When Amanda knocked
on the door my dad was in the living room and let her in. I could hear them introducing themselves to
each other and my dad chatting with her.
My dad can go on and on. I wanted
to rescue her and get out the door as quick as possible, so I grabbed my things
and her and said bye to my dad as we made our escape. I thought it would be too obvious to take a
note pad with me, but I put a small recorder in my pocket so I could get a good
recording of our visit.
We walked the three
and a half blocks as we talked, actually it was mostly me asking questions
about school and some of the kids I’d met.
We arrived right on
time at the Teeples. Their home is an
older nicely kept brick house with a steep roof and windows sticking out of the
roof. There was still a lot of snow around
the house with icicles hanging from the roof and crystalline formations on the
trees. It was a cold day, but their
house kind of had a picture postcard/Christmas look. The front door had its own little roof
slanting steeply to each side and there was a wooden sign next to the door with
“The Teeples” carved and painted in big letters. The door had a black, almost round metal
knocker on the front. As we got to the
door Amanda reached for the knocker and gave it three good hard taps against a
thick piece of metal.
Within about a
minute, the door opened and Beth stood beaming with more cheer than I could
ever display this early in the morning.
“Come on in. I’ll take your
coats.” Just inside the door and on the
right side was a closet space with coats and boots. Beth was wearing black sweatpants with UTAH
written sideways down the right leg. She
had a plain V neck, white, long sleeve top, with her hair pulled back into a ponytail. Both Amanda and I took our coats off as Beth
handed us each a hanger. After we placed
our coats on the hangers Beth took them and hung them in the closet while
asking; “how was the walk? It’s pretty
cold for this time of year. Did you
freeze?”
We both responded
with “no, we’re fine” and “it was a nice walk,” almost in unison, though I was
thinking to myself how cold it was and wondering, as I had many times before,
how anyone could live in this frozen wilderness. I couldn’t wait to move back some place warmer.
Yes, I used to think it got cold in San
Francisco, but nothing like this.
After our coats
were put in the closet, Amanda asked; “should we take our boots off?”
Beth looked down at
her own feet and answered with a big grin; “Oh, both my mom and I like to go
around with bare feet as much as we can. You can leave your boots on or off,
it’s up to you.” Amanda then reached
down and took her boots off and placed them in the closet. She had pink socks on with what looked like
little red bears. I didn’t really want
to take my boots off but didn’t want to be the only one with them on. So… I took mine off and placed them next to
Amanda’s in the closet.
Beth walking into
what turned out to be the living room, then said; “we’ll talk in the family
room. My mom’s already there and my
brother Jason will be downstairs in a few minutes. My dad’s outside working in his shop. Jason will get our dad as soon as he gets
down. My little brothers are both at a
friend’s house so we can talk without them bothering us.” Beth, kind of giving us a tour said; “this is
the living room.” Then pointing to a
large picture over a brick fireplace, “and that’s our family. We just took it last Christmas.”
I was immediately
struck by how exceptionally beautiful Beth’s mom was. She had long, thick, red hair, cut about
three inches below her shoulders. Right
then I thought to myself, ‘perhaps there’s hope for Beth after all.’ I took a glance around the room and saw a
rectangular piece of wood, carved and decorated with flowers that looked like
red hearts, with the words, “LOVE IS SPOKEN HERE.” Towards the bottom right corner was a small
black bird of some sort. I also noticed
what appeared to be a very old grandfather clock, a picture of Jesus sitting
with two children and a framed piece of cloth with the word “Family”
embroidered with small pink and red flowers.
It seemed like old
family pictures were everywhere, some must have been grandparents, great-grand-parents
and perhaps even older. The floor was wood,
not the fake stuff, but the real thing, and it looked like it could be the
original. It was waxed and smooth with
some gashes and chips filled in here and there, but absolutely beautiful. There were some oval shaped maroon throw rugs
with a couch and love seat, and a couple of older recovered stuffed chairs to
match. Beth then pointed, “and this is
the kitchen” as we continued to walk through the house. The kitchen looked a little larger than usual
and very well supplied with all kinds of gadgets and things, most of which I
didn’t recognize. Pointing to the left,
Beth explained, “and those are the stairs up to all of us kid’s bedrooms. Mine and Jason’s are in front. The twins, Thomas and Mark are both in the
back. Each of us has a dormer.”
