A Redbird Christmas (15 page)

At the Hospital

I
T HAD BEEN
an anxious few weeks, but everyone was relieved when Oswald and Frances came home with the good news that the last of the operations had gone well. Next would come the long and boring weeks that Patsy would have to spend in the hospital lying flat on her back in a body cast. From then on, every other weekend the Polka Dots would ride up to Atlanta and visit as a group.

Although he was anxious to get back and visit Patsy, Oswald rode up with them only once. Once was enough. Seated in a car full of women, squashed between his six-foot landlady and Sybil Underwood, having to listen to them talk nonstop all the way to Atlanta and back, was too much for him to bear. After that fateful trip he only went with Frances alone or hitched a ride with Butch. He also rode with Roy, who sometimes went on Sunday and came back Sunday night.

Everybody brought her games or picture books to try and keep Patsy occupied. Oswald always brought her little drawings that made her laugh, especially the one of him in the car with all the women. One day when the Polka Dots came to visit they were surprised to learn that a delegation from the Dotted Swiss had just been there and presented Patsy with a beautiful hand-sewn quilt for her bed, with
GET WELL SOON
appliquéd in the middle. Although they were pleased that the Dotted Swiss had come, Betty Kitchen examined the quilt and remarked, “It just galls me to say it, girls, but look at those little stitches. They have us beat in needlework, hands down.” Dottie put on her glasses and looked more closely and had to agree. Mildred said, “Maybe so, but you have to admit nobody can beat Frances’s macaroni and cheese; we always have that, not to mention our floating island. “And,” added Sybil, “I know we are not to blow our own horn, but don’t forget the tomato aspic.” “Ah,” they all said, nodding, and felt better about the whole thing. Patsy suddenly giggled in the bed. Frances walked over and squeezed her big toe with affection. “What’s so funny, young lady?”

“Tomato aspic,” she said, and giggled again.

Finally, the day came when the cast was removed. Now, according to the doctor, came the hardest part, the long months of therapy. The goal was to improve Patsy’s range of motion more each day and eventually get her back up on her feet and walking. But walking again was not going to be easy. They had to change her gait completely from what it had been before and retrain all the muscles.

Her physical therapy nurse was a pretty, dark-eyed woman named Amelia Martinez, who was impressed with the way Patsy tried so hard and never complained through the long grueling hours of painful exercise. One day, when Patsy was in water therapy, Amelia pulled Frances aside. “You know, Mrs. Cleverdon, she’s the bravest little girl I have ever worked with. With all the pain we have had to put her through . . . well, let’s put it this way. I’ve seen grown men cry over less. Dr. Glickman told me he’d never seen anybody improve so fast in all his life.” Then she smiled and waved at Patsy. “That little girl wants to get better and go home.”

During Patsy’s therapy everyone came to visit as often as they could, and when they were not able to be there in person, they all sent her cards and letters that Amelia would read to her. Amelia soon got to know everybody in Lost River by their letters. Each time Frances and Oswald came to visit they were pleased Patsy was doing so well, but still her first question was always, “How is Jack?” and of course they always said, “Just fine,” and felt terrible about it. But what else could they do? All that mattered now was that she was improving. Even though all the strengthening exercises she was put through each day were painful and exhausting, they were starting to work. She was now able to walk a few feet without support. As far as Patsy was concerned, each new step was just one step closer to getting home to see Jack.

ALONG THE RIVER

The Lost River
Community Association Newsletter

Fall is here, and it’s hard to believe that old Father Time is in such a hurry. Seems like it was only yesterday when summer arrived, but “tempus fugit,” as they say, and Thanksgiving is around the corner. And we have a lot to be thankful for in our community this year, as the news from Atlanta is still very positive and Patsy’s therapy continues to go well. All good things come to those who wait, and we can hardly wait until our own Miss Patsy is back home again. Don’t forget to start planning for potluck and get those pumpkin pies and turkeys ready to go!

—Dottie Nivens

The days passed and Patsy’s future was looking brighter. Amelia continued to report that she was making great progress. Even Mildred seemed to be getting happier but as fate will sometimes do, it threw Mildred a curve in the form of a letter from her old lost love, Billy Jenkins, who wrote telling her that he was now a widower and would love to see her again. And, surprise of all surprises, Mildred told Frances she was going to drive up to Chattanooga and visit him. It was the last thing in the world Frances figured she would ever do, but as she so often said, with Mildred you never knew which way she was going to jump from one minute to the next.

She had left on Friday and it was already Tuesday, and Frances had not heard one word from her the entire time and didn’t know what to think. Then, around four that afternoon, Mildred pulled into the driveway. She could hardly wait to see her sister. She threw open the front door and yelled, “Frances, I’m back!”

The minute Frances saw her she knew something big had happened. There was a glow about Mildred as she stood there wearing a new lavender pants suit, and she looked younger and prettier than she had in years. With her face flushed with excitement, she exclaimed, “I’ve got news!”

Frances felt her heart start to pound. “Oh, dear, do I need to sit down?” she asked, then sat down anyway.

After she was seated, Mildred announced, “Well, I saw him.”

“And . . .”

“And Frances, I am the luckiest woman alive!”

Frances put her hand up to her mouth. “Oh, my God. I don’t believe it, after all these years.”

“I don’t believe it either. I have dodged a bullet. Thank the Good Lord that the idiot got cold feet and I didn’t get stuck with him. The man is a perfect fool. What I ever saw in him is beyond me.”

“What?”

