The First Love Of Alipang Havens

While not quite impoverished, the Havens family needed to be careful about money until Dr. Havens could build his new dental practice. World Vision was unable to pay lavish salaries to medical missionaries; and most of the Havens' once-impressive savings had been consumed by three Asian adoptions in a fairly short span of time. So the parents judged it best to forego a motel and camp out at the airport terminal where they were to catch the next available flight to Richmond, Virginia, from which it would be an easy bus trip to Smoky Lake.

Baby Harmony justified her new name by being very calm as she was fed, changed, and set down to sleep in her carrier. Mother and Father sat on waiting-area seats, flanking the luggage. Directly on top of the luggage garments were spread, on which Melody lay close to her newest sister. On the outward side of the luggage, Chilena stoically lay on the floor, with Alipang next outward from her. Thus was the camp fortified.

Once Melody and Harmony were asleep, Eric and Cecilia rose, walked a few paces off and began a soft conversation. It was about the possibility of placing Alipang and Chilena in a public school in Virginia, so that Cecilia would only have to carry the load of homeschooling with Melody until Harmony was talking. Both spouses had been fortunate in their own schools when they had been children; but they had to wonder how far social decay had advanced in America during the years they had lived in the Philippines. Eric was the more willing to resort to a public school, for the sake of Cecilia's health; but Cecilia insisted that she would prefer to teach all her children unless Virginia's public schools proved to be of the _very_ highest quality. On that note they settled in their seats again.

Alipang and Chilena, side by side on their backs and holding hands, were the last family members to fall asleep--not so much because they were doing without comfort in their quasi-sentry position, as because they had so much to whisper together about.
 
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"I was afraid you _would_ get arrested this afternoon," Chilena breathed into Alipang's ear, keeping her face there. "And I _don't_ mean 'cause we'd be embarrassed or anything. I was worried for YOU."

Speaking Tagalog--for he still thought better in that language--he replied: "God was in it, sister. When I came out of the anger, I was certain I _was_ going to be arrested. Not that I feel a bit of sympathy for that hoodlum. But you know how often Father has warned me that it's easy in America to get arrested just for teaching troublemakers a lesson. I'm grateful to God for making them not charge me."

"I hope we don't get sued because of it, though."

She had said this in English, so he whispered back, "Don't get _what?_"

"Never mind," Chilena told him, sliding up more closely against him. "I'm glad you care that much about me, Al."

"And I'm really sorry for all the times I acted unfriendly, that first month back in Luzon. I was--I felt like you were trying to take Esperanza's place. But now you have your own place."

Bringing around her hand that wasn't already clasping his, she tapped a finger on his chest, over his heart. "I'm happy to be in there; today I found out that it comes with bodyguard service."

Alipang smiled: a sight which had been rare indeed on his face for the years between his bereavement and his adoption. "Only for special customers. I love you, Chil."

"I love you, Al. Welcome to America."

They kissed goodnight, after which the girl pillowed her head on her brother's shoulder. Soon all six members of the family were finally asleep.

(God _was_ with them; they didn't get sued.)
 
On the overland flight, Alipang was positioned with only one adjoining seat, and asked that Melody be next to him--simply so that she would not feel neglected by her adored big brother. He had explained as much in Tagalog to Chilena, who understood it intellectually at least. Chilena's own emotional baggage, as an adopted child whose birth parents had handed her to the Havens at age three, made her quite clingy to loved ones. She knew rationally that her increased bonding with Alipang--who compensated her for separation from her biological brothers as she compensated him for the death of his Esperanza--was not threatened by little Melody. But a bit of her still was jealous. For this very reason, she never would have _quite_ the same easy closeness to her Chinese sisters as Alipang would.

Melody had custody of their one shared brother for three time-zone crossings, right down to Baltimore's international airport; but Chilena reclaimed Alipang for the short connecting flight to Richmond, and stuck close to him at the baggage carousel. Then, in a delightful surprise to her parents, she suddenly had an additional male relative to be hugged by: her vaguely-but-fondly-remembered Uncle Doug.