“What’s a
dormer?” I asked.
“Oh, those are the
windows sticking out of the roof. You
probably saw Jason’s and mine from the front of the house.” Walking into the next room Beth continued,
“and this is the family room.” This room
had a thick blue, low pile carpet with two very comfortable looking couches to
the right, and a wood stove with a glass front in the corner. The stove had a bright fire inside with hues
of reds, yellows, and blues emanating serenely from within. A fan gently blew warming air from the bottom
of the stove.
The part of the family room with the couches and stove was sunken
about a foot lower than the rest of the room.
There was a wooden railing along the edge, with the exception of a space,
about two yards wide, where there were stairs between the upper and sunken
parts of the family room. To the left
was a large table with a sewing machine and cloth, and a pattern spread over
the entire table. Beth’s mom, who I
easily recognized from the picture in the living room, was sitting at the table
immersed in something she was doing, singing to music in the background. “It’s what you give that makes you beautiful,
it’s how you live that makes your dreams come true.”
“Mom!” Beth called
out, then a little louder “Mom!!” Beth’s mom looked up with a big smile as she
turned the sound of the music down.
Looking and gesturing towards Amanda and then myself, Beth then said; “Mom,
this is Amanda and this is Anna.” And
then looking at her mom and giving another quick gesture with her hand, “and
this is my mom, Sarah.”
Amanda and I both
smiled and said “hi” with my adding; “That was beautiful, you have a beautiful
voice, what were you singing?”
“Thank you very
much” Sarah responded with a huge smile and taking the CD out of a small player
on the table next to her, “The CD is He Gives Flowers To Everyone by
Cheri Call. I don’t remember the name of
the song. Why don’t you girls have a
seat. I’ll be with you in just a couple
of minutes after I finish something here,” as she put the CD back in the player
and turned the volume down. I could
still just barely hear the music and words.
The music was very pretty; however, I liked Beth’s mom’s voice even
better than the artist. As we turned
towards the couches, I noticed a painting, which I assumed was painted by a
local artist, or perhaps even someone in the family. It was kind of pretty but looked a little
amateurish. The painting was of a meadow
with mountains. I recognized the
mountains as some close to Logan. There
was also a large three sectioned mirror, lightly decorated with bamboo on the
wall behind the couches. I also
recognized a framed photograph of a large building on a small hill not far from
where I lived. My dad had told me it was
some kind of church. I thought about the
living room, kitchen, and family room and thought to myself, ‘this is a bit much, a little too sweet, and
surreal for my taste. This must be “molly.”’
When we got to the
couches, Beth looked at both Amanda and me, still smiling, (I was starting to
wonder if she had any other facial expressions,) and gesturing towards the
couch on the right, said; “have a seat.”
As we were sitting down,
I heard someone running down the stairs and Beth’s older brother stepped just
inside the family room. Looking at me
and Amanda, he said; “Hi girls, I’ll be right back” and then looking at Beth added;
“I’ll go get dad,” as he slipped back into the kitchen. Jason had short red hair, light freckles like
his sister, and was about the same height.
I thought he was pretty ordinary looking, not great, not ugly. A lot like Beth. He was wearing old, faded jeans, not designer,
but faded from work. He also had on a
button up blue shirt with white socks, not the best color for him.
Right after her
brother left, Beth whispered to me and Amanda; “I’m going to go help my mom
finish up, if I don’t she’ll be there, with her mind lost in her project, for
another hour and forget we’re waiting.”
I wondered if this could possibly be the home of someone guilty of
murder, but then stranger things had happened, and I hadn’t met Max Teeples yet.
As Beth walked off,
Amanda nudged me and whispered, “isn’t he cute!?”
A little startled I
asked; “Who??”
Amanda responded
emphatically; “Jason! Silly.”
“Oh… oh, I guess,”
I replied, but not really thinking about it.
