Universal Love

DA quickly studied the short portly woman with a truck driver's tan standing before him. Somehow, she seemed out of place. She was dressed similarly to most of the truckers that came in and out of the UP facilities. Her cherubic face had a definite look of intelligence. Her eyes sparkled as she spoke with him. He was immediately drawn to her. He could see where Arvin would be also. It wasn't though, what he expected. Based on what he thought of his real father, he would have expected him to arrive with a big-boobed, bleached blonde hooker lookalike. No, this plump, obviously sharp woman who exuded mental acumen was something else again.

"I'm pleased to meet you, Sonoma." A now smiling Campbell quickly interrupted his thoughts. He looked at Arvin thoughtfully. After a brief hesitation, he made a decision. "Are you guys going to be around for a few days?"

Arvin started to say something, but Sonoma silenced him with a sharp elbow to his ribs. "Yes, we are. Several days, in fact." Arvin didn't look at her, but he could feel her eyes burning holes in the side of his head. He was afraid that if this conversation went on much longer, he would need to go to the emergency room, what with all the hits he was taking from Sonoma.

"Good." Campbell smirked and dug into his coat pocket. He pulled out a card and jotted something on the back of it. He handed it to Sonoma. "My cell is on the front. The address is on the back. Why don't you come around on Saturday? Say elevenish?" Campbell was again staring judiciously at Arvin. "We're having a little barbeque at the house. You can meet your grandchildren. Maybe you'll be a better grandfather than you ever were a dad." He snickered a little. "And, Arvin, people just call me DA now." He turned and left before his emotions got the better of him.

Arvin was stunned. He remained frozen in place, staring at his son's retreating backside. DA stopped at the bank of elevators and stabbed at a button. He looked back at his father. He hadn't meant at all for the conversation to go in that direction. He was probably more surprised than Arvin and Sonoma that it had. DA gave a little wave to them and stepped into the arrived elevator car. He was gone before either could respond in kind.

"Did you hear that, honey? We're grandparents!" Sonoma clapped her hands together joyfully. The sound echoed loudly throughout the silent cathedral-like lobby. Her excitement was infectious. Despite Arvin's angst and confusion as to what had just occurred, he smiled. He gladly let Sonoma lead him out of the lobby into the fresh spring air.

Once outside, Arvin stopped, catching Sonoma off guard so she stumbled a bit, but she held tightly to him. He took a deep breath and studied the surrounding view, as a newborn child would see something for the first time. Immense, beautiful, and full of possibilities. He looked lovingly at his still to him, beautiful wife.

"You know, Sonoma. Something is bothering me. How is it that more than six years after we met, you haven't changed one bit? You look exactly the same. I have more flab, wrinkles, and a mind that is starting to go. Yet you don't even have a single gray hair. You're glowing. How is that possible?"

"Good Genes, I guess?" She offered cautiously.

Arvin snorted at her. "For the thousandth time, Sonoma, where are you from?"

"Why is that such a big deal? I've told you a..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're from nowhere." Arvin shook his head sadly. Suddenly he blurted out. "Asteria? Is that you?"

A confused Sonoma gave Arvin a perplexed look. "Why would you call me that?" That name, why was it familiar?

"I don't know. It...I really don't know. Maybe an old dream or something."

"Quit being weird and forget all that, Arvin. We have work to do!"

"We do? Like what?"

"Shopping, that's what. We have to start right now to make sure that you're really going to be a better grandfather, than a dad." She gave Arvin that 'don't question me' look of hers, that never failed to instantly melt all his insecurities.

"Shopping?" He was surprised.

"Yes, Arvin, shopping." Sonoma sighed deeply. Even for a male of the species, he was dense. A "Grandparent's principal job is to spoil their grandkids. And we need to sell the truck too. Then find a little place around here with a nice big family-friendly backyard."

"And, what are we supposed to do for money?"

"Arvin, have checked our bank accounts recently? We have plenty of money. Besides, I'm sure we could find something to do around here without too much trouble.

"Oh, yeah, and, one more thing. I'm pregnant."

Seven months later:

Arvin's son, along with his wife and two pre-teen children were crowded into the cramped hospital room to meet the newest edition to the family. The kids gave their favorite grandpa a big squeeze before he settled back into his chair next to grandma. DA quickly quipped. "Hey, Arvin, don't screw it up this time!" He was smiling broadly when he said it, and it was returned equally by Arvin.

Arvin and DA had grown closer, each with a better understanding of the other, over the preceding months. DA even landed Arvin a part time job as a receiving clerk on the back dock. It was only part-time because Arvin needed to be available to pick up his grandkids after school and babysit them until one of their parents got home.

Sonoma found a job too. Or more accurately put, the US Government found her. The next thing she knew she had a job working at the headquarters of the US Strategic Command at Offutt Air Force Base. She couldn't talk about what she did there, but it had something to do with Space Operations and Satellite Reconnaissance. In any case, money was never a problem.

At one point, after Arvin expressed some discomfort at his son calling him by his first name, DA had told Arvin, that he had always called the man that raised him, the man that gave him his opportunity to amount to something, Dad. And, he somehow felt calling Arvin Dad would be disrespectful. Arvin understood and agreed. DA had recently started broaching the subject of Arvin meeting his father and seeing his mom again. Arvin told him he wasn't quite ready for that, but they would see how things progressed in the future.

He was almost fifty now, but Arvin vowed he would be as good a father as there ever was. He had quit drinking the day Sonoma told him he was going to be a dad. He started a diet and exercise routine also. A tired but radiant Sonoma cradled God's latest miracle in her arms. Arvin spoke. "Hey everybody, I want you to meet Asteria. Isn't she beautiful?" Tears of joy rolled unashamedly down his cheeks.

DA smiled brightly. "You named her Asteria? After the Greek goddess of falling stars?"

Arvin and Sonoma just looked at each other lovingly. "Yes."

"And close your lips, child, so softly I might kiss you,

Let your flower perfume out and let the winds caress you.

As I walk on through the garden, I am hoping I don't miss you

If all the things you taste ain't what they seem,

Then don't mind me 'cos I ain't nothin' but a dream."

Follow by Richie Havens, 1967

Song Writer, Jerry Merrick.