“Just like Leni and Cathy and all the others.”
He turned to Edison and looked more deeply into his eyes than he had ever done before.
“Don’t you die on me, Edison! Don’t you and Nancy die on me! Let me go first.”
Edison looked back at him for a moment. Then he put his arm on Galen’s shoulder.
“Come on, big guy, we’ll blame this on your prostate. We geezers have that privilege now.”
“Thanks, old friend.”
“Who ya callin’ old, Methuselah? You’re older than I am.”
They walked out together.
Back at the table the mood soon lightened again.
“Do you know how long it’s been since this geezer here graduated...”
He caught himself.
“Uh ... Sarah … you realize your grandmother was only a child when she graduated?”
“Nice try, Edison,” Sandy quipped as Galen patted her hand.
“Doogie Howser’s kid sister, this one.”
The four youngsters stared in ignorance.
“It was a TV program from the 1980,” Sandy explained. “Sarah, don’t you remember the programs we used to get by satellite when we worked at Tenwick Hospital? We had just left Nairobi.”
“No, Grandma, don’t you remember? My pet cheetah ate the unit.”
“The cheetah must have been a critic,” Edison quipped.
“That’s cheating, Edison.”
The dinner consumed, the check paid by Galen, and the initial connections made, everyone headed outside toward Wilma. JP whispered to Tonio.
“Are they always like this?”
Tonio nodded.
“Sooner or later Tia Nancy has to make them behave, but it’s all in fun. One would die to save the other. In fact they almost did just that a few weeks ago. Both would lay down their lives for Tia Nancy. And despite Tio Eddie’s goofy looks, he’s really a world-class electronics expert. But Tia Nancy is the real brains. Time and again we’ve seen her rescuing them from social gaffes.”
Edison drove the lot of them back to the dorm. After the hugs and goodbyes and nice-meeting-yous, Galen took JP and Judy by their arms and pulled them aside. He spoke in an unusually gentle manner.
“I want you both to know that Edison, Nancy, Sandy and I would be happy to help you in any way we can. If you ever need anything, even if it’s just an ear to listen, call us, okay?”
Then he turned to Sarah.
“If Tonio misbehaves I want you to call me, understand?”
“But I want Tony to misbehave.”
With that, he knew. She was a keeper. He also saw the bonding between JP and Judy. As he walked to Sandy’s side, Sarah looked knowingly at him and her grandmother.
“You two behave yourselves now.”
The two octogenarians blushed. Nancy and Edison snickered.
As he headed to the door, Tonio called back.
“Oh, Tio Galen, I’m in 213 Bear Hall!”
“I guess the cub doesn’t stray too far, does he?” Edison said. “Wonder what Baloo would say?”
“Who’s Baloo?” Sandy asked.
“Come with us back to Safehaven and I’ll tell you,” Galen answered. “Better yet, I’ll introduce you to him.”
“I see. And I suppose you’ll want to show me your etchings, too?”
The three left Richmond for Pennsylvania early the next morning. Sandy would have to take care of some business but promised to meet them at Safehaven in a few days.
“Hell, I’ve got nothing better to do,” she told Galen. “Sounds like fun.”
With that she reached up, pulled Galen’s head down, and kissed him on the cheek.
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