Saturday Oct 26, 1992
Late in the morning and in a gentle breeze under clear sky, Nick heads over to Eversole’s to fulfill a rather cryptic request for which they would stay outside since the bug appears to have breached containment; Sam missed school yesterday.
On Friday he had taken possession of the stash of desktop PC hardware and one set of peripherals, the rest of it Dean himself picked up to stow at the shop. Nick had started assembling one of them, the prototype, from which the plan was to use the network hub for copying over the rest via batch file. But for now the plan is to chew on it the rest of the day after checking on the sick girl, then tomorrow, almost certain humiliation on the golf course.
Tim and his gal are getting in tonight for supper but will stay at a hotel. Fred might join them for 18 holes depending on some things, Vance said the tee time is good for up to five.
On the upswing, the campus rec center finally called Deej back once the director returned from a conference and gleefully offered her about 20 hours per week or two full days, maybe more here and there and they would gladly be flexible once she starts classes. She would carpool with Nick at times, which wouldn’t feel like a date but that’s life. Her transcripts are slowly trickling in to admissions and everything looks good, next she has to meet with the department to see what’s what. Once this girl is healthy she’ll have plenty goin’ on for sure.
Nick pulls into their drive and sets it right behind her Poncho. Deej emerges bundled up in her knit cap and a winter coat that goes down past the good stuff, and in gloved hands is holding a red bandanna over her mouth.
“Look but don’t touch, not that you can see much.”
“I’ll use my imagination.”
“Be my guest, and if you need to pee go behind the shed out back.”
“You gonna watch?”
She drops the bandanna monetarily to reveal a surprisingly saucy grin, “This way,” then leads them around the sunnier side of the house and around back, slowly, along rows of what may have been flower beds but have been recently turned over.
“Oh, Mom and Sam are gonna replant these next year,” Deej croaks.
“Nice, sounds like an activity.”
Deej just coughs and stops near a door in the foundation surrounded by a poured concrete well.
Nick can’t even fathom where this is going. “Umm...”
She looks over warily, “You’ll see. Can you take that door off?”
“Sure, hon,” then figures out how to best get to the door, have to sit on the edge and…the hook latch….ahh there it is. He sets the door aside and looks up at her.
“OK, do you mind reaching in there with the cobwebs and there should be a light bulb with the chain?”
Nick complies and clinks on the light, then, “Hey, there’s Jimmy Hoffa!”
“What?” Deej croaks.
“Never mind.”
“Okay, there should be some jars of kraut and maybe pickles.”
Nick lights up at all the gallon jars, “Damn that’s a lifetime supply, who made it?”
“Oh a while back they got on this end times kick and it’s been there ever since, anyway, can you move some of them to the side?”
“Wow one of those would make a ton of reubens, ever eat those?”
“Nick.”
He turns her way to seen an exasperated look.
“What? I’ve never had homemade kraut.”
She sighs and, with her eyes closed, “I’m sure you’re welcome to jar, at least, just set one out for now, but for the love of all that’s holy don’t open it when I’m nearby.”
“Gotcha, thanks, hon.” So Nick gleefully sets one in the dirt next to the poured well and looks at her for further instruction.
“I guess this is the least I can do for getting you to reach in there for me, you know I can’t handle spiders.”
“But spiders are our friends.”
“Nick.”
“OK so I’m looking for something stashed behind these?”
“You’ll know when you see it.”
So he digs in, carefully in this newfound treasure trove. “OOOH, found the pickles, are they dill?”
“Nick.”
“Sorry, boss.” he says in a dumb voice and goes on digging. He fails to notice her giggle beneath the bandanna, but pretty soon sees a jar filled with papers,
“Ahh.” After a bit of reaching and finagling Nick is able to unearth a,
“Time capsule?” after he notes the masking-tape seal across the lid, with the date, May 1988.
Hearing nothing, he looks over to see Deej standing there in tears.
“Sweetie-” but complies with her wishes and keeps his distance.
She sobs and takes a seat on the grass a safe distance from him, then squeaks out, “Open it.”
“Was this a school assignment?”
She looks to the side and pauses. “No.”
“Oh.”
Nick gives her a chance to process by carefully peeling away the tape from the glass, or trying to, it’s on there good. He keeps forgetting to carry a knife so pops out his keys and works it around the bottom of the lid best he can then tries to open it, pretty tight, and can’t resist,
“Did you put this on yourself?”
