Chapter 4 continued...

I awoke the next morning to some noise outside my window. Out my window I could see down a few houses the kids from yesterday. The blond girl was talking to them. One of the boys, the tallest of the group, was especially interested in what she was saying. They seemed to be laughing and kidding around. They were on their bikes. I wish I had a bike. I guess they were wondering what they were going to do or where they were going to ride? It had to be more exciting than here. I was thinking since I was stuck here for the next couple months that I had better start making some friends or the whole Summer would be wasted. I looked down at myself and found that I was still wearing my clothes from last night. I don’t even remember how I got up here to my room? I know one thing for sure, I had to pee really bad! So I ran through the door and went down the hallway for the bathroom. From downstairs I heard Aunt Ida calling me. “I can tell you are up John.” “I was beginning to worry that you would sleep the day away.” Said Aunt Ida;  She then said; “John, change your clothes and wash up for breakfast.”I will whip you up some bacon and eggs.” “Okay!” I shouted through the door. One thing I dearly loved was breakfast. I loved the smell of bacon in the morning and the sound of the snap and crackle of the oil and fat as the bacon cooked in the pan. I washed up and went downstairs.

Uncle George was reading his paper and smoking his pipe at the breakfast table. Aunt Ida eyed him with disdain as she did not like him to smoke his pipe at the table. Uncle George happened to glance over at his wife’s steely glance and made a smirk on his face and whispered to me in a low tone. “Busted.” He doused the flame and set his pipe aside. After breakfast. I was helping do the dishes in the kitchen. Aunt Ida let me help dry the smaller dishes. She let me stand on an old milk crate so I could reach. As we did the dishes we talked… “Aunt Ida.” I said; “ “Do you think my mom and dad don’t want me anymore?” I said. Aunt Ida stopped doing the dishes and looked at me. “John William, don’t you ever think that they don’t want you ever!” “You must remember that they are doing this because they love you. Especially your mother.” “Why she always wants what is best for you.” She exclaimed. I looked down at my hands and the dish that I held in my hand. I put it in the drain rack and asked. “If I have to stay here this Summer.” “Do you think I could get a bike and learn how to ride it?” Aunt Ida said; “Well of course you can.” “You are a big strapping boy and what boy doesn’t want to learn how to ride a bike!” “How about we go shopping for one this week?” “Great!” I said. We continued to chatter about a new bike and about all kinds of things and before we knew it the dishes were done.

Just as we were laughing at talking up a storm the phone rang. Uncle George answered it. He was talking a few minutes and his tone of voice got real serious. He looked up at Aunt Ida and at me. Aunt Ida froze in place like she knew it was bad news.

Uncle George handed the phone to Aunt Ida and she took the receiver in her hand. You could see that her hand was shaking. It was my babysitter Julie at the apartment building where I lived. She was crying. I could barely hear her voice through the receiver. She said there was a fire in the apartment building where I had been living. She said she barely got out before the smoke overcame her. She said she didn’t see everyone make it out or not. Aunt Ida was questioning here rapid fire. Did she see if everyone got out. How about her sister Susan? Did Robert get out. I was looking up panicked and grabbing at Aunt Ida’s skirt. Screaming “What is going on!” Where is my mom and my dad!” I screamed. Uncle George grabbed be and held me tight and said it would be okay. Aunt Ida was crying.

We found out later that the fire department had put out the fire, but that most of the building was destroyed. The found that two people were trapped inside in one of the apartments. The bodies were burned beyond recognition. The babysitter confirmed they were in the apartment where John had been living with his parents. There was no way to identify them except that one of the bodies was male and the other female. No one was able to contact either one of John’s parents so the conclusion was that both had died in the fire. The fire was thought to be caused by a cigarette and the empty liquor bottles that were found told the tale that they fell asleep while intoxicated and the cigarette started the fire. Aunt Ida and Uncle George and I traveled to Seattle for the quick makeshift funeral. My aunt and uncle made it nice and bought flowers and had a preacher say a nice prayer at the service.Aunt Ida bought a nice suit for me to wear and uncle George was dressed in his finest dark suit. Aunt Ida wore black and she stood by the graveside quietly crying. I stood with her holding her hand tightly and cried. It was the first time I really cried. It was like it had been bottled up like a dam and suddenly burst! There were only a few people in attendance. They didn’t really have many friends. My babysitter was there. She came over and gave me a hug and told me how sorry she was. I was numb and wasn’t sure what to feel except great sadness. Mom had said she would come to get me later this Summer. In the pit of my stomach as soon as she dropped me off at my Aunt and Uncle’s house I knew somehow that she was not coming back.

