The Opposite of Never

by Mary Kathleen Mehuron

  “I haven’t had a chance to examine her yet. Kenny, Christopher, make all these people step back.” Linda struggled to kneel as she had only one good arm to lower herself with. In the end, she wound up sitting cross-legged on the floor and, after a moment, her husband slipped in beside her. Peter put a leather doctor’s bag across both their legs and opened it. He took a stethoscope out while Linda took Zelda’s pulse. As they busied themselves with Zelda’s vital signs, Yvonne and Rolland demanded an explanation from Spencer.

  Rolland was furious. “Son, it’s been obvious from the moment you two walked in here that you’re loaded on something. This girl’s life is at stake now. You need to tell us what you took. We need to think about your health too, Spencer. Please be honest with me.”

  “Yeah. We’re sick,” he slurred and nodded off, even though at this point his father had him standing upright. Yvonne saw this and her mind snapped. She slapped her son hard across the face. His eyes opened, and she yelled at him.

  “You look like those people down in DeGranit who use heroin. That is a narcotic that can cause an overdose. I think we should call an ambulance, Spencer. Do you think we should call one?”

  When he nodded, Spencer broke down from shame. “Mom, I’m so sorry.”

  The trip to the hospital felt almost routine to the pack of friends and their families, which, this time, included Margot and Carl. They were all already emotionally drained by the anguishing fear the pair might die and, truth be known, disgust at what they had done. They all believed both Spencer and Zelda had been blessed with a second chance already, and by the time they were assembled in the waiting room, the group was furious they would risk their lives in this way.

  The doctor eventually came in but was met with silence when he said, “Zelda is going to make it. She tested positive for heroin and cocaine but I didn’t see any needle marks. Let’s hope that it’s early days and she hasn’t been using for too long. She’s going to be fine but, you need to understand, I had to call the police in, and they’re on their way. It’s my judgment that she’s well enough to talk to them.”

  Kenny didn’t argue with the doctor; instead, he was rooted, passively staring straight ahead. Peter and Rolland each took one of his arms and sat him down in a chair. They stood on either side of him as if standing guard, protecting their friend’s privacy in his vulnerable state. Georgia could see he was mopping his face with Kleenex, and could hear the three men speculating in whispers about the next steps they needed to take.

  Georgia stood across the small room with her sons, daughter, and Carl. She overheard Kenny sigh in a resigned voice, “We’ll have to take them to detox. That will be three or four days until they can safely get the drugs out of their systems. It will give us time to research rehab facilities, that is if they are willing to go at all. I recommend the place in California where Zelda went last time, but it’s very expensive. I warn you, Rolland, the cost will take your breath away. Look, the addiction specialists are probably going to say they should be in two different facilities, which is just as well because I was counseled not to let Zelda return to the West Coast. They said she had her chance in a fancy treatment center, and if she used again, she should go to a place in-state because it might be more of a wake-up call.”

  Georgia was more worried about her fiancé than anything else that was going on. She had never known him to sound weary. When she walked toward him, he stood up. They held each other closely and squeezed tenderly. It was as if they were communicating through their embrace the fragility of life and their happiness to have each other in this moment.

  Georgia whispered to him, “It’s going work out. She’s alive—that’s what matters. The rest we’re going to figure out together.” Kenny’s head was pressed against Georgia’s right ear. She heard him make a gasping sound that compelled Georgia to cleave to him with all her might.

  Thirty-Six

  “Carpe diem, Baby.”

  —Metallica

  Zelda was to be released at lunchtime. Although some of them had gone home to sleep the night before, everyone was back in the waiting room by ten, exhausted and disappointed by the fact that there were no open beds in a detoxification facility in the state of Vermont for the two young people. They were told to go home and wait for a phone call as the drug counselors tried to find a place for Zelda and Spencer before they went into withdrawal. One of the doctors warned them, “Twenty-four hours after you last used, things start to get bad.”

