Jogging Memories Ch. 06

"All we indulge in, JJ and me, it seems, is bickering these days."

"Come on, Jen, let's get them loaded up and get over there, I'm dying to see Bob myself."

<<<>>>

"Aun- er Emma?" asked JJ as they pulled away from the Morris house.

"Yes, JJ?"

"What do you make of all this memory loss nonsense that Dad is putting on, then?"

Emma laughed, "Well I now know exactly what you think of it, JJ!"

"What I mean is, do you think Dad's making it up just to piss Mum off, or has he genuinely lost his memory?"

"I really don't know Sweetie, I think I'll leave it for now and make my mind up when we get there and get to speak to your Dad. According to the SatNav, at this time of night, we'll be there in about thirty-five minutes."

"I just want Dad to come home as soon as he can and kick Mum out."

"He won't do that, JJ, your Mum and Dad are the most stable couple I know."

"Even when he knows she's been sleeping around?"

"You still think your Mum was ... doing that?"

"She was caught sleeping with that teacher at school, one of the PTA members, and some pretty graphic pictures were circulated around the school."

"That was just a rumour, JJ, we spoke about this yesterday."

"Yes, but if it was just a rumour, why do you think that none of the nice boys want anything to do with me?"

"So sorry, JJ, but you can't do anything about what boys think. They'll come around, in time, you see."

"It's just that I think Dad caught Mum 'at it' and then Mum's lover, or the pair of them, beat Dad up and dumped him in the woods far away, thinking he was dead, but somebody found him and saved his life."

"I don't think that's right, honey," Emma said quickly, shocked at the depth of feeling in JJ's trembling voice, "I'm sure that your Mum mentioned that while she was visiting your Dad in the ward she spoke to the mother of a girl who was being attacked; your Dad was running by when it happened and went to help her, and in doing so saved her."

"Mum didn't say any more about his injuries other than that he was attacked while out running," JJ thought for a moment, "Maybe Dad found out about Mum and her latest lover boy, whoever he is, left home and has moved to Chesterfield already, and was just unlucky on his first run in his new neighbourhood."

"No, that would never happen, Sweetie," Emma smiled, "Believe me, if I was wronged that way it would be Uncle Rich who would be looking for a new roof over his head, not me. Same for your Dad; he wouldn't put up with any nonsense. If your Mum was up to anything and he found out, she is the one who would be out in a flash."

"You'd kick Uncle Rich out, then, if he played around?"

"If he played around, then yes! I'd kick him out like a shot!" Emma laughed, "But your Uncle Rich knows where he's well off. Besides, I told you we are trying for a baby all the time at the moment, he wouldn't have the energy for another woman."

"Why a baby now, Em?"

"Last chance for me, kiddo," Emma confided, "I want a baby before I'm 36 and I'm running out of time, so over the last couple of weeks poor Rich has been on his last legs."

"I thought that ... you know, black men are, er ... studs."

"Not all of 'em honey, not all," Emma laughed, "Now you are so pretty that you are gonna charm Brick Alexander into your web and you won't have to go through the card of a series of loser also-rans like I had to. Take it from me, I love my Richard like no one else, but he is definitely no stud. If I hadn't taken pity on those big soulful brown eyes of his, he'd still be a single man who wasn't getting any."

"So if he's nothing special," asked JJ, with a smile, "Why do you stay with him?"

"Because I love the silly dope, I always have. He never fails to make me laugh and I reckon that he'll make a half-decent father one of these days, if only he could hit the target just the once."

"You've been trying for a while then, haven't you Em?"

"Yeah, hopefully this time it's gonna happen, because we are going to keep on going until we get there. We married ten years ago and moved into my house, which I bought with a previous boyfriend about four years earlier, right next to the house you lived in then. Both of us were in our early twenties and thought we'd wait until we'd been married for between five to ten years or so, so we had time to play with repaying the mortgage on the house. We had a scare when we first got married, but I lost the baby. We tried really seriously about five years ago and three years ago but nothing happened. I worried at the time that perhaps I was sterile through losing the baby."

"Oh, Em, I'm sorry, I didn't know that."