After the funeral, Aunt Ida made arrangements for any things that the couple had in storage. Strange thing that my mother had a will just made up a month ago with specific instructions on what to do and she given that along with important papers for me like my birth certificate, shot records, health history already in Aunt Ida’s hands. The rest of the items at the storage facility she arranged for Uncle George to take back in his truck. There wasn’t much. Some old ratty furniture, old clothes, but tucked away hidden in a corner under some clothes was a box marked. John W.. In it was a photo album with pictures of me my mother and my father. But mostly pictures of me. Aunt Ida carefully packed the photo album up and carried it in her arms in the truck on the ride home.

Two weeks passed and I was starting to come to grips with the situation. I had not left the house since my parent’s death and Aunt Ida and Uncle George had not spoken much to me about what happened. Until today. I was up in my room reading one of the books from the library when Uncle George peered into the door of my room. “Johnny.” Said Uncle George. “Do you want to talk about your parents?” “You know you can talk to us if you are feeling up to it?” “No, not right now.” I said. “Alright Johnny, you just talk to us when you are ready.” “In the meantime, your Aunt has something for you so come on downstairs.” I set the book down and came down the stairs… As I got to the bottom of the stairs and found Aunt Ida and Uncle George waiting for me and standing between them was a bright red shiny new bike! I stopped at the last step of the staircase and stared first at them and then at the bike. I was dumbfounded and was not sure what to say? Aunt Ida spoke first. “John, now I know you are still upset about what happened and I don’t know if you are ready for a bike or not, so just so you know you don’t have to accept it but we can set it aside and if you feel you are ready to use it, you can try it out. No hurry at all.” I fumbled with my hand on the railing and bit my lower lip. On one hand I was angy that they could think a bike could replace my parents, but then on the other hand I had never been given such a nice present. I had very mixed emotions. My eyes began to well up a bit and I looked down at my feet. Uncle George could tell I was not quite ready so he put his hand on my shoulder and knelt before me. “Johnny.” He said: It’s okay. You just don’t worry about it. We will put it over in the garage for safe keeping and when you are ready you can take it out and give it a go.” “Okay?” I nodded my head slowly. “Well okay then.” Uncle George said. He wheeled the bike out of the foyer and out into the garage where he tucked it far in the back behind his old Chevy. Aunt Ida came over to me and kneeled down and gave me a big bear hug. “It will be okay John, we will get through this together.” She said. And I started to feel a little bit better.

Another week had passed and I started to move through the grieving process into the acceptance of the situation and I started to try to focus on other things. I asked my aunt if I could go outside a for a little bit and she said it was okay as long as I stayed within shouting distance. I am not sure exactly what that meant as she could shout pretty loud and I think everyone in the neighborhood could hear her. I found out that some of the neighborhood kids knew her from school and from my bedroom window I would watch them stop from time to time and say hi to her when they walked by. “Hi Mrs. Johnson (My aunt’s last name was Johnson) and she would wave  to them as she worked in her garden and say “How nice to see you Eric or Tom or Jane, or whoever.” All the kids seemed to know her.

While I was outside sitting on the porch Aunt Ida was out in her garden weeding and pruning her roses when the blond girl with the pig tails and glasses walked by…

Chapter 4 Changes Here we are back to when John was a boy. He has some big changes to deal with. I am already working on chapter 5... You are welcome to share the book, but please don't steal...please use my name as the writer. I promise some suprises as we follow John through his life... I won't reveal all of the book, but I will also post excerpts on my Facebook page. It is rough draft form and I am putting the words down as they come into my head. I will do an edit and re-write later to polish it...

