“He came across the ocean, I suppose you could say,” Clarabelle explained to her friend, Shandy, “that’s how I met Herbie, a proud man of the Navy, you know they really do remain close, after all these years, Herbie’s old crew still keeps me up on the latest news about their lives; when I lost Herbie, those fellows could not do enough for me,” and both ladies had pools of tears welling up.
“Oh, that makes me think of my own love, the one that got away; he wasn’t in the Navy, but his work called him away quite often and he was hard to reach. You know I said he’s the one that got away, but I sent him away. He was nice enough, but he had one problem, he was already married and did not give me that detail until I found out on my own.”
Patting Shandy’s hands, Clarabelle sat beside her, in her lounger, “Shandy, dear, there are plenty of roads we choose in life and plenty of roads that get chosen for us. I like to look at the results more than the process, because the results are what we live with, and I like to think that my results are amazing. And look at us, if I had not been so overwhelmed that day in the diner, we may have never become friends, and I like those results.”
“Great and marvelous are thy works, o Lord of hosts, almighty God…,” were the words flowing from Clarabelle as she sat beside Herbie’s hospital bed, he smiled and held her hand, listening to her angelic voice, much like the clink of the crystals hanging from the doorway, gentle, yet powerful.
“He’s going to be just fine, ma’am, he just had a little stress, but his heart checked out fine,” the doctor patted Herbie on the shoulder, “now, you do need to stop that smoking, it’s only fair of me to mention, as it is slowing you down,” Herbie nodded and looked over at Clarabelle and winked.
The doctor left the room, Clarabelle looked in her husband’s eyes and held his hand, “you know, honey, it’s important to listen to what the doctor said, I, uh,” tears rolled down her cheeks and Herbie’s eyes watered.
Squeezing his wife’s hand, Herbie spoke, through choked back tears, “Clair, we are going to do this together, I know what I need to do and as hard as it is gonna be, it’s gotta be done,” to which Clarabelle nodded and arose from her seat.
“Many are called for great things, love, and you were called to be with me and while I am not a great thing, I need to tell you, I need you in my life, Herbie, and there’s no two ways about it, I marvel at God’s gift to us, and sure don’t want to take it for granted.”
Often, Herbie thought his wife should start preaching, because her words would stick with him better than any person at the pulpit, reaching for her hand, he gave it a squeeze, “honey, we have this covered, no matter what, and that is that, you are the greatest thing to ever happen to me.”
Herbie pulled up in the old grey Dodge, “Bird” as named by his best friend, George; Turning the handle on the garage, he pulled up the door and went inside, scuffing into his workshop, and placed his worn tool bag on the bench, all the while thinking about what might be going on with him, coughing so much and feeling such a hard time with breathing; lighting up another one of his unfiltered he took a draw and slowly blow a stream of smoke before another hack came on, “these damn things are getting the best of me, maybe I oughta give them up,” he snuffed the butt since there was some more left for later and closing the garage door, he went inside the house.
Scents of cinnamon and apples greeted Herbie before he could enter the house and he smiled, knowing his dear wife, Clarabelle, had made his favorite dessert of apple pie; opening the door, he saw her standing at the stove, unaware he entered; easing up behind her, but being ever so careful she was not in danger of getting burned he reached around her waist and gave her a squeeze and a peck on her warm, red cheek, to which she giggled and said, “hi, honey, how was your day?”
“It was pretty good, we got old man Fletcher’s barn door fixed and I don’t think he’ll have any escaped cows anymore, ‘course that’ll mean no more cream for us when we rescue another stray, but that’s okay.”
“Well, we will be okay without so much free cream; my hips are getting too wide as it is.”
“Clair, my love, you know I love your hips and everything they’re attached to, so don’t you go talking that silliness, as long as we stay healthy, we have no worries,” patting her hips, letting out another hack, Herbie excused himself and went to the bathroom to wash up for supper; it looked like chicken and dumplings, and that was a good enough reason to scrub extra hard.
Tending to the chicken and dumplings, Clarabelle thought to herself, I hope he will be open to going to the doctor for that cough, there is not enough whiskey honey to solve that problem, and she felt her eyes water and felt she was being watched, just then she turned around and there he was, on the floor, passed out from lack of breath; she quickly called an ambulance and stayed by his side, and when they arrived, they could get him to breathing, but took him in to the hospital, assuring Clarabelle, that they would do all they could to help him and she grabbed her purse and took off right behind them, with prayers that her faith, unfiltered, would carry him through, and she believed it did.
And there you have it! This is my Six Sentence Story for this week! Would you like to join us? Go to this LINK and check it out!
