The First Love Of Alipang Havens

The fight took shape: Brendan, uninjured and with a reach advantage, was handling four of the five still-conscious assailants mostly by himself, except that Alipang from time to time got in a kick at whichever one looked like getting in behind his rescuer. Apart from one of the black punks having a knife, all of Brendan's adversaries were unarmed--whereas Alipang had to give most of his attention to avoiding Carlos' whirling nunchaku. Having his knife back made a crucial difference, causing the Hispanic thug to keep his distance.

Brendan felled his knife-wielder, but the other black bully grabbed it up--which made him the next priority target for the lacrosse stick. Then Rocknose and the remaining white boy dove in to close quarters, and Brendan lost his stick. Carlos, meanwhile, had maneuvered to herd Alipang away from Brendan, so Alipang couldn't help his friend right now.

But wrestling skills had not forsaken Brendan. Getting an arm-bar on Rocknose, he swung the big hooligan against the smaller one. Rocknose, who was undeniably strong, then tugged himself loose from the hold, and suddenly he and Brendan were trading punches toe-to-toe. Successfully shielding his own face, Brendan landed a haymaker to the goon's jaw. Rocknose fell to earth long enough for Brendan to knock out Bad Sam's brother; then Rocknose rose to his feet again, and Brendan had to knock him down again, and yet again.

Somewhere during this, Carlos had finally gotten his chance to exploit Alipang's reduced mobility--and smash him with the nunchaku exactly on the already fractured rib. This incapacitated the Filipino boy, who fell with a wheezing gasp; but he had held off Carlos just long enough that Brendan could close in before the nunchaku could strike again.

A sudden sleeper hold from behind swiftly ended Carlos' exultation over his unfairly-won victory.

And Brendan, knowing that the police would already be on their way, hailed the nearest bypassers, asking them to wait and tell the cops who had attacked whom. Then he made a 911 call of his own, for the ambulance crew of the Smoky Lake Fire Department.
 
When he was able to speak, Alipang rasped to Brendan, "Do you realize...you just became...my _debate_ partner?"

"Well, we proved our point on the opposing team, if that's what you mean," replied Brendan, crouching beside his younger friend and gripping his hand to give him something to squeeze on amid the pain.

Alipang gave a tortured smile. "What I mean...is that I've often...told people...that letting bad guys...have their own way...only makes them...want to have...MORE of their own way."

"You mean how you volunteered as a punching bag to Rocknose, and that only increased his appetite?"

"You got it, Captain," groaned Alipang. "Proves my argument."

"What do you mean, Captain?"

"Guess you don't...know just what...a daydreamer I am...After the time...you stood by to watch my back...in the cafeteria...I imagined...you and me as...a superhero team...I called myself...the Filipino Fireball...and you...Captain LaCrosse."

Brendan smiled broadly. "Al, old pal, I would laugh at that, if I weren't afraid that you'd laugh with me and hurt yourself. But I like it: the Filipino Fireball and Captain LaCrosse."

"You can be...named first...age before beauty."

A moment later, the paramedics were on the scene. As they took over, Jennifer told Brendan that she had also informed Mrs. Havens. Alipang, though he was not coughing up blood, was on his way to Shilohsville General Hospital, just to be safe. Brendan took charge of his knife for him.
 
All of Alipang's attackers were arrested, for real. Rocknose for especially real; his goofing off and being held back had brought nominal adulthood on him, which made the assault and battery charges against him _adult_ charges. As this realization dawned on his ultra-lazy cerebrum, Rocknose became suddenly filled with civic duty, frantically eager to tell the police everything he knew about the developing gang activity which, based in Shilohsville, had been extending its amoeba-like pseudopods into Smoky Lake.

One side benefit of Alipang's having exposed the highschool thugs for what they were was that his straying friend Jason finally got a wake-up call. Jason spent two hours that evening in a sitting room at Shilohsville General, unable to speak with the doped-up young patient, but speaking _about_ him to the God Whom Jason had long neglected. Learning of this later was to be a considerable solace to Alipang.