Chapter 4 Changes

      We drove back to Aunt Ida and Uncle George’s house after we went to the park. The mood in the car was quiet and subdued… I was the only one that was talking. “Uncle George” I said; “Do you think we can go back later with some bread and feed the ducks?”. Uncle George said; “Not today John.” “We can go later this week.” I was a bit disappointed. It was the most fun I had in quite a while, but I was content for now to just relax and look out the window at the different homes that we passed. I loved all the old trees that lines the streets and how their branches reached out over the road and how the branches moved with the slight breeze and created different patterns in the shade. Like the shadows were dancing and I imagined myself dancing in the shadows… Spinning and twirling round and round…

We approached the house which was situated in an old section of Browne’s Addition a very old part of Spokane. My Grandpa’s house was one of the old Mansion’s situated there. A large stately  old white house with big columns in the front. It sat on a hill surrounded by the garden and wonderful trees. There was this really big tree in the front with large branches sticking out from its sides that I had been admiring since I had gotten there. “Boy would I love to climb that tree.” I said to myself. We went inside and Ida went to the kitchen to fix us a snack and Uncle George went to go relax in his favorite chair with his book.  I was not sure what to do with myself. I didn’t have any friends around this neighborhood and my aunt and uncle did not have any children. They always wanted children they said, but they could not get pregnant. I guess that is why Aunt Ida decided to be a school teacher so she could have children in her life. The rest of the afternoon was pretty quiet, but I tried to keep myself occupied by going to the library. They didn’t have a television so it was my only recourse. Aunt Ida had collected quite a few childrens books and classics over the years so I thought I would find something interesting. Mom had always encouraged me to ready and we went to the library off and on. I was always dragging books home from school and mom was having to remind me to turn them back in when they were late.

The rest of the next couple of days were pretty uneventful. I was getting pretty bored. So one day after lunch I sneaked out the back door and ran down the street. I started wandering around a little in the neighborhood. Down the next couple of blocks I found some homes that were not quite as fancy and seemed to have families living in them. I saw some kids around my age or maybe a little older. I was too shy to go up and talk to them so I just stood across the street and watched them playing outside. They were playing kick ball. It seemed there was two teams of kids battling it out and the goalies were trying their best to keep the ball from crossing the goal line. Back and forth, back and forth. I wanted to join them, but was afraid to speak. They were all boys except for one girl. I thought it was odd that this one girl could be playing against these boys that were clearly bigger than her. But she was full of spitfire and she was determined to get control of the ball and score a goal. I could see her pig tails bouncing along as she ran. She wore glasses and had blond hair. I kept watching for a little bit then I continued on. There were people outside mowing the lawn, pruning bushes, or working on their cars. All in all I thought it was wonderful! So this is how people live in a smaller town. I was used to the hustle and bustle of a larger city like Seattle.  I had been walking around for a little while and sort of lost my bearings… After a few turns around the block I noticed Aunt Ida was walking up towards me. “Where in the world did you go John W. McMurphy.” She said a bit sternly, but with a smile on her face. “I was in the kitchen and turned my back and you were gone.” “I figured eventually you would want to go exploring.” “But next time you do, would you let us know?” “Okay.” I said; “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you.” “That is okay honey, I know you are just curious.” “There are a lot of children in the neighborhood.” ”Maybe you can make some friends?” “I don’t know anyone Aunt Ida.” “Well you just have to get up the courage and talk to someone.” Ida said.  We slowly walked back to the house enjoying the sun shining through the trees as we walked in the cool shade of the trees and the pretty manicured lawns. Many of the yards had flower beds and I looked at the colors of the flowers. They didn’t have much for lawns in the city I came from. You had to go outside of the city and live in a house for that.  Our landlord didn’t believe in flowers let alone trees. As we went into the house Aunt Ida started to talk to me in a real serious tone. “John.” Could you come into the living room with us we need to speak to you.  I looked up at her and was a bit scared. I didn’t say I was scared, but I was, I felt queasy in my stomach like I was going to throw up.  Like I had eaten too much candy in one sitting and my body was turning against me in protest.

My uncle and aunt talked to me for quite a while. Aunt Ida explained that she spoke with my mother a couple days ago before we left for the park and she had been trying to figure out how to tell me since then. "I have some bad news to tell you." “John.” She said; “You mother asked me to keep you indefinitely as things are not working out well with her and your father, if anything, they have gotten worse so she asked that you stay with us this Summer and maybe she can get you back by the time school starts in September.” “No!” I said; “I don’t need to stay here, I need to go home!” I argued. My face was stern and determined. I had my arms crossed and my lower lip stuck out just a bit. This was my stance that I used when I was trying to make a point. Aunt Ida replied. “I can see you have your mother’s stubborn streak and independence that is for sure.” “I am so sorry John, but your mother said it was not safe for you to go home right now.” “She is going to call us later this week and let us know how things are going.” Aunt Ida said.  I was so mad I could spit! How could they do this to me? My mother and father dumping me off without hardly a word? How bad could it be? My mind was racing? Was it that they thought I was too much trouble? Were they tired of me? I stared at my aunt in anger then I turned and ran upstairs to my room.

