Short stories: A happy family
by Donald Hancock
A Nursery rhyme revisited
"THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN WHO LIVED IN A SHOE. SHE HAD SO MANY CHILDREN SHE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO". So goes an old nursery rhyme. How true, how true! A perfect picture of Eleanor Pappas. Well, almost perfect. She really wasn't very old - only 33. And she didn't live in a shoe, but over a shoe repair shop.
But the part about the many children and not knowing what to do - that is the rest of the story!
Eleanor had married her high school sweetheart right after graduation. Her husband, Ike Pappas (not the T.V. news man) had a job with his uncle that he had enjoyed all through high school - repairing shoes. He was in the Army reserves and his unit was called up for Viet Nam just a year after he and Eleanor were married. He was over there for three years and then was medically discharged for what doctors diagnosed as some kind of "jungle fever".
Eleanor had lived with her parents while Ike was away and had saved the money that Ike sent home. When Ike returned home they used the savings to buy a little shoe repair shop that had a small apartment upstairs. Ike and Eleanor loved each other very much, but they could not seem to have children. He remembered the kids that he had fallen in love with at an orphanage in South Viet Nam. He and Eleanor decided that he would go back and see if it were possible to adopt one of those children.
Because of his conscientious work at the orphanage during his Viet Nam days, he came back with the paper work for not just one but four young children from the same family - two boys and two girls, ranging in age from 7 to 11.
Soon they were not just a family of two but of six! It was a challenge to El but she took it in stride.
They had three small bedrooms upstairs, so they had one, the girls had another, and the boys had the third.
Things went along fine for two years and then El became pregnant. They had mixed emotions of course. They were happy to have a baby from their union, but where would they put it?
They finally remodeled a section of their bedroom to contain a baby bed and a small chest. But then the doctor came up with the news that the baby would be babies - twins!
What would they do? Six children! About that same time, Rob Nolan came to town! Rob had been Ike's best friend in Viet Nam and had helped Ike in many of his orphanage projects. El had heard all about him. When Rob was discharged after the war, he decided to look up his old buddy. It was a very happy reunion. When Rob saw the kids he recognized them immediately. Since Rob had no family, he decided to stay in San Diego for a while. Ike helped him find a job.
Rob immediately saw the problem of space that was developing at the apartment. He talked Ike into letting him invest some of his own savings into the business. It was drawn up as a legal investment but the money was used primarily to remodel the building. Rob and Ike did the work and part of the money was used for materials. They enlarged the downstairs and added a small shoe sales area in back. Upstairs they built two more bedrooms and another bathroom.
During the afternoons and evenings, after his regular job, Rob learned the shoe repair business. He also became like an uncle to the four kids from Viet Nam. When the twins were born he became their god father. He was "Uncle Rob" to everyone.
After seven years of this happy arrangement, Ike began to have symptoms of weakness that could not be explained away by his busy schedule. He finally relented to El's begging and went to a doctor. After a long series of tests it was discovered that Ike had a rare form of leukemia that was later associated with the use of Agent Orange in Viet Nam. Everyone was devastated.
As Ike was able to do less and less in the shoe shop, Rob quit his job in order to keep the shoe shop going. He had already become the primary salesman in the new shoe sales area. When Ike finally became bed ridden and then under the care of a local hospice, Rob was asked to move into one of the newer bedrooms so that he could help with Ike's care. He did so only under the condition that El and Ike would accept his payment for room and board. Rob proved to be a god send.
One day, Ike called El and Rob to his bedside and said, "El and Rob - you two are my closest friends in the whole world! El, you know how much I love you and how much I wish we could spend 50 more years together. And Rob, you are absolutely the brother that I never had. I want you to take care of each other after I am gone. Rob, I know you love the kids just like I do. I would appreciate it if you would help El with the kids as much as you can until they are grown. I want you to know that I have talked it over with El and she agrees that it is fine with her that I am specifying in my will that the business and the house will be half yours and half hers. That is the only way that seems right to me."
"Now, lastly and most important - I know that you two love me and that you love each other at least as much as a brother and sister love each other. But I want it understood that if, over time, your love should grow to be like husband and wife, then it will be with my joyful blessings that you join in marriage if that is your wish. And I want you to know that, if that does happen, I will be looking down from Heaven and smiling a big smile of blessing on you both.
Ike did die a few weeks later and Rob and Eleanor continued to work together in the business and Rob filled in where needed with the children. Rob continued to pay room and board but whereas he was paid a salary before he now just took a percentage of the business profits each month for his living expenses. They were very careful to continue a respectful distance from each other, both physically and emotionally.
Finally, after two years of that arrangement, Rob approached El one night and said, "El, I believe I already have Ike's permission to court you and I am asking right now for your permission. I would really like to be more than 'Uncle Rob' to you and to the kids".
El shocked him by saying, "Rob, you are already much more than an uncle to me. And as for courting me, courting is for people who do not know each other. I certainly know everything I need to know about you. You are a wonderful man that I have grown to love, as Ike said, 'like a husband'. As far as I am concerned, and I hope you don't think I am a 'hussie' for saying this, all we need is a marriage license!"
With a big grin on his face, Rob said, "Then, to make it official, will you, Eleanor Pappas, make me very happy by becoming my wife?"
"Absolutely!" was El's reply.
"Then let's go talk with the kids and be sure that it is OK with them," said Rob.
"They are way ahead of you, Rob. They have been hinting for weeks that we all belong together as a family."
Shortly after that day, Rob and El became husband and wife, with their many children all present and happy. Rob looked up and said, "El, I can almost see Ike grinning at us!"
"THERE WAS A (young) WOMAN WHO LIVED IN A SHOE (repair shop). SHE HAD SO MANY CHILDREN..... BUT THEY ALL LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER!"
