Five for Forever (36 page)

“Godverdomme!”
came over the line. “In the lobby?”

“Yup.”

“Your dad knows this?”

“Nope.”

“Whatever happens, don’t move. Be over in five.”

Three pair of eyes looked at Agnes, who smiled confidently. “One step closer to our goal.”

Agnes’s phone rang. It said “Dad” on the display and she held it up for her siblings to see.

“Don’t pick up!” three voices sang.

“I think we should. He will be scared for us.”

“Daddy calls the police,” Dana said.

“Maybe even the FBI,” Britta said.

Charles stole glances left and right as if he expected to see an FBI agent lurking around the corner.

The phone kept ringing.

“I think we really, really should.”

“Overruled, Agnes!” Charles and Britta said.

“Yes, overglued,” confirmed Dana.

“Telling him where we are might buy us time,” Agnes tried.

“All right, if . . .”

The phone stopped ringing, truth and consequence postponed.

A few minutes later Floris’s huge body walked through the sliding doors, and even the security guard shrunk back at first sight. The kids knew Floris as the tough guy without any emotions, but for the first time they saw him worried. He had the phone to his ear. “I see them. They are fine. Look a bit tired, but they are fine. Call you back, Mr. Flint.” He pocketed the phone.

“Hi, Floris,” they chimed.

“Hi, kids.” Floris stared at them. “You guys are crazy. Do you know how worried your dad is?”

The kids stood silently, the enormity of the harebrained scheme starting to sink in.

“He’s coming here right away.” Floris wagged his phone.

“Can we see Louise?” Dana asked, ever the practical one.

“Are you even aware of how sick she is? She made it through the last day of her medical trial and is in pretty bad shape,” Floris explained, sinking to one knee to hug little Dana gently. She almost fell into his arms, dead tired, only kept awake from adrenaline and the hope to see her friend Louise again tonight.

Floris organized rooms at his hotel, and the little group rode back in the big black SUV. After check-in, it was immediate silence from all of them, Charles started to snore right away, and Dana was already gone during the short ride to the place. Floris called Rick to give a brief update and then also went to bed. He was not a man of many thoughts, relying in life on his size, strength, and politeness, never much for books or social activities. But this night he thought about the attachment of the four kids to Louise in her time of crisis and their determination to travel the country to see her. Floris did not much understand the motivations of other people nor the complexities of Louise’s and Rick’s relationship. And he thought that these four kids sleeping in the room opposite had been the only people visiting Louise out of their own accord.

His hunt for an overnight flight had been successful, not direct but via Phoenix, booked ultra-last-minute via smartphone during the dash to the airport; Hal drove him. Rick was crammed between overweight fellow Americans and on the second leg between very small but constantly yakking Asian guys. He had brought his ancient iPod but wasn’t able to enjoy Bob Seeger or Bruce Springsteen.

During the flight, Rick had time to reflect on the turns his life had taken over the last nine months since Josh and his crazy boat project had arrived at the shipyard. Meeting Louise and falling in love. The ups and downs in the business with the final failing. This new year would be a year of change and decision. A new job for himself. Either close to home or moving the family? Agnes would leave for school in the summer. Little Agnes, who was such a child’s child in her early years, always dreamy and focused on Barbies, horses, and drawings with lots of pink. That epic remark she had made shortly after she turned six and started kindergarten: “This school thing sucks. I have no time for it anymore. All I want to do is play, play, play!” And then later, as if a biological switch had been turned on overnight, she had abandoned Barbie, fantasy books, and Legos and had turned into a little woman, becoming a mall professional, hanging out with her friends, and turning very serious. And even more serious after her mom died. So many changes in so little time.

Baltimore was colder than he had anticipated, and he shivered from the wind blazing through his light jacket and pullover combination. He hadn’t had time to hunt for the down coat at home. Floris had texted him the address of the hotel, and the cab took its time through the morning traffic. He had worried so much about the gang that he had had no time to think about Baltimore and Louise in advance.
What am I supposed to do now with my kids?

