Harmony Revisited, page 1
Harmony Revisited
E.N. Klinginsmith
© 2023 E.N. Klinginsmith
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission from the author or publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Characters, places, and events are the product of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real people, companies, institutions, or incidents is entirely coincidental.
Published by
Compass Flower Press
Columbia, Missouri
Library of Congress Control Number: 2023911382
ISBN: 978-1-951960-53-7 Trade Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-951960-54-4 Ebook
y Dedication z
We belong to two families in our lives, the one we’re born to and the one we help create. I’ve been twice-blessed, and so I dedicate this novel to the memory of my parents and my two sisters, who like the family of JD Bauer are all gone now. I was lucky to have been part of that family, raised in that great old house, surrounded by my family’s love and abundant patience.
Mike, Jon, and Doug, I dedicate this book to you as well. While JD Bauer and I are not the same person, there is some of his story that is mine, and the portrayal of JD’s father is the best version I can give you of the grandfather you never got to know.
Nyle Klinginsmith
Columbia, Missouri
June 2023
y 1 z
June 1969
A door opened, letting some light into the dark space where he was working.
No one ever came back there if they didn’t have to. JD was only there because his boss had granted his request for more hours by sentencing him to clean up the mess in the storage room behind the store.
He didn’t mind working alone in the dusty, dimly lit room. His parents had surprised him by coming through town the night before, and after he and his roommate got off work they all met for coffee. It turned out to be a great evening, the highlight of his summer to that point, because his dad had a second surprise. Over the previous weekend he had taken a load of cattle to the Chicago stockyards for a friend, and it was apparent his old truck was close to the end of its useful life. There was a dealer just east of town and JD’s parents drove down to check out what he had on his lot. By late that afternoon they’d struck a deal and JD’s dad would be returning in a few days to make the switch.
The four of them celebrated the occasion with coffee, pie, and conversation. It grew late and was time for the Bauers to get started on their two-hour drive to Harmony.
JD and his friend followed his parents to the intersection and watched their taillights disappear as they turned north. When they got back to their apartment, JD had trouble going to sleep. He had a little buzz of energy from the extra cup of coffee, but it was okay. Spending some time with his parents took priority over getting a good night’s sleep.
His schedule had him going in early, so when his alarm sounded he pounded it into silence, then dragged himself into a prolonged shower. As he stood there under the hot water, he thought about his assignment for the day. Ordinarily he would’ve resented being taken off the sales floor and stuck in the dreary storage area, but after a night of not sleeping well, working in solitude would be better than dealing with the public.
yz
It was early afternoon, and he’d been working alone in the back room of the Columbia, Missouri JCPenney’s store for a few hours when he saw the door open. He looked that way and could see a man’s silhouette against the light coming through, but he couldn’t tell who it was.
“JD?”
“Yep.”
“We’ve been looking all over for you. No one knew you were working back here today.”
“McCausland knew! He’s the one who stuck me back here. Anyway, you found me. What do you want?”
“They need you downstairs in the office.”
JD dusted himself off and headed to the door, which was already closing behind the man. When he entered the brightness of the store, he had to squint. When his eyes adjusted he noticed his co-worker had turned around and was waiting for him, and the man’s expression worried him.
“What’s going on, Tom?”
“All I know is someone’s on the phone, wanting to talk with you. It might be your uncle if I heard correctly.”
My uncle? Which uncle and why? And why not Mom or Dad? Worry took over as he walked to the door that led downstairs. He kept trying to calm himself, thinking there must be a good reason for the call, some reason that wasn’t as awful as the ones he was beginning to imagine. Don’t worry. You just saw Mom and Dad last night. They’re all right.
When he finally made it down the stairs and into the store’s office, he saw his roommate standing there, holding the phone, surrounded by the office staff. His friend said, “Here’s JD,” and quickly handed him the phone, avoiding eye contact as he did. JD knew he was about to hear bad news.
“Hello.”
“JD?”
“Yes.”
“It’s your uncle Dan.” There was a pause that caused JD’s stomach to knot.
“Uncle Dan, is everything all right?” He knew as he asked that it wasn’t.
“JD, your dad’s been shot.”
“Shot! How bad is it?”
“He’s . . . he’s gone.”
JD yelled out in shock, pain, and a dozen other feelings a person should never experience. He didn’t say any more. He handed off the phone to someone, then he just stood there in a shroud of hurt until he realized the whole office staff, including McCausland, were standing there and staring. He hated every one of the people in the room at that moment. There were too many of them and they were all standing too close, breathing all the air and making him feel trapped. He had to leave. He walked out of the office with his buddy following close behind. They made the long walk through the mall, then through the parking lot to his car. Somehow, he drove the two of them across town to their apartment.
