REUNION

REUNION

“Daddy, do you see that man walking on the beach?” young Johnny Carter asked his father as they sat on some rocks in front of their beach cabin on the Maine coast.

“Yes, son, I see him.”

“He just seems to walk up and down the beach.  He looks so sad.”

“Well, son, lots of old people look sad.”

“I think he’s lonely.  Maybe we should invite him to lunch.”

“I’m sure he has things to do.  He probably just wants to be left alone. Let’s go see what your mother is up to.”

The father and son walked back to the cabin where Janie Carter was sitting in the kitchen snapping beans.

“How’s the beach this morning?”

“It’s great.  I love it here,” little Johnny cheerfully remarked. “I asked daddy about the old man who always walks by himself on the beach every day.  I told daddy that I thought he was sad, but daddy said that lots of old people look sad.  Why do they look sad, mommy?”

“I don’t know son.  That’s just the way it is I guess.”

“But grandpa Lukas never looks sad.  He always looks happy.”

“Well, now you know where your mother gets her great smile and her laugh.  It’s from her father.  What can we do to help you, hon”

“I think I’ve got everything under control.  Why don’t you two work on that big jigsaw puzzle in the living room while I get lunch going?”

“That sounds great.  Let’s go daddy!”  As Jeff Carter and his son walked toward the living room, Johnny turned back toward his mother and commented, “I love you mommy.”

“Thank you son.  I love you, too.”

After lunch the three of them decided to go for a walk on the beach. 

“Let’s walk up to the old lighthouse,” Jeff Carter said.

“Can we climb up the lighthouse, daddy?”

“You know it’s closed.  Maybe some day it will be opened back up.  It’s been closed for years.”

“It just always looks so sad and lonely.  Just like that old man we see.  I wonder if he’s out walking today?”

“I don’t know son,” Janie Carter said.

“You know what, mommy?”

“What, Johnny?”

“I told daddy that we should invite him over for lunch but daddy said he probably wouldn’t want to.”

“Your daddy’s right, Johnny.   He probably likes getting out by himself.”

“Maybe we should ask him if he’s going to the big clambake on Friday.”

“I’m sure he knows about it, son,”  Johnny’s father remarked.

“I can’t wait.  I’ve never been to a clambake.”

“Don’t you remember, son.  We went last year.”

“No we didn’t.  It rained. Remember?”

“That’s right, Johnny,” Janie Carter remarked.  “You’ve got a good memory.”

“I hope it doesn’t rain this year.  Is it supposed to rain, daddy?”

“No.  I think it’s supposed to be really nice.”

After walking around the lighthouse, they turned back and returned to their little cabin.  Johnny could see the old man walking in the distance.

“Say Johnny, I need to go into town for a few hours.  Would you like to go with me?” Jeff Carter asked.

“I don’t think so, daddy.  I’m building a ship and want to try to finish it.  I thought we could maybe go to the pond and try it out later on.  Okay?”

“We’ll see.  Probably.  You keep you momma company, okay, but don’t get under her feet and don’t start plundering.  Promise?”

“Promise.  Be safe, daddy.”

“I will, Johnny.”

Jeff Carter kissed his wife and son goodbye and headed out in their car for town.

About 30 minutes after Jeff Carter left,  Janie Carter called out to Johnny.  “Johnny, I’m not feeling well.  I think I’m going to lie down for a while.  I’ll get up in a little bit to fix us sandwiches, okay?”

Johnny was preoccupied with shipbuilding but did hear his mother. “That’s fine.  I hope you feel better, mommy.”

About twenty minutes passed and Johnny was starting to feel hungry.  He went into the kitchen and then into his parent’s bedroom.  Janie was lying still on the bed.  “Mommy, I’m getting hungry.’ 

There was no response.   Johnny went over and pushed his mother with his hands.  “Mommy, get up.  I’m hungry.” 

Still no response.  Johnny became frightened.  “Mommy, wake up!” 

Janie Carter moaned.  “Johnny, I’m not feeling well.  Get my cellphone, honey.  It’s in the kitchen.”

Johnny ran to the kitchen and found the cellphone.

“Call daddy and tell him I’m sick.”

“Mommy, I can’t get the cellphone to work.”

“Oh, Johnny.  I’m really sick.”

The cellphone battery was dead and Johnny didn’t know how to plug the charger in. “I’m going to get help, mommy!”

He ran from the cabin to a nearby house.  It was closed up.  He tried another, and no one was home.

He then ran down to the beach, hoping the old man would be there.

“Sir, my mommy’s real sick.  She needs a doctor.  Can you help me?”

“I’ll do what I can, son.”

Johnny led the man back to the cabin and the old man examined Johnny’s mother. 

“She needs a doctor doesn’t she.  I’m scared!”

