Chapter 35: A Hot Time in the Old Town

Arielle demonstrates her ballet skills at Rosa’s high school graduation

AUTHOR’S NOTE: My sincerest apologies for the cheesy title, especially for those of you who are now stuck with the old campfire song running through your heads as you read an obviously tragic chapter. (Jump, lady, jump!)

All too soon, the Milito-Paz family had left behind the hot copper sun of Egypt, and returned to their cold, wintry city. Their lives resumed as usual, filled with work and school and friends and activities.

Ari goes snowboarding

Rosa blossomed into a young woman and was preparing to head off to university soon. And Arielle became a teenager, filled with her grandfather’s sense of exploration and adventure.  

“Will you take me back to Egypt one day, Grandpa?” she asked him.

Ari smiled. “Of course. Maybe when you turn sixteen.”

But that day never came. For one afternoon, Ari returned home from work to see smoke rising from the apartment above the garage. He raced up the stairs to find the tiny kitchen engulfed in flames. 

“Fire!” Ari yelled. “Someone help! Fire!” Without thinking, he grabbed a nearby dishtowel and tried to beat back the flames.

John Tyler pulled into the garage, unaware of the fire raging above his head. He did, however, hear his dad’s muffled cries and headed upstairs to investigate. By that time, the fire had spread, and the flames surrounded Ari, licking at him with blazing waves of heat.

“Call the fire department!” Ari waved his arms, his eyes wide with panic. “Hurry, John Tyler!”

Just then, Marisol rushed in, panting. She, too, had noticed the smoke rising from the garage roof. She spotted her husband in the flames and leapt toward him.  “Ari!” She tried to fan away the flames and pull him out. “Ari!” 

John Tyler, who had been staring in horror, whipped out his cell phone and dialed the fire department. “Please, hurry, please!” he begged the fire department. Then he turned and fled the apartment, choking on the thick, dark smoke.

The fire trucks arrived within moments, but it was too late. Ari and Marisol had been engulfed by the flames. There was nothing left of Rosa and John Tyler’s parents but two small, charred piles of ash. 

They were gone.

The entire town was hit hard by the deaths of such a young, wealthy, and talented couple. On the day of their funeral, schools and businesses were closed for a day of mourning and remembrance. Rosa and John Tyler buried the ashes of their parents in the garden behind their home, along with their mother’s cello and their father’s favorite football.  

“I’m so sorry about your family.” Wendy, who had come to the funeral, hugged and consoled John Tyler. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Stay with me,” John Tyler begged Wendy, pulling her close. “Please. Don’t ever leave us again.” His eyes swam with tears. 

“I won’t,” Wendy promised. And she never did.

THE END

Chapter 34: Indiana Ari

Each member of the family enjoyed the trip to Egypt in his or her own way. Marisol enjoyed visiting museums and ruins, and, of course, playing her bass in the public square to entertain the Egyptian people.      Rosa and Arielle played games, read books, and simply enjoyed the relaxing vacation in the warm climate.  John Tyler made a point of meeting Egyptian people (although occasionally, there were cultural misunderstandings). 

But for Ari, traveling to Egypt meant adventure. During those two blissful weeks, he was no longer Ari Paz. He was Indiana Ari, amateur archaeologist and explorer.   While the rest of the family was shopping and sightseeing and enjoying rich African cuisine, Ari was raiding tombs, hunting for treasure, and exploring dangerous depths.

“But we leave in three days and you and I have barely spent any alone time together,” Marisol finally complained.  And so the next day, she joined him on an excursion to a large pyramid. They stayed with their tour group for a while, then slipped away to explore on their own.

“Oh look, a sarcophagus!” said Marisol, pointing. “Do you think there’s a real mummy inside?” She watched as Ari pried open the stone door. But this sarcophagus was empty inside.

  “You know,” said Ari, tilting his head at Marisol, “we’re all alone in here.” He nodded toward the sarcophagus. Marisol grinned, and the two of them slipped inside the stone walls.

  

A long while later, they returned to treasure hunting. They came across another sarcophagus. But this one was not empty.

“A…a MUMMY!” Ari yelled. The mummy shuffled toward them, arms outstretched.

