PRESENT TENSE
Chapter Seventy
Wednesday, September 1, 2004
By September, Rose was eight months pregnant.
Her middle was swollen from the child, as round as a full moon. Jack
affectionately referred to her as his blooming Rose, starting with the first
time he accompanied her to a prenatal appointment.
Jack had taken as great an interest in the
coming baby as Rose had, and he was there when she first had an ultrasound
done, watching the image of their child in awe. He also talked the doctor into
letting him listen to the baby’s heartbeat, and rejoiced with Rose when she
felt the baby’s first kicks.
Rose had taken Jack up on his advice
regarding her work and her desire to spend more time with the baby. Near the
end of August, she had quit her job as an office assistant, though not without
a little guilt about leaving. She was well-liked at the mental health clinic,
and was considered one of their best office assistants. The office threw her a
surprise farewell party on the day she left, and a number of clients were sorry
to see her go as well, though not Jack, who always worried that she would read
his chart and see things that were better left unsaid. Rose had always been
careful not to read anything in his chart, knowing that it would make both of
them uncomfortable, but Jack was still glad not to have that particular worry
anymore.
Surprisingly, just after she left her job,
Daniel’s baby-sitter decided to go to Australia to study for the semester,
leaving Helga looking for a new baby-sitter to fill in while she was gone. Rose
quit her job the day before the baby-sitter left, and by the next day found
herself hired to take care of Daniel. Helga paid her what she had paid the
regular baby-sitter, eliminating many of Rose’s worries about money. Daniel was
usually an easy child to care for, sleeping a good portion of the day and
usually content to play with anything that made noise or had bright colors the
rest of the time. He knew and trusted his Aunt Rose, and she was already
familiar with him, making the transition into this new job easier. Daniel could
be cranky on occasion, particularly if he wasn’t feeling well or was teething,
but Rose liked caring for him anyway. He almost did seem to be the nephew she
would never have.
The baby-sitter planned to return to the
United States in December, and had agreed to watch both Daniel and the Dawson
baby, making Rose’s decision to return to college full-time easier. She was
also considering taking a part-time job with the college when she returned, but
the college was so close by that she knew that she would have plenty of time to
see her baby. She wouldn’t be like her mother, so involved in her career that
nothing else was important, but she would have a life outside of her home, as
well. Jack was as excited about the baby as she was, and together they would
give the child a good life.
*****
On the morning of September first, Jack and
Rose drove to an airport in San Diego for their trip to Chippewa Falls. They
had to park some distance away—security was tight around airports—and take a
shuttle to the airport itself. People gave Rose a wide berth, with her big
belly and the awkward way she carried her suitcase. Jack offered to carry her
suitcase for her, but she declined, since he was already carrying his suitcase
and the backpack they were using for carry-on.
They had to check their luggage inside
instead of at the curb, as people had once been able to do. Security had been
tightened considerably since the terrorist attacks in 2001, necessitating both
their long trip to the airport and the long lines to check in their luggage.
"I hate these long lines," Jack
complained as they were waiting in line. "I don’t see why they can’t do
security checks at the curb, or at least have a few more people working
security. Most people aren’t going to try anything anyway."
"It’s typical of bureaucracy not to have
adequate services available. It would be nice not to have all these security
checks, but that’s the price we have to pay for having morons in the world. A
few stupid people spoil it for everyone."
"It would be nice if they could just run
everything through a quick metal detector, but I guess then it would pick up
things like jewelry and belt buckles, which aren’t usually used as
weapons."
"And it would miss weapons that don’t
contain metal—like some explosives. We’re probably safer this way, even if it
is a pain."
"Well, it’s still better than doing a
background check or something on every single person to travel by air. That
would take forever, and would probably ban a lot of people who weren’t going to
do any harm—like me. It’s bad enough that the no-fly list picks up people who
have the same name as someone on the list, but if they were to go further than
that…"
Rose looked up at him. "Your records are
still getting uncovered?"
"Yes. I talked to a lawyer about it last
month, trying to see if anything could be done about it. This isn’t supposed to
happen. She’s looking into it."
"I hope you can resolve this. You don’t
need the trouble."
"Yeah. Tell me about it." Jack
changed the subject. "When was the last time you flew anywhere?"
Rose thought for a moment. "It was in
1999, when Mom let me go to Philadelphia by myself to visit my grandparents—Dad’s
parents. I spent three weeks with them that summer before going home. It was
much nicer than being at home, because Dad was sick and Mom was always yelling
about something. Grandma and Grandpa actually got along with each other, and
they were in better health than Dad."
"It was nice meeting them when they flew
out in April."
"Yeah. I hadn’t seen them in almost four
years. Grandpa was so funny when he learned about our baby, hobbling around
with Grandma and making her squeal."
"Sounds like someone else I know."
Rose laughed. "Who, me?"
"Yeah, you." He tickled her, making
her squeal in surprise. "See what I mean?"
"I’ll get you for that." Rose
turned to retaliate, but they had finally reached the front of the line. They
handed over their suitcases, which were X-rayed and run through a metal
detector, and their carry-on luggage was inspected, including Rose’s purse. Then
they had to walk through a metal detector themselves.
"It feels like I’m going to jail,"
Jack complained when he walked through the metal detector, grumbling to himself
when it detected the steel plate in his head and went off.
"I know." Rose giggled as her baby
gave a hard kick to the security officer checking her to be sure her swollen
belly really contained a baby and not weapons. "The baby doesn’t like it
either."
"Sometimes I think they’re going a
little overboard."
"Only a little?"
"Well..."
Rose laughed, linking arms with him as they
went to wait for their plane. "When was the last time you flew?"
"That was in the winter of 1995. Mom and
Dad took their vacations at the time of Christmas break, and we left the cold
of Wisconsin and went to the Bahamas for a week."
"That must have been fun."
"It was. It was also the first time I
had ever been out of the country. The only other countries I’ve been to,
besides the United States, are Canada and Mexico. Canada and Wisconsin share a
border, so it wasn’t too difficult to go there, though I didn’t stay for long,
and I’ve been to Mexico a few times since I came to the southwest."
The call came for them to board their plane,
and Jack got up, helping Rose out of her chair. Awkwardly, she walked beside
him as they joined the line of people waiting to board.
Once on the plane, they found their seats in
coach. By some good fortune, they had window seats, though Rose opted to sit on
the aisle so that she could move about more easily. Her swollen middle made it
difficult to squeeze past people, especially in the jammed coach section.
Fastening her seatbelt around her middle,
Rose settled back. Jack gave her a smile and squeezed her hand as the plane
took off.
*****
Jack’s good mood slowly vanished as they
moved closer to their destination. It was a five-hour flight, and as they moved
to the northeast, he became increasingly anxious. By the time Minneapolis came
into view in the distance, he was ready to get on the next plane back to
California.
Rose laid a comforting hand on his arm.
"Are you still worried about coming home?"
Jack looked at her and sighed. "A
little. It has been a long time—over eight years now. I can’t help but wonder
what people will think of me—if they even remember me."
"Some will remember you, I’m sure. Your
cousin Emmaline will be glad to see you."
"If I get a chance to see her. Uncle
William would have a fit if he knew I was in town."
"Let him have a fit. You have as much
right as anyone to be in Chippewa Falls. You grew up there."
"I guess it’s a good idea to visit
again...I hope so, anyway."
Rose reached for his hand. "It’s going
to be fine," she told him, giving him a reassuring smile.
Jack smiled and nodded, but as the plane
began its descent, he wasn’t so sure that this trip was a good idea.