All Aboard Andi's Dream Ch. 07

Andi thought of her patient, Don Campbell. His body was so broken up from a jet blast incident, and then she had to tell him he had Pulmonary Hypertension. He was so strong about it, but his poor wife Lanh, she looked like she couldn't take it anymore and then Andi went on vacation and never went back. She feels so guilty about that. "Estelle, this is something that is near and dear to my heart," said Andi. "I want this clinic to rival private clinics, I would love it if the Mayo Clinic called and asked us how WE did it, and not the other way around."

Estelle chuckled. "You think I call the Mayo Clinic for their secrets?"

Andi and Lucy looked at her in shock. "You don't?" asked Andi. "We're all medical professionals. We don't keep secrets." She looked at her phone, then wrote out a phone number and handed it to Estelle. "Ask for Darlene and mention my name, she runs their Pulmonology Testing Lab."

Estelle was in shock; her boss just gave her permission to call another hospital and follow their lead. She walked out, looking at the phone number, wondering if she really should call it.

After Estelle left, Andi got back to the pile of paperwork on her desk. "We're not getting out of here tomorrow..."

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After a plane change in Minneapolis, the family landed in Minot, North Dakota. The temperature was a 'brisk' -11° (-24°C) yet the sun was blazing in the sky. The airport was small, only two gates, and the jetway was frigid. "Come on you two, only two more days and we go see GG," said Andi, hoping to coax the chilly twins off the jetway. They got inside the airport and there was a large crowd waiting to get on their airplane and Sandy became a helper.

"Don't go outside!" she called. "It's too cold!"

"Come on you," said Yi as she urged the twins to keep up. They found their baggage quickly because there's only one plane at the airport and it's not far at all from the baggage claim. As soon as she got outside, Yi gasped, "Oh my God! How do people survive up here?"

"You get used to it, eh?" said a fellow that was standing near the Asian beauty. Yi had never been this far north in her life, and she was not enjoying the experience.

"We're right next to Canada!" she gasped.

"Yi, darling, when we had dinner at Mama Giardini's you were north of Fort Erie Canada," said Paul. His statement didn't help Yi feel any warmer, and it caused the twins to chant "Grandma G! Grandma G!"

As Paul stacked up their luggage, a large Ford Transport from the local rental agency pulled up to the terminal. The driver hopped out and came up to Paul and said, "Are you Doctor Jarecki?"

"Yes sir."

"Ok. This van is for you," said the fellow. They spoke for a few moments, then Paul started loading the bags in the back of the van and Yi and Andi started mounting the twins' car seats in the rear bench seat that folds down to a bed. The family piled into the comfortable van and as soon as the twins were strapped into their car seats, they were on their way. Yi sat in the second row seat, and she could turn the captain's chair around and face the twins, which unnerved them.

"Fancy van!" cried Madeline.

"It is fancy," said Andi, as she reviewed all the options.

"We have video back here," said Yi.

"I'm hungry!" demanded Sandy, and they really were hungry this time. They spent the whole day on airplanes with just a quick breakfast long ago.

"I know where to go," said Paul and as they pulled out of the airport, he played tour guide. "Minot was built in a valley created by the Souris river. It's a railroad town and you can see these tracks, that was the Great Northern railroad, it's now the BNSF. That set of tracks there, that was the Soo Line railroad, it's now the Canadian Pacific."

"I wanna ride the train!" Madeline suddenly demanded. "GG says they have food cars!"

"Food! Food! Food!" the girls chanted, but Yi glared at them, which brought silence.

"I'm trying to make a phone call," Yi said, which earned her a pair of stuck out tongues. Yi's call went to Kenny's voice mail. "Hey babe, we landed on time and it's frigid here, eleven below. Call me when you get a chance, love ya, bye." Then she looked at the girls... did she just say what she thought she said? They were still sticking their tongues out at her, and they weren't making retching noises, so she guessed she didn't.

"This truck rides so rough!" complained Andi, who heard what Yi said and hurried to change the conversation.

"The springs and shock absorbers are frozen," said Paul. Andi gave him a look like she didn't believe him and he said, "Believe me, up here it's a special treat to pull into a heated building and let your car thaw out for a couple of hours."

"This is hell," gasped Yi as her side window frosted over. The multiple heaters in the luxury van were barely keeping up with demand.

"No, Bismark is hell, we're 120 miles deep inside," said Paul, reciting an old Minot AFB Airman's complaint.

