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Chapter 16: Did they forget us?
The remaining weeks of the Hanson’s family stay on the island of Trinidad went by quickly. The boys met another family of four boys that lived down the beach and became fast friends with them, even though their English was halting. The two older boys were older than Ike and the two younger boys, twins were about Zac’s age. The boys played on the beach together usually playing ball games. They played volleyball and badminton and the two island boys began to show the Hanson boys how to play soccer. Ike and Taylor were able to mimic their moves successfully although they didn’t know the official rules to the game. Zac and the younger boys often interrupted their games by stealing the ball and running away with them, causing the game to then become a game of chase. Although the older boys chased the younger boys down it was all done in fun and laughter usually ended in rough and tumble wrestling matches in the sand.
Walker’s foreign service duty was almost over. Every
week they expected to get their orders to return stateside. For several
weeks they waited, knowing as each day passed, that they were one day closer
to going home. They didn’t tell the boys, mainly because as parents
they didn’t want to start the endless rounds of questions.
Finally, Walker walked into the house one day, and Diana knew
by his smile that the orders had arrived.
She flew into his arms and demanded. “When?”
“One week!” he exclaimed swinging her up in a hug. “We’ll barely
have time to pack!”
* * *
“They have not forgotten you,” Diana admonished him mildly. “No one has forgotten us.”
“We’ve been gone an awful long time,” Ike exclaimed.
“You just wait until this plane lands,” Walker promised. “You’ll see that no one has forgotten you.”
And, true to his word, as soon as the boys walked into the receiving area of the airport they were picked up, hugged, kissed and passed around by grandparents and aunts and uncles that had missed their nephews for an entire year of their young lives. There was a lot of hugging and laughing and everyone tried to talk at the same time. Diana lost track of her daughter several times as she was being passed around through the family members. Finally, they corralled all the family members and took off for Walkers parents home. It was a central location where both sides of the family could converge and some of Diana and Walkers family were already there waiting their arrival.
It was a afternoon of family rebonding. It was fun and they grilled hot dogs and hamburgers and enjoy the crisp late fall weather. It was an exhausting day for the boys, they played with their cousins, ran around the yard and rolled in the grass which was a simple pleasure that they had missed for over a year. Zac was the first fall off to sleep, curled up on a porch swing. Walker picked up his son in his arms and herded the other two into his parents house and upstairs to a bedroom that they would be sharing until Diana and Walker found a house to buy.
* * * *
Walker made a left hand turn onto the street as Diana called out the directions from a map in her hand. This was by their best estimation, the thirtieth house that that had seen through a variety of Realtors. They had been back in the Oklahoma for two weeks now and both of them were becoming little anxious about finding a home for their family. They were living with Walkers parents and although they both loved his parents dearly--living with them was a strain.
“It should be about three more blocks,” Diana exclaimed while she looked over the neighborhood with approval. Walker pulled into the driveway of a gray stone rancher style house with the For Sale sign posted in the front yard. They got out of the car and looked around for the real estate agent that was supposed to meet them. There was no sign of her car yet. The house was empty so they began to look over the outside. The bushes and trees were mature. Walker unhooked the back gate and they looked out over a very large two acre back yard that was fenced all the way around by an eight-foot privacy fence. Plenty of room for a swing set and plenty of room for the children to run and play. Diana read the Realtors sheet outloud as they walked around the house. When the agent showed up and opened the house up for their viewing they were suitably impressed. There were enough rooms for their growing family with a little bit to spare. The kitchen was large enough to hold a large table so they would be able to use the dining room as a school room. The bedrooms were small, but the other living spaces were large. Before the day was over, they had put an offer in for the house.
* * * *
He hadn’t gotten past the front page when Taylor wandered into the living room and leaned against his chair, looking up at him with big sad blue eyes and his hands in his pockets.
“Where’s Mommy?” Walker asked.
“She went to get Jessie some new shoes,” the boy said.
“Where are your brothers?” Walker asked getting the feeling that his middle son was in one of his ‘moods’, when it was difficult to get him to talk.
“Zac went with Mommy. Ike is playing soccer with Randy,”
Taylor explained.
“Why aren’t you playing soccer?”
“They won’t let me,” Taylor explained unhappily pinpointing for his father why he feeling left out.
“Why?”
“Cause, Ike says I don’t play good enough!” Taylor complained.
“Take your hands out of your pockets and come here” Walker suggested pulling his son towards him.
‘I can’t,” Taylor exclaimed. “Grandma says I have to keep my hands in my pockets!”
“You’ve been tapping haven’t you?” Walker questioned and laughed when Taylor nodded his head.
“Grandma said she only had one nerve left, and I got on it.” Taylor said misquoting his grandmother. “Daddy, what is a nerve?”
Walker laughed at his son’s confusion. “I don’t know, Taylor, but believe me I got on her nerves when I was your age too! Tell, you what little buddy, since everyone is gone, and you’re having a bad day, why don’t you and me take off and go to the Dairy Queen.”
“Without Ike and Zac?” Taylor questioned.
“Yep, just you and me,” Walker exclaimed. “Let me tell Grandma where we’re going.”
“She won’t let us go Daddy,” Taylor warned. “Every time Mommy gives us ice-cream she says its going to spoil our appetites.”
“Well Grandma doesn’t know you guys as well as we do,” Walker explained. “Tay, I know its kind of difficult living here with Grandma but we won’t be here much longer. We’ll be moving in our new house this weekend. Just be patient with your Grandma a few more days.”
“I am Daddy,” Taylor said very seriously. “But, living with Grandma and Grandpa is like kinda weird. There’s just two many grown-ups to tell you what to do!”