Lee clutched my hand tightly as she heard the story.
“Son, it's been hard on you to accept Paul’s death for sometime now.” My mother stopped walking to look me in the eyes. “There is nothing that can change what happened, but time heals all wounds. It’s now time for you to let go of the hurt. Next time you go back home, go to his grave and let him know you miss him. Don’t let it eat you up inside anymore.”
“Your mother is right, honey.” Lee squeezed my hand. “It will be okay. Just remember the good times you shared and hold on to them always.”
I didn’t want to hear it. However, it was the truth. My life needed progression in that area, with no more pretending.
December 25, 1990
This Christmas would be very special. Mum invited Lee's family, Aunt Wendy, Mike, Marcus and our friends, Peter, Ronnie, Hyacinth, Carlene, Erica and Mark, Hyacinth’s boyfriend. The house was packed. Christmas presents surrounded the bottom of the Christmas tree. Mum cooked up a storm, with the help of my wife and Debbie. Roast potatoes, turkey, ham, beef roast, pork, duck, roasted carrots, peas with rice, Brussels sprouts, spinach, stuffed tomatoes, cabbage, homemade stuffing and fried plantains were on the menu. Then there was a selection of desserts that included trickle pudding, jam tart, apple crumble and Victorian sponge cake. All that came for Christmas dinner would leave with their stomachs full.
---
Mum and Lucy asked us to bow our heads while my father said grace. Then it was my turn for the carving of the turkey. While everyone passed serving dishes around the table, Emma was busy making her own meal of the plantains she took from the huge bowl.
During dinner, we talked as families do. Mum used this time to tell all our guest how proud she and dad were of me. They admired my making a big move to another country, finding love, starting a business and becoming a multimillionaire. “Both my sons make us very proud. Nothing could be more complete than to have them both married to wonderful women.” Tears formed in the corners of her eyes.
From this moment on, her words forever stayed embedded in my memory.
August 1997
As the years progressed, the pounds on my body steadily increased. I soon found myself working off the extra baggage at my local gym, every morning before work with my trusty friends.
Our company, AI made a whopping $12.5 billion in net sales, with a profit of $6.7 billion. With over five hundred workers in the office, and another thirteen hundred additional workers on the shop floor, AI grew larger than any of us could have imagined. Our reach spanned from the United States to Great Britain.
---
That evening, the three of us were sitting at the table eating dinner when the phone rang. Lee answered the call.
“It’s your dad.” Lee said stoically.
“What’s wrong?” I could sense uneasiness in her tone.
“I don’t know.” Lee handed me the telephone with a look of concern on her face.
“Hello?” I answered.
“Hi, son. How are you?” My dad responded.
“I'm fine, dad. Where is mum?”
“That’s why I'm calling. The ole girl is in the hospital.” Dad remarked solemnly.
“What’s happened to mum?” I tried to hide my panic.
“The ole girl went to the doctor’s the other day. She found a lump in her breast, and the doctor established that it's breast cancer.” Dad’s voice was steady.
“Are you sure, dad?” My voice had a shrill undertone.
“That’s what they said. Calm yourself son.” His voice remained even. “I know it's a lot to ingest, but she's going to be fine.”
Shaking with uncontrollable fear, I dropped the telephone receiver.
My dad called desperately. “Alistair, are you still there?
My mouth couldn’t utter a word, as fear devoured my insides. Lee picked up the telephone to speak with dad, and soon after, hung up. Dad told Lee that mum's surgery would be performed in a couple of days. The dark realization of what my family was about to face, started to unravel. The soft touch of Lee's hands massaging my shoulders eased the rising tension throughout my body. Unpleasant thoughts of loosing my mother to this killer brought tears to my eyes. Lee empathized, holding me closer.
Emma, who was now seven years old, said “don’t cry daddy. Grandma will be okay. She just needs us to be there.” It's amazing how a child’s few simple words can bring much comfort.
August 24, 1997
Early the next morning, the limo driver arrived ahead of schedule. The driver gave a slight tap on the horn, alerting us of his presence. The boot of the car popped open, and the driver stepped out of the limo, ready to assist us with our cases.
“Good morning, sir. My name is William. I will take care of the luggage, sir.” William closed the door behind me, then placed each case in the boot of the black limousine.
We started off to the airport. Lee reassured me that everything was going to be fine. “Honey, this took some doing finding a last minute flight.”
My eyes stayed fixed beyond the limo’s tinted glass. I was gazing into nowhere.
“Are you listening to me?” Lee inquired.
“Daddy, mummy is talking to you.” Emma interjected.
“I’m sorry, Emma. Daddy's not ignoring you and mummy. I'm just worried about Grandma Scott.”
