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11 Years Later, Dad Pulled In With A Trailer To Move Into The House I Built. It Wasn’t For Him — Transcript

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0:00Then get your own place like a grown
0:01man. That's what my dad said to me the
0:03night my brother wanted my truck. I'm
0:05Tyson. I was 18. I'd paid for that truck
0:08myself, every dollar. And my brother
0:11Tristan had just put his own truck in a
0:12ditch. Dad wanted me to hand over my
0:15keys so Tristan could get to his new
0:16job. I said no. So, I went to my room,
0:20packed everything I owned into the back
0:21of the truck, and drove west on Highway
0:232 until I ran out of North Dakota and
0:25kept going into Montana.
0:2711 years later, on the 4th of July, Dad
0:30pulled into my yard with a 16-ft trailer
0:32hitched to his pickup. My brother was in
0:34the passenger seat. Mom was in the back.
0:37They'd come to visit, Dad said.
0:39They hadn't come to visit. They'd come
0:41to move into the little house I built
0:43behind my place. And I'd built that
0:45house for somebody else. I knew before
0:47Dad ever called. Mom had posted it on
0:50Facebook 3 weeks earlier with a picture
0:52of my little house she'd taken off my
0:54wife's page. So, when that trailer came
0:56up my gravel road, I wasn't surprised. I
0:58was just curious how long Dad was going
1:00to keep calling it a visit. Let me back
1:03up. I grew up in Fargo in a gray
1:05split-level on the north side with a
1:07basketball hoop that never had a net.
1:09Dad worked at the tractor plant for 31
1:12years. Mom worked the fabric counter at
1:14a craft store. My brother Tristan was 4
1:16years older than me. And from the time I
1:18can remember, Tristan was the one Dad
1:20talked about. Tristan played quarterback
1:23for one season before he hurt his
1:24shoulder, and Dad talked about that
1:26season for the next 10 years. I made
1:29honor roll every semester, and Dad found
1:31out about it from the refrigerator.
1:33That's not me feeling sorry for myself.
1:35That's just how the house worked.
1:37Tristan was the weather. Everybody
1:39checked on Tristan.
1:41At 14, I started bagging groceries at a
1:43Hornbacher's. At 15, I found out the
1:46sugar beet harvest paid real money if
1:48you didn't mind working nights in the
1:49cold. So, every fall for 3 years, I ran
1:52a piler from October into November. I
1:54kept my money in a coffee can, then a
1:56savings account, and by my senior year,
1:59I had a little over $8,000.
2:01I turned 18 in March. In April, I bought
2:05a 2004 Chevy Silverado from an old
2:07widower in West Fargo named Orville
2:09Lundy. It was white. It had 140,000 mi
2:13on it, and the tailgate didn't latch
2:15unless you lifted it and slammed it at
2:17the same time. Orville wanted 7,800.
2:20I offered 7,400 cash. He looked at the
2:23envelope, looked at me, and said, "You
2:26count it twice?" I said, "Three times."
2:29He laughed and wrote me a bill of sale
2:30on a sheet of yellow paper. Sold to
2:33Tyson, one white Chevrolet, $7,400,
2:36paid in full, April 11th, 2015. I put
2:40that bill of sale in the sun visor of
2:41the truck, and I'm going to tell you
2:43right now, it's still there. Here's the
2:45part nobody in my family knew. The same
2:48week I bought that truck, I sent an
2:49application to the railroad. Burlington
2:52Northern Santa Fe was hiring conductor
2:54trainees, and you only had to be 18 with
2:56a high school diploma. I'd mentioned the
2:58railroad once at supper months before,
3:00and Dad had laughed and said, "They
3:02don't hire grocery boys." So, I didn't
3:05mention it again. Fargo wasn't hiring,
3:07but a place called Havre, Montana, way
3:10out on what they call the high line, was
3:12always hiring because nobody wanted to
3:14spend a winter there. They called me on
3:15a Tuesday in June, 5 days after
3:18graduation. They wanted me in Havre in
3:2010 days to start training. I didn't tell
3:23anybody. I was still working out how to
3:25tell Dad when Tristan solved that
3:26problem for me. Three days after that
3:29call, Tristan put his truck in the ditch
3:30on the way home from a buddy's place out
3:32by Casselton. He wasn't hurt. The truck
3:35was. Dad had bought him that truck the
3:37year before, and Dad had only put
3:39liability insurance on it, so nobody was
3:41paying to fix anything. The truck was
3:43done, and Tristan had just been hired on
3:46a framing crew in West Fargo. The
3:48foreman told him on day one that you
3:49drive your own pickup to the job sites.
3:52No truck, no job. So, that night at
3:54supper, which was sloppy joes and tater
3:56tots because Mom had worked late, Dad
3:58put down his fork and said, "Tyson, your
4:01brother needs the truck." I said, "He
4:03needs a truck." He needs yours. He's got
4:06a real job starting Monday. You bag
4:08groceries. Your mother can drop you
4:11off. Tristan was looking at his plate.
