And I'm exhausted. And I still have to do my exercises.
Everything is SO HARD that it's ridiculous. I hardly drink anything because if I drink I'll have to go to the bathroom and that's just too hard. I am SO ready for this surgery, I can't tell you. The depressing part is that I really don't expect it to help that much -- I know I'm going to have to have the other knee done before there's any big change.
I called the surgeon yesterday to see what the holdup was -- why they haven't called to set a date. They called me today to say that the only thing they're waiting for is the release form for my dentist. Called the dentist. The release form was faxed on April 12 but they will fax it again. Called the surgeon. They will "look for" the release form.
Don't get me wrong -- I know the end is in sight. I just wish it was a little closer, that's all.
I haven't worked on Caroline at all lately because I've been too busy or too tired. Blechh.
But -- I can share chapter seven with you...
Caroline awoke the next morning
much earlier than she had planned. Her body was still used to rising just after
dawn each day to get ready for school. She kept still for a minute, trying to
recall what it was that she was supposed to do that day. The morning sun peeked
through a little gap in her bedroom curtains, making a small oval of golden
light on her bedroom carpet. A small gold oval…about the size of the tiny
picture frame that she’d hidden in her sock drawer!
Suddenly Caroline remembered
everything. She jumped out of bed, earning a dirty look from Mrs. Anderson as
Caroline bumped her to the floor, and ran over to her dresser where she slid
her hand underneath the socks to reassure herself that the frame was still
there. After finding it just where she’d placed it, she dressed quickly and went
to the kitchen to grab something for breakfast.
Her father was sitting at the
table, reading the newspaper. “You’re up early this morning, Little One. Got big plans for today?”
“Not really, Dad. Alex and I are
going to hang out, go to the library, that kind of thing.”
“Don’t forget to stop by Mom’s
office. She’s already in the clinic and I’m sure she has a few things for you
to do over there.”
Caroline sighed and poured
herself a glass of juice. She poked around in the basket of fruit that was
sitting on the kitchen counter until she found the ripest plum of the lot. She
took a cheese stick, the plum, and her juice and went to sit on the front
porch. Barkley followed her, hoping for a bite of cheese.
She sat on the front porch swing,
rocking gently and looking up the street to where the dunes led down to the
Gulf. She couldn’t actually see the water from where she sat, but she knew it
was there. The sound of the waves provided a constant backdrop to her days, a
kind of pleasant static that she missed whenever she was away from it for too
long. She inhaled deeply, savoring the fresh salt air. If it wasn’t so boring
this would be a pretty nice place to live.
She finished her breakfast,
saving the last morsel of cheese for Barkley. She made him sit up and she
placed the bit of cheese on the top of his nose. He sat perfectly still,
watching her intently, waiting for her permission to move. She said, “Good
boy,” and he tossed his head, flipping the cheese in the air and then catching
it easily as it fell.
It was already very warm outside
and she was beginning to perspire. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and it
promised to slide from very warm right into hot and humid before the sun
climbed too much higher. She wandered over to the clinic to see what her mother
needed.
It was too early for new patients
so Dr. Brennan was in the back room checking on supplies. She smiled as
Caroline walked in.
“Just what I love to see—one of
my children up and rarin’ to go first thing in the morning!”
“I don’t know how much rarin’ I’m
going to do,” Caroline said doubtfully. “I’m going to hang out with Alex today
so I wanted to get my chores out of the way.”
“All right, Hon. Clean the
kittens’ cage for me. You can skip the rabbit this morning—I’m going to release
him this afternoon, so you can do his cage tomorrow and be done with it. I
didn’t have anyone else stay in the back yesterday—everyone just came into the
exam rooms and left from there so you really have it easy this morning. I’m
going to spay Mr. Soles’ German shepherd this afternoon, though, and she’ll
spend the night tonight. Unless we have an emergency, that should be it for the
back room. Just check the feeding schedule and that’s pretty much all I need
from you this morning.”
“Okay, Mom. Hey—can I release the
rabbit for you?”
“You can come with me if you
want. I’m going to take him over to Bonita
Point
“That sounds pretty good. I’ll
ask Alex and we’ll stop by later and let you know, okay?”
Dr. Brennan smiled and went back
to her inventory. Caroline made short work of the mess in the kittens’ cage and
spent a few minutes playing with them. She took them outside and sat down in a
shaded spot next to the driveway. She picked up a couple of palm seeds and set
one spinning on the pavement. The black kitten pounced immediately, grabbing
the hard, marble-sized fruit between his paws. The next moment he was
broadsided by his sister and the two of them tumbled together in a furry ball
of tiny sharp claws and soft fur.
Donny came outside, still wearing
his pajamas and rubbing sleep from his eyes. He sat down next to Caroline and
snuggled against her.
“Like the kittens, Squirt?”
He nodded wordlessly and Caroline
hugged him close. “Mom says we can go out for pizza tonight, after we let the
bunny go. And maybe Alex will come with us. Won’t that be fun?”
Donny didn’t answer for a moment.
“Make me a waffle?” he asked finally, looking up at Caroline with his big blue
eyes.
She planted a kiss on top of Donny’s
golden curls and nodded. “Let me put these guys back inside and I’ll come right
in.”
She was spreading peanut butter
on a waffle when Alex knocked on the door.
“Have you eaten anything?” she
asked. “I can pop another waffle into the toaster for you,” she offered.