Andi slugged Paul in the arm, then looked for his reaction before she demanded. "How long were you stationed here?"

"Two years, then I went somewhere warm, Tule Greenland." Which earned him another punch in the arm. "Ow, ok, I went to Randolph AFB in Texas to learn flight surgering."

"Surgering?" asked Yi, who was sad that she missed hearing Kenny's voice.

"It's a thing," said Paul. They pulled into a large truck stop and, after unbuckling the girls, they hurried into the restaurant portion of the truck stop.

"My god it's cold out there," said Andi.

"It's a bit chilly," said the hostess. "You betcha."

"We just few in from Buffalo," said Yi as the hostess led them to a table.

"Ja, den you'll know what da cold is all about, eh?" said the hostess as she placed menus on the table.

"No, it gets nothing like this," said Andi.

"Just be glad we didn't get here on a cold day," said Paul.

"Ain't dat right," said the hostess, and she fist bumped with Paul.

As they sat down and the waitress brought water, Paul said, "it gets damn cold here, and folks take pride in surviving and thriving in that weather. Everyone has a -45° day or night story and how they survived. The summers here are short and beautiful, and the autumns are crisp, and the hunting and fishing is incredible."

"What do they fish for," asked Yi, whose ears perked up.

"Walleye," said the waitress. "Greatest walleye fishing on earth is just an hour away on Lake Sakakawea."

The moment the waitress said that, Yi reacted like the waitress said that she saw the promised land. Yi could almost hear the angels singing when the waitress said 'Lake Sakakawea.' "Lake Sakakawea is here?" said Yi almost reverently.

"Just an hour south honey."

"We're going to drive past it when we drive to Bismark," said Paul.

Yi pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and dialed Kenny again. He didn't answer and Yi left another voice mail, "Kenny! Get your tackle box! Lake Sakakawea is right here!"

"Yi likes fishing," said Sandy.

"I can see that," said the waitress as she gave the twins' crayons to color their place mats.

"She caught a sailor fish named Mister Unicorn," said Madeline, as she set to the task of coloring.

"Sailor fish?"

Andi took out her phone and showed the waitress the photo of the girls holding their sail fish on the stern of Andi's Dream. Soon they had ordered and were served their meals. Andi had never eaten such a hamburger! Locally raised grass fed beef, thick and juicy. For the twins, the French fries were the highlight, large crinkle cut fries that were "double dipped" which made their outside crisp and their inside fluffy. Yi had a chef salad that was huge. She had to box up most of it for later. Paul had a huge bacon double cheeseburger with onion rings that he shared with Madeline. Sandy sniffed one and decided no, but Madeline loved her onion ring.

"I haven't had that burger in ages," he sighed. He looked over at the girls in their two highchairs. Each had a French fry clutched in their fists and their mouths were full of the treat. "Is that good?" both nodded enthusiastically. "Good, we'll stop here before we head to Grandma's house."

"We wanna eat here all the time!" said Sandy. Madeline agreed, but her mouth was full of thick, melty grilled cheese.

After their meal, they headed over to the hotel. And the setting sun confused Yi. "What time is it?"

"Quarter after five," said Andi.

"Sunset comes early in these parts," said Paul.

That night, they had a pool party at their hotel. Paul ordered several pizzas from a local pizza restaurant, and they gave out pizza to anyone that wanted it down at pool side. Soon the pool was filled with families, to Yi's amazement. "You're new here?" asked a woman who was reclining at the poolside.

"I'm from Florida," said Yi as she watched at least a dozen kids splashing and having a grand time. "I recently moved to Buffalo to ride herd on the twins," she said, pointing to Sandy and Madeline, who were splashing in the shallow end of the hotel's indoor pool.

"Every now and then you get tired of being cold, so we get a suite and throw a party," said the woman.

"In the middle of the week?" asked Yi.

"Parent/teacher conferences all week," said the woman's husband.

"We're here for a change of command ceremony on base," said Yi.

Sandy peered over the edge of the pool and said, "Yi wants to go fishing."

"Wally fish," said Madeline, as she appeared next to Sandy.

"Your fan club?" said the woman, now laughing.

"My clones," said Yi. "We were talking about walleye fishing on Sakakawea."

"You're in Buffalo, have you tried Lake Erie?" asked the fellow. "I heard that was good for walleye too."

