The phone rings and the face of my youngest fills the screen.
“Happy birthday Dad. I didn’t forget this one,” he says with a laugh.
“Thank you, Son, it is good to hear from you. How are things?”
“Oh, you know, not too bad. I owed a bunch of tax this year. I was hoping that the recovery surcharge would be over by now and the rates would come back down.”
“That would be popular with everyone, but what choice did the government have? I asked. “I’m glad that the President got back in, she was doing a good job and all the opposition could propose was cutting taxes for the rich again.”
“I suppose,” he allowed. “But we thought that we should take our daughter to meet our family in the UK before they are gone and the extra money would have helped. Did you see that British Airways is finally restarting direct service from Seattle to London in June?”
“Yes, I was glad to see that. That flight has been so helpful over the years, especially when your grandparents were sick. And tell me, how is my favorite grand-daughter?” I asked.
“She is doing great in Kindergarten and will be ready for First Grade in the fall,” he replied.
“You were thinking about putting her into Kindergarten last year weren’t you?”
“We thought about it, because she seemed ready to us, but our friends said that the school district was then still so short of money that kindergarten was not well supported. They had a bad experience and suggested that we would be better to leave her in the pre-school daycare, especially now that we can claim that on our taxes.”
“Well, I trust the choices that you are making for her, you seem to have done a good job so far. She is very bright and inquisitive and the challenge is to keep feeding that active mind.”
I was a proud Grandad and felt that way about all three grandkids. They were smart enough to do well in college and I was happy that it would not be as much of a burden on their parents as it had been for my wife and I.
“Funny that you say to keep feeding her mind, the questions are getting harder to deal with,” he replied. “Last week, she asked why some of the kids in her class were wearing masks on their faces.”
“Really, what did you tell her?”
“I started out telling her that I would explain when she was older, because it’s complicated.”
I laughed. “And did you get away with that?” I asked while thinking, fat chance.
“No, of course not,” he replied. “I told her that it was probably because their parents were worried about them getting sick. Then, she wanted to know if she would get sick and why didn’t we let her wear a mask. I explained that we had taken her to the doctor to get a shot so that she wouldn’t need a mask,” he continued. “Then she had to know why they didn’t get a shot and I wanted to say because their parents were stupid, but I didn’t dare in case she repeated it, so I said I didn’t know.”
Just then, I got another call. It was his older brother and after thanking him and sending my love, I switched calls.
“Happy birthday Dad, another year older,” he declared. Same thing he said last year, his time will come!
“Thank you. I just got off the phone with your brother.”
“So, how is he? Still filing wrongful death suits?”
“I didn’t ask, but he was complaining about the tax he owed this year, so maybe so,” I replied.
“Are you doing anything special tonight? he inquired.
“We thought about dinner, but we don’t have a favorite restaurant locally anymore and we just didn’t feel like driving too far. I had one of those dinner boxes delivered and I’ll make that tonight. Tomorrow, we will have a few people over for drinks after cards.”
“Tomororow’s Friday, didn’t you used to have a community potluck on Fridays? he asked.
“We had to stop that a while ago, it just got too big. They put a bar in the new clubhouse, so now we get together for happy hour and we can do that any day of the week. Mind you, it looks as if this year’s coronavirus outbreak is turning serious again, so we may have to scale it back for a month or two.”
“Yeah, we all got shots on the jobsite a couple weeks ago. You and Mom got them didn’t you?
“Yes. That’s one of the good things to come out of the new local health authorities. They send a nurse-practitioner out to the community once a month because we qualify for what they call proactive care on account of our ages and medical histories. She brought a helper on her last visit and we all lined up and got a shot. It is really quick; they have this neat gun affair which they just press against your arm and shoot a dose.”
“So, tell me,” I asked. “Is there any expectation that construction will pick up in Seattle again yet?”
“Not really. The demand for office space is improving, but after Amazon and Google lost their anti-trust suits, more office space came on the market and what with so many working online these days, companies found they can save a lot of money. Business is still slow for some of them and they expect it will be another couple of years before any developer will want to take a risk in this area,” he explained.
“You must be really glad for all the public works projects? I remember you having a fascination with bridges; you had all those pictures on your wall. Did you ever expect to be building one? I asked.
“No, not really, but we use pre-stressed concrete in office buildings too and many of the techniques are similar. By the way, we were asked to bid on the new high-speed rail line between Vancouver, BC and Portland. I guess it will link up to the portion through Oregon and down into California.”
“I have been reading about that online. They are planning to re-route freight traffic and upgrade the line through here to passenger service only. They will build an overpass for Marvin Road finally.”
“You mean no more train horns? he exclaimed.
“Yep, no more train horns! God willing, I’ll be alive to see it!
The phone buzzes again for another call. It is my daughter. I say good bye to my son and send my love to his family also.
“Happy birthday Pops! Were you just on the phone? she inquires.
“Yes, both your brothers, one after the other. For once, you didn’t beat them to it,” I respond.
“Sorry, I have been tied up in an online meeting. We are busy implementing the national dental clinic network and it is coming along, but there are so many details to work out.”
“I bet, but it will bring care to everyone won’t it, if I understand it right?
“Yes, it is similar to the new general health system in that respect. Medicare covers local clinics and you can go to a private provider if you have contributory insurance,” she explained.
“Ironic! That was how it was when I was growing up, fifty years ago. Better late than never, I suppose. You know that we have a nurse-practitioner come out here monthly. I was telling your brother that was how we got this year’s coronavirus shot. I didn’t mention to him that she will test us while she is here too.”
“We are really hopeful that, by concentrating on the high-risk groups like seniors and low-income populations, that we will bring costs and outcomes more in line with the Europeans. We will need more healthy workers now that the world economy is recovering and with the investment credits boosting US manufacturers,” she told me.
“Well it would be great if the government could pull it off,” I observed, “but does it look possible?”
“The analyses of the old system revealed so many unneccessary layers of cost, that simply streamlining the process under a single health administration will mean huge savings. Do you remember how many hours a week Mom would spend on the phone arguing with the insurance companies. She would end up exhausted, but at least she had the time to do it. Someone who is at work during the day isn’t so lucky.”
“I admit that I have been impressed by the President’s record for pushing through reforms. I mean, it was a shame that she had to come to power mid-term after the poor guy got sick and, give him his due, he did get the ball rolling. Can you imagine if we stlll had a split Congress, it would have been the same old gridlock.”
“I agree. We need to cooperate. Look what we have achieved with all the fence-building. Picking fights with every major power was pointless. They are saying that the next climate report will finally show improvement.”
“I’ll drink to that!” I declared.
“So will I,” said a voice from across the room. “I put a bottle in the fridge earlier.”
“I think I got a hint” I observed.
“Sounded like more than a hint to me” she said, laughing.
“You’re right. Thanks for calling. Say hi to that husband of yours and pet the cats.”
“Bye Dad and happy birthday.”
I hung up the phone.
Left To Write 