2

2

Mee Maw hung up the phone and dropped it into the pouch of a pink and light green floral apron, her eyes fixed loosely on the empty patch of street where the van usually sits.  Her gaze was not so much one of anticipation, but one of avoidance. Avoidance of the reality sitting behind her at the table, struggling to bring a cup to his withered lips. The table, which he had built decades ago, supported his weak, shaking hands, one hanging on the handle of a coffee mug, the other twiddling the corner of an iPad.  At moments like this, she wished she too could forget, she wished she didn't feel unknown in her home.

“Winnie,” Mee Maw broke the silence “As soon as Darry gets back from the bookshop, we can go get those pills.”

Winnie registered her words and continued rubbing the corner of the iPad, then raised his head and smiled with soft eyes: “Ok .”

His lifeless hand lifted from the corner to the center of the screen and tapped the notepad where he scrolled searchingly through a list of names and pictures until he found:

Darius “Darry” Keyonnie: My grandson.  Son of my youngest daughter, Susan.

Mee Maw stood in front of the sink watching his expressionless face tap through pictures of their grandson.  

“He’s on his way back now” Mee Maw repeated.

Winnie looked up from the iPad and focused intently on his wife.  He was hesitant to speak. “Oh, Demetri! Good. It must have been years since I’ve seen him.”  His face lit up.

“Darius” corrected Mee Maw.  “And you saw him this morning.”

Winnie’s eyes dropped and Mee Maw turned to the window.  The only noise to interrupt the steady hum of the air conditioner was the click of Winnie catching his finger on the tablet corner and thumping it against the table.  Mee Maw knew by the nervous thumping that he had just failed at recalling something. The thumps stopped and the room fell silent for a minute.

“Vivian.  I know you think I forgot.” Winnie’s soft affection returned with a slightly proud air.

Her chest ignited and her stomach fluttered upon feeling her name sung by his voice.  The thought that he recognized her, even if only by name, made her feel like his recent changes had all been nothing more than a bad dream.  She turned around and met his eyes with a look of having been reunited after many years apart. Her smile slowly faded and her hope sank when she glanced down to see the screen of the tablet displaying her name beside pictures and a list of details.  They both understood what she had just realized and the two retreated into themselves staring at anything but one another. Winnie returned to thumping.

After several minutes of silence Winnie concluded: “Nice day out there isnt it.”

“Yes, it’s supposed to be sunny all day.”

“Sunny is good!”

The first movement of Mozart’s 40th, accordion rendition, became overbearingly audible throughout the neighborhood as Vivian watched Darius park the van with two wheels touching the street and two on the sidewalk.  Darius switched the ignition and violently flailed his arms to the melody before closing the windows and sunroof. The front door crashed into the refrigerator, making way for Darius.

“Darry, honey, don't be so rough on the door, I don't think Papa could fix it if it broke.”

“I applied hardly any force, perhaps it’s broken already for being so effortlessly heaved about!”

“Maybe” Vivian started making herself busy in the kitchen “How about some coffee? I’m sure you’ve had a full day today.”

“Oh I would cherish a cup, thank you.” Darius sat at the table diagonal to Winnie.  “And yes, I have had a very busy day, indeed!”

Vivian set down his cup and sensed a story was coming on.

“There I was, sat in my lounge, committing my intellectual stimulus for the day, immersing myself in the theories of my peers...”

Vivian was thinking about what had happened just before Darrius arrived.

“When suddenly! As if by design, a man came seeking that intellectual pacifier, Alain De Button, and I will tell you, Mee Maw, he was seconds away.  His mind was a marble slab for me to chisel with my superior intellect into only the most victorian and enlightened sculpture...”

Vivian was wondering what Winnie was thinking, if he recognized the man sitting at his table.  She wondered if he remembered her name.

“He was listening with full intent, he understood the depth of my intellect, perhaps that's why he took so seriously my words, he was practically at his knees for my knowledge.  And then, a certain phone call...” He smiled deviously at his Mee Maw “...sullied my attempts to enlighten that poor soul! So yes, my day was incredibly busy.”

“Oh, Darry, honey, I’m sorry, I know how important that is, but there’ll be other days, I just needed the van and to tell you some things.”

“They must be things of the utmost importance, to forsake my moral duty as enlightener and spreader of wisdom to a world of the dimly conscious!”

“Who is this little s**t?” Winnie asked lightheartedly.

“Winnie! That's Darry, be nice!” Part of her delighted in the fact that Winnie’s humor was still alive.

“Yes, Darius, your grandson.  Hah, I emphasize doubly my previous statement about a dimly conscious world.  Yes, Papa I am D-a-r-i-u-s, I’m a human, were in a building, were on earth, its 2018,  how far do you require I go?” Darius couldn't help laughing at his own wit.

“How about far enough to get your smart a*s out of my house.” Winnie laughed.

“Oh, stop it boys!” Vivian said folding a towel in half, “Now darry, I wanted to tell you some things.  Come on into the living room so Mee Maw can sit down.”

Winnie twiddled the corner of the tablet and Darius stood up, screeching his wooden chair back and following Vivian to the living room.  Darius plopped down on a low couch with a quilted, light blue slipcover and began probing the room for a remote to turn off the flashing television.  Beside the couch was a worn velvet chair with a white down pillow positioned under Vivian for support.

“Well, you’ve got my attention.” Darius crossed his legs and held his chin in one hand and his elbow in the other.

“Papa and I… well, I talked to doctor’s office today and, well, they said he’s only getting worse.” Vivian was having trouble speaking.

“Oh! Such a profound diagnosis from those revered professionals! I could have told you that.  Did they say anything of real value?”

“Darry, I’m serious! They said his dementia is getting worse. And faster than any case they’ve seen.  They even had a specialist look at him, from Boston I think.”

Darius sat back for a moment taking it in and eventually raised his eyebrows and shook his head “And…”

“And, soon, Papa is going to need a nurse to help him through his day.  Which would mean she would have to stay in the house.”

“Ah, so desolate does this house seem at times, perhaps an extra body will liven up the place.  And I’m sure it's been years since this ancient pullout couch has been deployed.” Darius sat pondering living with an extra person in the house.  

“Darry…” Mee Maw interrupted his thoughts.

“What?”

“Now you know I’m not going to have that nurse living on a pullout couch…”

“Ohhh-hu-hu-ho no Mee Maw, now I know you wouldn't be so callous as to suggest what I believe you are suggesting.”  Darius was working up an anger.

“She would have to stay there, Darry.”

“Mee Mother! That is my room for a reason! You are willing to forsake my beloved  home for a woman you've only just met? How devious could one be?!” Darius had only called his Mee Maw ‘Mee Mother’ four times before, all with an insatiable temper.

“Darry! What else is there to do? I know you need your space, which is why I thought that you could have the whole basement for yourself.”

“You know what? Thank you very much, but I don't need your handouts.” Darius was beside himself.

“Oh, Don't be like that.  Please stay Darry, I want you to.  Besides, it will be hard for you to find another place to live, you haven't had a job in your life.”

“What is this? What are you trying to do? Tear me down? No, I won't have it! I won’t! I shall find a place to live by the end of this week and you will be sorry!”  Darius stormed out of the room and made an accusatory face passing his grandfather, but paused his anger to avoid slamming the door. Vivian rushed to the window and watched Darius’s penny loafers clack their way down the street to a verbose monologue, complete with hand motions.