I stayed up there for a couple hours. I laid on the bed staring at the ceiling thinking. I was trying to reason things out in my 7 ½ year old brain. Was my mom trying to protect me? Was she afraid of my father? He did have a tendency to get violent at times. He had never hit me, but he did threaten to hit my mother? My mind continued to try and figure things out when I heard a soft knock on the door and my Uncle George was at the door. “Johnny?” “Johnny?” “Are you okay?” “Your Aunt feels real bad about this whole thing.” “Would you come out please?” I laid there and thought about it. “Alright Uncle George.” I said. 

Uncle George sat me down with Aunt Ida. Uncle George explained. “Johnny(he liked to call me Johnny)” “Sometimes life is not fair.” “You wish things could be different, but things are not always in our control.” “But Johnny, I want to tell you a secret.” “What you can control is how you behave in this world.” “You can chose to fight against the world with all your might and try to change all aspects of your life or you can decide which things are out of your control and make your own destiny.” “Johnny” “The bad thing is this is something that is out of your control.” “But we want you to know that we both love you dearly and we will do our best to help you through this difficult situation.” “We cannot take the hurt away, but we can try to be a listening ear.” ”We will have to take this one step at a time.”  “So, that being said, why don’t we go out to the kitchen and see if we can fix ourselves a snack.” “Sound good?” I nodded slowly. Aunt Ida put her hand on my shoulder and guided me towards the kitchen.

After we grabbed something to eat Uncle George took a book out of the library and asked If I wanted him to read to me. I said “I guess that would be nice.” The book was “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain. I curled up on the sofa next to Uncle George while he read to me. I quietly listened as he read. I liked it when someone read to me. My mother used to read to me all the time. I closed my eyes and drifted off. It was much later than I thought as I fell fast asleep.  My uncle noticed I fell asleep and carefully picked me up and carried me up to my room and put me to bed.

Here is the next chapter of my book: Wrong Turn. This is chapter 3...

Ch.3 Decisions

I stared down the hill. I looked around up and down the road. Nothing, no one, no houses, and I hadn’t seen a car in over an hour. This is one of those defining moments people talk about. You know like the kind of reports you see on the news… Teenager saves old women in burning house or something. I thought, it has probably been there a long time and is empty. Yes, I am sure of it. But something was telling me No! like some voice was talking to me, like my mother’s voice when I was real little when she would sit me on her lap and tell me her deepest and darkest secrets, like a five year old would really understand what she was talking about. But I felt like it was my mother coming back from the grave and had grabbed me and yanked me off the road and was telling me to look, damn it look!

I started to descend down the hill, fall really, I tried to walk down, but fell down and then managed to get down the hill by sliding on my ass. The ground was still wet from the rain and it was slick. I tried to get up and try to walk, but I lost my footing and lost the flash light. “Great, just great.” I said. “How the hell am I supposed to see where I am going?” The light from the moon only partially lit up the scene. I could see in the dim moonlight that it was a green sedan. A four door. The sides had been caved in like it had rolled a couple times down the hill and finally rested on its side. I could not see anything in detail. I fumbled around on my hands and knees for the flash light so I could see. I walked slowly up to the car pointing the flashlight at my feet in front of me. I didn’t see much around the car except a few pieces of metal and broken glass and some items of clothes?. I climbed up on top of the car and peered in…

“Oh, God.” I said: The car was full of odd items like clothes, luggage, blankets, books, utensils, plates, cups, etc. It was like someone had been living in their car. But the stuff was everywhere now. Stuff was in the backseat and the front seat and some suitcases had broken open and had emptied their contents in the car and outside the window onto the ground.. I tried shinning my light into the inside of the car and in the front under some clothing and various other miscellaneous items I saw an arm partially sticking out.

“Shit, shit, shit,” I said out loud… I stood up in a panic and looked around and towards the road in the distance. Nothing, not a fucking thing. No cars no houses nearby to call for help. I didn’t even have a CB radio. Thought about buying one, but never did. I sure wish I had one now. “Hello” I said into the opening of the car… Nothing, no movement. I tried to climb up into the window of the car and pull the doors open, but they were stuck and there was broken glass all around the window and inside of the car. I grabbed some clothing from around the car and placed some on the edge of the window with the broken glass and started to crawl my way into the window… I was pushing straining all of my big 6 ft. 3 frame into the small opening. I leaned in far into the backside of the car where the arm was sticking out. I grabbed the hand and felt it was warm but covered in dry sticky blood. I felt a pulse.

