Chapter 8: November, 1993. Thanksgiving Road Trip.
Note from the author: for extra reading enjoyment load a song from youtube and have it ready to play where indicated in this chapter. Search on youtube for: `Bob Marley -- One Love'
I should jump back a bit and tell you about something that happened between me and Bethany, because it matters to this story. Our moms (Lisa and Maggie, aka: The Moms) took us to Wonderland Amusement Park two weeks before Crow was born, I prayed they weren't conspiring to match us up because Mom said she knew I was gay since grade school but I think she still held out hope for grandkids some day. The park is north of downtown Amarillo on Highway US-87. They have water rides and roller coasters, I think some were purchased used from other amusement parks.
Maggie and Mom work together (at Pantex), she was the first friend my mother made after we moved to Amarillo. Maggie originally worked at the uniform company and left there to continue working with Mom after she started at Pantex.
We all piled into Maggie's Dodge Minivan and drove to the park, Mom and me, Bethany and her mom Maggie. Beth and I rode every ride and a couple of 'em twice. Beth got me on their big water slide (Pipeline Plunge) twice, I suspected she wanted to see me wet or something because walking around in wet clothes certainly didn't make the day nicer. Its cooling at first then the water turned hot and it's like wearing hot/wet rags. My wet underwear would not stay out of my butt crack, which drove me nuts until it dried out.
The moms said they played three rounds of mini-golf, rode the train around the park five times, and the Skyride four times.
I went into the men's room and dropped my shorts, peeled off my underwear, hand-rung the water out into the sink then held them under the hot air hand-dryer until they were nearly dry, then put them back on.
When Beth and I rode the Himalaya she developed Russian hands and Roman fingers. We rode together (just the two of us) but don't get me wrong, I generally don't mind being touched, and I really like Bethany too. Even sometimes touch from strangers was fine, but she was arms around clingy, with her head in my shoulder by my neck. That started to get to be too much. Especially because I knew her enough to know that amusement park rides never bothered her. She wrestled with Crow several times and even beat him once when he was six months old and we could still pick him up and hold him like a baby. Crow loves Beth too but he doesn't see her very often.
After the Himalaya she wanted to hold hands and lean into me like she almost died but I saved her. I ended up ditching Beth about an hour before our designated meeting time when she went into a girl's bathroom. It made her mad when she later found me sitting in the shade sipping a Coke talking to some guys from school. I acted like nothing happened (Oh there you are!), she acted like a jealous psycho-lover having a hissy fit.
She looked so mad I thought she was gonna click her heels and turn into Jeffrey Dahmer. Luckily when the moms showed up she retracted her fangs and the crisis was over. Unfortunately, she forgave me within seconds and tried to hold hands in the back seat of the van for the ride home. I was never so happy to see Crow when I got home, at least he's not clingy or needy. I think the moms thought her large breasts would rid me of desire for boy parts. If that's why Beth acted like she did that day I'd say that despite so many years of college education their plan was ill conceived! I've not truly seen Beth naked but I would swear that Tom looks better naked than her. Their secret weapon failed. And I wonder if Beth knew she was being used.
Back to today's news, Mom said it's official: we're driving (not flying) to Galveston Wednesday to Sunday of Thanksgiving week and Crow was invited too. I tried to tell him but he seemed disinterested.
I told Tom the next time I could see him was the weekend after Thanksgiving break. He sounded disappointed and said they weren't going anywhere that long weekend, their plan was to watch football, work like normal, and run the employee holiday dinner at the diner after closing time on Saturday.
"Employee dinner? How many people work there?" I asked.
Tom paused briefly as if he was counting bodies in his head then he told me he wasn't totally sure but thought it was around 15 people, he's still the youngest employee. Most of the employees were Hispanic because speaking Spanish and English was kind of required to work there.
Three days before Thanksgiving Break:
The days went by quickly. I studied like a mad man for the end of the semester looking forward to the long weekend. Mom told me that she convinced her parents to allow the dog to come along so we didn't have to put him in a kennel. I told Tom as soon as I found out.
"Guess what?"
"What?" he asked.
"Mom said we're driving to Galveston for Thanksgiving."
"You have to go too?"
"Yep, me and the dog, it's a twelve freaking hour drive."
"So much for our plans." I thought he was referring to our first try with me on top, but he sounded truly disappointed.
"What are you guys doing for Thanksgiving?" I asked.
"Mom said this is her holiday to work, but she gets four days off for Christmas. And we have an employee dinner Saturday night on Thanksgiving weekend."
"Want to come with us to Galveston, play on the beach, and maybe swim in the ocean?"
"To your grandparent's place like for how many days?"
"We leave after school on Wednesday around 4pm and get there early in the morning on Thursday, and get back home about 6pm on Sunday, four nights there."
"Are they cool, your grandparents?"
"Mom'll talk things over with them before we go down if you went along."
"So they're not redneck?"
"Hell no! They're crazy liberals. Mom is their odd conservative daughter and she's tolerant." I said trying to put him at ease and pressure him to come along. "The thing is this is the first time bringing the dog, she'll also have to explain their grandson's boyfriend. But here's the good news: Crow absolutely steals the show everywhere he goes. That means our relationship will be treated like yesterday's news." There was a moment of silence then I added, "Driving across Texas with a Great Dane in the back seat is another matter. But while you're there you'll be treated with respect and fed good food, I can promise that."
"Let me talk to management. Talk to your mom, okay?" Tom said quickly.
"Fine, check your email, okay?" I offered.
"Later..."
After a click the phone line was silent. I walked into the kitchen.
"Hey Mom, can Tom come with us to Galveston? He'll be one more person to keep the dog under control."
"I'd have to ask your grandparents honey, but I'm pretty sure they won't mind. The big problem is getting them to say yes to a 150 pound dog. Your grandparents are not dog people."
"Thanks, let me know tomorrow, okay? Oh, and uh Tom only weighs 120 pounds."
"Sure Honey." She chuckled after hearing my weight comment about Tom.
I went to the computer and typed a quick email to Tom.
`Tom, she said she'd have to ask but she thinks it would not be a problem.' We'd pay for everything so you only need to bring clothes, swim suit, and bathroom stuff. So talk to your Mom.' With the mouse I clicked on .