“Run, Marisol, run!” The two of them turned and fled the pyramid, hearts racing. They didn’t slow down until they were at least a mile away. Ari wrapped his arms around his wife. “I think that we’ll keep this little adventure to ourselves,” he said. Marisol agreed.

Chapter 33: The Three Gifts of Christmas

One week before Christmas, John Tyler received a very surprising telephone call. “I’ll be right there,” he said, and then hopped onto his motorcycle and raced toward the lights of the city.   

And there she was. He hadn’t seen Wendy in nearly ten years – not since she had abandoned him with their newborn baby.  For years, he had hated her for leaving the way she did. But now, as he looked at her standing there, disheveled and skinny, she just seemed – well, so vulnerable, that all the bitter feeling left him.

“What is she like?” Wendy asked. “Our daughter? Is she a good kid?”

John Tyler tried to describe Arielle. She was a sweet, happy kid – sometimes sassy, with a great love for animals. “My family is having a Christmas party tomorrow night,” he told her. “Why don’t you come? I’m sure that Arielle would love to meet you.”

         On Christmas Eve, the Milito-Paz home was filled with guests in fancy attire, enjoying music and conversation. John Tyler paced around the house, checking his watch every few minutes. At last, Wendy arrived, along with a middle-age woman who had clearly once been a rocker.

“This is my aunt, visiting from Canada.” Wendy introduced the woman.

Across the room, Ari looked up. He saw John Tyler introducing Wendy to Arielle, and smiled. But then, he spotted the rocker-woman, who was now sipping on a glass of egg nog. No, he thought. It couldn’t be…could it? But then the woman turned his way. 

“Ari?” the woman nearly dropped her glass of egg nog.

“Ophelia!” Ari rushed forward to greet his old friend. “What are you doing in Gold Valley? Wow!” 

Ari and Ophelia spent the next few hours catching up, just as Wendy was catching up with John Tyler and Arielle. But at last, the guests began to trickle out the door, and the hour approached midnight. 

“Time to open gifts!” Rosa cried, clapping her hands.  And so the gift exchange began in a flurry of torn shiny paper and laughter and groans.  At the end, Ari presented his family with – well, perhaps the third best gift of the evening – airline tickets.

“Hooray!” everyone cheered. And one week later, they left behind the chill of winter and found themselves back on the golden sands of Egypt. 

Chapter 32: Golden Years

 The Milito-Paz family was becoming well-known around town. Not because of the scandal of teen pregnancy, which was apparently not so uncommon in Gold Valley. But because Ari Paz had almost single-handedly turned the shoddy Golden Nuggets football team into a household name. The women on his team were an unstoppable powerhouse, winning championship after championship. 

The Golden Nuggets had become an unbeatable powerhouse in women’s football, thanks to Ari.

Marisol, while not exactly a famous musician, had managed to gain popularity as well, playing her bass in front of packed houses and at the parties of the wealthiest families in the county.  Occasionally, Ari, who still enjoyed playing his guitar, joined his wife from time to time at these functions.  With the extra money they earned from these gigs, they decided to remodel their old house room by room. As a gift to Marisol, Ari even had one of the spare bedrooms converted into a luxurious spa.

Ari and Marisol’s hot relationship grows even hotter, thanks to their new spa.

Rosa and John Tyler tried their best to live the typical carefree teenage life of friends and parties and homecoming games. But it was not easy. As a teen dad, John Tyler was anything but carefree. And as the sister of a teen dad, Rosa was often stuck babysitting when she would rather be out dancing and playing with friends her age.

“I’m sorry. I know this is hard. It’s hard for me, too,” John Tyler often apologized to his sister.

“Sorry. I know it must be hard.”

Rosa spends much of her free time helping her brother with the baby.

And it was. He barely had time to just relax and be social, and even when he did, it was often awkward. The other kids his age just weren’t interested in babies. Well, except for Veronica – a sweet 16 year-old girl he’d begun dating. But there was one problem – Veronica was very pregnant. And when his parents found out, they made John Tyler break up with her at once.

“I can’t believe how much we have in common! Who’s the dad? Yeah, it kinda sucks being a teen parent, but it’s kinda cool, too.”

