The glow of winter break stayed with Trey after he'd gotten back to Marienthal. The Tuesday morning after he got back, the second day of classes, he was sitting in the Student Union having a cup of coffee and trying to take stock of it all.

What he'd figured would be pretty bad and had started out that way had turned out to be pretty good! Couldn't have been much better, considering, and it included what probably was the best week of his life. Oh, the few days at Buddha and Giselle's before Christmas had been a little boring and lonely, but he'd had a good chance to brush up on his surfing skills before Dr. Harris -- they were back on campus, now, although he hadn't seen her since his return -- and the rest showed up, so he hadn't had to look too stupid in front of them while knocking the rust off. But the days after that, well, he'd never had a time in his life quite that good. Surfing all day, staying up and partying around the campfire half the night, to bed late, and up early the next morning to do it over again. He'd been so tired when he left that he'd actually gotten a motel halfway home just to get some good sleep -- he'd been running so far behind on sleep there was no way he could have driven all night.

And, the campfires had been better than the surfing. Just sitting around, hearing the stories, enjoying the horseplay. He still couldn't quite believe Randy handcuffing Nicole right in front of everybody, but he had noticed that she was still wearing them when she got up the next morning, although Randy took them off her shortly after. Unbelievable. Though she might have said she didn't like it she clearly was having fun and enjoyed being the center of attention, teasing Randy about them all evening. And, oh, the music! Myleigh -- that was there -- and Blue Beauty had been the center of attention most of the time, but Randy was pretty darn good, and they were even better when they got together. Randy hadn't brought his guitar, but had borrowed Buddha's. Buddha was pretty good, too, and so was Crystal, although her tastes ran more toward simpler stuff that would make for good group sings around a campfire. Even Al played, too. It made him a little jealous in a way; he'd tried playing the guitar when he was a kid, but he hadn't had the knack for it. But wow, listening to them was fun.

He'd clearly made some friends there, too. They'd all spent a lot of time hanging out together, sometimes in large groups like around the campfire, sometimes in smaller ones just lying on the beach, waiting for the sun to warm them up so they could go back out surfing. He'd spent a fair amount of time with Myleigh, and soon discovered something about her that he hadn't quite picked up before -- her meek, polite way of talking was cover for a wicked sense of humor, and she nailed everyone sooner or later. She was a lot of fun, fit right in with the group, too.

What a happy time. He'd run a couple rolls through the Nikon, and had the film run when he got back to Indiana. He'd made a point of getting several photos of Myleigh out on her surfboard, wearing a wetsuit, if for no more reason than to prove, if need be, that she really was a surfer. Wow, had Justin been jealous when he saw those photos of him hanging out on the Florida beach with a bunch of people, surfing and having a ball. He'd headed back to Olathe and mostly sat around the house all break, bored to tears from the tube. Sorry, Justin, you snooze, you lose.

Who knew if he'd ever see them all again? Randy and Nicole would be chancy, but they might run into each other down there at Buddha and Giselle's sometime -- he'd have to give that some thought in future years. But the bunch from Canyon Tours, they were a lot of fun too, and then to get an offer to work in the Grand Canyon helping on raft trips all summer -- that had been too much to expect!

Of course, just about the first thing he'd done when he got back to Marienthal was check on his internship, and he was thrilled to discover that he'd been turned down. Within minutes, he was on the phone to Al accepting the summer job. Sure, it would involve living rough, like Scooter said. That wasn't any big problem; it couldn't be as rough as some places that he'd been in the Army; he could handle rough, and he wouldn't be eating MREs, that was for sure. He'd heard talk about how well Canyon Tours fed their customers, and the crews were fed the same way. He knew, too, that being a swamper was a first step toward being a boatman, although it usually took two or three seasons. If it worked out, well, he knew that Crystal and Scooter made pretty good money, spent nothing on living expenses while they were working -- and had almost half the year off to play. It might be an option, but he didn't really want to think about that possibility until he'd had the chance to find out what it was really like. It obviously looked like a tough row to hoe if you were married and had a family, but he didn't, and there were no prospects -- even Melissa had gotten herself engaged over the break -- so it might be worth considering.