====================

Kim Tisdale had worked a good shift at the Pansit Paradise. Alipang had already been expected not to work tonight because of his injury from yesterday; and the latest news of him was not to reach the Imadas until after close of business.

Later, at her house, Kim's immersion in Tori Amos was intruded upon by a telephone call--to the family's listed landline phone--from the mostly-recovered but emotionally frantic Chilena Havens.

"Hello, Kim? This is Alipang's sister Chilena. I won't keep you long. Do you remember the bully Rocknose who YOU said was only saying WORDS? Well, not ONLY did he physically HIT my boyfriend yesterday; but today he put a whole GANG together to ambush my brother at Longstreet Park! Alipang's in the hospital now, and he could have been DEAD if Brendan Hyland hadn't saved him. You saying not to do anything to Rocknose sure did a FINE job of stopping Rocknose from starting new trouble, NOT!!! Oh, but I'm sure that KARMA will take care of it; someone should have told Brendan that all my brother needed was KARMA. And now, we'll just send the hospital bill to KARMA!"

With that, Chilena slammed the handset down.

Kim, when the stunning news had sunk in, called Shilohsville General to confirm: yes, an Alipang Havens had been admitted to the hospital. Then she told her mother what she had learned.

"Do you want to go to the hospital, Kimmy? If Al was badly hurt, he'll probably be under sedation and unable to talk; but his family--"

"Oh, Mom, I _don't_ want to see his family right now; I can't _face_ his family right now!"

So Kim stayed home. And soon, a friend of a friend of Kaitlyn Katon made Kim feel even worse--by relaying to Kim the cellphone video from Wednesday that Alipang had wanted Kim to see. There he was: the boy she had regarded as a hair-triggered brawler, making himself absorb--yes, it was nineteen--punches from a boy older and bigger than himself, without retaliating.

And Kim realized that Alipang had done this for only one reason: to prove himself to HER.
 
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Tarzalipang, lord of the Filipino jungle, was in hot pursuit of a swarm of giant mutated rats, which had abducted Kim Tisdale and were taking her to the lair of their evil master, the mad scientist Professor Hayata. Swinging from tree to tree, Tarzalipang soon overtook the monsters; then he sprang upon them with spear in hand, the vagueness of dreams relieving him from having to wonder how he was carrying a spear in his hands if he was using his hands to swing through trees.

When half the monstrous rats were slain and the rest were fleeing for their lives, the heavily-panting Kim threw her arms around her champion and began kissing him in quite a different manner than Chilena routinely kissed him. Dizzy with ecstasy at the appreciation, the jungle hero said, "I was only doing my duty, Miss Tisdale. Now that you're safe, where do you want me to take you?"

Kim kissed him one more steamy time, then looked into his eyes and replied--

"Room 239, Dr. Havens; your son may be waking up by now."

Blinking his way into a groggy reality, Alipang realized where he was just a heartbeat before Mom, Dad and Chilena entered his private room. Dad gripped his hand, but put off talking so that his wife and daughter could pour out their own love and concern and worry.

Chilena went further: seeing to it that the room's door was closed, she hoisted herself _onto_ her brother's bed, where she lay beside him and began kissing his forehead, left cheek and left shoulder. Alipang dredged up a smile for her. "I missed you too, Chil; but don't stay here too long, or they'll charge us for two patients." As soon as he had said this, though, he kissed her in return, lest she feel really rebuffed.

He was glad when Dad told him that Brendan had related yesterday's fracas to them. Thus all he needed to add was the beginning: how he had been deceived into thinking that Sammy Ashford was an imperilled captive.

X-rays had revealed no serious internal damage from the nunchaku's blow. Diana Wicklund, the Havens' family physician, had been over to the hospital earlier, and had found the X-rays reassuring. Alipang would be able to go home today, indeed walk around today; only, he must not lift anything heavier than his dinner plate for awhile.

He sighed. "Just when Kim is working at the Pansit, I _won't_ be able to work with her!"

"Who _cares,_ Al?" pouted Chilena. "You don't need HER; she's the one who sided _with_ Rocknose against you, against US!"--and she snuggled closer to her brother, staying in that position until she had to get off his hospital bed.
 
