Recovery of a Hero Ch. 11

I smiled at that. I had been so scared when he got sick so suddenly. After loosing my parents three years ago and Uncle Sammy last year, I'd been terrified about loosing him too. Uncle Dar was a special person to me and also to my friends. I think I loved him almost from when he first came to our home.

I sat up and said, "I want to go see him, then I'd like to get something to eat. Do you think the hospital would let us get Uncle Dar something?"

"Not right now," said Janny. "He won't be able to eat much for a bit. Lets wait till he gets a bit stronger, and then we'll get him something special."

"Ok," I said. "I just know how hungry I was while I was in the hospital is all. Uncle Dar brought me treats every time he came to see me, and I thought that he might like the same."

"A few small treats won't hurt," said Janny. "I think he might enjoy a bit of fruit or something like that. Maybe we can get him some cherries since he seems to like them. But nothing real substantial for a bit. It might make him sick after this. That infection was spreading into his abdominal area, so he won't be able to handle much."

I said, "I know. George told us at the house that you'd said that. It really scared me because I remember how Uncle Sammy was."

"It scared me too," said Janny. "I've seen a lot of people with infections that spread like that and they don't always make it. We were lucky with Uncle Dar because we caught it in time. If we had gone one day longer, we would have lost him."

I said, "I guess we'll have to watch closer then. I don't want to loose him too. I don't think I could take it if we lost Uncle Dar. After mom and dad, and then Uncle Sammy, I just don't think I could take it. And Ellen and Nancy just lost their parents yesterday. What would happen to them?"

"Don't worry about them," said Janny. "George and I will make sure they're ok. They're my friends too, after all. All of your friends are."

I sat up and hugged Janny and said, "Thank you sis. I really love you."

"I love you too, little sister. I always have and I always will."

"Can I go back in now,?" I asked.

"Lets wait a bit until Megan gets back," said Janny. "Then we can go in together."

I agreed, and dug out my hair brush and started brushing my hair. I felt messy after sleeping in my clothes, but there wasn't much I could do except fix my hair a bit. I would be glad to get a shower soon, but I wasn't going to leave Uncle Dar until I knew he was ok. I believed that Janny had been honest with me, but I remembered how fast he got sick too.

I'd finished brushing out my hair by the time that Coach Coulter came back. She saw I was awake and smiled at me as she walked up.

When she opened the door she said, "Well hello sunshine. Glad to see your back with us."

I said, "Thank you and thank you for bringing me here so I could rest."

"I have to take care of my investments, don't I? Besides, I ain't gonna trust no beat up worn out marine to handle delicate packages. How you feeling?"

I said, "Better now that I've had a little rest. And much better now that I know that Uncle Dar is doing well."

"Yes," she said. "He did give us a bit of a scare, didn't he? They don't do them MAST flights for fun."

"I know", I said. "That's how they took Uncle Sammy last year at the end. He wouldn't leave home until he was so sick he couldn't even eat any more. When George told me they were calling in a MAST flight, I almost panicked. I didn't want Uncle Dar to die too."

I started to cry again. I was remembering how much it hurt when I found out about mom and dad. Then Uncle Sammy and now it was Ellen and Nancy's parents and almost Uncle Dar. I just couldn't hold it in anymore.

Coach Coulter climbed in and she and Janny both hugged me. They didn't say anything for a bit, just held me.

After I'd cried myself out Coach Coulter said, "I know how hard it's been for you the last few years. I've known your family for a long time. I was friends with your mother, and I was one of her Brides Maids when she got married. I was almost 10 years younger than her but she was still my friend."

"Then when I went to college for my Teachers Certification, she'd come visit me and help me with home work. I went to the University of Washington, so I wasn't far from home and she'd come and see me during the week, and bring me home on week ends."

"When my husband died, she was the first one to come see me. She stayed with me for 2 weeks while I got myself back together and then she helped me get the bus. I bought it, but it was her that found the contacts and helped me buy it."

"When she died, I thought the world was going to end it hurt so bad. She was my best friend for almost twenty years and she was gone. I didn't know your father well, but I also knew Samuel. He was my husbands best man at our wedding and your mother was now my Maid of Honor. I know much you hurt right now, but just remember that you have friends, ok?"

"I didn't know that," I said. "I didn't know you knew my mother or Uncle Sammy. How come I never met you before the Cheerleader try outs?"

"Because I didn't want to show favoritism to my students. Janny didn't know how close your mother and I were until after she graduated. Same with Erica. I have a rule about that because of the trouble it could cause. But I'm breaking it now because my best friends daughter needs me so I'm here. She'd have done the same for me and I'll do it for her and for you."

"I don't want to cause you any trouble," I said.

She said, "You won't. It's me that will cause you trouble. I'll be harder on you than any body else on the squad, and I'll make you work extra hard when you take my Phys Ed classes. But when you go out on that field at games, you'll knock their sox off in the stands. You and those to friends of yours. I got plans fer you five."

"Really? What kind of plans?" I asked.

"Well, I've got me a cheerleader that's had ballet lessons.... I got me a cheerleader that's had classical dancing lessons... I got me a cheerleader that's had gymnastics training.... I got me two cheerleaders that are almost identical... Now what can I do with that?" she asked.

