Guardian Angel Academy (13 page)

Chapter 22

One day when he was thirteen, Budd came home from school and found a note on the front door.  Budd reached for the note and began to read: Budd and Louise, We have gone to visit Uncle Joe.  Your father will be by to pick you up to take you home with him.  We'll see you both when we get back.  Love, Grandma and Grandpa.   

Budd's stomach twisted into a knot like a pretzel.  He shuffled in through the door and collapsed on the sofa.  He felt like a balloon without air. 

“So? We're just going to Dad's house for awhile.” said Louise, when she got home from school.

“How do you explain that, then?” Budd pointed to the suitcases near the door.  Everything that they owned had been packed for them.

Louise squinted and pulled in her lips.  “Maybe they're going to be gone for a few weeks.

Budd shook his head.  “We don't need everything we own for just a few weeks.”

A loud knock on the door came suddenly.  “You kids here?” Nick poked his head in.  “Ready to go?”

“Yeah, we're ready,” said Budd, in a little more of a snippy tone than he meant.

Nick grabbed some of the suitcases and Budd and Louise carried the rest of the bags.  Nick lifted open the trunk and set the suitcases inside, then opened the back door for Louise.  Budd got in on the other side.  Dad's wife, Virginia, peered back at the children from the front seat as if she were looking for the best meat in the market and couldn't find anything.  They rode in silence toward town and Dad's house.  When they finally got there, Dad parked the car and got out and opened Virginia's door.  She clasped onto his arm.  “Come on inside,” he said to the kids. 

Budd checked out the red brick house and realized that this was the first time his father had taken him here.  Not once in the in the past four years had he ever visited Dad at his home.  Dad had either visited him at his grandparents' or taken Budd somewhere.  Anyway, he could count the number of times he spent with his father over the past four years on one hand.

They followed their father inside past the front room with the view of the mountain's through the large open window and through the kitchen with windows outlined in lacy curtains and then down the stairs and deep into the basement.

“This will be your room,” Father said, trying to sound cheerful.  “You can think of it as your own place.  We won't bother you here.  We'll call you up when it is time for supper.  Budd, you can sleep in the coal room and Louise, you can sleep here.  Sorry the basement's kind of small.  We just weren't expecting you two.”  Dad went back upstairs.

Louise sat down on the bed.  Immediately tears began to form in her eyes. 

Budd stared at Louise.  “What's the matter with you?”

“Nobody wants us,” she cried, wiping at her eyelids. 

“I know,” said Budd, “That's what I've been trying to tell you.”  Budd saw the tears sliding down his sister's face and felt the need to console her.  “It's going to be okay,” he said, “at least we have each other.”

“Yeah, but what are we going to do down here in this dark basement?  They don't even want us coming upstairs, except for meals.”

Just then Father called.  “Supper's ready.”

Louise wiped her eyes and tried to look cheerful before going upstairs.

The family ate in silence.  After supper, the kids went back to the basement.  Budd looked at Louise and noticed a strange smirk on her face as she pulled back her bed covers. 

“It'll be all right,” Budd told her after she got in bed.  “We'll make friends and we'll find things to do and places to go.”

“I suppose so,” said Louise.  But after Budd's eyes closed, Louise got back out of bed, grabbed her bags and snuck out of the house.

Nick called the kids up for breakfast.

Budd slowly opened his eyes and stretched beneath his covers.  “Louise?”

No answer.

“Louise, are you still asleep?”

Maybe she couldn't hear him.  He dragged himself out of bed and walked over to Louise's bed.

“Louise?”

Her bed had hardly looked slept in.  She must already be upstairs, he thought.d could see his father and stepmother in the kitchen, but Louise was nowhere to be seen.

“Where's Louise?” he asked.

Nick looked up from his newspaper and took a sip of milk.  “I thought she was downstairs with you.”

“I haven't seen her this morning,” Budd said.

Nick jumped out of his chair and yelled, “Louise.”

“She's probably taking a shower,” Virginia suggested as she put a couple of slices of bread in the toaster.

“She's nowhere downstairs,” said Budd. “I already checked.”

Nick ran through the house, searching.

He came back, panting loudly.  “Oh, man.  I can't find her anywhere. I'm calling Grandma and see if she's over there.” 

Nick got on the telephone.  “Louise is missing,” he said.

“No.  No, she must've gone during the night.”

“Huh?  I don't know.  We didn't do anything.”

Budd could hear the one side of the conversation.

“Okay, I'll look.  Bye.”

“What was that about?” Budd asked.

“Oh, they don't know where she is either,” Father murmured.

Just then the phone rang.  It was Aunt Mamie, Budd's mother's sister.

“Hello,” Budd's father said.

