Retired Teacher
Lamar Henderson is in his living room playing the weekly Sudoku in the Avalon Gazette. He pencils in a 4 beneath a 1 when he hears a panicked cry from the driveway.
“Help! Lamar, oh Lamar, come quick!”
It’s his wife, Alice. There’s something about the urgent tone of her voice—no, not urgent, but desperate—that makes Lamar throw down the paper and rush to the door, almost tripping over their cat, Precious.
Lamar fumbles with the lock as Alice cries out again for help. He throws open the door, half expecting to see Alice lying on the ground with a twisted ankle or clutching her chest in pain.
“Lamar! Thank goodness!” Alice gasps when she sees him. She’s buckling under the weight of several large shopping bags, their contents threatening to spill over the sides. He hurries forward to catch the bags as Alice’s arms give way.
Several spools of ribbon fall out of one bag and roll toward the walkway before settling on their sides. Bright oranges and sunny yellows, pinks with white polka dots, crinkly blues, luscious purple stripes. Ribbons in every color of the rainbow. Lamar stares at them and a long-forgotten memory comes up—paper strips of sugary candy dots, his favorite treat as a young boy, so many summers ago.
“Alice, did you make it back from Rockford in one piece?” comes a holler from across the street. Alice and Lamar turn to see Tubby Jenkins wiping her hands on her apron before giving them a wave.
“Yes! But I couldn’t find those heart cabochons that Mary Winder has. Came across some alphabet ones that are adorable, though. I picked up a set for you, too. They have a nice epoxy dome on top.”
“Bless you!” Tubby exclaims. “I’m finishing up a pie. I’ll be by in an hour with a couple of slices and you can show me what you got.”
Alice waves as she picks up wayward ribbon spools as she heads into the house. “We’re going to fry in this heat if we don’t get in the house,” she tells her husband. “Don’t forget the bags in back!”
It takes Lamar almost ten minutes to bring everything in. Alice has changed into a housedress and is standing by the kitchen sink, washing her hands and bubbling with excitement. “Oh, good, I can’t wait to see what I got!”
Lamar stares at her in disbelief. “You don’t know what you bought?” he asks. He peers into one of the bags as his stomach gives a grumble. “Is any of this food?”
“Food? Don’t be ridiculous. It’s scrapbooking supplies. And I know what I bought, I just want to see everything again. I’m going to convert the guest bedroom into a crafter’s paradise!” Alice beams as she peers into the first bag.
Lamar frowns. “But where will the kids stay when they come to visit?” They have two children, all grown up with children of their own. Six grandchildren in all.
“Oh, we’ll figure it out. They only come two weeks out of the year—there’s no point in leaving the room empty for the other fifty. Besides, you have a home office in the second room and a wood shop out back. Why can’t I have a little space of my own?”
Lamar feels a small rise of panic as Alice begins to pull things out of the bags: thick stacks of patterned paper, empty storage boxes, large puffy albums, scissors with colorful handles, jar after jar of small metal things. She’s even bought some kind of machine that looks like a cross between a printer and a toaster.
“Isn’t this clever?” she’s saying as she zips and unzips the matching nylon carrier. “I can’t wait to show the girls at the next meeting!”
“Doesn’t Tubby have one of these?”
Alice waves his comment away. “Lamar, I can’t keep borrowing everyone else’s die-cutting machine—it wears on the blade, it’s just not fair. Plus I plan to do a fair amount of scrapping from here on out so I’ll need the right tools. It’s not like you don’t own every hammer, wrench, or power tool this side of the Mississippi.”
“That’s different,” Lamar protests. “Those things are practical. Necessary.”
Alice stops for a second and puts her hands on her hips. “For what? A couple of footstools, a squirrel-be-gone bird feeder? I don’t see you putting a new roof on the house anytime soon. You putter just as much as I do, Lamar. Don’t deny it.”
She’s got him there. He watches Alice pull out a strip of paper several feet long before he realizes in horror that it’s a shopping receipt. “We’re gonna go broke, Alice!”