They admitted Clarabelle to the hospital and Shandy waited for her results at the River Walk, since the pandemic would make it difficult to sit in the waiting room and maintain social distancing; they gave her a pager, and she left her number just in case it did not reach; knowing it could be a short time or long time, depending on the freeze test of the lump, if benign it would be a sew up and send home, but if malignant, a mastectomy would be the result; praying for the time to be short, Shandy watch the wildlife doing their morning dance for breakfast, offering some of her own treats from the feed box provided by the wildlife management.
Clarabelle had to have another mammogram to pinpoint the location of the lump; and perspiring from the lack of food, she struggled through it, praying for relief from the pressure of the mammogram machine, realizing that this was just part of the whole routine, she did her best to get through it, thinking of her late husband and imagining his comforting hands holding hers and she found mental peace.
As they wheeled Clarabelle to the surgical unit, she sighed and hoped for the best, wondering if she would go home that day and thinking about how good breakfast would taste, just thinking of anything but what would happen next, until the surgeon came in and talked to her; explaining the procedure, she told Clarabelle that she would keep her on the IV and she should not feel any pain, they would isolate the area so that would be where she was numb, they would then remove the lump and take it for a freeze test to see if it was benign depending on the results, they would either sew her up or they would anesthetize her and do a mastectomy; assuring her she would keep Shandy informed, Clarabelle tried to relax and wait while the procedure began and she did not feel a thing while they did their procedure.
“Hello, Shandy, your mother did just fine and will be in recovery just a short while, and you can take her home, all went well, the good news is that the lump was benign and the worse thing is that she will have to continue with annual mammograms, so it was a good day for her and for you.” Shandy breathed a sigh of relief and then she realized they referred her to be Clarabelle’s daughter; Smiling, she decided it was not such a hard title to accept.
When it was time to take Clarabelle home, Shandy called a taxi and smiling, she told Clarabelle about being called her daughter, to which Clarabelle smiled and responded, “Yes, I knew they wouldn’t have any issue if we were related, so I told them that, and, well, you are like the beautiful daughter I never had, and I am grateful to know you,” to which Shandy took Clarabelle’s hand and just like that Clarabelle knew her beloved Herbie was still around, looking after her, always ready in a zip.
There you have it! This is my response to the prompt word ZIP from Denise’s Six Sentence Story Blog Hop. You can go HERE to join in and read the other stories.
“My dear girl, you are young and it’s good to check out new horizons, especially when where you’ve been has not brought you enough joy,” Clarabelle responded to Shandy, her new friend to be, “I also sought new horizons when I was younger; I suppose it was a different time back then, maybe more simple, but I knew I had to find something other than the sadness…umm, well, you know, life sometimes needs change, don’t you think?”
Shandy patted Clarabelle on the back of her hand and smiled, the two just looked at each other for a brief moment when the bell rang for orders to be picked up, “please stick around, and I will be back, that is, unless you have some things you need to go do, I don’t want to keep you, but, well, you are so nice and, well, it’s something I don’t see enough of, especially when people come in and don’t look at me, and, well, uh, you see me,” and Shandy went off to pick up her orders.
Clarabelle sat and sipped her tea and contemplated her next stop, not desiring to go there and having a little time, she was glad to wait for her new friend to come back for a visit; Shandy came with a piece of apple pie ala mode, “this is on the house; and I am done working for this day, thank goodness, and I thought I would join you for desert,” each with their dessert plates and drinks, the two ladies chatted up to get to know each other.
Shandy shared that she was an only child and that her life was just a simple one, but with both parents deceased, she had nothing to hold her in North Carolina, and she decided to give the Midwest a try; it was colder weather, but she didn’t mind having a change of scenery and truly enjoyed the sunsets and the Mississippi River, and it also helped that her Aunt Rebecca opened up her home and let Shandy stay there; Clarabelle listened with great focus, except when the nagging thoughts about her appointment interrupted her demeanor; Shandy picked up on this and asked, “what seems to be troubling you, Clarabelle?”
Picking at the remains of her pie, Clarabelle looked up at Shandy and confessed, “I have an appointment in about an hour and I am not looking forward to it, it’s for a follow up from my mammogram, and, well, it makes me nervous to think that something could be wrong.”
Shandy placed her hand on Clarabelle’s shoulder and gave her a gentle squeeze, “well, you don’t have to do through this alone, now, do you, as I have time to go with you, that is if you want me to go,” to which Clarabelle sighed a relieved sigh and nodded her head, yes.
…..
There you have it! This my response to this weeks Six Sentence Story prompt HORIZON
As a teacher, I will always remain a student. In the classroom of life, l wish to work with and educate others. Whether you’re a teacher, student, or just your average person, here are a few of my "TEACHERble" moments.
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