live through it. Some come out with happy endings and others stay lost in their fantasy world. All the mental help, medical help or love and attention can't bring some of them back. They prefer to be somebody else that never went through the ordeal. Or, they're stuck in the nightmare of reliving those battlefield horrors every day of their lives. That's why a lot of Vets drink the way they do. They can't focus on life because they can't escape from what they saw. Some of them can't forgive themselves for the things they were forced to do as soldiers."

As she listened to what he was saying, her high hopes began to sink. She knew Fred was just being honest with her. He had never been one to beat around the bush when it came to saying something. The thought of having her grandfather one minute and then the possibility of never having him at all brought her back to tears. "Oh, my God, Fred, (sob) what are we going to do, now? I had my hopes up....but....but now....I don't know how I'm supposed to feel."

He continued, "There's something else that could be a clue. He used a phrase that your grandfather used to use. When I pressed him on it, he pulled out his military ID and handed it to me so I could look at it as closely as I wanted to. It was almost as if he WANTED me to find him out. And Olivia, the ID listed his date of enlistment as 1954."

"Oh, my gosh. That's the same year that my daddy said he and grandma thought that he had come by the house. Fred, it's got to be him. It's just got to be him. That can't be just a coincidence," Olivia asserted.

Fred agreed, "I would almost stake my life on it. But, Olivia, we can't just rush in on him and force him to admit it. If he is still suffering from being blown out of that ammo shed....."

"Blown out of an ammo shed?" Olivia almost yelled. "Oh, no. Fred, you didn't tell me that he......."

"I know, I know," he interrupted her again. "I'm so discombobulated that I.....I.....just..I'm having a hard time dealing with it myself."

She tried to calm down, "Oh, I'm sorry Fred. We're both just about beside ourselves with......whatever. Shock, joy, apprehension, something."

He continued, "The bottom line is this, Liv. In my dealings with men in trauma, they have to come out at their own rate. They basically have to be understood, loved and just helped out and not forced out. Now, the other side of that COULD be that he is perfectly fine. He just might be totally embarrassed about coming back to face people after he had been declared dead. And, it IS possible that he is just embarrassed about the fact that he hasn't been back for fifty years. We just don't know."

"Oh, Fred, (sob) I hope that's it. I hope and p-pray that's it. Oh, dear Jesus, You just gotta bring him back," she sobbed. As she tried to absorb it all, she absent-mindedly began to pace back and forth on the porch. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of Arthur and Wendy at the window. Through her tear-filled eyes she saw a smiling Arthur busy trying to get Wendy to wave at her. When he turned around to look at her, the smile fell from his face. That something's-wrong-I-know-it look took its place. Frantically, Olivia tried to smile, wave and mouth the words, "It's Ok. It's Ok." But, Arthur wasn't buying it.

Arthur painted a smile back on his face as best he could and mouthed "OK" back to her. Hurriedly, he put his sister in her playpen and put in her favorite toys for her to play with. He ran through the kitchen to the utility room where Samson was impatiently waiting to be let out. Arthur could hear the sound of his claws dancing on the vinyl flooring. He turned the handle of the door and opened it just wide enough to let him out. A couple of inches were all Samson needed to wriggle through the door. Without being told to, he bounded into the dining room and dutifully cleaned up Wendy's high chair and surrounding floor area.

Arthur knew that Samson's next move would be to go into the living room where Wendy was already calling for him. He would lie down on the floor in front of the play pen and whine at Wendy until she threw something out for him to fetch. Then she would laugh and giggle at her best friend as he happily returned the toy. The game would go on for hours.

Arthur knew that he could trust Samson to keep Wendy fairly quiet and absolutely occupied for quite some time. He dashed into his bedroom and picked up the cell phone that they allowed him to use while he was at the house and punched in his dad's cell phone number.

Ryan caught it on the first ring, "How's my best buddy doing? Did you have a good football practice?"

In almost panic mode, Arthur chose to ignore his dad's questions. "Dad, how far are you away from home? Are you very far away?" he asked on the verge of tears.

Ryan noticed a little quiver in his voice and responded, "I'm about two minutes away, son. What's wrong? Is somebody hurt?"

"I don't know, Dad. All I know is that Mom's out on the back porch talking with somebody on the phone and she's crying harder than I've seen her cry since Grandma and Grandpa got killed. But, she said not to come out there. It's like she doesn't want me to hear what she's saying. I'm scared, Dad. I'm scared that something might be bad wrong."

Ryan tried to calm his son while at the same time keep his own nerves from going to pieces. His wife was a very strong woman. It was not like her to be as upset as Arthur described. To top it off, Ryan had no clue in this world as to what could have upset her. "Ok, pardner," he said calmly. He made a point to talk a little bit slower and keep a low tone to help settle his son down. His mind kept a steady stream of talk going while he was driving the last little bit to the house. "Just a couple of more blocks and I'll be pulling into the driveway. I'm sure everything is going to be OK. Hang loose for a few minutes. I'll be right there and find out what's happening. Now you know that sometimes your mother gets upset real quickly over stuff that really isn't worth worrying about. Then, we would have a little talk and everything would be just fine. Ok, I'm just one block from the house. I love you, son."

"I love you, too, Dad and thanks."

Ryan pulled into the driveway and saw his wife standing on the back porch. She held the phone in one hand and had her other arm tucked across her midsection. Yes, she had a very distressed look on her face. And, yes she was still crying. However, when she saw him pull into the driveway, she slowly walked down the steps and walked toward the driver's side of the car. At least there wasn't any extreme emergency. But, Arthur was right. Something very serious was going on.

As he stepped out of the car, he heard her say, "OK........OK.. Yes. I can do that. No, it won't be any problem at all. You're just going to have to keep him busy for an hour. This has got to be my best batch you know." She laughed through her tears.

Sheepishly, she smiled at her husband and he held on to her and vainly tried to wipe the tears from her face. Her Prince Charming smiled back at her and pulled his handkerchief out and handed it to her.

She rolled her eyes and said to Fred, "Dear God in Heaven, well, you know that Arthur would go for that for sure. He hasn't stopped talking about him since he got home. This phone call interrupted the most amusing 'Arthur babble' I've heard from that boy in a while." She couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Arthur had watched his dad come up. Then, he saw his mom laugh. Whatever made her cry can't be all bad. He breathed a sigh of relief and wandered into the living room. He knew that his mom and dad would stay outside until they had discussed it. Then there would be the hugging and kissing and the mom and dad talk. Arthur was just not interested in seeing it.

Fred's voice almost sparkled with hope as he offered to, "Oh, Olivia, it just dawned on me that Arthur could be the key that helps us unlock him from his prison."

"What?"

"Well, he and Tom hit it off from the very start. You should have seen them in the park. The look on Tom's face as he and Arthur were talking reminded me of the look that he would get when we were planning some kind of prank. And, get this. He doesn't know that you and Arthur are related to him, yet. His guard will be down and receptive to all of the love we can pile on him. I tell you, Arthur is our key to his heart."

Olivia listened as the excitement in Fred's voice almost electrified their conversation, "Oh, my gosh, Fred, something tells me you are absolutely right. I'll send him right over just as soon as Ryan and I can come up with a plausible story as to why I had a meltdown," she said as she leaned over to give her hubby a kiss. "I guess the best thing I could do is just give you a call when it's just about ready, huh?" She listened to the phone a second and replied, "Well, okey dokey then. It's a plan. Call you in a bit. Bye."

"So, what's going on?" Ryan asked as he was finally able to slip both of his arms around her. "Is everything alright?"

Olivia slid her arms around his neck and responded with a smile, "Well, yes and no. Fred seems to think that he and Arthur have met my grandfather."

His eyes brightened at the news, "Why, Honey, that's great. Isn't it?"

Her smile faded a bit as she continued, "Bu-u-u-t, he introduced himself as Tom Baxter not Tom Dandridge. He even produced a military ID with Baxter on it."

"H-m-m-m. What did Fred suggest that we do? I overheard portions of a plan."

"He asked this guy to have a cup of coffee with him at the bakery. Luckily, he got an e-mail on his phone. He sent Tom on ahead to get a couple of seats saved and get Ed to put on a Fred Lee pot of coffee while he called me."

"That's Fred Lee, alright."

"Yeah, I know. Well, Fred said that we need to spend some time with him to see if he will open up. This guy has been through some bad war stuff and may or may not want to admit who he is. So, the best way Fred thought we could do it was to invite him for supper." Then with a fake haughty look she continued, "And he figures that a couple of platefuls of my super-great-delicious spaghetti would be just the thing to do it."

"I do believe Fred is right. A good portion of your award-winning recipe will bring anybody to their right mind," Ryan agreed.

"Here's the problem. We've got to find a way to keep this guy here long enough for me to fix up a batch and get him to come to supper."

"O-o-o-o-o-o, that could be the tricky part."

"Oh, no it's not. We just sick our number one son on him. Fred said to send Arthur to the bakery. He said that the two of them hit it off great in the park. And, you know Arthur. He'll have more than an hour's worth of questions. Seems this Tom knows a little about martial arts and Arthur is itching to talk to him. Not to mention, if we put the bug in his ear about inviting this guy and Fred over for supper..." she let the answer hang in the air.

"Fred is pure genius, Honey," Ryan declared as he kissed his wife. "But, did he tell you how to explain stuff to Mr. Twenty thousand questions himself?" he asked as he saw Arthur watching all wide-eyed from the window.

Olivia mumbled quickly, "I've only come up with one idea. Just catch on and let's run with it."

Arthur's curiosity was more than getting the best of him. When he saw his dad kiss his mom, he knew that it was safe for him to come out. And, did he ever have the questions. He jumped the stairs of the back porch and ran up to his parents. He gave his dad a big hug and said, "Hey, Dad. I'm sure glad you're home." He looked up at his mom and asked, "Mom, are you feeling any better?"

She patted her precious on his head and said with a smile, "Yes, dear. Mommy feels a whole lot better now that she has had a chance to talk with your father."

Ryan nervously smiled and hoped that she wasn't going to come up with something totally wild.

"You see, sweetie," she started as she inwardly prayed, 'Dear Jesus don't let me tell a lie. Watch my tongue, please.' "Uh......it IS possible that.......y-o-o-o-u-u might be getting a baby brother or a sister." 'Don't hit me Jesus, it's the best I could do. And, don't make it come true just to get back at me either.'

A doubly surprised Ryan cleared his throat before adding with a broad smile, "How about that for a bit of news, son?"

"Mom, really? You did all that crying and carrying on about being pregnant? Dad, did she do that when she found out that she was pregnant with me?" He asked with a wide-eyed grin.

"Well, uh....Arthur," Ryan thought real hard, "she was pretty flustered alright, but....uh.....in a different sort of way."

"But, Mom.....," Arthur started.

Olivia interrupted with a pretended haughtiness, "Pregnant ladies do not go bananas the same way in every pregnancy. If we're going to be burdened with having to carry around a live being inside of us for nine strenuous months, then, by-golly we ought to be able to have whatever kind of hormone overrides we want. So there."

Arthur looked at his dad with that I-don't-really-understand-what-she-said look and asked, "Doesn't sound like we have anything to say about it, huh, Dad?"

Ryan's only reply was a snickering, "You're sharp, son. You're sharp."

"Besides, I might not be, I just said that it's a possibility," she went on with her pretend haughtiness. "How many men in this group strongly believe that a possibly pregnant woman has needs that should be catered to?"

All two of the men in the group raised their hands.

She bent over and touched Arthur's nose with her finger and demanded, "Then your job, right here and right now, Mr. Blister is to go back to town and invite this new guy....whatever his name is and Mr. Fred Lee to supper tonight. I know you want to talk to him so maybe you can get your fill over supper tonight."

Lighting the Christmas tree at the Whitehouse didn't hold a candle to the eleven-year-old that lit up in the back yard of the Hollis residence. It also created an 'Arthur babble' that registered 7.6 on the unintelligible scale.

Olivia's hand went up. Arthur's mouth shut tight. Olivia looked at both of them and asked, "Just where in Elmhurst would two old war horses be spending the afternoon?"

The two males within arm's length of the questioner looked at each other and said in unison, "Drinking coffee at Ed's Bakery." This action caused a goodly amount of giggles from one of them.

The queen of the house commanded, "Then go and invite them and tell Fred I'll call him when it's ready.

Quicker than quick, Arthur flew off in the direction of the bakery. As the blissful couple stood arm in arm staring at the cloud of dust he left behind, Olivia commented, "I just said that it was a possibility not a probability."

As they turned to walk back up the porch steps, Ryan replied, "Oh, I understand completely. "

# CHAPTER SIX

Tom walked across the street to Ed's Bakery. As he opened the door, he was hit in the face with the usual bakery smells combined with the distinct aroma of........strong coffee. Frank and Bobby were sitting at "the round table." It was a table in the very center of the place that could seat twelve guys comfortably as long as they only wanted coffee. Of course, it was perfectly round and had been the only place in town where local news and gossip was discussed. Men had been gathering here to tell age old stories or just gaggle. It had been that way ever since Tom could remember. They called out a welcome to him and he waived back. He stepped up to the counter and was about to order when the owner beat him to the punch.

"Two Fred specials, huh?" he asked.

"Is he that much of a creature of habit?"

"Pretty much. Go ahead and have a seat and I'll bring them out to you. Fred likes to sit over there by the window so he can see what's going on. Oh, by the way, my name is Ed. I'm the owner of this prestigious establishment." Ed smiled real big and offered his hand of friendship.

Tom shook his hand, "Ed, it is my pleasure to meet you. My name is Tom. And, if that coffee tastes as good as it smells, I might just have to be a regular customer as long as I am in town."

"You had best save your judgment on the coffee until you've taken a sip. Fred actually brings me his own imported brand of coffee here to fix just for him. He wants it one cup at a time so it's always fresh. Sounds like a spoiled rotten kid, doesn't he?"

Tom answered with a chuckle, "Well, to be honest, I guess we're all a little peculiar in some sort of way. If everybody was the same, this poor old world would be a sad place."

"You've got a good point there," Ed responded as Tom turned to walk over to the big picture window that that faced the park.

As was the Elmhurst custom, Frank stood up from his chair, pointed at Tom and announced to the crowd, "Ladies and gentlemen, I would like for you to meet a distinguished visitor to Elmhurst. Tom served our country in WWII and has some battle scars to prove it. S-o-o-o-o.....I proudly lift my cup of coffee, although it's not a Fred special, in salute to my brother in arms." He softened his voice a bit as he continued, "Tom, thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you did for our country. You're our hero."

The afternoon crowd showered Tom with a hearty applause. Several men in the crowd stood up and saluted. As he walked toward the table that Ed declared as Fred's favorite, many leaned over to shake his hand and welcome him to Elmhurst.

Tom smiled the best he could. Before he sat down, he looked at Frank who was still standing and insisted, "Folks, thank you. And, thank you, Frank. Yes, I served my country but I don't deserve the title, 'hero'. Frank will probably testify to the fact that the real heroes never made it back home."

Frank validated his statement as he took his seat, "You are so right, Tom." Frank's face took on a bitter-sweet smile as he, too, began to think about those who never returned. "Sounds like we both have stories we could tell."

"But, we never want to get started."

Frank looked into his coffee cup and shook his head. With a deep sigh, he added, "We've already said too much, haven't we?"

"Yep," was all that Tom could manage right then. The crowd had gotten quiet as the two men spoke. As they took their respective seats, people began to talk and laugh to somewhat relieve the tension. Those that sat next to Frank patted him on the back and steered their conversations onto other subjects.

Frank noticed the faraway look in Tom's eyes as he stared out the window towards the park. He had wanted to honor his new comrade. What he hoped he hadn't done was push him too close to a terrible edge. He had seen it in too many of his Vietnam buddies too many times. Although he entered into the conversation at the table, his eyes were vigilant for any more signs from Tom.

Ed brought over two cups of coffee and sat them on the table. "Now, when you get almost to the bottom of the cup, give me a heads up and I'll put on some more. Do you need cream and sugar?"

"No, black will be fine," Tom almost mumbled as he looked out the window to where Fred was standing. He was still talking on the phone. Every now and then, he would look over toward the bakery for a moment or two. Most of his time he spent nodding his head 'yes' and looking down at the ground.

Tom's mind went back to the day in 1942 when he entered the Elmhurst Cafe. The round table was filled, as usual, with the morning shift of farmers that started off their day discussing whatever the topic was for the moment. His dad was in his usual seat. Like Frank, he stood up and gave an Elmhurst coffee salute to him as he announced proudly that his son was leaving to join the Army. Everyone at the table had stood up and applauded like they did today. They shifted their chairs around so he could take his place by his father. That morning was filled with memories of men who had been in the first war. Tom remembered almost every story.

Then, his mind focused on another toast. This time it was in the tent of Lt. Col. Henry Mucci. He, Gary and Clifford had volunteered to go with a couple of Filipino guerillas and blow up an ammo shed on the back side of the prisoner of war camp as a diversion to the main attack. Col. Mucci had given them instructions on just how he wanted it done. After his instructions, he went to his duffel bag and pulled out four shot glasses, a half empty bottle and said, "This isn't the best stuff I've ever had, but it's the best I could snatch from my 'supplier.' Its vodka and I don't really like vodka. That's why I'm commanding you guys to drink some so I can empty this bottle and get me another one. I'm mean but I'm not stupid."

Tom smiled as he remembered the laughter. As the tent got quieter, Col. Mucci lifted his glass in a toast to them and said, "Here's to some mighty brave men. It's my command that you guys come back alive and help me finish this stupid bottle, ya' hear?" Again, the laughter came as they downed their vodka and left his tent to go on their mission.

Tom knew better than to start. Usually he was stronger, but, today had been quite demanding on him. He had lost sleep on his flight in. The trip to the cemetery was an absolute roller-coaster. For an hour and a half he had made two trips around the entire facility. There were no headstones with the name Dandridge on them besides his parents, grandparents and those gone before them.

His emotions had run a gauntlet from joy and amusement to confusion and fear. Fear began to play. Fear's greatest playmate, the past, came over to taunt. And it's taunting drew him toward an abyss.

'I'm no hero. I'm a coward. Heroes can face anything. I couldn't face my own family. MY OWN FAMILY. They were so much on my mind as we skirted the rocks and came up on the mountain side of that ammo shed. I never wanted those sweet thoughts of my Ellen and my ever laughing Billy to stop. But, they had to. I had to blow up that shed if I was ever going to get a chance to go home.'

Frank saw it coming but said nothing about it to those at the table with him. Nonchalantly, he sat up a little straighter and pulled himself to the edge of his chair. 'There he goes,' he thought as he saw Tom claw through thin air. His head was shaking ever so slightly. He stood up slowly and held his hand up to get the guys to quiet down a bit. "Tom? Tom? Are you OK?" he asked in easy quiet tones. There was no answer. There was only a blank stare and animated gestures as the horror played out in his mind one more time. Frank knew that he was now totally immersed in a flashback.

The people at the table next to Tom got up and started to walk over to him to see if they could help. "No," Frank said firmly but in a low tone. "Don't touch him or talk to him. He might be going through a flashback." Frank walked quietly over to him, knelt, and watched his face for a moment. "Tom? Tom? It's OK," he said quietly.

Tom was sitting right in front of him but his mind was on a continent far away and in a moment of time 60 years in the past. Frank could only listen as Tom continued to mumble incoherent words that gave those around him no real clue as to what was happening inside.

"The thoughts aren't long enough. I want to stay. I want to hold them in my mind some more. My mind? I want to hold them in my arms. Oh, Jesus.........Jesus. If you'll only get me out of this place alive..........gotta be with my Ellen and Billy again. But, I gotta get out of here. Sweet Jesus........I'll be in church every time those doors open. Yes, Ellen on one side, Billy on the other. Just like Momma always wanted me to. I can see the shed. But, it's darker the closer we get to the shed. There's the hole the rebels had dug and hid for us. Quick. I've got to get into it before the guard.......made it. The guard turned to pace the other way. Where's the second guard? On the other side?"

One of the guys slipped out the door of the cafe and walked briskly in Fred's direction. When Fred looked up at him he said, "Fred, come here. Quick."

"What's wrong?"

"We think your friend is having a flashback."

"OH, GOD. NO!"

When Fred got into the bakery, he hurried up to Frank who was kneeling beside Tom and watching his face. Frank looked at Fred and said in hushed tones, "All we can do is stand by him until he comes out of it." He looked at several of them as he said, "Guys, hang on. This might not be pretty."

"C'mon, Gary. Bring the explosives quickly. Scoot back. Scoot back. Can't see the other one, Gary, but I know he's there somewhere. Okay .Okay, now. You and Clifford scram back to the radio man. Tell Sgt. Scriven that they should hear the explosion in about six or seven minutes. I'll go in, set this for 5 minutes and I'm right behind you. No absolutely not. Get a head start... When I set it...... I can run scared. I'm scared and I want to run. Gary, don't argue with me. The rebels said they would not be far away. I'll be OK.... Gotta be OK. My Ellen and Billy.... Ellen, oh, Ellen. No. I'm not going in this window until I see y'all's backsides scampering. Now git."

"Tom, can you hear me? It's me, Fred. You remember me? Tom? It's Okay. It's Okay."

Frank took charge and stated, "Just let him go. Fred you get on that side of him, I'll stay on this one. No, Steve, come here. You get on that side. Sorry, Fred, Steve's bigger and stronger than you. If Tom starts fighting, it might take more than two good men to hold him."

"You're right, Frank. I'd say by the way that his hands are shaking that there's plenty of adrenaline shooting through him right now."

"Dear God, where's the other....don't know....I DONT KNOW.. I can't see him. Safe at the corner. Rebels built a step. Feel for it. Ah, two croaker sacks....c'mon. Here? Yes.

"What was that? A noise? Who? Must be the other.....a rat. Don't scare the rat. Three feet up from the sacks. Ah, ye-e-s-s. The window is open. Step in quietly. Can't see. There. I'm in. Four steps forward should be...... What'd I step on... it's a guard. Where's my pistol? Take the safety off. The door. Oh, my God, the light. There's only two. I can...... Looks like they're gonna rush me. I can still... There's another one at the door. He's got a machine gun. Oh, no. Don't tell me he's gonna shoot. Here they come. Gotta fire........gotta fire.........machine gun."

Tom screamed and fell onto the table and knocked the coffee over. Frank and Steve grabbed him. "It's Okay, Tom. It's Okay. We're here. You're alright," a misty-eyed comrade said as he tried to bring him back.

Tom was breathing harder and harder. Sweat was running out of every pore of his body. He stared at his helpers but he recognized none of them. The voices were familiar but his flashback wasn't completely gone. He tried to pull away from them but couldn't. Panic was all over his face as his eyes darted back and forth. Vainly he shouted out, "No.....no. Leave me alone......leave me alone. I'm an American....I......I."

You wouldn't think that this would be the right time for an eleven-year-old little boy to come running onto the scene. But, it worked well. When Arthur came through the door of the bakery, he saw the crowd around Tom and saw two big guys having to hold on to him. His big smile quickly vanished from his face as he heard Tom screaming in terror. He blurted out, "Mr. Tom. Mr. Tom. What's wrong? What's wrong?"

The sound of a young child didn't fit into a Japanese fire fight. It was just the thing at that moment to snap Tom out of it. The voice of the one who brought him so much joy ushered him back into the real world. He stopped screaming and looked around. The 'awful' began to melt away into the 'right now.' The adrenaline stopped as quickly as it came and left him destitute of strength. As he collapsed back into his chair, he pulled away from Frank and Steve and gathered up Arthur into his arms and pulled him onto his lap. Just like all the other flashbacks, the emotional drain brought him to tears.

The tender heart of his new friend was overwhelmed. Arthur clung to Tom and cried with him for a moment. Tom spoke softly to him, "Yes, Arthur. I'm alright, now, son. I'm alright. It's just something that happens sometimes to those who have been in terrible things. But, I'm Okay. I promise. I'm Okay."

Big Ed and his son Eddie, from Arthur's football team, motioned them to move over to the next table. Big Ed had a couple of fresh cups of coffee and Eddie had some big wet towels to clean up with. Tom started to apologize, but Big Ed, "Nothing doing. This ain't the first time someone spilled coffee and as long as I'm open it won't be the last. Besides, after you taste that coffee you might be running to me to make me apologize for the way I made it. Just don't forget that the old codger you're hangin' with is the one who gave me the recipe."

Big Ed laughed real big at his own joke and several of the onlookers joined him. It took the edge off of the situation. Most of them stood there watching Tom and Arthur console each other just to make sure that everything was alright.

Frank and Steve motioned everybody back to their tables to give them some space. As they did, they mouthed the words, "He's gonna be fine."

As he pulled Arthur back so that he could see him smile, Tom assured him, "See? I'm smiling. I'm really Okay." Then his gaze fell on the table where Ed and Eddie were cleaning up two spilled cups of coffee. He pointed to them and said, "See there? Now you can tell your sweet momma that even big folks spill stuff."

Arthur giggled as he wiped away his tears. "Huh-uh. You can tell her yourself. She sent me over here to invite you and Mr. Fred for dinner. She's fixing spaghetti."

"She what? I can't...." Tom began as he started to decline the invitation.

Frank Runyon called out, "Has she got enough for one more?"

"How about twenty more," came a voice from across the room. "I don't know of anyone that would turn down Olivia's spaghetti."

Bobby chimed in, "As many socials that I have been to at Elmhurst Christian Church, I don't remember anyone passing by that big pot of spaghetti and not getting a couple of big helpings."

Tom still had it in his mind not to go when Arthur looked at him and said in a soft voice, "Please, Mr. Tom. I want to spend some more time with you."

It wasn't what he said but the way he said it. After a few seconds of looking at his new friend eyeball to eyeball, Tom chuckled and replied, "I don't see how anyone could turn down a request like that."

Arthur just giggled and clapped his hands together a couple of quick times as he slid off of his lap and took a seat beside him at the table. There was a grin on Arthur's face that probably peaked in the back of his head.

Tom reached over and tousled his hair and told him, "Son, when you get bigger you are going to have to beat the girls off with a stick, you slick little charmer you." As he reached for his coffee he thought to himself, 'Son? I called him Son. Out of all the kids I've helped out of trouble, I've never called any of them Son right off the bat. Tom, you've finally done it. It took you 82 years but you have finally gotten old.'

Tom took a sip if his coffee to see if it was too hot to drink. Finding that it was tolerable, he took a few good gulps. Fred pushed the creamer and the sugar dish over to him. "Tom? Don't you want something to dilute that down with?"

"Nope, not right now," he said as he let out a deep sigh and stared at the remainder in his cup. "Maybe on the next one. But this one I need to go down straight." Tom took another big gulp and put his cup back down on the table. He tried to put it down softly but his hand was shaking so much that it jangled a couple of times. As the cup sounded a clunkety-clunk, Tom gave a quick look towards his old friend and sheepishly grinned an apology.

Fred couldn't help but notice the "super tired" look on his face. Even the boyish grin couldn't help hide it. He had seen only two other flashback struggles in his lifetime. In both of them, the Army physician prescribed several days of bed rest and a change of scenery. Fred began flirting with the idea of cancelling the dinner tonight to give Tom a rest. However he just couldn't come up with a way real quick. Not knowing Tom's plans for being in Elmhurst, he had no idea whether an opportunity like this would ever come up again. He had to speak to Olivia and let her know what happened.

"Well sir, if y'all will excuse me," he said as he stood up, "I need to order another round of coffee. A-a-n-n-d, if two old codgers like us are going to invade the Hollis residence, I need to see if Olivia needs me to pick anything up before we get there."

Tom leaned back in his chair, folded his arms across his chest and said to Arthur, "I thought he would never leave. Now we can talk about him like he was a dog."

Arthur imitated Tom's move and cracked, "You better believe we can." He made a hand motion toward Fred like he was trying to shoo away some chickens and continued, "Yeah, go ahead and leave us alone." He leaned over in Fred's direction and held his hand up to his mouth as if he was about to say something he didn't want Tom to hear, "Besides, Sgt. Tom doesn't know that I'm the biggest tattletale in the county."

The two of them looked at each other and laughed. Fred saw the refreshing change that this little exchange had already made in Tom's countenance. He thought to himself, 'When Tom finds out that he's been talking to his great-grandson all this time, he's going to come so unglued that it'll take him a long time to get himself back together. H-m-m-m. I know that doesn't sound right but I believe that that's just exactly what's going to happen."

He loudly cleared his throat as his way of joining in the joke, "I can certainly tell when I'm not wanted. But, you two haven't heard the last from me." He turned to go outside so he could have a private conversation with Olivia and almost ran into Eddie who was coming back to the table. "Oops, I'm sorry Eddie. I didn't see you."

Eddie replied, "That's Okay, Mr. Fred. I heard the conversation as I was coming over and I was watching for you to turn. I was just coming over to redeem my promise to Arthur."

He slid a little plate in front of Arthur with not one but two butterscotch filled doughnuts on it. "My dad said that I should bring you two doughnuts. He said that anybody who could teach his know-it-all son a few things deserves two doughnuts." He chuckled as he looked at Arthur and then Tom before he finished, "And you know something? He's probably right." He shrugged his shoulders at Arthur, "But that's a dad for ya', isn't it? Y'all enjoy. See ya' tomorrow, Arthur." He turned and walked back to the kitchen.

"You bet," Arthur answered, "and thanks for the doughnuts, Eddie."

Eddie looked back at Arthur and waived his hand.

"I'll be right back," Fred said as he started towards the door. "You two behave if you think you can."

As he walked by the adjoining table, Fred leaned over and said to the two men, "Morris, you and Walter keep a close eye out on those two while I step outside, will ya'? Those two are two bad hombres."

When Tom heard that, he hunched his shoulders up, put a big, mean frown on his face and said to Arthur, "Yep. That's us alright. Two bad hombres."

Arthur mimicked his actions and said through his frown, "Yep. We're the baddest of the bad."

Neither one of them could hold their frowns very long. Their little comedy routine brought them to laughter and high fives. Those that had been watching their little charade laughed along with them.

Fred noticed the years coming back into Tom's countenance. He prayed inside himself as he stepped toward the door, "Yep, God, you've brought Tom back for some long-awaited healing. Help us to bring him back home where he belongs. Help us bring him back to the Tom he really is. Give us the wisdom to say and do what we need to. I don't know what you've had him doing all these years, but his family needs him now.'

As he stepped outside, he could still see the two of them through the big picture window and he continued, 'And, God, Tom needs his family, too.'

# CHAPTER SEVEN

Olivia had a spaghetti sauce that was just out of this world. She had kept fiddling with her mom's recipe until she hit on a combination that she really liked. Bad thing about it was, everybody else seemed to like it as well. Even though she tried to protest that she had no 'secret' ingredient, no one believed her. She even offered to let them come and watch her cook it but none of them even dared. People sure could be funny sometimes.

None of them except the pastor's wife, that is. Elaine Wallace loved to be around Olivia at any time she could. But, being a pastor's wife, her time was consumed with the needs of the church. There were always ladies that thought they should have a special place beside her. There were also ladies that felt they needed to 'keep the pastor's wife up-to-date on what was happening. You know, gossip. And, there were ladies that sincerely needed counseling. Elaine was always a good listener and very compassionate in her advice.

So, who does a pastor's wife go to she needs counseling? Why to Olivia Hollis, of course. Elaine was short in stature, only 5' 2" tall. But she could be one great big barrel of fun when she wanted to be. And, when she and Olivia got together, that was the time that Elaine Wallace knew she could step out of her role as pastor's wife and just be herself for a while. Unfortunately, with her busy schedule, the only time she could write everything off of her schedule and write in Olivia was when the church was having some kind of social. She would tell everybody that it was her duty to be by Olivia's side when she had to fix all of the spaghetti that people expected her to bring. And, folks Olivia and Elaine both thrived on finding some reason to have a social event about. It was the only time that the two ladies were able to let their hair down.

Their husbands had long ago learned to just go fishing while the ladies were cooking. That custom came from the very first time Elaine came over to help. Ryan and Jim went out on the back porch to sit and chew the fat. They could hear the ladies just a talking. Every now and then a roar of hysterical lady laughter would ring out. After the fifth outburst, the men thought that they would go inside to see what the fun was all about. When they stepped inside to see if they could join the fun, they ladies quit talking except for conversations about the cooking.

After an awkward silence, Ryan finally got the courage to ask, "Ladies, just a few minutes ago, y'all were hysterical with laughter. What were y'all talking about?"

Olivia and Elaine looked at each other with sly smiles until Olivia finally burst out with, "You two."

The two men looked at each other with silly grins while the ladies had to hold onto the kitchen counter to keep from falling on the floor with laughter. After the third wave of hysteria, Jim looked at Ryan and asked, "You got a boat?"

"Yep," Ryan replied as he turned toward the door.

And that my friends bonded Elaine and Olivia together. They cooked and laughed their troubles away. Whatever was bothering them at the time seemed to melt under the love and fellowship that they shared with each other.

Today was one of those days that Olivia wished with all that was within her that Elaine could be there. Turmoil brewed inside of her just like the ingredients did in the pot she was stirring on the stove. And there were just as many different things as there were different ingredients, too. There was joy at the possibility of finally seeing her grandfather. There was the nagging fear that he wasn't. Yes, she did have to face it. Fred could be wrong and he might be Tom Baxter. She might be getting her hopes up too high.

What if he WAS Tom Dandridge, but wanted to STAY Tom Baxter? What if the trauma was so bad that he didn't want to come out of his new identity? If he was her grandfather, why had he stayed away so long? He came back in 1954, why didn't he stay? Oh, the operations, that's why. Why DIDN'T he come back again?

She stopped cutting the onions. A new idea began to be birthed inside of her. What was the reason that Tom Baxter wanted to come to Tom Dandridge's home town? Unl-e-e-s-s-s, Tom Baxter was really Tom Dandridge and he really wanted to be known as..........Tom Dandridge........BUT was too embarrassed or to ashamed....... Somewhere down inside her, way down where you know stuff is really true, a blossom of an idea began to emerge. Tom Dandridge is afraid that his family will be mad at him and just possibly never want to see him again.

She was so engrossed with this new idea that was being formed that she did not notice that her husband had walked up behind her. He reached up and placed his hands on her shoulders and asked, "Honey, is everything alright."

It scared Olivia so much that she dropped her knife. She danced away to keep the knife from hitting her foot and fell into Ryan's waiting arms. She turned and threw her arms around him and gushed, "Honey, the most wonderful thought just hit me. But it's scary at the same time." As she slid her arms around his waist, she thought, 'It is so good to be in the arms of my man right now. So good.'

Ryan was amused at her double-stuffed emotions and asked, "What can be wonderful and scary at the same time. Something wonderfully scary?"

Olivia chuckled with him, "No, silly." She gave him a peck on the lips and continued, "I was thinking. If he IS Grandpa, but he's going under another name, why would he come back home if it wasn't to find out if he has any kin left? And, he's afraid of letting everybody know who he is because he's afraid we'll be mad at him for staying gone so long."

As he held her, Ryan could tell from the quivering tone of her voice that her emotions were wreaking havoc with her. "Well, I don't doubt that that idea has a lot of merit," Ryan agreed. "The question is, how do we find out? You can't just come out and ask him, can you?"

"Nope," she said with a smile, "but if all things do work together for our good like the Bible says, then we just need to be prepared vessels of His. Let Him lead us to the answer." Olivia began to relax a bit as she spoke the promise of God's Word.

However, that smooth and easy feeling was short lived. The phone rang. The caller ID showed that it was Fred. "Hello, Fred. Is everything alright?"

"Well, yes and no," he began. "Yes, I feel everything is under control right now, thanks to your son Arthur. Somewhat no, because Tom had a terrible flashback while he was here in the bakery."

"Oh, my gosh. What happened?"

The peace that was working itself into his wife's demeanor was suddenly gone. Ryan watched her face turn white and could only guess at the conversation that she was having with Fred.

"Well, Frank told me that it started when he stood up to introduce Tom as being a war hero. Something that the two of them spoke about began to set the memories freshly ablaze in Tom's mind. Big Ed said that Tom just sat there staring out the window, mumbling stuff and moving his arms every now and then. Nobody around him could understand a word he was saying. Then I guess, he must have lived the explosion again because he screamed real loud."

"Oh, dear God."

Fred continued, "Several of us held on to him to keep him from falling over. But, he thought that we were the enemy soldiers trying to take him captive."

"Oh, Fred, Arthur didn't see any of it, did he?

"Yes, he did. He came in about the time Tom started screaming. Tom was looking at us like a wild man. BUT, when Arthur called his name, he began to come out of it. He settled right down and finally realized we weren't the enemy. If Arthur hadn't come in when he did and called out to him, there's no telling what would have happened to Tom's mind. I'll never forget the look on his face. It was fear and panic all rolled into one."

"Oh, my gosh, Fred, what are we going to do? None of us have had any training in anything like this," Olivia said as her hands began to tremble and the tears came back. "I thought that, perhaps he was trying to find some way to come back to himself."

Fred agreed, "There's no doubt about that. I just get the feeling that if my best friend..........." Fred had to pause to gain his composure before he went on, "Lord Jesus, help me to talk about this now. I sure don't need to have a break down when I'm trying to help Tom. I'm OK. I'm OK, now. Olivia, this is what I DO know. Men in these cases have to be lead and not pushed. They might want to come out or back or whatever, but if someone starts pushing, they retreat. And then it could be worse. Now there is something else I know. He has a special attraction to Arthur and Arthur absolutely idolizes him. I believe that the more we could let those two be together, God could very well use Arthur to bring him out."

"You mean, the more he was around Arthur the more he would want to be Tom Dandridge, my grandfather?" Olivia asked as if they might have found the key to it all.

"That's the way it comes to me."

"But, does he have any clue that he could be related to Arthur?"

"None that I know of. The small amount of time that we had to talk, he never mentioned anything about anybody. The way I figure it, he has no clue that any of his kin are anywhere around. Remember, there is no one in town named Dandridge. What I do know is that he and Arthur have become best friends from the moment they laid eyes on each other. Now, don't you think that God must be up to something? Who would have ever thought that an eighty-two-year-old guy and an eleven-year-old little whipper snapper would become the best of friends in a moment's time?"

Olivia pondered that last statement as she snuggled her way back into Ryan's arms, "That's about what I was telling Ryan just before you called. If God's in the middle of this thing, then all we can do is wait for His moments. He's the one that knows how sensitive Tom, uh, Grandpa is. Oh, dear God, that felt so good to say that. E-e-e-w-w-w-w, my gosh. You don't know how......."

Olivia took a few seconds to pull herself together as Ryan sneaked a kiss on to her forehead. "Ok, I can talk now. Whew! Wow! Maybe I can........OK. Let's make it a point to love on him. The Apostle Paul said that love NEVER failed and if he's my grandpa I sure want to put that promise to the test."

"Amen to that. Now let me get back inside before they get spooked," Fred said. He took a glance at Tom and Arthur through the big glass window. They were both laughing at something somebody said. "Oh, my, Olivia........you better get ready to greet your grandpa. Those two characters in there have everybody in stitches. They are like two peas in a pod. That's Tom Dandridge alright. And, he's fixing to come out and meet his family. Somehow, I just believe God's gonna do it."

The trickle of tears that slipped down Olivia's cheeks turned into a downpour as she began to sob uncontrollably. She handed the phone to Ryan to go somewhere to regain her composure. "Hey, Fred, it's Ryan. Olivia had to slip away to try to get all of her crying out."

"Yeah, I'm kinda having the problem myself," Fred admitted.

Ryan said, "Oh, while I'm thinking about it, remember when you and Liv were talking earlier this afternoon?"

"Yes."

"Arthur saw her crying and called me all upset. Olivia concocted a story I need to tell you about just in case he says something at the bakery. I don't want anybody to get the wrong idea."

"Alright."

"This is the way Olivia explained it to Arthur. She told him that it was 'possible' that she could be pregnant again. She did not say she was. And, it's the truth. She's healthy and it is possible that she could be pregnant. She just isn't. But she had to explain her emotions some way without letting Arthur know about Tom until we find out the truth."

"So if he has let any cats out of any bags then I need to be the Humane Society. Is that right?" Fred asked with a chuckle.

Ryan chuckled, "That's one way to look at it. I'm going to call the pastor and have him praying for us and I'll make sure that he knows that we need a nice quiet evening."

"Good thinking, Ryan," Fred commented. "Tell Liv to give me a call when she puts the noodles on. I'll bring everybody over there."

"I'll do it. Call you in a bit."

"OK."

Fred put the phone back in his shirt pocket. He opened up the front door of the bakery and saw some folks lined up at the counter. No, they weren't waiting to buy anything. They had already bought. Their breads and cupcakes were boxed up nicely and sitting on the counter. They were all facing the direction of Tom and Arthur.

You see, Tom told one story about boot camp so Frank and Bobby moved over to their table so they can spin their old worn out yarns on two new ears. It was almost like watching re-runs of M.A.S.H. Arthur had been laughing so much that he had only eaten one half of one of the doughnuts. The folks at the counter had heard these stories at least a dozen times in the past 20 years, but shucks, Arthur was only eleven. They were brand new to him. They really weren't laughing at the stories, as much as they were laughing at the way Arthur reacted to them.

Fred caught Big Ed's eye and held two fingers straight up and then turned them down and swirled them a time or two. Ed waived 'Ok' and went over to prepare two more Fred specials. The two fingers down and swirled meant to bring some extra cream and sugar.

Bobby commented, "Hey, Fred's here. Does that mean that we get to start all over?"

Fred waived his hand at him and said as he walked to their table, "Bobby, I really wish you wouldn't."

The crowd roared with laughter. Really, now, it wasn't funny at all. But, when you're in the groove of laughing at everything that's being said, you don't really stop to judge how funny something really is. If it is ALMOST funny, it gets a good laugh.

"Yeah, yeah," Bobby backed off, "I know that they're nothing compared to times you had to crank the Army tanks by hand but they're funny none the less. I'd better get little Chauncey home and tell his momma how much she loves me."

Fred acted a little huffy, "Now, Bobby, we did no such thing. Everybody knows that we jump started them by hooking a team of mules and pulling 'em. And, as far as your wife loving you, that's not what it said on the bathroom wall."

"I've been in the bathroom just after I came into the bakery and there was nothing of the sort on those walls," Bobby struck back.

Fred sat down, folded his arms on the table, leaned toward Bobby just a bit, "That's because it's written on the bathroom walls in the MEN"S room................Lieutenant."

Boy Howdy, you should have heard the hoots that went up on that one. Some of the guys stood up and gave Fred a standing ovation. Of course, Fred half-way stood up and nodded his head at the folks in a measure of "Thanks."

Bobby grinned, hoisted Chauncey into his arms and stepped over to Tom and Arthur. "Tom, my friend, in the short amount of time we've had to talk, I've come to really, really like you. So let me leave with some parting advice." He put his free hand on Tom's shoulder, looked over at Fred and gave this warning, "Don't ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, get into a match with Fred. He is the town champion, hands down."

As he turned to go out of the bakery, guys moved out of the way for him and his son to pass. Sensing that the "yack" session was over, they all wandered back to their seats. Folks at the counter had nothing else to watch so they picked up their packages and left for their homes.

Fred said, "Olivia's got everything she needs to make spaghetti, guys. All she said was for us to bring some hungry stomachs. I told her that I did not think that that was going to be a problem as far as I was concerned."

Big Ed was coming up to the table with fresh coffee, cream and sugar when he heard what Fred said. "I'll tell you what she ain't got," he countered. "She ain't got a couple of fresh loaves of garlic bread right out of the oven. But she will before you guys leave. And, it's on the house, too. Anytime you gents can generate this much business at my place by putting on a comedy show like this one, Big Ed's gonna pay some commission. I'll have some ready for you on the counter. I'll keep them in the bread warmer until y'all leave. That way they'll be nice and tasty when you set them on Olivia's table."

"Thanks, Big Ed. And my momma and daddy will say 'Thanks,' too," Arthur beamed.

The smile faded a bit on Tom's face. It was more of a nervous and apprehensive smile. "Fred, I wish she wouldn't make a fuss over me......"

"Her words to me were," Fred interrupted, "that she HAD to meet the person who brought so much excitement to precious Arthur. Besides, Arthur kept saying that you knew about Ninja stuff and she and Ryan had bought all the books they knew to buy. I think they're hoping you'll answer some of the questions that he has been stumping them with. Oh, yes, and they'll probably be glad to pay for any lessons you can come up with."

Arthur's fire was lit now as he prodded, "Oh, please, please, Mr. Tom. Can't you stay around for a while and show me some stuff. Nobody around here knows anything but that fake professional wrestling."

All of a sudden a couple of the tables close by got real quiet. Several heads turned. Some were smiling, some were not. Arthur had seen enough of his mamma's angry frowns to know that he had said the wrong thing. He got that wide-eyed look on his face as he admitted, "I guess I must have said something wrong." Then he leaned over to his hero and whispered, "It IS fake isn't it?"

Fred and Tom chuckled at him. Tom lowered his voice, too, as he answered, "All of us here at this table know its fake, but to some people it's just as real as it can be." He paused for a moment before he continued, "Arthur, to everybody here at this table Jesus is just as real as this cup of coffee or that butterscotch creme filled....gooey thing. But, to a whole lot of people that have not received Jesus Christ as their Savior, Jesus is a fake. So, it's up to us Christians to live our lives in such a manner that Jesus becomes real to them."

"Isn't that for the preachers to do?"

"Do you think that those people who think Jesus is a fake are just gonna come running into church and ASK to get saved?"

Arthur smiled and replied, "No, I guess not. At least it doesn't happen at our church. A lot of my friends at school go to our church and they have never gotten saved. And, our preacher preaches real good, too."