Sorry, but my mom and dad say we have to break up, since you’re pregnant and all.

“You have enough responsibilities without taking on hers, too,” his dad said sternly. “You have two things to focus on now – Arielle and school. Nothing else.” 

And so John Tyler focused on raising his daughter and studying, raising his daughter and studying. And at last, as his daughter continued to grow into a precocious, adorable little girl, John Tyler graduated high school and left his own youth behind. 

Chapter 31: In Which Being a Teen Dad is Not Fun

Just like that, John Tyler was alone. As he stared at the city slipping past the windows of the subway train, he held his tiny infant daughter close, trying not to think about the way Wendy had just run away. Just left him and the baby – like they meant nothing more to her than a pair of boots she’d outgrown. He took deep breaths, fighting back tears that threatened to spill over and soak his daughter’s fuzzy pink blanket.

When he arrived home, he followed the sound of music and laughter to the backyard, where he found his mother strumming the guitar and his father singing along in his off-key voice. The moment they spotted John Tyler and the baby, however, the music stopped at once. After a long, stunned silence, John Tyler spoke. “Mom, Dad, this is…your granddaughter.”  

“Where is Wendy?” asked his father, leaning in to see the baby, who was beginning to stir.

“What will you name her?” asked his mother, scooping the tiny pink bundle into her arms.

John Tyler took a ragged breath. “Wendy’s…she’s gone,” he said in a near-whisper. “She didn’t want…” He almost said us. Instead, he said, “I think I’ll name her Arielle.” As though on-cue, Arielle’s eyes flickered open – two tiny pools of pale blue.

During the first few weeks, Ari and Marisol and even Rose pitched in to help John Tyler with raising a newborn. Still, John Tyler had never felt so overworked and worn-out in his life. During the days, he dragged himself to school while his mother stayed with the baby. And during the nights, he left his warm bed again and again to hold Arielle and give her a bottle.

Being a teen dad was really hard work.

It was not fun. He loved Arielle, from her wiggly fingers that clutched his long hair to her sweet, milky fragrance. He would do anything for her, he knew. But raising a newborn was not fun. He was exhausted all the time, could barely focus on homework, and when he did have free time, all he could do was sleep. He had not envisioned this – doing it all alone. Wendy was supposed to be there by his side. They were supposed to be a family. When Arielle was asleep in her crib, Wendy was supposed to be there, laughing with him, kissing him.

But she had run away. 

Chapter 30: The Dad

At first, it was a difficult adjustment to live in the suburbs. The house was old and drafty, with few of the modern upgrades the family had grown accustomed to in their city penthouse.  However, it was spacious and comfortable, and over the next few months, Ari and Marisol poured a great deal of time and money into making it feel more like home.      The reason for their move to the suburbs, of course, was to provide a home for John Tyler’s girlfriend, Wendy, and the new baby, who was due to arrive any day now. Although Wendy had the freedom to join the family in the larger house, she chose to confine herself to the tiny apartment above the garage.  She refused to allow in visitors – not her parents, nor Ari and Marisol, nor even John Tyler, though he often parked himself beside her door, holding one-sided conversations, hoping that she would change her mind and let him in. But she never did. Eventually, John Tyler began to visit less and less frequently. 

Wendy confined herself to the apartment.

And then, one afternoon, John Tyler knocked on Wendy’s door. To his surprise, the door swung wide open, and Wendy was not there. Where had she gone? Could she be at the hospital, having his baby right now? His parents were still at work, so John Tyler took a bus and a subway train all the way to Gold Valley General Hospital.  When he arrived, however, the nurses informed him that Wendy had had the baby the day before, and that she had just checked out.

“Was it a boy or a girl?” John Tyler asked the nurse.

“It was a girl,” said the nurse.  A girl! John Tyler rushed out of the hospital. He was a dad! He had a daughter! But where could Wendy have taken her?

He headed back to the subway station, and suddenly, he spotted Wendy near the entrance. “Wendy!” he cried, and hurried toward her and their baby girl, who was lying on the cold ground in a bundle of blankets. John Tyler couldn’t believe it. “What’s wrong with you!” he yelled at Wendy. Without hesitating, he scooped up the sleeping baby and held her close. “What, were you planning to hop on a train and leave her lying there?” His face was flushed with anger. 