I recalled our discussion about Thanksgiving when Mom said we'd put Crow in a kennel for the weekend and fly down. I told her the only way that would happen was if I stayed with him. No Crow meant no Robert. She asked if I was serious and I said yes, I am not putting him in a cage, he'd think he was being punished or abandoned. Tell them he is very well behaved, very smart, and gentle with people. The main thing is he is a very large animal, and oh yes, he's mostly done shedding.
I also reminded Mom we had not yet found a kennel with cages big enough for a Great Dane, but she is sure she could.
Mom said my grandparents were not dog people. I reminded her Crow really wasn't fully a dog anymore. And meeting new people he'd put on a show and be on hyper fantastic show-off behavior. He'd probably not even fart the entire weekend. Let me tell you, Great Dane farts pack a wallop, you don't want to be exposed to one of those. We might get gassed in the car on the way home from the Gulf. Hopefully if he farts in the car it won't be while we're stopped at a traffic light.
I reminded Mom that Crow (and Great Danes in general) is very well adapted to being indoors despite his size. The only thing he cannot help is in a home his tail tends to knock things off low tables, like the tables in the living room. I'd be sure to tell Gram to empty the living room tables of valuables. I told her when he knocks things down it always happens behind him, I don't think he fully realizes his tail did it, then when he spins around to see what crashed to the floor the tail moves quickly and toss even more stuff to the floor or crack someone in the nuts.
Mom said she already explained to them that he eats mostly people food so he'll be another mouth to feed. If Tom comes too that makes four additional mouths to feed. I told her I would pay for his food if it mattered. Mom reminded me they had plenty of money so cost isn't the issue, bed space might be, but they had space for eight bodies sleeping in their house. With us and Crow and Tom and my grandparents made six.
I suggested bringing a dog bed cushion but she said we could make something for him to sleep on out of blankets and some old pillows. I assumed Crow would try to sleep between me and Tom, he always does that. She told me if Crow went too we'd also need to bring his dog food.
We didn't buy his dog food at the grocery store, we got his kibble at the vet's office and it was rather expensive, but it was nearly perfect nutrition with no chemical additives.
Nearly every day I took him to the back yard and rubbed his coat hard to get rid of as much fur outside as possible, but it was still everywhere inside our house. I rubbed him with my fingertips against the grain, from knees to ears. Sometimes I got huge clouds of fur and it looked like he'd be cold suddenly losing all that fur. His body shed in stages, not all at once. Shedding spread across his body from top to bottom. I wondered if shedding made him cranky or sore. He started around his ears and it spread along his back, down his sides, then to his chest and legs, then it was over. It must have felt nice because he always cooperated with my rubdowns in the yard. If he was shedding (on Thanksgiving weekend) at all it would just be his back lower legs by the time we got to the island.
The way I helped him shed old fur was we went to the back yard and I had him stand facing me. He aimed his nose down and pressed his face into my belly. Then I pressed my finger tips against his back near his tail. With firm downward pressure I dragged my fingertips along his skin all the way to his ears, and then I slid my hands down his back in the opposite direction (ears to tail) and that always pulled out a lot of loose fur. Then I do it again and again and then move my hands further apart to do his sides. His neck and the top of his head had very thick fur so it almost had to be done carefully, one handed.
Of course the best way to get all that old hair out was to give him a shower with lots of shampoo. After the shower I let him sit and air dry on the sofa for about 30 minutes then took him outside and did the backwards fingertip rub all the loose fur came out at once. When I dragged my fingers backward up his spine I could see his skin because he lost so much hair, he almost looked like he was growing bald.
After the ordeal was over then I also had a huge mess to clean in the bathroom. While he's shedding I have to vacuum the entire house twice a week because fur collected along the walls, under the furniture, it floated in the air and we picked those short black hairs out of our food too. We literally had dog fur floating in the air for about five weeks a year because he shed twice a year, March and November.
Great Danes are short haired dogs (aprox ¾" long) and those hairs get into everything during peak shed times. We got used to it over time, which was why I experimented with ways to get his old coat removed in the back yard. The absolute best way I've found was the rubdown after a bath, but he hates the tub.
I tried the vacuum cleaner, a brush, a comb, even brushes designed for short haired dogs while shedding, but nothing beats the bath tub followed by a vigorous full-body rub down. With that technique I literally get clouds of fur flying off into the air with each scrape of his body. I thought it would be funny if I could use static electricity and get his hair standing up like an astronaut in space and watch it all fly off with one jolt of electricity, but that wouldn't work either. So we had to get used to it, twice a year.
The two weeks went by slowly, I studied a lot and visited very little. Finals ran Friday to Wednesday, my last test was Wednesday at 10am, 4th period. Then we were off for the entire four day weekend. We emailed lots during finals week but never talked on the phone. I told him I was bringing my camera and three rolls of B&W film, he should plan on being photographed on the beach. I told him I wanted to try taking studio-grade portraits of him with the beach as a backdrop. Tom never commented about it. Based on what I saw in their house he hadn't had a professional portrait taken since ninth grade. Any time you can get a free graduation portrait that's a good thing!
On Monday evening Mom told me Grandma (aka: Gram) said `yes' to Tom coming, so I emailed him and waited for an equally good reply.
He wrote back on Tuesday evening that he got permission but it really upset Management since they needed him to help with the employee Thanksgiving dinner.
I wrote back and asked how they did their Thanksgiving employee party at Star's. I sort of expected him to say they gathered at Denny's or someplace with a private banquet room and catering, but he said they closed one-hour early and locked the doors. They had two large turkeys in the ovens in back along with the sides, like stuffing, mashed potatoes, broccoli, gravy, green bean casserole, rolls, and stuff to drink. Everyone sat on counter stools while they rolled a cart down the aisle with the sliced turkey and another cart with the sides and pies. They had three servers and it was free for all employees. Sometimes they had a spouse join the party but spouses sat in booths since the counter stools were reserved for employees. They employed eight waitresses, four dish washers, two full-time cleaners, four full time cooks. All of them were Hispanic. His mother and the breakfast cook were the owners. He said it was a huge production serving that many people all at once. And everyone is very picky about the quality of the food too! Luckily, they all got served the same meal.
