Dream Me(4)

Dad left first in order to get started at his new job and prepare a home for Mom and me. Thankfully, I was allowed to stay behind to finish up my junior year of high school in California. I was sad but not heartbroken to say goodbye to Perry. After all, adaptability is one of my strengths and I knew that in one year I could choose my own future and plant my roots wherever I decided to plant them, just like my older brothers. Perry and I were going to apply to the same colleges and Skype with each other every night during our year apart. A short trip back to California wasn’t out of the question, according to my parents, who obviously felt extreme guilt for the transient life they’d forced me to live. It wasn’t the end of the world.

Or was it?

I suppose I should mention that my father’s a golf pro. My life has been an endless parade of country clubs at a time when golf and country clubs are almost a relic from the past. In this economy, golf is once again becoming the elitist sport it used to be. The price of a golf membership at some country clubs is equal to the cost of buying a home, which is why we never stay long in any one place. Costs are up, incomes are down, and golf pros like my dad have to go wherever they can find work.

My name is Babe, after Babe Didrikson Zaharias. I usually don’t bother to explain this to people because nobody my age has ever heard of her, even though she was one of the greatest women golfers ever. My parents, who met on the golf team of their college, thought it would be the perfect name for their only daughter. Their two sons, my older brothers, are both scratch golfers who play for their colleges. Their names are Arnold and Jack.

Me, tennis is my game. I’m pretty good at it, but I’m honored to be named after Babe Zaharias. She was tough and fearless and paved the way for other women to succeed in a world of men. I must admit, I’ve had to put up with a fair amount of teasing because of my name, but I’ve never regretted it, not even once.

Comments:

Sweetness: hey it’s me again and this is totally sad crying but i thin its really cool that youre named after soemone whos so strong

Babe: Thanks, but I wish you wouldn’t think my life is so sad because it’s not.

Sweetness: im telling all my friends about ur blog and i just wanted to say that i totally know someone on facebook who lives in cali and his name is perry and was wondering if thats ur bf

Babe: I doubt it’s the same guy but I’m not going to say his last name because it wouldn’t be cool.

Sweetness: oh ya i know that but i was still wondering

Sandman: Babe! haha. r u a babe?

Babe: No comment.





Two


Every house I’d ever lived in had been a version of the same basic floor plan. Enter in the front door. To your right are three bedrooms lined up in a row. Straight in front of you is a living/dining area. To the left is the kitchen. Bathrooms are sprinkled in.

There were minor differences. Sometimes the bedrooms were to the left and the kitchen to the right. And occasionally a family room extended from the dining room. But I pretty much always knew what the house would look like before I ever stepped foot inside.

We were always renters and this time was no different. When you can’t be sure how long your job will last, you can’t commit to buying a house. And even if we wanted to buy, my family was always short of cash. Money was even tighter because my parents tried to help my brothers out with some of their college costs, as much as they could.

“I tried to fix things up nice for you,” Dad said apologetically. “But there are a few problems that still need taking care of.”

I immediately knew what one of those problems was when I walked through the door. Fans were blowing air from every corner of every room and still it felt like I was soaking in a hot tub. A disturbingly moldy smell made me nauseous, like when you throw a wet towel in the dirty laundry hamper and then discover it a week later. Still wet and still dirty.

“We’re here now and I don’t start work until next week,” Mom said brightly. “We’ll get everything straightened out, won’t we, Baby?” My mom calls me Baby. Waaah!

“Apart from the obvious air conditioner malfunction,” my dad went on, “I’m sorry to say I’m also having issues with the Wi-Fi and cable.”

“What kind of issues?” Air conditioning was one thing. Wi-Fi and cable was non-negotiable. But my dad was notoriously tech-ignorant so I didn’t immediately panic. I was pretty handy at tweaking routers and modems after so many moves.

“They claimed everything was set up, but I can’t get anything to work. I called them, and they put us back on the bottom of the waiting list. Next week.” My dad looked at me sheepishly. “Sorry.”

I felt bad for my dad. He never lost the optimism that each new move would be the final one. The one we’d fall in love with and the job would be permanent and secure and we’d never move again. He wanted us to believe it too, but I’d had too many letdowns to buy into that. A busted air conditioner with no Wi-Fi or cable wasn’t exactly a promising start to our latest move. But you couldn’t move around as much as we did and survive if you were a whiner. That much, at least, I’d learned.

So much for Skyping with Perry if I couldn’t fix it myself. I would’ve texted him but I’d already tried my cell phone and we were out of the service area. Just great. In the middle of a pine forest on a street named after a fish, and I couldn’t even send a text.