Listen While You Can by Suni Nelson

Author:Suni Nelson [Nelson, Suni]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-10-15T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9

LETTING GO, ONCE MORE

The sun showed up bright and early the next morning. I was not used to operating without my full eight hours of beauty sleep. I had slept well enough in that short amount of time; only occasionally were my dreams haunted by the visions of my parents’ past. Both were more daunting than I had ever imagined. Upon awakening, I noticed a heaviness in my heart that, for an instant, I couldn’t quite place. Then I heard Daddy’s voice in my head saying “the second time” he “had to let go and hope for the best.” The story of Schnapps came to me in bits and pieces as my eyelids begin their morning regimen. One eye did the ol’ 1-2-1-2, and then the other eye lid, 1-2-1-2. I knew full well that was the closest I would get to a workout that day.

I wondered, once more, what Daddy had meant when he said “the second time I had to let go.” I could not wait to find out. We went through our routine of breakfast, coffee, dishes, Granny—not necessarily in that order.

When we settled down, I waited for the opportunity to jump back in. I was relieved to see he had awoken in good spirits. I hoped he had not dreamed of those terrible things we’d talked about the night before. I wondered how often he had over the years. He had, for as long as I remembered, been a restless sleeper. We were used to him hollering out in his sleep—even occasionally, sleepwalking. It was not always bad dreams, thankfully. Once he hollered out his own name and got up to answer the door. Or, he’d call out a horse’s name, and we knew he was loading it, unloading it, training, or riding it. Momma woke up to him lifting her leg up and down saying “this hinge is too long. We need to cut it off.” Those were the good dreams.

“Let’s have a cup of coffee out on the patio…want to?” he asked, looking at me.

“Sure,” I said, looking at Mom to see if she was joining us. She was not always as excited to sit out. She said bugs loved her too much. However, it looked like she was up for an outside venture as well. We gathered our cups of coffee, all with cream, and headed for the front porch.

Momma and Daddy sat in the two-person swing, and I took a chair opposite them. I could not help but notice how cute they were sitting there together. I tried to imagine them, young and in love. Then, torn apart by war. I thought of a picture of them I had seen. It was taken the day he left. They were just kids. Their arms were wrapped tightly around each other with such solemn expressions. I can imagine he was wondering if her faulty heart would keep beating until he could get back. She was praying he would come back.

Again, my heart filled to its brim as I whispered a silent Thank you, God.

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