"You see. You just answered your own question," Tom pointed out. In all of his years of dealing with kids and teenagers, Tom had learned a few things about engaging them in life changing conversations that led to life changing conversions. He answered Arthur's questions just enough to get him to ask another one and then another one. A hungry mind asks questions that they WANT answers to. Tom knew that he was leading Arthur into asking questions that Jesus wanted him to face. Like the next one.

"Well," Arthur drawled, "How do we.....I mean.....they need Jesus but they won't come to the altar. So,........how do we......."

Tom asked the question for him, "How do we lead them to a decision to come to Christ?"

"Yeah, that's it."

Tom looked at Fred with a little smile. Fred returned it knowing that he was sharing the table with one of the best witnesses he had seen in years. Yet, Fred was about to see a technique that Tom had devised that would engage young Arthur in a life changing relationship with Jesus. Tom answered by saying, "Arthur it's simple. You just go around running and screaming "Jesus loves you. Jesus loves you." all day long. Especially to those you would like to see saved."

Oops! That one was a curve. "Say, what?" Arthur asked with the most puzzled look on his face. "Everybody would think that I was crazy as a loon. They would run away from me as soon as they saw me if I did that."

Fred had watched as Tom set the trap right in front of young Arthur. He knew where he was going with this line of talk. Arthur had unwittingly opened up and asked his way into learning something about witnessing. What was that Bobby called him? The champion? No. Fred was watching a real champion at work right here. Tom might not make the headlines on this side of heaven, but he was still one of life's real champions. And, he was sitting right here at a table in Ed's bakery in little old Elmhurst, Georgia.

Tom leaned over to Arthur, looked him straight in the eye and reached over to lay his hand on Arthur's as he answered, "Son, you yell at them by the way you treat them every day. If they know that you're a Christian, then what you say and do around them either says, 'Jesus loves you, or Jesus hates you.' It takes a while to develop a heart for reaching the lost, but when you do, His love pours through you. You begin to treat people like Jesus did, just as if they had never done anything wrong. You treat them as if they are your best friends even though they might not be right then. You keep on loving them with your actions and conversations and then, pretty soon, they begin to fall in love with the same Jesus that you fell in love with. Just because your actions and attitude yelled and screamed 'Jesus loves you.' every time you came around him."

Bingo! Arthur's mind flipped back to that moment with Ramon. "Hey. I did that last week. This guy Ramon wanted to beat me up and I treated him as if he was my best friend. And, he stopped acting mean. You know what? I think he really wants to be on the football team. And, today he helped me put the water cooler in the van and......."

Tom reached over and tapped him on the shoulder with the back of his hand as he finished for him, "There ya' go. Yellin' and screamin' again."

"Huh?" Arthur asked. Tom caught him off guard for a moment until it dawned on him what he was talking about. "Yeah, yellin' and screamin'." Wouldn't you know it? There came out another Arthur giggle. Wendy would be proud of him.

# CHAPTER EIGHT

Fred pointed out to Arthur, "Hey, Sport, you'd better get on with your dessert and let it start settling before your mamma calls and we have to go eat. AND, if you don't eat a belly full of her spaghetti, she is going to know something is up. You know what I mean?"

"You better believe I do. Mom knows everything I do. I can't seem to get away with anything. You know the old saying, Mr. Tom. I believe she really does have eyes in the back of her head," he stated emphatically as he started digging into the doughnuts.

Fred opened up, "So did you serve some time in Walter Reed Army Medical Center?"

"Yes, sir. Altogether about three years of my life was spent there, off and on" Tom replied. He hesitated a moment before continuing, "It was...uh,...operation, recuperation, try it out. Come back for another operation, recuperation, try something new. Come back....and so on and so forth."

"I noticed you hesitated, Tom. You don't have to answer anything if you don't want to."

"No, no. Uh.....that's....not it at all. There's so much that was going on at that time, I was just looking for some short way of telling the story. Believe you me, Walter Reed Hospital was great. But, man alive. The stuff you had to go through. It would bore you to tears if I went through everything," Tom explained hoping throw him off.

Fred wasn't really satisfied with his answer. His espionage years in the Army taught him a lot about human behavior. However, he had an idea that some things didn't need to come to light right at this moment. He countered by asking, "I was just trying to figure out how you got acquainted with old General Horace Bennett. I mean, I know he was your commander in the Philippines, but it sounds like you got to know him pretty well if he invited you to his Christmas parties. I remember extremely well how much most of us would give to be invited to them. He was a pretty closed individual to most people."

Tom downed the rest of his coffee before he answered. "He was a hard man alright. He fought the war hard. And, if you fought the war hard, he would watch over you like a mother hen. He probably told every volunteer the same thing he told us. He pulled us into Col. Mucci's tent and gave us our orders. When he finished, he looked us straight in the eye and told us that, no matter what happened to us that he would NEVER forget us. AND, if we did not come back from this suicide mission, he would NEVER forget our families.

"And he was true to his word. He visited me at Walter Reed Hospital. He marched into the admin office there and demanded to see my progress charts." At this point a little smile was playing on Tom's face.

Fred interrupted him with a big chuckle, "Dear God in heaven, I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall of that office. If only they had video tape replays of that ball game. Whew."

Tom nodded his head, "Yeah, and double whew. I knew when I was fixing to get a visit. The orderlies would come in with a certain look on their face like their momma or daddy was going to give them a whipping when they got home. They asked about my comfort. They made sure I wasn't hurting. I even had one come in and asked if he could take me to the bathroom. I told him I didn't have to go and you know what he asked me?"

"Not a clue."

"He asked me if I was sure that I did not need to go 'cause he was more than willing to take me if I did. Old War Horace must have been on the War-path that day."

Fred laughed at the thought, "Mercy sakes. I knew he could be a bugger at times but he must have been some kind of a terror that day."

"Let's say it this way, I was very glad that I was on his good side," Tom declared with a laugh. "Anyway, when word got out that I was about to be released, he came to see me and I knew immediately that something else was up."

"Oh, really?"

"Yep, those orderlies acted normal that day. I had no clue he was coming to see me until the moment he walked through the door."

"He was up to something. wasn't he?"

Tom took a deep breath and said, "Yeah, I guess you could say that. I was not only due to be released from the hospital, I was also going to be released from active duty. My mind was filled with one decision after another. Should I re-enlist? Should I get out and go home? Should I get out and go somewhere else? If so, where should I go? Do I have enough money to get there? There was just tons of stuff to think about."

Arthur had finished his doughnuts and was just listening when something Tom said got the best of him. "You didn't want to go back home, Mr. Tom?" he asked.

Fred watched an ashen color come over Tom's face as he blankly looked at Arthur before answering, "There was nobody there for me to come home to, Arthur. Nobody." Tom forced a weak and apologetic smile but Fred saw through it.

'That's the truth. Just not all of it,' thought Fred. "So what kind of plan did Gen. Bennett have for you?" he asked in a way to guide the story.

Tom cleared his throat before answering, "Well, he needed somebody who was free for a couple of years to head up a special project that the Pentagon had dropped into his lap. One of his jobs was to search out mass graves and bring whatever we could find back to the states. He knew that I had a good.......uhm......." he chuckled as he finished, "well...that I could get along with the natives real well. Yes, that's.........what he was looking for. Because, you see,........they were positive....that is they knew from the survivors of Bataan that some of the soldiers had been taken away into the jungle and never seen again. Since nobody heard shots or yells, they presumed that they were going to be slave labor or something. We just didn't know and he needed somebody to go into the jungle and find out."

"Well, if it's important for us to know all the truth, God will bring it out in His time. He's stumbling now and I have to get him off of this track. I can't afford for him to have another flashback."

**************************

Olivia was at the kitchen counter cutting up some sweet bell peppers to put into the sauce. Ryan heard her sniffling and came over. "Honey," he said compassionately, "you don't even cry when you're cutting up onions."

"I know.....I-I-I know, (sniff)," she tried to hold back, "Bu...But, I want this.....(sniff) guy to b-b...be my grandfather....so bad." And the dam broke into a thousand pieces. She fell into her husband's arms once again and Ryan held her as tightly as he possibly could.

His wife was never one to fall to pieces in a hurry. To see her like this caused his eyes to fill up and run over. "Honey. Honey, I don't know what to say. Maybe he is and maybe he isn't. And we've got to be ready to face it either way."

"I-I-I-I know it, Ryan," she answered as she tried to pull herself together. "I've tried to get myself to think about him NOT being my grandpa and being OK with that. I've tried to think about how we need to treat whoever this is with compassion to help him through anything he might be going through. I've asked God to help me (sniff, sniff)....a-a-and accept whatever way it is. But the closer the time comes........I....I..just don't know." Olivia buried her head into his shoulder and held on to him for dear life.

All Ryan could do was hold her and pray quietly that God would do whatever He needed to do in this situation. His normally strong wife was facing something that she wasn't prepared for. When her sobbing subsided, he patted her on the back and loosened his hold on her just a bit. "Why don't you tell me what's left to do to get ready," Ryan suggested. Then he slipped his arms from around her waist and pulled her away from him by the shoulders. There he looked her in the eyes and suggested, "Whatever you have to do, you need to get this crying over with the best you can. Listen to me. Go into the bedroom and call Elaine. Y'all pray, y'all cry, y'all do whatever you got to do. Get this crying out of your system. This is a delicate situation and we cannot go into it with our emotions flying high. We need to be listening to whatever nudging the Holy Spirit needs to do. A life, either your grandpa's or Tom Baxter's, could be hanging in the balance."

Olivia knew her husband was right. She hugged him extra tightly and said to him in the soft voice she used in their intimate times, "I'm s-o-o-o-o glad that God put us together. I am glad to have a Godly man such as you, Ryan Hollis. I love you."

Ryan kissed her tenderly and told her softly, "I love you, too, precious. Now scoot to the bedroom and make the phone call."

"Yes, sir," she answered with a smile. She reached for the phone and hit the speed dial for their pastor's residence as she walked to the bedroom and closed the door.

"Jesus loves you, Pastor Jim, speaking," came the familiar greeting.

"Hi Jim, is Elaine busy right now?" she asked. She could feel her emotions on the rise again. She was hoping that it wasn't coming through.

"Uh.....well, as a matter of fact she is on her cell phone with another church member right now."

"Well,...would you......uh....ask her-r to (sob) c-a-a-ll me whe-e-n she's through?"

"Just a minute," Jim said. He took the phone away from his ear, but Olivia could everything he said. "It's Olivia, Elaine, and it sounds like she's crying."

Olivia heard Elaine's voice, "Oh, I'm sorry Vivian. I've got an emergency call on the other line. I'll have to call you back. No, you listen to me. I said I'll call you back." A couple of quick steps could be heard and a familiar voice came over the phone, "Liv? What's wrong?"

All Olivia could get out was, "Oh, Elaine..." and then the torrent of tears and sobs interrupted her again. Elaine heard her say, "Oh, God.....O-o-o-o God. I can't do this. God, I can't, I can't, I can't."

Ryan heard her but went ahead finishing the spaghetti sauce. He could only help her so far. He knew that her prayer partner was the best source of help for her right now. Together, those two could touch Jesus in a way that he hadn't seen in any other two people. So, he did the only thing he knew to do at the moment. He prayed softly and stirred the sauce.

Elaine put her on speaker phone so Pastor Jim could hear also. Nothing that they had been through had ever ruffled Olivia like this. They held to each other and prayed softly while still listening for Olivia to pull herself together. Then, as Olivia poured out her soul to them, they wept with her in compassion. They had often heard the story about her grandfather and of her father's faith that he would someday return. At this particular moment, there was nothing else more important for them to do than to stand with Olivia and Ryan as they walked through this situation. They prayed and cried with her until peace came.

The sauce was thickening nicely now. The room had been silent for about fifteen minutes. Ryan felt satisfied that Olivia would come out of that room with a God-plan in mind. He pulled out another pot from underneath the sink and put it on the stove. His intentions were to put the spaghetti on to boil. The only thing is, Olivia didn't tell him how much. He pondered whether he should go to the door and listen when he heard the door open.

Out stepped a satisfied Olivia. He could tell she wasn't completely all together but she wasn't on the verge of falling back apart either.

"Sauce looks good, Hun," she said as she smiled at him. She slipped her arm around his waist and said, "You're the best, you know it?"

"As long as I have you to tell me, then I'll believe it." His arm automatically went around her shoulders. "I was just fixing to put on the noodles when I forgot you hadn't told me how much. And I know better than to guess."

"Another sign of a good man," she stated. "I'll take care of it, now. Let me tell you the plan we've got and then you can call Fred. Jim and Elaine wanted to come over to be here for me but I told them what Fred said about any visitors. They said that they trusted Fred in situations like this. And, after prayer, we all got a peaceful feeling about this.

"I asked them if they could come over for breakfast in the morning. Number one, if it is my grandfather, he's going to need their help to get through the day. Number two, if it is NOT my grandfather, I'M going to need their help to get through the day. Either way, they're fixing breakfast and coming over. I had my good cry like you told me to and I feel like I can be in control."

"Sounds like a good plan."

"But, I'm going to keep a box of tissues and maintain the fact that it is possible that I'm pregnant, just in case."

"Sounds like a good plan."

"Now, call Fred, and tell them to come on over. I'll put on the water to boil and if you will set the table, I will get some food stuffed down Wendy so she won't need oodles of attention when they get here."

"Sounds like a good plan."

She turned to him and slid both arms around his waist as he slipped his around her shoulders for a sweet little moment. As they embraced, she told him, "Whether he is my grandfather or not. Whatever happens tonight will never change one thing. I am going to spend the rest of my life deeply in love with the man of my dreams. How about that?"

"Now, THAT sounds like a good plan," he voted. And after a quick kiss on the lips he said, "I know that you and Elaine have already prayed, but we need to agree in prayer as a family. Don't you think?"

"You're so right, Ryan. We need to know when to speak, what to say.."

"What not to say. That's all important, for whoever this guy is."

"Yes. Whoever he is, grandfather or not, he needs healing. And, that's got to be first place. And don't forget to mention Arthur's big mouth." With a shy giggle, Olivia added, "He's too much like me in the 'open mouth, insert foot' department."

As they held on to each other, Ryan prayed, "Father, this is a very important moment in our lives and the life of whoever this man is. We pray for his inner healing. We trust that our fellowship with him tonight will do him good and not harm. Help us to show him Your love. We want to make ourselves available to You, Father. Help us to keep ourselves in the background. And, do help Arthur. Keep him from being overly rambunctious. Just be Lord over our lives tonight. And, help us accept whatever You have for us. In Jesus name, Amen."

"Amen. Thanks, Sweetheart. I think I'm ready and prepared for........whatever."

"And now to the phone."

"Um, while you do that, I think I'll go fix my hair."

"Honey, you look just great."

Olivia was about to go through the bedroom door when she stopped, put her hand on the door frame and said in mock piety, "Why, it's a possibly-pregnant woman's prerogative, Mr. Hollis." She threw her nose up in the air and waltzed into the bedroom. Quickly she opened the chest at the foot of their bed, and scanned through some old pictures. When she found the one she wanted, she sat it in front of the mirror on the dresser and went to work. She dug around in one of the drawers for a few bobby pins and a brush. Put it up, take it down. Here a pin. No this one is too high. Finally, she got it just right. She came out and asked her husband, "How do I look?"

Ryan looked at her and smiled, "Honey, you look great. But, you haven't worn your hair like that in......ages."

She tilted her head to the side a little and shook it ever so slightly as she replied, "Mr. Hollis, my grandmother would think it is very becoming."

A big smile came over Ryan as he saw the amazing resemblance, "YES! I understand perfectly, my dear. The trio is on their way."

****************************

Fred was about to ask another question when his phone rang. "Hello. I think so. We've filled Arthur's head with so much nonsense that I don't think he'll be much good anymore." He paused to listen and then continued, "Well now that is true. It might be us that won't be much good any more, huh?" He looked over at Arthur and chuckled at the joke that he was making.

Arthur just sat there as pleased as could be. They could say what they wanted about him and it just would not matter right now. He had met the most interesting man who actually seems like he is genuinely interested in him.

Tom had spent the last twenty minutes talking to him about the different exercises and stretches that he needed to be doing if he was going to enjoy being a Ninja. It wasn't just that he told him what to do. He explained why it was important to do it. On each exercise, he pointed to the muscles on Arthur that they strengthened. He told him about the martial arts punches that were connected to each exercise. Wow! Arthur's dream of becoming a Ninja was no longer a dream. It was becoming a reality. And, Arthur was into it mind, body and soul.

"Gentlemen, it's time to make our journey," Fred announced. "Ryan called and said that they just put the noodles on to boil. All we need to do is come over, sit and eat to our heart's content."

Tom looked at Arthur and commented, "I can understand your mother fixing a special supper for you, but I don't understand why she would want to invite a total stranger."

Arthur bubbled as they started to leave the bakery, "I had about fifteen minutes to tell her all about you. She kept saying how much she wanted to meet you and a spaghetti supper is just the thing. Don't you think?"

Big Ed interrupted the conversation as they walked by the counter, "Hey, Tom. If you don't want to go, I'll be glad to take your place. Any of us here would. At the church socials we only get ONE helping. Anybody would want to go to Olivia's and eat to their heart's content."

"See," Arthur added. "I'm telling you Mr. Tom, you're in for a treat."

"I can see that."

"Hey Fred, just park your car around on the side where my employees park. It'll be OK there."

"Sure thing, Ed. Thanks a lot. It might do us some good to walk a few blocks. Little Mr. Butterball right here needs to walk down those two doughnuts y'all made for him."

Tom and Arthur stood in front of the bakery while Fred parked the car. "Can't you stay a little longer than a couple of days, Mr. Tom?" Arthur asked in a very polite voice.

Tom looked down at his friend. When their eyes met, that little tingly feeling went over him again. He knew that feeling only too well by now. It always happened when God started dealing with him about taking time with a young person. In the Philippines, it was Pedro and Tala. In San Diego it was Charles. In Peoria it was Philip. After a pause, he replied, "I was only planning on staying a couple of days. I'll see if I can stretch it to a couple of weeks. We'll spend some time in the park doing exercises. While you're at school, I'll start putting a notebook together with some moves you can do. I'll get on the internet and go to the library to see if I can find some books for you to read that I know for sure you can handle. How does that sound?"

Excitement was written all over his face, "Holey-moley, Mr. Tom. That would be super." Arthur reached over and held onto Tom's hand.

It was about more that Tom could handle. He had to quickly look away to hide the tear that was threatening to expose him. A prayer poured out of his heart, 'God? Did you hear me? Two weeks. That's all I can handle. It hurts just to walk these streets and see these places.'

Fred came around the corner and together they began the four block trek to their waiting supper. Arthur refused to let Tom's hand go. Fred and Tom both walked slower than normal so they wouldn't embarrass him by making him walk faster.

'I know that feeling. That's a NO isn't it? But, God, I don't know if I can face the questions that might be asked. You're the only One Who knows my heart and knows why I stayed away. You've seen everything. If I have to stay, keep me hidden. I sure don't want to hurt anyone. And, I really don't want to let down my new charge You've given me. Help me to encourage him in the manner You need me to. I know that You're the Master of healing and not the master of hurt.'

Tom had just finished the prayer when Fred spoke up, "Olivia has been my right hand man, so to speak, in putting together the history of our fair city. She's been responsible for finding old articles about our past on the internet. She's chased down old photos of people and places. She's made copies of them and has them all itemized by date. She's a real organized computer person. She has a computer dedicated to just Elmhurst stuff. If you want to know something about a particular year, she can make a few clicks and, boom, it's there. You want to know something about the old-timers? She can just type it in and have it ready for you. She's great with that stuff, I tell you."

"Sounds like a valuable person to have around," responded Tom. He looked at Arthur and smiled as he added, "We've been around some of her handiwork already. And, I am very impressed with him."

Fred chuckled as they walked up the steps on the porch, "Just wait 'til you see her red-headed daughter. She is an absolute heart stealer. Arthur here is going to HAVE to learn Ninja stuff so he can beat all the boys away."

Arthur perked up as he reached to open the door, "OK. I can do that."

Tom's stomach knotted at the thought of meeting new people. He had somewhat tried to hide his feelings of surprise and disappointment to himself. There was no way that he wanted anyone to think that he was anybody else other than Tom Baxter. At least, not now.

Arthur opened the door and there stood Ryan and Olivia ready to greet them. When Tom's eyes first met Olivia's, he was not ready for what he saw.

# CHAPTER NINE

Could you say that he was stunned? Could you say that he was shocked? For a few quick seconds, all Tom could do was stare at Olivia. From the eyes up and including the hair style, she bore an amazing resemblance to his wife Ellen. In those few seconds, myriads of memories ran through his mind. He thought to himself, 'Ellen. From the eyes up she looks like my Ellen. She even wears her hair like Ellen. Wait. Nobody wears their hair straight down and pinned up on both sides like that anymore. Could she......no....no......Tom stop it! Stop it right now! Lots of people look like other people. She.........can't be.'

Tom saw the puzzled look on their faces and snapped out of it quickly. He held up his hand and apologized quickly, "Ooops. I'm sorry. I keep slipping back into my old Army days. It's a habit I can't seem to drop." He tried hard to sound convincing. "I'm sure Fred still watches people out of habit from his days in counter-espionage. One of my main jobs in the Army was to identify........uh, people so I've just gotten into the habit of looking at family resemblances." Nervously, he looked down at Arthur who was still by his side and went on, "I was looking to see who Arthur looks like the most, but I believe he looks a lot like both of you. How about it? Who do people say you look like?"

Arthur looked at his mother and father as if trying to figure it out himself. "I don't know. I never thought of it."

Fred jumped in, "I'll tell you what most folks say. They say you look like whichever one you're with at the time. In other words, you look like a combination of both of them."

Ryan agreed, "That's true. The guys at the barber shop always tell me that. I'll bring Arthur in and invariably someone will say that they thought he looked like his mother when he was at the grocery store with her. But, when he's with me, they say he looks just like me."

The dam was just about to break in the only female that was standing at that door. 'He recognized it. He saw the hair style and he recognized it. Jesus, this is my grandfather alright. I know it but I'm just not sure. How can that be, Jesus? How can you know something and doubt it at the same time? If it's him, open up all of our hearts and minds. And whatever fear is holding him, untie him from it.'

She too, had to break free from her own thoughts as the threat of a tear making its appearance prodded her into action. She stepped forward and took his arm away from Arthur and guided him into the house as she charmingly scolded everybody. "Look at us treating you like you were some door-to-door salesman. Come on into the house, Tom......? Uh......well, out of all the things Arthur said, he never told me your last name."

"It's Baxter, Mrs. Hollis," he answered backwardly. "But, please call me Tom. I am not that hep on last names."

As Fred came through the door he held up the bag with two loaves of garlic bread from the bakery. He announced, "Big Ed sent a couple of loaves of freshly baked garlic bread for the supper tonight."

"Here I'll take that," Ryan said as he took the bag into the kitchen. "I'll get a platter to put them on and some butter to go with them and be right in there."

"Well,....Tom," she responded as she guided him to the spot she had reserved for him at the table. Naturally, Ryan sat at one end of the table and Olivia at the other. Who would have guessed it? She sat Tom right next to her so she could watch him more closely as they talked. "My name is Olivia. It's a family name." She noticed the glint in his eye as she said it. 'He caught that,' she thought to herself.

"That certainly is a lovely name for such a lovely lady," replied Tom as he took the seat at the table that she offered.

"Thanks, Tom," she replied. Quick like any mother would, she put her hand on Tom's shadow, Arthur, and herded him to the other side of the table. In a typical mother's voice she instructed him, "No, no, no, my son, my son. Take your place at the other side of the table by Wendy. You know that she loves it when you feed her. Besides, if I know you, you'd be right in Tom's lap before the meal was over with."

Ryan voiced before Arthur could say anything, "You know that's the truth, don't you, Sport?"

"Yes, sir," Arthur replied with a smile. "Y'all know me a little too well." Then as he stepped around to the other side and faced Wendy, he threw his hands into the air, did a little impromptu hip dance and said, "Wend-a-a-a-y-y-y!"

Wendy replied by raising her hands and did her best hip dance while sitting in the high chair. It looked like it must be a daily ritual between the two.

Everybody laughed and Wendy was tickled to be the center of attention. Ryan went to his place at the other end of the table and pulled out the chair for Fred. "Here, ya go, Fred. Sit right here by me. It seems like there will be two areas of conversation at this table, one at that end and one on our end."

Olivia defended herself, "Just because we won't be talking about fishing, doesn't mean that you two can't join in the conversation, big boy."

"Well, what else is there to talk about? Do you know anything else more important than fishing to talk about over a good meal, Fred?" Ryan asked defensively.

Fred wisely made his statement, "Fred is outa this conversation. You two won't get me caught in the middle of that again."

After she sat down, she leaned forward on her elbows and said, "Ryan Hollis. I think you need to pray. But, before you do that, bless the food for us so we can be eating while you................think about some things you needed to be praying about."

Arthur pointed his finger toward his dad and stated, "O-o-o, Dad, she got you."

Remember that tear? Olivia was about to lose control of that one and three or four of his friends. She reached around to the buffet table behind her and plopped a box of Kleenex tissues on the table between her and Wendy. "These are for me," she started as she pulled a couple and took care of the visitors to her face. "My hormones are working overtime on my emotions. I don't know if Arthur........spilled the beans or not....but there is a possibility that I could be expecting a little one................again." She mockingly spat the last word toward Ryan with a smile and a shake of her head. She politely blew her nose and continued, "At this point in time, I could....possibly be carrying Arthur's brother."

There was a big smile from Arthur.

"Or, I could possibly be carrying his.......sister," she finished with a sideways glance in Arthur's direction.

The smile left Arthur's face and was replaced by an almost frantic look as he asked, "Aw, Mom. A sister? You wouldn't do that to me, would you?"

While looking dead seriously at Arthur, she pointed her finger toward his father and replied, "Don't look at me. Blame Mr. Studly over there."

"Dad?" as he looked at his father for some kind of answer.

Ryan placed his hand on Arthur's and said just as dryly as he could, "Son, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do." He picked up his hand and asked the crowd, "Are we ready to pray?"

Arthur wasn't. As the two guests and the mom did their best to hold back the laughter he quickly interjected, "Dad, no. Don't ask the blessing until you answer....."

There was no holding it back. The horrified look on little Arthur's face and the dead panned expression on Ryan was more than they could handle. They broke out into almost uncontrollable laughter. And the pitiful why-are-you-laughing-like-that-at-me look was absolutely priceless.

As they calmed down, Tom opened up to soothe him, "Son, in my 82 years on this earth, I have learned one thing. Each child that God allows to be born is brought to the earth as a special blessing. You are a special blessing, little Wendy is another type of a special blessing and the......."

"Possible," Olivia reminded everyone.

".......the possible child is a blessing, sent to us as a present from God. Each present from Him should be received with joy at the idea that they will be bringing with them a blessing from the Lord."

Arthur looked at Wendy for a second. Again, she raised her hands and did her little hip dance. "Gee, Mr. Tom, I never looked at it like that. That makes it pretty exciting, then, doesn't it?" he gushed.

Tom answered with a sigh, "Yes. I just wish that all of the parents that bring children into the world could see it that way."

Ryan said, "Amen to that. Let's bow our heads and ask the blessing."

While Ryan was blessing the food, Tom thought, 'That's the third time I've called him Son. What gives? My nerves HAVE been over the edge today. Maybe my hormones are working overtime. I might have to ask Olivia to pass that box of tissues.'

After the blessing was finished, Ryan spoke, "Guests go first."

Fred looked at Tom and quipped, "They must be talking to you. They treat guests with very gracious favor. Me? They treat me like an old worn out shoe."

Olivia said as she brought the bowl of spaghetti noodles by Tom, "That's because you ARE an old worn out shoe, you old goat."

Arthur held a spoon up to his mouth as he announced, "Gather around, folks. The show is about to start. The two comedians have taken center stage."

Ryan agreed with him, "Yep, my boy. No room for any intelligent conversation when those two get cranked up." He brought a bowl of spaghetti sauce by Tom. "Take as much as you want, pardner. There's plenty more in the kitchen."

"Who are they talking about, Olivia?" Fred shrugged as he asked.

Olivia opened her eyes real wide and shook her head, "I-I-I-I don't know, Fred." She held the bowl for him while he dug out a portion. She put the bowl on the table and said, "Alright, it's every man for himself, or lady as my case may be."

Arthur pushed the bowl over to his father. They had always taught him to be very respectful to adults if he wanted to receive any respect from them. When Ryan had gotten a couple of good helpings, he dipped up a couple for himself. Without being told, he took the little bowl set aside for Wendy and put some in it. He held the bowl up between him and Wendy and blew on it to cool it. "Here, you do it," he said as he held the bowl in front of her. She did her best to blow on it and then giggled as she looked around for approval.

Tom leaned over the plate and took a deep whiff of the spaghetti sauce. He sat back up in his chair, closed his eyes and began, "Tomato sauce, garlic, oregano, green peppers, onions." Before he continued, he looked at Olivia for a sign that he was correct.

She looked at him, opened her eyes and tilted her head a bit as if asking, "And?"

"And ketchup........." Tom put his finger to his mouth as he paused to think. Then, he snapped his fingers as he finished, "And Worcestershire sauce, grape jelly and a hint of red wine. Plus there's one other slight taste I can't make out what it is."

Olivia tried to keep a straight face as she sighed, "Oh just whatever Ryan ran over on his way home from work."

As they all chuckled, Arthur remarked, "I knew she was going to say that. She always makes some kind of remark like that. I shoulda said it before she did."

"Yeah, but you didn't," she winked at her son. She turned her attention to Tom and said, "No, I will not tell you what the other two ingredients are, but you are correct on all of them that you named. You must do a fair amount of cooking to be able to do that?" Then, she did a little fishing of her own kind, "Your wife must have taught you well." She did notice that her statement caught him a little off guard.

He finished the bite that he had taken. This was going to have to be the truth, because Tom was not very good at lying. "Actually.......I have been without a partner since the war. Being away from home has....unusual ways of dealing with a marriage." He breathed a sigh of relief. He had never wanted to hide anything in his life at all. But, this was just a little bit different. He hoped that they could not see how frantic he was feeling on the inside right now.

"Oh, Tom, I'm sorry to hear that. I certainly didn't mean to,,,,"

Tom cut her off, "Now, don't worry your pretty little self about that, sweet lady. It's not the first time I've had to answer a question like that." He looked straight at her and smiled a bitter-sweet smile. "I have come to learn that all things will have a way of working out for our good if we just let God maintain control. The journey hasn't always been easy, but there have been a lot of precious moments in them." He finished by saying softly, "And this one, today, is one of those moments."

They had locked eyes for a brief five seconds. As Olivia gazed into his eyes she could tell that he was not making some off-hand comment. He sincerely meant it. No snow job here. Yet, there was something haunting in those eyes. She saw a deep well filled with compassion like she had never seen before.

A quickening from the Lord deep inside of her brought a line from one of Pastor Jim's sermons. He had preached on the depth of Jesus' love for all of mankind. In that message, he had quoted from Isaiah that Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Pastor had pointed out that the sorrows Jesus must have experienced in His life before He started His ministry were the shovels that dug the overflowing wells of compassion that drove Him to heal and minister. If this Tom was not her grandfather, he was certainly a man that she would want her son to be around. She could see why Arthur had come home so excited about him.

You could have guessed it, couldn't you? Olivia put her fork down for a moment and reached for a couple of tissues.

"My dear, I'm sorry if something I said....."

"No, no, no. Hormones. Don't anybody get upset. Nothing abnormal about it, huh, Fred?"

"Just eat your spaghetti and let her cry her eyes out if she wants to, Tom," Fred chuckled as he strove to help Olivia out with her ruse. He realized that her emotions, too, must be on a roller coaster. Fred, himself, had had to catch himself getting choked up talking to Tom throughout the afternoon.

Fred began a chapter out of his life that Ryan and Olivia had heard a couple of times before. It wasn't new to them, but it would be to Tom. Fred hoped that it would change the conversation a bit and give her time to pull herself together.

"Tom, I can remember, and very vividly remember, I might add, what a time we had when my late wife was pregnant with our second child." Fred put his fork down, rested his elbows on the table and folded his hands over his spaghetti plate like a tent. He continued with a wry smile, "Fred Jr. was just barely two years old when Jolene found out she was carrying our second. At first, I thought that she was just a little cranky at being pregnant. But, the farther along she got, the more she just pure out old hated me."

Olivia couldn't help but giggle as Fred began the story.

"Now, I didn't think it strange that I had to sleep on the couch the last three months of her pregnancy. What I DID think was strange was the way she would cook. For example, we would always have grits, eggs and bacon for breakfast. Those last three months, she would leave my bacon on the pan and let it burn before she would take it up and put it on my plate."

Arthur and Ryan both began to chuckle. This was one of Arthur's favorite stories. They knew what was coming.

"She would fix hers and Fred Jr's just right. But, mine? She would turn the burner on high and almost smoke up the whole house. One morning, I got to the kitchen before it got good and burnt and I took them up myself. Boy howdy, that part Cherokee Indian went on the war path."

Arthur's giggle box turned over completely now. It was full-blown laughter. Fred knew that he always did at this part and he always embellished it just for him.

"Yes, sir. She raised that tomahawk egg turner over her head and chased me around the table four or five times. I kept yelling at her to stop. She kept swinging it at me. Finally, on the sixth lap, I turned around and snatched it out of her hands. I politely told her never to worry about fixing breakfast for me again that I would eat at the café. Well, sir, she let me know that that was just fine with her.

"But, the moment that Michael was born, she began crying for me to come in the delivery room. She was back to her old self, MUCH to my delight, mind you. So a lady carrying a child can have any kind of feeling she wants as far as I'm concerned."

Everyone at the table had a good laugh. Tom was the only one who had never heard it before. He commented, "I have heard some peculiar things in my life but that one tops them all."

In between chuckles, Olivia admitted, "I've heard Fred tell that a time or two, but I have, also, heard it from others around town that knew them. My grandma was one of them."

Supper quieted down for a few moments while they enjoyed the meal. Olivia got up and heated the other loaf of garlic bread for about half a minute. That little bit of time in the microwave awakened the fresh garlic smell and almost shouted at everyone at the table to grab a piece. They each took their turns at the butter dish so it would melt on the warm bread.

Of course, Arthur did his usual thing. He put a couple of forkfuls of spaghetti on his garlic bread before stuffing it into his mouth. As he licked off the abundant sauce all around his mouth, he noticed everyone looking at him. He uttered a perplexed, "What?"

Did they laugh at him? You betcha, but, he enjoyed the attention.

Ryan broke the delicious silence by asking, "Tom. Do you like to fish?"

"Oh, yes. I have on occasion. However, I haven't had much of an opportunity for about ten, fifteen years or so."

"Fred and I go just about every other weekend. Just happens to be this weekend is our turn to go. You wanna come along?" He looked over at his son and continued, "We might even be persuaded to let Arthur come, too. You know. Bait the hooks, take off the fish and all that manly stuff."

Fred added dryly, "Use him as bait."

"Well," Tom hesitated, "let me see if I can get my little bit of business taken care of and I would be glad to." He glanced over at Mr. Special across the table and continued, "I had only planned on being here a couple of days, but one of this town's infamous con men talked me into staying two weeks."

Arthur giggled with glee as he looked from his dad to Tom and back.

Olivia was trying to find some way to politely scold him but was having a mental block. The most she could do was throw a concerned look Ryan's way as if asking for help.

"Now before anyone says anything, he never twisted my arm," Tom said as he watched their faces. "I volunteered my services to be his private tutor for a couple of weeks. Technically, I officially retired from church work last year and I've just about been loafing ever since. It would do me good to take a few weeks out of my loafing and get back into teaching again."

Ryan asked with a smile, "Somehow I get the feeling that you did not spend your time teaching an Adult Bible Class."

Tom looked at him and then he looked at Olivia as his face became one happy grin. He placed his fork down beside his plate and leaned back in his chair as if he was about to make announce that he was going to run for President of the United States. "Would you take the word of an 82-year-old man? My grandfather and my father pounded into my head that a man is only as good as his word."

It was like electricity wriggled through every part of Olivia's body. 'Now I know it's him. It's got to be him. That was the Hollis trademark saying for ages and ages. Grandma Ellen used to talk about it every time she mentioned Tom. A man was as good as his word. She said he virtually lived by it.' Without realizing it, she had been staring blank-faced at Tom. Her mind was running everywhere remembering the conversations she and her grandma would have about him.

Tom stopped and asked her, "You alright, Olivia?"

Olivia shook herself back to reality. "Oh,....I'm sorry. It is so fascinating that you JUST NOW retired from church work. Wow. So, tell us just what class did you teach?" Whew. She covered that one real quickly.

"For forty years, I taught.......the teenage class."

Fred said, "Forty years?"

"Yep."

"That is simply amazing," Ryan added. "How in the world......teenagers?"

"It had to be God, didn't it?" Tom declared with a chuckle.

Olivia looked at Arthur and said, "And my little boy gets to be his private student." Then, she smiled at him and wrinkled up her nose.

Tom froze as an image from the past once again took foremost place in his mind. His right hand went to his heart as he said, "Oh, my God."

Everyone looked at him in surprise. He turned white. His normally ramrod back turned to jelly as he slumped backward in his chair.

# CHAPTER TEN

"Tom," cried Olivia as she came over and knelt beside him, "are you OK?"

Fred turned and held on to his shoulders with both hands while Ryan got up and knelt down by his wife. A horrified Arthur was glued to his seat with his eyes firmly fixed on his pal. He had no idea what was going on.

A very weary Tom lifted up a shaking hand and softly held Olivia's cheek. With a weak smile he managed to say, "I'm OK, really I am." He looked deep into her eyes and with his thumb he brushed away the tear that had escaped its confinement. He shook his head slowly back and forth as he playfully chided softly, "You just scared the living daylights out of me that's all." He chuckled and everybody relaxed.

"I what?" she asked in astonishment. Everyone was looking at each other and wondering what he meant.

"Let me gather myself together and......I...I'll explain myself," he offered. "But, I'm OK. Really I am."

Fred looked up at Ryan and suggested. "Have you got any coffee available?" Then to Tom, "Would some coffee help?"

"Probably so," the tired soldier replied.

Ryan stepped toward the kitchen as he acknowledged, "One Fred special coming right up. You want one, too, Fred?"

"May as well."

Tom looked at Fred and turned a phrase, "A coffee pot in every port, huh, Fred?"

"Olivia's kitchen table often subs as my second office sometimes," Fred affirmed.

"Yeah, they bring newspapers, pictures and letters and all that stuff and look at them for hours. But me and Dad don't mind do we, Dad?" remarked Arthur a little nervously.

"Not a bit my boy. We give those gloves and that baseball a fit don't we?" Ryan added.

"You'd better believe it," Arthur replied as he tried to remain upbeat while watching for signs of Tom's continued recovery.

Olivia was still kneeling beside him. Her hand was on his as she held it as a prisoner to her cheek. As he tried to rescue his hand, she firmly grasped it between her two and playfully said, "No. I'm not letting you go until you promise to tell me what I did to scare you like that. I sure don't want to do it again."

Her pulse was pounding. Her heart couldn't decide which emotion to dwell on. She was torn between joy and sorrow. There was a volcano of joy ready to erupt at the thought that this was HIM. Joyful tears threatened to appear. Sorrow because of the deep-seated loneliness and hurt she now detected in his eyes. Thousands of questions raced through her mind. No. Something she did triggered this reaction in him. She prayed inside, 'Father, if this is You opening some kind of door into my grandfather then do what You need to do. Help me to speak when I need to and shut up when I need to. You are the only key to his healing. Please help me.'

Tom sighed very deeply. He had carried the hurt for so long. It was almost like a precious treasure and yet a jailer to him. It kept him locked in an era that he couldn't step out of. The memories, both bad and good had been both a prison and a dwelling place for him for years and years and years. The pain had become comfortable to him. It was his own private world that he visited every now and then. Private. That's what it was.

No, it was tiresome. That's what it was. The weight was more than he wanted to bear anymore. Yes. He was tired. He was too tired right now. Could he trust voicing one story in answer to her question? It was such a sweet story. Tom often visited the story as he would a trusted and loving old friend. He received joy as well as bitter-sweet sorrow from his old friend every time they visited.

His longing to visit his old friend right now began to overcome his desire to hide his past. He needed a visit even at the threat of being exposed. But, who knew him here anyway? Nobody. The cemetery had proven that today. There were no Dandridges in the phone book nor on any mailbox. Tom had walked enough today to know that fact very well. They must have moved on to God knows where. Maybe he SHOULD have gotten a subscription to the Elmhurst paper like Horace had suggested. But, that's a decision he made long ago. Right or wrong, he made the decision. And, it probably was the best one at the time. Probably.

He could afford to tell a story that maybe, just maybe only Fred knew to be true. It didn't matter about Fred, right now. Tom just needed the comfort of his old friend. He was worn out and tired. Maybe a visit, just one short visit would refresh him.

He smiled a very weary smile as he looked into her eyes and only knew that he did not want to be the cause of another tear to fall down her precious face. "I'll tell you a story if you promise to give me my hand back and sit back down in your chair because it's a long story."

Impulse or hormones, she didn't know which but before she relinquished her hold she quickly kissed the back of his hand. Then, she blushed as she sat back down and eagerly replied with as big of a smile as she could muster, "OK. I'm down. What's the story?"

"Well," Tom started off slowly, "I was taken aback when I first saw you because for a brief moment you looked like someone I knew long ago."

"Oh?" Olivia tried to look and sound surprised.

Tom smiled with a faraway look in his eyes as he continued. "Just now, as you were teasing Arthur, you had a mischievous look, and you wrinkled your nose as you winked. There's only one other person I know that winked and wrinkled their nose like you did. And that was my sweet little wife. For a brief moment, you looked so much like her that I was........well.....for lack of a better word, shocked. But, pleasantly shocked, let me add."

Now it was Olivia's eyes that began to redden. She reached over and squeezed Tom's hand and spoke softly, "My goodness gracious. That has got to be the sweetest compliment I have ever received in my life. I.....I....don't hardly......know what to say."

Tom looked intently at her eyes and said, "However, you are missing one thing."

"I am?" Olivia asked.

"She had a little scar right at the very corner of her noggin where her eyebrow ends," Tom continued.

Olivia had heard this story several times from her grandmother, and, now she was hearing it from......her very own grandfather. There was no more doubt. Her insides were doing flip flops. The day she had only dreamed of and always hoped for was finally here. She wanted to shout it with all of her strength but she knew she had to let him come out of his cocoon in his own, or should I say, God's prescribed manner. So, to keep from falling apart, she laughingly joked, "What did you do? Did you hit her, you mean old man?"

Everyone at the table laughed as they knew how preposterous the statement was. Ryan could see joy dancing in the eyes of his beloved. This was like slowly unwrapping a Christmas present for her. While he thought everyone was looking at Tom, he brushed a small tear from his eye. His son noticed and looked his way. Ryan gave him a wink and his son smiled back. 'No questions now, my son,' he thought. 'Please, please, please, Lord, don't let him interrupt Tom at a time like this. Please.'

"No, I didn't," Tom answered as he laughed with her. Then, he started unwinding his hurt with the story as he said, "Well, she was 15 and I was 16. I had been coming over to see her for a couple of months. We hadn't started holding hands and such, like some of the others our age were doing. Our 'thing', as today's kids would say was just to talk and cut up."

Tom found such sweet release in beginning this tale that he opened up his soul as he continued, "Well, I was chasing her through the yard one day. I have no idea why. Maybe we were just playing tag.........I really don't remember. But as she cut one way to keep away from me, she started running right towards their clothesline. I tried to warn her and she almost turned her head far enough to get under it. But, it caught the very corner of her head and broke the skin enough to cause some instant bleeding."

"E-e-w-w-w," grimaced Olivia as she shook her head at the thought of it. "I know that hurt."

"What's a clothesline?" Arthur asked innocently as he looked at his mom and then at his dad.

There was a stunned moment of silence as the adults looked at each other and realized how big of a generation gap there was at the table.

Ryan answered, "Arthur, back before there were clothes dryers inside people's houses, they had to string wire outside to hang their clothes on to dry."

Then in a moment of juvenile brilliance Arthur added, "And I bet they made the children do it, huh?"

Olivia smiled and said, "Nothin' gets past that lightning fast mind of yours, does it my little Arty-poo."

Olivia knew the right buttons to push, alright. Arthur complained, "Aw, Mom, did ya' have to call me that in front of the guys?"

Then with a voice dripping with honey she continued, "But, Arty-poo, you don't seem to mind it when you crawl up in your mommy's lap for a little huggy time, do you?"

Fred and Tom chuckled. Fred offered, "That's alright, Arthur. We've been around long enough to know that, like the commercial on TV, 'What's said at the Hollis house, stays at the Hollis house."

There was laughter all around the table. "Thanks, guys," Arthur said. Then to Tom he asked, "Tom was she real mad at you?"

"Oh, no," answered Tom. Olivia noticed the bitter-sweet smile on his face as he continued, "However, she was real embarrassed. She grabbed the side of her head and went running into the house. I waited for her at the front door to see if she was OK or not. Her mother finally came out and told me that she was going to be just fine. Then, she told me that Ellen didn't want to be seen until after the cut was healed. Her mother explained that it wasn't just me, but that Ellen had always been bashful when she didn't look just so-so."

Ryan piped up as he looked at Arthur, "Sounds like somebody else we know."

Arthur sat back in his chair and giggled.