When they got there, another roommate, off work for the day, was on the phone. It was obvious he was just getting the news from home. When he saw JD, he said a hurried goodbye.
The roommate looked at JD, his face showing an effort to come up with something to say, and then he realized there was a way he could help. “You want us to drive you home, JD?”
He hadn’t thought about it, but he knew he was in no condition to make that two-hour drive. “I think that might be a good idea. I can come back later and get my car. He went upstairs and had his suitcase and shaving kit packed in a matter of minutes, then he went to his closet and picked out a suit to take with him. He’d need it in a few days. He made his way downstairs, and they all loaded into his friend’s car and began the long drive.
It was late June 1969, the summer between his junior and senior years of college. It was supposed to be the last great summer of his youth. It was supposed to be a summer of independence, a prelude to life beyond college, and most of all a summer of fun. On that June day everything had changed.
y 2 z
March 2021
Save the Date
Reunion of Harmony High School
Class of ’66
September 3–5, 2021
****Schedule of Events****
Friday, September 3 — 6:00 PM
Carry-in Dinner
Monroe Building — Harmony City Park
Saturday, September 4
All-School Reunion
Dodge County R-I High School
Lunch — 11:30 AM
Program — 1:00 PM
Evening Dinner — 6:00 PM
Full Moon Restaurant, Middleton, IA
Sunday, September 5
Breakfast at Dockside Marina — 8:30 AM
“So, what did you get in the mail?”
“It’s a save-the-date for my high school reunion.”
JD and Carolyn Bauer were sitting on the deck of their lakeside home enjoying a beverage and the view. He had a beer, and she was trying out a new white wine her friend Julia had recommended. Normally it would have been water or tea, but that unusually warm day in early March called for a bit of celebration.
Their back yard sloped sharply to the water, so the view was of the treetops—a haze of green that day, with their leaves just beginning to emerge. A squirrel scurried from one branch to the next, and its activity startled a bright-red cardinal in another tree, causing it to fly to an oak closer to the water. In the cove below, a single boat was out, making its first run after being idle for the winter. In a few more weeks, there’d be more boats on the water and more life in the trees. After a seemingly endless winter, that March afternoon held the promise of spring.
Carolyn sipped her wine and studied JD. He wore her favorite shirt, a bright-blue polo she thought looked nice with his blue eyes and gray hair.
“When is it?”
“When is what?”
“Your reunion.”
“Oh, sorry! Labor Day weekend. They always hold reunions that weekend.”
“Wonder why?”
“Probably because the county fair’s the following week. As you know it’s the event on the Dodge County calendar, so they’ll get a bigger turnout.”
“You know they only have a couple of small motels in Harmony?”
“I’m aware of that.”
“That’s not many rooms, and they may be booked for the fair already.”
“Most likely. But if that’s the case, there are rooms up in Middleton, and it’s only twenty minutes north. I’ll see what’s available and set something up tomorrow.”
“Then I guess you’re set on going.”
“I think we should.”
“I’m surprised. You usually skip class reunions.”
“Well, Labor Day weekend was never the best time of year for an administrator, with it being the start of the school year. But now that I’m retired, I don’t have that excuse. More to the point, I’ve lost several classmates this year, some of them to the virus, and I need to go see the ones who are left. We’re not getting any younger.”
“We’re in our early seventies. We’re not ancient.”
“I’m beginning to think we might be, and let’s be honest, no one thinks seventy-somethings are young!”
He turned his beer so he could see the label, a sign he would consider buying it again. He turned his attention down the hill to the lake, and she followed his gaze to see a boat taking off, leaving a wake that worked its way to their dock. The pontoon boat rode the wake for a moment, then settled.
“You’re thinking about taking our pontoon out, aren’t you?”
“I should.”
“We could do it if you want to. It’s a nice day.”
“We should, but it seems like a waste. It feels like a pontoon needs a bunch of people. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice when it’s you and I, but when we pass another boat on the water, I’m sure the people look at us and think, ‘Isn’t that sad—those two senior citizens by themselves on that big pontoon.’”
She smiled. “I get your point, but with our kids grown and living several states away, we don’t have many group occasions.”
“I know. Maybe I should sell it.”
“Let’s not rush into anything.”
“Okay. I’ll wait until tomorrow.”
She laughed. One of the things she loved about him was his humor. She closed her eyes for a moment and leaned her head back, soaking up the sun. “It’s such a nice day for this time of year.”