"Haven't tried that lake yet. My friend said he's going to teach me fly fishing this summer, I can't wait for that."

The kids played and had a grand time and Yi found the people were truly friendly, and Andi just laid on her lounge grinning and wiping the girls' faces when they got wet. It's been so long since she heard the North Dakota accent, that Norwegian influenced lilt that meant her grandma was nearby. Even though she was born and raised in Denver, North Dakota will always be 'home.'

It was well past nine thirty, an hour past the girl's bedtime when the pool party broke up and Paul asked the hotel staff if they wanted the last two pizzas, which they accepted with profound thanks and Andi and Paul carried a protesting Sandy and Madeline back to their suite. "I'm not tired! I don't wanna go to bed!" they protested.

"The pool is closed, party girl, and you've been up since six this morning," said Paul.

"You need a bath, you're all chlorine stinky," said Andi.

"How about a shower?" said Paul.

"YEAH!" cried the girls, their shouts echoed down the hallway.

"Noooo," insisted Andi. "You've never seen them shower."

"Pleeeeese?" begged Sandy.

"We won't take our stuffies in the shower!" promised Madeline.

"Stuffies in the shower?" Paul asked as he unlocked the door.

"Oh yes, we had a tea party in the shower one day," said Andi. Stuffie is what the girls called their plush stuffed toys. Andi was especially worried about their stuffed sailfish, but so far the fish remained dry.

"I don't think we can get in much trouble in Minot North Dakota," said Paul and he set Madeline down and went into the bathroom and started the shower. Soon both of the twins were dancing in the shower and the glass door kept the over-spray to a minimum, and shortly they were dried off and wrapped in towels and sitting with Paul and Andi on the couch, watching TV. They lasted less than 10 minutes. "This one's asleep," whispered Paul as Madeline fell asleep.

"So is this one," said Andi. They carried the twins into the bedroom and dressed them for bed without waking them, and tucked them in. A few minutes later, Yi entered wearing a large cowboy hat and counting a stack of five-dollar bills.

"Nice hat!" said Paul. "Where did you get it?"

"The bar next door has a mechanical bull," said Yi as she counted her winnings.

"I didn't know you were a bull rider."

"Just the mechanical ones," she said, as she put her winnings in her purse.

"Our girl has some skills!"

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The twins woke up hungry for French fries and wanted to go back to the truck stop, which seemed like a good idea.

The twins split a blueberry pancake and bacon, Andi had French toast and Yi tried the ham and cheese omelet which Sandy and Madeline informed the waitress was really called a hamlet. Paul had the Haystack, a huge mound of hash browns (Yi took many) with two eggs on top, four large breakfast sausages (Andi took two), sourdough toast, and some of the best truck stop coffee on earth.

"That was incredible!" said Yi.

Sandy and Madeline had snagged a taste of her omelet and said, "Poppa's hamlets are better."

"Let's go girls, let's get poppa pretty," said Andi as they trooped out to the fancy van in the subzero weather and headed back to the hotel to get changed for the event. Back at their suite, they got the twins dressed in matching blue dresses and did their bright blond hair up in ringlet curls. Then Andi and Yi dressed in fashionable dresses and Paul pulled on his USAF uniform. Andi was immediately overwhelmed with emotion; she remembered her mother saying how proud her father looked in his uniform and the horror she and her mother went through when they found out that he was never coming home. Andi traced her fingers over each ribbon and badge.

"You don't ever have to put this on for real, do you?" she said as she fought with the feelings welling up inside of her.

"No, they supposedly can recall me but that's not going to happen..."

Andi's head spun when he said that. Memories of her father's funeral service welled up and suddenly she felt her French toast coming back up and she sprinted for the bathroom. "Honey? Are you ok?" said Paul as Andi vomited up her breakfast. When she was done, Paul scooped her up and carried her to the bed and began checking her over.

"I'm ok!" she demanded as he pulled his stethoscope and blood pressure cuff out of his backpack.

"Physician, chill thyself," said Paul, misquoting Luke to get Andi's attention, and he checked her blood pressure and stuck a thermometer in her mouth.

"Is mommy ok?" demanded Sandy.

"Yes, mommy's fine," said Andi.

"I'm making sure she's ok, blood pressure is one ten over seventy, temperature is ninety seven degrees, pulse is sixty four..."

"Sounds ok," said Madeline, who was standing on the bed next to Andi. She didn't understand a word poppa said, but he sounded confident, and that was good enough for her.

