Chapter 11

Falling.

I was falling and the concrete was getting closer and closer.

There was nothing but pain.

Pain in my chest.

Pain in my head.

Everything was pain.

Laughter, someone was laughing at me.

Laughing while I fell.

Laughing while I suffered.

Laughed at me.

“No. Don’t laugh at me”

I kept falling.

“I hurt. Help me. I hurt all over, please don’t laugh.”

“You are pathetic. You’re weak, you can’t protect your family!”

laughter horrible maniac laughter.

It was crushing me, the laughter was everywhere. I felt it in my bones the laughter ... the laughter ... the pain ... pain ... it was everywhere.

The ground came to me...

“YAAAA!” I cried out and tried to protect myself throwing my arms over my face.

“HONEY! PAUL!! WHAT’S WRONG!” Ashlee said to me trying to get me to wake up pushing me back and forth trying to wake me.

As the world came back to me and I started to come back to my own mind, I realized that Ashlee was next to me trying to get me to wake up. I uncrossed my arms and opened my eyes and looked around. I was in bed, under the covers with a gorgeous woman who was wearing a wonderful gown and had a real look of concern on her face.

“What happened?” I asked wiping the sweat from my face.

“You started kicking and swinging your arms and telling someone to stop laughing. You were thrashing around really badly and it frightened me. What were you dreaming?”

I took a few more breaths and sat up. “I was falling while someone was laughing at me.”

“Laughing at you? Who would laugh at you?” She moved closer putting her arm around me, “You are not very funny.”

I looked up and caught her eye. She just smiled at me. “Thanks.” I grumbled.

She rubbed my back and bounced out of bed for the toilet.

I flopped back onto my pillow with an arm across my face. What the heck was that all about I thought. Who would laugh at my pain and wish ill of me, laughing while I fell and felt such pain? It just didn’t make any sense. No sense at all.

I laid there with my arm over my face, then the bed moved. It moved two more times and felt like someone had joined me. I opened my eyes and looked to see who was in bed with me.

“Are you OK daddy?”

Three little faces sat on the bed looking at me. All three had the flyaway hair of a child fresh out of bed and each had a bear or a blanket clutched in their hands.

“Yes, daddy is fine. I just need a hug from my babies to chase away the bad dream I had.”

squeel

Three little bodies threw themselves at me and I got hugs from each of them while we rolled around on the bed laughing and playing.

“I feel so much better now. Thank you kids.”

“Hey, are there any hugs left for me?” Ashlee said from the door pulling on her robe and moving toward the bed.

“MOMMY!” they all said together.

“We have plenty of hugs left for you.” one of the girls said. Ashlee came to the bed, and was then swarmed by three little bodies trying to give hugs.

She fell on the bed with her head next to me as we shared little kid hugs and then kisses and more hugs.

“I have to say that this is a fine way to wake up in the morning.” I confessed while three little bodies squirmed and laughed between us.

Justin moved over me and reached for the remote. He flipped on the TV and changed the channel to Nickelodeon so that Spongebob with the Square Pants could entertain us all.

“Breakfast is served” I announced as I brought the casserole to the table. Breakfast casseroles are easy to make and they feed many people without being expensive. Money, ha, what a joke.

Anyway, sausage, egg, cheese and bread crumb casserole baked in a 9x13 pan for about an hour really hits the spot.

Once breakfast was eaten, Tony and Megan packed up and headed back home to finish making the phone call he needed to make to find someone to help keep us safe. The good byes lasted for about 10 minutes, which for us was a record. Ha Ha Ha.

I was sitting in my room staring out the window lost in thought when Ashlee came in.

“There you are. What are you doing in here all alone?” She asked as she came around the chair and eased herself into my lap. I put my arms around her, I really enjoyed holding her.

“I found my bucket list last night when I woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep. I read it over and saw something that I don’t remember on it.”

“Honey, the doctors said that your memories would come back soon enough, so don’t get depressed about it.”

“No, that isn’t it. I know that and that isn’t want is bothering me.”

I drew quiet and got choked up as my emotions suddenly got churned up. Ashlee felt me flinch, she got off my lap and knelt between my knees. “What is it? What on your list that has you all churned up inside?”

“Did I really have an affair with a prostitute?”

Ashlee cocked her head and thought for a minute then the light came on and she realized what I was talking about. “No. You didn’t have an affair with a prostitute.”