The mashed potatoes were real, not instant. Everything was hand-made in the back kitchen. They carved both turkeys onto an antique pewter serving tray in the back kitchen to speed-up serving. Tom said the strange thing about the employee dinner was rolling the food carts went down the aisle behind the counter stools, so everyone had to hand their plate over behind them and not spill it after it got loaded. Several people sat in booths, the serving carts worked perfectly for them. They cannot roll carts in front of the counter because of the rubber mats on the floor and in some places the walkway was too narrow.
Tom said his mother worked at Stars since before they moved to their current location, and two years after his father died she purchased 50% of the business, which he thought back then was around $140k, she used the life insurance money when his father died. That was her investment she hoped to live off after she retired. He said at work Maria is a waitress and hostess when they're busy and have people waiting for a table.
Sometimes when the place is busy she helps in the kitchen or when the cook needs a break she covers on the grill. Tom said that is what he does too: cover cook when the main cook needs a bathroom break. He also has to make sure they do not run out of clean dishware, silverware, or things like bread and eggs. He also has to drain the fryer oil and roll it out to the waste oil tank once a week.
Their main kitchen is behind the counter out in the dining area, it has a griddle (13"x36"), a four burner gas stove and oven, a steam table, a deep fryer, and two refrigerators. So Tom's job when he gets caught up with dishes is to make sure that area does not run out of stuff because the cook does not have time to run in back and grab stuff. Tom has to make sure he has lots of clean dishes, and keep the cook area well stocked.
The counter nearest the cook has 13 stools so the cook not only makes all meals but he is also waiter to all 13 customers at the counter. It's a big job and keeping it stocked also had to be done without getting in his way, so you have to learn how he moves and works so two people can fit in that small area and not crash into each other. Tom says he stages stuff near the swinging door then when the cook gets to the far end he dashes in and adds things like clean plates, racks of glasses, and maybe bread or other stuff he has to keep stocked. The job of stocking the cook is harder than it sounds. At the end of the shift if he shares his tips it's decided by how well Tom kept him stocked and stayed out of the way.
Tom said the job of cook is also part entertainer. People sit at the counter and eat breakfast or lunch and watch the cook do his stuff, it's very interesting to watch. So the cook also has to be good at talking to strangers about things not related to food, like city politics, culture, and the weather. People in Amarillo love talking about the weather. Tom said sometimes the breakfast cook also tosses mugs, and his spatula while cooking, as if he was juggling.
Tom told me long ago when Stars was over on Route-66 the stove was at the other end of the counter. Their lunch counter is cut in half with a walkway in the middle, so each half has 13 stools. At the far end was where the dishes used to get washed in sinks under the counter. You hand washed with gloves on in hot soapy water then into a hot water rinse then set on a rack to dry. Everything was done by hand. And down at the far end was the gas stove with big pots on simmering with food for the rest of the day, but that was mostly for specials. Today, the waitress works the other half of the counter and a few stools on the main half, she also works tables (4) or booths(6). When the place is full it takes three waitresses and most menu items come from behind the counter. Specials are made well ahead of time and sit in the steam table, along with certain side dish items. Their menu size is limited by the size of the kitchen.
Finals Week:
On the last day of finals (Wed) I was walking down the hallway from the cafeteria to my locker. I saw Daniel far down the hallway and two sophomore kids I didn't know but had seen before. They were supposedly on the redneck side and they dressed like it too (junior cowboys, but not the spurs). My nose smelled trouble and danger. Seeing Daniel talking to anyone except girls was usually a bad sign, about the only exception was if those were his jerk-off buddies from the Puckett neighborhood, but I never met those guys.
Here were two boys in jeans, cowboy hats, boots, and long sleeve shirts talking to Daniel with his very long blond hair, skin tight black jeans, tie-dyed (pink, blue, and orange) t-shirt with rainbow wristbands and three necklaces with Jesus crosses. Daniel's back was against the lockers, the other two were standing close. I could almost hear their voices from three classrooms away and closing.
Now you gotta remember, Daniel is small, maybe 5'6" barefoot and doesn't cast much of a shadow. He lip reads and relies on his hearing aids which few kids at school knew he wore. I saw one of the two finger thumping Daniel's chest. I was now two classrooms away. Daniel was doing nothing but standing with his back against the lockers trying to understand what they were saying.
The other boy put his hand on Dan's chest too and pressed him harder against the lockers, Daniel was un-flinching, not trying to get away. I heard the F-word fly a few times as both boys kept pressing his upper body against the lockers. I clenched my hands into fists and felt the skin on my face burn with anger as the image dashed around in my brain.
At one classroom away I changed my course for just behind them toward the center of the hallway. My blood started to boil and I felt my ears hot with anger. Daniel never announced his gayness and never spoke about his personal life unless asked, so this could only be one thing: bullying. They were picking on Daniel because he looked vulnerable, and the crucifix he wore outside his rainbow t-shirt pissed off some people.
Some people think the way he dressed is trying to promote gayness in public but it really isn't that at all, he's promoting individuality and creativeness. Dan urges his friends to turn off the TV and go make something, go have fun outside.
A moment before impact Daniel turned his head slightly and quickly glanced at me when movement caught his eye, then he went back to watching their mouths trying to understand them.
When I was within ten feet I willed myself to turn to steel and walked straight into the side of one of the two holding him against the lockers. As we collided I violently shoved him into the other idiot and both of them fell sideways like bowling pins to the hallway floor. They both jumped up to their feet, I grabbed the one guy (who started it) by the shoulders as he stood up and pushed him backward to the floor again and yelled at him to leave Dan alone. The second guy came at me with a swing, but I ducked to the side, he hit nothing but air. As his arm swung his upper body around I shoved him hard across the hall into the other lockers then moved into his face and begged him to take another swing, as I pulled my right fist back to my shoulder ready to destroy his fucking nose. Being six feet one inch tall sometimes had advantages.
By this time enough people gathered around that a female gym teacher ran in to break it up. All four of us were escorted to the security office to explain what happened.
While we were seated in the lobby of the security office the two redneck guys walked out I stood and stone-cold stared at them as they walked by. Both of them were smiling. Then we were called in the office.
The security guy seemed biased against Daniel right off and started making a point about his appearance and how it upset other kids. He went on for a minute, reminding us about the school policy on fighting. Then he started to tell us that we were being suspended, so I stood up and (loudly) told him that Daniel was deaf. He never spoke unless he was forced and if the school suspended him he had an easy ADA federal lawsuit. "It's impossible for Dan to start crap like this, he doesn't talk to anyone but a few girls he knows, he mostly speaks in sign language. They started it, they singled him out because he's small!"
