Home Away From Home - 45. Chapter 45

Three words that bring a special joy to my heart, “I am home.”

Puppy is home and all is right with the world. Three kids came running looking for a hug and a kiss, Anthony was tugging on Puppy's pant leg, he got a scratch on the head. I stood behind the kids waiting for mine. I got it but not a kids kiss.

“How was your day?”

“Not bad. Checked in a new patient, nothing serious. One of my patients who was discharged when we were gone, left a small gift. Evidently he is a craftsman and made a leather fob with my name on one side and a puppy on the other side. I put the car keys on it.”

“Come on and have a tea with me while dinner is being made.”

More hugs and kisses as we entered the kitchen. “We're going to take our tea out by the pool. Where's Gio?”

“I think he’s by the pool.”

Walking out I saw Mom slip a few biscotti to Puppy. “You have to share them.”

“I’ll do better than that. I’ll get Mom to teach me and then I’ll sneak down to the kitchen late at night and make a big batch just for you.”

I started to laugh, “What's so funny?”

“Hi Giovanni, did you have a good day today?”

“Yes, it’s so relaxing here. Do any of know when Al will be back?”

“No, but he’ll be here when he has his days off.” I whispered to Puppy, “Take that smile off of your face.”

We sat and talked, inevitable happened, “Carlo, can you give me a massage?”

I looked at Puppy, “Maybe you're right, I could make some money being a pool boy. Were you swimming?”

“Yes. about 1/2 hour ago.”

“Have you showered the chlorine off? Then do that, then come here.”

“Here he comes, that was quick.”

“Puppy, what do you think? Italian stallion or not.”

“I don’t know nor care, I have my own Italian stallion.”

I gave him a kiss, and we started to laugh. “What are you laughing at?”

“Not you that's for sure. You have a very hot body.”

Gio blushed, “Hop up on the bed, belly down.” I almost wanted to say belly up just to check him out.

I tugged the towel out from under him and played it across his buns. “Nice buns Gio, you're going to make some man very happy.” I started to work on his upper torso. His muscles weren’t tight so they were easy to relax. I worked his arms, neck muscles, his back. Moving the towel to one side, I started at his waist and worked down his legs until I got to his feet. I did one side and then the other side. I took one foot and massage the instep and then did the other foot. Puppy indicated that he was asleep. I went back to his shoulder area and massage around his neck. It's hard to do when they are laying belly down, best to do the neck muscles when they are on their back.

“He’s asleep. Are you going to wake him?”

“No, he might panic and fall off the table. I’ll sit here with you and wait. He’ll come around in 10 - 15 minutes. You could get me another cup of tea while I wait.”

Love is great, because that's just what Puppy did. After about 20 minutes, Gio started to awaken. I quickly moved to the table so he wouldn’t fall off. “Hey sleepy head, how do you feel?”

“I must have fallen asleep. I feel so relax.”

“Do you want to try and stand up.” I held the towel so when he stood, I could wrap it around him. Of course, I looked. Nothing to be ashamed of and a lot to be proud about. Must be in the family genes. “You should go and either take a cold shower in the pool shower or in your room. You need to get awake, dinner will be served very soon.”

“Mom, I think we'll do cafeteria style. Let each one fill their plate, they can go and eat in the dining room or out by the pool. I think there may be too many for the dining room The dining room holds 20, unless we use the kitchen table as well.”

“Let’s seat every one at the dining room table and see who is left over.”

Roy and Jay offered to sit with the kids and Gio joined them. Mom wanted them to sit at the table and she and Aunty would sit with the kids. “Mom, the reason Roy and Joe sit with the kids because they are thinking about adopting. I wouldn’t be surprised next year if they have a child with them. I also think, no one will know how much they will eat.” They heard the last part, the kids started to laugh, then they all did. Mom smiled and sat with us.

The dinner was fantastic. It was beef, but it had so much flavor. There wasn’t any left overs, our base guys even took bread and wipe out the pans. Mom and Aunty had the biggest smiles on their faces. “I think our chefs tonight did a fantastic job.” Every one clapped. “Now, this is going to be hard to beat tomorrow, but all of us who are here, look forward to another culinary surprise.”

A couple of the base guys who won’t be here tomorrow, groaned. “Don’t worry, tomorrow will be spaghetti and most of you have eaten that here before. Tonight was a once in a life time event”

That wasn’t totally true, I knew that all we had in the freezer was chicken until we restocked the freezer.