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More test results and observation had to be gotten through before Alipang could return home. Chilena wanted to stay with her brother the whole time, which he would have welcomed; but their parents reminded her that she was only just over being sick herself and still needed to take it easy. In any case, Dr. Havens needed to get back to his own patients; and Mrs. Havens needed to relieve Grizelda Capshaw from next door, who was looking after Melody and Harmony.

So Chilena was driven home--which was Dan's gain where getting attention from Chilena was concerned. She exchanged a series of text messages with her boyfriend, following his much slower recovery from illness. Dan eventually revealed that he had suffered mononucleosis at age ten, which had seemingly left his immune system weakened.

At the hospital, still in the haze of pain medication, Alipang slept again...

And Captain LaCrosse and the Filipino Fireball were spectacularly vanquishing an army of evil football players.

He didn't mention the evil-jocks part when Pastor and Mrs. Stetzer came to visit him not long before his release; Tom Stetzer was a Baltimore Ravens fan. Alipang figured that if his pastor had to be a football fan, it was cool that he liked the only pro football team named after a famous poem.

Isobel Stetzer remarked to Alipang, "All things really do work together for good to those who love God--though sometimes God has to twist the arms of the things and _force_ them to serve Him. Did you know that Jason Katon was in here last night, _praying_ for you?"

Alipang gave the lovely First Lady of Redemption Church a surprised smile. "Really? That's awesome!"

"I refer you to the Rich Mullins song," said Pastor Stetzer, having in mind "Our God Is An Awesome God."

Isobel added, "The Lord has led Pastor Tom and me to pay a visit to the Katon family this evening."
 
PART TEN: EVERYBODY STARTS OVER


From the minute that Alipang came home, he had an extra garment covering his body: a garment woven out of his three sisters, all clinging to him as closely as they could without hurting his tightly-wrapped ribcage. Melody and Harmony dropped away after Al-Al had told them enough about his hospital stay to satisfy their curiosity; but Chilena remained glued to him. Being well enough herself now, she had started supper cooking while awaiting her wounded hero's return.

A time came when, with supper not yet ready, Alipang and Chilena were able to go relax on the patio in back, sitting on two deck chairs and holding hands. This is SO good, Chilena thought. If Mom and Dad will permit us, I'll take Al after supper to visit Summer like he wanted to do. Then maybe he'll see that _Summer_ should be his girlfriend, _not_ that stuck-up senior girl. And if Summer's his _girlfriend,_ then she _won't_ be taking away his brother-type feelings from me! God, are You planning this? I wish Al hadn't been hurt; but maybe You're using it to get that stranger Kim out of our lives, and give Al a girlfriend I already know?

They didn't say much during ten or more minutes of chair-sitting. Then, all at once, Alipang jiggled Chilena's left hand which his right hand held. "Get up, Chil, I need to test for normal function."

She stared blankly at her brother. "Test what?"

Alipang stood up, still holding her hand, and drew her with him as he stepped to the edge of the raised patio and sat on it. Looking up at her, he disengaged his right hand and used it to pat his own knees. Beaming, Chilena made a cautious landing approach and settled onto the brotherly lap which had been her favorite seat for years now. "Looks like it functions normally," said Alipang with a grin.

Then they kissed, and Alipang began questioning Chilena about how her birthday date with Dan had been going _before_ they started feeling ill.
 
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Visiting the Katon family that evening, the Stetzers explained to Mrs. Katon how Redemption Church was furnishing volunteers to help run children's activities at the city picnic on Labor Day. Mrs. Katon was an easy sell; in no time she was volunteering both her offspring to do facepainting.

But Pastor Stetzer detected Jason's unenthusiastic reaction, and so spoke to him directly. "Son, the facepainting is just one possibility. Our friend Alipang--" (Tom had already told Jason that Alipang was doing okay) "--talked with me about your specialty in drawing; and I'll bet we could get you set up with your own booth to draw anime characters to order."

