Chapter 54

Lee wanted to get on the road to Mount Rushmore as early as possible to avoid the worst of the late July heat, so at 7:30 on Wednesday morning, he and Amanda loaded their children into the minivan and drove across the street to the pancake house. It took them about thirty seconds, but walking wasn't an option because the street was so busy. As they walked in, they saw Eddie and Dotty in a corner booth with plenty of room for six; Eddie waved and Noreen, Doreen's twin sister and the day manager of the family-owned business, said, " Go right on over, folks. You kids want the same breakfast you had yesterday?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Bobby and Emily chorused. "Mickey Mouse pancakes with strawberry syrup, yum!" Bobby added. The day before, Noreen had suggested pancakes shaped like the famous mouse, complete with smaller circles for 'mouse ears', and the kids had loved them.

"How about you, Mom and Dad? Going to break the cycle and have real food, Dad?" she asked Lee.

"Not this time, Doreen."

"Well, can't blame a girl for trying. How about you, Mom?"

"I'll have the Mickey Mouse special too, but with one egg, scrambled, and couple of sausage patties on the side," Amanda said.

"I'll put that right in. I left a carafe of coffee on the table for Eddie and Dotty, so just help yourselves."

The kids slid into the both, Emily beside Dotty and Bobby beside Eddie, and Bobby said, "Can I have coffee?"

"No, you may not," Dotty said. "It will stunt your growth. You need milk, young man."

"I'll bet Daddy drank coffee when he was my age, and he's six -two."

"I did drink coffee, behind Uncle Bob's back, of course. If I hadn't, I might have been at least six-five. Let that be a lesson to you, Robert," Lee said. "No coffee. Here comes Doreen with the milk, which you will drink."

"Bobby, why are you fussing? You like milk!" Emily asked.

"Because he's a boy, and he's nine, dear," Dotty said. "It's like raising Phillip and Jamie all over again, isn't it, Amanda?"

"Yes, it is," Amanda agreed. "And I'm fifteen years older, too."

"Mom, you're not fifteen years old. You're forty-seven," Bobby pointed out helpfully.

"Thank you for broadcasting your mother's age to the world, Robert," Dotty said.

"Well, she's not fifteen."

"I meant that when you were born, I was fifteen years older than I was when Phillip was born, Bobby," Amanda explained.

"Oh. Oh, I get it."

"Finally," Emily said as she rolled her eyes. "I knew all along what Mom meant."

"Well, aren't you the smartypants?" Bobby shot back.

"Children,' Lee said, in his 'don't mess with Lee Stetson' voice. "That will be quite enough. You're in separate seats for the drive up to Mount Rushmore."

"I call dibs on the very back," Bobby said.

"Good, because I don't," Emily said. "Grandma, did you have fun at bingo last night?"

"I did have fun, Emmy, and I won fifty dollars. Eddie bought me four cards and one of them won the fifty-dollar jackpot."

"Wow, that's great! What are you going to do with the money?"

"The first thing she did was buy me coffee and pie last night after we got back here," Eddie said.

"Well, since you bought her the winning card, that's only right, isn't it?" Emmy said reasonably.

"That's exactly what I said," Dotty told her, and raised a fist for a fist bump, something she'd just recently learned to do. Emmy giggled.

"What are you two going to do while we're off touring?" Amanda asked.

"We're going shopping for new carpet and paint to replace that old stuff," Eddie said, "and Dotty wants to look for some different furniture. Tell them, Dotty."

"Well, we had this idea that if we made the motel less boring and bland, we might be able to attract more customers. I thought of giving each room a theme, like Nebraska football, Carhenge, the Oregon Trail, old Fort Robinson, the pioneer days, the great outdoors – hunting and fishing, you know – themes like that. I saw an ad in the local free advertising paper for a barn full of furniture up in Hay Springs. Eddie's skeptical, but he's agreed to at least go up there and look. He called this morning and they said they still had plenty left. Now, that may be because it's all worthless junk, or it could just mean nobody else has taken the trouble to go out there."

Their meals came and they ate quickly, since all of them wanted to get on the road. Since Lee and Amanda wouldn't be coming back to Alliance before they returned to Arlington, they said goodbye to Dotty, promised to send postcards, and drove away, intending to swing by the hospital and say goodbye to Jamie on the way out of town.

Dotty and Eddie watched them drive away; Eddie put an arm around her shoulders and said, "You gonna be okay, gal?"

"Yes, I'll be fine, Eddie."

"Good. Julie should be here soon with the kids," Eddie said.

Julie Klatka was another of his nieces and Rosalyn Kozal's youngest sister. She was thirty -five, married, and the mother of three children, and she was Eddie's regular housekeeper, when he had rooms to clean, that is. Her husband Joe had been injured while working in the Burlington Northern yard six months before and was unable to work, so they were dependent on his disability checks, the money she earned as an aide at one of the elementary schools, and anything else she could pick up.

About the time they were ready to leave, the whole Klatka family arrived in their old minivan, a vehicle that Dotty suspected Eddie kept running for them despite its high mileage. The kids, two boys and a girl aged twelve, ten and seven, jumped out of the minivan and ran over to Eddie to say hello and meet Dotty. Julie and her husband followed more slowly, since Joe had to use a wheelchair.

"Joe's going to keep an eye on the kids while I do the cleaning," Julie explained. "We brought stuff for sandwiches for lunch, and we can stay all day, so don't worry about getting back early."

"Thanks. There's tea and cold water in the fridge in my apartment," Eddie said. "You're welcome to any of that."

"Thanks, we brought lemonade drink mix, so we'll mix it up and they can have that while we have the tea."

Eddie and Dotty said goodbye and got into the truck; as they were driving away, Dotty said, "Will he ever walk again?"

"No. The injury caused so much damage to his spine that he's paralyzed from the waist down. He's been working on making a new career for himself, though, and he goes for treatment at the veterans' hospital in Scottsbluff, which doesn't cost them anything. He was in the Air Force for about six years right out of high school before he came back and married Julie thirteen years ago."

"What kind of career?"

"When he was in the hospital after the accident, the occupational therapist suggested a painting class, and he discovered he has a real talent for it. He sells on consignment in gift shops here, in Scottsbluff and up in Chadron. I want him to do a painting of Henderson Field to go in the office, but I know that if I ask him, he'll refuse to let me pay him."

"Well, don't let him refuse, Edward. You wanted to comp the rooms when Lee and Amanda were here, but Lee wouldn't let you. Tell Joe it's a business deal: we're renovating the motel, we need original artwork to go in the rooms, and you're going to pay the going rate. Surely you can convince him to take the money. You can start with the painting of the Cactus Air Force at Henderson Field. Do you have photographs he can work from?"

"Sure, plenty of them."

"Then give him those, tell him what you want, and turn him loose."

"How did I ever get anything done before you showed up, Dotty?"

"I really don't know."