But Mom's hugging turn came first. It was her younger brother, Doug Fairhope, who had left his wife Tracy in Lancaster, Pennsylvania with their children, and had driven down to Virginia in their big van to transport his sister's tribe from there to Smoky Lake. Doug had been patiently waiting at the Richmond airport all through Cecilia's delay in Seattle. After squeezing the life out of his sister, or rather squeezing it back into her, he also warmly greeted Chilena and Eric, swinging the girl off her feet in a bearhug that she welcomed; then came the new introductions.

Doug made the right noises over Harmony, who seemed to like him immediately; took it easy with the timid Melody, but coaxed a smile from her as she clung to her Mommy's legs; and then exchanged with Alipang the manly handshake which was exactly the thing to suit the Filipino man-child.

"How do you like America so far, nephew?"

"Uncle, it are--no, it IS pretty, but the weather is cold at me."

"Then you'll be glad to know that this state never gets _terribly_ cold, even in winter. Listen, Al--can I call you Al?" (The boy nodded.) "I want you to sit up front with me on the drive to Smoky Lake, and you can tell me about catching snakes."

Alipang exchanged a hasty glance with Chilena, who nodded. The quasi-twin siblings had been planning as a matter of course to sit together in the van; but Chilena was trying to suppress her possessiveness toward her brother. She also realized that, with a mostly female family around him, it was good for Alipang to feel himself welcomed into the company of men. He happily chatted with Doug all the way; and Chilena forced herself to be sweet to Melody.
 
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In the parking lot of Redemption Free Church of Smoky Lake stood a homely but lively middle-aged white man, and a tall, trim, beautiful black woman who looked far younger than he but wasn't very much younger. Contrary to the politically-correct myth that every place south of Maryland still was immersed in Jim Crow racism, this white man and black woman were husband and wife, had been madly in love with each other for 28 years counting their original courtship in St. Louis, and were the pastor and first lady of a racially mixed congregation in a town where nobody thought ill of their marriage.

Tom and Isobel Stetzer were also one of the reasons why Dr. Eric Havens was coming to this town, of all towns, to revive his dental practice. For as long as Tom had been in ministry, he had encouraged fellow believers to take interest in overseas missions. Following the work of World Vision both online and by other means, the Stetzers and some of their church members had become aware of the successful, wealthy dentist who had sacrificed comfort and security to make his contribution to the health of poor families in the Philippine Republic. A correspondence had ensued; and, learning that Eric and Cecilia had even sold their big house in Richmond (various heirloom items being kept for eventual return to them by Doug Fairhope), Tom and Isobel had begun a campaign to bring the Havens family to Smoky Lake when their missionary service would end. It had succeeded, and now a foreclosed house not too far from Redemption Church was picked out for the dentist's family.

Waiting with the Stetzers were another mixed couple: Taiwanese-born Kwai Richardson, the church secretary, and her African-American husband Harry, a shoestore owner who called his business "In Step With Your Instep." Kwai, knowing about the Chinese girls in the Havens family, was hoping that her presence would be reassuring to Melody; and Harry figured he would greet the Filipino boy--and be the first to tell him that there were other Filipinos for him to meet in Smoky Lake.

Now, at last, the time--and the Fairhope family van with its Pennsylvania plates--had arrived. Cecilia and Isobel, though they had never met until now, ran to embrace each other like sisters--and likewise Tom and Eric like brothers. Kwai admired Melody and Harmony as planned; Harry made friends with Alipang as planned; and with his usual kindly sensitivity, Uncle Doug stood holding Chilena lightly but comfortingly against him, to her satisfaction, until her turn came for attention from the welcoming committee.

Information about his new hometown swept over and through Alipang's mind, coming from four mouths; but he particularly caught and stored up two facts: that there was a Filipino restaurant in Smoky Lake--whose owners attended this very church!--and that a brother of the restaurant owner was a teacher of the Filipino martial art Escrima.
 
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As I said to you just now by VM, Rachel, Alipang and Summer can and should meet VERY soon; and I invite you to tell that episode in YOUR parallel story.