  Yvonne was exasperated about the lack of detox beds, but still practical. She used her cell phone to call a local caterer whom she patronized frequently. “Hello? Arlo? It’s Yvonne. I know it’s asking a lot, but is it possible for you to bring lunch for twelve to my house in the next hour?”

  She paused to listen and then responded in a businesslike tone. “Just bring a variety of wraps and salads. Whatever you have that’s fresh. You know the kind of things I like.”

  Again, she paused and then replied, “No, I think we can handle the beverages. Thank you, Arlo. You don’t know how much I appreciate this.” Her voice broke on the last word, but she composed herself quickly and immediately left the hospital room to straighten up her house for the company, taking Spencer with her.

  Spencer had been checked out the night before, and he was downstairs at his parents’ home when the twelve of them regrouped in the Paquette’s dining room to eat lunch. Most were ravenous for solid food and eagerly heaped their plates with the caterer’s fare. Particularly nice touches in the luncheon buffet were lasagna that filled the room with its aroma and a Crock-Pot full of chicken soup. The two dishes seemed like the ultimate comfort foods to the grateful group. Once they had all served themselves and sat down, the scraping of utensils against ceramic plates was the only sound for several minutes.

  Georgia and Kenny hadn’t had a minute alone together since he’d proposed, as he’d slept by Zelda’s hospital bed all night. So much had happened the evening before, and now that the worst of it had passed, tension filled the air and mixed with the scents of the meal. Yet no one spoke for fear of saying the wrong thing. To fill the uncomfortable void, both Sebastian and Christopher complimented Yvonne on the food, causing Margot to roll her eyes and groan with annoyance at them. In response, the boys gawked across the table at her and asked, “What?” She ignored them and composed her beautiful face into a smug, haughty smile, which she turned and beamed toward Zelda. “So, Zelda, you’ll be in rehab for three months is that right?”

  You could tell Zelda was hesitant to share such personal information with Margot, but she relented because everyone was listening with rapt attention. “We think so. Our medical insurance should cover us because I had a relapse, and Spencer has been on pain meds for so many years, but lots of the companies make people leave after three weeks. Three months would be better.”

  Margot continued to probe. “After that, you’ll both go to a halfway house, won’t you? What’s that—another six months?” Her smugness degraded into a smirk, which she pivoted toward her mother defiantly.

  Georgia pointedly turned away from Margot and glanced at Kenny. She was alarmed by the defeated look on his face. A thought rose up inside her, and she said it out loud, “We are going to plan our wedding for the second week in June. I’m sure the kids will be out of the lockdown part of their treatment by then.”

  Georgia locked eyes with the man she loved and held his gaze. She tried to communicate with her sixth sense, willing her energy into him. Somehow he understood and mere seconds later he put a white cloth napkin to his lips and made a noise like, “Ahem.” Georgia’s infusion of energy was working. He summoned the strength to formally and purposefully turn to his daughter. “Zelda, there are some things that I want you to know, and they can’t wait. Georgia and I can be here for you through the end of the winter and this spring. Obviously, we will do everything we can to help. You and I already know the protocols and have a pretty good idea of the timeframe involved in each step of your recovery. However,
you need to understand, in fact, you all need to understand”—Kenny spread his hands and motioned to everyone around the table—“Georgia and I will be renting a camper the day after our wedding and heading west on I-70. I’m sure our cell service will be in and out, but we’ll do our best to check in once a day.”

  Margot glowered at him and his confident, commanding manner. “I don’t know if I will be able to come to your wedding.”

  Her brothers, shaken by the statement, immediately objected, but their mother cut them both off before they could finish their thoughts. She stood up out of her seat and told her daughter in no uncertain terms, “That’s up to you, Margot. It would be very sad to look back at our wedding pictures and have you be the only one in the family missing. But you know what? We would all survive the disappointment.”

  Everyone was taken aback. The air in the room felt dead for a moment, but in a challenging and playful tone Zelda broke the mood. “Margot, I doubt very much you would miss the opportunity to buy a new dress and have your hair done. It would drive you insane to know everyone else was dolled up at a party and you were home alone.” At that Christopher, Sebastian, and Georgia cracked up; everyone but Margot started laughing too.

