Anything for Their Penelope by Y. M. Roger use this sentence contest entry |
“I'm not sure they should be doing that.”The words hurt to say since my mouth was so dry, but somebody needed to– “Mom?” The face of my youngest daughter, Jackie, appeared just in front of my face. I glanced up at her hair which it seemed she’d gotten cut while I was in surgery. “Oh, my God! Mom! You’re awake!” I frowned at her excitement as I craned my neck to see around her – to look at the funny little critters that were hanging from the light fixture above my bed. There were three – wait, no, four – of them and they looked for all the world like fuzzy little dragons, wings and all. Two blue ones worked on the edges of the fixture while a red one rolled very slowly along its surface lengthwise. The somewhat larger one of the bunch, a kind of salmon color, looked to be applying all the energy it could muster on the end toward which the red one was rolling. “Just wait right here!” Jackie kissed my forehead with enthusiasm and turned to leave, but my deep frown made her pause. Did she think I would try to get up right after surgery? “Oh, wait! Of course you’re not going anywhere!” She laughed as tears began to stream down her face before she laid her head on my chest and did her best to ‘bed hug’ me. “Oh, God! You’re okay! Mom, I–” I reached up to smooth her hair, and found my arms difficult to move - the anesthesia, I supposed. She was quite emotional for my having been out for less than an hour. If it were any of my other children I might be worried, but Jackie had always been an emotional girl. After puberty, she was a veritable walking waterfall of tears at certain times of the month. “I’m okay, Jaybird,” I whispered as I held her and rubbed her back, but I kept my eyes glued to those little varmints near the ceiling. Strange that they seemed somewhat familiar… The salmon one had begun pulling what looked to be some glowing thread out of the end of the long florescent fixture. The blue ones had joined it and appeared to cheer it on as the red one rolled closer and closer to them, the glowing thread increasing with Red’s progress. The light in the room flickered. “Hey!” I tried to shout, but it came out more like a raspy exclamation from a character known as ‘The Fonz’ on an old sitcom called Happy Days. Oh, dear. I had never done well with anesthesia. I’d only had it a few times, but it had always left me physically drained, somewhat disoriented, and just plain off-kilter for days after each operation. My loud ‘noise’ made the little things near the ceiling freeze, all eight tiny eyes turning their attention toward me. Jackie shot upright to a standing position beside the bed, a panicked look overtaking her face. “Did I hurt you, Mom? I’m sor–” I coughed to try to clear my throat, rolling my head from side-to-side on the pillow to indicate to her that she had nothing for which to apologize. The little critters went back to their business, whatever it was. “No, it’s jus–” I coughed again – my mouth and throat were parched, more so than when I’d woken up in the past. Before I had a chance to point at the little dragon-imps above us, Jackie activated the bed to sit-up and poked a straw in my mouth. “Here. Drink some water.” My eyes stayed focused on the activities above us, as I took a big swallow. The water tasted like some sort of heaven-sent nectar, as if I hadn’t tasted anything like it in long time. But just as I was about to take another drink, Jackie took the straw away. My eyes shot to hers, frowning at the action. “Only a little at a time,” she admonished as she placed the cup on the side table. She patted my arm and smoothed my hair back as she swiped the remaining tears from her own face. “So good to have you back, Mom!” I couldn’t help but marvel at how mature she seemed today – it was like she had grown up during my procedure. “Now, I’m going to get the nurses and then you can tell me what you were going to say.” She leaned in to kiss me, and the lights flickered again. I glared up at the tiny troublemakers above our heads. Surely someone had to know what they were doing… “Jackie?” She paused in her steps toward the door and turned. I pointed up. “Do you see the problem with the light, Jaybird?” My voice was not quite a rasp but not quite as attractive as real speech. I tried to clear my throat. She glanced up at the ceiling and then back at me. “Don’t worry, Mom. They flicker like that once in a while.” She turned, continuing toward the door and spoke over her shoulder as she walked. “I think it’s just the old wiring in this place.” I stared in disbelief as the door closed, but it was only for a brief moment. I looked back up, only to find that the two blue imps were now hovering just below Sal – that was the salmon-colored one – and slowly turning a spool. As Sal extracted the glowing thread from the edge of a florescent bulb, the Blues were collecting it in a neat roll. Red was about halfway on his body-roll down the length of the fixture. Now that Jackie was gone and the room was quiet, I could hear their chatterings – the sounds like listening to a baby babble but at a much higher speed. “Hey!” Silence. They all stopped mid-motion, their eyes once again turning to look down at me. The only movement at that moment was