The Heavenly Heart (16 page)

Christopher’s headed to the staircase that leads to the jump slide. I scoop him up in my arms.

 “Lo-ho! Lo-ho!” he screams.

We climb the tall stairs that lead to the top. I’m one step behind him. When we reach the landing I put him on my lap and we sail down the slide. It’s a toboggan on water. We slip up and over humps bigger than elephants, laughing and splashing all the way down.

But what I find at the bottom is no laughing matter. Standing next to the slide is a little boy in Superman swim trunks. I know those trunks. I know those dark dreamy eyes and that curly blonde hair. Water jets are spraying everywhere. I rub my eyes to be sure that what I’m seeing is really what I’m seeing.  Another spray of water hits me in the kisser. Even so, I can easily make out this little guys face.
Ohmygod
—it’s Andy—Rita’s little boy!

How in the world did he end up here?

FORTY-SEVEN

The Golden Window

Pete explains everything.

“Lorelei, I put the Silver Lining together very quickly, I forgot to seal the sash.”

“The what?”

Pete’s scratching his head. He looks like he’s been smacked in the face with confusion. He rambles on, like I really know what he’s talking about.

“You flit in and out of that window like a butterfly. On your last visit you wished with all your heart that you were there for real. I’m afraid you left the window ajar on your last return trip.”

Right, like that makes sense. I love Pete, but sometimes his thinking really has me wondering. “Excuse me?” I say. “All I want to know is how did Andy end up here?”

“It’s all a mistake,” Pete explains. “I’ll put him back.”

“I thought you said there was no going back—”

“Yes, yes, that is normally true,” Pete says, “but you see in this case, well, in this case, Andy was never really here to begin with.”

I plop into the Golden Window and sink into the cushions.

“Say that again?”

Pete throws his hands up in the air, like he can’t understand my confusion. “In the silver lining Mona recovered, yes?”

“With the motorcycle man’s kidney! That’s my point; she went home to her family and she saved Andy from drowning. So how come he’s here?”

“He’s not,” Pete answers.

“But I saw him.”

“But you shouldn’t have.”

“But I did.” Now we’re running in circles.

“You see Lorelei, the fact is, had you survived the night you arrived here, Mona would have indeed received the kidney from that poor chap on the motorcycle. All of that is true. And she would have arrived home to her husband and children, but she—”

Pete lets out a deep sigh.

“But she would have gotten there only to find that Andy had drowned the day before. She wasn’t there to save him!”

“Oh,” I say and fall backwards onto my favorite giant pillow. “So, Andy would’ve ended up here.”

“Correct.”

“But the Silver Lining isn’t real. It isn’t what really happened.”

“Precisely,” Pete says shaking his head in agreement. “The problem was you wanted it to be real and I’ve been granting each and every one of your wishes but I forgot
not
to grant those you wish for through that window! That’s another reason that the Silver Lining must go. Absolutely
must
go. I’ve made a mess of things—the boss isn’t happy.”

“The important thing is, Andy’s not really here, then, right?”

“Right,” Pete says.

“But since he is, now what—?”

A loud crack of thunder jolts me upright.

“I’ll take care of it,” Pete says, and looks towards the purple and gold mist above us. Another roll of thunder drowns out his words.

“I’m on it already!

Poor Pete—he screwed up. I know I should feel bad, but I don’t. I’m so happy that Andy’s not really here, how can I be sad? There’s only one problem left, the Silver Lining. Pete wants it gone, but I can’t let it go. Not yet. I need more time in it.

FORTY-EIGHT

The Golden Window

Toby and Dixie don’t like Amy Jo. Not one bit. Can you blame them? I think their analysis is based on the scent picked up from her handkerchief that Garrett brought home. In other words, she stinks. I’m not arguing with their opinion. They’re very smart pigs.

Garrett on the other hand is nursing a broken heart. Amy Jo spilled the beans to him when she didn’t win the contest. So, she not only stinks
bad
—she
is
bad. Who would hurt someone as kind as Garrett? I mean, he saves little boys from bullies and doesn’t mind getting clobbered in the process. I mean, we’re talking hero here.

