Keepsakes
She
loved her keepsakes. With every memory she had something she could hold and
recall it right then. . . it was a superpower, really. Plenty of good memories;
some bad, some sad, but all ours. . .
-The Teddy Bear-
“I remember the look on
your face when you saw me walk in the bar holding this teddy bear on our first
date. I think your eyes were still rolling when I kissed your cheek. You warmed
up to em’ when I told you he was my AA Sponsor. I fell in love with you as soon
as I heard you laugh at that dumb joke. You can tell a lot about a person based
on their laugh; your laugh melted me every time I heard it. I was surprised it
was on top of the pile in the box. Almost like you held it often.”
She
is smiling slightly. That’s one of my favorite memories, too. . .
-The Book-
Let
me see. Oh, yea. . . Innocence by Dean Koontz. I know she’ll respond to this
one.
“Remember when I bought this for you? You
told me you’re not into Horror authors and all that, but I just asked you to
give it a few chapters and you ended up loving it. Not all horror authors write
gory stories.”
Fuck.
She kept the first flower I ever gave her to mark her favorite chapter. I have
to keep it together until all of this is over. . .
“Chapter 2 was your favorite because it
was about living in solitude and it reminded you of us. Before I had you, I
didn’t have anybody. Solitude was a daily thing. Being around people and
working is different for me, because I can be around people and still feel
alone. Never with you. At the end of a horrible day, all we needed was each
other for comfort. We were alone together in this crazy world. We read this
together a lot. You’d always tell me to hurry up because I was a few chapters
behind you. I like to take my time and enjoy things, you know that. I read it
last weekend when I was out of town and could hear you calling me slowpoke.”
Her
eyes are watering up a little. Hell, so are mine. I have to pull myself
together and get through this. . .
-The Glass Angel-
“We were on our honeymoon, got the sweet,
and this glass angel kept falling off the shelf. You told me it was probably
just a fluke and to put it on the table next to the bed. After an hour or so it
was turned around. There was no way either of us touched that angel. I got out
of bed and put the angel in the bathroom, and by the time I got back to you we
heard it fall on the rug that’s in front of the sink. That lead us to talk about
religion even though we’re not religious at all and what we wanted done with
our bodies after we died. You wanted to be cremated and spread at our favorite
spot, I want to be buried. I always liked to think that someone could hold my
skull 1,000 years from now and wonder who this was . . . but I’d rather be with
you at our spot. All the years after the glass angel, we never had anything
like that happen to us again.”
-The Wisdom Teeth-
Last
one. She always talked about this experience. I think she kept these to remind
herself that things work out even if you fear the worst. . .
“You begged for them not to put you under
when they took your wisdom teeth out. They had no choice since you reacted badly
to the numbing solution they used on your root canal the year before. I think
when they fixed that tooth, it fucked with your impacted wisdom teeth. I would
sit up with you at night and hold you as you cried with pain. They needed to be
taken out. Oral surgery was something you never been through before. I had 3
taken out and assured you that it wouldn’t take long at all, that I would be
there holding your hand when you came back from La La Land. The night before we
went you told me if something bad ever happened that lead to you being brain
dead to just pull the plug. I agreed with you and told you to dip me in some
ranch if I ever became a vegetable. Even in all that pain you laughed at my
shit humor, and it still melted me like the first time I heard it. . .”
-The Hard Truth-
“Have you decided yet?” A voice softly
asks.
“Decide? How can anyone decide what to do
in this situation?” Wayne snaps back.
“It’s been almost 3 years, Wayne. The
doctors can’t bring her back.”
“You know, she always worried about being
put under. The doctors say she’s not brain dead. After the crash they put her
in a temporary coma to stop the brain swelling. . .”
“Listen, I know this is hard. I been here
the whole time hoping she would come back, but she isn’t responding.” The nurse
says.
“It’s not like she’s gone. I see her smile
when I talk. Tears form in her eyes when she gets emotional. I know she is
still there; she’s just lost.” Wayne says as he walks closer to Sadie.
“Those are just her nerves firing as her
brain is being starved from the proper amount of oxygen it needs. She is barely
hanging on, Wayne. I wouldn’t say this to you if I didn’t feel close to you
two. 3 Years is a long time to hold onto straws that might not be there.”
Wayne holds Sadie’s hand and kisses her
forehead. “You are my keepsake. You’re all I needed and I won’t know what to do
without you. If you’re still here, baby, squeeze my hand.” I need you to hold on for me. . .
Sadie’s eyes are moving rapidly under her
eyelids as her fingers start to tremble.
There
you are.
The
End
