by CW Ullman
“You freaking linebacker,” Charlie said. “The goddam Frisbee is over there, you bag of fur.”
Charlie spoke while on the ground with Surgeon in his lap slobbering licks over Charlie’s face. “Look, we have to get something straight. The idea is to get the Frisbee, not tackle me. You are not a five pound puppy any more, so get off me. I’m getting too old for this shit,” Charlie said. “Go get the Frisbee, Dick Butkus.”
Surgeon fetched the Frisbee and brought it back to within ten feet of Charlie and dropped it.
“Oh, so we’re playing this now,” Charlie said. “You think I’m going to fall for the old I’ll-drop-it-here-then-whip-it-off-the-ground-when-the-old-guy-gets-near game? Well, guess what, Dick, I ain’t playing that. I’m leaving.”
Charlie slapped his hands on his legs and then together, ending with his palms up like a dealer backing away from a blackjack table. This was the sign to Surgeon that play time was over, but he was not ready to quit. As Charlie got up, Surgeon moved between him and the path he was walking and dropped the Frisbee at Charlie’s feet.
“Okay. Just a few more, then we’re done. I have to open the shop and check on your old man,” Charlie said. He bent down to Surgeon and put his hand under his slobbering chin and said, “No more tackles, okay?” Surgeon snorted.
Charlie tossed the disc straight out with no angle. While he watched Surgeon run, he thought about Cindy and her lack of affection. He thought about Rusty and the upcoming visit from Child Protective Services. He thought about Jordan and Bryce who were in their early teens and challenging him on everything from grades to curfews. He thought how well Molly was doing with Cecily plus her friendship with Sister Marie Celeste. He reflected on Ronnie, his hands full with his teenage daughter, his Korean brother-in-law and the carpet store. He thought that, although Gaston’s restaurant was succeeding, in the seventeen years out of the Navy, he had two failed marriages. Carlos was hardly around anymore since he made captain in the Los Angeles Sherriff’s Department. Curtis had lost track of Jordan Franklin who had run away after another incident with Claudia. It seemed like the only people content with their lives were his parents. He thought how his life had become insipid, frustrating, and wearisome. He wished for something big to happen to break up the humdrum of life.
After the frisbee session with Surgeon, he went to his father’s office for an adjustment and asked him, “Did you ever feel lost?”
“Your mom saved me from too much self-reflection by giving me things to do and telling me not to think too much,” Chris answered.
“You never questioned anything?” Charlie asked.
“When I did, there were never any answers. I know the Knights of the Fire Ring are solving the world’s problems,” Chris air quoted, ‘with deep philosophical debate,’ but how’s that working for you? Don’t get me wrong, I find the discussions very stimulating, but they seem to create more questions than answers. My answer is your mother, I want to be with her and make her happy. She is the most sensible, perceptive, kind, and generous person. She seldom complicates things and I know she still loves me.”
“You’re lucky,” Charlie said.
“Charlie, what you’re going through right now and for the next few years, is a lot of payout without much payoff. This is when you keep your head down, work your ass off, and soldier on. I’ll give you a little hint as to what has made my life more enjoyable and that is the grandkids. There’s a natural alliance between grandparents and grandchildren. Keep Cecily near you as much as possible,” Chris advised. “Also, I’ve noticed you haven’t been meditating as much lately. And, lastly be careful what you ask for.”
Charlie needed something more and he believed he was ready for whatever it might be. A difference between himself and his dad was his father lived in the answer and Charlie could not help but live in the question. When the two of them looked at something, Chris wanted to know what it was, but Charlie wanted to know what it was, why it was, and how it was..
If Charlie wanted to dwell in the inquiry of life regardless of the consequence, he was about to be challenged far more than he could ever have imagined. Charlie Palmer was about to cross paths with history.
When he went got to the surf shop, Darla wanted to speak privately to him. They went out into the parking lot.
