Chapter Four
Cliff went on post early Saturday morning, even though he was supposed to be off, hoping to catch up on the never-ending paperwork and found himself pulled into a situation regarding a shipment that was about to go to the wrong end of the country.
He just managed to get it turned around before it left the depot and made sure it was on its way.
Cliff shut down his computer, and before another crisis could arise, he hurried out of the office and to his apartment, where he changed clothes and went to Dade’s, his heart beating a little faster the closer he got.
Dade answered the door, red-faced from his cheeks to his ears. “Do I have the wrong time?”
“No.” Dade stepped back and visibly calmed himself. “Well, between putting everything to rights again with the apartment and my father.”
Cliff rolled his eyes. “What happened?”
“My father went ahead and put the headmaster of a military school in touch with me. In his mind, if I’m going to be a teacher, it needs to be at a school with military connections.
He can’t see anything outside the world he knows.
” He closed the door harder than was necessary.
“I got a call from the headmaster. He was nice, and I explained that I was happy where I was. I was professional even though I wanted to kill my father. And apparently the headmaster closed the loop with my father.”
Cliff could just imagine how that went. “Did your father call you?”
“No. He actually tried to accept the job on my behalf and told the headmaster that I’d be there at the start of the semester.
Thank God indentured servitude has been outlawed, or else my father would be making my decisions for me forever.
The headmaster called me and told me what happened.
I had to tell him that my father makes no decisions for me and that anything he might say from now on is to be disregarded.
But what kind of person does that?” He shook his head and paced the room.
“You don’t get to make decisions for other people.
Even the army has rules about that shit.
You can be ordered to do things, but there are limits, and my father doesn’t seem to understand that at all.
” He stopped and rubbed his forehead. “This whole thing is giving me a headache. Why can’t he leave well enough alone?
I know what I want and what will make me happy.
I never understood why he always thinks he knows best.”
“Have you told your mother?” Cliff asked. “Maybe she can get him to back off.” He didn’t know what to do to help.
“She has her hands full living with him every day. One thing I know about my family: you have to fight your own battles. No one is going to do it for you, because they need to keep their powder dry to fight their own battles.” He shrugged.
“Anyway, I think I have that issue settled.” He lifted his gaze.
“I’m sorry about all this. Let’s put it behind us and not let my father and his crazy need for control ruin our day. ”
“That’s a great idea.” Cliff waited while Dade got his jacket.
“Oh, I forgot. I have something in the car for you.” He hurried out and grabbed the two paper bags from the trunk.
He brought them inside and placed them on Dade’s table.
“I told a few of the people I work with what you were doing, and they brought in some things you might be able to use. Carrie’s kids go to LeTort—they’re in first and fourth grades—and she said she’s seen what you described.
Anyway, she put out the call.” Cliff pulled out boxes of crayons, colored pencils, scissors, glue, packages of colored paper… all kinds of art supplies.
Dade swallowed as he stacked everything up. “Good God. That’s….” He didn’t seem to know what to say.
“She also contacted the dentist on site, and he donated a hundred toothbrushes and toothpaste, so the school can have them on hand. That’s what’s in this bag.” He turned to Dade, who launched himself at him, hugging Cliff so tightly, he wasn’t sure he was going to be able to breathe.
“You have no idea what this is going to do.” He backed away and grinned as though he had just won the lottery. Then he opened a folder. It had a list of what he wanted to get. Dade crossed off a number of items, but there was still plenty left.
“Paper?” Cliff asked as he glanced over what Dade needed. “You need paper?”
“Yeah. We only get so much, so we’re always careful about what we use. I always watch for sales and then buy it by the case.”
“Then let’s go get what you need.” He left the apartment and waited while Dade locked the door.
“Is that all you need?” Cliff asked an hour later as they wheeled a half-full cart up to the register at the Dollar Store.
“It would have been a lot more if you hadn’t already brought over so much.” Dade placed the items on the belt and paid the bill once the cashier had finished ringing everything up. “And I was able to get everything, including most items for the Christmas project. So, I’m ahead.”