4:13He said, "It's just till I get on my
4:15feet, Ty." I said, "Then get on your
4:18feet and buy one. I did." Dad's face
4:21went a dark color I'd seen maybe three
4:23times in my life. "You did. With money
4:26you made while living in my house,
4:28eating my food. I paid for that truck.
4:31Every dollar. I've got the bill of
4:32sale." "I don't care what paper you've
4:34got. In this house, family helps
4:36family." "Then why does it only ever go
4:39one direction?" Mom said, "Tyson." The
4:42way you'd say it to a dog that got on
4:43the couch. And Dad stood up and he said
4:46it. "Then get your own place like a
4:47grown man."
4:49I remember Tristan looked up then. I
4:51think he thought I'd fold. I always
4:53folded. I'd folded on the bedroom with
4:55the bigger closet. I'd folded on the
4:57Christmas money that somehow always went
4:59toward Tristan's hockey fees. I'd folded
5:01on the ride to my own graduation, which
5:03Mom had to leave early from because
5:05Tristan locked his keys in his car at a
5:07gas station in Moorhead. I said, "Okay."
5:10Dad said, "Okay, what?" "Okay, I'll get
5:13my own place."
5:15Dad laughed. Not a big laugh, just a
5:17short one through his nose, like I'd
5:18said something cute. He said, "You'll be
5:21back in a week." And he sat down and
5:23picked his fork back up.
5:25I went to my room. It took me 40 minutes
5:27to pack. Clothes in two duffel bags, my
5:30boots, a box of books, my alarm clock,
5:32the coffee can, which was empty now, but
5:34I took it anyway, a pillow, and a
5:36blanket. Every trip out to the truck, I
5:39passed the living room, and Dad had the
5:40twins game on and didn't turn his head
5:42once. Mom was in the hallway on my last
5:45trip. She had her arms crossed. She
5:47said, "Where do you think you're going
5:48to go?" I said, "West." She said,
5:52"That's not a place." "It is if you keep
5:55driving."
5:56I didn't tell her about the railroad. I
5:58don't know exactly why. Maybe I figured
6:00if I said it out loud in that house,
6:02somebody would laugh at it, and I didn't
6:04want that job to get laughed at before
6:05I'd even started it.
6:07I drove north on the interstate to Grand
6:09Forks and turned west on Highway 2
6:11around 11:00 at night. Highway 2 at
6:13night is a long black road with a grain
6:15elevator every 20 minutes and railroad
6:17tracks right beside you the whole way.
6:20I'd look over and there'd be a freight
6:21train beside me, a mile long, running
6:24the same direction I was.
6:25I'm not a sign person. I took it as one
6:28anyway.
6:29I slept at a rest area west of Minot
6:31with my seat leaned back as far as it
6:33would go.
6:34I woke up at 5:00 with a crick in my
6:35neck and a feeling in my stomach like
6:37I'd done something I couldn't undo,
6:40which I had.
6:41I got to Havre the next afternoon. Havre
6:43is a railroad town of about 9,000 people
6:46on the Milk River with wind that never
6:48takes a day off. The train master was a
6:50heavy man named Ardel Cop with a coffee
6:53mug that said, "World's okayest
6:55grandpa."
6:56I told him I was early, 9 days early.
6:59He looked at me for a long time. Then he
7:01looked out the window at my truck, which
7:03had everything I owned in the bed under
7:05a blue tarp. He said, "You got a place
7:07to stay?" I said, "Not yet." He wrote a
7:11phone number on a sticky note and handed
7:12it to me. "Lorne Dvorak, retired
7:15engineer. Rents his garage room to new
7:17hires. Tell him Ardel sent you and don't
7:19let him talk you into anything over 150
7:21a month."
7:23Lorne Dvorak lived in a two-story white
7:25house on 5th Avenue with a detached
7:27garage out back and a room built over
7:29it. He was 62 years old, tall and bony
7:32with big hands and reading glasses he
7:34wore on a cord around his neck. He'd run
7:36trains on the Highline for 34 years and
7:39retired that spring. His wife Arleta was
7:41short and quick and wore her hair in a
7:43gray braid, and she didn't trust anybody
7:45until she'd fed them.
7:47Lorne showed me the room, single bed, a
7:49dresser, a window that looked out at the
7:51alley, a space heater, and a little
7:53bathroom with a shower you had to turn
7:55sideways in. He said, "150 a month. You
7:58can use the kitchen in the house till
8:009:00 at night. No girls in the room.
8:02Arleta does supper at 6:00 and if you're
8:04home, you eat. That's not a favor,
8:06that's a rule."
8:08I said, "I can't move in for 9 days."
8:11"Why not?" "I don't start for 9 days. I
8:13haven't got a paycheck yet."
8:15Lauren looked at Arletta. Arletta looked
8:17at the truck with the blue tarp. Then
8:19Lauren said, "Son, how much money have
8:22you got?" I said, "About $700."
8:25He said, "Then you can move in today,
8:27and you can pay me when you get paid."