“I’m thinking of moving in with my aunt in Los Angeles until this thing with CPS blows over. Luemveld’s got a stick up her ass and she isn’t going to let up. I know when she comes to see where we’re living, she’ll have a problem with it. What do you think?” she asked.
“Logistically, it’s going to be a nightmare. You have to drive Tobie to school back here, and you’re still going to work in the shop, aren’t you?” Charlie asked.
She had not thought of all the problems moving would create, “My aunt doesn’t live in the greatest neighborhood. But I don’t know what else to do. Rusty hasn’t been without me by his side since he left the VA. What am I going to do with him?”
“Don’t worry about him, I’ll figure something out. Are you going to notify Luemveld that you’re moving.? Are you thinking that’ll take some of the heat off of you?” Charlie asked.
“Maybe,” Darla paused lost in thought. “She is such a fucking bitch. How the hell am I going to tell Rusty? I mean, Charlie, how’s he going to take it?”
<>
They did not have a chance to put the plan into action, because the following morning Luemveld showed up unannounced. At eight AM, Darla heard a knock at the back door and opened it to find Luemveld and two LAPD police officers.
“Mrs. Armstrong, we’re here to inspect the premises and interview your daughter, Tobie. Is she available?” Luemveld asked.
“Go ahead and I’ll get Tobie,” Darla said.
Darla went into the front of the surf shop and called Charlie at home. She whispered urgently, “You need to get Tobie from school, but don’t bring her back here. Luemveld is here. I’ll call you later,” Darla said.
She returned to Luemveld and told her she had forgotten that Tobie had an early class. Luemveld told her that when she was finished with the inspection, she would drive to Tobie’s school and interview her. Luemveld continued her inspection, asking to go into the work area.
“Ms. Luemveld, that’s where we make surfboards; we don’t live there,” Darla said, realizing Luemveld would see Rusty’s gallery of Asian girl’s faces.
“I can have Officer Michaels kick in that door and every other door in this building,” Luemveld threatened.
“No, you don’t have to do that. Go ahead,” Darla said.
Upon entering, the first things Luemveld saw were two walls completely covered in pictures. Going no further than opening the door, she pivoted and came back to Darla. “That’s inappropriate to expose any child to that. For her own safety, I will be removing your daughter from these premises,” Luemveld said.
“Mrs. Luemveld,” Darla entreated, “If I move to another residence, could she please stay with me?”
“I’ll take that into consideration after I speak with your daughter,” Luemveld said and left for Tobie’s school.
Soon after Luemveld departed, Charlie called. “I’ve got Tobie; I’m calling from a phone booth on Artesia. What do you want me to do?”
“I’ll meet you at your house,” Darla responded.
“Stay away from the surf shop until you can talk with Jim Halloran, an attorney in my Rotary Club,” Charlie said to Darla in his den. “I believe he can stall, get a continuance or something. Go to your cousin’s and wait there until Halloran gives the all clear. Where’s Rusty?”
Darla said he was surfing and would not be back until around ten, and by then she would be at her cousin’s. Charlie went back to the shop, packed some clothes for Darla and Tobie, and then they left for Los Angeles. Charlie called Chief Biwer to tell him about what had transpired. The Chief said he would call a buddy at LAPD and find out what he could. Charlie went back to the surf shop and waited for Rusty. When he returned fro
m surfing, Charlie sat him down.
“You know the deal you’ve been going through with Luemveld? She showed up today while you were surfing and saw the faces on the wall in the shaping area. She wigged out and left, but she’ll be back. Darla and Tobie are going to stay with Darla’s aunt and cousin in Los Angeles until she can contact a lawyer,” Charlie said. “Do you understand what I’m telling you?” Rusty nodded.
“If you have any discussions with Luemveld, tell her she needs to talk to your attorney. Don’t tell her anything,” Charlie said. “I want you to stay with me until this blows over. Grab some clothes and I’ll take you to my place.”
