CHANGE OF LIFE - Chapter 14

     At the Airport Willard found the long term parking. After parking and locking his car, Willard looked around and saw a big letter “K” at the end of the row. He wrote that on the parking ticket he had received at the gate. As he started walking toward the terminal, pulling his suitcase behind him, a bus stopped, and he got onto the bus.

“What airline?” the driver asked.

“Southwest.”

The driver let him off at the Southwest Airlines area. A sky cap wanted to check his baggage at curbside, but he explained that he didn’t have a ticket. He went inside and stood in line at the Southwest Airlines™ counter. He gave his name and the representative found his ticket, asked for his driver’s license and credit card. She took his bag and tagged it for BWI (the baggage code for Baltimore-Washington International Airport). Then she told him from what gate his flight would be departing. He went upstairs and stood in a long line at the Security checkpoint.

After he cleared Security, he started walking to the gate. It was one of the gates furthest from the Security check point. He walked by a Burger King™ concession and realized that it was way past lunch time. He had plenty of time until his flight; he stopped and ate his lunch there. After he ate and started for the gate again, he passed a news stand. Turning aside, he bought a magazine and some chewing gum. He continued on to the gate. It was filling up with people waiting for the same flight that he would be on. He wondered why he had decided to go back to Baltimore. He didn’t know anyone there. Dolores’ mother had been dead for a number of years. Both his father and mother were dead. Beverly was his only family.

Maybe that is why it was so bitter, is so bitter, that he and Dolores never had children. The O’Reilly family, at least his branch of it, ends with him.

When the plane landed at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, Willard retrieved his large suitcase first. Then he went to the Enterprise™ Car Rental counter, signed a rental agreement and received directions where to find the car he was renting. It was a small Hyundai™. He wasn’t sure that his suitcase would fit in the trunk but it did.  Leaving the Airport was confusing. He hoped that he would not have trouble finding his way back to here next Tuesday. He had directions to the Hampton Inn™ on Redwood Street and within fifteen minutes he was there.

When he checked in, he asked several questions about the valet parking. The clerk explained that he should let the desk know what time each morning that he wanted his car and it would be waiting for him.

He went to his room, unpacked his suitcase, hung the shirts and trousers on hangers, and put the other clothes in the dresser drawers. The toiletries he put on the lavatory counter in the bathroom. Then he lay back on the bed. He didn’t even turn the television on. He went to sleep.

Waking up in the middle of the night, Willard took a shower, put on his pajamas, went back to bed, and soon fell asleep. The next morning he went down to the free breakfast. It was splendid. On the way back to his room, he told the desk clerk that he wanted his car at 10AM.

Willard drove out to Dundalk. He found his old high school – now a junior high school. He took a dozen pictures. Then he drove to the house where Dolores lived when they were in high school. The neighborhood was now run-down and did not appear to be safe. He took some pictures of Dolores’ old home, trying not to show the neighborhood. From there he drove to the pharmacy where he worked after school delivering prescriptions. The pharmacy was no longer there, even the building was gone. The whole row of buildings that had housed a variety of businesses had been torn down.

He drove up Merritt Boulevard to the Diner on the intersection of Merritt Boulevard and Holabird Avenue. There used to be a lot of diners of that design. It resembled the dining car on a train. Inside it was a lot more spacious than most diners of that design. The back had been extended so that the size was doubled. He remembered that they had very good food, a mixture of Greek and Italian cuisine.

It was well past noon, almost mid afternoon. A waitress came up to his table. She was probably his age, but still very attractive. She had blonde hair pulled up under a net with a red and white half cap. She had an attractive figure, shapely legs, and an attractive face with full lips and bright blue eyes.

“What will you have to drink, coffee, tea, soda, water?”

“I’d like an iced tea with a wedge of lemon.”

She started to hand him a menu.

“They used to have the best spaghetti and meatball plate in this diner. They served it with crunchy garlic toast and a crisp lettuce salad topped with balsamic vinegar.”

“They didn’t lose the recipe. I’ll get your iced tea and give your order to the cook.”

She soon returned with his iced tea and a napkin wrapped around eating utensils.

“You said they used to have a good spaghetti and meatball plate. I don’t remember seeing you in here, but you look vaguely familiar to me. My name is Pat Lisemby. It used to be Pat Roslynowski. Would your first name be Willard?  A name like that sticks with you.”

“Yes, I’m Willard O’Reilly. I graduated from Dundalk High School in 1982. Weren’t you one of the cheerleaders?”

“Yes. I remember you - so smart that everybody hated you. You always knew the answers to questions the teacher asked, and that no one else could answer. So now you must be a rocket scientist or a medical researcher or something?”

“No, I’m a small town cop in southern Arkansas.”

“No way!  I remember that you went into the Army the fall after we graduated. All through our senior year you dated Dolores Kosciuszko. Her face used to have a lot of acne but it seemed like it gradually went away.”

