Once Upon A Karma (Karmic Krystal Book 1) (19 page)

“Eddie won’t be coming home from the hospital,” Mum announces.  Although we all feel like cheering or applauding at such an incredible statement, we hold our tongues and keep quiet. 

Part of me expects to feel sadness and remorse of some sort from her, but instead I can feel rage, anger, disappointment stampeding from within her in all directions.  I walk over and take my mother’s hand so that she knows that she is loved.  I also look inside her mind, trying to discover what has caused her angst. 

Eddie lies on a hospital bed.  His broken limbs are in casts and he has a breathing tube in his mouth and some strange ring around his head which looks like it has nails going into his skull.

“Joanne, are you aware that you have no medical insurance?” the doctor tells my mother.

“What?  No, that’s wrong.  We have top hospital cover for all three of us.  There is a mistake,” my mother tells the doctor while staring at her husband lying helplessly on the bed.

“I’m sorry, Joanne.  Our records show that your medical insurance was cancelled just days after you gave birth.  The cancellation forms show Eddie’s signature in the box.”  The doctor puts a sympathetic hand on my mother’s shoulder.  “Eddie is going to need long term care and without medical insurance, we won’t be able to facilitate that here.”

Walking up to the side of Eddie’s hospital bed, my mother leans over and whispers, “You rotten filthy drunken bastard.  You used all of our medical insurance money on beer?  You selfish fucking prick.  I hope you rot!”

I quickly let go of my mother’s hand.  Although I don’t know much about medical insurance, I do know it means that if Mum or Jake get sick, they have a long time to wait before they can get fixed.  What sort of father does that to his wife and child?  It’s so wrong.  Picking Snoopy up, I head back inside the house where it is warmer.  Mum changes Jake’s diaper and puts him down with a bottle of water for a nap.

“You girls go down and wait for Daddy in the car, okay?  I will be down in a minute or two,” Dad tells us.  “Make sure you all have your seatbelts on when I come down there.”

Our parents have a quiet conversation alone while my sisters and I climb into the car.  I can’t help but wonder why Leena is coming back home with us.

“Leena, where is your suitcase?” I ask, confused.

“It’s at home.  I will be coming here in a couple of weeks when things settle down a little bit with regards to Eddie,” she says.  We all jump when Dad opens the car door and climbs in.  None of us had even heard him come downstairs, we are so focused on our emotional conversation.

The drive home is silent.  I can feel such conflicting emotions coming from our father: confusion, anger, rage, sorrow.  With Yule only a week away, I wonder what Mum, Jake and Snoopy are going to do.  None of us feel much like celebrating, especially with our parents being so upset at the day’s happenings.

A melee was transpiring within me – my mind and my soul.  There was so much conflict in what I was feeling. I felt sad for my mother’s upset at finding Eddie’s broken body in the front yard, yet pleased that he could never hurt her, my brother or my sisters ever again.  I felt anger that he had taken such pleasure at hurting a tiny, living being.  I had been his punching bag and was satisfied, knowing he could not wield those fists again.

Looking up at my father’s tremulous hands on the steering wheel, I only hope that we all make it back home in one piece.  It is obvious that his mind is elsewhere.  Luckily, we pull into the driveway safely.  One by one, we all climb out of the car and race each other up the front stairs.

“Take it easy, please!  One of you could slip and hurt yourselves!” Dad yells.

It is at that precise moment that I am able to understand why he is shaking.  In his thoughts, a strong man (if you could call Eddie a man) had slipped and become a vegetable in a hospital bed.  Our father now fears that the same might happen to one of us.  When he climbs the stairs and reaches into his pocket for the house keys, I take his other hand and hold it tight.  Dad looks down at me, still fearful, but after a few moments of sending calming energy and strength into his soul, his shaking stops.  He smiles at me, giving me cause to smile back at him.  It really is good to be home.

As soon as the front door opens, Mindy runs around the house excitedly.  When she sees me, she jumps up, wagging her tail madly, and licks my face.