He arrived at the hotel and hurried to the restaurant. The hostess spoke to him, but he did not hear her. He saw his kids merrily around the table, and they looked back at him. Their looks were not worried; the opposite, they appeared genuinely glad to see their father. As he started walking toward them that moment, that very moment, he knew that they had been right and he had been wrong. It came to him like a fundamental truth, filling a large void inside of him that had been there since Bella’s death. He had brought Louise into their lives, and in a short while—even faster than Rick himself—the kids had accepted her totally and without reservations. Not as a new mother, but as a friend, as a new part of their family. Louise had been important to them. And he had let them down after Louise and he had fallen out, like in a bad divorce where the parents fought on the backs of the kids.

The four Flint kids knew they were right. Sometimes fate had to be pushed, decisions had to be forced. Even though all four still felt bad about lying to their father, they knew that their decision to come here had been correct. They had the moral high ground, and they did not waver. Whereas any other family would have started a shouting match, the father screaming and the kids crying or protesting, nothing like that happened at their reunion. All five knew who had been right and who had been wrong.

“Daddy!” Dana jumped up from the table, cereal flying, and ran toward her Dad, breaking the ice, as usual. Rick swept her up and hugged her, kissing her hair several times. He kept Dana in his arms, and the rest of the gang all came for the big tearful group hug.

The crying kids and their father hugged for a long time. Floris smiled and sipped his coffee, very likely glad that the responsibility for the gang had been transferred back to the parent.
Protecting a superstar or politician? Anytime! Herding a family? Nightmare!
Then Rick joined the breakfast table, and the kids told him about their adventures.

Later Floris called up Louise’s doctor and arranged for a visit.

They arrived at the hospital, and Dr. Singh greeted them.

“Are you really a doctor?” Charles looked him up and down. “You can’t be older than Agnes, my big sister.” He pointed at Agnes standing beside him.

“I assure you, I am a fully certified oncologist. And experienced. And I am older than your sister. But she for sure is much more charming than I am.”

For once Charles was silent and in awe; he had met a peer.

Britta whispered to Agnes. “Genius bromance in action. Pretty soon they’ll start reciting pi, seeing who’s first to give up.”

“Follow me, family.” Singh led them toward the intensive care unit.

“What happened to Louise?” Rick asked. “Is the cancer eating her up?”

“In layman’s terms, her body was poisoned by the experimental drug she had been taking and developed a sort of allergic reaction. Our gamble did not pay off. We had to put her into an artificial coma to stabilize her. It’s now a race against time. We’ll wait for the drug to be resorbed and then go for full-blown chemotherapy with possible bone marrow transplant.”

“She has a donor?”

“We are looking.”

They entered the intensive care unit. The Flint family looked at Louise’s small body through the wide glass window that separated the main area from her room. They hardly recognized Louise, who was under the bed sheets with lots of tubes and machines connected to her.

Charles whispered the names of the various pieces of equipment, but no one paid attention to him. Britta had teary eyes, Agnes held one of her father’s hands, and Dana held the other. It felt like a wake because flowers stood left and right in the front room.

Singh shrugged. “Not much to see. She’ll sleep peacefully for the next few days. Inside her body, of course, the war continues.” He studied a chart. “If the trend continues, we will wake her up day after next.”

“Can we be in with her?” Agnes asked.

“Sorry to be the bad guy here,” Singh said. “You guys look ill-prepared for the Baltimore winter, probably imported half the US germ population from your plane, and I can’t risk the slightest infection that might delay the chemo. So only one of you, after heavy disinfection and in full gear. But not all five.”

All kids looked at each other. They had taken a long trip and huge risks to come here and see Louise. But the chance of seeing her father being back with Louise overrode the disappointment. They all turned their look at Rick.

“Your girl, Dad!” Britta said.

“Can I hold her hand when I am with her?” Rick asked Singh.