I smiled and said, "Lots?"

She laughed and said, "Yes, lots. And with those two girls that look like twins, I can do even more. All the girls on the team are great, but you three have training that I can use, and the twins have real talent for either dance training or gymnastics. That's a lot of potential for our little school. Five out of fifteen and all the same grade. You're going to be busy for years with me."

I said, "Well I think Ellen and Nancy are going to be around for awhile to. Uncle Dar wants to adopt them. Shelly and Sandra are also going to stick, I think because we all love him and we aren't going to let him get away from us or leave him. So I guess you'll be the busy one for four years with all of us."

"That kind of busy I can handle," said Coach Coulter. "I survived your two sisters and George. I can also survive you, I think. You're the smart one of the four of you anyway."

I said, "I don't know about that. Erica is much smarter than me."

"Don't you believe it," she said, "She's better at math, but you are still one very smart little cookie. I know that George knows more about computer software than Dar, but is he smarter? I don't think so. Dar knows hardware better than any body I know, but does that make him smarter than Janice? She's a registered nurse at twenty-three, but is she smarter than me?"

"All I'm saying is that we all have education. But of us all, you are the smartest except for maybe Dar. I don't know about him yet."

I was stunned at this. Even more so when Jenny nodded like she agreed. Me? Smarter than her? I wasn't that smart. Sure, I did well in school but my classes hadn't been that hard. I didn't like the math or English stuff but I did well in the sciences and art classes I took. I was even in the computer club during the last year of middle school. But smarter than my sisters? No.

They were always good at math and were way better than me with computers. I didn't think that even Jenny was as good with computers as Erica. She was even better than George. He said so himself once when he didn't know I was listening to him talking to Janny.

It didn't matter though. I had found someone who knew my mother and could tell me about her. That mattered more than what couch Coulter said about me being real smart. I asked her if she'd be willing to tell me about my mom sometime. None of us girls knew much about her from before she married dad, so I was hoping to learn more. I still missed my mom so much.

She said, "Only on one condition. "You call me Megan like you sisters and George do. But not at school. If we're alone like this, it's ok but we'd both get in trouble for it at school."

I agreed immediately. Megan. I liked the name, and I liked her too. She had been willing to help when Uncle Dar got sick, and she'd been there after my accident too. I don't remember a whole lot about that, but I do remember that she'd been around while I was in the hospital.

"Ok, now that that's settled, we need to go back in and see how Uncle Dar's doing," Megan said. "Then we need to find a place to stay for a bit while we wait for him to be released. So, lets go back in."

I waited for her to get out of the van, and then I followed. When Janny had gotten out we went back in and took the elevator up to Uncle Dar's floor. We got off and went to his room to see how he was doing.

When we walked in, he was playing a game of chess with George. I walked over and said "Hi Uncle Dar. You winning?"

"Not yet, but George doesn't realize he's loosing yet either," said Uncle Dar.

George looked up and said, "Loosing? I've got you pinned and you know it. Five more moves and your history."

Uncle Dar chuckled and said, "You wish. The first game you got lucky, but think about the last three. You're beat."

Three out of four and George lost? "Wow," I thought. I didn't know anybody that could beat George that badly. He was very good at chess. He had been in the chess club in high school and college. He'd even won a couple of competitions and was a nationally ranked player. And Uncle Dar beat him three times in a row?

I asked where the others were, and George said that they'd gone to the Cafeteria to get something to snack on and some drinks. I said, "Well I hope they bring enough for all of us. I'm hungry again."

George said, "I guess we can go get something to eat if you want."

I said, "No. I want to stay with Uncle Dar for awhile. Now that he's awake and feeling better, I want to stay here. I looked at him and glared and said, "My turn."

He laughed at that, but I could still remember all the times I woke up in the hospital and he'd been there. Somebody had always been there, but he was the most constant presence until I was allowed to go home. Now it was my turn and I wasn't going to take no from anybody. Not even George or Janny.

I didn't have to worry, though. George just said, "I'm going to get a couple of motel rooms for us and we can take turns staying with him. It'll give us a chance to get some sleep and to take showers and such. Plus, we won't have to drive home either."

"Who's watching the house?" I asked. "If we're all here, there's nobody to take care of it."

" Senior Inspector Reach has someone watching it," George said. "There's still an investigation going on with your accident and he said that since Dar was involved, NCIS was taking an interest in it so he sent someone over as soon as he was told about Dar being hospitalized for his leg."

"I live in a crime scene?" I asked. "Cool"

Janny laughed and said, "Don't be so excited. It might be more of a problem then you think. We haven't been able to use the pool since your accident."

"Oh, well that's no good," I said. " I can't go swimming yet anyway so it doesn't matter much."

We chatted like that for hours while Uncle Dar consistently beat George at chess. He even played me a few times, but he always won.

Over the next few days, we took turns staying with him and going to the motel where George got us our rooms. I kept my word, and whenever Uncle Dar was awake I was there just like he had been for me.

*

This ends Chapter 11. Sally will continue the story in Chapter 12.