She smiles and does the eyebrows, “Held it between these here thighs.”
“I’ll have to buy it a beer later.”
She covers her mouth and coughs out a laugh.
Nick does the same thigh maneuver and with both hands is able to get the lid loose.
“How does it smell?”
Nick remembers high school chemistry and takes the safe route by waving across the top, “Like perfume.”
“Dig in.”
“You sure?”
She nods.
So within he finds…wow, his old letters to her. Packed in pretty good too, so he carefully piles them up on the ground until…a bottle…ahh. He had gotten her some toilet swill at Kmart, the pulls out the box.
“Did you ever wear this?”
She looks down, “I tried to save it for when we got together.”
“Oh. I guess I didn’t remember what it smelled like.”
She grins and rolls her eyes, “Yeah I never got down to the label,” in a voice with a tad of accusation.
“I got some catchin’ up to do.”
“You’ve pretty much made up for it since I got back… keep going.” he looks up to see her grin return.
Nick lets this float and keeps digging. More letters,
“God I didn’t have much to say did I?”
She smiles, “It’s the thought that counts, but sometimes you made me laugh with those, and probably…ok, definitely AT you sometimes, I confess.”
“Mmhmm,” and he keeps digging a bit more then hits something solid that rattles, he pauses, and looks at her.
She’s looking to the side, slightly bobbing, anxiously.
“Wow I had forgotten about this.”
After a deep breath, “Lately it’s all I can think about.”
Nick pauses, fidgets for words, “But…back then we made tapes all the time, it was just…I dunno.”
“But back then…Nick, most girls don’t mess with tape equipment, we just listen to the radio and sing along and act stupid. To get a tape from a guy is something.”
Nick shakes his head.
“Okay, what made you choose the songs?”
“Well just stuff I thought a girl might like, maybe heard on 106 at night, some of it just for fun, like that Kiss track. That’s why I put the label on a separate paper, you know.”
“And that was smart, Nicky, but I never got searched or interrogated, just kept it in a special place and played it with my little Sanyo…especially that…one…track,” she looks away.
Nick fishes out the tape, impossible to do gracefully, but eventually does then unpacks it to find his own sloppy writing to refresh his memory. Wow, he’d forgotten about putting April Wine but must have had it handy. So he guesses,
“Just Between You And Me?”
She smiles, “Love that one but that’s not it.”
“Okay, Kiss was just for laughs…included Ratt since, well they tried…Loverboy…oh, Night Ranger?”
Deej drops her head.
“Sweetie.”
“You…have…no…idea.”
“I guess not.”
She sobs, and this is not the time to quarantine so he moves a tad closer.
“Hon?”
After a couple deep breaths, “Okay…there I am at, what, fourteen, and this guy singing to me about…he’s trying so hard…to get it right.”
“Sweetie.”
She sighs, “...I think that part of the tape got worn out the most Nick.”
Nick has nothing to say so he doesn’t.
“Did I do the wrong thing?”
She looks up and forces a smile, “No, oh no, you got to me is what you did, like no one could.”
Nick takes a deep breath of his own, looks down at the jar with some misc notes left in it and maybe, oh, yeah. He pulls out a silly ring he won her at the fair that time. Bessie didn’t seem amused he was with another girl, by the way.
This gets a smile, “Took you enough darts to win that -”
Then there’s something rattling at the bottom, and lo, it’s a sample-sized Secret deodorant. Nick presents it to her with a wry look, to which she giggles silently, but before she can speak,
“Are you guys invading our precious stash of briny goodness?” Nancy has a bowl of kitchen scraps and headed toward the shed, must be a compost pile out there.
Deej speaks up best she can, “Yeah we excavated some things I had stashed down here. Can Nick take a jar of kraut? The poor boy is addicted to reubens.”
Nancy laughs, “Nick help yourself, have some pickles too.”
Deej pipes up, “He wants to know if they’re dill?”
“They are.”
Deej looks over at him with her there ya go expression.
Nick offers, “How about we save the pickles for a special occasion?”
Both gals look at him expectantly but he doesn’t know how to clarify that, but as Nancy makes her way behind the shed Deej just smiles warmly.