8:30I tried to argue. Arletta said,
8:32"Supper's at 6:00." and went back
8:34inside. And that was the end of the
8:36argument. That first night, Arletta made
8:38hamburger hot dish and green beans. And
8:40Lauren asked me where I was from, and
8:42why I'd left in such a hurry. I told him
8:44the short version. The truck, my
8:46brother, what dad said.
8:49Lauren chewed for a while. Then he said,
8:51"Well, you did what he told you to."
8:54"I guess I did."
8:55"Most folks never do what their dad
8:57tells them to. You did it the first
8:58time."
8:59He pointed
9:01his fork at me. "That'll either be the
9:03best thing about you or the worst. We'll
9:05see."
9:06Training was hard. You learn the rules,
9:09the signals, how to walk a train in the
9:11dark and set a handbrake. And you learn
9:13it with somebody watching you who has no
9:15reason to like you. My first conductor
9:17on the road was a man named Hap
9:19Ostrowski, who had a voice like a gravel
9:21truck, and never once called me by my
9:23name the first 3 months. He called me
9:25Fargo.
9:27"Fargo, you set that brake or you just
9:29wave at it?" Lauren laughed so hard at
9:31that one, he had to take his glasses
9:32off. He said, "Hap called me Glasgow for
9:355 years. You're doing fine."
9:38That first winter on the High Line, it
9:39hit 40 below in January. I'd come home
9:42at 4:00 in the morning with my eyelashes
9:44frozen, and Arletta would have left a
9:46plate in the oven with a note on it that
9:47said, "Eat." Just the one word. Every
9:51time.
9:52My phone didn't ring from Fargo, not
9:54once that whole winter. Not on
9:56Thanksgiving, not on Christmas, not on
9:58my 19th birthday. I'd look at it after a
10:00run, put it back in my pocket, and
10:02Lauren would look at me over his glasses
10:04and not say anything.
10:06On my 19th birthday, Arletta made a
10:08rhubarb pie with one candle in the
10:10middle because she said 19 candles would
10:12burn the house down.
10:13Lauren gave me a pair of good insulated
10:15gloves. He said, "Those are for not
10:18quitting."
10:19I hadn't told him I was thinking about
10:20quitting. I was, a little, that winter.
10:23He just knew.
10:24I didn't quit.
10:26The Christmas before that, my first
10:27Christmas in Havre, I met Erin.
10:30Erin was Lauren and Arletta's daughter.
10:32She was 2 years older than me and in her
10:34third year of nursing school down at the
10:35university in Missoula. She came home
10:37for Christmas, walked into the kitchen,
10:39saw a strange 18-year-old eating her
10:42mother's hot dish at her spot at the
10:43table, and said, "Who's this?"
10:46Lauren said, "That's Fargo."
10:48Erin said, "Does Fargo have a real
10:50name?" I said, "Tyson." She said, "Are
10:53you the one living over the garage?"
10:55"Yes, ma'am." "Don't call me ma'am. I'm
10:5720."
10:59She teased me for 3 straight weeks,
11:01mostly about salting my food before I
11:02tasted it. On her last night home, she
11:05knocked on the door to my garage room,
11:06handed me a plate of Arletta's peanut
11:08butter cookies, and said, "Mom says you
11:10never go anywhere but work."
11:12I said, "There's not a lot of places to
11:14go."
11:15She said, "There's the movie theater.
11:17It's got two screens. That's a lot of
11:19places."
11:20We went to the movie. I don't remember
11:22what it was. I remember she stole my
11:24popcorn and pretended she didn't. We
11:26wrote letters, then texts, then phone
11:29calls that went until 2:00 in the
11:30morning.
11:31When she finished nursing school, she
11:32took a job at the hospital in Havre.
11:34Lauren gave me a long look the day she
11:36moved back to town and said, "No girls
11:39in the room still stands." I said,
11:41"Especially your daughter, sir."
11:43He said, "Good answer."
11:45We got married in 2019 in the Lutheran
11:48church on 4th Street. I was 22, Erin was
11:5124. Hap Rostalski came in a sport coat
11:53that was too small in the shoulders and
11:55called me by my name for the first time
11:57standing in the receiving line. He said,
12:00"Congratulations, Tyson." I sent no
12:02invitation to Fargo. Erin asked me if I
12:04was sure. I said, "They know where I am.
12:07They've always known where I am." She
12:09didn't push. By then, I'd gone to
12:11engineer school and come back running
12:13trains. It's long hours and long
12:15stretches of nothing, and it's the best
12:17feeling in the world when the lights of
12:18a town come up out of the dark and you
12:20know you brought 11,000 tons of grain
12:23there safe. In 2020, when I was 23,
12:26Aaron and I bought an old farmhouse east
12:28of town sitting right up along the
12:30Highline tracks on 8 acres. The roof
12:32leaked and the porch sagged. We paid
12:34$95,000 for it and Loren walked through
12:37it with me and kept saying, "Well, it's
12:40got bones." I fixed it myself, room by
12:43room, on my days off for 3 years. New
12:46roof, new porch. In 2023, our daughter
12:50Nell was born, 7 lb even. Loren held her
12:53in the hospital and cried and said he
12:55had something in his eye, and Arletta
12:57told him he'd had something in his eyes
12:58since 1971.
