A PERFECT RENDEZVOUS

Herman Henkleman

“Hey, Herman, Can You Pick up some guy who’s landin’ at the airstrip in twenty minutes?” The squawk of the walkie-talkie was scarcely noticed in the noisy high school gymnasium where 175 Keaton citizens were gathered for the dress rehearsal of the bicentennial celebration pageant that was to take place tomorrow after the parade. Shoving the saber that hung from the waist of his general’s uniform aside, Herman Henkleman groped for the walkie-talkie beneath it and held it to his mouth. “Sure thing, Billy. Harry Mathison just said I’ve already got my part down great.”
Feeling very grand in his uniform, Herman looked around for Harry, who was in charge of the entire pageant, and spotted him standing off to the sidelines beside his brother and sister-in-law, watching the rehearsal taking place on stage. “Howdy, Ted—Katherine,” he said as he wended his way through the crowd to Harry's side. “ ’Scuse me, Harry,” he added, and when he looked up and smiled at him, he explained, “Billy Bradson has started lettin’ me drive the taxi on weekends to earn some extra money. I gotta go make a pickup for him at the airstrip. Some guy’s landin’ in a plane out there in a few minutes.”

“Go right ahead,” Harry said, oblivious to the swift, questioning look that Katherine gave Ted. “We’re almost finished here, and besides, you don’t need any more rehearsal.”

  “I know,” he said proudly. “I got that part about ‘Charge, here come’s the enemy’ down great.’ ”

 Harry laughed. “Yes, you certainly do!”

  He hesitated, glancing across the room at Flossie Eldridge, then he leaned lower. “If Flossie asks where I am, you could probably tell her I had something real important to do.”

Harry had deliberately given him a part in the pageant that required him to be close to the elderly twin, who still blushed like a schoolgirl whenever he spoke to her. “Why don’t you tell her yourself,” she whispered. “She’s looking right at you.”

  Herman gathered up his courage, and as he headed for the auditorium doors, he stopped in front of Flossie and Ada Eldridge, who were dressed in matching ball gowns, their hair styled into identical masses of ringlets. “I gotta make a run to the airstrip for Billy Bradson,” he told Flossie. “I’m helpin’ him out on weekends, now, besides doing my electrical work.”
“Be careful, Herman,” she said shyly.

  “Don’t blow up his car,” Ada said scornfully.

  Herman felt his collar turn hot. He stepped away, then stepped back, glowering. “Ada,” he said, confronting the woman for the first time in decades. “You are a mean-hearted, spiteful, bloodless woman, and you always have been! I told you that years ago, and it’s still true.”

  “And you,” she retorted, turning red, “are a useless good-for-nothing.”
He slapped his general’s hat on his head and put his hands on his hips, his expression ominous. “That’s not what you used to think when you were a girl, chasin’ after me, tryin’ to turn my head from Flossie!” He walked out, leaving Flossie gaping at her angry twin with a look of hurt and dawning understanding.

  Katherine waited until Harry walked up onto the stage to round up the children for their own rehearsal, then she squeezed Ted’s hand tightly, her face a mask of hope and tension. “Ted, do you think it’s Malik landing at the airstrip?”
He shook his head. “Not a chance. They said on the news last night that he’s giving a weekend party at his house, remember?”

  Her face fell and he patted her hand. “It’s probably Larraby coming in from Dallas to make his monthly inspection of that factory he’s building over in Lynchville.”

  * * *

  “Buckle up, hold on, and say your prayers,” the pilot joked over the intercom as the Lear began its swift descent through the encroaching dusk, diving toward the concrete ribbon below. “If this airstrip was six inches shorter, we couldn’t set her down here, and if it was any darker, we’d have to land at DFW. Evidently, they don’t light this sidewalk up at night. By the way, your taxi’s waiting down there.”