Installment
#48
… and
time marches on.
Tucker watched the rental car as it backed
out the drive and pulled on to Pearl.
Anton would be back. He knew that. He had tried to tell Anton goodbye and make
it final, but his little brother was not making it easy. And then there was Albert. Tucker had not talked with him. They were not estranged, just did not seem to
have much in common. Anton would no
doubt fill Albert in on how bad Tucker was, but he would not call. That was just how it was. Tucker knew that.
He smiled at Cynthia. “Well, I guess I will be going home with you
tonight. My baby sitter just left.”
“Looks like it. What shall we have for supper?” She asked the question, but she knew the
answer. The Cream of Wheat was the only
thing he ate and he drank very little water.
He was so thin that it hurt her to look at him. He was wasting away before her eyes and there
was nothing she could do to stop it from happening. So she filled Cleo’s bowl with food and gave
her fresh water. Soon they would need to
find her a new home. She could not take
her to her house because she had geese that would suffer the fate of a big dog
playing with them. And the cat. Cleo was part grey hound and did not like
cats at all. She sighed and decided to
tackle the new home idea tomorrow for sure.
Tucker snapped his fingers. “I almost forgot! Mark called today and he will be here this
weekend. He has a surprise for me. Wonder what it is?”
“Oh, I am so glad! I know how much he means to you. A surprise?
I have no clue what it could be.
Is he flying?”
“No, he is bringing the pickup and a
trailer. I want to send some stuff back
with him. I am pretty sure I am not
going to be staying here in the house much longer and I want to get everything
of value into the right hands.” He
stopped and gazed out the window. “Funny
how I worked all my life for this and now it is just something to get rid
of. I did not think I would live long
enough to get to this point. I just
don’t care about any of it anymore. I
did talk to Mark about taking me to the nursing home before he leaves.” Cynthia caught her breathe.
“What do you mean? Nursing home?
I thought you would be here with me until, until, you know?” She could not bring herself to use the word
“died”. That made it too real. That was final. She knew how Tucker did not like to be
touched, but this time she put her arms around him and told him, “Tucker! Just hold me because pretty soon you will not
be here to do it. I need you to hold
me!” And he did. And he stroked her hair, and a plan began to
form in his mind. It was a plan that
just might work!
Little did she know how time was about to
fast forward.
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