So Nick changes the subject, “Are you keeping this stuff out now?”
“Yeah, we’ll definitely save the tape for a…special occasion, can you keep a hold of it?”
“I’d be honored.”
“But…I keep the perfume,” raises her eyebrows, “and those letters will get me through the rest of the weekend.”
“You gonna burn ‘em for heat?”
“I’m gonna remember the good times.”
“Until we can make some more?”
She just holds that soft gaze as she does, the kind he can barely stand to look into.
Nick starts to pack up the ol’ time capsule but leaves the tape out and secures it in his jacket pocket.
Deej speaks up, “Thanks for doing this hon, really.”
“I get it now.”
She looks around, “Well I need to get to the grocery for a few things.”
“Lemme take you.”
She winces, then smiles, “Okay.”
She carries her treasure trove and he gathers his precious stash of pickled cabbage to stash on the back seat floor in a swaddling emergency blanket to keep it upright, not that the lid will pop without a lot of persuasion.
Pretty soon she joins him with her bandanna in hand and they head out, and Nick is still full of it,
“Your mom reminds me of the gal on the Waltons, at the store.”
“Corabeth? I’ll pass that along, she’ll consider it a complement and you’ll get more kraut.”
“Umm, this stash will last a year or better, although Mom will work in in here and there.”
“Did she ever do canning?”
“She made preserves for a few years but got tired of steaming up the house in hot weather, then our deep freeze broke after Tim left home so that kinda fizzled out.”
“It’s a lot of work. I don’t think my parents stopped to think that none of us really like kraut. OH and just what did you mean by a special occasion?”
“I dunno, maybe a potluck. You and your mom both had a funny expression so I have an idea why.”
“Mmmm hmm, and we love to see you squirm too.”
“And what if you need a spider killed?”
She laughs and coughs into the bandanna, “Shut up you turd!”
“Thought so.”
Deej cracks a window to get her lungs filled in and probably to avoid coughing more in the car.
They soon arrive at Nick’s old stomping ground since it’s the easiest to get to and around, he pushes the cart and she keeps her germs to herself. They grab milk, more juice, off-brand Robitussin, for which Nick admires her thriftiness, a pound of hamburger and some aptly-named helper and a head of lettuce.
Nick observes, “Nice spread, sorry I’ll miss it.”
“One of these days you’ll join us if you can live without kraut.”
“Badum crassshhh!”
“Thank you thank you.” Deej had been clearing her throat and he could tell she was fighting back the cough.
They get to the line and she stands in front of the cart, at one point he offers to pick up the tab,
She looks back with eyes that could kill, momentarily, then looks aside and takes a breath,
“Thanks, Nick, that’s sweet but I got it,” then starts to sob lightly. Soon she’s able to load up the belt and the checker, a veteran who had been there since they were kids and all through Nick’s tenure, asked if she’s OK.
She shyly smiled, “Yeah, just been a rough week.”
Nick speaks up, “Hey Betty, good to see you.”
“Oh hey there, do you miss me yet?”
“Every day.”
This gets a laugh and Betty gives Deej a wink with the receipt with the ritual have a nice day, folks.
On the way out Nick breaks the silence, “Sorry if I overstepped.”
She just keeps walking and helps load the two bags into the hatch, then stays put after he secures it and takes a deep breath.
“Nick I’m still getting used to this.”
“It’s okay.”
He opens the side door for her and she whisks him away. He takes his own seat as she bursts into tears again, rolls down her window halfway, and faces it while she cries.
“Deej.”
“God, this fucking virus, I just want to hold you.” She curls up into a ball.
Nick slowly reaches over and puts a hand on her sock cap, then reaches beneath it before she swats.
“Nick, don’t”
“I have baby wipes in the console.”
She stops sobbing and draws a deep breath. “Why the HELL do you have baby wipes in here?”
“Well, to clean the steering wheel or my hands.”
Deej covers her mouth with both hands and laughs almost as hard as she’d been crying, coughs a few times and hawks it out the window into an open space away from any bystanders. “God I’m a mess.”
“Not from here, babe.”
“Sweetie…I can’t apologize enough…although if it counts I am pretty hopped up on cold syrup still.”
“I went through worse dealing with customers in there, don’t mention it.”
