Chapter 5: A New Life?

It was another Monday. What can you say about them other than they start the workweek and most people hate them? This morning was a prime example. I got some rest last night, but it was probably not enough. Over the weekend, I didn't seem to rest much. I think that now that I'd made some decisions about my future, I did rest somewhat better.

Today, I received a new scooter order. They wanted us to send it to Belgium for someone who is 4 feet 2 inches tall, but weighed almost 150 lbs. After I obtained all the measurements from the company website, I started to work on the design. I needed to see if I could design something that would work for them. That kept me busy most of the morning. Once I had my new design, I passed it to one of my drafters to develop a final drawing. I also put in for vacation for August.

When I called my CPA friend, he said he'd get back to me on what, if anything, I owed for taxes. It appears that there are some funny rules about death benefits from insurance. Next, I went to work on a design for a new type of cabinet. It would incorporate reprogrammable combination locks, so patients could lock up their valuables. All too soon, it was time to go home. Since everyone would be home tonight, I went in the kitchen to start dinner. When I entered, I noticed that the crock-pot was on. I lifted the lid and smelled the wonderful aroma of roast beef, potatoes, carrots, and onions cooking. Someone had been very nice and started dinner for us. It was probably Chelsea. She probably put it on before she left for her school or work. Which one, would depend on what she had on her schedule today. When I tasted the broth, I decided to add some more garlic powder. Then I stirred it in and tasted it again. Just right now.

When I finished in the kitchen, I headed for my bedroom. As I walked by the living room, I saw Angela studying. "Afternoon sweetheart, who started the roast?"

"Chelsea started the meat before she left and asked if I'd put the veggies in when I got home."

"Well, I must say thank you to the both of you for that. I really appreciate all the little things you two do to help me."

She said, "No prob Pop, glad to help." Then she went right back to studying.

As I continued to walk to my bedroom, I shook my head in wonderment. When I walked in my bedroom, I changed my clothes, because I wanted to feel more comfortable. Then I put some things away in the bedroom that were bringing up too many bad memories. When I finished that, I went back out to the garage and picked up the three paper boxes I'd brought home. I dropped two off in the living room and took the last one in the bedroom to start putting some stuff away. First, I needed to clean out Karen's nightstand. As I was doing that, I found probably ten partially used tissues along with a half-read book, and a fingernail file. There was also a bunch of other stuff. But instead of going through it, I just emptied the drawer inside the box and covered it all with a couple of hand towels from the bathroom. I placed the pictures on top of them and then some washcloths over the pictures. That box was about half full. Next, I went inside the bathroom to make sure that Shelly and Chelsea had found all of Karen's things. When I looked, I found a tube of lipstick and a couple of bottles of fingernail polish. Those I'd bring out for either Chelsea or Angela. I noticed that Karen's jewelry box was gone, so I didn't need to worry about that.

When I finished, I brought the half-filled box out to the living room. I left it there, so the children could take whatever they didn't want to have in their rooms, and place it the box.

I then walked back to the kitchen to check the roast. It looked and tasted great. The next question was did we have enough ingredients to make a fairly decent salad. So I walked over and opened the refrigerator. We did, so I made sure we had enough of the salad dressings for each of us. We each had a favorite dressing. Chelsea and Karen loved Ranch, James liked French, and Angela liked Blue Cheese. My favorite was Thousand Island, or if I were having Italian food, vinegar and olive oil.

I made the salad and by then everyone was home. So James set the table and the girls helped by bringing the food to the table. I led us in grace and then cut the roast, which just fell apart as soon as I touched it with the knife. Just the way we all loved it.

After diner, I asked the kids to help me put some of our mementos in the boxes.

The next couple of weeks just flew by with work and home life. There were still some nights that I had trouble sleeping. To help that, I started to work out to rid myself of my middle-age spread. It also helped to tire me out at night. This way I'd go right to sleep. Although I still had nice dreams of being with Karen, I also had some nightmares of her last few weeks while she was still with us. Overall, I was getting better since the nightmares were getting further apart and the nice dreams were fading as well.

One day at work, our Transportation Department sent me an email. It said that the prototype self-propelled beds were going out to Scott & White today. So six months from now, we would find out if my concept was truly viable. I knew the design was solid, but the question was would it continue to work reliably in everyday use.

The day for our combined vacation and meeting Caryn's family, was approaching fast. It was now less than a week away. During this last week, we'd talked via Skype almost nightly. We would leave on Monday to drive up there. I'd already reserved a minivan to drive up there. I knew we couldn't fit everything in either Karen's car or my truck. Well we could fit everything in the truck, but if it rained, we'd find that all the luggage would get wet.

Finally, it was time to leave. I picked up the minivan, so we could pack it up Sunday night. We were ready to leave real early Monday morning. We knew that it was around a twelve-hour drive up. Since we had three drivers, we could leave about four in the morning and arrive before six in the evening. This would be easy, even with stopping to eat.

The trip up was interesting. We were seeing country we hadn't seen before. Of course there were large stretches were we essentially saw nothing for miles. But we saw many things we'd never seen before. When we arrived just before six, we checked in and pretty much collapsed on the beds. We slept through until we awoke on Tuesday morning.

