Chapter 11: Will it work?

Todd stared at the ceiling fan above him.  The air was hot and the spinning fan furiously forced air throughout the room.  He kept watching the base as it spun around and around and around.  The sun was just beginning to creep through his bedroom window.  The marigolds in the pot hanging off of the window sill were standing at attention, heads raised taking in the light.

            He got up out of the bed slowly.  The wood floor creaked as he put his feet down.  He walked into the kitchen and pulled oatmeal out of the pantry.  He slowly warmed water and poured it into the bowl of oats.  Abby had left him coffee, so he poured a cup and added three teaspoons of sugar and a generous splash of milk.  He sat down at the table and looked down at his breakfast.

            The day lay before him and he wasn’t sure what to expect from it.  Aunt Mae would be there. She was the calm one.  She didn’t expect anything.  He, on the other hand, wasn’t so sure.  It was almost as if what could happen, set him into motion.

            He hurriedly ate his breakfast, then went back into the bedroom and changed into his jeans and a white polo.  He looked into the mirror, and adjusted the collar.  It was loose around his neck.  The heat throughout the day would undoubtedly increase and he didn’t want to feel cramped later.  He went into the bathroom and combed his hair and brushed his teeth.  He looked into the medicine cabinet and eyed the cork lather brush.  He smiled at it, as if sensing that it would bring him luck today.

            When he was done, he walked into his office and took four letters out of the stack.  They were carefully selected.  After reading through fifteen of them the night before, he picked out what he thought were the most moving.  Three were written by his grandfather and the other one by his grandmother.  He pulled them out of their envelopes and looked them over one last time.  He ran his finger along the dates and then over their signatures on the last pages.  He smiled to himself.

            He slid them carefully back into the envelopes and carried them out to the truck with him.  He laid them in the passenger seat and headed off toward Aunt Mae’s.

            Her house was brick.  The only brick one on the Grey Road.  It had black shutters and a white picket fence the graced the front of the house.  A gravel driveway ran up the right side of the house and turned into and around tobacco bulk barns behind it.  He parked his truck between the barns and the house and walked to the back door.  He knocked twice.

            Aunt Mae came to the door and welcomed him inside.  She saw the letters in his hand and shut her eyes as she turned away from him as they walked through the kitchen.

            “Do you think that those will really make a difference, Todd?”

            “I’m not sure,” he said quickly.  He smiled at her even though her back was towards him.

            She walked to the doorway leading towards the living room.  She put her hand along the door frame letting it slowly slide its way down.  “Do you really think that she will listen?”

            “Why wouldn’t she?”

            “Why would she?” she questioned back as she turned to face him, her eyes avoiding his.

            “Why would she? Don’t you think that she listens to everything that goes on around her?”  He looked down the hall towards the bedroom.  “She knows what is going on around her,” he eyes veered back towards Aunt Mae, “she just chooses not to participate.”

            “Maybe, Todd.  Maybe.”  She wasn’t so sure.  “But, if she hasn’t responded so far to those around her, then what in God’s name would she respond to now.”  She looked down again at the letters in his hand.  “I don’t know Todd.  I just don’t know.”

            “I don’t know either, Aunt Mae.  But who is it going to hurt, if I’m wrong?  If she doesn’t respond to me reading these toward her, what has she lost?  What have we lost?  She’ll still be here, just as always. But doesn’t it deserve just a chance?”

            She walked towards him and reached for both of his hands.  She looked down at them and squeezed them both tightly.  “Yes.”  She looked deeply into his eyes and could tell that he was excited.  She could feel it in his hands as well. They were sweaty.  Yet, she could see that he hadn’t stopped smiling since he walked into the house.  She slowly let go of his hands and then kissed him lightly on the cheek.  “Let’s go see her.”

            They walked down the hall, her leading.  When they got to MaMa’s room, she let Todd open the door.  He walked in first and laid the letter down on the bed stand.  He leaned over her, and kissed her lightly on the forehead.  She didn’t even wince.

            He reached for the chair against the wall and sat down quietly.  “How are you doing today, MaMa?” 

            She lay there motionless, unreactive.

            “Well, I’m doing pretty well, I guess,” he said.  “Abby’s teaching today, of course.  It being Tuesday and all, I guess that was a given.  I have a few appointments this afternoon, but I really wanted to come see you this morning before the day gets away from me.”  He fumbled with the letter in his lap. 

            “I try to come see you as much as I can, MaMa.  But you know, there’s times like right now when I’m just not sure about the things that I want to talk to you about.  I know that Aunt Gina and Aunt Rose have talked to you about things that they remember when they were little.  Like moving from the house at the back-of-the-field to the house now along the road.” 

            He looked slowly over to the door where Aunt Mae was standing.  She smiled softly at him and quietly closed the door.  Now the two of them were alone.

            Usually he would notice the air in the room and think to himself that it was too cool.  Or that he would notice that her window was open just a little bit too much and too much light was entering room.  But today he could only pay attention to his grandmother.

            “I decided to bring you a letter today.”  He opened the envelope and laid it in the edge of her bed.  “I found it on top of the old china cabinet.  I figure that you must have left it up there.  It was bound together with maybe thirty to forty other ones.”  He watched her face as he talked.  “I read this one last night.”

 

            He unfolded the letter and began reading slowly.