This story is about breast cancer. I know for some it might be difficult if not impossible to read. I understand. I’m not one who likes to give or get spoilers but there are times when they are appropriate. Should you need to know any details before you make the decision to read this please contact me.

Chapter Twenty-three

Friday, February 10, 2006

Trixie decided to take it easy in the morning and didn’t head into the office until nine o’clock. She was finally feeling well enough that she thought she could drive herself. Her incision was healing and she hadn’t felt queasy for days.

After Matt and Lizzie were on the bus, Trixie got Jenny dressed. Generally, Trixie and Jim were careful in limiting the amount of time their kids spent in front of the TV and the computer. Today, she wanted to discuss some things with Jim so Trixie turned the small TV in the kitchen to Dora the Explorer. Jenny watched with delight from her high chair while Jim and Trixie had their discussion.

“What’s bothering you?” Jim asked. He was almost afraid to ask. The week had been going so well, and he wanted it to end on a high note with the Pizza and Game Night.

“I need a sounding board.” Trixie got up and refilled her coffee mug.

“I’m all ears,” Jim replied. He had a sudden thought that years of living with Trixie had increased his curiosity.

Trixie proceeded to tell Jim about the interviews they had held yesterday. While he had heard bits and pieces of Trixie’s experience with Todd Roberts over the years, no one had ever told him the entire story. When Jim and Trixie had gotten together after that incident, they had agreed not to question what each other had done.

As Trixie told the entire story of Todd Roberts, Jim’s infamous temper started to rear its ugly head. Fortunately, his temper didn’t make him deaf, and he really heard the story that Trixie was telling. When he realized that in the long run things had worked out he calmed down. By the time Trixie finished the story of the interview with Todd, they were both laughing at his immaturity.

“So, I guess it’s safe to say that Todd Roberts isn’t going to be working for you. What about your other candidate?” Jim asked.

“On the surface, and on paper, Shelby Jacobson looks like the perfect person for the job. However, even before we checked out her references things just didn’t feel right.” Trixie stood up and started to pace as she spoke. “Then we called her references. Things just didn’t add up.”

“So, what’s the issue? If you don’t like either candidate, don’t hire either one.”

“It’s just that we wanted to get someone hired so Honey wouldn’t feel so pressured.” Trixie explained.

“If you hire someone you aren’t one hundred percent sure about, you might be making more work than getting help.” Jim pointed out.

“That makes perfect sense, but I’m not sure. I wanted to get this done and crossed off of my ‘to do’ list.” Trixie glanced at the clock. “Look at the time. I’ve gotta go so I can be back here by early afternoon. I want to rest before the big night.” Trixie placed her coffee cup in the sink, kissed Jim good-bye and headed out the door.

Trixie and Honey had been working for about an hour trying to decide what to do. They had made lists of the pros and cons of hiring Shelby and worse case scenarios should they experience similar instances that her previous employers had.

Finally, Trixie threw her pen down and said in frustration, “This is enough to want me pull my hair out of my head.” She ran her hands through her hair and was shocked when she realized that she actually had pulled chunks of hair out of her scalp.

Trixie and Honey just stared in shock. Neither of them said anything for a few minutes. Honey wasn’t sure how Trixie was going to react, so she decided it was best to take her lead from Trixie.

Suddenly, Trixie started to laugh. The laugh was infectious and before they knew it they were both gasping for breath.

For a second, sadness started to engulf Trixie, and then she just started to think about the timing and continued to chuckle. Although she knew that at some point she would begin to lose her hair, she wasn’t sure how she was going to react to it. She started to play with the hair in her hands as she considered what was about to happen.

Honey watched Trixie, waiting to see what she was going to do. She noticed a spark in Trixie’s eyes and wondered what she was thinking.

Finally, Trixie got her giggles under control, “I wonder if Moms still has the hair clipper she used to cut Mart’s crew cut when we were high school.”

