Thirteen Diamonds

We'll rent one along with the car in San Diego.”
    You would have thought that I was trying to get Sandra to agree to have her tonsils out rather than to take a free trip to beautiful Southern California. And traveling with a baby can't have gotten that much more complicated just in two generations. When Albert had been young, Milt and I took him everywhere, mostly by car in those days. Albert and his ex-wife flew all over the world with Sandra when she was barely out of diapers. She loved to travel then.
    I had a thought. “You said that the guy from the bar asked you out.”
    “Mark.”
    “Mark, right. When is that scheduled to take place?”
    “Actually, I went out with him last night.”
    “Did you sleep with him?”
    “Gogi!”
    “If you didn't sleep with him, you should. I take it you're looking forward to going out with him again.”
    “Well...yes.”
    “Sandra, if he's the nice young man you hope he is, he'll still be here when you get back. And he'll be understanding about your trip.”
    Finally, I got Sandra to agree that she could use a little vacation. If I had been ten years younger I would have gone alone, but I needed Sandra to drive me around. Also, it doesn't hurt to have a good-looking young woman with you when you're trying to meet people, as we proved with Mark—spectacularly so, it would seem. I didn't think Winston would get in the way; he had magnetic powers too, especially where women were concerned; they always had to talk to him, wherever he went.
    I still had a lot of frequent flyer miles. Milt and I had traveled extensively, right up to the end, which had come mercifully quickly for him. After an hour of negotiation on the phone I made us reservations for the following day. I packed and was ready to go in another hour.
    I had promised to stop nosing around Silver Acres, but I hadn't said anything about California.
     
                       *    *    *
     
    Landing at Lindbergh Field was like experiencing a thrill ride at the local amusement park. The plane swooped down among the high-rise buildings of downtown San Diego while I, sitting by the window, pushed them away as well as I could.
    Winston had enjoyed the flight and made friends with the matronly lady across the aisle, so that when Sandra went to the restroom the lady appropriated him, taking him on her lap, and I was relieved of that responsibility. She talked to him in baby talk while he examined her teeth with his long fingers. That was all right with me; I knew I would have enough opportunities to watch him during the next few days.
    We went through the routine of claiming our baggage and our rental car and then with Sandra driving we headed for a motel that was a member of a national low-cost chain. Milt and I hadn't accumulated our money by being spendthrifts. Besides, it had cable television and a telephone, in addition to the usual amenities. What more did we need?
    I had had a long love affair with California, dating back many years, and it felt good to return to the land of palm trees and sandy beaches, without the humidity of Florida, which I can tolerate for a few days at the outside.
    As soon as we got settled in a room with two beds and a crib that management produced, especially for Winston, Sandra announced that she had to call Mark. I must have raised my eyebrows because she said, defensively, “Well, he wants to be sure we got here safely.”
    I refrained from pointing out that it would be more logical to call Albert with that news; I intended to do just that later. I gave her my telephone credit card and played with Winston while she talked. From the conversation that I overheard, it sounded as if she and Mark had become good friends.
    After she hung up, Sandra said, “Mark has decided that he needs a vacation, too. He is coming to San Diego.”
    “Oh, when?”
    “He's made reservations to come tomorrow.”
    “That will cost him a lot of money.”
    “He got a deal through the Internet.”

CHAPTER 13
     
    Everything takes longer and costs more with a baby, something I forget since I don't have daily contact with babies. The ideal parents would be King and Queen Midas, who have the golden touch and copious free time. Gone are the days when children began generating wealth at an early age because they were put to work. Nowadays that is child abuse. If babies weren't so cute and lovable people might stop having them altogether. In some countries they already have.
    In the