Cimarron, Denver Cereal Volume 4 (4 page)

“
Tea?” Valerie
asked.

The women shook their heads. Valerie made
herself some peppermint tea and sat back down.

“
Why did you want to talk
to us Jill?” Valerie asked.

“
Delphie usually cooks all
our meals,” Jill started.

“
She puts groceries in our
refrigerator,” Sandy said.

“
Ours too,” Honey said. “I
haven’t been to the grocery store since we moved in here. Delphie
has always taken care of all of that.”

“
Right,” Jill said. “I
think we need to assume she won’t do that for a while.”

“
What do the doctors say?”
Sandy asked.

“
Her brain damage, plus her
psychic predisposition, has precipitated in a mental state…”
Valerie stopped. Her eyes welled with tears. “She thinks she’s
dead. They don’t know if she’ll get better. There isn’t a med or a
therapy or…”

Overwhelmed with sadness, Valerie stopped
talking. A fat tear slid down her beautiful face. Jill put her hand
on Valerie’s shoulder. Valerie wiped her face.

“
We need to start taking
care of some of the things around here,” Jill said. “Like the dogs,
the house cleaning, the cooking, the shopping, and eventually the
gardens. Did Mike turn the beds yesterday?”

“
He’s doing it now. He’s
worried about me and Delphie… He’s nervous about tonight’s art
opening,” Valerie wiped her eyes. “We need to find someone to take
care of the bees.”

“
Is Nash still taking
martial arts?” Honey asked Sandy.

“
I was just thinking I
could ask Colin about the bees,” Sandy said. “Good idea
Honey.”

“
What should we do about
dinner? Do we still want to eat together?”

“
I really like it,” Honey
said. She blushed at her own exuberance. Valerie squeezed Honey’s
hand. “It’s the best part of my day, especially since I’ve been
doing this trial or when MJ’s gone.”

“
I like it too,” Jill said.
“Sandy?”

“
Absolutely,” Sandy said.
“It’s nice not to have dinner to worry about. Honestly, I don’t
know if I can afford groceries for us. We still don’t have Aden’s
money and probably won’t.”

“
I can cover it,” Jill and
Valerie said at the same time. They smiled at each
other.

“
We’ll get it covered,”
Valerie said. “You need groceries for…”

“
Breakfast, lunch, baking
and dinners for nights Nash has soccer or Noelle has art class,”
Sandy said. “With the kids, it’s probably a thousand, fifteen
hundred a month, maybe more. These kids aren’t used to American
cheese and hot dogs.”

“
Ok, so someone needs to do
the household shopping or organize a list if we want it delivered,”
Valerie said.

“
I don’t think the
delivered stuff is as good,” Honey said.

“
It’s expensive and you
don’t get to pick your own vegetables,” Jill said.

“
I’ll shop,” Honey said. “I
think it would be fun.”

The women gawked at her. Sandy shifted
uncomfortably.

“
What?” Honey
asked.

“
Can you shop?” Valerie
asked.

“
Of course I can shop!”
Honey said. “At least I think I can. Just because I’m in this
wheelchair and have limited use of my hands doesn’t mean I can’t do
it.”

“
How about this?” Sandy
asked. “Honey organizes the shopping and Jill or I will go with her
to help.”

“
I can go,” Valerie
said.

“
You and a billion
photographers,” Jill said.

“
I can still go,” Valerie
said. “The photographers can’t go in the store.”

“
Ok, one of us will go with
Honey to help,” Sandy said. “Does that work?”

“
I wonder if we could get
Blane to cook dinner for us,” Valerie said. “He’s an amazing
chef.”

Jill and Sandy gave Valerie a puzzled
look.

“
He went to Chef’s school.
He used to be a Sous Chef at the Capital. He’s really amazing. Have
you had his chocolate cake?”

“
To. Die. For.” Jill said.
Sandy nodded.

“
He’d probably do it,”
Valerie said. “But with Mack and everything, it’s kind of a lot to
ask.”

“
I can cook,” Jill
said.

The women looked at her with doubt.