Olivia leaned forward in her chair and denied it as she raised her voice a bit in protest, "Ryan!" Then, as she sat back in her chair with a pouty look on her face she asked Arthur, "That's not really true, is it Arthur?"

For a moment, Arthur just sat there with a blank look on his face and his mouth open and stared at his mother.

Olivia demanded in a slightly higher pitched voice, "Is it, Arthur?"

Not really knowing what to say, he sputtered, "Uh....Uh.....no....I mean, no Ma'am."

As Fred and Tom tittered, Ryan reached over and patted his son's hand, "That's right. Be da' man, son, be da' man."

Arthur looked at his father and whined, "Aw, D-a-a-d." Then he looked over at Tom and asked, "Did she ever speak to you again?"

Olivia was on a roll with, "Hey, rocket scientist. They got married. D-u-u-h."

Tom chuckled as he continued, "All while I was in high school, I worked at Johnson's Grocery Store. Ellen's mother came in about every other day and handed me a little note from Ellen, and I would hand her a little note to take back. She didn't normally come in that often so I knew she was just coming to be the 'mail lady.' It took about ten days for the cut to heal enough for her to want to be seen in public.

"Her family invited me over for supper. Of course, I got all spruced up and went over. I have no idea what was cooked or what I ate. All I could think about was how good it was to be near my Ellen.

"After supper, we went for a walk up and down the street and talked to the kids we knew. When it started getting dark we headed back to her house. I knew that we would sit on the front porch swing and the swing was right in front of the living room. I knew that the windows would be open and her mother and father would be able to hear anything we said. So, I stopped her at the front gate and told her that during the ten days that I couldn't see her made me realize how much I 'liked' her. I couldn't bring myself to say 'love.' I was just too shy to say it"

Arthur spoke up, "Mr. Tom. You what......?"

Olivia corrected Arthur, "Arthur shush." Then to Tom, "I think that's awfully cute. Then what happened?"

Knowing his next statement would add fuel to Arthur's curiosity, Tom went on, "Well, before she could say anything, I asked her to marry me."

Arthur almost came unglued, "You what? You hadn't even kissed her yet. How did you know......but you couldn't be sure.....I mean."

Tom smiled at him and said in a fatherly manner, "Arthur, I hope you will find out that there is more to love and marriage than hugging and kissing. There are things like friendship and companionship. When life comes at you all rough and tough, you're going to need a good friend to stick by you more than you'll need some hugging and kissing. That's not to say that it isn't important, though"

Ryan spoke up, "What he says is true, Arthur."

Olivia added, "Your dad and I have been through several rough places. There have been times when our love has been severely tested. It was our relationship with Jesus Christ and our strong friendship that made our love for each other stronger in spite of our trials."

Ryan just looked over at Olivia and winked an 'I love you.'

Arthur caught the wink. "Ok, you two," Arthur admonished his mom and dad. "It's a good thing there's a long table between y'all or you'd be going after each other again."

Without taking her eyes off of her husband Olivia responded with, "And?"

"Sheesh," added Arthur. Turning to Tom and wanting to move the story along, he asked, "So.... what about it, Mr. Tom? What did she say?"

Tom smiled at him and continued, "Well, keep in mind she was just 15. The first thing out of her mouth was that she couldn't answer me because she had not officially started dating anyone, yet. Well sir, my little 16-year-old heart couldn't bear the thought of my Ellen even seeing anyone else. Before I could stop myself, I blurted out, 'But, Ellen, I will love you so much that you wouldn't ever want to be with anyone else but me.' Then my eyes grew wider and my mouth dropped open as I realized what I said."

Olivia's heart began pounding, as she thought, 'Come on Grandpa, come all the way out.' Her hand was ready to empty the Kleenex box but she didn't dare move or hardly even breathe.

Arthur was all excited. He blurted out, "And she said yes, huh?"

Tom frowned and answered, "No."

Tom was so busy playing the story to Arthur that he wasn't watching too close. Olivia slipped her arm over the back of her chair. As she supposed, it got Ryan's and Fred's attention. With one of those knowing smiles and red puffy eyes she nodded her head and mouthed the words, "Oh, yeah."

Ryan tried to hold her back by furrowing his eyebrows and giving her a questioning look.

That girl's mind was made up. She had a plan that she was about to put in place that she would not back down from. Even if she had a Holy visitation, she would probably argue with the angel Gabriel. That girl wanted her grandfather, doggone it.

Tom's answer and demeanor threw Arthur for a loop. "Why?" he demanded to know.

"Because, the first thing she said to me was, 'You'd better close your mouth before the lightnin' bugs find a new home," Tom replied with a grin. "Then after she giggled a moment, there was an awkward silence where neither of us knew what to say. Then she looked me straight in the eyes and asked very seriously, 'If I say no, what will you do?' My reply was that I would be the best friend she ever had and would ask her to marry me every week until she said 'Yes."

Tom paused for a moment to gather his emotions together and then finished. "Then she laughed and said, 'Well, I guess I'd better say yes to save you all that trouble."

"And then you kissed her, huh?" asked a wide-eyed Arthur.

"Nope," Tom answered.

Arthur got the most confused look on his face as he blurted out, "Mr. To-o-o-m. What's wrong with you? Why didn't you kiss her?" As he realized how he sounded, he tried to cover it up by adding, "I mean,.....it was the right time...and the right place......I mean..."

Tom continued, "As I was going to say, she stood on her tip-toes and gave ME a small kiss. And right on the lips, too. I got so excited, I grabbed a hold of her shoulders and gave them a gentle squeeze and finally managed to say, 'Gee whiz, thanks. I gotta go.' And I jumped on my bike and rode the two miles back to the house faster than I have ever ridden before."

"Gee whiz, thanks, I gotta go? Is that the best you could do at a time like that?" Arthur was more puzzled right then than he had ever been.

Tom leaned over and winked as he replied, "You didn't hear what I said. I said that I had to go. I did. I had to go.......pottie before I made a puddle, dunderhead. I drank about four glasses of sweet tea at Olivia's and by the time we got back from visiting our friends I needed to go pretty bad. I was too shy to ask if I could use the bathroom at her house. Then when she kissed me, my nerves got the best of me and believe me, Arthur, I....had....to....go and go right then."

Everyone at the table enjoyed a good laugh. Even Wendy carried on even though she did not know what they were laughing about.

Olivia was about beside herself to break things wide open. Her excited little mind concocted a plan that just might work. As the laughter settled down, Olivia asked, "Arthur came in this afternoon and said that you served our country in WWII. What branch were you in?"

Now that Tom had opened up a bit, his resistance was down. There was a certain release in recounting his past that had quieted him down. He saw no harm in continuing. "Yes, I joined the Army in 1942. I went to basic training and came home on leave for a couple of weeks. I left behind a very sad princess and a two-year-old son. But, I knew that it was something I had to do."

Knowing exactly where she was going, Olivia continued, "Did you ever have your picture taken here in town in your uniform?"

"Oh, certainly," answered Tom. "The three of us posed in front of a Greyhound bus that was going to take several of us to San Diego to be shipped to the Pacific. There was about five of us, that day. Some lady took pictures of all of us. She said it was for the newspaper."

Olivia thought carefully for a moment before she went on, "You know, when I took over the Historical Society, I was given several boxes of old pictures. I think I remember seeing some that looked like that. Hang on, let me go see if I have one of you."

Fred and Ryan knew exactly what she was about to do. Olivia slipped off down the hall and left the men to idle chit-chat. They stopped momentarily when they heard her blowing her nose. Ryan just shrugged his shoulders and they all chimed in together, "Hormones." Then they broke into laughter.

However, when they heard her open the door they all got quiet and waited her appearance. She came into the dining room holding an 8x10 photo close to her chest with one hand and the other hand behind her back. Her eyes were still red and watery from crying but her face was lit up like a Christmas tree. She took up a position right beside him so she could show him easier. With the biggest smile her face could manage and a bit of a shaky voice she managed to announce, "Boy, have I got a surprise for you." Then she proudly held out the picture for only Tom to see.

Tom froze for a moment as he gazed at the picture of his wife, his son and himself. As loving memories began to fill his heart, a contented smile came to settle on his face. His hands shook as he gently took it from her hand to look at it closer. Olivia slipped directly behind him.

Slowly and softly he barely uttered the words, "This was taken over sixty years ago. Every picture I ever had was lost or destroyed." As he fondly gazed at the picture he softly asked, "How did you find it so fast in all those boxes you said you had?"

"How did I find it so fast?" she repeated. Then, as she pulled a picture frame from behind her back, she continued with an impish smile, "I got it from this picture frame that has been sitting on my dresser for over ten years."

Olivia conveniently put her left hand on his left shoulder and leaned over his right shoulder to place the picture frame on the table in front of him. When she stood back up she rested her right hand on his other shoulder.

So many different thoughts clamored for first place in his mind that he didn't realize what she had done. He looked at Ryan and Fred to get some kind of clue. When no reason came to the forefront, he was forced to ask, "Wh-a-a-t? I mean, why? Why put my picture on your....dresser?"

She slid her left arm around his neck and pressed her cheek against his. She tapped the image of the little boy with the index finger of her right hand as she responded in a shaky voice, "Because, my dear Tom, that little boy.................is my daddy." As her right arm gently settled on her left to form an embrace, hot tears made a collision where their two cheeks met. She added in a barely audible voice, "Grandpa."

# CHAPTER ELEVEN

Arthur froze. He wasn't sure he heard his mother correctly. Quietly he set his spaghetti fork down. He thought, 'Wow. I spent the whole afternoon talking to this guy. He's the nicest adult.......I mean, like I could actually talk to him and he talked to me like we had been friends for ages. It was like we were just having fun together and stuff. And......I think Mom just called him Grandpa. Holey-moley, I can't believe we might be related.' He didn't want to create any disturbance right now. All of his attention was focused on her and his.........great-grandfather? No. He must have misunderstood. But, what if he didn't?

Tom slowly put his right hand over hers and rubbed it gently. Olivia felt his tears as they fell on her arm. Just above a whisper, the old man spoke, "How long have you known?"

Ryan got up and brought the box of Kleenex over to her and commented, "I'll go get some more from the bedroom."

Fred made himself scarce, also. He gently slipped Tom's plate and coffee cup from in front of him and said, "I'm going to make a pot of coffee."

Arthur glanced at his sister out of the corner of his eye. Wendy saw the activity and couldn't understand it. The only thing she could grasp at the moment was that her mommy was crying. He slowly held up his hands and asked with a whisper, "Bath?" Her smile meant yes, and he quickly slipped her out of her chair and whisked her down to the bathroom. He needed some place away from the scene of action anyway.

Olivia couldn't help but notice her son taking that kind of initiative. She was so proud of him. God had blessed her with wonderful husband and two wonderful children.

Now they were alone although she knew some could hear. She fought to maintain some semblance of calm as she first kissed him on the cheek and then answered, "Fred told us it might be you." She chuckled nervously and then continued, "Then I got this notion about pinning my hair up on the sides like Grandma always did. When I saw the surprised look on your face I was seventy-five percent sure. Then, when I baited you into telling that story about proposing to Grandma, I was one hundred percent sure."

Tom wanted to chuckle but it wouldn't come out. Fifty years of grief over one decision kept any sound from coming out but a low moan. He stood up and she loosed her grip. He stepped back from her a little and said, "Honey, I'm sorry. All those years....."

Olivia stopped him by putting her hand over his mouth and told him, "All those years are over with now. This is now and you are home," she said just above a whisper. Her voice broke again as she re-iterated her last statement, "Grandpa...., you.. are........home!" She slipped her arms around his waist and laid her head on his shoulder. Through her tears she continued, "God has brought the man I have only dreamed about into my very home. Grandpa, nothing else matters to me."

He sobbed as he threw his arms around her. All he could manage to say over and over was, "My baby, my baby. After all these years....my prayers have been answered."

There they stood in the dining room. Two people who had been held captive by deep, aching voids were finally tasting the sweetness of God's answers. For Tom, the walls of his fifty year prison and torture chamber were falling down chunk by chunk. For Olivia, the fantasy of the great man she had only heard about was becoming a reality in her arms. Healing had begun and would never stop. Tom was going to leave a legacy that could not be erased.

Ryan and Fred had been standing in the kitchen waiting for an appropriate time, and now seemed as good as any. Fred took a tray of coffee cups and some cream and sugar into the living room. Ryan interrupted the two by suggesting that they could best continue their conversation while sitting together comfortably on a couch.

However, neither one showed any interest of doing anything else but holding on to each other and crying the past away. Their sobs subsided for a moment and they parted long enough to look at each other and smile. Then they started back up again. One would only surmise from their smiles that this time they were crying for joy about spending their future together.

The coffee pot started making that gurgling sound that indicated it was almost ready. Ryan whispered to Fred, "I'm going to go ahead and fix the cups. You go ahead and bring the pot in here. You take one cream and two sugars, right?"

"Yep, and Tom does the same. I watched him at the bakery," Fred added with a wink. As he went by the kitchen table, he grabbed a couple of Kleenexes to wipe his tears and blow his nose. He and Ryan both weren't too far away from coming completely unglued either. They were close enough friends that neither was ashamed to be seen crying.

Olivia and Tom finally pulled themselves together enough to make the journey into the living room. Ryan had pulled the coffee table out far enough to serve as a table for all of them. He and Fred had moved the easy chairs a little closer so that no one would have to do much more than lean forward a little to get to their coffee. As Olivia and Tom were getting themselves settled on the couch, Fred came right behind them and poured four cups of coffee.

Tom just could not let all of their actions pass without a comment, "Fred, which one is the commanding general and how long did y'all have to practice to get this drill down pat?"

Everyone laughed. The uneasy tension was beginning to melt.

Fred answered, "Actually it just came together, Tom. I mean Sgt. Dandridge." Fred was more than ready to have his former friend back, name and all. As he and Tom held each other's gaze, once more Fred found himself reaching for his handkerchief. As he blotted his eyes, he asked, "Are you OK with that? Should we call you......Baxter?"

Tom picked up the cup of coffee that Ryan had put in front of him and took a gulp or two. He looked at his feet, smiled and then looked at Olivia who hadn't stopped smiling. "I don't rightly know, Fred. They legally changed my name when I turned up in that mountain village......"

All eyes looked up as Arthur entered the living room with his precious, red-haired sister in his arms. He not only had cleaned her up, but he had dressed her in one of her Sunday dresses (no shoes, though) and had put her hair up in a bow. He shrugged his shoulder to kind of bring himself together a little bit and said, "It......uh just didn't seem right to.......uh introduce......," a smile and a tear made their appearance simultaneously as he finished, "our....... Grandpa to his great-granddaughter when she was covered head to toe in spaghetti sauce."

He put her down and she ran and stood a couple of feet in front of her mommy. Then, with a smile on her face she turned around a couple of times as she modeled her Sunday dress for them. When she stopped she placed her hand on top of her head and said, "Bow?"

Of course, everyone clapped and made over her as if she was a movie star at her premier. She loved it and danced around a couple of times while clapping her hands. Then she ran to Olivia and climbed up into her lap. However, she made sure she was on the opposite side of her mother from Tom.

She knew Tom must have been OK because Mommy was sitting beside him. She just wasn't convinced as to how much Ok he was. Tom held out his hands to see if she would come to him but the only thing he got was a stare.

"That's OK, little girl," Tom said after she refused to come to him. "Your brother wants to be my friend." He looked at Arthur and patted the seat next to him.

Arthur didn't have to be invited twice. With a big smile, he came over and sat down as close to the old gentleman as he could. The bond between these two was evident even before they knew they were related. Tom patted Arthur's knee and Arthur slipped his arm inside of his grandfather's arm. And what did he do next? That's right. He giggled.

Of course, every grandpa had to play the "knee grabbing" game and Tom was no exception. After Arthur giggled, Tom began squeezing his knee. The giggle turned into a full-blown laugh and Arthur wriggled with delight in his mock attempt to get away from Tom's grasp.

When Tom stopped, that meant that it was Arthur's turn to grab Tom's knee. No laugh, no giggle. Tom's smile was all that Arthur got at his futile efforts. Vainly, he leaned over and with both hands, gave his grandfather's knee a solid grab. Nothing. He tried a different location on his knee. His hand touched something firmer than somebody's knee. That caused him to remember his grandfather's mention of an operation. He quickly let go and gushed, "Oh, my gosh. I'm sorry, Mr. Tom......uh Grandpa," he said with a smile before he continued. "Did I hurt you? I didn't mean to if I did."

"No," Tom laughed. "Between the explosion and the operations I've had, I have lost some feeling in a couple of places on my knees."

"E-w-w-w-w. That's right," Olivia said as reality began to dawn on her. "You were in an explosion. That's what the Army said had killed you. They said there were no live witnesses and other bombs landed in the area. It was only supposed that your body had been torn apart by the carnage. But, it obviously didn't." She realized that it might not be something that Tom would want to remember so she ended by saying, "Oh,...........oh well, that's OK. You're alive and here and that's all that matters." She tried to chuckle the subject away.

"I NEED to tell you probably more than you need to hear it," Tom started out very seriously. "Fred will agree that the way into complete healing for any traumatic experience is to be able to relate it to his loved ones without getting extremely or violently emotional about it."

Fred affirmed what Tom had just said, "In all of the cases that I have seen and helped, when a man can do that, his healing is basically complete. I agree that it would be good of you to do that but, Tom, know your limits my friend. Know your limits."

"Good advice," Tom answered. "I don't want a repeat performance of what happened this afternoon."

"Me neither," Arthur added as he snuggle his grandfather's arm while looking up at him. "They said I came in on the tail end of it. I sure am glad I didn't see more of it than that. Boy, you sure had a crazy look on your face. Oh.......I didn't mean...that.."

Tom assured him, "I know what you mean. I've helped pray several guys through things like what happened this afternoon. But, before I get started, there's something else I need to say."

Almost sensing his need, Fred filled up Tom's cup with a fresh shot of coffee. Like an obedient servant, he got up and announced, "It's time to refill the pot."

Tom chuckled, "Yep, I can tell that you've been through several of these sessions before."

"Too many, pardner, too, too many," he called back on his way to the kitchen.

Tom started adding the cream and sugar as he explained, "Like Fred, I have been through a lot of living room meetings myself. Most of them with young children involved. There have been some with both parents in attendance and some in single parent homes. Some have been easy and some have been very difficult."

He took a good sip of his coffee before he continued. He looked steadfastly at Ryan for a moment. A smile formed as he spoke, "Ryan.........I want to thank you for marrying my granddaughter."

This caught everyone by surprise. It was Olivia's turn to blush and giggle. Arthur's eyes widened as he smiled and proudly looked at his dad.

Tom continued as he leaned forward and put one hand back on Arthur's knee. "As I have said, I have been in a lot of homes where children were involved. Most of the settings were almost akin to a war zone. Parents were against the children. Children spoke against the parents. Parents argued with each other. Then there was always the single parents torn apart by situations and didn't know what to do. And, no one had a clue as to how to stop the 'war' that they were in."

He leaned back and looked into the smiling face of his granddaughter. Like a teenage girl sitting beside her first true love, she squeezed his arm and rubbed her cheek on his shoulder. Wendy watched her momma's action in fascination and then looked up at her great-grandfather. When he smiled at her, she snuggled under her mother's chin and covered her face with her hand.

Ryan teased her, "You faker."

Now it was Wendy's turn to giggle.

A wrinkled hand reached over and pulled her hand away from her face long enough to say, "I love you" and he put it back.

Shyly she looked at him through spread fingers and repeated back to him, "Love you."

He pulled his eyes away from the cherubim in Olivia's lap and continued telling Ryan, "In all of those situations, I have learned how to tell a Godly man from the fakes. It wasn't just by what you said or did, it was how Olivia and Arthur showed their love and respect to you. Men have to earn that. It can never be demanded. I've seen enough broken homes to know that a Godly home begins with a Godly man. And you, my son, are a Godly man. Thank you, once again for marrying my granddaughter and for showing my great-grandson what he's supposed to grow up to be like," he finished as he patted Arthur's knee and gave it one more squeeze for good measure.

Well, it's hanky time at the Hollis household. Ryan and Fred both reached for theirs. After Ryan finished blowing his nose, he answered, "Tom, the pleasure is all mine. I was desperately in love with your granddaughter even though she had eyes on Jim Gillis. I saw how Olivia absolutely adored her father. I knew if I wanted to win her love, I would have to be as good a Godly man as her father. He was, also, one of the men that I admired most at church."

He looked at Olivia and put on this lonely-hearts-club look. Then, he sighed real deeply before he continued, "But......like I said, she had her eyes set on......Jim Gillis."

Olivia was grinning from ear to ear. Seeing that her husband had playfully stopped the story at the crucial part, she prompted with a shake of her head, "Until........."

He faked a memory relapse, "Oh, yes....now I seem to remember. It was a Sunday night and church had been dismissed. I had always made it a point to shake hands with her father before I left for home. That night, however, when we hugged, he held me long enough to whisper in my ear, 'Go ask Olivia to the Junior-Senior Banquet next week before Jim does.' Then, he winked at me and pushed me in her direction. I looked and saw her and a couple of other girls just kind of ambling toward........guess who?"

In mock consternation Olivia prompted, "Get on with the story, Dear. Uh,....the important parts, that is."

"Oh, yes. How could I ever forget?"

"Well, there are some parts you should," Olivia giggled and hid her face in Tom's arm as if she was embarrassed.

Ryan chuckled and continued, "Tom, I can say without a doubt that I am glad that I had not drunk four glasses of tea before church. Her father's comment had put me on the spot. I was embarrassed NOT to go ask her and I was embarrassed TO go ask her. So, I took a deep breath, summoned every bit of courage I could get and made a bee line to them. My voice went from almost baritone to a soprano with a great vibrato as I asked her if I could speak to her for a moment. She had no idea what I was going to ask her."

Olivia broke in again, "Grandpa, you should have heard his voice. He must have been nervous. Vibrato, yeah. He quivered like I was the meanest old witch that God ever let live."

"No-o-o-o-o, now I wasn't THAT bad," protested Ryan.

"So, and..." Olivia repeated.

Ryan continued, "When I asked her, she looked at me like she hadn't heard a word I said. So, I asked her again. She told me that I had to ask her father. I turned around to go back to ask him. When I did, he was almost standing directly behind me. I did not know that he followed me over there. He said, 'Sure you can take her to the banquet. And, why don't you take her to get an ice cream. Just be home by eleven, Sweetie.' He walked over to kiss her and then just kept on walking out of the church. Olivia and I looked at each other with the blankest expressions until she said, 'Well, let's go then.' And that started a relationship that is sweeter than I ever imagined."

"Same here, Sugar," Olivia added. "When I got home, I walked up to Daddy and asked him what the little scene at church was all about. He just kissed me on the forehead and told me that Ryan had been his choice for me for quite some time and for me just to be friends until I knew whether or not he was the one God had designed for me. I wish more daddies were as concerned about their children's mate like mine was."

As she talked about her father, it was impossible to keep a tear from falling. "Even though he and Momma are gone, there are times, like tonight, that I can still feel the effects of my daddy's prayers."

Tom looked at Arthur and said, "My boy here mentioned something about a car accident. I suppose that was him and his wife?"

Olivia laid her head on his shoulder again unable to speak through her tears. Ryan answered for her, "Yes, Tom. They were on their way to a vacation in Florida when they were hit head-on. From the way it was described by witnesses, it all happened in a moment of time. No one had time to react and they were killed instantly. Their bodies were pretty much mangled. It was our decision to have them cremated. We have their ashes stored if you would ever like to see them."

Olivia added, "They had actually asked to be cremated when they died. They never wanted anyone to come to a cemetery to mourn over them like they had seen so many people do."

Everything was quiet for a few moments. Finally, Tom broke the silence by saying, "It looks like Brian did a great job of teaching him the important things of life."

Olivia caught what he said and asked, "Nobody mentioned his name. How did you know his step-father's name?"

Tom sighed, "That is the only paper that I asked the Army to get for me. The one with Ellen's wedding announcement." As he looked deep into her eyes he added, "I wanted a name to pray for. Raising my son and being a godly husband to the love of my life was very, very important to me."

Fred suggested, "Don't you think that this would be a good time to tell us what happened? It could be the release that you need."

Ryan added, "I think the time is right, too. We're ready and I just believe it would relieve some of the heavy load you've been carrying."

Tom smiled and looked him in the eye as he said, "Ryan Hollis, you ARE a Godly man."

# CHAPTER TWELVE

"I'm gonna give you just as short a version of the whole story as I can," Tom began. "Still it's going to take quite a while."

Fred went on the alert. He had never forgotten the training the Army had given him when he was in counter-intelligence. Without being noticed, he could vigilantly watch an individual and catch his tell-tale signs of stress, honesty, fear and lying. The latter served him well in his role as county historian. Some people could surely stretch the truth.

However, it wasn't the truth that Fred was concerned about. He knew that he would have to jump in at the first sign of stress. His heart was made up. If the truth NEVER came out, he would do his utmost to protect his best friend against anything that might put him over the edge again. No one in that room ever needed to see what a war-torn mind could really do to a person.

Tom started with a little chuckle, "Does anyone here know what I enlisted in the Army to do?"

This seemingly innocent question almost startled Arthur. "You mean you didn't join the Army to fight?"

"Well, yes I joined to fight but you would never guess it by the job they gave me," the soldier answered with a sly smile. Hearing a chuckle from Fred made him glance in his direction. Ryan had his mouth covered in a vain attempt at to stifle his laugh. He knew his son's inquisitive nature would get the best of him. And, if Ryan's hunch was right, Tom had realized it and was playing it to the hilt.

Tom only vaguely answered his question, "O-o-h, I shoveled hay into one end of a mule and then shoveled away what came out of the other end."

Arthur was the proverbial deer in the headlights. A big smile was trying it's best to keep Olivia from busting out laughing as she answered, "That's what Grandma always told me." Then, acting like she was trying to think real hard she continued, "Let's see. She called it............skinning the cat, I think."

Arthur looked at Fred. But, he was busy looking at his fingernails. He turned his questioning look toward his dad.

"That's a mule skinner, Dear," Ryan corrected her.

"Oh, yeah," Olivia played, "he skinned mules. That was his job."

With mouth wide opened Arthur slowly locked eyes with his great-grandfather. With the available information, Arthur quickly put two and two together and came up with eighty-four. He reached up with his hand and grabbed Tom's arm and asked the only question his mind could grasp, "You fed mules and skinned them? Holey-moley, were you a cook, Grandpa?"

Oh, here we go. Those were two words that Wendy could say. She mimicked her brother on the other side and grabbed Tom's other arm and asked with a grin, "Cook, Pop-pop?" She sat up and put her head on her mother's shoulder nearest to Tom so she could be more of the center of attention. Of course, her giggle didn't hurt either.

Tom smiled at her before he put his arm around Arthur to explain, "No, Son. We're just playing with you. I enlisted in the Army to be what was called a mule skinner. My job WAS to take care of the mules that were assigned to me. Back at the beginning of the war, the United States didn't have all the trucks and cargo carriers that they have now. The majority of supplies could only get from one place to another by the way of mules. After I got out of basic training, I was sent over to a country called New Guinea. When we got there, we found ourselves in the middle of the thickest jungle I had ever seen. Now, I was raised driving a team of mules on flat ground. Over there, I had to drive them up and down mountains covered by thick jungle. That was a big, big change.

"By 1943, the United States had built plenty of trucks and jeeps so they declared that the mules were obsolete. They shipped out the mules and brought in a new commander. His job was to transform the 98th Field Artillery Battalion into the 6th Ranger Battalion."

"Holey-moley! You were an Army Ranger?" Arthur blurted out. "Rangers are some of the toughest guys there are. There's a bunch of them that go to church with us. They're all the time telling us about the stuff that they do." Arthur threw his arm around Tom's midsection and continued, "Wow! My Grandpa was a Ranger."

Little Miss I-need-to-be-the-center-of-attention came to life. She slipped over to Tom's lap, and rested her head on his chest as she declared, "My Pop-pop." With all her strength, she tried to stare Arthur down.

Arthur started to say something in return until he noticed how slowly she was blinking her eyes. He looked at his mom and gave a slight nod and then sat back. It would be over in a few minutes. And, indeed, Miss Wendy didn't even raise her head off of her great-grandfather's chest. Before his next two paragraphs were out, she was history herself.

"Yes. And you can tell those Ranger friends of yours that I was trained by none other than Lieutenant Colonel Henry Mucci. They'll know that name for sure. It took him a whole year to whip 500 mule skinners into fire-breathing Rangers but he did it. And, every single one of us was so tough we felt like we could take on the whole Japanese army by ourselves.

"One of our first assignments was to rescue some 500 American prisoners being held captive at Cabanatuan, a Japanese prisoner of war camp in the Philippines. It had to be a surprise move because the prisoners would have probably been executed if they knew that we were going to attack.

"Three of us volunteered to blow up an ammo shed to create a diversion so we could get the prisoners out before they realized what was happening. It seemed like an easy enough job to do. The Filipino guerrillas had already infiltrated the camp and were also waiting for us in the woods behind the shed. They had already put four sandbags underneath the open window in the back of the shed so somebody could climb in very easily. We drew straws and that somebody turned out to be me.

"Right at dusk, we made our way into the compound. I had my pistol in my right hand and a couple of sticks of dynamite with a small timer wired to it in my left. It wouldn't take much to blow that whole shed to smithereens."

Fred shifted nervously. So far, Tom displayed no signs of trauma.

Tom caught his movement and saw the look on his face. "Yes, Fred, this is where my nightmares always begin." He looked down at Arthur and ran his fingers through his hair. For the first time since he left his son behind to go to fight for his country, Tom had someone who was blood kin looking up to him. Somebody was proud of him.

"I'm no longer afraid," he said with a sigh. "And, I'm quite eager to tell the story. I guess I need to pass it on to my next generation, so to speak." He glanced down at a sleeping great-granddaughter and chuckled, "That is if it doesn't put everyone to sleep."

"She's gone so soon?" Olivia asked as she got up to retrieve her little jewel from Tom's lap. "Let me put Miss Puddin' Pie to bed. You just go right ahead, Grandpa. If I miss anything, I'll ask you about it. You and I are going to have lots of time together now that you're home."

He bent his head down to give the sleeping princess a goodnight kiss. A new reality began to take a hold of him. Deep in his heart he prayed, 'Home.......I never thought I would be.....at MY home.....with MY own family. Heavenly Father, I have served You faithfully since that day in the jungle. You didn't have to do this, but You did. God, You've been so good to me.'

He reluctantly released his hold of her and continued, "I remember it was just getting dark that night. We needed the cover of darkness for our men to be able to get to their strategic places without being seen. But, I couldn't see a thing inside that shed. I stepped up on the sandbags and stepped inside the shed very cautiously. Both hands were full and I couldn't risk touching the tin walls and making some kind of sound. I remember standing there for a moment trying to see anything that might be in my way. But, it was pitch black in that shed.

"I had already sent my buddies back to the squad leader with an approximate time for the explosion. My heart was beating so hard I could feel it in my temples. All I was going to do was take two steps forward toward the center of the shed, flip the switch to start the timer, put it on the floor and scoot back out that window.

"The second step I took, I stepped on a sleeping guard. I fell and dropped the dynamite without tripping the switch. He yelled and I yelled. He scrambled toward the door and I made for the window. In my rush to get out, my belt got caught on the window frame or something and I couldn't get free. The other guard came through the door and shone a light on me. They pointed their bayonets at me and started toward me as one of their comrades came through the door behind them. I heard him click the safety off of his machine gun and he started shooting in our direction. The last thing I remember in that shed was a blinding flash"

"The whole place exploded?" Arthur asked quietly as if he was afraid of the answer.

Tom replied, "I reckon so, son. That's all I remember at the shed. Like I said earlier, some Filipino guerrillas were already in place watching over us. They said that the explosion belched fire, debris and a jumble of bodies out of that shed."

"You.......what?" Olivia asked as she sat back down beside him. "You were blown throw the air? By an explosion? You should have..."

Tom finished for her, "Been blown to pieces? Yes, by all means. The noise of waking up the guard caused two of the guerrillas to start toward the shack. They saw me stuck in the window and started over to help me. I guess you could say that they had a front row seat when it exploded. They ran over to the tangle of bodies and saw that I was still alive. I was bloody from head to toe, but they heard me moaning.

"Of course, pandemonium broke loose. That explosion was planned to kick off the entire attack against the base. The guerrillas had expected it but didn't expect all the turmoil. Japanese were running everywhere. In the light of the explosions going off around the camp, they saw a group of soldiers headed for what was left of the ammo shed. So, two of them picked me up the best they could and headed for the woods while the other two fought off anyone that would try to follow. With everyone running around, nobody paid any attention to them. As it turns out, several of the Japanese, or let's say conscripted soldiers ran into the woods at the same time we did."

Arthur looked confused. "Con...scripted? What does that mean?" he asked.

Fred explained, "It was not unusual for armies to force local natives to act as soldiers during the war. They would go from village to village and pick out the strongest men and many times teen-agers to force them to fight for them. Many of them didn't even know how to shoot a gun."

Arthur asked, "They didn't have any training or anything?"

Tom answered, "Sometimes they weren't even given any weapons but a bamboo rod or a big stick. They were told to just go run towards the enemy, knowing that they would be killed."

Olivia repulsed, "Oh, Grandpa. That's awful."

"Honey, there's nothing about a war that's much good anyway," Tom acknowledged. "Most of the guys running into the woods like we were could have been Filipinos. We found out later that a lot of them were Japanese soldiers who knew that the Americans were angry for what they had done and knew that we would come back with a vengeance."

"So was that where you got your scars from?" Arthur asked again.

"Yes, sir, it was," he answered.

"Uh,....what kind of scars.....," Olivia cringed as she asked. "I, uh, really want to know....but I don't want to know. You know? So, could you kinda give me the short version? Kinda the not so gruesome kind of thingy?"

As a smile played across Tom's face, it became very evident where Arthur got his peculiar type of babbling from. He had been looking at Arthur when Olivia had started talking. He didn't want to turn to look at her for fear of laughing at his first thought. He looked over at Ryan without moving his head and raised his eyebrows. 'I bet you she must have been something else when she was younger,' he thought.

As if reading his mind, Ryan gently nodded the affirmative and smiled, also. You know what? Olivia has a lightning fast mind. The thought of looking at some gruesome scars had thrown her mind for a loop which created the garbled sentences. It was a character trait she thought had long been overcome. She caught Ryan's smile and demanded, "OK, you two, so the thought of seeing scars got me discombobulated a little bit, but you don't have to take it much farther than this room, you hear me?"

Before he could stop himself, Tom said to Ryan, "I bet she was fun on a date."

Fred almost choked on the sip of coffee he was taking and had to go to the kitchen for a napkin.......or to laugh.

The only answer he got from Ryan was a laugh that caused him to sit back in the easy chair he was sitting in. He politely put his hand over his mouth in a vain attempt to look solemn.

Of course, Arthur was as impulsive as an eleven-year-old could be as he started to blurt out, "Tell him about the time she........"

"Threatened to beat her son and husband black and blue and tell God that they fell down the stairs?" Olivia finished for him. Like a hen fluffing her nest, she stood up and put some throw pillows in the place she was sitting. "That's to keep me from throwing them at certain uncouth individuals."

Then, she tucked her legs underneath herself and continued, "And that's to make myself a little taller so I can put my arm around my favorite man." Her left arm went across his shoulders and with her right hand she patted his chest a couple of inches below his chin. "Of course, it also makes it much easier to choke you should I deem it necessary." To prove her point she grabbed his neck with both hands. "That is, right after I kiss your whole face." And she promptly gave him three quick smooches on his cheek. She finished with a great big smile on her face as she popped off, "Say. When are you gonna shave, old man?"

Tom gave her a bit of a sideways glance and then looked at Ryan and asked with a foxy grin, "When did you say we were going fishing?"

As Ryan opened his mouth to answer, Olivia butted in very sweetly but very matter-of-factly, "O-o-o-oh, the Saturday AFTER I get through asking you EVERY question of my sweet little ol' heart." She clasped her hands together on the other side of his neck and laid her head very lovingly on his shoulder. However, her eyes were looking straight at her husband with an announcement in them that he had seen before.

Fred knew beforehand what was coming up and had already propped his elbow on the arm of his chair and was resting his head in it. His eyes were closed and a smile played across his lips as he waited for Ryan's inevitable answer. Ryan crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows as he answered, "Mr. Dandridge that means that the first day that you qualify to go fishing will be three years from this Saturday."

Olivia grinned like the proverbial Cheshire cat.

An explosion of laughter came from the men. Arthur jested, "Guys, now that we all know our future, whatcha say we learn some more about Grandpa's past." A little bit of a devious grin played across his face as he looked at his father. He reached down to pull up Tom's britches leg and said, "Hey, Grandpa, let's all get a look at that place on your leg where you said that the explosion almost took your whole leg off."

"Arthur," Olivia raised her voice in command. Arthur froze before he even got a good hold on the cuff of Tom's pants. With a sugary sweet voice she asked him, "Honey, do you really want to live to be twelve?"

"Gentlemen, it looks like show-and-tell will have to be put off for some other time," Tom suggested.

The three other very intelligent gentlemen in the room all looked at each other and shook their heads affirmatively. A-a-a-n-n-d, the Cheshire cat kept grinning but finally relented, "You HAVE to finish the story, Grandpa. All of us want to know. But, for my sake, no graphics, please. I don't think I could handle it tonight."

Tom reached up and patted her hand and said softly, "Of course, my Dear. I would never purposely do anything to upset you." And for that answer, he got another kiss.

"I do have three fairly long scars," Tom began. "One begins at my right wrist and travels almost to my shoulder. One starts at my left hip and travels towards my chest. And, the ugliest one is the one on my right leg. It looks like something tried to rip it off of me. The edges are all jagged. If my memory serves me correct I was only half-way out of the shed when it exploded. Possibly, it got caught on the piece of tin that the shed was made out of. That was everybody's best guess. The ones on my arm and on my left side were pretty clean cuts.

"Of course, I was knocked out cold or sedated the whole time so I will relate this part of the story as it was told to me by a couple of my rescuers. As it turned out, they were guerrillas that had lived in the village that I would finally wind up in. There's a lot to learn about that village, by the way.

"The two guards that ran towards me must have cushioned the force of the blast and kept me alive. When I got well enough to see the cuts clearly, I realized that they must have been made by their bayonets raking across me from the force of the blast. The two guerrillas that picked me up said that they had to pick me out from underneath the partial bodies of the guards and smoldering debris. I landed on a hot something or other and got a couple of burn marks on my back.

"When they got me to the hidden safety of the woods, they looked at my wounds and realized that I practically needed to be held together by tourniquets. They told me that when they heard me moaning, they went ahead and shot me full of morphine. He followed that with something to put me out for several hours. He knew that it was dangerous to give me both but he had his doubts about me living through the journey we faced to get me to safety.

"Two of the guerrillas risked their lives by running back into the compound and stripping uniforms and belts off of the bodies of dead soldiers. Then, they dodged bullets and soldiers to ransack some of the sheds. Luckily, they found a supply shed and came back with an armload of blankets and sheets. One guy tried his best to clean my wounds. Two guys cut uniforms and sheets into strips and tourniquet material. The other guy used his foldaway shovel to cut down a couple of strong saplings to make a stretcher with. They were extremely resourceful men. That's for sure.

"They attached me to that stretcher like I was a larva in a cocoon. Every available scrap of material was packed around my body to try to soften the ride. The hard job was getting me to safety. In the middle of the night, they had no idea who was friend or foe. The only thing they knew to do was to take off on one of the local native trails. However, as they got a little ways away from the camp, they realized that Japanese soldiers were following them. They presumed that the battle must not have been going as well as planned. If they got caught, they knew that they would be killed outright. If the enemy captured an injured American, they might...........well, they really didn't know.

"Of course, I was unconscious and knew nothing about what was going on. Later, I found out that they walked as fast as they could without jostling me very much. Still they traded places every half mile or so just to stay as fresh as possible. They had gone several miles when they met a group of men from their home village who were returning from a trading trip in the lowlands.

"Back then, I just called it lucky, but now I know it was God's doings. Among these villagers was a Japanese minister. He had started a church up in the mountains among the remote Aete people. He quickly assigned two of his villagers to go ahead of the group with the guerrillas. They tied one end of the stretcher to the back end of one of the donkeys. That meant that only one out of the six had to carry a bit of the load. He gave us provisions and instructions not to stop until we got to the safety of the village. He was going to stay behind with the other village men to confront those behind us. They might be friendly, they might not. He just trusted God.

"After we left and the Japanese caught up with him, he found out that they were running away from the Japanese as much as they were the Americans and needed a place to hide. The pastor had the idea to lead them to a different mountain that he knew was filled with caves that they could hide in. And, since he spoke their language fluently, they trusted him."

"Why didn't y'all just double back? Didn't we win?" Arthur asked with a concerned look on his face.

"We had no idea at the time," Tom replied. "There were only a hundred of us Rangers and about as many guerrillas. There could have been from five hundred to a thousand Japanese in that camp. All we knew was that the men following us spoke Japanese. In the heat of the moment, we didn't know if they were running away or trying to capture us."

Tom had a quiet nudging from within that suggested that this might be a good spot for some intuitive teaching. Tom smiled down at him and posed a question, "Did I live through the whole thing?"

"Well, yeah, but you're being banged around on a stretcher and you're in pain......." Olivia added. She, too, had that same worried look on her face. She and Arthur could have been twins right at that moment. Their facial expressions were identical. It was like they were expecting the grim reaper to come through the back door and kill them all.

A smile began to play across the faces of Ryan and Fred. They looked at each other and chuckled. Ryan admitted, "Tom, the longer that you hang around, the more you're going to understand, the apple didn't fall too far away from the tree."

Olivia and Arthur looked at each other and immediately realized that he was absolutely right. The look of fear on their faces matched perfectly. They realized how silly they both looked and wound up chuckling at each other. Then they turned their attention back to Tom.

"Here's something you can use to handle problems as they come along, my boy," Tom said as he once again patted Arthur's knee for emphasis. "When you read the Bible and you know the end of the story, whatever happens between right now and the end of the story is not a whole lot to worry about. You can look at me and tell that God delivered me quite well. Now, it's was a long and hard process with lots of pain and set backs at times, but the end result is, I'm well."

Then with a look in Fred's direction he added, "And in a clear-thinking mind."

Fred smiled and nodded.

Arthur piped up and said with a slick little smile, "See, Momma. There's nothing for you to get all nervous and jittery about."

Olivia just did her 'Momma thing.' She folded her arm, raised one eyebrow and posed the question, "That's not your bedroom I hear calling you is it, sweetie?"

A wide-eyed Arthur looked back over at his dad. Ryan just shrugged his shoulders with a the-ball's-in-your-court look. He looked back at his mother with his puppy dog eyes and said, "No Ma'am, I think it said, 'Arthur, you need to keep your big mouth shut.' Don't you think so, Dad?" He glanced back at Ryan for a bit of help.

Hid dad nodded his head in the affirmative, "Yep, I think that is just exactly what it said."

# CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Now that Arthur's bedtime was settled for the moment he sat back on the couch and breathed a sigh. It wasn't a 'sigh of relief' like you read about in some stories. It was a sigh of having to wrestle with strange ideas and thoughts that seemed to be bombarding his mind. He wanted to ask a couple of questions. But, he didn't know how.

Tom had seen that look on dozens of youthful faces before. So, before going on with his story, he knew it was best to get this little hiccough out in the open. "What's on your mind, son?" he asked. "And don't say 'Nothing' because I've seen that look before. Something important is bothering you. What is it?"

Arthur searched for a correct way of asking his question. A lot of information had been thrown at him that he had never thought about before. He didn't want his question to seem all wrong. "Grandpa," he started, "how could God let wars happen and why were the Japanese so...........mean?"

"Those are very good questions, my boy," Tom agreed. "First of all, man has a right to do anything he wants to do whether God likes it or not. If people want to fight, God can't necessarily stop them. He gives everyone a free choice. And right along with that, the Japanese aren't mean people. They are a very compassionate people. I have very good friends who are Japanese. You've got good ones and you've got bad ones. Just like Americans, Russians, Germans and so forth. People have a choice. Some make good choices, others make bad ones.

"The ones that fought against us were just doing what their emperor told them to do. They honored their emperor greatly and loved him very much. And, after they got into the war, many of them wished they hadn't. They really did not have to desire to kill their fellow man. As a matter of fact, the pastor told me later that the Japanese that were following us were trying to escape the war. They did not want to kill any more and they were afraid to turn themselves in to the Americans. They were told by their officers that Americans never took prisoners and that they always kill the ones they captured."

"That wasn't true, was it?"

"No, sir. On the contrary, once we took someone as a prisoner, they were treated with respect. We always made sure they were sheltered, fed and clothed," the old soldier replied.

Fred wanted to know, "Where did they wind up taking you, Tom?"

"They took me close to where the Aurora Memorial National Park is. It was all mountains and jungle," he answered.

"How long did it take to get there from the prison compound?" Ryan asked.

"One day I sat down with a map and figured it out as close as I could. They carried me on that stretcher for a good 35 miles. Half of it was flat land but it eventually got to be thick jungle and tough mountains. It probably took them 15 or more hours at a steady pace to get up to the village. The villagers that helped carry me said that there were clear places where they could trot and then there were places that they had to hand carry me."

"But, your wounds must have been pretty drastic. It's a wonder you didn't bleed to death," Olivia pointed out.

