“Ted! Ted! We’re over here!” screams Liz while she runs across the slick airport blue tiled lobby in her favorite stilettos dragging her leopard striped luggage in each hand behind her with a matching cosmetic bag over her shoulder. Trailing behind her is Lila slowly dragging her Sponge bob luggage to catch up while texting on her phone unaware of the people before she bumps into them that happen to walk into her path of destruction.
Across from the baggage claim area crowded with many tired passengers and their children, Ted spies Liz and Lila and slowly raises his hand and smiles with his teeth but not with his eyes. This wasn’t who he was hoping to see so soon again. He is dressed in his soldier’s uniform tunic with blue trim and sharply pressed pants. His shoes are recently polished and his tie is spotless. He looks like a poster child for the Resource Connections catalogue.
Out of breath Liz reaches out to Ted and hugs him as tightly as she can without letting go. Ted pats her back and couple of times while trying to pull away until he literally pulls himself backwards to let go of the death grip on him.
“Oh I’m so glad you are here! I don’t know what we would have done without you!” gushes Liz “I don’t know what would have become of us if you hadn’t come to our rescue! Right, Lila?”
Although Lila is standing beside Liz, she is ignoring the whole familiar routine of her sister and watching the passengers struggle to get their heavy luggage off of the revolving belt. Liz notices that she is being ignored and slaps her on the shoulder a little harder than necessary and repeats again “Right, Lila?”
“Yes, whatever you say Liz” replies Lila “Good to see you again Ted. Do you think we could get a Coke? I’m thirsty and a burger would be good too. We didn’t eat on the flight.”
“Thanks so much Ted for your wonderful thoughtfulness in coming to pick us up on such late notice. I never would have expected something so outrageously kind from you” obnoxiously using flattery to soften the greeting Liz continues “You are absolutely one of a kind. No one is like you. Right, Lila?”
Lila is looking at her painted toe nails and having them lift up and move in front of her to distract herself from all of Liz’s nonsense until she feels a slap on her other arm. “Oww, what was that for?” raising her lip at Liz who tersely shakes her head at Lila and quietly grunts.
“Don’t you want to tell Ted thank you for everything he is doing for us?” demands Liz with a huge fake smile “It was a brilliant idea of Lila’s to ask you if we could come!”
“Thanks Ted. But I think you already know that your sister kicked us out and we really didn’t have anywhere else to go. It was actually Liz’s idea to see if we could stay at your place for a few days. Personally, I think we should have gone ho…” before Lila can finish talking Liz literally moves her body in front of Lila out of Ted’s view and starts talking as loudly as possible “Yes, thank you so much. We are ever so grateful! You are such a blessing!”
Lila makes a distorted face behind her. Blessing is not a regular word in Liz’s vocabulary. The words coming from Liz’s lips sound awkward and a little peculiar to Lila who is hoping that Ted will notice her reaction to them.
“Let me help you with your luggage” offers Ted “my car is parked outside and then we can stop by McDonalds on the way back to my apartment if that is all right with both of you. I have things to do today and won’t be able to spend much time with you.”
“Oh that’s okay. We can keep ourselves busy at your place in the time being” shares Liz “I can cook dinner if you would like tonight.”
“Ok, there might be something in the fridge. Fix whatever you like. I’ll probably not be back by then and that sounds like it would be easier for you to do because it’s a few blocks to the nearest fast food place and you would have to walk” explains Ted.
Liz intuitively feels the brush off but chooses to disregard his lack of interest in being around her. “Well, then I’ll be waiting to see you when you get home.”
“I found another place for you to stay tonight with one of the Home League ladies from the Fireside Citadel. I would rather that you did not stay at my place since it is cramped and also because it is better if you don’t stay with me. Unfortunately people with gossip over nothing” resolutely remarks Ted.
Liz twitches “I really don’t see what the problem would be. I want to stay with you since we already know you and we’re such well acquainted friends.”
“Even so, I’ll come by and pick you up after Home League tonight and take you to Ethel’s house” responds Ted.
“Ok. If that is the way it has to be” pouts Liz thinking to her self that she is going to try and reverse that decision as quickly as possible.
While driving in the heavy rush hour traffic Ted eyes focus on the road, but his heart is elsewhere. Liz leans over and moves her arm slightly touching his arm on the arm rest. Ted pulls away and leans towards the driver side door. Then Liz pulls down the sun-visor and takes the time to dig deeply into her purse and reapplys her lipstick. Lila is in the back seat dozing with her head bopping up and down trying to stay awake for short seconds at a time.
“Have you heard from Ellen or Anne while you were visiting Fannie?” apprehensively asks Ted
Liz narrows her eyes and thinks before answering. “Yes, I have heard from Ellen.”
