The Patricia Kiyono Christmas Collection (25 page)

Not wanting to upset her, he simply
waited.

“
I’m sorry. I wanted to do
something on my own for a change. Something I should be able to do
without help. I know how to drive. I know the way to Grand Rapids.
Why can’t I make it there without messing up?” She dug in her purse
for the tissues that probably weren’t there.

He dug his handkerchief out of his pocket
and handed it to her. “Here. Use this.”

She sniffed. “Joe always carried a
handkerchief with him.”

“
Joe?”

“
My husband. He’s been gone
about five years.”

“
I’m sorry.”

“
He was always prepared.
For everything. He wouldn’t be standing by the side of the road
because he forgot to put gas in the car.”

“
Stop berating yourself.
Everyone forgets things once in awhile. Besides, I heard you’ve
been busy with the Christmas Pageant.”

“
Yes. I’m supposed to pick
up a box of costumes someone is donating to us. I’m supposed to be
there in—” She checked her watch and gasped. “—twenty
minutes!”

“
We’re about fifteen
minutes from there. Why don’t I take you? Leave your car here, and
I’ll call your road service and have them bring some gas out to
you.”

“
That won’t work. I
cancelled the road service. It cost too much and I couldn’t afford
it.”

She cancelled road
service? It’s not that expensive. Did her son make her do
that?
“Ah. Well, then we’ll pick up some
gas and bring it here when you’re done with your
errand.”

“
You’d do that for me?
Don’t you have somewhere you need to be?”

“
Nowhere that I can’t go
tomorrow or the next day. My schedule is pretty
flexible.”

She looked like she wanted to ask more, but
she just nodded. “Thank you, kind sir.”

“
Where to?”

“
I’ve got the address
here.” She read the address from her notes.

“
I don’t know my way around
Grand Rapids that well. Do you know how to get there?”

“
Yes. I printed out the
directions. We used to have a GPS service, but I had to cancel
that.”

“
That’s tough. Okay, since
you’ve got the directions, and I’m not good at reading while
driving, why don’t you be the navigator?”

She smiled. “I can do that!” He couldn’t
help marveling how much younger she looked when she smiled. How old
was she? He couldn’t exactly ask. She had two sons who were
married, but she herself could have married quite young.

He pulled back onto the road and followed
her directions, chatting with her about Zutphen and its
inhabitants. He learned a lot about her by asking questions about
different people he knew. He found out she was a native of Zutphen,
but her husband had come to America from the Netherlands. He’d
built his own greenhouse and expanded it into a large scale garden
center by the time he retired and sold the business. Odd that in
selling such a huge business Joe wouldn’t have left his widow
enough money to pay for lawn care or road service for when she ran
into trouble on the road.

Finally, she gave him the clue he needed. “I
dearly love your sister-in-law,” she told him. “Her mother was one
of my best friends growing up.”

Bingo. Now all I have to
do is ask Matt how old his mother-in-law is and hope he’s not nosey
enough to wonder why I want to know.
Fat
chance.

Helen’s directions took them to a sturdy old
brick building in downtown Grand Rapids, home of the Rivertown
Players. Mike found a parking spot on the street, and they walked
in. They found Sophie backstage in the costume room.

“
Hi! I’m sorry I wasn’t in
the lobby to meet you. We’ve had a little bit of a wardrobe mishap,
and I’m going to have to find something else I can alter. But I
found the crowns you wanted. They’re right over here.” She led them
to a rack on the far side of the room holding an assortment of
headgear. Helen picked the items she needed.

“
Thanks so much, Sophie.
You enjoy your job here, don’t you?”

“
Yes, I do. But I don’t
like being so far away from Zutphen. I mean, it’s not
that
far, but in the
wintertime, it’s a difficult drive. And when we’re doing a show, I
have to be here all weekend, so I don’t have a chance to see Mitch
and Angie unless they come here.” She sighed. “I always thought I
wanted to get away from home and have a career in a big city, and
now that I’m here, I’m always wishing I could be back at
home.”