Furthermore, Garrett shouldn’t be worried about Amy Jo. He has far more important problems. His liver, that is to say,
my
liver, is not doing well. Not in his body. He’s running a fever and has flu-like symptoms and I’m all too familiar with what’s going on having been through this with Mona—who’s doing very well for once. She and her husband are celebrating their tenth wedding anniversary.

Back to Garrett. In addition to these other symptoms Garrett’s experiencing, he has, if you will pardon the personal nature of this discussion, a decreased out-put of his urine. I don’t know this from observation, but from the doctor’s measurements. Garrett has to pee into this container and put what’s there into a larger container. Talk about intrusion! But then, they
are
trying to save his life, so you just have to put up with this stuff. Also, Garrett’s gaining weight and he has fatigue and “crankiness”. But who wouldn’t be with a run-in with Miss Junior-World-Class Witch?

The doctor says the fluid retention has him worried, as well as the abdominal swelling and tenderness and itching.

“How long have you been scratching?” the doctor asks.

Probably since he met Amy Jo—an allergic reaction to girls with ulterior motives.

The bottom line is—these are all symptoms of rejection, as if he hasn’t been rejected enough. Garrett has to be admitted to the hospital; right now, right this very minute. If I could get my hands on Amy Jo I’d smack her a good one. All this tension Garrett’s been experiencing with her probably led to his spiraling downwards. Not that his doctor said so, but I’m a firm believer that stress is the cause of most illness in life. It’s a major killer. I mean, take airplanes. You put an old bolt under stress and a wing falls off the plane mid-air. And buildings—add enough stress in the wrong place and a floor collapses in the middle of a hotel that charges nearly three-hundred dollars a night and kills people! It said so in the paper. Stress, I’m telling you.

Of course, Amy Jo’s nowhere in sight; she’s probably off looking for a new broom that flies faster.

FORTY-NINE

The Golden Window

Okay, I’m not going to lie. I’m absolutely, positively, totally in love with Garrett and I’m having a nervous breakdown because my liver is
not
doing what it’s supposed to for him and he’s dying!

First, a short lesson in livers: They consist of two main lobes, both of which are made up of thousands of lobules and these lobules are connected to small ducts that connect with larger ducts to form the hepatic duct, which transports bile produced by the liver cells to the gallbladder and duodenum, which is the first part of the small intestine.

Now I know God has a plan and most likely he had one when he made our bodies. But was it really necessary to have an organ with a bunch of ducts that don’t do anything but cart around this yellow gook to our private parts that no one wants to talk about anyway?

Exactly—that’s my thinking. So now my liver’s not carting this pukey stuff around like it should and Garrett’s in major trouble and I’m in love with him and I’m miserable so I go get Pete and cry on his shoulder. And do you know what he says?

“Actually, this could all work out quite nicely.”

“Huh?”

“Lorelei, my child,” he says, and gathers me in his arms, “It means he’ll be coming up here.”

FIFTY

The Silver Lining

I’m setting aside my own heartache to see about a major heartache my father has caused. You remember Kirsten, the beautiful young attorney that has my other kidney, right? The one my father’s sleeping with. Except he’s no longer sleeping with her and she’s about to jump out the window of her office and before my father came along and messed up her life she had a perfectly dreamy boyfriend—a partner in the same law firm—by the name of Jeffrey, who’s heart got major broken when Kirsten fell in love with my father after she got my kidney and he went looking for her.

Someone call Hollywood! This is a major soap opera. The point it, Kirsten’s heartbroken. And I can’t help but wonder what would have happened to her if she’d never gotten my kidney and ended up meeting my father. So, you got it. I’m heading to the Silver Lining. Don’t ask me why. It doesn’t make any sense. It’s not going to change anything. But, I’m crazy with fever for Garrett right now and maybe finding out what could’ve happened to Kirsten will help me accept what
couldn’t
happen for me. This doesn’t make any sense either, but I’m going anyway. Obviously, my death’s made a mess of Kirsten’s life. I want to see for myself if I hadn’t died, if her life would’ve been any better.

Carla says, “Lorelei, you’re crazy.”

“I know, I’m crazy in love,”

“Oh, it’s so romantic,” Miss Lily says. Everything’s romantic to her, so it doesn’t count.

Pete says, “We need to talk.”

“Catch you later,” I say and jump into the silver window faster than you can spit and I’m off.

