Hey Pappy

The phone rang. When I answered it the child's voice on the other end said "Hey Pappy, you gots company. Can I send her over?

"OK, Shrimp. Did she say what she wanted?"

"Nope, she just asked for you."

"OK. Tell her I live in the little red house about a half mile down the road."

Shrimp is my grandson. His Dad is my son Billy. They live in the house where Billy grew up. Well, from the time he was 4 anyway. We moved there because the neighborhoods in our former town were too dangerous to suit us.

After a while we had a daughter. Loretta and her husband live 3 hours away, and do not get back as often as we would all like.

I needed to move out of that house and sold it to Billy and his wife Susan for a song. I had too much time and money invested in the old place to just sell it to a stranger. I bought a smaller house up the road a piece. I don't avoid the old place, but memories of the place made continuing to live there too depressing.

Now we are working on a new set of memories in that house that are much more satisfying. They include Shrimp and his little sister Rosetta. They are good memories.

I had just gotten out of bed when I had a feeling that my day was going to not be one of my better ones. There was no particular reason, just one of those "Oh my" sort of things.

I had been puttering around the house for a bit when the phone rang. The feeling was getting stronger.

I watched as the car pulled up my lane. A thin, gray haired woman slowly got out and moved toward the door. From a distance she looked familiar. As she got closer I could make out her features and my day went right down the toilet.

The first thing I recognized was the funky scar on her right knee, and then I saw the one that matched on her other. The second was new; at least I had never seen it before. I knew the first one well. She now had 2 replacement knees, her hair was no longer brown and to her waist and she lost a lot of weight.

I guess you are wondering what I am rambling on about. We need to go back 6 years to begin the story.

We had been married for 24 years, they were pretty good ones too. We lived for the children as well as ourselves. We did not have a lot of money in the bank, but we were rich with experiences. Hardly a week went by that we didn't go to one place or another. Museums, and parks were the favorites; it could be local, state or federal. We went to carnivals, church suppers, concerts in the schools and any other thing that sounded like fun. They were encouraged to participate in band and sport activities at school. We embarrassed them when we cheered louder than anyone else. That is what family is for, isn't it?

My wife and I were both retired earlier than most. We are both disabled. She had bad knees and could hardly stand. After teaching for years and carrying some extra weight from having the children, her knees were shot. My back was bad enough that I could not lift any more, my knees were also shot. I loved her to death and thought she felt the same about me.

I worked construction for most of my life. To do the job correctly you need a good set of knees and a good back. I worked for the same company for 28 years when they brought in a new manager; he, in turn, brought in a group of buddies from his last job. They were slow, not too good and had no pride in their work; then work became harder and harder to find and there were layoffs. The senior people were the first to go. The company has since gone under.

I do small home improvement jobs to help make ends meet. The terms are that I will work when I can, I will take a break as often as I want, but the work will be the best available. People like my work and my prices so I do all right. I even have a waiting list.

I put the company in my son's name. He gets paid and gives me the maximum I am allowed to earn on disability. What is left over goes into a school fund for all of my grandchildren. Sorry I am rambling again, what do you expect from an old fart?

Well, 6 years ago we were both retired. One morning I woke up a little later than normal and walked out to the kitchen to see what my wife was doing. She was not there, I looked in the drive and her car was gone. I figured she went to the store.

I let the dog out and went back into the kitchen; there I found a small stack of papers on the counter. On top of them were her cell phone and rings. I looked at the papers; they were all of her monthly bills. There was no note or anything else to say what was on her mind. I spent a long time that day calling her friends, no one knew anything. I was beside myself with worry.

When she had not returned by supper that evening I called the police and reported her missing. They asked if she had taken anything with her. I looked around and found her medications were gone and some of her clothes. They wanted to know if she had taken any money. I looked at the accounts; there was a recent cash withdrawal of $900 about a week ago, that was it.

After the police left I checked her e-mail account to see if there was any indication as to what was going on. I found none. Facebook showed that some of her friends had recently sent her their addresses; I copied them to give to the police.

When she had been gone for a few days I started to closely watch her bank accounts and saw no activity other than a small amount on her charge cards for the first 3 days and then that stopped too. The locations of her purchases indicated she was moving to the west. The last activity was in Missouri.

I gave the police the information I had and settled back to wait. All I could do is watch her credit card statements, bank accounts and email.

About 6 months after she walked out the police called and said they found her car at one of the addresses she had received on Facebook. The woman who had the car wanted it removed. It seems my wife visited her and left on the train. She said she would take care of the car a little later. I brought the car home and parked it in my garage; I drive it every Sunday just to keep it up. It is actually a nice vehicle and a classic. There I go, getting ahead of myself again.

Every day I cleared the spam she got and responded to her friends, when they emailed her, telling them she was gone and I would let them know if I heard anything.

Soon the only things to show on her account were her monthly bills and what I and the children sent to her. I noticed she did not take any money out of her bank accounts, but I could see that someone was looking at the accounts every now and then. Our bank list the last time the account was accessed.

