Continuing Story Part 26

The next day at school, went smooth, and Dahlia was able to get all of her homework

completed in each class. This left her time to meet Drake after school and help him grade papers. She knocked on the door and heard the word enter, and as she went through the door way, he was there to greet her. He took her hands and led her over to the table, where the papers were sitting.

The room filled with senses of love. There was no need to talk as the air was speaking with heavy perfume of love. Each of them took their time grading, as they didn’t want to give up this special time of them being the only two in the room. They were in school rooms, so there was no mention of love, and no exchanges made of any kind.

After there was no more time to be wasted, the two of them, walked out of the room together and out the school doors. They got half way home and Drake grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips, where he gently kissed it, grazing her hand with the touch of his lips everywhere he could feel. Emotions stirred inside of Dahlia and she never wanted him to stop. Before any words could be exchanged, he let his lips leave her and grabbed hold of her hand as they walked silently the rest of the way home.

Rachel was standing in the door,  as if she was waiting on them to come home. She raised her hand to Drake signaling him to not let Dahlia enter without Rachel first speaking. The two of them stopped, and Dahlia asked why are we hesitating, is something wrong? Rachel took Dahlia’s hand and guided her to the swing, and Drake followed and they all sat down.

Rachel explained that she had received a phone call today, and that she was so sorry to have to inform Dahlia that her mother had passed away in the early morning of today. Dahlia sat in silence, not even batting an eye lash. All she could think was that the night mare was over. The dreams could be put to rest. There was no one left to use or belittle her ever again.

Rachel told her that the funeral was in two days and that she thought it appropriate, that Dahlia go. Although there had been bad times, and sad memories, and no contact, this was her mother. Dahlia knew she was right, and she did not want to go. She did not want memories brought back to the surface, but she found herself saying yes, that she would of course attend her mother’s burial. Rachel said that she and Ralph would accompany her, and Drake said that he would call the school and find a substitute teacher, that he himself, wanted to be at her side.

With the announcement of her mother, and arrangements being made, the three made their way in through the front doors of their home. Dahlia went to her room and put her ballot shoes on and went to the back yard to practice on her balancing bar. Her mind drifted back into time to the two people that she knew were her parents, but two strangers, that never allowed her to get to know them.

She could remember cleaning and never being quite good enough, fixing meals, and cleaning up after these two strangers, she was made to call mom and dad. She wondered how dad was going to handle having mom gone. Mom had been the leader in the house. She barked the orders and he followed. Did he follow her because he loved her so much, or had habit set in plus old age, and he felt it was better to stay silent  then to cause more grief in his life. She wondered what he would say to her, when he saw her after all these months had gone by. Would he speak to her? She wondered how he looked, although, she had never physically seen him, she had a picture of him in her mind.

Before any more thoughts could be done, the call for supper was heard. She had worked so hard on her dancing that she had lost track of time and had not helped to prepare the meal. She made her way back to the back door and let herself in. It seemed like everyone was in their own world as conversations were minimal, and the atmosphere was stagnant.

The next morning the quietness was even thicker, as everyone knew that Drew was going back to the doctor to get his results. Breakfast was hurriedly fixed and eaten, and everyone was out the door except Drew, Ralph, and Rachel. Drew had told the office yesterday, that he would be out half of the day, and they had found a substitute to fill in the whole day, so he did not have to go in.

Lingering around the house, watching the clock tick by, waiting to go to the appointment, each of them just sat on the furniture in the living room and made useless conversation. Finally, the clocked ticked down and they all got up and let  themselves into the car and took off for the doctor.

The receptionist greeted them with a smile, and said that the doctor was waiting for them in his office. Please go through the door here at the side and go back to the last door on the right. They followed her directions and found themselves knocking on the door and instantly the door was opened, and they were shown to seats that he had provided for the three of them.

He walked around to his big black leather chair behind the desk, and put his wire-rimmed glasses on and opened the chart lying in front of him. He cleared his throat and coughed, and looked up at all three of them, and said, the tests are back, and I am afraid the results are not good news.

The room grew dead in silence and everyone looked at each other, waiting for the words to come out of his mouth. The doctor hesitated a brief moment and then went on to say, that with all the years that had gone by, he had been so happy with all the progress that had been made, and he was still surprised to be sitting here with them discussing old news, but the sad news was that the scan showed brain cancer. There had been a mass found on the back side of his brain, and it was growing so quickly, that it was putting pressure on his skull, causing the headaches Drew was having.

