Ron
Church
Third week of November
Saturday afternoon
"Ron, your mum just called. She is delayed, so you'll have to wait, I'm afraid."
The boy protested "I'm hungry and I don't want to wait."
"Sorry, you will have to," Lena told him in a stern voice.
Harm just came out of the backroom. Seeing the boy's face, he asked, "What's wrong?"
"My mum will be late and I'll have to wait," the boy pouted.
Harm looked at Lena.
"Would it be okay if we bring Ron home? Then his mum doesn't have to come all the way to the church."
"Let me ask her." Once more Lena grabbed her cell phone and made the call. Harm heard her explain and saw her nod. When she had ended the call, she said "Alice is fine with it. She will be home in half an hour."
"How long a drive is it to your home?" Harm asked Ron.
"Fifteen minutes-ish?" the boy hesitated.
Lena nodded.
"Fifteen minutes," she confirmed. "It's nice of you to bring Ron home. We won't have to wait either then."
"So we have to leave in a quarter," Harm stated. "That gives us time to lend you a hand in tidying up."
Fifteen minutes later they were on their way and after a short ride they reached the apartment building where Ron and his mum were living. Harm parked the car and together they mounted the stairs. At the door they were greeted by a young blond, tired looking woman, who hesitantly invited them in. Mac was to refuse, starting to say the woman could do with some rest, but Ron already pulled Harm in.
"You must see my dad's tools," he declared excitedly.
Harm threw an apologizing look at Ron's mother, who bit back a sigh and resigned to the situation.
"Come in, I'll make tea. Or coffee if you prefer that."
"Don't bother," Mac told her, but the woman shrugged.
"Ron will insist on showing Alan's tools and since he and I are having some difficulties lately, I'm not going to pick a fight. Besides, I like a hot drink, too. So coffee or tea?"
"Coffee please," Mac surrendered. "By the way, I'm Sarah MacKenzie, Mac and that's Harmon Rabb."
"Sorry, I should have introduced myself. Alice Montgomery. Take a seat, please. I'll make coffee."
Mac did as she bade and let her eyes wander the room. She frowned. The carpet was stained, there was water damage on the walls and in a corner pieces of the plaster were missing.
"Our upstairs neighbour had a massive leakage."
Mac jumped. She hadn't heard Alice coming back. The woman smiled and put the tray with cups and saucers on the table.
"The landlord had it repaired, but the wall had to dry completely before they could plaster again and do the wall paper and so," she said. "There will be new carpet as well. Next week Ron and I will stay with a friend for some days, so they can plaster, wallpaper and replace the carpet. The landlord promised to have some minor repairs done at the same time. Next weekend we will stash as much as possible in Ron's room and then we'll stay with my friend Linda for three or four days ."
"That's good," Mac thought.
Ron entered the room, once more dragging Harm with him.
"You have to sit there," he pointed to a well-worn chair next to the window.
"Ron!" his mother warned. "Not that chair. It has a crack, remember. Get your milk out of the microwave and then you can have a cookie, too."
Coffee and milk gone, Alice told Ron to go and shower. The boy pouted and was clearly going to protest, but Harm cut him short. He sensed Alice wanted a word in private.
"Ron, do as your mother told you," he calmly said. "We will be here to say goodbye, when you're ready." To Alice's surprise the boy turned around and disappeared.
Alice stood to pour a second cup of coffee.
"I'm surprised." she said. "I was sure there would be another argument, but you … Ron lacks a father figure."
"His dad …?" Mac hesitated.
"Alan died in September two years ago. Cancer," Alice explained. "I'm dating again, but Ron doesn't accept Alistair and is very expressive about it."
Harm kept silent; he clearly remembered how he had felt after his mother started dating again.
"That rocking chair was his father's. It's broken now; something in the underside isn't working properly anymore." She sighed. "Ron loves it. But I wouldn't mind seeing it go; it's a constant reminder at Alan's last months. You saw him fade away." She wiped her eyes and it was silent for a while. Then she spoke again.
"I'm very grateful you brought Ron home and that you, Harm, allows him to help you. Alan was a skilled DIY'er himself and Ron really wants to tread in his footsteps. I hope he is not annoying you."
"He is a great help," Harm reassured her.
"Sometimes I'm at wits' end. He can be so obstinate nowadays. He almost freaked out when Alistair wanted to sit in that chair."
Harm was about to answer, when Ron busted into the room again, clad in pyjamas and his hair still moist. Mac put down her cup.
"Time to go," she announced and she and Harm rose to their feet. Ron and Alice showed them out and Harm high-fived the boy.
