WATCHING BRAD
Part 137
I awoke the next morning to the sounds of the alarm. Justin was lying on my chest again, which appeared to be his new favourite position when he slept with me. His eyes opened momentarily and he stirred slightly, but went right back to sleep again. Yesterday had felt like a bad dream. More a nightmare, really. Only my continued exhaustion and aching body and the feeling of Justin's bandaged feet against my sides told me that it had been real. My boys had been lost. It hadn't been a dream.
I lay there for several minutes, willing my body and my mind to wake up. I almost succeeded. My mind awoke, but my body refused to do so. I can't recall ever being so entirely exhausted. Every muscle ached and it felt as though I barely had the energy to lift my head from the pillow.
But, life moves on and I had to move along with it. Justin stirred slightly as I slid over and lifted myself and Justin out of bed. Brad's eyes opened and he, too, began to move, but I motioned with my hand and my smile for him to stay where he was. Jeremy, who was lying astraddle Brad's chest as Justin was on mine, didn't budge from his slumber. I put Justin back into bed beside Brad, into his open arm, but Justin roused himself, cried "Daddy, no!" in a small, sad, whimpering voice. Tears immediately began to stream down his little face as he scrambled out of Brad's arm and toward mine. I picked him up again and he wrapped himself around me and settled his head on my shoulder. I resigned myself to my burden, pulled on my bathrobe as best I could, and headed for the bathroom.
I balanced Justin with one arm as I took a leak. He lifted his head briefly to tell me that he, too, had to go pee, so, as soon as I was finished, I set him on the toilet and let him go as well. Moments later, he was sleeping in my arms once more.
I went to my daughter's room, sitting on the side of her bed, my hand resting on her shoulder. I shook her gently and called her, but what came out of my mouth sounded very-much like a frog croaking in a pond.
Lindsay roused herself long enough to tell me that she was still too tired and didn't want to wake up yet. Her eyes closed again. I decided to let her sleep and walked down the hall to the kitchen and began making a pot of coffee.
There we were, only a few days before the twins' birthday on Saturday, and we had come so close to losing them. I'm sure they would have been found eventually, but what would have happened if they'd spent the night there under that gazebo, lost and alone and frightened? So many things might have happened to them, both during and following the ordeal. Their injuries could have become dangerously infected and they might have required. . .
I stopped that thought before it even crept into my brain and my entire body shuddered. I refused to think the unthinkable. My heart wept for them They had lived more in their short lives than most people live throughout decades of theirs. They certainly didn't deserve a future like the one I had almost imagined. So, how could I prevent it from happening again? The truth is, I couldn't. Short of quitting my job and staying home with them and being with them all the time, it simply wouldn't happen.
No. They were good boys and it was a freak occurrence. It could happen again, though the chances of that were less than they were yesterday, but it would be better to prepare ourselves in case it happened again rather than to stifle their lives and theirs by trying to prevent it.
Had we failed them? Only in not having found them sooner. We couldn't have anticipated nor prevented the coincidental circumstances which led up to their ordeal. Terry had chosen that moment to go to the bathroom. One of the boys had chosen that moment to be looking out the patio doors, and the dog had chosen that moment to run into the backyard. That must have been the word Terry heard from the bathroom - one of the boys shouting "Doggie!" Had she not been flushing the toilet at the time, she may have heard the word and heard the door sliding open and she may have been able to prevent the whole thing.
A lot of ‘maybes' in there, but all the maybes in the world won't change the past.
I'm not at all certain I will know all that happened to them that day, and I can only imagine what was going through their heads at the time, but I would do everything in my power never to allow anything like that to happen again. I wouldn't become a mother hen and tie them to apron strings, but I believe we all learned a lesson that day. A very difficult, but an extremely valuable lesson. Things happen very quickly and we must be prepared to help them when they need us.
I was sitting at the table sipping my coffee when Terry arrived at eight o'clock. Justin still slept against my shoulder and I had managed to secure my bathrobe around both of us. She let herself in and turned off the security alarm before coming into the kitchen. She wasn't surprised to see Justin sleeping in my arms.
"Hi, Mr. Dee," she said quietly.
I nodded my greeting.
"I thought you might still be in bed, too. How's the voice?"
I answered by saying in my frog-like voice, "Fine."
Terry actually smiled. "That bad, eh? No wonder you're not talking. That voice could give the kids nightmares."
I nodded.
"How are the twins?" she asked as she sat down across the corner from me and looked at the sleeping boy in my arms.
I could only shrug my shoulders. I truly didn't know.
"Look, I'm really and truly sorry about yesterday. I hope you can forgive me."
"Nothing to forgive, Terry. It happens."
"Still, they were my responsibility, Mr. Dee. I failed them, and I failed you, too."
"Don't blame yourself. I know you did everything you could."
"Still, I feel as though I didn't do enough."
"You did all you could," I smiled and told her. "Please stop apologizing."
"Okay," she said, returning my smile. "Did you sound like that last night?"
I nodded my head.
"I'm surprised the boys recognized you sounding like that."