About 15 months after she left I hit the lottery for about $300,000. I paid off all the credit cards and the house then put the rest in savings.

Once a month I sent her an update on what was going on in our lives. I asked her why, did she not love us, and was she living with someone else. I guess she read them but she never responded. After about 18 months she started to use her cards again, nothing big though. I could tell by the activity on her bank and charge accounts that she was somewhere near Dallas, Texas but chose to not look into it any further. After all she left me and chose to stay away without communicating; she needs to contact me now. I had tried.

Every so often she would charge something and then pay the bill from her bank accounts. All of the activity was within 60 miles of downtown Dallas. She now had a nice amount of savings in her accounts. She was getting $1300 each month, from disability, and hardly spending $500 in 6 months.

There was no indication that she was being paid to work, no tax records or such.

After 3 years I emailed and told her I was filing for divorce on the grounds of desertion. She did not answer. I was awarded the house and contents. In the settlement I asked that my son take over her accounts. Three months later I sold the house to my son and bought the other one. The last regular email I sent her told her the divorce was final. I noticed she read that one but saved it as new, I guess so she could read it over again. She kept it for 3 months, and then it too disappeared.

For the last 3 years I have only sent her an email wishing her Happy Birthday and another to wish her Merry Christmas.

I have had a friend name Donna for the last 30 years; she worked at the McDonalds I used to stop at for breakfast. After my wife left she sold me a wonderful dog that I still have; the dog and I would go and visit her every now and then. Recently Donna's husband got very sick and died. One day while I was there for lunch her friend Mary told me that Donna was lonely and would welcome my company. I asked if she would like to go to dinner and a movie; it soon became a regular thing. Then we started to get the families together for picnics and the holidays. Last year we got married and now live in the little red house. She no longer works and is very happy. It is wonderful to have someone to hold at night again. I never thought I would be lucky enough to find love again.

Well, that was the last 6 years or so.

The woman walking up my walk looked nervous; as well she should. Donna met her at the door and asked if she could be of assistance. The woman said she needed to speak with me. They came into the living room and sat on opposite ends of the sofa. I introduced my wives to each other. The ex, Sophie, asked if we could speak alone.

I felt the need to tell her that Donna and I are very much in love. Sophie nodded and I saw a small tear form in the corner of one eye. With that Donna went to fix supper, she was out of sight but could hear every word.

Sophie told me she still loved me and missed me. She realizes now that what she did was stupid; her words, not mine. Tears were slowly running down her face. She had been working as a companion for an older woman since shortly after she left.

She was paid a small amount in cash by the family; she bought her necessities and put the rest in a shoebox in her closet. The woman recently died, she was given the woman's car and told she could continue to live there for 60 days. She left the next day

She felt a sudden need to return here.

I told her that she had 6 years to contact the children or me and did not choose to do so. The children were, rightfully, angry for being deserted and my love for her had withered and died for lack of attention.

She cried for a bit and then told me she was having problems when she left, and did not think about what she was doing she wanted to contact us but just never did. She could not explain other than to say she was embarrassed and the longer she delayed the easier it became to delay even longer.

Donna came into the room and said "The food is ready, would you like to eat with us?"

Donna and she talked during supper; then to my surprise Donna invited her to "...stay for a while, until you decide what you want to do."

Sophie wanted to be a part of our lives again, but she was afraid and not sure how if she would be welcome again. We talked about the treatment she was receiving for her problem; she had been fine for over 4 years now. The woman she was caring for recognized her behaviors as something she went through years ago. She took Sophie to her doctor and he set up a program for her recovery.

Sophie kept telling me she was sorry for what she had done. Finally I got to the point where I needed to get away from her before I yelled. I went to bed and left them talking.

The next morning she started with the apologizing again, I walked out the door and went into town for a while. When I returned 3 hours later Sophie and Donna were sitting at the kitchen table talking. They had met less than 24 hours ago and were like best friends now. Sometimes I just do not understand women.

As we ate lunch Donna told me "Sophie understands why you left earlier and won't apologize to you anymore. Also, Billy and his family would be coming over for supper tonight."

"Do they know that Sophie is here?"

"Not yet, Sophie will be in her room when they get here. I will explain what they need to know and then when everyone is ready she can come out."

That evening we all sat down to dinner, there were 7 places at the table. Before we brought out the food Donna said there was something important we all needed to discuss.

"There is an extra chair at the table for a special guest this evening."

"This guest did something years ago that she should not have done and is extremely sorry for it. She asks for your forgiveness and wishes to return to your lives."

"I am not going to give you the details or tell you what to do. I am going to ask that you, please, listen to what she has to say and welcome this guest as you have welcomed me into your family."

Shrimp looked up and almost shouted "I bet it is that lady who was looking for Pappy. I saw her car out by the barn."

Billy asked "Who is this guest?" I could see the anger in his face.

Just then Sophie walked into the room behind him. The room got quiet, Billy turned around. He tried to get up, but his wife refused to let go of his hand. He just turned back and stared at his place at the table.

