Chapter Five: The Spirit of Giving
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ll during dinner, the thoughts were racing through my mind like those stock cars that fascinate my husband-to-be on Sunday afternoons. The food was absolutely delicious, garden salad; cream of mushroom soup, and then our main dish consisted of steamed green beans, garlic new potatoes, lobster tail, and prime rib. However, even the good food didn’t stop me from thinking. I kept looking down at the gown that my mother made for me, and it started to remind me.
In my young life, I had survived attacks of insulin shock and two episodes of DKA, which is short for diabetic keto-acidosis, a condition in which my blood sugar is so high that my body’s cells can’t utilize the insulin for fuel, so they start literally eating fat cells to survive. That was why, last Christmas, I shrunk from a size ten to a six, and I lapsed into a diabetic coma. I almost died. I had been kidnapped by a Moroccan sheik that wouldn’t give me my medicine, and he damn near killed me. Anyway, since then, my life seemed to be an endless rumble and tumble of perils with awful villains. Recently, my students got into the act. Not by choice, but when a jealous father on one of our rival teams wanted us to lose the Regionals, he hired professional kidnappers to abduct Zaniya and two of her friends. If you want to kidnap me, fine, but please, don’t drag innocent seventeen-year-olds into it.
Since then, Zaniya and her two friends, Rhonda Wells and Dominique Knight, have bounced back like tennis balls, with the help of their supportive families and their loving boyfriends, who masterminded a quick rescue, thank God! Still, I guess I feel like a mother to the kids, and when some asshole wants to imperil them, that’s a dog barking up the wrong tree. I was so very glad that they weren’t along on my last two escapades, when I and another young woman, a student at Great Northern University, Samantha Grayson, fell into the hands of an evil developer that wanted to tear down the Boys and Girls Club. He wasn’t right. The club’s building is only five years old. Structurally, an earthquake could hit Chicago and it wouldn’t budge. Anyway, to make a long story short, me and my friends, and Samantha’s friends almost wound up at the bottom of a quarry, and we would have, if again, our boyfriends hadn’t come to the rescue at the last minute.
Then there was Autumn’s recent birthday party. She had an Elizabethan masquerade ball at her parents’ home, DuVall Manor. Mom and I spent hours in the fabric store pouring over costume patterns and hauling home loads of fabric for her to make our outfits for that party. When she was all done, our little group looked like we belonged in a sixteenth century castle ballroom. The party itself was no trouble, unless you count the fact that I ran into my childhood nemesis, Kendall O’Connor, who was on the wait staff, and she caused a scene, and the senator threw her out, literally, on her ass. Served her right! What we didn’t know was that thieves had their eye on the mansion. They broke in that night and tied up all of the women in the house. I almost escaped, but they caught me and bound me up with tape. Once again, Joshua came to the rescue and those thieves are probably in jail, dropping soap in the shower. I can only hope.
Why had trouble started following me all of a sudden? Why? There were only a few weeks of peace before it started up again. I couldn’t stop thinking that something was going to happen. Of course, Autumn would say,
“Oh Caitlin, what could possibly happen here?” She always says that, and something almost always goes wrong! Rena however, bless her heart, is a street-wise cop. She is always prepared for the worst, even though she often ends up bound and gagged with us, but not after putting up one hell of a fight.
Even with all of the security guards around here, I still felt edgy. And the worst part of it all was that I had my mom here tonight. Oh God, I didn’t want someone trying to hurt my mother.
“Caitlin? You all right?”
“Huh? Oh yes, I’m just fine. Just thinking.”
“You look a million miles away,” Joshua said gently.
“She always looks like that,” Rick said. “When we were in grade school, you should’ve seen her gazing out the window.” He laughed.
“Yeah, and when the teacher called on me, I had the right answer, now didn’t I?”
“Rick, leave your sister alone,” Mom, said. Thankfully, Autumn stuffed a forkful of potatoes into his mouth to shut him up. I love my brother dearly, that’s my heart, but damn, he just loves to tease me!
“My baby marches to the tune of her own drummer,” Mom said. “She’s all right.”
“Thanks, Mom.” I started to cut off some more of my lobster tail when I heard,
“Ouch! That tickles!” I looked around the table. Autumn was giggling into my brother’s face, Rena was sipping her wine, Josh and Mom were eating, and Eric was buttering another roll. I started to cut again.
“You’re hurting me!”
“All right, that does it! Who’s the comedian at this table?”
“What did you say, sweetheart?”
“My lobster tail keeps talking to me! Watch!” I raised the knife.
“Oh no! She’s going to stab me!”
“Eric! Is that you?” Eric was trying to hold in the giggles, but he wasn’t doing a very good job.
“Oh you mean doing this? Please, if you have any mercy…” Then he and Rena busted up laughing.
“My baby’s been learning how to throw his voice,” Rena said proudly.
“You are sick,” I said, but hey, I had to admit, it was kinda funny.
“Hey lobster, is it all right?”
“It’s all right,” the tail said. Then we all laughed. I finally cut off a piece, dipped it in the butter, and ate it. I see now why they charged us $200 a plate.
“Can I get anybody anything before dessert?” Zaniya asked.
“I’d like some more water,” Mom said. Zaniya filled her glass.
“And I’ll take some more of that champagne, sweetheart,” Rick said.
“No. You’ve had three glasses already,” Mom said.
“Aw Mom, it’s a celebration! Please?” he whined. Twenty-five years old and still whining to his mommy! It was a riot!
“One more glass, and that’s it.” Zaniya gave him another glass, and gave the rest of us water.