 

Writing more of my book. Here is more of chapter 2

I have been writing again so here is more of chapter 2. I hope you like it. It is rough draft form. I am also writing more and have started chapter 3. I will be tweaking it off and on. My mind is flooding with thoughts. I have been writing on the fly. Which is my style. Then I go back and polish it. I never know exactly how things will end... It depends on how the characters develop. Please be kind and not steal my material. I am more than happy to share it.  As long as my name stays with it. The target audience is around ages 13-18.

I was thinking about grandpa as I wandered around the house. I never met grandma as she died before I was born, but I could see the pictures of her with grandpa hanging on the walls and all around the house. The house was filled with pictures of them and their children Ida and Susan(my mother) growing up. I was fascinated by the pictures of my mother as a young child. Aunt Ida pointed out the pictures of her and told me when they were taken and where. It was like walking through an old museum with ancient artifacts. Some of the older photos were in black and while and were yellow and fading. There were even some old photos of my great-great grandparents with their children(my grandparents). It was strange to see this history in front of me. Like taking a step back in time.

                I was standing there lost in thought when Uncle George came up behind be… “So what do you think of this old place?” uncle George said; “I wasn’t sure whether we should take on this old house, but your aunt has always loved it since she grew up in this house so I thought we would try to keep it in the family.” “I like it.” I said. “Especially the pictures of my mom and grandpa.” “I really like the library Uncle George.” I said. “Well you are more than welcome to read any of the books you want in the library John.” I have always felt that a book isn’t worth much unless it has been read.” “Just be sure and ask us first before you start pulling down some off the shelf, some are really old and need special handling.” “Your grandfather was an avid reader, he collected all the classics, Yeats, Poe, Hemmingway, Frost, and numerous others. He read just about every subject you could think of.” Your aunt has collected the more recent books. She especially like murder mysteries and adventure novels. There are some really nice old classics Like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and To Kill A Mocking Bird.  It’s nice to have someone that appreciates a good book. Too many kids are starting to watch the television and filling their head with garbage instead of knowledge. I didn’t say anything when he mentioned television was garbage. I really like watching television, especially my favorite western programs. I didn’t see what the harm was. I always got my schoolwork done first and I got really good grades. School was actually boring for me. I think that is why I found books so interesting. It’s like they opened a whole new imaginary world to me.  It was my own private escape into different characters, exotic places, wonderful adventures. While I was deep into reading I found myself transported into a different dimension of the mind. I found I was that character in the book. And for a while I could forget about what my life was really like.  Little did I know that my world was about to change.

                Far away in a different part of the house the phone rang. My aunt picked up the phone. I heard a muffled conversation. I could not quite tell what was being said, but I could tell my aunt was upset. She sounded like she was arguing. Uncle George was by now looking through some of the books. You could tell he was looking for a book to read while he settled down into his favorite chair to read and smoke his pipe. He didn’t seem to notice the phone conversation or maybe he didn’t hear it. My Uncle George was quite a bit older than my Aunt. He was well into his 50’s.  I slowly crept down the hall and tried to listen in to the conversation. I knew it was wrong, but I wanted to know if my mother was on the phone. I thought I heard my name mentioned and something about my aunt saying she couldn’t do it. And saying what was she supposed to tell him? By the time I got a little closer she stopped her conversation and she called out to me. “John! John!” She said loudly. “Your mother is on the phone!” I was so excited I ran down the hallway and turned the corner toward the kitchen. Ida handed the receiver end of the phone to me. In an excited voice I said: “Mom, mom, what is going on, when can I go home?” “I miss you mom.” She said “I miss you too honey, but I can’t pick you up just yet, I just wanted to call to tell you how much I love you and that everything is alright.” She said: “Your dad is very stubborn, I know he loves us, but this is very hard for him, you know how he is” “It is hard for people to try to change, but I am trying to do so for your sake John, just remember he really does love you, he just doesn’t show it all the time.” I said: “Love me? Love me Mom? I don’t know if he does, all he knows is how to hurt you and make you cry.” “Please don’t John, he does love you.” I could hear her voice start to crack as she was fighting back tears. “Mom, can’t you just come get me and just make him stop drinking?” “I’s more complicated than that son.” “He needs help” “We both need help.”: she said. “In the meantime I want you to stay with your aunt for a while and remember whatever happens know that I love you. I know you will do well there you are smart so you know when I tell you this that this is necessary and you know it is not safe for you to come back home right now, not until we get things worked out with your father. So son mind your aunt and thins will work out for the best I promise.” Then her last words were: “John my beautiful bright young boy, I love you from here to the moon and back don’t you ever forget that.” And then she hung up.

