All Aboard Andi's Dream Ch. 09

"Objection! The witness is accusing my client of further criminal acts!" cried the defense attorney.

The prosecutor looked at Paul and said, "Your honor, Colonel Jarecki is merely stating the feelings of other husbands at Kadina Air Base. Be advised your honor, there are more suits coming against former general Blecher." He then turned to Paul and said, "do you have anything at all to say to former General Blecher?"

"Nothing."

"Thank you Colonel. The prosecution calls Colonel Jacquette Davis."

Jacqui handed the weeping Andi a piece of paper and said, "Look this up when you get home." Andi nodded and sniffed, then put the piece of paper into her purse. She didn't notice how it happened, but she realized Jacqui was gone and Paul was sitting next to her. Paul held her tight, and she tried to remain silent as they swore Jacqui in.

"Colonel, congratulations on your new command," said the Prosecutor.

"Thank you."

"Colonel, how did you meet Colonel Jarecki?"

Jacqui looked at Paul and smiled. "We found each other, a kind of a broken hearts club," said Jacqui. "I got assigned to Grand Forks Air Force Base and my husband took one look around and left. He didn't even wait for the first wintry day. So I moved out of housing into the BOQ and a fellow helped me carry my stuff into my room. It was Colonel Jarecki. He never said a word, he just did it. Later I went looking for him to thank him and found he lived just up the hall from me. He invited me to dinner at the O club and he said it was the first meeting of the Grand Forks Officers' Lonely Hearts Club."

"What was he like at that point in time?"

"He never wanted me to call him colonel, he insisted that I called him Doctor Jarecki instead of Colonel. When I asked why he said that he liked being a Doctor better than a Colonel even though he didn't have much time left as either. He was sure that he was going to be thrown out of the Air Force and he was going to lose his license to practice medicine."

"Did he say why?"

"Because he was an emotional wreck. He accused Colonel Blecher of having an affair with his wife and he accused him of killing her, and he believed that the Air Force condoned it. He was lost, without something to guide him. Doctor Jarecki wasn't dangerous, if he didn't have a procedure or operation within the next 48 hours he was lost. He would sit in his room playing his guitar or at the Officer Club drinking. We began to watch out for each other. If I had to fly he would cut me off twelve hours before my flight. If he had an operation or was on call I would do the same for him, but he was a broken man. I was terrified that he was going to kill himself."

"Do you know if he had any other issues?"

"I think hating himself was enough. I tried to get him to seek psychiatric help and he eventually made an appointment."

"What happened?"

"Doctor Jarecki told me that the psychologist said his emotional emptiness and suicidal desires were all normal parts of the mourning process. He said that he asked the psychologist if he had any patients that survived and left. The only time either of us felt normal was when we were playing racquet ball. He got me hooked on the game and it cleared my head, I could concentrate on my career and I'm sure it did the same for him. Every now and then I won a tournament and took a trophy home and he always congratulated me no matter where we were in the world. He always found out and reached out to me."

"What part of Colonel Jarecki's emotional breakdown would you say was caused by the actions of Colonel Blecher?"

"I can't say all of it, the mishandling of the entire case by the Air Force caused severe trauma, but the majority of what happened to Doctor Jarecki's life was caused by the actions of Colonel Blecher. He didn't just kill Doctor Jarecki's wife, he tore out Doctor Jarecki's heart and stomped on it. He needs years of therapy all due to former General Blecher."

"Objection! Your honor, the witness has made statements that could only be made by a trained psychologist. I request that her testimony be stricken from the record and the jury instructed to disregard everything she has just said."

"The defense could be right," said the judge. "Colonel Davis, what is your primary field of study?"

"I have received a doctorate degree in psychology through the University of North Dakota," said Jacqui.

"Colonel Davis' testimony will stand," said the judge.

"That's my girl," whispered Paul, as the defense gave up completely. He was tasked with defending an utter bastard.

They left before the defense could begin their attempt to steer the jury into a more lenient sentence. "Thank you for coming out sweetheart," said Paul to Jacqui as he tried to settle Andi's tears. "I guess I didn't prepare Andi for this very well."

"Dude!" cried Jacqui. "When you sit down in a crowded courtroom and find out that your husband's first wife was murdered and his life was destroyed, it's a little tough on a girl. Did you at least tell her about beating up your brother?"

"I didn't, no. I think John's wife did though."