And those had been only among some of the dividends of the trip. It had been a long drive back home. He'd been tempted to hang out on the beach another few days, and then just drive back to Marienthal, but no, he'd promised to spend some time with his folks, so he'd gone a thousand miles out of his way to keep his word. When he got back home he'd discovered that Carolyn had continued to be just as crabby as before, badmouthing him every time she opened her mouth, at least when she wasn't complaining about something else. The folks had stuck it out until Christmas Day -- it wasn't that bad, since they had to work every day, they got to avoid her for a few hours, but on Christmas, suggested, well no, invited Aaron and Carolyn to take the kids home early. That really got her tail in a knot, so it might be a while before the folks had to put up with her again. From what he'd picked up that was fine with them. If he'd known he could have come back a week early -- but then, he'd have had to miss the best part of the trip to Florida.

Still, it had been good to spend a few quiet days, catching up with Mom and Dad. He didn't get to do much of that anymore, and it seemed likely that the opportunities for it might be less in the future.

All in all, after a trip like that, it had been hard to go back to school. It seemed downright dull, by comparison. He didn't even have a class with Dr. Harris, and now it seemed a little more interesting than it would have been a month before. Maybe he ought to check with her, see if there was an open section where he had time available -- it might perk up a rather lusterless semester just listening to her talk. He was a senior now and had a bunch of classes this semester that seemed neither interesting nor challenging, although he knew that he'd have some in the fall term next year. These were mostly ones he had to have to fill out his time, although there were a couple coming up next fall that looked both interesting and useful, especially for his major.

Trey drained his coffee. It wasn't quite time for class yet, but he thought he might as well get sauntering in the general direction; his butt was getting tired from sitting in the chair staring into his coffee cup while he relived the break.

The class was in Milliman Hall, over across the campus. It was into January now; it was cold and the wind was blowing flakes of snow around. Marienthal could be pretty in the fall, but it was like hell with the fires out in the winter, especially after having been in Florida. He was halfway over to Milliman when the thought crossed his mind that Dr. Harris had her office there; she had to be on campus, since he'd known she was planning on flying back last Saturday. Well, he had a few minutes to kill, and it was only an extra flight of stairs. It might be worth the trouble to stop by, ask how the trip home had gone, and see if there was an opening in a class that might be interesting.

He climbed the stairs and went down the hall to her office. The door was half open, and he knocked lightly on it. "Yes?" she replied, in a flat, dull voice, but still high on his own recent experiences, he didn't think anything about it.

Trey was not expecting the sight of Dr. Harris when he opened the door. She was standing by the window, red eyed, the tears rolling down her face like she'd just lost her best friend. "Dr. Harris!" he exclaimed. "Is anything the matter?"

"Yes, Trey," she said, not looking up, other than to glance up to see who it was. "Things are fucking terrible."

Trey didn't know Dr. Harris all that well in spite of everything, but he knew her well enough to know that she never used that kind of language. If she said that things were "fucking terrible," they were far worse than that. "What happened?" he asked, concern in his voice.

"Blue Beauty," she managed to say through her tears. "She's missing. I'm afraid I've lost her forever! I've been calling the airline every hour, but every time I call I get a different operator, and I'm getting nowhere."

"Don't you have her insured?" he asked.

"Trey, it's not . . . it's not the money," she said. "Do you remember the story I told about getting her?"

"Of course," he said. "You wanted a Jew's harp."

"Trey, it's the truth, as far as it goes, but the truth goes much further. It was not my parents who bought the harp, but my great-uncle, who was quite elderly and frail, and it was he who made the mistake. My parents . . . my parents . . . well, it was too valuable an instrument for a child, but he refused to return it, saying that he'd bought it at a pawnbroker for fifteen dollars, so it was not that big a thing. I, therefore, was allowed to keep it. I was determined to learn to play it well, for I knew that the price he paid was over fifteen hundred dollars." She turned silent for a moment, then walked over to him, threw her arms around him, burying her face in his shoulder, and continued sadly, "I had to, Trey. It was the only proof I had that someone really cared for me."

"What airline?" he asked quietly as he tried to comfort her.

"South Central," she said. "It was a discount fare, and I was trying to save . . ."

"Then we've got a chance," he said. "Do you have the claim checks? Your ticket statement and boarding pass would be helpful."

"Yes," she said, turning her head to look up at him. He could see forlorn hope in her eyes.

"Give them to me," he said. "I'll go see what I can do."

"But Trey," she said. "What more can you do?"

"Dr. Harris, I don't remember ever telling you about my part-time job."

"No, I'm sure I don't know," she said.

"I'm a baggage handler out at the airport. At South Central. I know how the system works, and I can work it from inside."