"Well, we didn't say anything to anyone. We tried seriously again three years ago, going by all the charts and temperatures, with Rich having to come home from work at odd times of the day to do the deed. Boy! It was exhausting for both of us. Fun for a while, but a killer as far as getting pleasure from lovemaking was concerned. It put us both under far too much pressure. And so we slowed down and eventually gave up, agreeing to try again later, once your Uncle Rich had built his strength up!"

JJ giggled.

"Rich won't get himself checked out, it's a 'man thing', apparently, so I had my doctor run me through all the fertility tests and everything checks out A-OK as far as my tubes are concerned. The Doc thought it was just a case of us keep on trying. He thought we just needed to be relaxed about it and it should all turn out naturally, eventually. So your Uncle Richard gets lucky every night of the week that I'm home at the moment, and gets his rests in while I'm away with my mother."

"I forgot about your mum, how is she?"

"They gave her just a few months to live about three months ago, her cancer is beyond treatment considering how weak she is but she is still soldiering on. She is getting weaker all the time and completely bedridden now. I don't know what's keeping her going, maybe the thought of being a grandmother again before she goes."

JJ could see her smile by the light from the dashboard as Emma relived a few tender memories of her battling Mum.

"So she's not a burden having to go over and stay with her, how long is it for?"

"No, it's no burden, we chat together for hours. I go over to Matlock on Friday mornings, taking over from my sister Nicky at lunchtime and then I stay with Momma until Monday afternoon when Alison drops in to take charge. This week I had the weekend off. Ali wanted to swap it around. Ali always was the bossy one in the family."

"You the baby in the family, then, Emma?"

"Yeah, Momma was almost 45 when I came along, completely out of the blue, a bit of a shock to everyone. There's fourteen years between Nicky and me, Alison and Jack had already left home before I popped out! My dear old Dad was retired while I was still at school."

"So your dad was quite a few years older than my Dad?"

"I suppose so. Anyway, my Dad was always frail, he worked in the mines from the time he left school and his lungs were shot long before he retired. On the other hand your Dad is fit, and handsome, and did I ever tell you I think he is pretty hot?"

"I can't see it, myself, although I still think he's a terrific Dad. Always been there for us, has Dad."

"Yes, he is a great Dad, but he is a hot guy too. Just take my word for it. If Rich and I ever split up and there's trouble at the same time between your Mum and Dad, I'd set my horns on your Dad in a trice!" Emma laughed, "Come to think of it, he's done pretty well in the fathering great kids' stakes! So what would you think of me as a potential step-mum, huh?"

"I think you'd be great, Em!" JJ laughed, "You'd be the answer to all my prayers!"

<<<>>>

"Dad?" JJ was almost breathless. Once they hit the main ward where her father was and her Mum had pointed to the side ward doorway, the girl was off and running. She tore down the corridor while the rest of the party were still smoothing antiseptic gel on their hands.

Tommy/Bob had heard the commotion of the girl's clumpy heavy shoes on the hard polished floor and was already looking up when she burst through the open doorway.

"Don't tell me," he smiled, as he stiffly started to rise up from the chair where he had been relaxing, "You must be JJ, right?" He held out his arms.

"Oh, Dad!" she dived into his arms, throwing her arms around him and hugging him tightly.

He felt sharp pains from the impromptu embrace, his pain medication had been reduced yet another notch today, pending hoped-for release the next day. However, he folded his arms around this tiny girl and squeezed her back as hard as she was squeezing him. Tommy closed his eyes for a moment, searching his memory banks. He must have held this beautiful, precious creature thousands of times in the last sixteen years but he couldn't find anything tangible in his mind that he could hold onto. Tears welled up in his eyes and, as he opened them, his left eye leaked and a single tear rolled down his cheek. The girl was sobbing into his chest.

Looking up, he saw Jennifer enter the doorway, followed by two tall, slim teenage boys and a short blond woman in her thirties. He knew who the boys were as he was expecting them, the blond he didn't know at all. He nodded to Jennifer, who smiled back.

"Hi Bob, I see you've already met JJ," Jennifer said as she stroked a hand over Tommy's shoulder, as he held his daughter, "Now, this young man," she indicated Thomas Henry, the eldest, "Is Tom, and this is George, who we all call 'Tigger', since he was so bouncy and clumsy as a child. Finally, this is Emma, my best friend, she's married to Richard, who is your best friend."

"Hello, everybody," Tommy grinned, belying his tears, "Welcome to my little domain. I am sorry that I don't recognise any of you at the moment, but the quack tells me that is normal in my case and hopefully, once we get to know each other again, things'll start coming back to me."