Joy and gladness instantly banished sullen boredom from the boy's face. "Really? Could you? Could I? That's wicked! Excuse me, sir, you know that means it's good, right?"

Pastor Stetzer laughed. "Isobel and I have kids not so much older than you; we know three or four subcultures' worth of slang. We'll provide any materials you need for your drawings, and we can get permission for you to sell them for money. Only, there's one condition for this..."

"What condition, sir?" Jason's voice was guarded now. Is he going to say I have to become a _member_ of his church? I would be willing at least to visit there _without_ any pressure; but if he's going to _order_ me to go there as a pricetag on his offer...

"The condition," said the minister, "is that you draw a picture for ME, based on the 'Cowboy Bebop' series."
 
This scene definitely to be parallelled in Rachel's version!

Summer Heron was sure to be home; in a panic over the injury her only child (and her only helper with the wheelchair-bound Mr. Heron) had suffered just yesterday, Mrs. Heron wasn't letting Summer go out anyplace. But they were both delighted to have Chilena come over with Alipang.

The visit was approved by Dr. and Mrs. Havens, who knew that Alipang would feel better if he could check up on his friend as he had intended. Chilena, in justified optimism, had cooked some homemade soup at the same time as working on supper; the soup she would take from Summer's house to Dan's house, thus showing solicitous attention to Dan....and at the same time, giving nature a chance to start running its course between her brother and Summer.

Alipang brought his school notebooks along, because he and Summer, with differing times of having missed classes, would each be able to provide the other with some notes. Yes, yes, Chilena thought, shooting rays of willpower at her brother from her mind: spend an hour or more studying with Summer. Study in her room, and sit close to her, until you start noticing how pretty she really is--not like that bizarro-punk senior girl! Then before long, you and Summer can start going on double dates with Dan and me! Oh, yes, then I'll get to have both Dan and you around at the same time, and you'll get to have both Summer and me around!

Summer and her Mom gave the visitors a warm welcome. Chilena, not seriously interested in catching up on school subjects, begged off soon from the study session, to go tend to her boyfriend. As for Summer, she was visibly happy that Alipang would stay longer. Her grateful smile was so lovely, that Alipang did in fact begin to notice as if for the first time how attractive his friend was. He was, of course, more susceptible to noticing this because of his grievance against Kim Tisdale.

Susceptible enough that he suddenly became terribly nervous about the idea of spending any time alone with Summer in her (gulp!) bedroom. So he asked if they might have some popcorn in the kitchen instead. That was fine with Summer.

As she was making the popcorn, Alipang became aware that he was looking at places on Summer _below_ her chin. At _all_ the places below her chin; and all of them looked great. This brought mixed feelings to him, to say the least. His rather puritanical mother had endlessly nagged him to the effect that girls were not allowed to exist at all below the chin, and even the slightest glance at a girl below her chin _was_ the same thing as the "lustful look" condemned by the Savior. But as much as he adored his mother, Alipang now knew that she was wrong. His looking lower on Summer than her jawline was NOT causing him to be overwhelmed with a beastly desire to sin against God; he just liked what he was seeing, _without_ ceasing to value and respect Summer as a human person made in the spiritual image of God.

But since he wasn't sure how Summer would feel about being admired for her physical construction, he made sure that his eyes were on her face again when she brought the popcorn to the table.
 
Betsy Tisdale came home from a date, to find Kim sitting on a porch seat with her cat Leo--so out of sorts that she _wasn't_ listening to any music. "Something wrong, Kimmy?"

Kim stared at her cat. "I did something wrong, Betsy. And it isn't fair for it to BE wrong. It's as if I did an equation correctly, but then someone changed the equation to _make_ my right answer _become_ wrong retroactively."

Betsy kissed the top of her sister's head--the only place on Kim right now that _wasn't_ coated with cat hair. "Does this have anything to do with the angry phone call you got from your admirer's sister?"

"Yeah...only, if Alipang ever seriously _was_ my admirer, he isn't now. On Wednesday--I operated on a dogmatic assumption, without bothering to check it for applicability."

"Which is, in English, what?"

