TIME-TO-SEE-51
"Bong...Bong...Bong...Bong; Bong...Bong...Bong...Bong.
Bong...Bong...Bong...Bong; Bong...Bong...Bong...Bong.......
Bong! Bong! Bong!"
Very little light entered the antique shop through its only window at the front of the store. Armoires and cabinets and desks and tables with chairs stacked upside down on top of them, and vases mirrors with ornate frames and yellowing statues of women half wrapped in flowing drapery all cluttered the shop so that Nicky and Jilder found it nearly impossible to find a place to walk.
Bong! Bong!
Hardly by design, but rather by exquisite serendipity, a singular bright ray of sunlight found its way to the rear of the shop where it fell upon a majestic and stately grandfathers clock.
Bong! Bong!
The ivory face of the clock was adorned with gold, inlaid filigree and rested sublimely at the top of a dark mahogany cabinet displaying an enormous burnished, brass sunburst pendulum that moved slowly back and forth behind an elegant glass front of beveled crystal.
Bong~...
"Yeah! That sounds cool." Nicky said.
"Can you make it shut up if you want it to?" Jilder wondered out loud.
"Oh, sure. See that thing on the face of the clock, just above the 6. I bet that turns the chimes off. They're called Westminster chimes." Nicky answered
"What does that mean?" Jilder asked.
"It means that it makes sounds like the Big Ben clock in the Clock Tower of Westminster Palace in London, England," Nicky replied.
"Where's that?" Jilder said.
"IN ENGLAND, Jilder! I'm sure glad you're gonna go to Europe sos you'll get to know some more stuff! We'll get to hear em for real when we go on Dad's trip to the medical seminars." Nicky answered.
"Really?" Jilder asked "How do you know?"
"Well, I heard our dad's talking, and they said we could go sight-seeing when we got to London, England, and there was this tower that has a big clock in it with huge bells that strike every hour during the day."
"Yeah?... Isn't that noisy, ya think?" Jilder commented.
"Hummm? I don't know. Maybe? We'll find out," Nicky replied.
"OK, Nicky. This would be a great gift for Kevin's birthday, but I bet it costs a lot. How much exactly, do you see a sign?" Jilder asked.
"Yeah. On the side, the sign says $1,500!" Nicky said. "Oh, gosh. That's a lot. Where can we get THAT much money?"
"Maybe we can pay some money down and then pay a little bit every month? We could ask." Jilder proposed, ever displaying the practical attorney's point of view of things.
"You gentlemen interested in the grandfather's clock here?" the very old shop keeper asked, scratching his chin through his little white beard.
"Yes, Sir." Nicky answered trying his best to be polite. "We think this would be the perfect birthday present for one of our Dads."
"ONE of yer dads? You got more n one?" the shopkeeper asked.
"Yes, Sir," Nicky replied. "We have two, but only one of them would like a grandfathers' clock.'
"Hummmm?" the shopkeeper scratched his beard again and thought a moment. "What about yer moms? Ya got two of them too?" the shopkeeper asked somewhat impertinently.
"No, Sir. We don't have any moms. And my real dad died about a year ago, and Jilder's dad went to Mexico and left him here in San Diego; so we now live with our new dads, and they're super...." Nicky explained. "But we need a clock for Kevin's birthday....."
"Hummm?" the shopkeeper acknowledged Nicky's un-self-conscious revelations about his family. "I'm sorry you boys had such big problems, but sees as you got a good dad now-- er, two of em-- now; so maybe things wul be good for a while..."
"Thank you, Sir." Nicky persisted in conversation, trying to work up the courage to ask about the possibility of them buying the clock.
"I see it costs one-thousand five-hundred dollars," Nicky said to the shopkeeper. "That's a lot of money for us... But we still want it, if we can earn the money," Nicky said.
"Hummm?" the shopkeeper said scratching his chin and then back of his head under the flowing white hair that fell untrimmed around his ears.
"Ya know... (And the shopkeeper thought just a moment before he spoke again...) I think I may have a special price for boys who's looking for a birthday present for their dad.... Say $500. You think you could handle that?" the shopkeeper suggested.