“What’s going through that mind of yours, Trixie?” Honey asked.

“Well, I just got this truly crazy idea. I think I’m going to go punk this evening.”

Honey looked at Trixie as if she had lost her mind. “I think you’ve completely lost it,” she said.

“No, I just want to do my hair loss complete justice. What do you think of a blue mohawk?”

“Blue mohawk?” Honey cried.

Trixie started to run her hands through her hair. Then she thought better of it. She wanted to preserve as much hair as possible until the pizza party. “Yeah, I might as well say good-bye to my hair in a fun way. I’m thinking of shaving my hair into a mohawk, using that spray hair color that Matt used last year for Halloween and tinting it blue.”

Suddenly Honey had a vision of Trixie with her blue mohawk and she began to giggle again. “I can’t wait to see the look on Jim’s face when he sees it.”

Honey and Trixie tried to get back to the issue of what to do about Shelby Jacobson. They finally realized they were not going to get anything else accomplished in the office that day.

As they were getting ready to leave Trixie said, “So how am I going to avoid Jim and everyone else tonight until the pizza party?”

Honey thought for a minute and said, “Why don’t you run over to Crabapple Farm and enlist Moms? She could take the clippers after your hair. I have some of that spray hair color at home too. I’ll stop by our house and then bring it over.” Honey went about shutting down her computer, straightening her desk, and pulling the notes from their interviews together. “You could rest at your parents’ house in the afternoon and then just head up to Ten Acres with them. That way you can avoid Jim. I’ll run interference with him so he doesn’t worry, as well as pick up Jenny at daycare.”

The two friends walked out of the office together, got into their cars and drove off.

Jim walked down the halls of Ten Acres Academy. There was a spring in his step that hadn’t been there for the past month. Trixie was starting to feel like herself again. His children had shown great fortitude through this entire ordeal. The grant application was in the process of being reviewed for approval. The world was a good place to be today.

He was heading to the cafeteria. While the students generally ate their breakfast and dinner in their bungalows with their “families”, lunch was served at the school. When he was planning the school, he originally thought of having the students eat all of their meals in their bungalows. He quickly realized that it would be better to have them eat in the school. That also allowed the house parents to hold down other jobs. He was glad he had made that decision. It helped when they had fund raisers and when they had nights like tonight.

Jim was heading to the main entrance of the Academy to meet the pizza delivery van. He knew he had to get there before the senior boys got there. If he didn’t, there was no telling if the pizza would make it to the cafeteria or not. Somehow being around Mart Belden had rubbed off on these guys, and they now could beat him in an eating contest.

As he reached the entrance to the school, he noticed a commotion. Several of the high school students were surrounding something. He could hear shouts and saw more students approaching the chaos. He realized that if he didn’t get the situation under control, the night could be very long.

When he got closer he could see the head of someone in the center of the crowd. That head appeared to be sporting a bright blue mohawk. Jim put on his stern headmaster face. The school had strict dress code that included rules about appropriate hair length and color. It appeared someone had grossly violated the rules. As he approached the group, he noticed his sister standing in the background observing it all. She had an amused look on her face.

When the students realized Dr. Jim had seen them they all started to talk at once.

“Look at Mrs. Trixie!”

“Isn’t it cool?”

“I can’t believe it!”

The students parted and there stood Trixie. Both sides of her head had been shaved bald. The remaining center hair had been gelled to stand straight up and was now a fluorescent blue. For a moment Jim stood in shock. The he looked at his wife’s face and saw a twinkle in her blue eyes that hadn’t been there for almost two months. A smile broke across his face.

“What is this? Do we have a new student here?”

Trixie broke out of the group and walked over to Jim and gave him a quick hug and kiss. “No, I literally started pulling my hair out of my head this morning so I decided to have a little fun with it. Before the night is over I think I’ll somehow be bald as a billiard ball.”