“If you all need anything, just holler,” she said, flashing us a pretty smile before she had to serve another table.
“She’s a nice girl,” Mom said. “I like her.”
“Yeah, she’s a good kid. If she goes all the way to school
in Atlanta, I’m really going to miss not seeing her everyday.”
“I don’t know honey. Senator DuVall might’ve influenced her to go to school in Evantown.”
“You think so?”
“Trust me. A mother just knows these things.”
Dessert was coffee and a chocolate parfait. Since I don’t eat sugar that often, it felt like I was tasting chocolate for the first time. There was a time when sweets were strictly off limits to juvenile diabetics. Thankfully, due some new research in nutritional needs of diabetics, I can have sugar, in moderation, of course. It’s nice to be able to eat like everybody else. I swirled the ice cream around in my mouth, trying to savor that wonderfully sweet flavor.
“Good darling?” Josh asked me between bites.
“Excellent,” I replied.
“Better than sex?” he whispered. I giggled.
“Nothing’s better than that,” I said, giving him a quick peck on the lips. “Mmmm…tastes just like chocolate.”
As the waitresses came to clear away the dessert dishes, Senator DuVall clinked on his glass to get everyone’s attention. Then he stepped up to the lectern and spoke into the microphone.
“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.”
“Good evening,” the audience replied.
“I trust that everyone has eaten their fill of this delicious meal prepared by the hotel chefs for us.” We all applauded.
“I would like to welcome all of you to the First Annual Lots of Love Foundation Christmas Banquet.” Applause. When it died down, he spoke again. “I am very happy to be here, with my beautiful wife, Mary Margaret DuVall,” Mrs. DuVall stood up and curtsied to the audience, “and my lovely daughter, Autumn…where are you sweetheart? There she is!” Autumn stood up and did a little parade wave before she sat back down. “I am quite pleased to be a sponsor of this foundation, that in my opinion, is the true spirit of Christmas. As you are all aware, that thousands of children in this country battling diseases like acute lymphocytic leukemia, lymphoblastic carcinomas, and various other illnesses that unfortunately, keep them in the hospital during this wonderful season. Thanks to the generous work of my staff, and you, the citizens of Chicago, many parents will not only be able to be with their children on Christmas Day, but they will also be able to receive some wonderful presents that will no doubt bring smiles to those little faces.”
We all applauded again.
“I would like to take this opportunity to introduce to you, the brains behind this wonderful organization. He is, a dedicated pediatric medical researcher, and also a pioneer in the fight against juvenile diabetes, and in my opinion, a perfect example of God’s love for all mankind. Please join me in welcoming Mr. Stacey Van Dyke.” The audience gave him a standing ovation as he made his way up to the podium. He was blushing slightly, but I could tell that he was happy. He held up his hand for silence.
“Thank you, Senator DuVall, for your kind words. Yes, the Christmas season is once again upon us. For many children, Christmas is a magical and joyous time, when they write letters to Santa Claus and decorate their homes, and open up presents on Christmas morning. To a child sick in the hospital with cancer, it’s a day to day regimen of painful treatments, and often, a very hard time to be away from home at Christmas. Many parents who have other children to support unfortunately, cannot be with their sick little ones during the week, and have to sacrifice precious time to visit with them. I began this foundation because as a pediatric medical researcher, I dedicate my life to finding cures for childhood ailments. It is my personal belief that good health be a right, not a privilege, to every child not in this country alone, but around the world. Due to your generous donations this evening, I am proud to say that we have collected over one million dollars that will be used to supply housing, meals, and transportation for families with sick children so that they will be together on Christmas. The money will also be used to buy toys for the children, and the rest will of course, be used to further search for a cure for pediatric cancers and other debilitating childhood illnesses.”
One million dollars? Damn! That’s a lot of money! I couldn’t help but smiling. The man was truly very selfless. Lord knows that I know what it feels like to be sick in the hospital at Christmastime. I couldn’t imagine though, the holidays without my family there. That must be awfully hard on the kids and the parents. I wished that maybe, I could be there when some of those kids open up their presents on Christmas morning, and those little faces that were once gloomy with illness, would shine like little lights when they open up a teddy bear, or a board game, or a robot or a precious baby doll. Hmmm…that gave me a nifty idea!
I was so excited about my plan that I hardly heard the rest of Mr. Van Dyke’s speech. I had to take some notes as soon as I got home, and then I would present my plan to Senator DuVall, and hope that he would pass it on to Mr. Van Dyke for approval. It was going to involve all of my friends, but I think that this would definitely be one of the best Christmases ever! Better than Christmas of ’82, which was, by the way, the best Christmas to date that I ever spent.
Rick and I were six years old, and Christmas fell on a Saturday that year. When we got up that morning, we saw a lot of new toys on display that Santa had left for us. While we played, we watched Saturday morning cartoons, and then we had the family dinner at our house. That was when my paternal grandparents were still alive. Grandmamma Caitlin gave me what I consider to this day, my prized possession, a real life dollhouse. Not a like the little Fisher Price one that I had since I was three, but a big one that was about three and a half feet tall, with little miniature furniture and battery operated lights and a doorbell that really rang, and oh, I loved that little house! It’s in my mom’s attic now, but it still has all of the pieces and still works. If I ever have a little girl, I’m going to give it to her.
“AHHHHHHHHH!” We were all startled by a scream from the kitchen. Joshua and Rena jumped to their feet and immediately ran back there, followed by the rest of the patrons.
I choked back bile.