Both Nicky and Jilder lit up with excitement because although they didn't have $100 much less $500, they realized that $500 was much more do-able for them than the original price of $1,500.
Jilder perked up and whispered to Nicky, "Maybe we could keep washing clothes for Jake and Craig, and maybe somebody else too, to earn the $500. Let's see if the shopkeeper will take $100 down and maybe $50 a month for..... (Jilder stopped and thought, doing the math in his head.....) "Uh. Uh.... for 8 months." Then with a burst of assertiveness that comes out of nowhere for Jilder, he turned and spoke directly to the shopkeeper:
"Sir: Can you take $100 down now, and we'll pay you $50 a month for 8 months? We have a job washing clothes for some friends, and they pay us. But it will take us time to earn that much money... And we won't need the clock until October; uh Ocotober 11, I think, is our Dad's birthday; so's you don't have to give it to us till after we've paid you about $300. Do you think you could handle that?" Jilder said without a hint of shame or unworthiness showing as he proposed his most sincere offer...
The shopkeeper bent down, put his hand on his back, and said, "Lemme sit down for a minute. We can talk some more..."
Finally seated and looking like he felt much better for taking the strain off of his back, which had accumulated from looking down at the boys for just that short period, he said:
"Well, since you don't need it till October, I think I can swing it. I'll store the clock in the back after I pack it up in a large wooden crate. I'll put your names on it. Then when you need it, you can get somebody to come by and pick it up. It's pretty heavy. You won't be able to move it yourselves. You'll need lots a help," the shopkeeper said.
"Uuh, one more thing, Sir," Jilder said.
"Yeah?" the old man answered looking directly at Jilder.
"Nicky and me will have to bring you the $100 down payment tomorrow, after we get it from our friends who pay us for working. We'll be back tomorrow, if that's alright with you.... Please don't sell the clock. We like the West Min-ist-ter Bongs," Jilder said, again with soul bearing sincerity.
"Westminster Chimes..." The shopkeeper corrected. "Yeah. Sure. I can wait. You boys aren't thinkin that this is too much for you to handle, are ya?" the shopkeeper said with some questioning in his voice.
Nicky piped up and added his authority, "OH, NO, SIR! Not at all. We really want this clock, and I know we can earn the money from Craig and Jake washing their clothes. We will be here tomorrow with the $100." Nicky promised...
The old man reached out his hand to shake with each of the boys, and with each handshake he looked the boy in the eye and said, "Deal!"
Nicky and Jilder left the shop skipping and talking and feeling like they were walking on a cloud. Now they had to get Craig and Jake to let them have an advance of $100, and then agree to let them do the laundry for 8 more months... This might turn out to be a bit more than they quite understood. But the cause was more than just, and they wanted to show their love for Kevin by giving him the grandfather's clock.
"Hummm?" Jilder said after they had walked along the sidewalk in silence for almost a block; then he said:
"Tell me again. I don't remember why the clock is so important to Kevin... You told me before, but I didn't really understand; so maybe you can tell me again."
Nicky looked both ways before he led Jilder through the intersection and up onto the next sidewalk. They were still a good distance from Craig's shop which they were visiting while Hugo and Craig cleaned up after the Undersea project was installed.
"You remember when I had to go back in the hospital after I jumped down to save Dillon at Sea World?" Nicky asked Jilder.
"Sure."
"Well, I was hurt really bad. The doctors said that if you guys hadn't got me to the hospital quickly that I mighta died."
"Ohhhh. I didn't know that!" Jilder said looking over at Nicky with greater interest in his story.
"Yeah... I was pretty dumb, doing that jump and pushing the bar back in my ribcage. I couldn't breath. I was unconscious from no oxygen. It felt pretty bad," Nicky confessed.
"Gosh. Nick. I didn't understand. Life wouldn'ta been worth livin for me. I'd a missed you so much, Nick... I want chu to know that, and beeee careful!" Jilder said.
"Thanks," Nicky said, but he went on with his story. "So when I was in the hospital and unconscious I had a very unusual experience...."