Susan spoke quietly, "I never knew your mother and you never told me much about her except that she left without any warning. I know it made you very angry. I would like to be able to meet her and hear what she has to say. If you must leave, you can do so; if you do, the children and I will spend the night at my parent's house. I love you Billy and your children deserve to know who their grandmother is."

The room became quiet enough that you could almost hear everyone sweating. Finally Donna got up to get the food. The meal was quiet, very quiet. When all was done Susan, Billy, Sophie and I went into the living room and sat down.

Donna took the children out for a walk. As they went out the door she turned and said "Don't make a mess of my house, if you do you will clean it up. AND, I don't want any dead bodies."

After a minute I started to speak, "Sophie, we were all hurt by your actions, you just up and left. You never talked about any problems, for all we knew you ran off with another man."

She turned to Billy and said, "I will only say this part one time, I am truly sorry for the grief I caused you. I wish I could take it all back, but we can not change what has happened. We can only try to resolve any differences and try to continue living. I have always loved you, your sister and your father. There has never been any other man, I only have myself to blame for all the hurt and anguish. I hope I can make it up to all of you somehow."

Billy was fuming now.

Sophie continued, "I was having some medical problems that did not allow me to see things as they really were. I saw myself as old, crippled and fat. I thought how could anyone love me the way I am. I ran rather than doing the right thing, I was a coward. I have regretted my decision almost from the beginning, but I was too dense to allow myself the opportunity to correct my mistake. I loved the times all of you wrote to me. I cried as I read each letter, especially when you got angry and told me you did not love me anymore. In fact I have printed and saved every letter."

"I still love all of you and pray that you will allow me to be at least a small part of your lives again. I pray that we can be family again, but I will not push it if you choose not to. I know that Dad and Donna love each other very much and I will never do anything to cause them any problems. I guess that the loss of his love will be my punishment until the day I die."

I had never spoken to anyone about exactly how I was affected by her leaving; Donna had a good idea about my thoughts. I remained quiet and allowed them to continue.

Billy was not gentle with his response. He told how he was not able to trust any female until Susan came along and slowly drew him out of the rage he felt. He blamed any and all of his woes on her leaving like she did. Many of them were not really Sophie's fault, but it was easier to blame her than himself. He had not spoken to me about how angry he was; I was astounded by the depth of his feelings.

After he finished his ranting and raving Sophie looked up at him and said "I deserve all of that, don't I?" She then walked over and hugged him lightly.

Rather than allow the anger and hurt feelings to explode further I suggested "...that we take a break and meet tomorrow evening to talk further. After we have had a chance to mull over the words we had heard and spoken."

We broke up, Billy and Susan went home. Sophie went to her room. Before Donna came home I called Loretta, she was out to a PTA meeting. I told her husband to let her know that Sophie had returned. We talked for a bit about it. He asked how I felt about it. I told him I was still not sure. Donna came back into the house about 30 minutes later.

She asked how it went.

All I told her was "It was really rough." We went out to the swing to watch the moon rise.

As we headed for bed we passed Sophie's room and heard her sobbing quietly.

The next morning at breakfast Sophie said "I am not sure that I have done the right thing by returning here."

Donna looked her straight in the face and told her "Well the worst is over, if you leave now you will never be able to return; no matter how badly you want. The family is in an uproar because of you, you owe the family the opportunity to come to grips with this issue. I repeat, if you run again you will just make it even worse. If you do that to my family, I will never forgive you!"

"WOW!" I thought.

"Donna, can we pack a picnic lunch? I would like it if all of us go to the park and talk about this further. We need to be in a neutral place. I have many things to resolve in this matter, as I am sure you both do also. I have had time to think about things for a bit and have made a few decisions I feel might be worthwhile."

Donna headed to the kitchen to make sandwiches and pack the lunch; Sophie asked if she could please assist.

Donna thought it would be a good idea. As they worked they talked. Donna bounced a few ideas around to see if they might work.

When we were ready to go I brought out the car Sophie left in, 6 years ago. She cried when she saw it.

At the park we sat overlooking the lake and talked about our feelings and wants and needs. We took turns talking in different pairs and as a trio.

While we were talking, as a pair, Donna said that she thought that we might be able to allow Sophie to move a mobile home onto the back of our property so that she could be near. That way she would not under the same roof as us. It would show we supported her returning.

Before we had started talking we resolved that we would not make any formal plans today. We would just bounce around ideas and think on those ideas for a while.

On the way back Sophie asked if she could cook dinner this evening. Donna agreed as long as she could help.

When we got back Sophie asked Donna to reach way down between her seat and the driveshaft hump, all the way down to the floor. When she did she pulled out an enveloped that was yellowed with age; it was addressed to me.

"I wrote that the first night after I left. I am sorry that you did not find it on your own." she said. "Please sit down and read it together."

Then she went to her room. Donna read the letter aloud:

"Dearest Patrick,

I pray that you are in good health and have found this letter as early as possible.

I love you more than words can say. How you can love an old, fat cripple like me I will never understand. I had to leave so the family would not be burdened anymore with all of my health issues.

This is nothing that was caused by anyone in the family and I have not run off with another person.