The guy at the desk looked furious and surprised at the same time (his face turned red) and told us the other two claimed he made a pass at them, I told him it was medically impossible, he can barely speak. Then Dan kicked my ankle and I looked at him and he signed the word sign language. So I told the security guy that in order for him to understand this meeting he needed a sign language interpreter, right now. He said, "We don't have one, go back out and sit in the lobby." The secretary was suddenly on the phone and the fax machine started and six minutes later we were called back in his office, he advised us we were not being suspended and were free to leave. As he spoke Daniel was nearly hysterical with his hands over his face. As we stood to walk out of the office I walked up to his desk, leaned over and softly told him, "Hope the school has a good lawyer, you gonna need one too. See what you did to him? (I shouted at him pointing to Daniel by his office door.) See what they did to him! And you were going to suspend Daniel?" I walked over to Daniel standing near the door gasping for air. I really wanted to flip him off, but very soon Daniel's gonna get the last laugh when all these idiots are defendants in a federal court room. I looked at the security guy as Daniel opened the door and I repeated, "You'll need a good lawyer."
By that time Dan was hysterical. The two boys in cowboy hats got ISS for the rest of 1993 (5 weeks), their final warnings before permanent expulsion. They completely started the shit with Dan, he was seated on the hallway floor talking to a female friend of his and they came by and knocked him over, Dan stood up and they shoved him into the lockers threatening to lynch him on the goal posts because their goal was to make AHS a Fag-Free school. All the girls he was hanging out with wrote statements for the school, Daniel never spoke to those boys.
It's rare that I got that angry at grown-ups. But they were messing with Daniel and anyone who messed with him was messin' with me, and Crow. Maybe those two morons would like to come over sometime and we could settle things in my back yard. I'm sure the city has plllllenteee of body bags.
When we left the office Daniel and I went quickly the nearest boy's room, luckily in a part of the school near the boiler room so it was quiet. I grabbed his arm at the elbow and walked him down the hallway into the boy's room and into the last stall, slid the lock on the door. I turned to face him, he had red eyes with tears on his cheeks and was on the verge of sobbing, and he could barely breathe. I pulled him into me, his face against my chest and held him tightly against my chest until he calmed down. I bet we stood there for ten minutes. We never spoke but I pressed my face into the hair on the top of his head and smelled him and kissed his head a dozen times. He smelled the same as he did in grade school. I held him like he was my own flesh and blood, which to some extent he sort of was.
I stood there tightly holding Daniel and I closed my eyes and had a day dream about those two guys coming to my house to settle our disputes about Daniel and his chosen way of dressing:
I'll spare you the gory details but let me say that we got in a two against two fist fight in my yard and Mom ran outside with her rifle and held them at gun point (seated against the rock wall) until the cops arrived and that was the end of their time in public school, the end of their time in Amarillo too.
Minutes passed, I opened my eyes, and we were still standing in a school bathroom stall. Dan was holding onto me with the side of his face against my chest, the top of his head was even with my nose. He told me later I treated him better than his own parents ever did.
Finally it was over, Dan straightened up and put his hands on my chest and gently pressed himself back from me. He looked in my eyes with a wet face and a slight grin. He looked at me with the look of true love in his eyes and signed `I love you.' I lost track of how many times I rescued him at school.
He turned to the side and pulled about twenty feet of toilet paper off the roll and dried his face then blew his nose. Then Dan slid the latch and opened the stall door, we went to the sinks to wash our faces and check our looks, still not speaking. We glanced at each other a few times sort of smiling. I heard one of his hearing aids squeal when he took them out to comb his hair in the mirror. When it looked like we were both ready to resume normal life he signed `thank you.' I replied with the letters ILY. We got dried and looking nice again except his eyes were still reddish, he gestured toward the hallway door.
We parted ways outside the bathroom and all I had left to do was to wait for grades, so I sat in the hallway outside my advisor's office to wait for the grade papers. I had no idea what the rest of Dan's day was going to be like.
I sat on the floor against the lockers reading and day dreamed again about what would happen if those two clowns actually came over to fight us in my back yard. Maybe I'd be angry enough that I could fight them with my fists. I was capable I just lacked experience. Too bad our school didn't offer a gym course in self defense.
I'd never arrange a fight like that but they might because they were that stupid. Having ISS on your school records pretty much ruled out getting into any private university or sensitive government job, for life. But I think those two clowns were destined for careers at Taco Hell or Davey Jones's Seafood Stand in the food court.
At AHS if you got ISS you were required to sit in a supervised/recorded classroom on all your non-scheduled class times and lunch. You were barred from all after school activities, sports, and clubs too. It was called The No Fun Zone, but most kids on ISS also got improved grades since the in-room teacher could tutor them on almost any subject, except gym, music, and art.
I also heard that nobody on ISS went to a state university in the fall.
The last day of finals ended with little fanfare since the final act was report cards in advisory in twelfth period on Wednesday. Just before lunch the school had three hours to get grades entered and printed for the entire student body, and distributed to the right advisory teacher. It's not as big a deal as it sounded, any test with written answers was given last Friday so they had plenty of time to grade papers. The grades we got came on a wide sheet of green-bar paper, one student per sheet. You took it home, got a parent signature, and returned the sheet after Thanksgiving. Since I sat on the floor outside his office (with a few other seniors) we'd get ours early. Mr. Weaver (my home room advisor) came out around 2:10 and handed out ours, and then I walked home.
It's a 14 minute walk from my locker to our driveway. Mom told me our car would be packed and everything was ready to leave by then, Mom said she'd get home from work around 1pm and get the last stuff packed, like food and water (in an ice chest) for everyone, stadium blankets on both seats.
I saw one of those big cars parked in the same spot on Sandie Drive on my way home but it was gone when we drove by on the way to Tom's house.
Wednesday afternoon:
We departed southwest Amarillo Wednesday immediately after school, departure time was 2:46pm. Tom promised to be ready and outside by the street at 2:58pm, which he was. My grandparents told Mom they looked forward to meeting Tom and Crow.
When I got home from school I took a mini shower and changed into clothes suitable for a 12 hour marathon drive across Texas. She reminded me to turn off everything in my room and make sure the window was latched.
