“No, but as long as we’re talking about some of the more specific, little-known details of your life, you said you have some money saved and that you’ve been making some investments.”
“I’ve been trying to keep the balance in my checking account low and put everything I can into savings.”
Christy wasn’t sure what Todd’s answer meant. She had been thinking a few days earlier that part of her hesitancy to verbalize her commitment to Todd was because, if he knew she was ready to take the next step, that would launch them into specific conversations about their future. And if they decided to get married right after college, what would they use for money?
If Todd was planning for their future the same way he was planning for the camping trip, they were in big trouble. She could see why she subliminally had avoided taking the next step. If she opened up her heart to getting married only to discover that, to be practical, they would have to wait another five years before Todd could afford to even buy her an engagement ring, she would be frustrated to pieces.
Carefully, Christy asked, “How do you have money left over to put in savings after school bills?”
“My dad’s paying for college.”
Christy put down her spoon. “I didn’t know that. Then why have you been working two jobs like a crazy man for the past year?”
“I’ve been preparing for the future.”
Christy’s hopes began to soar. “You have?”
“Of course.”
As she let the ice cream melt on her tongue, Christy wondered if this might be one of those areas in which Todd would blow her away with his careful attention to detail. He had shocked her more than once with his perception of life’s realities.
“What do you think? Should we go back to buy the camp stove?” Todd asked.
“I guess so,” Christy said. “Unless the church has any equipment you could borrow.”
“They don’t have a camp stove. I checked around. We can use all the pots and pans from the church kitchen, as well as dishes and silverware, if we wash and return everything in perfect condition. But they don’t have a camp stove.”
Christy noticed a bunch of people coming their way. Apparently the movie had just ended. She expected to see some students from school in the crowd, and she guessed right. Katie and Matt were headed toward them.
“Hey, how’s it going?” Todd greeted them.
“That was the worst movie I’ve ever seen,” Katie blurted out.
Matt chuckled.
“What did you see?” Christy asked.
“Something about baseball,” Matt said.
“See? We can’t even remember the name of it,” Katie said. “It sounded like a great idea when Wes suggested it this afternoon, but then he ditched us, and the movie turned out to be a loser.”
“Want to go with us to buy a camp stove?” Todd asked.
Christy held back a smile. Todd was so excited about this big purchase. It would be their first purchase together, unless she counted the bookshelf she bought years ago at a garage sale while Todd circled the block in Gus because no parking was available.
“Are you going to Bargain Barn?” Matt asked.
“Bargain Barn?” Todd said. “Where’s that?”
“It’s a warehouse of all kinds of surplus stuff. They have everything from patio furniture to piñatas. You’ll get a good price there, if they have any stoves.”
Todd’s expression lit up. “Let’s go.”
“I don’t think they’re open this late. We could go tomorrow.”
“Cool,” Todd said. “I wonder if we could buy some of this other stuff on our list for the camping trip.” He proceeded to tell Katie and Matt about his big plans for the youth group outing.
“Hey, if you need more help, I’m available,” Matt said.
“You counted me in, too, didn’t you?” Katie asked. “Baby Hummer loves the desert. I take it you’re going to announce all this to the group on Sunday morning.”
Todd nodded.
“Kind of short notice,” Katie said. “How many do you think will actually go?”
“I’m not sure.”
“We planned food for twelve,” Christy said.
“Better make it fourteen,” Todd said. “I don’t think we had Matt and Katie on the list yet.”
“What list?” Christy asked.
“The list we need to start with the names of all the people who are going.”
Christy looked at Katie and, with a playful oh, brother look, said, “Right now the four of us are the only names on this so-called list.”
“That’s okay,” Todd said. “If we plan it, they will come.”
Katie burst out laughing. “I’ll be nice and not comment on that one, Todd. But boy, could I.”
“What did I say?” Todd asked Christy.
She smiled at her charming, take-the-next-wave-as-it-comes boyfriend and calmly said, “What time should we go to Bargain Barn in the morning?”
* * *
By eight-thirty the next morning, the chummy foursome was on its way to Bargain Barn in Todd’s van. Christy had pulled back her long hair into a braid and wore a blue bandanna she had bought in Switzerland. She took a notebook with her, ready for the role of safari assistant.
Within the first ten minutes at Bargain Barn, they found a perfectly good camp stove still in the box for half the price of the one they had looked at the night before. Christy checked it off the list, and they moved on to tarps, folding camp chairs, and ropes. Everything they needed they found, and everything was a better price than they could get anywhere else. Christy thought Todd would be ready to go after she checked the last needed item off the list.
But Todd was still shopping. He seemed to be on a treasure hunt, going through bins of closeouts and examining shelves of broken and mismatched merchandise. He could think up a use for just about anything they saw. He didn’t buy any of it, but he seemed to take great delight in imagining what he would do with the stuff if he did buy it.
Christy wandered off and found a rug for her room. She picked up two and showed Katie. “Do you want one of these?”
“No, I think I’ve reached my limit with this stuff.” Katie showed Christy her three sets of pillowcases still in plastic bags.