Kim sighed solemnly. "Alipang's sister's boyfriend was attacked in the corridor by a bully. Chilena ran to her boyfriend where he was flat on the floor, and the bully was looking like he might do something to her, too. Al and his friend Jason both came charging up to intervene; but I was so full of the opinion I'd already formed about Al, that I _didn't_ bother to _look_ and see _what_ was the situation they were running to.

"You remember I told you how Al put down that football player who insulted him? Though the jerk jock deserved what he got, that left me with an impression of Al as one more testosterone addict with a chip on his shoulder. I was so ready to _assume_ that Al would fly off the handle over little things, that I assumed the situation in the corridor must be a little thing. So I blocked him from going after the bully; he could have swatted me aside, of course, but the same caveman chivalry I usually complain about, wouldn't let him lay a finger on me roughly. And in everything I said to him about the whole business, then and in a note I wrote later, I assumed--I see now that I _chose_ to assume, _without_ knowing the facts--that he was blowing up over nothing worse than verbal insults. But it was more: his friend had been hit, and his sister was in an exposed position. But I treated him like a childish brawler. It hurt him terribly. You should have seen his expression the next time he saw me after that; 'stonefaced' hardly covers it."

"Oh, Kimmy," groaned Betsy. "I get it now. You've seen so many _males_ being grossly wrong, and refusing to admit it, that now your gut feels as if admitting to any male that _you've_ been wrong about _anything_ equals disloyalty to the sisterhood."

"Something like that," Kim agreed miserably. "And now I've seen proof that he went and passively got himself beaten up by the same bully, whom he could have smacked down easily, just to prove to ME that he had self-control; but he hasn't even had the satisfaction of me giving him credit for it, he's only gotten pounded still another time. I owe Al an apology...and NOT a weaselly 'But-it's-your-fault-too' apology. He was all the way right, and I was all the way wrong, even though in ninety-five percent of cases I could have done the same things and been right! I owe him a _humble_ apology; I hate owing that to any guy; and I hate it that I know I have no _right_ to hate owing him the apology."

After a silent pause, Betsy asked quietly, "Does it _matter_ to you how Alipang Havens feels about you?"

"I don't know; maybe it does."
 
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As a way of NOT making a fool of himself trying to turn a friendship romantic so late in the acquaintance...and in response to Summer's worries about their not being able to afford any more rehabilitation procedures for her Dad...Alipang went with her into her Dad's room, and began trying out jokes on him to stimulate him.

"Do you know what happens if you ask a dog to change a lightbulb?

"If it's a German shepherd, it'll say, 'Don't replace the bulb; let me catch the burglars in the dark.' If it's a bloodhound, it'll say, 'I don't need a light, I'm sleeping.' If it's a border collie, it'll say, 'I won't just change the bulb, I'll re-wire the house.' And if it's a poodle, it'll say, 'I'll ask the border collie to do it.' "

Mr. Heron responded to the jokes well enough that Alipang thought of a further suggestion: "You know Grant at church; I'll bet he'd be willing to come and sing for your Dad sometime."

Summer absolutely glowed with hopefulness. "Thanks, Al; we just _might_ see Dad communicating more! In case you forgot from the last time I told you..." (she demurely lowered her eyes, though not usually any kind of shrinking violet) "...you're a wonderful guy, Al."

==========================

When Chilena returned from her visit with Dan to pick Alipang up, she was hoping to hear that Al had asked Summer for a date; what she heard instead was that Al had turned therapist for Nick Heron. But at least something might still come of _return_ visits Al might make to see Mr. Heron. Other things now awaited Chilena's attention.

"Al, do you feel up to a downstairs--that sounds silly--do you feel up to staying up with me for awhile tonight?"

"Sure do, sweets."

When they were safely home and Al had taken his nighttime dose of hydrocodone, and once everyone else was in bed and out of the way, Chilena led Alipang by the hand to their headquarters. He sat on the familiar sofa; she assumed her familiar perch on his lap; his arms went around her waist with reassuring familiarity, while her arms likewise went around his neck for the umpty-zillionth but never tiresome time; and then she murmured, "Let me get these done and over with, because there's a lot of talking to do tonight."

