“What is that supposed to mean?” Nora shot back. “You don’t like the way I talk? Is that it? Is that why you’d rather have my son speaking some foreign language than back home picking up the twang of my people? You know, Randy, a nice southern drawl might just do that boy good.”
“Oh, Lord, help me,” Randy sighed as he massaged his temples. “Honey, he can park his car in Harvard Yard like my statesmen, drive his tractor down yonder to the general store like your folks, or find himself while backpacking through this foreign landscape with a cast of characters worthy of a Chaucer sequel for all I care.”
“You should care about what your son is exposed to, bless his heart,” Nora said angrily. “I don’t approve of the vulgarity you allow to be used in front of him. I don’t agree with the fact that he sees you drinking yourself into oblivion. You didn’t used to drink, Randy…not in front of me and certainly not in front of our children. You spent quality time with our other kids when they were growing up, but Grant spends way more time with those two old men than he does with his own father.”
“Nora,” Randy said irritably, “can we please discuss my parenting skills later? Right now I need to talk to you about a change of plans.”
“I heard what you said about staying here, but I’m ignoring you,” Nora nodded. “The plane leaves tomorrow, and we will be on it.”
“Nora, I can’t take you back to North Carolina right now,” Randy shook his head, “and I think it would be best if you and Grant stayed here, so he’ll have the benefit of spending time with his tutors.”
Nora shook her head. “I don’t believe this,” she sighed, even though years as a military wife had taught her that nothing was definite until it happened. “You promised me that we could go home and spend some time together as a real family…all of us… together…finally.”
“Well, plans changed, Nora,” Randy explained rather harshly. “Surely you can understand that is always a possibility in my line of work.”
“I’m taking Grant home,” Nora insisted.
“I think that Grant might do better if you stay here for now,” Randy said in a tone that told Nora he had given the subject some thought. “It’ll be hard enough on him if I have to leave, and that scenario is looking extremely likely. I think we should at least do him the courtesy of not ripping him out of school right now.”
“He doesn’t go to school here!” Nora practically yelled. “Going to school means learning to associate with other children…picking teams on the playground…finding a group of friends who will always save you a seat in the lunchroom…passing notes and hoping the teacher doesn’t catch you…that’s school, Randy! He spends all day long with two old men who sometimes seem to forget that he’s an innocent child. And his best friend? Well, his best friend, his only friend, is that basketball he hauls around.”
“There are other children he could play with, Nora,” Randy argued. “There’s a school he could go to, but our son’s just not like other kids; I think that if you take him away from Otto and Ludwig right now, he’s going to resent you. He’s not used to being confined to a classroom, and that new environment, coupled with the deployment of his father, could cause him to act out. You know how stubborn that boy can be.”
“I spent plenty of time taking care of our other kids while you were away, and I can take care of Grant too,” Nora sighed, wishing that she could make her protest sound more believable. It wasn’t that Grant was a bad child by any stretch of the imagination; it was just becoming increasingly difficult for Nora to create boundaries for a child whose age said little about his abilities. In fact, there were times like that morning when Nora found the stained, blue lips of a carefree child unimaginably refreshing. Those were indeed the moments she treasured most…moments when she felt like she could relate to a child whom she feared was rapidly slipping away from her.
Randy said nothing as he stared across the street.
“What about Emily? What about what is best for her?” Nora shrugged. “I promised Rachel that I was coming back home to help her take care of Emily. Our granddaughter needs us.”
“It’s about time that Rachel learns to take on full-time responsibility for Emily,” Randy fired back. “You raised the baby for the first four years of her life. We offered to sign the papers…raise Emily as ours…but Rachel insisted that she wanted to be her daughter’s mother. She chose to keep Emily in North Carolina, and, ever since then, it has been one problem after another…unnecessary stress put on you…money out of my pocket that I’m not always certain is going toward Emily’s needs.”
“Need I remind you how our daughter got pregnant?” Nora said, almost hatefully.