13:00I didn't call Fargo. I didn't send a
13:02picture or an announcement. I just
13:04learned, sometime in that first winter,
13:06that if you keep holding the door open
13:08for people who don't walk through it,
13:10you get a cold. Now, back to the 4th of
13:12July. When Dad climbed down out of his
13:15pickup in my yard, he was 63 years old,
13:18heavier than I remembered, grayer. He
13:20looked at my house. He looked at the
13:22porch I'd built. Then, he looked past
13:24the house, across the yard, to the
13:26little house out back, and he looked at
13:28that one a whole lot longer. Here's how
13:31that little house came to be. Loren and
13:33Arletta's house on 5th Avenue had a lot
13:35of stairs, including down to the
13:36basement where the washer was. Arletta's
13:39knees were getting bad and Loren was 71
13:41and too proud to say
13:43anything about his own. In the spring of
13:462024, I was sitting on their back step
13:48after supper and I watched Arletta take
13:50the basement stairs one at a time,
13:52holding the rail with both hands,
13:54carrying a laundry basket on her hip.
13:56That night, I told Aaron, "What if we
13:59built them a place out back, one level,
14:01no stairs, right where they can see Nell
14:03every day?"
14:05Aaron didn't say anything for a minute.
14:07Then, she said, "Dad will say no." Loren
14:10said no for 2 months. He said they
14:12weren't moving into anybody's backyard
14:14like a couple of old dogs. I said,
14:16"Lauren, you let me move into your
14:18garage with $700 and a pillow. You told
14:21me I could pay you when I got paid." He
14:23said, "That was different." I said,
14:25"Why?" He didn't have an answer for
14:27that. Arleta did. She said, "Lauren, let
14:30the boy build us a house." and went back
14:32inside. And that was the end of the
14:34argument, same as it had been 9 years
14:36before.
14:37I built it on my days off over two
14:39summers and a spring, 600 square feet,
14:42two bedrooms, one bathroom with a
14:44walk-in shower and grab bars, a kitchen
14:46with a washer and dryer right off it,
14:48and a front porch facing the tracks so
14:50Lauren could watch the trains. I poured
14:52the foundation with Hap and two guys
14:54from the railroad. Aaron painted the
14:56porch blue because Arleta said blue
14:58porches keep the wasps away. Lauren and
15:00Arleta listed the 5th Avenue house this
15:02spring. It sold in 2 weeks. They closed
15:05on the 2nd of July and the young couple
15:07was letting Lauren and Arleta stay until
15:09the 6th. So, the plan was simple. Lauren
15:12and Arleta would start moving in on the
15:135th. Aaron posted pictures of the little
15:16house when it was finished, the blue
15:17porch, the kitchen, Nell on the steps
15:20holding a paintbrush. Aaron wrote,
15:22"Finished. Can't wait for moving day."
15:25That's all she wrote. She didn't say who
15:27was moving in and somewhere in Fargo,
15:29Mom saw those pictures.
15:31The first thing that happened was a
15:33Facebook message to Aaron in early June.
15:35Mom had never once messaged Aaron, not
15:38about the wedding, not when Nell was
15:40born. The message said, "Hi Aaron, this
15:43is Trina, Tyson's mom. Could you give me
15:45Tyson's number? It's important." Aaron
15:47showed me her phone. I said, "Give it to
15:50her. I want to hear what's important."
15:52Mom called 2 days later. 11 years
15:55without a single phone call and she
15:56called on a Wednesday afternoon like
15:58we'd talked last week. She said, "Tyson,
16:01it's your mother." I said, "Hi Mom. You
16:04sound older." I'm 29.
16:07There was a little pause. Then she said,
16:09"Well, we saw your house on Aaron's
16:11page. It's very nice." Thank you. And
16:14that little house out back, is that a
16:16guest house? It's a house.
16:19How many bedrooms is it?
16:20I'll be honest with you. That's when I
16:22knew. 11 years and she didn't ask about
16:25Nell or Erin or whether I was happy. She
16:28asked how many bedrooms. I said, "Two."
16:31She said, "Two. Oh, that's nice." And
16:35then she said she had to go because her
16:36bread was rising and she hung up. Mom
16:39doesn't bake bread.
16:41About a week after that, I was on a run
16:43sitting in the cab at a siding near
16:44Glasgow waiting on east bound to go by
16:46and I opened Facebook. Mom's page was
16:48public. Right at the top, posted 3 days
16:51earlier, was a picture of my little
16:53house. The blue porch, Erin's picture.
16:56Under it, Mom had written, "Big news.
16:59Garth and I sold the house and we're
17:01moving to Montana to be near our
17:02granddaughter. New adventure at 61.
17:05Retirement is going to be beautiful."
17:08There were 40-some comments. One from a
17:10woman at Mom's church said, "What a
17:12blessing that Tyson built that for you,
17:14too." I read that one four times. They'd
17:17sold the house I grew up in and they'd
17:19told everybody they knew they were
17:21moving into a house I'd built for Erin's
17:23parents. Nobody had asked me.