She kissed him eighteen or twenty times, on every reasonable place; this done, her mouth got to work talking.
 
"Besides everything else going on," Chilena whispered into Alipang's left ear, as her left cheek rubbed lightly against his, "Dan got my mind started on something more. He was talking about how he envied and admired us having an intact family--never even a major quarrel among us; and that got me thinking about my _birth_ family. Do you think _they've_ stayed together? I mean, if they gave me away before they left the country, maybe they've split further by now."

Alipang paid back three of her flurry of kisses; then, "Does it matter much to you now?"

"Not in any way like I'm not happy with you and our parents and even the babies. I love all of you, forever and always, _especially_ you, Al;" and she brought her kissing lead back up to where it had been, plus one. "But I can't help wondering what they're doing now; and what kind of men my birth brothers have grown up into. Mike, the youngest of them, would be at least twenty by now..." She stopped talking, pressed herself as much more closely against her living easy chair as she dared in his present condition, and blissfully wallowed in his responsively-tightening embrace.

Much cuddling and snuggling later, she withdrew her chin from his shoulder, to assume the other familiar position, forehead to forehead, with noses rubbing awhile before their next kiss. This brought her dosage of loving comfort high enough that she could whisper the appeal she had been softening her brother up for:

"Al...please help me find out about my birth family."
 
Alipang grunted thoughtfully, then whispered, "For this, * I * have to get some kisses out of the way for talking;" so he kissed her seven or eight times. "There, that should prove I'm not mad at you for asking that. But it isn't as if we can just get in your car with a highway atlas titled 'Roads Leading To Biological Families.' It's Mom and Dad who know as much as IS known about where your birth parents moved; are you asking me to leave them out of our effort to learn about your birth family?"

Chilena nestled closer once more. "I admit I wasn't even thinking that far. I needed to know that _you'd_ be okay with my curiosity...because there's no one else I'm as close to as you, not anyone else."

"It's okay, Chil, the Wonder Twin powers are still activated. We're still a team."

Despite his positive attitude, her voice was still anxious. "And you still _like_ us being a team, right? Enough so....you don't feel _too_ bad...about things not working out with Kim....right?"

He kissed her several more times, in part to give himself a moment to choose his words. "I can't say there _was_ anything to fail to work out. I'll still be working at the Pansit with her; I should say, _we'll_ be working with her--unless you plan to quit altogether?"

He felt Chilena turn taut in his arms, as if with a sudden fright. "What is it, sweets?" he asked, massaging her back.

She whimpered, and sagged into him, her arms straining still farther around him and her position prompting his arms to wind more firmly around her as well. "Oh, Al, don't be mad at me...but after you got hurt, and thinking of the way Kim pooh-poohed the situation when Dan got pushed down by Rocknose, I phoned Kim and told her off. I _majorly_ told her off. Please, Al, _please_ don't be mad at me!"

"I'm not, sweets, I promise. Kim probably _does_ need to be made to think about how she judges situations."

Chilena clung to his neck as to a life preserver. "So do you still love me, Al?"

"As much as ever, sweets." This was followed by more kissing in both directions, which was followed by discussion of how to approach Mom and Dad on the subject of Chilena's birth family, which was followed by more hugging, cuddling and kissing.
 
At last the two siblings reluctantly pulled out of each other's arms, climbed the stairs hand in hand as usual, and kissed goodnight on the landing as usual, going to sleep in the knowledge that their closeness, and their appetite for each other's emotional support, were not diminished.

But Alipang's brain had been given two new factors to process; and his dream of the night processed them both.

He seemed to be back downstairs on the couch with his eyes closed. Someone was sitting on his lap, whom he assumed to be his sister...until he opened his eyes and saw Summer's face barely two inches from his own. "Chilena moved back in with her birth family," Summer told him, and even the matter-of-fact statement sounded amorous. It only got more amorous when Summer added, "So now you can do things with me that you couldn't have done with your sister...." and she kissed him in a way even further removed from Chilena's kisses than what he had dreamed about getting from Kim the night before. Which was just for starters...