I drove us to Tom's place while Mom and Crow meshed together on the back seat (Tom sat in front with me) then I drove 129 miles on I-27 to Lubbock by 5pm. Crow went part of the trip with his front legs on Mom's lap so he could look out the window. That meant that she had the side of his face inches from her nose for almost an hour, while his head jerked side to side every time he saw something of interest to his dog's brain.
If I haven't made this point already let me say that Crow's fur was super soft, he was wonderful to snuggle against. So people eventually treated like a giant stuffed animal. When Mom got in the back seat with Crow I knew that soon one of them would be sound asleep because his fur kind of puts you to sleep. During the coldest nights of winter another trick is to put him in bed 15 minutes early. Pull down the blanket and sheet and have him lie in your spot and cover him up. Then after a bit go to bed and move him down to his normal sleeping spot and when you get in bed it's all warm and nice, thanks to the dog. This is one of the perks of owning a Great Dane -- bed warmer.
A lot of people asked me why dogs like to ride in the back seat with their heads out the window. I told them I thought they can see more stuff when everything is in motion, and they also sniff the air in case they get lost they can replay the scents and try to find their way home. We stopped in Lubbock to fill the tank and stretch our legs. Crow peed in the weeds near the gas station.
We got back in the car and Tom drove us 160 miles to Abilene by 8pm. Again, we stopped for gas, bathroom, and to walk the dog. Of course by then it was dark outside and Mom drove 439 miles in seven hours. Tom and I dozed off in the back seat while Mom drove all night, with Crow asleep in the front seat (which was risky). We arrived at 4:39am Thanksgiving Day after short stops every few hours to pee, walk the dog, and stretch our legs. We ate in the car, Mom packed Subway Italian sandwiches on ice and a twelve pack of pop and a large thermos of coffee. Crow never complained about the menu, as long as it was person food and not his crunchy `dawg food.' Although I think he'd like critter chow much more if people ate it too. Mom buys him expensive shit they sell at the vet office, not the crap at the grocery store.
While we ate our subs (in the back seat) Crow sat against the (front seat) backrest, his butt against Mom's right side, and his head on top of the seatback watching us with saliva dripping onto the floor. I gave him the final two inches of my sub, but he spit out the lettuce and onions, so I pitched 'em out the car window.
When I handed him the sandwich he sat there chewing for a bit and stared in my eyes the entire time, just like he did when I was bottle feeding him. I would love to know what he was thinking.
When Crow rode up front we tried to put a seatbelt on him but he would not cooperate so he had to take his chances if Mom had to stomp on the brakes. And that does happen down here because there are a lot of deer running across the highways at night.
It was fun to hand Crow people food, like a Whopper Junior. Normally, food like that he inhaled in a flash. Despite that speed his tongue still had time to detect pickle slices, separate them, and eject them from his mouth. He hated pickles, lettuce, and onions. We finally learned to order burgers plain for him, but he seemed to be fine with mayo.
This was the order of towns we crossed on the way to the Gulf coast:
Amarillo, Lubbock, Sweetwater, Abilene, Brownwood, Austin, LaGrange, Houston, Texas City, and Galveston. Mom says some day they may extend I-27 from Lubbock down to I-10 and that will cut almost an hour off our drive to Galveston.
On the way down I told Tom I haven't been down to see my grandparents since before Crow was born. My grandparents were not dog people but were willing to try, but with a Great Dane being their first dog visitor this was a big stretch for two elderly people. Although Tom said he was excited his face looked apprehensive. He'd never been anywhere near Austin or Houston or an ocean in his life, everything was new to him. Tom never tasted salt water before or even saw an ocean, except on TV. Tom said he'd been all over the Panhandle and into Oklahoma but nowhere else.
We had a short discussion on our role with Crow and we agreed that our job with the dog was to make sure my grandparents did not get knocked over by the dog, so we had to be on-guard ready to jump without warning any time we were all together and the old folks were walking around. He asked me how old they were and I said I forgot but I think they're both around 70 now.
I also warned him that Galveston is very different from the rest of Texas (it ain't nuthin like Amarillo), it's also a big party/college town and the 2nd most popular Spring Break destination in the USA. I thought it also looked a little poor and run down, sort of like Honolulu one block away from the fancy tourist areas. When you build buildings to be hurricane proof it kind of gives them a strange prison-look, very boxy and plain. I told him during hurricane season many homes close their shutters, so residential neighborhoods almost look like ghost towns because all the houses look dark because their windows are boarded up from June to December. On most homes window shutters are decorative but in Galveston they're real and they're used too!
I woke up as we drove out of the Houston metro area heading south on I-45. Mom knew the route by heart since she grew up here. She drove us across the bridge onto the island to 61st Street and down to Seawall Boulevard, then west to 12 Mile Road, then north to Grambo Boulevard and directly into their driveway, in the dark at 4:45am and parked near the garage door. We were all stiff and slowly got out of the back seat. I grabbed his collar and hooked-on the leash and walked him down the street to see if he could find a suitable spot. On their house I saw one window with a light on, so someone was up watching for us. I thought that was just like Gramps to worry about his daughter, he couldn't sleep until she was home, safe and sound. The old guy waited up most of the night for her to arrive, which is pretty sweet.
Before any of us could climb the stairs Grandpa emerged from the house and walked downstairs and hugged Mom on the driveway, she looked thrilled to see him again, I think she nearly cried. The stars were out and it was definitely a lot more humid here than back in Amarillo. I heard Mom call him Dad, which sounded weird coming from her. Crow finally found a clump of weeds beside a mailbox post to squat over to pee then we walked back to join the welcome home party.
Grandpa loudly commented "Holy smokes you've grown a lot young man!" since the last time he saw me in 8th grade, then I introduced him to Tom and lastly to Crow.
Grandpa this is Thomas Riley Junior, Tom this is my grandfather, Doctor Lester Davis, he is not an MD doctor but a PhD doctor of Microbiology. They shook hands. Tom had little to say after `nice to meet you sir.'
Grandpa then said my voice was a lot lower than the last time I was there during eighth grade. To meet Crow I asked Grandpa to sit on the steps so he'd be at eye level with the dog. Then I had Crow sit in front of him. I told Gramps to tell Crow to `shake, but talk kind of slow.' And out came that long Great Dane front leg. Gramps gently took his wrist and moved it up and down and told Crow "It's nice to meet you Crow, I'm Grandpa (he said patting his chest), welcome to our home." Grandpa gestured at the house as he spoke. Crow stood and sniffed around so I called him to me, while Tom offered Gramps his hand to get back to his feet. We were all dressed in sweats but he was dressed for the golf course at 4am!
