We're a Wonderful Wife Ch. 13

The Wi-Fi was shut down and the laptops were all packed up, so Lanh pulled out her phone and looked up the FCC database one last time before they left. The wait for their license to be issued and posted on the FCC data base was sheer agony, they weren't allowed to use a radio until they got their call signs, and Don had a mobile radio installed in Karole's new truck. "They're there!" cried Lanh as she looked up Trung and Karole in the database. Karole found out that she was now KX0AFN and Trung became KX0MYL. It was a total nerd thing to do but they did it just in time to go home.

"Here you go Alpha Foxtrot November," said Don as he handed Karole a small box.

"And for you, Michael Yankee Lima," said Lanh as she handed her brother Trung an identical box. Trung and Karole opened up the boxes and both found in the box a small, handheld ham radio. Karole actually squealed with excitement, she realized that it was an inexpensive Chinese knockoff, but it was her first radio.

"So that leaves only Kim-ly without a license," said Karole, sad that her friend was left out of the group. But Kim-ly reached into her pocket and pulled out a Yaesu VX-8 quad band radio and waved it around with a smug smile. It's a pricy radio, over $500, twenty times what Don paid for Karole's radio.

"She's an extra, KX0RA," said Don. There's three levels of ham license, technician, general, and extra and Kim-ly took all three tests and aced them all. "She tested weeks ahead of you guys."

"It's not you guys," smiled Kim-ly. "I did it to piss off Bao. He failed his technician test a few years ago."

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They were able to leave early the next morning, yet they didn't make very good travel time on the road; it was snowing, and they had to stop for potty breaks more often than expected, additionally, Lanh needed to get out and move every one or two hours. They also found that getting the injured girls and the kidlets in and out of the vehicles took longer than expected, so they decided that while they're not exactly zooming along, they might as well do some sightseeing if the opportunity presented itself.

Along with their hand-held radios, Don had the mobile ham radios installed in Lanh's SUV and Karole's new pickup pre-programmed with the frequencies they would be using on the trip. They had fun chatting as they went, it was easier to use than cell phones and not as noisy as CB. Their first stop was Chugwater Wyoming, a small town about 100 miles north of Greeley on Interstate 25, a former locomotive water stop on the Union Pacific Railroad. The term Chugwater didn't come from the locomotives chugging water, although there was water there, it came from the name of the steep sided valley they were in, the native American tribes called it the Valley of the Chug.

They pulled into the station and Trung hopped out of the pick-up and pulled the wheelchair out of the back. He set the chair up on the passenger side of the pickup and scooped Karole out of the truck and gently eased her into the chair. As she got herself settled, Trung got Krissy out of her seat in the back seat and placed her on Krissy's lap. It was an exercise he would repeat over and over for the next several days as they journeyed to Minnesota.

The first stop for gas was Orin Junction, a truck stop was there, and they pulled in to top off the vehicles and go to the bathroom. The smell of the cooking food was so tempting but they were on a tight budget for this trip. They could make a call home and get all the financing they needed from their families, but Don, Lanh, and Kim-ly were dead set against it, this was their trip, they didn't see a need to drag their families into their expense.

After the stop at Orin Junction, they were no longer on the interstate, they were on two lane prairie roads that headed north and east through the open Wyoming prairie. There were no towns here, just open ranch land. They were so far from any town that there was nothing on AM or FM radio and soon there was no access to cell towers either. Now Trung and Karole saw the wisdom of their amateur radios, they could talk to each other still, and occasionally chat with a local rancher on their ham radios but they could no longer use their cell phones.

As they drove through open prairies of Wyoming, Trung and Karole spoke at great length. Being the middle child of six kids, and a family consisting of two parents and dozens of nephews, nieces, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, great uncles, and great aunts, Trung felt suffocated by his family. Karole grew up with just her mother and often dreamed of having sisters and brothers like Trung had. She had no idea who her mother's family was, nor her father's family. Hell, her mother never told her who her father was, and Karole suspected that she didn't know. When Trung started complaining of the problems of living in a large extended family Karole eventually cried "Stop! Please. I used to dream of everything you're complaining about. I used to wish for what you hate."

"What do you mean?" Trung couldn't believe that someone didn't understand the horrors of a large, noisy, nosey family.

