Andrea Millhouse Pt. 10 - Conclusion

At war's end I had amassed a score of seven planes shot down and a sterling reputation as a pilot, I was also drinking a lot more and this landed me in some minor trouble but nothing serious. The big thing now, was jet fighters and I wanted to fly them, even though only a few currently existed. I was selected out of very small handful of pilots and admitted to flight school for jet training but then I got into a scuffle with two M.P.s and was given the choice of an honorable discharge or face court proceedings and possibly court marshal, I chose discharge, it was my first dream destroyed by alcohol but not the last.

I still had a bright future and a passenger airline showed interest in me which prompted me to move to Seattle Washington in late nineteen forty six. I then married a gorgeous girl and was well into getting my multiengine rating when I got drunk one night and became belligerent with a top executive of the company that planned to hire me, I was subsequently let go.

About that same time I recognized another guy who I'd flown with during the war, Lefty V. Lefty had always been a hard drinker and he was always good for a night of drinking so I asked him to join me for a few beers. Lefty declined and told me that he'd given up the booze for good. I remember thinking, you poor sonofabitch.

I had a lot of fun drinking and booze always took away any anxiety that I might have but I was also starting to have repercussions from drinking by now. No one in the aviation industry wanted anything to do with me now so I got a job driving a mixer truck for a local guy named Emmet and through the next twenty years got fired and rehired on an, almost, annual basis because of drinking.

By now I had two sons, three years apart and people were starting to ask me why I drank so much. My answer was always the same, because I like to. By the mid nineteen seventies, I couldn't hold a job, I'd alienated my children and I hadn't been faithful to my wife for years but I still thought it was everyone else that was at fault. There are literal years during this time that I can't account for; I have no recollection of them. I got locked up on numerous occasions and most police officers knew me by my first name.

Then I thought it would be a good idea to divorce my wife and marry my mistress, who was a Heroin addict, so I did. By chance, I saw my friend Lefty again when I got out of jail one night. I was shaking like hell because I hadn't had a drink in twenty four hours and I was broke - not a good combination for an alcoholic.

Lefty bought me a couple of beers to settle my nerves and then asked me why I was living the way I was. For the first time, in a long time, I gave an honest answer - I don't know. Things finally progressed to the point where I wasn't welcome anywhere and my Heroin addicted wife said I had a problem with alcohol, she was right.

Then I had a beef with a guy in a bar one night, not long after I saw Lefty, and I was stabbed. The ambulance came and took me away and a fine surgeon saved my life, he highly recommended that I stop drinking, I told him it was probably a good idea and that I'd consider it. The guy at the bar who I'd had a beef with hadn't killed me so I decided to go back, which I did once I was released from the hospital. I went back to the same bar and got into the same beef with the same guy only this time he shot me. The same ambulance and the same paramedics took me back to the same hospital and the same surgeon removed the bullet.

As I was riding in that ambulance for the second time, I thought a lot about what Lefty had asked me - Pat, why are you living this way? A few days later, with my arm in a sling, Lefty took me to my first meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous and I've been here for nine years now. Lefty sponsors me and I work the twelve steps. I do service work and I try to pass on to others what's been freely given to me.

My first wife and children will never speak to me ever again ...I destroyed my relationship with them years ago and this haunts me, it will always haunt me and it hurts like hell but they didn't destroy that relationship - I did. Heroin finally took my second wife eleven months ago but I stayed sober, it hurts like hell too but a drink will only make things worse. I don't have a job flying today but I still like to lie on my back and watch birds as they fly, I work in a print shop instead of an airline but I can look myself in the mirror today and I like the man looking back at me and for that I thank you."

I pulled off the headset and set down the CD player, I really wasn't sure what to think. I had dated a few women in recovery over the years and had a lot of respect for people recovering from addiction but I seriously wondered how sincere the Old Man had been. I hadn't heard his voice in almost forty years and it brought back a lot of memories. The annotations on the CD cover indicated that this had been recorded in nineteen ninety, thirty years ago.

Lefty, I had actually met on two occasions; he'd flown with the Eighth and been to our house in Stony Brook to see the Old Man. According to the annotations on Auntie Colleen's other CD, the Old Man had died in nineteen ninety five. ...Andrea now steered the Camry into a parking space, we parked and we got out.