“What.  Your kiddin'.  Okay.  If it's all right with you.  Okay, bye.”

“What was that?” asked Budd.

“Louise is going to stay with Aunt Mamie.  She won't be living here.”

“Oh,” Budd frowned.  In that two second phone conversation Louise's future was finalized.

Chapter 23

At age fifteen, Budd's grandfather and grandmother asked him to come and live with them again.  Budd did, but a few month's later Budd's grandfather passed away.  This was a big disappointment for Budd.  He had a close relationship with his grandfather.  Now it was just Budd and his grandmother.  Budd tried to take care of his grandmother and take her to the movies once a week.  Budd worked summers and at the age of sixteen, he had saved up $100, enough to buy his first car.  This he drove to and from high school and around town. Sometimes Budd and his buddies played hooky from school, but Budd was often caught when he did. 

One day the truant officer, also the coach, Coach Linford, was driving around.  He was on his lunch break and decided to look around town for any boys who were ditching.  As he turned a corner, he saw Budd as his gang in a parking lot of a store, sipping sodas by their vehicles. He pulled up in front of the gang and said, “Come follow me back to school and meet me in the gym.”

The boys got in their vehicles and followed the coach back to the high school parking lot.  They followed Coach Linford reluctantly into the gym. 

“I want you to line up in a straight line,” he commanded.  The boys didn't budge from their place in a huddle together.

“I want you to line up or I'll be calling each of your parents and have them come to the school one by one to pick you up,” Coach Linford insisted this time in a firm voice.

The boys lined up.

Coach Linford reached into a large gunny sack and pulled out some paddles, giving one to every other boy.

“Now, I want you to paddle the guy next to you as hard as you can.  When you are done whacking, give him the paddle and let him whack you.  I want you to whack hard.  Budd, come and step up here.”

Budd stepped up to Coach Linford.

“This here is how hard I want you to whack.”  Coach Linford held up the paddle, swung back as if preparing to hit a homer and brought the paddle forward with such force on Budd's rear end that it sent him sprawling forward.  This really hurt, but Budd tried to act tough, like it didn't faze him in the least.

The boys began whacking each other hard.  The ones whacking kind of enjoyed it, until they realized that they would be whacked just as hard or harder by the one they were whacking.  Coach Linford seemed pleased as he heard the screaming and saw the tears.

One afternoon, Budd wandered into his biology class late.  Mr. Richy, who was liked by his students, got angry if kids tried to interrupt or ruin his classroom teaching. 

“Oh, it seems we have a guest today,” Mr. Richy said, sarcastically. “How nice of you to join us, Budd.”

Budd could sense by the tone of the teacher's voice that he was not being welcomed to the class in a friendly way.  He sat down next to Faelela.  Faelela was a pretty, tall, slender girl who he had a crush on. It was the day of the exam so, even though he looked forward to sitting by Faelela,  Budd wished he hadn't wandered in. Why couldn't he have chosen this day to play hooky?  However, he could copy Faelela's answers as her paper was in view and she seemed willing to let him peek.

All during the hour, Budd pretended to read the questions.  Then he would look over at Faelela's paper and write his answer.  He felt pretty confident, knowing the Faelela was a straight A student.

The next day, Budd sat by Faelela again.  He always gave her his most charming smile.  His small, but muscular frame, dimpled chin and dark wavy hair caught Faelela's attention.  The way he looked at her like she was the only girl on the planet from those big brown eyes always warrented a return smile.  Underneath that smile, her heart was beating faster.  Budd Corbett was a charmer, she told herself.  And it was working. 

When the test was graded, Faelela received her paper with a big red A on top.  She smiled as the teacher announced to the class, “Miss Adams got 100 percent.”

Budd's face twisted as he looked at his grade.  He got an F.  How could that happen?

Faelela looked over at Budd's paper, leaned over and whispered, “Can't you even copy right?”

Budd was sure the teacher had it out for him.  What else could it be?

So, Budd got an F.  World War Two was on and it was getting closer to him, so who cared about grades?  By Budd's third year of high school, he was taking four hours of auto mechanics a day.  It was his favorite subject.  He loved to tear into the engines, then put them back together.  And then even more amazing, to have them run!  He loved cars. 

Budd's shop instructor helped him get a summer job at an amusement park running the motor boats.  The job went from Sunday through Saturday, and helped to keep Budd out of trouble. 

In January of 1943, Budd signed up for a special program with the United States government.  If he attended aircraft engine school, Budd would be given a certificate of graduation from high school.  If Budd continued as he was, he wouldn't be able to graduate from high school, because of missing so much class time.  But if he took this opportunity, then he would not only graduate, but graduate with honors.  It was a win-win proposition.

