(4) Alie

Over the Hills of Whittier:  Alie

(Beau)

Tuesday evening passed uneventfully.  After a great torta at Super Turtle, we returned home.  Bambi made some calls to preschool parents about an upcoming event, then spent some time pulling weeds in the yard.  She enjoys that for some reason.  I resigned myself to my fate and began cleaning out the garage.  It’s not a job I particularly enjoy, but it has to be done once in a while.  Later we cleaned up a bit, and met on the front porch.  At 7:30 we sat down to watch the sunset.

(Bambi)

You forgot to tell about dinner.  I made a great meal out of a quarter pound of ground turkey, some noodles, and stir-fry vegetables.  It wasn’t that hard, but it was worth mentioning.

(Beau)

I love it when she pretends to be offended.  Yes, it was a great dinner, Bambi.  I loved it.  Bambi is a very good cook.

(Bambi)

Thank you.

(Beau)

What did you think of the sunset?

(Bambi)

It was spectacular!  First there was pink, then orange, and there was a little green in there too, over to the right of Catalina.

(Beau)

Did you see the ‘green flash’?

(Bambi)

Of course not.  That is a myth.  Beau keeps trying to convince me that sometimes, at the instant of sunset, there is a flash of green light.  He got me to look for it a couple of times, but I didn’t see anything.  He’s just kidding around.

(Beau)

No, really, Bambi, there is a green flash.  It just doesn’t happen every time.  You have to keep looking.  And it only appears where the horizon is perfectly straight, like over the ocean.

(Bambi)

Funny, funny.  You keep talking about it and I’ll keep not believing you.  I love you, though.

(Beau)

Someday you’re going to see it, and then you will be embarrassed and apologetic. 

(Bambi)

If you say so.  Well, are you going to tell about Eddie and Rosa?  I’ll try to stop interrupting.

(Beau)

I should go on.  Where was I?

 (Bambi)

Just start with Wednesday morning.

(Beau)

Okay.  Well, I got up early Wednesday. I was planning to have cereal, but then Bambi came into the kitchen and fixed eggs and grits.  That was a nice surprise, especially because I really didn’t expect it in the middle of the week.  There aren’t that many people in California who love grits, but I do.  Might have something to do with all those years I spent in South Carolina.  Bambi learned to love them, too, when we lived in Florida for a few years.

(Bambi)

I appreciate the compliments, but you really should get on with it.

(Beau)

Right.  I’ll try to focus.

Wednesday morning, over grits and eggs, we talked about Eddie and Rosa and what we should do about them.  To tell the truth, we weren’t as sure as we used to be about what was really going on.  Was there really a kidnapped girl out there, waiting to be rescued? If so, why weren’t the police involved?  Was the helicopter thing really an act of desperation, or just a crazy stunt?  Maybe Eddie was trying to justify his helicopter joyride with a big made-up story?  Was there even a real girl named Rosa, and if so, was she really in trouble? 

Obviously, we needed more information.  Besides Eddie, we needed to talk to some of the people he’d told us about.  If we were going to do any good, we needed the true facts.  That meant someone to back up his story, some evidence that his account of what happened was the real deal.  If we couldn’t find anyone to back up Eddie’s story, we thought, we might still be able to help him.  But we might find ourselves arranging a very different kind of help.  We considered the possibility that the kind of help Eddie needed might involve a lawyer, and maybe a counselor or two.

Bambi got on the phone right after breakfast and arranged a meeting.  A two-for-one, actually.  Before she got off the phone, she had arranged for Eddie and Rosa’s Aunt Alie to join us for lunch.  She tried to get Uncle Bob to come along too, but he was making a delivery to Carson City… or somewhere in Nevada.

(Bambi)

Beau makes it sound like we eat all the time.  We really don’t.

(Beau)

But we did have them over for lunch.  Alie had picked up Eddie and they’d zipped across town.  They whipped into the driveway at 12:30, as arranged, with more pizzazz than you normally see in residential neighborhood driving. 