Wendy shrugged. Her eyes looked heavy and dull, and smudged with black eyeliner. “I’m going back to my dads’ house,” she said. “I didn’t ask for this. I don’t want to be a mom!”

John Tyler tried to keep his voice down, so as not to wake the baby. “Well, I didn’t ask for it either,” he reminded her. “But I’m still her dad. And you’re still her mom, whether you like it or not.”

Wendy shook her head and backed away, her eyes flickering from John Tyler to the baby like they were strange creatures from some other world. Then she turned and fled, leaving John Tyler alone, holding his daughter.

Wendy takes off and leaves John Tyler with their newborn daughter.

Chapter 29: Teenage Love Story

It wasn’t that Ari and Marisol were bad parents.  They loved John Tyler and Rosa very much.  Both parents tried their best to give their kids everything they needed to be healthy and happy. But even with the best parenting, the best schools, and the best life that money can buy, sometimes kids make poor choices. 

John Tyler loved his girlfriend, Wendy. He loved her wild sense of style. He loved the way her eyes lit up whenever she saw him. He loved the soft curves of her body pressing against him when they kissed. 

“Do you worry that John Tyler is seeing too much of his girlfriend?” Marisol asked Ari. “It seems like she’s become his only pastime.”

“I’m sure it’s fine,” Ari said, shrugging his shoulders. “It’s just a little teenage crush. He’ll come back down to Earth when it wears off.” 

But they did not know the intensity of John Tyler and Wendy’s relationship. They were unaware that the couple was now having sex on a regular basis, whenever their families were away from home. No one knew, until very late one Saturday night, when Ari returned home from a Golden Nuggets game. His team had just suffered a humiliating defeat against a weaker opponent, and all he could think of was a long, relaxing soak in the jacuzzi. He stepped out onto the balcony, then froze in shock. There was his teenage son and his girlfriend in the hot, steaming bubbles of the jacuzzi, having sex. 

Ari let out a bellow so loud, that it probably woke up every family in their apartment building. John Tyler and Wendy gasped and quickly climbed out of the jacuzzi, then Wendy yanked on her clothes and raced out the front door, still barefoot and dripping wet.

Ari spoke to John Tyler between clenched teeth. “To your room. Now.” John Tyler quickly obeyed.

For the next few weeks, there was a strained silence in the household. Even little Rosa, with her bubbly, positive personality, couldn’t melt the chill between John Tyler and their parents. He was like a prisoner now – allowed to leave the house only for school and soccer practice. He was forbidden to ever see Wendy again. Marisol and Ari thought that this would be the best solution. Unfortunately, they did not count on a surprise visit from Wendy’s dads.

“My fifteen year-old daughter is pregnant,” they told Ari and Marisol. “And she says that John Tyler is the father.”

“Pregnant? Oh no!” Marisol looked at their son, who suddenly looked scared and vulnerable, and much too young to be a father, and burst into tears.

“Unfortunately,” said one of Wendy’s fathers, “my husband and I don’t feel as though we can manage Wendy any longer. She has always been so out-of-control. And now this!” He threw his hands into the air. “We will have to send her away to live with relatives in Canada.”

“Canada!” John Tyler’s face drained of color.

Ari shook his head. “Let Wendy come and live with us. We will take care of her and the baby.”

“Do you have enough space?” Wendy’s dad threw a dubious glance around the apartment.

“We will,” Ari assured him. And so, less than one month later, the Milito-Paz family left behind the lights and excitement of the big city and moved across the river to rent a large house in the suburbs. For Ari and Marisol, the long commute to work really sucked. But the house had a small apartment above the garage where their son’s pregnant girlfriend now lived.

The new house in the suburbs of Gold Valley.

Chapter 28: John Tyler’s Little Shadow

Rosa was the perfect addition to the Milito-Paz family.

Ari, Marisol, and Rosa have breakfast together on the balcony.