Lee sat back to watch our father-daughter exchange. It was hard to accept that my little Emma was growing up so fast. The word precocious came to mind when family or friends talked about Emma. She wasn’t a normal seven-year-old. Her ability to process information quickly, and hold conversations with adults astounded her teachers. Just like her mother, there seemed to be nothing that Emma wasn’t good at. She even learned to play classical music on the piano at age six.
---
The staff on flight 721 made us feel at home. We were right in the belly of the Concorde, an enormous beast of an aircraft, built by the hands of Bristolans in Wiltshire England. The Concorde stood out from the rest of the commercial jets at the boarding gate with its downward pointed nose. This masterpiece was, by far, the most remarkable thing we had ever seen. It had a speed that no commercial aircraft could match.
We left JFK, and would be in London by midnight.
---
Before touching down at Heaththrow Airport and exiting the aircraft, the flight attendants and pilot stood by the door, thanking each passenger for flying British Airways. They mentioned that they hoped to see us again on our next trip. Unfortunately, in 2003, British Airway’s Concorde took its last known flight from JFK after an Air France Concorde crashed, killing all passengers onboard. This sparked a controversy that all Concorde planes were unsafe to fly because of the age and condition of the planes.
---
It was 2 am when we finally left the airport after securing a rental car. Lee tried several times to call dad at a callbox from the airport before giving up. She decided to ring Bradley, who was half asleep when he answered the phone. He mentioned that dad would be staying at the hospital with mum. If we needed to get in the house, he placed a spare key in the coalbunker shed.
At a quarter past five in the morning, we pulled up outside of 26 Brown Street. All seemed still, with the exception of the milkman making his early morning rounds. The clanging of empty milk and fizzy drink bottles rattled the stillness of the morning. This noise gave Lee and Emma a jolt. My two special girls were dead tired. Their faces were expressionless, and nothing would be more comforting to them than a warm bed.
Finding the key was no problem. It was right where Bradley said dad left it. Upon entering the house, it took a few seconds to recall where the light switch was, after a short scuffling match with the coatrack. Lee looked on, shaking her head, laughing at what could have made a great comedy sketch.
“Emma and I are going to bed.” Lee laughed. “When you finish your early morning dance with the coatrack, how about bringing a pot of tea with you on the way to bed?”
“Coming right up, sweeth
eart.” I blushed from embarrassment. “Put Emma in Bradley’s old room to the left.”
“I know where it is silly.” Lee was quick to remind me that she knew where Bradley’s room was.
Then without warning, the bloody coatrack fell to the ground, making a loud crashing sound on the wooden floor.
“What are you doing?” Lee shouted in a low quiet voice. You’re going to wake up our daughter. Leave the bloody thing alone!”
“You’re beginning to sound just like me more and more each day.” I laughed at Lee’s phrasing.
She rolled her eyes, looking down from the top of the banister, before heading towards the bathroom.
---
I was in the process of settling down, when it suddenly dawned on me that there were still two more suitcases left in the boot of the Rover. Rather than leaving them for later, it would be in my best interest to retrieve them while still high on three large cups of coffee.
The English morning air played with my senses, taking me back to the days of being a young boy doing my early morning paper rounds on a pushbike. Bradley had helped me build that bike. Every day after school for a month, we worked on our little project.
Before closing the front door, I picked up the milk and half dozen eggs left by the milkman. Mum had been hospitalized for two days, and since then, dad had kept things the way mum liked them, spick and span. Nothing was out of place.
I sat waiting for the kettle to boil, and briefly fell asleep. The steady whistling sound from the kettle brought me back to consciousness. Turning, towards the kitchen sink I opened the cold-water tap and splashed my face. The freezing cold water numbed my face a little, but did the job. I reached for one of mum's tea towels. Had she seen me using her kitchen towel to dry my face, she would have gone mental. I could hear her now. This is for drying your hands young man. It's not a bloody face flannel!
A thud, then another, quickly got my attention. It was coming from the front door. It sounded like some one was trying to break in. Whoever it was, they must have not known that the house was not entirely empty. With dad’s cricket bat in hand, I slowly crept to the front door, ready to surprise the perpetrator and knock him for six. The robber was making far too much noise to be a professional. I gripped the bat tightly, steadying myself. The perp was in view. My swing was slow, and disoriented, so the perp had time to duck.
We fell to the ground and wrestled for a minute or so. The light came on. “What are the two of you doing?” Lee whispered sternly. “You’re going to wake up Emma!”
Bradley struggled to his feet.
“Look what you've done to mum’s clock.” Lee continued. “I’m going to tell her about the two of you wrestling in the hallway like little boys, so early in the morning.” She huffed. “And Alistair, where is my tea, darling?”
“Now, I see why mum likes her so much.” Bradley shoved me playfully. “She's just like mum.”
“I heard that Bradley.” Lee yelled while exiting the room.