The sound of the music in the background was comforting and even vaguely
familiar at times. My feelings at this
time were extremely conflicted. I had
decided I really didn’t like the Teeples even before I got to their home. All of this seemed so phony on the one hand,
but comfortable… at the same time. This
was not at all what I expected. Maybe
that was part of the problem, I had walked into the home with certain negative
expectations. If I was going to be a
good investigator, I needed to let go of expectation and be open to the possibilities. “Get all the facts first’ I thought to
myself. I wasn’t going to get sucked
into eliminating or including any suspect just yet.
After just a few
minutes Jason returned, stepping into the family room with his dad, this time
Jason was wearing tall leather boots with a few flakes of snow still clinging
to his boots and pants. He also had on a
large black duster which went down past his knees.
“I’ll be right back,”
he hollered, before disappearing back into the kitchen. I could hear the sound of a door closing in
the background. Mr. Teeples then stepped
into the family room. His hair was black
and graying. He was a couple of inches
shorter than Jason. Mr. Teeples was a
very ordinary looking man who looked like he had worked very hard all his
life. He was wearing old coveralls and
had grease on his hands and clothing.
“It’ll take me a
few minutes to change and clean up, I’ll be right back,” he hollered, just loud
enough so everyone could hear as he too disappeared back into the kitchen. Just as he was leaving, I noticed the light
on the sewing machine switch off and Beth’s mom stand up. Standing next to Beth she was just about an
inch shorter, and like her daughter had a very healthy athletic build. Sarah was wearing emerald green sweatpants
that went perfect with her hair. She
also had on a plain white v necked short- sleeve shirt. Both items looked like they probably came
from either Wal-Mart or K-Mart but still she looked very good, and
comfortable. As she walked around the table,
I noticed hot pink toenail polish on her toes.
She impressed me as a woman who is not only comfortable, but comfortable
with herself.
Sarah had the most
pleasant smile, as she walked across the room to us, and sat down on the other
couch facing me and Amanda. Beth,
following her mother, then sat down next to me.
Sarah began the
conversation by saying; “Well girls, I’m glad you could come over.” She then asked both of us about our
families. She knew Amanda’s Uncle
Charlie and had met her parents but didn’t really know them. She asked questions about what we liked to do
and what we wanted to do with our lives.
She had such a gentle and easy way it just seemed natural to tell her
things I didn’t usually talk about. I
was surprised at how easily Amanda talked to her and even more surprised at
some of the things I learned about Amanda.
After asking us questions for a while, Sarah said: “My husband should be
here soon, and I don’t know what happened to…”
Just then Jason walked back into the family room. Sarah must have noticed him in the mirror and
as she turned towards him and said, “just a minute Jason” then turning back
towards Amanda and me asked, “would you girls like anything? Milk, juice, hot chocolate, cookies?”
Amanda hesitated,
then said; “some hot chocolate would be nice, if it’s not too much trouble”
then turning to me, “and you Anna?””
Thinking that since
Amanda was having some, I added; “sure, some hot chocolate, thank you.” Sarah then asked; “Beth?”
Beth looked like
she was thinking then replied; “Yes, hot chocolate please.”
Sarah turning back
towards Jason then said; “Jason, please check with your dad and bring all of us
hot chocolate.” Jason immediately turned
around and retreated back into the kitchen.
Sarah turning back
towards the three of us then continued, looking at me; “So Anna, I understand
you live in the Ling’s old house. We
sure miss them. I think about them
almost every day and wonder what in the world could have happened. It was just not like them to go anyplace
without telling us, and she was so sick.”
This was the first I had heard anything about anyone being sick.
“Sick?” I asked.
“Oh yes, Cara was
ill for about a year and a half, but terribly ill for about the last six
months. They were very private and
didn’t want many others to know she had a very rare and serious form of
cancer. All of the treatments had
failed. They had been all over the place
trying to find a cure, the University of Utah, the Mayo Clinic, Mexico,
Europe. Sometimes they would take the children,
but most of the time the children would stay with us. Tye was just about three months older than
Jason and Mia just one month younger than Beth.
They were best of friends. Tye
was also found to have a small tumor, but fortunately it wasn’t malignant.”