"Lanh told me that on Sunday you all sat down with a refrigerator full of leftovers from dozens of different recipes and you'd argue over which one was best and how to improve the worst..."

"It was a way to get rid of leftovers," groused Trung. He thought about it for a bit then said, "mom and dad made us do that, so we'd learn the difference between each dish."

"That's the knowledge they had," intoned Karole, "That's what they could teach you," she sniffed and started to tear up. "Wanna know what my momma taught me? She would say "A swallow beats a stork every time!" Who would say that to their daughter? Your parents taught you a trade, my mother taught me that the best birth control pill is an aspirin held between my knees. Seriously, what kind of woman would say that to their daughter?"

"I didn't know..." sputtered Trung.

But Karole continued, "she also taught me that it was ok to eat bread with green spots, it will make you healthy, it's what they make penicillin from. That's when I taught myself to make my own dinner."

As Karole spoke of her childhood the weather turned nasty, visibility dropped until all that Trung could see was three car lengths ahead of him, and soon that too disappeared in billowing clouds of white. He slowed and pulled over to the edge of the road, putting on the four-way flashers. When they stopped, he gently stroked her cheek and wiped the tears away. "You didn't have to stop because of me," she sniffed.

"No, I'm sorry I was so stupid, I know I have a big loving family, and I do miss it, I... I'm terrified of going back and I feel like I'm talking my way into coming up with excuses to avoid going back."

"Why?" asked Karole.

"Because I earned the title of đụ má ngu. I just don't want to be reminded of it."

Karole looked at Trung, such a handsome man, muscular, tall, confident. She saw the pictures that Lanh and Kim-ly had of him and damn, he's hot! But right now, he looks as busted up on the inside as she is on the outside. "Trung, I don't speak Vietnamese. Hell, I don't even speak English, I speak 'merican. You need to tell me what you said."

"Oh... đụ má ngu means stupid fuck." Trung shook his head sadly as he considered how his life had fallen apart so horribly in the past year and a half. "I was so crazy about that girl and all she did was fuck with me, she even got me released from my job hoping I'd go back to hockey. I went in to work and my replacement was there, and my boss said, "Didn't you quit?" Angela sent them a resignation letter in my name!"

"Oh my god," gasped Karole. "What did you do?"

Trung shrugged. "I went home, and she was all excited, a team in Alberta wanted me, but I told her I was too old to go back to getting beaten up for a living, so she said, "Fuck you ya coward" and went to Alberta without me. I found out later she was already pregnant." He pulled out his phone and showed Karole a picture of the blond that she recognized from their last meeting; she was holding a baby that definitely wasn't Asian.

"Aww, I'm sorry," said Karole softly.

"My mom says that the divorce paperwork just arrived," Trung continued. "I was in Denver to look for work when I got a text from Kim-ly and found all of this. I didn't have anywhere to go so I crashed at Don and Lanh's place, and there you were. I kept hearing a voice in my head telling me that you needed me..."

"Lanh's angel," said Karole, an excited smile in her eyes. "I remember a voice telling me that someone was waiting for me. I thought she meant Krissy but when I woke up, you were there."

"Kim-ly said that Lanh has a thing for angels." Just then the truck lurched from a sudden gust of wind causing Karole to panic. All that could be seen was white as the wind rocked the truck and a quick exchange on the radio told them that Lanh, Don, and Kim-ly were getting hit hard wherever they were. This was nasty, Trung hasn't seen weather like this in a long time and Karole has never seen it.

The statuesque blond was terrified, and she gasped every time a strong gust hit the truck and shook it. It has been hours since her cell phone worked, even AM/FM radio has been silent but for static for hours because they were in such a remote area. Now she was injured, incapable of walking and she and her baby were trapped in a blizzard in the middle of the vast Wyoming prairie. She was one more heavy gust of wind away from a complete mental collapse.

"You stay close to me," Trung offered as he held Karole's hand. "Trust me, I've been through this a few times." He wriggled out of his parka and wrapped her in it, then he turned around and covered Krissy with a few receiving blankets that were available and made sure she was sleeping soundly. Then Trung and Karole held each other as the truck rocked and the wind howled. A couple of times Trung dashed out and cleared the snow off of the flashing taillights so any vehicle that was traveling would see them.