"Oh, Trey," she said, breaking away from him and heading for her purse. "Find her for me, please. Find her for me and I will be forever grateful."

* * *

The wind was howling off the lake, carrying a lot of snow with it. It sounded cold, and it was cold, even though Randy and Nicole were warm in bed, snuggled up together around midnight on Saturday night. But they weren't sleeping.

"I think we should go down there after all," Nicole said sadly.

"Yeah," Randy said. "She sounded even worse when she called just now. She's showing all the signs of totally losing it."

"Where in hell could Trey be?" Nicole said. "She sounded pretty hopeful when she called on Tuesday and told us about him working for the airline. But it's been days, and there's been no sign of him, not a call, not anything."

"Who knows?" Randy said. "He could still be out looking for it. I hope he is. He's just about her only hope right now, and what happens if he's failed? Maybe he's scared to tell her and he's lying low."

"I know," Nicole said. "That's why I think you should go down there."

"No," Randy said. "I think we should be there. Both of us. Look, Nicole, Myleigh and I have a history, you know that."

"You're saying . . ."

"I'm saying that it would be a hell of a lot easier to say no if you're in the room with me," he said. "Damn it, I care for Myleigh a lot, you know that. But there are limits to what I'm willing to do to console her. As much as I like her, I care for you even more, and I don't want to wreck anything."

"You're right," she sighed. "I shouldn't have even thought that. Maybe you should get up and get online, and see if you can get us out of Camden in the morning."

"That's what I'm thinking," he said, rolling over on his back and staring at the ceiling, just looking for a couple silent minutes. "The hell of it is," he finally continued, "I don't know what the hell we can do when we're there."

"Poor Myleigh," Nicole said. "It's just a harp, after all, when you get right down to it."

"Unfortunately, to her it's a lot more than that," Randy said. "A lot more. She told me about it one time. Honestly, Nicole, when she went to England that time, she had to leave it behind back at my folks' house. She cried over being separated from it. I don't know all the details, she never told me, but you know how she feels about her family. All the love that you or I have for our families, she's poured into that harp."

"God, that's sad," Nicole said.

"It is," Randy said. "I mean, hell, if it was just the harp, it'd be one thing, but it's so much more to her . . ."

Just then the phone rang. It was well after midnight. Now what? Randy thought as he reached for it. "Hello," he said glumly.

"Randy!" he heard Myleigh say in an excited voice. "Trey found her!"

"My God, that's wonderful," Randy said, rolling over so he could share the receiver with Nicole. "What happened?"

"I confess, I do not know what travails my hero went through to recover her," she said, bubbling with joy. "He stumbled in here a few minutes ago, carrying her case. He said he had not slept for days, and just drove in from Montgomery, Alabama. He sat down on the couch while I opened the case to ascertain that she was really there. When I looked up, he was sound asleep. I lay my hero down, put a pillow under his head, took off his shoes, and covered him. Randy, I do not know the details, but he has several days' growth of beard, still has the clothes on he wore Tuesday, and does appear extremely exhausted."

"I'll bet he's got a story to tell," Nicole said, happy at the news.

"I am sure he must," Myleigh said. "I am ever so eager to hear it, but I shall not wake my hero up to find out. I doubt that it would be possible anyway, but I'm ever so happy that he returned Blue Beauty safely to me!"

"Myleigh, we've got to be just about as relieved as you are," Randy said. "Look, when you find out, you be sure and call us and tell us what happened."

"Oh, I shall, I shall," she replied, still bubbling with excitement. "Randy, I do not wish to be brief, but I must call Jennifer and give her the happy news."

"Uh, I'd be a little careful about calling Jennifer this late," Randy said. "She hasn't been sleeping very well. Maybe it'd be best to call her in the morning, when at least Blake might be up. By then you might know something about what happened."

"Yes, I suppose you're right," she said. "Oh, I'm just ever so excited that my hero returned my Blue Beauty."

"We know you are," Nicole said. "And, we're happy for you. But, Myleigh, try to pull yourself together a little. Go make yourself a cup of cocoa, then try to get some sleep. Trey will probably be out for hours."

"I know, I know," she said. "It shall be difficult, and I fear that I shall not sleep at all in my excitement, but I suspect that you are correct that I should make the attempt."

Even so, it still took several minutes to get Myleigh off the phone, but neither Randy nor Nicole felt they were wasted minutes. The news was a huge relief.