Tom admitted, "Yes, the scars will tell you that. The pastor told me later, that when we met up with them that blood could be seen in several places of the blankets. Among the provisions he gave us to take with us to eat as we traveled, he made sure we had a bag of an herb the Filipino call 'sili.' It is their version of cayenne pepper. He knew the trail to the village well. He told them to stop at a certain place, open the blankets and spread the sili over my wounds. It not only stopped the bleeding but it also helped kill any bacteria. Then he gave directions as to how to get me ready for the rest of the arduous journey. It seemed that in his preparation to become a missionary, he was required to take several medical courses. Wasn't that a wild coincidence?"

Here come the water works again. Olivia once again held her cheek next to his as she declared, "No. It was no coincidence. It was just........my Jesus..........keeping my Grandpa together....so.....I.....I." She got up quickly, grabbed her coffee cup and headed to the kitchen as she finished, "could drink coffee and cry my eyes out, I reckon." (Sniff) "Anybody else was some while I got it in my hands?"

"Sure, but just black, Honey," Tom answered.

Ryan said, "None for me, Sweetheart."

Not to be outdone, Fred added his two cents, "Me neither.......Darling."

Everyone chuckled except Olivia. She just beamed as she brought the coffee pot in and poured some for her grandfather. This was a great day for her. Little did they know it, but, the happiness was just beginning for all of them.

"The only thing I remember of the trip," Tom continued as he took a sip of his coffee, "was waking up in pain every now and then. I remember being groggy and not being able to pull myself out of it. It must have been whatever it was that made me sleep. They stopped when they heard me groaning and would open up the blankets enough to give me another shot. I could feel the night air hitting my wet skin and remember the smell of blood. Then I was out almost immediately.

"That went on for several days. I only remember seeing the pastor for the first few days. He must have known when I would come around because he always had some warm soup waiting for me. I knew that somebody had been taking care of me because the wrappings around my body had been changed. I remember coming around and the pain would get intense. When they got to be too much, he would give me another shot and out I'd go.

"He told me later that it was the third day after my arrival that I was able to do without much pain medicine. I still hurt a lot. He had made poultices out of a native plant called suganda. The natives used it on wounds. It was good stuff and it made the pain bearable.

"As the grogginess wore off, it began to dawn on me that I had lost my memory. I had no idea who I was or how I got hurt. All of my identification was gone. Of course, the explosion pretty much took care of my uniform and such. Still, try as I could, I could NOT remember a thing. I didn't know who I was, where I had been or how I had gotten cut to ribbons, so to speak.

"The pastor spoke English, French and the Tagalog language very well, as well as his native Japanese. He had been trained in a university in America. He had begun his missionary work among the Aeta tribes about five years before the war. He tried his best to get me to remember but, it was no use. To use an up-to-date phrase, my computer had locked up."

That brought a few smiles especially to the ones who had used computers enough to have that happen to them. Olivia asked, "When did you finally get your memory back?"

"About eight years later. The doctors said that a traumatic effect locked it up and another traumatic effect unlocked it."

"What unlocked it?" she asked.

Tom stared at his coffee cup for a minute as a somber look came over his face, "Outside of Jesus Christ, the greatest friend I have ever had died. The pastor, Daiki Yamaguchi, passed away from a massive heart attack. It stunned the whole village. As I wept and wept at the loss of this great man, every bit of my memory came back. I remembered who I was. I remembered how I got there." After a sip of coffee he continued in a softer tone, "I remembered Ellen and I remembered a sandy-haired, blue-eyed bundle of joy that I had last seen waving to me as a Greyhound bus pulled away from Elmhurst nine years before."

After a moment of silence, it was Arthur who busted into tears first. He got up and stepped into his daddy's waiting arms. Ryan pulled him up onto his lap but had no answers for his tearful questions, "Daddy, why? Why? Grandpa didn't do anything wrong. Why did have to lose his memory? Why was God mad at him?"

As he buried his head deep into Ryan's shoulder, all his dad could do at the moment was hold him close and try to calm him. "I don't know, son. I know that God is a good God and He doesn't go around punishing good people. But....." Ryan was unprepared and didn't have a good answer.

Tom calmed Arthur's anguish, "Arthur, Pastor Daiki answered those questions for me the first day I was able to talk to him. And, there have been many, many times that I have had to refresh my memory of our conversation that day. He asked me did I know Jesus as my personal Savior. At the mention of the name of Jesus, I remembered just about everything I was ever taught about him. I asked Pastor how I could remember Jesus when I couldn't remember anything else. His answer was that Jesus and His Words were the only things that were guaranteed NOT to pass away. He said that Jesus and His Word were eternally Spirit and therefore dwelt in our spirit whether our minds were out of whack or not. It made perfect sense to me.

"I basically posed the same question to him and he gave me an answer that made more sense to me than anything else I could come up with. As I meditated on it, I calmed down quite a bit and made the decision to make the best of the situation that I was in. Are you ready for me to tell you what he said?"

With his head still buried deep in his father's shoulders, Arthur answered, "Yes, sir. I think so."

Tom's voice took a more authoritative tone as he bent over, and put his elbows on his knees and replied, "Then sit up like a man and look at me eye to eye. What I've got to relate to you will help you through the rest of your life no matter what happens to you."

His grandfather didn't say it in a mean tone at all. But, there was something in the tone of his voice. Something that indicated that what he had to say was going to be coming from his heart. No, make that, it sounded like it was coming from God's heart.

As Ryan handed his handkerchief to his son to clean up with, everyone in the room resettled themselves in anticipation of what Tom was about to say.

Arthur went a step further. He got up out of his father's lap and sat back down beside Tom. He didn't lean on him or try to hold on to him like he did before. Instead, he sat up straight on the edge of the sofa and looked his great-grandfather in the eye. Something deep inside of Arthur told him that he was about to learn a great lesson.

Tom looked at everyone around the room before he settled his gaze on his great-grandson. "I asked the same question to Pastor Daiki that you asked me. His answers were in the form of questions. First of all, he asked me, 'Are you still alive?' I answered, 'Yes.' He said, 'Then God must have had a reason for you to live. Otherwise, you will have to admit that you had a real good chance to die. Your main concern is to walk with Him through life every day. Life, itself, will bring you to God's reason for being here. You must NEVER fight with the problem. Always walk with The Answer. Then life will make sense.' The wisdom of his answer was so amazing that all I could do was agree with him. What do you think?"

Everyone was stunned. They sat in silence. Arthur looked at his mother. Olivia sat back and spoke first, "That IS the most amazing answer. It....it almost stops every other question before we even dare to ask." She hesitated for a moment and looked at Ryan before continuing with a shy smile, "Why, I can't think of another question."

"Exactly," Tom agreed, "I was just as stunned as you were. Of course, I was still a little groggy from the whole thing. But, he answered any other question by his next statements. He said that when we don't have anything else to hold on to, we should hold on to Romans 8:28. God was able to MAKE all things work together for our good if we would continue to love Him in spite of what we are going through. If we wanted things to come full circle for us like His Word said, we had to do two things." Tom made sure that he had full eye contact with Arthur before he went on, "First of all, we have to draw our half of the circle by faith. THEN, we have to be patient and trust God as He MAKES all things come full circle for us."

Tom sat back against the sofa and held his hands out as if pointing to everything around him before he continued, "And, did it come full circle?"

The evident truth caused Arthur's eyes to widen, "Yeah, it did." A smile enveloped his face as he looked around the room to find a group agreement. "It did. It really, really did. Wow! What a treat."

Tom admitted, "I had just about given up hope that I would ever see my children again. And, then I worried whether or not I would be accepted."

"Accepted? Why would we not accept you?" Olivia asked.

"For one thing, I've been alive for fifty years and never dared show my face around here until now," he opened.

Arthur started to say something but his mother interrupted him. "We-e-e-e..can talk about that some other day, Master Arthur. Right now, I want to find out about your travels in that mountain village."

Just where had Arthur been all this time? I don't know. It finally, finally dawned on him that his great-grandfather had been on an adventure of some kind. "Yeah, Grandpa. So, you were up in the mountains way up in the jungle and...what did you see? Lions, tigers? Hey did you see any giants? Did you see anybody get eaten......."

Mommy's hand went up and Arthur's mouth went shut. Mommy smiled at Arthur and Arthur smiled back and leaned against the sofa and said softly, "So, Grandpa. How did everything go in the Philippines?"

Fred and Ryan almost fell out of their chairs. It was amazing what a major part of Arthur's life that Olivia's hand played. So the guys did the only thing guys could do at this point in time. They applauded Olivia and said, "Bravo. Bravo."

Arthur just looked at them with a tight-lipped smile and accepted it with grace and dignity.

"Guess what, Arthur?" Tom leaned over and whispered loud enough for everyone to hear, "These grownups won't always be around us. We'll go somewhere where they can't find us OR hear us."

Without talking, Arthur gave him the 'thumbs up' sign.

Olivia asked, "Am I going to have to chaperone you two?"

Before either one could answer, Fred spoke up, "Oh, don't worry, Olivia. If Tom starts telling him about his youth, he will have to have me around to corroborate his story. Arthur will never believe the stuff that we used to get into."

That hit home with Arthur. He couldn't help but blurt out, "What are you going to be doing after I get out of school tomorrow?"

"Y'all going to have more football practice at the same place?"

"Yep."

"I'll be there. I want to talk to the coach about a few stretching exercises that I have had to do to stay in shape. Might help the guys to run and dodge a little better."

Arthur had one on the adults. He rubbed his hands together and looked at his mom and dad and said, "Ho, ho, ho."

Olivia pleaded, "Now, Grandpa, don't go spoiling him. I've just got him......"

Tom held up his hand and Olivia stopped talking. What was that sound I heard? Was that our Arthur falling off the couch with laughter? You'd better believe it was. Everybody started laughing. Olivia had to calm down enough to "shush" everybody before they woke Wendy up.

"As I was going to say," Tom began as he slowly brought himself to a serious moment. "Today, in the park, I already knew why God had brought me back to my home town. He began to deal with me about Arthur. I have been through it with several boys and one girl in my life time until I know what His leading is like. There is something that God wants me to impart to my great-grandson."

Arthur was very pleasantly surprised, "What does He want you to teach me, Grandpa?"

Tom looked at him with raised eyebrows and answered, "I don't know, my boy. We have to draw our part of God's circle by faith and trust Him to bring it to full circle. From what I have been through before, we'll just start going through life and God will present the lessons as we enjoy being together as well as enjoy being His. That's all I know. Take it one day at a time and enjoy it."

"Ok, I'm all into this enjoying being with you and can't wait to start. But, you'll have to let me know when to stop having fun and when you need to give me one of God's lessons," Arthur declared.

Tom raised his hand again and this time towards Arthur as he said, "Don't you worry about that. I think I've got that part down pat, too."

"I can see that you do," Arthur giggled as he sat back against the sofa.

Fred chuckled as he said to Ryan, "Your son thought he had found a new friend. He might just have gotten a second momma."

"Could be," Ryan answered.

Tom started back on his story, "To answer some of your questions, Arthur, the tribe that I lived with are called the Aeta. They were smaller than the average person. And, yes, there were wild animals around. The one we had to look out for the most was the python. Some would grow to be about twenty feet long and were known to eat little children. There were stories of grown men being found inside a python. Just about everybody carried a machete or a big stick with them."

Tom sighed as he continued his story, "When I was able to get out of bed, I found that I couldn't walk very well. A couple of my ankle bones looked like they had slipped out of place. As my leg began to heal, it healed crooked. It was beyond the Pastor's training to do anything with it.

"One of the older village men made me a walking cane. He was proud of the fact that he could do something for me. Believe you me he kept me supplied with several walking sticks. Every one of them was of a different shape and a different size. It was like his hobby to make them for me.

"We were afraid to take me through the jungle to find any Americans. The band of Japanese that the pastor had taken to the other mountain was not the only ones that escaped. We learned to make sure that someone was watching the two trails leading up to the village. When Japanese were spotted on the trail, everyone would almost carry me to the safety of my hidden room in the little church.

"When the war was over, Army helicopters dropped leaflets all over the island. They attempted to let the villagers know that they had been liberated. This brought great joy to the people. However, the Japanese that had made their homes in the caves thought it was a trick and vowed to keep fighting the Americans because of the promise they had made to their emperor. Pastor and some of the men offered to try to sneak me by them but I turned them down."

"Why?" Arthur asked.

"Number one, it would endanger the villagers. Number two, after six months of living with these people, I had no desire to leave."

He stopped their next question by saying quickly, "I know that sounds funny but give me a minute to explain. About a year before I got there, the Japanese came through the village looking for able-bodied men they could force to come fight for them or just become slave labor. The wife of one of those men fiercely resisted their efforts. In retaliation, a couple of soldiers stayed behind after all the men were taken away and beat her to death in front of her two children. They threatened to do the same to anyone else who tried to stop them. Those two children were Pedro and Tala, a boy and a girl, aged 7 and 2 respectively. It not only devastated everyone in the village but it left the two children in a state of shock that they could not get over.

"Of course, everyone helped look after the two of them. They gave them food and shelter just like they always would. But, they had no will to live. It was not uncommon to see Pedro and his sister walking hand in hand into the woods. No matter how many times they were told not to, they would just grab hands and walk away while no one was looking. The villagers would find them missing and then have to go and find them. Sometimes, when the villagers would wake up, they would find that they had gotten out in the middle of the night to go and sleep in the jungle. When they were asked why, Pedro would answer for them that they wanted to be killed and eaten by the animals. Poor Tala was so traumatized that she wouldn't talk anymore."

Olivia was about in tears, "Oh, Grandpa, that is so sad. Couldn't anyone do anything for them?"

"They all tried. Their grandparents tried, aunts tried and the pastor tried. But, Pedro had it in his head that he didn't want to live anymore and Tala didn't know better than to do anything but follow Pedro."

"So, what happened to them?" Arthur asked.

# CHAPTER FOURTEEN

"Well, when I was able to walk good enough to go outside, I would sit under a tree and watch the goings on of the village. The older men and the women were busy getting things to eat and taking care of babies. Every able-bodied man was gone. That left several of the kids to just mull around by themselves. I really wanted to help. But being almost a cripple, there was not much I could do. I busied myself by learning as much Tagalog as I could from the pastor so I could communicate, but that was slow going. He was busy helping them gather food and seeing to their spiritual needs.

"One day, I happened to spot a stray coconut that had fallen off of a wagon that the villagers were going to carry down the mountain to trade. With almost all of the children watching from various places around the village, I hobbled over to the coconut and scooped it up in my hand. I went to where several of them were and motioned for all of them to gather around in one place.

"I drew a line in the sand with the end of my cane and motioned for them to stay there. I hobbled a little ways away, drew another line in the sand and stood on the other side of it. I acted like I was going to throw them the coconut a couple of times and then I threw it up in the air and caught it. I said, 'catch.' I threw it up a couple of more times and each time I caught it I would say 'catch.'

"Then, I acted like I was going to throw it to them and I repeated 'catch.' A couple of them figured it out and somewhat put their hands out. I threw it to them. They all tried to catch it but got in each other's way. The coconut hit the ground behind the line and I yelled 'point.' Then, I walked over to the side of my line and drew a mark in the sand with my cane. I pointed to it and said 'my point.'

"One of them had picked up the coconut and I motioned for them to throw it toward me and motioned that it needed to go past my line to be a 'point.' The person threw it and it landed about three feet from the line and didn't roll across. They yelled, 'point.' I shook my head and said, 'No. No point.' I motioned to them that it had to go past my line.

"Pedro was one of the biggest children there. He yelled over to me, 'Ihagis ito' which is tagalog for 'throw it.' Even though I knew what he said, I made a funny face as if I didn't. I held out the coconut and yelled back the question, 'Throw it?' He answered with a smile, 'Ihagis ito.' I acted like I did not understand and asked again, 'Throw it?' He put his hands on his hips and said, 'Throw it,....... matanda.' That means 'old man' in Tagalog.

"The kids laughed and I saw some of the villagers snickering as they watched our antics. I threw it again and this time Pedro caught it. He yelled out in English 'no....point.' Everyone clapped for him and yelled 'no point' the best they could.

"Well, Mr. Macho held the coconut in one hand and pointed in my direction with the other hand. He started spouting in Tagalog something that I couldn't follow. Then, he got ready to throw it. All the other kids were cheering for him.

"He threw it, alright. That coconut went sailing over my head and bounced into the bushes. Pedro ran over to the side of his line and made a mark in the sand and proudly proclaimed, 'point.' All the children clapped and yelled for him some more.

"By the way that he was smiling at me, I was hoping that I was getting through to him. I hadn't seen him smile in the two weeks that I had been there. I dared to push my luck. I scowled the funniest mean scowl I could muster and pointed my cane at him. His eyes got real wide and his grin broadened. The kids pointed at him and spoke some kind of tagalog gibberish.

"Then with a swift move of my cane I pointed to where the coconut landed in the bushes. When he didn't move, I pointed to him again and swung it around to the coconut. He got the message. He trotted over to the bushes, found it and brought it back to me. Oh, boy was he proud of his accomplishment.

"I patted him on the back and called him 'abuting tao' which means 'good man.' Then, I said it in English, 'good man.' Pedro was just about beside himself with joy. He waved one hand in the air and beat on his chest with the other. As he stood on his tip-toes, he yelled with pride the English words, over and over, 'good man, good man.'

"I had to stop him by touching him on the shoulder. He looked up at me almost as if I had caught him doing something wrong. I put on a real pleading look and whimpered to him 'tulungan ninyo ako' which means 'help me.' You would have thought that he had been elected President of the United States or something.

"Pedro began to take charge a little bit. He would chase the coconut for me. He would throw it back to the other kids. He always had some kind of banter going back and forth with the others. He would bring me the coconut and say 'good man' a time or two. I would always praise him and repeat it back to him. When he saw me giving points to the others by missing the coconut and watching them cheer, he picked up on it really well. He would put on quite an act in trying to catch it but would wind up dropping it. He would act huffy and the others would cheer. Then, he would look at me and wink. I knew I was grabbing his heart but I had to find Tala to work on her, too.

"The ladies of the tribe had fixed us some lunch so we all walked to the center of the village to eat. Tala was sitting by herself in the corner of the cooking area. Pedro went over to her and held his hand out to her. She gladly stood up and grabbed hold of it and walked as close to him as she could. She looked as if she was on the verge of crying.

"The pastor told me that her expression had never changed from the day she had watched the soldiers beat her mother. Sometimes, she would start crying for no reason at all. Generally, Pedro would be the only one who could calm her down.

"Everyone but me sat cross-legged on the mat underneath the shelter that had been built to serve as their eating area. They brought me a stool that made it easier for me to get up and down with my bad leg.

"Pedro brought Tala over to me and sat down next to me. He rattled off something to Tala about me and patted me on my good leg as if we were best friends. There was a bowl of wild boar stew in front of everybody, and, there was their version of loaf bread sitting close by.

"Tala leaned up against her brother for protection and only piddled with her food. Pedro did his best to get her to eat. On a whim, I got the pastor to ask Pedro to put her in my lap and let me try to feed her. Boy, did she ever give me a weird look when she wound up in my arms.

"I bent over and took a piece of bread and dipped it in the stew. Carefully, I offered her a bite of it. She just sat there stone-faced and stared at me. I could see no emotion in her eyes at all. I took a bite of the bread and dipped it back into the stew. This time I put it on her lips and smeared a little to try to entice her to open her mouth. No dice. Just a stare.

"I ate the rest of it and then rubbed my stomach and said, 'Good.' Pedro was sitting where he could see her and he did the same thing and uttered the same English word, 'good.'

"The ice cracked a little bit when I saw a hint of a sparkle in her eyes. Gingerly, she stuck out her tongue and licked the stew that I had dabbed around her mouth. With this encouragement, I reached down for a piece of meat. I first put it up to my nose and made a show out of how good it smells. Then, I put it up to her nose. She actually bent her head down and smelled it just like I did. Out of the corners of my eyes, I noticed that the other adults were watching intently.

"Slowly and carefully, I bit off a piece of it and again I said, 'good.' As I held it up to her, she kept her eyes on me but slowly opened her mouth and took a small bite. I smiled at her and asked, 'good?' My heart jumped as I saw just a hint of a smile. I glanced at the pastor as I reached down to dip the remainder of the piece of meat in some more stew. He was smiling and nodding his head very gently.

"A bold plan began to form in my mind. Did it come from God? I don't know. Knowing what I now know about His leading, I would be inclined to say yes. I broke off another piece of bread and dipped it in the stew. This time, instead of lifting it straight to her mouth, I began bouncing it along up her leg and her arm and then to her mouth while I whistled a happy little tune.

"She shyly leaned her head up against my shoulder as the offering came nearer but she never took her eyes off of me. She looked straight into my face. By the time the bread was up to her mouth, she had already opened it to take a healthy bite. And all the time she watched my face. I held it up for her to take another bite after she had finished chewing the first one.

"Now get this, she held her finger up and tapped my lips a couple of times. I quickly tossed the piece into my mouth and made a big deal of it by saying. 'yu-u-u-u-u-m."

Tom stopped with a thin smile as he reached for his handkerchief again. Olivia guessed, "The ice must have melted. But, I should have known that. Ain't nobody able to resist my grandpa." She held on to his arm and laid her head back on his shoulder.

Arthur mimicked her move and agreed, "That's right. Nobody."

Tom started back up, "And, Arthur, you and Wendy would be proud of her. When she saw me throw that piece into my mouth she giggled. It was just a slight, 'tee-hee' but it was a giggle none the less. Her grandmother and her aunt sitting across from us threw their hands across their mouths to keep from saying anything to stop the moment.

"That gave birth to a bolder move. I reached in for a small piece of sinigang with is almost like a potato. This time, I made it float around in the air as if it was a bird. I tried my hand at whistling some bird-type songs. She watched with fascination as I made the piece flitter back and forth and then up and down. I acted like I was going to give it to her a time or two.

"She finally opened her mouth and I held it a little ways away from her. Keeping her eyes on me, she leaned forward and took the bite. I quickly pulled my hand away and said 'ouch.' I shook my hand in the air and put a funny frown on my face.

"Now get this. She giggled again and got down off of my lap and pulled out another piece of sinigang from the stew. Then she climbed back up into my lap and whirled it around in front of my face. When I opened my mouth, she teased me as I had done to her. When I gently took a bite, she snatched her hand away and said, 'ouch.' Everybody laughed and clapped their hands.

"The people made such a loud noise that it scared her. She stood real still and all the expression went out of her face. I pulled her back up into my lap and she did not resist. I shared my meal with her and then Pedro handed me her bowl. They told me that she ate more that day than they had ever seen her eat at any one meal."

"So what do you get when you combine a 2 year-old-and a good meal?" he asked.

Olivia answered, "A good long nap. She fell hard and fast asleep, I bet."

"Yep. She was as limp as a rag doll. Pastor helped me get up and I carried her over to a nice shady spot underneath some trees. Pedro brought me something for a pillow. I laid her on my chest and she slept for a couple of hours.

"Would you believe it, all the children came over and sat around quietly while she slept. Here comes another brain storm. I off-handedly had the pastor to ask Pedro who in village knew how to construct a bahay kubo."

"A huba what?" Arthur asked.

"A bahay kubo," Tom corrected. "It's the Filipino name for grass hut."

"Oh."

Fred started chuckling, "It's time you sent Arthur to bed, Liv, I feel a Tom special coming on."

"A what?" Olivia asked with a smile.

"I'm sure of it. I can tell by the look in his eyes. He is a con artist extraordinaire."

"Fred, I just asked the pastor to ask them a simple question, that's all."

"Tom Dandridge, you have never asked a simple question in your whole life," countered Fred. "You might have asked who knows how to build one. BUT, what you were actually asking was, 'Hey, guys, how about y'all going out and cutting the bamboo and leaves and do all the work to build me a huba huba, whatever?"

"It's bahay kubo, and ALL that I asked was who did they know," Tom said in his own defense.

They smiled at each other and Fred asked point blank, "What did they do?"

Tom raised his eyebrows and answered nonchalantly, "They, all ran away."

"To get their hatchets and machetes, I bet."

"Well, of course, how do you expect them to collect all of the material to build me a bahay kubo if they didn't take their machetes," Tom answered matter-of-factly.

Olivia and Ryan had been looking from Fred to Tom just like anyone would when two people talk to each other. However, after Tom's admission of guilt, they both looked at Arthur. Ryan looked at his wife and said, "Now we know."

She agreed as she looked at him and shook her head in the affirmative, "Yes. I must say that Grandpa's confession answers a lot of things we have been wondering about."

Arthur tried to look like Mr. Innocent and Too Cute, "But....me? What did I....you can't...."

Mom and Dad were smiling one of those you-know-it's-true smiles and shaking their heads 'yes.'

Mr. Stutterguss blabbed, "No...no.. I never...it..........." then he pointed to his great-grandfather, "it's his fault. See, he admitted it. I'm just an unwilling accomplice. Uh.....Grandpa could you finish the story? I'm really, really, interested. Really I am."

"The kids all ran to find machetes. The pastor was close by and heard everything. He motioned to one of the grandfathers to come and go with him to supervise. He came by me on the way into the jungle and told me that they may as well plan on a pretty good sized kubo because I might have quite a bit of company. I told him that I was hoping that that would be the case and shared with him my thoughts about Pedro and Tala. He readily agreed that God might be using me to rescue those two. No one else in the village seemed to be able to help them."

"It seems to me, Grandpa, that even though it wasn't under the best of conditions, God had you in the right place and at the right time," Ryan commented.

"You are so right, Ryan," Tom agreed. "It was never God's will for their father and mother to be taken from them. And, it was never God's will for Ellen, Billy and me to be separated either. Just the same, there we were, three lonely people in the middle of something we did not create. Through a set of circumstances, God poured his love through all three of us to fill up each other's empty glasses. When I finally did leave, those two were strong Christians in a village of strong Christians."

Fred summed it all up as he said, "If God had not had you, His willing vessel, there at the right time, could you just imagine where those two innocent children might have wound up? I shudder to think what would have happened to them."

"Amen to that," concluded Olivia.

# CHAPTER FIFTEEN

"If my memory serves me correct, that was approximately, February of 1945?" Fred asked.

"That's right."

He counted on his fingers before continuing, "You were there six months before the end of the war."

"That's correct, also," he answered. "From the day that the bahay kubo was finished, Pedro was my faithful roommate. But, Tala, on the other hand, wouldn't even come through the door. I don't know if it was because it was new, or different. That first night she preferred to sleep with her grandmother. The second night, Pedro and I started settling down to go to sleep when I heard a little voice coming up the path in the almost dark of the dying campfires. She was calling for malaki tatay. The villagers had been calling me malaking tao which means big man."

Olivia said, "Well, she wasn't that far off. How old was she, two?"

Tom looked at her with a real soft smile and answered, "Yes, she was two. BUT. Malaki tatay means........big daddy."

Olivia's mouth dropped open, "Oh, my gosh! She had started calling you daddy. Oh, Grandpa that was quite a breakthrough for that little girl." As she looked deep into his eyes she saw something else. "It was a breakthrough for you, too, wasn't it?" To hide the tears she knew would soon make their appearance, Olivia once again held his arm real tight and gently laid her head on his shoulder.

Tom could feel the warmth of her tears as they fell on his shirt. With a little difficulty, he opened up, "Honey, up until that time, I had spent hours agonizing with my memory. Was I married? Did I have any children? I just really didn't know. But, the moment I heard her voice calling for me, I knew that God had given me the responsibility to love and raise a little boy and a little girl. It had only been a fleeting thought in my mind before.

"Her innocent little voice calling me malaki tatay filled my heart with joy and gave me a purpose to live. I accepted with great peace the challenge that God put in my heart that night. I didn't know what the future would bring but I knew the 'right now.' And right now, I was going to pour my love and God's love into those two children. In return, they poured their love into me. Through God's love, we enjoyed some heaven right in the middle of the earth that had been unkind to the three of us.

"And, how was I to know that half a world away, God was going to send a godly man into the lives of my wife and son? Sin and man's ego caused us to be separated. It wasn't God's perfect will for us to be apart like that. Man got in the way and messed up something good. So, God got busy making all things work together for our good. And, He did.

"While I was busy building Pedro and Tala, God sent Brian to help Ellen build Billy. He got married and you came along. What God had instilled in Billy, God used to build something in you. What Billy taught you helped you to choose Ryan. And now, y'all are raising two wonderful children in a Godly manner. It's not God's perfect will but His will was still being accomplished. And, I would like to think that I had a part in what God brought about in your lives because I was obedient to Him when He asked me to be.

"That's why when the war was over, I refused to be taken to the Americans. I knew that there was a job for me to do. I didn't worry about the past because I couldn't remember it. I busied myself doing what I knew He wanted me to do right then and there. I left the future up to Him. It looks like all those separate paths have caused us to come full circle, now, hasn't it?"

Oops. What a time for Olivia's phone to ring. "Well, let me see who I can ignore," she cracked as she pulled the phone out of her pocket. "It's Elaine," she sang and quickly pressed the answer button and said very happily, "It's my sister. Oh, my grandfather? Why, here he is." Holding her hand over her mouth in a vain attempt to hold back her laughter she held the phone out to her grandfather and said, "Here." And, she promptly fell back on the couch a rolled off onto the floor laughing.

Tom was left holding a phone that he was expected to answer. He said as he pulled it to his ear, "That girl is the spittin' image of her grandmother. My Ellen would pull the same trick on me, except back then we had a party line and....well, I guess you wouldn't want to know the rest of what she did. Hi, this is Tom."

The voice on the other end asked, "Uh.......is this Mr..uh .. Olivia's grandfather?"

"Yes, it is. This must be the pastor's wife," he answered.

By this time, Olivia was laughing so hard that she had to crawl into the kitchen so that Tom could hear Elaine without having to listen around her laughter. Arthur had already climbed in his daddy's lap and the two were trying to keep from howling themselves. Fred didn't even try. He went outside.

Elaine went on, "I'm not surprised at anything that girl would do, Mr. Dandridge. As a matter of fact, I could fill you in on a few thousand things she's done just since I've known her. She is a pure joy to be around."

"Yes, Ma'am, I can see that for sure. But, please call me Tom. Mr. Dandridge makes me sound so old and I'm only 82."

"OK, Tom," Elaine chuckled back to him. "Just tell that cackler when she gets through with that egg she's laying to make sure she reads her e-mail before going to bed. She can do that and laugh at the same time. I'll let y'all get back to your fun. And, Tom, Jim and I can't wait to meet you. I hope you're planning on staying around some."

"Well, since God brought things out the way He did, it looks like I'll be a permanent resident until He decides to take me home."

That stopped the laughter for a few jaw-dropping moments, and then it was Arthur jumping out of his dad's lap and running to hug his grandpa and then to his mother and then to his daddy and then he went outside to find Fred. It's a good thing a policeman wasn't walking by at that moment. He might have arrested Arthur for assault and battery on poor old Fred. That boy was in a tizzy.

"It's going to be a long time before that kid settles down to go to bed," Tom stated.

"I guess I'd better get off this phone so y'all can corral that little mustang. Have a good evening, Tom. Good-bye."

"Good-by. Elaine."

Olivia settled down enough to ask, "What did she say?"

As he stood up to bring her the phone, Tom answered, "She just said to check your e-mail before going to bed. She knew that you could do that while you're laughing."

Ryan got up also and declared, "I guess I'd better go rescue Fred. And, it sounds like I need to pull the fuse on Arthur, real gentle like. He IS going to take some unwinding before he hits the sheets tonight."

As he walked toward the door, Ryan pointed his finger toward Tom and warned, "I hope you're in good shape, Grandpa. That boy has a tendency to wear people out."

As Olivia came over to get another bear hug from her new 'fella,' Tom admitted, "It surely looks like I've lit the fuse on a hot little powder keg doesn't it?"

"He's alright, Grandpa," Olivia said as she held him and swayed back and forth for a moment. "Hmmmmm, Grandpa.......Grandpa......... You don't know how long I've waited to say that."

Tom observed, "Throughout the evening, you have made it seem as if you have been expecting me. Am I just being egotistical?"

"No, Grandpa," she whispered with a little quiver in her voice. "Whether anyone else believed it as hard as I did or not, I knew you would come. BUT" she leaned away from him to beam a smile at him to let him know her word was final, "we'll talk about that tomorrow."

The three amigos were coming through the door about that time. Fred butted in, "I know you're going to monopolize his time all day tomorrow....."

"And the day after that, and the day after that, and the day after that until I finally get tired of the old goat," she said with a giggle. But, she didn't let go of him.

"Well, I guess the better question would be, what time tomorrow are you going to start monopolizing his day?" Fred asked

She broke her hold just far enough to look at him seriously and say, "Uh,.....you know it will be around 9:30 now that I think of it. I will have to get Mr. Blister up and off to school."

"Aw, Mom, can't you declare it an official holiday or something?" whined you know who.

"No, no, no, sport. I know you'll have him in the evenings and on the weekends, so during the day......he's mine," she answered a nod of her head for emphasis.

Then to Fred she said, "I will also need to go by the bank and pick up a few items. And, tonight, I'll e-mail Elaine for her and Jim to come over for breakfast and we can plan this Sunday's dinner on the grounds in my grandpa's honor."

Tom started to argue, "Now, Olivia, I really don't want......"

Fred interrupted him, "Wait a minute, Tom." He walked over and picked up Tom's coffee cup. "Here ya go. You and that coffee cup are good friends by now. And, you'll have more luck trying to talk it out of being a coffee cup than you will trying to talk her out of something she set her mind to."

Tom took a long look at her. She just crossed her arms, tilted her head to the side and smiled. Finally he gave in. He smiled a defeated smile and sighed and he took her in his arms again, "As long as you're alive..........Ellen Dandridge will never die. You are just like her for the world."

"Then my daddy did a good job of raising me, didn't he?'"

"You betcha, Darling," Tom readily admitted. "Well, Fred, it looks like we're going to have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. Would you mind dropping me off at the hotel?"

"I'd be glad to. After all it is past my bed time. Good night, all"

Good nights were said. Hugs were passed around several times. Arthur reminded Tom of everything under the sun that Tom wasn't going to forget anyway. You could tell he was tired and sleepy although he refused to admit it. It got to be real funny as he began stumbling over his words. So, Olivia scooted Tom and Fred out so they could all go to sleep.

As they got into the car Fred suggested, "Why don't I pick you up at 6 a.m. I have two reasons. The first one is we need to find you a place to live instead of staying at the hotel. Personally, I don't think you need to be staying with Liv and them. You'll probably need a place to stretch out and relax a bit."

"I'm all for that," Tom admitted as he strapped himself into the passenger's seat.

"Second of all," he continued, "we will need to go back to the bakery in the morning for a couple of cups of coffee before Liv picks you up. We need to find a way to introduce you to the folks as Tom Dandridge and break the news to them gently. I guarantee you that by 9 a.m. the Elmhurst tele-woman broadcasting network will have the latest news burning on the wire. Those ladies at the church are great about planning a feast and the food is plentiful as well as delicious. But, Tom, you know as well as I do that in every bevy of women, there's two or three that have tongues that would reach from here to Jacksonville, Florida and back."

Tom laughed at the way that Fred told the truth and added, "And we might even find some men coming in knowing more than we do about my past."

Fred laughed along with him, "You're probably right. Still, the bakery is where a lot of the men meet. It's kind of a tradition, that if someone has an important announcement, they don't wait to put it in the paper, they tell it at the bakery over a cup of coffee. For example, if you want to get elected in this town, the first place it needs to be known is at the bakery. If you don't, you will lose by a landslide no matter how good you are."

"Then things haven't changed much since I was here," replied Tom. "I remember my dad telling me about it. I remember thinking that it was the dumbest thing you could ever do. Yet, when Ellen and I actually set the date for our wedding, I was there when the doors opened at 5:30. That's when it was The Elmhurst Café. Remember that, Fred?"

"Yes, and I remember who laughed the loudest when you made your announcement."

"Who was that?"

"Your father. He fell out of his chair laughing."

"Oh, yeah. As he was getting up off the floor he was making fun of me, wasn't he? 'Telling everybody in the café. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard of.' And then he finished by pointing at me and saying, 'So look who's dumber than dumb now.' He was some man," Tom finished.

Fred pulled the car into the entrance of the hotel lobby and stopped close to the door. "Do you want me to call you in the morning?"

"Not necessary, my friend," Tom replied. "I am automatically up at 4:30 every morning to pray and study. Been doing it for years and don't seem to want to break the habit. I'll be right here at 6."

"Ok. G'night, Tom."

"Good night, Fred. And thanks."

"No, Tom. Thank you and welcome home, my brother."

Tom watched Fred pull out onto the street and on down toward the high school. He said out loud, "Home. Lord, I guess you did bring me full circle." Then, he went up to his room for a restful night's sleep.

Little did he know that God was not through drawing the circle. There was a lot more for Him to show to Tom and a lot more healing to be done. God was a long way from being through with Tom's circle.

****************************

When 4:30 a.m. got there, Tom was eager to get up. There were a lot of things he needed to talk to God about. Just when he thought he had things all figured out, God makes a right turn. That's right and not wrong, as opposed to right and not left.

He put on that little pot of coffee that they always put in these rooms and sat down to read his daily portion of scriptures. During his first cup, he closed his eyes and began to sing some worship choruses that were dear to him. For the past several months two songs had started his day, Amazing Love and Word of God Speak. This morning, his heart overflowed as the words echoed louder in his heart than ever before.

Ever since those two songs came out last year, they reverberated in his soul. It was if the two song writers had looked into his heart and wrote what they saw. He began to pour out his heart to his Father as he always did. This time he was interceding in behalf of his own family. Prayer now took on a different vibrancy than it had before. And as Tom took time to wait before the Lord, he felt stronger than ever the "unction" of the Holy Spirit, the definite sense that he was at the right place at the right time.

He glanced at the clock on the table and he realized that Fred would be there in fifteen minutes. He had to get a quick e-mail to Philip.

My Son,

I have only a few minutes to write to you. God has graciously

put me in contact with my family and it is wonderful. I can't

tell you how great it feels to know that they accept me. Yes,

I am going to be moving to Elmhurst. I feel that God would

have me minister to my great-grandson. Just like He did with

you, I feel like He's got a special job for Arthur to do. If you

don't mind, would you have some movers come to pack and

store my things? Y'all can keep the furniture if you'd like. It

would be too much to try to get it down here. I will be very

busy for the next couple of days, so I will probably keep my

phone off. Send me e-mail. When I get to a private place

where I can be alone to talk to you I will tell you more.

I love you more than you could ever know.

Dad

He shut off the computer, unplugged the coffee pot, took one last look in the mirror to make sure he looked OK and then out the door he went.

Tom got outside with a minute and a half to spare. When Fred pulled up, he got into the car, buckled up and asked, "First stop the news room?"

"No. I thought we would do a little house hunting first. Being the tax assessor, I get the inside scoop on what's available and at what price. Plus, I wanted to show you what I thought you would really love," Fred said.

Tom thought for a second just as Fred started to slow down in front of a home. "Let's go straight to the special one you were thinking about. You and I have always thought on the same track."

"That suits me fine," Fred commented as he sped up. "Let me tell you about it while I'm driving out to it. First of all I own it so I can make it as available as I want. Second, it's a fishing cabin not too far from the fork in the river that the town was originally named for. Your folks used to have a log cabin up that way a long time ago, didn't they?"

"Yes, sir. From what my daddy used to tell me, it was about a quarter of a mile back from the fork so that the spring rains wouldn't overflow the river into it."

"Well, this one is situated on about a fifteen foot high bank with a real deep fishing spot right underneath it right in the crook of the river. We used to go swimming there, remember?"

"How could I forget? Remember that time I took Jud's dare to dive off that bluff into the deep part of that pool?"

"Yeah, and you lost your swimming trunks and all the girls screamed and laughed."

"I remember they screamed and laughed all right but not the first one offered to turn their heads so I could get my shorts and put them back on. AND, you boys sent the slowest swimmer out to bring my pants to me while I treaded water until I was about out of breath."

"It was funny wasn't it?"

"Where did days like that go, Fred?"

"I don't know, Tom. Kids have a different way of having fun, I reckon."

"Fred, let me tell you a secret. I've dealt with kids from pre-teens to teens to young adults for almost forty years. When I can get them into doing some of the things you and I used to do and they see a clean way of having fun, most of them settle down and they actually listen to what I say."

"They like to do some of those things?"

"Fred, when I introduce them to those tricks we used to pull, they 'invented' some new things themselves. Only, it's some of the 'old' things we used to do."

Fred chuckled at his old friend, "Tom, you're just as slick as you ever were."

"No, Fred," Tom countered, "it's just that God knows more about human nature than we do. He created us all and if we as leaders would just learn how to listen to Him, He will more than gladly show us how to get to these young people."

"Tom that is the most interesting statement I have ever heard."

"It works. Listening to God works every time."

Fred pulled off the main road and started up a small gravel incline. The road meandered for about a mile and then it stopped beside a little wooden framed cabin sitting up on concrete blocks. It had a screened in porch overlooking the 'swimming hole' they had been talking about.

"My gosh, Fred. You must know me like a book. This place is beautiful. I love it. I mean, I really love it." Tom stopped and turned his head from side to side and commented, "Can't hear a whole bunch of cars now can you?"

"No, but you sure can hear those motorcycles when they start those tour groups in the spring and the fall," lamented Fred. "Other than that, the crickets and frogs will drown out anything else. C'mon inside and let's take a look around."

As they stepped up on the porch, Tom couldn't help but notice how solid the porch felt underneath him. Fred held the door open for him. He walked through and stood there looking at a fairly spacious living room. At the opposite end of the room was a breakfast bar with three bar stools pulled up to it. Behind that was a kitchen that was only big enough for one person to walk into. He could see the back porch through the glass in the back door.

Fred said to him, "Watch the curtains, Tom." He closed the door and every curtain in the room moved. Tom could feel the pressure change in his ears.

"You've got this thing just about air tight, don't you?"

"Sure do. It doesn't take much to heat or cool. The kitchen looks small but there's all kinds of room to store stuff. It has two bedrooms and each bedroom has its own full bath. Right now I have three sets of bunk beds in each bedroom to accommodate the people that rent this thing in fishing and hunting season."

"There's no use looking anywhere else, Fred. I like this place and I'll pay whatever you want for it. I worked mighty hard for the government and they have been good to me."

"It's yours, Tom. I'll tell my secretary to take it off the rental market and to tell people it is unavailable at any price. Frankly, I've been getting tired of renters for the past couple of years."

Tom walked through the house and looked at the bedrooms. He went through the kitchen and out on the back porch. It was screened in also. However, a great big oak tree shaded it from the sun. He reached out and gave a wooden rocking chair a tip forward to watch it rock. "You know, this would be a mighty quiet place to be alone. It would be far enough away from the distractions of life so that you could keep somebody's attention. The bunk beds would make it ideal for Arthur to bring his friends out to have some fun."

Fred scratched the back of his head and smiled real big and he asked, "Say, Tom. Do you remember when the best time would be to go snipe hunting?"

With a knowing smile of his own, he boldly declared, "If my memory serves me correct, the best time to hunt snipe is on the first weekend after football season."

"Then we've got three or four weeks to prepare, my brother. Let's go grab some coffee and make a few plans before Olivia gets there," Fred suggested as he headed for the door.

Tom fairly skipped down the steps of the front porch and surveyed the area as he waited for Fred. As Fred went over to the driver's side of the car, Tom said with a sideways grin on his face, "Fred, it sure is good to be home."

Fred stopped as he noticed the grin he hadn't seen in fifty years. He shook his head in the affirmative and said slowly, "Tom, you haven't changed a bit."

They both got into the car and Tom answered, "Why should I, Fred. Why should I?"

# CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Tom and Fred were in the middle of chit-chatting when Tom's phone rang. As he reached for it he commented, "I said that I was going to turn it off but I didn't now did I? This has got to be from Phil." He looked at the ID. "Yep, I should have figured. Hello, my boy. What are you doing up this early?"

"I'm checking my e-mail for one thing."

"Well, now that only proves that you can read but how's your comprehension? Was I using words with too many syllables again?"

"You never quit, do you, Dad?"

"Why?"

"You got in touch with your family, huh?"

"God did it, son. I was just along for the ride. As a matter of fact, He had planned it so well that I had to hold on. It was almost like a roller coaster. If I had an hour or two, I would explain it all."

"Dad, you might just get that hour or two in about four weeks. The company is sending Sweetie and me to Hawaii for a four week vacation. Plus, there's this little bit of yearly training they want me to do. How do you like that for some perks?"

"Sounds like you work for a pretty shoddy outfit to me. Why don't you dump them and get a real job? And, send me an application while you're at. I could probably do what you do."

"Enough of the chit chat, Dad. Give me an address that you're going to be at between 6 and 7 o'clock this afternoon. Sweetie and I are headed your way with the Explorer. We're going to catch a flight out of Atlanta about 6 a.m. tomorrow so it certainly looks like God is working everything out just like an airline schedule."

"I would say that you don't have to do that, but that fits only too well into what's going on and I desperately need some wheels. Especially to get up to the place I'm going to be moving to."

"Oh, yeah? Are you moving out into the woods somewhere?"

"My old classmate has a fishing cabin down by the old swimming hole that he's been wanting to pawn off on somebody and I guess I'm about as much of a somebody as there is."

"Wow, Dad that sounds like the perfect place to kick back and relax. When, Sweetie and I get back from Hawaii, we'll slip back over there and spend some time rompin' the backwoods of Georgia with you, and the rest of OUR family. Anyway, we'll bring your clothes, fishing stuff, pots and pans and whatever when we come. We'll pack just enough to fill up the back cargo area. That way you can unload it as you want to. But, a moving company? No way, I'll get with the pastor and get some of the folks from the church to pack up for you. What we can't get into the Explorer, we'll store for you until you get settled. Just leave it to me and Sweetie. We'll take care of everything for you."