INSERT IN THE YEAR 2024: Since the parallel story faded away, I say that the way Alipang first met Summer was one day when he saw her up in a tree, looking at far-off scenery. This led to their first conversation.
 
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Alipang didn't have to wait long to meet the fellow Filipinos of most interest. Rafael Imada, of grandfatherly age, and Pitik Imada, somewhat younger, arrived at the house on Liddell Street along with the realtor who had set up the purchase deal for the Havens. The realtor, one Denise Winters,* was driving a Volkswagen, while the Imada brothers were in a Dodge pickup with some items of furniture in the back.

Mom, Dad and Uncle Doug, keeping "the babies" with them, went straight into business talk with Mrs. Winters; Alipang and Chilena, staying close together (and it was a tossup which was giving more emotional support to the other), went to meet the first Filipinos either of them had ever met in the United States.

"You two must be Alipang and Chilena," beamed the gray-haired Rafael, speaking Tagalog as he shook each one's hand, with his brother following suit. "We were told that this pretty young lady knows the home language. I'm Rafael Imada, the owner of the Pansit Paradise, the only Filipino restaurant in this county. This is my brother Pitik, or Pete for unimaginative Americans. My wife Carmen is busy keeping the restaurant from collapsing in my absence..."

"And MY wife Dolores," Pitik interjected, "is shopping for a few useful household items to give to your family. Alipang, you look strong; come help me unload the table and chairs my silly Protestant brother and I brought for your family."

Alipang's eyebrows rose. "Protestant, sir?" While he himself was assimilated to the evangelical faith of his adoptive parents, he had unthinkingly assumed that any Filipinos he found in America would be Catholics, unless they were Muslims.

"That's right," affirmed the younger Imada brother. "Didn't Pastor Stetzer tell you? Rafael and Carmen go to Redemption Church. At least it means we have more bases covered. But if you ever want to check out the _real_ thing, come to a Mass at St. Timothy's." With that, he opened the back of the pickup, and he and Alipang were moving furniture. Chilena pitched in, carrying chairs and then some sort of end table.

When everything was inside, Pitik surprised Alipang: handing the boy a foot-long stick picked up from the ground, he said, "Let me check you out, check your moves. Go at me as if that were a blade, and touch me where you would cut me in a fight--I mean if you were fighting for your life."

Chilena, watching, was glad that Mom was not observing this. Alipang nodded matter-of-factly...then feinted high and low, before launching a series of striking-snake attacks at various points on Pitik Imada's body. The Escrima master, for so he was, fended off each attack with swatting moves of his left hand against the boy's knife wrist. The stick never touched him at all, though Alipang clearly was into the game. "Very good," Master Pitik said at last, nodding, despite Alipang never having connected. "We'll store that away for awhile, and I'll teach you techniques which _don't_ kill or maim. One day, when I'm satisfied with your maturity and responsibility, and if your parents agree, I'll give you your own balisong knife. They're legal in Virginia."

Chilena didn't like the way her brother's eyes gleamed at this offer. But she reminded herself that this still _was_ her brother, who prayed with her, shared confidences with her, was over the worst of his anger problems, and was as friendly as a puppy to anyone who _wasn't_ a troublemaker.

Then she turned her attention to the new house, in which she would have a spacious room of her own.


* A nod to an old friend: Wyntre Denne of Columbia, Maryland, who found for Mary and me the house we shared in Columbia till Mary received her Heavenly mansion.
 
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The rest of this Friday evening went to exploring the neighborhood and settling in. Interesting neighbors turned up on one side: the Capshaws, about Dr. Havens' age or a bit older, of whom the husband Jonathan was a plumber and the wife Grizelda had once been a great rarity: a _female_ stage magician who had worked nightclubs.

Harry and Kwai Richardson hung around with Eric and Cecilia, treating their family to Domino's pizza and telling them more about the area. "We're sort of twin cities here," said Harry. "Shilohsville starts just a hop and a skip from where Smoky Lake ends. Both have some frontage on the actual _lake,_ us on the north and them on the south; but the one real recreational park belongs to our town. Much of the rest of the lakeshore is occupied by a county forest preserve. All the growth is on our side, too."