(Bambi)

He means Alie is an assertive driver.

(Beau)

You could say that.  But I really didn’t notice the way she was driving as much as the car she was driving.  It was a real gem.  A 40 year old diamond the rough, stylish and shiny with with a lttle rust around the edges.

(Bambi)

What he’s trying to tell you is that she was driving an unusual car.

(Beau)

It was a beauty.  An early 70's Ford Maverick with original… everything.  Except the paint.  You don’t see that vivid shade of aqua blue too often. 

(Bambi)

Okay, Beau, it was an intriguing car.  Classic.  And very pretty.  Now tell us more.

(Beau)

Right.  Well, Eddie smiled as he got out of the car, but it seemed to be in relief.  He shook his head and rolled his eyes.  “I thought the helicopter ride was scary,” he said.  I was kind of surprised that he was making light of the whole thing... then I decided that a little humor about the outrageous event might be healthy.

Alie hopped out of the other side and stuck out her hand to Bambi.  “Don’t pay attention to Eddie,” she said.  “He always is exaggerating.”  Eddie sighed and stood shook his head from side to side.  He was still smiling.  These two had a complicated relationship.  Kind of like adult sibling rivalry with a twist.  On a serious note, though, I did wonder how literally I should take Alie’s comments.  Was it possible that Eddie was exaggerating this whole situation?  That all our concern was misplaced and Eddie was just eccentric? 

No, I decided, of course not.  Just because he stole a tiny helicopter and immediately crashed it over the rim of a canyon a block from my house... That wouldn’t mean he's crazy, would it?  Well, I thought, the next hour or so should provide some insight.

Alie and Bambi hit it off immediately.  Within five minutes, they had exchanged resumes, family trees, and travel histories, and were in the kitchen talking over the relative merits of tomato versus cucumber sandwiches.  They acted like they’d known each other for years.  Bambi has that effect on people. I think Alie might, too.

I sat with Eddie in the back yard.  After a few minutes of small talk, we were swapping Navy sea stories as if we were on the fantail waiting for liberty call.  That’s what old sailors do.  We had actually been in some of the same places at the same time.  We both were in on the invasion of Grenada, for instance.  I was on the flagship, USS Guam, and Eddie was on the ship that relieved us, USS Saipan.  Of course, by the time Saipan got there, I reminded Eddie, my ship had the situation pretty much all wrapped up.  He disagreed, of course.  Something about cleaning up the mess we left.

We sat under the umbrella at the patio table to eat.  It was kind of hot, but none of us seemed to mind because there was a nice breeze and the day was so clear.  The tomato and cucumber sandwiches were great.  I had three.  Takes a lot of cucumbers to fill me up.

Bambi filled me in on Alie's background.  Grandparents came to the Whittier area back in the 1920s to work on the walnut farms.  Her dad was in the Highway Patrol.  She went to Norwalk High School.  She met her husband, Robert Rowland at Cerritos College.  She works seasonally at Knott’s Berry Farm.  They own a small home in Santa Fe Springs and he drives a truck for Schneider. 

Alie and Bob have two children.  Their son Alex is 13 years old, a well behaved, overachieving middle school student.  Their daughter Millie is an exuberant 9 year old tomboy who loves to play baseball.  Their niece Rosa came to live with them when her parents were lost at sea four years ago. 

Alie confirmed what Eddie had told us earlier.  Rosa had struggled for a while to deal with the loss of her parents, but she had eventually settled comfortably into her new life.  According to Alie, Rosa seemed happy and positive most of the time.  She had done reasonably well in school, even making honor role a few times, and had several good friends.  Following her graduation two years ago, Rosa had worked for a while at Knott’s Berry Farm, then as a waitress at IHOP, and then landed a job as a cashier at Ralph’s.  For those of you not from California, that’s a grocery store.  Rosa, now 20 year old, had recently enrolled as a part-time student at Rio Hondo College. 

Then, Alie confirmed what Bambi and I were waiting to hear.  Yes, she said, Rosa was indeed missing.