"See you next week. I'll need my assistant."
"Yes, Sir," the boy beamed.
When they were in the car, he was very silent. Finally he turned to Mac with a apologizing look.
"Sorry I was so dull."
"Never mind. You and your fatherless boys," she smiled. "What are you going to do?"
"I guess I'll be talking to him next week. Accordingly to Lena that Alistair-guy is a decent man. I don't want Ron to make the same mistakes as I did. And maybe Lennard knows how to repair that chair."
Church
Tuesday evening
The two men had worked in silence for over an hour, except for some sentences like 'Can you hold this?' and 'How are we going to do this?'. Then Lennard put down his drill and reached for the thermos with coffee.
"Time for a drink," he announced and Harm also put down his tool and joined him at the makeshift workbench. Lennard threw a satisfied look on the work already done.
"I'm very happy with the progress," he declared. "Without your help I would not have known how to do it."
"You're welcome. I enjoy doing it. In my loft there is not much space to do woodwork," Harm laughed. "And I enjoy working with you; you taught me quite some tricks."
Lennard kept silent, but his eyes showed how happy he was with the compliment.
"Mac and I dropped off Ron last week," Harm said. "His father died two years ago. He was a good DIY'er and Ron wants to be one, too."
"Hence his helping," Lennard understood. "I'm glad you took him under your wing. I'm not that good with kids."
"You will learn," Harm reassured him.
"I hope so, now we're expecting our first one."
"I'll have a favour to ask."
"Shoot."
"Ron's dad spent his last months sitting in a rocking chair. Ron loves that chair, but it's broken and Alice is more or less planning to get rid of it. I wonder if …"
"You want me to have a look at it to see whether it's reparable?"
"Yes."
"Guess I can do that. But what if it's beyond repairing?"
"Then Ron will have to cope with that. But I don't think it's that bad. I'm glad you will give it a try and I will make sure the chair comes to your workshop. And if there's money involved, come to me. I don't think Alicia has much to spare."
Lennard nodded and stood up to go back to work.
Church
Fourth week of November
Saturday afternoon
As usual Ron was at hand to help. It gave Harm an opportunity to talk to him. First they talked about Ron's school, the pageant and the tools he had inherited from his dad. Then Harm felt it was the right time to broach a tougher subject.
"You know, when I was a kid my dad was an aviator in the USA Navy."
"Just like you," Ron said surprised.
"Yes. But when I was six, just before Christmas, he went missing in action."
"Did he …" the boy hesitated.
"Yes. I never saw him again."
He hit another and another nail, before continuing.
"When I was seven, my mum started dating again. With a man named Frank Burnett. She was a secretary at Chrysler and he was a senior vice-president. I hated him. I didn't want my mother to date him and I made quite a scene when they announced they were going to marry."
Ron's eyes grew wide.
"You say I should hate Alistair? I don't want a stepdad."
"No, I want to tell you I was wrong. Very wrong. And very stupid. Frank was a decent guy and my mum loved him. And he loved her back and made her happy."
"Are they still …?"
"Yes, they are still happily married. And Frank turned out to be a loving stepfather, even though I didn't make it easy to him. I caused both of them a lot of pain. I'm saying you should give Alistair a fair chance."
He stopped his work to look at the boy.
"Do you know who also had a stepfather? Jesus."
"Baby Jesus?"
"Yes."
The boy went silent and for the next minutes the two of them worked without saying anything. Then Ron asked, "Do you think Joseph loved him? Jesus, I mean."
"I like to think so. You know, there is a story in the Bible about Jesus gone missing. And his parents, both his parents searched for him for three days, until they found him." He saw he had given the boy something to think about and decided not to push further. Not much later Mac came to get Ron for his part. When she was about to go back to the main room, too, Harm held her back.
"Are you in a hurry to go home or do you have time to make a little d-tour? To drop of Ron. I want a quick word with his mum and I want to pick up his dad's chair. Lennard promised to give it a go, but their car is too small to transport it."
"Fine with me."
"Good." Harm walked with her to the main room and pulled Lena aside to ask her for Alice's phone number. A minute later he was talking into his cell and when he terminated the call, he gave Mac a thumbs up.
Ron was elated to be brought home by his hero again and even more when he found out Lennard and Harm would give his dad's chair their best shot.
"There is always a chance that the chair is beyond repair," Harm warned, but the boy shrugged the possibility away. He had an unwavering trust in Harm's capacities.
