The Book of Adam and Jo: an Interracial Literary Romance
Page 23
“No one else has the time or the patience to do it, Judah. There are professional—”
“We’re not putting him in a home.”
“Judah…” Maisie pleaded.
“He doesn’t have long as it is, Maisie.”
“That’s what they said five years ago. And now Mom’s gone.”
“Yes, Maisie, I know Mom’s gone,” Judah said, his patience for the conversation slowly dwindling, “you think I don’t know Mom’s gone? It’s grueling, May, but it’s temporary. Believe me when I tell you. It’s the least we can do for him.”
“You’re afraid he’s gonna die alone—”
“Maisie, we’re done here.”
“He doesn’t remember us!”
“I remember him, Maisie!” Judah exclaimed. “Mom was dead for hours. Hours before anyone knew, before any of us could come and help him. You wanna lose dad the same way?”
“Dad’s already lost.”
“Maisie, you are such a cold bitch, you know that?” Judah scoffed.
Maisie was the one who’d suggested they let Dad go to the funeral. She thought it would help him transition, once they sent him to the best place money could buy. None of them thought they could take care of him, not as their mother had.
Every time they came home to visit, they saw him getting worse and worse. He was forgetting faces by the time the grandkids started walking and talking. Then they would all go home and leave Mom to fend for herself with Dad, a cold ribbon of dread shivering through them every time they thought about what would happen if something happened to Mom.
Well, something did happen to Mom. And letting Dad go to the funeral proved to be disastrous. Judah thought he would never forgive Maisie for convincing them to do that. It took four grown men to restrain him. Adding insult to injury, the entire thing was forgotten by the evening and he was back to his familiar swan song, beckoning Jo at all hours of the night.
Judah’s first thought was horror. It had been positively heartbreaking, but it was also eerie. And now it was just… another ordinary day.
“I’m not being cold,” Maisie went on unfazed, as was her way. “Not right now. I’m being practical. I love Dad, but he is draining your life. You think he wants this for you?”
Judah kept quiet.
“They’d keep him monitored 24 hours a day, Judah. The moment something happens, they’ll notify you.”
“The moment something happens? You mean the moment he notices Mom isn’t answering? And he’s not surrounded by a single familiar thing? You’d let him be subjected to a thing like that?”
He knew on some level Maisie blamed her mother’s death on the toll their father’s illness took on her and resented him for it. Judah resented Maisie for taking her father for granted. She always had an Adam. And Maisie was the youngest, spoiled by them both.
“I just don’t see how prolonging the inevitable is helping him or anyone. His shitty family won’t take him in.”
“That’s not his family, we are. Why would you want to leave him with people who disowned him?”
“He disowned them, let them tell it,” Maisie answered.
Apparently Adam had two living brothers that they never knew about. Well, Judah remembered them. From Grandpa Charlie’s funeral. A childhood memory in a field with fireworks. But he didn’t know who they were. It was their mother’s dying wish that they be contacted.
It… didn’t go well. Judah suspected if Dad still had his wits about him, he would have put a stop to it.
“He can’t survive without mom.”
“Maisie… enough,” Judah gave her a dismissive wave with one hand. “You’re doing the same shit you always do. You’re not ready to lose him either. You can talk as tough as you want. Personally, I hope I’m exhausted when the day comes. I hope that the only feeling I have is relief, and not sheer debilitating grief. And the day I want this to be over, more than I don’t, is the day he’ll go.”
“And you know that for sure, Nostradamus?” Maisie raised an eyebrow like her mother.
“When have you ever known Dad to overstay his welcome?”
Maisie shook her head.
“And if it costs you your livelihood?”
“It won’t. The land’s more than paid for. Since when has the world not needed builders?” Judah shrugged.
“Your marriage?”
“What about it?”
“What’ll you do when Sidney’s had enough, and there’s nothing to go back to?”
“You’re a fine one to talk, Maisie,” Judah scoffed, taking a sip of his coffee. He was being hard on her. He knew that Maisie was quizzing him because she was afraid of losing him too, on top of Mom and Dad.
Maisie got up from the table to let her final thought sink in. She addressed her niece on the way out.
“Kacey, your cousins are already in the pool at your uncle’s.”
“I know, I just need a minute. They’re so loud.”
“Well, can’t blame you for that,” Maisie chuckled, letting the storm door slam behind her.
Judah just sat quietly at the table, knowing his daughter Kacey had heard every word. He awaited Kacey’s calming childlike wisdom beyond her years.
“You can’t send Grandpa away, Dad.”
“I know, sweet girl.”
“He really loved Ganny.”
“Yeah, Kace, he did.”
“You remember when Grandpa still had his nazi sign?”
“Um… a little bit,” Judah rummaged through his memory. He wasn’t sure how his daughter knew about that already, but. Oh well. “I think mom made sure I never really saw it. Or maybe it was him. But I’m pretty sure that was Mom’s doing.”
“You don’t remember it going from a nazi sign to a big giant tree on his arm?”
“No, I remember him getting the tree. I remember him coming home with a big ol’ bandage on his arm, I just don’t remember much about whatever was there before that.”
“Dad, you should start recording your memories, too.”
Judah laughed. Not long after Adam was diagnosed, he had the couple record tons and tons of footage. It was in the top five best ideas he’s ever had.
“Should I feel insulted, Kacey?”
“No, I just mean… I think it would make you happy.”
“I don’t know, Kace. I don’t have a story like Dad and Mom’s. It’s hard to do it when you feel like your story hasn’t been all the way written yet. Know what I mean?”
“Yeah…” Kacey moaned empathetically from her spot on the couch.
Judah got up from the kitchen table, ready to join Adam outside in the workshop. From where he stood he could just make out him toiling away on the shed.
Kacey bringing up the family tree recordings made him itch to look them up right now, to watch them with his dad. But since Mom died, watching them only made Adam anxious and increased the chances of another episode. Another thing this stupid disease had taken away from him.
One would think by now they would’ve figured out how to use nanotechnology on the brain safely. He laughed a little, thinking about his dad refusing to let them put robots in his brain.
As it stood, there was no amount of technology that was going to bring his wife back anyway. So there was nothing for Adam to remember. He always said, “If I ever start to forget you, JoAnn, you have my permission to take me out back.” Judah didn’t know if he was trying to spare her or what, but Adam certainly made sure that never happened.
Judah brought up the family tree files downloaded to his cochlear implant.
“Right ear, audio only.”
“So dad, when did you first know Mom was the one?”
“First time I saw her. And you, as a matter of fact.”
“Really? The first time, huh?”
“Yep. Well… took about five minutes, I think.”
“What happened in those five minutes.”
“She smiled.”
“And what was that like?”
Judah crack
ed his own smile, watching his dad, who had shed his big robe and was now only in a tank and sweats, the massive sprawling tree tattoo sleeve with all their names on display, down to the most current. It was a hoot watching his dad the bull at nearly 70, frail only up top, in that pickled brain. In his ear, Judah could hear the now familiar audio, the point at which Adam’s younger self let out a sigh that said it all, his mother Jo’s younger self coyly laughing.
“Lemme see if I can describe seeing Josie smile. For the first time ever….”
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That was intense, wasn’t it! Need a pick-me-up after that draining ass ending? Re-live Adam and Jo’s glory days with “That Night at the Salty Dog,” or read what didn’t make the cut at “Adam and Jo: the lost chapter,” both shorts now available as part of the bonus content when you sign up to receive updates from the author!
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About the Author
C.L. Donley lives in Texas with her husband and three small children. She spends her days daydreaming, reading, perusing social media, watching YouTube and/or Netflix, and occasionally writes books in between.
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