Chapter 24

Budd's grandmother passed away and Budd no longer had a place to live.  Budd's sister, Louise, who was now married, seeing that Budd had nowhere to go, invited him to come live with her and her husband when he was not at aircraft engine school.  When he was at school, he was renting a house with the six others who were attending aircraft engine school.  On weekends, he and his gang all piled into his Plymouth and headed for their homes in the neighboring communities.  To do so, they had to drive through treacherous wet and slippery mountain passes in the snowy cold winter.  Driving conditions were bad and navigating through the tight mountain passes, dangerous.  This was especially true in those old cars.  Safety was less of a concern.  They all piled in, with no seatbelts.

Six seventeen-year old young men happily trotted out of a red brick home shutting the door and locking it behind them.  They each carried a duffle bag and appeared happy to be heading towards their destination.  They wore black leather jackets and the cold air around them made them shiver and tighten their scarves around their neck as their breaths spewed from their mouths.  The snow was falling on the already thickly coated ground.  “Someone needs to shovel this walk,” one of them yelled as he slid out toward an old Plymouth. 

“It's Blake's turn,” Sunny said.

“I'll do it when we get back,” Blake replied while putting his mittens on his cold hands.

The six piled into the car and Budd started the engine. 

As Budd put the car in reverse and backed out the driveway, John spoke up.  “So, Budd, what are your plans for the weekend?”

“I'm taking Faelela and her mother out for a picnic if Louise and Kay can spare me from the farm for a few hours and then on Saturday night Faelela and I are going to the dance at the armory.”

“You'd think you were dating Faelela's mother, too,” John laughed.

“Well, I'm going to ask out Hannah again,” Blake said.

“I wish I had someone to ask to the dance,” said Sunny.

“What happened to you and Christina?” David asked.

“She's going out with Bill Peterson now.  Sunny shook his head, “When the cat's away the mice will play.”  

“No one will ever take my Fae away,” said Budd.  “I wouldn't let them.”

“That's easy to say until it happens to you,” said David.

“I'm not fussing with any girls,” said Sunny.  “You know what's gunna happen to us when we turneighteen anyway, don't ya?”

The car was silent for a moment.

“Okay, we're all going to be drafted, “said Marvin.  “So, what?  We better have fun and enjoy life all the more now.”

The young men reached the mountain pass as the sky darkened.   The remnants of what little sun the winter day had offered was slowly lowering itself behind the hill.  Budd maneuvered the vehicle around the mountain curves carefully.  The trees lost the glistening light of the sparkling snowflakes  as darkness engulfed them.  The guys in the back seat were sleeping.  Budd and Blake,in the front seat, chatted.  The windshield wipers squeaked back and forth as Budd squinted to see through the mounting snow blanketing the windshield.  Just as Budd maneuvered a turn, a large deer sprinted into the street and stood stalk still in front of him.  Budd swerved to miss the deer, his vehicle skidding out in front of an oncoming car.

“Joseph! Rachel!” I said to them as they were seated next to me at their desks.  “We need to save Budd's life.”

Quickly I floated down to Earth.  Joseph and Rachel followed me.

I'll take care of the oncoming car.  Rachel, will you take care of Budd's car and Joseph, will you take care of the deer?

I sure will, Rachel said to my mind. 

I've got the deer, Joseph answered to my mind.  We took care of the problems in no time at all and when we saw that all was well, we floated back up to our heavenly posts.

“You did a wonderful job, Josie,” Joseph spoke to me.

“You did do an excellent job.” Rachel said.

“Let's go get another jewel, shall we,” said Joseph.

“Yes, how many does that make for you?” Rachel asked.

Joseph looked down at his robe, counting to himself.  “Seventy-three.  And you two?”

“This will make forty-nine.”

“I looked at my jewels.  Thirteen.”

“You're both doing well, considering I've been here longer than you” he returned.  “You both are catching up with me.”

“It felt wonderful this time.” Rachel sighed.  “What with Budd being our relation and all.  It makes it more personal than those who aren't our relations.”

“I know what you mean,” said Joseph.  “I love saving them all, but our own relations hold even more meaning.”

“That Budd is turning out all right after all, don't you think?” Rachel asked.

“I think he's going to be okay,” said Joseph.  “Although I have to admit I was pretty worried when you died, Josie.”

Budd and his buddies were trembling as he slowly put on his brakes and pulled over. 

“How did we ever make it through that alive?” Blake caught his breath as he got out of the vehicle.

“Beats me,” Budd huffed and puffed, his heart beating like a bass drum in hyper speed.  “I knew I was a good driver, but not that good.  I thought we were all goners.”

The guys in the back seat were awake but dazed.  “What's going on?” Sunny asked.

“We had a close call,” said Blake.  “Everything's fine now, thanks to Budd's superb driving skills.”