17:26When I got home that night, I showed
17:27Erin. She set the phone down very
17:29carefully, the way you'd set down
17:31something hot. She said, "Tyson, what do
17:34you want to do?"
17:35I said, "I want Dad to ask me. He's
17:38going to call and he's going to call it
17:40something else. I want him to look at me
17:42and say what he actually wants." Erin
17:44said, "And then what?" I said, "Then
17:47he'll get an answer."
17:49Dad called on the 20th of June, a
17:51Saturday morning. He said, "Tyson, it's
17:54your dad." I said, "Hi, Dad." "Your
17:57mother and I were thinking we'd come out
17:58for a visit for the 4th."
18:00A visit?
18:02"Well, we'd like to meet the little
18:03girl, Nell and Erin. We'd like to see
18:06what you've done out there." I said,
18:08"Sure. Come for supper on the 4th."
18:10"We'll bring some things. Your brother's
18:11going to come along and help with the
18:13driving." Help with what driving? "Well,
18:16it's a long way, Tyson, 700 miles. Your
18:18brother offered." Tristan offered to
18:21drive 700 miles to see me.
18:24Dad cleared his throat. He'll take the
18:26train back. The Amtrak goes right
18:27through there. It does. Supper's at
18:306:00, I said, and I thought about Arleta
18:33when I
18:34said it. After he hung up, Aaron asked
18:36me how it went. I said, "Tristan's
18:39driving them out and taking the train
18:40home." Aaron thought about that. Then
18:42she said, "That's a pretty long visit."
18:45Which brings us back to the 4th of July.
18:47They pulled up at 10:05. Dad's pickup, a
18:50newer Ford, and behind it a white
18:52enclosed trailer, 16 ft long, riding low
18:55on its springs. Tristan was in the
18:57passenger seat. Mom was in the back with
18:59a casserole dish on her lap. I was
19:01standing on the porch. Aaron was next to
19:04me with Nell on her hip. My brother was
19:0633. He'd gotten soft around the middle,
19:08and he had a goatee that didn't suit
19:10him. He looked at me and said, "Hey,
19:12Ty." I said, "Hey, Tristan." That's all.
19:16That's 11 years.
19:18Mom came up the porch steps and looked
19:20at Nell and said, "Aw, look at her. Look
19:22at her. Nellie, come see Grandma." and
19:25held out her arms. Nell put her face in
19:27Aaron's neck. She doesn't go to
19:29strangers. Mom kept her arms out a
19:31second too long, then dropped them and
19:33said, "She's shy." Tyson was shy.
19:37I wasn't shy. I was quiet. There's a
19:39difference, and it took me 18 years and
19:42a 700-mile drive to figure out what it
19:44was.
19:45I looked at the trailer and said, "Long
19:47visit?" Dad said, "Just some things."
19:50"What kind of things?" "Your mother's
19:52things. Some of her furniture. We'll
19:54talk about it after supper." I said,
19:56"Okay." and I let it sit.
19:58We ate on the back deck. I grilled
20:00burgers, and Aaron made sweet corn and a
20:02potato salad, and nobody ate much of
20:04Mom's green bean casserole.
20:06Dad kept looking at the little house. It
20:08sits about 60 yd from the deck, past the
20:11garden. After supper, while Aaron took
20:13Nell in for her bath, Dad set down his
20:15iced tea, leaned back in his chair, and
20:17said it. "So, your mother and I are
20:20going to be in the little house a
20:21while."
20:22He didn't ask. He said it the way you'd
20:24tell somebody what time the game starts.
20:26I said, "No, you're not." Dad blinked.
20:30"What?" "You're not going to be in the
20:32little house."
20:33Mom said, "Tyson."
20:35That voice. The same voice. The dog on
20:38the couch voice.
20:40Dad said, "Now, wait a minute. We drove
20:42700 miles." "I know. I asked you to
20:45supper. You ate supper."
20:48Tristan said, "Ty, come on. It's empty."
20:51"It's not empty. It's finished. There's
20:53a difference."
20:55Dad leaned forward with his elbows on
20:56the table. He said, "You built a whole
20:59house back there and nobody's living in
21:01it, and your own parents need a place.
21:03What kind of son does that?"
21:05I said, "What kind of son? Dad, you
21:08haven't called me in 11 years. Not on my
21:10birthday, not on Christmas, not when I
21:12got married, not when Nell was born. The
21:15first time Mom called me in 11 years,
21:17her first question was how many bedrooms
21:19that house has."
21:21Mom said, "That's not fair." I said,
21:24"Then what was your first question?"
21:26She didn't answer.
21:27Dad said, "We would have called. You
21:29took off. You took off in the middle of
21:31the night with the family truck and
21:33never looked back."
21:35"The family truck." That's right. "We'd
21:37have let you keep it. You didn't have to
21:38run off like that."