“It really is.”
She turned her face toward him. “We never knew there were days like this when we were working.”
“No we didn’t.”
“JD, do you realize we’ve lived here almost five years?”
“I do, and I find it hard to believe.”
She sat forward in her chair. “I want to remind you that when we moved here, you said we’d never move again.”
“And we haven’t.”
“So far.”
He smiled at her little quip, but he knew there was some seriousness to it.
“In my defense, we only moved three times.”
She shot him a look. “Only three.”
She was ahead on points, but he battled back, “And each time we moved I got a better job and it improved our financial situation.”
“Right. I understand that you earned more as a superintendent than you did as a teacher.”
He’d rallied and wanted to press his advantage. “And as I recall, I never heard an objection to my bringing home more money.”
“That’s true, but then again, each promotion brought with it more responsibility, more headaches, and more hours, so the kids and I saw less of you.”
He conceded her point, but the corners of his mouth turned up ever so slightly, showing he was enjoying their back-and-forth.
She kept on the offensive. “And I had to quit jobs I liked and leave good friends behind.”
“I know, and I apologize for that. Looking back at it, I was too wrapped up in my career to give yours the respect it deserved.”
She sipped her wine. “So, do you think you would have been happy at our earlier stops along the way?”
He thought about it and said he did.
“So was there a reason for the moves other than a better paycheck?”
“Actually, yes. It had to do with something our profs taught us in grad school.”
“Which was . . .”
“That if a man—and in those days, it was always men in the program—anyway if a man wanted to be successful, he had to keep moving. The résumé of a guy who stayed put would never sing like one that showed several moves.”
“So do you still believe that?”
“Not really. As with a lot of what they taught, it was an outdated notion. I should have paid more attention to the fact that many of them had only been moderately successful in their own careers.”
That made her laugh.
He asked, “You did like living in Bingham, right?”
“I did. I liked my job there and it was a great place to raise the kids.”
He grinned. “So am I vindicated?”
“Forgiven, let’s say.”
“I’ll take it.”
As he finished his beer, he thought about his years in Bingham. He loved it there. He considered staying around after retirement, and Carolyn would have loved it. They had good friends and great memories there, but he decided it would be fairer to his replacement if he moved away. He’d held the title of superintendent of Bingham Public Schools for more than two decades, and he’d become the face of BPS. He was sure people would still come to him with their complaints and concerns even though he was no longer the superintendent, and when they did, it would undermine the woman who would replace him. Carolyn knew he was right, so she reluctantly agreed to the move, striking a bargain with him. He could move them to the quiet side of the Lake of the Ozarks, but she would continue to work until a few days before that move, and it was up to him to handle the details of it.
She sipped her wine and gave a contented sigh. “It’s nice to have this time with you.”
“It’s a good life, isn’t it?”
“So, you do like retirement?”
He thought for a moment. “I do. I’m not happy about the age requirement, but I like being a member of the club.”
She smiled. It was another classic JD line.
He tipped the top of his beer bottle in her direction, and she raised her wine glass in return. Then he took the final sip and set his bottle down.
Carolyn set her wine glass down by the book she’d been reading then picked up the save-the-date lying on the small wooden table between them. “It’s been a while since we’ve made the drive to Harmony.”
“Well, I have no family there to speak of, so I guess the reunion’s about the only reason I have to go home now.”
“I’m not sure why you’d even go back for one of those.”
“And why do you say that?”
She looked at him, her eyebrows arched. “We went to one, ten years ago, remember?”
“I do.”
“And no one paid much attention to you that night. They all stood around in their little groups while you worked the room, asking everyone how they were doing. You even remembered things about their kids and asked about them! None of them ever asked you any of those questions.”
He looked at her and saw frustration written on her face. “I knew my story, so to me, it was more interesting to learn theirs.”
“Still, I think they should have asked. It was rude not to.”
“There’s no use worrying about it. It was their loss if they didn’t.”
As Carolyn considered his response, a different question emerged. It was a question she was reluctant to ask, but she wanted to hear the answer.
“How do you feel when you go back to Harmony, with everyone in your family gone, and with all that happened all those years ago?”
JD knew by all she was referring to what happened to his father at Culver Farm. “I won’t lie to you, Carolyn; it isn’t easy. But that’s not the only time it’s hard. I’ve spent my whole adult life dealing with it and tried not to let the weight of it become too much. Instead I focused on things I found interesting or challenging. I’d think about things that I was looking forward to. I’d recall the good memories when I was a kid. And through it all, I was lucky to have you and the kids in my life. So I had all of that to keep me going.”