Gramps kind of whispered to me, "Does he understand everything we say?" I kind of nodded yes and said with some people more than others, he probably understood that you welcomed him and your name is Grandpa. I wondered if Crow could tell by the way he smelled if Gramps was the father of Mom, it wouldn't surprise me if he figured that out already. Grandpa waited for us to gather our bags (and the ice chest) and walk to the stairs and while he waited he had a chance to pet the top of Crow's head. Then he said to my mother, "This is the biggest God damn dog I've seen in my life!" We all laughed but we're used to his size. I softly told Gramps that when the dog was inside and all excited with new stuff going on you had to be aware of his tail because he can smack your testicles pretty hard. Gramps laughed and slid one hand to cover his groin and then we took turns climbing the stairs. Gramps took them one at a time then came Tom. When Tom got to the top and called the dog. Crow actually looked down and carefully took the steps and made it up just fine and stood beside Gramps watching Mom and me with his tail proudly swaying side to side. I wondered why two elderly people lived in a house with a long staircase at the front door, but each step was rather short.
The steps were very wide and large. Gramps went up with one hand on the wide railing all the way up. Plus they were not your normal stairs, each step only went up maybe six inches, so it was like baby steps. I wondered how Crow was going to handle going down since they were just stained wood. The entire outside deck and stairs looked like they were made out of 2x10 pine boards and a lot of bolts.
Stairs can be an ordeal to any dog, their paws are not designed for smooth surfaces. And he's not used to stairs at all. Plus, their stairs were open on the backs so you could see through them. Luckily they were large and wide so it was small steps but still required some encouragement the first time. When I gestured to Crow to go ahead he looked at them and then at me as if to say: 'No-way!' but we patiently waited and he watched Tom go up easily, then I let him go and he marched up alone and turned around and watched me and Mom. Going down the first couple times will be difficult. I might have to go with him and hold onto his collar and go down one step at a time. I could tell the moment I saw the steps they would be a problem because they're slick.
Once we got inside Grandpa started the tour. Just inside the front door (which was on the side of the house, instead of the front) was a coat closet in a hallway then came two bedroom doors. Beyond them the hallway opened into the wide open: kitchen/dining/living area. There was a lavatory facing the kitchen area. On the far end of the house was a utility room (clothes washer/dryer, water softener, water heater), the master bedroom/bathroom, and the other exit door. He said Grandma was still asleep so we didn't see their room. Mom kind of whispered to me that even though this was a subdivision on a very nice golf course all the homes were small because all of them were on stilts for flood protection. It looks weird if you're not used to houses on stilts, but you can see them on gmaps, and keep in mind this is a nice neighborhood on a golf course!
Author's note: to see a sample of what this house and neighborhood look like today, do a search on gmaps streetview for: 13919 Grambo Blvd, Galveston TX. To see the university do a search for: TAMUG. To see Pleasure Pier search for: 2620 Seawall Blvd, Galveston TX, and to see the beach where he took photos of Tom and the dog, search for: Galveston Island State Park Restroom, then streetview any of the dots on the beach.
Just eyeballing their house inside it looked to be about 30 feet wide and 80 feet long. The living room, dining area, and kitchen were one big L-shaped room. The biggest windows in the house were in the dining area, they faced the back yard which faced the golf course to the south.
If you stood at the dining area windows and looked down they had a small patio outside with a gas grille and a small table (with a crank-open umbrella) and chairs. Beyond the patio was something like a pond and on the other side of the pond was the 16th fairway. Gramps said the pond was a water trap, it was man-made and had a gravel bottom and was treated to prevent mosquitoes. I think he said it was sprayed with soybean oil twice a month and they had tiny fish swimming in the water all year.
Tom asked about getting hit by a golf ball and he said it has happened but that is a risk you accept living along the golf course. He said the neighborhood probably gets two broken windows a year and the country club has an insurance policy for that and injuries. He said it's less risky than going to watch a baseball game. Grandpa said the houses are not as close to the fairway as they look at a glance, that helps a lot. In the club house there is a sign stating there is a $2 fee for insurance added to each player to cover home damage and physical injuries.
They had a sofa bed for Mom in Grandpa's small office (her old bedroom), Tom and I had a full size bed in the second bedroom. Wow! I wasn't sure if that was a message or not but we never publically acted like gay lovers. We always acted like just good friends around Mom. And nobody asked if we shared a bed, so Mom must have discussed all that stuff with them already.
Our room had its own very small bathroom with a tiny sink, toilet, and small stand-up shower. The bathroom was only a little bit larger than one in a camper, except this one had a tiny shower stall. A normal shower stall is 3x3 feet, this one was maybe 30 inches square and it was all plastic. The sink was triangular and bolted to two walls in the corner with a very small cabinet and mirror above it. The toilet was a small low-flush unit that looked small compared to the one in my bathroom back home.
After Grandpa's tour I used a flashlight to check Crow and didn't find any loose fur, so his shedding was 99% done. He probably still had a little loose fur on his back legs and maybe some on his face but the main part was done.
Tom and I slept a little on the drive across Texas but Mom was very tired so she went to bed after the tour. Mom grew up in this house but it was hard to visualize her as a 14 year old in high school and her bedroom painted girl colors with (Alice Cooper, David Bowie, and David Lee Roth) posters on the wall. Today it's a narrow room with bookshelves on both walls, a large desk, two windows, and a leather sofa. Grandpa had a laptop computer on his desk with Windows 3.1 and WinWord 6.0, just like mine. I think he also had an Okidata daisy wheel printer that Mom bought him a couple Christmases ago.
Mom said when she was in school the bedroom Tom and I were sleeping in was their offices since they were both teaching full time back then.
Mom went to bed so Grandpa continued our tour outside. Their neighborhood wrapped around an eighteen hole golf course (Galveston Country Club) west of downtown on 12 Mile Road at Stewart Road. Their house was on Grambo Boulevard, but the largest windows faced the golf course and a long winding water trap that ran between the golf course and the homes. Galveston was warmer than Amarillo and the humidity was sky high. It actually felt like summer again to me even though it was late November.
