Compass North

by Cathleen Ellis

  “Got it covered, Tyann, I’ll ride along to Iowa City in the morning. I know you’ll get in. That’s what I just shared with my crew. We’re all gonna miss you like crazy. And this bunch, they haven’t had much change in quite some time.”

  “Dad, nobody’s indispensable.”

  He looked at her and shook his head, “I’m having a heck of a time accepting that.”

  

  Tyann remained silent most of the drive to Iowa City. Her mind kept replaying the years and years of barn dances, with Brody and her friends. She guessed this must be the way she dealt with a death of someone she loved.

  “You’re somewhere else, Tyann, are you OK?”

  “Yeah, Dad, right at this moment shifting ahead, for my future. Hey, no one can go back. But today is precious, don’t you think?

  “Uh huh.”

  “And I’m glad I get to spend it with you. We’ve just really had a special relationship, these past few years.”

  “That’s ending, my Tyann, but I’ve been blessed to have you in my life.”

  She looked over to him and smiled as they approached the university, “And I’ve been blessed, Dad.”

  Tyrone sat in the Admissions Office waiting room with several other families. Before long Tyann walked toward him. He watched her wide smile and sparkling green eyes.

  “I’m in, Dad.”

  Using the map Admissions gave them they found the summer school dorm where Tyann would live. A student assistant showed Tyann and her dad a room, with a bathroom sink, like the one Tyann would live in. She would share a shower and toilet with three other girls, the bathroom between two rooms. And for the summer her floor remained all female. So far she did not have a roommate.

  “You’re gonna meet guys and gals,” her dad nodded to her as they walked from the dorm to the parking lot.

  “I can’t imagine I’ll have much interest in boys; gosh, Brody, his memory, forever in my heart. This summer it’s all about getting started, learning and making grades for admission into the nursing program. And I sure want to try for a job. I won’t know about work study until fall, but they’re still student jobs that gotta be filled during the summer.”

  They stopped for lunch before they made the drive home.

  “My Tyann, we didn’t see the campus, not really.”

  “It’s OK, Dad, ‘cause I got the map,” she patted it as the waitress brought their lunches. “It’s the only way to learn to get around. My counselor got me into three classes, all necessary for nursing.”

  “You’re sure you got time for a job?”

  “Uh huh, remember Dad, at home I had seven classes to study for, working for you, plus running the home and cooking. There’s not a home here, and I’ll eat in the dorm dining room. I’ll have plenty of time to study at the library. I’m not even going to attempt to study in the dorm. It’ll be too noisy early in the evenings, the only time for studying there will be very early.”

  Tyrone smiled to his daughter, “Well, heck, we’re early birds, you and me.”

  “So early studying, no problem at all.”

  She lifted her hand and gave her dad a high five.

  

  The Hulfitz family sat behind Conner, his folks and grandmother at the graveside service. Tyann watched as Michael Mulrenan slipped in to the one empty seat left in the front row. Brody’s casket remained closed. Only Tyann, his parents, Conner, and emergency responders saw what remained of Brody at the accident site.

  Tyann tried to listen to Father’s words, but her mind kept trailing away. “I’m gonna see a whole lot of Brodys in the next few years; but I’ll help save so so many folks who God still wants to keep alive for their families on earth.”

  She drifted over to Conner at the reception, the celebration of Brody’s life. Declan called and spoke to his family, Brenden and Michael, the family keeping their thoughts on Brody and all the Mulrenan family. Conner shared that with Tyann.

  “Conner, whew, a super tough phone call for your uncle to make, after all the stuff Brody must have gone through, with the IRA, back in Milmire Abbey.’

  “Tyann, I shared with my parents, finally, last night.”

  He touched Tyann’s shoulder, as she stood next to him in a dark blue dress, the closest thing she had to black, for mourning Brody.

  “Now I’m sharin’ with you.”

  “Spill, Conner, what?”

