As Time Goes By by Elizabeth Schilling
I walked through the doorway and he was asleep, I could hear the subtle beep of his heart rate. Even though it was a hospital of sick people, it felt comforting to be here. Maybe it was the sounds of the families coming together, or the newborns in their mother’s arms. I looked at him, and he looked frail and old, and I remembered when he would pick me up and swing me like an airplane. Those were the good times. Then he came into our life. We didn’t know him at first, but we knew there was someone. My mother was having an affair, and it was tearing her apart from my father. At first we thought we were just being paranoid, but then I caught another man in our bathroom. He said he was one of mommy’s “business associates” but I was 10, and knew better. I wondered if I should tell my father, I knew that if I told him, it would lead to divorce, but for once I wasn’t selfish, and realized there was no more love in my parent’s relationship. I told my father, and that night all I could hear was screaming, then my father coming into my room, waking me up, and telling me to pack everything and be ready to leave in 20 minutes. I didn’t know where we were going, but I knew that it was over. I contemplated how my life would be without my parents together, and this reputation. All I knew was that I couldn’t trust my mother anymore, and that it would just be me and my father from now on. He is my best friend, and I can’t ask for anymore. Fast forward a few decades and here I am, sitting by my father’s hospital bed, only having each other.
I wake up, and see my father coming back from the bathroom. I must’ve fallen asleep on his bed, because I was sitting in my chair, with my head by the foot of his bed.
“Good morning sunshine. You really need to do something about your snoring.” He says in a cheerful manner.
“’Morning dad, how are you feeling?”
“Feeling mighty fine darling, almost as though the heart attack never happened”
“Well that’s good, do you need anything? I can get you food from the cafeteria, or some water.”
“No, nothing, I just want to talk to my daughter about her life. Because, last I remember, she was going to prom with dear old Anthony. Well, there are some other things I remember, but that’s the last vivid one. So honey, tell me everything.”
So I reminded him of everything that had happened since then, like how my real estate company is doing great, and reminding him about my dog Jojo. We spent hours just talking, and then it was time for me to get home. I told him I would visit him the day after next, and if he wanted anything else before I left.
“Just one thing.” He points to his right cheek, and makes a puckering face. So I give him a kiss on the cheek and run off.
As I head out to my car, I think about all the things that I purposefully didn’t remind him, such as my husband, son, and the car crash that killed them. Since that accident several years ago, I have lived alone with our Bernese mountain dog, Jojo. It has been just the two of us for about, 3 years now. I couldn’t believe how life was without them, and that once again it was just me and my father, side by side, having no one but each other. Now I am finally starting to realize, that one day, I won’t have my dad, and it might just be me.
0 comments:
Post a Comment