Mrs. Dunkin #39

This is a continuing story.  To see the rest click here.  

39

Naturally, I got up way too early the next morning.  I hopped in the shower and went into the day-room.  No one was there yet.  I could see the aides going into the rooms to start getting people ready for the day.   As I was starting to go the table, I could hear muffled crying.  I walked down the other hall when I could hear it was coming from Fred’s room.  I peeked in and he was sitting in a chair.  I was trying to decide if I should go in or not when I heard “Hey, girlie.”

“Hello Fred, are you all right?”

“I miss my Eloise so much” and I walked into his room. 

I sat on the chair next to him and grabbed his hand and said “I’m so sorry Fred.  It is hard to lose a loved one” and he cried softly.

“I thought I could never live without her but the Good Lord had other plans for me.  She’s been gone 10 long years now and he still must not want me.”

“Oh there, there now, he must have a good reason for keeping you here.  It’ll be all right” and I got up and gave him a hug.

“You have a very nice room, Fred” trying to get his mind off things. 

“Thank you.”

“I love the oil lamp.”

“Yeah, I’m not allowed to keep oil in it, safety hazard they say.  That lamp was in my house when I was a kid; I’ve kept it all these years.”

“Why it’s a real antique then.”

“Yeah, just like me” and we both laughed.  “Thanks for stopping by, I have to get ready for breakfast.”

“Oh okay, I hope we’ll be seeing you in the day-room today.”

“I’ll be there” and I walked out the door.

I could see the ladies were all at the table already with Clara just coming down the hallway.  When she got to the table she said “Did I see you come out of Fred’s room” she said with a wink.

“Clara!  Yes it was me.  He’s was sad about his wife.  You know he really is a very nice guy.”

“I just bet he is” and we all laughed.

“How are you doing today Clara” Nancy asked.

“I’m fine.  It was lonely in the room.  I can’t wait until you come Nancy.”

“That’ll be in the morning.  Oh look, here come the trays.”

We started to eat when the activities director came up to the table and said “About 10 we’re going to be playing bingo.  Anyone interested?”

We all said “Yes.”

“Good, we don’t have much of a crowd this morning.  I wonder if everyone is getting tired of it.”

“Nah” Clara said.  “I think it’s probably the letdown after the holidays, you know how that can be.”

“You are probably right.  We’ll see you later ladies. Bye”

“That will be fun; I haven’t played it but that one time with you Clara.  Time just seems to have flown by since I’ve come here.”

“So Nancy did you tell your roommate about you leaving?  What did she say” Mildred asked.

“Nothing really, I don’t think she cared.  Apparently, she didn’t care for me either” and she laughed. 

“I wish Mildred and I could get a room in your wing.  I think if we tried though we might get split up.  They never have a whole room that needs two people.”

“It would be so fun if we could all be in the same wing” Clara said excitedly.

“I would love that.  We’ll have to work on that to see if we can make that happen.”

“It’s only wishful thinking Gladys” Audrey said.

“Sometimes wishes come true” and when no one was looking Gladys gave Annie a little wink.

Nancy said “Yeah, who would have ever thought Clara and I would end up together. It could happen”

“Yeah” everyone said with renewed hope even Audrey.

We all decided to go back to our room, use the bathrooms and meet back in the day-room.

I was just starting to leave when the phone rang.  “Mom” I heard Julie say.  “I wanted to let you know Stella’s back in the hospital.”

“She is?  What happened?”

“The pneumonia’s back.  Her doctor called me.  I’m going to be in the hospital this afternoon and I’ll check on her.  I’ll call you tonight and tell you what I found out.”

“Okay, dear.  Thanks for calling. Bye.”  I went and sat on the rocker. 

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Saturday Centus #144

Number of words:  106 (including the words 'The dark side of the stars..."

Style of writing: Any
Additional Pictures: Any 

Prompt is in pink- I hope no one is offended by this, sorry if you are!

“What did you think of the books?”

“I’m still processing them.”

“I’ve never read anything like that before.”

“I would be too embarrassed to talk to anyone else about them but you.”

“You got that right.”

“I didn’t even know that world existed.”

“When that woman said ‘Master is Dark’ all I could think was hell yeah, he is.”

“He was on the dark side of the stars, moon and universe” and they laughed.

“I was too tied up with the trilogy to read the book club book, no pun intended” and she chuckled.

“Me too” and they joined the other book club members.