Even sadder was that with the location of the mass, and the speed of its growth, there was no hope in surgery. He had taken the opportunity to telephone a hospital two hours away to talk to a specialist in brain cancers. The two had met and went over the x-rays, and both came to the same conclusion, no surgery.

Rachel started to cry, and Ralph put his arms around his wife to console her. Drew quietly asked how long, and the doctor said if nothing else came about, maybe six months. The doctor got up and came around to the three, and placing his arms around Drew, told him how sorry he was that he had to be the one to deliver this terrible news. He then pulled out of his jacket two prescriptions for pain medications, that may help with the headaches. He also told them that no matter what time of day or night, if any problems arose, please do not hesitate to call them.

The doctor asked them if they had any questions, and I believe that they were all in surface shock and each shook their heads in a no gesture. The doctor then said that they could stay in his office as long as they needed to and when they felt up to it, just to close the door behind them when they left. He said again how sorry he was, and then left them to their own thoughts.

Continuing Story Part 25

Dahlia felt so good inside that the teacher had asked her to be a tutor for a new student.

She wondered who it was and where the child lived. She forgot those thoughts quickly as she was remembering all the positive things that the teacher had said about her.

Once she got home from school, chores were done, and supper preparations were beginning. The other boarders came to her, and they all wanted to hear the news from the horse’s mouth. They had heard through others that there was going to be a wedding.

They stopped what they were doing and all gathered around the table, making Dahlia sit down and spill it all. Dahlia had no problems sharing her news with them, and told them that she and Drake were planning on being married the day after graduation. All the ladies congratulated her in unison, and clapped their hands for her. They all decided that they were going to throw her a bridal shower party, and they couldn’t wait to start the plans.

All through the dinner preparations talk was on nothing else but the wedding and bridal shower. For the evening meal, tonight there was going to be meatloaf, baked potatoes, tossed salad, green beans, and cherry pie for dessert. As they were preparing and setting the table, others came home and soon all were talking about the upcoming wedding. As they all sat down at the table together, holding hands, they said a prayer of thanks, and also thanked God for bringing  these two, Drake and Dahlia, together.

Drew was sitting at the end of the table, and he even partook in the prayers. He glanced at Drake and their eyes locked. No smiles were exchanged but hope was in Drake’s heart that his brother would be healed of his behaviors. Drew lowered his head once again, and said an extra prayer to himself for himself.

Supper over, and the evening held nothing major, so each was doing their own thing. Drake was grading papers in his room, but his mind was wandering, thinking of Dahlia, and Dahlia was in the back yard, practicing harder than ever at the dance bar. Others were on the porch singing, and others were studying their school work.

Ralph and Rachel found Drew on the back porch steps. He was just sitting there looking out over the property. They both sat beside him and explained that the doctor’s appointment was tomorrow after the school day was over, and they would meet him outside the school doors and would accompany him to the doctor. Drew nodded his head up and down, barely getting the word, thank you out. He was struggling with what he had done and he didn’t really feel that well tonight. He just sort of felt achy all over but his head was throbbing. He thanked his parents for their help and excused himself to go to his room and retire for the night. They patted him on the back and said their good nights, and all departed.

The next morning, everyone got up and got ready for school and classes. Drake walked Dahlia to school, and as they stepped outside the front door of their home, he stole a quick kiss and told her he loved her, and that he had thought of her all evening long. She smiled up at his face, and whispered she loved him also.

It was midterm in school and each of Dahlia’s teachers stopped the regular class teachings and went over with the class of how each student was progressing so far. There were some claps and whistles and happy times, as the news was that each student was working very hard and it was showing in their grades. The entire school administration was proud of this years students, as the marks were very high for their academics.  At the end of the school day, there was a small party in the dance gymnasium, with refreshments served, for a reward of their good works.

Drew did not partake of the festivities, but instead found himself walking out alone through  the front doors of the school. As promised his parents were waiting at the curb, ready to drive him to the doctor. No words were exchanged between the three as they drove to the doctor’s office and parked the car and then went in and announced their arrival. In a short time, Drew’s name was called and they all went behind closed doors.

The doctor asked many questions, and wrote all of the answers down. He decided that they needed to run some tests. They would start with a CBC, and then they would run a Cat Scan and see if anything was happening that would show any changes from those years before.