“No, I ate already, thanks. What
do you have to do before we can get out of here this morning?”
“I’m just about ready to fly.
Hey—Mom’s invited us to join her on a release this afternoon and then we’re
going to stop for pizza. Wanna come?”
“What’s a release?” Alex asked.
“Mom works with a wildlife rescue
group. People find hurt animals—birds or rabbits or whatever—and bring them to
her to fix up. She always tries to release them near the same place where they
were originally found, if it’s safe. She’s got a cottontail to set loose this
afternoon over on Bonita
Point
“We had a deer here once,” Donny
interjected through a mouthful of waffle, wanting to be a part of the
conversation.
“We’ve had a couple—Donny just
doesn’t remember them all,” Caroline explained. “They end up here for all kinds
of reasons—dogs, coyotes, cars, guns—and Mom works her magic on them. Sometimes
they stay for a couple of weeks—that’s a long time for us to have something that
big. We’ve had to go all over creation to let them go.”
“That sounds great,” Alex said.
“It’s really nice of you to include me the way you have.”
“Oh, Mom’s thrilled you’re here.
Three days ago she had to listen to me complain about how there’s never
anything to do in this place over the summer.” Turning to her little brother
Caroline said, “Donny, Alex and I are going to the library. Do you want to
come? I think Miss Abby is reading
stories this morning. You don’t mind if he tags along, do you?” she asked Alex.
“Yes, yes, I want to come!” Donny
crammed the last of the waffle into his mouth and drained his glass of milk
with a satisfying, “Ahhhh.”
“Go get dressed and I’ll let Mom
know you’re coming with us. Alex,” Caroline turned to look at him. “Will you
please go into my room and get the thing we need to take to the library?”
Half an hour later the trio
walked into town. As they passed the Sweet Thing Bakery, Caroline waved through
the front window to Ruthie and Mrs. Griffith. Mrs. Griffith waved back, a spatula
in her hand, and Ruthie smiled at them from behind the counter.
“Ooh, Caroline—can we get a
cookie?” Donny pleaded.
“You just finished breakfast! How
about if we stop in on our way back home? You can’t bring a cookie into the
library anyway.”
Donny nodded, satisfied, and ran
ahead to the steps of the library.
They reached the building just as
the children were beginning to sit down for story hour. Donny skipped over and
sat next to a little girl from his kindergarten class and soon the group was
entranced by Miss Abby’s tale of dragons and brave knights.
Caroline showed Alex where the
photocopy machine was. “I forgot to bring quarters! Do you have any? I brought
two dollars for the bakery but didn’t think about change for the copier.” she
added.
Alex had two quarters in his
pocket and by placing the pictures near the bottom of the second page of the
letter they were able to copy everything they needed for his fifty cents. Alex
had just finished replacing the pictures of Cassie and Chris inside the locket and
was putting everything back into the envelope when Caroline remembered that
she’d wanted to check for old high school yearbooks.
They sat down at a computer to
check the library inventory. Caroline couldn’t find anything useful. Finally
Ms. Palmer finished reading to the kids and returned to her place at the
information desk. Unfortunately, she didn’t have good news for them.
“We don’t have any yearbooks.
They might have copies at the high school—I’m sure they do,” she suggested.
“You’ll have to wait until school starts again, I guess.”
“That was a dead end,” Caroline
sighed as she and Alex and Donny left the library.
“It’s okay—we’ll think of
something,” Alex said encouragingly as he opened the door to the Sweet Thing
Bakery for Caroline and Donny. “Why don’t we take Donny back home and maybe we
can find something to do this afternoon. I haven’t been swimming since I got
here,” he added.
Mrs. Griffith was behind the
counter as they walked in. She smiled and tucked a stray strand of light brown
hair behind her ear. “Caroline and Donny and someone I need to meet! It’s so
good to see you!”
Caroline introduced Alex to Mrs.
Griffith. “Alex—how wonderful to have your family join our community! It’s been
so exciting to watch the changes taking place down at your end of the street.
I’ll be forever grateful to your parents for bringing that beautiful house and
the grounds back to life. How’s your mother, Caroline? Tell her to call me—we
haven’t had a ‘Girls Night Out’ in ages!”
After making their selections the
three children strolled back to the Brennan house. Barkley was on the front
porch, sleeping. He wagged his tail lazily as they tromped by.
Kael was packing some snorkeling
gear in the family room. As they came in he looked up and said, “Donny, Mom
wants me to take you to Andrew’s house for the rest of the morning. She’s going
to come and pick you up later this afternoon.”
“Andrew’s house! Yay!! I want to wear
my Woody hat!”
“Wear whatever you want, Noodle—I
need to be out of here in ten minutes.”
“Guess I can leave then,”
Caroline looked at Alex. “Why don’t I grab my bathing suit and we can go
swimming down by your house, Alex?” She gave Alex the photocopies that they had
made at the library and kept the frame and letter for herself. He glared at her
for a moment, but then he chuckled and took the papers from her while she went
into her bedroom to hide the originals in her sock drawer.
She kept a bag ready with a big
beach towel and some sun screen so she quickly slipped on a bathing suit,
pulled on some shorts, and stuck her feet into a pair of rubber flip flops. In
just a few minutes they were headed down the street, ready to introduce Alex to
the Gulf of Mexico .
More later...
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