“Oh, YUCK!  I think her tongue went up my nose!” I squeal, giggling madly and fighting hard to ignore the pain.  After gently wiping my face with the sleeve of my shirt, Mindy continues to wag her tail so hard that her butt wiggles.  “Yes, Mindy.  I am happy to see you too.”  I hug her and when she finally lies down, I rub her belly.  With her tongue hanging out of her smiling mouth, she puffs and pants with glee, making all of us smile.

There is something about animals that is so pure.  They don’t carry grudges, nor do they hurt others for their own amusement.  They just love you.  It is hard for me to understand why people can’t be the same.  As I ponder this, Dad calls us all to the table.  What he has to say brings mixed feelings, but mainly because of the vibes coming from our father.

“Girls, I wanted to let you know that this year, your mother and Jake will be spending Yule here with us,” he says.  “How do you all feel about that?”  Tania starts cheering immediately, happy to have her parents together again.  Leena and I quickly glance at each other.  We both know the craziness that our mother had just gone through with Eddie.

“What about Snoopy, Daddy?” I ask.  “Will he be coming too?  I know that Mindy would love to have another dog to play with, even if it is just for one day.”

“We’ll see,” he responds, deep in thought, before getting up and going to his room.  He closes the bedroom door behind him, leaving the three of us to discuss the excitement of the upcoming week.

“So tell me, what did you all do while I was away?” I ask, looking forward to being caught up with all of the goings on at home.

“Dad took us fishing a few times,” says Leena.

“Oh, so jealous!  Did any of you catch anything?” I enquire with excitement.  I absolutely love going fishing.

“Yes,” Tania says, before letting out a giant sneeze.  “I caught a cold.”  All of us giggle and I go to fetch some tissues for my sister.

While I am happy at the thought of having both of my parents – and possibly Snoopy – at our house for the Yule season, I can’t help but wonder how things will turn out.  I know that it will be extremely hard for Dad to have Jake with us, especially since he is the son of a man our father utterly despises.  I excuse myself from the table and go to my room to lie down for a while.  Putting my espial senses to work, I decide to pay Eddie’s mind a visit.  Unsurprisingly, I see him staring at me, viewing me as filth, evil, fat, stupid and worthless.  There is nothing new about this, though.  He has always seen me this way.

My face starts to heal slowly over the next few days.    Dad is amazed at the revelation that while I am able to heal others and transfer their pain and injuries to the one who’d caused them, I cannot do the same for myself.  He doesn’t like how vulnerable this makes me, regardless of the Karmic powers I can inflict on others for their crimes.  During one of our out-in-the-back-yard-visits with Mindy on the leash, doing what dogs need to do, my father tells me that he is going to have a think about what needs to be done.  After the situation with the pancaked car one year earlier, he had assumed that the Goddess had my back at all times, but had now come to realise that this is only in life-threatening situations.  The thought of me ending up bloodied and bruised at any time did not sit well with him at all.

Tania and I start to help Leena to pack up her clothes and as many of her toys and pictures as possible.  She is fully committed to living with Mum, Jake and Snoopy after Yule.  Dad lets Leena borrow one of his giant suitcases so that her things take up less room in the car.  Whilst he once used it for travelling, he now seldom leaves the local area.  No more having to decide between work and family.  We have become his number one priority in life.  For this, I am grateful.

On Yule morning, our mother pulls into the driveway with Jake and Snoopy in the back seat.  It is Jake and Snoopy’s very first visit inside our home.  We all watch carefully as Snoopy and Mindy start their butt-sniffing jamboree.  I can’t help but giggle at how funny and gross they are at the same time.  Before long, they are chasing each other around the house, tackling each other and playing happily.

Mum asks if she can go somewhere to change Jake’s diaper.  After being told that she does not need to ask permission for such things, she heads into Leena’s room with Jake’s diaper bag before telling us that there are some bags in the car which need to come upstairs too.  As Dad continues to supervise the dogs playing, we all carry a bag upstairs to the kitchen.  The smell in the air tells us that Jake most definitely needed a new diaper.  Seriously…
YUCK!