“That was seven years ago, Nora!” Randy snapped. “She’s not a fifteen-year-old girl anymore! Rachel is a grown-up now, and it is about time she started acting like it.”
“She’s only twenty-two years old, Randy,” Nora sighed. “She should be finishing college, starting her life…she didn’t ask to have a six-year-old daughter!”
Randy shook his head insistently. “Ever since she had the baby, Rachel has done nothing but squander her life away. I reached out to her in every way that I knew how, and nothing seemed to motivate her to pick up the pieces and move on with her life. Now she needs to grow up; it’s about time that she gets focused on what’s best for her and her daughter,” Randy said, his voice booming, despite the fact that Nora was trying to shush him. He shook his head angrily and lowered his voice. “And NO…I certainly don’t need any reminders of what happened to my little girl, but there has to come a time when she moves on. She’s not in college; she’s not trying to make anything out of her life, so the least she can do is step up and take care of Emily.”
“She’s never been the same since that night, Randy; you know that,” Nora said tearfully. “She needs me, and, I don’t care how old she is, I’ll always be there for her and for Emily. I know you’re disappointed in Rachel’s lack of motivation, but what about Joanna? Jo graduated from law school this year, Randy, and you had to miss her graduation! Well, I’m tired of missing out on things! I raised two sons and two daughters traveling from base to base, but at least they had each other. Grant doesn’t have that. He’s a loner, and I worry about him.”
“Nora, I have a job to do,” Randy said sternly. “Grant will understand that; why can’t you?”
“Your job,” Nora challenged, “is to be a father to our five children.”
Randy swallowed hard, taken aback by the number his wife had used. “We don’t have five children anymore,” he snarled, “and I think that fact alone testifies to my failures as a father. So are you happy now…do you rest your case?”
The coldness in Randy’s voice made Nora turn away, though she made no attempt to hide her tears.
Randy grimaced as he put his hand on Nora’s shoulder. “Honey, I’m sorry,” he sighed after a moment. “I shouldn’t have said that. I know you didn’t mean it that way.”
Grant skipped across the street with his basketball tucked under his arm as he called out to his father. General Cohen ruffled the little boy’s hair affectionately. “Speak English,” he demanded. “You’ll upset your mother!”
Grant handed his basketball to his mother, raised his arms, and his dad tossed him effortlessly into the air, catching him with one arm. His arm around his father’s neck, Grant continued rattling off his thoughts in a quick string of German.
“Grant,” Randy said too harshly, “did you hear me? Speak English when your mother is around!” His voice softened. “And, every now and then, mention sweet tea, turnip greens and cow tipping, so she’ll feel at home.”
“Stop it, Randy,” Nora mumbled.
“How would you like to spend another year here, Soldier?” Randy inquired as he walked along the street with Grant in his arms.
Grant shrugged. “If we’re not going to North Carolina, does that mean I can go on vacation with Otto and Ludwig?”
“We’ll see,” Randy nodded.
Nora let out a squawk of surprise. “What do you mean, we’ll see? Where are they going?” she inquired, indignantly. “This is the first I’ve heard of it.”
“Where are they going, Buddy?” Randy asked calmly.
“Otto is going to Prague to visit his cousin,” Grant said excitedly. “Do you remember when Otto and I went to Scandinavia and the sun was out twenty-four hours a day? Remember how he took me to Stockholm, and we went to the Royal Dramatic Theatre. Trips with Otto are my favorite! May I go? Please!”
“Is Ludwig going too?” Nora asked.
“No, Ma’am,” Grant replied quickly. “Otto will be back from Prague in a month, and he and Ludwig have planned a trip to Thailand. If you let me go, Otto promised we can go to Vietnam at the end of the summer because I’ve been reading so much about it.” Grant giggled. “Ludwig said he’s going to toss me into the South China Sea and see if I can swim all the way to the Philippines.”
“Any boy of mine better make it all the way,” Randy laughed.
“I just don’t know about all that, Grant,” Nora sighed.