the beating of little wings. I narrowed my eyes at them. “What are you doing?” They didn’t respond just stared back. One of the Blues let go of the spool and flew down about half the distance between us. His release threw the other Blue off balance, and Sal had to step in to help support the weight of the spool. As he hovered there, slowly making his way closer to me, I noticed that his front – guess you could call it the chest and belly area – was a lighter shade of blue. There was also a splotch of darker almost midnight blue right in the middle. When I knew he was close enough to touch, I reached out a shaky hand – gee, my arm felt like it weighed a ton – toward him. He zinged backward out of reach and launched into the cutest tirade of nonsensical gibberish I had ever heard, waving his arms and legs wildly. His voice rose to a higher and higher pitch as tiny wisps of smoke rose from his wings and emanated from his cute snout. And he just kept right on ranting. “You know, I wasn’t going to hur–” My words were halted as the door to the room burst open, and multiple medical personnel filed in, one of them pushing a cart with all kinds of equipment on it. They all took up positions around my bed as one began to take my blood pressure, another began removing my IV, while yet another grabbed the chart hanging on the bottom of my bed and began flipping through it and writing notes every few pages. But, even as I was somewhat curious about all of this post-op chaos and concern, I watched the blue imp with the splotch on his chest whiz out the door, leaving the other three in what appeared to be a state of shock. “Poor little guys,” I mumbled, my focus still on the ceiling. My straw was pushed back through my lips, and I glared at the offending orderly. I tried to reach up to remove it and give him a piece of my mind, but it seemed both of my arms were in use for various medical procedures. I settled for taking another big drink until he removed the straw, dribbling water down my front. He dabbed the spill with quick efficiency as my attention was drawn to the harsh-looking nurse holding the chart. “How are you feeling, Ms. Towry?” Well, her bedside manner sucked just about as bad as her choice of hair color. I let my gaze fall on each of the people working around my bed, finally landing back on the speaker with the fake-looking hair and overly-demanding voice. “We were doing fine up right up until the circus arrived.” “Mom!” Jackie admonished from her out-of-the-bedlam observation point across the room. She walked up to stand beside Nurse Ratched, arms folded across her chest. “Everybody’s just making sure that you’re all right. It’s been…” Her voice trailed off as she sobbed again. She reached out to smooth a hand over and massage my foot as she wiped a few more tears with her other hand. That was when I got a good look at my youngest child. Jackie did not just appear somewhat mature, she was very mature. There was no way the face in front of me belonged to the eighteen year old high school senior that had stood beside my bed this morning before my surgery. And that hand on my foot? The ring finger there was wearing an engagement ring/wedding band combination. I began to feel light-headed and the voices of the medical personnel seemed to fade somewhat. I let my head fall back on the pillow, my vision once again in line with the little imps. It seemed the three had recovered from their shock and Red along with the remaining Blue now held a full spool of glowing thread. Sal paused and approached me this time, cautious but not timid as Splotch had been. She held a little hand up to her face with one claw pressed against her snout. “You want me to be quiet?” I was speaking to Sal, but I guess both Jackie and Ratchet thought I was addressing them. “No, Mom, of course not, I j–” “What do you mean 'we', Ms. Towry?” Sal nodded her head in the affirmative as I allowed myself to take a good look around the room. It was much more ‘homey’ than a hospital room. In fact, it looked a lot like some fancy sitting area from those hoity-toity restaurants in Uptown. My mind began to race, and I heard the heart monitor one of the circus workers had connected begin to speed up as well. Just as my gaze passed over the room door, Splotch flew back into the room. He appeared to be much calmer as he made a beeline for Sal. They seemed to have their own little conversation right there, front and center, in the presence of all these people, yet no one noticed them. Not one of the nurses or orderlies said a word; they just kept right on poking and prodding. “Do you all not see the–” “No, Penelope, they do not.” At the sound of my first name, I picked my head up off the pillow to focus on the tall, svelte gentleman leaning against the door, his head able to touch the top of the frame there. His long, silvery hair was pulled back in an ornate, leather ponytail holder and, although his face appeared to be harsh, his cerulean blue eyes danced with laughter. He was clad in black from his form-fitted shirt to his skin-tight black jeans to his stylish boots. A black leather messenger bag was strung across his torso and rested on his hip. “Do we see what, Mom? Is it what you wer–” “Ms. Towry, what do you see?” Nurse Ratched's voice was getting a bit