The night in bed, “Colonel Haskins came to see me today. It seems that his ex’s new husband doesn’t like the kid.”

“You’re kidding. The kid is smart and very well mannered. What isn’t there to like about him?”

“It seems that the new husband thinks he's a softy or something. He probably isn’t into sports or what he considers manly stuff. The Colonel wants to board him here.”

“Full time?”

“Yes.”

“You told him yes, right? The kids loved him this past summer.”

“PUPPY II leaves tomorrow morning to pick him up and the Colonel is going along as well.”

“Good, it will be nice having little General MacArthur around again. Your mom is going to spoil him like crazy. Mom and Dad will be here next week. I talked to them today.”

“Good they can bring some meat from the States.”

“They are coming from Hawaii. Don’t be surprised if Chet and his wife are with them.”

Puppy snuggled into my chest and soon was asleep. Morning comes quick and soon the alarm went off at 5 am.

Walking into the kitchen, "Mom, what are you doing up so early? Are you ok?"

“I’m ok, I went to bed early last night so I could help with breakfast this morning.”

“You do know that you are retired. I love when you cook, just know you don’t have to cook.”

“I know, but sometimes I just like to be in the kitchen.”

“Do you want me to enlarge your kitchen.”

“No, I can use this one. It's big enough for several cooks. I think it's about twice the size of mine and I had a big kitchen.”

“Ok let’s sit and chat. You seem to have everything under control.” I poured a tea for myself and Mom already had a coffee. “Do you remember the last conversation we had concerning Dad?”

“Yes, and he is like a new man. He loves his garden and he has a few of the boys interested in gardening. Moving here was the right thing to do.”

“I’m glad. I don’t spend enough time with Dad. I’ll try and find some time when he and I can chat. I remember some of our best chats were in his garden. I don’t even think I have been to his garden. I’ll do that today.”

“How are you and Giovanni getting along? I think he’s a nice boy.”

“I think he’s a nice man. He’s very quiet, but I like him and so do the guys. Puppy thinks there's a chance for him to fall in love here. I think he’s going to want to stay here. If he does, how is Annetta going to react?”

“I think that's her plan all the time. She loves that boy and wants him to be happy. She thinks that you and Anthony can help him find happiness.”

“Well, Puppy is trying.”

“What is Puppy trying?”

“Making sure Giovanni is happy.”

“Yes, everyone should be happy. I’m happy, you’re happy. Mom and Dad are happy. This house guarantees everyone to be happy.”

“Wow, you sure are in a happy mood today.”

“I feel good today. The house is full of friends and family, I just feel blessed.”

Mom just smiled at him and gave him a kiss on the cheek, as she handed him a cup of tea. He sat at the table with me. “Did you tell Mom about General MacArthur?”

“Not yet, I’ll tell her now.” I got up from the table to set the table for the kids. “Mom, we're going to have another house guest. He's the son of Colonel Haskins who you met yesterday. His ex has remarried and the new husband doesn’t like the son. So he'll be staying here until he's off to college I guess. He was here last summer, the kids liked him.”

I felt some arms around my waist and Mom leaning over to give someone a kiss. When I turned, there were three kids, waiting for a hug. Of course, they each got a hug and a kiss. Puppy was still sitting at the table, so I got the cereal, juice and milk for their breakfast.

“Pop, can I have eggs and bacon instead of cereal this morning.”

“Sure Carlos.” I turned around to get his breakfast and Mom handed me the plate.

“Wow, that was fast.”

“Nonna is a fast cook, but a great cook.” Puppy reached over like he wanted to steal a piece of bacon. Carlos took his plate and moved to the other side of the table. We smiled and particularly, when he went back and offer Puppy a piece of bacon. Puppy declined and whispered something to him, which made him smile. Carlos will be 15 this summer.

As normal, the rest of the gang began to drift into the kitchen. We brought some cornmeal from Italy and now Mom was frying polenta for breakfast. I saw the guys looking at it. Mom put some on a plate along with eggs and bacon. Then poured a little bit of maple syrup over the fried polenta. The guy who took the first bite, told the others it didn’t taste good. They didn’t believe him as he ate that before his eggs and bacon. I grew up with it so I knew it would be a hit. I gave a piece to each of the kids, with maple syrup. Puppy looked at me with sad eyes, so I gave him some as well.

