Off the Beaten Path (13 page)

They stepped out of the apartment building with Jack clearly in the lead like he knew exactly where they were going with Sam in tow. Kristin pressed him a couple of times to tell her where they were headed but all he would say is, “You'll see.” After about twenty minutes they rounded a corner and crossed a side-street where the three of them were standing in front of a neighborhood community garden. It was Saturday, so the community garden that had been carved out of an empty lot where a building had once stood was bustling with activity. They stood there for a moment until Jack spotted what he was looking for, there was a middle-aged woman down on all fours in the dirt tilling the soil with a small hand tool. Jack said,

“Come on, let's go.”

The three of them walked over to where the woman was working. Jack got her attention with a gentle, “Excuse me Mam.” The woman's kind face peeked out from under an oversized sun bonnet as she sat back on her haunches and asked them what she could do for them.

Jack squatted down next to her and spoke to her like he was on a mission. He stuck out his hand, “Good morning, my name is Jack Evans.”

The woman knocked the dirt off her hands and stuck out her hand,

“Nice to meet you Jack, I'm Clair.” she said with a genuine smile.

Jack began, “Clair, do you see that lovely young creature standing behind me?”

Clair nodded curiously, “I do.”

“Clair, her name is Kristin. And would believe that Kristin has never had the privilege of feeling that glorious sensation of running her fingers through fresh tilled dirt.”

Clair caught on instantly as a huge smile spread across her warm face. She leaned in a little and winked at Jack as she said in a whisper of disbelief, “Never, not once?”

Jack shook his head from side to side, “No Mam, Never,'

Clair let out a whoosh of air, “My word, I just don't believe it. What do you think we should do about that?”

Jack held out his hand as Clair placed the garden tool gently in his palm. The two conspirators scooted apart and Jack made a motion with his hand for Kristin to kneel down in the dirt between them. Kristin starred down at the two jokers with her arms across her chest. She was going to make them work for their little melodrama that they were having at her expense. After a minute or two she surrendered to their smiling faces and knelt down in the dirt between them. Jack showed her how to shove what looked like a three fingered hook deep into the soil turn it over and chop up the big clumps of dirt into the soft brown soil that fell between your fingers. Clair and Jack watched as Kristin discovered the satisfaction of running her fingers through the cool to the touch freshly tilled soil. Clair spoke first as rested her hand on Kristin's shoulder, “Isn't it wonderful dear?”

Kristin didn't even try to hide how much she was enjoying Jack's little field trip.

“It's so soothing.” Was all Kristin said as she continued to move down the row turning over fresh soil and busting up clumps of dirt as she went along. By the time she was finished her delicate fingers were covered with dirt and her face was covered with joy.

They spent almost an hour working in the garden alongside Clair. Helping her prepare her little section of the garden and plant her crop of onions, carrots, and beans. As they walked out of the garden Kristin
dropped a hundred dollar bill in the donation box bolted to the fence to help support the community garden, it was the best hundred dollars she had ever spent, better than therapy.

As they made their way back to the apartment Kristin surprised Jack with the same words he had used on her almost a week ago, “How adventurous are you feeling?”

“What did you have in mind?” he asked.

She explained to him that the she had volunteered to hold a runway fashion show in conjunction with a fundraiser for the University Hospital. There would also be both a live and silent auction at the fund raiser. She asked Jack sheepishly,

“I don’t suppose you brought your tuxedo with you?”

“Sorry, Left it in the Barn next to my spurs.”

Kristin dialed her cell and asked Marcy at the front desk to call Bernie’s and asked him if he could bring up some tuxedos around ten for Mr. Evans to try on, she looked at Jack and added, “Western cut.”