"All I heard was that she locked them in a house together," said Andi, looking around, confused.

"I'm sorry baby," said Paul and he took Andi in his arms and held her close. "I should have told you the whole story but I didn't want to think about it. You rescued me from so much misery and all I wanted to see was you."

"You white boys make me crazy," groaned Jacqui.

"Then why did you marry one?" demanded Paul.

"Leave me out of this," said Jacqui's husband Trent. Trent Peters was her racket ball coach who coached her to a USAF championship. Unfortunately, things were so busy they never got to meet him at Jacqui's change of command ceremony in Minot.

She steered them to the Wright-Pat Officer's club for dinner, where they sat down and tried to relax. Jacqui ordered smoked salmon dip with Old Bay season fresh chips for starters. They enjoyed the salmon dip while they studied the menu. Finally, Jacqui ordered the ahi tuna club, Andi ordered the goat cheese chili relleno, Trent had the short rib stroganoff, and Paul had the grilled lamb chops. He wasn't hungry, but as he watched, Andi tore through her chili relleno and came after his plate.

"Damn girl!" cried Jacqui. "You're packing it away like you're..." She looked at the shocked expression on Andi's face and stopped, then broke into a grin. "You got a bun in the oven don't you?"

Andi looked at Paul, who said, "I haven't had the chance to tell her yet."

Andi swallowed the sizeable bite of greens from Paul's salad and said, "We're expecting some time around Thanksgiving."

"Oh little sister!" gasped Jacqui, and she gave Andi a huge hug. Then she took Paul's kale salad and parked it in front of Andi. "You're eating for two, you fill up."

"What about me?" said Paul.

"You hush, you don't have any gestating to do." She gave Andi another hug. Then she glared at Paul and said, "This woman is 3D printing a human being. She gets what she wants." Then she turned to Andi and said, "you stick with me girl. We got to make you healthy."

"Hell no!" cried Andi. "I'm not going back to North Dakota until I have to. You should come down to our house in Springville."

"Have you picked names?" asked Trent, trying to change the subject.

"If it's a boy it will be Daniel," said Paul. "We haven't really decided on a girl's name yet."

"After today I have a suggestion," said Jacquie.

Andi nodded. "I think Melony will be a good name for our girl."

"Therapeutic," said Jacqui. But Paul remained strangely quiet. It didn't seem right to him.

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Andi returned to the office and was impressed at how far the pulmonary therapy lab had advanced. The technicians had got a wireless pulse/oxygen saturation meter and a distance measuring wheel to measure the patient's blood oxygen levels while walking in the six-minute walk test. "It still sucks to write down the numbers as they do the test," said Estelle Gibbons.

Andi dug around in her messenger bag and pulled out a small voice recorder. "Here, use this. Read off the distance and the blood oxygen level every minute then transfer that to your document at the end of the test. Get a recorder for the clinic on order because I want that one back. Any other problems? Are people getting out of your way when you run the test?"

"No, we still have to tell them to move."

Andi grinned and placed a deck of cards and a bulldog clip on the desk by the voice recorder. "That should work."

Estelle gathered up the items that Andi gave her. "Thank you ma'am. Previous bosses would just demand that it get done, they didn't care how the test was run."

"Accurate results and comfort for the troops, that's our job Estelle, and it's not Ma'am, it's Andi."

After Estelle left, Andi dug into the mound of paperwork that her cross-country jaunt left for her. Soon Andi heard the "clickety clickety clickety" of a playing card clicking against the spokes of a wheel. "She figured it out," said Andi, as she looked at another report she hoped was important. Hopefully, people will soon recognize that clicking noise and get out of the way.

"Ahem," said Lucy from Andi's office door.

Andi looked up and smiled when she saw the broad grin on her friend's face. "I need a change of address form," said Lucy, and Andi dug one out of her filing cabinet.

"Get a new place?" asked Andi, as Lucy started filling out the form. Lucy had been complaining that her apartment in Allentown was too far away from the clinic and the main hospital and she needed to find a new place.

"Give me a second, I don't want to mess this up." She finished the form and handed it to Andi.

"It was such a rough week in Ohio," started Andi. Then she glanced at the form Lucy handed her and saw the address: 289 east 21st Street, Springville, NY... "That's Gus's house," gasped Andi. "You moved in with Gus?"

Lucy's grin was even brighter than before.