“I’m a doctor son,” the old man commented as looked at Janie Carter’s eyes and felt her pulse.  “Do you have a phone? “

“Our cellphone doesn’t work.”

“Let me go to my house and call for help.  Why don’t you stay with your mother and maybe get a wet washcloth and put it on her forehead.  Just put in on her forehead, not her face.  Okay?”

“Okay.”

“Where’s your father?”

“He went into town.  I don’t know when he’ll be back.”

The old man hurried back to his house and called 911.  In a matter of minutes and ambulance pulled up to the Carter cabin and the paramedics entered the house.  The old man was there and he told the paramedics what he thought the matter might be.  It appeared that Janie Carter had had a severe reaction to something she had eaten or drunk.  After working with her for a while, the paramedics were able to get her up and walking.  The old man had been waiting in the living room with Johnny.

“Son, I’m going to have to go on home.  Your mother’s going to be just fine.”

“Thank you so much, sir.  You saved my mother’s life.”  Johnny gave the old man a big hug.

“Oh, she would have been okay.  Your mother is very healthy.  You did the right thing.  I know your mom and dad are really proud of you.” The old man slipped out and headed home.  The paramedics helped Janie Carter into the living room where she sat down.

“Your mother’s going to be just fine, son.  Where’s the gentleman we spoke to earlier?”

“He had to go home.  He’s a neighbor.  My father’s in town.  I couldn’t call him because my mom’s cellphone didn’t work.”

“Let’s call your dad, son.  What’s his number?”

The paramedic called Jeff Carter and told him he needed to come right home.  He told him that Janie Carter was fine but that he should get home to be with his wife and son.  As it turned out, Jeff Carter was just minutes away from the cabin.  When he arrived, paramedics explained the situation and assured him that his wife would be fine but that he should call 911 if she had any more episodes.

“You were lucky that there was a neighbor who could call us.  Your son said that his mother’s phone wouldn’t work,” one of the paramedics commented.  They packed up and left the cabin, leaving the family in the living room.

“Johnny, which neighbor did you go to.  I didn’t think anyone was home near us.”

“They weren’t.  So I went down to the beach and told the old man.  He came and looked at momma and then went to his house to call 911.”

“He came in our house?”

“Yes.  He said he was a doctor.”

Janie Carter then spoke up. “Hello?”

“Oh, honey, I’m so glad you’re okay.  How are you feeling?”

“I’m going to be just fine.  I have no idea what I could have eaten or drank that caused this.”

“We’ll go through the fridge and throw everything out that might possibly be a culprit.”

“Daddy, can we still go to the clambake?”

“Oh Johnny,” Janie Carter replied, I think everything will be fine by then.  I might not eat any clams, but I’ll enjoy the sides!”

“You know what, mommy?”

“What, Johnny?”

“I really think we should invite the old man to the clambake to thank him for helping us.”

“We’ll see, son,” Janie Carter replied.

As the day passed, Janie Carter felt better and better.  Johnny and his father cleaned out the fridge and fixed some soup for lunch and dinner.  After dinner, Johnny went to his room to work on his boat – his ship as he called it. 

“Jeff, you don’t want to hear this, but I’m so glad that gentleman was there to help Johnny.  The poor little boy was scare to death.”

Johnny could hear his parents’ voices but moved closer to the door to hear more clearly what they were saying.

“Well, the idea of someone we don’t know coming into the house and examining you disturbs me, but at least everything turned out well.  Johnny did the right thing.  I’m very proud of him.”  Jeff Carter ran his hands through his hair the way he always did when he was upset.

“Maybe we should invite the old man to the clambake.”

“That’s not a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“it’s just not.”

“At the very least, you need to speak to him tomorrow to thank him.”

“I’ll do that.”

The next morning,  Janie Carter felt back to normal and began to fix breakfast for her “two boys.”

Johnny ran into the room.

“Momma, if the old man is walking on the beach, can we invite him over for breakfast?”

“Johnny, we need to see what your father thinks about that.”

As she made that comment, Jeff Carter came into the kitchen.   “Before breakfast, I think I’ll go down to the beach.”

“Can I go with you, daddy?”

“Why don’t you help your mother.  She’s still getting over her illness and I think it would be a good idea for you to stay with her.”  Janie Carter said nothing.

“You don’t like that old man, do you daddy?”

“I’m very happy he was able to help your mother.”

“But you don’t like him.”

“I’d better get on down to the beach.  Watch after your momma now, okay?”

“Okay.”

Jeff Carter walked down the path to the beach.  He saw no sign of the old man.  He sat on the rock for a few minutes trying to figure out what he would say.  Soon, he saw the figure of someone coming up the beach.  Jeff Carter looked back at the beach cabin.  He could see his son looking out the kitchen window.  He started walking toward the man.  Soon he was standing face to face with the old man.  He tried to contain his anger.