“How is she doing?” asks Ted
“Ellen is fine like she always is. Same-o, same-o “coyly replies Liz.
“What’s been happening lately with them?” timidly inquires Ted.
“Nothing ever happens with them. Oh but there is that one thing . . .”
Replies Liz.
“What thing?” Ted curiously asks.
“You know. I’ve told you all about it. Brandon. He’s always there you know” slyly answers Liz “He and Ellen are such good friends. She even gave him a Bose headset for Christmas and it was quite expensive.”
“Really? Are you sure?” asks Ted doubting the truth within her statement.
“I am sure. I was there. The gift had his name on it and it was from her” replies Liz “Brandon and Ellen go out to lunch all the time together. Most lunches during Christmas they were usually together.”
“Well at Christmas, it is so busy everyone usually grabs lunch when they can get it even if it isn’t at noon” reflecting adds Ted.
“Well, Brandon calls her constantly with this or that. In my opinion, he’s quite in love with her” Liz calculates.
“I don’t think Ellen is in love with him though” offers Ted “She hasn’t said much about him.”
Liz astutely picks up that Ted has heard from Ellen in one way or another even if it is not in a face to face conversation “Girls have their secrets.” Nodding and slyly slightly tilting her head and looking out the corner of her eye at him through her hair in a commonly rehearsed reaction.
“You can believe what you want. But I still believe what I do about Brandon and Ellen” adds Liz shrewdly “He’s always bringing her fresh flowers from the florist.”
“I still find it hard to believe that Ellen truly likes Brandon” defensively remarks Ted.
“They make such a great couple though. Think about it. They are both musicians, creative, and intelligent. Ellen is older than Anne and closer to Brandon’s age. He’s an officer and she wants to be one” cleverly adds Liz “They are the perfect couple. Can’t you see it? It is so obvious!”
Ted bites his lower lip. In his gut this information doesn’t feel right but he doesn’t know what to make of it. Brandon did call when they were leaving the school and was going to see her as soon as she got back. Ellen has written of going out to dinner with him several times with the family maybe some of the time she was actually going out on dates with him that she didn’t mention. She does fit with him really well. They would actually look good together. But something isn’t right. Ellen is truthful and open about many things and being deceptive really doesn’t sound like her. But maybe he really doesn’t know her that well.
“The rumor around the territory is that he is probably going to propose in the next few weeks. Everyone is hoping for a summer wedding so that they can attend.” Ingeniously adds Liz to her own delight.
Ted’s eyes drop and he has trouble focusing. They miss the turn to his apartment and have to circle the block. He hastily parks the car outside of the yellow parking lines at awkward angle.
As they reach the apartment complex, Ted carries the girls’ luggage up the black punch hole metal stairs to the second floor while they each carry their own travel bag.
Ted opens the door and steps to the side to allow them to enter first as a gentleman would routinely do. He holds out his hand and offers for them to enter his place of residence.
The house is sparse except for disjointed stacks of books and cds here and there. The makeshift coffee table is an old carriage trunk with a separate piece of glass resting on top. The slightly warn chocolate leather couch is large and comfortable as if there was a tiny child, they might disappear among the cushions. There is a throw blanket with a red zigzag hem on the edges with the Disaster Services logo in the center squashed in the corner of the sofa.
A gold metallic dining room table of two “Z” chairs sits outside the entrance of the kitchen. The kitchen is large enough to stand in the middle and be able to reach a different counter top on all sides at once depending on which direction someone is standing.
There is a cinnamon Lazy Boy recliner aimed directly in front of the gigantic high definition screen TV which seems out of place compared to the simplicity of the rest of the apartment. The walls have a few simple black framed scenic photos of some of Ted’s favorite places he has visited. An impeccable upright Steinway piano is in the corner of the small apartment with a five drawer metal file cabinet with music popping out of its top drawer that hasn’t been correctly closed.
There is a bookcase that has been transformed into a media center with the most modern audio stereo equipment. Speakers are dispersed and hung throughout the room for theatre surround sound.
After looking around “Can I have some water?” asks Lila.
“Sure. The dishes are in the right side cabinet” replies Ted.
There is a dishwasher in the small apartment but the sink is full of plastic gas station cups, coffee cups of various shield and crest logos and Tupperware. Lila opens to the cabinet to find two mismatched plates “I can’t find any clean cups. Do you mind if I wash one out?” asks Lila.
“Sorry about that. I didn’t know that I would be having any guests and didn’t have a chance to pick up before you came today” offers Ted “make yourself at home”.
Liz carefully looks over everything that she can see from the living room. Ted shows her how to work the remote for the satellite TV, stereo system, and the rarely used game system if they are interested in playing a game or two while he is gone.
