What Children Remember

I saw an article that reminded me, it's been forty years since I was sent for by the Commandant's Office at the Defense Language Institute at Monterey, California. I raced across the campus straightening my uniform tie and looking at the shine, or lack thereof, of my shoes, wondering what it could be? Surely they hadn't received a complaint from the Institute's chaplin? I did not know that girl was his daughter. Had our room failed inspection again? Goddamned that slob of a roommate!, I said as I trotted up the stairs.

"Who?" the sargent asked.
"Nation, Joe, Airman First Class, sir!"
"Oh yeah, your father called. Call him back. Phones're in the hall."

Have you ever seen frostbite? It's really interesting. The skin and the flesh under it get crystallized and they turn, in the parlance of 1967, a whiter shade of pale, but even whiter than that. I saw my face as I exited the office in one of those "Look Sharp!" mirrors,... it looked frostbitten.
I dropped two dimes in the slot.
My father had never called me before. Never. Not ever. I didn't remember him even using the phone, what could he be calling about??What was it?
Mom was sick. Oh my. Oh my God.
No, there'd been a horrible accident and she was on the edge of doom.
No, HE was sick and wanted to tell me himself.
No, all my brothers and sisters were upset that I had left without saying goodbye and they never wanted to speak to me again.
No. It had to be something really bad about Mom.

The phone rang twice. The operator came on.
"Uh, Joe Nation calling person to person collect to Ben."
"ThinkQ" she said and we waited.
The phone rang five more times.
There was a click and my father's voice said "Halo."
"You have a collect call from Joe Nation to Ben. Do you accept the charges?"
"Oh yeah. Sure." my father said, "Hello?"
"Hello," I said, "What wrong? Why did you call me?"
"There's nothing wrong."
"There's nothing wrong with Mom?"
"No! There's nothing wrong with anybody. I just had some news for you."
"What?"
(Oh, no, did that girl from Emerson call about carrying something of mine?)
"The Sox won the pennant."
"Wha?"
"The Red Sox are in the World Series. People are going crazy around here about it." "...um..Wow! That's great!"
"I thought you'd like to know. Been a long time coming."
"Yeah."
"Yaz hit like over .500 for the past two three weeks. It's been nuts."
"Wow, the Sox in the Series. I'll have to find a way to watch."
"Well, okay. It will be a good one." he said and then the line went dead.
"Dad,?" I said into the dead phone, "Thanks for calling me."

===
You never know what your children are going to remember, remember that.

Twenty years later I was telling this story to my brother and my father said he didn't even remember making the call.
"You said 'everybody was going crazy', maybe you got a little crazy?"
It was a crazy time, 1967, crazy and going to get crazier, but as I walked back to my language class on the edge of the war I felt a little connected to the real world.