Scavenger Hunt
December 1987
Getting Permission—Stetson Style
"Hey, Fellas, I need your help with something."
The two boys looked up from their magazines then toward one another, smiling at each other, "Sure, what is it?" they asked in sync.
"Come out to the dining room and I'll fill you in."
Both boys stopped abruptly in the doorway of Lee's dining room. They looked from one to another as they saw some papers, envelopes, and a ring box in the center of the table.
"Lee, what kind of help do you need?" Jamie asked.
Taking a deep breath, Lee bit the bullet, "I want to ask your mother to marry me. I plan on sending her on a small scavenger hunt around D.C. where she will finally get back to the house and where I'll be waiting to ask her with everyone there. I was thinking that this would be a romantic gesture."
"Mom loves that sappy stuff." Phillip agreed as he went to pick up the notes.
Lee stopped him before Phillip could mix the notes up. "Whoa, Lee, I wasn't going to read them." his stepson explained.
"Uh, no, it isn't that. I have them in order. I wanted Jaime to write her name on the outside envelopes with the calligraphy pen and ink, but I need to get dinner started, so I was hoping to get your help with that."
Jamie looked at Lee and commented, "You don't want Phillip cooking, but surprisingly he does know his numbers and letters."
Phillip glared at his brother, about to make a sly retort until he saw the look on Lee's face, making him think twice about it.
"I guess this means that if you two are bickering over how I want to propose to your mother, then you don't care that I want to propose in the first place. That makes me feel better."
The three looked at each other when Lee felt the need to clarify that they didn't care that he was going to ask his wife to marry him. "How do you two feel about all this? Will it bother you if I ask your mom to marry me?"
Jamie was the first to speak, "Honestly, Lee, I think this is a really bad idea."
Phillip looked out of the corner of his eye trying to figure out where his brother was going with his train of thought. They had had numerous conversations about not if Lee would ask their mom, but more and more about when Lee would ask.
Lee froze. He'd thought the boys would be okay with him marrying Amanda. Now he didn't know what to think with Jamie's comment, considering him and Amanda had been married for ten months. Lee was okay with waiting until the boys were both on board, but he sure as hell wasn't divorcing Amanda.
"Okay, can you tell me why, Jamie? I thought after all this time, you would be okay with me asking your mom."
Jamie gave Lee a look of concern and then realized that Lee didn't understand what he meant. "Lee, no, I'm fine with you asking Mom to marry you. The scavenger hunt is just like Phillip said; sappy as well as romantic. I just think asking her in front of everyone is the wrong move. She might think that you think that is the only way you can get her to say yes; by doing it in front of everyone. Trust me, Mom doesn't work that way. When Dean asked her to marry him, he did it with all of us there. All it did was put her on the spot. Then Grandma did nothing but remind Mom all the time about how great it would be when they got married. I think that is why Mom never married him and stopped dating him. I think you should ask her with just the two of you; less pressure on both of you."
Phillip and Lee both just looked at Jamie with their mouths hanging open.
"How do you and Mom do that?" Phillip asked.
"How do we do what?"
Lee and Phillip both exclaimed, "Talk without breathing!"
Jamie just shook his head then asked Lee, "When are Mom and Grandma going to be home?"
Realizing Jamie just referred to his apartment as home, Lee looked at his watch and answered, "Uh, in about two hours, give or take."
"Then I guess we should get dinner started while Wonder Boy here gets started on his penmanship." Phillip laughed as he headed toward the kitchen.
"Jamie, are you sure you are okay with me asking your mom to marry me?"
Smiling back at Lee, Jamie mischievously answered, "I'm fine with it, but have you ever thought that maybe Phillip might not be? He hasn't said anything." Jamie walked into the living room and then came back in with a stack of magazines. When Lee looked at him funny Jamie explained, "I have a more fun idea on how to do Mom's name on the envelopes. Where do you keep your scissors and glue?"
Lee left Jamie to his plan while he went in the kitchen where he found Phillip opening cabinet doors. "What are you looking for, Chief?"
"Pots, pans, food; don't we need those things to make dinner? Your cabinets have plates, bowls, an excessive amount of wine glasses, but nothing to cook with; food or otherwise."
"The pans we need are in the lower left cabinet next to the fridge. The food we need to prepare dinner is in the pantry and fridge. I thought we could have a salad and individual homemade pizzas. I need your help in preparing the salad and making the dough."
"Okay, where are your salad bowl and knives?"