“You know what he wanted, don’t you? He wanted a nurse and a cook and even had the nerve to ask me how big my house was and how much money I was getting a month from Social Security. Then he showed me a picture of his six daughters, and Frances, that was the ugliest bunch of women I have ever seen. They all looked like him in bad dresses. When I saw that I thought to myself, I could have been looking at my own children. Then he wanted to know if I had enough room for his granddaughter, who is just out of drug rehab, and her four kids to come and live with us. They need a mother, he said.”

Frances was flabbergasted. “Oh, my word. What did you say?”

“I said, ‘Billy, you broke my heart and ruined my life, and you want me to take you back now that you are old and all worn out, move into my house, and have me cook and clean for six people?’ I said, ‘Well, you are going to have to look around some more to find that fool, because it’s not going to be me.’ And then I left.”

Frances said, “Mildred, I hope you are not too upset. Maybe it was for the best that you saw him.”

“I’m not upset at all, I feel great.”

After Mildred left, Frances thought about how strange life had turned out for Mildred. At age fifty-one she was finally over Billy Jenkins once and for all. Now maybe, just maybe, she would be able to see how nice Oswald really was. Not only was he nice, he had talent. Maybe there was hope for the two of them after all. Frances had grown very fond of Oswald in the past weeks and could not think of anybody she would rather have as a brother-in-law. She immediately put on her thinking cap about how to help things along. It wasn’t meddling. Everybody needs a little help, she thought.

Frances was planning another dinner party for Oswald and Mildred as soon as she and Oswald got back from their next trip to Atlanta, but something much more important came up. When they went to visit, Amelia told Frances once more that she was very pleased with Patsy’s progress; she was getting better every day. Then she said, “But I know from experience when a child has something to look forward to it makes all the difference in the world, and all she talks about is going home to see her friend Jack.” Frances’s heart sank when she heard that, and Oswald felt sick. Frances did not tell Amelia that the bird was dead, but it was just a matter of time before Patsy would be coming home and going into the store expecting to find Jack. When he had died so suddenly they had all been worried about how it would affect her before she had her operations. Now they had another dilemma on their hands.

When the two of them arrived home, a special meeting of the Polka Dots was called and Oswald was invited to attend, the second male ever to be invited. Frances felt he had earned the right if Patsy was going to be discussed.

Dottie spoke first. “We can’t let her come all the way home and then when she gets here tell her he’s dead, we have to at least warn her or something.”

“Maybe we should just bite the bullet and go ahead and tell her the truth,” said Mildred.

“What truth?” asked Frances. “That all the hard work she’s been doing, thinking she was going to get to come home and see Jack, was for nothing?”

Betty said, “Listen, she still has six more weeks of therapy left. Maybe if we tell her just a little something now to soften the blow, it won’t be so hard on her.”

Mildred asked, “How can you soften the blow, tell her he’s sick?”

Oswald spoke up. “No, we can’t do that. I know Patsy and that would only worry her.”

“He’s right,” said Frances.

After much discussion, they finally decided what they would do. A letter would be written as soon as possible and because of her literary background, Dottie would be the one to write it. And her nurse Amelia, the one Patsy liked so much, would be the one to read it out loud to her.

After it was finished, Butch got in his truck and drove it to Atlanta, hand-delivered it to Amelia Martinez, and then turned around and ran like a bandit. That afternoon after therapy, Amelia sat by Patsy’s bed and read the letter out to her.

Dear Patsy,

I am writing to you on behalf of all your friends here in Lost River to tell you the most wonderful news! Not more than a week after you left a man came into the store and took a look at Jack. As it turned out, the man was a top veterinarian who specialized in treating injured birds. After examining Jack, he told Roy he could fix that wing and he took Jack to his clinic and did just that, like your doctor did for you. When he came back you can imagine how happy we all were to see Jack flying around the store as good as new. We all wanted to wait until you came home so you could be there with us when we set him free, but the doctor said it was best to let him go now. After we knew he was nice and strong and had fully recovered, we all gathered at the store, and when Roy opened the door he flew straight to the very top of the big cedar tree across the street. And oh, Patsy, how we all wished you could have been there with us to see it! Jack looked so happy to be free and flying around way up in the sky, and to be back in nature again, among his friends. Just as happy as all of us here will be to have you back, among all your friends who love you. I know we will all miss not seeing Jack at the store anymore, but the other day Mrs. Underwood said she saw him looking fat and healthy sitting on a branch with a lady friend, so perhaps we may see a bunch of little Jacks flying around here in the near future. We all hope you will be home very soon and, just like Jack, be healthy, happy, and as good as new!

Best wishes from Dottie and
all your friends at Lost River

Neither Sybil Underwood nor anyone else had spotted a redbird since Jack died, but Dottie said, “I’ll just have to believe the Good Lord will forgive me for lying just this once. And if He doesn’t, then He’s not half the man I thought He was.”

After Amelia read the letter to Patsy, she said, “Well, that’s good news, isn’t it? Your little bird friend is all cured and well, just like you are going to be. Aren’t you happy?” But Patsy did not look happy. She looked worried and upset. She remembered exactly what Roy had said about why Jack should not be outside and it scared her.

“Oh, Amelia, you don’t think a hawk or an owl will get him, do you?” And then, for the first time since she had come to the hospital, she started to cry.

Amelia was alarmed. “What’s the matter?” she asked.

“I want to go home. I want to see Jack.”

A couple of weeks later Frances was in the kitchen when the phone rang.

“Mrs. Cleverdon, this is Dr. Glickman.”

“Yes, Doctor?”

“I’m afraid we’ve had a little setback here. I think you need to get to Atlanta as soon as possible.”

Frances and Oswald left Lost River at 5
A.M.
the next morning and were sitting in Dr. Glickman’s office by 11:30.