Jerry Miller arrived as Cath started in on her third page. Without looking up she invited her to sit down. Jerry’s salt and pepper hair was cut short and she wore a dark green t-shirt with matching khakis and hiking boots. She marched behind Cath and inspected the picture she was drawing of her four children with their names below each stick figure representation and asked sternly, “What do you think you’re doing?”
Embarrassed, Cath realized how rude she had been and put down the crayon. She stood up, extending her hand in greeting, “Sorry, I’m Cath. I was hoping we could get a majority of the room plastered with pictures before I had to leave tonight. I hope your like to draw.”
“What are you talking about?” Jerry asked confused.
“Do you know about Gwen’s condition?” Cath asked, looking at her sleeping companion.
“Sure, that’s why when you said you had talked with her I had to meet you. You’ve got a lot of gall- I can say that for you- trying to lure me out here with...” she began sharply with her hands on her hips and no intention of sitting down.
Cath nodded, imagining what it must have looked like, “The truth is that when I phoned this afternoon, Gwen was awake and thrilled for visitors. No one told me about her situation until I got here but I had this idea. It seems as though she wakes up every now and then but no one can predict it. Look around this room. When she does wake up, there is nothing of life or the outside world for her to even know someone cares. Can you imagine how depressing that would be? I thought it might be a great idea if every month we drew pictures for her or wrote little notes. Then when she does wake up, she’ll have something to look forward to. Do you want to grab a crayon?”
Jerry cracked a subdued grin and shrugged, “That’s not a bad plan.” She sat down and picked out a dark blue one. “What should I do?” she asked flatly.
“Well, I thought we could start by introducing ourselves and then each month we could share some small part of what’s happening in our lives. It might give her a sort of window to life.” Jerry nodded in agreement and began writing quickly in small, neat lines. Apparently, she didn’t do pictures.
Cath was just finishing a picture of her crooked new house, complete with crooked trees out front. The man who built it had put in all the floors before the roof and as luck would have it, it rained for a week. Cath and her husband Kevin had gotten a tremendous deal and the square footage was incredible but every floor and door frame was wavy and cock-eyed.
Finishing that, she pulled out another paper where she was planning on showing her sons almost diving into toxic waste. The pond in the backyard was actually an open cesspool and the boys hadn’t known. Cath giggled to herself at the Olympic feat she had accomplished, flopping over the deck railing and dashing across the yard to stop them just in time.
Afterwards she found her thighs filled with slivers but at least the boys were OK. Jerry’s voice yanked her from her thoughts, “So you have four kids, right? I saw your picture.”
“Yup, I’m lucky though. I like them so much it makes it easy. Most parents love their kids but liking them is another matter. I sometimes watch other families and wonder how they do it, but my children are really fun people to be around. How many do you have?” Cath asked automatically.
“Kirt and I could never have children.” Jerry said and started writing more intently.
“The Bishop would have made a great dad. Do you work or are you home?” Cath asked, filling in the green fumes rising from the water and the little flies above the pond on her picture.
“I actually have a cleaning business now but we met in the military. I was his commanding officer.” Cath snapped her head up from what she was doing, “Really, how cool!”
“It was one of the best times in my life. I’m one heck of a shot.” Jerry mused.
“My boys would love you. Do you play video games?”
“Kirt won’t touch them, but Medal of Honor and Call to Duty are my favorites.”
“My two oldest boys are seventeen and ten. They have both of them and think they are pretty good. Would you consider coming over on Friday night and putting them in their place?” Cath smiled, hoping she wasn’t crossing any lines.
Jerry nodded slowly, “Sounds good. You sure they won’t mind if they lose?”
“They might but I’d love it,” she laughed.
“I’ll be there,” Jerry put down her crayon and stood up. Cath stood too and Jerry stuck out her hand. “Thanks, Cath. It was good to meet you. I’ll see you then.” She turned on point and marched from the room. Curious, Cath reached down and flipped her paper around so she could read it. The note was direct, introducing herself and giving information about her cleaning business, down to the phone number. But it was the last line that made Cath smile. She wrote, “See you next month. Jerry.”