Cliff carried the bags and put them in the trunk of his car. Then he drove Dade to Target, where their paper by the ream was on sale. Dade put two cases in the cart, and Cliff added a third. “That’s my contribution,” he told him as they wheeled the cart to the registers.
Once they were done and everything was in the trunk, Cliff drove them downtown. “I wasn’t sure where you’d like to eat. There’s the Hamilton for chili dogs, or we could go to Molly Pitcher for a beer and sandwiches. What sounds good?”
“I don’t particularly care for beer, but they have good food. And unfortunately, spicy food doesn’t agree with me.”
Cliff groaned. “Oh, I love spicy food, the hotter the better. But I want it to have flavor, not just hot for hot’s sake.” He parked, and they got out of the car and went to Molly Pitcher. As soon as they went inside, Dade took a step back. “What is it?”
“My father is at the bar. Why is it that the one person you don’t want to see is the person you can’t seem to get away from.”
Cliff leaned closer. “We can go somewhere else.”
Dade stood taller and straightened his shoulders.
“No. I refuse to be intimidated. Let’s eat here.
But if my father decides to be a pain, don’t get too embarrassed when I make a scene.
It’s one of the few things I know that will get under his skin.
” Dade laughed. “I’m just kidding. I would never embarrass you on purpose. ”
They found a table, and Cliff wondered exactly what kind of battle he was getting into the middle of. He definitely knew which side he was on and intended to back Dade up if needed.
Their server took their orders, and they were well into their drinks before Dade’s father realized they were there. Cliff saw the moment of recognition. He pushed back his chair from the prime seat at the bar and came over like he was ready to storm the battlements.
“What did you think you were doing?”
“Excuse me, Father, you remember Cliff from the other night,” Dade said, putting his father off balance.
“Yes, I do.” He hesitated, and Dade took the initiative.
“Good.” Dade smiled and acted like there was nothing wrong and he hadn’t been hopping mad a few hours earlier.
“I understand Headmaster Groves called you and you passed on the job. Do you have any idea how that made me look? Thankfully, he called me back, and I told him you’d be available to start after the first of the year. I wasn’t going to let you make a mistake like that.”
Dade sighed. “I know. He called me as well, and I reassured him that I make my own decisions and that you had overstepped. Headmaster Groves was quite understanding. I believe he’s met plenty of overbearing parents in his job and knows how to handle them.”
Cliff kept his reaction to himself and sipped his beer to keep from laughing.
The general leaned close, and Cliff grew concerned. “You’ll call him back and take the job or….” He jumped back, the front of his pants wet as water dripped down the side of the table from Dade’s overturned water glass.
Dade held his enraged father’s gaze, and Cliff realized the war between the two of them was really beginning to heat up.
“He never listens to anyone else. The officers and enlisted that served under him always seemed to adore my father. He would fight for them and what they needed tooth and nail. And while my father always took the posting he wanted and jumped at every opportunity, he understood that others weren’t able to do that.
” Dade placed his chicken sandwich back in the basket the server had delivered it in.
“I just don’t understand why he doesn’t give the same consideration to his family that he did to the rest of the world. ”
Cliff paused before picking up his sandwich.
“Maybe it’s because he sees you as part of himself, so he wanted to see more of himself in you.
He’s your father, so maybe in his mind, your identity is linked to his.
” He shrugged because he was struggling to see it as well.
Cliff had heard about General Saracina’s reputation on post, and it was in stark contrast to what he was witnessing with Dade.
“I wish I knew and could decode it for you. Parents always look for themselves in their kids. They start when they’re born, looking for similarities.
I think that’s a way of assuring themselves that their child will be like them in some meaningful way. ”
Dade snorted. “But I am like him.” He took another bite and wiped the aioli off his mouth. “Let me ask you something. You were obviously brilliant and a high achiever in high school. You probably could have gone anywhere for college. Why West Point? Why the army? Why did you want this?”
Cliff paused only a second. “I know it sounds cliché, but I wanted to help people and to be part of something important. I wanted to serve my country and my community.”