Check out other centus' at Jenny's Matlock's

http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/2013/01/saturday-centus-week-144.html

Mary #45

This is a continuing story.  If you want to read from the beginning, please go to my side bar to the labels and click on story-Mary or click here.

45

“What” Johnny asked.

Then Jimmy “Was it because you came here?"

Elizabeth spoke up angrily before Mary could. 

“The hotel went bankrupt.  Can you believe it?  They told Mary she was through after all those years she worked for them.”

"They close the whole place down until they restructure.  They fire everyone and then hire new people that they don’t have to pay as well. That’s just how that business world works" Mary said.

“Well, that stinks” Johnny said.

“You’ll get severance though, right?”

“Yes Jimmy, thank goodness.  I’m still waiting for them to email me papers that I have to sign.”

“With this bad economy I think it might be hard to find a new job, Mar” Johnny said.

“I’ve come up with an idea if you two would agree to it.”

“Don’t forget, I gave you the idea” Elizabeth chimed in looking pale.

Mary noticed and said “Are you all right?”

“I’m good.  I’m just getting a little tired.”

“Why don’t you go upstairs and lay down.”

“Are you kidding, we’re getting to the good part now” and she chuckled.

Both the guys looked puzzled.

Mary started “Just hear me out before you say yes or no” and they both nodded.

“It would be hard to find a job in New York especially with what I do. I was thinking about moving back here.”

“That would be great” Johnny said.

“But what kind of job could you get here?  We don’t have many big hotels that could probably afford your price” Jimmy said laughing.

“Exactly” Mary said.  “That’s why Elizabeth suggested that I open up a B&B.”

“B&B, what’s that” Johnny asked.

“It stands for bed and breakfast inn.  You know instead of people staying in a motel or hotel, they stay in a place that’s a home” Elizabeth said.

“That sounds good Mary and if that’s what you want to do, do it.  You don’t need our permission” Jimmy said.

“Well, there’s a catch because I do need both of your permissions.  I want to do it here.”

“Here at the farm?  I thought you wanted to get rid of the place?” Jimmy replied.

“I never really wanted to get rid of it.  You and Johnny didn’t seem to want to live here so that seemed like the best thing to do.”

“That’s true Jimmy” Johnny said.

“Could someone make a real living doing that?  What would you do with all the farmland?”

“We’ve got that solved too.  Mary could rent it out.  In fact, she already talked to Eli about it and he said he would be interested” Elizabeth said.

“Again with the Eli, is there something we should know about the two of you” Jimmy asked.

Mary laughed “Not really, I’ve had dinner with him a couple of times.  We’re just friends.”

“For now” Elizabeth joked.

“Stop it” and Mary smirked.  “To tell you the truth Jimmy I’m not sure what kind of living I could make off a B&B but I sure would like to try, if both of you would let me.”

“I sure would like to have you back home” Johnny said.

“Me too” Elizabeth said.

“It would need a lot of fixing up if you wanted to have people staying here.  I know I don’t have extra money that I could give you to help and I’m sure Johnny doesn’t either.”

“I wouldn’t plan on doing any remodeling until after the holidays.  I think I should get quite a bit of severance that I can use.”

“I’m going to be a partner since it was my idea in the first place” Elizabeth added.  “We already started planning what needs to be done when I was at my treatment.  We’re going to do more at the next one.”

“I’ll be right back.  I have to use the bathroom” Jimmy said. 

When he left Mary asked Johnny “What do you think he’s thinking?”

“I don’t know but you have my vote.”

While Jimmy was in the bathroom he thought about what Mary had said.  He thought it would be wonderful to have Mary back home again.  Ever since she told him about Mitch it had bothered him.  Like somehow he had let her down even though he knew he didn’t but for some reason she seemed to have held it against him all those years. It would finally be a chance for him and her to get close. 

He also saw how much Elizabeth brightened up when she talked about the B&B.  He thought it would be good for her with everything she had gone through and still was going through.  He thought this would even give her more reason to fight for more time.

He came out of the bathroom and said “You have any more cake and coffee?”

“Sure” Mary said and brought some more for everyone.

She sat down and Jimmy said “So Mary, are you going to be getting rid of your apartment when you move back here and run the B&B?”

Mary got up and hugged Jimmy following close behind was Elizabeth.

Johnny asked “What about me” and they went and hugged him too.

When they were done eating Jimmy said “I think I’ve had enough excitement for one day.  Are you ready to go home Johnny?”

“Ready” he said.

Mary and Elizabeth walked them to the back door and gave them each another hug. 

When they saw the car go they both started jumping up and down excitedly.

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