Memories and Trees – Hutch's 78th Birthday
Hutch woke up and stretched carefully, not wanting to disturb his still sleeping wife. It was still his custom to wake early; that hadn't changed over the years when so many other things had. Seventy-eight. He couldn't believe it. Where had the years gone?
Sometimes it felt as if it was only a short time ago that he and Starsky were careening around Bay City, trying to put the criminal world to rights. Sometimes he missed the daily exhilaration of working alongside Starsky, the pair of them like one well-oiled machine, but he certainly didn't miss the danger, the stays in hospital or the worry for his partner's safety.
He breathed out a soft snort. Time to stop looking back and enjoy the present for what it was and appreciate what he had: a large extended family and Starsky, still very much part of his life.
Slowly, and quietly, he levered himself out of bed. He slipped his feet into his slippers, put on his robe and headed downstairs to make coffee. He still liked to take the first few moments of quiet at the start of a day to check on his house plants and look out over his garden. As he sipped his coffee, he savoured the peaceful moment before the day started in earnest; it was set to be a busy one.
First, there would be a quiet breakfast with his wife, then lunch with the Starskys, which inevitably would get quite rowdy, and then a family barbecue back at home that was bound to be noisy and a bit frenetic. The children (grown-up now) were going to take care of the food; his wife had organised a cake; he just had to be there. He was looking forward to seeing his grandchildren and anticipated it would be a very tiring, but enjoyable, day.
Hutch heard his wife getting up and went to pour her a coffee. It was time to get the day started.
S&H-S&H-S&H
As they pulled up outside his best friend's home, Starsky grinned at his wife before hopping out and walking briskly up the path to Hutch's front door. He knocked with a loud rat-a-tat-tat and waited, almost patiently, for the door to open.
When it did, he grinned broadly and said, "Happy Birthday, buddy!"
"Thanks pal."
"Your chariot awaits." Starsky indicated the car with a wave of his hand.
"Thanks and thanks again for picking us up," Hutch replied.
"It's my pleasure. This way you can both relax and have a drink if you want to."
Hutch's wife appeared and was greeted with a kiss on the cheek then the Hutchinsons followed Starsky to his car. Hutch climbed in the front at Mrs Starsky's insistence; she wanted to sit in the back and catch up with her best friend.
"So seventy-eight?" Starsky said as they drove along.
Hutch harrumphed and said, "I told you not to remind me how old I am!"
"Sorry," Starsky said with a slight curl of the lips, "I forgot."
Hutch looked at him suspiciously.
Starsky added quickly, "It's not about the age we are, it's the journey we've been on. We should both be counting our blessings. I, for one, am just glad that we're both still friends after all this time and able to celebrate another birthday together."
Hutch patted Starsky's shoulder. "Me too."
"And there will be many more birthdays to come because you said you're going to be here until you're one hundred and forty-eight, just like those people in that village somewhere unpronounceable."
Hutch laughed. "Yeah, I said that, didn't I? Wow that was a long time ago now."
"Well, this elephant never forgets and I'm holding you to that promise, pal."
Hutch chuckled. "All right, I'll do my best, but you've got to hang around that long too."
"Oh, I was already planning on doing just that. Don't you worry!"
S&H-S&H-S&H
After a delicious and relaxed meal at La Mariposa, the four of them got back into Starsky's car and headed away from the restaurant. After a few minutes, Hutch noticed that they were driving towards the outer edge of Bay City.
"Hey, Starsk? Where are we headed?"
"Can't tell you yet. It's a surprise."
"Well, it had better not take too long, only remember we got the kids and grandkids coming round for the traditional family barbecue and cake."
"Don't worry, you won't keep them waiting."
They drove a bit further until they reached what looked like farm land. Starsky drove in through a wide gateway and down a lane to a scrap piece of land where lots of vehicles were parked. Hutch spotted his son's truck.
"Hey, what's going on?"
"All will be revealed!" Starsky said mysteriously. "Hope you're up to a little digging."
"Digging?"
As Starsky pulled some spades from the trunk of his car, Hutch turned to look in confusion at his wife. She was giggling.
"I take it you're in on whatever this is?" he asked.
"Yep."
"Come on, pal. Follow me," Starsky said, as he led the way across the parking lot through another gate and across a field.
As they reached the other side, Hutch could see his family was gathered, all holding tools for digging in various shapes, colours and sizes.
"If I'd known we were going to be digging, I'd have worn my gardening boots!" Hutch observed.
Starsky shook his head. "You start it off then we'll get the youngsters to do the heavy work."
A flatbed truck was parked to one side with its tail down and inside Hutch could see lots of wrapped saplings of different species. Starsky led the way to the truck. Everyone gathered around after greeting their father and grandfather and wishing him a happy birthday.
Starsky cleared his throat. "So Hutch, you gave me the most fantastic trip for my birthday this year; including a chance to drive my old car and a real trip down memory lane. I got to thinking about how many years I've known ya and how many landmark memories include you in them. I know you love doing your bit to help save the planet so I thought you'd like the idea of planting a tree. I know I didn't really appreciate it when ya did that for me all those years ago, but I do now. So I wanted to plant a tree for every year that I've known you. I mentioned the idea to your family and they loved it and agreed to chip in so here we are."
Hutch shook his head with a smile. "That's a great idea, Starsk. I love it. Thank you and thank you everybody."
"Okay, let's get these trees planted," Starsky said.
He and Hutch's son jumped up onto the bed of the truck and started passing the saplings out. The ground was already marked out with little crosses where each tree should be planted and soon everyone was busy digging their holes, along with help from a couple of staff from the Bay City Woodland Trust.
When all the saplings were finally in, Hutch thanked everyone again and said, "You all deserve some birthday cake after that. Let's head home."
Everyone piled into their cars and trucks and they were soon travelling along the streets towards the Hutchinsons. As he drove, Starsky pulled an envelope from his jacket pocket and handed it to Hutch. Almost shyly, he said, "I wrote you a poem."
Hutch took the envelope and opened it curiously. His eyes filled with tears as he read the poem, even though he smiled at the same time.
"I thought you didn't do soapy scenes," he said.
Starsky just shrugged. Hutch laid his arm across Starsky's shoulders.
From the back of the car, Hutch's wife said, "Read us the poem then."
Hutch handed the piece of paper over to his wife. "You read it, honey. If I try, I might cry!"
His wife chuckled and began to read:
"These trees are linked to memories
They're filled with thoughts of Me and Thee
With stories of our friendship long
That's ever growing, ever strong.
Without a Thee, there'd be no Me
I'm glad you're in my family
And everyone has gathered here
To celebrate our friendship years
So, buddy, plant these trees with me
So we can keep the air healthy
And every time we pass we'll know
Our friendship will still grow and grow."
"Dave, that is just lovely. You should read it to everyone when we get back," Hutch's wife said.
Starsky swallowed and glanced briefly at Hutch. "Now that would be a soapy scene," he murmured.
Hutch snorted. Both wives looked at each other and rolled their eyes.
"You two are such softies!"
They both shrugged.
"Well, I'll read it for you. If that's okay with you?"
Starsky and Hutch both nodded.
"Happy birthday, pal. Glad you liked your present."
"You've outdone yourself, Starsk."
"Well, so did you in March."
"How about next year we just buy each other a beer?" Hutch suggested, "We'll never top this year's ideas!"
Starsky nodded. "Agreed!"