Tom was about to object when Philip stopped him, "And, if you start with this 'Aw, you don't have to do that' stuff, I'll get Jeanette out of bed to straighten you out. You know what a growly bear she can be first thing in the morning don't you?"

Tom chuckled, "Please don't do that. I might be able to argue with her over the phone but when she got here she would skin me alive."

"And I would hold you, you old coot. Let me go so I can get everything done before we have to leave."

The light came on, "Wait. Did you say four weeks?" Tom almost yelled.

Fred read a whole lot into that question and his eyes got real big as a smile played across his face. He echoed the statement, "Dear God in Heaven, I can't believe said four weeks. Look out Arthur Hollis."

Tom went on in a conniving tone, "Say.......uh.....Philip. What do you say that we treat the boys with a snipe hunt when you come back?"

After a moment of silence Phillip finally came back, "Da-a-a-a-d! Don't tell me that you're going to take your great-grandson on a snipe hunt the first month you've met him. Jeepers. Can't you break him in gently? Maybe let him get used to you?"

"If I wait to let him get used to me, he would smell a rat. And besides, I'm waiting for you to get here so you can help me."

"Oh, that'll be great. He'll think I'm some kind of monster pulling something on him like that."

"Son, you'd be no such of a thing. Wait 'til you meet him. He is one special honcho, I'm telling you. Just like I knew you were when I met you," Tom answered. "And, Olivia........a-a-h-h-h, she reminds me so-o-o much of my Ellen. She married a fantastic Godly man. I can tell that he loves her and the family very deeply. Oh my gosh, don't let me forget about little Wendy. She is the cutest little red head that I have ever seen." There was a slight pause and he continued in a softer tone, "Son, it's better than I ever imagined."

Hearing the seriousness of his voice, Philip toned his voice down a notch also, "I can't wait to meet them, Dad. What was that you always told us? Exceeding abundantly above all we could ask or think? Well, there ya' go. Now, let me get off this phone and go wake up the growly bear and tell her. She won't be growly for very long. She'll probably let out one of those high pitched squeals and spin round and round like a top before she jumps in my arms and gives me a big kiss. A-a-a-n-n-d if that's the case let me get off the phone right now."

"Now who's the one that never changes?"

"Yep. I must get if from my daddy."

"Then you're an absolute scoundrel. You go wake up that girl and make sure you plant one on her for me."

"Not a chance. She's all mine. You can get yours this afternoon. Are you going to warn everybody that we're coming?"

"Fred here is the only one who is going to know. You will be an absolute, high-powered surprise to my granddaughter and my great-grandson."

"You're an 'A Number One' snake in the grass. You know it?"

"Wouldn't change for the world."

"Don't you even dare Dad. I love you. Good-bye."

"Good-bye, Son and I love you, too."

Tom couldn't help but chuckle as he hung up from the conversation and put his phone on silent. "That boy's a case, I'll tell you."

As Fred pulled into a parking spot in front of the bakery, he said, "That's the pot calling the kettle black. Now, correct me if I'm wrong. Even though you call him Son, he's not really, is he?"

"That's correct. I met him when he was an alcoholic fourteen-year-old and was able to lead him to Jesus. Uh....after a few battles of course. I did date his mother for a while but she was still so much in love with his father. And, I have always been in love with my Ellen. She couldn't get over him and I couldn't get over Ellen. That was that. We were good friends, though."

Fred continued his interrogation, "Now my Sherlock Holmes sense lets me gather from the snippets of that conversation that you are not going to tell the whole story to Olivia right off the bat, am I correct?"

"You can read me like a book, can't you?"

"What are you going to do when you tell her the truth? I know you can't run that fast."

"I'll cross that bridge when I get to it, Fred. Let's go have some coffee and get the news flash over with."

It was just about 7:30 and the place was pretty much packed. Fred went ahead of Tom and started to make his customary signal to Big Ed. However, Big Ed beat him to the punch. "The Lieutenant saw you two cruising the streets and we figured that y'all would be in here pretty quick. Here let me pour you these two cups and give me the high sign when you're ready for another."

Tom said as he waited for Ed to pour his cup, "This is what I call good service, Fred."

Fred answered, "Ed's always treated his customers right. That's why everybody loves to come here. Isn't that right, Ed?"

"You bet," Ed replied as he filled up Fred's cup. With his other hand, he gently touched Tom's arm until he got his attention. Fred noticed, also. Ed silently mouthed his comment, "Welcome home." Then he slightly nodded his head toward the group of men.

Fred, also, silently mouthed his question, "They already know?"

Ed took a quick look toward the crowd. Only a couple were watching and smiling. He stuck his thumb and pinky out from his fist and held it up to his ear to imitate a phone. He clanked his teeth together and wiggled his hips to indicate the tele-woman network had beat him to the punch.

There was nothing for Fred and Tom to do but to make it official. The two of them stood there and put the fixins in their coffees while Fred came up with the proper words for the announcement. After stirring a lot longer than what was necessary, he turned toward the crowd and prepared to make the announcement. Tom took a deep breath.

Before a word came out of his mouth, he was interrupted by Frank Bunyon. He stood up with his coffee cup in his hand and opened by saying, "We already know about you. We don't understand EVERY decision you made, but we do understand that you had your reasons. On behalf of the citizens of Elmhurst, or at least these at Ed's Bakery, welcome home, Tom Dandridge."

Applause broke out in the group and Tom couldn't help but well up with tears. He had never expected to be understood for the decisions he had made. He actually had expected to be ridiculed by some. But, to be welcomed by the men at the un-official meeting place was an honor he had not expected.

Frank continued as he swung his coffee cup towards two tables filled with young U.S. Army Rangers. "These men are not AWOL as some might think. Capt. Reddick and some of our local troops have the official permission of their commanding officer to sit here and shoot the.......be late for duty today. The 6th Ranger Battalion and its mission are very well known to a lot of us who have studied WW 2. The fact that only one hundred of you brand new trainees rescued over 500 of our POWs is a story that all of us would like to hear. We're proud of you Tom. We've got a place all ready for you."

Indeed they did. Right in the middle and close to the soldiers sat a couple of empty chairs. As they made their way, someone took Tom's coffee cup for him so he could shake hands with those nearby. He made absolutely sure that he shook the hands of every one of the Rangers that were present.

The next two hours were filled with questions from the soldiers. The old timers knew that if they were patient, the question they wanted to ask most would probably come up.

The soldiers especially wanted to know if Col. Mucci was as rough and tough as he was made out to be. Tom told them a couple of personal stories that assured the troops the Colonel was the type of trainer the history books said he was. They wanted to know everything Col. Mucci put them through to get them battle ready.

All of them had been through combat training but they went through it with modern equipment. They were interested in how he trained them with just a jungle for a base. As Tom enlightened them to the things the history books left out, they were amazed at their resourcefulness. Then, they wanted to know every detail of the rescue or as much as Tom knew.

As he knew it would, the conversation eventually turned to his amnesia. He explained things the best that he knew how. Then the question came. One of the old timers asked, "Why didn't you come back home after you got your memory back?" The bakery got real quiet. That question was in the back of everybody's mind but no one really thought it was any of their business to ask. But, it got asked.

Tom noticed the tension and set everyone at ease with his first statement. "That's a fair question and it deserves a fair answer." However, time had taught Tom that to settle someone's mind over a tough question you had to lead him with questions that he had to answer himself. It was a technique he used quite often in leading someone to Jesus.

"I had amnesia for eight years and spent two years in and out of Walter Reed Army Medical Center for operations and therapy. That's a total of ten years. Ellen re-married five years after I was declared dead. Doesn't seem that she was in any hurry, now does it? As a matter of fact, she married the assistant pastor of Elmhurst Christian Church. I think she chose pretty well, didn't she?

"Brian was also the assistant football coach at the high school. He worked with the team and worked with my son and they won the state championship one year. That's pretty impressive for a small town, isn't it? When I came back to the states, I was basically a cripple for a couple of years. It actually took five whole years before I could say that I had fully recovered from my injuries.

"Let's suppose I came back into their lives when my son was just getting into high school football. Ellen and Brian would have been married for about five years. I would have been a cripple for a couple of more years. Would Ellen feel like she should be with me to help me? Some of you old timers know her just as well as I do. She had a heart as big as all outdoors. What would that have done to their marriage? Or to the church? Would Billy drop out of football to be with his dad and miss out on everything you saw him accomplish?"

Tom rubbed his finger around the top of his coffee mug for a minute before he ended the conversation. He needed the listeners to really think about what he said. He finished in a real soft, solemn tone, "Boys, it was harder for me to stay away from the two people I loved the most than it was to come back barging into their lives again. So far as I knew, I was the only one that knew I was alive. God had blessed them to continue on with their lives and my wife and son were happy. I finally came to the conclusion that I could bear my sorrow. And, I could not stand the thought of causing the two darlings of my life any confusion or hurt. That's why I stayed away like I did. I vowed never to interrupt anything that God had in mind for them until God put it on my heart to return."

Captain Reddick stood up and said, "Sgt. Dandridge, if anyone has any objections to that argument, he'll have to deal with us about it. C'mon guys, we've got a report to make to the CO." As the soldiers rose and started making their way to the door of the bakery he pointed his finger at Tom, "As for you, Sergeant, I'm going to get with the CO and see if we can get you called up to active duty. You'll be hearing from him. I promise."

Tom laughed as he rose to shake his hand, "Whatever you need me to do, just let me know. I'll be proud to serve with you."

As the last soldier was going out the door, Tom saw Olivia pull into the lane so he didn't even bother to sit down. Ed saw her, too. With a big booming voice, he announced as she came through the door, "Hey, boys, Capt. Reddick is leaving to go see his CO. Tom, your commander-in-chief just came in looking for you."

Olivia furrowed her eyebrows and shook her head up and down as she walked up to her grandpa to give him a big hug and kiss. She looked around at the whole crowd who were just sitting there smiling at her. "I know you guys have heard by now. But, you may or may not know that he is going to be speaking this Sunday morning at the Elmhurst Christian Church." She turned in a circle waiving her finger as she finished with a big smile, "And, don't make me come in here next Monday morning to have to deal with any of ya. You got it?"

The place roared with laughter as she hooked her arm in Tom's and led him on out the door. Someone started the cadence call of 'Hut, two, three, four, Hut, two, three, four." Olivia just raised her hand and waved without even looking backward.

When they got outside and headed toward her car, Tom poked at her, "Did you ever think about running for mayor? Sounds like you'd only have to make a couple of speeches like that to win."

She got in, put on her seat belt and cranked the car. She answered, "Nope. I'd have to work with guys like Frank Bunyon, now wouldn't I?"

"You have a good point, Sweetie."

Olivia pulled into their driveway and said, "Jim and Elaine will probably have everything all fixed and ready. All we'll have to do is sit down, eat and talk." Olivia came within a millisecond of telling Tom something else, but right now, she didn't have the courage. She picked up a package that was on the seat next to her and exited the car. As she started up toward the house she agonized within herself as to JUST WHEN she would have the courage. God had to do it.

The pastor opened the door for them as they came up the steps to the porch. Olivia announced, "Grandpa, this is Rev. Jim Wallace and his wife Elaine."

Tom stuck out his hand to greet him but Jim pushed it aside to embrace the long, lost member of the flock as he said, "I'm sorry, but a handshake just won't do, my friend. Welcome home, Mr. Dandridge."

His wife, Elaine, waited patiently beside them for her turn to embrace Tom. However, she had to stand on her tiptoes to hug his neck and give him a little kiss on the cheek. God had cut her pattern just a little bit too short, if you know what I mean. "Yes, welcome home," she managed through a few tears.

Tom was somewhat overwhelmed and almost embarrassed at the attention. He cleared his throat before saying, "I never expected this kind of a reception when I came to Elmhurst."

Jim countered, "Tom, you should know that the Lord has divine appointments that He just doesn't want to tell us about beforehand. It seems like He always wants to surprise us with something."

"That's for sure," Tom responded. "And I might add, I believe He's been working overtime on me since I got here."

"He knew you could handle it or He would not have brought you on this path," Elaine added.

Olivia put her little package on the buffet and said, "I say let's find a place, ask the blessing and get to eating." And, so they did.

During breakfast, Jim and Tom talked about the service Sunday morning. Jim was going to give Tom as much time as he wanted to deliver whatever God would have him to say. Tom was grateful and pretty much flabbergasted that so much fuss would be made over him. And, he insisted that Jim, the elders and the worship team be ready for an altar call.

Tom stated emphatically, "Jim, any time people meet together to worship the Lord is a great time to invite someone to know Him as their personal Savior. I don't mind giving my testimony and I'll do it without preaching. I used to hate it when windbags would get up in the pulpit and do that."

There was a chorus of "amens" at the table.

He continued, "There is no way that I can give ANY part of anything that has happened to me over the past fifty years without declaring God's irresistible love for me. And, if anyone is there who would like to respond to His love, I'll be glad to pray with them until they are satisfied with their relationship." Then he added, "Even if the food gets cold."

Jim looked around the table and quipped, "That's a mighty big order, Tom."

Tom smiled and looked him in the eye, "It's not worth losing a soul over doing it any other way."

"You're absolutely right and that's the way it will be," declared Jim. "I will let my elders and the worship team know that they need to be prepared to stay until the job gets done."

When the meal was over, the ladies began clearing the table as Tom and Jim went over a few things about the Sunday service. After the ladies sat down, it all got quiet. Something was up.

Olivia started off in a little bit lower tone, "Uh, grandpa, you know that I wanted to spend most of the day with you by myself. But, there's a special reason I asked them over. There's something I......that Daddy left....." her voice began to break as she got up from the table and went to the buffet.

Tom looked at Jim with questions in his eyes. Jim reached over and grabbed Tom's hand and said, "It's going to be OK, Tom, it's going to be OK."

When Olivia turned around, she handed a manila envelope to Tom and said, "This is another reason I asked Jim and Elaine over. These are from Daddy..........to you."

Tom was totally caught off guard, "Me? Billy wrote to me?" He took the envelope from Olivia and opened it. Inside were several sheets of notebook paper that had yellowed with age. Gingerly he took them out.

Jim offered, "Tom, why don't you tell us about the day you came by the house. I think it would do all of us some good, especially you."

Tom smiled a nervous smile as he answered, "Out of all the guys that I have helped overcome their issues of the past, and now I have become one of them." He looked at Jim and Elaine across from him.

Olivia noticed the worried look and reached out for his hand, "Grandpa, it's gonna be OK. I....we believe this will help you close the past. There's something you don't know. But, you have to lead us through the story as you saw it, first. OK?"

Tom gently shook his head, "I know it, Honey. I know it." He gathered up a smile at everyone and began, "I was being transferred from Walter Reed to an Army hospital in Alabama when I talked them into taking a side journey on the way. I asked the driver to park a couple of blocks from the house and just let me walk a bit as if I was taking a stroll. I had been getting a copy of the local paper so I knew about Brian and Ellen. There had been a couple of stories about Billy, too. I don't know exactly what I wanted to see, or what I should expect to happen. I guess it was one of those things where you step out and just see what God will do."

# CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

"About half a block away, I got a glimpse of Billy running through the side yard and catching a football." The old gentleman smiled as he remembered. "He had my old helmet on. I could tell it was still just a little too big for him at the time. I continued walking until I could see both of them. Brian sure had a good arm. I stopped and leaned up against a big oak tree and just watched.

"Ellen came out and sat on the porch steps." Tom stopped and took a deep breath before he continued, "The moment I saw her, my heart started racing. My face felt like it was almost on fire. I knew I must have been blushing or something."

He looked at Olivia as a tear rolled down his cheek and said, "Oh, Honey. Ten years had been very kind to your grandmother. She was as pretty as ever." He chuckled as he wiped away the tear. But it was no use. Another one quickly took its place."

He looked at his cup of coffee and tilted it back and forth as he searched for the words. Finally he said, "After each operation at Walter Reed Hospital, I would be practically immobile for a couple of days. So, to keep from taking so many pain pills, I would ease my mind by remembering the good times she and I had together." He looked at Jim and smiled as he continued, "I'm telling you, she would laugh such an infectious laugh that you couldn't help but laugh along with her. I could always recall the way she would say my name,....... or, say 'I love you."

Olivia snickered and quickly covered her mouth. However, the twinkle in her eye told Tom the secret was out. She apologized, "I'm sorry, Grandpa, I didn't mean to interrupt you."

"She told you, huh?" he asked as a smile brightened his face.

Olivia couldn't help but laugh. Jim and Elaine looked at the two of them with half-smiles not knowing what to say but really wanting to ask. She answered her grandfather, "Grandma only told me a thousand times but always when we were alone. AND," she added with a big grin, "always with a smile and always with a big red blush."

Tom looked at the pastor and his wife as he admitted, "I guess I may as well tell you, then. This was the sweetest of my thoughts. When we embraced, Ellen just dearly loved to whisper 'I love you' with her lips just barely touching my ear. Then, she would nibble on my ear. I have to confess. That is the ONLY ticklish spot that I have. I would practically go into spasms when she would do it. When I would try to keep her from doing it, she would raise her eyebrows and tilt her head as if she was waiting for an answer and she would say, 'But, Tom, I just want to say I love you. Surely you wouldn't refuse your own wife her heart's desire would you?"

Elaine agreed as she leaned back in her chair and laughed, "And you felt compelled to allow her didn't you?"

"I would virtually be screaming and wallowing in the floor with her on top of me. She would not let up until both of us were crying from laughing so hard." A bitter-sweet smile remained as he said, "Thoughts about those times kept me going during the whole painful process."

A long, deep sigh escaped from the old soldier as he paused to take a sip of his coffee and gather his thoughts. The others at the table sat still and remained silent. Everyone wanted to allow Tom to come out of the past at his own speed.

He knew they were waiting on him, and in a sense, he was waiting on himself, also. His past experience with war-torn soldiers prodded him into continuing to sort out his feelings. He knew that exposing these time-hidden prisons of emotion to loved ones was the only key to unlock their doors so he could walk out of them. For the first time in his life, Tom desperately wanted to be free so he could carry on the work the Lord had in store for him. Carefully, he went on.

"I wanted to go over and say something to her. But....I...what would I say? How awkward would that be? Besides, my knees were hurting so bad, that I knew I couldn't walk that far anyway. Humph. The once, tall and straight Tom Dandridge was now using two canes to hobble around. I had a scraggly beard and wore a pair of sunglasses. I looked more like an old hobo than the man she married."

A sweet little smile played with his countenance as he continued, "It was funny to hear them talk. Ellen was telling Brian not to throw it so hard. Billy was telling his mom that he had to get used to hard throws. Brian laughed as he asked who he was supposed to listen to. The banter went back and forth with laughs and shouts of encouragement.

Then, after Ellen got on to Brian for throwing it hard again," Tom paused for a moment and gulped, he finished softly, "I heard my Billy complain, 'Aw, Mom, I asked Brian to throw it hard. I want to be as good as my daddy.' I didn't know if I wanted to laugh or cry when I realized that he wanted to be like me. Can you beat that? I would have thought that he would have called Brian, Daddy."

Olivia explained, "Brian wouldn't have it any other way, Grandpa. He told him that he only had one daddy and that was you. He saw no harm in the world in being called by his first name. My daddy deeply respected Brian for that. I believe it made him closer to Brian in a way."

Tom got quiet for a moment and just stared into his coffee cup. Everyone was quiet. No one had any idea what to say to this aching heart. His face brightened as he continued, "About that time, I heard Brian say, 'Go long' and there went Billy tearing out toward the front of the house." He chuckled as he continued, "I watched a tall, lanky twelve-year-old stretch his long legs out as he ran for the pass. Brian threw it just beyond his reach and the ball bounced across the road until it stopped only a few yards in front of me. Boy, I sure wanted to pick it up and throw it to him but my knees and right ankle were hurting so bad by that time, all I could do was lean on my canes and that tree.

"Billy came over and picked it up. I put my canes in one hand and took my sunglasses off so I could get a better look at him. My boy, Billy was just two or three feet in front of me. Dear God in Heaven, it was almost like looking into a mirror. Or, should I say it was like looking into my past."

Tom stopped and they saw his lower lip quiver a bit as he continued, "I wanted to hug him so bad. It was all I could do to stand still. Ten years since I had last been near my own son. And, he was just three feet away from me.

"He took his helmet off and admitted to me that it was a little too big for him and that it had been his dad's when his dad was in high school. I told him that I was a tight end when I was in high school and I always told the quarterback to throw it a little too high to me in practice so I could get some practice at jumping that extra inch. Sometimes, an extra inch could mean the difference between being a hero or a goat. I also told him that if I was his dad, I would probably want him to put the helmet in a safe place until it fit him good. He looked at me kinda funny like and said that it sounded like a good idea.

"That's when my knee started giving way and I could hardly move. The pain became extremely intense. He heard me groan and saw my knees begin to buckle. He stepped over to help me. I asked him to wave at the guy in the car down the street to drive on up. He called for Brian to come over to help him.

"I looked up one last time and saw Ellen standing on the steps to the porch. She had a worried look on her face and her hand was over her mouth. I was so glad that she stayed on the steps and just watched. I don't know if I could have handled being that close to her or not. It was hard enough to have my son right next to me and not tell him who I was. My heart cried out to tell him how glad I was to see him and how much I loved him. But, after seeing him and Brian getting along so wonderfully, I just couldn't tell him that his crippled up father had come back to pick up the pieces.

"They seemed to be getting along so well as a family that I couldn't see doing anything to spoil his and Ellen's happiness. Besides, if I did tell them, all of us would be faced with some mighty hard decisions. Even after thinking about it for years, my return into their lives would have caused more harm than it would have caused good."

Tom stopped a moment to clear his throat before he continued. "Anyway, Billy had already come over beside me and let me lean on his shoulder to take the weight off of my knees and bad ankle." Again Tom began to cry softly as he continued, "Thank God that I was able to hold him one more time even if he didn't know that it was me. It was a moment that I have cherished all my life.

"When the car came up, Brian got there and held the door open. The driver was also one of my EMT's. He and Billy had to practically lift me into the back seat. I thanked Brian and Billy both for all their help. We said 'good-byes' and I was on my way."

Olivia asked as she reached over for his hand, "Grandpa, do you remember what you said to Daddy?"

Tom stopped and tried to search his memory for some reason for that question. Finally he answered, "I think I just said, 'Thanks, Billy, I really do appreciate that."

Olivia smiled and explained. "That's what Daddy told us. Here's what you didn't know. Grandma and Brian got married when he seven years old. Brian would sit and help him read books about famous Americans. The book that captured his attention the most was about Will Rogers. He read where Will was part Cherokee, could throw three lassos at one time and tell funny jokes. Daddy was so enamored with him that he asked everybody to start calling him Will."

She looked at Jim and Elaine for a moment before she continued. "So, when you said, 'Thanks, Billy,' you caught Daddy and Brian off guard. Number one, you knew his name and, number two he hadn't been called Billy in five years or so. When they told Grandma, the first thing she asked was did they see the color of your eyes. Daddy told her they were grey. That's when she confirmed that it had to be you.

"Daddy was pretty well beside himself with grief. And Grandma was upset, too. I remember Grandma telling me that he cried in her arms for half an hour and kept asking why you didn't tell him. Then, he went to Brian and held on to him for the longest time and said over and over, 'He was my daddy. Why didn't he tell me?' Brian just broke down in tears and all he could say was, 'I don't know.'

"When they all calmed down a bit, Brian made them all sit down at the kitchen table and talk it all out. He told Daddy to think about it for a minute. He said that every picture they had of you showed that you were physically fit. Everybody in town said that Tom Dandridge could handle a team of mules better than anyone they had ever seen. He said that you probably wanted everyone to remember you as you used to be and not a crippled man like your wounds had made you.

"Then, Daddy told me that Brian gave you one of the greatest compliments he had ever heard. Brian told him that you were a lot stronger man than he was to walk away and not let everybody know who he was. He suggested that Daddy go to his room and write a letter to you and share his heart. He told Daddy that whenever there was something in his life he felt he ought to share with you, to write it down and put all the letters in a safe place."

She pointed to the manila envelope and said, "There they are. About a month before Momma and Daddy got killed in that car accident, he brought the envelope to me. He told me that he felt sure you would be back one day. He didn't know how, when or why. However, he did say for me to keep these available for you."

Tom looked at the envelope and whispered, "I doubt that I would be able to read them and neither will Olivia." He pushed them over to Jim and asked, "Would you read them for us, please?"

"It will be my pleasure," Jim answered as he gently took the big manila pouch from his hands.

"They all have dates on them, Jim," Olivia said as she scooted her chair around to be beside her grandfather. She slid her arm inside his and leaned her head on his shoulder. He gently squeezed her hand as she whispered, "It's going to be OK, Grandpa. It really, really is." He smiled his answer to her.

Elaine got up from her chair and headed for the kitchen, "I'll put on some more coffee for us."

"I think that's a great idea, Sweetheart," Jim agreed as he took them all out and sorted them according to date.

Here is a transcript of the letters.

August 13, 1954

Dear Dad,

I know that was you I saw today while Brian and I were playing catch. When I went to chase the football and saw you standing there, I thought you looked awfully familiar. I had seen pictures of you and me and mom. You had a beard but I thought I recognized your eyes. I got more of a clue when you said what you would do with that football helmet if you were my dad. That sounded like something a father would tell his son. But, what really settled the question for me was when I helped you into the car. You said, 'Thanks, Billy.' Ever since I was seven years old, I had asked to be called "Will" after Will Rogers.

I had always wished that I could see my daddy one time so I could remember him. I guess Jesus must have taken that for a prayer because he answered it for me today. After the car drove away, I realized it was you but it was too late to get you to come back. Then, I wondered why I didn't realize it sooner so I could have spent some time with you. Brian has always taught us that God does stuff for His reasons and not ours. We would only mess them up anyway.

I am proud of you, Dad and I love you very, very much. You looked like you were in a lot of pain, having to walk with those canes and all. And, then when your knee went out, I am glad that I was there for you to lean on. I am going to be praying for your healing. I want you to know that Brian is teaching me all about how to be a man for Jesus. And he takes good care of Mom. He's never mean to her or yells or nothing.

I'll write more later when I can think of more stuff.

Love,

Will

April 2, 1957

Dear Dad,

I'm a sophomore now. I've been on the football team for two seasons. Yep, I'm playing tight end just like you used to do. And they let me wear your old helmet. I came out to practice one day without it and the whole team made me go back and get it. It's kinda like we won't be able to play good without it. Last season we were 6-6. This year we were 8-4. There's a lot of sophomores on the team. By the time I get to be a senior, we're going to have a bang up team. Wow! We're looking to be the state champs.

Really, I also wanted to tell you about Cindy Lou Baker. Dad, she is a real doll. She's a great Christian girl and I am in love with her. We've been dating for about six months. No, I didn't ask her to marry me like you did Mom, but I sure wanted to. Mom never gets tired of telling me the story of how you proposed and I never get tired of hearing it. She remembers it like it was yesterday.

Whatever you are doing, Dad, may God bless you with His Peace and Love.

Love,

Will

December 25, 1959

Dear Dad,

Merry Christmas. I hope you had a good one. Guess what? We're the state football champs. Y-a-a-y! I knew we could do it. The other team was ahead 31-28, we had the ball on their 23 yard line. There was only 5 seconds left on the clock. You could almost guess this one, couldn't you? The quarterback called for a pass to me in the corner of the end zone. Why? I don't know. The defender I was up against had knocked everything away. I hadn't been able to catch anything all night. When the quarterback called the play and we started towards the line, I told him to throw it high and that I would make sure I would get it. I kept remembering what you told me that day in front of the house about that one more inch making the difference between a hero and a goat. Well, I went for the corner and he threw it high alright. But, I jumped higher than I have ever jumped, caught the ball and landed just inside the end zone. Everybody said I was a hero but that's just not true. I would have never been able to do that if God had never let our paths cross that day and you had never spoken it to me. Dad, you're the hero. You're the greatest hero in the world.

Love,

Will

P.S. Cindy and I are getting married in June. One of these days, you're going to be a grandpa, so get used to the name. Love Ya.

May 25, 1960

Dear Dad,

I just got finished with my project and I need to tell you about it. Remember that game winning catch? Well, when I landed, my head hit the ground so hard that it cracked the helmet. I knew that I couldn't let anyone else touch it, so here's what I did. At shop class, I made a cedar box to put it in and sealed it air tight. The shop teacher also taught metal working and he made me a stainless steel case to put it in. I decided to bury it like a pirate would bury his treasure chest. Why? I don't have the foggiest idea. I just thought it would be the right thing to do. Anyway, here are the directions on where to find it. Go to the park and look for five great big oak trees. Go to the end of the trees that face the cave mounds that you always played in. From the edge of the end tree, go 179 steps and you'll be in the mouth of the ten foot high cave you used to call the King's cave. Mom says it's the one that you threw the snake down on the girls when you boys snookered them into coming into the cave. THAT cave. Dig down about four feet and you should hit the metal. I lowered it down with an old rope so that might still be on the top.

I have no idea what God has in store for either of us. It would be good if we dug it up together. However, He is in charge of that. It's His business.

Anyway, I've got to go. Got those wedding plans to make, you know. Three more weeks and you're going to have the prettiest daughter-in-law that God ever let live. Then at some point in time, God will bless us with a child and you'll get promoted to being a GRANDFATHER. How about that?

Love,

Will

Jim put the letters down and looked at Tom. Tom's cheeks were moistened with spent tears but his face was wore a calm smile. "What a son," he whispered. "I'll say it again. Brian did a good job of raising him. I couldn't have asked for any better." Then the old soldier got quiet, looked at his hands as they held Olivia's and sighed.

"Tom, are you OK?" asked Jim.

The smile was still there as he answered, "Probably more than OK."

Jim and Olivia looked at each other as Elaine came in and poured everyone's coffee. She heard everything that had been said and her curiosity got the best of her. She chuckled as she asked, "Probably, Tom? Or should I ask, probably more than OK? I've never heard that one."

Everybody got quiet as they waited for his answer. He seemed calmer than what they thought he might have been after hearing his son's letters read. After a good sip of coffee, he sat back and reflected, "For fifty years I had wondered and worried what my son might say if he ever knew that I was alive and never came to see him. I thought he would be angry. I thought he would never speak to me. I thought he would treat me like an enemy. Being accepted by my loved ones was so far off the radar screen of possibilities that I very, very seldom entertained the thought."

He tilted his coffee cup toward himself and looked into it as if looking for some mystifying answer. He shook his head slowly as he continued, "Yet, he never thought ill of me. In all of his letters, he treated me as if I was his best friend."

He looked up at Elaine, then Jim and finally at Olivia with the most relieved look and finished, "For fifty years I have been agonizing in my thoughts when I could have been rejoicing over being accepted. If I had known that, I would have sought opportunities to talk to him."

Jim took a sip of his coffee and then opened his eyes real wide. "Tom," he said loudly, "may I use that in a sermon of mine. Do you realize that that is exactly how Jesus feels about a sinner? He's not mad at them like you thought your son would be. He's in love with them and they don't know it. And, when they finally come to Him, they'll wish they had come sooner."

Tom looked at him with a knowing look and answered, "Jim, go right ahead. That is EXACTLY how Jesus is." He held up the letters as he continued, "And, you may as well say that He wrote twenty-six love letters to prove it."

# CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

After a lot of tears, prayers and Godly fellowship, Tom was able to find bitter-sweet closure to a lot of things that used to haunt him. It was like a boulder had been lifted off of his shoulders. With the hard part over, Jim and Elaine were anxious to leave the two of them alone to get acquainted.

"Elaine, let's go. I'm sure Olivia's got a thousand things for her and Tom to get into," Jim suggested.

"OK, Hun. Sis, you got me on speed dial if you need me," Elaine quipped as she got up to hug Olivia and Tom goodbye.

"Yep. Number two right after Ryan," she answered.

As they started for the door Jim asked, "When are you going to start looking for a place to live? The church has got some connections in the real estate field, you know."

"Oh, that's OK. I think I've found the place that will suit me fine," Tom responded.

"You have?" Olivia almost gasped. She had already psyched herself into house hunting mode. This was almost a surprise let down.

"Yes. Fred has a very nice cabin out on the river he showed me this morning," Tom announced. "I fell in love with it the moment I saw it."

Olivia popped her hand on her hip and declared, "So he finally decided to sell that place. He's been seriously thinking about it for two years. Oh, Grandpa. I do believe it would be the perfect place for you. And, I know a certain someone who will be just as excited about it as you are."

"Who, Wendy?" he joked. "I had no idea she like to run and frolic in the woods. Ain't that a surprise?

They all laughed as Olivia just rolled her eyes. Jim added, "O-o-o-o-h, yes! I can see a new men's Bible study group being formed."

"And Arthur's gang of boys might love the bunk beds, and being away from home. But, not too far, for some of them," Tom chuckled.

"Yeah, we got some grown men like that, too," Jim agreed.

"Elaine. Will you get your husband outta here?" Olivia pleaded.

The little lady whistled loud enough to make any man proud and barked, "Let's go, Jimbo. Or else Little Miss Livvy here will go wild in decorating that 'man cave' y'all are planning."

Olivia continued Elaine's banter, "And, besides, no money has changed hands, yet and no pen has touched any paper."

"Uh........sorry to run off so fast, Tom, we'll have to get together and discuss.......the.....discussion were we discussing," Jim said as he didn't even try to hide the big wink that he gave.

"Will do......uh,....Jimbo," Tom replied with a chuckle.

"See what you started," whined Jim as he escorted his wife out the back door.

"Well, you shouldn't have....," Elaine started. But the door closed and whatever she said was covered over by the laughter.

Alone at last, Olivia threw her arms around her grandfather and let him bear hug her all he wanted to. It was pure joy. "Oh, Grandpa, my Grandpa. I really don't care where you live as long as its close and you're happy. And I really will not lady-fy the place up. I'll help you do whatever your heart desires to it. As long as I know it's a place where you can rest and enjoy."

"Livvy, Liv, Liv. I don't know how to act right now. It's almost like starting all over, but the feelings are all different. I don't know how I feel. I don't know how to think about things. It's...."

Olivia stopped him in mid-sentence and commanded, "Oh, I can't stand not being the boss. Let's go get Wendy and stop by the deli for a couple of sandwiches." She grabbed her purse and pulled her laughing grandfather out the door and started phoning Fred all in about five seconds. "Fred, we're going to look at the cabin, do you mind? The key is where? OK. No, everything is OK. I'd like to get out of this big city and go sit on a front porch somewhere, and that cabin sounds like the perfect place. OK, g'bye."

As Olivia sped the car from baby-sitter to deli and on to the cabin, she fired the questions and suggestions at Tom. Do you have any furniture? Are you bringing it? What style is your living room suit? What color is it? What size is your bed? Do you have any curtains?

As she turned into the driveway leading up to the cabin, it dawned on her. "Oh gosh, Grandpa, how are we going to get all of your stuff down here. Well, shoot. We'll just rent a U-haul and...."

It was Tom's turn to interrupt. With a helpless sigh he started, "Yeah, you're right, Liv. Nobody knows me in the place I lived for twenty-four years. I only made it into town every other month for a two weeks supply of groceries. I was so shy that I wore a bag over my head so I wouldn't be recognized. And I wore a sign on my back that said 'Don't Follow Me, I'm Lost, Too."

As she stopped in front of the cabin, she looked over at him with an are-you-finished-yet look.

He stopped his rhetoric, laid his hand on her shoulder and said, "I've already been in touch with some folks I was real close to. They knew why I was coming to Elmhurst. And, over every objection I had, they told me to stay put and everything would be taken care of. They are so excited about coming here to meet my family."

Olivia smiled at her own silliness and said as she unbuckled her seat belt, "I guess I need to get out of Elmhurst a little more often, huh?"

Tom took the deli sack of sandwiches as Olivia got Wendy out of her car seat. They located the key and went in to the cabin. Olivia put Wendy down and she had a great time exploring a new place. Olivia's head began to work on several different decors that she felt would work. When she realized that Tom wasn't answering, she abruptly stopped and looked at him.

He had been patiently waiting for her to wind down a bit. He saw his chance and mentioned, "Why not just wait until all the furniture gets here and then we'll worry about it." Then in a voice that was minutely, now, I said, only minutely like he was scolding her he said, "You've spent about fifteen minutes talking about plans that will only change when the furniture gets here. We could have been enjoying each other's company, you know."

As he walked into the kitchen he mentioned, "There's a couple of rocking chairs out on the screened-in back porch that are just begging for some company. Seems like to me, that might be the perfect place to kick back and relax while we eat our sandwiches. Then, little Miss Tornado could run her little legs off while we feed her bites."

As if on cue, Wendy made her appearance from out of one of the bedrooms. She stopped in the doorway, looked at her audience of two and asked, "Bites?" There's nothing wrong with her hearing or her appetite.

"You win, Grandpa," Olivia sheepishly smiled as she walked out to the back porch and sat down in one of the rocking chairs. However, Wendy did not follow her mother as she normally would have. After all, Tom had the sack with the deli sandwiches. He held his hand out to her and she shyly walked over and allowed him to escort her to her next play room.

The screened in back porch was shaded by two great big oak trees. Twenty yards beyond the trees was a five acre fenced in pasture. Fred let several horse owners graze their horses in it so that he wouldn't have to have it mowed all the time. It was not uncommon to see deer grazing with the horses, especially in the late afternoon.

Tom sat down in the other rocking chair and Wendy clambered up into his lap. He dutifully pulled out Olivia's sandwich and handed it to her. The french fries were in a neat little box just right for Wendy to handle. He took the other sandwich out of the bag and started feeding her some bites.

A few minutes passed while everyone was satisfying their hunger. Since everything was somewhat peaceful, Olivia decided to breach what might be a tender subject, "Grandpa, has the question come to your mind as to why Grandma didn't write you any letters like Daddy did?" She watched his expression closely.

Tom waited a few moments before he answered. He spoke in a little bit lower tone than normal, "I hadn't given it very much thought, Sweetheart. Ellen always had a solid head on her shoulders, so I guess she had her reasons."

Olivia, too, waited for a few moments before she continued, "Do you want to know.........well, I'm going to tell you anyway. By the time I got to be fourteen and began maturing from a little girl to a young lady, she started spending some quality time with me every week. I'm not talking about just an hour or so. It would be at least half a day and sometimes some all day trips to Atlanta. They started off as just a few hours, but after a month, they began to get longer. And.......she always talked about you."

Tom stopped eating and looked at her with a questioning look. He had no idea where she was going with this. "Really?" he finally asked.

She couldn't tell what effect the conversation was having on him so she said, "If you don't want me to go on, I won't. I just thought you might like to know."

Tom's lips widened into a small smile as he looked down at his sandwich. He was a bit hesitant in answering, "It's one of those things where you wonder about it but you're not quite sure you really want to know."

"It's not bad, really," she reassured him.

"Then, tell me what you think I need to know," he suggested.

She watched his countenance and decided to just tell him about the letters before she went on about anything else. She started, "She told me that she had made several attempts at writing but had to give it up."

"Really, why?"

Hesitantly, she continued, "She said that as she began to write to you she felt those old feelings for you coming back. The more she thought about writing, the more her attitude toward Brian seemed to change. She prayed about it and decided against it. She was afraid that if she continued, and her attitude toward Brian took a wrong turn, that her actions might wind up hurting the people she really loved. Did I make sense in all of that or did I just goof up the explanation?"

Tom smiled at her, "I understand, Honey. It makes plenty of sense. She did the right thing."

Olivia was more than relieved. For the next hour, she related story after story that Ellen had passed down to her about Tom. By the time they were ready to go, Tom was wearing a satisfied smile. His doubts and fears of the past seemed to have melted away. All these years and no one had been mad at him. It was the most peace he had felt in years.

***************************

Tuesday dragged all day long for young Arthur Hollis. He had told everyone in the school about his great-grandfather. Was he excited? That's really not an appropriate word. As a matter of fact, I don't think there IS a word to describe this often hyper-excited fifth grader. For lack of a better word excited will have to do. I know his teacher was glad when the day's classes were over.

Arthur talked more than he normally did. He fidgeted more than he ever did. He looked at the clock more than he ever did. He giggled more than he ever did. And, it was always right in the middle of whatever the teacher was trying to explain.

She didn't mind, though. Her mother was on the planning committee at Elmhurst Christian Church, and she had given her a call earlier that morning to warn her of what was probably going to happen. Every time she was interrupted by Mr. Giggles she just put herself in his place and made some excuse to giggle with him.

At the end of the school day, Arthur could hardly wait to get to the park to practice football with the guys. By the time he got there, a larger crowd than usual had already showed up. He spotted his grandpa who was already there talking to the coach and made a bee-line for him.

"Hey, Grandpa," Arthur yelled as he ran up and hugged Tom. His normal Arthur-ization was in rare form as he gushed, "Hi, Coach Wimberly. Did you meet my grand.........oh, yeah, I guess you did. Y'all were talking. Oh, boy. I'm a goof."

"Naw, Arthur," replied Coach Wimberly. "You're just all wound up, that's all. I would be, too, if I were you. And, if what your grandpa tells me is true, we just might be able to win the championship in a couple of weeks."

Arthur's eyes grew wide and his mouth flew open as he spouted, "No, kiddin', Grandpa?"

"Could be," answered Tom. "We'll just have to see how these boys do."

As the guys began to make their way to the park, Arthur was one of the first ones to greet them. He babbled pieces and parts of the story about his grandfather until his grandfather came to their rescue. "Slow down there, Tiger," Tom warned. "The way you tell it. I defeated the Japanese and the Germans all by myself."

Arthur looked kind of dumbfounded for a moment before he asked, "You didn't? Well, why didn't you?" As his grandpa looked at him in bewilderment, Arthur pointed his finger up at him, smiled and said, "Gotcha, you old war horse." Everybody laughed.

Ramon stepped up behind Arthur, grabbed him with a bear hug and said, "Here ya go, sir. I got him. Go ahead and whip him."

Arthur wriggled the best he could but couldn't break his hold. "No, no. Let me go. Grandpa, you're not going to whip me, are you?"

"Naw. You're too small. C'mere, Squirt," Tom jested as he pulled Arthur to his side.

Ramon playfully ruffled Arthur's hair as he smiled and said, "Yeah, I guess he is a cuddly little rascal, isn't he?"

Arthur looked up at Ramon and smiled real big as he asked, "Why does everybody like to mess up my hair?"

Ramon looked up at Tom and answered with a chuckle, "Because it's there. Right, Mr. Tom?"

"That's just as good an answer as any," Tom replied as he, too, ran his fingers through Arthur's locks.

A too embarrassed Arthur grabbed the comedic duo by their arms and commanded, "C'mon guys. Let's see if you can practice football as good as you can mess up my hair."

The three of them walked arm in arm over to the rest of the guys. Coach Wimberly explained that Tom was going to show them some stretching exercises that just might help them run a bit faster. After they warmed up, the coach took the receivers and the running backs to an empty part of the park and timed them as they ran for approximately twenty yards. Then, as they rested for a moment, he turned them over to Tom to walk them through some stretching exercises that he learned in the Philippines.

Tom explained, "My whole body was mangled by an explosion in an ammo shed during World War Two. My legs were hurt pretty bad. I spent a couple of months almost flat on my back. My legs were weak and didn't want to function right. After I got back to the states and started going through some operations, I had a physical therapist show me some exercises that were designed to keep my legs and knees in top form. I guess he knew what he was talking about. Just look at me. Besides, he went on to win a martial arts championship three years in a row. He must have known what he was talking about. Alright, everyone watch me."

Tom spread his legs about shoulder length apart and went through some slow motion kicks that almost looked like he was fighting. Then, he squatted down, put one leg straight out and slowly sat down as far as he could with the other leg underneath him. When it came time to swap his leg positions, he said, "These exercises are designed to stretch and strengthen the leg, knee and ankle muscles and tendons that help you balance. They are not designed to strengthen the muscles that help you run. You will find that as you strengthen these supporting pieces, your brain will not be hesitant about telling you that you can put on more speed. This will also help you to make your cuts faster, deeper and with more confidence."

When he had finished, he stood up and said, "Okay guys, it's your turn. Either get on your backs or squat. These are not exercises so you won't be forced to follow a count. These are strictly voluntary. So......we will see who really wants to be a champion, won't we?"

As they began to assume their stretching positions, they all shouted, "Yes, sir." There were plenty of groans as they started. The ones who started in the squat position had some trouble with the one legged thing but it got some good laughter going. That only served to increase their desire to stretch.

Tom cautioned them, "Don't try to go as far as I can guys. Just stretch beyond your limit just a bit. Then as your body gets used to it, always stretch just a little bit farther and then just a little farther. Remember, not enough to hurt, just enough to stretch and strengthen."

When they got through, the coach ran every one of them through a couple of time trials again. Each one of the guys was just a tad bit faster than they were before. To say the least, they were excited about what they had accomplished.

As they ended the day's practice, the coach gave them some final instructions. "I want you ends and running backs to continue your stretches at home. Do what Tom said and just stretch a tiny bit beyond your limit. You already know that what little bit you have done is working. You guys on the line, defense as well as offense, remember the fakes and pushes you've been taught. Practice in your head. You hear me? Practice in your head. Defense, get a mental picture of getting around your man and getting to the quarterback. You can practice these moves anywhere you are. Practice in your head. That's all. Be back here Thursday at 6:00 p.m. to get ready for the game. OK! Let's all grab a piece of equipment and take it to the van."

Just then, a reporter walked up to the group and approached Tom with an outstretched hand. "Mr. Dandridge, I'm Jeff Thompson from the Elmhurst Daily Gazette. How are you?"