21:40I got up from the table and walked
21:41around the side of the house to my old
21:43white Silverado. It has 260,000
21:46miles on it now, and I still drive it to
21:48the depot every day I've got a run. I
21:50opened the driver's door, flipped down
21:52the sun visor, and took out that sheet
21:54of yellow paper. I walked back to the
21:56deck and set it on the table in front of
21:57Dad. "Sold to Tyson. One white
22:00Chevrolet. $7,400,
22:03paid in full. April 11th, 2015. Orville
22:06Lundy."
22:08Dad looked at it. He didn't pick it up.
22:10I said, "That's the family truck, Dad.
22:12That's the family that paid for it. Just
22:14me. It's been in that visor 11 years."
22:18Tristan looked at the paper, then looked
22:19away out at the field. Dad said,
22:22"Nobody's talking about the truck."
22:24"You brought it up."
22:26There was a long stretch where nobody
22:27said anything. A freight went by on the
22:29tracks behind the house, 110 cars of
22:32grain. I waited for it to pass. Then I
22:35said, "Come on, I'll show you the little
22:37house."
22:37Mom looked hopeful. We walked across the
22:40yard together, the four of us, toward a
22:42house none of them were going to live
22:43in. I opened the front door and let them
22:45in first. Mom walked straight into the
22:48kitchen and put her hand on the counter
22:49top. Dad walked down the hallway and
22:51looked into both bedrooms. He tapped the
22:54grab bar in the shower with his knuckle.
22:56He said, "Grab bars. What's this, an old
22:58folks home?" I said, "Something like
23:01that." I leaned on the kitchen counter
23:03and said, "So, when did you sell the
23:05house?" Dad turned around. "What?" "Mom
23:08posted it 3 weeks ago." "You sold the
23:10house when?"
23:12He looked at Mom. Mom looked at the
23:13floor. Dad said, "April. Closed the 1st
23:17of May." "What did it go for?" "That's
23:19none of your business." "You're asking
23:21to live in my backyard, Dad. I think
23:23it's a little bit my business."
23:25He breathed out through his nose.
23:28And then he said, "210."
23:30"Okay, 210,000.
23:33And you had a loan on it, didn't you?
23:35You took out a loan on the house a few
23:36years back." Mom said, "How do you know
23:39that?" "I didn't. I guessed. Tristan's
23:41had three trucks since the one he put in
23:43the ditch, and none of them came from
23:45Tristan." Tristan said, "Hey." Dad said,
23:49"There was a loan, 40,000. We paid it
23:51off at closing. So, after the loan and
23:54the realtor, you had about $160,000
23:57left." Dad didn't answer. I said,
24:00"That's a lot of money, Dad. That's
24:02enough money to rent a nice place in
24:03Fargo for the rest of your life. So, why
24:06are you standing in my backyard?" Nobody
24:08said anything. I looked at Tristan. I
24:11said, "Tristan, where have Mom and Dad
24:13been living since May?" Tristan said,
24:15"With us."
24:16"With you? At your apartment?" "No, we
24:19bought a house." "You bought a house?
24:21That's great. When?" "End of May."
24:24"End of May. Right after Mom and Dad
24:27sold theirs. That's a coincidence. I let
24:30that sit for a second. How's the
24:32basement coming, Tristan? His face
24:34changed, just a little, just around the
24:36eyes. He said, It's coming. Is it
24:39finished? It's getting there. Where have
24:42Mom and Dad been sleeping since the 1st
24:43of June? He didn't say anything. Dad
24:46turned and looked at him. I said, Are
24:49they sleeping on a mattress in an
24:50unfinished basement, Tristan? In the
24:52house they helped you buy? And that's
24:54when Mom turned around from the kitchen
24:56counter, and it wasn't me she went
24:58after. It was Tristan. She said, You
25:01said she'd come around. The room went
25:03still. Tristan said, Mom, you said
25:07Desiree would come around. You said give
25:09her a couple weeks. You said she'd get
25:11used to the idea. Dad said, Trina. Mom
25:14wasn't stopping. We gave you $90,000 for
25:18that house, Tristan. $90,000.
25:21You said the basement would be finished
25:22by the 4th of July. You said Desiree
25:24said, yes. I looked at Dad. Dad was
25:27looking at Tristan like he'd never seen
25:29him before. Dad said, very slowly, You
25:32told me she said, yes. Tristan said, She
25:36did say, yes, kind of. She said she'd
25:39think about it. You told me she said,
25:41yes, Tristan, standing in my kitchen.
25:44You told me she was looking forward to
25:45it. I thought she'd come around. And
25:48instead she gave us till the 4th, Mom
25:50said, and she sat down on one of the
25:52kitchen chairs I'd bought for Arletta
25:54and put her face in her hands. She gave
25:56us till the 4th to get out. So we told
25:58everybody we were moving to Montana. So
26:01there it was. They'd handed $90,000 to
26:04Tristan for a down payment because he
26:06promised them a finished basement for
26:08the rest of their lives. His wife had
26:10never agreed to it. They'd been sleeping
26:12on a mattress on concrete for a month
26:14while Desiree counted the days. And when
26:16she drew a line, Mom posted a picture of
26:19my little house and told her whole
26:21church I'd built it for them. Dad turned
26:23to me. His face was gray. He said, Fine.