Just about then,
Jason came back into the room carrying an oval wooden tray with cups of hot
chocolate. Amanda immediately sat up a
little and almost beamed. I thought it a
little funny and had to keep myself from laughing when I noticed how she was
acting. Setting a coaster on the coffee
table in front of everyone, and one for himself and his dad, and then a cup of
hot chocolate for everyone, he then sat down next to his mom.
Mrs. Teeples and
then the rest of us each thanked him for making and bringing us the chocolate.
Beth then jumped
in, “Oh, I guess you guys haven’t been introduced. Motioning towards Jason with her hand and
looking at him she continued; “This is my brother Jason” and then looking at
and gesturing towards Amanda and then me, “and this is Amanda and Anna.”
Amanda jumped in
with what seemed to me, a slightly overly enthusiastic “hi,’’ followed by an
almost embarrassed look from Amanda, then a more reserved “hi” from me.
I then returned my
attention to Sarah “please tell us more Mrs. Teeples.”
Looking up for a
moment like she was deep in thought, Sarah then continued… “where was I?” Then, looking back at us…” Oh yes, Jason and
Tye were very close, they were both seven when the Lings disappeared. Beth and Mia were also very close but only
five when they last saw each other.” Then,
looking at Beth she asked; “Honey, do you remember much about Mia?”
“Not really, I
remember what she looked like, but that could be from the pictures as much as
my memory,” answered Beth.
“Oh, that reminds
me,” Sarah interrupted and looking at Amanda and me, “we were going to show you
girls the picture album with the Lings.
Beth, please get it, it’s in the top right drawer of the desk.” Beth got up and walked over to an old metal
desk to the left of us but just a few feet from the couches. She started pulling photo albums out and
placing them on the desk until she found the one, she was looking for.
Above the desk, I
noticed a framed poem and read,
“Learn to like what doesn't
cost much…
Learn to like reading, conversation, music.
Learn to like plain food, plain service, plain cooking.
Learn to like fields,
trees, brooks, hiking, rowing, climbing hills.
Learn to like people, even though some of them may be… different from you.
Learn to like to work and enjoy the satisfaction of doing your job as well as
it can be done.
Learn to like the songs of birds, the companionship of dogs..
Learn to like gardening, puttering around the house and fixing things.
Learn to like the sunrise and sunset, the beating of rain on the roof and
windows, and the gentle fall of snow on a winter's day.
Learn to keep your wants simple and refuse to be controlled by the likes and
dislikes of others. Lowell L. Bennion” (I
remembered enough that I was able to search it and write it down from the
internet after our visit. It was not
easy to find.)
I thought this very
appropriate for the Teeples family, in spite of Sarah’s beauty, they were quite
simple.
Just as Beth
retrieved the album and turned to return to her seat, Mr. Teeples came into the
family room in jeans, a green button up shirt and thick white socks, followed
by a very shaggy dog that didn’t look like any particular breed of dog, just
shaggy. I thought to myself, ‘of course, they have a dog!’
“I’m sorry it took
me so long,” said Mr. Teeples, “it took longer to get rid of the grease than I
thought it would, and I had to get my clothes in the washer or risk the wrath
of mom.”
He winked and
smiled widely at his wife as she returned more of a slightly annoyed grin,
followed by; “thank you Max.”
Mr. Teeples
continued, “Hi girls, I’m Max” and with a broad smile reaching his hand out to
Amanda, “And you must be Amanda, I recognize you from a picture at your uncle
Charlie’s, and by process of elimination, you must be Anna.” We both responded with a “hi” and shook
hands. Sitting down, Mr. Teeples
continued, looking at the big hairy dog “and this is Harry.” I again thought to myself, ‘of course.’ “Oh, thank you for the hot chocolate Jason”
continued Mr. Teeples as he began to drink.
Everyone else had either been waiting for Max or had just forgotten
because we all began to drink our hot chocolate, it was still warm enough but
not so hot. Just perfect for me.
