Why CAN T I Be A Cougar??

by Marsha Easley

  "Emma is so cute. Looks like you are doing a good job with her."

  "Thanks. You too. Being the parent of a challenged child really humbles you, and I wouldn't trade her for the world, but I do worry about her future if something should happen to me."

  "I know the feeling, and it's scary," said Elaine.

  They ordered pizza and pop, and continued to talk.

  "So where is Emma's mother?"

  "When she got pregnant with Emma, we weren't really a couple. We were just friends with benefits more or less. When she discovered she was pregnant, we decided to raise her together and around the time Emma was diagnosed, her mom was offered a job that was three hours away and she wanted to move closer to it. We decided that I would be the best person to keep her, since she was happy and situated in her school, and we had plenty of family support there. We have joint custody and her mom has her every other weekend, spends half the summer with her, and we alternate holidays. They have a great relationship."

  "That’s good. Jayden's dad hardly ever comes around, but his family is very supportive and loves him."

  "He seems to be a great kid. Emma seems to like him and she doesn't like too many people.”

  "Neither does Jayden," said Elaine.

  They looked at each other and smiled.

  "What age was Emma diagnosed? " asked Elaine.

  "She was a little over two, " he answered.

  "That seems to be the norm," said Elaine. "Is she a loner?"

  "Very much so," said Michael, “but if she is in a public place where there is music and dancing, she shuts down the party," he said with a laugh.

  "That is Jayden all day, and Jayden is definitely picky about who he hangs out with, so that's a good sign that they like each other."

  "Well, I'm really liking his mom too, so I'm taking that as another sign."

  "So far so good," said Elaine, "her dad seems to be a nice person also ... and not scary, thank God!" They both laughed.

  The food arrived. “I will go find the kids so they can eat," said Elaine.

  "Ok," said Michael.

  She found the kids, and they ate everything on their plates, another trait of Autism. They eat what they like and usually don't leave anything.

  Elaine and Michael had wonderful conversations about their lives and their children, and when the evening ended, Michael walked them to their car, shook Jayden's hand, and gave Elaine a big hug. She hugged him back, hugged Emma, and they made plans to see each other the next day before they headed back to Chicago.

  Lillian

  "What? What happened?” asked Sabra.

  "My mom! She was in a car accident and it doesn't sound very good."

  Sabra floored the car. "I wish a cop would try to pull me over!"

  They arrived at the hospital and found a parking spot at the emergency entrance and ran inside. As she approached the receptionist and asked about her mother, Lillian saw her sister Renita coming toward her with tears in her eyes.

  "Oh Lil," she cried and hugged her deeply.

  "How's mom?” Lillian asked.

  "She's gone Lil, she's gone," she managed to get out between sobs.

  Lillian fainted.

  Renita shrieked and burst into a flood of tears.

  When Lillian came to, she was laying on a hospital cot, and then remembered what had happened and put her hands to her face and wept. I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye or tell her that I love her. When was the last time I told her?

  She removed her hands and saw that her sister and Sabra were by her side.

  After crying for a good five minutes, she asked, "Where is my mother? Can I go see her?"

  "Yes. I will take you to see her," said Renita.

  The two sisters walked arm in arm to the room where their mother had taken her last breath, with Sabra close behind them. The tubes had all been taken away, and she had been cleaned up, and Lillian's knees went weak as she saw her mom's scratched and bruised up face, but looking like she was sleeping. Sabra stepped up to her free side to help support her, because she could see that her knees were about to buckle.

  She approached her and looked down at her mom, and a cascade of tears fell from her eyes onto her mom. Her mom was still slightly warm and she kissed her face over and over and held her hand.

  Sabra came beside her and hugged her and they held each other as they looked at Lillian's mom's beautiful, yet peaceful face.

  After being there for about forty-five minutes, Sabra had to convince her to leave.

  "Come on Lil. Let's go".

  Suddenly her eyes shot wide open.

  "Oh my God! I almost forgot! Don is here too!"

  She went to a receptionist and found that he was in the emergency room, only a few doors down from where her mother lay. She entered the room and saw his daughters on both sides of him, holding his hands. Their eyes were red from fatigue and crying.

  She went to them and gave them a hug, then looked at Don wearing an oxygen mask and what looked like a hundred tubes and monitors attached to him.

  His eyes were closed; she reached for his hand and held it. At that moment his eyes fluttered open.

  "Well, it's about time you got here," he said weakly. "Did you have a good time in California?"

  "A good time? With all those meetings you had me going to? Never mind that. I told you to take care of yourself while I was gone. Can't leave you for a minute."

  "I'm sorry. Next time I will have to go with you."

  She looked at him and said, "You sure will. I'll be right back, Don."

  She quickly exited the room and broke into tears.

  "Are you okay?" asked Sabra, who was waiting for her outside the room.

  "No. No, I'm not. I couldn't let him see me break down like this. Oh Sabra. This is all too much. My God, how much can I take? Oh God, help me!" she prayed, and started crying. Sabra held her until she stopped.