  Margot turned to Carl with a shocked expression, as if she felt that he had betrayed her by joining in. She raised her voice and demanded, “What is so funny?” Carl shrugged his shoulders, turned away, and used his napkin to mask his smile.

  Georgia was the only one who knew Kenny was improvising his story about traveling cross-country, as he and Georgia hadn’t had a chance to discuss their travel plans yet. In a show of solidarity, and to help him make his point, she decided to continue where he left off. “When we get to San Francisco, we’ll board a plane for Thailand. It’s very important to us to let our experience in Asia unfold, as it will. We have no agenda except to be back for Christmas Day.”

  There was an interested but surprised silence as the entire table took in the information. Kenny picked up where she left off. “We’ll go from Thailand to Vietnam and then Cambodia. We may head to Australia, and back across the South Pacific. I want to stop in Bali—just to say I’ve been there. Don’t you just love the sound of the name Bali?”

  In a whimsical voice, Georgia burst into the song from the classic play South Pacific: “Bali Ha’i, Bali Ha’i.” She realized she was having great fun.

  Kenny explained his vision to the group. “I told Georgia I want to take a trip around the world to celebrate our marriage, and we’re going to take a full year to do it. We’re not getting any younger, you know.”

  Sebastian started out enthusiastically, “That’s awesome, you guys. . .” but he was easily silenced by Margot’s hostile glare. Margot maintained a big sister’s power over her youngest sibling. She admonished him and Kenny at the same time when she asked, “What about your daughter, Kenny? What if she needs you?”

  “To be frank, Margot,” he said as he stared her down, “I’d say that’s between Zelda and me.”

  The tense silence that followed was deafening. Georgia looked from her fiancé to her daughter and back again. The point had been made. She said to the table at large, “We’ll be home for the holidays and then head out again after New Year’s Day. Where? Who knows?”

  Margot spat out, “This is so irresponsible, Mom.”

  Christopher had had enough from his sister. “She doesn’t want your opinion! Nobody here does. You think it’s all about you, Margot. You and what you think is your money. That’s what’s bothering you, isn’t it? I can see the wheels turning as you try to figure out how much it’s going to cost them. But guess what? The money actually belongs to Mom, and she gets to enjoy her life, too.”

  Georgia looked down at her lap, suddenly overwhelmed by the high emotion around her, and whispered, “Thank you, honey.”

  Yvonne reared up in her chair, fully intending to defend her dear friend Georgia, “Kenny, you can put your mind at ease. I’ve not forgotten the promise I made to Zelda, and I will be present for her. In fact, I’m going to treat her like my own child as we get through this. She and I will discuss each step along the way if she is willing. Kenny, I know you well enough to know you would never abandon your girl. We’ll all stay in touch as best we can.” Yvonne let out a noise that shocked everyone—something had tickled her funny bone and she choked as she tried hard not to burst out laughing. Still, her eyes twinkled as she said, “Maybe next year, Rolland and I will go on a big trip. Maybe we’ll go around the world too. Florida is so boring, even in the winter.”

  At that disclosure her laughter spread through the room, everyone joining in except Margot, who felt picked on, and Rolland, because he was flummoxed. “I thought you liked Florida, Yvonne. You just finished decorating the condo.”

  “Of course, Rolland. I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude. It was such a lovely surprise when you bought our condominium for my Christmas gift. And we are so blessed—we’ve been fortunate to be able to save and invest. But couldn’t we travel, too?”

  Rolland had a pleased expression as he announced, in a voice loud enough to fill the room, “This gorgeous wife of mine has a very low tolerance for boredom. You make a list of places we can think about going to, Yvonne. We’ll do a little reading up on each one. You know where I’d like to go? Africa—on one of those camera safaris. It’s so sad that many of the animals are endangered. I’d like to see them now, in case they really disappear.”