Sarah then
continued, picking up the album and going to the back, “this was the last
picture our families took together. It
was taken around Christmas right before they disappeared.” I easily recognized the Lings from newspaper
pictures. Tye and Jason were standing
side by side with their arms over each other’s shoulder. There were two babies in the picture. One being held by Sarah and the other by
Max. Beth and Mia were sitting close to each
other with their legs crossed and their arms entwined. Sarah looked the same as she does now. Max looked quite a bit younger, no gray hair,
and a little thinner. Cara Ling did look
very sick and had either dyed her hair pink or was wearing a pink wig. Alan Ling looked anxious and very tired. “Cara had lost all her hair and was wearing a
wig. Even when she was extremely ill,
she still had a great sense of humor and sometimes wore the most ridiculous
wigs. Alan would grin and say it was one
of her eccentricities. She just liked to
have fun and if she could make people laugh, it made her happy and sometimes
she just liked the shocked look people would give her when she wore something
really-outrageous like a blond, pink, or purple wig. I think it was partially her way of
maintaining some control in a situation where she had very little control. Alan wasn’t getting much sleep. It was a very difficult time for them. They really tried to shelter how bad things
were, from the children; but, Tye knew his mom was sick and his father was very
worried about everything.” Sarah began
showing other pictures of the two families together from about the time Beth
and Mia were babies. It really hit me
how cute Tye was even as a little boy.
Probably the cutest I’d ever seen, and I wondered what he would look
like if he were still alive today.
Sarah, then looked
at Jason and asked, “Do you want to tell some of the things you remember about
Tye and the Lings?”
“I remember Mr. and
Mrs. Ling a little. Mrs. Ling was very
funny. She wanted everything ‘just so’
and sometimes Mr. Ling would get sort of frustrated. Mr. Ling loved to play jokes, but Mrs. Ling
was really the funny one. He would play
jokes, but then act deadly serious. Like
he had no idea what happened or what anyone was talking about. My dad loves to
play jokes too, and the way you could tell if it was Alan was by how serious he
acted and how much he denied. The more
serious and the more he denied, the more you knew it was Alan. He would always admit it was him in the end. He told me he once broke into Cara's apartment
when they were dating and took all of her and her roommates’ underwear, soaked
it in water and stuck it in the freezer. About three months later he admitted he had
done it. She stopped dating him for
about a month after that... Obviously, she forgave him.”
Sarah looked
shocked and exclaimed; "I didn't know that. You'd better not do anything
like that when you go to college young man."
Jason looked like
he may have divulged something he shouldn't have and then continued; “You could
tell they really loved each other, but sometimes when she wasn’t around he
would smile and say: she’s a little eccentric,
she’s a Brit you know. Alan played
jokes and Cara liked to tell them.
People didn’t always get her humor, but then again, Alan would just grin
and say, she’s a Brit.”
Tye was really fun
to be around. He laughed a lot, loved
soccer and was very smart. We went
through kindergarten and first grade together and then halfway through second
grade. Everything was easy for him. He and his sister spent the night over here
or we were over there almost every weekend.
After his mom got really sick, they spent more time here with us. I didn’t even know Tye had the possibility of
getting what his mom had until my mom told me a couple of years ago, and I
guess it wasn’t until then that I understood how sick she really was.”
Jason then
hesitated and Sarah continued speaking; “Cara Ling stopped teaching, but Alan
continued to teach. They needed the
money and the insurance. Alan would take
Cara to specialists, but after school started again, I would watch the children
and Max would take her to clinics and specialists when Alan couldn’t. I should have gone too, or instead of Max;
but, I had just had the twins and it seemed pretty innocent at the time.” With a big sigh and a sullen face, speaking
more quietly, she continued; “but after they disappeared some people started
talking and saying terrible things about Max.
Some people were even saying they were having an affair. I loved Cara so much and I’m the one who
asked Max to take her to these places.
It really hurt Max and his parents as well as the rest of the
family. He was even accused of killing
Alan and taking Cara away, moving her and the kids to another city, and
planning to join them after things quieted down. One of the deputies really pushed this
accusation and harassed Max. They had
disagreements over things for a couple years.
Max is pretty active in the community and sometimes that puts him at
odds with people who have different views.