 “I really do thank you for helping my wife but that’s the extent of it.”

“So you know who I am.  I understand.  I don’t expect you to understand.”

“What’s there to understand?  You walked out on my mother, my sister and I and never came back.  You’ll never know what they did to us.  Mother was never the same.”

“I just have one question.  Why do you keep coming back to the cabin?”

“You know, old man.  When we came here as a family when Susan and I were young, we had the best time.  When you left, I wasn’t going to let you take that away from us.  We still came up here every year and when mother died, she left the cabin to me.  I now enjoy it with my family.”

“Can I explain why I left?”

“I know why you left.  There was another woman and you were tired of us.”

“That wasn’t it at all.”

“That’s what mother told us.  She stayed by us.  She was depressed and sick, but she was still there.  You left.  Why should I believe anything you say?”

“I don’t know why.   The fact is that I had a nervous breakdown.  I had a wonderful practice and then, one day, I made a mistake.  I misdiagnosed a patient.  That patient died and I was sued for malpractice. My reputation was ruined.  I didn’t care about the suit or about my reputation.  What broke me was the fact that I had failed someone who depended on me and I had failed his entire family.  I kept all of this from your mother, and you and Susan were too young to understand.”

“You should have said something.  Mother would have understood.  We could have handled it.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Mother loved you.”

“I’m not going to say any more.”

“So you had a nervous breakdown and couldn’t deal with it. So you just left.”

“There was never another woman.  Your mother was it as far as I was concerned.”

“And you were her world.”

Jeff Carter’s father began to tear up.  “I wish that had been so.”

“What are you saying?”

“I don’t want to say anything more.  You don’t need to know.  I take the blame for everything.  You go on back to your family.”

“Wait a minute.  What happened?”

“You don’t need to hear anything more.”

“Yes I do.  You owe it to me.”

“I owe you and Susan a lot, but I don’t, I can’t, say anything more.”

“You’re saying that you were not mother’s world, right?”

“Okay.  Yes, I was not your mother’s world.   I was very involved in my practice.  I thought that the times we spent here in the summer made up for things, at least a little, but they didn’t.  Your mother had a special friend.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“She had a male friend.”

“I don’t believe it.  She was devoted to you.”  Jeff Carter could barely contain himself.

“She was devoted to Albert.”

“Uncle Albert?”

“You know he wasn’t really your uncle.  He was a close family friend.  He was lonely and he and your mother became close.  I found out about their relationship at the same time I made my horrible mistake.  I didn’t say anything to her.  I thought I could deal with it, but I couldn’t.  When the malpractice suit was brought against me, I went over the edge.  I simply left and checked into a mental hospital.  I stayed there two years.”

“Two years?  Mother never said anything. I did notice that Uncle Albert never came by after you left.”

“Your mother probably felt guilty and told him to stay away.  She was a wonderful person.  She was prone to depression and moodiness.  She knew where I was but was just as broken as I was.”

“I remember.  Susan and I always thought it was because you had abandoned us. ”

“After I felt strong enough to re-enter the world, I decided it would be best to just stay away.  I wanted to come back to all of you, but knew it would never work. I was trying to make the best of a bad situation.  I moved out West for a while but missed my New England.  So I decided to move back.  I really missed the Maine coast.  I found a house up the road here.  I had no idea you still owned the cabin.  I guess I figured you wouldn’t want to have anything to do with this place.  Your mother had died while I was out West.”

“Why didn’t you try to get back in touch with us, especially after mother died?”

“I really don’t know why.  Yes, I do know why.  The diagnosis mistake broke me inside.  Even if I could have practiced medicine I would not have done so.   I spent years at odd jobs. One of them was actually as a janitor at a hospital.  Penitence, I guess,”

“I’ll never forget the first summer I was back when I saw you and Johnny and your wife ...”

“Janie.”

“Yes, Janie.  You were all having such a good time here.  I couldn’t risk destroying that.  I figured you would just think I was some cranky old man beach combing.  I figured you would warn your son to stay away from me.”

“You know, he was very curious about you.  I really had no idea.  No, that’s not true.  The second summer we came up I noticed you and recognized you.  Johnny would keep bugging us to invite you over for lunch.  We always made excuses.”

“And then Janie got sick.”

“What do we do now?”

“That’s up to you son.  I’ll abide by your wishes.  I’m just happy you are happy and healthy.  That means everything to me.  And how is Susan?”

“She’s doing okay.  She’s never married.  I think she’s afraid.  She’s a lot like mother was.   But she has made a good life for herself.  She loves Janie and absolutely adores Johnny.   She lives in Manhattan.”

“I always figured she would wind up there.”

“I think we should take things slowly.  We don’t need to let Johnny and Janie know anything.”

Then, all of a sudden, Johnny came running out.

“Breakfast is ready! Come on, daddy.  Come on, grandpa!”