In about an hour the wind calmed; Trung scraped the windows using a credit card because they didn't think to get a window scraper for this new truck. With the windows cleared and visibility up to over 300 feet, Trung started to move closer to Don and Lanh who had gotten far ahead of them before the storm hit.

Finally moving again, they were making horrible travel time, small snow drifts stretched across the highway every twenty feet or so, they weren't big, but you didn't want to hit them going too fast or you may break something in the undercarriage. Trung called the little snow drifts "snow snakes."

Their original plan was to follow US 85 north to Newcastle then cross over into South Dakota and bypass the winding roads through the Black Hills National Forest. After questioning Don and Trung on their milage and estimated range, Lanh informed Don, "We're not going to make it to Newcastle. That storm killed our gas intake."

"What's our other option?" Don asked.

"We go to Edgemont," Lanh concluded after looking at an old-fashioned paper map. "Being in a tourist area gas is going to be more expensive there but it's in range and we still might be able to re-route around the Black Hills."

"OK. Number one, chart a course." After an hour of slamming into "snow snakes" they were exhausted, Danh thought they were entertaining for some reason, every so often the SUV would go Bump! causing him to laugh. Kim-ly, who slept through the whole storm, was laughing with him in the back seat. But soon they crossed into South Dakota and were sheltered by trees; the trees broke up the winds and the snow dropped in the forests and prevented the white-out that they got out on the open prairie.

They weren't exactly on fumes when they rolled into Edgemont, but their tanks were low. As they filled up their trucks Trung and Kim-ly did a diaper swap on Krissy and Danh, the poor little tykes were soaked, both needed their clothes changed. Once they were complete with a fuel up and a potty break in Edgemont, they started heading north into the Black Hills. Kim-ly started playing with her cell phone and took a quick look at Don's bank account and gasped. "Don, call Bao, put him on speaker."

"Ok, hang on," and Don told his phone to make a call.

After a few rings they heard Bao answer, "Nguyen Accounting, what's up Don."

"Hey Bao, it's Kimmy," said Kim-ly using a term of endearment that Bao used on her in their past. She used it hoping Bao would understand that this was some serious shit.

"What's up em, you on the road yet?"

"Yeah, we just crossed into South Dakota. What the hell happened to Don's checking account?"

"Didn't Huy tell you? That was part of a settlement."

"We're still waiting for the settlements," said Kim-ly.

"No, this one is Don's settlement... remember four years ago? When he got blown apart by an unnamed jet jockey of unspecified allegiance?" said Bao. "Huy reached out to He That Shall Not Be Named and described the medical and financial problems you were having and threatened to sue Big Evil and make the details public."

There was a gasp from the back seat and Don said, "Big problem Kim-ly?"

"I just looked at your savings account... Bao what did you do?"

"I simply took what Huy sent, put it in savings and moved ten percent into checking," said Bao. "Standard procedure."

Don glanced back at Kim-ly and said, "Sounds good to me, what's wrong with that?"

"Don, you have forty thousand dollars in checking."

It was silent in Lanh's SUV for a long time, then Lanh picked up the microphone to the ham radio and said, "Kilo X-Ray Zero Alpha Romeo November this is Kilo Oscar four Juliet Poppa November."

In a moment they heard Karole's voice saying, "Go ahead Lanh, what's up?"

"I hope you guys are hungry, we're having steak and lobster for dinner."

~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~

There was no lobster but Lanh and Kim-ly split a grilled walleye fillet that covered both plates easily. Trung and Don both had 23-ounce tomahawk ribeye steaks and Karole had the buffalo beef stew because she wouldn't have to ask someone to cut it for her. She's never had buffalo before, and they promised her it was nothing like buffalo wings. Honestly, she didn't know. When her meal came she found the bison meat to be tender, delicious, and the flavor was like regular beef with more beef flavor. "When ah git me a big freezer I'm going to fill it with a whole side of buffalo."

The restaurant was decorated in South Dakota Black Hills chic, it was done up as a big log cabin with log beam ceilings, wagon wheel lamps, elk heads mounted on the wall, horseshoes and branding irons hung everywhere. Trung turned to Don, "Ok, you've talked to your lawyer, you've talked to your accountant..."

"Yeah, and?"

"You people," Trung chuckled, and he shook his head. "Ok, for Karole and me, what is going on? Where did the money for this dinner and resort accommodations come from?"