“
Really,” Jill said. “I
used to cook all our meals when I was a kid. That was my household
job. I’m not a Chef but I can cook. Between school and working for
Jake, I have time to do it.”

“
I’ll make bread and
pastries,” Sandy said. “That would be fun for me.”

“
I’ll work out a menu for
the week,” Honey said. “I’ll coordinate everyone’s contributions
into a schedule and do the shopping.”

“
Wow, that’s a lot Honey.
Are you sure?” Valerie asked.

“
I want to do it,” Honey
said. “MJ and I… We really like living here. It’s the least I can
do.”

“
What will I do?” Valerie
asked.

“
You’re going back to
Prague, right?” Jill asked.

“
Next Sunday. But I’ll be
home in four weeks. Then I’m here until we have the baby.”
Valerie’s face clouded again. “If we have the baby.”

Jill hugged Valerie. Sighing, Valerie pushed
her sadness away.

“
When I get back, I can
help run the household. If Delphie’s not better, we’ll need to
plant the gardens, mow the lawn, take care of the maintenance,
and…”

“
Delphie does a lot for
us,” Sandy said.

The women nodded.

“
We need to do this for
her,” Jill said.

“
We can do this,” Honey
said. “I’ll get everything organized. Maybe I’ll ask Blane if he
could cook Sunday dinner.”

“
That’s a great idea,”
Sandy said. “We can have everyone here for Sunday dinner. I’d like
that.”

The women nodded in agreement to Sandy.

“
We can do this,” Jill
repeated.

“
I wish we didn’t have to,”
Honey said.

~~~~~~~~

Sunday afternoon — 2:45 P.M.

“
You know you’re alive,”
Celia chided Delphie.

“
I know nothing of the
kind,” Delphie replied.

They were sitting outside on a small patio.
Delphie had begged for some time to herself. Sam had helped her to
the patio and left her to herself. She’d spent most of her
meditation arguing quietly with Celia.

“
Can you feel pain?
Sadness? Rage?” Celia asked.

“
Yes,” Delphie
said.

“
Then you’re alive,” Celia
said. “Why would you want to be dead?”

“
I’m dead like you,”
Delphie said.

“
Then why can Sam see you?”
Celia asked. “Talk to you? Hold your hand?”

“
What are you? The alive or
dead police?”

“
I’m your best friend,”
Celia said. “I want you to live every moment of this life to its
fullest. It’s a miracle that you’re still alive.”

“
No, I’m not.”

“
It’s unlike you to be so
stubborn. What’s going on with you?”

Delphie looked at the apparition of her best
friend, her beloved Celia. She had no logical response to Celia’s
sincere and loving question. Delphie’s mind drifted to the crushing
moment when she felt completely alone. Lying on the Castle living
room floor, Delphie knew she would be alone for an eternity. Losing
everyone was the most horrible thing that had ever happened to her.
Delphie shook the loss from her head.

“
Why is it better to be
dead?” Celia asked.

Like a tiny spark, her mind replied: ‘I
can’t lose them again.’ The spark was gone before Delphie was even
aware it.

“
It’s not better. It just
is,” Delphie said.

Celia laughed.

~~~~~~~~

Sunday evening — 5:15 P.M.

“
But why can’t I take out
Melinda?” Nash whined. “Dad would let me date.”

Nash had returned from snowboarding angry
and ready for a fight. He’d been needling Sandy for weeks about
dating. Tonight he would not let up. Noelle had tried to intervene
but finally gave up and went to her room.

“
Your father is not here,”
Sandy said. “Get dressed. We’re leaving in a few
minutes.”

“
You think of me as a
child!” Nash shifted into a full blown rant. “You want me to be a
little itty baby. I’m not a baby. I have a job! I want to have a
girlfriend! How hard is that?”

“
Nash,” Sandy touched the
boy’s shoulder. He shrugged her off. “Why are you so angry
tonight?”

“
Why do you care? You just
want me to do what I’m told and shut up. Well, I’M NOT GOING TO
SHUT UP.”