I was a little surprised, to tell the truth.  Alie had seemed very cheerful the entire time she’d been with us.  I didn’t see how she could be so nonchalant if her niece had been kidnapped.  A few questions helped me understand.

Of course she was concerned about Rosa, Alie told us.  Rosa had been gone for a little more than a week.  They’d had an argument.  Alie told us that she and Bob had learned about Rosa borrowing money.  They had been very upset.  Rosa adamantly denied doing anything wrong.  She told them she was only being a good friend, helping Carmen get out of trouble.  Yes, Carmen had vanished without paying Rosa back as she had promised to do.  But, Rosa argued, Carmen would be back soon, and everything would be taken care of.  Apparently Bob had said some bad things about Carmen, and Rosa had left angry.  She had not come back.

Eddie chimed in for the first time.  “That’s not like Rosa,” he said. 

Alie shook her head.  “No, it isn’t.  But she is worried about the money.  She is worried about her friend.”  Alie’s voice was strong at first, but grew a little quieter as she continued.  “She feels that her uncle and I have not supported her as she wishes.  She doesn’t understand that all we want is the best for her.  She is upset and she left.  She will come back when she is ready.”  Alie put on a brave smile but for the first time I saw something in her eyes that she had hidden before.  It might have been concern. It might have been fear.

“Did you call the police when Rosa left?” Bambi asked.

“Of course not,” Alie replied.  “She is over 18.  If she chooses to leave, I cannot stop her.  She is an adult, and she left for a while.”

“Do you think Rosa is in trouble?” I asked Alie.

“I don’t know,” Alie replied, wistfully.  “I wish I would know where she is.”

“Exactly,” Eddie said.  “She is in trouble.  She hasn’t been to work in a week, either.  She wouldn’t quit her job if the only problem is at home.”

“Unless maybe she went out of town for a few days,” Alie replied.  “It’s not the first time she stops going to work, you know.”

“This is not the same as when she quit IHOP.  You know that, Alie.  She refused to go to work when that guy was there who bothered her.  She likes working at Ralph’s.”

“Perhaps,” Alie conceded.  “I do wish she would call me.  But I do not believe anyone is keeping her away.  The money, it was only a few hundred dollars.  No one gets kidnapped for a few hundred dollars.”

“If Rosa was just mad at you, she would have been back by now,” Eddie stated flatly.  “She isn’t back because she is being held against her will.”

“No.”  Alie wanted to sound confident but her low voice and downcast eyes made it seem like she was trying to convince herself, more than us, that everything was all right. “Rosa will be back when she is ready. Maybe tomorrow, I think.”  She looked up suddenly, a determined look in her eyes.

“I have come here with Eddie because he asks me to come.  He is a good man.  I like him like a brother and he cares about Rosa.  He has this idea that she is kidnapped but he is worrying too much.”  She leaned forward, elbows on table.  “I am very pleased to meet you, Bambi and Beau Brooks.  Maybe another time we will do something together.  Maybe with Rosa, we can go play mini-golf. Rosa loves mini-golf.”  She smiled more confidently.  She had succeeded in regaining her confident composure.

We talked about other things for a while.  Mostly Bambi and Alie.  They drank tea and talked while Eddie and I sat silently.  Eddie was not very happy.  I wanted to ask more questions, but Alie had made it clear that the conversation about Rosa was over, for the day, at least.

I decided to take a different approach.  I offered to show Eddie my ’58 Chevy.  He wanted to stay somber, but no one can resist a Bel Aire for long, and in a moment we were walking over to the garage, out of earshot of the ladies.  When he first laid eyes on the car, he smiled a little in spite of himself.  I gave him a quick look at the car and the short version of how I’d come by it.  Then, in between looking at the shining engine and smelling the leather interior, I asked Eddie another question.  “Where in Sycamore Canyon are they holding her, Eddie?  And why?”

A broad grin crept slowly across Eddie’s face as he realized that, in spite of Alie’s denials, I was prepared to trust him a bit longer.  “Let me tell you…” he began.

Beau