26:26Fine. You've made your point, but we're
26:28here now. We drove 700 miles. We're your
26:32parents. I said, you can stay on my
26:34couch tonight, both of you. Aaron's
26:36already made it up. Dad said, we're not
26:38sleeping on a couch with a house sitting
26:40empty 60 yards away. It's not going to
26:42be empty long. He looked at me. What
26:45does that mean? It means it's spoken
26:47for. By who? I said, you'll meet them
26:50tomorrow. Dad shook his head. He said,
26:53we'll get a motel. Like that was a
26:55punishment for me. I said, there's a
26:57couple on First Street. They're decent.
26:59So, they went to the motel. Except about
27:0220 minutes later, Dad called my phone.
27:04The motel lot was too tight for a 16-ft
27:07trailer. Dad asked, without saying
27:09please, if he could leave the trailer in
27:11my yard for the night. I said, leave it
27:13by the shop. He unhitched it there and
27:15left without coming to the door. Tristan
27:17stayed at the motel with them. His train
27:19was the next afternoon. That night,
27:21after Nell was asleep, Aaron and I sat
27:23on the porch and watched the fireworks
27:25over town, way off to the west. Aaron
27:28said, are you okay? I said, I think so.
27:31She said, your mom went after him before
27:34she went after you. First time in my
27:36life, I said. She leaned her head on my
27:38shoulder. Dad's bringing the first load
27:40at 9:00. I said, I know. At 8:40 the
27:44next morning, Dad's pickup came back up
27:46my road. Mom was in the passenger seat.
27:48Tristan was in the back with his duffel
27:50bag because they were going to drop him
27:51at the depot after. Dad got out and went
27:54straight for the trailer by the shop
27:55without looking at the house. He was
27:57bent over the hitch when a second truck
27:59came up the road. It was Lauren's old
28:01blue Chevy pulling a borrowed flatbed
28:03trailer loaded with a dresser, a rocking
28:05chair, a kitchen table, and about a
28:07dozen boxes marked in Arleta's
28:09handwriting. Kitchen, bedroom, Lauren's,
28:13do not open.
28:14Arleta was in the passenger seat with a
28:16plant on her lap. Lauren pulled up right
28:18next to Dad's pickup, rolled down his
28:20window, and looked down at Dad bent over
28:22that hitch. Dad straightened up. He
28:25said, can I help you? Lauren said,
28:27probably not. You must be Garth. Dad
28:30said, who are you? Lauren climbed down
28:33out of that truck one piece at a time,
28:35the way a 73-year-old man does, and took
28:38his time looking at Dad. He said, "Lorne
28:41Dvorak. I'm Aaron's dad." I came down
28:43off the porch then. Nell came running
28:45behind me in her pajamas yelling,
28:47"Grandpa! Grandpa!" And Lorne bent down
28:50and picked her up, which he's not
28:51supposed to do with his back, and set
28:53her on his hip. Mom got out of Dad's
28:55truck. Tristan stayed in the backseat. I
28:58said, "Dad, Mom, this is who the little
29:01house is for." Dad looked at Lorne. He
29:04looked at the trailer full of furniture.
29:06He looked at Arletta, who was getting
29:08out with her plant and her braid and her
29:09bad knees, holding onto the door. Mom
29:12said, "Her parents?" I said, "11 years
29:15ago, I drove into Havre with $700 and a
29:18pillow. I've been told to get my own
29:20place like a grown man. This man rented
29:23me the room over his garage, and when I
29:25told him I couldn't pay till I got a
29:26paycheck, he said, 'Move in that day
29:28anyway.' His wife left a plate in the
29:30oven for me every night that first
29:32winter. When I was thinking about
29:34quitting, he gave me a pair of gloves
29:36and told me they were for not quitting."
29:38Lorne said, "They were good gloves,
29:40too." I said, "He never once asked me
29:43for anything. Not for 11 years. I had to
29:46argue with him for 2 months just to let
29:48me build this." I pointed at the little
29:50house with the blue porch. "I built it
29:52for him, for both of them. So Arletta
29:55doesn't have to carry laundry down any
29:57more stairs, and so Lorne can sit on
29:59that porch and watch my train go by."
30:01Dad stood there with his hand still on
30:03the trailer hitch. Then he said, "Where
30:06are your parents, Tyson?" And I said, "I
30:09know you are. And you've got $160,000
30:12from the house you sold, minus the 90
30:14you gave Tristan. That's still close to
30:16$70,000, Dad. You can rent a nice place
30:19in Fargo with that. A one-level place
30:22with no stairs, near Tristan, near Mom's
30:24church, with a basement nobody has to
30:26finish." I looked him right in the eye.
30:29"Get your own place, Dad. Like a grown
30:31man."
30:32Dad's face went that same dark color I
30:35remembered from the night at supper. For
30:37a second, I thought he was going to say
30:38something.
30:39He opened his mouth. He closed it again.
30:42Arleta walked past him carrying her
30:44plant up the little ramp to the blue
30:46porch and said to nobody in particular,
30:48"Coffee's on in 10 minutes if anybody
30:50wants it."