Jim laughed at Trixie’s excitement, but part of him pulled back. He’d been preparing for the day Trixie would start to lose her hair but now that the day was here he was not quite sure of himself. He reached into his pants pocket to find the business card holder that Trixie had given him. Just touching it seemed to ground him.

“It’s okay,” Trixie whispered so only Jim could hear as she gave him a hug of support. “It’ll grow back. In the meantime let’s have some fun.”

The pizzas arrived and not long after, all of the Bob-Whites and their families were there as well.

When Hallie walked into the cafeteria with Dan and saw Trixie she burst out laughing. Mart was standing within hearing distance, “Say, Mart,” Hallie teased. “When are you going to sport a similar ‘do like your twin?”

“Right after you do,” was Mart’s reply.

The evening was a huge success. Card games, board games, and even Peter Belden games were enjoyed by all. While Trixie didn’t participate in any of them, she had fun watching. She did notice that Dan and Hallie seemed to be rather preoccupied. Trixie couldn’t seem to put her finger on it. They seemed to be enjoying each other’s company and really caring about the other one, but something wasn’t quite right.

Despite having taken a nap earlier in the day, Trixie found she could barely keep her eyes open by seven o’clock. She didn’t want to miss the finale of the night where the senior students were going to take on the Bob-Whites in a basketball game. When she couldn’t find Jim, she let Diana know she’d be heading down to Jim’s office to take a little nap, leaving strict instructions for someone to come and get her before the game started.

Trixie opened the door to Jim’s office. No lights were on. She jumped when she turned one on and saw Jim leaning back in his chair, feet on his desk with his eyes closed.

“Jim,” she said. “Is everything okay?”

Jim sat up with a start. Before he could conceal his feelings, Trixie notice a look of sadness in his eyes. “I was just taking a break before the big game.”

Trixie went over and wrapped her arms around her husband. “Why don’t you try that again? Ten years of marriage to a private investigator should have taught you not to try to fool her.”

Jim hesitated again. He didn’t want to burden her with his concerns. Then he remembered the advice Brian had given him about keeping the lines of communication open. “I guess I just wasn’t as prepared as I thought for when you began to lose your hair.”

“I really wasn’t either. When I looked down at the handful of hair I had this morning, something in me said I either lose it or do something fun. I figure the winning team can decide who gets to finish off the job.”

Jim hugged Trixie harder. “You continue to amaze me with your strength. I don’t know how you do it.”

“I don’t know either. I guess I just keep plugging along and do what I think is right,” Trixie explained. “I figure maybe if I fake it long enough, it will become real. Does that make sense?”

“Believe it or not I think it does,” Jim replied. “So what brings you down here?”

“Well, I heard there was going to be this fantastic basketball game later but I suddenly was feeling a little tired. I decided to come down here and grab a cat nap,” Trixie answered.

Jim walked Trixie over to the sofa. He went to the closet and got out a pillow and blanket. After making sure she was comfortable, he kissed her on the lips and bid her sweet dreams, promising that someone would come and wake her before the game started.

Jim returned to the gymnasium where Peter Belden was leading a group of kids and adults in the lap game. He noticed that Dan and Hallie were overseeing an impromptu chess tournament. Diana was in the cafeteria leading a bunch of middle school girls in some sort of craft. Brian and Honey were chaperoning a game of Twister and Mart was “guarding” the snack table. Matt and Maddie Wheeler were playing Memory with some of the younger students and the Lynches were circulating around helping out wherever needed.

Jim noticed the absence of seniors and Helen Belden. He wasn’t too worried, since he assumed they were together. She had probably recruited them to help clean up in the kitchen. Jim spent the next forty-five minutes walking from one activity to another, watching the students interact with the adults. He was continually amazed by how successful the school had become. He was even more amazed how his family and friends had embraced the school as much as he had. Then after thinking about it for a few minutes, he realized that it shouldn’t surprise him. That was the way they had always been.