When he awoke from _this_ dream in a still-dark room, Alipang was drenched with sweat. He decided that prayers were in order, so he slid out of bed to kneel and address his Maker:

"God, I know that it wouldn't be any sin if I took a romantic interest in Summer; but I just never felt that that was what she and I were about. I don't think it was a sin to be attracted to Kim, either; but she sure seems to have canked that. So am I supposed to try to get back to the way I was just a month ago, not expecting to have _any_ girlfriend anytime soon? If so, why does Chilena get to have a boyfriend?

"And as for Chilena, what are she and I supposed to do about her birth family? Please, Lord, give some kind of guidance there. Please let Chil and me always have a relationship that brings good things; make her more secure about knowing she's loved. And please give me enough peace in my heart about Kim that I can be in her presence and not be bitter over the insult she dumped on me. In Jesus' name, amen."
 
(Gentle Voice, in the roleplay, was the originator of some of this)

Eventful as the first week in public school had been, Labor Day weekend was destined to maintain the pace.

Alipang was awakened before six by a pair of lips lightly and sweetly touching his own, twice. This was not what he had dreamed of with Summer; these were kisses he could plausibly receive from--

"Chilena?" He opened his eyes, to find her familiar face hovering four inches above his. "Why are--I mean, it's fine that you're here, but why wake me up so early? Not to say it isn't a pleasant good-morning; but, well, what's up?"

"I'm sorry, Al, but after we said goodnight last night, I discovered I had an unheard voicemail on my cellphone. It's from a woman who calls herself Kathleen Jakekens, which is the name of my birth mother." Chilena added a kiss to Al's forehead, then drew back so he could sit up and accept the phone she handed to him. He noticed that she was already dressed, not in pajamas.

"What kind of a last name is Jakekens?" asked Al.

"I think it's an adaptation of some Finnish name." Chilena shrugged. "One of the few things Mom's told me about the birth parents is that she thought my birth father Jim Jakekens had Finnish ancestry. But listen to the voicemail."

Al swung his feet onto the floor, punched in the message selection, and heard:

"Chilena? I remember calling you Elizabeth. I'm your birth mother, dear; I'm Kathleen Jakekens. You may have known that we moved to Morocco years ago for a long-term business position; one reason why we gave you up was because we weren't sure you could take the climate there. But we're back in the States, and we want to see you. Go talk to Grizelda, and tell her the rabbit's out of the hat."

That was all. Al replayed the message twice, during which his sister took possession of his lap once again. When he gave back the phone, she whispered in his right ear, "Al, this won't change anything between you and me, will it? You know I love you more than I could even think of loving them, don't you? It's just that I want to know about--them--and here's a chance, like the Lord was listening to our downstairs meeting last night. Only, what did the part about Grizelda Capshaw mean?"

Now Al not only tightened his customary embrace of Chilena, he also tightened his eyebrows in thought. "It must mean that our neighbor lady _knows_ the Jakekens; must have known them for a long time. It's possible; Mrs. Capshaw travelled a lot as a stage magician before she got married. They could have met in lots of places before your folks moved to North Africa. If your birth mother wants you to speak to Mrs. Capshaw, it must mean that Mrs. Capshaw has kept her informed about you, ever since we moved here and she found out that you were her friend's biological daughter. The Jakekens might even have learned something about our family's movements through World Vision. The 'rabbit out of the hat' phrase is probably a prearranged signal to let Mrs. Capshaw know that the time has come to stop concealing her knowing your birth family."

He could feel in the upper surfaces of his thighs how the still-seated Chilena began quivering in excitement. "Oh, Al, please get dressed and let's go talk to Mrs. Capshaw. This message came last night, and my birth mother might be wondering why I haven't replied."

"Well, _she_ left _you_ wondering for most of your life," said Al--then hastily kissed away the sad look his words brought to his sister's face. "Okay, sweets, remove your bod off of my bod, and take your bod back out, and my trousers and I'll be with you in a minute."
 