Grandpa said the house had 2400 sq ft of living space with three bedrooms and two and a half baths. The living space was totally on the second floor. He said the house was over twenty years old and was an above-ground bunker. Almost all the houses in the neighborhood were on stilts with wide wooden stairs going to the ground. Many of them looked like their ground floors would blow away but leave the living space intact, perhaps even in a cat-five hurricane. Galveston Island had a history of deadly hurricanes, maybe they should have named it Bulls-Eye Texas instead. Many of the nearby houses had ground floors which were wide open like a carport. Some even had two stories on stilts but Grandpa said his house was the only concrete box on steel I-beams.
I asked how high his driveway was above the ocean and Grandpa said fifty three feet above high tide. I asked if the ground here was under water for that super big hurricane in 1900 and he said, `...no it was always above the storm surge.' They still got like 150mph winds that lasted for 11 hours! He laughed and said, "Say good bye to anything you left outside and your car too!" He said they are still recovering cars and trucks from West Bay (the waterway between the mainland and the island). He said there is a salvage company that does it all year long, cars and trucks from several hurricanes. They also recover sunken boats and about anything they can hook and lift.
To finish the tour he asked Tom and me to go outside again, we decided to bring Crow along too, this would be his first time going down these stairs. I asked Tom to walk down slowly holding onto the railing. It was dark out and he had no lights on that end of the house, but we stood at the top and Crow watched Tom carefully walk down to the bottom then he turned around, clapped his hands and said "Crow come." The dog carefully extended one foot then another, and then he started walking carefully down as if the stairs were covered with ice, because shiny painted wood offered almost no traction for his paws. He walked down as if he was taking his first steps but when he only had four steps left to go he dove off and sailed over the rest and landed on the grass with his tail wagging. So Gramps went down next, and I went last.
After we were all on the driveway Gramps pulled a key ring from his pocket and pushed the button on the tiny remote control, the garage door opened and we walked inside and turned on the lights. The ground level had a bare concrete floor with windows spaced all the way around as if they were trying to disguise it being their above-ground basement. The entire space was wide open and mostly empty, above us were the pipes for sewer and water for upstairs. I saw some old patio furniture and his old gas grille and an extra propane tank, the rest of it was empty.
He walked us to the center, to a rather thick steel I-beam, about twelve inches on each side, then he pointed all around the perimeter of the room where we saw every ten feet was another I-beam just like it. Above us the ceiling looked just like the floor, a concrete slab. This home had three concrete slabs: the ground level floor, the main floor inside the house, and the ceiling of the house. All the exterior walls on the second story were reinforced concrete with openings for doors and windows. The place was designed so if it was hit by an F5 tornado or Cat-5 hurricane the ground floor walls would blow away, and possibly the shingle roof too, but the concrete box on stilts would survive intact as long as the shutters were properly closed over every window and door. Grandpa said if they had hurricane evacuation orders they would leave long before it arrived. They paid for an evacuation service which included a hotel room near Houston with basic buffet meals and basic medical care for up to 45 days.
"Hey Grandpa, why are the beams so big?" I asked.
"The house is super heavy, it's all concrete and steel except for the furniture and us."
I asked if all the other houses are wood why wasn't this one the same. He said this one is nearly guaranteed to be standing after a Cat-5 hurricane and massive flooding. It will lose the basement walls and the roof but the house itself will just sit there and take it. He said if someone dropped a nuke on Galveston it would survive that too. He said the only thing that would bring down his house is a demolition team.
Tom asked him if he had an emergency generator and Gramps said he was one of the few property owners without a generator. He said they often cause more trouble than they're worth. If he had power while most of the area was without power then it makes them a target for armed robbery, so he thinks if weather takes out the power it would be better to shutter all the windows and get in the car and drive to the mainland instead. Gramps said: "Besides, if we had a natural gas generator and we were the only ones with lights on during a bad storm, what are we supposed to do? Sit on the sofa and watch Cable-TV crap while everyone else around us is hungry or cold? I think it's better to pack up and leave before the storm arrives. If we got home and everything in the refrigerator was ruined, we throw it away and re-fill it once the stores have food. I think a generator puts you at risk of even worse stuff happening. Plus they give you a false sense of safety that can trick you into doing stupid stuff, like not evacuating."
Tom said he watched a TV show about a TV news crew that stayed in Florida for Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and they stayed in a supposedly safe concrete hotel room but days after the storm ended all of them said they would never again take that risk, it's not worth it. They said 65 people who thought they'd be safe in their hurricane proof homes also died. Tom said the top causes of death during or after a hurricane are drowning, traumatic injury, electrocution, lack of medical facilities. Almost none of those have to do with your shelter collapsing from the wind.
Back outside he aimed the flashlight at the windows. Above each one was a round metal tube that looked like a section of steam pipe, he said each one had a crank-down aluminum window cover, hand cranked with a long handle from the ground. I noticed each window and door had tracks along three sides for the covers to seal against. He said he had long poles and if a storm was approaching he went outside with a pole, you stuck one end up inside the hole and started cranking the handle and in 20 seconds that window was covered, then you move on to the next one. He can cover all the windows and doors in 45 minutes. They save the front door for last then leave the crank rod in the garage.
We closed the garage door and walked us around the house, each window had a cover and we saw the neighbor's windows had covers too, he said they were required. Grandpa also said only a few of the houses were on steel I-beams. Most were on wood posts and might not survive a Cat-5 storm. Grandpa had no trees in his yard but said the HOA didn't allow trees since they were in a primary hurricane zone, even at four miles from the ocean. They had lots of bushes and small palm trees that only grew to be around seven feet tall when they had to cut them down and plant a new one.
Across the street the houses were on the water, most of them had boats in the water. The neighborhood looked expensive to live in. All over the area were empty home lots for sale and new places being built. Every house was built on stilts and most of the boats were cranked up out of the water on boatlifts. He said something really weird, that if it was a smaller boat with an outboard motor many owners sunk the boat right where it's normally parked so it didn't get blown away and sunk.
I told Grandpa that Crow has a fear of the stairs since they are wide open, he can see through them. He said that type of staircase is required by zoning rules; they catch less wind and are more likely to survive a hurricane because the wind can blow through them. So I said the surfaces are too slick for paws too.