With a clean diaper on his butt, Jake is handed over to Leena as Mum sets up the playpen.  She puts some soft blankets and his toys inside, as well as a pillow in case the excitement of the day gets too much for him and he ends up drifting off to sleep.  Dad then asks if Snoopy is toilet trained.

“Umm… well, not really.  He’s a baby, Frank …but he is usually pretty good inside if he is taken out frequently enough to do his business,” Mum says nervously.  She breathes a sigh of relief when both Snoopy and Mindy are led downstairs into the yard, each with their own leash, with Dad taking care of doggie-business duty. 

My sisters and I help our mother in the kitchen while Dad sits in the lounge room, keeping an eye on the dogs and the baby.  I feel his stress ease bit by bit, the more time he spends with the newcomers in his life.  What’s more, I feel relief at seeing our mother not flinching at every noise in the house – something she seemed to do constantly when she was with Eddie.  Peace seems to have finally made its way back to our home.

Once the table is set, both of the dogs are brought back upstairs and taken into my room before the food is placed on the table.  I have the honour of keeping them company and getting Snoopy used to the new smells of the room while the banquet is being served.  Within a few minutes, though, both dogs are fast asleep next to each other on the fluffy rug next to my bed.  I quietly tiptoe out of the bedroom and close the door.

As we all sit down at the table, Leena and Tania both end up in desultory conversation, jumping from Leena’s move, Yule gifts, Snoopy, living arrangements and more… all in the one breath.  There is so much happening at once that it really is an exciting time for us all.  After carving the roast lamb and serving the vegetables, we all finally sit in silence while enjoying our meal and the blessings of spending Yule together. When we have all finished eating, we quickly fall into the old routine of clearing away the table while our parents retreat to the living room.  With the dishes washed, I open my bedroom door to find the dogs are still asleep.  I can’t help but smile when Mindy snores.  She cuddles up to Snoopy like he was one of her own puppies, giving Snoopy a whole new sense of security.

I tiptoe into the living room just as the Yule gifts are being handed out.  We each receive three giant colouring books with a set of 36 new coloured pencils.  Leena then opens a weird box with a giant elastic band inside which stretches at least four metres.

“It’s some new game that kids play,” Dad says.  “The store guy said it’s called
Elastics
, and you need at least three people to play it.  One person stands opposite the other, you stretch the elastic so you are maybe two metres apart, and then the third person starts hopping around like a drunk kangaroo in the middle.”  Tania laughs so hard at our father’s description of the game that she starts snorting, sending us all into a case of hysterics.  Once she finally calms down and catches her breath, Tania opens her gift and is stunned to find different colours of wool and a crochet hook.

“I am going to teach you how to make blankets this year,” Mum says with a smile.  Tania looks doubtful that a blanket can be made with such an odd looking hook, but she smiles and I can feel her excitement at learning something new.

When I tear the paper off my gift, I find a board game inside called
Operation,
which I had seen advertised recently on television.  The aim was to use a special set of tweezers to try and lift out different parts of a cardboard patient’s anatomy without touching the sides.  If you were unsuccessful, the board vibrated, the patient’s nose flashed red and it was the next person’s turn.  When I look up at my parents, it becomes clear that Mum had bought the gift.  Dad’s facial expression gives it away – one eyebrow touching the ceiling, his mouth agape and waves of panic coming from his direction.  In a weird kind of way, it is ironic since my father believes I can do this to a person just by looking at them.  I thank and hug them both for their wonderful gift.

Snoopy and Mindy then come and join us in the living room, sniffing about the new gifts and asking for a cuddle.  As I cuddle Snoopy, I look into his eyes as I scratch behind his tiny ears.  When Snoopy looks back at me, an image forms inside my mind which I had never seen before. 

An old lady living a few doors down from Mum and Eddie’s house.  I see her fall to the ground and her hip breaks.  Her daughter is visiting and calls an ambulance.  As they open the door, a tiny dog runs out.  Nobody notices the dog’s escape as all of their attention is on the old lady and her groans and cries of pain as she is loaded into the ambulance.  The daughter climbs into the ambulance and it drives away.