What can I say about the next four days? We all had a lot of fun together. The children all got along very well and became fast friends. However, for Caryn and I, under the surface things didn't go as well. On the surface, we got along well, but there was something in both of us that we held back. What it was I couldn't say. I only knew that she'd not be my second wife. Sure, we had fun with the children all around us. But, when it was just the two of us, something was just somewhat off kilter. At first, I chalked it up to lust, but the more I pondered it at night that wasn't it. It was something much deeper and possibly more sinister. The only thing I could understand, at the time, was that Caryn was not the woman who I needed in my life now.

When we parted on Friday morning, we could both tell that things weren't going to go any further. We would maintain a good friendship, but it would be a distant friendship. Neither of us could commit to anything further than that. She kissed my cheek and said goodbye. She then got in her car and drove off to the northwest. I climbed in the driver's seat of the minivan and drove south.

That was the end of that chapter of my life. I'd have to find someone else. I thought back to what Miss Dorothy said about Caryn. She'd talked with her via Skype after her insistence that I give her Caryn's phone number. She said that she was close, but no ringer. Maybe a leaner, but not the prize I wanted or needed. My brain said that maybe her disappointment could have soured our relationship, as that was in the back of my mind. I'd tried to see Caryn as Miss Dorothy saw her. I really didn't know what the answer was, but I knew my mind now. What it was saying is that Caryn was not a permanent part of that life.

We arrived home with no problems. For the next two months, things were hectic, with school, work, and just normal life. I gave my pickup to James and picked up a used small pickup for me to drive to work. Chelsea had her car that we bought for her last year when she started college. Angela took over Karen's Sebring.

It was a week before Halloween. I was entering the entrance to work, when Miss Dorothy stopped me. She asked me if I was going to the Halloween dance at the Copeland Inn.

"Gee, Miss Dorothy. I really hadn't planned on going. I thought I'd sit on the porch and give out candy to the youngsters in our neighborhood. Why do you ask? Do you have someone picked out for me?"

"Don't be so rash young man. When I look at you, I just thought that you were getting that 'poor me' look again. What I think is that you should at least go, and have a good time dancing and having fun. I know that since that vacation didn't turn out, as you thought it would, you have withdrawn again as you did earlier this year. You're too good a man to continue to go through life being depressed."

"You're right Miss Dorothy. I guess I need to find a costume for this, right?"

"Have you got a pair of farm boots and coveralls?"

"Of course I do. Doesn't every Texan that drives a truck have those? I use mine in the garden out back after a rain. Do you expect me to dress up as a hayseed farmer?"

"Why not? You have the costume and all you need is a straw hat, or a dirty cowboy hat and maybe a piece of straw sticking out of your mouth. If you act like the shy hayseed as you did at the talent show last year, you'll be perfect."

"Oh yeah I forgot about that. We had a lot of fun doing that. Yeah I could do that."

"Now who am I supposed to meet? Will it be someone in a Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm outfit?"

"Well there might be more than one in that kind of outfit, but then I wouldn't know that for sure, now would I?"

I shook my head and said slowly, "No ma'am. I'm sure that you wouldn't know anything about that. Thank you for your interest in my welfare."

"Now why in the world would I have any interest in your welfare Mr. Wilson? I was just talking about a Halloween party that we'll have at the Old Copeland Inn. Now why in the world would you think it was anything other than that?"

"No reason Miss Dorothy. I need to be at work now, so please excuse me. Thank you for telling me about the party. I hope to see you and Mr. Johnson there."

"We wouldn't miss it for anything, John."

I left for my office and pondered what kind of mess I'd just stepped in. I think I just received my marching orders. Somehow, there was at least one person, handpicked by Miss Dorothy that I'd meet at that party. I must admit that she had good taste in picking women for me. I remembered that Karen was with me when I interviewed for my job here. She had a long talk with Miss Dorothy while I was busy interviewing. Then, after she spoke to Caryn, she said that she wasn't quite right. In the end, that seemed true. I could do worse, I suppose.

Oh well. Time to return to work. I got an e-mail from Scott & White that afternoon. It seems that so far, the prototype self-walking beds we sent them for the preliminary trials were looking good. They've used them for a while now and didn't have any problems. I liked to hear that kind of news. After I sent the e-mail up my chain of command, I went to check on when the three new beds would be finished in production. Once they were ready, I had to send them out to another hospital. They'd do another set of testing. The Production people told me that they'd be ready for shipment in another week. I told them what Scott & White had told me about the prototypes during their test. They thought that we had a solid design and a good working model. Since the newer beds would be a little better looking, but the same basic item, we shouldn't have any problems with them. In another six months, we would have the data so we could market them all over. We wanted to have two hospitals using them to make sure we had a better sample.

After that, I designed two more scooters. Then I completed a new design for a crash cart. I'm sure you've seen them on TV. Just think of when you hear 'Code Blue'. The cart needs to have everything needed if a person has a heart attack, or if someone had stopped breathing. I was designing one, so it would have every item in its own special place. The most important part of the design was that every cart produced must be consistent. This way, when a physician needed an item, they could just reach for something and know he had the right device or medicine.

When I returned home after work, I put the party on the kitchen calendar. This way, my kids would know I had plans for that night. James said he and Jason would be going to a party at school, but Angela would be home for the little kids. It turned out that Chelsea might also be home.

Somehow I never gave the Halloween party another thought. That was until I received a phone call reminding me that it was that night. After work, I went home and let everyone know where I'd be. I started to dress as an old redneck farmer. My coveralls were a little baggy and had patches on the knees. I wore a red bandana with a white squiggly pattern hanging out of my back pocket. I'd found a somewhat dilapidated straw hat and even found a piece of straw stuck in the hatband. That would look great.