Page 75 of A Hero Comes Home

“I puked on thome of the guts.”

“Old Mike said a bad word. Three times! Do you wanna know what it was?”

“Kin we play video games for extra hours t’day ’cause we missed them for two days?”

“Donky Kong firtht.”

“No, Space Wars.”

“I hafta pee.”

“Me, too.”

“Me, too.”

They all ran into the house, pushing each other aside as they tried to go through the door together and Goofus ran off, presumably to his own backyard.

Jake looked at his father, who was beginning to haul their gear out of the truck. He’d aged about twenty years this weekend, or maybe he just looked tired. Whoever said children were for the young knew what they were talking about, Jake decided. Kids were energy draining, to say the least.

Jake put the gate down in back of the truck and hauled the cooler forward. It really was heavy with their catches. He peered inside and noted trout, bass, stripers, and blues, even a few crabs. “Wow! Who’s gonna eat all this stuff?”

“Hell if I know! Give it to the neighbors if you don’t want it.”

“Don’t be so grumpy, Joe,” Sally said, coming up to give his father a kiss on his whiskered cheek. “We’ll use them all, and we appreciate your taking the boys out for a trip they’ll remember all their lives.”

Exactly what Jake would have said, if he’d thought before speaking. “Where’s Old Mike?”

“We dropped him off at the house. Says he’s gonna take a nap for a week.”

Jake suspected that his father would soon be doing the same. He reached out and shook his father’s hand, then pulled him into a hug. Against his ear, he whispered, “Thanks, Dad.”

His father seemed to have trouble swallowing for a moment, then said, “Anytime, son.”

They could already hear the sound of the video game blasting from the living room.

“Turn that down!” Jake yelled.

Immediately, the volume was lowered. The kids were probably worried that he would come in and turn it off. Not yet. But soon. By the looks of them, they could all use a shower and fresh clothes.

After they unloaded the truck, including a mountain of smelly kids’ clothing that went directly to the laundry, Sally told his father, who was standing with them in the kitchen by now, “We have a lot of leftover food here that the neighbors and friends dropped off. Can we give you a care package to take home?” She opened the fridge to show him how the shelves were still overflowing.

“Sure. A couple ham and roast beef sandwiches would be good, and I wouldn’t turn away some of that Norse potato salad of Vana’s.”

The jaws of Jake and Sally both dropped.

“What? Don’t knock it till you tried it. Those lutefisk taste just like anchovies. Yum.”

“Yeah, and snake tastes just like chicken,” Jake scoffed.

They gave him the whole bowl.

Just before his father left, Jake said to him, “I know you’re tired and probably pushed to your limits of patience with the kids, but, well, was the trip successful? Was it all you wanted it to be?”

His devious father looked at Sally, giving her a full body survey, then looked at him with equal attention. Then, he grinned. “Yep.”

Is a half-baked idea better than no idea? . . .

They decided to go to the Rock Around the Clock Diner for dinner that evening, at Sally’s suggestion. She and Jake were tired of the leftovers, and Sally didn’t feel like cooking, especially since she intended to go into the bakery this evening to prep tomorrow’s breads and rolls. Plus, it was a treat for the kids, who loved the Elvis atmosphere, though they didn’t have a clue who “the King” was, except for that hound dog song, which they thought was hilarious.