“I didn’t?” I said brightening up and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

“No you didn’t. You had originally put that on your list but after talking to my dad you crossed it out as not a good idea. He said that you didn’t want that on your conscience as a guy who had sex with a prostitute. After you and he talked, you crossed it out and as far as I know, you have never looked back.”

I sighed and relaxed. “Really?” Ashlee nodded at me with a smile on her face. “Good. when I saw that item, I thought I had done something that was going to come back and ruin what we have here at home. I didn’t want to remember that event and I sort of panicked. That’s all.”

Ashlee leaned forward bringing her face inches from mine. “If you had done something like that, not that I would ALLOW you to do something like that, we would work it out. I wouldn’t be happy about it. But we wouldn’t be ruined. We would just have to work through it.”

“Thanks honey.” She leaned in all the way and kissed me.

“Now, if memory serves, you have to get to physical therapy so up and at-em mister.”

We got up from our chair and before she could walk away, I grabbed my wife and hugged her lifting her off her feet and squeezing her. she is my rock and I wasn’t going to mess it up.

“AAAARRRGGGHHH!!! THAT HURTS!!” I groaned through gritted teeth.

“I know it does, but we have to keep this shoulder moving or you could lose use of it. Now, four more!” the physical therapist yelled at me.

The physical torturer, uh therapist, was making me do arm curls, pulldowns and all sorts of other torture that had me sweating buckets. Where do they get these people, Psychopath-R-Us? Do they make sure that they like torturing puppies as an admissions requirement? GAWD, I was really not liking these people.

I turned East on I-70 instead of going south on Broadway to go home and eventually ended up in Blue Springs. I wasn’t sure why I was going back to Blue Springs, but something inside told me to go this way.

I pulled into my neighborhood and then again on Stone Brook Lane toward my old home. I saw Krystal running around their van as John worked to get into the driver seat. I pulled in front of their house and hollered, “Hey Krystal, what’s going on?”

When she heard my voice she bounced out of the van, “Thank God you are here!”

John tried to start the van, but the engine just ground not firing. “What’s wrong?”

John came around, “I can’t get this damn thing started and Jenna has gone into labor!” He yelled.

I moved close to the van as Jenna, VERY pregnant, climbed out the back door and started waddling toward my Jeep. “Well, let’s get everyone in and I’ll run you to the hospital.”

We all got in and it was then that it dawned on me, “Pregnant? When did this happen?”

“AAAAARRRGGGHHH” Jenna groaned from the back seat. “It doesn’t matter, get me to the hospital, this kid is coming and I don’t want to do this at home!!!!”

I looked back and forth between Krystal and John trying to remember/figure out what the heck was going on.

“PLEASE MOVE!” Jenna yelled from the back seat breathing heavily.

I turned the key and drove. I know when to keep my mouth shut and do what a woman says.

I managed to get through traffic and get Jenna and her family to the correct hospital without being stopped by the police.

John and Krystal got Jenna out of the back seat and helped her inside leaving me to park the car.

I found the correct floor and arrived at it finding John sitting in the lobby. “How is she? and What have I missed?”

John looked at me like I was an alien. “What do you mean? You were there, you flew out to Oregon when she called needing help. What do you mean what is going on?”

I sat next to John and tried to explain what was going on. “Forgive me John. I have lost a bunch of memories of the past five years after being shot and hitting my head. I am sorry.”

“That’s right. I remember seeing something about your shooting on the news.” he heaved a sigh of relief and understood where I was coming from. “Dude, I’m sorry.” We exchanged handshakes now that we were all on the same page. “let me catch you up then.” He settled into his chair for story time. “Jenna ran off with her boyfriend a couple of years ago leaving us. A couple of weeks ago, she called you asking for help because her boyfriend had left her at a Wal-Mart. She couldn’t get a hold of us due to our phones being out of service. You flew out there with us and we brought her home. She has been safe and sound at home and then this morning, she went into labor and it went from being uncomfortable to being really tough on her in no time flat. Well, that worried us so much that we tried to get her to the hospital when you drove up and saved the day once again.” he laughed at his own joke and I joined him.

“Funny how that works out isn’t it buddy?”

“Yes it is.” He agreed.

“So how is Tessa? Where is she now?” I asked trying to get caught up with everything that has happened to my extended family.