Jim glanced at his watch and realized that it was time to get the basketball game underway. He noticed that there was still no sign of Helen Belden and the seniors. Brian noticed Jim heading toward the kitchen and intercepted him. “Are we ready to get things started?” he asked.

“We would be if I knew where the seniors were. I was just going to see if they were in the kitchen helping your mother out,” Jim replied.

A look of panic briefly crossed Brian’s eyes before he said, “I heard them say they were going to help out with the younger kids. Why don’t I go find them while you get Trixie?”

Something didn’t add up to Jim, but he put it out of his mind. He needed to get Trixie, supervise getting the kids ready and then change for the game. He decided it was just his imagination and went to get his wife.

Within ten minutes, Jim was back in the gymnasium, dressed and waiting on the bench with all of the Bob-Whites including Hallie. He’d been surprised earlier in the night when his dad had handed him a package that had contained red t-shirts with BWG screened across the back to look like cross stitch. All of the Bob-Whites had laughed when they saw them but deep down they were deeply touched by Matt Wheeler’s gesture.

Still there were no seniors to be seen. Trixie, who wouldn’t actually be playing in the game, was standing along the sidelines midcourt bouncing a basketball. Someone in the stands yelled “C’mon, Mrs. Trixie, show us what you have!”

Not one to ever turn down a challenge Trixie stepped onto midcourt, bounced the ball twice, eyed the basket and shot the ball. To everyone’s surprise except the Bob-Whites, the ball sank in the basket with nothing but net. The crowd went wild and just like she had done twenty some years ago in Iowa, she sank onto the bleachers embarrassed.

Jim came up to her, gave her a hug, and said, “You haven’t lost your touch.”

“Tell me that tomorrow when I feel the pain of my foolishness.”

Jim and Trixie both looked up and noticed that Peter and Helen Belden had pushed a public address system into the gym. Peter took over the microphone and began to speak.

“Welcome to the first annual Bob-White/Ten Acres Academy Senior Basketball game,” he began. “Please stand for the National Anthem.” The parents of the Bob-Whites had been on the phone all day planning this event. They had decided that it was important enough that it should be treated like a regulation basketball game with the exception of the refereeing. Ed Lynch would be serving as the referee, so anything could happen.

Upon the completion of the National Anthem, Peter Belden resumed speaking, “And now for the starting lineups of our two teams.”

The Bob-Whites looked around and still there was no sign of the seniors. Carolyn Lynch and Maddie Wheeler herded the Bob-Whites over to Peter to begin the proceedings.

“At head cheerleader for the Bob-Whites, sporting the latest in hair fashions is Mrs. Trixie!”

The crowd went wild. Trixie resisted going out to center court but soon found herself there when the rest of the Bob-Whites pushed her out there. She finally decided to put her insecurities aside and just have fun like everyone else was.

“At center for the Ten Acres Seniors, is Jack ‘Cue Ball’ Christenson!”

Jack came running out of the locker room in a blue t-shirt that had a picture of the main building of Ten Acres Academy on it. Where prior in the day he had been sporting a thick head of wavy brown hair, he was now bald as a billiard ball. He ran to the center of the court and gave Mrs. Trixie a huge hug. All Trixie could do was return the hug and stand in awe.

“At forward for the Bob-Whites of the Glen is Dr. Jim!”

Jim had been standing on the sidelines when Jack had come out of the locker room. Originally Jim had been shocked by what he had seen, then when he realized what Jack had done, he was amazed. He ran out to the court, gave Jack a hug and then hugged Trixie.

“At forward for Ten Acres Seniors is Wally ‘The Solar Panel’ Wilson.”

Wally, too, sported a freshly shaven head. He headed to center court where he was engulfed by Dr. Jim and Mrs. Trixie.

“At center for the BWG’s is Detective Dan ‘The Man’ Mangan!