“She's got ears like a cat.” Bradley whispered.
“I heard that, also.” Lee remarked.
Bradley then turned his head to me as we both laughed. “Good to see you again little brother; even though, you tried to take my head off.”
“It's good to see you too Brad.” I embraced him.
“What are we going to do about mum's clock? This has been in the family since we were boys.”
“Yeah, you’re right about that. And as long as I can remember, it's been hit on the floor by us many times.” I recalled our childhood games of indoor roughhousing.
“Judging by what I just saw, you still are boys.” Lee eyed us from the top of the stairs.
“Shouldn’t you be sleeping?” I quizzed.
“No one can get any sleep in here with all the noise you've been making.” Lee turned the bathroom light off before closing the door and walking to the bedroom.
---
I was wired, so I stayed up with Bradley, drinking tea and eating biscuits. Together, we
pieced the old coo-coo clock back together.
Bradley’s conversation suddenly caught me off guard. He mentioned that Juliet Gale had been coming to the house, and was helping dad take care of mum. Juliet was a long time friend of mine. To tell the truth, she was my very first girlfriend. Mum and dad both loved Juliet very much. She had a heart of gold, and was always eager to help anyone at the drop of a hat. Even when we were no longer boyfriend and girlfriend, we remained very good friends until we graduated. Then, we never saw much of each other.
“Bradley, keep your voice down, mate. You know my wife hears everything.” I whispered.
“Are you telling me that there's something about your past Lee knows nothing about?”
“What’s there to tell? Juliet and I were over a long time ago.” I shrugged.
“That may be true, but everyone knows that the two of you had more than something special going on.” Bradley smirked.
“What do you mean by that?”
“You’re not stupid, little brother.” Bradley egged on. “Try to work it out for yourself.” He then looked in the direction of my gaze. “What are you doing?”
Just peeping behind the door to make sure my wife is not listening to us.”
Bradley rolled his eyes. “Sit down and stop acting paranoid. You’re making me uneasy.” He continued. “Juliet has three children, now. But, she never married anyone.”
“Why are you telling me this?” I cut my eyes in his direction. “I’m happily married, with a wonderful wife and daughter.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, Alistair.” Bradley sighed. “I love Lee; she is a remarkable woman. Nobody can take her place. But, there are two women in love with you—one we already know is married to you, and the other has been patiently getting on with life hoping to close a certain chapter in her life.” He continued. “You’re going to have to make a discerning decision; not now or tomorrow, but sometime in the future.”
“Are you saying I'm going to cheat on my wife?” I took offense.
“Good god, no!” Bradley quipped. “Come on, Alistair. Think about it for a minute, and stop letting your emotions override your intellect.”
That morning, I never quite understood what Bradley was trying to say. As with every good lesson in life it would be some years later that my questions would finally be answered.
---
Lee drove to the hospital later that afternoon, knowing that I had had very little sleep. Only shear adrenaline kept me going. It was just a matter of time before the lack of sleep would have me at its mercy. All that mattered during the present moment, however, was mum and her well being. She needed Bradley and I to be there. Nothing was going to stop me from being there for the woman who spent eleven hours in labor giving birth to me.
At 12:30, we came upon a young nurse working behind the front desk. The rather fresh-looked no older than fourteen or fifteen.
“Hello.” She said in a polite and chipper manner.
“My family and I are here to see Mrs. Aggie Scott.” Lee announced.
“Oh yes, Mrs. Scott is in Room 303.” She looked at the room assignment chart. “If you give me a sec, I'll walk you down to her room.”
The young nurse quickly finished what she was doing then walked us to Room 303. On the way, she mentioned that Lee and I were very well respected because of our breast cancer awareness efforts.
August 27, 1997
Mum's breast cancer was considered Level 0 and non-invasive. This meant there was no spreading of cancerous cells to normal tissue or lymph nodes. Level IV is the most advanced stage, with cancer having spread to other organs or tissues in the body away from the breast.
Mum traced back her family medical history to find that her mother’s mother died from breast cancer that had spread throughout her entire body. Back then, doctors didn’t have the knowledge that they now have at their disposal. To contain the level of breast cancer, Mum wasn’t taking any chances. She wanted to have a
double mastectomy, then later have reconstructive surgery.
Still very groggy from the operation, the nurses wheeled mum to the recovery room. We stood outside a small window, watching the nurses carefully lift mum from one bed to the other. They were sure not to disturbed the finger and chest monitors hooked up to their patient. Bradley held dad, telling him mum would be okay. We had to be strong for her.
Up until now, dad was always the one to lead the way in a family crisis. The role was now resting on the shoulders of his oldest son. My mum never gave up without a fight. This would only make her stronger. Her will to live would be more passionate than ever.
The Fourth Day of November Page 15
