She knew that it wasn’t her business what happened in Daniel and Lenora’s household. Still, she twisted her lips into a wry smile, because she had been waiting a long time to hear those words. Everyone with eyes knew it was only a matter of time before Daniel and Lenora split up.
Ruth was loath to talk bad about anyone, but she couldn’t help reflecting on how Lenora had been her nemesis for so long. Her ex-husband’s wife was condescending to her when they saw each other at family functions. Lenora always had to be the center of attention. She had even requested that Ruth change her surname back to her maiden name, and she actually had acted offended when Ruth refused to comply with her request.
Ruth wasn’t sure if Daniel’s split from his wife would affect her life or not. After all, she had moved on. At least that’s what she told herself in the still of the night, when she felt most lonely, and missed Daniel more than she could have ever imagined.
Still, Sarah’s news was joyous to Ruth’s ears. She knew firsthand that one didn’t always know what the Lord had in store for them. Maybe, just maybe, she mused as she shook her head from side to side, clearing cobwebs from her mind.
Chapter Three
Ruth put on her turn signal and moved to the left lane, entering the Dan Ryan Expressway, heading north. The distribution from Bishop’s life insurance policy afforded Queen Esther residence at Sunrise Senior Living, located in Lincoln Park, on the North Side of the city. It was one of the best assisted-living facilities in the Chicago area.
One of the hardest decisions Ruth had made, besides her divorce, was placing her mother in Sunrise. She had prayed long and hard for guidance from God before moving her mother to the facility. Queen Esther had actually lived with Ruth for a year, before Ruth relinquished her mother’s care to the nursing home. As time elapsed, Queen Esther grew frailer and more forgetful. She often thought Ruth was her own deceased mother, Lady Mona. She’d left her house, wandered off, and had gotten lost more than a few times. Ruth had to call the police to find her mother. Ruth had hired a nurse to stay with her mother. After six nurses had quit in seven months, she knew it was time for her to explore other options.
Ruth and Alice had visited many facilities before they decided on Sunrise. When Ruth took Queen Esther to the facility and left her there, it was a heartbreaking experience. It still haunted her.
Ruth pushed open the door and entered Sunrise. Emily, the receptionist, greeted her warmly. “Reverend Wilcox, how are you doing this morning?” the perky young woman asked.
“Blessed—I’m simply blessed. I’m grateful to God for allowing me to see another day,” Ruth replied. She stood at the desk and scrawled her name on the visitor sheet.
“Amen, then,” Emily said. “You’re always so cheerful. I don’t think you’ve ever come here and said you were sad or depressed,” she observed.
“That’s how life is when you acknowledge the Father above as the head of your life. You trust Him to direct your path,” Ruth replied optimistically.
“Do white people go to your church?” Emily asked. Her peaches-and-cream complexion and long, curly red hair proclaimed her Irish ethnicity. “Maybe one day I’ll visit.”
Ruth’s eyes widened with surprise at the bluntness of Emily’s question. Then she smiled and shifted her purse from one arm to the other. “We have a few white members. What we all have in common is that we are all God’s children. We simply come in different colors, and from different walks in life.”
“Fascinating,” Emily murmured as she handed Ruth a badge with Queen’s room number on it. “I will see you later, Reverend.”
“Okay,” Ruth replied.
She pinned the badge on her jacket and headed down the hallway to the elevator. Before Ruth removed her hand from the up button, the elevator doors opened, and she walked inside. Her stomach felt queasy, and Ruth prayed today would be one of Queen’s better days.
The bell chimed, indicating the elevator was about to stop on the fifth floor. When the doors opened, Ruth greeted several medical personnel, who manned the floor at all times. A security guard greeted Ruth and checked her badge. Ruth turned to her left and walked down the hall to room 512. The door was slightly ajar, and she strode inside the room.
Queen was sitting on a rocking chair, facing a window. She didn’t turn around when Ruth entered the room.
Ruth walked over to her mother, placed her arms around her thin shoulders, and kissed her cheek. “Hello. How are you feeling today?”