“
Well, maybe we need to
work on having a theater company in Zutphen,” Mike
offered.

Sophie laughed. “If someone starts one, I’ll
be the first to apply for a job there.”

Mike and Helen thanked her and went on their
way. They stopped at a gas station for a two-gallon can of fuel.
They made it back to Helen’s car in no time. Mike took the gas can
and put the fuel in her car and waited until she got in and started
the engine.

“
Drive straight to the
first gas station you see,” he instructed. “This gas isn’t going to
get you that far. I’ll follow you to make sure you get
there.”

Helen sniffed. Her eyes filled, and he
looked away. “Thanks so much for your help,” she told him. “Sorry
your plans for the day were sidetracked.”

He cleared his throat. “It was my
pleasure.”

~~~~

Helen drove to
the gas station, filled her tank, and waved to
Mike. Thank goodness he'd shown up when he did. Since she'd had to
cancel her road assistance, she had no idea what to do, other than
call a friend or one of her sons. The thought of that made her
shiver. Paul would give her an awful time about her idiocy. Maybe
Mike wouldn't say anything—

Oh no! She should have asked him not to say
anything to anyone! If anyone in Zutphen found out she'd run out of
gas, word would get back to Paul. She'd have to remember to talk to
him when she got home. Or whenever he got back to his apartment. He
probably would be gone for a while since he'd helped her with her
errand first. She had to get to him before he told anyone, because
that person would tell Paul. And then she'd never hear the end of
it.

Oh, good grief. Why was she so afraid of her
own son? She was the parent, not him. And she'd gotten out of the
jam without him.

She turned up her radio and hummed along
with the happy tune. She'd spent an hour with a handsome gentleman,
had gotten out of town for a little while, and let go of some of
her boredom. And she'd gotten an errand done. That felt good.

Driving back to Zutphen,
she made a mental list of the things she would need to do when she
got home. First, she'd better check the costumes to see if any of
them needed mending. Then she'd have to plan the rehearsal for
Wednesday evening. Now that it was October, they'd gone to two
rehearsals per week: one on Wednesday night after the church
supper, and one on Sunday afternoon. Last Sunday she'd spent most
of the time convincing the young shepherds to put their electronic
games away and pay attention to what was happening on the stage.
She'd already decided that next Sunday's rehearsal was going to be
for only the people who didn’t have speaking parts. Even though
their actions were dictated by the narration, they seemed to need a
lot of direction. Maybe if she worked
only
with them, they’d be more
cooperative.

Before she knew it, she was pulling into her
driveway. A sporty little convertible sat on the right side of the
driveway, allowing her to pull into her customary spot on the left
side of the garage. She took a deep breath, preparing herself for
another lecture.

According to the
church directory, Letitia Evans lived in a
retirement home in Zeeland. So on a crisp late October day, Mike
and Matt went to visit her. They found the octogenarian in the game
room, soundly trouncing her opponent in a game of canasta. She
finished the game and then invited them to her room for coffee. The
brothers settled into her faded but comfortable chairs.

“
Could I ask what it was
you told our mother to make her go to the doctor with me?” Mike
asked.

The woman laughed. “If there’s one thing
Loretta doesn’t want, it’s a negative rumor. Especially when it’s
about her. I told her that she was lucky to have sons who were
willing to take her where she needed to go. And if she didn’t go to
the doctor after they’d gone to the trouble of making an
appointment, I’d tell everyone here in the home that she was in
hiding because of a botched up face lift and boob job. I knew that
would get her out of the house.”

Mike and Matt glanced at each other. Yes, a
threat like that would get their mother moving. “Ah, thank you for
stepping in and uh… encouraging Mom to go.”

“
You’re welcome. What did
they find out?”

“
We don’t know. She won’t
tell us anything.”

“
Why didn’t you go in with
her and listen? You boys are younger and have better memories. I
always take my son or daughter along because I forget half of what
the doctor tells me.”

“
We try, but she refuses to
let us in the examination room.”

“
What? That’s ridiculous.
Why wouldn’t she want you in there? To preserve her modesty? Oh,
for heaven’s sake. You boys know enough to turn around when lady
parts are showing, don’t you?”

“
Yes, ma’am,” they both
replied.

“
I thought so. Hmm. And I
suppose the doctors can’t tell you anything because of those
privacy laws, right?”

They nodded.

“
Guess I’d better put my
thinking cap on. I could go ahead and start that rumor about the
face lift, if you want.”

“
Uh, no. I don’t think that
will be necessary,” Matt told her.

“
Right. Yeah, I suppose
we’d better save that as a last resort. Well, if I think of
something, I’ll call you. She’s one person who can out-stubborn
me.”

They thanked Letitia for her time and
promised to visit again.

Once in the car, the brothers heaved a
collective sigh. Then they looked at each other. Mike was the first
to crack. He leaned back and let out the howling laughter that had
bubbled up inside during their visit. Soon, both of them had tears
rolling down their cheeks.

“
I always thought our
mother was the most outrageously outspoken senior around,” Matt
said between gasps. “But Letitia would give her a run for the
money!”

“
I know,” Mike agreed,
wiping his eyes with his sleeve. “Greta sure knew what she was
doing when she called Letitia for help. I owe her a bouquet of
flowers.”

Matt put the car in gear and headed the car
for home. “I’ll pitch in for that. Make it a nice one.”