Budd carefully navigated the windy slippery roads over the canyon and toward town.  He would drop off each of his buddies and then drive by Faelela's.  He was to honk three times to let Momma Adams know he was home safely.  In response, she would blink the bedroom light to let him know she got the message.  Budd smiled to himself, thinking how nice it was to have someone care about him enough to wait up and listen for his return.

Chapter 24

In the morning, Budd got up and did some chores around his sister and her husband's farm.  While staying with them on weekends, he felt it was his duty to help out and earn his keep.  After showering and sprucing himself up, he then walked out to his car, bringing the memories of the night before fresh in his mind.  What a close call he had.  How careful he would need to be when driving over that mountain pass.  He put the key in the ignition and listened to the roar of the engine.  Thank goodness he was good at auto mechanics and able to keep this old car running.  He backed out of the driveway and started on the road to Fae's house.  After all the cold and snow of the previous night, it was amazing how the day was turning out to be nice for a picnic at the park.  Although snow still glistened on the ground, the sun shone warmly upon his shoulders.  When he pulled up to Faelela's home, she and her mother were ready with a delicious meal of fried chicken, corn on the cob, biscuits and pie.  Budd got out and carried Faelela's mother out of her wheelchair and into his car. Ever since a tumor was found on her spine, Faelea's mother, or Mom as Budd called her, was confined to a wheelchair. However, the fact that she was in a wheelchair, in no way meant that she was handicapped.  She could still out-cook, out-sew  and out-clean anyone Budd knew. Budd took the basket from Falelela's arm and set it in his trunk along with the wheelchair.  He opened Faelela's door. She stepped up and ducked into the front seat pulling her skirt in with her.  Budd gave Faelela a peck on the cheek and walked over to his side of the car.

“You don't have to bring me along.”  Faelela's mother insisted.

“I know we don't have to, said Budd, “but we want to.”

“I don't want to leave you home alone,” said Faelela.  “Dad is out of town this weekend, and you need to get outdoors and enjoy the day.”
“Yes, I love having you along,” said Budd.  And it was true.  For once, Budd felt like he had a mother again.

Budd continued his course until finally it was graduation day.  He had completed the aircraft engine school and was assigned to work at the air force base.  During that time he continued dating his sweetheart, Faelela.  He not only had the girl of his dreams, but also inherited the mother that he had been missing since age five.  If only time could stand still forever.  But no such luck.  The world was at war, affecting all of its inhabitants.  In September of 1943, Budd was inducted into the service.  It was a sad and sorrowful goodbye to his sweetheart and his mother Adams.  Off he went to basic training.

Basic training was grueling.  The men were expected to develop strong muscles in preparation for war.  Twenty mile hikes with full packs were scheduled to toughen them up.  On one such hike, they camped out for several days. 

One night the men were gathered around the fire by their tents.  The sky was black except for a few stars and a sliver of a moon.

“Someone's supposed to check the officer's tent and keep their fire burning all night.  Who wants the honors?” said Michael, rubbing his hands together and blowing in them.

“How come they get to stay warm all night while we get to freeze?” complained Drevon.

“Yeah, what makes them so special that we have to lose our sleep to keep them warm?  No one keeps our fire going,” said Paul.

“Because they are in charge and we are the peons, it's the natural pecking order of things.  They were once peons like us,” answered Casey.  Of course no one volunteered to take fire duty.  So they decided to draw straws.

Casey put all the sticks of the same length and one shorter into his fist.  Just the tops of the toothpicks showed.  “Okay.” he said. “Everyone pick a stick.”

Paul, Drevon, and Michael made their choice.  Budd chose last.

“Okay, show your sticks,” said Casey.

When the sticks were presented, it was obvious that Budd's was the short stick. He got right to work stoking the fire.  While others slept, Budd kept himself awake and kept that fire going so well that it got so hot it burned through the insulation on the center pole.  With the center pole burnt, the support for the tent was compromised.  The tent ollapsed. The officers scrambled out of the tent.  Budd hid himself in his tent.  The officers searched for the culprit.  Budd burroed inside his sleeping bag, pretending to be asleep.  When the officers showed up at Budd's tent to ask if any of them knew what happened, they all played dumb.  They would not tell on each other.  That was against their code of conduct.  They were a team.

As the days went by, whenever he could, Budd wrote letters home to his sweetheart, Faelela.  While others were homesick, Budd was lovesick.

After the three months of basic training, Budd was on to the Army Air Forces Flexible Gunnery School.  This was another very intense training.  Budd had to learn enemy aircraft identification, taking machine guns apart bit by bit blindfolded and with heavy gloves on, trap shooting, moving target shooting, and so on.  Finally, when the three months were over and Budd had passed the course, he was ready to be put on a bomber crew.