The small dog hides in the bushes because it is afraid of the big white car with the lights on top.  Once the ambulance is gone, the dog comes out of the bushes and is afraid because it is outside and all alone.  It starts to walk down the darkened street until it sees a young girl sitting on the steps of her house with the light on.  It quickly dawns on me that the young girl is me.  The tiny dog is Snoopy.

Fast forward, and after several weeks in the hospital recuperating, the old lady has finally returned home with her daughter by her side to care for her.  Both are heartbroken that their little dog is gone.

Tears fill my eyes as I feel the fear that Snoopy had gone through that night. The pain and heartache from the old woman and her daughter cause me to start crying.  Wiping away my tears, I look up at my parents – my eyes all puffy and red.

“Snoopy needs to go home,” I say quietly.

“What is it, Krystal?  What’s wrong?” my mother asks, confused.

“He doesn’t belong to us, Mummy.  I think I know where he lives now.”  The room becomes so quiet that you could hear a pin echo if it dropped.

“It’s okay,” Dad says to Mum and my sisters.  “I will talk to Krystal about this privately.  Watch Jake and the girls, will you?” he asks my mother.  “Keep an eye on the dogs too,” he adds.  Mum nods silently in reply.  Dad stands up, takes my hand and we go to my room.  Sitting on the bed, he looks me in the eyes as concern wrinkles his brow.

“When I looked into his eyes, I saw it, Daddy.  I saw what happened,” I say, tears still running down my cheeks.  He hugs me as I explain about the old lady hurting herself and how Snoopy ran out of their house when the ambulance was there and nobody noticed.  I tell him how sad they are that he is gone.  My father listens patiently.  Although amazed at the realization that I am able to see such a vision by looking into Snoopy’s eyes, my dad isn’t altogether shocked.  He had been telling me for some time that I can do special things, but until this moment, I didn’t quite believe it.

“Let me talk to your mother about this, okay?” Dad says calmly.  “You sit in here for as long as you want to.  Come back out to the living room when you feel better.”  He kisses my forehead and leaves the room, closing the door behind him.

Not wanting to waste any more time away from my parents than I already had, I go to the bathroom and wash my face before heading back to the living room.  Mum and Dad take Leena’s giant suitcase down to the car before coming back upstairs to pack up the playpen.  Jake is tired and cranky so Mum says it is time for them to be heading back.  After Leena, Jake and Snoopy are safely buckled up in the car, Mum climbs into the driver’s seat before saying, “See you tomorrow,” to Dad.

I take Mindy downstairs for a sniff, pee and poop session before bed time.  Something tells me it is going to be a big day tomorrow so a whole lot of sleeping needs to be had tonight.

The following morning at breakfast, Dad explains to Tania and me that we will be going to Mum’s place today to reunite Snoopy with his owner.  I stare down at my cereal bowl, knowing that my sisters, my brother and Mum will be hurting when it is time to do so.  “It’s okay, honey.  You did the right thing and I am proud of you,” my father says, putting his hand on my forearm.  I feel his honesty and love in doing so, while trying to convince myself that what I am doing is right.

When we arrive at Mum’s house at 11 o’clock in the morning, Jake is buckled up inside his stroller, looking forward to some outside time with us.  Leena and Mum have Snoopy on a leash, but I decide to carry him instead.  After stopping at the house in my vision, I climb the stairs and begin knocking.  An older woman opens the door.  Her eyes are round with shock when she sees who I am holding in my arms.

“BINDY!  OH, MAMA, BINDY HAS COME HOME!” she screams into the house as a happy tear runs down her cheek.  Looking at us, she smiles and says, “Please, come inside and meet my mother, Elizabeth!  I am Beatrice, by the way.” 

When we enter the house, we see an old lady in a wheelchair staring curiously at the entry-way.  As soon as she and Snoopy see each other, Snoopy’s tail wags madly and he scrambles as best he can to run to her.  I walk over and place him gently onto her lap.  Snoopy then jumps up, sticking his tongue up the old lady’s nose and licking all over her face, obviously overjoyed to see his rightful owner.  Although my family feels sad, we also feel a small sense of satisfaction that three lives had just been made a whole lot better.