"I was lying there, not aware of where I was, not feeling particularly bad, but just feeling lonely when I heard this voice call out to me; 'Nicky, Nicky a man said...'"
Turning to Jilder, Nicky said, "The man said he was my grandpa and that he was there to help me. I said I didn't know I had a grandpa, and how did he know he was my grandpa anyhow? And then grandpa said, 'cause I'm your dad's father (really grandpa); so doesn't that make me your grandpa?'
Nicky spoke very sincerely to Jilder, not telling his story with one hint of doubt in the veracity of all that he was explaining. This was Nick's truth... the real truth.
Nicky went on, "Grandpa rocked me in his rocking chair and showed me his big clock, just like the one that we just bought for Kevin. It rang with the Westminster Chimes too. And grandpa told me that I hurt myself pretty bad and that I didn't need to sacrifice myself, just because I loved Dillon and wanted to save him... In fact, grandpa said that I was being really foolish to think that I needed to sacrifice myself when I love somebody. Loving them is enough in itself. And you shouldn't kill your self overdoing helping somebody else. That was really important for me to understand, because I felt that I wasn't worth much but Dillon was."
"Now I see that I AM WORTH SOMETHING and so is Dillon.... and so are you-- WORTH SOMETHING-- but I can love you a lot and help you without getting myself destroyed... Do I make sense?" Nicky asked Jilder.
Jilder was riveted to Nicky while he spoke. Jilder walked into the shadow cast by a big signboard and stood there waiting for Nicky to continue.
"OH, yeah. But it sounds pretty unusual." Jilder replied
"Well, grandpa told me how much Kevin loved his grandfather's clock, and how they used to wind it together when Kevin was a little boy."
"Then, grandpa told me it was time for me to go back to the hospital: Dr. Gilmer was ready to wake me up, 'cause he'd fixed the bar inside me.
"You REMEMBER all this, and you were asleep?" Jilder asked.
"No. I wasn't asleep. I was gone to grandpa's place while Dr. Gilmer worked on my body in the hospital," Nicky explained.
Jilder looked at Nicky incredulous.... "You're sure?" Jilder asked.
"I'm sure," Nicky replied without blinking or a hint of doubt.
Jilder just stood there looking into Nicky eyes.
"Grandpa knew about Hugo and you and me and our family, and he said that we had a very long time to live together," Nicky added.
"He knows about me?" Jilder asked although he heard perfectly clearly.
"Yep!" Nicky replied, nodding his head in confirmation.
"And when I got back to the hospital and told Dr. Gilmer about talking with grandpa, he acted like he knew grandpa, or something. I thought right then, that somehow, someday, I had to find a way to give our dad a grandfather's clock, to show him how much I love him and appreciate him taking care of me," Nicky said.
"Yeah, Nicky. I never talked to grandpa, but I feel the same way. Kevin is awsome. He's the best dad a guy could have... I want him to have the clock too, for the same reasons you do..." Jilder said.
"But, Jilder. We got TWO OF EM! TWO GREAT DADS. I start crying every time I think about how Hugo visited me and invited me to come live in your family the first time I was in the hospital," Nicky said.
"You're right about that. We got TWO OF EM..."
"Hugo!" Jilder called over his shoulder into the house. Hugo was out in the backyard washing the dogs.
"Is that you, Jilder?" a voice in the distance replied.
"Yeah! You need to come to the front door right now. There's a courier or somethin here with a big envelope for you."
In very short order Hugo was hustling up behind Jilder at the open front door. Smiling, Hugo spoke to the courier, "Hi! what cha need?" he asked.
"I have an insured, oversized envelop for Mr. Hugo Ramirez at this address.
"I'm Hugo Ramirez," Hugo answered.
"Then would you mind signing for this envelope?" the courier asked.
"Sure." and Hugo signed his very distinctive and artistic signature on the courier's delivery log.
The courier gone, Hugo settled in at the table in the breakfast nook in the kitchen and emptied the contents of the big envelope.
He found airline tickets for two transcontinental/transatlantic flights for himself, Kevin, and each of the boys. There were also four flights for each of the passengers to the various seminar venues across Europe. AND there were duplicates of ALL of the various tickets...