Lee got the bowl and ingredients for Phillip to make the salad as he retrieved the items from the panty to start the dough. He continued to watch his stepson as he prepared the salad. Lee, after a few minutes, decided to open the conversation up.
"You're getting pretty good around the kitchen, aren't ya?"
"Well, with the crazy hours Mom works here lately and Grandma off learning to fly anything with wings, I signed up for Home Economics to learn to cook. Besides, did you know a lot of girls take that course?"
"No way, really, ya don't say, Captain Genius!" Jamie chimed in from the dining room.
Ignoring Jamie's comment and smiled at his own memories of classes he took to get closer to girls, Lee just laughed and answered, "I do hear that a good number of girls take that course."
"I can tell you it isn't because they want to become some kind of Suzy Homemaker, that's for sure. They take it because they want to see us guys fail at it. They take it to make us look bad."
"Is it working?" He looked back at Phillip, raising an eyebrow.
"Not for me. I found out I'm really good. It's one of my highest grades." Phillip stated proudly before quietly adding, "That and I really enjoy cooking. Do you know that most of the greatest chefs are men?"
"I'm glad you found something at school you really like, besides girls and auto shop. Phillip, I want to ask you something."
Phillip turned to him and thought he knew what Lee was going to ask, but stayed silent. He wanted to let Lee sweat it out. One thing he had learned about his mom's new boyfriend over the last few months was that he was still nervous around Jamie and him.
"About me asking your mom to marry me; how do you feel about it?" Lee was looking him in the eye, but inside he was shaking like a leaf.
Phillip stood for a minute, making it look like he was really thinking the question over. Finally, he let Lee off the hook and said, "Do you love her?"
"More than I ever thought I could love someone."
"Does it bother you she has two almost grown children? I mean, what if you get married and find out she can't have more kids? Will you regret not having kids of your own?"
Lee didn't miss a beat when he answered, "No I wouldn't have any regrets. How could I? I would already have the best stepsons anyone could ask for?"
"You go away sometimes for work, like mom; will it ever become more important than mom or us?"
"If you are asking if I will make every ballgame or play, then no I might miss some. I can tell you that the ones I do make it to, I'll be one of the biggest fans you two ever saw, well, next to your mother and grandmother."
"Lee, I have to tell you, if you really want my permission and blessing to marry my mom, there is only one way that is going to happen."
Lee scrunched his eyebrows together looking at Phillip with concern and then he noticed the same mischievous gleam in his eyes that Jamie and Amanda have used on him before.
"Oh, yeah, and what is that, Chief?"
"The next time we go to the track, you have to let me drive the 'vette!"
"No, I'll just die alone instead of your mother killing me, thank you very much."
"I'm just messing with you, I don't care if you ask her," and then he became serious as he continued, "I just don't want to see her hurt again."
Lee walked over to him and placed his hands on Phillip's shoulders, "I would never purposely do anything to hurt your mother, your grandmother, or you two boys. I want you to believe that."
Phillip smiled and said, "You're not gonna get all sappy like Mom are ya?"
Laughing and walking away Lee said, "No, not me, well, I might when she is walking down the aisle to me."
An hour and a half later, Jamie asked, "Where do you want me to hide this stuff? Mom and Grandma will be home soon."
Lee and Phillip looked at the envelopes where Jamie had cut out the letters of Amanda's name and glued to the outside.
"These look like ransom notes, not a sappy romantic gesture that Lee wanted you Wormbrain!" Phillip scolded.
"I think its better this way. More of a mystery, besides the clues and places he sends her should be the real romantic part of all this; well, that is until he is proposing to her."
"Hey, don't fight, Fellas. Jamie, this is perfect. Take theses along with the ring and place it in my top dresser drawer under the socks." As Jamie walked away, Lee thought twice about that and yelled, "Better yet put it in the second bedroom closet." She never goes in that room, he thought, and that way, Jamie wouldn't see his mother's panties in his dresser drawer next to his socks.
Ten minutes later, just as Jamie was finishing setting the table, Dotty and Amanda came in from their day of Christmas shopping. Dotty was hanging her scarf and coat up over Amanda's as Amanda yelled out, "Hello!"
The guys stood in the dining room entrance as the ladies walked more into the apartment. Amanda looked at her mother and then at the guys and inquired, "What have you three been up to all day?"
Looking from one to the other, shaking their heads, Lee answered, "Oh, nothing much, just guy stuff."