Tom shook his hand and answered with a smile, "Well, I was doing fairly well until you showed up."

Jeff was taken aback just a bit, "Aw, shucks. Reporters aren't all that bad are we?"

"I'll let you answer that," replied Tom as he smiled even bigger. "If you had been away for fifty years and came back into town and found some loved ones that you had never seen, would you want to spend time with them or with some pesky reporter?"

Jeff had a bit of a sheepish grin on his face as he answered, "You've got a very good point there Mr. Dandridge. But, then again, I have a job that I have been commanded to do. Would you mind answering just a few questions?"

"My boy," Tom teased, "what do you mean by few? Do you mean a few as in one, two or three or few as in one hundred, two hundred or three hundred?"

"Mr. Dandridge," Jeff replied, "you should have been a reporter yourself or maybe a politician."

This brought a chorus of laughter from the group of boys that had gathered back around Tom and the reporter to see what was going on. There were shouts of, "I'll vote for you" and "Yeah, run for mayor" "No, run for school superintendent."

When the hoots died down, Tom told him, "I really want some alone time with my new-found family. I'll make a deal with you. I am going to speak at Elmhurst Christian Church Sunday morning and at the American Legion Hall Sunday night. If you will come to those two services AND don't spread the word so too many nosey people come snooping around, I will give you an interview next Monday. Just you, nobody else."

"That sounds fair," Jeff replied as he stuck out his hand again. "It's a deal, then."

"Deal," said Tom. And they shook on it.

Jeff looked around and said, "How about Arthur? Could I have a few words with him whichever one he is?"

Arthur stood real still. He really didn't want to talk to a reporter anyway. Murphy tapped Elrod and Sam on the arms and winked at them as he stepped by them and stood between Tom and the reporter. He crossed his arms and gave the reporter a mean look and said, "I'm Arthur Hollis. Grandpa, is this man bothering you?"

Sam caught on, stepped between Murphy and the reporter forcing him to step back a bit and stated also, "I'm Arthur Hollis. Grandpa, is this man bothering you?"

Elrod pushed his way between Sam and the reporter forcing him to retreat farther and repeated the same words, "I'm Arthur Hollis. Grandpa, is this man bothering you?"

Ramon stepped up and stood between Elrod and the reporter. He was almost tall enough to look him straight in the eye. With a big grin on his face he started pounding his fist into his hands as he said, "I'm Arthur Hollis. Grandpa, is this man bothering you?"

As a few more began to step his way, the reporter raised his hands in surrender and responded, "OK. OK. I give up. I sure wouldn't want tomorrow's headlines to read 'REPORTER GETS MAULED BY THIRTY ARTHUR HOLLISES-----FILM AT ELEVEN."

The gang roared with laughter and high fives all around. As the reporter laughingly walked away, Tom turned to them, "If I had a bunch of guys in my platoon like you guys, that war would have been a lot shorter and a whole lot more fun. Now, get that van loaded up like the coach told you and let's be quick about it, boys. I bet there's chow waiting for all of you miscreants."

With cries of "OK, Grandpa" they all tore into their assignment with vigor. Tom could hear them talking among themselves. "Hey, I'm going to go to the church this Sunday. You comin'?" "You bet I'm comin'. I wouldn't miss it for the world." "I want to go to both of the services." "Me, too." "Hey, I know. Let's sit together and be Grandpa's cheering section." "You reckon he would mind if we cheered?" "Reckon we'll just have to find out."

Tom smiled as he listened to their banter. It brought back memories of the teen-age classes he had taught. While he pondered the day's events and waited for Arthur to get through, he strolled out a little farther in the park.

When the vans were all packed and all the good-byes said, Arthur ran over to where his grandfather was. The stately old man was looking across the street at the last piece of a cave that was left of his childhood playground. There was no doubt in Arthur's mind that he was thinking of all the fun he had running in and out of those caves. But, Arthur slowed his pace almost to a stop as he saw his grandfather drop his head in his hand and heard him sniff back a tear. He solemnly walked up to his hero, threw his arms around his waist and asked, "Grandpa, what's wrong?"

As he brushed a lonely tear away he looked down and smiled at Arthur and asked, "Did you know that your grandfather had written me some letters?"

"Yes, sir," Arthur answered. "Mom told me about them this morning on the way to school."

As Tom shifted his gaze across the street again, he continued, "Did she tell you about the football helmet?"

"You mean the one that my grandpa...uh...Grandpa Will wore when he caught that winning touchdown and cracked when he fell?" he responded.

Tom looked back at him with a grin, "She told you about that, did she?"

Arthur giggled his reply, "Only about a gazillion times. She got a couple of copies of the newspaper article and had them uh, plasticated or something."

"You mean laminated?" Tom chuckled.

"Yeah, that's it," Arthur beamed. "I don't know what Mom was more proud of, him winning the championship for us or the fact that he wore your helmet."

Tom's faced softened again. He looked across the street and for a few long moments tried to sort out his feelings. Finally, he asked, "Did she tell you that he buried it for me to find?"

"N-o-o-o-o," Arthur answered in amazement. "She didn't tell me what was in the letters, just that y'all would read them today. She has always talked about the football helmet."

Tom looked down at the ground before he continued, "He didn't want anything else to happen to it once it got cracked so he built a cedar box big enough for it and sealed it up in a stainless steel box. Then he buried it out there in the mouth of one of those caves."

"I guess it's one of the ones they tore down, huh?" Arthur went on.

"I don't really know," replied Tom. "Your mother told me that Billy....uh,..Will, always knew that I would come back. And, he had a feeling that he wouldn't be around when I did. So he hid it in one of those caves and then wrote the directions down on how to find it."

Then he smiled down at Arthur as he went on, "Kinda like making me go look for buried treasure."

Arthur perked up, "Directions? You mean he told us how to find it? What did he say? Can't we go dig it up, then?"

Tom frowned as he went on, "We-e-l-l-l. He said to find the five biggest oak trees that stood in a row. Then, take one hundred and seventy-nine steps until you come to the mouth of a cave and dig down four feet."

Arthur was a bit puzzled as he asked, "How do we know where the oak trees were, Grandpa?"

"That's just it," Tom answered solemnly. "We don't. PROGRESS cut the trees down and PROGRESS dug out the caves to cover the tree stumps and level the park. I don't know that it will ever be found, again, Arthur."

Just then, they heard a car horn. Olivia had just pulled up to get them from practice. Tom put his arm around his grandson and said, "Come on, son. Let's head for home. There's nothing more we can learn by standing around here."

Arm in arm the two of them started making their way to the car. "Grandpa, would Jesus show me where the buried treasure was if I asked Him?" Arthur asked with his voice tinged with excitement.

Tom answered, "Arthur, I have learned through the years not to put anything past Him. He can answer a prayer any way he wants to. AND, I also know that God has a good plan for everything that comes along in our lives. When we don't understand, we just need to keep walking with Him. In His own good time, He shows up with an unexpected blessing."

With a big smile on his face Arthur replied, "Yeah, like when you showed up in my life."

"Oh, no," Tom responded with a chuckle, "like YOU did when YOU showed up in MY life."

"No, no, no, no, no," Arthur countered, "like YOU did when YOU showed up in MY life."

On and on it went. They pushed at each other and played the no-like-you-did game all the way to the car. Arthur giggled and Tom chuckled until they were close to laughing.

Olivia was re-strapping Wendy in the back seat so Tom could sit in the front. "Hey, you two," she chided. "cut that out before you get into the car. Honestly, I don't know which one of you is the biggest kid."

As he strapped himself into the front seat, Tom looked towards the back seat and continued, "I am."

Arthur leaned forward and poked his thumb into his chest, "No. I am."

Olivia raised her voice, "Boys! Did you two hear me?" She could hardly keep from laughing herself at the antics of the two of them. "If you two don't quit, I'm going to put the both of you in time out when we get home."

That's a phrase that Wendy understood. She pointed her finger at her brother and spoke up, "Time out budder." When she saw that it brought laughter from the crowd, she pointed to Tom and repeated, "Time out, pop-pop."

"That's right, Wendy," Olivia laughed.

Not really understanding everything but still sensing that she was the hit of the moment, Wendy laughed and clapped her hands.

Arthur tried to calmly tell his mother about the day's events but he wound up babbling and getting facts confused. You know, the normal.

When they turned the corner to the house, Olivia noticed two strange vehicles parked on the front street. A man and a woman were standing beside them. When they saw Olivia's car coming in the driveway, they waved real big. The lady looked like she was waving a set of keys their way. As they started walking toward them, Olivia couldn't help but ask, "Now, I wonder who could that be?"

# CHAPTER NINETEEN

"H-m-m-m-m," was all that Tom would say. That is, until Olivia pulled into the driveway. By the time she stopped, he had his seat belt off and the door open. "Why, th-a-a-t's," he began as he climbed out the door, "my son, Phillip." Without further explanation, he quickly hurried over to where Phillip and Jeanette were waiting.

Olivia was flabbergasted to the point of utter confusion. First, she swung the door open and cried out, "Grandpa, what did you mean? You come back here. I want to talk....." But the simple fact that she had forgotten to unbuckle her seat belt halted her in mid-sentence and caused her to almost fall out of the car. She struggled to sit up straight and finally half pleaded and half commanded, "Arthur! Help me. I can't find the.....button."

Arthur leaned over the seat and said, "I'll get it, Mom." But, in his haste, he didn't think to see if it was safe to unbuckle his mom.

Olivia's posterior was hanging more off the seat than she realized. When Arthur hit the seat belt's release button, she fell butt first towards the ground. Only a death grip on the steering wheel kept her from an embarrassing introduction to her unannounced company. Quickly gathering herself together to see if she was noticed, she saw Tom, Phillip and his wife in an embrace. Whew! She was safe.

"Arthur, get Wendy out for me," she said as she hastily straightened her clothes. She made her way to the trio with a very puzzled look on her face.

After some very happy hugs and greetings, Tom looked back and saw a very, what should we say, 'resolute' Olivia making her way over to them. Arthur wasn't too far behind her with Wendy firmly in his arms. The look on his face was just as 'resolute' as his mother's.

With a merry twinkle in his eye, Tom cheerfully announced, "Olivia, Arthur, I want you to meet my son, Phillip, and his lovely wife Jeanette."

Phillip and Jeanette stepped over and shook hands with a somewhat subdued mother and son. Phillip attempted a conversation, "Finally, I get to meet you. We have been so......anxious to meet you ever....since.....Dad, uh, ..T-Tom told us.........about you."

As she finished shaking hands, Olivia answered in a quiet, cool voice, "That's funny. In all that we've talked about since he got here, he.....NEVER ONCE......mentioned the fact that he had gotten married and had a son." As she finished, she looked over at Tom with a raised eyebrow.

Tom looked down towards the ground, sighed real deeply and said in a sad voice, "Well, Olivia,......the truth is......his mother and I never got married."

Almost simultaneously, Olivia and Arthur looked at him in disbelief and blurted out, "NEVER GOT MARRIED?"

Olivia went on, "Grandpa, how could you?" Then after a swift look at Arthur, she said in a lower tone, "And.....you had to say that in front of Arthur. Grandpa, really."

Jeanette covered her mouth with her hand and looked at Phillip. Phillip crossed his arms, looked at Tom and asked, "Dad----is that all you're going to say?"

Tom looked over at him with a perplexed and innocent look as he lamely protested, "Phillip, it's the truth. No matter what I said, your dear, sweet mother flatly refused to marry me."

Phillip looked at him with a big grin and began talking in measured tones, "You.....sneaky.....snake.....faking....old codger. You will never change your ways, will you?"

Tom shrugged his shoulders and declared with a contented smile, "My boy, why mess with perfection?"

Phillip turned toward Olivia and Arthur and stated, "It's not what you think. Don't let this vicious trickster pull the wool over your eyes. It's true that my mother didn't want to marry Tom. But, the rest of the story is.....Tom didn't want to marry her either." Phillip's vain attempt at clearing things up only added to the confusion. And, Tom couldn't help adding more muddle to the story.

While Olivia and Arthur stared at Tom with their mouths wide open, Tom woefully declared, "Oh, the shame of it all. The disgrace of my indiscretion has been brought out into the open."

After a cry of "Grandpa" from the Hollis duet, Phillip interceded, "You never give up do you, Dad? You're a hopeless case." Then turning to Olivia and Arthur he explained, "The truth is, Tom didn't come into our lives until I was twelve years old. Don't let him fool you. He's not my biological father."

The Hollis duet breathed a sigh of relief as Phillip continued, "They did see each other for a month or two. But, Mom was still in love with my father and was still praying that he would come back. And, Tom, the old codger, was still madly in love with his Ellen. Neither one of them would have been happy."

Then, as he stepped over and put his arm around Tom's shoulders he said with a big grin, "But, I was sure happy. I got to spend every weekend with this hopeless case until I left for college. Hangin' out with this bum kept me from getting into a lot of trouble with the crowd I had started running with."

Olivia chortled a real weak laugh, "Ah...ha-ha....I....uh should have known he would eventually pull something over on us like that. My dad, his other son....I mean real son......oh, no, I don't mean that you're not real or nothing..."

Phillip said with a smile, "I know what you mean."

Olivia continued with a nervous giggle, "Well......my dad was always pulling something over on us. Not mean stuff. Just funny stuff. Come to think of it, he always came up with something you would have never expected."

"Exactly. Your dad got it honestly, Olivia," Phillip went on. Then he stepped over to Arthur and put his arm around him and said as he looked back towards Tom, "When I get a couple of days, I could tell you more stories about your grandpa than you could ever remember."

Jeanette added, "And if he ever forgot any of them, I could fill in the empty spaces. When those two got together, that's all they talked about........how they pulled a slick one on somebody."

Everyone laughed, even Wendy. Then it dawned on Arthur, "Wait a minute. You said, 'when' you get a couple of days? You mean you can't stay?"

Phillip answered, "No, sir. I'm sorry but we have to catch a plane in a few hours. We're on our way to Hawaii for a vacation."

Tom added with a grin, "Dad-burned airplane pilots. I fail to understand why a company would send their pilots to Hawaii to teach them something. And, to beat it all, it's gonna take them four weeks to learn it all. Sounds to me like somebody's got a learning disability."

Quick as a wink, Arthur shot back, "D-u-u-u-h, what did you say, Grandpa? I don't remember anything you said after Hey-wire-ya."

I have no idea who got the biggest kick out of that. Phillip had to lean on Tom for a minute. Arthur stepped over to the porch and sat down on the steps to keep from dropping Wendy. Phillip finally calmed down enough to observe, "He has just barely been around you for 24 hours and already he's already acting like..........a....."

"Hey, I resemble that remark," quipped Arthur as he started laughing so hard he almost had to stop to catch his breath. Tom came over and rescued little Wendy before Arthur became disabled from his own joke.

It was Olivia's turn to comment on her only begotten son, "He started off that way. I tried to trim his wick down a little and make a gentleman out of him. Then, low and behold, his grandpa shows up and he throws a retard attack." Olivia tried to act like she was complaining as she turned to go up the steps to the house, "Get outa my way, Mr. Laughs and Giggles I've got to get some grub for your Uncle Phillip and Aunt Jeanette."

Arthur caught on, "Uncle! Hey! I've got an Uncle and an Aunt. Wow! A matched set." Then he grabbed his Uncle Phillip by the hand and started pulling him towards the house. "Come on, Uncle Phillip, there's no time to lose. You've got to tell me at least one good story about Grandpa. Please, pretty please."

Tom grabbed Phillip's other arm, "Just a small word of advice. You may as well give up when he starts with that 'Please, pretty please' stuff."

Phillip looked down at Arthur. The eleven-year-old con artist had one of those ear-to-ear cheesy grins and he was batting his eyelids like a butterfly in mating season.

"Alright," Phillip conceded. "But just one story."

"OK," answered Arthur as he pulled him towards the back door. "OK, just one. One at a time that is."

Phillip looked at Tom and said, "I see what you mean, Dad." He called out to Olivia who was at the door already. "Olivia, don't fix anything for us, please. We........"

Hand on the hip and a sharp tongue to boot, "Whatsa matter. You don't think I cook good enough for you?"

"Oh, no...it's not that....."

"Just for that crack I won't give cooking a second thought. Besides that, the Pizza King van just pulled into the driveway." With a 'Ha ha, I gotcha' look on her face she quipped, "I already called them on the way here, so there."

Before he could stop himself, Phillip spilled out, "Gee, I bet she was fun on a date." He tried to cover his mouth, "I can't believe I said that."

As everybody tittered over Phillip's remark, Olivia stood there with one hand on the door knob, one hand on her hip, mouth wide open and shot glances back and forth between Tom and Phillip. "Dear God in heaven," she exclaimed, "Wonder where you got that remark from?"

As Tom broke into laughter and pointed at Olivia, Phillip asked, "Don't tell me he already sprung that one on you?"

"That does it. I'll get the THREE of you before it's all over with. Just you wait and see," she went on in mock anger. She opened the door, pointed inside and snapped her fingers as she commanded, "Every one of you. Into the kitchen....right now. Last one in has to put the ice in the glasses for the drinks." Did you ever see an eleven-year-old get from the bottom of the steps into the kitchen of a house in less than half a second? I must have blinked, too. Because all I saw was a blur.

Now it was Jeanette's turn. She acted like she was trying to shoo chickens into their pen. "C'mon guys. Mosey along, will ya. I am definitely going to be the last one in besides the pizza guy. I sure wouldn't trust any of you putting ice in my glass with y'all already acting like that."

She yelled up to Olivia from the bottom of the steps. "It's Tom's favorite trick. If he ever takes the boys on a camping trip, Olivia, make sure that YOU bring the ice and not him. Have you ever seen a grasshopper in an ice cube?"

The pizza delivery man busied himself trying to walk around everybody with two giant pizzas, the bread sticks and a couple of two liters of drinks. Tom and Phillip quickly cleared the table and the pizzas were placed. There was the usual squabble about who pays and who tips. And, in less than two minutes the driver was out the door and on his way.

Arthur had spent his time getting Wendy's highchair ready and strapping her in good and tight. Then he turned around and announced, "I've got to go let Samson outside, BUT, when I get back in, we've got to talk, Grandpa and Phillip. We've GOT to talk."

Olivia tried to give him a mean look, "Oh, I don't know about that." But she couldn't hold her laughter back. As Jeanette joined her in the kitchen, Olivia took time to give her a hug.

Jeanette held on to her longer than normal and began to shake ever so slightly. She was crying. When she finally loosened her grip on Olivia, she quickly brushed the tears from her cheeks.

Thankfully, Ryan made his entrance and the men began to greet one another and carry on like men do. A squeal and two raised arms from Wendy meant a little huggy-doodle business was necessary.

That gave Jeanette time to admit something to Olivia, "I had to be the last one to come in because I was about to fall to pieces. We are certainly going to miss Tom, but I am so very, very glad for him to finally be around his loved ones. He was always having fun with everyone he was around. But, even his smile would tell me that he was lonely. And, I wasn't the only one that saw it. Every now and then, I could glance over at him and the smile wouldn't be there. That's when a world full of emptiness showed on his face. But, tonight, it's gone. And, God did it all in His own way. You have no idea how hard Tom has worked for the Lord. Now, it wouldn't surprise me to see how God wound up blessing him."

Olivia replied as she got out the glasses, "Let me tell you something, Jeanette. We've always been a happy family. But, the past 24 hours have turned our lives in a different direction. God has something good for Tom and for my son, Arthur. And, I am so glad to meet someone who has known my grandfather during the years I didn't. Somehow, we need to get together........"

Jeanette couldn't stop herself as it dawned on her. She had to interrupt Olivia with, "Four weeks!"

"Huh?"

"In four weeks we'll be back from Hawaii, and Tom has already asked Phillip to come spend some time with him in a fishing cabin somewhere around here. I believe he said something about having an outing with Arthur's friends."

"Oh, Jeanette," Olivia responded with a look of pure delight. "That would be just perfect. That would mean that you and I and little Wendy could spend our days and nights together. But, you'd better hold on. I'll have four weeks to write down all the questions in the world."

"Don't worry, Olivia. I'll start writing down all the things I want to tell you. Maybe I could get some of the ladies from the church to come down and we could just have a gaggle while the guys are camping."

"I'm for it."

Ryan came into the kitchen to greet his wife with a kiss and to say 'Hello' to their guest. He asked, "Do you need any help with the glasses, Honey?"

"Yeah, between the three of us, we can carry them in our hands and don't use a tray this time." The three of them grabbed the glasses and placed them appropriately around the table. Everybody got seated and waited for the blessing to be said.

Ryan gave the nod to Arthur and I think he broke the speed record with five seconds flat. Without blinking an eye and before he reached for a piece of pizza, he looked at Phillip and asked, "Which one?"

Ryan admonished him playfully as he lifted the lid on the pizza nearest him and offered it to Phillip and Jeanette, "Sunshine, let's eat some pizza and give us a moment to get acquainted with our guests first."

An embarrassed smile played on his face as he answered, "OK." Then, right back at it he went. "Hey, Grandpa. Is that your blue SUV out there?"

Olivia put her head in her hands and chuckled, "I give up."

Arthur had a slice of pizza half-way in his mouth when it dawned on him what he had done. He slowly put the pizza down and said, "Oops. I'm sorry, Uncle Phillip and Aunt Jeanette. Mom's been working real hard on getting me to slow down and be more considerate of my elders."

He was almost at his puppy-dog-eye look when he continued, "And, I'm doing much better than I was two years ago. Mom and Dad have really been patient with me."

"Patient?" Phillip asked as he pointed to Tom with his pizza. "That's Mr. Patient, himself." He took a bite of his meat lover's special and continued, "When Tom first started coming to our church, I had a personal vendetta against him."

Jeanette giggled as Arthur almost choked on his glass of Dr. Pepper. With a smile as if he was fixing to hear the inside scoop of some good gossip his inquiring mind wanted to know.

"A vendetta? Just what did Grandpa do?" Arthur asked the question in a tone that suggested he might be fishing for some kind of quality that he could copy. Olivia perked up.

Phillip got a play-pretend mean look on his face as he leaned toward Arthur, squinted his eyes and alleged, "He put his hands all over MY mother." He sat back up, gave Tom a 'so there, ha-ha' look and made a show of stuffing the rest of the meat lover's special into his mouth.

Tom sat back in his chair with an aloof look on his face, made a pretense of looking at his fingernails and responded, "And she loved every minute of it."

"GRANDPA," Olivia demanded as Arthur giggled. Wendy giggled, too, but only because Arthur did. He held out his hand for a high five which brought another gush from her. Olivia stammered, "You...just what did you......put your hands...."

"To be honest, the story's about me holding her hand the first day we met. She was an usher at a church that I was visiting," started Tom. "And, I'll have to admit, I did hold her hand a little bit longer than you normally would."

Olivia asked, "Then what's this hand holding thing all about?"

Jeanette answered, "It's about a mean little brat who was insanely jealous over any man who paid attention to his mother."

Phillip raised his hand and said, "She's talking about me, just in case you didn't know. It was always all about me."

"I had no alternative but to let go of her hand," Tom continued. "Phillip was standing close to the door behind me. When he saw me put my left hand on top of hers as she greeted me, he came around and walked between us and asked her some meaningless question."

"I was a brat, alright, and I had a pretty big chip on my shoulder, too. Yes, indeedy I did," Phillip said quite proudly of himself.

"His father had just left about four months previously and he was the self-declared protector of his mother," added Tom.

"And he was a mean little brat," Jeanette repeated.

"The meanest of the mean," Phillip bragged. "Seriously, I really worshiped my dad, even though he was in the wrong. I blamed women in general for taking my dad away from me. I didn't know the whole story. I was pretty hurt, pretty mad, pretty mean, pretty disgusting...........eh.....I guess pretty everything EXCEPT......pretty good. If I was going to be anything at all, I made up my mind not to be good."

Jeanette carried on the unkind remarks, "And, he was pretty good at being pretty bad. All the girls in the church were targets for his anger and hostility."

Arthur looked at Phillip with a funny little smile and doubted, "Not you. I can't believe that you would ever be anything like that. Are you........telling the truth, Uncle Phillip?"

"I'm serious, my boy," Phillip said as he looked him in the eye. "You have no idea in this world how much hatred I had for mankind in general. Even though I know now that it wasn't true, I thought that nobody cared for me. I hated everybody. All I could think of was how to be mean."

"No way," was all that Arthur could come out with.

"That was until this man came along," Phillip said as he pointed to Tom.

Tom smiled and just nodded his head.

"No matter how I treated him, he treated me as if I was a piece of gold," Phillip continued.

"That's because God saw you that way," added Tom.

"I pulled every mean trick on him when he came over to see Mom. I treated him like dirt. I said awful things to him and all he would do was love me. AND, take me out to Bad Boys Bar-B-Q. Maybe that's what did it," suggested Phillip.

He looked at Tom with a smile and continued in a little softer voice, "I was absolutely destined to be my own man. One of the guys I hung with gave me a half-pint of vodka one night to take home. He told me that it didn't have a smell and no one could tell when I was drinking it. I downed that one the first night and felt like a real man. I had done something I wasn't supposed to do. And, I didn't get caught doing it."

After a small sip of tea, Phillip continued, "Of course, I had to come up with a way to buy it if I wanted it. So, I got pretty good at doing chores here and there and just down right stealing if I had to. I would pay a guy to buy it for me and hide it in our yard. Every night I would go out to get it and take it to my room. I couldn't wait for 10 p.m. to come around. It got to be where I couldn't do without it. In just a short amount of time, I had become an alcoholic.

"One Friday night, I talked Mom into letting me go hang out with the guys. I lied to her and told her it was some of the guys from the church. That night, my plan was to get smashed out of my gourd. But, as I started drinking, I started comparing the party to the Friday nights I would spend with Tom. Conversations with Tom were always fun and uplifting. Hearing these guys talk it was 'GD' this and 'GD' that or 'F' the other thing. They never had a kind word about anybody. They were mad at everything.

"I tried my very best to drink myself silly. The longer I sat there listening to the people I only thought I wanted to be around, the more I wanted to be around Tom. I knew it wasn't just Tom, it was the Jesus in Tom. I couldn't even drink like I wanted to. Then, it was like God speaking to me and asking, 'Is this the kind of guy you want to grow up to be, or would you rather be like Tom?'

Phillip looked at Tom for a second and then back at Arthur. "That's when I couldn't stand it any longer. I got up like I had to go to the bathroom. Instead, I went out the back door. I walked around until I got my bearings and then I headed for Tom's house. Half-way there it started to rain. I got completely soaked.

"It was 1:30 in the morning when I finally straggled up to his house. I must have looked like a drowned rat when Tom opened his front door. He acted like he had been expecting me. You know what? He hugged me like he always did, wet clothes and all. After a hot shower and some good food we talked about a lot of things. That Sunday, we walked down the aisle of the church together and I gave my heart to Jesus."

# CHAPTER TWENTY

"And he's been hanging 'round me ever since," Tom added with a loving smile. "I just can't seem to get rid of him. Not that I really want to, of course."

Jeanette added another chapter, "After that Sunday, Phillip had changed so much that none of the girls would have anything to do with him."

Now that really puzzled Arthur. He couldn't help but ask, "Why not? Didn't he change any?"

She answered, "That's just it. He changed a lot. It was such a dramatic turn around that we thought he was just faking to get us to fall for him. It turned out that it was only our imagination." Then she playfully added, "And a lot of wishful thinking on the part of a few of the girls."

In mock amazement Phillip asked, "Who?"

"You know who,.......Philly," she teased.

"Oh, her," he replied, "Well, I would have never given her a second thought."

"You dated her for three months."

Arthur looked at his Uncle Phil and raised his eyebrows in a 'she-got-you-with-that' kind of look and asked, "Oh, really,..........Philly?"

Phillip stumbled for a reply, "W-e-e-l-l-l, it was that third and fourth thought that made me........uh......you know."

Arthur just couldn't let it rest. He echoed Phillip's words with a roll of his hand that asked for an answer, "Uh.......you know.............?"

Phillip smugly replied as he rolled his hand also, "Yeah, I'm sure that.......uh,....you know." He looked quizzically at Ryan and continued, "Doesn't he know about.......uh,.....you know?"

I can't say that Olivia......stared......at Ryan. Let's say she was earnestly awaiting his reply.

"Actually we have had several discussions..........about......you know," he said as he fidgeted with the pizza slices in the Hawaiian deluxe box.

This would be an appropriate time to discuss the seating arrangements at the table where this saucer-eyed lady named Olivia had just quietly placed her hands palm down on the kitchen table. Immediately to her right was her sweet little baby, Wendy. To Wendy's right was Arthur. To Arthur's right was the lovely Jeanette. To Jeanette's right and at the other end of the table was Phillip. On Phillip's right was Ryan. On Ryan's right was her beloved grandfather. At this point in time, two of the males at the table were just barely out of arm's reach. However, that COULD change if she stood up.

Arthur looked across the table at his father with a divinely angelic expression and said, "Oh, and thanks for the magazine, Dad. I really loved it. Especially the pictures." After which he smiled and held his hand up with his thumb and forefinger touching in the 'OK' sign.

Ryan smiled back with a polite and fatherly smile as he responded, "You're quite welcome, Arthur. I had fun picking it out for you."

The saucer-eyed lady whose mouth just dropped open rose about two inches off of her chair before her beloved grandfather reached out and grabbed her hand and said, "Don't bite, Olivia, don't bite. Can't you see they're just baiting you?"

Arthur became preoccupied with something in his glass. Ryan somewhat turned to Phillip as if he was going to ask him a question. Ryan tried to remain serious but just had to glance at Olivia. His smile broke into a snicker which caused him to lower his head and Arthur to slide down in his chair before they both busted out laughing.

Ryan looked apologetically at his wife and said, "Honey. It was the latest edition of The World of Ninja magazine. I always buy it for him."

She eased herself back down, scooted her chair back a bit, raised one eyebrow and got that look on her face. She sat sideways in her chair so she could cross her legs and began to drum on the table with the fingers of her right hand. "You know," she stated with a slow and easy drawl, "it's a poor game that two can't play." She looked over at Jeanette who imitated her expression and drummed her fingers also.

You've heard of those awkward moments of silence I'm sure. Well, the guys around the table at the Hollis house were experiencing one right now. Ryan tried to lighten things up a bit by rubbing his hands together, putting on a great big smile and suggesting, "Hey! Isn't it about time for a story? Huh?"

Well, one person was surely ready. "OK!" Arthur said as he slapped his hands on his knees for emphasis. "But, it's got to be the best one. I mean the absolute best one. If you only have time for one, then make it the best one." Arthur was so wound up that he was bouncing up and down in his seat.

Phillip couldn't help but laugh at him so he managed to say, "Calm down, Arthur, calm down. There were so many that it is hard to think of the best one." Then, he looked over at Tom he asked, "How about it, Dad? Which one would you say was the best?"

Tom thought for a minute and then answered, "How about the camping one. That one took a lot of behind the scenes planning."

Phillip's eyes got real big as he said, "Oh, ho ho ho. Great call, Dad. That one was a doozy. Oh, Lordy, where do we start on that one?"

Tom answered him by saying, "You can start by telling them what a bunch of losers I was blessed to teach. SINCE all those losers were your best friends."

Phillip objected, "Aw, Dad, we weren't all that bad. Besides that, you and the youth pastor came up with the idea of splitting up the teenagers."

Tom stubbornly argued, "Well, if the boys and girls hadn't been acting like love-crazed baboons, we wouldn't have had to split you up into a boy's class and a girl's class."

Arthur objected, "Aw, Grandpa."

Tom defended himself, "You should have seen them the first Sunday they were apart. They acted like they were prisoners on death row, all mopey and staring at you with their arms crossed. They wouldn't talk. They wouldn't answer questions or participate in any way. So, the youth pastor, his wife and I came up with a plan that was just guaranteed to work. Take it away, Phillip."

"OK," Phillip began. "Dad came up with a great idea that had the boys pretty excited. He sold them on the idea of going on an overnight camp out at the church camp grounds. The church had four big cabins down by a lake. It was a beautiful spot and the lake was always stocked with fish. The guys went for it from the start.

"Dad picked us up in the church van and had a trailer full of wood behind it. The back seat was piled high with groceries and drinks. Everybody said about the same thing when they got in. They all wanted to know if we were going to spend the whole weekend or what."

Tom interrupted, "Little did they know."

"You are so right, Dad," Phillip continued. "These guys fell for it hook, line and sinker. Shucks, I even fell for it. He usually tells me in advance of a good joke but this one surprised me."

Arthur butted in, "Wait. You mean Grandpa let you join him in some con jobs?"

Phillip replied, "You bet he did. A couple of times we planned some stuff so complicated that it took two weeks to plan out."

Arthur looked at his grandfather with a wide grin, "We got a lot of talkin' to do. Remember, the Bible says not to be a respecter of persons, Grandpa."

"Well, look who's quoting scripture now," his mother interjected.

Tom answered, "There will be plenty of time for that later. Let's let Phillip go on with his story. Remember, he has a plane to catch."

"OK," Arthur answered nervously.

Phillip went on, "Here's how the camp ground was arranged. There was a big open area with two cabins on either side. Each cabin would sleep about ten people very easily. Each one had two bathrooms in it. The lake was on the opposite end. There was a big open space between the front two cabins and the back two cabins. That made it real easy to build as big a campfire as you wanted.

"Well, Tom pulled in to the far side of the campground and pulled the van and trailer between the last cabin and the lake. We get all of the stuff out of the van and put stuff in the fridge and all that. Those that had swimming trunks went swimming and the others started placing wood according to Dad's instructions. That was the good thing about going out with Dad. It was always a learning experience. Anyway, he showed us the best way to stack the wood so that it would catch fire easier and burn hotter.

"It was dark by the time we got through playing and running and swimming. Dad lit the fire and in no time we had a good blaze going. We had to wait until the fire burned down to embers before we started cooking the hot dogs so Dad decided to tell ghost stories. The first two were pretty lame. The last one he declared was a true story from his childhood.

"Now, I had heard him tell stories before, be he really threw himself into this one. He leaned forward in his chair, his eyes got wider, and he spoke quieter. And, it worked. The guys got quieter and their eyes started darting around looking to see who might be getting scared. The truth was, we all were.

"So, Dad goes into this thing about this mountain lion that started messing around some of the houses near the edge of his hometown. Everybody knew that it was a mountain lion because it would let out this blood-curdling scream like a woman would when she got scared, only about ten times louder. And, that's really the truth. It would do that especially just before it got ready to attack something to scare it. Whatever it was after would be so scared that it would freeze from the fear and be easy prey. Or, it would be so scared that it would stumble and fall while trying so hard to get away.

"Then, the cat began to attack things close to people's houses like their calves or a dog or something. It would always sound the same. The people would hear a scream really, really, close by. Then they would hear a bunch of thumping and thrashing around. When they would turn on the lights and go outside to see what was happening, the cat would disappear into the woods. It would leave behind a dead or dying animal. Usually the throat would be all torn apart and one of the legs or a big portion of the animal would be missing. Then, Dad went on to describe yucky stuff about the bloody parts and just gruesome stuff.

"He ended it by saying that the cat was never found and seemed like it just wandered off to find easier pickings. And, immediately, he slapped his hands on his legs, got up real quick, and changed the tone of his voice. Then he declared that the fire was ready and for everybody to follow him to the van and trailer to get the rest of the wood to make a bonfire after they were through cooking. He started walking to the van which was parked away from the sight of the campfire.

"Let me tell you, he had this planned perfectly. Just as soon as the last of us was around the corner and out of sight, ten female voices let out this blood-curdling yell. Five men started stomping the ground and shaking the bushes. Tom ran around to the campfire and yelled 'Oh my gosh' real loud. Of course, we boys were not going to linger in the dark, so we ran around the cabin and looked, too. On the far edge of the cabin area, about 100 feet away, was a man staggering towards us. He looked like he was all bloodied around his face and neck and he had his arm tucked inside his shirt like it had been torn off. They had him painted with red florescent paint all down his side. He did look a sight, now. They had taken their time and painted him good. Well, all we saw was a quick glimpse of this bloodied figure stumbling towards us, moaning and then falling to the ground.

"Everybody screamed or yelled. Two of the guys whose voices hadn't changed yet, actually screamed like they were little girls. Boy, did we ever rag them about that. Freddy, the guy standing next to me, started running fifty miles an hour in one place and yelling, 'Daddy, Daddy, Daddy.' And, his dad just happened to be there. Big Al, came out from around the corner of the far cabin, smiled real big, held out his arms and said, 'I'm right here, son.' Freddy stopped in his tracks and got this goofy look on his face as he gasped, 'Da-a-a-d?'

"Then ten little female voices, three big female voices and five male voices including the dead guy started laughing at us brave campers who had been shaking like a leaf. The youth minister got up off the ground and showed us his arm was still attached. His wife and the entire teenage girls' class stepped out from behind the bushes where they had been hiding. Then some of the dads of the boys stepped out from behind the far cabin and were laughing at us. Finally, it dawned on us brave little lads that we had been had and we laughed, too. Of course, the boys went over to their respective dads, you know, playfully punching them and carrying on."

As everybody at the table started laughing, Arthur chided, "Aw, Grandpa that was terrible. You shouldn't have done those guys that way."

With a great big grin on his face Tom answered, "Ye-e-a-a-h, you're right. I shouldn't have done it that way. I should have made one of the ladies or one of the teenage girls get all bloodied up."

Olivia reached over and playfully tapped Tom on the arm as she objected with a smile, "Grandpa, that's even worse."

Tom looked over at Phillip and said, "Yeah, it would have been wouldn't it?"

Phillip raised his eyebrows as he questioned the group, "Are you sure you want this derelict to stay here? We'll be back in four weeks. We can pack him up and take him back home with us, you know?"

Olivia grabbed Tom's hand, "No way. He stays here for the rest of his life, even if it's twenty or thirty years. We're gonna love him like he's never been loved before, warts and all."

Jeanette started laughing real big. The others at the table only chuckled. Curiosity got the better of Arthur, so he asked, "What's so funny, Aunt Jeanette? Haven't you ever heard that one before?"

"Yes, I have," she said as she calmed down, "but we were just talking about that camping trip and what she said made me think of a girl that had warts all over her hands when she was younger. What was her name, Honey?"

"Beverly?"

"Yeah, she was always wearing those sleeves with holes in them for your thumbs. And when she would sit by one of the boys, she sat with her arms folded so they wouldn't try to hold her hand. Boy, she was really embarrassed about it," she said.

"Did they ever go away?" Arthur asked.

Jeanette answered, "She grew out of them, I think. The doctor gave her something and they disappeared."

"What made you think of her?" Phillip asked.

"You and that campfire story, you goof," she replied.

"Oh,.......that," Ryan said as he cleared his throat. He looked at his watch. "Oh, my look at the time, I guess we had better be going." He scooted his chair back and asked Jeanette, "You coming, Sweetheart?"

Jeanette started drumming her fingers on the table again, "Not until we continue the campfire story."

Have you ever seen somebody who had that my-goose-is-cooked look? Well, Phillip had it. He sat down and looked at Arthur and pleaded, "Arthur don't believe a word that you're about to hear. They are going to try to say that I chased her all around the campfire that night."

Arthur knew this was going to be good and that his best ally would be Aunt Jeanette. Much to her delight, he scooted his chair as close as he could and slipped his arm inside of hers. With that disarming smile and that innocent look he had learned to give, she was just about putty in his hands. He sealed it by sweetly saying, "Aunt Jeanette, I know that you're the only one who would ever tell me the truth about this matter. So, go ahead."

Olivia was still holding Tom's hand so she bounced her head on it a couple of times and said, "Oh, p-u-u-l-e-e-e-ze."

Did Jeanette just blush a bit because of an eleven-year-old? Well, maybe not. She started explaining, "Well, he didn't chase her around the campfire like you would think of chasing someone. However, he would try to sit close to her and she would find some pretense to get up and move. He would find another reason to get close to her and she would move. It went on for almost the whole night. He finally gave up and went to sit by Tom."

"Were you there?" Arthur asked Jeanette with a sly smile.

"Yes. I certainly was. But he never came to sit by me," she pointed out so sweetly.

"Uncle Phillip?" Arthur questioned.

"I know. I know. But, I was only fifteen at the time," reasoned Phillip.

"And there was, Phyllis, the blonde who was brunette a couple of times," Jeanette continued playfully. "And then there was, Tammy from Alabamy, as he so sweetly called her to try to win her favor. He tried for three months to get her to go with him on a date." She was looking down at Arthur when she finished the sentence. With a sly smile, she darted her eyes in his direction and mouthed the words, "Ask him."

Arthur leaned forward a little and asked, "How was the date, Uncle Phillip?" And, he giggled.

"If you must know."

Tom chimed in, "We must. We must."

Phillip muttered, "It figures," before he went on. "I call her my one night stand."

Olivia and Jeanette exchanged female glances and Olivia just had to butt in, "I'll bite, but I'm not too sure I'll like the answer. Just what do you mean, 'One night stand?"

He looked around the table with one of those hopeless looks and said, "Huh. One night with her was all I could stand."

Everyone at the table but Phillip broke out into laughter. After it all settled down again, Jeanette prodded, "And?"

He knew he couldn't get out of it so he continued, "Her parents would not let her go out alone. So, we went to a local hangout burger joint and ate burgers and fries with a bunch from the school. Big, bad old me had to haul off and tell the funniest joke I knew. It went over too well. She started laughing and then would snort in the middle of her laugh. Everybody thought that was extremely funny, so everybody started telling jokes just to hear her snort. Gratefully, her parents moved away six months later."

"And then who did you date?" Arthur wanted to know.

"Well....."

"Let's see, there was Brenda, and then there was Lucy, and then Mary Beth moved into town and Romeo was the first to move in on her," Jeanette began to fill in. "And after he got his license there was Judy for two dates." She stopped and smiled at her husband and fluttered her eyes at him.

"Go ahead. Go ahead," Phillip said as he crossed his arms and got a very bashful look on his face. "I know you can't wait to tell everybody."

Jeanette looked down at Arthur and said in a mysterious almost sing-song manner, "And the next one was W-w-willow-w-w. At least, that's that way he said her name to the other guys when he thought none of us girls were listening."

Everybody at the table chuckled but Arthur. He couldn't help but laugh. "Now, that's funny, Uncle Phillip. Was she pretty?"

"Oh, yeah," he answered. "She was a tall, slender young lady with long, black hair. She had let it grow until she could almost sit on it."

Tom was having a time. He had watched all of this unfold years before. Phillip had always confided in him about all of the girls. He watched as Arthur looked from Phillip to Jeanette and back again and paused before he even started to ask. He could tell by the look on his face what was racing through Arthur's mind. He quietly motioned to Olivia to be quiet and listen.

Out it came. "But....Uncle Phillip.....when did you finally meet Aunt Jeanette?"

"Oh, I've known Jeanette practically all of my life. We grew up in the same neighborhood. We went to church together. She was there around the campfire that night."

"She was? Oh, yeah, that's right," Arthur said as he remembered. But, he just couldn't help himself. He turned his head sideways and asked, "Then how come it took you so long to ask her out?"

Phillip answered the best way he could, "Arthur, I guess I was too intimidated by her."

"Why?" Arthur asked in complete bewilderment. As he looked at Jeanette and then back to Phillip, he blabbered, "If it had been me, she would have been the first one I would have asked. She's stack...... uh,...." he glanced quickly at his not-smiling-at-all mother, "she,....uh, she's...........all there." With his eyes firmly fixed on his mother, he slouched back in his chair with a blank look on his face and said, "All there, Mom. That's all I said, that she was all there."

Jeanette went from guffaw to almost hysterical laughter. The guys were only about two decibels under her. Wendy laughed because everybody else was laughing. That left Olivia and Arthur frozen as they stared at each other. Olivia was more than shocked that such a thing could come out of the mouth of her angelic son. She was about two seconds from telling him to go to his room when Jeanette stopped her.

"Oh, don't,.......don't," Jeanette gasped. She leaned over and hugged Arthur and gave him a kiss on the forehead. "Whatever you were thinking about, Olivia, don't do it. I am so flattered by that compliment." She looked over at her husband and continued, "If his Uncle Phillip had been half as forward as Arthur was, we could have dated a lot longer and enjoyed ourselves instead of lending ourselves to heartache."

Phillip pulled himself together to admit, "As I have said before, Jeanette was the most beautiful girl in the crowd. And I WAS intimidated by her beauty. I never thought in my wildest imaginations that she would ever go for such an ordinary guy like me."

Jeanette looked straight at Arthur and confessed in front of everyone, "I really didn't have any thoughts of dating Phillip. He was jumping from one girl to another and I did not want to get involved with any guy like that. I just didn't want the hurt."

She gently held Arthur's cheek in her hand as her voice became quite serious. "But, I kept hearing parts of conversations with the girls he had dated. Every one of them said that he had been a gentleman, he didn't say ugly things, he never put his hands where they shouldn't be and he said sir and ma'am to their parents."

She looked over at Phillip and they exchanged smiles as she finished, "I guess you could say that I was first attracted to Phillip by what the girls said about him. Then, I would smile at him when we passed in the hall at school. That turned into finger waves. And, dropping a book out my arms right in front of him didn't hurt either. Then....." She pulled her arm from around Arthur and pretended she was reeling in a big fish while saying, "bzzzzzt, bzzzzzzzt, bzzzzzt, click click. I caught him."

As laughter filled the dining room, Olivia had a change of heart. There was no way that she could be mad at her little man. Jeanette had just taught him a very important lesson that would guide his thoughts and actions for the rest of his life. Indeed, God was busy building something in her son since her grandfather came home. She was not about to interrupt what He was doing.

# CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

The next several days were filled with excitement. News about Elmhurst's long lost hero spread quickly. Everybody wanted to see him and talk to him. Of course, they couldn't see much of him without seeing his shadow, Arthur Hollis, as well. And, some of them didn't get a chance to talk to Tom because they had to hear Arthur. Most folks didn't mind, though. The two of them made an interesting couple to be around. One thing for sure, Arthur did not mind being the center of attention, even if he had to be standing next to his grandfather to get it.

Finally, Sunday morning came and Elmhurst Christian Church was buzzing with excitement. They had an overflow crowd and had to put extra seats down all three aisles. Some estimated that more than 1,000 people showed up. For a town of only 5,000 residents, that was a pretty good turnout.

By the time eleven o'clock came around, it took the worship leader three or four extra minutes to get everyone seated so they could begin worship. Tom was sitting in a reserved seat next to the aisle on the very first row. And who was that sitting next to him in his Sunday suit and hair slicked down? Was that Arthur Hollis? You'd better believe it was.

The worship was great. There was hardly a dry eye as the choir gave the most stirring rendition of God Bless America anyone could ever remember. Then, as the applause died down, the hot guitarist broke into an introduction to Victory in Jesus that brought the entire congregation to its feet as they all sang along with the choir.

Finally, the time came for Tom to give his testimony. Rev. Wallace gave the introduction and then sat down on the front row.

For the first ten minutes or so, Tom talked about his life in Elmhurst. He gave a brief history of his family. He went through his decision to join the army and explained his rationale in volunteering for the dangerous mission that left him with amnesia.

"I don't know how some of you are going to take what I have to say next, but here goes," he started as he stepped back behind the pulpit. "Life sucks" he said emphatically and just crossed his arms and waited.

As you might know it, that sent a little buzz through the crowd. The teenagers and the Army Rangers got a big kick out of it. A few guys in the back said, "Amen." At this point in time, Tom had no idea whether they were regulars or stragglers.

He began in earnest, "Life, itself, sucks. Here is what I mean by that statement. All by itself, life will suck out all of your hope, all of your joy, sometimes your will to live, and sometimes your desire to be good. You try to be a good parent and your kids could drain you empty. You try to be a good kid and your parents could drain you empty. Try to be a good employer or a good employee, the same will happen. You could rattle off down the line with pastor and congregation, school and students, or any combination of things. The bottom line is that life, all by itself, does not seem to be fair.

"Then, you wake up one day in a village in a mountain jungle and in more pain than you can stand, and you look at somebody you don't know." With a little twinkle in his eye he quipped, "Come to think of I didn't even know who I was." He paused and let a few chuckles roll by. "And I wasn't even drinking." He raised his hand and looked around at the congregation and asked, "Know what I mean?" The laughter came on that one.

With a smile he went on, "Life itself sucks a whole lot. But, can you imagine having amnesia? Life sucks but you can't remember what it sucks about." That brought an applause mostly from the Rangers. Tom had spent several hours with them Saturday morning at Ed's bakery. The rest of the town had to come in and listen in shifts.

Tom let the laughter die down all the way. His countenance got serious. "I can think about it but I really cannot say that I have any idea how two of those Filipino children felt. Pedro was seven and Tala was two. A couple of months before I got there the enemy had come in, took their father away to fight for them and beat their mother to death because she resisted." His voice softened, "Those kids saw that. Some of you, especially you young people think you've got it bad. I've got one thing to say, and I'll say it firmly. Get over it. You haven't seen the bad part of life, yet." Applause went up and several people stood up. Among them were a handful of teenagers. Tom saw them and gave the thumbs up sign.

"Those two didn't want to live. They felt they had no reason to live. They kept wandering off into the jungle, hoping they would get killed and eaten by some wild animal. The little girl, Tala, refused to talk. She would walk around with her finger in her mouth and holding on to her brother's hand.

"Well, there I was, not in the best of emotional shape myself. The explosion didn't kill me. I couldn't will myself to die. I didn't know if I was married. I didn't know if I had kids. I didn't know who or where my mama and daddy was. Nobody spoke English but me and the pastor.

"Then, God pointed out Pedro, Tala and several of the other children that were orphans. It seemed like He said to me, 'They're without a daddy and you're without any children. Go be their daddy. It beats sitting here feeling sorry for yourself, doesn't it?' You know, that made a lot of sense. So, from then on, I poured love into those children and did my best to help them get through life. And, you know what happened? They began pouring their love into me, and it helped me get through the things life had handed to me.

"Folks, that's the love of Jesus for you. His love by itself is enough to help you get through the things that life dishes out to you. Then, when you start pouring God's love into others, God will make sure that people will cross your path that will pour His love back into you. You'll receive good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over. That is His promise to you.

"When my memory came back, I realized that my family was probably told that I was killed in action. Why should I go back? They think I'm dead anyway. I cried for weeks. Those kids that God helped me pull out of life's gutter were able to hear God more than I could at that time. They pulled me out of mine.

"Remember Pedro? He was fifteen years old when my memory came back. Since he didn't have a family, he and Tala stayed with me. He had always been my right-hand man. One day, he told me that he felt that he should accompany the tribesmen as they journeyed to the low-lands to barter for food. I was proud of him for taking on some of the manly duties of the tribe.

"What I didn't know was that he and a couple of the tribesmen were going to run on ahead of the main caravan's trading spot to get to the city of Cabanatuan. When they returned three days later, they were escorted by a squad of Army soldiers that had orders to carry me out.

"Pedro led the Army Captain straight to my hut and called me out. With the villagers gathered around him he told me, 'You've healed us with God's love so we can walk with our heads high. Now it is your turn to go back to America and make your crooked leg straight and your broken heart healed."

Tom had to stop for a moment to settle down. Many in the congregation had taken out their handkerchiefs. Finally he managed to say, "I want the pastor, the elders and the worship team to come up now. Some of you out there are struggling with the ugly that life has handed to you. I'm here to tell you that you don't have to struggle any more. God loves you with an everlasting love. And, if you want healing on the inside, you come up here right now and accept Jesus as your personal Savior. Then, find somebody that needs it and pour His love into their lives. He will flood through you like you have never felt before. Won't you come?"

Before the worship team even got the first note out, a few people had made their way up to the altar. Rev. Wallace, the elders and Tom stood in front of the podium as the invitation was given.

Arthur bowed his head and prayed the best he could. He could hear several people coming forward and praying with the pastor and his grandfather. Then, he felt a tap on his shoulder. When he looked up, there was Ramon with big tears running down his cheeks.

"Arthur, come up with me," Ramon whispered, "I......I.....don't know what to say. I need your help."

Arm in arm they made their way through the others at the altar until they got to Tom. Both were crying so hard that they couldn't talk. But, explanations were unnecessary. Tom, Ramon and Arthur knelt down and Tom led Ramon in the sinner's prayer. Then, he prayed and talked with him until the joy of the Lord lit up his face.

************************

Out in back of the church, they had set up a humongous tent that housed tons of food, and gallons of iced tea. Of course, they let Tom and his family go to the head of the line with the pastor and his wife. It's a good thing, too. When Tom got through and went to get a final glass of tea, he was immediately beset by a crowd of people asking him all kinds of questions. Of course, his joined-at-the-hip shadow, aka Arthur Hollis, was right there soaking in all the attention he could. His mom and dad along with his pastor and the pastor's wife sat laughing at the little tyke as he wagged his head back and forth in time with the questions and answers. Where's a video camera when you really need it?

Everyone got quiet when a commotion was heard at the far side of the tent. When they turned to look in the direction of the commotion, they realized that it was one of their church members who was confined to a wheel chair. A young lady, her great-granddaughter, was pushing her slowly and patiently through the crowd. The wheel chair lady had a cane in one hand and was putting it to good use.

She would punch whoever was in front of her with either the end or the side of the cane and demand, "Out of my way. Let an old cripple woman through. Where's your manners? Can't you move any faster than that? Move. Move, I tell you."

Everyone but Tom knew who she was. She had been a faithful church member for years. They knew her to be mostly sweet but, at times, she was downright ornery. You guessed it. This was one of those times. As Tom looked at the crowd for some kind of explanation, most of them just smiled and shrugged their shoulders. They did not have a clue.

As she got closer to Tom she began to rant, "Out of my way. I need to have a few words with this so-called hero." Everyone had no choice but to make a path for her so she could get to Tom. As she got within cane distance, she commanded her great-granddaughter, "You can stop right here, Marci. This is as close as I want to get to the scallywag of Elmhurst. Hero? Humph!! You're no hero. You're a scamp, a cold-hearted villain, if there ever was one."

Then she looked around at the people and continued, "I don't have any idea why you give this imp the time of day. None of y'all around here are old enough to know the REAL Tom Dandridge. I grew up with him and I know plenty. Him and his sweet Ellen. Oh, she was sweet alright. Sweet as a mad rattlesnake."

The crowd was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. They looked from one to another in profound consternation. Nobody had a clue what she was talking about, especially Tom. Her references to the love of his life made him wonder if this woman had gone psycho or something.

When she knew she had every one's attention, she leaned forward in her wheelchair, looked Tom square in the eyes, pointed her cane at him and said, "Don't you even dare to pretend that you don't know what I'm talking about, Tom Dandridge. What you did to me ought to make you blush with shame. Yet, you come here, get up in that sacred pulpit and spout off about God and His love and you act like what you did to me was nothing at all. You shamed me in front of my friends, laughed about it and walked off as if you'd done nothing wrong. And I had to live with the shame of it all."

By now, everyone was stunned by the testimony of one of their beloved church members. They knew she was an upstanding member of the community. Her love for the Lord and the church she had served for years was above question. But, was there something between them that had lain silent for years that she felt she had to confront Tom with?

She looked around and saw the puzzled looks. Tom was more than perplexed. She said in a stern tone, "You don't remember me, do ya? You don't have a clue as to what I'm talking about, huh?"

Tom sputtered, "Why, ma'am, I'm sorry if I offended you....."

She interrupted him by raising her cane and making the pronouncement, "My maiden name, you feeble-minded miscreant is...Maybelle............Hensley." Then she broke into a smile.

The name fell like a bomb shell to Tom. With eyes wide with joy, Tom fell on his knees beside the wheel chair and embraced his old school friend. Together they laughed at the prank she had pulled on him. After they had laughed until they cried, Tom finally stood up.

But, Maybelle was having the laughing fit of her life. She would stomp her feet and then beat her hands on the handrails of the wheelchair. All the time she was saying, "I got him. I finally got him. I finally got the joker. I got him. I got him. It wasn't much, but I got him."

When the two of them began laughing at each other, the rest of the crowd joined in. Not that they knew what was going on, but at the relief that Tom really wasn't all those mean things she called him.

Arthur was so relieved that he had to go get himself a drink of tea and sit down for a minute. His mom saw him and brought it to the attention of his dad and the Wallaces. Arthur's actions were even funnier than the joke. And still no camera.

Finally, Maybelle began to calm down and began to offer an explanation. "You....you....have no idea," she started between chuckles of laughter. As she pointed towards Tom, she continued, "You have no idea how long I have waited to get a chance to play ANY kind of a prank on the town prankster. Oh, that was good. Whew-eee, that was good. Marci, get your granny some tea, will you, Honey? And Tom, tell 'em, Tom. Tell 'em what you did. Whew! I am too out of breath and you tell stuff better than anyone I know. Y'all listen to this."

Then she looked around and saw Arthur and said to him, "Everybody listen but you, Master Arthur. Don't you go getting ideas like your grandpa."

We all know what Arthur did next, don't we? As he pushed his way through the crowd he was yelling, "Wait, Grandpa. Don't start yet. Wait 'til I get there. I don't want to miss a word of what I'm not supposed to hear."

Oh, yeah. The crowd laughed and Arthur beamed at the one-liner he cracked.

At the back table, Olivia declared, "That's my boy. He comes by it honest. Well, if he's gonna imitate someone, it may as well be his grandpa, huh?"

"But, Liv," objected Ryan with a sly smile, "How will we be able put up with him?"

"Arthur?" asked Olivia with a straight face.

"Yes," answered Ryan.

Without batting an eye or cracking a smile she countered, "Marry him off before he's a teenager." There was a stunned silence for 5 seconds before Olivia exploded in laughter.

Ryan looked at the pastor and his wife with a pitiful expression and pleaded, "Pray for me." However, he couldn't wait the full five seconds before his explosion.

Oblivious to what was happening across the tent, Tom began, "I guess it's up to me. But like she said, my sweet Ellen had a hand in this little prank. She heard the girls talking about how they thought some of the boys were using the caves across from the park to smoke cigarettes in. We didn't, but that didn't keep the girls from thinking we did. Anyway, Ellen told me and we hatched out a plan. She was going to tell the girls that she knew that one of the boys had taken a cigarette to the cave."

Maybelle butted in, "What Tom won't tell you is that it was him that really did take a cigarette into the cave that day. Uh-huh, I told on you didn't I? Sweet little Ellen told me all about it one day when we were reminiscing."

Then looking at the crowd she said big grin, "Yeah, sounds bad doesn't it? You want to hear something so-o-o-o sweet that it'll turn your stomach? Well, it seems that gentleman Tom picked up a cigarette butt from somewhere and put it in his pocket that day so his sweet little Ellen wouldn't be tellin' a lie. Don't that just make you sick?"

Then all of the crowd let out an, "Aw-w-w-w-w."

Tom replied, "OK, OK. Let's see the hand of someone here who hasn't done something sappy at least once in his life." As he looked around at the non-show of hands, he looked down in the troubled face of his grandson. "Uh, anybody over the age of thirty that is."

As Arthur breathed a sigh of relief, everyone chuckled. From out of the back of the crowd came, "Your day will come, Arthur. Don't worry. It'll get here soon enough." A few "Amens" agreed.

Tom continued, "Ellen and I had agreed on a plan. The girls had been sneaking....no, I've got to say, they THOUGHT they were sneaking up to the mouth of the cave from both sides."

From the crowd, and the back table, came a female chorus of, "B-o-o-o-o."

"Truth's the truth, girls," Tom stated emphatically. "We waited until all of the bushes quit moving. That's how we knew they were in position and ready to SURPRISE us."

Again the female chorus sounded, "Uh-huh." "Right." Plus a, "Maybelle gets a chance to testify, you know."

Tom held up his hands, "OK. Believe what you like. Anyway, the guys built a fire in the front of the cave. The commotion of everyone moving around allowed me to get up on the ledge that was over the opening to the cave. Then, the boys started looking around to make it obvious that they were up to something. One by one, they all slipped towards the back of the cave to make it look like they were going for a smoke. Homer Baxley pulled out one of those strike anywhere kitchen matches and lit it.

"That was Ellen's cue. She said, 'Look, they're lighting up, let's go.' All the girls ran toward the cave with the intention of catching the boys in the act.

I had brought five rubber snakes from the house. Whoever came through the mouth of the cave first was going to get the snakes dumped on them along with the loudest yell I could muster. And, bless her heart, Maybelle won first prize.

When I dumped those snakes on her, she let out a yell louder than mine. Then she started shaking her hands like they had some yucky stuff on them and ran about two miles in three seconds all in the same spot. Then she ran out of that cave so fast that she couldn't stop when she got to the creek that ran through the park. She fell in and got soaking wet."

The tent came alive with laughter. A good dose of it came from Maybelle herself. When she finally calmed down, she said, "Tommy, Tommy, Tommy. You have made one serious error in your perception of that story."

Tom replied, "Well, I don't doubt that, Maybelle. It WAS a long while ago. What part did I get wrong?"

Maybelle answered, "Why the part where you said that I was running so fast that I couldn't stop at the creek and that I FELL in."

Tom furrowed up his eyes and asked, "That's not the way it happened?"

"No, sir, not at all," said Maybelle emphatically. "I purposely ran to the creek so I could JUMP into it."

Curiosity got the best of Marci, "Granny. You ran TO the creek to JUMP into it? Why"

"Well, if you must know," Maybelle tried to sound aloof and huffy but she started chuckling as she responded, "Tom had scared me so bad that I was wetting my pants there at the mouth of the cave and I didn't want ANYONE, especially those boys know that I had wet my pants. The only thing I could do to save my 'tomboy' reputation was to run and jump into the creek to cover up."

Marci about fell over laughing, "Granny, you didn't."

"Yes, I did, child. I most certainly did," answered Maybelle. As she lifted her handkerchief to wipe the tears from her eyes, she glanced at her watch. "Oh, Honey. You need to get me home. I need to take a nap if I'm going to be able to go to the civic center to BRAG ABOUT PULLING ONE OVER ON TOM."

Pastor Wallace stood up, "Hey folks, she's right. Let's get shaking and get this stuff put up so we could all be there on time."

As Marci wheeled her granny toward the parking lot, Maybelle called out back at Tom, "Hey, you old goat, you ain't going to preach the same old boring sermon you preached this morning are you? If you are, I'm not going to waste my time coming."

Not to be outdone, Tom bantered, "I guess you'll just have to come to find out."

She answered, "I'll boo ya if you do."

Tom turned to start helping folks put stuff away. However, they would have none of it and promptly escorted him out from under the tent and sent him on his way.

As he walked to the car, he thought about how good it was to see one of his old friends in this town that had changed so much. However, Maybelle was not the only friend from his past that would come back to see him. He had another surprise coming at the civic center.

# CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

By the time 6 o'clock on Sunday evening got there, the civic center was packed. Most of those who had served their country wore their uniforms to the meeting. The football team and their friends got there early enough to get the front three rows on stage left. Yes, Maybelle got there about five minutes 'til. Tom told them to let her park her wheel chair next to the front row on stage right so she could be next to Olivia and Ryan or he would never hear the end of it. The VFW folks had already heard about what went on that afternoon and were prepared to make that concession anyway. Graciously, she let Marci go to the opposite side of the civic center to be with her friends.

Twenty seven United States flags spread across the stage. One for each of the citizens of Elmhurst who had given their lives while serving their country. Three chairs graced the middle of the stage. The one in the middle was for Tom Dandridge. Someone had an Army Ranger uniform pretty close to his size. They put the sergeant stripes on the sleeves and made a name tag to go on it.

To the left of Tom sat Ret. Major General Ronald Fitzhugh, the commander of the post. The third chair on the rostrum was for Master Arthur Hollis. He was all dressed up in his boy scout uniform, of course.

Olivia had kept him in the dressing room until two minutes 'til six. She fussed and fussed over his uniform and his hair until Arthur intimidated her by saying, "Aw, Mom, you're making me so nervous I'm about to forget my lines."

Arthur was supposed to announce the pledge to the flag, lead in the pledge to the flag and then introduce his grandfather. Big job, but he had it down pat.

When he came scooting out on the stage to take his place, his friends hooted and whistled at him. His face turned so red that you could see it from as far back as the tenth row.

At precisely 6 o'clock, General Fitzhugh stepped up to the podium and announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, let's all rise to sing our National Anthem and remain standing to repeat the pledge to the flag." Everyone stood and Sam Bonner, the worship leader from Elmhurst Christian Church, led everyone in singing the National Anthem.

When they finished, Arthur stepped up beside the podium and Sam handed him the microphone. He cleared his throat and said in his best commanding voice, "Ladies and gentlemen, get ready to say the pledge of allegiance by either saluting or placing your hand over your heart and repeat with me....." He did an outstanding job and his mother and father were extremely proud.

When the pledge was finished, Arthur, with microphone in hand said, "Ladies and gentlemen before you sit down, will you give a 'Thank You' hand of appreciation for his service to our country, to my Tom, Sgt. Grandpa Dandridge."

His mouth dropped open, his eyes opened wide and his face turned red. AND, for once in his life, he was speechless. Arthur could not believe that he could have ever made a mistake like that.

Tom quickly stepped to his side and took the microphone from him and gave him a big hug just as if he had done it perfectly. However, the audience did not let him off the hook. Amid the applause and the laughter, there were whistles and hoots that all added to his pure embarrassment. He just laughed right along with everybody else and hastily took his seat. When the noise began to lull, Tom spoke into the microphone and said, "I believe y'all must have misunderstood my grandson's intentions. He MEANT to say that just to see if you were paying attention or had already fallen asleep."

As the crowd quieted, a voice was heard to say, "We can't be asleep yet, you haven't started talking, you old goat." Yep, it was good old Sis. Maybelle. That nap must have done her some good 'cause she was real perky tonight. Of course, that brought another round of applause and some good laughter to boot.

When it quieted down, Tom spoke into the microphone, "I thought when I was invited to speak that I would be the only speaker for the evening, not third in line." A little polite laughter rippled through the crowd. "And, after hearing the profound wisdom of the previous two speakers, I believe that I am seriously outclassed."

Tom spent the next twenty minutes talking about the historical data of the war. He talked about the price that many men paid for freedom. He talked about the ravages of a war-torn country side and how the United States had stepped in to rebuild it.

Then his talk took on a different tone. "You can rebuild a country side within a couple of years. You could probably guess that after five or ten years a war-torn area like the Philippines would almost look like nothing had ever happened. However, the damage done to the inside of some of the people torn apart by war cannot be repaired by money, doctors, psychiatrists or the Corps of Engineers. Some scars can only be healed by the love of Jesus Christ.

"When I had amnesia and was trying to heal from my horrific injuries, for a while, all I could do was sit and watch a bunch of helpless orphans. One or both of their parents had been killed or taken as slaves. Some did not have any relatives to live with. All of them had seen atrocities of some sort. They would cry during the day. They would cry during the night. Some refused to eat and died. Some walked around not talking. Some walked around and talked constantly. But, all were hurting. The adults hurt more than some of the children."

Tom paused for a moment as he searched for the right words to say. "Friends, you can read about it in your history books." Then he thumped his chest with his fist as he finished, "But, I was there. And I can tell you FIRST hand. Money and machines can rebuild a country side, but only Jesus can rebuild lives that are ravaged by the wars they go through. Thank you."

As Tom turned to take his seat, Arthur saw the anguish on his face from recounting all the things that he had seen in the Philippines. Something in Arthur grew up a little. Something stirred within him. It was something that he could not explain. And it certainly was something that he could not get away from.

A sense of destiny that Arthur couldn't quite put into words began to form in the eleven-year-old. Somewhat like a lump of clay being formed into--something. Arthur was not quite sure what it was that he was feeling but he wasn't afraid of it. As a matter of fact, he was being drawn to it.

As the audience stood and gave Tom a standing ovation, Gen. Fitzhugh got up and embraced him as Tom handed him the microphone. After the applause died down and the people took their seats, Gen. Fitzhugh took a deep breath, smiled and said, "Folks, I hope I can maintain a little Marine Corps dignity but I seriously doubt it. And, I don't care right now."

He turned to look at Tom and barked his order, "Sgt. Dandridge. Front and center." Tom got a wondering look on his face as he, again, rose from his seat and stepped up beside the Commander.

Gen. Fitzhugh put his arm around Tom's shoulder and looked out into the audience until he found Maybelle before he continued, "We all have skeletons in our closet, don't we?" Then, he looked at Tom and continued in a quiet and shaky voice, "Sorry, Sergeant, but we found one of yours and we have to expose you for who you really are."

His voice cleared and took on a commanding tone as he said, "Will our next speaker come to the stage and introduce yourself any way you want to."

The audience saw the curtains in the back open and a Filipino in a Marine Corps uniform stepped out. He raised a microphone to his mouth and shouted out, "Malaki Tata-a-a-a-a-y-y!"

Tom's eyes widened with amazement as he recognized the voice. He turned and beheld his beloved Pedro. They virtually ran to each other, embraced and unashamedly held on to each other. Gen. Fitzhugh announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Retired First Sergeant and Top Kick-------Pedronan Abayan."

As people rose in their applause, Pedro said to his old friend, "Tatay, I would love to hold on to you for days but I have to catch a plane in three hours. Pentagon business, you know."

As Tom released his greatest friend he said through his tears, "I understand. But I have got to have your number."

Pedro reached into his pocket and pulled out a card and said with a chuckle, "Tatay, I am way ahead of you.......and my mailing address.....and my street address in the Philippines." Then as he playfully touched Tom's nose with his finger he said, "You and your Arthur must come and let my family love on you like nobody's business. You hear me?"

He pulled his arm around to show him the stripes on his sleeve and said with a broad smile, "See, soldier, I am Top Kick. And you know what Top Kicks do? Right?" With a broad smile he looked out at the audience. Hoots and applause went up from a lot of the men in uniform.

Tom snapped to attention and popped a salute with a chuckle, "Oh, indeed I do, First Sergeant, sir. Top Kicks give orders and demand they be obeyed."

Pedro threw his arm around Tom's neck and pulled him to him for a quick kiss on the cheek, "I love you, Tatay. I love you more today than ever before. But, I must talk now."

Before Tom could answer, he turned and walked to the podium and Tom quickly took his seat. He said as he tried to clear his throat, "A-a-a-hem. You are so right General. It's hard to remain a dignified Marine at a time like this."

Then, he regained his composure and continued, "Malaki Tatay. That means 'big daddy' in Tagalog. That's what he became to several of us orphans. My sister and I, along with the other children, could only watch in horror as the soldiers came into our village, kidnapped our dads and killed our moms. The pastor and the old folks that were left tried their best to take care of us but it didn't do much good. A part of our insides had been ripped right out of us. Life no longer had any meaning. I can remember my sister and I going to the edge of the jungle to go to sleep for the night. Our earnest desire was that some animal would come along and kill us so we didn't have to live with the painful memories anymore."

He pointed toward Tom as he continued in jest, "And then, we get invaded by ONE American........him." The crowd rippled with a little laughter. "His entire torso had to be wrapped so tightly that it was hard for him to breathe. His leg was wrapped as well and was healing all crooked like. And, every other day when the pastor and the women had to change the wrappings, whe-e-e-e-e-w, the smell," he quipped as he waived one of his hands in front of his face.

"But, I will never forget the day that this crippled American got up from where he had been sitting and hobbled over to a group of us orphans. On his way over, he picked up a coconut and started playing catch with us."

Then with a big grin on his face he continued, "There was only one problem. Malaki Tatay was so stiff from his wounds he couldn't bend over to catch the ball. And, walking around with that make shift crutch, it was hard for us to even watch. We didn't know if he was going to fall on one of us or not.

"Well........somebody had to help this guy before he made a real spectacle out of himself. Me being the oldest, I figured that it may as well be me. So, I appointed myself to be his personal helper. Yeah, I was going to help HIM, right? I needed more help than anybody else in the village."

His voice changed a little, "You see, I don't know if Tom knew it or not, but those first few weeks, almost every woman would huddle around him when they changed his wrappings and cleaned his wounds. Even though he was surrounded by the women cleaning him, we could hear him moaning in pain. Every now and then, when the women would move one way or the other, we could get a glimpse of his wounds. Those cuts should have had stitches. There are no stitches in the jungle. It was just unwrap, clean, rub the poultice and wrap him back up as fast as they could. Then they would give him a tea that would help him sleep.

"But his first day outside by himself, he put all of his pain aside and did everything in his power to make life easier for us. And, he did. Believe you me, he did. We would play until he could hardly stand anymore. Then, we would find a tree to sit under and he would teach us English and try to learn Tagalog. He would get us to do chores by making a game of it. I think the highlight of those first few weeks was when he got the pastor to ask the ladies if they would let the children learn how to change his dressings. It was a little dangerous because he was a long way from being healed. But, boy oh boy, what it did to the inside of every one of us kids. We felt needed. We felt important. We felt like we were loved."

Pedro looked out over the audience to try to find the words to what he wanted to say next. "I could tell you story after story about Sgt. Tom Dandridge, but I don't have the time. However, I believe I can sum them all up with this. I heard the village pastor say, time and time again, that Jesus loved us. But, as I remembered the past, there was no way that I could believe it. Then, God brought Tom Dandridge into our lives. Everything he did for us preached the love of Jesus to us. He didn't have to say Jesus loves you, Jesus loves you, Jesus loves you. The look in his eyes when he talked to you shouted it to you. The touch of his hand when he took care of your cuts and bruises said it again and again. The way he held some of the smaller children in his arms and sang them to sleep made you think he was Jesus wrapped up in a sergeant's uniform."

As his voice broke ever so slightly he finished by saying, "I know that the Marines say that they can build men, but only God could make a Tom Dandridge."

The crowd, many of them in tears themselves, rose to their feet and applauded his last statement. General Fitzhugh stood up and turned to Tom and saluted. Pedro and many of those in uniform did the same. Poor little Arthur was crying his eyes out. Well, so were Olivia and Maybelle.

Pedro got this weird little smile on his face as his voice picked back up and continued, "I remember when the village pastor died. It was a shock to all of us. It was so much of a shock that it brought Tatay's memory back. He remembered who he was and he remembered his wife and son that he left behind. All of it came flooding into him like a Philippine monsoon. He cried like a little baby.

"During the day, he busied himself taking care of the day-to-day business of the village, just like he always did. However, at night, after the day's work had ended, he would slip away into his bedroom and cry and pray and cry and pray. He could be heard all over the village. When we asked him about going back to America, he just said that he felt he was needed in the village. He was a hard-headed man."

Pedro looked at the audience with a big smile, raised his hand and said, "How many of you know that it takes another hard-headed Filipino to take care of a hard-headed American?"

There were a few whistles among the applause. "Well, this hard-headed Filipino made it his business to take care of his Tatay. I told old 'Bone-brain' that I was going to help the villagers take some stuff to market about ten miles away. When the group got out of eye sight of the village, two other guys and myself ran to the nearest Army post in Cabanatuan some twenty five miles away. We told them to come get that crazy cry-baby of an American out of our village."

Maybelle was the first to react, "That's telling 'em, Pedro."

The rest of the crowd laughed and applauded again.

Pedro continued, "I'm glad the Army invested in trucks 'cause me and the two others were more than glad to ride back to the village instead of run. But, let me tell you something, those trucks made so much noise coming up that mountain that villagers had lined up and down the road to watch them arrive. They cheered because everyone but Tatay knew why they were coming.

"Tatay was surprised, too. The look on his face was not necessarily a happy one but he knew he had to go. This hard-headed Filipino hopped down out of the truck before it even stopped. I ran up to Tatay and pointed him out to the captain.

"There were tearful hugs as everyone lined up to say good-bye. The villagers cried and applauded the entire time Tatay was saying his good-byes. Finally, it came my turn to face Tatay. I held out my chest in my best military fashion and told him, 'Tatay, you have healed us. Now it is your turn to go and be healed. I, Pedro, will take care of your duties. You have trained me to be a man, and a man I will be.'

"We all watched as the EMT's as they gently lifted him into one of the trucks. Every one watched until the convoy was out of sight. Then, I went into Tatay's shack and did the only thing I thought was the manly thing to do." Pedro bent over toward the audience and with a big smile he said, "I went into his bedroom and cried my ever-loving eyes out."

The laughter and applause was enough to almost raise the roof. As the applause died down, Pedro made his way to the edge of the platform and looked out into the audience, "Where is Olivia Hollis?"

On the front row, a stunned Olivia raised her hand and shyly replied, "Right here,........Sir."

Pedro laughed and looked over at Tom and said, "She called me Sir. She treats me better than you ever did." After a few giggles from the audience, he looked at her and said in a gentle and grateful tone, "Mrs. Olivia Hollis, I would like to thank you for sharing your grandfather with me. If it hadn't been for him, I would be just a drunk in the gutter of life. I probably would have died before the age of thirty and gone to a devil's hell. Because of him sharing Jesus Christ with me, I grew up a strong man on the inside. God blessed me with a Christian wife. We raised Christian children and now we are enjoying Christian grandchildren. My family and I owe you a very deep debt of gratitude."

With an embarrassed smile, Olivia said, "You are so very welcome, Pedro."

From the opposite side of the stage, a Marine stepped out and announced, "Sir, we have to leave in five minutes."

Pedro pointed to his stripes and tried to act huffy, "Hey, do you see how many stripes I have on this uniform, Bub?"

The Marine looked at his watch and replied with a big smile, "I certainly do, Sir, and we now have four and a half minutes before we need to leave."

Pedro stomped and tried to act disgusted but a laugh got in his way, "Man, I hate it when you're right. I'll be right there."

"I'll wait for you.........right here,......Sir," was his reply. His smile was still in place.

That drew an applause some whistles and several shouts of OOHRAH from the crowd.

Pedro looked at the crowd and cracked, "I can't get ANY respect anymore."

The Marine looked at the crowd and mouthed with a wide-eyed smile, "Oh, yes he does." The school crowd and the Rangers applauded him.

Pedro placed the microphone into its holder and said, "Thanks, folks, and take care of my malaki tatay."

As everyone gave him a rousing applause, Pedro made his way over to Tom and Arthur. He snatched up the shocked Arthur in his arms and gave him a bear hug. When he put him down, he shook his hand and said, "Master Arthur, it is so-o-o good to meet you. And, can you take a guess at what kind of business my son is in?"

A perplexed Arthur just mumbled a, "Uh....uh....donut shop?"

"Oh, my gosh," Pedro exclaimed, "the first guess out of his mouth and he's absolutely............WRONG." Then he stooped down until he could look Arthur straight in the eyes as he continued, "My son owns the biggest and the best................martial arts studio in Manila."

The only words that would make their way out of Arthur's mouth were, "No way."

Pedro replied, "Yes! Way! And guess who's got free lessons when he and his grandfather come to spend the summer with us in Manila?"

Arthur got a good case of the stammers this time, "I'ma....umma..I, I, you can't mean......but you could...but I don't......Grandpa, he doesn't mean...." But before he could make any sense, he ran to the opposite side of the stage where his friends were and ran around and around in circles, "Guys, you'll never guess, you'll never guess in a hundred gazillion years."

They all looked up at him in utter amazement. In all of his Arthur "fits" he had never acted like this. Ramon ran up to the edge of the stage and yelled at him, "Arthur, cool down, man or run out of gas one. We can't understand a word you're trying to say."

Arthur finally stopped and was virtually out of breath. However, he was so excited that he practically yelled out where everyone in the civic center could here. "I'm going to the Philippines and study the martial arts for free this summer. I can't believe it. I can't believe it. I'm gonna be a NINJA!"

Did I say that he yelled loud enough for everyone to hear it? Well, one of those every ones was his darling mother who was shocked, to say the least. Obviously, she was the last one to find out. Frantically, she tried to push her way through the crowd to get to Arthur to find out what he was talking about. But, before she could get there, he was off the stage and out the side door with his excited friends.

"Arthur. Arthur Hollis you come back here and tell me what you said," she cried after him in vain.

It's too late, Olivia. They were already two blocks down the street.

Pedro and Tom watched the drama unfold and just laughed. Tom was about to question Pedro but Pedro interrupted him. "Tatay, when I was asked to come, God dropped that into my spirit. I really feel that it is of the Lord. I called the wife. She, the children and the grandchildren are so excited. We will pay all the expenses for you and Arthur to come and spend the summer with us."

As he walked away toward the exit he shouted back, "Call me at the number on the card in two weeks. I'll be back by then and we can talk more about it."

Was this just a coincidence, or a turning point? No, it was going to be more like destiny.

# CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

The schools, Ed's bakery, McDonalds, Wal-Mart, barber shop, any place where people gathered the subject of the conversation always turned to Arthur, Tom and Pedro. Did I say the schools? Ho-o-o-boy! The big question USED to be, will the Bartlett Middle School Wildcats win the state football championship this year? That took second, maybe even third place. The biggest question, among the girls as well as the boys was which branch of the service they were going to join.

To say the least, by the time school was out, there was enough energy flowing that the guys could not wait to get to the park to practice for the next game. Tom swung by Bartlett Middle School and picked up a car load. However, as Tom was parking the Explorer, the guys were mystified to see a squad of girls in THEIR practice area. Oh, my goodness, tell me it's not true. They were kicking around.......A SOCCER BALL? Dear God, what is this world coming to?

They hurriedly piled out of the Explorer and sprinted over to their practice area. The girls stopped what they were doing and waited for their arrival with big smiles. Arthur recognized one of the real quickly, Marci. He walked up to her and asked, "Marci, what are y'all doing on our practice field?"

One of the other girls spoke up, "Just who said it was YOUR practice field? Last time I heard it was a PUBLIC park." Then she put both of her arms around the shoulders of the two girls beside her and smiled real big and proclaimed, "And, WE'RE the public, busteroony."

Ramon jumped in just as boldly, "E-e-e-e-w-w, boy, Arthur, she really cut you down with her razor sharp wit, didn't she?"

Now, Ramon was big for his age, but Taylor Sanders was just as big as he was. And, tough? Why she would rather be in jeans, t-shirt and sneakers than have to wear a dress and high heels. Dances? No way. Let's go fishing or hunting.

But, if you do, you would be hard pressed to beat her. She just doesn't like to lose. Does she take any guff off of the guys? Absolutely not. Just ask Jim Newman and Buddy Coon. Both of them cut a couple of tawdry remarks her way one day and had to live down a black eye and broken nose.

I said all that to give you some back ground as to why she made the next comment. "Hey, Sport. I can not only cut somebody down, I can take 'em down, too."

Before Ramon could come back with a smart remark, Marci piped up, "Hey, look guys. Every thing's OK. Coach Bonnie and Coach Wimberly have already made an agreement that we would alternate practice areas. Guys, you have this area tomorrow. Everything cool?" She was hoping that she could diffuse the tension.

Arthur shrugged his shoulders, looked up at Marci and smiled as he answered for the guys, "Yeah, it's OK."

Marci smiled back and said, "You looked good up there on that stage last night, Arthur." Then, as she reached over and mussed his hair a little bit, she continued, "But, then again. I always did like guys in uniform."

Then, one of those female impulse things happened. As she mussed his hair, she grabbed a handful and gave it a couple of friendly tugs. When she realized what she had done, she put her hand over her mouth, giggled and said, "Oh, I'm sorry, Arthur. I have no idea why I did that." Then, she and a couple of the girls broke out in laughter.

To his own amazement, Arthur didn't even flinch or try to push her hand out of the way. He just blushed and babbled, "Th-that's OK, Marci. I kinda liked it anyhow."

We-e-l-l-l-l, the guys could not let this pass. "O-o-o-h, Arthur...and...Marci" "Say, Arthur, can I borrow that after shave you're using?" "Yeah, Arthur, you've been holding out on some of those MOVES you OBVIOUSLY know. When are you going to show us some of those?"

His face was redder than ever, "Aw, guys, cut it out will ya'? Marci and I have a lot in common. We've both got great-grandparents that are cracker jacks."

Marci rolled her eyes and agreed as she put her arm around Arthur's shoulders and gave him a friendly squeeze, "She-e-e-e-sh, Arthur, me and you have got our hands full. Granny Maybelle won't quit. She's still thinking of ways she can trick your grandpa."

Then as she looked around at the crowd, she said, "You guys have no idea what we go through."

Since Marci's arm was around his shoulders, Arthur slid his around her waist, looked up at her and said, "Marci, I always wondered what it was like to have a big sister. Would you be mine?"

Marci's eyes grew big as she answered, "Well......I don't have any siblings and I reckon it would be nice to have a little brother around. Besides, WE might have to put our heads together to figure out how we're going to raise our great-grandparents."

Maybelle had always been one of everybody's favorites. In the short amount of time that they had known Tom, he was getting pretty high up on everybody's list, also. To hear their two great-grandchildren talk like this was just too funny for words. The gang immediately realized that this was a 'friend' relationship and not a boyfriend/girlfriend/lovey dovey type of thing.

Taylor threw in a good one, "Yeah, Marci, actually having Arthur for a younger brother would be better than having a real one."

Everyone looked puzzled as Marci asked, "What makes you say that?"

"Because," Taylor snickered, "when he does something you don't like you can always spank him and send him home to his mother."

This brought a good round of laughter. Ramon saw his chance. "Hey, tough girl. You talk awful big about spanking people."

O-o-o-oh my gosh. This was too good for Taylor not to jump on. So hands on her hips and a smile on her face she boasted, "For your information, possum butt, I can spank just as good as I can talk."

Uh-oh. Ramon had her right where he wanted her. "Oh, really?" he asked as he got up on his tip-toes and danced back and forth and dug right back at her, "Well, IF there was anybody here that thought they could spank ME, they would have to catch me first, Sugar."

Well, well, well. The "have to catch me, first" was enough to light Taylor's fire. But and however, it was the "Sugar" that threw about 50 gallons of gasoline on it. Taylor lunged at him, but Ramon darted out of the way. He took a few steps and turned around backing up and motioned for her to 'come on.' Taylor was fast and might have been able to catch him in a run. But, Ramon put some dodges and spins that left Taylor grabbing at nothing but air.

It just so happened, that Coach Bonnie and Coach Wimberly were walking toward them about that time. They did not hear what was said but they saw the chase. Or, should I say, attempted chase. Coach Wimberly yelled out, "Ramon."

When Ramon heard the coach call him, he stopped and looked up. Before he could answer, Taylor caught him in a bear hug, lifted him up into the air and slammed him on the ground. Of course, she was on top of him and their faces were just inches apart as she gloated, "Gotcha, sucker."

Before she knew what happened, Ramon grabbed her by the head and kissed her RIGHT ON THE LIPS. It was nothing elaborate or long, just a little peck. Then he smiled real big and smarted off, "Baby, I love it when you're mean like that."

O-o-o-o-oh, Taylor was fuming. As she got up, she took both hands and pounded his chest. All she could say was, "A-a-a-a-a-r-rg," and walked off to join the girls.

When she got to Marci, she kept her back to the guys who were running to the other side of the park by now. She folded her arms, shook her head, looked at the ground and let out a loud, "Humph!"

Marci and the others gathered around her. Marci asked, "You alright?"

Taylor answered like she was spitting something out of her mouth, "He KISSED me."

Betty goaded her, "Was it all that bad?"

Taylor snickered, "Well, to tell you the truth, ............no."

They all laughed one of those it's-the-girls-laughing-again laugh. It was loud enough for the guys to hear. Some of them turned around, looked at the girls, then looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders. Girls.

As the girls began to stretch, Linda asked, "Taylor, you looked pretty good out there. Why didn't you go out for football? I read in the paper last week that a high school up north let a couple of girls play."

Taylor answered, "Yeah, I had asked Coach Wimberly and he said it was OK with him but I would have to get my parent's permission. Dad was all for it. But, Mom vetoed the idea."

Betty asked, "What was her reason? Was she afraid you would get hurt?"

Taylor laughed, "Nope. She knows that if I get hurt it wouldn't bother me a bit." She shook her head and laughed some more, "She said....are you ready for this? She said that she didn't like the idea that guys might be slapping me on my butt."

That was just too hilarious for the girls. They broke out into one of those 'girl' things again. Coach Bonnie had heard it and stepped over to ask, "She said what?"

"Yeah," Taylor continued, "and I told her straight out. Well, Mama, it's MY butt, now ain't it."

Girl thing. Girl thing. And this time it was interspersed with a few squeals. It's not just what she said, but the way she said it.

Betty couldn't help herself, "What did your mama do then."

"Ha-ha," she chortled. "She sent me to my room for an hour. But that's OK. I got her back."

Marci egged her on, "Well, don't just leave us in suspense. What did you do?"

With a big grin on her face Taylor began, "I figured I would get filthy rich by writing a book entitled "One Hundred and One Ways to Tick Your Mother off While in Time Out."

Big girl thing. Girl thing so big that it made the boys look around again and wonder if they were talking about them.

"Yep," she continued, "here's my list so far. Number one, act like you're lifting weights. Number two, pick the weights about two or three inches off the floor and drop them. Number three, grunt real loud as if you were doing bench presses. Number four, after all that noise, make no sound at all until your mother comes to the door and asks if you are OK. Oh, I forgot. You have to make a big deal out of locking the door when you first go in, so they can't sneak in and figure out you are not really lifting weights."

Coach Bonnie and the other girls laughed. "I'll buy the first one that gets printed, Taylor, no matter what price you ask for it. Just don't forget to sign it for me. You could become rich with a book like that, you know."

"You got it, Coach," Taylor replied with a big grin.

"OK, girls, let's practice," Coach Bonnie said as she brought the girls back into focus. "Let's have four lines of girls facing each other twenty yards apart. Let's see how fast we can dribble a soccer ball. Let's go."

As the boys all gathered together at the other side of the park, Coach Wimberly asked Ramon, "Just where did you get those fine moves you put on Taylor just now?"

Ramon snickered, "From running away from all of my cousins when we lived in Mexico. There were twelve of them and they were all bigger and loved to beat up on me. They used the excuse that I was number thirteen in the bunch and therefore very unlucky. They said that it was their 'Christian' duty to beat me up to keep the devil away from village. My ever-praying mother kept me close by her side as much as she could."

Everyone in earshot began to chuckle. Arthur exclaimed, "Holey moley, it's a wonder you're still alive and in one piece."

"Yeah," replied Ramon. "I was too small to outrun them so I got re-e-a-l good about side-stepping, arm-slapping, and sometimes........well...just plain escaping for dear life."

Coach said, "Let me tell you something, if you can dodge defenders as well as you did Taylor, you could be the half-back we have been looking for. The ankle injury that Bobby had last Thursday is a little worse than the doctor thought. He won't be able to play in the game this week or the championship game next weekend. How about it? Do you feel up to a challenge?"

An excited Ramon replied, "Do I? Whoopee! You'd better believe I do."

"OK," said the coach, "then let's get cracking. I am sure that Summerville has sent people to our last couple of games so they already know a lot of the plays we run. We'll have to come up with a couple of different plays to try to throw them off. Remember, they have been champs for 10 years in a row and they are plenty tough. Can we do it?"

With one accord, the whole team yelled, "Ye-e-e-e-e-e-s!"

