Left Behind...Again
9 Months Later
Dear Amanda
Today is a very sad day. As you may no it has been 1 year sins my mom and dad died. Gramma Kara has still not come home. It has been almost a year sins I’ve seen her. Grampa Chris is very tired he’s gone a lot visiting her. I think she is dying. I have been helping take care of Joey while he is gone but it is hard. I no that Gramma Kara is old but I am not ready to lose her too.
Yor very sad frend
Brittney
Brittney put her pen down and looked over to where Tara the babysitter sat watching TV and talking to a friend over the phone. Tara was a young 15 year old who lived down the street and was looking to make some easy cash but cared nothing for the two little brats that she was responsible for. To her babysitting for the Bakers was just a way to get away from her own brothers and have access to a phone and TV, two things that she barely ever got to herself when at home. Tara enjoyed being in charge almost too much she was nothing like Marrissa. Brittney turned back to her letter and wrote one last thing on it before folding it and sticking it in the envelope.
P.S. Tell Merisa I relly, relly miss her, my new babesiter is not as fun as her. All she does is wach TV and talk on the fone she probly wood not relize it if I left the house. I cud do better by myself.
After she sealed the envelope she slipped past Tara who was talking about some fashion show with one of her many friends over the phone and went up to her room.
She checked on Joseph to be sure he was sleeping before moving in to her own room. There he lay, his thumb half in his mouth, his blond tuft of hair damp from sweat. She moved over to the side of his crib and brushed her fingers through his hair smiling as he rolled onto his back smacking his lips and opening his eyes slightly before dropping off to sleep again. “Don’t worry Joseph.” She whispered softly. “No matter what happens I’ll always be here for you.” Then she kissed the tips of her fingers and pressed them gently on the baby’s cheek. “I love you little brother!” She said as she closed the door softly behind her.
Once in her own room she pulled a shoebox out from under her bed inside were all the things she treasured the most: her mom’s favorite necklace, some peppermints from her dad’s office, a pair of little tennis shoes that Joseph had grown out of, her parents wedding rings, a family photo album and all the letters she had gotten from Amanda.
She took the album out of the box and looked at the picture at the front. She loved the picture. It had been taken outside under a fall tree at the park. The leaves were beautiful shades of red and orange. Her father and Joseph were wearing green shirts with red scarves and she and her mother were wearing red shirts with green scarves.
Her mother’s hair was pulled back into a wind-whipped bun with two stray sections of hair framing her face. Her black hair had a slight curl to it that added a little character to her and her cheeks were quite rosy from the wind.
Her father’s blond hair was blown slightly and his cheeks were red but not as red as her mom’s. He had one arm around his wife and the other around Brittney who was holding onto it for dear life.
Then their was her brother just barely 1 year old and sitting in his mothers arms like the happiest boy alive with a big grin on his face that Brittney had only seen 5 or 6 times since their parents had died.
She opened the big album and looked through the pictures in the book tracing her mother’s handwriting absentmindedly as she looked at the pictures: Pictures of her parents wedding and of her and Joseph’s births and first birthdays. She skipped to the back of the book and although she had looked at each page a zillion times and had memorized each picture each facial expression and every word her mother had written tears still filled her eyes. She couldn’t help it every time she saw the picture of her standing on the stool beside her mother looking into the mirror and trying to copy her as she put on make-up, every time she saw her and her dad in snow-gear building a snow-fort in the back yard, every time she saw Officer Hugo chasing her with a squirt gun at a squad cookout or Marissa laughing at her after shoving cake in her face at her 10th birthday party she couldn’t help but cry.
A lone cry from the other room told her Joseph was awake and she put the album back in the box and pushed the box back under her bed. Then wiping the tears in her eyes she slipped into Joseph’s room and smiled when she saw him standing up in the crib holding onto the side and forcing tears out of his eyes. “Oh you pathetic little thing.” She grinned as she pulled down the side of the crib and pulled him out. Immediately he stopped crying and laughed.
“Breney!” He cooed and she smiled
“Yeah that’s right Joseph. Are you Hungry?”
The baby stuffed his pudgy hand in his mouth and nodded she laughed and worked her way to the kitchen and past the living room where Tara was sitting cross-legged on the ground painting her nails and holding the phone firmly between her head and shoulder. She glanced up when she saw Brittney pass but quickly went back to work on her nails.