(I didn't know that they'd issue DUPLICATE tickets unless you lose one... Go figure, Hugo thought as he sorted through the material.)
"Dad, are those our tickets," Nicky asked hurrying over to see what Hugo was doing.
"Yes, buddy. We're getting set to make that trip. It's really gonna happen." Hugo said.
"And do you think me and Jilder can get window seats?" Nicky asked.
"Humm? Let me see." Hugo said. "According to this diagram..... hummmm?.... yes. You BOTH get window seats on the flight going to Europe and coming home... I can't tell about the other flights. They didn't include a seating chart."
"Cool!" Nicky said. Then screaming out to Jilder who was Lord-knows-where, "JILDER! WE GOT WINDOW SEATS TO FLY ACROSS THE OCEAN!!!!! COME HERE AND SEE..."
Kevin drove the SUV into the garage and in just seconds the big garage door slammed shut and Kevin opened the door into the kitchen.
"Oh, my gosh, the traffic's nuts out there... It took me almost an hour to get down that short stretch of the 215 freeway on my way home; that trip ought to take 10 minutes. I think there had been an accident earlier; plus it's rush hour too. Boy am I glad I'm through with all that!" Kevin said.
"Dad?" Nicky asked. "Do you think sometime this evening, or maybe after supper, you could drive Jilder and me over to Jake and Craig's house? We have some important business to discuss."
"Really?" Kevin said trying to keep a straight face. Not that his sons weren't allowed to do "business", but the whole idea just shocked him, their being so young and all.
"Oh well, they have to learn things on their own, and I suppose that doing business with Jake and Craig couldn't be bad..." Kevin thought
"Sure, Nick. You mind if we get supper first, or does your business have to get done sooner?" Kevin replied. Kevin put his keys on the table next to all the papers that Hugo was shuffling through.
Turning to Hugo he said, "Whatcha got, Babe?"
"It's all of the airline tickets... TONS of em, it seems, " Hugo laughed and pointed to all of the stacks of tickets carefully laid out on the table.."
Nicky answered. "No, after supper is OK. We just need to go together, and we HAVE TO go tonight!" Nick emphasized.
"Hugo, is that going to be alright with you? Do you need to do anything with me before I go with the boys to visit Jake and Craig?" Kevin asked.
"No! Dad. You can't visit when we visit. We have to visit alone. If you want to come back later that would be alright," Nicky laid out more conditions which seemed all the more bazaar to Kevin. He just rolled his eyes and said, "Sure, Nicky, whatever you say..."
Hugo smiled at Kevin, clearly not having a clue about what the big hush-hush deal was that Jilder and Nicky were cooking up either.
"Would it be okay if I went along?" Hugo asked Nicky.
"No. You can't go either. You can stay with Kevin while we visit, and then in maybe a half hour you could come back with Kevin if you want."
"Yes, Sir." Hugo said complying with Nicky's prescriptions.
"JILDER, I GOT US A RIDE TO JAKE AND CRAIG'S TONIGHT AFTER SUPPER. "
A disembodied voice answered, "OK, NICKY. I'LL BE READY... CAN YOU COME UP HERE IN MY BEDROOM? I WANNA TALK TO YOU...."
Nicky ran out of the kitchen and disappeared up the staircase....
"Go figure???" Hugo said looking at Kevin smiling at the big secret, whatever THAT was...
Having dropped off both boys at Craig's and Jake's, Kevin and Hugo drove over to the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf for some green tea & Holy Basil (or you could call it Tulsi Tea if you wish...).
"You won't believe how mellow that Holy Basil makes you, Kev." Hugo said as he spooned a bit of brown powder from the plastic herb envelop in his pocket.
"Are you sure this stuff's healthy, Hugo?" Kevin said with complete trust in Hugo-the-Health-Nut, but with some trepidation about just HOW this Holy Basil stuff worked. This would definitely be an experiment of sorts.
"Of course! Kev. It's loaded with antioxidents and micronutrients. You think I don't look into EVERYTHING that I eat, and that I offer to my family?? I think healthy is best, and I have this on Internet Doctor Mercola's word that this is safe, nutritious, and calming," Hugo said.