  Conner watched her eyes turn that reddish brown, from their usual green. He spoke in a quiet voice, just above a whisper.

  “Brody wrote me, got the letter before he got home. He got shot, in a raid.”

  Tyann felt a shock of tears as she shook her head, “Unbelievable, Conner, I, well, I always had a kinda dread, about him, about his whole time over there, about what might happen.”

  “It was a graze on the side of his head. His hair covered the wound by the time he got home, one lucky dude.”

  “My concern’s for you, Conner. How’s it gonna work, now that you’re going away to school?”

  “Nothin’s changed right now, Tyann, I’ll help this summer. Dad’ll hire out; he’s gotta have help to get through the corn harvest.”

  “Everything’s changed, in an instant, for me.”

  “That’s right, Tyann,” she watched him shake his head, his eyes misting, “man, I need some air.”

  Conner held her shoulder as they left the living room for the back patio, out onto an area where Tyann viewed beautiful flowers, roses. They stood together, breathing in and out the tangy smells of the nearby roses.

  “Ah, your momma’s roses, and here’s one that we planted for her, Brody and me, gosh, it was a few years back, a peace rose, and it’s doing so well.”

  “Momma’s always loved this back area, for sure a place of peace, in her hectic world.”

  

  1990 - Summer School

  “University of Iowa Alumni Office, this is Tyann.”

  She listened, taking notes and writing down the caller’s name and phone number. She left the message in Norma’s mailbox. The staff asked for no interruptions while they were in their offices with clients. Most of the rest of the time they were on their phones.

  “Football’s just a big deal here at Iowa,” Andrea, the acting director of Alumni Services, shared during Tyann’s interview for the student position.

  Andrea read through her resume and spoke out loud, “Mechanic in the shop, in addition to working in the office, answering phones, and doing bookkeeping, oh my goodness, Tyann, you really did it all. Uh, your shop, where’s Porttown?”

  Tyann answered Andrea’s smile with one of her own, “Dad taught me, I fix lots of equipment, from harvesters, to tractors, to the smaller stuff. And Porttown is right in the middle of Iowa, off 35; we’re corn country.”

  Andrea nodded to her, “You’re just the take-charge person we need here. I want to hire you; if it works out, I’d like you to continue during the school year. You’ll have some expertise by that time, and with the computer and the IU system. About the phones, we try very hard to have a person talk to each caller to the alumni office; each caller could be a potential donor to the university. I know we all have answering machines, supposed to catch the calls we’re not here for. They’re a new addition to communications at a person’s desk at work. But I personally hate to get a person’s answering machine. The other problem is that after people listen to their messages, they don’t return calls. It’s so frustrating.”

  “Does the same thing happen with e-mails?”

  “That’s right, we’re just kinda at the beginnings of the e-mail situation. The university is going to an all-university e-mail system. It’s been so fragmented with everybody having their own little e-mail setup.”

  “Uh huh, at my dad’s business, he’s super strict about answering phones and getting messages to the proper person. He says he’s a year or so away from an answering machine, and e-mail, he’s not ready for a computer system yet. E-mail delivery is just getting started in our area
, over our phone lines. Back to answering machines, a nice thing is that messages that come in after the work day, the calls can be returned.”

  “Right,” Andrea shook her head to Tyann, “if the person getting the message actually decides to call back.”

  “Sounds like you had a little trouble with that.”

  “I have, and in a couple of instances, it’s cost the alumni office, in monetary and personal ways, for our alumni.”

  “IU’s got a lot of alums.”

  “Yes, and I wanted you to have this information because calls will start coming in. We have a serious rivalry between a couple of football teams, Iowa and Iowa State.”

  “I’m writing this down.”

  “The teams play here in Iowa City this year at Kinnick Stadium on the 22nd of September.”

  “Got it; I’ll find out the time as soon as we know, probably televised, right?”