"They didn't."
Terry sat back in her chair, her eyes opened wide. "How did you get them to come up from under the gazebo?"
"Afrikaans," I replied.
"I didn't know they could speak it."
"They understand ‘I love you'," I told her.
Terry smiled sweetly. "So, they knew it could only be you."
I nodded my head.
Terry got up to pour herself a coffee and to warm mine up. When she was finished and sitting once more, I suddenly realized that we seldom spent any time together and that I knew very little about her. "Tell me about yourself, Terry."
"What do you want to know?"
"Anything you wish to tell me."
Over the next while, Terry filled me in on her life. She told me that she's over eighteen years old, but wouldn't admit how many years over she was. She had been born in Ottawa and grew up in Arnprior, a small town close enough to the Capital to give them somewhere to go on weekends, but small enough for everyone to know everyone else. She was the second of four children - one older sister and two younger brothers.
"Mom and Dad met in high school," she explained. "They both grew up in Ottawa and were married in 1978. They lived in Smiths Falls for a year but moved to Arnprior to set up home there. My sister was born a year later." Her sister was now married and living down east. "Her husband is in the Armed Forces. He's stationed at CFB Greenwood in Nova Scotia."
"Greenwood," I repeated. "That's Air Force, isn't it?"
"Yes," Terry replied with a smile. "He's ground crew, though. He doesn't fly."
Her oldest brother, she said, lived and worked in Ottawa as a tour guide on Parliament Hill. "He's heavy into politics," she added with a wink. "He's hoping he can work his way in through the back door."
Her youngest brother, seventeen years old, still lives at home with his mother. "He has cerebral palsy, but he's high-functioning even though he needs leg braces and arm crutches to walk with. He's the sweetest little guy you could meet, though. He always makes me laugh."
While her mother was still alive, her father had died suddenly a few years ago in an industrial accident which she refused to explain. I didn't ask about it.
Terry loved children (which had been obvious the moment I met her) and had always wanted to be a kindergarten teacher. "When I was a kid, I would gather all my dolls together and pretend I was holding a class for them. I taught them their ABCs and their numbers and colours and such. I had so much fun doing that, and I knew that's what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. With real children, of course," she added with a large, happy grin. "Dolls really suck at parent-teacher reviews."
I grinned back at her, delighted to see the sparkle of enthusiasm in her eyes.
Unfortunately, not long after Christmas of her first year in college, her father died suddenly and she was unable to continue her education at that time. Not only could she not afford the classes anymore, but her mother needed help with the household bills. She finished her year at college and went to work in Arnprior as a cashier at a local supermarket whilst living at home and helping to pay the bills and to care for her younger siblings but, when her brother finished school and moved to Ottawa, she decided it was time for her to get out and start making a life for herself.
"I worked in Kingston at a day-care centre for two years before moving here," she went on to explain. "I'd only been here two days when I saw your ad in the paper and called. I didn't even have my telephone in yet and had to call you from a phone booth."
"But you gave me a phone number," I reminded her.
Her gaze fell to the table as her pleasant, sheepish smile spread across her face once more. "I know. I had the number. Just no phone. They installed it the next day."
"Lucky for you I didn't have to call you back."
"Yeah," she chuckled. "That would have been humiliating." Her voice took on that of a telephone recording: "The number you have reached is not in service."
We both laughed softly. I doubted that we would wake up Justin, but I didn't want to take the chance.
Coincidentally, at that very moment, the telephone rang. I began to rise, but Terry said, "I'll get it" and quickly ran to the livingroom. "Hello," I heard her say. "Oh, hi, Mrs. Dee. . . . Yes, he's awake. . . . No, they're still asleep, but I'll ask. Hang on."
She appeared in the doorway a moment later. "It's your mother," she told me. "She wants to know how the twins are doing and if you've checked their feet yet this morning."
"I haven't checked yet," I replied. "Tell her the boys are fine and I'll call her after I change their bandages."
She nodded and went back to the telephone to relay my message.
"Do you think you'll go back to school to become a teacher?" I asked when she had returned to the table.
"No," she replied. "I don't think so. Not now." Her eyes fell on Justin where he slept beneath my bathrobe. "I love this job more than anything else I've ever done. I love the twins, and Lindsay is a gem. I wouldn't trade it for the world." Her eyes came up to meet mine. "I feel sort of like Maria Von Trapp."
"Sorry," I smiled. "This Captain is engaged."
She leaned back in her chair and giggled lightly. "Oh, I wasn't thinking about marrying you, Mr. Dee. I was thinking about Brad."
"He's engaged, too."
Terry laughed out loud then and quickly covered her mouth to stifle the sound.
"Just don't let me see the kids wearing our bedroom drapes," I added.
That did it for Terry. She jumped up from her chair and ran outside. Even from my place at the kitchen table, I could hear her hearty guffaws. She truly was a treasure.