“Fair to middling,” Queen answered in a quavery voice. She looked at Ruth suspiciously. “Who are you?” Her left heavily veined hand clutched the gold cross on a chain around her neck.
“I’m your daughter, Ruth,” she replied in a thickened, emotional voice. She walked across the room, took a chair from the kitchen table, and sat down next to Queen at the window. She took her mother’s shaking hand in her own.
“Oh, Ruth,” Queen Esther cackled. “I know you.” She looked toward the door. “Where are your father and Ezra? Why didn’t they come with you?” She looked at Ruth accusingly.
“They’re ...” Ruth gulped hard. Queen Esther’s doctor had advised her to tell her the truth; her husband and son were deceased. “Mother, they’re gone. Daddy and Ezra are dead.”
Queen Esther’s hands flew to her mouth. She moaned. “No, that’s not true.” Then she straightened her shoulders and said, “Bishop will be here to see me later. You just wait and see.”
Though Ruth reminded her mother of Bishop’s and Ezra’s deaths many times, it still hurt her heart to hear her mother ask about her father and brother.
“I thought I’d make lunch for us and read to you. What do you think about that, Mother?”
“That’s fine, but who did you say you were again?” Queen Esther squinted at her daughter as she repeated her question. Then she turned her attention back at the window.
“I’m your daughter, Ruth, and I’m going to fix us lunch.” She stood and walked to the kitchenette area. She turned on the radio to a gospel station. There were a few dishes in the sink, and she quickly washed them. After Ruth completed that task, she looked inside the refrigerator and removed bread, a package of sliced turkey, mayo, lettuce, and a tomato. She prepared sandwiches, with a few salt-free chips on the side for them, along with glasses of iced tea.
After Ruth set the plates on the table, she went to her mother and led her to the bright, cheery yellow kitchenette, where they sat together. Ruth blessed the food, and the two women ate.
“So, Mother, did you participate in any of the activities this week?” Ruth asked, taking a bite of her sandwich and peering at her mother.
“Huh?” Queen Esther took the top slice of bread off her sandwich and removed the lettuce. “You know I don’t like this green stuff,” she said huffily, setting the lettuce on the side of her plate.
Ruth popped up from her seat, removed a paper towel from the rack on the counter, walked back to the table, and put the pieces of lettuce on it.
“I’m sorry,” Ruth apologized. “You ate lettuce last week. I fixed you a sandwich and some soup. Do you remember?”
Queen Esther shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t remember.” She pushed her plate away from her, saying, “I’m not hungry now. I’ll eat it later.” She peered at Ruth’s face intently. “I know who you are. You’re my daughter, Ruth.”
“That’s right, Mother. I’m your daughter,” Ruth replied. She felt a sense of relief that Queen recalled who she was.
“How are Sarah, Nay, and the other children? My great-grandchildren?” Queen Esther asked Ruth. She grabbed her cane, stood up, and walked slowly to the living-room area, where she picked up a picture of Sarah, Brian, and their children from the end table. “See, these are the children I’m talking about.” She showed the picture to Ruth.
“Everybody is doing fine. They told me to tell you hello, and to give you a kiss for them,” Ruth informed her mother. She stood up from the table and walked into the living room, where the two wome
n sat together on the couch.
“How come they didn’t come to see me?” Queen Esther asked as she smoothed her dress over her thighs.
“Sarah’s at work, and Maggie, Joshua and Naomi are at school. Today is Monday; it’s a work and school day. They will come see you over the weekend,” Ruth said.
“I miss seeing them,” Queen Esther said. “Ruth, would you be a good girl and get my tea for me? I’m thirsty.”
Ruth’s cell phone buzzed from her purse. She stood up, went into the kitchen and took her bag off the counter. “Excuse me, Mother, that might be someone from the church.” She looked at the caller ID unit and then flipped open her cell phone. “Hello, Naomi. How are you doing, dear?” she asked her daughter.
“Hi, Momma, I’m doing fine. Sarah just called me. She said she filled you in on Daddy and the witch.”
“Now, Naomi, that wasn’t a very nice thing to say. As I told you earlier, the whole thing is sad. We’ll have to keep the entire family in our prayers.”