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The siblings let themselves out the front door, walked over to the neighboring Capshaw residence...and found it unoccupied. The sun was up, and these neighbors were normally early risers; but there was no detectable sign of activity inside. The Capshaws had an open carport, not an enclosed garage; Alipang and Chilena could see that Mr. Capshaw's plumbing-business van was there, but the car they kept for personal use was gone. Alipang made so bold as to ring the doorbell three times; nothing happened.

Returning, thwarted, to their own house, Alipang and Chilena noticed lying on their front step something they hadn't noticed as they went out: an envelope, with the name "Havens" on the front. Opening it, Alipang read a note in Mrs. Capshaw's hand:


Eric, Cecilia, Everyone:

I'm called away at a very bad time. Jonathan's father in Baltimore is gravely ill; we must drive up there for an uncertain length of time. I'm sorry, because you will probably be wishing very soon to talk to me. Much is going on; much HAS gone on that I didn't tell you. But you have my word that nothing I did was to your family's detriment. You will probably have your answers before you get a chance to ask me any questions.

Best Wishes,
Grizelda Capshaw


"This shows at least that she _does_ know something," said Chilena. "We can show it to Mom and Dad at breakfast, then hear what they want to do."

"Show it to them _after_ breakfast, without letting the babies know about it. We don't want Melody and Harmony being afraid that mean strangers are going to come and steal their Chil-Chil away from them."
 
The Havens family had a fine Saturday breakfast all together--while Chilena was boiling inside to tell Mom and Dad about the obvious divine providence of word coming from her birth mother.

After breakfast, Alipang took the babies under his wing, watching a VeggieTales video with them and mimicking the character voices. This enabled Chilena to be in private with their parents, let them hear the voicemail, and then show them Grizelda Capshaw's short letter.

"I guess we owe you the facts we have," her mother told her.

"You told me long ago that they moved to Morocco for business; but that isn't a complete explanation of why they gave me up, and only me."

"To start from the beginning," said Eric Havens, "the first time I met the Jakekens was at my dental practice back in Richmond. They brought in their boys, who obviously had NOT received dental care for a long time; and I felt that God was calling me to befriend them. I can tell you, Chilena honey, that eventually having you in OUR family was the only benefit your Mom and I ever got out of that acquaintance."

"But enough benefit for us to justify everything." Cecilia put in, giving her a squeeze that Chilena returned.

Eric went on: "Over several years, beginning before you were born, your Mom and I did various things of our own accord to help Jim and Kathleen Jakekens, including paying some of their major bills for them. Jim Jakekens was in some kind of industrial-related commission sales; I never saw any evidence of anything illegal, but his income was unpredictable to say the least. There was just one time he was able to pay us back what we had spent on his family, and to his credit he did so; but two or three weeks later he needed our help again.

"When you were almost three years old..." (he glanced at his wife, who nodded solemnly) "...your Mom, I mean your Mom here...lost a baby...which was the fourth time it happened to her. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. The Jakekens were already discussing going overseas for Jim's employers; and it wasn't long before they began hinting at the idea of us adopting you."

"Eventually we did," Cecilia took up. "A private adoption with full consent on the birth parents' side usually goes pretty quickly. Fortunately, you had already seen us many times before you were given up, so we weren't complete strangers to you. And within a couple of days after the adoption was final, your birth family was off to Morocco."

Chilena smiled for both her parents. "Well, I bet I wouldn't have had anywhere near the fun in Morocco that I ended up having in the Phil--" She couldn't finish her sentence, because a tsunami of sobbing swept over her, sweeping her into her mother's arms.

When she could speak, it was to say chokingly, "Mom--Dad--YOU'RE my Mom and Dad, not THEM! You raised me and loved me; I'm sorry to be crying over those strangers--they're not worth it! I love YOU, Mom and Dad, I love you so much--! But I can't help wondering about, about THEM..." She went to Dad, to give him his rightful share of her weeping on his shoulder as he tenderly hugged her.

"Well, we might hear more from them anytime," Dr. Havens told his big little girl. "If we do, I want you to understand this in your very bones: your Mom and I will not feel jealous or threatened if you want to get to know them."
 
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