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- 11/04/2023
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ARROW - 229. Chapter 229
My life was changing. Carl painted an Angel for the building on the knoll.
“Dad, come with me I want to show you something.”tt
Passing Ivan’s farm, I knew where we were going. It was a few weeks since I was here. I felt as if I let down my friends who were sleeping here.
I followed Carl as we climbed the small hill. He opened the door, turned on the lights and I gasped at what I saw. On the back wall was a painting of three angels. I saw Michael, he was center, Michael, to his right was Raphael and to his left was Uriel the Angel of Knowledge and truth whose job was to guide departed souls to Heaven. I sat on the floor as I gazed upon this work of art. There was no question, Carl was the master and I was the student. I sat there for an hour or so it seemed “Dad, get up/ Sitting on that cold floor isn’t good for you.”
He helped me up, and on the way out I stopped at Roger’s and Pat’s room. Each had an Angel painted on their door. Then I noticed a third angel painted on the vault next to Pat’s. “Carl, why does this crypt have an angel painted on it?”
“When I was painting an angel on Pat’s room someone told me to paint one on this door as well.”
I was thinking about who would be next. Marie was doing well and she had moved back into our home.
Three weeks later Colin came rushing into the house. “I have to fly to California, I’m bringing Louise home. I heard a horn. “That’s Ronnie he’s going with me.” Then Colin was gone. Now I wonder why he has to go to bring Louise home. I thought maybe she was ill or hurt. The mind plays tricks in creating all kinds of reasons why she would need help coming home
Colin and Ronnie came home very late the next night. “Where’s Louise?”
“She’s resting. You’ll see her tomorrow.”
“Colin, I want to see her now.” I headed outside looking for her. Since she wasn’t home, I thought she had to be at Ronnie’s.”
“Armand, wait I’ll take you to her.”
He pulled his van up, “Get in”
Now I was getting afraid. Something happened and I wanted to know. Colin drove and as we passed Ivan’s farm I was becoming afraid. When Colin turned into the lane leading to the knoll, I began to cry. “Colin, no, Tell me it isn’t so. Not Louise” I was losing it. Colin stopped the car and now he was crying as well. He helped me out of the car and pulled me toward the building at the top of the knoll.
I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to know, I didn’t want to face up to what I thought was there. Colin took my hand, “Come”
Standing in front of the crypt, I remember Carl had painted an angel on the empty crypt. He didn’t know why he did it and now I knew. Colin looked at me, I was crying, “What happened?”
“Ronnie knows.”
I didn’t want to come and now I didn’t want to leave. I was angry she was there. Then I started, “I knew I should have never left her in New York. This is my fault.”
“It isn’t your fault or mine. She was different, she wanted the attention and she did well in New York. The lure of California was too strong for her. We can’t go back and make changes, that isn’t what life is all about.”
“GG should have warned me.”
“I don’t think GG can tell the future and even if she had told you, what could you have done? She was in California when we found out she left New York.”
I just kept crying, “I fed her, she called me Dad, I hurt when our friends and your parents passed. But nothing compares to the hurt I feel now.”
Colin turned off the light. Leading me to the car, we drove home in silence, the silence of weeping tears.
Arriving home, I went to bed. I expected to see or hear GG’s rocking chair—nothing, as I cried myself to sleep.
For the next few days, I was numb. It was like I was somewhere else. Little things reminded me of her. I must have lived those days with her at the orphanage several times each day.
For several days I spent my time at home or at the knoll. With Colin’s help, I started to pull myself back together. GG came and I asked her about Louise she said she had some work to do, and I would eventually see her again. Now I was confused. What did she have to do?
Life returns, Mom had died and was interred next to Dad. There were no more adults for me to lose. Only Colin and I were now the adults. Out of the grief came the grandchildren. Richie had three two boys and a girl. Ronnie had two girls and five boys including the four he adopted. Ivan Junior had one child but he said he was, working on more. That was when his wife hit him. Ivan’s daughter, Elsie, was married.
The boys were doing alright. Mary Ann was the nurse at the Home, she married her doctor and he filled the doctor position at the Home. They were happy and adopted a baby that was brought to the Home by an unwed mother. Giving the baby to Mary Ann, she died, I told Tommy we would place her on the knoll. My painting came to life for me and the remembrance of Louise.
The other boys did well. Toby went to Yale. He studied communications and landed a job at a radio station.
Before Charles Senior left us he had a large screen installed at the club. Originally is was to show Ronnie’d game. Now there is a booth where Toby sits and narrates all games. He is a professional, he knows the players sport records, the result the club is full on game days. I suspect he will be offered a contract by either a station or team to narrate their game. When I think of the boy who wasn’t allowed top talk by his father, he is making up for it now. He informed us he was dating a young lady who he met at the radio station. I expect a marriage soon.
Louie went to Thiel to stay nursing. He was different in that he wanted to be a doctor. He was the type of student that needed confirmation. If he was studying history, he had to know more information, He would question the teacher who ended up giving him a reference to answer his question. I remember him coming home one day, “Dad, I think my history teacher is mad at me. We were studying the Indian wars, I asked him why the people thought they had the right to take away the Indian lands. He got angry.”
They was Louie, he would become a doctor and he would know what and why a nurse does what they do. Mary Ann said he has his eye on one of her classmates.
Anthony went to Yale. He graduated in teaching and then went and lived in Italy for a year. From Italy he went to France and lived with Pierre for a year. After spending a year in Spain, he returned home and now works at the UN as an interpreter.
John was the quiet one. He never said much but when he did say something you knew there was a lot of thought behind his words. He went to Yale and was working on his doctorate. He would teach at some university I was sure of that. I would love to be in his class.
Carl got his bachelor's degree in art. He said Uncle Roger told him a master's degree for him wasn’t necessary. He has passed me and is doing quite well. He told me they were expecting their first child. I was happy for him.
The surprise for me was Gerry. He and Tommy became close and I now knew who would take over when Tommy and Pepe retired. He was a quiet young man whom I grew close to. He will do well at the Home.
David went to Yale and obtained his master's degree in education, He has a job at the high school where Julia and Ronnie teach, and Ronnie said the kids like him. The young lady he spoke to in the library at Yale seems to be around often.
Pierre got a master's degree in international finance and was recruited by a firm in New York for an international position. I was sorry to see him go and glad he would be home in Europe. After the job interview when they told him they would like him to work for them, he said he would agree if they opened an office in Paris.
I knew that would be his position, we discussed it before he agreed to the position.
He came home smiling, “They bought my proposal. The offices in England, Germany, and Spain would be staffed with only a manager, clerk, and secretary, I am going to Paris next week to find offices.”
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Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
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