First stop was at Raleigh-Durham, not Charlotte. For some reason Charlotte wasn’t able to handle our customs inspection. We made it to the terminal, and waited a few minutes while we refueled for the customs officer to show up. We filled out our forms and when he asked, ‘Do you have anything to declare?’, our mutual response was, ‘We need a vacation from our vacation!’ He laughed, stamped our form, and waved us on our way.
While airborne on our next leg, I had Jim send a radio message ahead to have the terminal call the Lefleurs to let them know when we would land. This was to be a quick stop. We weren’t going to have a car waiting for us, and Marilyn’s family was supposed to drive out with Charlie and load him and all his gear onto the Learjet. I hoped to be out of there inside of an hour.
When we floated in for a real greaser landing, Marilyn looked out her window and squealed, “They’re here! I can see their car!” I looked over at her side, but the angle was wrong and I couldn’t see anything. It felt good to be almost home. Marilyn was excited to be back. She turned to look at me with a big smile. “I really loved it, but I missed Charlie, too.”
“Next vacation, we’ll take him too. I think he’s a little young for Disney, though.”
“That’s not important. We’ll take him, too. Besides, I’ve never been there either,” she answered serenely.
I shrugged. “Just remember the deal. For every kid vacation, you and me take an adult vacation. Start making a list of places you want to go to.”
She simply smiled and shook her head. We pulled up to the terminal and shut down. We wouldn’t need to refuel for the quick trip down to Westminster. After the hatch was opened, we looked out to see Harriet and Big Bob staring at us. We climbed down, and I waved as Marilyn scurried over to her parents. I limped along slowly after her. My leg was still bothering me since the bar fight. I was going to have to get to a gym and a dojo that could work some strength and flexibility back into my knee.
It was a lot cooler in upstate New York than it was in the Bahamas. I was sorry I had left my jacket in the car in Westminster! I gamely hobbled over and shook Big Bob’s hand. “Welcome back!” he said.
“Thanks. It’s good to be home. How was Charlie?” I asked with a nod towards where Marilyn was cooing over our son. He had a big grin on his face, so he obviously still remembered Momma.
“Oh, pretty good. He’s a healthy eater, that’s for sure.” He looked back at the little jet. “This is for real? You really can charter a jet?”
“It’s for real,” I assured him. “Want to see what it’s like?”
He gaped at that, so I touched his elbow and urged him forward. He followed me along, and I let him climb inside. He looked around, and his first comment was, “There’s not a lot of headroom, is there?”
Well, no there wasn’t. “There’s bigger jets than this, but for this trip, this was big enough. Man, it really beats going through airports and sitting back in coach. Fast, too! We left Westminster, back in Maryland at ten in the morning and landed in the Bahamas by noon. You spend that long just sitting around in the airport waiting for a regular plane to load. You can’t beat that!”
“Unbelievable!”
I grinned at him. “Next time you and Harriet want to take a vacation by yourselves, let Marilyn know. I’ll set it up for you.”
He stared at me when I said that, but I just smiled and shrugged. Why not, it would be good for family relations. I remembered a trip made a couple of years ago, when the entire family — kids, fiancées, girlfriends, etc. - less us (I was on ready cycle), 20 in all, drove from Utica down to Orlando in a five car convoy. It took three days with that crowd. Wouldn’t that have been simpler if they had flown charter and then rented a couple of large vans while down there? Probably cheaper, too, when you figure in hotel rooms and meals on the trip down and back. I had been on that trip the first time through and it was a fucking zoo!
“Well, this is really something, I have to say that!” he said.
“Trust these two to leave us with Charlie and all his gear!” groused Harriet from the bottom of the stairs.
Big Bob ignored the complaint and said, “Mother! You have to see this! Come on up here!”
Harriet grumbled and handed Charlie’s bags up the stairs to the pilot, and then lumbered up the stairs. She immediately began oohing and ahhing herself.
“Make way!” sounded from the bottom of the stairs. Marilyn came up carrying Charlie in his car seat. Samantha immediately moved through the press of people and they figured out how to secure him on one of the seats. Marilyn told me I was being evicted from my seat for our son, and she would sit across the aisle from him, so that he could see her during the flight. It was a short flight, barely an hour, but better to see Mommy then spend the time screaming. Charlie was a good traveler, from what I could see, but better to be safe than sorry. I was moved one row back.
Big Bob and I went back to his car to find anything else left behind, but Harriet and Marilyn had grabbed it all earlier. We shook hands and Marilyn kissed her parents good-bye, and then we went winging off to Westminster. Charlie was the best kind of traveler; he was sound asleep before we ever got to cruising altitude.
When we got back to the town house, Marilyn and I were thoroughly exhausted. Despite the private jet, we had still been on three flights through three airports and it had taken the day. Charlie woke up as we landed and was pretty good, but he was hungry, so he squawked until Marilyn fed him and I had to handle the luggage myself. It was late in the day, and after we got into the town house, I was immediately sent back out with a grocery list. Add to that a very funky smell from the refrigerator, where we found a bottle of formula from a week ago. Ahhhh — Home Sweet Home!
Wednesday morning I called John Steiner and asked him how the paperwork was going with the property purchase. He indicated that everything was fine, and that we should be able to close next Friday. Then he invited me to lunch, and I told him I’d meet him at noon in Timonium. He wanted to see me about something, but didn’t want to get into it on the telephone.
I got to the steak house at twelve, just in time to find that I was following John into the parking lot. He got a spot near the door, but I had to go around to a different row, so we didn’t actually meet until I got to the front door. He smiled when he saw me. “Nice tan! Been down in the islands, have we?”
“How’d you know? Did we tell you?” I had to think about it. Marilyn and I hadn’t been secretive about the vacation, but we hadn’t specifically told anybody about it either.
“Yes and no. You told me you were going away, but not where. You did mention something to Missy, I think, or maybe Jake, about the Bahamas. I simply put two and two together.”
I nodded in understanding. We went inside and got to a table quickly, despite the lunch crowd arriving. We both ordered small steaks and salads, and ice teas. John said he was a working man and didn’t need a drink. I joked I wasn’t a working man and could have a drink if I wanted, but then ordered an iced tea anyway. No point in making my friend uncomfortable.
After the waitress left, he looked at me and asked, “How’s your arm?”
“My arm? My arms are fine. What are you talking about?”
“The cut on your arm and the stitches. That’s what I’m talking about.”
My eyes popped at that. “How do you know about that!?” I asked.
He reached inside his suit coat and pulled out a folded up page of the Tuesday edition of the Baltimore Sun, from the local section. ‘Local Hero Foils Robbery, Catches Bahamas Killers’, was the headline for the piece. “What the hell!?” I exclaimed quietly, looking up at John.