It was Sunday morning and James drove Carl to the Santa Barbara airport so he could catch a flight to Spokane.
When he picked Carl up at his house, he told Diana he would come back for some coffee. She couldn’t wait, as she loved spending time with her grandson.
An hour after dropping Carl off at the airport, James was back at his grandparent’s house. He drank some coffee in the living room, with Diana, while they looked at her old family album.
“I'm surprised you have this sudden interest with Ben. The last time we looked at this album you were about eight years old,” she said.
“I forgot about this album,” James said while he glanced at the book of family memories.
“You would listen to some of my stories I told when you were six years old, but I guess when you got older, you had different interests than an old album. Interests like airplanes and girls with more emphasis on the girls,” Diana lightly chuckled while she opened up the album.
“Meeting Henry Foley at the airshow got me really curious. He spoke highly of Grandpa Ben,” James replied then sipped his coffee.
“It was nice to finally meet someone who knew Ben in the war,” Diana said while she sipped her coffee. “Carl would never talk about his South Pacific experience. He said it brought back too many horrible memories. It took me years to get him to finally purchase and restore that airplane in Ben’s honor,” she added.
Diana showed James a picture taken of Ben when he was five years old.
“He was an adorable young boy,” she said while she looked at the photo.
“Wow. It’s hard to imagine he ever existed,” James said while he looked at the photo.
Then she turned the page and there was that picture of Carl, Diana and Ben in high school at the Santa Barbara Dons baseball game. In this picture, Ben and Carl were in uniform and posed with Diana between them, and the guys had their arms around her.
“Ben was the left fielder and Carl was one of their pitchers. Ben was the star with tons of home runs. Carl did okay as a pitcher and a little better when he batted,” she told James.
“Grandpa Carl would never talk about his childhood,” James said.
“For some reason, he only wants to think about the future and forget the past. Not me, I like to reminisce about the goods time I experienced,” Diana said.
“I find what people did in the past fascinating,” James told her.
“Carl and Ben were best friends ever since elementary school. I think it started in kindergarten. Of course with their father’s being business partners, that made it easier for them to pal around.”
“That’s so cool,” James said.
“Then when puberty hit, they started showing off to win my affection,” she said with a chuckle recalling those days.
“Like what?” Ben asked curiously.
Diana sipped her coffee while she thought of a good memory. She smiled when a memory came to mind. “They always tried to out do each other in sports when they were around thirteen. Stuff like, I’ll hit a homerun for you Diana, they would both say. And of course Ben would always succeed and Carl failed and got frustrated,” she said.
“So I take it Ben was the athlete and Carl wasn’t?” James asked.
“Poor Carl tried to hard, but it just wasn’t him. And I think he was a little jealous of Ben because of that,” she said then she turned the page.
James saw the picture of Ben, Diana, Carl and Sandy taken at the Santa Monica pier with the Ferris wheel in the background.
She touched the picture, as the sight of it still brought back a tender moment. She hummed part of Glenn Miller’s In the Mood song.
“I know that song, it’s called In The Mood,” James said.
“Correct. Ben loved that song and we danced to that song the night this picture was taken. In fact, this picture was taken minutes after Ben proposed to me on the Ferris wheel. We drove down to Santa Monica for the weekend. Carl brought his girlfriend, Sandy, along,” she said while her eyes welled up. “Carl broke up with her the following Monday,” she added.
“Why?” James asked.
“I don’t know for sure, but I do remember he didn’t keep a girlfriend for longer than four months. Sandy actually held the record of six months,” she said then sipped her coffee.
“Wait, I guess you can say you held the record with your fifty year anniversary a few months ago,” he told her with a warm smile.
She chuckled. “I guess you’re right,” she said then turned the page.
They looked at a Ben and Diana’s wedding picture.
“I could sense that Carl was upset when I accepted Ben's proposal. Ben was my soul mate and I prayed he would ask,” she said then sipped her coffee. “I loved Carl back then but loved Ben more. But fate had it where Carl got me in the end,” she said while she wiped away a tear while she thought about Ben.
She turned the page and they saw a picture of Ben, Carl, and Diana at the beach in Pensacola.
“When Ben and Carl got stationed in Pensacola for more flight training, I went to live with my Aunt in Tallahassee,” she said while she stared at the picture. “We spent one day at the beach in Pensacola then Ben and I went to Mexico Beach to be alone. I believe that’s when Robert was conceived,” she said.
James cringed a little, as that was a little bit too much information for him right now.
“Then after learned I was pregnant, that’s when Ben, Carl and I made that pact that Carl would take care of me and our baby if something happened to Ben.”
“You really wanted that?”
Diana smiled. “Carl would have always been my second choice in a man to marry.”
“I wanted more children, but Carl wasn’t able to father any,” she said. “Some injury in El Toro and a war wound that he doesn’t like to talk about,” she added.
“I know, Henry made a statement to that effect,” James said.