This might have been part of the reason this deputy seemed to hate Max
so much. He’s not with the Sheriff’s
department anymore, but works with some environmental group now. He was so hurtful to all of us, it made me so
mad.”
Max interrupted,
bringing the subject back more directly to the Lings and their disappearance,
“Cara was very… very sick when they disappeared. Law Enforcement was able to verify this in
their investigation. Most doctors had
only given her three or four months to live from the time of their
disappearance. I was picking Cara and
the kids up so that Sarah could watch the kids and I could take Care down to
the University Hospital. A couple of
times she spent the night for tests or treatments and then I’d stay in a motel
and bring her back the next day. I’m the
one who discovered them missing. I guess
that put more suspicion on me. I really
don’t blame people for believing I was involved somehow. They were just doing their job. Then when they found fresh blood that matched
Alan’s in the den, I was beginning to be really scared, mostly about what might
have happened. The blood was a few days
old when I called the police to report them missing. I had been out of town for about a week. Someone else’s blood was also found, but they
were never able to match it with anyone and it was a different type than mine
or any of the Lings.
My story checked
out and I was dropped as a suspect.
About the same time the Lings disappeared, another friend of ours, Bobby
Sekaquaptewa, disappeared. He had just
graduated from the university. There was
a lot said to discredit him as unreliable and a troublemaker. He was moving back to Alaska to be with his
mom who had taken ill. Bobby had loaded
all his belongings in his car and left town, but never showed up in
Alaska. A missing person’s report was filed,
but to my knowledge, there was never any real investigation. He had taken classes from both Lings and they
had become very close. Bobby was very
involved with some of the research they were doing. He was hoping to go to graduate school in
Alaska. He was a really good
kid. Bobby was passionate about some
things that were important to him, and he did have a temper but would never
have hurt anybody. The things some
people said about him just weren’t fair and they weren’t true. We stayed in touch with his mom for about
five years and then about five years ago, we found out she passed away. I think his disappearance ultimately killed
her. He was her only child and she just
became so depressed after he disappeared.
Sarah and I always thought the disappearances of the Lings and Bobby
were connected; but we have no idea why anyone would have harmed any of
them.”
After a pause, Max,
looking at both Amanda and Anna, “I can tell you more personal things, but I
can’t think of anything that might have bearing on their disappearance or the
old investigation. Do either of you have any questions?”
Both Amanda and I
shook our heads ‘no’ and said, “thank you.”
Max then stood and
in a very gentle way said, “you’re welcome… please feel welcome here any
time. I need to get back to work in my
shop. …… Have a good day.” As he turned
to leave, followed by Harry, Sarah looked again at the picture album and turned
the pages showing us the rest of the photos.
She told us about activities their families had done together over the
five years they had known each other.
I then looked at
Sarah and asked; “how did you guys meet?”
“Well, I decided to
go back to school and finish my degree right after I had Beth. I took a class from Cara. Both she and Alan helped me a lot. I don’t know if I would have finished without
them. “We lived close, had children the
same age,” and Sarah added with a broad smile; “we were both cursed with
husbands who liked to play jokes. It was
just natural that we became the best of friends.”
Sarah, getting up
and with a very warm and sincere smile added; “seriously, please come any time. We love having our kid’s friends in our
home.” I felt a little guilty thinking I
wasn’t Beth’s friend and didn’t really want to be. Sarah then turning said; “And, I’ve really got to get back to my
project” and returned to the table.
After Sarah left,
Beth moved herself to the other couch with Jason and asked “Anna, how do you
like it here?”
A little startled I
responded, “it’s ok; but so different from San Francisco, and a lot
colder.” “I bet” added Beth, we have
cousins in Reno and have been over into California. Our mom’s sister lives in Reno with her
family. It’s big, and the places we’ve
been in California are big, but I know San Francisco is way bigger.” I was surprised that Beth knew anything about
anything outside of Utah and maybe Idaho just to the north.
I then stood up and
said, “well, I’d probably better get home.
I’ve got homework and need to help my dad with one of his
projects on the house.” I forced a smile
and said, “thank you for everything,” and looked at Amanda to see if she was
coming.