Ted looks down at his watch after about fifteen minutes, “I’ve got to go. I’ll see you later.”
Driving away, Ted feels remorseful. The whole weight of the world seems to be pounding on his shoulders and in his heart. He’d like to call Ellen and talk with her but things didn’t end that well at the Future Officer Fellowship either. She seemed angry with him when he tried to come over to say goodbye. She was so cold when he hugged her too like she couldn’t wait for him to leave. Maybe Ellen doesn’t really care about him and he has misread all of her signals which he thought she was sending to him.
Ted decides that he will call Mrs. Middleton to find out what she knows about Ellen. It was at least confirm or dismiss what information Liz has told him. He can then fairly deal with the truth.
“Hello. Is this Mrs. Middleton?” asks Ted
“Hello. Ted it is good to hear from you. It seems like ages since I last saw you at my house. Is everything okay?” inquires Mrs. Middleton.
“Everything is fine. I wanted to see if there was anything I could do for the Dashings. They’re old friends of mine as you know. But I didn’t want to bother them too much but I want to make sure that they are taken care of” offers Ted.
“That’s very kind of you. How is Liz doing? She called earlier today and said that Lila and she were staying with you.”
“Yes they are here but actually they are staying with Ethel from Fireside Citadel for a few days” Ted replies.
“The Dashings are doing well for the most part. But Anne is terribly crushed over Willoughby’s engagement to Sophie Grey. Sophie is quite a catch though. She appears to be depressed and her friends and family are quite worried about her. Brandon and Ellen are such good supports for her. Brandon likes to spend time with the Dashing family, you could say he is practically already a member of the family” honestly answers Mrs. Middleton.
“Is Brandon at their house very often?” courageously asks Ted.
“Yes. He’s there all the time. Not only that, but when I go over there for the women’s Bible Study on Tuesday nights there is usually a fresh bouquet of flowers on the table that he has brought over” adds Mrs. Middleton “it is such a romantic thing to do, don’t you think?”
Ted feels sick in the pit of his stomach, “Does Ellen spend much time with him?”
“Yes. They are always together especially now that Anne is so miserable. As you know, they work together and most of his free time is spent with the Dashing family and my mother” innocently explains Mrs. Middleton “in the near future I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that Brandon is an official member of the family.”
Ted is devastated. “Do you think she will eventually marry him?” eagerly asking in regards to Ellen.
“In time I am sure that a marriage looks like it might be on the horizon in the future” surmises Mrs. Middleton about Anne “She’s such a lovely woman. He’s really couldn’t do better.”
Ted is mistakenly convinced she is talking about Ellen. “Please don’t tell any of the Dashings that I called. I don’t want to embarrass them that I was checking up on them. Thanks for answering all of my random questions. I’ll talk to you later.”
After Home League his phone rings again. He is too depressed to answer but it is from his mother and changes his mind afraid that something could have happened in his family that he might miss.
“Hello mother. Are you all right?” asks Ted.
“Yes, of course I’m fine. But I am very angry with you” replies Mrs. Ferris “I hear that you have got yourself engaged to some twit.”
“She’s not a twit” honestly replies Ted “ I . . .”
Interrupting before Ted can begin to speak “That little girl told Fannie that you have been engaged for five years” replies Mrs. Ferris in a forceful tone.
“I’ve been promised for five years but . . .” corrects Ted.
“Now listen to me. You are not marrying anyone. You are too young to begin to think about getting married. You have so much of your life still ahead of you” adamantly replies Mrs. Ferris.
“I’m nearly thirty. It is about time I think of settling down with someone” retorts Ted in response to the ludicrous statement of his mother.
“Your father and I saved our pennies which were few and rare to support you through your missionary trials, traveling with that Christian band of your buddies, and now all of your schooling at an expensive private college. I think you owe it to the memory of your father not to waste your time and effort following around someone who does not have the same goals or interests as you do” counters Mrs. Ferris.
“I want to be an officer” Ted defiantly states.
“Ridiculous! You want to live a life of simplicity and service” responds Mrs. Ferris “it is so unnecessary! You have the potential to be famous and make a real name for yourself. You are so talented! You have an amazing gift for music!”
“But that is not what I feel called to do. I can still use my music within the Army” offers Ted “Some of the staff and territorial bands are the top brass bands in the world. Many of the members are professional musicians too. I don’t understand why you are giving me such a hard time. You and dad did.”
“Your father spent his life giving everything he had including himself to others. I think that is why he is no longer with us. He never knew when to say ‘no’” bitterly remembers Mrs. Ferris “I don’t want the same thing happening to you. You deserve much better than that.”