After Jack’s Tuxedo fitting, they drove down to the Key Arena to make sure that everything was on track for tonight’s event. There was a work crew putting the finishing touches on the runway platform and thirty or so of the hospital volunteer staff decorating tables and hanging decorations. When the director of the hospital foundation recognized Kristin she hurried over to thank her again for her generous time and effort to help the hospital. Kristin introduced Jack to the director and as they were shaking hands they heard a crash behind them and turned to see part of the stage collapse and pin one of the workers underneath the rigging. Jack rushed past three tables and two volunteers and was kneeling down next to the man and lifting the debris off of him before anyone else in the room could move. A couple of the other workers got to the man and pulled him out as Jack held up the tangled mess of twisted metal and plywood. The worker was more embarrassed that hurt and he thanked Jack for the help. The director of the hospital foundation also thanked him and asked him if he was going to attend the upcoming event. Jack said that he was and the director asked if he would save a dance for her tonight. He said he would be honored.

Jack stood backstage and watched he was completely amazed at how efficient and chaotic a runway fashion show was behind the scenes. It seemed to him that the whole thing teetered on the edge of collapse. In the midst of the hurried motions of models, the cloths designers making last minute changes, and cloths being thrown in every
direction Kristin was a rock. She watched over the chaos like an air traffic controller watching over rush hour at O’Hare. Her direction resembled the conductor of an orchestra, subtle and powerful at the same time. Everyone knew their job and what it took to pull off this type of event. At one point in the chaos a model ran past him in wearing nothing but her panties and high heels. Jack looked over at Kristin who was laughing at the obvious look of disbelief on his face. Amazingly enough the whole thing came off without a hitch and the audience was very pleased.

When the fashion show was over the two of them went out to the ballroom to enjoy the rest of the party. They walked around the tables that held the silent auction items and Kristin placed bids on a couple of the items that she thought might look good in her apartment. The thing she really had her eye on since the list of auction items was published was a ruby and diamond pendant designed by a local jeweler. The ruby was not exceptionally large but it was perfectly cut and meticulously mounted with a light gold chain that gave the appearance that the chain encircled the ruby without being attached to it. It was scheduled to be the last item on the auction block that night and she was determined to be the highest bidder.

As they were finishing dinner Kristin and Jack heard a voice come from behind them that was heavy with sarcasm and a touch of gloating.

“Kristin girl, glad to see you out on the town again.” The voice said.

They both turned in their seats to see a man in his fifties standing behind them with a drink in one hand and a platinum blond girl half his age with too much makeup and not enough dress on in the other. As Jack stood up out of courtesy to shake his hand Kristin said very flatly,

“Jack, this is Clarence.” She did not extend Clarence the courtesy of introducing him by his full name, introducing Jack, or mentioning that Clarence was her ex-husband. Jack could tell who and what the man standing before him was to Kristin, a source of great pain. Jack shook his hand and burst out laughing. As he held on to the man’s hand and squeezed a little harder he looked down at Kristin and asked,

“This is Clarence?” Kristin relaxed a little at Jack’s laughter directed at Clarence. Jack gave the limp hand he was shaking a little more pressure, just enough to cause Clarence to cringe with pain then he let go and extended the same hand to Kristin and said,

“I think I owe you a dance.” As Kristin stood up Jack gave Clarence just enough force to move him out of the way as the two of them headed for the dance floor still laughing. Kristin was smiling from ear to ear and Clarence was as red faced as anyone had ever seen him.

Clarence watched from the bar as Jack and Kristin came down the stairs arm in arm on their way out of the ballroom. His date was saying something to him about wanting to dance but Clarence was not listening. Kristin had a glow on her face that matched the new Ruby necklace sparkling just below her neckline. Clarence had never seen her look so beautiful before, or he had just never noticed. He had been stewing all evening about being insulted and brushed off so effortlessly earlier. It was one of those simmering insults that the more he thought about it the angrier he got. He threw down the rest of his drink sprang off the bar stool and headed straight for them. Jack could see Clarence coming in their direction out of the corner of his eye, Kristin had not noticed him approaching as Jack smoothly switched sides with her so he was between Clarence and her. Clarence stepped in front of them blocking their exit and in a slurred speech Clarence snarled at Jack,

“Do you wipe the manure of his boots before you get in the limo, Tex?”

Jack didn’t say a word he just starred at Clarence with a look of mild annoyance.

Kristin said, “Clarence, your drunk.”