"You ready for this?" she asked adjusting my tie.

"I don't know, babe, we'll see I guess" I said closing my eyes.

"Just be yourself, Tim, you'll be fine" Andrea replied, kissing me and taking my hand.

The Condominiums were upscale I noticed as Andrea and I walked hand in hand toward the main entry. We found the building number we were looking for and climbed two sets of stairs, we then preceded to door number one twenty five and pushed the doorbell, I took a deep breath. The door opened and a very attractive woman dressed sharply greeted us, she looked vaguely familiar but I couldn't place where I had met her.

"Hi, I'm Tim Donovan, I believe we talked on the phone, are you Asia Rodriguez?" I asked.

"No sweetheart, I'm Rose, her grandbaby. Come in please, and you must be Andrea" The girl said in a gregarious way and smiling with mirth as she firmly shook each of our hands. I immediately liked Rose and sensed Andrea did as well.

I judged her to be in her early twenties; she was athletic and toned with long black hair and an attractive face. Rose radiated charisma and she held a vast amount of intelligence in her eyes. She was mesmerizing.

"Gramma, they're here" Rose called out as she ushered us inside and closed the door.

The condo was decorated with a mix of Asian and Mexican décor. Vertical tidings of peace written in characters hung on each side of an American flag and there was a large painting of a vaquero in silhouette riding a wild bronco at sunset on the far wall of the living room. Stuffed animals and a doll house sat in the center of the room in front of a muted television beside some large potted plants.

"Welcome! I am Jose' Rodriguez" a man said as he emerged from a bedroom and shaking hands with Andrea and I, both.

"Hello Jose', I'm Tim Donovan and this is Andrea. Thank you for allowing us to come" I said.

"My wife will be with us shortly" Jose' replied, after a silence.

"Grampa, offer them a place to sit down and some coffee" Rose said peeking around the wall of the hallway, her tone of voice made it sound as if she were talking to a small child and reminding him of his manners.

Rose then looked at Andrea and I, shaking her head and rolling her eyes in mocked embarrassment, her expression saying "They never learn, do they?" Rose's humor helped elevate some of the apprehension which I was feeling and I relaxed a little bit. Andrea rubbed my back with a reassuring hand.

"Oh, yes, please sit down. May I get you coffee or anything else?" Jose' then asked.

A few minutes later Jose' brought Andrea and I each a coffee and then sat across from us as we made small talk. Jose' worked for the City, operating heavy equipment and said that he would retire in the next year. Jose' and Asia had been high school sweethearts and were married for thirty six years now. The couple was passionate about travel and fond of the opera, they wanted to visit Europe in the fall. Andrea and I both elaborated on some of our own passions as well as work history. Rose then emerged from another bedroom and was obviously in the process of going somewhere; her movements were deliberate but not rushed as she gathered her coat and purse.

"Come give Mommy a hug" Rose called out.

A small girl around the age of three suddenly ran out and flew into the open arms of Rose. "These are just some friends of Gramma" Rose explained when the child took notice of Andrea and me.

"Be a good girl for Gramma and Grampa and remember to wave at Mommy" Rose said as she kissed the child and then walked out the door, closing it softly behind her.

Andrea and I rose when a middle aged woman entered the room; I extended my hand in greeting. The resemblance between Asia and her granddaughter was obvious. Asia, although her hair was graying some, had a youthful presence about her and moved gracefully as she walked toward us and firmly shook my hand.

"Thank you for coming, both of you, I am Asia Rodriguez and I'm sure you have some questions you'd like to ask us. Please sit down, would you like more coffee" Asia asked.

"Actually, yes, thank you" I said, sitting down again.

"I knew both your mother and Rick Sheffield, his actual name was James Richard Sheffield but he became 'Rich' in the Army which later transpired into 'Ric' and then of course, Rick. Some of his friends also called him Jimmy but that was later." Asia began, a few minutes later as she sat down next to Jose'.

"How did you know Mom, was she your teacher?" I asked.

"Yes she was" Asia replied.

I suddenly thought of Les Farr's story and asked "Were you with her when the little green Studebaker had a flat tire and the two truckers stopped and changed the tire?"