"That's got to be some story," Nicole said after Randy hung up the phone.

"Sounds like it to me," Randy agreed, snuggling down under the covers. It was warm, and that was good, but he was sure it was going to be a while before either of them got to sleep also. "Jesus, Montgomery, Alabama. Doesn't sound like he wasted any time on anything irrelevant, like maybe sleeping."

"You know," Nicole said. "He seemed kind of shy and quiet, nothing particularly special, but wow, he's got to be some guy. I always said it's the shy and quiet ones you have to watch out for."

"Yeaaah," Randy drawled. "I sure hope he's not gay."

"Gay? I never picked up anything like that from him."

"Me either, but you never know these days. That would really be a disappointment to her."

"Randy, what are you talking about?"

Randy laughed. "Trey doesn't have any idea what he's in for right now."

"What are you talking about?"

"You don't get it, do you?" Randy laughed. "When St. George slayed . . . slew . . . killed, whatever, the dragon, what reward did he get from the fair maiden? She called him 'my hero' at least four times, and I really wasn't keeping count."

"She was just excited," Nicole said. "Just Myleigh talking."

"Lover, I still know Myleigh better than you do. Back when we were at NMU, the three of us were sitting around talking, just before summer break, and Myleigh commented how her life would have been so much better in high school if she'd had lions like Crystal and me around. Then Crystal headed off for Tennessee for the summer, and Myleigh and I were left behind to finish up finals. For a couple of days, she called me 'My Lion.' I didn't think about it much. Like you said, it was just Myleigh talking. After we got done with finals, we moved her out of the dorm and up to that apartment she sublet for the summer. We'd just finished up, we were outside, and she laid a hot kiss on me and said, 'My Lion, I have one other task I need to ask you to perform for me upstairs.' Well, we got upstairs, she laid a kiss on me that made the one downstairs feel like a peck on the cheek and said, 'My Lion, would you please make love to me?'"

Nicole giggled. "And it was the last thing you expected?"

"You got it," Randy agreed. "I mean, I'd just never picked that message up from Myleigh before then. After that whenever she started calling me 'My Lion,' I understood that it was her way of saying she was hot to trot. She'd do it right under Crystal's nose, although I don't think we fooled Crystal any."

"And now, she's calling Trey 'My Hero.'"

"You got it," Randy said. "I'm actually glad to hear it from her. Humph."

"What?"

"I just realized that was the piece that was always missing from the Ron story. I should have seen it, but I'm just too damn dense. If she'd been calling him, oh, 'My Tiger' or something, it would have rung more true. But, I never heard anything like that. I hope Trey is up to being 'My Hero',,' because it'll be a milestone for her."

"You mean, because she'll have found a friend, hell, a lover, who didn't come through you or Crystal, directly or indirectly?"

"Exactly. I didn't talk about it with Crystal down in Florida, but she seemed to get along with Trey OK. I made a point of being friendly with him down there, but she pretty much found him on her own."

"I think that's good."

"So do I," Randy nodded. "Can't tell where it'll go from there, of course, and there's nothing we can do to grease the skids, but I hope it works out for her, and I hope we didn't misread him. But my gut feeling is that he's up to being 'My Hero.'"

"Yeah, I hope so," Nicole agreed.

"Sure would simplify things for us," he said. "I mean, I still like Myleigh a lot as a friend, and I'm sure she respects our marriage. But still . . . well, you know."

"'My Lion,'" Nicole snickered, "I like that. Has she called you that recently?"

"Not for three years," Randy said. "I think maybe it's retired. I hope it is, anyway."

"Did the two of you ever have any other pet names for each other?"

"Oh, we'd call each other 'Dear Lass' or 'Dear Lad,' but that was different. That was just Myleigh, just talking, us just fooling around, maybe me getting back at her a little. I never had anything else that I called her, except Myleigh. It's hard to get a nickname out of that."

"Perhaps, then, dear lad," Nicole said, obviously mimicking Myleigh, "If she has abandoned the phrase 'My Lion,' I should therefore appropriate it."

"As you wish, dear lass," Randy giggled, picking up on it. "I confess I do enjoy the sound of it directed at me from your lips. That is, of course, if it should carry the same meaning from you that it had from her."

"Oh, indeed, my lion," Nicole snickered. "Since it appears that slumber lies far yet into the night, perhaps we should capitalize upon the opportunity to make good use of our time."

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.