Singh looked up, confirmed with Floris, and nodded. He went to fetch the nurse, and then Rick was outfitted in a green paper suit with a hairnet, shoe-bags, mouth protector, and latex gloves. Before he went in, Dana approached him. “Gift for Louise. Because she is sick,” she said with a serious face and held out her little blue teddy bear that had been won at the Santa Monica Pier a long time ago. The nurse took it, sprayed it generously with disinfectant, and then gave it to Rick.

Floris took the kids outside to give Rick and Louise some privacy. Rick entered the room. He stood there for a few moments and then sat down on Louise’s right side into a recliner reserved for visitors. He had to perch on the edge to be able to reach Louise. Her hands were placed beside her, various tubes attached to them and her arms.

Rick carefully placed the bear beside some of the other memorabilia on the side table and awkwardly got hold of the part of the hand that was available.

“Hey there, Lou. It’s me,” he started. Was it really true that coma patients could hear the voices of people? He glanced at the heart rate monitor that steadily ticked at fifty-one beats-per-minute. No change there.

“Seems you are not excited to see me,” he joked and had to laugh, which turned into a sob. “Oh, Lou. What a mess we’ve made.”

He paused to catch his breath and to wipe away some tears. “Charles told us all about coma patients and how they
feel
that someone they love is close by and that the voice of a loved one comes through. I hope this is true and not some Charles-ism, like the moon landing conspiracy. I need to tell you so many things, I don’t know where to start. And when you wake up, I’ll have to tell you everything all over again. But I can’t sit here and say nothing. So, I will to tell you about Agnes. She decided to skip the Ivy Leagues and attend the Naval Academy; my girl will become a navy officer. That was a shocker, I tell you. But she had already started to set things in motion last summer, going through the motions with her other college applications. Did you know about this, Lou? I hope not, otherwise I’ll kill you when you wake up.

“And I hope your blood pressure isn’t spiking if you hear your ex’s voice. The kids say hello. I am only here because they forced me. Man, why I had to be forced by my own kids to visit you is beyond me, Lou. I should have held your hand every night and every day through your treatment. You didn’t deserve this, honey. You should have had someone who stood by you all the way.

“Let’s face it, I messed it up. I should have been that someone who sat close to you, kissed you, and held you in your high and lows, not your Dutch bodyguard. I am sorry for that. Sorry for many things.”

He stopped talking as the nurse came in to do some tweaking and twiddling. “Need anything, sir?” she asked, but Rick simply shook his head. After she left, Rick did not pick up his monologue but instead enjoyed the machine-filled silence. He had said what he had wanted to say.
Would I ever repeat this to her face? Will I have another chance to tell her that I forgive her and that she should forgive me for my absence and my heartlessness?

Rick readjusted Dana’s gift. Then he turned his gaze back to Louise, took her hand again, and closed his eyes.

What a crazy twenty-four hours! Hunting down the kids, the reunion, and now being with you. The sounds of the equipment around us remind me of this old Danny Kaye movie, the Thurber story, yeah, right: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Wasn’t there also always this pokety-pockety-pockety noise that started or ended Walter’s dreams? Just like where I am . . .

. . . and Rick was out there, in the big wild ocean, a speckless blue sky with white wave crests and a strong wind blowing from the southwest, driving the
Vera
forward. He was sailing it single-handedly, the most challenging boat he had ever commanded, but he felt completely at ease with this sixty-foot agile beast. It sliced through the sea like a hot knife through butter, a machine in its element. Even though he knew the
Vera
only from its half-ready state and some old photos, every detail and every line was rendered in Rick’s dream in scary precision, down to the white lines and ropes and the glistening drops of water on the polished dark brown wood. The giant jib was fixed and optimized, no flapping, the telltale steady. The pull of the mainsail was strong, very strong, but Rick did not feel scared that the
Vera
wasn’t able to handle it. The slightest turn at the steering wheel gave a response from the wood below his cold, bare feet. No cabin to break up the view, you had 360 degrees of sea around you. The sea smelled of salt and so did his lips. And with the wind in his hair, Rick felt at peace with himself like never before. No earthy worries like kids or business or money or the current Louise trouble were important this very moment. All was left behind on land. Just a man and the sea.