Family Ties

Harry and Marianne arrived a little after ten, and I briefly saw their youngest, a four-year-old boy named Hal (Harold III on his birth certificate). After quick hugs for his grandparents, he ran back outside to play with John and Grace.

Harry was another good-looking Carmichael, basically a younger version of his father, albeit with the deeper blue of his mother’s eyes. He shook my hand and greeted me politely. Marianne looked a lot like Lynne. The women shared their mother-in-law’s blonde hair and blue eyes, but they were both several inches taller.

“We’re so glad to meet you,” she said. “How do you like San Diego?”

“It’s nice,” I said. “The weather especially. It’s usually cold and rainy this time of year in Knoxville.”

“Oh, I know. I’m from back East too. Baltimore. Is this your first time in California?”

“He was born here,” Christy said.

“Yeah. My uncle was stationed here,” I explained, “and my parents were visiting.”

“Oh, that’s right!” she said. “Birdy said your father was in the Navy. He flew jets, right?”

“Mmm hmm. A-4s. My uncle flew fighters, F-4s.”

“That’s what Harry started in. Then he transitioned to the F-14, so now we’re stationed here, at Miramar. But tell me more about you. Your father

works for the airlines now, doesn’t he? And you grew up in Atlanta?”

I told her about myself for a few minutes, until Anne sensed a lull in the conversation.

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” she said. “But we should get to work in the kitchen.”

“Duty calls,” Marianne said to me with a smile.

“Christine, dear,” her mother said, “run and find Virginia and Amber.

Christy lingered and gave me a kiss after the other women had left. Then she grinned and dashed off to find her nieces.

I thought the men would watch television or play football or do something typically manly (since the women were off doing “womanly”

things in the kitchen), but they surprised me.

“Ever played Rummy?” Danny asked Terry and me.

“All right,” Danny said. “The game is Florida Rummy…”

He explained the rules. It seemed simple enough, basically a variant of the game I already knew, but with several rounds that had different requirements to lay down. The Carmichaels took the game to a near-religious level of intensity.