“Oh my god,” I mumbled.
“I was seventeen and stopped into a convenience store—”
“Late to pick me up for the school dance,” Lily added, making Stanley smile.
“I was late picking Lily up for the senior dance because I stopped in to pick up a flower for her. Because I had a baseball card addiction, I also picked up two packs of baseball cards. Before I left the parking lot, I opened the packages to see what I ended up with. All of them were good cards, but I remember way back then about being excited about the Mickey Mantle card.”
I stared in awe at the card, afraid to touch it.
“I picked up Lily, gave her the flowers, and we went to the school dance.”
“And tell him why it was one of your best days.”
“Because at the dance I told Lily that I loved her and wanted to marry her as soon as I got out of the service,” Stanley said as he watched Lily walk over to us.
Lily wrapped her arms around him and kissed his head while she patted his arms.
“And that’s why I let him keep his Mickey Mouse cards,” Lily teased and smiled at me. She collected the rolls of wrapping paper and headed back toward the kitchen. Once she was far enough down the hallway, Stanley spoke up.
“It was also one of the best days of my life because I had in my possession a rare Mickey Mantle card.” He winked and laughed before he put the card back in the plastic slot of the protective sleeve. “We better go redeem ourselves and help wrap presents,” Stanley suggested.
I was amazed that Russell’s dad had a 1952 Mickey Mantle baseball card. Plus, he had been the original owner of it. I couldn’t imagine what that card was worth in the baseball collector world.
While we wrapped presents in the kitchen, Christmas songs played from the stereo in the living room. It was the perfect background. Lily put some oatmeal raisin cookies out, and Stanley even stayed to help. Well, he stayed in the kitchen and ate cookies with us while we wrapped. After I finished a package, I gave it to Lily, and she would put the tag and ribbon on it. Then she would tell Stanley to either put it under the tree or set it on the coffee table. From what I gathered, it appeared that the gifts for her sisters and their spouses went under the tree while the gifts for their nieces and nephews and their families went on the table. Eventually, she confirmed that they were stopping by the house tomorrow to pick gifts up and drop some off.
“Russell wasn’t kidding when he said you liked tape,” Stanley commented as he examined a package.
“I think sealing down all of the edges is funny. It makes the recipient work a little harder,” Lily said.
Stanley shook his head and smiled, and I swear I saw an older version of Russell. It made me feel good and somewhat relaxed knowing that both of Russell’s parents still seemed to be in relatively good health. Which hopefully meant that Russell would live to be older than they were. His parents were up there in age, but both moved around on their own. Sometimes Lily needed help up from the couch, but otherwise she moved fine. I started to think about my mom, and my stomach dropped. One glaring difference between my mom and Russell’s parents was that they didn’t seem to suffer from dementia.
And they were what I call “normal” and kind parents. Lily and Stanley Moore were exactly the kind of people who would have a son like Russell.
While I was finishing up a package, Russell sent a text saying that he was on his way back. I filled in Lily and Stanley as well. I found it funny how I sometimes still felt nervous or anxious when I was away from him. Russell said it was because our souls are connected.
“I wonder what’s keeping Russell,” Lily mused out loud as she walked to the window in the kitchen. The window faced the long driveway. Even though it was mid-afternoon, because of the cloud cover it still seemed darker than usual.
“I’m sure he’s just taking it cautiously on the road, Lily.” Stanley said. And I thought he’d said it as much for my benefit as hers. He probably knew I was a basket case often.
I didn’t know where Russell had been when he sent the text, but I started to get nervous as it neared an hour mark. I was checking my phone to see if I’d missed a text or maybe I hadn’t paid attention to the time of his initial text. I frowned when I confirmed his text came in well over an hour ago. I checked the weather … snow flurries.
“It’s snowing out,” I commented. It was really a dumb comment that I felt compelled to share with them, as if they couldn’t look out the window and see it.Stupid city boy. Out here in the Midwest we use something called a window to tell us what the weather is.
“I was looking up the specs on that SUV of his,” Stanley began as he sat beside me. “I don’t think there is a safer vehicle on the roads.” He put his heavy hand reassuringly on my forearm.
Of course, what did my mind naturally do? Focused on the worst possible scenario, and I ran hard and fast with it, despite it not being the voice of reason. Judging by the conversation that Stanley was trying to have with me, I could tell he was aware of my worried mindset. He was trying to relax me and reassure me … this was so Russell.
“He could have been at a mall on the other side of Indianapolis when he sent you the text,” Stanley suggested.
“And there is so much holiday traffic out,” Lily added.
I nodded at them, hopefully letting on that I wasn’t worried, even though I was. I was picturing his SUV overturned or smashed between two semi-trucks.
“Ryan,” Stanley called my name as he rubbed on my forearm.
I pulled my eyes away from a knot in the wood table I had fixated on and looked at him. I could tell he was trying to tell me to relax, without saying it.
“Finally!” Lily announced from the window. She turned to face us and said, “Russell just turned from the main road.