FIFTY-ONE

The Silver Lining

The last time my father visited with Kirsten he tried to explain the situation.

“You knew I was married,” he said.

How pathetic. Of course she knew, but when you’re young and stupid and get swept off your feet you naturally assume Prince Charming’s coming to carry you away.  And before my father came along and messed things up, Kirsten had Jeffrey, and Jeffrey’s a pretty okay kind of guy. He would have made her a terrific husband and they may have gone on to have terrific little children and a terrific life. Makes me so mad.

In the Silver Lining, my father doesn’t exist —he’s dead. So I’m about to see what would have happened with Jeffrey and Kirsten under those circumstances. It’s a stupid move, I know. But I want to know if my father really messed up her life or maybe saved her from a worse one. Here goes.

Jeffrey and Kirsten are playing foosball. Jeffrey is winning, but Kirsten plays a pretty mean game.

“Give up?” he says.

“Not on your life. You’re not that far ahead, buster.”

Her hair is tied back in a pony tail. She has on jeans and a pink t-shirt that says
I wish these were brains.

Did I mention she has very big breasts?

After foosball they head to a sport bar and join their friends. Most of them are lawyers and the talk around the table turns to billable hours or the lack of enough of them. Jeffery’s a junior partner so it’s not a concern for him. He’s already handling major cases. Some type of litigation for companies spilling toxic substances around and trying to get away with it. Only Jeffery’s firm is the good guy. They go after them.

Jeffery’s tall and dark-haired like Kirsten. They look like they belong together; like Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson. And Jeffery’s very handsome. He has a large even teeth and dark-brown eyes with thick black lashes. The kind girls would kill for.

On Sunday they’re going sky diving; all of them except for Kirsten. Her doctor says it’s out of the question. Her new kidney—which she received from a woman at her church who donated one of hers—is doing fine, but still, I agree with her doctor. Sky diving doesn’t sound like a good sport for a transplant survivor.

“One bad landing and you’re asking for trouble,” is what her doctor told her.

When Sunday arrives, Kirsten’s on the ground watching the others fall to earth. It’s pretty exciting. Jeffery’s the only experienced diver, so he’s on his own. The others are harnessed to a qualified instructor known as a Tandem Master. No previous experience is necessary in this dual harness parachute experience. It says so on a large sign next to the counter where they paid their fee—it’s $195.00 for one jump—and signed a waiver that says they realize jumping out of an airplane has the potential to cause death or serious injury and they will not hold ARC Sky Diving Adventures, Inc. accountable.
Now
I understand their sign. You don’t need any experience to die or suffer serious injury. This’s starting to make me uncomfortable. I don’t know the others at all, but I like Kirsten and Jeffrey very much. Why can’t Jeffrey take up roller-skating or bowling? Why the compulsion to hurl oneself out of an airplane?

After suiting up, they get a short lesson in jumping. Too short, if you ask me. Then they board the plane and off they go. Kirsten’s on the ground hundreds of feet below them. I can see her waving in the distance. At 14,000 feet, they take a deep breath and one by one the tandem jumpers jump out of the plane. Jeffery’s last. He has on an orange jumpsuit with large black letters splashed across his chest. He turns too fast to exit the plane and I can only make out one of the letters, a large “U”.

After 9,000 feet of freefalling, the instructors open their parachutes and steer their tandem riders to the ground. They each make safe landings. Jeffery’s the only one left in the air. The others lift their eyes and watch as he freefalls across the sky. It’s not too long and his shoot opens. First it flings him backwards, but then he goes forward and floats kind of slowly to the ground. That’s when the unexpected happens. The others step out of their harnesses and make their way to where Jeffery’s going to land. Kirsten’s running along side of them. Jeffery has his arms open wide. The letters across his chess have a message clearly spelled out that now I can see.

Will U Marry Me?
is what it says! Kirsten’s got one hand placed on each of her cheeks. You can tell she’s excited. She’s turning pink as Pepto Bismol.. Jeffery removes the harness connected to his chute and makes his way to Kirsten. He drops to his knees. Everybody’s cheering like crazy, including the instructors. Jeffrey pulls a velvet box out of the pocket of his jumpsuit. It’s a princess cut diamond ring as big as an orange. Well, not really, but it’s major big, I’m telling you.