At their destination, Alice was already waiting and together they carried the chair down the stairs. Harm flipped back the backseats to make room. With a look at Ron and a slight movement of his head, unseen by the boy, he indicated Alice to send her son upstairs, so he could have a word with her.
"Ron, say thank you to Mr Rabb and Miss MacKenzie and then you go and shower," she said. "I ordered Chinese and I brought that video you talked about."
"But I want pizza," the boy protested, but his mother cut him short "We had pizza last week, now it's my turn to choose. Besides, Alistair is coming tomorrow to help move the furniture to your room and afterwards he promised to take us out for an arcade and pizza, before he brings us to Linda."
Ron did as he was told, politely shaking Mac's hand and high-fiving Harm. As soon as he was out of earshot, Harm said "Ron and I had a long talk this afternoon. I think to him it's not as much about your new boyfriend as about replacing his father. Your fight about this chair, to you it's a symbol of your husband's death; to Ron it's the thing that makes him feel the most connected with his dad. You should know, I lost my dad when I was six. He was an aviator in the Vietnam War. When he was home, we used to make model planes together and in the years after his death … if anyone so much as pointed to them, I would freak out. Ron will fight teeth and nails to keep that connection."
"He also resists me taking the pictures of the wall. I thought having the room refurbished, it would make sense ..."
"You're right, in a normal situation. But I think the timing is off: dating a new man and at the same time wanting to alter your home's decoration. To Ron it adds to the idea you're replacing his dad."
"What do you think I should do?"
"Don't rush things and talk to him. Make him see that Alan will always have that place in your heart and that he will always be Ron's dad. But also that life goes on and sometimes it gives you a second chance at love."
"Maybe you can find a new place for the pictures. Like replacing not all of them and make Ron an album with the ones not making it back on the wall," Mac quipped in.
Alice nodded pensively.
"Do you think you can fix the chair?" she chanced subject slightly.
"I think so. Lennard and I will give it our best shot," Harm answered. "But I told Ron we had to look at it first and it might be beyond repair."
"I'm very grateful for your help. Ron won't be here next Saturday; he and I will visit Alan's parents. Nana will turn seventy. The trip will give us plenty of time to talk."
Harm closed the boot.
"We'll see him in two weeks then."
At Lennard's and Lena's place the couple was already waiting for them. While Mac went in with Lena, Harm and Lennard hauled the chair into Lennard's workshop and put it upside down. Lennard had a good look at it and almost immediately spotted the defect.
"Here," he pointed out. "The little beam supporting the rocking mechanism has a crack. I'll have to remove and replace it."
"The one on the other side is still good?" Harm asked, following Lennard's pointing finger with his eyes.
"Good question." Lennard had other good look. "Better replace that one too," he declared after a moment. "I don't know when Ron expects his chair back?"
"Not in two weeks. There was some water damage to their apartment and they will stay with a friend for a couple of days while repairs are being made and next weekend they will visit Ron's grandparents."
"Good. I'll have to find a suitable piece of wood, or order it and then fixing won't take that long. But the glue has to dry thoroughly. Can you help me carry the chair to the back, please?"
Harm did as asked. When they walked back to the front, Lennard asked casually "You really seem to like Ron. What's your interest in him?"
Harm bit back a smile. He was used to this kind of questions, when it came to his interest in young boys. "I lost my dad when I was six," he told, "and I have soft spot for fatherless boys. I so can relate to them. I know what it is to want to keep your father's memory alive and to struggle with your mum moving on to a new man. And how important items your dad used to use can be. I still hold dear the model planes my dad and I made together."
Lennard nodded understanding.
"I had my great-uncle Len," he told. "I'm named after him and he was the one starting to teach me woodwork when I was about six or seven. He was retired by then and didn't have a workshop of his own, only a room in his house. So he made small things, like woodcarving and wooden toys for all the children in the family and the neighbourhood. I loved working with him."
He walked over to the wall where a woodcarving announced this was 'Lennard's woodshed'. Next to it hung a small cupboard with carving tools.
"By the age of twelve I knew I wanted to be a carpenter, like him. But my dad wasn't having it. He had been a court clerk all his life and wanted me to have a white collar job as well. Preferable going to college and become a lawyer or a judge. If it hadn't been for uncle Len … He made this board for me. I was seventeen when he died and I still miss him very much. He left me his carving tools. I used them for quite a while, but then decided to make a cupboard for them and hang them in the place of honour. They wore out and I didn't want them to break."
Harm joined him and admired both board and cupboard.
"You've done him proud," he simply said.
Lennard faced away to hide his emotions.
"Let's join the women," he said when he had regained control. "I bet Lena has coffee."