A female answered when I called the Heltons Monday night.
“Lisa?” I asked.
“Just a minute,” the voice on the other end of the line replied.
Then I heard the voice holler, “Mama!”
A moment later another female picked up the phone.
“Hello.”
“Lisa?” I repeated.
“Hey.”
“This is Steve Huffman.”
“Oh, hey,” she said, not seeming terribly surprised. “Long time no hear from.”
I worked with John and Lisa Helton at the Times-News in Burlington, way back. Lisa was a reporter, John a graphics arts editor.
Time has a tendency of getting away from us all, but it has been at least 15 years since the Heltons and I worked together. I’m not sure I’ve laid eyes on them since they left Burlington.
I wouldn’t want to confess this to just anyone (John, especially), but I was always fond of the Heltons. They could both make me laugh, which is something that ain’t always easy to do.
The Heltons left Burlington for jobs in New York, I think, then moved to Alabama and, now, Atlanta. We exchanged Christmas cards for a few years, but I haven’t heard from them recently. And so, Monday, while addressing this year’s round of cards, I decided I wanted to track down the Heltons and send ’em one. Thank God for the Internet.
I didn’t have a lot of trouble finding the Heltons, but I wanted to make sure the address I had was the right one. Thus, Monday night’s phone call.
“I can’t believe Jolie is so mature sounding,” I told Lisa. “She was just a baby the last time I saw her.”
I’d assumed it was Jolie ó John and Lisa’s daughter ó who answered the phone when I called. I was wrong.
“That wasn’t Jolie,” Lisa said. “That was Clare.”
Jolie, Lisa told me, is 22. She graduated from the University of Georgia and now lives in Seattle. Clare is the Heltons’ 14-year-old daughter.
“Well, I’ll be darned,” I said, ashamed to admit that I didn’t even know of Clare’s existence.
Lisa and I chatted for a few minutes (John was out doing whatever it is that John does). Lisa promised that John would return my call before the end of the week.
Sometime during the midst of the conversation, I told Lisa I wanted to verify their address so I could send her and John a Christmas card. We exchanged addresses (I love getting Christmas cards) and a few other pleasantries, then began bidding one another adieu.”Steve,” Lisa said, “we are really looking forward to getting that Christmas card from you.”
And then she chuckled, and so did I, even though I noted more than a hint of cynicism in Lisa’s voice.
Like I said, the Heltons could always make me laugh. Even John.
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When not busy licking envelopes for his Christmas cards, Steve Huffman writes for the Post.