"Ok," said Don, "How do I say it without violating a gag order... An outfit? Consortium? Let's just say a group who I cannot name, were doing something I cannot describe, in an area I cannot identify. Something that I was told didn't happen resulted in eleven people wounded and three killed..."

"And?"

"And... thanks to our brother, our lawyer Huy, we got gas money. I have an income of $100,000 per year, and so do the families of my friends who were not with me in a land we have never been to." Maybe another nightmare ended, thought Don, the one where he sees the horror-stricken face of the widowed husband of Cynthia Daniels glared at him over Cynthia's coffin with an accusation in his eyes that causes Don to wake, pangs of guilt twisting his insides. Or maybe the one with tough chick Wendy Addams weeping, wailing for her husband who abandoned her there on the ramp as they got off the med-evac flight. He took one look at her injured face and left. Don can never forgive himself for allowing those events to happen and his conscience is not letting him sleep.

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The small convoy pulled up in front of Nguyen's Pho just as dusk was beginning to settle in which in the north is about 4:45 PM. A small crowd poured out of the restaurant to greet the SUV and pickup that parked in the handicap parking spots at the front of the restaurant. Trung quickly swung into action getting the wheelchair set up then he tenderly scooped up Karole and set her in the wheelchair, then he placed Krissy in her lap. At the same time Don was helping Lanh out of the SUV while Kim-ly unbuckled a sleepy Danh from his child seat.

They heard a familiar cry of excitement and Mai fought her way to the front of the crowd, "There's my hero!" Mai cried, "She saved me, she saved my baby!" she rushed up and hugged and kissed Karole. Mai laughed and cried at the same time, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Looking up she saw Don and Lanh coming around the end of their SUV followed by Kim-ly who was carrying Danh. Mai hugged Don, then Lanh then Kim-ly, and she came away with Danh in her arms. "There's my big boy! Look how big you are! Răng! A tooth! Let's go show grandpa your new tooth!"

Don was hugging his dad and Sandy and they noticed Trung who was navigating Karole through the crowd of well-wishers. This welcoming mob was completely unexpected, but when Momma Mai says something, people listen, and it looks like the whole family is here. It was cold, really cold, but the altitude was 4,800 feet lower than what Don has had to put up with for the past two years and he was feeling so much better.

When they got inside the restaurant Karole was talking to Rosa like a long-lost sister, while she clung to Trung's hand and occasionally kissing it, and that wasn't lost on Mai. "Again, with the blonds?" she demanded, but if Trung noticed it he ignored her.

Kim-ly led her mother away from Trung and whispered into her mom's ear. "Karole is not a hockey groupie, and that's for sure" said Kim-ly. "We were cleaning out the garage and found Don's hockey stick and Karole said, "What's that?"

"Perfect!" said Mai who always had suspicions about Angela. Trung's soon to be ex-wife started as his teaching assistant and she pursued Trung for years. After they married, she discovered that Trung was only playing hockey for the scholarship money, he wasn't interested in playing anything other than a pick-up game here or there after graduation. Angela had her eyes set on the lofty goal of NHL wife and when Trung told her that he was all about agronomy, she dumped him for a semi-professional player in Alberta.

At the same time, Don and Lanh were moving around the room saying hi to everyone, then they found Mr. Mach. "Coach Mach!" cried Lanh and she threw her arms around the man who had so much faith in her so many years ago...

"Coach Nguyen!" laughed Mr. Mach as his favorite assistant coach hugged him.

"Geez, what happened to you?" said Don. "You let yourself get old!"

Paul Mach chuckled, "so did you, fish." Fish was his favorite nickname for members of his swimming team. "I hear you're politicking to take over the school board."

"Me? Never! I'm just a broke, broken dirt farmer who wants to see my kids get a quality education. Speaking of which..." He gestured to Trung to join them, "I want you to rest assured that you will have a skilled replacement carrying on your legacy while you retire on a beach somewhere. Trung, this is Coach Mach, Paul, this is Trung Nguyen. Sit here and chat with each other," and Trung sat while Lanh and Don wheeled Karole away.

"Where are you taking me?" demanded Karole. She wanted to hear Trung's conversation with Coach Mach. The two were chatting like old friends already.