"Moved in, moved in? Or just moved in?" gasped Andi.

"Oh, I'm moved in, moved in," said Lucy with a waggle of her eyebrows.

"Lucy!" squealed Andi as she ran around the desk to hug her friend. "My god! How did this happen?"

Lucy shrugged then said, "After I gave him a BJ it just came up in conversation?"

"YOU?" gasped Andy. "You joined the Dick Swallowing Sisterhood? I hope he reciprocated."

"He'd qualify as an honorary lesbian," Lucy said as they hugged. She never told Andi about what went on between Gus and her below decks on the New Year's Eve cruise. This wasn't the first blowjob she ever took to completion, but it's the one she enjoyed the most. After that, the week became a cornucopia of sexual exploration with Gus.

"Have you... sealed the deal?" asked Andi.

"Gone all the way? No. Close, but I asked him to hold off until I'm ready, and he's good with that.

"I'm so happy for you! He's so crazy for you!"

"I know," said Lucy.

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Life settled into a regular pattern. Paul either worked from his attic office or his office at the dealership on Mile Strip Road where he could watch Andi's "Volkswagen" get lovingly cared for, and Macy's spider get the attention Alphas constantly demand. Andi buried herself in work at her VA clinic and loved every moment of working with the veterans and with Lucy. Yi found that watching the twins was more of a challenge than she dared imagine, but it was all fun, and they were learning fast the proper way to cook. When John wasn't working on his sermon for Sunday, he was at Gus's shop working on gifts for Macy, Andi, and Paul, and Macy spent a lot of time visiting homebound members of the church.

"Frowers! We found frowers!" shouted the Twins as they dashed into the kitchen, bouncing like popcorn. Paul had just come down from his attic office and heard the girl's cries.

"What did you find?" asked Paul.

"Baby purple frowers!" cried both girls.

"Let's go see the frowers," said Paul. "Come on Yi."

"I always wondered what a frower was," she muttered, and she pulled on a pair of sketchers and stepped outside. In the front yard, around the base of the shade trees, were circular gardens and, edging the gardens, were beautiful purple flowers. They looked like they were so eager to bloom they barely were able to make it above ground before their blossoms opened. Just inches above the soil, the colorful blossoms looked spectacular. "They're cute!" said the Asian beauty.

"Can we pick them?" asked Sandy.

"Not these, they're too short, the flowers will fall apart," said Paul. "These are called crocus and we just let them stay here so everyone can see them, because they're the very first flower of spring."

"Wow," gasped Madeline softly as she crouched down and gently poked the flower. "What's the next flower?"

"Ok, come on..." and Paul led them back to the house where, edging the wide sweeping porch, were flower beds. "See those green leaves coming up?"

"Uh huh!" said a far too eager Sandy.

"Those are tulips. They have big pretty flowers that we will pick and give to mommy," said Paul. "There are also daffodils and hibiscus in those plants and they'll bloom soon too."

"What's next?" cried Madeline, catching spring fever from her sister.

"Come on," and Paul led them to the backyard to the grape arbor. "See these sticks? They will start sprouting leaves and they will make grapes."

"No frowers?"

"Nope, over here are the super frowers," and Paul led them behind the garage where lots of thin sticks were poking up through the soil. "These are lilacs. They grow big bunches of teeny, tiny flowers that smell so good. Smell the leaves."

The twins stuck their nose into the sprouting leaves and Paul plucked a leaf and handed it to Andi, who gave it a sniff. "Peaches? It smells like peaches."

"They were my mom's favorite," said Paul. "This is a cutting from the lilac bush from her house in Williamsville. John has a cutting growing in his yard too." Paul walked to the back corner of the yard where the rose garden waited for the warmer temperatures. "There's all kinds of roses in here, but this bush is a yellow rose that only blooms in the first week of June. My mom's birthday was June fourth so John and I would bring her yellow roses. We take them to her still."

"Grandma Jarecki?" asked Sandy.

"Where is Grandma Jarecki?" asked Madeline.

"She's in heaven with Grandpa Jarecki," said Paul as he crouched down to talk face to face with the girls.

"Why?"

"They were quite old little one. They tried to wait for you, I know they wanted to meet you, but you were still in mommy's tummy when Grandma died. But the living room, where you watch TV, that was her favorite room, she and grandpa bought all that furniture when I was your age and I keep it so we can all remember her."