"But I heard that only Shilohsville has a full-service hospital," remarked Eric. "Why there and not here?"

"Shilohsville existed first, going back before Smoky Creek was dammed up to make the reservoir, and for a long time it was the larger and busier town," replied Kwai. "So it made sense for them to have the hospital. But several of their businesses failed in the mid-90's, and things over there began going downhill. They had a really big high school, as big as our two combined; but with population falling off, they ended up merging their middle school into the high school building, and sold the middle school building. But Smoky Lake has managed pretty well over the years."

"Doesn't mean we don't have any poor folks," added Harry. "Got enough that _this_ town runs a Free Clinic in the roughest neighborhood--relatively roughest, I mean; there's hardly any crime here. They're not in the Medicare-Medicaid system; every volunteer there is _entirely_ unpaid for what they do, and they're proud of it."

"Free Clinic, eh?" Eric echoed. "I do need to build a _paying_ practice in this town; but the Lord was good to us all through our overseas time...I'll have to check out that clinic, see if they need me."

"They'll need you," Kwai assured him. "People don't think about dentists as much, but they still need them. And there's a dentist here named Luis Quintero who may be interested in partnering with you."

"The schools are no issue for us," remarked Cecilia. "I'm homeschooling all of our kids."

"Then we'll be sure you get to meet the countywide homeschoolers' association," said Harry.
 
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Uncle Doug had already made hasty farewells; his wife and children in Lancaster needed him back before Sunday. But he promised that his whole household would eventually visit Smoky Lake.

Eric and Cecilia had reckoned on Harmony in her cradle sharing the master bedroom with them that first night in the new house. They had not reckoned on all the other children dragging in their air mattresses and pleading to be allowed to sleep in the room also. But it was a new world for the Asian ones, and one long forsaken even in Chilena's case. So Mom and Dad couldn't refuse. Melody, for her part, soon forgot her air mattress and wedged herself right in between her parents, too young even to conceive of any reason why it could be any inconvenience to Mommy and Daddy for her to be there. :rolleyes:

Alipang and Chilena, both clothed, lay on the floor, as they had done the previous night in Seattle (only now with air mattresses); and as then, they drifted closer together and whispered more energetically as the room grew quieter otherwise. The effect of the time zones worked against their falling asleep too soon here on the East Coast; so they shared every speculation they could think of about what this town would be like.

Chilena wound up halfway on top of her brother, finding rest for her head on his firm chest. "Being here scares me, Al," she confessed, once his warm hug made her feel secure enough for serious talk.

She could not see his eyes widening in surprise, but she heard the bafflement in his responding whisper as he stroked her hair soothingly. "Why, Chil? You're the one who was _born_ here!"

"But I was also _abandoned_ here. Mom and Dad are wonderful, and so are YOU--" here she shifted her head to kiss his cheek; "--but my birth parents have never even tried to find out how I was doing since they gave me to Mom and Dad. And if _they're_ so uncaring, how many more Americans are like them?"

Alipang squeezed her lovingly. "So far, _everyone_ we've met in _this_ town seems really friendly. All different colors of people, too. I think we're going to like the new church..."

This went on, back and forth, deep talk interspersed with mutual endearments, until, at some point, Alipang realized that he was doing all the whispering unassisted. Chilena had the snoring covered. He held her for several minutes longer, letting her sleep in his arms until he felt sure she was very soundly asleep; then he slowly eased her off of him, turned his back to her, and found his own way to Dreamland.
 
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Though last to fall asleep, Alipang was the first to awaken (not counting one time when Dad had gotten up to feed and change Harmony). Chilena had wriggled up against his back in her sleep. This will probably be the last time we ever sleep next to each other, he thought, because it will be the last time the whole family shares one room like this. Now Chil and I are getting too old to be casually mixed together like this; but at least the separate rooms we'll use from now on have room for plenty of stuff...Well, once more, for the memory of being children....

