Unfinished Business. C. A. Walters Walters
“I’m going out for a while to ride my bike, Ma. Back in a while!”
The two boys took off, racing down Main Street, across the bridge, and up Center Street. They stopped to catch their breath for a minute, then decided to go look for possible sledding hills. Later in the winter, when the snow fell, it would be important to know where the good hills were.
Around five o’clock, the boys decided to head home, it was going to start getting dark soon, and neither of them had any lights on their bikes. Plus, it was starting to get a little chilly. So home they went. Robbie followed Michael to his house first, then went home alone.
In the days that followed, thoughts turned to Christmas, and presents. Robbie thought long and hard about his Christmas list. He didn’t really know if Santa was real or not, but to be on the safe side, he figured it would be best to make out his list.
Dear Santa,
I have been good this year, and did my best in school. I made Gran a card, and she really loved it. And I saw an old lady in some big building; it looks like a haunted mansion of some sort. So I want to ask for a few toys, but the first thing is the most important one.
1.Rescue the old lady from the Haunted House.
2.If you know God, please tell him that I love my Gran, and to please make her feel better.
3.A new pair of ice skates, mine are getting too small.
And the list continued, with the usual toys boys that age would like to have. Robbie went to sleep that night feeling a little better; maybe Santa could help the old lady, or at least get a message to Gran.
As December started, Robbie looked at the Farmer’s Almanac, trying to figure out when the first real snow of the year would be. But he could never really figure it out, so he decided to ask his dad.
“Too soon, if you ask me” said his dad, who then went on to rant about shoveling driveways, being late for work, and having to put something called “snow” tires on the car. Robbie couldn’t figure out how you could make tires out of snow, but that’s grown-ups for you!
Report cards came out, and once again Robbie came home with a good report, six A’s, two B’s and an A+ in math. Robbie’s parents rewarded him with a night at the pizza place, followed by Dairy Queen. They let Michael come along too, since he was Robbie’s best friend.
On Pearl Harbor day, Robbie and Michael made a wreath, and got a ribbon to put on it. On the ribbon they wrote “Rest in Peace” with a magic marker. Then they went to the local cemetery, and put it down in the section where the veterans were buried from the war. Robbie’s uncle was in that part of the cemetery; he had died in World War II. Robbie knew that the men in his family traditionally spent a few years in the military, “doing their duty” as his dad put it. He didn’t really know what that meant, but it sounded good, and made him feel proud to be an American.
A couple more weeks passed, and Christmas vacation got closer and closer. The boys still looked forward to the first snow of the year.
“A Charlie Brown Christmas” came on TV, along with all the other favorites, Rudolph, Frosty, and the rest. Robbie made a point of watching all his favorites, especially Frosty. He just loved when the snowman came to life, and said, “Happy Birthday!”
Finally, just before Christmas, that magical first snow fell. Making a snowman, building a snow fort so he and Michael could have a snowball fight, and, best of all, sledding. Michael said he knew where there was a really great hill, so the kids grabbed their sleds and were off. When Robbie saw the hill, he gasped! This had to be the biggest hill in all of Connecticut! Lots of kids were sledding down one side, and riding toboggans and discs down the other. Some of the poorer kids were sliding down the hill on pieces of cardboard, but it was all fun. When their turn came, Robbie and Michael took a short run, and then flung themselves down onto their Flexible Flyers. Whoosh! Down the hill they went. Robbie could have sworn he was moving at a hundred miles an hour. When he finally reached the bottom of the hill, and crashed into the soft snow bank everyone was using for a brake; he was laughing so hard his stomach hurt. When he stood up and looked around, he froze. Right there, not a football field away, was the old haunted house! There was some kind of sign in front, but from the angle he was standing at, he couldn’t see what it said. Then Michael said, “Come on, let’s go again”. After a day of sledding, they went home, to find his mother had hot chocolate ready for them, and some grilled cheese sandwiches and hot tomato soup. A little taste of heaven after a day in the snow.
School was okay, as usual. Robbie did well, getting decent grades, and staying out of trouble. He and Michael enjoyed the winter as much as any eight year olds would, reveling in the unexpected bonus of a day off from school due to a snowstorm, and laughing quietly when his Dad grumbled about shoveling the driveway, and missed time at work.
But the winds of change were beginning to blow, though Robbie didn’t realize it right away. His gran had less energy to do things, and needed more and more help to get through her day.
Then one day, Robbie came home to find his grandmother had been moved to a nursing home. Sitting the little boy down his mother explained to him that she was very ill.
“Your grandmother had a stroke sweetie. That means that something broke in her brain, and part of it is injured. She may be paralyzed on one side, or worse. You have to be prepared, she may never come home from that place.”
“Mom, when can I go see her? I have to give her a birthday card I’m making.”
“We’ll see honey, it’s up to the doctors.”
The strain was on Robbie’s mother, and it began to show a little, an argument with his Dad over something unimportant, an angry response to Robbie when he really hadn’t done anything to deserve it. But this really didn’t bother Robbie; he just chalked it up to a normal part of life.
By the time spring rolled around again, things seemed to have pretty much come back to normal. Gran’s birthday was approaching. He knew her birthday was April second, only a couple of weeks away, and it would be here before he knew it. Robbie was planning to make her a card nicer than the one he made for Thanksgiving, but time seemed to get away from him. Games, hanging out with Michael, the days just seemed to fly by. Without his knowing, April came, and when one of the kids at school “got” him with an April fool’s joke, he realized he was out of time. He hurried home to get his stuff together to finish the card he had started for her. When he arrived at home, he saw a strange car in the driveway. He quietly snuck in the back door, intending to go to his room without disturbing his mother and whoever her guest was. But as he passed the living room door, he saw the pastor of their church sitting in the living room. Robbie ducked behind the door so he wouldn’t be seen. He didn’t know exactly why he didn’t want the adults to see him, but he felt like he wasn’t supposed to be there. As he listened, he heard the pastor telling his mom, “She was old, and tired. She knew it was her time. She had led a good life, and was content. I saw her just before she passed, and she said she loved you and her grandson very much, but she couldn’t understand why she didn’t get a card from Robbie.”
Those words struck like a dagger in Robbie’s little heart. He hadn’t yet realized quite what had happened to his gran, but he knew he had hurt her. Robbie rushed upstairs to make the card, hoping that he could make everything okay again. With tears in his eyes, Robbie got the paper, pens, and other stuff he needed out to begin making a birthday card. Then came the dreaded sound of his mother’s voice as she softly said, “Robbie dear, I need you to come downstairs for a minute, there’s something we need to talk about.” Filled with dread, Robbie made the long walk down the stairs, and into the living room.
The Pastor smiled encouragingly at Robbie, but all Robbie saw was the black clothes he wore, like some villain in an old TV show. Robbie’s mom told him to sit down, and she sat on the hassock in front of him, and took him by the hand. She looked into Robbie’s tearstained face, and said, “Sweetie, I have something to tell you, which is just not going to be easy. Last night, your gran passed away in her sleep. She had been sick for a long time, and she was tired. She didn’t