“But that’s alright, I’m still blessed with a very handsome grandson,” she said.
James smiled over the compliment and had a vague idea where the wounded area was she made reference about, but didn’t want to ask for more detail.
She flipped to the next page and they saw a photo of Ben and Carl, in their flight suits, while they stood in front a Marine Corsair on Engebi.
“This was taken the day Ben was shot down. Some Colonel mailed me the photo with his letter of condolences,” she said followed by her eyes welling up. “I still remember the day Ben called when he got orders to the South Pacific. It was April fourteenth and I cried all night scared something would happen to him. But he assured me he would be back home.”
James saw Diana wipe away some tears. He placed his arm around her to show his love and support.
“I wished Ben got stationed stateside because then I would have had fifty-three plus years of being by his side,” she said.
“I feel like I was cheated by not knowing him,” James said.
“Don't get me wrong, Carl's been a sweetheart to me, but a day doesn't go by when I think of Ben.” Diana said while she wiped away some more tears. “Poor Ben never got the chance to know his son,” she added.
Diana flipped to the next page and saw Carl and Diana's wedding picture. A tear fell on the picture. “Carl would write me when he was in the South Pacific and I rarely wrote him back. I felt so bad about that, but I was pregnant at the time,” Diana added.
“Henry said Ben could have received the Medal of Honor and could have been classified as an ace,” James told her.
“I miss him deeply,” she said while she looked down at the album.
James looked in deep thought as he watched Diana's eyes well up while she closed the album.
“Can I borrow this album?”
Diana smiled while she handed the album to James.
James finished drinking his coffee. He leaned over and gave Diana a kiss on her cheek.
“I better get home to Teri,” he said while he got up with the album.
“Give her my love,” Diana said.
“I will,” James answered and walked out of the living room.
Diana sat on the couch and thought about her days with Ben.
Later that day, James sat on the couch and watched TV. By chance, the move Flying Leathernecks was showing. All he could think about was his real grandfather while he watched the actors played Marines in the South Pacific.
Teri entered to living room sweaty from her three-mile jog. “Hey baby, how was visiting your grandmother?” she asked.
“It was nice. By the way, she sends her love,” he replied.
“I was thinking of visiting you mom later today,” he said.
She looked a little shocked, as this was the first time he’s ever asked to go see her mom. “Why?”
“I’m really interested in what you told me about old man Bannister,” he replied.
Teri rolled her eyes about his interest, but she knew that once James had an idea in his head, he would never let it go. “I’ll call her after I take my shower,” she said then walked out of the living room.
James continued to watch John Wayne while he was engaged in an air battle scene.
An hour later, the movie was over and Teri entered the living room.
“I called mom and she would love for you to stop over later tonight. This might work out great, as I have some work I want to catch up on that’s due Monday morning. So you can drop me off at my office, do your chit chat and pick me up afterwards,” she said.
“Thanks baby,” James replied then started to think of the questions to ask his mother-in-law.
Later that evening, James sat with Teri’s mother, Nancy. She just made them both a cup of green tea and walked it over to the kitchen table where James waited.
“Carl did a great job at the air show,” she said.
“Yeah, he did,” James replied still disappointed he wasn’t allowed to perform. “Listen, the reason I came over, is that the other day, Teri told me that you were a nurse for old man Lloyd Bannister,” he asked then sipped his green tea.
“Lloyd Bannister, I haven't thought about that old man for a long time,” she replied then sipped her tea.
“Teri also mentioned that while he was on his death bed, he told you something building a time machine?” he asked and couldn’t wait to hear her answer.
Nancy thought for a few seconds. “Oh yeah, I remember hearing his stories,” she replied.
“He actually claimed he went back in time?” James asked curiously like a little kid.
“He told stories of going back in time numerous times for a book on history he was writing,” she said then sipped her tea. “But you have to remember, he was dying of brain cancer, at the time, so I just thought his stories were entertaining and didn’t believe they were true,” she added.
“Wouldn’t it be cool if you could time travel?” he asked then sipped his green tea.
“If it were possible, you sure could change the world. Tell people to get cancer treatments really early before it becomes terminal. You could save thousands of lives,” Nancy said and smiled at that thought.
James thought about her comment and looked determined while he sipped his tea.
Later that day, James picked Teri up at her office.
On the way home, James turned back down Memphis Avenue.
Teri looked surprised. “Why are we going back down this street?”
“I wanted to see if they started demolition on the Bannister house,” he said while he drove down the street.
He stopped along the street in front of the Bannister house. He looked and saw the big excavator was still parked in the front yard and the house was untouched.
James smiled while he drove away.
Later that night, Teri and James lay in bed, and she continued to read her Girl Of My Dreams book.
James turned on the TV and flipped through the channels. The movie The Final Countdown played and just showed the scene where they went through that strange ear-piercing storm that sent them back in time to 1941. He stopped there and started watching the movie while the thoughts of time travel ran through his head.