As he clapped his hands, the coach commanded, "OK, offense and defense line up and let's run Ramon through a couple of plays. Remember defense, only tag the runner or pass receiver. We can't afford any more injuries."

As they lined up to practice, Arthur's heart was overflowing with joy. He was almost beside himself with excitement. As he watched the guys practice, his mind was reeling over everything that had happened in the past two weeks.

A guy he had figured was his enemy had now become his best friend. The guys on the football team had accepted him as one of their own and not just a fifth-grader. He had heard folks on the sidelines saying that they might have a good chance at beating Summerville for the first time ever. Everything was changing so fast that it was almost too hard to keep up with. But, oh boy, it sure was exciting.

Of course, the greatest highlight was last week when his great-grandfather came into his life. Then it dawned on him. Tom had not only changed the life of his family, he had impacted the lives of half of the families in Elmhurst.

And it wasn't just what had happened in church yesterday. It was before then. It started Tuesday when he showed up for practice. He remembered how his grandfather talked to everybody. He talked to EVERYBODY like they were important. EVERYBODY got that big smile. EVERYBODY got attention as if they were the most important person on earth.

Then, it dawned on Arthur. It was LOVE. All of a sudden, the most goose-bumpidy feeling came over Arthur as he realized that it was the love of Jesus that his grandfather showed. What was that phrase Pedro used yesterday? Oh, yeah. It was, "Jesus wrapped up in a sergeant's uniform." Again, way down inside, Arthur felt something tugging at him. Something began tugging at him that he was not going to be able to escape.

Practice went great and everybody was excited. Ramon showed some great potential. Summerville was going to be in for a surprise. Coach Wimberly went to pull the van around as the guys were gathering up the equipment.

Ramon asked the question, "Hey guys, was it just me or are there some places in the grass that are harder than others?"

Elrod piped up, "Yeah, I felt it, too. Remember the time me and you got tangled up and we fell. Well, we fell right on top of one of those 'harder' spots."

"Yeah, that's what made me bring up the subject," replied Ramon as he rubbed his ribs. "That one might leave a mark."

Marco commented, "O-o-o-o-o-o-o-h, well, now. Maybe Taylor will kiss it and make it well for you......Sweety."

Arthur chimed in, "Yeah, she'll kiss it alright. With a left hook."

The gang all laughed and ribbed Ramon. "OK, guys, OK. I deserve it. But how about those hard spots? Anybody got any ideas why they are down on this end and not at the other end of the park?"

Coach Wimberly had overheard their conversation and came over to offer an explanation, "Those hard spots down here? Those are probably the old stumps of the oak trees that used to be down at this end of the park. There was about five or six of them, I believe. Uh........you know, it seemed like they were all in a row, kinda. Anyway, when the city did some remodeling.....oh, about the time some of y'all were born.....they cut them all down and filled in the low spots with the big mound of dirt that used to be across the road over there." Of course, the coach pointed to the lone cave that Arthur knew so well that was almost completely covered from view by underbrush.

Arthur stood there in a daze while the other guys filled up the van with equipment. His mind started running wild as he remembered. 'Five oak trees in a line pointing to a cave,' he thought. 'The treasure!!! Grandpa's treasure!!! God, are you trying to help me to find Grandpa's treasure? Well, if You are, You're gonna have to do a little more helping.'

He walked over to where Ramon had said the hard spot was and walked around, trying to get a feel for how big it was. Then he walked off in another direction to see if he could find another one. The guys watched him trotting in a zig-zag fashion until he stopped and then started stomping around in a circle of some sort. Quickly he looked in the direction of the first tree, got his bearings, turned half-way around and was about to trot away.

Ramon stopped him by asking, "Hey, big man. What on earth are you doing?"

Arthur turned around in wide-eyed amazement. His mind was so captured by the thought of finding Tom's treasure that he forgot that anyone else was around. He walked quickly towards the guys and gave a quick look to see where his grandfather was.

Dear God in Heaven, what a great prize this would be for his grandfather if Arthur could find that helmet. Without pointing and possibly giving anything away, Arthur started talking in hushed tones, "Guys, listen. This sounds wild but it's true. I swear it is. I can't give you all the details but here's the short story. My Grandpa Will is Grandpa Tom's son. Both of them played high school football and both of them were tight ends. My Grandpa Will played all through high school wearing my Grandpa Tom's old helmet."

"Wow," butted in Sam. "That must have been awesome."

"Yeah," answered Arthur, "but that's not all. Grandpa Will caught the last pass of his career and won the high school championship. But, when he hit the ground, the helmet cracked. I can't go into how or why right now, but he put the helmet in a couple of specially made boxes and hid it. In the directions to where he hid it, he said to walk 179 paces from the five oak trees that pointed to a cave. In the mouth of the cave, dig down four feet and you'll find the box. Guys, Grandpa Tom would love to have that helmet more than anything else on the face of this earth. My mind is whirling so fast, I can hardly think straight. Can you guys help me find it? Please, please, pretty please. It would mean the whole world to him."

Ramon was the first to chime in, "Boy! Would we? Man, what do we have to do? How do we find those trees?"

Sam answered, "Hey, let's fan out and see if we can find some more of those hard spots. That has to be where the trees were."

Arthur ran to the first one and then scooted to the second one. "Here's two of them guys. Let's fan out and see if we can find some that line up."

As the guys started fanning out, Tom called to Arthur, "Hey, Mr. Hungry guy. Who was it that said that they could hardly wait until they got home so they could grab a mouthful of his mom's homemade apple pie?"

Arthur stammered his answer, "I know it, Grandpa, but....uh....."

Elrod came to his rescue, "Mr. Tom. I think I lost something and Arthur and the guys are helping me look. Can you give him just 15 more minutes? It's real important."

Tom waived and answered, "Yep, sure can. Me and my growling stomach will be in the Explorer."

Arthur shouted back, "Thanks Grandpa." Then to Elrod he quietly said, "Great thinking, pardner."

Marci and Taylor heard the conversation, so they trotted over to where the guys were tramping around. "Hey, guys. What's up? What are we supposed to be looking for?" Marci asked.

Without lifting his head, Ramon answered quietly, "Keep looking at the ground and walk over to Arthur and he'll explain it to you. But keep it quiet. It's a surprise for Mr. Tom."

Taylor caught on fast and said to Marci, "You go find out from Arthur and I'll act like I'm looking over here. It must be awfully important."

Marci walked up to Arthur and asked, "What's up little brother?"

Arthur answered as he kept walking from side to side. "Short version of a long story. We are trying to locate five oak trees that line up so we can eventually find Grandpa Tom's helmet that my Grandpa Will buried."

Marci stopped real quick and asked, "Well, would some pictures of those oak trees help?"

Arthur looked at her in amazement and asked, "Where are you going to get pictures of those oak trees that have been cut down for years?"

"From my uncle, of course," she answered as if everyone in the world should have known. "Uncle Preston used to be a reporter for the local paper until he got a job with a big outfit in Kansas City. When they decided to make all of those changes to the park, he took scads of pictures every day. There was nothing that happened that he didn't take a picture of. I remember seeing several pictures of those oak trees. He was proud of those pictures. Some of them were pretty neat."

Without realizing what he was doing, Arthur ran up to Marci, grabbed her by the arms and demanded, "Marci!! I gotta have those pictures. You gotta get me those pictures." Then as he came to his senses, he let go of her real slowly and sheepishly said, "I'm sorry, Marci......I just go bananas some times.....I.."

Marci took both hands and pinched his cheeks and said with a giggle, "That's OK, Arthur. You're still cute even when you do go bananas. And Uncle Preston is coming to the championship game in a couple of Saturdays. All I gotta do is give him a call and he will be glad to bring you a pile of them. He is way to-o-o-o proud of his pictures."

Arthur ran from one guy to another, quietly telling them of Marci's uncle. At least he was trying to be quiet when Tom yelled out, "You guys OK over there?"

Elrod reached into his pants pocket and pulled out his knife, "It's OK, Mr. Tom. My knife was in my pocket all the time and Arthur was trying to rub it in a little." He pulled Arthur to his side and scruffed up his hair and continued, "But, that's, OK. As much as I've pulled stuff on him, I can handle some pay back."

So far as Tom knew, that was all that happened. Everybody was joking and headed towards their home. Goodbyes were said and Arthur sprinted towards him with a big smile. As he jumped into 'Old Blue' as Tom called the Explorer and buckled up, he said with a great big grin, "This sure has been a good day, Grandpa."

Tom just answered, "Yep, I guess so, my boy." Tom didn't have a clue right then to just how good of a day that it really, really was.

# CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Championship Saturday came and everybody was as excited as they could be. Game time was at 9 a.m., but by 8:30, the Summerville side was all filled up. The fans were cranked for another fairly easy victory and another chance to declare their team the undisputed champs.

However, an equally excited throng of Bartlett Middle School Wildcat fans kept pouring into the stands. By the time the game started, there was so much noise that things were just about even.

There were so many reporters looking for stories that they were hounding the workers in the concession stand and the ticket takers at the gates. Everybody wanted to know. Did the Wildcats have something special up their sleeves? Were there any top secret plays?

Everybody was interviewed, even Arthur Hollis. What was his standard answer? Just like his grandpa, he played it cool. He would just look up at them with his big eleven-year old eyes and say, "Why, I'm just a water boy. What could I know?" And then, he would walk away and snicker loud enough for them to hear him.

For the first half, nobody had a clear cut advantage. When Summerville scored, the Wildcats would march right down the field and score right behind them. When the Wildcat defense would stop Summerville, Summerville's defense would crank up, too.

Was there any noise? Ho-o-o-o-o-o boy. Elmhurst Christian Church was going to have one of the quietest services they had ever had the next day. Rev. Jim Wallace had lost his voice before the first half ended. And, not too far behind him was about half the choir. Although some of them still had a little voice left by the half-way point of the fourth quarter.

The fourth quarter? Everybody wished that they had saved their voices for what happened. However, when it happened the almost voiceless crowd found many ways of making noise. Feet, hands, chairs, popcorn boxes, seat cushions, anything that would rattle or slap was used.

The score was 27-24 in Summerville's favor with only a couple of minutes remaining. Ramon had racked up so many yards, that he was being double and triple teamed on just about every play. Unfortunately, the Wildcats had already used every play in their play book. What they needed was one good play that they had never seen before. One play that would let Ramon slip by the three guys assigned to stop him and they would win the championship.

Ladies and gentlemen, that's where the genius genes handed down from Tom Dandridge began to warm up in his great-grandson. Arthur slipped up and down the sidelines talking with every one of the offensive players about a hair-brained plan. It was so-o-o-o crazy that it would only work ONCE. Of course, ONCE was all that they needed it to work.

Why did he have to walk up and down the sidelines and talk with the offense about it? We-e-e-l-l-l, because the coach would have told him what a dumb idea it was. Yeah, it was dumb alright. But, it might just be dumb enough to fool the Summerville players.

There was less than two minutes to play in the fourth quarter. The Wildcats had the ball on the Summerville's 38 yard line. It was third down and nine yards to go to make a first down. It was too far for a field goal and too close for a punt. Nobody wanted to let Summerville have the ball back and let them run out the clock.

Ramon had been limited to just two yards apiece on his last three carries. Now, it DID take two and three guys to corner him and put him down, but they had learned how to trap him.

When they got into the huddle, Jason Dykes spoke, "OK guys, whatcha say we try the Arthur Hollis special? The coach called for a run to the right and pitch out to Ramon. It's absolutely perfect for Arthur's plan. Are you with me? We can't let Summerville get another chance to score. If we can pull this off WE WIN, HANDS DOWN!" Then without waiting for an answer he added, "OK. On the FOURTH hike. Let's go." Then, they all clapped their hands once as they broke the huddle and took their positions at the line. Everybody knew what they had to do.

Ramon got set at Jason's right. The defense had been looking for it and two extra backfield guys shifted to take on Ramon. Before Jason started his cadence, the defensive backfield pointed and grinned at Ramon. "That's OK, you pea brains," bragged Ramon, "I'm gonna blow by you guys like a freight train."

When Jason called out the fourth hike, the center snapped the ball. The tight ends and the fullback on the left side of Jason took off toward the goal line on the left side of the field. Jason and Ramon ran toward the right while Randy, the tight end ran ahead to run interference for Ramon. Jason got ready to 'shovel' the ball him.

Suddenly, Ramon fell towards his right and yelled above the crowd, "O-w-w-w! My ankle." Randy stopped in his tracks, grabbed his helmet in shock and ran back to catch Ramon to keep him from falling. To the horror of the crowd he hopped a couple of times and almost fell into Randy's arms. As he cried out in pain again, the crowd could see his ankle dangling at an awkward angle.

Jason put on the brakes and reversed his momentum. Two of Summerville's lineman chased him. As he ran to his left, he yelled, "Broken play, broken play, Steve, St-e-e-e-v-e." The backfield that had come rushing towards Ramon immediately took off after Jason. They just knew they had him and the game would virtually be over.

Then it happened. Above the noise of the crowd came the human voice imitating the sound of a freight train. Instantly, Jason whirled back to the right and threw the football to the far corner of the end zone.

As the astonished Summerville defense looked on, Ramon indeed played the part of a freight train. His long legs were stretched out and he was gobbling up the yardage. At the ten yard line, he lifted one arm up in the air and pulled it down as if he were a conductor on a freight train. Loud enough to be heard over the noise, Ramon let out another, "W-o-o-o-o-o-o, w-o-o-o-o-o" and calmly let the spiraling football fall into his outstretched arms. Touchdown, Wildcats!!!!!!

When Ramon caught the ball in the end zone, Coach Wimberly looked over at Arthur. Now, I don't know if Arthur had any Indian blood in him or not but he was doing some kind of victory dance with reckless abandon. That is, until he saw the coach watching him with a frown on his face and his arms crossed. That's when Arthur stopped dancing and just went to clapping his hands and yelling "Way to go guys." He tried to look out of the corner of his eyes to see if the coach was going to chase him or not.

Well, I CAN'T say that the crowd was excited. However, I CAN say that Summerville FINALLY got quiet. Yep, the wind was all out of their sails as they saw that their great team had been hoodooed by an almost nobody team. As for the Wildcat fans, God's miraculous healing power had to have touched almost everyone there because a great shout arose that even caused the ice in the concession area to shake. And, it didn't stop for the remainder of the game. Uh........and then some.

Of course, it didn't stop after for the extra point was kicked, either. Did I already say that the wind was out of the sails of the folks from Summerville? AND, it completely discombobulated their offense.

After the Wildcats kicked off to them, they tried their three best power plays. With adrenaline running high, the Bartlett Middle School Wildcat defense stopped them cold. The Wildcats took over on downs and ran out the clock. A completely disgruntled Summerville beat a hasty retreat.

Yes, sir. Bartlett Middle School beating Summerville Middle School for the championship was a big surprise even to the home crowd. However, the day was just beginning to bring more than its share of surprises.

*****************************

After the excitement of winning the championship had died down just a tad, Arthur swung his expedition into high gear. He called Sam, Elrod, Marco, Ramón, Marci, and Taylor and reminded them that they had promised to help him find Tom's treasure. AND, he did not forget to remind Marci to bring along those pictures that her uncle had taken.

This was a perfect day to go treasure hunting. Arthur's dad had already planned on taking Tom and Fred Lee fishing that Saturday afternoon after the game. Everybody had agreed to meet at the park by 2 p.m. Of course, Arthur was there about a quarter 'til and had already ran over to where the tree stumps might be. Anxiously, he picked up some rocks to help him mark the "hard" spots.

Sam and Elrod got there right at 2 and started walking around and looking without even saying "Hi." Marco and Ramon came up from opposite ends of the park and did the same thing. They all knew why they were there and didn't waste time in any kind of conversation. But, nobody remembered to bring a shovel. OOOOPS!

By 2:15, Marci's uncle pulled into the parking lot with Marci and Taylor. Marci proudly introduced her uncle to all of the guys and finished with Arthur. She said, "And, last but not least, this is Arthur. He is the one that is the most interested in your pictures. Arthur, this is my Uncle Preston."

Uncle Preston shook hands with Arthur just as he did the others and said, "Arthur, it is a distinct pleasure to meet you. I hope I can meet your grandfather, also, while I am here." Then as he held his hand up he continued, "And, I promise not to be obnoxious with trying to get any kind of interview with him or you. Although if you wanted to volunteer, I would listen with pen and paper in hand."

Then as he looked at his niece with a broad grin, "Of course, I have no idea what you could possibly add to what my sweet little niece has already told me about you. She has bent my ear for hours. I really need to ask you about some of those things she told me. I think she might have stretched the truth a bit."

Marci playfully slapped him on the arm as her face turned red, "Oh, Uncle Preston. You promised not to say that."

In mock surprise he replied, "Oh my goodness. Why I'm just the complete blabber mouth, aren't I?"

Marci placed both hands on her hips and suggested, "Why don't you show us the pictures, UNCLE PRESTON?"

Arthur was so engrossed in their little banter that he had almost forgotten. "Oh, yes. Please, please. Marci said that you had tons of pictures of everything that happened to the park."

"Yes," Uncle Preston answered. "I wanted to have a complete pictorial history of what was being done. Marci said you were interested in the big oaks and the hill of caves?"

"Exactly," Arthur almost shouted. "To make a long story short, there's a treasure hidden in the mouth of one of those caves that used to be across the road. The directions were 179 steps from five big oaks that pointed in that direction."

As Uncle Preston took a large manila envelope out from underneath his arm, he replied to Arthur, "Marci says that it is the helmet that your Grandpa Will wore when Elmhurst High won the championship many moons ago."

He briskly took out the top photo and showed it to Arthur and the group as he asked, "Does it look like the one this chap is holding?"

The guys stared at the photo of an eighteen-year-old young man in a football uniform standing on a football field with a trophy held high in one hand and a football helmet raised high in the other. Arthur declared, "That's him. That's my Grandpa Will. My mom's got a picture just like that at the house."

"Of course, she does," replied Uncle Preston, "I gave her that copy and copies of many other pictures of your grandfather shortly after that awful car accident."

Then his voice got softer as he continued, "Arthur. I went to school with your mother. I KNOW how much she loved her daddy. While going to school, she talked about him all of the time. Those pictures of him were worth more than all the flowers she had received after the accident." Then Uncle Preston reached out and touched the end of Arthur's nose, looked him in the eyes and said, "And, Sport, if that helmet is out there, it will be found............TODAY."

Then he pointed down the road and said, "Look." Everyone turned their heads in the direction that Uncle Preston had pointed. Their mouths dropped wide open as their eyes focused on a bright yellow front end loader coming towards the park. It was just the right thing to dig a big hole and dig it fast.

Arthur was so excited that he grabbed Marci by the waist and swung her around. They both squealed. Arthur squealed from pure excitement. Marci squealed because she had no idea what Arthur was doing. The guys, including Uncle Preston were about to fall out laughing. Taylor just stood there with a small guys-are-such-dorks smile and shook her head.

When Arthur realized what he had done, he put Marci down and sputtered, "Oh, Marci. I am so sorry. I didn't mean to.....I was so excited.....the helmet..oh my gosh.......the helmet........today.....I mean today. Marci, I swear to you, if we find that helmet today, I'll buy you the biggest milkshake in town." Then he did his Arthur thing of running around in circles while standing in one place.

Marci raised both of her eyebrows as she said, "Arthur, dear God, get a hold of yourself."

Ramon added, "Yeah, man, the way you grabbed Marci here, I thought you were going to body slam....."

But the end of his sentence was cut off by a back hand to the midsection from Taylor. That's what he gets for standing to the right of her.

"Ooof!" Ramon choked. Then as he smiled real big he looked around at the guys, shaking his head 'yes' and said, "See that? The girl can't keep her hands off of me."

"O-o-o-o-o-o," Sam, Elrod and Marco said in unison.

Instead of getting mad, Taylor turned and faced Ramon with a big smile and said in a way too sugary sweet and sultry tone, "Oh, yeah, baby and I want to get real close to you. You might say, I can't wait to get my hands ALL OVER you." She took her finger and twisted up a piece of his shirt, and pulled him closer as she continued, "When this shin-dig is over, why don't me and you just slip over to the alley by Ed's Bakery and come to some firm understanding about our budding relationship." With her other hand she held up two fingers in front of his ever-smiling face, "You know. Two go in," she pulled one finger down, "but only one comes out."

The O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o was longer and louder this time. Everything got quiet to wait on Ramon's reply. However, Arthur interrupted, "Guys! Guys! Guys! Guys! Let's find the treasure and then you can tear each other apart. Puhleeze?"

Tensions were over......for the moment and they all gathered around Uncle Preston as he pulled out the rest of the pictures. He was an invaluable source of information about the park, the trees and the caves because he could remember almost their precise location. Uncle Preston had suggested that the reason that they couldn't find five 'hard' spots in a row was because of the very uneven ground that had to be covered. He explained, with the help of the pictures, some of the stumps would have been under almost four feet of dirt. There was no way anyone would be able to tell where they had been.

After they studied every angle and every photo, they narrowed the possibilities down to three separate spots that the line of trees could be. However, these three spots were only about fifteen feet apart. They figured that the best chance that they had of finding the approximate spot to dig was for three people to start from those three points and walk 179 steps.

Since they did not know exactly how tall Grandpa Will was, or how long his legs were, the suggestion was made that three different sized people pace off the 179 steps from the three different locations. Once they got there they would make another decision on where to dig.

Arthur was the smallest, Uncle Preston was the tallest and Ramon was somewhere in between. The way they figured it, that made three good choices. And since it was all Arthur's idea, guess who persuaded everybody that Arthur should be the first one to pace off the 179 steps. So, while the others got busy figuring where the second and third guy should start, Arthur started on his 179 paces.

Well, Arthur wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to where he was going. He was too busy looking down and concentrating on counting. Nobody was necessarily watching him either, because they were trying to figure out where to start from next. Marci just happened to look up in time to scream, "ARTH-U-U-U-R!" as the sound of a horn and skidding of tires were heard.

# CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Fred had caught the most so far but Tom had just hooked a big one that was giving him the fight of his lifetime. Ryan's phone rang. He listened intently for a moment. Ryan looked up at Tom and Tom suddenly lost interest in the fish. In a swift movement, Ryan reached into the tackle box, pulled out a knife and cut Tom's line. His other hand hit the start switch and the boat roared to life. As calmly as he could, Ryan ordered, "Haul in and get in a safe position, guys, we're going in."

Fred pulled in his line quickly as Ryan pulled up the anchor. Tom sat in the seat and held on as he nervously asked, "What is it?"

Ryan weighed his words carefully before he answered, "Grandpa.......all I honestly know at this point in time is that everybody will be OK."

"Who...?" was all that Tom could get past the lump in his throat.

Fifteen seconds passed. Ryan put on his sunglasses to keep down the glare from the water. In measured tones, Ryan answered, "Arthur......at the park. That's about all that I know and it is all that I will say right now. I just won't speculate. But, I was promised that everything will be OK. I was told that none of us need to worry. We just need to get there pretty fast."

Tom sat back and tried his best to remain calm. However, the ride back to the boat dock seemed so much further than what it really was.

When they got to the boat dock, Lt. Holmes and his deputy were waiting for them in his cruiser. "Throw me your keys. Mark will pull your boat out for you."

Ryan tossed Mark his keys and the three of them got into the cruiser. Lt. Holmes was silent as he turned on his lights and made his way towards town. The closer they got to town the more nervous Tom was. It was one of those moments when you wanted to hurry up to know something but was afraid to really find out.

They turned the final corner to the park and saw a crowd of people standing on the road and in the field where the caves used to be. There was a hospital emergency van with its emergency lights on in the field. Everyone made way for the cruiser to drive as close as possible to the emergency van. Ryan pushed his and Tom's way through the crowd as they headed for the van. The back doors of the van were still opened and it looked like the EMT's were working on someone.

Tom involuntarily called out, "Who's hurt? How bad?"

As they got to the van, the EMT's backed out of the way. When Ryan and Tom rounded the corner, Ryan stepped back so that Tom could have a clear look at his grandson. There sitting up on a gurney with not a scratch or bump was Tom's pride and joy with a sheepish grin on his face. Arthur raised his hand and waived rather timidly as he said, "Hi, Grandpa."

Tom was dumbfounded but very relieved, "What? Why there's not a scratch on you, boy? What's going on?"

Marci just happened to be standing right there. She held out her cell phone and said, "It's for you........Grandpa."

"But I didn't hear it ring," Tom protested, "How could.... who?" Then as he pulled the phone up to his ear he said, "Hello."

The familiar voice on the other end laughed and said, "I got you good this time you doddering old buzzard. And if you'll look around there's at least five of them video cameras taping every move you have made from the time your boat landed." Then Maybelle laughed so hard that she went into a coughing spasm and had to stop.

As Tom looked around, he saw that Maybelle was off about four or five cameras but who was counting? "Yep," Tom said as he chuckled, "you got me real good, Maybelle. I don't know how you figured it out but you got me real good."

Maybelle continued, "Well, I didn't think of it all by myself. It just kinda happened. Marci called and wanted to borrow some shovels and I asked her what for. She told me and you know my nephew is an EMT. He happened to be next door at his mama's house eating lunch so I told them to take all my shovels in their wagon and ......well....one idea lead to another and the trick just unfolded from there."

They both started laughing one of those deep-hearted laughs that brought joy filling up in your soul. Tom finally slowed down enough to say, "Well, Maybelle, if I can get to hear you laugh like that, you can pull as many jokes on me as you want."

There was a long pause. "Tom?" Maybelle's voice was serious this time.

"Yes Ma'am?" Tom answered.

"I can feel it," Maybelle sounded real tired. "I don't know how much longer I'll be around. If I supply the supper will you come and talk to me for a spell. You name it and I'll have Marci cook it."

"OK. How about lima beans, corn bread and fresh tomatoes," Tom replied.

"It's yours. How about Monday about 5?" Maybelle suggested.

"I'll be there," Tom answered.

"Oh, yes," Maybelle added. "Bring that young upstart Arthur along so Marci will have somebody to talk to. I don't know if you know it but I hear they've kind of adopted each other."

In mock surprise, Tom said, "I guess I'll have to look into that." Then with a wink towards Arthur he continued, "My EX grandson hasn't said anything about it. But, we'll be there Monday, Maybelle."

"OK, good bye," Maybelle said. "And, thanks, Tom."

"You're welcome, Maybelle," Tom replied. "Good bye."

He gave the phone back to Marci as the crowd broke out into an applause. As he looked around at the smiling and chuckling crowd, which included his son-in-law, Ryan he stated, "Folks, that was a good one. Whoever and whatever brought it into being.....everyone is to be commended."

Then he focused his gaze on Arthur as he asked, "Is there anything that you NEED to tell me at this point in time?"

Arthur tilted his head sideways, batted his eyes, held his arms out towards his grandfather like a child looking for a hug and said, "I love you so very much, Grandpa. And, uh, could I borrow five dollars? I promised Marci that I would buy her a milkshake if she would help me."

"You snake in the grass," Tom exclaimed as he grabbed him in a bear hug and lifted him off of the gurney and onto the ground. As he stood back up straight, "Now, what's going on and where is your mother?"

"Well," Arthur began with a grin, "the short story is---Marci's uncle took tons of pictures of the oaks and caves. We took 179 paces to get a bead on the line of cave openings. We figured that for very cave opening there had to have some kind of remains from the fires you guys had every weekend. Uncle Preston's pictures showed us how many caves there were. We got enough shovels and enough shovellers, found fire remains and the rest....oh......will Olivia Hollis come front and center, please?"

From around the other side of the emergency van, a tearful Olivia came forward as she held an orange colored football helmet to her chest. Through a wavering smile she said, "Look what my baby boy found for us." Then with one last look before handing it to Tom she said, "It's kinda like .......holding him again.......well, kinda."

As he took the helmet out of Olivia's hands he slipped his arms around her shoulders. She held him tight, buried her head in his shoulder and sobbed, "But, Grandpa........I miss my daddy. I just........I just miss my daddy so much." As Tom held her close to comfort her, once again those old memories of what was and what could have been mixed in with what he wished there had been. His strong demeanor broke and they comforted one another in their sobs.

Those that hadn't done so already put away their cameras and began to walk away. In this small town, just about everybody knew everybody. Most of the adults had grown up seeing Olivia and her dad, Will, all over town together. As they passed the grieving couple, they patted them on their backs and uttered a few words of sympathy. But, they knew words couldn't heal the hurt that life had dealt them. Right now, only a good cry would do them any good. And a good cry was what they were doing.

Tom gingerly handed the helmet to Arthur so he could hold on to Olivia a little better. It wasn't so much that she needed the help. He was feeling a little weak at the moment, also. It was hard to watch these partners in grief without breaking down. Ryan tried his best to choke back his tears. Arthur didn't. His flowed freely. Marci's eyes began to overflow also, as she put her arm around her best little bubba's shoulders.

Arthur passed the helmet to Ramon and buried his head in her shoulder. Ramon showed the helmet to Taylor and they, quietly, stepped away several paces. Then, both of them threw as much interest as they could into the helmet to keep from being overcome themselves.

As their grief, subsided, Olivia giggled, "Look at us, Grandpa........all blubbergusted as if he had just passed away today. Aren't we silly?"

They looked at each other. Then, as if on cue, they both said, "No." and laughed at their own silliness.

Tom looked around at Arthur who was supposed to be holding the helmet. Instead, he was holding his father's hanky up to his nose. Marci was holding her hands to her mouth to keep from laughing at the sound Arthur was making as he blew his nose. After the third "honk," Arthur realized he was the center of attention and sheepishly let out a genuine Arthur giggle. Marci could not hold it back any more and she busted out laughing.

Ramon and Taylor came back over. "Here's your treasure, Mr. Tom," he said as he handed Tom the helmet.

After some reflection, Tom looked around at the remaining crowd and said, "Folks, this helmet helped win a championship for Elmhurst. And......since it was a community effort that helped find it again....what do you say, Arthur, don't you reckon that this helmet belongs just as much to Elmhurst as it does to us? Hey, Fred, you got room over there in that musty old museum for a worn out old, ordinary football helmet?"

Just as Fred was about to answer, the crowd burst out with a "Hurray!"

Fred started again, "Well, at first I was going to say that I wasn't sure. But now, I guess I had better say that I'm REALLY sure that we can. I'll send off and get one of those air-tight things to put it in and have one of those plaques made." Then, he stepped through the crowd and held out his hand, "And.....before you change your mind, I will formerly accept this historic football helmet on behalf of all the citizens of Elmhurst."

Another yell went up as the helmet was officially passed to the town historian.

Tom smiled wistfully and said to the foursome standing close by, "You know, that helmet was not the prize that I thought it would be."

There was a collective "Huh?" from Marci, Taylor, Ramon and Arthur. Not to mention the questionable looks from Ryan, Olivia, Uncle Preston, et. al.

"Folks," Tom went on quietly, "what a person treasures changes as he walks through life. I found some treasure in a young boy named Pedro, back in the Philippines. When I first got there, he was skinny and his eyes were all glassy as he just stared at the ground most of the time. I got him to come and stay with me. I fixed him food. I got him to laugh and we just enjoyed life together. Then one day I led him to Jesus Christ, and the treasure began to take shape. Wow! Look at him now! Fifty years later! A retired United States Marine with a ministry in his homeland. I would have never guessed."

There were smiles on every face as they all followed along the old man's reasoning. He continued, "Oh, and there was Phillip. Olivia and Arthur met him and his lovely wife. HE....was a tough one. I spent a lot of time with that hard-headed little rebel. I talked him out of trouble. Sometimes I even paid him out of trouble that his mama never knew about. I often wondered if I was doing any good digging for treasure in that field of his."

Tom's voice softened and cracked just a bit as he continued with a big smile, "Then one rainy, December night, about one o'clock in the morning, I got this knock on my door. It was a cold and wet Phillip standing there with a funny little smile on his face. I asked him, 'What's the matter?' and he answered, 'I've been running FROM alcohol tonight, and I'm ready to make Jesus the Lord of my life."

Tom continued, "Folks, to see Jesus opening up someone's life is the best treasure anyone can find. With both of those boys, there was something down inside of me that told me to keep digging. There was buried treasure inside of them that God needed me to keep uncovering and uncovering until THEY found His treasure. Does that make sense?"

As they all shook their heads 'Yes.' Olivia answered for them, "You know. I never looked at it quite like that but.......hey! We're all treasure hunters, then, aren't we Grandpa?"

"Yep, we really are," was his reply. "But, that brings me to a b-i-i-g-g problem."

Ryan was the first to ask, "What's that, Tom?"

Tom got a funny little puzzled look on his face. "When I was younger, I knew that God had told me to focus on Pedro. H-m-m-m-m. Then when I was a little older and had a teen-age Bible class, God had me zero in on Phillip. And now that I am older than old..." His gaze fell on Arthur and he slowly bent over, put his hands on his knees and looked right into Arthur's eyes.

Ramon, Taylor and Marci all patted him on the back and said, "O-o-o-o-o, your turn, Arthur. Better watch out." And, Arthur's eyes indeed did widen quite a bit.

Still in his crouch, and looking straight at Arthur, the old gentleman, continued, "Yep, at my oldest.......I know down in my heart of hearts that God has given me the job of uncovering His treasure in...." Tom looked up at Arthur's three friends as he finished, "ALL FOUR of you."

At that point in time there were four new statues in the park at Elmhurst. The only things that moved were their eyes as they nervously glanced at each other.

Uncle Preston broke the silence by asking, "Am I to infer that there will be wedding bells in the future for these two couples?"

Tom smiled, "Naw, that's none of my business. But, the first lesson that they must learn, and the rest of us as well, is simple. Boys and girls can be friends without being boyfriends and girlfriends. Friendship should never be misunderstood to be a love affair. A lot of marriages have been ruined by two people never learning how to be friends."

Then, Tom looked at the four of them, "I really want you to understand what I am telling you. Learn to build strong friendships with those that God has put into your lives. When He says it's time to get married, He is more than God enough to show you who and when. Wait on Him. But, until He tells you who and when.......go out and enjoy life with your friends......whoever they are. OK?"

Taylor looked like she had the weight of the world taken off of her shoulder. "Wow, Mr. Tom. That sure makes sense to me. That means that I can be on the football team without worrying about what somebody says. Unless it's my mother of course."

"You are absolutely correct, Taylor," Tom replied. Then he pulled out his wallet, "Now, the next thing you must learn is.....always keep your word." Then he pulled out two five dollar bills and handed one to Arthur. "Here's your bribe money.....er, uh, your payment to Marci for her help. Scoot on over and get her and yourself a giant milk shake."

Arthur's eyes got big as he took the five from Tom's hand, "Thanks, Grandpa. Let's go Marci before he changes his mind."

As they hurriedly walked away, Tom held out the other five to Ramon, "Now the next lesson you need to learn is......somebody has GOT to watch out after those two. Here, Ramon, take this and you and Little Bit go get you each a milk shake and.....keep your eyes on those two."

"Thanks, Mr. Tom," Ramon said as he took the five. Then, he grabbed Taylor by the arm and insisted, "Hey, let's go catch up with them."

As Taylor turned to go with him she protested, "But, he called me Little Bit. Why did he call me that?"

"How should I know, we'll ask him later. C'mon let's get that shake," Ramon insisted as he broke into a trot to catch up with Marci and Arthur.

"But he called me Little Bit," Taylor protested again as she ran to catch up to him.

As the crowd watched the four of them trot over to the bakery, Olivia stepped beside her grandfather and slipped her arms around his middle and gave him a big hug. Tom put his arm around her shoulders and hugged back. "Olivia, I helped a lot of teens find their treasure while there was still a big empty spot inside of me. Now, at the end of my days, He has filled up this old soldier with a special treasure."

THE END

# EPILOGUE

And Tom did take the four of them under his wing. They were a little shy about being together at first. It was this 'boy and girl' thing. Several of their friends began the junk that maybe Tom was just setting the four of them up to date and maybe even marry.

Tom calmed their fears by teaching them that friends are friends. If one is a girl and the other one happens to be a boy, what of it? Friends are friends because they share the same likes and dislikes, not because of their gender or their age.

It finally dawned on the four of them and it made an entire difference in the teenagers and the young adults of Elmhurst. One by one a little group of boys and girls was formed until it grew to be anywhere from fifteen to twenty-five. They would either gather together at the park or monopolize the front window seating at Ed's Bakery.

Very seldom would you see this group without Tom being right in the middle. Everyone loved to hear him tell of his life among the Aeta tribe. Some of the older teens that were close to graduation often pressed him to tell them stories about his military life. They were eager to hear him talk about basic training.

Every now and then, someone asked him was he stretching the truth a little bit or did so-and-so really happen. Tom's reply was always that, if we looked at it long enough, the truth was funnier than fiction. Now, that went over some of their heads for a while until they began to remember the funny stuff that happened in their own lives.

Whether they were in the park or the bakery, visitors were often asked to come and join in their conversations. Nobody was exempt. Tom was often asked to bring Fred Lee along. They loved to listen to them tell the history of Elmhurst. I'm not talking about the stuff that would get written in the history books, either. That was almost common knowledge. They wanted to know about the REAL life of Elmhurst, if you get my drift.

Tom sensed that God had a very important work for this eleven-year-old memory healer that had come into his life. As a matter of fact, the more time they spent together, the more it became evident to Tom that God had these things planned all the time. God just never said anything to anybody. He let these things play out---and it was good.

Tom and Arthur spent every summer in the Philippines with Pedro and his family. Pedro's son, Diego, did indeed have one of the most prestigious martial arts studios in Manila. He also had four sons and one daughter. They welcomed Tom and Arthur into their hearts as if they were part of a long lost family.

In some ways, they were. Pedro always talked about the crippled American that changed his life. Now, they had the chance to meet this legend of the mountain tribe and repay him in kind by training Arthur in the martial arts. The boys bonded easily with Arthur and filled his life with all kinds of boy-hood adventures.

Arthur was also close to Diego's young daughter, Mayumi. She was four years younger than he was and seemed to fit the female vacuum in his summers. She was about half-way between his sister Wendy and his best friend, Marci. Diego's boys didn't mind in the least that Arthur spent time with their sister. Just like a lot of older brothers, the baby sister was almost an outcast.

Well, for the next few years everything was just about as normal as can be. Of course, that depends on your definition of 'normal.' Arthur and Tom spent every summer vacation with Pedro in the Philippines. He learned just about as much as any teenager could learn about the martial arts. Let's say he got real proficient at it.

During the school year, he would share everything he had learned with anyone that wanted to practice with him. They formed a pretty neat martial arts club. Of course, with Tom's leadership, they used it as a powerful witnessing tool to the teenagers.

Tom was a frequent guest at Maybelle's house. Arthur and Marci would always be in the front room or the front porch so that their grandparents could talk. Besides, Arthur and Marci had heard all the stories anyway.

Seriously, though, being with Arthur on a frequent basis was good for Marci. She had spent the past few years with her granny somewhat as a private nurse. Marci knew that her granny's time was nearing and it began to wear on her emotions.

Marci's Granny Maybelle passed away about six months later. Arthur was standing right by Marci's side and holding on to her for dear life. They both sobbed even though they knew that Granny Maybelle was going to be with Jesus. They knew she would be in no more pain and that she would be happier than she ever was. But, they missed her just the same. At the funeral, Marci wouldn't have anyone else near her but Arthur.

In some ways, Arthur felt like he needed to be Marci's protector. Since he was around her most of the time and knew her moods, he could sense when she was beginning to sink into remorse. The moment he saw the changes in her expression, he took it on himself to do something to bring her out of her doldrums.

Take the time they were just sitting in the park and talking, for instance. As he saw her slipping, he wracked his brain for something to sidetrack her with. At that point in time, all he could think of to do was to get on his knees and bark at her like a dog. She looked at him as if he had gone crazy. He pushed her over on her back and then grabbed her wrist with his mouth and began pulling on her.

She snatched her wrist away from him and picked up a nearby stick and waved it in the air above him. Arthur pretended to jump and bark at it like any good dog would do. Marci was laughing so hard she could hardly stand up. She threw the stick and yelled, "Fetch."

There went Arthur on all fours. He grabbed up the stick in his mouth and crawled back to her growling and shaking the stick like any good dog would. When he got to her with the stick, she patted him on the head and said, "Good, dog. Good dog."

They laughed and laughed, until they heard the applause. Several of the guys inside Ed's Bakery had watched the whole thing unfold and had come outside to watch the shenanigans. Yep, you could say that Arthur got a standing ovation for his performance. And, Marci had avoided a bout with depression.

As I said, you would see them holding hands or walking arm in arm. People quit looking at them as if they were 'strange or goofy.' They knew what it was all about.

Marci dated guys and Arthur dated girls on through high school. Their dates had to accept the fact that these two friends meant a lot to each other. It was stronger than any love affair. It was like the old saying---'friends to the end.'

Throughout high school, Marci took extra courses at the local community college to help prepare her for med school. While she was taking care of her granny, she realized that her heart's desire was to help heal the hurt, physically as well as spiritually. She was absolutely focused on going into the field of research after she finished college.

I don't want to forget about Taylor and Ramon. They had a relationship along the same lines. However, it was nothing like Marci and Arthur. When the four of them were walking somewhere together, Marci and Arthur would be holding each other somehow.

Taylor and Ramon would be touching alright, but, it would be with the back of the hand, or a punch to the shoulder. One would push the other, the other would retaliate. Words would be said, and the other would not be outdone so more words would fly. All of it was in good natured fun. That was their thrill. That's exactly what they liked to do.

Taylor enjoyed having Ramon as a punching bag. She couldn't haul off and hit the girls like she could Ramon. And, most of the time, Ramon wouldn't pull his punches. Or, so she thought.

Was she in love with Ramon? I dare say not! Taylor was the President, Vice President and CEO of the Elmhurst Man-Haters Club. She might have been the only member, too. But, she was a very faithful member.

And, did Ramon ever love to pick on her about it? Love? Absolutely not. He LIVED for an opportunity to say something lovey-dovey to her. That was the thrill of his day. At first she would get real, real, real, real, mad at him. Then she calmed down to just getting real mad. They got along great.

Ramon was instrumental in fulfilling one of Taylor's dreams. He badgered the high school coach into letting Taylor try out for the football team. Now, getting the coach to relent was nothing compared to getting Taylor's mother to give her approval. Ramon had to swear on a stack of Bibles, promise to give her his first born son and all that jazz. Well, maybe he didn't have to go that far. The stipulation was that if Taylor got hurt, she would immediately come off of the team. Her mama always wanted her to be a ballet dancer. Go figure.

The only time that you would not see Ramon and Taylor beating up on each other was when they were getting in shape for football. If they were running laps around the field at school or the park in the center of town, it was serious business. Then for practice, Ramon would let Taylor get into her football stance and come crashing into him to give her tips on how to hit. She got good at it. I mean, she got REAL good at it. Ramon never let her know how good she really was. It's a man thing, I reckon.

They both started out on the offense. Ramon took his place at half back and Taylor on the line. She got stuffed a couple of times during the first game. Ramon knew that if the other team continued to double-team her because she was a girl, then she would get hurt and that would end of football for her. This meant a whole lot to Taylor.

Ramon talked to the coach. They had another guy that could take Ramon's place. He wasn't as good as Ramon, but he was passable. Ramon talked the coach into letting him and Taylor play linebacker on defense. The coach had seen the two of them taking extra laps and running and shoving at the park. He knew that they would have the stamina and toughness that the defense needed. And, it worked out great. The two of them earned the nickname, 'The Dynamic Duo."

Oh, yeah. Before I finish, I just have to tell you what caused the guys to really take Taylor as a serious competitor and not just a girl on the team. On the first game of the season, when Taylor was playing on the offensive line, one of the guys thought he would take some liberties with her. He got up slower than usual and just happened to be the last one to the huddle. As he came up behind Taylor in the huddle, he acted like he gave her a 'customary' slap on her butt. However, it was more like a pat and a grab.

Taylor, the President, and CEO of the Elmhurst Man-Haters Club, had been prepared for just an occasion. She looked at Ramon and Ramon looked at her and they nodded to each other. When the offense came off the field, Ramon and Taylor trotted off together, walked by the coach and nodded in unison. The coach nodded back. Nobody knew what was going on.

When the offense took the field the next time, Taylor wasn't chosen to go out. However, on the second down, he called for Taylor to substitute just as the team was going into its huddle. Taylor trotted on as the one she was to replace trotted off.

Just before she got to the huddle, she raised her mighty right hand as high as she could get it. The palm of her hand was facing her. As she passed the 'butt-grabber,' she brought down her hand as hard as she could. The tips of her fingers grazed the offender's butt.

The surprised offender not only straightened up but jumped about two feet in the air. Now, get this. While in the air, 'Mr. Macho' let out the loudest 'girly' scream you have ever heard. He grabbed his butt and came down in an awkward fashion and twisted his ankle.

The backfield judge was watching the substitution to detect any infraction. He saw Taylor's revenge, saw the guy jump, heard him scream and the judge fell on the ground laughing. One of the other officials saw him down and came running over to him. The judge tried to get the whistle to his mouth but couldn't because he was laughing so much. The only thing he could do was to hold his hands in the traditional "T" formation indicating an official time out.

As the now crippled offender limped off the field, his teammates were just about in stitches. The cheerleaders had all seen it and were about to come unglued. I don't know if anyone else remembers much more of the game, but almost everyone remembers that play.

Ramon and Taylor were quite a hit, no pun intended, on the football field. They developed a series of whistles and whoops that helped them and their backfield become almost invincible during their four years of high school. Their ability to adapt to a changing offense would serve them well after they graduated and entered the Army. But, that's another story.