“Momma, please,” Naomi scolded her mother. “You need to drop the prayer thing. We’re talking about your ex-husband.” She rolled her eyes; then she smiled. “I almost feel like one of the Munchkins from The Wizard Of Oz. I danced around the room singing ‘Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead’ when I heard the news.”
Ruth suppressed a smile. She said sternly, “Naomi, now you know you aren’t right. Lenora is your father’s wife, your stepmother, and you have to respect her for that.”
“No, Momma, that’s your take on life. Daddy will be better off without her. She just brought him down. I remember when Daddy was a young-acting, vibrant man. Now he acts like he has no reason to live. If only he hadn’t married Lenora.” Naomi seemed to run out of steam.
“Well, nonetheless, we should keep them in our prayers. I’m visiting Queen. Would you like to speak to her?” Ruth asked her daughter.
“Does she know who you are today?” Naomi asked her mother uneasily.
“Praise God, she does today. Hold on. I’m going to give her the phone.” Ruth passed the phone to her mother.
She watched while Queen Esther chatted with Naomi; and when Queen Esther was done, she gave the telephone back to Ruth. Ruth told her daughter that she’d talk to her later. She turned her attention back to her mother after she disconnected the call.
“Are you tired, Queen? Would you like to take a nap?”
“No, girl, I feel okay. When is Naomi coming home? I miss her. It seems like she’s been in school for a long time. Now, when is she graduating again?” Queen Esther asked her daughter.
“She might come home this weekend. She has one degree already, a bachelor’s degree. She’s getting a master’s degree in May, and then Naomi will be done with school,” Ruth told her mother proudly.
Queen Esther’s eyes bucked. “For real? Naomi is going to get another degree? What is she going to do when she finishes school?”
“She’s going to come back to Chicago and work as an accountant.”
Queen Esther rolled her eyes. “An accountant? Naomi likes numbers? I didn’t think she was smart enough to do that. Why does she want to do that?”
“Naomi was smarter than we thought she was.” Ruth laughed. “I guess the tutoring sessions Daniel and I paid for when she was in high school paid off. After Naomi passes the CPA certification exam, she can earn a nice salary. Plus, she’ll have options. She can open her own company or work for one.”
“That doesn’t make any sense to me,” Queen Esther muttered querulously, with a confused look on her face. She shook her head and picked up the remote from the cocktail table. She turned on the television to CBS, and they watched the antics of the defendants and plaintiffs for a while on Judge Judy.
Ruth glanced at the clock on top of the entertainment center that housed the 32-inch high-definition television. It was nearly three o’clock, close to rush hour, and if she wanted to beat that crowd, she knew it was best she leave now.
She stood and walked back to the kitchenette and put the plates she had just washed into the cabinet and the clean utensils inside the drawer. Then Ruth wiped off the counters and kitchen table. When she was done with those chores, she walked back into the living room and removed her coat from the closet. “Mother, I’m going home now. I have some things I need to work on for the church,” Ruth informed her mother as she donned her coat.
“Do you have to leave now?” Queen Esther’s eyes darted between Ruth and the television.
“Yes, traffic can get heavy on Lake Shore Drive. I’ll be back on Thursday,” she said, wrapping a scarf around her head. Although it was March twenty-fifth, in the “Windy City,” and officially a new season, spring weather had yet to make an appearance. Ruth said to her mother, “I was thinking, maybe I’ll give your doctor a call in the morning and see if you can stay with me this weekend, since Naomi may be home. I’ll have the family over for dinner. What do you think about that?”
Queen Esther shrugged her shoulders and replied, “I guess so.”
Ruth walked over to the couch and sat down next to Queen Esther. “It’s time we had a family get-together. So I’ll probably see you on Thursday, and I’ll call you tonight before you go to sleep. Okay?”
Queen Esther seemed to morph into senility right before Ruth’s eyes. She looked at Ruth suspiciously, and then she nodded her head.
Ruth leaned over and hugged her mother. She stood and walked to the door. “Good-bye, Mother.”
“Bye.” Queen Esther waved and turned her attention back to the television.