Brittney slipped into the kitchen and placed Joseph awkwardly into his highchair then pulled over a chair to get down the baby food and a small bowl, spoon and sippy cup along with a banana off the counter. She brought it all to the table and started singing as she poured some of the flakes into the bowl and mixed it with water from the sink.
“The little duck
With the feather
On his back
He led the others with a…”
“QUACK, QUACK, QUACK” Joseph yelled out happily as he banged his tray in excitement. Brittney smiled as she finished mixing up the baby food and diced up half a banana in small slices and placed it on his tray then filled his sippy cup with 1/3 water and 2/3 juice and gave it to his as well then absentmindedly picked up the other half of the banana and began to eat it.
She heard the front door open and Tara talking to someone which wasn’t much of a surprise Tara frequently had friends over to “help babysit”. She finished the banana and dumped the peel in the garbage. The front door slammed again and she sighed. Joseph had given up on the spoon and was now digging out the banana chunks with his fingers and banging the spoon on the tray Brittney smiled and shook her head but she couldn’t bare to be the one to stop his fun so instead she grabbed a spoon of her own and began rapping on his tray and singing at the top of her lungs.
“What is going on in here?” Brittney stopped suddenly at the sound of Christilone’s voice. He had his hands on his hips but she could see the smile playing at the corner of his mouth.
“Grampa Chris, you’re back” Chris smiled as she hugged him and then a tired look crossed his face. “Grampa Chris what’s wrong is Gramma Kara alright?”
“I’m afraid not Brittney. She’s not doing well at all they don’t expect her to live much longer. I’m going back to see her again next week.”
“Are you going to take us with you this time?”
Chris sighed “You know I want to take you Brittney. But…I just can’t.”
“But Grampa Chris –“
“I said ‘no’ Brittney” tears filled Chris’s eyes as he looked down at Brittney wide eyes “I’m sorry Brittney, I know you just want to see her one last time and say good-bye but…it just doesn’t always work that way. I’m really sorry.”
Anger filled Brittney. She looked at her little brother who was playing with his food again unaware of all that was going on around him and then looked back at Chris. “I think you’re lying, you can take me you just don’t want to. You don’t think a little girl like me can handle death. That’s what everyone thinks. That’s why you talk about it in whispers when you think I’m asleep. That’s why no one talks about my parents death why they tell me that they “passed away” or “left this world” or “are no longer living” instead of just saying their DEAD, heart stopped pumping, cold to the touch, rotting in the ground DEAD.” Brittney was sobbing now but she wasn’t finished. “You all think I’m too young to understand, that I can’t handle it but what I can’t handle is that I didn’t get to say good-bye. And now your not letting me say good-bye to her either.” She was getting angry again as she looked Chris straight in the eye. “And I thought you cared about me.” Then she ran out of the room leaving Chris crushed by her words and knowing he could do nothing to change her feelings.
Brittney ran to her room and cried for a full hour. She couldn’t understand how Chris could be so mean and so inconsiderate. And that’s when she came to a decision. She wouldn’t let Chris control her like this. She would say good-bye to Kara if it was the last thing she ever did.
Tara barely ever paid attention to her anyway and probably wouldn’t even notice if she was gone. So next week when Chris left she would be in that car with him whether he liked it or not.
“I don’t know what to do Kara!” Chris complained it was nearly 8:00 and Brittney and Joseph had been asleep for nearly two hours. He hadn’t seen Brittney since her outburst in the kitchen but he had done a lot of thinking and after putting Joey to bed he had quickly called his wife. “It’s not that I don’t want to take her with me but it’s too dangerous. If she was to catch Quaple I’d never forgive myself.”
Kara’s gentle voice filled the device at his ear. “Oh Christilone you worry too much. This problem is easy to solve I’ll just come back with you this time.”
“What!” the shock in Chris’s voice was unmistakable. “What do you mean you’ll come back with me?”
“I’m coming back to Earth with you to say good-bye to the children. Now don’t try to talk me out of it cause I’ve already made-up my mind.”
“No you need to stay there where the doctors can-“
“Chris” Her soft but firm voice caused him to stop short as she continued. “I’m dying and theirs nothing you or any of the doctors can do about it and if it’s alright with you I’d like to spend my dying days in the place I was most happy among the people I love.”
Chris couldn’t speak.
“Please can you allow me this final request Christilone?”
There was a pause then Chris cleared his throat and said. “How could I possibly deny you, I’ll tell Brittney in the morning I’m sure she’ll be overjoyed.”
“Actually Chris I was hoping to surprise her.”