Asia was silent for a long minute as she rubbed her cheek in thought. "YES! ...I remember that now. I missed the bus that day because I'd been playing in the gymnasium after class and I stayed too long and Lovey - I mean, Lovisa drove me home.

For some reason I detected a hint of fear or some kind of apprehension in Asia that I couldn't quite nail down in my mind, almost as if she were afraid of something that Andrea or I might say or ask. I dismissed this as simply nervousness in meeting two strangers as I glanced upon the small child that was playing with her stuffed animals and dollhouse a few feet away now.

"Everyone called her Lovey" I said reassuringly.

Asia nodded but made no verbal reply.

"Please ...would you tell us about Rick, or Jimmy" I asked.

"Certainly, Rick's father, who went by the name Red, worked for a large container shipping company during the nineteen fifties and sixties that shipped to many ports in the Orient, including Vietnam. When Rick was old enough his father took him on one of his inspection tours and Rick was exposed to the Asian culture for the first time. The inspection tour was really nothing more than the companies way of making sure that the docks were set up adequately and that the turn-around times were within certain parameters - the shipping companies want their ships at sea generating revenue, not hung up in port because of a snafu of some kind. The inspections were gravy assignments, paid vacations really. When Rick was first exposed to Vietnam in nineteen fifty seven he became enamored with the culture, the people and the landscape and in his own words, he really liked Asian chicks. Through his father, Rick was able to procure a job in the main port of Saigon in nineteen fifty nine, he moved there..." Asia replied.

"What kind of work did he do there, Asia?" I asked, very intrigued and leaning forward.

"My father..." Asia began, then quickly closed her eyes and bit her knuckle for having let her tongue slip. She began to weep quietly.

The implication hit me now like a bolt of lightning and I just sat dumbfounded, unable to think of anything to say.

"I think you should go, Tim" Jose' said quietly and beginning to stand.

"NO! ...please stay, ...it's alright Jose', I need to get this out and you have the right to know, Tim. ...My father fell in love with a Vietnamese woman and married her, they had one child in nineteen sixty, me. My mother was an extremely beautiful woman with the childish aspiration of becoming a movie star. Maybe she could have, her face was on several advertisements in Saigon and she was smart." Asia said, wiping her tears.

"Is this her?" I asked quietly as I handed over the photographs of the mystery girl from Rick and Auntie Colleen's collected photos - the "Wild Cards" which Andrea and I had since dubbed the two photos.

"Yes" came Asia's whispered reply as she looked at the two pictures.

"She's very pretty, what was her name, may I ask?" I enquired.

"Hein Ti Tran, most people, even some Vietnamese thought she was Korean. ...I've never seen these photos of her. ...Her name meant 'Gentle' and she was." Asia replied studying the photos intently.

I nodded in silence.

"Asia did Hein ever know a man named Pat?" I asked, expecting the worst.

"All of us knew Pat." Asia replied, closing her eyes and running a hand through her hair.

"You don't have to answer" I said gently.

"Tim, you have a right to know and I need to get this off my chest, I've needed to for years. ( sigh ) ...Dad was already living in Vietnam and married to my mother when civil unrest began. My mother couldn't deal with the escalating violence - emotionally, and became addicted to drugs because of it, mainly Heroin. Dad used some of his connections and managed to get my mother and me to San Diego where we stayed with his parents. Later, he accompanied my aunt to San Diego with my mother's passport, claiming that my aunt was his wife and fooling authorities. My father was hopelessly in love with my mother but by this time her drug use was becoming obvious and at times, completely out of control. Then President Kennedy was killed and when tensions in Vietnam began to ramp up, my mother's drug use did too.

My mother loved to party and one day Dad took her to a party at the drag strip, Pat was there and he was drunk. My mother and Pat began to openly engage in lewd behavior together right in front of Dad and everyone present, my mother was high and Pat was drunk. Pat and my mother then left in Dad's car, leaving Dad standing there like a fool, which he was - a fool in love. Dad believed in the proverb that a wife has the right to choose and make her own decisions, and so he simply watched them drive away, his heart destroyed and tears in his eyes. Dad got drunk at that party and a lady asked him if she could drive him home since Pat and my mother had taken Dad's car, he was too drunk to drive anyway. The lady that drove Dad home that night was Lovey...