Ruth rode the elevator to the first floor. As she was leaving the building, she heard someone call her name. It was Emily.
“How was your visit with your mother today?” the young woman asked Ruth as she buttoned her lightweight tweed coat. The women exited the building together and walked down the street.
“Not bad at all.” Ruth nodded. “We had a rough patch when I arrived. She wasn’t sure who I was. My mother has a tendency to mix me up with her mother. This was one of her good days, and she eventually remembered who I was. Overall, we had a good visit.” Ruth smiled.
“I’m glad to hear that,” Emily said approvingly. “So many older people are brought to Sunshine to live out their last days, and family members rarely visit them. It lifts my heart to see you, or a member of your family, visit Mrs. Clayton as often as you do. That’s so important to the well-being of the residents after they move in here.”
“Oh, that’s no problem. I’m lucky that my daughter Sarah visits, as well as my friend Alice. And we can depend on my son-in-law, Brian, to stop by here also.”
Emily pointed to a dark blue Ford Escape. “That’s my car. Have a great evening, Reverend Wilcox.”
“Thank you, Emily, you do the same,” Ruth replied as she walked down the street.
Emily got into her vehicle and beeped her horn as she passed Ruth, who had nearly reached her car.
Ruth entered her auto and started it up. Soon she was on the expressway, on her way back to the South Side of Chicago.
An hour later, after Ruth had stopped at the grocery store, she was standing inside her gray-and-white wallpapered kitchen, with splashes of maroon, preparing dinner. She decided to bake chicken breasts and prepare wild rice and a tossed salad. She turned on the oven to a low setting. Then she took a package of homemade rolls out of the stainless-steel refrigerator.
Before long, the water was boiling in a pot, and the aroma from the baked chicken filled the room. The onions and mushrooms that Ruth had seasoned the chicken with were wreaking havoc inside her stomach. She glanced at the wall clock and thought about calling Alice, but she didn’t want her to feel pressured. She decided, instead, to wait until Alice put in an appearance.
She turned down the burner under the rice. She walked over to the counter and picked up the cordless white phone. She checked the caller ID and called The Temple to check her messages. She wrote a couple of names and numbers on the notepad next to the telephone. A young couple in th
e church, Nolan and Patrice Lindsey, had called and left an urgent message for her to call them back.
Brother Clarence Parker, the chairman of the finance committee, had also called, requesting a callback. Ruth snapped to attention when she heard the last message. She didn’t recognize the cheerful, melodic male voice. The caller was Aron Reynolds, the father of one of the members of her congregation, Monet Caldwell.
Ruth heard a knock on the front door, and then a key turning in the lock. She walked to the hallway, between the kitchen and living room, and waited for Alice.
Alice walked inside the living room. “Hey, how are you doing? It smells good in here.”
Ruth scanned Alice’s face and noted her friend seemed tired. “I’m good. My visit with Queen went well, overall. Dinner is just about done. ”
The friends walked into the kitchen. Alice went over to the table and sat on one of the chrome-backed padded chairs, while Ruth walked to an oak cabinet, opened it, took plates out, and set them on the table. She opened the oven and poked the chicken with a long-handled fork. She told Alice the food would be ready in five minutes. Then she sat down across from Alice.
Ruth studied her friend’s face. She clasped her shaking hands together. Her throat was dry as a desert. Ruth swallowed hard a couple of times, and then croaked out, “What happened at the doctor’s office?”
Chapter Four
“Why don’t we discuss my visit with the doctor after dinner?” Alice asked Ruth after taking a sip of the sweetened tea that Ruth had just poured. She set her glass on the table.
“Girl, you know, keeping me in suspense is going to kill me,” Ruth said half jokingly.
She stood up and turned off the jets under the pots, then removed the pan of chicken from the oven. Ruth put portions of food onto the plates, while Alice bustled around the kitchen, removing eating utensils from the drawer.
“Now, Ruth, you know that we haven’t been girls in how many years?” Alice held up her hands and opened and closed them six times. “Shall I stop there?” She smiled at her friend.
Letting Misery Go Page 3