Helen shouts out, “No way!”
I ignore her, “I walk through the mud and find three frogs. However, they won’t stay put. I look around and find a soda cup from a restaurant. It only holds two frogs. Well, I’m smart. I load up two frogs, and then I run inside the house, up to her room, and then place them on her bed and close the door. I successfully make four trips before I hear mom scream my name.
“I can’t imagine what her problem is. I’m helping my friend. I walk back to see what the problem is. There, standing on the back porch, is my mother, hands-on-hips, and she looks mad. I just needed to explain what I was doing, and that will fix everything.
“As I get closer, she yells at me, ‘Did you see what you did?’ I know what I did; I helped my friend. Since I’m close now, I say, ‘Yes, I was helping Ariel.’ Like that would fix everything. She grabs my hand, drags me inside the house, and points at the floor. LOOK WHAT YOU DID! Oops, I dragged mud into the house. Ariel and her friends are laughing at me.
“Mom asks me, ‘Why did you do this? You made a huge mess!’ I answer her, ‘I was trying to get Ariel a puppy.’ With that, Ariel screams, ‘PUPPY!’ She and her friends run upstairs and burst into the room. It seems she stepped on a frog, and several others were in sight. Well, she screams bloody murder, and they all come running downstairs screaming, past me, and outside.
“Her mother going upstairs to see what kind of puppy I found. She, too, comes down screaming. Mom was pissed. I scrubbed the floors, cleaned her room, removed the frogs, and still got the belt that night. It took a long time to understand what I did wrong.”
I had been looking out the window, looking for landmarks as I was telling the story. I look over at my friends, who can’t talk due to laughing so hard.
I add, “They never did get a puppy.”
Helen runs to the washroom and comes back with different shorts on.
Helen is still chuckling as she says, “OK, no more stories from you.”
We pull into the cemetery. I notice two other cars follow us in. I move up to the passenger seat to give directions. I have no idea how I know this. I don’t remember the burial. It isn’t hard to find the destination. I don’t know how to describe it. There is a wall of what they call “standing sprays,” a sizeable freestanding collection of flowers. A funeral might have a couple. There is an easy dozen here just to make up the backdrop.
There are what looks like hundreds of potted bouquets from short to tall around the graves. Literally, every square inch has a flower to the sides, between, and behind the graves. In front, there is a blanket to sit or kneel on.
I’m bawling at the display in front of me. Helen and Jim are assisting me. Ariel’s parents rush me from their car. They’re in no better condition than I am. Mom, dad, and Beth stay behind us. Together, her parents and I move to and then kneel in front of the graves. All three of us are crying hard. For an hour, nothing is said.
Mom and dad are the first to step forward. They hug the other parents and then me. Of course, my parents know them well, so this is almost like old times other than we’re missing a person. We’re all standing as we greet my parents.
I then introduce them to Jim and Helen.
I explain to Steve and Marcy, her parents, “For months, I had been thinking about a new heart procedure. I had no idea that Ariel was my patient. She was bandaged and in bad shape. Her heart gave out. I used my new procedure as everything else had failed. Several things went wrong, and I lost my Ariel.”
I cry, and it takes me a few minutes before I continue, “I went over the procedure almost 1000 times in my mind to see what I could have done differently. Helen had no other options, or she would have died. I took the knowledge from your daughter and used it to save Helen and several other lives now.”
Marcy hugs Helen and wails as she is in her arms. Helen holds her back and thanks Marcy for her daughter.
I reach out my arm for Beth; she rolls up in my arms.
When Marcy and Helen have finished, “This last young lady, sorry, this is hard. This young lady is Beth. I worked for her, I will be working with her on my new training system, and she is currently my girlfriend.”
I stood back, not knowing how her parents might react to me finding another woman. I expect a scream of pain. She does scream, but she lunges at Beth and holds her in her arms as she cries in Beth’s arms, dripping on her shoulders. Beth is stunned by the reaction but has her hard and is now in tears.
Eventually, Marcy pulls away, “Do you love him?”
Beth almost chuckles, “How can I not? No woman can resist him. But yes, I do love him with all my heart. He’s awesome and has been trained so well.”
Helen chuckles, “Don’t ask for a puppy.”
Everyone but Beth breaks out in laughter.
Marcy can see the confusion on Beth’s face, “It’s a long story, but when Peter was six, Ariel wanted a puppy. I said no. Peter could not find a puppy. Peter liked frogs as much as puppies. He drags a mountain of mud into my house, up the stairs, and the mud plus eight frogs ended up in her room. I can still clearly remember the scream of Ariel and her friends as if it was yesterday.
“I’ve been so worried that this would destroy him. I am thrilled to see someone has found him and is keeping him in line.”
Helen tattles on me, “This was not his original plan. He left Ness City with no clothes, stopped by to sign over ownership of his learning system, then come here for a final visit.”
Marcy launches herself at me again. She’s wailing in my arms.
Jim takes over, “We, his parents, and Beth, as you can see, conspired against him. He told us the whole story.” Jim is in tears now. “As you might guess, with my wife benefitting from your daughter’s… experience, we are very grateful and will support Peter all the way. We have money.”
Marcy is sharp, “I know who you two are. For years, you have been a thorn in my side, business-wise.”
Helen is still in tears, “What do you need?”
Marcy straightens up, “We compete in a few areas. You have raw materials and won’t sell them to me. I must spend much more than I like to get what I need. It’s OK; it’s business. You’re doing nothing wrong; it’s the smart play.”
Helen suggests, “If you have the time. I want to show you what we’re doing with Peter in Ness City. We have the bus and can talk business on the way there. We’ll work something out. Your daughter inspires Peter to do so much. He’s making a difference. That all started while he was with your daughter. The world will change because he met the nice people and us at Ness City. I want you to see it.”
Marcy says, “I would love to see what she inspired.”
I look at Beth, “Have your parents meet us there. If needed, I’ll fly them in.”
Jim looks hurt, “Peter. We have an airplane; we’ll pick them up.”
Beth laughs, “They live just outside of town. They’re farmers. They can meet us. I guess it’s time I tell them about us.”
Marcy and I talked to Ariel about our lives for about an hour. We then spent an hour with the group telling funny stories about growing up. We then go over to the Kansas City Plaza, where we have dinner at the Capital Grille, and then Helen and Jim have two suites reserved for us.