  "He doesn't give you more than you can bear, Lil. You know that, but cry if you need to. You want to go home?"

  "No, I'm going to stay here with Don and the girls. You can leave Sabra. I will take a cab or Uber home. Thanks for everything."

  "Heifer, I ain't going nowhere, so you can forget that," said Sabra.

  "Thanks, babe. I figured you wouldn’t."

  She pulled herself together the best that she could, and went back into the room. Sabra stayed outside the room and put in a 911 sad face text to the girls, and filled them in on what had happened. Soon they were all there.

  Lillian stepped out of the room and saw all her girls there and started to cry again. They all huddled and cried together.

  They gave their condolences and cried their tears for her mom.

  "Your mom was the best," said Elaine.

  "She always thought of you guys as family," said Lillian.

  "So how is Don?" asked Yvette.

  "It's not looking too good. Can you find out what's going on with him for me?"

  Yvette was a registered nurse there. "Yes. I will be right back."

  "Thanks, Vet."

  The girls found seats in the waiting room. Yvette came back a few minutes later.

  "You may want to come in now, Lillian. They are going to take him off the life support," said Yvette. "He asked for this and the girls want him to be in peace. He is getting medicated now so that he will not be in any pain or discomfort. You think you can handle this now?"

  Lillian stood up, walked to the room and felt like she was wearing cement shoes. The scene was surreal and she hoped she would be waking up from this nightmare soon.

  Don's girls were crying their eyes out and talking to their dad, telling him how much they loved him. He was sleeping, his fragile chest moving up and down ever so slowly. They stood there holding his hands until he took his last breath. They cried some more, said their goodbyes and left after about a half hour, eyes red and puffy from so much crying, noses all stuffed up too. Lillian had to make the girls leave because they didn't want to leave his side.

>   Not such a good day.

  Trip Planning Time

  At 6:00 p.m. two months later, Yvette, Sabra, Julie, Vanessa, and Elaine met up at the popular restaurant Fridays, located on Evergreen Street in Southfield, Michigan.

  "Has anybody talked to Lillian today?" asked Elaine.

  "I did," said Julie, "and she said she would be here."

  At that moment an adorable young man approached them with menus.

  "Hello, ladies. My name is Charlie, and I will be your server today. Can I start you off with anything to drink?"

  Sabra said, "Charlie, huh? Is your real name Charles?"

  "Yes, ma'am."

  "Ma'am? How old are you, with yo fine self?" asked Sabra.

  Charlie smiled and said, "Twenty-one."

  "Twenty-one, huh? Well at least he’s legal,” said Sabra. "Is your daddy or uncles as fine as you?"

  The ladies burst out laughing, and Charlie just blushed. He didn't know what to say at first, but he came back with, "I'm told I look just like my daddy, if that helps."

  Before Sabra could say anything else, Julie jumped in and said, "Girl, leave that baby alone. Sweetie, I would like a top shelf, Long Island Iced Tea," she said to Charles.

  Vanessa, "I'll have the same."

  Sabra said, "You on the rocks." Everybody laughed. "Ok, I’m going to stop playing. I'll have sex on the beach ... with your daddy."

  The ladies burst out laughing.

  "Girl, you are a mess, and young man, don’t pay her any attention. I will take a Bud Limerita please," said Yvette.

  "I'll just have iced tea for now." Everybody looked up at the same time at Elaine. "Hey, I'm still drunk from last night. Long story. Change that. Make that a Bloody Mary."

  Just then, Lillian came through the door. Vanessa waved her over to their table. They exchanged hugs, sat down, and Lillian took off her sunglasses. Her eyes were puffy and red.

  "You okay, Lil?" asked Vanessa. They all loved and respected Lillian's mom. She treated the girls like daughters and loved them as such. They knew she was still grieving her mom and Don's deaths.

  "I'm okay. Just tired. You know today was Mom's birthday, and I just left the cemetery," said Lillian.

  "Yes, we know. She's up there celebrating it with Jesus, and we are all missing her," said Julie, "and you know if she could talk to us, she would tell us to cheer up and have a drink for her."

  Charlie came back, assessed the somber mood, and asked if everything was all right.

  "Everything is fine," said Vanessa. "Could you please bring our friend a top shelf Long Island? She needs something strong right now," she said as she rubbed Lillian's back.

  "I will be right back," said Charlie and he went to get her drink.

  "So where are we going?” asked Lillian

  "You sure you want to do this right now?" asked Sabra.

  "Well, I'm really ready to go on vacation now. I need to get away," Lillian said weakly, "so have you decided where we are going?"

  "We weren't going to pick a place until everybody was present and in agreement," said Julie, "and since this is a vacation, a bachelorette party, a 50th birthday party, a retirement party, and a going away party, it has to be someplace special."

  They were there to plan a bachelorette party and going away party because Vanessa was getting married and her fiancé, Sabra was turning fifty, and Greg, had been offered a job in China for two years and she was going with him. She had decided to pursue her dream of starting her own business, and retire from her job to fulfill it.

  "I used to like Greg," said Elaine.