* * * * *
Lindsay finally woke up just before ten o'clock. Justin came awake soon after, followed by Brad and Jeremy. I had already phoned work to tell them I would try to get in later and had called the school to explain the excitement from the night before and that Lindsay would be in later. Brad had helped Terry make breakfast as I held the boys on my lap.
Now I was kneeling on the livingroom floor in front of the sofa, my sons sitting there in Brad's lap before me. All the medical supplies set on the coffee table, waiting alongside the bowl of warm water. With the greatest of care, I removed Justin's bandages. Thankfully, the bandages didn't stick to his feet and he barely flinched.
The soles of his feet looked raw and painful but there were no bleeding wounds. I carefully washed his feet with the water and liquid soap. Jeremy didn't fare quite as well. The gashing wound from which the large wedge of glass had been extracted was still seeping blood in places and looked extremely painful. This became obvious as I washed his feet and Jeremy cried out, tears flowing down his face. Brad cuddled and soothed him as I worked as quickly as I could.
Their fear and pain quickly turned to excitement, though, as I put small, plastic bags over their feet and taped the top to their legs with waterproof adhesive strips.
The twins thoroughly enjoyed their showers with us. It was good to hear their laughter and to see the happy smiles on their faces. The horrors of the night before seemed so far away. Brad and I stood in the shower sideways to the spray and facing each other. We turned the boys around so their backs were to our chests and they were facing each other and let them wash each other's hair, then turned them around again so they could wash ours.
We finished showering, dried off, then the twins sat on our bed, wrapped in towels, as Brad and I got dressed. When we finished, we took them to their own room to dress them as well. Finally, it was time to treat their feet with antiseptic cream and to replace the bandages.
I phoned Mom after that and let her talk to the twins. She was relieved to hear them sounding so cheerful, of course, and promised to phone Dad as soon as we hung up.
"Before we ring off, Teddy," Mom said when she was talking to me again, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper, "I must tell you about the birthday party on Saturday."
"Oka-a-a-ay," I said, somewhat confused. What was there to tell?
"We need you and the boys not to be home Friday night and Saturday morning."
"What!?"
"I said, we need you and the boys not. . ."
"I heard you, Mom," I said. "Why?"
"I can't tell you," she answered quickly. "Please, can you make plans not to be home? It's a special surprise that Lindsay thought of. We need time to set it up."
"I suppose we can," I told her with a chuckle. "I'll figure something out."
"You mustn't come back until we ring you up. And don't say anything to the twins. Promise?"
"I promise, Mom."
"What was that all about?" Brad asked after I'd hung up the telephone.
I shrugged my shoulders. "I have no idea." Then a thought sprang suddenly into my mind and I picked up the phone again and dialed.
"Hello," the familiar voice responded after several rings.
"Hi, Warren."
"Teddy! It's so good to hear from you!"
"How are you feeling, Bud?"
"Fantastique!" my friend responded excitedly. "Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better."
Shades of Frank Spencer there.
"Great," I said. "Listen, Warren, do you feel up to some company Friday night?"
"Mais oui, mon ami! Always!"
"We'll probably be staying overnight," I told him, "and the twins will be with us."
Justin twisted around to look at me, as did Jeremy. Both had huge, open-mouth smiles of surprise on their faces.
"That will be wonderful, Teddy! I can hardly wait, and I know Bill will be just as excited as I am! I was hoping to feel well enough to come down with their birthday presents. Now I don't have to worry about fighting the traffic."
"You're sure it won't be too much trouble?"
"As long as you don't expect me to go dancing," he said with a laugh.
And so it was settled. We finalized our plans quickly, mainly because there weren't any to finalize. We hung up after promises of seeing each other early Friday evening.
Justin was still turned around, looking at me. "Are we going to Uncle Warren's?"
"We sure are," I told him.
"And we're going to sleep there?" Jeremy asked.
"Yup."
The twins looked at each other and clapped their hands, giggling with excitement. I was amazed at how quickly the traumas of their adventure had been pushed to the back shelf, but I was very relieved as well. I had anticipated spending the next few days trying to get them through it. I really wanted to know what had happened too them. Instead, I remained silent about it. When they felt like talking about it, if they ever did, I would be ready to listen.
Lindsay went to school after lunch and Brad and I spent the afternoon playing Nintendo with the twins. It was strange, having them attached to us almost all day long. They certainly couldn't walk and they seemed to enjoy being carried everywhere.
We all took a nap in their bedroom whilst Terry stood guard, although I suspect she was quietly watching soap operas or some talk show on television.
I somehow managed to pawn Justin off on Brad as I cooked dinner, but my son was back in my arms the moment the first opportunity arose. After dinner, Lindsay had her bath and I changed the boys' bandages again, then we all sat down on the sofa to watch our game shows. The twins didn't make it to Final Jeopardy. They fell asleep in our laps half-way through Double Jeopardy.
Lindsay even went to bed before her usual bedtime at nine o'clock and, by ten o'clock, Brad and I were also sleeping soundly with the twins comfortably perched on our chests. The horrific nightmare, it seemed, was over and the nightmare of wedding preparations could finally begin in earnest.
To Be Continued
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