“I’m keeping my promise, Gramps,” Steve said at dinner. “Last night was our last Dead show for a while. Star and I leave for California in the morning. We pack up our stuff from there and head to Oregon. My new job starts next week.”
“I’m proud of ya, Steve,” Grandpa said. “Once you’re settled, call your grandmother once in a while and let her know how the job’s going. You know how she gets when she doesn’t hear from ya.”
“No prob, I will.”
“I’ll make sure he does,” Star said.
Grandpa and Grandma smiled. I was worried about Grandpa. He wasn’t eating as much as usual and had slowed down. We played catch a day earlier and he asked to stop after a few tosses. He was trying to hide it, but I could tell he was sick.
After dinner, everyone sat and watched television. Home Improvement came on. It was Grandpa’s favorite show. He told everyone if he had a tool girl like the one on the show, he might not have retired. Grandma gave him a jab with her elbow. Dad wanted to know if they made a calendar with the tool time girl. Mom said even if they did, he would never see one. I never understood why Binford Tools didn’t make Al the boss.
Grandpa and Grandma went home after the show. Steve went to my room to pack. Well, he had to throw three pair of jeans and a few grubby shirts into his suitcase. Star was staying in the bedroom that Grandmother Helen had stayed in during the holidays. I followed her upstairs and watched her carefully pack four pair of jeans and some shirts into her suitcase. She gathered up her brushes and some lipstick that were scattered around the room. She put them next to a small case sitting on the dresser with the mirror.
“Everything is reborn in nature, Alex. Never fear death. It’s not the end.”
“Why are you telling me this? I’m going to see you again, right?”
Star sat on the side of the bed and tapped the bedspread for me to sit next to her. I did.
“I know you’re worried about your Grandpa. He will never die, Alex. As long as you allow him to stay in your heart, he will never leave you. One day long after you think your Grandpa has left this earth, a flower will make you smile, or maybe it will be a puppy. You will once again think of your Grandpa. Mother Nature has her way of reminding us that no one is ever truly gone.”
I almost cried but I held it back. It felt as if I was losing three people I cared about all at once. There was no way of knowing how much longer Grandpa would be around. I knew if I wrote Star, she would respond. My brother only wrote me back one time his four years away at school. I didn’t think he would write. I would get to talk with him when he called home the last Sunday of every month. Still, I would miss him.
Mom woke me early the next morning to say goodbye to Steve and Star. I wanted to go the airport with them but she wouldn’t allow me to miss school. One last hug and they were gone. I sat in the kitchen feeling depressed when Dad came downstairs.
“What’s with the droopy face? We wanted to tell you last night but we didn’t because it’s not guaranteed yet. Grandpa thinks his old company is going allow him to use their private box for a game at Yankee Stadium this season. You look so depressed right now I thought I would tell ya that it’s in the works.”
That did change my mood. “No kidding, Dad? Are we going to meet the team on the field and sit with Mr. Steinbrenner?”
Dad chuckled. “Slow down, big man. We’re not going on the field and it’s a private suite, but it’s not where the Boss sits.”
“Awe too bad. Wendy thinks she’s the boss. She never met the real boss, Mr. Steinbrenner. He would set her straight.”
Dad smiled. “Well, you can take Wendy if you like, Bruce too. We have ten seats to use in the box. So you can bring a couple of friends.”
The idea of sitting with the big shots at a ball game got my day going in the right direction. I called Grandpa to thank him. Grandma answered and told me that Grandpa was sleeping. I gathered up my books and headed for the bus stop.
I told Bruce and Wendy the news. Wendy was her usual self.
“Can your grandpa ask Don Mattingly if he will hit me a home run and wear a purple wrist band when he hits it?”
I looked at Bruce. He shrugged and shook his head. I knew even he thought Wendy was nuts.
“No, Wendy, my grandpa can’t ask Don Mattingly anything. You can’t ask Don either. There is a giant sign that says no girls allowed on the field.”
“There’s no giant sign. My dad and I watch the games on TV. I’ve never seen a sign that says no girls allowed on the field.”
“Yeah, well there should be,” I said. The bus arrived. Wendy gave me a dirty look as she boarded the bus. All was great at school until Greg sat next to me in the cafeteria and started munching on his lunch.
“So, Alex, my pal ole chum, Bruce told me that you have fifty tickets for a Yankees game. Wendy told me you are meeting Don Mattingly on the field during batting practice. I’d sure like to go to that game. I ain’t never seen the Yanks in person.”
“I’m sure you would, Greg. But I don’t have fifty tickets and I’m only taking people that don’t make my head explode every time I see them.”
Greg made a fist but kept his hand on the table. He shot me a fake smile. I knew when he was smiling for real and when he was being his phony self.
“Yeah, well, I know we haven’t been the best of buddies, but you’re gonna need me next year. I can make life easy on you and your two ugly pals. Or, you can see what the seniors do to freshman in high school.”