  Vanessa looked at her with a frown, saying "Why don't you like him anymore?"

  "Because he's taking my Nessa away," she replied as she started to cry.

  Vanessa leaned over and hugged her and started crying too.

  "Oh girl. I'm going to miss you all too. It's only for a couple of years. You guys will have to come and visit. That can be the next trip."

  "I'm ready to do China," said Yvette.

  "Okay, you heifers—stop crying before y'all make everybody cry," said Sabra, trying to hold back tears.

  They got back to vacation planning.

  "I'm ready to get my groove back like Vanessa and Terry McMillan did, so I vote for Jamaica," said Julie. The ladies murmured and nodded. "Except I want Terry's movie version man and not her real life gay one."

  “Well I ain’t mad at Terry. She went for what she wanted, got inspired to write a book about it, definitely got paid, and kept it moving. She’s still my shero! It’s a lot of undercover brothers out here!” said Elaine.

  “So true,” said Vanessa.

  "I want to go Puerto Vallarta and get my margarita on," said Yvette.

  "I've always wanted to go Aruba," said Lillian.

  "There's always Vegas!" said Julie's gambling behind.

  Elaine then said, "We always fly or drive everywhere we go. The one thing we have never done together is go on a cruise, and that's my vote. We can cruise to the Bahamas."

  Everybody looked at each other and one at a time said, “I'm in."

  "So, a cruise it is," said Vanessa.

  “And ladies, I love all of you so much and I want you to know that. I also want you to know that I’m paying for everybody’s trip.”

  The ladies all looked at each other and got up to hug Lillian. They all said thank you, and were weepy eyed and feeling blessed behind Lillian’s generous gift.

  “It’s the least I could do, after all…Oprah never forgot about Gayle, did she?”

  “No she did not!” said Sabra.

  The drinks arrived and they all lifted them, clanged them together and said "Salud!"

  Cruise Time

  The next four months could not go by fast enough for the ladies, but finally cruise day arrived. Julie had taken care of all the arrangements and they all agreed to do a four-day cruise. Since it was their first cruise together, they decided go to the Bahamas aboard the Escapade ship Funtime. They chose Escapade because they knew this was the party boat and they were ready to party!

  It was a cold day in November in Michigan when they went to the airport. The skies were gray and there were a few snowflakes falling. Just yesterday it was a seasonal high fifty-five degrees and today it was thirty-one! Michigan! But what better time to go to the Caribbean than when it’s cold at home.

  Lillian was the first to arrive at the dock and she had made sure her flight landed her early in Miami. She was coming back from a meeting in Houston. As she stepped out of the cab, she took a deep breath and exhaled at the sight of the beautiful ship that would be her home for the next four days and three nights.

  She had been named executor of Don's estate and he had left her well off financially with assets and money that surpassed almost five million dollars, along with many responsibilities. She was still in mourning for her mom and Don, and was glad that the details of both estates had been finalized. She was grateful that her and her siblings handled and accepted the wishes of their mother as a family, and there was none of the crazy bickering that can occur during these times. Don's daughters were well taken care of and they never had to work a day in their lives if they chose not to, and were more than okay with all of his wishes and the well-deserved financial gift he left to Lillian.

  Lillian's mother had remarried a wonderful man who had retired as a supervisor at General Motors and left her mother well off when he passed away from cancer two years prior. He and her mother had been married since she was three, and he was the only father she had known. The thought of them being together in heaven brought a tear from her eye, which she wiped away as she waited for her friends. Her mother had met Don and liked him too.

  As soon as she thought she would break down and cry, her friends arrived, right on time. They spilled out of their cab shrieking and hugging her.

  "Damn, y'all got coats? I heard it was cold at home, but guess what? You not going to need those coats this weekend!" said Lillian.

  "We know! I'm lovin
g this eighty-degree weather. It's going to be hard to go back home," said Elaine.

  "Hell, let's just get us a job on the island and stay," joked Sabra.

  They got on the ship and went through all the boarding rituals, and finally were able to go to their rooms. They were paired up in the rooms: Julie and Sabra, Yvette and Lillian, Elaine and Vanessa. The rooms were cozy and next to each other, and each had a balcony because they knew this was the only way to cruise. Their travel agent at Rochelle’s Travel, had ordered a bottle of champagne for each of their rooms, and they gathered in Julie and Sabra's room to have a toast. After the toast, they all went to the Lido Deck, which was right on their floor, to watch the ship pull away from the dock and get the party started. Everyone was hungry, and they were told there were food and drinks there.

  Once they arrived on the Lido Deck, they quickly ordered the festive-looking signature drink of the day, the Great Escape it was called, not even caring what was in it. They found food and seated themselves.

  It was a beautiful afternoon and the ship was scheduled to sail at 6 pm. It was 5:45 pm now and the ladies were feeling relaxed and elated. They were gabbing about trip plans when a group of seven guys entered the deck. The ladies gasped because some of them were really nice looking, and they were also the first single guys they had seen without women since they got there ... at least they were hoping they were single.