30:51Nobody from Fargo wanted it.
30:53Dad hitched up the trailer. It took him
30:55three tries.
30:57Tristan never got out of the backseat.
30:59Mom got back in the truck without a word
31:01to me. She didn't say goodbye to Nell.
31:03Nell waved at her anyway because Nell
31:05waves at everybody and Mom didn't wave
31:07back. Dad climbed into the cab. He
31:10rolled down his window. I'll be honest,
31:12a part of me, even then, was waiting for
31:15sorry. He said, "Your brother's going to
31:18miss his train." Then he drove off down
31:20my road with the trailer bouncing behind
31:22him. Lorne set Nell down and watched the
31:24dust settle. He said, "Well, your father
31:27seems nice." I laughed so hard I had to
31:30sit down on the porch step. Lorne
31:32laughed. Arleta came out and asked what
31:34was so funny and nobody could tell her.
31:36Then we spent the rest of the day moving
31:38Lorne and Arleta into the little house.
31:41Hap Abrahams came out at noon and
31:42carried the dresser by himself. Tristan
31:45made his train. Dad texted me a picture
31:47of it pulling out of the depot. No
31:49words. I think he just wanted me to know
31:51he'd done it without me. They drove the
31:53700 miles back to Fargo pulling that
31:55trailer with nowhere to go but the place
31:57they'd just been told to get out of.
32:00Here's what happened after because I
32:01know you want to know. They went back to
32:03Tristan's. They didn't have much choice.
32:06Desiree let them in but she made her
32:07terms and Mom told me all about them on
32:10the phone a month later in the angriest
32:12voice I've ever heard come out of that
32:13woman. "Six hundred dollars a month in
32:16rent starting August 1st. Tristan
32:18finishes the basement himself on his own
32:20weekends with his own money. Walls,
32:23ceiling, carpet, and a real bathroom
32:25down there by Christmas or they're out
32:27and this time she meant it. And Mom
32:29doesn't rearrange anything in Desiree's
32:31kitchen. Not a spoon." Mom said, "Six
32:35hundred dollars, Tyson, to live with our
32:37own son in a house we paid for. I said,
32:41"You paid for the down payment, Mom.
32:42Desiree pays the mortgage." "That's
32:44beside the point." "That's pretty much
32:46the whole point." She said, "Your father
32:49hasn't said 10 words to Tristan since we
32:51got back." She said, "He says Tristan
32:54lied to him." I said, "Tristan did lie
32:56to him." There was a long pause. Then
32:59she said, "You don't have to sound so
33:02happy about it." I said, "I'm not happy
33:05about it, Mom. I'm just not surprised."
33:07She hung up. That was the last time she
33:10called. Mom took the Montana post down
33:12about a week after they got back. Before
33:14she took it down, three more ladies from
33:16her church had commented asking for
33:18pictures of the little house and how
33:20Nell was doing. I guess she ran out of
33:22things to tell them. Tristan finished
33:24the basement in November. Desiree posted
33:26pictures. It looks nice. I hear he did
33:29most of it himself, which is the first
33:31thing Tristan ever did himself as far as
33:33I know.
33:34Dad's never called. I didn't expect him
33:36to. But here's the thing, when I was 18,
33:39I needed him to. Now I don't.
33:42Lorne and Arletta have lived in the
33:43little house out back since the 5th of
33:45July. Arletta hasn't carried a laundry
33:47basket down a single stair. She grows
33:50tomatoes in big tubs on the blue porch,
33:52and she's planted marigolds all along
33:53the ramp. Lorne sits out there every
33:55morning with his coffee and a notebook
33:57writing down every train that goes by
33:59and whether it was on time. Nobody asked
34:01him to. Nell goes over every morning in
34:04her pajamas and climbs up on his knee.
34:06She calls it Grandpa's train house.
34:09A few weeks ago, I had a run out of
34:10Havre heading east, a grain train with
34:13three engines and 112 cars. It was a
34:15clear evening in September, the sun
34:17going down behind me, and I could see my
34:19place coming up on the right a mile off.
34:22The white farmhouse, the shop, and out
34:24back, that little blue porch. They were
34:27all out there. Lorne in his chair,
34:29Arletta standing behind him with a dish
34:31towel, Aaron at the bottom of the ramp,
34:33and Nell on Lorne's knee waving both
34:35arms over her head like she was trying
34:37to stop a plane.
34:39There's a crossing just past our place.
34:41You're supposed to sound the horn for
34:42it, and I always do, the way you're
34:44supposed to. Two long, one short, one
34:47long. That evening, I held that last one
34:49a little longer than you're supposed to.
34:52When I came in off that run, it was
34:53after midnight. There was a plate in the
34:55oven. On the plate was a note in our
34:57lettuce handwriting. One word. Eat.
35:01I sat down at my kitchen table in the
35:03house I fixed with my own hands. Eight
35:05acres and a little house out back, 112
35:08cars of grain behind me, and I ate.
35:1111 years ago, my dad told me to get my
35:13own place like a grown man. I did, Dad.
35:16I got two.

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