“I think God will take care of me no matter where I am or what I do. I don’t believe that I will be content and at peace with myself unless I do what He is calling me to do” counters Ted.
“I want to be clear so you can understand me. I think that your father would not be very pleased if you were an officer because you have so much potential to make something of yourself and to sacrifice all of your talent would be terribly upsetting to him” replies Mrs. Ferris.
“I know dad loved me and would be pleased with whatever choice I make with my life” angrily replies Ted.
“I’m not happy. You are making a foolish choice with your life. You’re father would be so disappointed in you if he were here” manipulatively adds Mrs. Ferris
“Your whole family is counting on you finishing your school and making a name for yourself. Don’t waste your potential by throwing it away on some silly girl.”
“I don’t think that I can talk to you anymore right now” frustrated answers Ted “I’ll talk to you later when you can accept me for who I am and what I want to do with my life.”
There is a loud click on the other end of the line.
A few more weeks pass. Ted stays at work but doesn’t accomplish much. He obsesses over thoughts of the idea of Ellen and Brandon together. Liz offers a consistent stream of gossip about the growing relationship of Ellen and Brandon that she is being fed through Mrs. Middleton. Liz keeps conveniently showing up wherever Ted goes whether to the grocery store, a particular corps in the area, or the gas station. It’s almost as if she has an instinctive tracker on him.
“I heard the most wonderful news today!” dances Liz as she walks into Ted’s office. Ted wearily looks up from many nights of not sleeping.
“Aren’t you going to ask me what I’m talking about?” teases Liz.
“I suppose you are going to tell me anyway” responds Ted.
“Brandon and Ellen are getting married!” excitedly replies Liz.
“How do you know?” asks Ted.
“Mrs. Middleton was at the mall and saw Brandon looking at the jewelry case window of engagement rings from the “Eternally Yours” line and then saw him walk inside to buy something” states Liz intentionally taking the situation out of context for her own personal convenience.
“Are you sure?” Ted inquires.
“Yes of course I am sure. Why would Mrs. Middleton lie? She doesn’t care one way or the other what Brandon does with his love life!” Liz cunningly replies.
Ted’s body shakes in response to her words and he looks completely crushed by the news.
“Come on. Let’s go out to lunch. I know the perfect place where we can talk” replies Liz.
Ted apathetic to anything that is happening around him follows Liz out to his car. They finally arrive with little conversation at a high-end authentic Italian restaurant. They are escorted by the host in a black tuxedo to a ivory linen table for two in the corner of the dim lighted restaurant.
After awhile of small talk, Liz begins “As you know, we have been dating on and off for five years. You promised to marry me five years ago and I have kept that the idea of us close to my heart as a constant reminder of your undying love and faithfulness to me.” Ted looks up from his food for a moment but doesn’t quite comprehend what she is saying. His thoughts are elsewhere. He hears the words but they get lost in the translation of his anguish.
“A couple of years ago I was working as a clerk at the thrift store as you are well aware. You were still a student and didn’t have any money. We were promised to be engaged and I knew that it would be a very long time before you could ever afford a ring.” Ted looks at her and lightly nods his head vaguely remembering what was said such a long time ago when he was still becoming a man.
“An antique diamond solitaire was donated and on display at the thrift store. Then they put it on sale and with my employee’s discount it was too good to be true! This seemed like such a miracle. It perfectly fit my finger too! I bought the ring because it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. It saved you the expense of buying me one and it was exactly what I wanted. It was so amazing!” excitedly offers Liz.
Ted thinks he hears her and what she is implying but not quite sure either. He tries to concentrate by looking at her while she continues to speak.
“Since Ellen and Brandon are together now. It now seems like the right time for us to be together. She was the only one you were looking at anyway besides me and she has chosen to be with Brandon” cunningly explains Liz.
“Both of us have been pretty lonely and we get along really well. We’re both getting older and there doesn’t seem to be any one else that either of us are interested in that is available. Neither of us is likely to find anyone else at this stage of our life. You were promised to me for a very long time too” Liz stating her case “I think that we would make a good couple together. What do you think of us?”
“I don’t know. I’m not ready to make that kind of decision yet I don’t think” honestly answers Ted.
“I may not be Ellen but I have a lot of offer. Who else are you going to find any time soon? You’ve practically met the entire single female population of the territory and yet still previously chose to be with me” logically argues Liz. ”What do you say, will you give a chance to the idea of us?
Ted’s feelings are all wrapped up in his loss and feelings of wanting something better that will bring him some type of comfort from his pain. Now that Ellen is gone and has chosen someone else, Liz might not be so awful at least they are friends. He hears his voice say “okay.”
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