As we slowly walked across his patio grandpa asked if we were hungry, I said yes but I needed to walk Crow first, so Tom and I gathered his leash and bags and walked him down to 12 Mile Road to any place we could find grass because a dog needed grass to go on, not sand and rocks. I kind of mocked the dog by telling Tom, "What's the world come to when a dog is expected to pee on sand and rocks! Why... that's animal cruelty!"
"Yah, dog abuse! Should be against the law!" Tom added.
It took a lot longer for him to find a spot because grass is scarce on parts of Galveston Island, I was hoping to find some clumps of growing weeds he might accept. In our back yard Crow needs maybe 5-10 minutes to do his morning routines, this time it took him 30 minutes to find a suitable clump of green weeds to pee on.
While we walked Crow Grandma got up and started breakfast as the sun slowly came up. It was hard to believe after all that driving we were still in Texas, it looked so different here from Amarillo. We were back in thirty minutes after successful poopage. Tom refused to watch me pick it up but I told him it wasn't gross, the bag acted like a glove. He asked about the can of pepper spray on the long leash and I explained that Great Danes sometimes made little dogs go insane with anger and they would attack for no reason, just the sight of a dog that tall made some small dogs go crazy.
I double bagged it and dropped it in a trash can at the bus stop then we walked down to their house and went upstairs. Tom stood on the deck looking south and pointed in the distance and said, "Is that the Gulf?" I glanced at the shimmering gray line on the horizon and said yes, we'll be there later today.
Inside we did the introduction thing with Tom and Crow and my grandmother, we had her sit down to meet Crow. He always seemed to be more relaxed when he met people closer to eye to eye. I saw something I wasn't supposed to see: after Gram met Tom he stepped away to let her meet Crow and Gram looked at my mother and mouthed the word `WOW!' to Mom, meaning she thought Tom was very handsome. He didn't see but I did.
Crow sat on the floor close to Gram's feet and she leaned forward and introduced herself speaking slowly in English. I did the hand gesture to Crow to shake. He raised his right leg and she gently took his wrist and moved it up and down a little then let go. Gram started to laugh and asked my mother if the dog spoke English and Mom told her `...we think so, he watches Sesame Street every day...' We all laughed and Crow stood and walked beside Mom and leaned into her. My grandparents saw him lean into Mom and they laughed again.
After introductions I fed the dog and then we ate breakfast. They were curious how we met so I let Tom do the talking, I think they were won-over by Tom's charm school routine he liked to use on older folks. Tom's striking looks usually turned strangers into friends. His very expressive face just dripped friendly/safe vibes. His wide flawless white toothy smile worked like magic on older women, it worked on me too! His long eyebrows make them very expressive, he can sort of smile with his eyebrows that makes him look happy when he might be upset. His face is very expressive and most people fall into his spell after they sit nearby and talk to him face to face. Tom knows this too. When he smiles it is nearly impossible not to smile back. And women really like his long eyelashes and their natural curves.
While Tom was impressing them I lowered my plate to my lap so the dog could eat my leftover egg yolks and two pieces of buttered toast. He licked the plate clean too, while everyone was paying attention to Tom. Some people are grossed out by the thought of the dog cleaning the plate before it goes in the dish washer.
I could tell early on that they figured out Tom came from a low-middle income family and they both worked hard but had little to show for their work, the diner was a huge part of their lives. I think they initially expected to hear that his mom picked fruit or something. I made sure they understood Tom and Maria were born in Texas and she was a business owner. Tom said the diner was the biggest thing in their lives and they loved it and the people who worked and ate there, it was a huge local family of mostly Hispanic locals. He never mentioned that his mother recently started dating the other owner.
When the subject of college came up they were very interested in his plans for small business management in the Quick Serve industry. When Tom asked them about their school history and realized him and me were the only ones in the house without PhDs he sort of got less talkative.
I spent a while explaining the Great Dane breed and demonstrating some of the things he knew, some of his vocabulary, and how tall he stood (6'4") on his back feet. Grandpa was impressed when he saw Crow could easily reach the pull chain on their living room ceiling fan with his teeth! Tom told them about his earring incident. We already agreed not to talk about the stabbing unless Mom brought it up.
I demonstrated how he learned names for lots of things and sometimes names and commands could be combined but his limit was three words at a time. I had him sit beside Grandma's legs and told Crow: kiss Tom. He waited for a moment then walked over to Tom and touched his nose to Tom's chin then went over by Mom and leaned against her legs. I told them he had to understand two words together to perform that act, Tom and Kiss. During that conversation Tom started doing breakfast dishes and putting them in the dish washer. I got Crow to perform one trick, I stood under the ceiling fan and patted my shoulders and he jumped up on his back legs and put his front paws on my shoulders. I reached up and shook the little ball on the end of the fan pull chain and he raised his chin and sniffed it and hit it with his nose. The old folks applauded as Crow dropped down to the floor and leaned against me.
I left Crow with them in the living room and helped Tom get everything in the dishwasher but we hand washed the frying pans and I wiped down the table and countertops. After that we sat in the living room and talked about school until Mom got up around 10am but by then Tom and I were feeling tired. So we took a nap for a few hours and had Mom wake us up at 2pm. I knew that would give them a chance to gab (and get the turkey in the oven) since they were my Mom's parents and there was a lot in her life she couldn't discuss over the phone or email. I'm sure they knew exactly what she did for a living, designing thermo-nuclear weapons and other secret stuff for the military. They were no doubt curious how her uniform factory was doing too. I think she makes more money from that than working for the Pentagon, but her retirement pension will come from the DOD.
Before nap time Gram brought out a family photo album I totally forgot about that had dozens of pictures of me starting the day I was born, learning to walk, kindergarten, first grade, then packing to move to Amarillo. They had pictures of Mom as a child, and in school, and on the 8th grade volleyball team. It surprised me to see they even had photos of me bottle feeding baby Crow, that Mom took and sent them in the mail. They also had my class photos from every grade up to high school. Tom thumbed through them and laughed at several of my photos: learning to ride a bicycle without training wheels, my first underwear, and 8th grade graduation. Tom actually said out loud that I looked cute in my fifth grade science fair picture where I won the award for the booth I did on nuclear reactors in the future.
Our trip to visit my grandparents over Thanksgiving Weekend continues in the next chapter.
Contact the author: borischenaz mailfence.