Dan came running to center court. He in turn hugged all of the players on the court. When he got to Trixie, she was quick to observe that for the first time in a long time Dan had allowed himself to put his troubles behind him for a few hours and just have fun.

“At forward for Ten Acres is Hillary ‘Smooth Moves’ Martin!”

The crowd gasped when Hillary came out. Hillary was known as one of the prettiest girls in the school. Her raven black, wavy hair had hung down to her waist. Today there was no sign of a hair on her head.

Trixie stood at mid-court and let the tears flow down her cheeks. She couldn’t believe what Hillary had done for her. As Hillary approached, Trixie pulled her into a hug and whispered in her ear, “I hope those boys didn’t shame you into cutting your hair, Hillary.”

With tears in her eyes Hillary replied, “Heck no. It was my idea in the first place. After the guys saw how serious I was, they all agreed. Besides, Grandmoms Helen cut as much of it off before shaving it as she could and we’re sending twenty-four inches of hair to Locks of Love.”

“At forward for the BWG’s is Mrs. Hallie ‘Watch Out’ Mangan!”

Hallie met the group on the floor. When she had given every player a hug, she stood next to her husband with her arms around his waist.

“At guard for Ten Acres, Paul ‘Look I Have No Hair’ Cronin!”

Paul could have been Mart’s evil twin. He was known for his big words and for clowning around. When he came out of the locker room, he appeared to be stunned by the crowd’s reaction. He looked around and ran his hand over his head. Playing it to the hilt, he appeared shocked when he couldn’t feel his hair. Pulling a mirror from behind his back he looked into it and gave a comic gasp. The crowd roared.

“At guard for the Bob-Whites is Dr. Brian!”

Brian had been so moved by what the students had done he almost missed his introduction. His wife, Honey, had to push him out onto the floor.

“At guard for Ten Acres Academy is Jane ‘I’m loving my freedom’ Scott!”

Jane was an all around tomboy. She wore her hair as short as she could and insisted that it be wash and wear. Secretly she loved the idea of being bald for awhile. It would be even easier to upkeep than her previous hair style. Like the players previous, she hugged the other players and then joined her team.

“And finally at guard for the Bob-Whites, Mrs. ‘Lady Di’ Belden!

While the Bob-Whites knew that Diana was as good a ball player as the guys, the students were shocked to see her suited up and ready to play.

As the two teams gathered for the opening tip-off, Trixie went over to the Bob-White parents and gave each of them a hug. She knew that this couldn’t have been orchestrated without help and using deductive reasoning, concluded it was the parents.

“Moms, I just can’t believe this,” Trixie said.

“Well, one day last week Hillary called me and asked what I thought of the idea she and some of the seniors had come up with,” Moms explained. “I did a little research to make sure Jim wouldn’t end up in any trouble with the Department of Public Instruction. You probably haven’t noticed but every senior participated. Several of the girls couldn’t quite bring themselves to shave their heads but they did get it cut extra short. All totaled, over six feet of hair will be donated to Locks of Love.”

The game was an exciting one with the lead see-sawing back and forth. All of the Bob-Whites, except Trixie, played and by the end of the game all were beat. The seniors didn’t cut them any slack. With ten seconds left to play, the game was tied. Jim was driving the ball down the court and he passed to Dan, whom he thought was open. Out of nowhere Jane Scott blocked the pass and took control of the ball. She passed it to Hillary Martin, who slam-dunked it for the winning point as the buzzer sounded. The student body went wild as the Bob-Whites collapsed on the court.

Once the crowd had calmed down and the Bob-Whites recovered their breaths, Moms brought out a plastic sheet and chair. Trixie took her place on the chair while Jim stood off to the side in front of her. One by one each member of the winning team took a turn finishing off shaving Trixie’s head.

Much to her surprise, seeing the last of her hair fall to the ground was not the traumatic experience she expected. Seeing how her family and the students had rallied around her made her realize that it was just hair and that when the time was right it would grow back.

 

 

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