demanding for my taste, and I was not at all happy with the way she kept cutting off my Jackie. Just as I opened my mouth to say something, the man in black with the ponytail spoke first. “Let it go, Penelope.” Ponytail’s voice was sharp yet melodic in its tenor, and his words were, without a doubt, not a suggestion. But even though I knew them to be a command, it was the nicest command I’d ever heard. So, I bit my tongue and went for a neutral response. “I’m just tired, I guess.” I glanced over at Ponytail who simply nodded at me, his eyes still so very full of mischief, it sent a slight thrill through me. I could get lost in those eyes. They brought back all of those wonderful sensations I thought had died when my husband was killed in action over a decade ago. I took a deep breath and laid my head back on the pillow and looked up at the four imps to keep my mind off saying or thinking anything more. Something was amiss here... Jackie continued to rub my foot. “It’s okay, Mom, we’ll have lots of ti–” And, of course, Ratched interrupted her again. This time, she tried so very hard to sound nice, and it was just dreadful. In fact, you’d rather her be demanding because this 'Ratched-nice' was really creepy. I even noticed two of the young nurses shudder as they finished up and turned to leave. “Now, Ms. Towry, you know you can tell us anyth–” I pulled my eyes from the imps and looked directly at Jackie, thrilled to be interrupting and ignoring Ratched. “What year is it?” The four imps’ movements caught my attention, and I allowed my eyes to follow them carrying their loaded spool. They swooped over the head of the remaining orderly on my right side and headed toward Ponytail. “Mom, none of that really matters right now.” As Jackie spoke, I watched Ponytail’s hand reach down and lift the large flap on his bag, his eyes never leaving my face. A warm glow emanated from the inside of the bag. The imps flew down and deposited their spool – their action causing the light inside the bag to momentarily burst with colors and then resort back to the residual glow. Ponytail let the large flap drop back into place and winked at me. Something deep inside of me warmed like it had been there forever. “What matters is that you’re back.” Jackie kept talking as the orderly on my right finished packing everything onto the cart, and I watched as he pushed the cart in front of him to exit the room. Then, both he and it passed right through Ponytail, the latter’s harsh face breaking out into the most handsome smile I’d ever seen as he acted like he’d been punched in the gut. Framed by his silver hair, that playful face was, without a doubt, where I belonged. I felt a grin try to pull across my lips, but I suppressed it as I turned back to Jackie who was still speaking. “You’ve been gone so long. You’ve got grandchi–” “You’re right, Jaybird.” I really did not want to interrupt my Jackie, but, suddenly, I had a much more pressing engagement – I needed to get back home. The imps hovered near me, and I put out my hand for Sal to land on. She had adopted my wandering spirit first, after all. Both Jackie and Ratched caught their breaths and frowned at me, looking at my open palm where Sal sat. Although, I knew now that they didn’t see Sal at all. Just my hand. “It really doesn’t matter. Not anymore.” I glanced back over at Ponytail……no, Ronan. His name was Ronan. And I was here to say good-bye. “Ms. Towry, we need to g–” “I love you, Jaybird.” I smiled from ear to ear since I got to interrupt Ratched one last time. “You promise me, now – promise you’ll tell everyone I love them very much, you hear?” Jackie looked stunned. “But, Mom, you can tell them yoursel–” “No, Jaybird, promise me.” There went the Jaybird waterworks, but I couldn’t do anything about that now. I looked over at Ronan who had pulled himself up to full height and held out another messenger bag toward me. My messenger bag. It was time to go. I pulled Sal close to me and heard her little warbling. It made me smile. I looked back toward Jackie. “Promise me, Jaybird.” She cried some more but she nodded her head. “I promise, Mom.” I smiled at her. “I meant what I said, Jaybird – I’m okay.” I glanced over at Ronan as I blew a big breath at Sal, sending her tumbling in the air. “I love you.” As I threw my legs over the side of the bed and stepped toward Ronan, I heard the heart monitor begin blaring a long, unending tone. Medical personnel rushed back through the door – through me and Ronan – and around the room. They were shouting things about codes and crash carts, things I no longer had a connection to. Even the sound of Jackie’s crying faded as Splotch landed on my shoulder. “Thank you, Ronan.” I smiled at the handsome man who had become my partner and my lifeline. I took my bag from him and hung it around my neck and shoulder. “Anything for you, right imps?” Ronan returned my smile, melting my heart all over again. He held out his hand, and I laced our fingers together as one. We walked into the bright light that appeared beside the door, the imps warbling and leading the way. “Anything for our Penelope.”
|
| ©
Copyright 2024.
Y. M. Roger
All rights reserved. Y. M. Roger has granted FanStory.com, its affiliates and its syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work. |