                I sunk to the floor with the receiver still in my hand. “Mom!, Mom! Are you there?” The line was silent except for a faint hum. My eyes started to well up a bit, but I gathered myself up. Aunt Ida came over and knelt down to and gave me a big hug. I didn’t really mind. We both just sat there in silence for a while. “Okay, we know she is giving it her best John.” Ida said: “We just have to give her some more time, just more time.” Ida’s voice trailed off and she turned away… Her voice seemed oddly different. Not the jubilant outgoing confident person that I had met at first. This scared me to the pit of my stomach. Was my aunt hiding something. I was afraid to ask. “Alright John.” Ida said and a few seconds of silence. “I think it is time we went out, all three of us.” “George!” She said loudly: “It is time we took this boy out to see the town a bit.” “Go out?” Uncle George said; “Why I just barely settled down to read a bit?” “Never mind” said Ida: “We are going out!” Uncle George grabbed his car keys and fired up the old Chevy and off we went.

                We all headed down the road and towards town. I was not familiar with Spokane as I grew up in Seattle. It was quite a bit smaller than Seattle. Not a real pretty town. Ugly really.  Old ratty looking buildings and an ugly old rail yard next to downtown. We diverted from the downtown area and we headed up to the Southern part of Spokane up to the South Hill. I asked where we were going. “We are going to Manito Park John.” “Manito Park?” I said: “Yes” she said: “It is very pretty there and I think we could all use a nice walk.” We went up this steep winding road up to the entrance of the park. It was pretty and green. We parked and we all piled out of the car. We walked through the park and down garden paths. The flowers were in bloom all over. It was beautiful! My aunt held my hand as we walked. She was very silent. Uncle George was talking all about the history of the park and who built it and about the master gardeners that maintained the massive park. I was listening, but mainly I was staring up at my aunt and looking at her vacant stare. She was looking straight ahead and not even looking at me at all. This went on for what seemed forever until we came to the duck pond. We walked over to an inviting bench and sat down. It was a perfect June day. The sun was shining and it was a comfortable 78 degrees. I watched with fascination at the pond and the ducks swimming lazily back and forth. Some of them hovering at the edge of the pond scrambling for the bits of bread that people were throwing them. “Can we feed the ducks Aunt Ida?” Silence was the response. I looked at her and asked again: “Aunt Ida?” “Can we feed them?” After a minute or two she finally stopped staring and looked down at me. She smiled and her eyes had crinkles in the corners. “I’m sorry John, I forgot to bring bread with us.” “We will just have to come back again to feed them.” She said. “Okay” I said. “Can I go down to the pond and watch them feed the ducks?” “Yes, you may” said Ida. I ran down the path towards where a family with their kids, much the same age as I was, were standing at the water’s edge throwing bread to a very hungry group of ducks.

                Uncle George stared at Aunt Ida who was watching me from the bench. “Ida, is there something going on, what is it, you have been acting strange?” Ida replied: “George I don’t know what to say, I have to think.” “I talked to Susan about John and she asked me to do something for her and as much as I love my sister and John I don’t know if I can do it for her. She was so upset, she begged me to help her.” “Oh George, I don’t know what to do.” With that Ida started to cry and George held her close.” “Don’t worry honey, we will figure it out.” “The important thing now is to focus on John.” “Yes” “You are right George” Ida replied. Ida dabbed at her face with her lace handkerchief she had in her purse and gathered herself together.”

                I was so busy playing and helping this family feed the ducks that I did not see my aunt and how upset she was. For now I was happy and having fun. I was being a normal 7 year old boy. Full of piss and vinegar as my father would say. We stayed at the park for the rest of the afternoon. My aunt and uncle took me to the playground where I played on the swings. We went through the Japanese Garden which was breathtaking. I wandered around on the paths following the Koi fish that were in the pond as they swam lazily back and forth under the bridge. And to finish the day we stopped by one of the vendors on the way out and we all got ice cream. It was so good!