Mary #23

If anyone does Saturday Centus you might somewhat remember this story started as a centus.  In  June of 2010, I wrote a few chapters on Mary and then stopped.  I had so much to write about her, writing weekly for centus wasn't enough.  I then wrote and wrote until I had over 30,000 words so far.  In writing it though as I got further and further my original premise somehow got blown out of the water, ha, ha. I stopped writing her story in March of 2011.   I still haven't quite figured out how I'm going to work this out but I thought I would put out what I have so far.   Please remember this is a really rough draft and when I wrote it, I had no chapters.  Before I decided to put this on the blog I had to go back and figure out where I could make them.  I would suggest this is a terrible way of doing it lol.  The first chapter started on March 23rd, 2012.

23

Even though she had gone to sleep late, Mary was up by 7 a.m.  She got dressed, went downstairs and made herself some coffee.  When it was done, she grabbed a cup and went right to the sofa and started knitting. 

She was pretty close to being done when she got her coffee cup and got another cup of coffee.  As she was coming into the living room, she could see Jimmy's car pulling in.  She hurried to the back door and opened it as he was getting out of his car. 

"Hi Jimmy.” 

"I know Johnny told you what's been happening and by the time I got home it was too late to call.  We got back about 1 a.m., took Elizabeth to the hospital and stayed with her for a while.  It's not good Mary, not good at all.” 

"What exactly happened" Mary asked. 

"Can I grab a cup of coffee?” 

"Sure" she said.  

Jimmy poured himself a cup of coffee and then said "Can we go in the living room" and they went and sat on the sofa.

"This has pretty much been the vacation from hell.  Besides telling you about Mitch, I have something to tell you about Elizabeth.  I know you haven't been close for the last few years but I wanted you to know.  Donna and I found out the reason Elizabeth wanted us to go up to the cabin was, she wanted to talk to Donna about breast cancer.”  

Mary's heart sunk and she started to tear up.  

"Mary, there's no easy way to say this, Elizabeth has Stage 4 breast cancer.  Donna and I were pretty shook up about it when she told us.  Mitch is absolutely devastated.  He loves her so much.” 

"Oh no, Jimmy" and she started to cry. 

Jimmy put his arm around Mary and let her cry.  

"I've been such a bad friend to Elizabeth, Jimmy.”

"Forget about that now.  Elizabeth needs you.  We talked about you before she told us about the breast cancer and she said she really misses you.  She said you all kind of lost touch when you went to New York with your job taking up so much time.”

"Is that what she said" Mary asked.

"Yeah, that's what she said.  Really Mary whatever the reason you stopped talking it doesn't matter now.  Her world is falling apart.  She needs you.  After she told us, I could tell Mitch was going to start crying.  He decided to go out for a walk.  It had rained in the morning.  He went walking in the woods and we figure he must have slipped on something and fell down the ravine.  Hannah and Jake were outside goofing around when they heard a noise.  They went to investigate and they found him.  He hit his head on a rock and it was split open.  We called an ambulance right away.   He has been in a coma ever since.  Elizabeth decided to have him transferred to a hospital closer to home.  On the flight to the hospital, he had a heart attack and is now on a ventilator". 

"Oh goodness where is she now?”

"I just came from the hospital and I took her home.  She wanted to get cleaned up and then I'm driving her back there in a couple of hours.  Donna is there now sitting with Mitch in case a doctor comes in and says anything.” 

"Do you think Mitch is going to make it?”

"I honestly don't know.  That's why I think it would be a good idea if you went up there and saw her.”

"When Johnny called last night, I started making her this prayer shawl.  I should be done with it soon and I'd like for her to have it.    I'll come up to the hospital in the afternoon or tonight.” 

"Okay, but don't wait too long.  I'm just not sure how things are going to go.  I'm going to go home and check on the kids. I’ll take Elizabeth back then and I'll probably stay with her until you come.”

"Okay, I'll see you there later.  Thanks Jimmy for coming and telling me.” 

"Mary, I know I'm not as close to you as Johnny is but I love you" and he hugged her. 

"I love you too Jimmy" and she kissed him on the cheek.  He went out the back door and left. 

Mary grabbed another cup of coffee and went back to knitting. She hoped the prayers she said while making the shawl would help Elizabeth with whatever she had to face.   When she finished, she went upstairs and took a bath and then put on jeans and a t-shirt.  Fixed her hair and put on make-up and decided to head out to the hospital. 

Mary grabbed the prayer shawl and went out back.  Just as she got in her car, her phone rang.  

"Hello", Mary said. 

"Hi it's me.” 

"Eli, I was just getting into my car.  I can't talk long.” 

"I won't keep you.  I wanted to make sure you were okay after yesterday.” 

"I'm just a little flustered right now.  My friend's husband is in the hospital in a coma and I was headed out to see her.” 

"That's terrible, anyone I would know?” 

"Her name is Elizabeth and her husband's name is Mitch Connell.  Do you know them?” 

"I've met them a couple of times at your folks place over the last couple of years.  They would come to pick up corn from your dad.  Elizabeth would stop and pick up sunflowers from him too.  They seemed like a nice couple.” 

"Yeah, Elizabeth is wonderful.  I'm so worried about what's going to happen.  I figure she could use a friend about now.” 

"I'll let you go and you get on your way.  Be careful and take your time.  Call me if you need anything.” 

"Thanks Eli" and she hung up the phone.

Mary drove out of the driveway.  She was excited and nervous about seeing Elizabeth.  She hoped Jimmy was right and Elizabeth would be happy to see her.  
 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.