Rusty got a bag, but stood at his bureau. Charlie realized he had no idea what clothing items to pack. Rusty could drive across town and pick up surf blanks, but when it came to a simple task like packing a bag, he was lost. Charlie grabbed clothes, stuffed them in a bag, and then walked Rusty out to the car.
When they arrived at Charlie’s house, he sat Rusty down in the living room and went to Cindy to tell her the plan.
“Charlie Palmer, I do not want him staying in this house. What’s he going to do, watch Judge Wapner?” Cindy said, referring to Dustin Hoffman’s autistic character in Rain Man. “This is not a good idea.”
“This…woman,” Charlie’s tone was exaggerated disgust, “from Child Protective Services is trying to arrest him and take Tobie away from them. They haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Of course not,” Cindy sarcastically replied. “Grabbing any girl who looks Vietnamese is completely normal.”
Charlie chose not to engage in her sarcasm, “You know what that’s about. He’s getting better.”
“How long is he going to be here and where is he sleeping?” Cindy asked.
“I thought I’d put him in with the boys. They’ll be fine with it.”
“A week and that’s it. Then he’s rooming with one of your shipmates,” Cindy said.
After school, Bryce and Jordan came home to grab their boards and go surfing. When they got to the doorway of their room, they found Rusty sitting, looking out the window.
In unison they called, “Mom?”
<>
A story about Rusty made the Los Angeles Time the following day, but was not about Asian girls, Child Protective Services, or Girl’s Eyes. Bryce, Jordan, and Rusty had gone surfing and Rusty sat in the sand as the two boys paddled out past the white water and turned their boards waiting for a good wave.
Rusty sat staring at the ocean and noticed the action of the water behind the boys. He had seen dolphins all his life and knew a dolphin’s signature swim pattern. A dolphin’s fin bobs up and down in a rolling motion, but this day the action of the fin in the water swayed back and forth, and that meant shark. He grabbed his surfboard and sprinted out into water, ducked-dived under the first wave, and sped past Bryce and Jordan whose smiling expressions turned quizzical. When they turned to see where he was going, they saw the swaying fin yelled, “Shark!” and sprinted-paddled into shore.
A nine-year-old boy was frozen in fear watching the fin weaving in his direction. Rusty was driving his board as fast as he could to intercept the shark before it reached the boy. He would have been too far away if the shark had launched a direct strike on the young surfer, but because sharks circle an object before attacking, Rusty had the time he needed to ram his board into the side of the shark, then drop on top of it.
He yelled, “Go!” to the nine-year-old, who snapped out of his daze and paddled toward shore. Rusty was on top of an eight foot long shark, punching it. The shark bucked, wiggled, and turned trying to bite Rusty who had grabbed hold of the shark’s girth and punched it in the gills.
What had started off as a shark attack turned into a human attack, Rusty was in a blind rage. All the frustration of dealing with Darla and Tobie leaving, Luemveld his inability to shake the Enterprise incident, and the obsession with Vietnamese girls was being taken out on a shark that could not rid itself of the human beating. Rusty wanted to tear it apart. When he could not drive his fingers into the shark’s side, he bit down hard on the dorsal fin. The shark’s hide was thicker than Rusty’s teeth and did not feel the bite, yet could not get this human off its back. The shark bucked furiously until Rusty let go. It got a few feet away, circled, and came back at Rusty who was waiting for it. Rusty punched it as hard as he could on the snout, stunning the shark.
Rusty was yelling, “Come on!”
The shark made a quick half circle just outside Rusty’s reach and as a parting shot, whipped it’s caudal fin into Rusty’s face and then swam off.
“Come on,” Rusty yelled over and over. He wanted to die and the shark was not cooperating. He was close enough to shore that the boys could hear him yelling at the shark. They stood on the beach with a group of about thirty people, astonished at what they saw and heard. Rusty rode his board back to shore and walked toward the throng. He had not noticed his wetsuit torn open from under his arm pit across his chest. A tourist took a picture of Rusty and would later give it to the Times. A stunned lifeguard holding his red torpedo, asked Rusty if he wanted medical attention; Rusty ignored him. The tourist who took the picture asked the boys if they knew him and they said he shaped boards at Girl’s Eyes Surf Shop. Rusty walked through the group as though the Red Sea had parted, prompting Bryce and Jordan to run after him.