~~~~

Wednesday night
church
suppers. He remembered them from his
youth. Apparently here in Zutphen the tradition continued. A
dedicated team of ladies showed up each week to cook and serve
dinner to anyone who showed up, whether they were members or not.
And the cost to eat was whatever people wanted to throw in the
collection basket.

Tonight’s dinner was a huge baked potato
with several choices of toppings: cheese, barbecued beef, broccoli,
tomatoes, and sour cream. Tossed salad and a variety of pies and
cakes rounded out the meal.

He took his plate to a table where two
younger men were engaged in a discussion. They gave him a friendly
nod when he sat but continued their conversation.

“
I can’t believe she ran
out of gas on the highway,” one of them complained. He looked older
than the other and was dressed in an expensive suit. “When Elmer
Gaunt told me that he saw a woman stranded on the side of the road
yesterday, I knew it was Mom. I knew it! I’ve been on her case for
weeks about getting that gas gauge fixed and she didn’t do it. She
just got her car back from Lonnie’s Garage. Why couldn’t she have
had them work on that at the same time? She can’t seem to get
anything done unless I do it for her.”

The younger man shook his head. “I asked Mom
to alter my pants for me a month ago. They were still on her sewing
machine table last Sunday when the kids and I went over for dinner.
She said she’d been busy with the pageant. I guess it’s really
rough this year because there aren’t very many kids willing to be
in it.”

Mike extended a hand toward the man next to
him. “I don’t believe I’ve met you two before. I’m Mike Sikkema.
Matt’s brother. Are you two members here?”

The younger man took his hand and shook it.
“Yes, we are. I’m Jon DeGroot.” He nodded across the table. “This
is my brother, Paul.”

Mike reached across the table and shook
Paul’s hand. “DeGroot? Are you related to Helen?”

Paul nodded. “She’s our mother. We’re just
worried about her. She doesn’t seem to be able to handle details
like she should.”

Mike nodded thoughtfully. “She is a busy
lady. Why, just the other day while we were enjoying a nice lunch
with my brother and sister-in-law, she got three different phone
calls during the meal from people asking for her help.”

“
People asked
her
for help?” Paul
nearly sneered. Mike didn’t like his attitude. He wanted to
throttle the young man. How could he be so rude when talking about
his own mother?