Together the men sipped their very, very hot tea, which with the Holy Basil in it tasted a bit like woody swamp water...
"Are you SURE this stuff's alright, Hugo?" Kevin asked again....
"You are as bad as Nicky with the Lobster..." Hugo said with a laugh.
"Just try it!" thus Hugo ended the discussion.
"Do you have any idea what the big secret is-- you know, what the boys have to discuss with Jake and Craig?" Kevin asked.
"No. I thought maybe you'd have some idea. This one is a total surprise to me. And they're pretty firm with the proprietary nature of the whole thing..." Hugo said.
"Do you think Craig or Jake will betray a few facts if we ask?" Kevin suggested.
"We can't do that, Kev. The boys trust us, and we trust Jake and Craig. We'll just have to shit in our pants before we try to sneak the truth out of somebody... Don't you think?" Hugo said.
"Yeah! You couldn't be more right. A family has got to have trust, or it has nothing... I really DO trust the boys and our friends; so I guess we'll just have to wait... (although it will probably 'kill me',)" Kevin said over-dramatizing the whole thing....
"You are 'a trip', Kev. What a nervous nelly to boot..." Hugo said laughing... "I think you need a second cup of Holy Basil."
"Say, Hugo. I think that Holy Basil stuff is working. I have this subtle sense of well-being. Not floating or like a buzz, just pleasantly relaxed, content... Your Dr. Mercola is on to something, I think..." Kevin volunteered.
He went on, "How much did that little packet of brown powder cost?"
"$9.95 at Erehwon Health Food Store in West Hollywood..." Hugo said.
"That's pretty pricy. Since when have you been into high-priced teas? Is that part of your Mexican heritage?" Kevin chided Hugo...
"Oh, 'You Turkey'... Mexicans don't drink tea. They drink horchata or Tecate, the beer.... but no tea..." Hugo said.
"So you got this Holy Basil stuff entirely on the recommendation of an Internet health-nut doctor like yourself?" Kevin said.
"Now, is that a nice question to ask, Kevin?" Hugo baited Kevin...
"Welllllllll..... noooooo..... I guess not. I do kinda like the tea; so if you'll promise me you'll let me have some more sometime, I'll stop being an asshole to you," Kevin replied.
"You don't have to BE an asshole, Kev... you can just SHOW me your asshole... that will be sufficient," Hugo retorted.
"God! I think that all you think about is sex..." Kevin said.
"ALL I THINK ABOUT??? Like you NEVER think about it... Who molest's me everytime I come into the bedroom to get a little rest? Hummm? Hummm? Who??" Hugo kept up his joshing while poking Kevin in the chest with his index finger...
"Ho, hum.... Do you hear somebody talking about the bedroom, Hugo?" Kevin said playing hard of hearing...
"All kidding aside there, sexy man," Hugo said. "I think we better get along to pick up our boys. They've had plenty of time to do their business."
Jake and Craig were giving Dillon a bath and Jake hadn't been home very long; so Kevin and Hugo excused themselves when they picked the boys up saying that they were a little tired and wouldn't impose by coming in.
"Oh, we'll be busy for a while, but after Dillon gets his bath, we'd be okay for a visit," Craig said.
"No, really. Thanks, but I need to call it a day." Kevin said.
"Thanks for taking your time to do business with the boys, whatever that was about." Hugo said.
"Oh, no problem." Jake said with no indication he was going to comment on the nature of the business...
"Shit," Kevin thought to himself. "I guess I really AM going to have to stew a while before I find out what this business is about..."
"Okay. Then... nite-nite to Dillon, and you guys have a good night too," Hugo said winking at them.
"SHAME on you, Hugo Ramirez...." Craig said with a laugh...
"What's he sayin, Dad?" Nicky yelled up to Kevin.
"Oh, nothing. He's just kidding our friends. It's just adult talk..."
"Oh, brother," Jilder commented... "Here we go again...."
"Bye," Kevin said with a big grin moving the gear shift lever into Drive and easing the SUV out of the driveway.