“Dolores and I married right after I got out of the Army. The police department in Prattsville, Arkansas hired me. That’s where I’ve been ever since.”

“Did Dolores come with you?  Her mother is dead. Does she have some other relatives in Baltimore. Did she track down where her father is living?”

“Dolores didn’t come with me. We are sort of separated.”

“Sort of separated is like sort of pregnant. Uh-oh, I hear the cook calling ‘Order Up.’”

Pat returned with a plate of spaghetti, two pieces of garlic toast, and a lettuce salad.

“Enjoy.”

She retreated back into the kitchen and Willard set himself to eating the appetizing meal. Just as he finished his meal, Pat reappeared.

“What would you like for dessert?  We have baklava, sour cream chocolate cake, custard pie, banana pudding, or ice cream or sherbet in a half dozen flavors.”

“I’m full. Just let me have the check.”

“You can pay at the register when you are ready.”

Pat went over and stood behind the cash register. Willard left a generous tip and walked to the register. When he paid and Pat handed him his change, she gave him a slip of paper.

“This is my address and phone number. If you would like to go out one night while you are in town, I’m free and I’d like to go out with you.”

Embarrassed, Willard took the change and her note. He stuffed them into his pocket, blushing as he walked out to his car.

He drove back to the hotel, dropped off his car, and went up to his room to freshen up. He didn’t want to get the car out again. They might charge him another $29. He decided to walk down to Harbor Place.

When he crossed Pratt Street he saw the USS Constellation at Pier 1. He went through the maritime museum. It was the last all sail ship commissioned by the US Navy. He went on board. Touring the ship he heard a talk about how her big guns were fired and saw how the crew lived. Then he disembarked and went on down to Pier 3 to visit the Lightship Chesapeake and the submarine USS Torsk. He completed those tours as they were closing. It was 7:00 PM.

Watching the colors of sunset on the water of the Inner Harbor, he stood down by the water a long time, sorry that he left the camera in the car. From the number of restaurants there, he opted for Philip’s. He remembered going to Philip’s crab house in Ocean City, Maryland one time. He didn’t think he wanted to tackle eating steamed crabs. That’s a messy proposition. He decided on a crab cake supper and a beer or two with it..

He decided to come back to the Inner Harbor on Sunday. Tomorrow he’d go to Washington, DC, to the Smithsonian Institute museums. He took Dolores there once and they ate lunch in a snack bar in the basement of one of the museum buildings. It was a pretty good meal.

That night as he tried to sleep he kept thinking about Pat and her invitation to him. It would be nice to have a good looking woman to go out with him to a movie and a restaurant. He was sure they had a lot to talk about. There wouldn’t be anything wrong with it, would there?  Yes! If he took her out, even once, there was the risk that one or both of them would start to develop feelings and hopes about the other.

It all hinged on two questions – Did he want to take Dolores back?  The answer to that was a resounding YES. Would Dolores ever come back to him?  He had no idea what the answer is to that question. Since he knew that he would take Dolores back and he didn’t know whether she would come back, he decided that he would give Dolores one year. He would not start any friendship with another woman during that time. If, after a year, it did not appear that Dolores would come back to him, then he would move on with his life and find someone else.

The next morning he drove to Washington, DC. Outside the city he parked at one of the Park and Ride parking lots and went into the rapid transit station. From a map on the wall he found out what line to take to the Smithsonian. He knew that trying to find a parking space in Washington is a nerve wracking ordeal.

All day he wandered through the museum buildings. He could spend a week going through the buildings and still not see all the things that he wanted to see – not all that there is to see – just all that he wanted to see. It was well past noon when he started feeling hungry and realized that he still hadn’t eaten lunch.

The snack bar and gift shop were in the same building and looked a lot like they did when Dolores was with him nearly thirty years ago. In the afternoon he went through the Aeronautics and Space Museum. About 5PM he went to the subway station to ride back to the Park and Ride. He drove back to Baltimore and found himself on a different highway, although it said “Baltimore”. He came into Baltimore from a different direction and for a while he was lost. He saw a sign for the Inner Harbor and went in the direction indicated. At around 7:00 PM he pulled into the hotel and gave the keys to his car to the attendant.

There was no restaurant in the hotel. He walked back to the Inner Harbor where there were a number of nice restaurants. The next morning after breakfast he walked over to the Inner Harbor and just started walking up Light Street. After he walked five or six blocks he saw a Methodist Church on the corner. He decided to join the people going into the church. Inside, sunlight came in through the stained glass windows. By the time the service began, fifty or sixty people were there. The choir tried, but it was not ready for prime time! The minister was a lay preacher with a plain message, but a message that Willard needed to hear – a message of trusting God, hope, asking forgiveness from God, and giving forgiveness to those who wronged us.

“I haven’t been to church and I haven’t thought about God all these years. I’m going to start going to church when I get back home. Maybe that is the most important thing I’ll get out of this trip.”