  “Uh huh, but our alums in the area, love to come to the games. I’ll get you the schedule for the rest of the football season.”

  

  “Tyann, it’s Conner; I finally called your home and got your dorm room phone number.”

  “Nice, thanks for calling. You’re lucky you got me; I’m going to dinner and then to the library for the rest of the evening.”

  “Where’re you in your summer term?”

  “Four weeks to go, home in early August, and back at it after that.”

  “Tyann, I’m coming to visit you.”

  “Seriously?”

  “That’s right, I wanta see you again. You slipped away so fast.”

  “Yeah, it’s helped me, the grieving, being busy helps me put away the sadness. I’ve got a clear purpose, working, loving my course work, feeling like I’ll be able to get into the nursing program.”

  “Classes?”

  “Rhetoric, chemistry, the math class science students take and, hey, I got A’s so far.”

  “You worked super hard in high school.”

  “Right, this is just the next step. When’re you coming?”

  “Next Saturday, I got a guest room in the dorm where you’re living.”

  “So you’ll spend the night?”

  “Right, the next day, come to church with me, my treat for brunch, and then I gotta head back.”

  “The corn?”

  “Doing super, it’s gonna be another solid year.”

  “Everyone does good, if the corn turns out. I’ll mail you a campus map, so you can find your way around. Just park anywhere you can find a spot near the dorm. It’s the weekend so it’s OK to park without a permit.”

  

  “I’ve been to Iowa State five times already. But this is my first time at IU.”

  “I’m getting used to the place, got my running path, a trail I hike, and I like Father, at the Newman Center, closer to go to church there than away from the university.”

  “What about the Alumni Center?”

  “Like it, wow, this school’s got a ton of alums.”

  “For sure, the best part for you?”

  “Talking to the alums, oh the stories they can tell. I’ve already got a possible tip on someone to talk to about Northern Ireland. I’m just super fascinated by what goes on there.”

  “Brody, from the grave?”

  Conner stopped her as they walked along, touching her upper arm. She saw his blue eyes darken to almost black.

  “Right, I hope you’re not gonna do somethin’ foolish like going to see Uncle Declan.”

  “Course not, I got my future, the DVM.”

  She watched as his eyes lightened up as she spoke out, “Solid.”

  “Yes,” he paused and nodded, “I am.”

  “We’ve seen most everything on the campus. Want to do an early dinner at a pub we can walk to near campus?”

  “Can we get in?”

  “Course, just can’t have any alcohol, but the burgers are yummy.”

  “I’m starved, let’s do it.”

  “My treat, OK?”

  “OK, but brunch’s on me; then I gotta head back.”

  After they ordered Conner blew out a big breath, “I wanted to make sure you were OK here. I’m impressed by your independence, your being so positive, and clearly, at the medical center, I can feel it, that’s where you belong.”

  “I must save those I can, I must save those I can, Conner, I’ve said that about a million times in the past few days, since Brody’s death. Nursing, it’s where I belong. I gotta make the grades, take the classes, and get admitted to the program.”

  “What about dessert?”

  “Yeah, I still got room.”

  They ordered a brownie, vanilla ice cream over the brownie, with chocolate syrup poured over that, topped with whipped cream, and two spoons.

  “Hope you’ll date at State.”

  “Same for you, Tyann, here, there are so many people we will meet, spend time with, maybe date, maybe just be good friends with.”

  “Like you and me, Conner, good friends, that’s what we gotta be, for a long time now. You got eight years ahead, that’s a really long time; you can’t let anything stop you, slow you down.”

  “Dig in; I think we’ll be full up when we’re done with this.”

  “Yup, we’re a couple of little piggies.”

  “Uh huh.”

  They walked back to Tyann’s dorm, taking their time and skirting a portion of the campus. They parted in the lobby, agreeing to meet in the morning for the walk to mass in the university chapel.

  After mass she introduced Conner to Father.

  “Tyann’s told me a bit about you and your family.”