“Mom, looks like your polenta is a big hit.” Everyone wanted more. Aunty came into the kitchen and heard what everyone was saying, headed toward the stove and started making another batch of polenta. Joe, Roy, Charles, Larry, David slowly drifted into the kitchen. Heading for the coffee pot, looking at what Aunty was making, a confused look on their faces.

I just waited. It was Roy who first spoke, “What's your Aunt making?”

“Polenta.”

It wasn’t long before a plate was placed n front of them. One bite and they were hooked.

“We are missing someone. Good morning Dad, I’ll bet you have been to the garden already.”

“Yes, your mom wanted some herbs, so I went and got them for her.” Mom set a plate on the table for him and gave him a kiss on the head.”

I have seen that scenario every morning when I lived with them and I was glad I could see it again.

“Ok guys, we are missing a cousin.”

Puppy took a few guys and headed to Giovanni’s bedroom. The next thing we heard was a loud splash. I knew what they did and hope he had on some underwear. They guys came into the kitchen got a refill of coffee and took off. Puppy came in smiling, “Too much sleep isn’t good.”

I looked at the pool, there was Gio doing laps. I went and got a big towel for him, showed it to him, placed it on a chair. I heard, 'thanks pool boy.'

It wasn’t long before Gio came into the kitchen with the towel wrapped around like a sarong. I thought a sarong would be perfect for the pool.

Mom made up a plate for Gio, I kissed Puppy goodbye, Marcus had already pulled the car around front for him. That reminded me, we needed another security guy. “Carlo, thanks for the massage yesterday. I was relaxed all day and I really slept well last night.”

“Anytime Gio, I like working on your body.”

His face turned red, the guys laughed which didn’t help any.

The plane took off as planned, and we got busy with the day’s activity. I did make it to the garden and was very surprised at how big the garden was. I thought a small patch for herbs, but this was a large garden. Dad had a lot of vegetables growing, as well as a good supply of herbs for the kitchen. “Dad, I thought you just had a small herb garden but this is bigger than the one you had at home.”

“It started as a small garden for herbs. Then some of the boys thought since we had the space maybe we should think about vegetables. I watched as they made the garden. Some of those boys from the base grew up on a farm. They seem to think we should raise chickens as well.”

“Hey if they do the work, let them go ahead and do it. Have them build a chicken coop, fenced in yard for them and I’ll manage to get the chickens.” Wait till I tell Puppy this.

When you are busy time seems to fly. Mom came into my office,”Are you going to have lunch?”

I looked at my watch and it was 1:30. Where did the morning go? “Yes, Mom, I’ll be there in a minute.” When I got to the kitchen, Mom had a roast beef sandwich for me. “Is this from last night?” She nodded yes. “I thought everyone ate it all?”

“I put a little away for you. I know how much you like this, so I put enough away for sandwich for you.”

“You would have been in trouble if I came here with the rest of the gan

“I would have thought of something.”

“I saw Dad’s garden. It's almost twice the size of the one he had at home.”

“He’s happy and he really enjoys the boys.”

“Don’t be surprised if we don’t have fresh eggs. The boys want to have chickens. I told Dad to let them build a coop and fence in a run, then I’ll get the chickens.”

“Your dad is like a new man here. This is a good thing you have done for us. We're very happy and I thank God for blessing us with you.”

“Stop Mom or I’ll be crying. God gave you the clay, you and Dad made it what it is today.”

“Carlo, can we go over the figures for Japan. I want to fly there as soon as the plane is back.”

“Sorry Mom, back to the grindstone, but I love it. Charles has Larry worked up the figures?” I glanced back into the kitchen as I left, Aunty had arrived and they just sat down with a cup of coffee. Family gossip would be the topic.

“I went through some scenarios and the impact on our investment. I made this graph. The blue line is the potential cost of the project. I assumed a modest under run of 15% and that is the zero point here and then the top point is an over run of 25%.” Larry continued to explain his graph. I was impressed and realized that this will be the way we should evaluate all projects. “The red line represents our share our initial investment and as you can see it reaches 25 percent at the budget cost of the project.” I thought wait till Tony see this. We discussed the probability of these lines and possible scenarios. Doug was given the task of assessing these probabilities.

“Doug, when you go to Japan try and determine the percentage completion of the project and the percentage of costs occurred. One way to do that is to take a look at their drawings and mark off what is complete. Maybe you should go with him Larry, you can help with the assessment.” We spent afternoon discussing how to make an assessment of their drawings. I thought we did a good day’s work. If all goes well our coffers will benefit. I still don’t know how much is in our coffers.