"You are not going to do this every time I sneeze, are you?" demanded Andi.

"No of course not..."

"Good."

"Because if you sneezed while I checked your blood pressure it would throw off the reading..."

"I'm fine!" Andi almost shrieked, then she settled down. "Thank you for worrying about me but I'm not fragile. I'll tell you when there's something wrong."

"You and I both know that physicians are best at denial," said Paul. "We need to watch out for each other... Thanks to you I have an appointment at the VA to get my lungs checked out."

Andi never forgot seeing Paul in that video, gasping for air and almost drowning after they rescued the Garcia family. "I'm fine... it's the uniform, I remembered my father in his and I remembered the day he wasn't coming back..."

Madeline hugged her mother and said, "We have poppa now." Sandy climbed up on Andi's lap and patted her wrist.

Andi hugged her girls and said, "Yes, we have poppa now. I miss my poppa, that's why I call your poppa daddy."

"Are you sure you're ok?" asked Paul as he hugged his three girls. "You can stay here if you're not feeling well and I'll go alone."

Yi watched from across the room, and she immediately knew that Kenny would care for her just like that. In fact, he probably already does.

"I. Am. Fine." Said Andi as if she was tired of being asked that question. "I really will tell you when I don't feel well, I really will, now let's get going, I want to talk to Julie about you."

"It's Jacqui. Her name is Jaquette Marie-Claude Davis."

The twins screwed up their faces. "Jacket? They named her after a coat?"

"No, that's a French name, but to you she is Colonel Davis."

"We need to get going people," said Yi, who was a better timekeeper than most people.

"Yi is right," said Paul. "Let's go people, coats, gloves, purses, let's go." He pulled on an Air Force blue winter overcoat that was no longer issued and guided the family out of the motel and out to the fancy van that was already running. The fancy van had a remote starter and block heater, so when they came out, the fancy van was toasty warm inside. Paul unplugged the block heater and coiled up the extension cord and put it in the back while Yi and Andi got the twins secured. Then, when everyone was in place, he pulled out and headed north on US 83.

They passed the airport on the north end of town and a small complex that was called the Minot Aero Center. "That's a tiny civil aerodrome," said Yi.

"That used to be the main airport," said Paul. "Could you imagine getting off the airplane and walking cross the open ramp when the weather was twenty below zero?"

"I wouldn't get off the plane," Andi said.

Soon they were out in the open countryside. Wide open fields were divided by rows of trees that the twins called 'skinny forests.' "Those are called Shelterbelts, they protect the crops from the wind," said Paul. The trip seemed to last forever, but it was only 12 miles.

Soon, Minot Air Force Base appeared on their left and they pulled up to the security office outside of the main gate to get Yi a pass. Paul took Yi into the security office and only took a few moments to get the pass, then they climbed back in the fancy van and pulled up to the main gate. After checking IDs, the gate guard waved them on base and they drove in, passing rows of duplex apartments.

"That's where we would live if we were assigned here," said Paul.

"No, that's where you would live, I'd still be in Florida," said Yi.

Paul took them past the flight line where several B-52s were parked, then headed to the recreation center. "This is where the ceremony will be, and there will probably be a reception at the officer's club." They entered the recreation center and Paul hung up their coats on the open coat racks, then, following the signs, they entered a large gymnasium. An airman came up to the family and said, "Doctor Jarecki?"

"Yes," said Paul.

"Please follow me," and he led them to the VIP area where there was seating available.

"Thank you airman," said Paul as they were given seats in the front row. He turned to the twins and said, "Ok, shh, like we're in church, ok?" Luckily, the change of command for the 91st Missile Wing was simple and fast. An officer read the orders that assigned Colonel Jacquette Davis to command the 91st Missile Wing on this date. Jacquette Davis was a tall, muscular black woman, and she towered over most of the men on stage.

The first sergeant took the wing's guidon, a flag on a wooden pole with many streamers attached representing the many awards the wing had won. The sergeant handed it to the old commander, who handed it to Jacquette. When he handed the guidon to Jacquette, the two officers paused for the base photographer to get a photograph of the occasion, then Jacquette handed the guidon to the first sergeant and command had passed. There was a ceremonial inspection of the troops. She walked down two rows of troops that were standing at attention, then walked over to the VIP seating and grinned down at Paul. "Gimme some sugar doctor," she said with a huge grin.