"Do they bury you before or after you die?" asked Sandy. Yi snorted in stifled laughter, but Paul handled it in stride. He was getting used to questions like that.

"Long after you die," said Paul. "Grandma and Grandpa Jarecki are buried over at Uncle John's church." The moment he said that, he realized he made a mistake.

"Can I see? Can I see? Can I see?"

"I have work to do," said Paul. "When I get back, if you eat all your lunch we will go see Grandma and Grandpa."

"OK!"

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Two hours later, Paul hopped out of his truck in front of Andi's clinic, and Wonka followed him. Wonka was wearing his Service Animal vest and stayed right next to Paul. Paul dropped the tailgate of his big F250 "White Whale" and set up a pair of ramps, then he rolled a big ugly reclining chair down the ramps. It was a hospital style recliner, something that has gone out of fashion, but was incredibly comfortable and very durable. It had large wheels so it can be moved easily around and it came down the ramps easily.

Paul put the ramps back in his truck, then wheeled the recliner into the clinic. At the front desk he said, "Buzz me in, can you Nadine?"

"What is this doctor?"

"It's a gift for Doctor Roberts, I want her off of her feet."

"So the rumors are true, Doctor Jarecki?"

"That I'm a furniture thief? Very true."

"No, that's she's..." and the receptionist put her hand on her tummy.

"You would have to speak with her about that, I just run errands," and Paul pushed the chair through the door and held it open for Wonka to follow.

He got to the end of the hall and peeked into Andi's office. "I heard you coming all the way up the hall," she said without looking up from her laptop.

"I didn't make a sound."

"No, I heard my staff saying, "Hi Wonka, Hi Wonka, Hi Wonka."

Paul pushed the recliner into her office and said, "Can I help it if my dog is more popular than either of us?"

"What is that?" demanded Andi, when she looked up and saw Paul reclining in her office. "This office is small enough as it is." She tried to hold back the laughter. At least it's a used recliner and not a new one.

"You need to put your feet up every two hours." Paul patted his leg and Wonka jumped up on his lap. "Dog not included."

"Where did you get that?"

"Macy found him for me. A place called Pups4Patriots..."

"Not Wonka, the chair."

"The main VA hospital, we use them instead of beds, they take up less room."

"We do not!" insisted Andi. "Do we?" At this point, she could believe anything about the VA.

"These are for visitors. Visitors who stay overnight sleep in these. They're putting couches in some rooms but those suck compared to these. I can't sleep in hospitals so this is where I spend most of my time if I'm stuck in the hospital."

"Are the girls driving you crazy? Is that why you're here?"

"No, the girls are wonderful and they're doing what they're supposed to be doing and Yi found a lesson on gardens for them. They found some flowers in the yard so after I located this chair for you I gave them a botany lesson."

"Botany?" asked Andi, as she joined Wonka in Paul's lap. "How did that work out?"

"The crocus flowers are blooming and they wanted to pick them so I showed them were the pretty tulips and daffodils would be blooming, and they liked that." Then Paul got silent. "Somehow we got talking about my folks and they want to go visit them in the graveyard."

"Can you handle it? Because I'm not going to be home until after dark and you know they're going to beg until you give in."

"Yeah," sighed Paul. "Maybe Macy is handy and she can help me with some of the questions."

Andi gave Paul a gentle kiss. He wasn't good with death. He was the one that discovered his mother dead in the living room Paul made for her. When she died, she was knitting toddler size mittens and went peacefully during The Price is Right. "Take Wonka with you," said Andi. "He's better at all of this than I am."

"I better get it over with," said Paul as he lowered the footrest.

"Don't forget to take a rock for each of the girls," said Lucy, who was leaning on the door frame.

"A rock?" asked Andi.

"It's a Jewish tradition... or maybe a Jewish custom," said Paul.

"What's the difference between a custom and tradition?" asked Andi.

"Spelling," said Paul as he got up and tugged Andi until she was centered in the chair and gave her a kiss.

"No," scolded Lucy. "Customs are practices or behaviors that are common in a society or group. Traditions are..." She rolled her eyes up and thought, then finally settled on "old customs."

"That works for me." Then, as he left, he whispered in Lucy's ear, "Thank you for loving my pal Gus."

"I never said it... Never! I never said..." She clenched her jaw and sat down next to Andi. "Really, I never said it."