  Conner shifted his eyes from Father to Tyann.

  “Yes, we’ve been around each other most of our lives.”

  Father smiled to both of them, “I understand you’re serious about the DVM. I wish you well; study hard. Do you plan to work with vets, starting pretty much now, uh, so you’ll know that’s what you really want?”

  “Yes, Father, I’m sitting in at a vet’s office in Ames, starting the Saturday I get there. I’ll be immersed from the start.”

  “Then good luck, Tyann’ll keep me up to date on your progress.”

  Father touched Conner’s shoulder, then Tyann’s shoulder.

  “God bless and keep you, as you travel your paths to your professions.”

  They walked away from the chapel and headed to Tyann’s car.

  “Wow, he’s pretty tuned in to college kids.”

  “Yes, he is, a perfect fit for all of us, a positive voice for our futures.”

  As they sat down with their loaded plates of food at the brunch, Conner asked her, “Will you stay in touch with me, Tyann?”

  “I will, it’ll be good to have someone familiar to call, as our lives progress. It’s gonna be so exciting.”

  “Maybe we can see each other at Christmas time?”

  “For sure, I’ll come home for Christmas, until my internship, then who knows.”

  “That’s four years?”

  “Right, Conner, wanted to tell you, Brody showed me property where he wanted to build us a home, after he got back from Ireland. Did you know about that?”

  “Pops and momma told me, a few days ago. All that’s gotta be reworked, now that he’s with God.”

  “Good, I’m glad. I keep you all in my thoughts and prayers.”

  “My folks, they’re struggling, but they see Father Costain and another grief counselor.”

  “What about you?”

  “I’ve done a couple sessions of counseling, but I’ll be gone soon. My bro, his biggest hope for me was to get my education. He’s still with me, just like he’s still with you, in our hearts. He was doin’ what he loved, being in Ireland, and years before that, workin’ our land.”

  She paused for a moment, and then she looked into his eyes.

  “I’d like to be your compass north, Conner.”

  “How’s that?”

  “Somehow, keep you headed toward your hopes and dre
ams.”

  “Keep me headed, compass north, yeah, that makes sense, thank you Tyann, I know I’m gonna have detours on my path to the DVM.”

  “Yeah, just like my crooked road that I’ll have to be a nurse, to save those I can.”

  He took her hand in his, “In God’s hands,” he paused, “we are.”

  They smiled to each other and squeezed hands.

  1992 - Spring

  He watched her as she wrote down her hours in the ER Volunteer book. It took him back to the first time, his first time seeing her.

  “Whew,” he stood a few feet from her, “where’ve I been, that I haven’t seen this beautiful little person before?” he asked himself.

  She turned and started to put the book back on the top shelf. She went up on tiptoe.

  “Let me help you,” she heard from the male voice that took the notebook from her and put it on the shelf.

  “Hey, thanks, oh to be tall,” she smiled to him.

  She looked at his nametag and spoke, “Jacob.”

  He glanced at her nametag, “Happy to help, Tyann,” he paused, “what an unusual name.”

  She kept smiling, “I get that a lot, my dad’s name is Tyrone and my mom is Annie. So there you have it.”

  “You thinkin’ about the nursing program?”

  “I am, first year, so hoping to be in the program.”

  “You?”

  “Sophomore, starting to look forward to the end of all this, before long, practicums in the fall, and then my internship.”

  “I can tell you it happens so fast.”

  “Right.”

  “You coming on shift?”

  “I am; it’s great to finish by noon. How long you been on 8-10 Saturdays?”

  “Since fall of my first year, I love being here; I stand in and watch trauma as much as I can. I gotta go.”

  “And I need to start my shift. I’d like to see you again.”

  “Hey, same here,” Tyann smiled and nodded to him.

  

  “When’re you doing the Ride Along?” Lucia looked over to her as they ran along the path Tyann used since she arrived in Iowa City.