I had to think about that one. “You’re making stuff up, Greg. Nothing happens to freshman.”
“You tell yourself that the first time some senior football player stuffs you in his locker. But for a Yankee ticket, I can make sure it never happens.”
“Wait a minute. You’re gonna be a freshman too. If they do go around stuffing freshman in lockers, they’ll stuff you too.”
Greg crumbled up his brown lunch bag. “I play basketball at the park with some of the boys who’ll be seniors next year. Do you?”
I refused to be bullied by Greg. I learned over the past couple of years that Greg was all talk. “I’ll take my chances,” I said.
Later that night, when Steve called to tell Mom and Dad they had arrived back in California, I asked Steve if he had stuffed freshman in lockers. He told me that he thought about it but didn’t think one would fit. I wasn’t sure if he was joking or not.
I went to my room and opened my book to where President Ronald Reagan left his notes. Mr. Reagan wrote that his father gave him the nickname “Dutch” because he looked like a fat little Dutch boy and wore a Dutch boy haircut as a child. He grew up in Illinois, later studying economics and sociology in college. He was a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity. Steve told me he was in a fraternity in college and liked it. I wanted to be a TKE too.
Reagan wrote how he was very much against racial discrimination. As a youngster, he learned about an Inn that refused people a nights rest because of the color of their skin. Ronald Reagan took them to the Reagan home. His mother allowed total strangers to stay the night and made sure they enjoyed a good breakfast before departing in the morning.
After college, Mr. Reagan worked as the Chicago Cubs announcer on the radio. What a cool job, I thought. During one of the Cubs trips to play in California, Mr. Reagan auditioned for a movie part. He received a contract to work in Hollywood. In one movie, he played George, “The Gipper” Gip in a film called “Knute Rockne, All American.” People started calling Mr. Reagan, “The Gipper” after his performance in that movie. I didn’t have any nicknames other than the bad ones Greg made up for me. Reagan had two good ones. It had been a long day so I went to sleep.
A few nights later, my grandparents were over for dinner. Grandpa looked better. He was smiling again. Grandma said it was because he was finished with his cancer treatments for a few weeks and was feeling stronger.
“I started reading about President Reagan, Grandpa. When you met him, did you ever talk about baseball?"
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p; “He was a busy man, Alex. I only met him for a few minutes twice while I was doing some touch up work in the Oval Office. I know he loved sports. He loved those licorice jellybeans even more. He always had some on the corner of his desk.”
“Yeah, he loved to create big deficits with all his tax cutting too,” Mom said.
“Give it up, Maureen. I am so tired of liberals singing that tune. Reaganomics flooded the treasury with money. Your buddy Tip O’Neil and all his cronies on that side of the aisle couldn’t wait to spend it.”
I didn’t want Grandpa to argue with Mom. I entered the conversation again. “Grandpa in President Reagan’s writings, he said, ‘I don’t believe in a government that protects us from ourselves.’ I don’t understand what he means.”
Grandpa raised his chin and smiled. “He wanted the people to be free. President Reagan believed in the individual being the best they could be without interference from an overbearing government.”
“But we are free, Grandpa.”
“Yes, but we need to protect our rights and liberties from a large centralized government that wants to control our lives.”
Mom sighed and put her fork on her plate. “Stop scaring the boy, Frank. The government doesn’t control me. They don’t tell me what I can eat or how much soda I can drink. They certainly don’t listen to my phone calls or tell me what doctor I have to use.”
Grandpa slowly said, “Not yet.”
We ate dinner quietly until Grandma and Mom talked about a new diet they wanted to try. Dad asked Grandpa if he knew what game would be attending at Yankee Stadium.
“Well the good news is that we will be able to use the luxury suite right next to Mr. Steinbrenner. My old company splits that with four other groups, so they only have it for twenty games a year. It will be a rare treat. The bad news is that our game is against the Texas Rangers and it’s not until August.”
“Awe, I don’t care when it is, Grandpa. I just wanna go to a game with you and Dad.”
“And me and your grandmother of course,” Mom said. “I have to look when we are scheduled for our vacation but I think that would be a perfect time. I believe you start school soon after we arrive home from vacation. My baby boy will be in high school. I feel so old.”
“Where does the time go?” Grandma asked.
Everyone shook his or her head, including me. Her little boy, please. I was a teenager for several months, which meant I was practically an adult. I ate my pudding and asked to be excused. Grandpa said he wanted to tell me one more thing before I left the table.
“You mentioned President Reagan earlier. I’ll never forget a speech he gave. The following words he recited sum up everything Reagan stood for as president. ‘If we look to the answer, as to why for so many years we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on earth, it was because here in this land, we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before. Freedom and the dignity of the individual have been more available and assured here than on any other place on earth.’ Those words are etched in my memory banks forever.”
I always enjoyed it when Grandpa shared his stories. I left the table hoping he would continue to tell me his stories for many years in the future.
~~~*~~~
Chapter Twenty Six
Presidential Shadows Page 25