Alice swats him. “Oh, hush. Almost everything I bought is on sale or had a coupon. I’ll have to get a little creative with our food budget for the next few months, that’s all. It’ll be fine.” She pulls out a box that looks like it has a hair dryer inside. “Oh, and I got this for you.”
“For me?” Lamar looks at it, puzzled. Heat embosser, he reads. He doesn’t know what it is but it looks like something that could go in his shop.
Alice nods. “It’s for you to give to me for our anniversary next month. Skip the dinner out—I’ll make something nice here. Skip the chocolates, too—Tubby and I are going to start Weight Watchers at the end of the month.” She hands him several small jars of sparkly powder. “This goes with it. You can wrap it all up and give it to me then.”
“But it won’t be a surprise,” he says, frowning. He hasn’t had a chance to think of a gift yet, but he would have. Eventually.
“I’ll pretend,” Alice says. “It’s not like I haven’t before. And, really, this will make me very happy. I love you, Lamar, but I don’t need another bottle of perfume I’ll never use.”
Lamar gives one of the small jars a shake. Snowy glitter, he thinks. Well, he’s a man and he doesn’t understand these things—he’s long since given up trying to. And Alice is right—he hasn’t come up with a good gift for her in years. She’s saved him a trip to the drugstore at least.
“Well, all right,” he says reluctantly, because there isn’t anything else for him to say. He pokes his head into another bag and lets out an exclamation. “How much ribbon do you have in here?!”
“You can never have enough ribbon,” Alice informs him, her face lighting up as she gasps in delight at her discovery of another purchase she’d already forgotten about. She’s happy, there’s no doubt about that.
Lamar picks up a spool of red rickrack and weighs it in his hand, remembering an episode on one of those home-shopping channels a couple of years ago. A lady had a whole room dedicated to gift wrapping, with rolls of gift wrap suspended on wooden dowels. It was some sort of expensive storage system that cost over a hundred dollars. Lamar had scoffed, saying it would take him half an hour and less than ten bucks to make the same thing. Alice had laughed.
Lamar listens to his wife hum their favorite song as she heads to the fridge. Lamar smiles. Three coins in the fountain, each one seeking happiness. Sinatra. Best song ever.
“Now, let’s see what we have,” Alice says, surveying the contents. “I can make you a turkey sandwich with a side of potato salad. Oh, good, we still have some of that passion fruit iced tea left over. I’ll pour you a glass.” She removes the items from the fridge, then stops for a moment, gazing toward the ceiling, lost in thought. “You know what I’m going to do for my first project in my new craft room, Lamar? I’m going to put those photos from your retirement party together—they’re just sitting in a box. And all those nice cards people wrote! They said such kind things about you, remember? I’m going to include those, too.”
His retirement party. Lamar hasn’t thought about that in years. Now that Alice has brought it up, he remembers those cards, too. There was one from Jake Spencer, a young teacher whom he’d taken under his wing. Jake had written a long and heartfelt note, thanking Lamar for inspiring him to become a better teacher. Other teachers and students had lots of kind words for Lamar, too. Lamar loved teaching, loved what he did, and reading those words of appreciation made it all worth it.
“Of course,” Alice adds thoughtfully as she spreads mayonnaise onto a slice of bread, “I may have to put the cards in cellophane sleeves if they’re not acid-free. I’ll have to ask Bettie about that.” She pauses, making a mental note, then nods, satisfied.
Lamar doesn’t know what his wife is talking about but he walks over and gives her a peck on the cheek and she smiles. For the first time in a long time, he knows exactly what he’s going to give Alice for their anniversary. He’ll wrap up that heat embosser thing and those jars of whatever, but he’s going to surprise her with something else, too. He’s going to build a rack where she can store all of her ribbons, just like the lady on that show. Given the number of spools in this bag alone, he’ll need three dowels at least, maybe even four. May as well make it five for good measure. He’ll mount it on the wall so Alice can access them easily. Maybe he’ll add some shelving for all this paper, too.
“Your sandwich is ready!”
Lamar grins. Yes. The minute Tubby comes over, he’s going to slip out to his shop and start drawing up plans.