Tom held out his hand first, Tommy released a hand from JJ's back and shook it firmly, despite the pain in his bruised fingers.

"I'm er, pleased to see you again, Dad, you do look a mess, those guys really worked you over, huh?"

"Yeah, but you should see the other guys," Tommy laughed, "Actually, I don't think I laid a hand on them, to be honest. Hannah's mother said that, as she was running away, she looked back and they had me on the ground and were kicking me. She's only a kid and didn't really think it through. She was only glad to get away and thought I'd be OK."

Tigger held out his hand, too, with a smile, "Hi Pops, you sure look strange with all your hair shaved off."

"Well, I don't think I look much different, I wore my hair cropped really short when I was your age, it was a fashion thing at the time. Even dyed it a very light blond myself in the bathroom a couple of times. That wasn't a good look," he chuckled, reminding himself that his ribs still ached.

"Sorry, JJ," he gently said to the girl, "You've gotta let me go, I do need to sit down."

JJ released her grip, her eyes were streaming and mascara ran down her cheeks and had stained streaks into the front of his pyjamas. She had never worn mascara until today. The one she used was some that Emma had given to her from her handbag the previous evening and shown her how to apply and remove it.

Tommy held onto her shoulders and pulled her to him again and kissed her on the forehead.

"You are very pretty, JJ, I feel extremely proud to be your father."

He turned to the other children, "Come on, pull up some chairs or sit on the edge of the bed and tell me all about yourselves; what your interests are, what you do at school, what you like to do and what your hopes are for the future."

The children looked at one another. As usual, it was Tigger that jumped up onto the bed first.

"I like scouting, camping and walking on the moors. I loved it when you used to come with us, but you've been too busy recently, especially since you increased the amount of jogging you do each week."

"I am sorry, Tigger," Tommy said, "When I'm fit again, soon, I promise, we'll go out walking again. Not sure about camping out until the spring, though, I never did like the cold much!"

"We know, Dad," chimed in JJ, laughing through the tears, "You never did like standing around in the cold. Remember that time when we were all very little you insisted on lighting a fire in the rain and the wood was so wet, you smoked us all out of the tent?"

Tommy laughed, "No, I don't remember, but I can imagine. I used to go camping with the scouts when I was a nipper, but didn't carry on with it after I left school."

Jennifer added the information that Bob didn't actually take them out camping until Tom joined the Cubs, about ten years ago. Then, once Bob started taking the kids out, he really threw himself into their activities wholesale, eventually becoming a parent governor of their junior school and accompanying the school children on trips every year for about seven or eight years.

"Then you were on the PTA, Mum, so both sides were covered, yes?" JJ commented, with a sarcastic edge to her voice.

Tom chipped in then, "You should never have given up the governorship, Dad; you were the best one on there. And you seemed to enjoy it so much too, you were so enthusiastic, you couldn't help but inspire all of us."

"I suppose every job has its natural cycle of life," Tommy observed, "Perhaps I felt I had done my fair share over the years? How long had I been doing it?"

"You started helping out on the open days and trips as soon as Tom started at the junior school," Jennifer informed him, "You were invited to stand as a parent governor the following year, Bob, and you walked the election. Then when Tom went on to secondary school, a lot of the other parents, who moved their kids up with you, urged you to be a governor there too. You walked that election again. You were there until you stood down the year before last. You also stayed on at the primary school for a year after Tig had moved on."

"I must've enjoyed doing it then," Tommy grinned.

"You did, Bob," Emma commented, "I remember how animated you used to get when you were talking about working with the children. Rich always said you used to tell him so many stories about what the kids and the helpers got up to during some of those trips."

"Where's Richard tonight?" Tommy asked.

"He's at home having his tea," Emma replied, "I didn't get a chance to tell him I was coming over here until he had just got home. He's got another early start in the morning, his firm seems to find jobs further and further away from home these days. He works outdoors on patios and driveways and he needs to do all the work he can while the weather is mild. So little work around where we live, his firm makes him travel all over the place."

"Well hopefully I can meet him and get to know him again when I go home to Buxton."

"Any news on when that will be, Bob?" Emma asked.

"Hopefully tomorrow," Tommy smiled, "Fingers crossed."