“I should be thankful, I guess we all get sick sometime. Poor Sam -”
“Umm, I don’t need details.”
“Yeah…she had a rough night, what, two nights ago but sleeping it off like usual, hopefully she can eat some tonight.”
Nick lets this float.
Deej draws another deep breath and rolls up her window and turns his way still gripping the bandanna.
“Okay, I think my little meltdown is over now. Can we take the scenic route before you drop me off?”
“That kraut mine is still buying, let’s go.”
She leans back as they take off, then eventually, “So that retreat is sounding more certain, any thoughts?”
“Well we survived the grocery just now, howbout we grab some stuff and cook.”
She lights up beneath the bandanna. “You’re going to cook for me?”
He looks at her warily, “I think you know better, we’ll cook together.”
“Mmm hmm, that sentence just got you into my pants.”
“Actually that’s for dessert.”
She grins, “So I get a filled stick and you get cherry pie?”
“Howbout strawberry pie?”
This gets a bawdy laugh, some coughs and she kicks her feet around. “What’s that Kiss song on the tape, all over me like a cheap suit….”
“Geesh, yeah. OH and maybe we can chase down a tallboy brewski to split.”
She pauses. “Nick I needed this.”
“Can you dig me out a baby wipe?”
“I guess,” she’s groans sardonically and hands him the wipe.
Nick wipes down the steering wheel with a purposefully annoying level of detail until she can’t stand it.
“Is one gonna be enough?”
“Almost done.”
After a few more seconds she whisks it away, wads it up to throw in back of the car, then relaxes.
Nick takes in the late afternoon scenery with her and it seems she dozes off a few times, beneath her bandanna, in about 15 minutes of driving around. He’s pretty sure she has the same bug he already did but this is definitely worth the slight risk. Back at the homestead he helps her with the bags to the porch and she insists on no lingering goodbyes. She’s smart like that.
Back at home Nick walks in to impress his mom with the score of kraut then settles in to some PC staging until Tim and Dena arrive. His brother has definitely turned a corner and managed an impressive feat with this gal, very winsome brunette who already has a bachelor’s and works near the base. Ned works in the usual wry ball-busting for his older son but Nick keeps it polite out of secretly not wanting to blow this.
Deej would have joined them under better circumstances but they might make it back through around Christmas on another tour, her family is up in the Quads so it works out. Nick avoided the subject of his visit with Deej today for the expected reasons.
But despite first impressions the boys still end up at the piano for an encore, although, Dena insists on helping Irene clean up so they are mostly ignored, only to switch to guitar the rest of the visit.
After they leave it’s too late for much else but a shower and shave, but then, why not see how far these whiskers will grow?
Nick switches on the jazz and stretches out, but can’t relax until he checks in on her.
“Hey, how you feel.”
“Better. Dinner was good and Sam is semi functional at least, broke her fever.”
“That’s good, give her a sneer for me.”
“She’ll like that. So, did your brother make it in.”
“Yeah, and his gal is very impressive, I’m actually surprised.”
“Wow, wish I could meet her.”
“Deej, you know we wished you were here, and they should be back around at Christmas.”
“Hon I would have loved to be there but…well, today worked out just fine, thanks for bearing with me.”
“Anytime, babe.”
“So you just wanted to make sure I’m still sane?”
“Mostly curious if you get to listen to jazz.”
“OOH, yeah after a bit I will, thanks for the reminder.”
“It’s fun knowing you might.”
She coughs. “So what’s she like, Tim’s girl?”
“Her name is Dena, graduated from K-State and works there.”
“Ahh, she’s educated and goes with your brother, now I’ve seen it all.”
“Oh, Dad tried all all the usual lines like that, I gave him a pass.”
“Yeah it’s surprising after all these years, did he really date in school?”
“He tried, bless his heart.”
“That’s what I thought, well glad it’s working out. I’ve been looking forward to the holidays for the first time in years.”
“Yeah things are shaping up to be a must see.”
“OK, let’s get settled in, I’ll definitely find the jazz…” then she switches to the Mr. T voice, “Hannibal’s on the JAZZ.”
“Oh man, been a while since I heard that voice.”
She pays for it with some coughs, “Night babe, sleep well.”
“Feel better get some rest hon.”
And so our hero fades into a quiet evening of Jazz into the wee hours.