She was not particularly talented, but she was sweet and funny, and had a wonderful imagination. She loved to play with dolls and dress up in costumes.  But there was nothing she loved more than to hang out with her big brother, John Tyler.

At first, John Tyler resented Rosa’s attention. “Can’t you make her stop following me around?” he complained to his parents. “She’s like a shadow!”

“It’s just something that little brothers and sisters do,” Marisol explained with a shrug. “You’ll just have to get used to it.”

Eventually, by the time John Tyler became a teenager, he did grow used to it. In fact, he began to enjoy having a little sister to boss around and teach about the world. Of course, not everything he taught her was accurate, but Rosa didn’t know any better.

“You see, if women eat sushi, then they can turn into mermaids.”

“So, if I don’t do your chores for you sometimes, then the gypsies will sneak in during the night and take me away?”

“If you’re a good girl, then Santa will bring you presents for Christmas. But if you’re bad, then Santa will eat you. That’s why he’s so fat, from eating the bad kids.”

 

John Tyler also made a very useful discovery – having a little sister took his parents’ attention off of him, so that now he could do pretty much whatever he wanted, without getting caught. For example, his parents did not know that he smoked an occasional cigarette when hanging out with his friends. Nor did they know that, whenever they were out watching Rosa’s soccer games and ballet recitals, John Tyler usually invited over his girlfriend, Wendy, for makeout sessions in the jacuzzi. They also did not notice that John Tyler and Wendy had grown pretty serious about each other.

John Tyler and his girlfriend, Wendy

And John Tyler preferred to keep things that way.

Chapter 27: The Little Rose

Ari, Marisol, and John Tyler enjoying breakfast together on the patio

Ari didn’t know why he felt so restless. His family had been settled in the city of Gold Valley for almost two years now. His women’s football team, The Golden Nuggets, was now number two in the league and growing better all the time. His son, John Tyler, was excelling in school, and his dog, Fred, was a smart and loyal companion.    He was perfectly content with Marisol, who was as beautiful and loving a wife as ever. But still, he felt that something was missing.

“How would you feel about adopting a baby?” he asked Marisol one day. 

Marisol raised her eyebrows in surprise. “I would love to. But many childless couples have to wait for years before a baby becomes available to adopt.”

Ari frowned. “You’re right,” he said. “Well, then what if we adopt an older child. You know, out of the foster care system?” He watched Marisol’s face soften. She understood how difficult and traumatic his childhood had been with an abusive foster mother. What if people like he and Marisol had come along during those years and adopted him? What would his life have been like with a real family who cherished him?    

“Of course we can adopt a child.” Marisol smiled and leaned in to kiss Ari. “Let’s call right away.”

And so, just two months later, Rosa joined the family.  She was a sweet, plump girl with a gingerbread smile and dark, shining eyes.  Ari and Marisol loved her from the start. And Ari knew, as he hugged his Rosa for the first time, that he now had everything he had ever wanted.

Chapter 26: Training the Golden Nuggets

Ari loved being a coach. He thought that he would miss being a star player, hearing the roar of the crowd in his ears as he raced across the pitch. But the truth was, he found that being a coach was, in some ways, even better. 

Skills training

“You ladies are a bunch of wimps. I’m going to get you in great shape, so that you can be winners!”

The Golden Nuggets were a sorry team when he first began to work with them. The past season, they ranked second to last in the league, with only 2 wins. The players were lazy and out-of-shape, with poor technique. Ari stepped in with a no-nonsense attitude, putting the players through rigorous conditioning and skills training.

“Come on, coach!” the women often complained at first. “We got that play right ten times in a row.”

“Do it like this!” Ari demonstrates proper technique.

“Then make it twenty times!” Ari would snarl. When the players talked back or goofed off on the field, Ari would make them run a mile. 

“I hate Coach Ari,” he sometimes overheard the players whisper to each other as they shot dirty looks in his direction. But Ari didn’t care. They didn’t have to like him, as long as they won football matches. And win they did. When the season began, the Golden Nuggets were like a brand-new team, winning game after game. And suddenly, the city of Gold Valley caught football fever. It seemed as though everyone was wearing Golden Nuggets merchandise and filling the stands during home games, cheering on their women’s team – and Coach Ari, too.