With all her might, Sandy wished Delphie was
here. Delphie always knew how to handle Nash when he was angry.

“
Good to know,” Sandy
said.

“
I HATE you” Nash gestured
at her with his cast. “And I HATE this!”

He stomped down the hall to his room. The
apartment vibrated when he slammed his door. Sandy plopped down on
the couch. She heard Noelle try to talk to Nash. He screamed at
her. Dressed in her best dress, Noelle came out to sit on the couch
next to Sandy. The little girl and the woman sat on the couch
staring at nothing for few moments. Sandy sighed.

“
I better go talk to him,”
Sandy said.

Sandy went down the hall and to Nash’s
bedroom. Opening the door, she found him lying face down on the
bed. She sat next to him on the bed and softly stroked his
back.

“
Nash,” Sandy said. “Dating
is a big deal. If you want to take Melinda, or any girl out, you
have to have the skills to do it well. Otherwise, it’ll just be
hard and awkward.”

“
Why do you think I don’t
have the skills?”

“
I don’t know if you do or
don’t,” Sandy said. “We need to figure out what you need to learn.
When you’re ready, you can ask Melinda out. You didn’t give me a
chance to say that before you got so upset.”

“
She probably hates a loser
like me anyway,” Nash said.

“
She’s going to Mike’s art
opening tonight,” Sandy said. “You could see if she hates you
there.”

Nash didn’t move or say anything.

“
I know this has been
really hard on you,” Sandy said. “It’s hard for all of us. But it
only works if we’re a team. When you’re upset, we’re upset. Do you
really hate this?”

Sandy leaned forward when she heard a
‘No.’

“
We’re all heartbroken
about Delphie,” Sandy said.

Nash’s back began to heave.

“
She’s coming home
tomorrow.”

Nash rolled over. He threw himself into
Sandy’s arms. Sandy held the crying boy.

“
I should have done
something,” Nash said. “I didn’t do anything for Dad and I didn’t
do anything for you and I didn’t do anything for Delphie
and…”

“
You did something for all
of us,” Sandy said.

“
No I didn’t,” Nash said.
“I let you get hurt and…”

“
You loved us,” Sandy said.
“That’s all that matters to me, your Dad, and Delphie.”

“
It’s not enough,” Nash
said. “Dad’s in a coma and Delphie’s in the hospital
and…”

Hearing a noise, Sandy turned to see Noelle
standing in the doorway. Crying, Noelle ran to the bed to join
their hug. She held the weeping children.

No amount of cookies or brownies would fix
this situation. Sandy was at a loss for what to do to make things
better. She just hung on for dear life. After a few minutes, she
sighed.

“
We need to get ready to
go,” she said. “This is a big day for our friend Mike. He’s asked
us to be there with him. He’s pretty nervous. I think we would be
crummy friends if we let our own problems keep us from being there
for him.”

Nash and Noelle nodded.

“
Sometimes, we have to just
put away what we feel so that we can be there for someone else,”
Sandy said.

“
Is that what you do with
us?” Nash asked.

“
Sometimes,” Sandy said.
“Sometimes I feel sorry for myself and eat Girl Scout
cookies.”

“
What kind of Girl Scout
cookies?” Nash asked.

“
Any,” Sandy smiled. She
stroked his hair then hugged him. “Are we all right?”

“
Yeah,” he said.

“
Are we all right?” Sandy
hugged Noelle.

“
Of course,” Noelle said.
“Nash, you have to get dressed. Fancy dress.”

“
I do?” Nash returned to
whining.

“
Dating skill #1,” Sandy
said. “You have to be able to dress up even when you don’t feel
like it. And fast. You have five minutes.”

Nash hopped off the bed and began rifling
through his closet. Chuckling to herself, Sandy led Noelle from his
bedroom. Five minutes on the mark, Nash arrived from his bedroom in
dress pants, a nice shirt and a jacket. Sandy helped him with his
tie.

They jogged down the stairs and out to the
driveway where they joined Jill, Jacob, Katy, Honey, and MJ in the
back of a limousine.