He rotated himself toward Chilena, gathered her into his arms, and rotated back with her, bringing her into the same tender embrace she had fallen asleep in. Wide awake himself, he listened to her rhythmic breathing...until she stirred, awoke, saw where she was and smiled. "Good morning, Alipang," she whispered, hugging him.

"Good morning, Chilena." After one last good mutual squeeze, he tilted her gently off. "Let's go downstairs where we can talk more freely."

They resumed last night's conference in the living room, on an old, worn sofa which had been discarded by the former occupants. It still was okay to be _sitting_ snuggled in each other's arms as they talked. "So, Al, do you think there'll be many other families in town that homeschool their kids....?"

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


One of the priority events for that Saturday morning was a ride with Harry and Kwai Richardson (in both of that couple's cars, just managing to accommodate everyone) to Harry's "In Step" store, where as a housewarming gesture Harry was offering one free pair of shoes each to Chilena, Alipang and Melody. Eric Havens' uneasiness about accepting this generosity was put to rest when Harry said, "Then you can pay Kwai and me back with a free dental checkup at some future time."

Eric smiled. "Now, barter is a very respectable custom. Bless you."

The next trip, not for a free giveaway but for a necessity, was to a used-car dealer.
 
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(Still Saturday)

Cargo and passenger space was (besides price) the priority for Eric and Cecilia at the dealership. An old but roomy SUV came out on top in the contest; besides four kids, they would be needing to transport a great many material objects during these first months living on Liddell Street.

Chilena, helping Mom by carrying and soothing baby Harmony, noticed in one of the showroom chairs a girl about her age, who had a sketchpad and was drawing something while presumably waiting out her parents' business. Curious, Chilena approached her.

"Excuse me, is it okay if I see your drawing?"

The seated girl turned, smiled, and angled her sketchpad to reveal a drawing in progress--of Chilena and Harmony themselves. "I can hardly refuse, can I?"

Chilena's eyes widened. "Wow, that's awesome!"

"Thank you. I'm glad you don't mind being sketched. I especially need to improve my drawing of babies. It can be hard not to make their faces look too mature." The girl now stood--she was taller than Chilena--and held out her left hand, because it was Chilena's left hand which would be free at the moment for a handshake. "My name's Kaitlyn Katon; my parents thought it was cute to give me a first name almost the same as our last name."

Chilena shook hands, replying, "I'm Chilena Havens. This is my sister Harmony. We're new in town; we just flew in from China, where we adopted this one to go with my Chinese sister we already had. My Dad's a dentist."

"I've got a brother around here someplace, named Jason," said Kaitlyn. "He likes to draw too, but not with live models; he's into superheroes and monsters."

"My brother's here too; he's Filipino. All of us are adopted..." Chilena lowered her voice. "Mom can't have babies."

Kaitlyn glanced toward where Chilena pointed out her parents, then whispered gravely, "Then I'm glad she got you instead. If I were grownup and I couldn't have babies, I'd adopt some..."

From this encounter was to arise a lasting friendship for both Chilena and Alipang, with Kaitlyn and her sturdily-built but somewhat awkward brother Jason...one of many friendships they would enjoy, despite the supposed isolation and social deprivation of homeschoolers.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Making friends during their settling-in period was not the exclusive privilege of Alipang and Chilena. Cecilia was not sluggish about getting to know other people on their block. To the left, if one stood facing the Havens house from the street, lived a middle-aged couple named Capshaw, of whom the wife had been a stage magician. To the right, a Mr. Stevenson dwelt in gloomy seclusion, a widower who seemed never to speak to anyone. But eventually, Cecilia and Eric would coax him into attending a barbecue.

Across the street lived Tippi Marlin, a divorced African-American mother. Cecilia's friendly overtures to Tippi were greatly assisted by an incident in which Alipang single-handedly pounded the stuffings out of the three spoiled Fontaine brothers, when those troublemakers tried bullying Tippi's daughter Taffy.
 
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