As Amanda was
getting out of the couch, Jason blurted out; “hey, next Saturday Beth and I are
going with our grandpa up to his cabin.
He has some things he needs to do and we were going to take the
snowmobiles out. There are some great
trails up there for snowmobiling. Do you
two want to come?”
Amanda quickly and
all too enthusiastically responded; “We’d love to!!” then looked at me with big pleading
eyes.
I felt somewhat put
out, but said, “I’ll have to check with my parents. I’ll let Beth know on Monday.”
Both Jason and
Amanda almost simultaneously said “Great!”
Beth then walked me and Amanda back to the kitchen, I noticed as we were
leaving the family room another plaque that said: “No other success can
compensate for failure in the home. David O McKay.” This one was also decorated
with carved and painted flowers and the same small black bird in the
corner. We continued back through the
kitchen and I noticed even more gadgets, and then on to the front door where
Beth grabbed our coats as Amanda and I put on our boots.
“Thanks for
coming.” Beth said warmly.
This was followed
by a cheerful; “Thank you” from Amanda and a courteous; “thank you for your
time,… please thank your parents, and thanks again for the hot chocolate” from
me as we went out the door. I really
didn’t want to go snowmobiling with Jason and Beth or go to the cabin. Their grandfather was probably even more odd
than they were; but I couldn’t risk alienating Amanda, after all she still had
to take me to meet “Uncle Charlie.” I
then remembered we had Friday off from school.
Some kind of teacher training day.
Perhaps I could go see Charlie on Friday with Amanda, then come up with
an excuse why I couldn’t go Saturday. I
thought about lying and just telling Beth and Amanda I couldn’t go, but there
was too much risk, and my plans could be ruined if I got caught. I decided the best idea was to first get
permission, and then find a good excuse of why I couldn’t go. That should be easy, my dad was always
needing help around the house and the house sure needed lots of help.
We were pretty
quiet as we walked back to my house with the exception of a few comments from
Amanda about how nice the Teeples were and how cute Jason was and how much she
hoped I could go. When we reached my house, Amanda with a hopeful look at me
asked; “can you ask now?”
I knew my mom was
doing some work at the university, but I could ask my dad and even thought he
might say ‘no,’ which would give me the perfect “out.” When we walked in, my dad was sitting in the
living room looking at some plans he had drawn to remodel the kitchen. TJ was nowhere to be seen.
Before I could say
anything Amanda enthusiastically blurted out, “Beth and Jason, that’s Beth’s
older brother, invited me and Anna to go with their grandfather to their cabin
next Saturday and go snowmobiling, can Anna go?!”
My dad then looked
at me and asked, “do you want to go Anna?”
Feeling quite perturbed,
and with some hesitation I answered, “sure.”
My dad continued, “Well I’ll have
to speak with Beth’s grandfather and get some details but I’m sure that will be
ok.” “Great!” said Amanda, “I’ll make sure Beth has your phone number and ask
her to give it to her grandfather and have him call you.” I realized that hadn’t turned out quite like
I hoped and figured that my mom might have been more in tune and known that I
really didn’t want to go…but that was my life these days.
Turning towards the
door Amanda added “bye Anna, see you Monday.
Thank you, Mr. Turner, nice to see you again.” As Amanda walked out the door, I refocused on
my mission and caught up with her just outside the door.
“Hey, do you think
I can meet your uncle Charlie, Friday?
We don’t have school that day.”
Amanda, tilting her
head for a moment as she thought, “Yes, I think that will be ok, if your dad
can take us. He lives a few miles
outside of Hyrum, which is just south of here.
I’ll check; but I think it will be fine.
Remember what I told you though, he doesn’t talk very much to people he
doesn’t know really well. I’ll
check; but I’m sure we can visit him on Friday.”
“That’s Great! I’ll talk with my dad about taking us. See you on Monday.” as I reentered the house and closed the door
I was deep in thought. How was I going
to explain to my dad why I wanted a ride to Amanda’s great uncle’s house, but
with a little knot of guilt and a lot of confidence, thought, I’ll figure it out.
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