“Do you know how old those must be?” Christy asked.
“I know. Aren’t they cool? Collectors’ items. Look, Winnie the Pooh, Minnie Mouse, and my favorite, the Little Mermaid!”
Christy laughed. “She looks nothing like the statue in Copenhagen.”
“She’s about the same size,” Katie said. “Now I can lay me down to sleep and have sweet dreams of the Lille Havfrue anytime I want.”
“As long as you wash them first,” Christy said.
“Yes, Miss Tidiness. And I’m also getting this.” Katie motioned toward a goldfish bowl that Matt was holding for her. “It’s only a quarter.”
“What are you going to use it for?” Christy asked.
“A fish, of course. We need a pet.”
Christy was about to protest, when she saw Todd starting down the plumbing aisle. “Why don’t you guys wait in line? I’ll grab Todd so we can get out of here.” Fortunately, very few of the faucets and sink stoppers prompted creativity in Todd’s imagination, and the plumbing aisle was a quick trip.
“You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?” Christy asked as they stood in the checkout line.
“I haven’t had so much fun in a place like this since I was a kid. When we lived on Maui, an old Salvation Army Thrift Store was between my house and Kam III, the elementary school. Almost every day Kimo and I would stop in there after school and go through all the stuff. It was the best entertainment a kid could have. We read comic books and played with a huge boxful of action figures. The guys there taught me how to fix the stereos and TVs that came in. That’s where I bought my first guitar.”
Christy liked the way Todd had been opening up and talking more about childhood memories, especially Maui memories.
The cashier announced their total, and Christy pulled her folded-up cash from her pocket and handed it to Todd.
“What’s this for?”
“That’s my contribution toward the camp stove.”
Todd took the money and gave Christy a big bear hug. “We must be serious about each other if we’re buying appliances.”
Christy enjoyed all the planning for the camping trip that week. Her only regret was that, when it came time to shop for the food on Thursday afternoon, she had to work at the bookstore.
Katie came into the store with something behind her back and pranced up to the register, where Christy was running the afternoon totals.
“Meet Chester,” Katie said, holding out a plastic bag with a nervous-looking goldfish darting about in the three inches of water.
“What happened to Rudy?” Christy asked. Katie had insisted they buy a goldfish on their way home from Bargain Barn last Saturday. She had situated the fish in his new, twenty-five-cent fishbowl and had named him Rudy. She talked to him every day and fed him way too much.
“Rudy went to fish heaven this morning,” Katie said sadly. “Chester wants to live with us now.”
“You better get him in the bowl pretty soon,” Christy said. “He looks like he’s drowning in that bag.”
“Drowning, ha-ha. Very funny.”
“Okay, then, he’s suffocating.”
“I’m on my way back to the room now. I just wanted to find out when you’re going shopping for all the food. I’ll drive you, if you want.”
“Todd has the list,” Christy said. “He’s at the store right now.”
“You let Todd go shopping alone?” Katie asked.
“It’s a grocery store, Katie, not a thrift store. He’ll do just fine without me.”
Katie gave Christy a wary look. “You think so?”
“Yes.”
“Love sure messes with a person’s logic,” Katie said, turning to go. “I’ll be leaving now with Chester, and you would do well to consider your boyfriend’s shopping skills before it’s too late.”
Christy soon found out what Katie was warning her about. Friday night the group arrived at the camping area in the Joshua Tree desert, and as they tumbled out of the cars, the entourage consisted of fifteen students; six tents; one brand-new, co-owned camp stove; boxes and boxes of food; and miscellaneous paraphernalia Christy hadn’t had a chance to identify. That’s when she discovered that Todd had improvised on the menu she had made up.
The air was cold, and a wind snapped at the tents as the group tried to set them up by the light of Coleman lanterns. Christy asked one of the high school girls to help her organize the food. That’s when they discovered enough day-old bread and gigantic cans of peanut butter to feed an army for a week. They had eaten at a drive-through hamburger place on the way to the campground, so dinner was taken care of. But Christy had planned for s’mores around the campfire when they arrived.
After quickly surveying the boxes by flashlight, Christy went to find Todd. He was telling two young guys to stay out of the girls’ tents. Matt had started a fire, and most of the teens were gathering around it. As soon as Todd sent the two guys to the fire, he gave Christy his full attention.
She tried to be as nice as possible. “Todd, I can’t seem to find the marshmallows, chocolate bars, or graham crackers. Do you know where they might be?”
“I forgot to tell you. I had to adjust the menu a little because of my budget. I eliminated the chocolate, graham crackers, and marshmallows because they were too expensive. I got a great deal on turkey hot dogs instead. I thought if they wanted to roast something over the fire, they could roast the hot dogs.”
Christy stared at Todd. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No, the hot dogs are in the ice chest. They’re probably better for these guys than all that sugar anyhow.”
“Todd, I saw the hot dogs. They’re still frozen.”
“So they’ll just take a little longer to cook, right?”
“Todd, how are these guys going to cook frozen hot dogs?”
“We have some sticks around here, don’t we?”