Charlie was at the surf shop’s counter when Rusty walked by him to his living quarters with an excited Bryce and Jordan close behind.
“Dad, you’re not going to believe what just happened,” Bryce said. “We were surfing the gnarliest waves, left to right break, the sets were regular -,” Charlie interrupted Bryce and asked how Rusty tore his wetsuit.
“I’m getting to that; Jordan and I are sitting on our boards, waiting for a wave when here comes Rusty paddling like he was on a rocket. He boogies past us and…Dad, this is totally insane… he attacked a shark. The shark was like, from here to there, and Rusty, likes he’s in the Justice League of America, totally rams the shark, dives off his board, and starts punching it,” Bryce exclaimed, as he demonstrated the punches with verbal cues.
“Rusty attacked a shark?” Charlie asked.
Together they shouted, “Yeah.” Jordan continued excitedly, “Dad, he totally saved our lives, but it was Carl’s Junior that was going down first.” Carl’s Junior was a fast food outlet and also the nickname for the son of Carlos. “This thing was like seven to eight feet long. It could’ve been Jaws out there today.”
“Except it wasn’t a great white,” Bryce said.
Which lead into ‘was to,’ ‘was not’ between the boys. Charlie asked if the color was light gray. Bryce said it was dark blue.
“Blue shark,” Charlie said. “The difference between a great white and a blue is that a blue is a dark blue-gray in color; if it was eight feet; that sounds like a female blue. On the windward side of Catalina there’s a ton of blues.”
Charlie went to the back to check on Rusty.
“I want to see Darla and Tobie,” Rusty said.
“We’ll do that later, buddy. The boys told me you got into a dust-up with a shark?” Charlie inquired. Rusty took off his wetsuit and went to shower off without responding to Charlie.
Later a reporter from the Los Angeles Times called the shop to verify the story. Charlie told the reporter Rusty did not do interviews, but he could put someone on the phone who was in the water ten feet from the attack. Bryce retold the shark story in great detail, giving the names of everyone involved.
After Charlie went home and one of the store managers left to get some office supplies, a wetsuit rep came by the store to drop off samples. When he was about to leave, Rusty asked if he could catch a ride down to Orange County’s Little Saigon.
<>
After Rusty was dropped off on Garden Grove Boulevard, he took a table near a window in a tea shop. He watched for hours as people walked by. He paid his bill and walked around the business area until evening and then went back to the t
ea shop, drank more tea, and watched.
Charlie returned to Girl’s Eyes to drop off supplies, went in the back to Rusty’s area to see how he was doing, and came running out to the front to ask the manager if Rusty was surfing. She said he caught a ride with a rep to Orange County. Charlie immediately called Carlos, Gaston, and Curtis to notify them Rusty was in Little Saigon and he was headed down there. They dropped what they were doing, jumped into cars, and sped to find Rusty before the local police did.
<>
Rusty was sitting in the restaurant when he spotted a young girl with her parents. He got up and walked towards the door. The owner of the restaurant had been watching him apprehensively, and the other patrons also talked about the man who sat at the window. When Rusty stood to leave, the owner intercepted him.
“You pay now,” the owner demanded. Rusty tried to step around him but the owner moved laterally to block him. Rusty confused paying this bill with his last one. He did not understand him and did not know what to do. He had to find the girl, but this man was blocking him. The girl was turning the corner and Rusty had to find her. Then a customer whispered in Vietnamese to the owner to let Rusty go, that he would pay his tab.
The owner stepped aside and yelled at Rusty, “You go now. Don’t come back.”
Rusty stepped into the street and chased after the family. He ran to the corner where they had turned and saw them two blocks away. He ran, not saying anything until he caught up to them and grabbed the girl.