“I may be drunk, but I’m sober enough to know when I’m being insulted.” Clarence moved within inches of Jack’s face and breathed in a drunken sentence,

“Not to bright, is he Kris?”

Jack exerted just enough pressure against Kristin’s right side to let her know that they were going to step around Clarence on their way out of the door. They sidestepped Clarence before he even knew what had happened. This made him even madder that he was not even worth a little mental jousting from the man escorting his ex-wife. It was more than he could take, he hollered out in a drunken slur for everyone to hear, “Hey Tex, enjoy my ex-wife the has-been model.”

What happened next was so quick and effortless that even the people watching weren’t really sure what they had witnessed, even after it was over.

Jack was the type of man that could stand there all night long and tolerate insults hurled at him from a drunk; however, saying something that hurtful and mean about a woman was over the line. Jack let go of Kristin’s arm and turned toward her as if to whisper in her ear. When his lips brushed her hair his left hand shot back and caught Clarence squarely on his jaw. The force of the blow lifted Clarence off his feet and turned him halfway around before he fell to the floor. Jack turned back in the direction they were walking and was holding onto Kristin’s arm again before Clarence hit the floor. Kristin did not see what had taken place but she could tell by the immediate silence in the room that something out of the ordinary had happened also it was unlike Clarence to stop at only one insult especially when he was drunk. She glanced over her shoulder to see Clarence lying in a heap in the middle of the room. Even though Kristin had not actually seen what Jack had done, she recognized retaliation when she saw it and it looked a lot like the crumpled drunk on the floor.

Kristin looked sideways at Jack and asked, “Was that your handy-work?”

Jack just smiled and drew her a little closer as they climbed into the waiting limo.

As they pulled away from the curb and headed toward her apartment Kristin adjusted herself sideways in the back of the limo so her entire body was facing Jack, she said, “You know, some people might frown on a bar room brawl at such a social event.”

Jack looked at her for a long moment then began very deliberately,

“Kristin, do you believe that bad behavior should be ignored?”

“I don’t believe that it should be ignored but it should be denounced.”

“Tell me, how many times during your marriage to Clarence did you denounce his bad behavior?”

“I stopped counting.” She said as she dropped her eyes.

“At what point does bad behavior turn into cruelty?” he asked quietly. She said nothing as he continued.

“I believe that most people, no matter what their net worth or level of education recognize the difference between right and wrong.”

“Does being obnoxious justify punching someone in the face?” she asked.

“I might have done Clarence a huge favor tonight.”

The expression on her face looked a lot like “Are you kidding me?”

“You don’t believe me?” Jack asked.

“I could understand how you could say that you did me a favor, but even in my wildest imagination I just don’t see how you did him a favor.”

“Let me tell you a little story,”

“How did I know there would be a story to go along with this?”

“A couple of years ago Angela and I were sitting at a stop light. Across the intersection from us was an older gentleman in a pickup and a young man in his twenties driving a sports car. Apparently the older man had done something to tick off the other driver. The young man was yelling and cussing and pointing at the older gentleman. The man in the pickup tried his best to ignore the kid; this only made the kid madder. The young man put his car in park jumped out of his car and started tapping his finger on the passenger side of the man’s truck. We were watching the older gentleman very closely and wondering what he was going to do. He looked over at the obnoxious young man and we could tell by the expression on this face that he had decided that he had had enough and that the kid was not going to go away. The older man put his truck in park and calmly climbed out of the truck. At that point I put my truck in park and prepared to jump out run across the street and break up what might turn ugly. The way the older gentleman leaned on the hood as he walked around the front of the truck looked like he needed the truck for support. I opened the door got out and started across the intersection. What happened next was almost unbelievable it stopped me dead in my tracks in the middle of the street. When the older man got around the pickup the kid reached up to poke the man in the chest with his finger. The older man’s left hand shot forward and grabbed the kid by the collar he slapped the kid across the left side of his head with his right hand. Then he let him go opened the kid’s car door and shoved him back into his own car. Then he walked calmly back to his truck got in and drove away.