“Todd, we’re in the desert. That’s why I put wire coat hangers on the shopping list.”
“Oh!” Todd’s expression lit up. “That’s why you put hangers on the list. I couldn’t figure out why you wanted hangers. I thought it was to hang up dish towels or something. I bought six plastic hangers. They’re in a bag somewhere.”
If the situation hadn’t been so funny, Christy might have cried. Instead, she laughed.
“What?” Todd said.
“Katie was right. I shouldn’t have let you go shopping by yourself.”
“I don’t think these guys are hungry anyhow. We can just skip the snack and go right to the campfire time. That’s the real reason for the trip anyway, isn’t it?” Todd brushed Christy’s forehead with a kiss and took off with long strides toward the campfire, which was whipping about dangerously in the shrill desert wind. All the students were standing back at least five feet from the fire.
“Watch out for the sparks!” Matt motioned for the teens to step back even farther. “It’s too windy to keep this going. We’re going to have to put it out.”
Even dousing the fire proved to be a challenge. The only water they had brought was in bottles sealed in plastic and shrink-wrapped in cardboard flats. The first three water bottles did little to calm the flames. Matt found a shovel and managed to put it out with scoops of desert dirt.
With the fire out, the night turned very dark, except for the Coleman lanterns near the tents.
“Look at the stars,” one of the girls said.
Christy stood shivering, her chin tilted toward the heavens in silent awe of the thousands and thousands of glittering diamonds suspended in space.
“Hey, there’s a shooting star!” someone called out.
Everyone joined in with his or her discoveries.
“Isn’t that Orion’s belt?”
“Can anyone see the Big Dipper?”
“What is that bright, blinking star over there?”
“That’s an airplane.”
“No, it’s not. It’s a satellite.”
“Where’s the moon?”
Todd quoted several verses that Christy recognized from Psalm 8. “ ‘When I look up into the night skies and see the work of your fingers—the moon and the stars you have made—I cannot understand how you can bother with mere puny man, to pay any attention to him! And yet you have made him only a littler lower than the angels and placed a crown of glory and honor upon his head.’ ”
Christy was so absorbed in the canopy of wonder that she didn’t notice Matt when he slid over next to her. “What was it you told me when we were watching the fireworks back in Wisconsin that summer?” he asked her. “Something about the one who rides across the ancient heavens. Your friend was writing a song about it, wasn’t he?”
“I’m surprised you remembered that,” Christy said.
“Did he ever finish the song?”
“Yes, it’s from Psalm 68.” Christy began to sing Doug’s song softly.
“ ‘Sing to the One
Who rides across the ancient heavens
His mighty voice thundering from the sky
For God is awesome in His sanctuary.’ ”
Katie joined her and so did Todd. When they finished singing, one of the girls said, “Sing it again.” This time, as they sang, several of the teens joined them. It seemed like a wonderful, holy moment until Christy noticed several of the guys slipping away from the rest of the group. She tapped Matt’s shoulder and pointed. He took off after them.
It turned out to be that kind of night. The group ended their impromptu song time when several of the girls declared they were too cold and made a dash for their tent. Then the girls tried to sabotage the inside of the guys’ tent. Matt caught them, and Todd gave the group stern instructions about how he expected them to act. Stern for Todd, at least. It didn’t t
urn out to be stern enough for two of the younger guys, who tried to sneak out again after everyone was supposed to be zipped up in the tents.
Todd was helping Christy cover the boxes of food with a tarp to keep out sand and desert critters, when the guys tried to escape. Todd turned his flashlight on them, and they slipped back into their tent.
Christy had a hard time falling asleep. She was warm enough because she had made sure she wore sufficient layers of clothes, and she had a decent air mattress under her sleeping bag. But she kept listening for the sound of a tent zipper and wondered if Todd was going to have to sit up all night on guard duty.
The morning sun rousted all of them as soon as it appeared because the penetrating heat immediately warmed the tents. Christy hadn’t spent much time in the desert and was surprised at how far she could see when she looked out across the sand. Aside from an occasional cactus lifting its two arms, as if frozen in time like an Old West bank teller in a holdup, she could see nothing for miles in any direction.
The air warmed quickly, and Christy felt her skin drying and tightening. The wind was gone this morning. Her extra layers of clothes quickly became too hot, and she peeled down to a T-shirt and shorts.
“I’m impressed,” Katie told Christy after they had fed the group and were putting away what was left of the cereal and milk.
“Impressed with what?” Christy asked.
“You. Look how happy and organized you are. This is a big improvement over our camping trip last summer.”
“You said the key word,” Todd said, reaching into the back of Matt’s truck for his guitar. “Organized. Christy likes being prepared.”
“Yeah, well, she could teach you a thing or two,” Katie said. “What about that shade you promised?”
“Matt is working on it with the tarps over behind the biggest tent. We’re going to sing and have our morning devotions, and then we’re going to take the dune buggies out for a spin.”
Christy finished cleaning up and joined the others. Her favorite part of any camping trip was the chance to sing with the group. It turned out to be a short string of songs because it was getting so hot, and only a few of the kids were singing.