Drew went down the hall to the lab and had his blood drawn, and then went to the Radiology room, and had his scan performed. When all was finished, the doctor came back to them and said it would a few days before the results were in, and that the receptionist would give them a call and set a time for them to come back, and with that, the doctor disappeared, going to see his next patient.

Drew, and his parents got up and made their way out the door and headed for home. Excitement was over flowing in the kitchen as everyone was talking about the party that had been given to them. They decided to celebrate here at home also, by having a pizza party. They made hand-made pizzas with all the works. The pizzas were so heavy laden with goodies, they were hard to get into the oven, but it was done, and soon the aromas were filling the room with yummy smells.

After everyone had stuffed themselves with pizza and sodas, they cleaned up and all went to the porch and sang songs of joy. Ralph played his guitar, and they all sung for a good hour. The skies were being overtaken with clouds, so each got up and made their way into the house, and Ralph went with Rachel to the back yard and helped take clothes off of the clothes line that had been hanging to dry all day. The two of them took this private moment to ponder on the doctors visit. Ralph asked Rachel if she thought everything was going to be alright, and Rachel said she did not know, but she did notice that Drew looked pale tonight at supper. Ralph nodded because he had also noticed too. They decided that prayers would be lifted to God tonight when they retired to their bedroom.

 

The Box

A dear friend of mine here in WordPress has a son who wanted to share some of his very own collection with my brother, Al. Nothing brings a smile to my brother quicker than coca-cola.

I was informed that this package was going to be mailed out, and I was so excited for Al to receive it, and it was very hard for me to keep my big mouth shut, and not give it away, that he was going to receive a box in the mail for his very own.

Today it arrived. It had been a bad day, as we are starting to have problems with yet a new situation. I won’t go into details, because I don’t want anyone to get squeamish or end up having to run to their bathroom, but it does have to deal with bathroom duties, so we are now trying to figure out better ways to make life easier for him and for me.

So after supper is over, and he is sitting in the living room on the couch, he tunes in on THE BOX. I am noticing but saying nothing, giggling inside, as I can see his brain ticking, wondering who’s it is.

I am the worst at holding back smiles for others, so I had to say, IT’S FOR YOU! I never saw it coming. He started crying. I asked him why the tears bud? He says he is scared to open it because it could be bad, as it wasn’t his birthday. I said, I think people can be nice and do things for you without reason. I explained how I have come to know this very nice lady, and her son wanted you to have something to add to your collection. He still cried. I placed the box over by me, and told him when he was ready, he could open it.

I waited about ten minutes then looked around to him, and he was lying down to watch TV. I must admit, I don’t understand the brain, nor do I understand the intimate details of this wicked Parkinson’s, but he just didn’t get the connection of any of it.

This past week or two, Al has shown much confusion in comprehension. I understand this is a big part of the Parkinson’s. He stares instead of speaking, and when he looks at me, I can see by the blank eyes, there is no one there for a few minutes.

I couldn’t take it. I cursed the disease, and plastered a smile on my face, grabbed a knife, and cut all the tape so he could open it easily. I placed the box in front of him, and said please open it bud, you are going to love it!

It took him forty-five minutes to take the items out of the box, not because he didn’t want to, but I could actually see the slow-timing in his body. The arm reaches for the paper packaging, used to protect the items, and he grabs one by one, with his hand. He lays the empty bag beside him on the couch. I counted by seconds, and it took his hand twenty seconds to release the paper from  his fingers. My heart broke, as I knew he was trying so hard to keep moving, but the brain was not co-operating.

There is one thing my brother knows, and that is each piece of his collection. He knows when he got it, where he got it, how much he paid for it, and how many he has. As he was taking the goodies out of the box, I would ask him if he liked it, or had one like it or anything generally I could think of in order to get some look of excitement from him. To my despair, he told me he didn’t know if he had this collection piece or not. There were no smiles ever from this, but I do know that he liked it by his signals at the end. He took each piece and went to his room, and I can bet right now he is in there comparing them to his pieces, looking at every detail, and using his book to look at the originals.

Thank goodness he did this. If he would have let the gifts set, I would have known he truly wasn’t here with me tonight. I probably won’t see him again until snack time. This will keep him pretty busy, and help him to not think upon himself.

I want to thank-you dear friend for allowing Al to have an evening to enjoy himself. He may not have actually shown it like we do with awes and wow’s and smiles, but I know that he at least still has the ability to feel from within, and connect in his own ways to his coca cola.