THE TRIP TO KANSAS CITY

By James R. von Feldt

It’s getting warmer.

That’s what I tell my sister when she calls from Texas. My other sister lives in California. I know it’s warmer there than in our town, but that’s not a topic for our conversations. She is my little sister. Little in that, she’s younger than I am. I was the one that had to follow her around and keep her out of trouble when she was a kid.

It is getting warmer on average, but we still have cool nights.

Everyone in our town is watching the weather in anticipation of planting time. We come to life all of a sudden with new dreams of a bumper crop. And, of course, John Deer is running ads on TV back-to-back. They’re showing off their new, whizz-bang tractors that don’t need an operator. Well, that’s fine, but most of the farmers around here use old equipment they can keep running themselves.

What the farmers are worried about is the cost of farming going up. Their bankers are worried too. Everybody is talking about inflation, but they can’t do much about it. But life goes on.

Talking about life, Rodney is an old married man of almost three months now. I saw him on Facebook. He preached another sermon. He’s getting better with every sermon, and he’s really growing up and filling out. I can see that his wife Amber is fine-tuning his looks and putting some weight on him. I remember the skinny twelve-year-old kid who moved to our town with his mom and sister after his dad had died. He’s a man now.

Over on Lincoln Street, Jim Wilson’s daughter Betty and her three kids are visiting from Minneapolis this week. I think she came down to warm up a bit. It’s a lot colder up there. Her husband is a bank examiner for the IRS. He travels a lot. Sometimes, we get to see Betty and the kids when he's on a trip. He is working on a big case in New Jersey.

The last time they were visiting, Morine and Fred took the kids to Kansas City; that was before Christmas. The purpose of the trip was to show the kids Kansas City and shop for Christmas gifts. On the second day there, they worked in a Christmas Concert of the Messiah at the Conservatory of Music. The kids say that was the highlight of the trip; well, other than the disappearance of Larry.

They were at the famous Kansas Crown Center Plaza, Downtown Kansas City, when Larry disappeared. It was their last shopping stop. The rest of the evening’s plan was to go to a Christmas movie and turn in early at their motel, which was nearby.

Nike says she and Larry were in LEGOLAND, checking out all the different displays when she turned around, and he was gone. At first, she wasn’t alarmed. They had been in bigger stores. Back home, they have Mall of America. That’s a much bigger place.

So, Niki began strolling up and down the aisles of the store, looking at displays of Legos as well as looking for Larry. She said she took her time, but when it was time to meet with the others at the designated corner in the mall, she panicked. She started crying. A crowd gathered around her. The manager of the store was quickly involved. He called for Larry over a loudspeaker in the store. Larry did not appear. He was gone. Security was called.

The store manager, security officer, and Niki met Morine, Fred, and Laura at the Doughnut Hut, the designated meeting spot. Security had already called in a “missing child” alert. Others were now involved in a mall-wide search.

Fred said Morine went bonkers at the sight of Niki and the Security officer. Then Niki and Laura started crying. The whole bunch was ushered into a room; panicky, crying, and confused. Several Security personnel appeared. The first thing they needed was a good picture of Larry. And they needed Morine to calm down. Fred’s phone had a picture of Larry at the concert. It was disseminated immediately by security.

Kansas City Police appeared. They interrogated Fred, Morine, and Niki. The questioning seemed endless and repetitive: Why were they there? Where were they staying? When did Niki last see Larry? And on and on. Finally, it dawned on Fred: “I’ve got to call Betty and Nate.” Panic was spread from Kansas City to Iowa and then to New Jersey.

I thought Larry’s story was the best part.

He said that he met a guy named Mark, about his age, in the Lego store. Mark had two coupons to try Virtual Reality on the stage just outside the store. But he was afraid to do it himself. Larry said a lot of the games are set up for two people to play against each other. He thought he’d be back right away. He didn’t think of finding Niki and telling her what he was doing.

A Virtual Reality business and the game area were set up in the middle of the mall aisle, right in front of the Lego store. Everybody walking by could see what was going on.

Larry told me that virtual reality is the “next thing in games.” His friends back home talked about it, and he had seen advertisements. “It’s really, really cool,” he said.

The VR set-up had a large sign and different colored lights moving around the stage where the games were played. The stage area had three levels, and there was a fence around them so you couldn’t fall off. Two girls dressed in futuristic costumes talked to people as they walked by. They were trying to get people to buy tickets.

When Mark and Larry presented the coupon to the girls, they sent them to a man by the stage.

The boys had a hard time to start with. Virgil, the operator, wanted them to pay for their games before they started. Neither one of the boys had any money, but they showed him the coupons. He was reluctant to allow them to begin, but he did.

They were outfitted with costumes put over their clothes. Mark was Darth Vader, dressed in black. Larry was all in white, and he had a cape. They both were given light sabers. It was part of the game equipment. They were led to the stage, and Virgil placed the VR helmets on them.

Virgil, with a microphone in hand, had a whole spiel before the boys began the VR game. He had lights going on and off to get attention, and he announced that Mark and Larry were going to start a game. A few people stopped to see what was going on. Then the game began. The music came up and seemed to choreograph the action.

“At first, Larry said, me and Mark saw that we were in a futuristic place. Music was all around us. We could see each other, and we could use the light-sabers. It was so real. Mark took a swing at me, and I jumped out of the way and tried to get him. We were jumping all over the place, swinging the swords. It seemed as if the music was keeping up with us. We were having a ball. It was exciting.”

People began gathering around to watch. Virgil started to sell tickets. Because the boys were drawing so many customers, he let them continue. And when the game ended, he started their game again. Then he started a new one. The boys were drawing in paying customers. Virgil had a good thing going.

The boys ate it up. Game after game, they gave it their all and enjoyed every minute, but finally, it was time to close the mall.

Virgil sat the boys down, paid them each a ten-dollar bill, and asked if they could come the following evening. The stores around them were closing, and some of the lights were turned off. Larry was confused. “Coming off of VR and back to real life is dizzying,” he said. Then, suddenly, Larry remembered Niki, the Lego store, the family trip. He ran across the aisle to the store and hammered on the door. A clerk came to the door, but he didn’t know what to say. Then he remembered the meeting place.

Taking off like a flash, Larry raced down the stairs to the first level, around a corner, down two more blocks of stores to the Doughnut Hut. It was closed, but there were still employees in the store. When he rushed in, one of the employees recognized Larry.

Larry’s first words were,” mom’s gonna kill me.”

Well, she didn’t.

Of course, Everyone was relieved that Larry was OK, but there was a price to be paid. Larry was grounded. But he had a fantastic story to tell his friends when he got home.

Well, that’s it for now.

From where the corn grows tall, and pigs fly.

Take care.

All my love.

Grampa Jim