  Linda put her hand on top of Peter’s and patted it. “Peter knows I want to go to Paris and see some of the jazz clubs. I read there are over six hundred concerts a month in Paris with old style big bands, chanteuses, too, but also plenty of contemporary music. I’d like to flip our internal clocks around for a while. Stay out till all hours and sleep late, find a little café where we go every day for a late lunch. We can have dinner at nine and linger over it, and then, I literally want to dance until dawn.”

  Peter took the hand Linda had extended over his. He looked in her eyes and grew emotional. She kissed him and put her head on his shoulder.

  The group gave them a respectful moment because they were obviously earnest in their feelings for each other and their dream. Eventually, their son Carl good-naturedly broke the spell, “Okay you two. Enough with the public display of affection.”

  Georgia said to Linda and Peter, “Eventually we’ll wind up in Europe on our trip. Should we meet in Paris? Peter and Yvonne too?” All six of the older adults looked like a light bulb had turned on in their heads.

  Linda was excited but suggested, “Let’s talk more about this idea at a later time. We’ll all have dinner and brainstorm.”

  Christopher was thinking aloud about an entirely different matter. “Once Sebastian and I make headway on our renovation, we’d like to plan some ski trips. Mom, remember the time we all went out to Vancouver? Wasn’t that powder spectacular?”

  Georgia nodded. “Yes, and the views were gorgeous. The skiing was a little frightening for me, if you want to know the truth. That’s why we hired a guide for the first few days. Even so, it was an incredible experience.”

  The ring of the house phone interrupted their daydreaming. Yvonne went into the kitchen to answer it, but came back into the dining room with the portable so everyone could hear her conversation. “Yes, I think I understand. Spencer will go over to Middlebury and Zelda down to Brandon. Three days each and in that time, we have to find a place for them in a long-term program. Got it. Thank you and . . . oh . . . what should they bring with them?” She had a pad of paper and scribbled notes on the top sheet. When it was filled, she flipped to the one below it. “Thanks again. Goodbye.”

  As soon as she hung up, she ripped the top paper off and handed it to Kenny, who studied it carefully.

  While Kenny read on, Yvonne told them, “Kids, she said to bring comfortable lounging clothes. Apparently, you are going to sweat a lot. They have laundry facilities, but you should still bring five different changes.”

  “A lovely i
mage,” Margot grumbled loudly.

  Peter spoke to Margot assertively, “Lunch is over and it’s time for you to leave, Margot. There are sensitive discussions about to take place. Don’t worry about cleaning up, I’ll be happy to clear your place for you.”

  “I can’t imagine why you are talking to me like that, Peter. Mom? Are you going to let him speak to me like this?”

  Kenny jumped in. “It’s a matter of Zelda’s and Spencer’s privacy, Margot. None of us is feeling trusting about your discretion at the moment. Oh, and one last thing before this lunch breaks up. Georgia has a school break in two weeks. As an engagement present, I am taking her to Cuba.”

  Georgia squealed with exhilaration. She got up and ran around to the other side of the table to hug him.

  Margot clearly objected to her enthusiasm and the embrace. “What about Spencer and Zelda?”

  “I’ve learned from experience that they won’t be able to have a visitor or even talk to anyone on the phone for a long while. We are going away to celebrate and that’s that.”

  Margot taunted him, “And that is?”

  Georgia answered her instead. “The fact that we have fallen in love for the last time in our lives. This rarefied lightning will not strike again.”

  Margot stormed out of the room, snatched her coat off the hall tree, and slammed the front door as she tried to make her theatrical exit. The rest of them hardly paid attention to her except that the sound served as a cue for Kenny and Georgia, who hurriedly stood and brushed a few crumbs off their laps. It was understood between them that they had to take Zelda home to pack. Their drive to the treatment center would be close to two hours, as it was out near the New Hampshire state line. Both Kenny and Georgia were concerned that Zelda’s withdrawal symptoms would soon begin, and she would grow desperate. The last thing either of them wanted was for her to bolt and disappear in search of narcotics. Georgia and Zelda hugged everyone goodbye, and Kenny brought the car around to the front door.