Dad, of course was later drafted into the Army. ...The Civil War in Vietnam was the same as the American Civil War, brother against brother and father against son, the only difference was that in Vietnam there were jets and helicopters instead of horses. By the time Dad was Serving his first tour you were born, Tim. I remember when the news came that Lovey had delivered you. When Dad returned home he went into a training program for maintaining the Huey helicopter. Dad fell in love with the Huey and he was an intelligent man, he got several certificates and a promotion in Rank while he was in the States, studying. Before he left for his second tour, Ricky had been born, I remember that too. ...My father truly believed in the cause against Communist aggression and he wanted the machines that were flying troops in and out of battle to be at their best. He wanted everyone to come home." Asia said quietly.

I nodded silently.

"On his second tour and just after the Tet offensive, Dad got an infection when he cut his hand on a garbage bin, doctors treated it but the infection became worse and eventually he was flown back to the States to see a specialist, he died thirty minutes after arriving at the hospital in Seattle. Dad's name isn't on the memorial wall because he didn't die in Vietnam, he died here. ...I'm told that Lovey teetered on the edge of insanity for a while, she was never the same again after he died." Asia said, looking off into space.

"Did you know she wanted to adopt you?" I asked, remembering my Auntie Colleen's statement and understanding its meaning now.

"I do now, yes. ...Lovey delegated one third of her estate to the education of this one, did you know that, Tim?" Asia said pointing to the little girl sleeping in the arms of Jose'.

"I didn't know but I think it's very appropriate" I said, looking at the sleeping child.

"She also put my daughter, Rose's mother, through college with the money you and Ricky got from the sale of her white car. My daughter is a veterinarian now because of it. I hope you're alright with that, Tim. Lovey did it on her own accord; we didn't ask her for money.' Asia said, looking at me.

"It's what we would have done too, Asia" I said.

"It's time to wave at Mommy now" Asia suddenly said as she un-muted the television.

The little girl suddenly rose now and faced the television. Now I remembered where I had seen Rose, she was on TV giving the local weather report. Jose', Asia and the little girl began waving to the TV set. Andrea and I followed suit and waved also. The weather report lasted several minutes and even included some good natured bantering between Rose and one of the News casters. Rose was very good at her job; the weather report was not only informative but entertaining as well.

"We always do that" Asia said, smiling at the little girl and muting the Television once more.

...Making an assumption now, I showed Asia the picture of Mom and Rick with the black and white panda Teddy bear and asked, "Do you still have this?"

Asia rose and walked out of the room without saying anything; she then returned with the stuffed animal and handed me the bear. "He's a little worse for wear, I'm afraid, but we still love him" Rose joked quietly.

I held the bear in a sitting position in my lap the way I would a small child and I was suddenly engulfed with emotion and memories of my mother.

"I should have made contact with you sooner but my aunt, who adopted me, always felt that it would be inappropriate and Lovey always respected my aunt's feelings. ...I followed you and Ricky for half a day once when you were out towing an old car, I watched you for hours and I wanted to... I just couldn't ...it didn't seem like ...I was afraid that you'd ...I'm sorry that..." Asia began to stammer.

Before either of us were cognoscente of what was happening Asia and I were in each other's arms with her weeping.

"...I can't wait to tell Ricky that he has a sister! You're so beautiful Asia and we love you. You have a wedding to attend to in a few days too; by the way, Ricky is getting married." I said standing back and looking down into her face.

"I know, Ollie Parker told me, she's the one that showed me the webpage with Dad and Lovey on it." Asia replied.

"You're not going to be too embarrassed to tell your friends that your related to a couple of hillbillies now, are you?" I asked with a straight face.

Asia laughed heartily, Jose' and Andrea did too.

"Andrea and I have made copies of these photos that Rick took, you can have this stack but I have one question that I hope you can answer" I said picking up the photos and rifling through them for several seconds.

Asia remained silent, watching me shuffle the pictures.

"This one! See how Mom's teasing Rick, we call it the 'Tease Rick Photo', he looks like he just lost his last hand of poker in an all night card game, what was she saying to him, were you there, can you remember, Asia?" I asked.