Shattered Dreams by Frank Hayes

Author:Frank Hayes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: family, community, desert, southwest, native american fiction
Publisher: Beyond the Page Publishing

Chapter 23

Dave Brand was standing in the doorway of the bedroom down the hall from his and Rosie’s room. A cup of steaming coffee in his hand, he was looking at the newly assembled crib and patting himself on the back. It was the first day of the workweek, January fifth. He would soon be on his way down to Redbud, but he took a little extra time to admire his handiwork. Sunlight was flooding into the room, falling on the crib like the centerpiece it was. There was no other furniture in the room. It was way too early. Rosie had finished her third month, the unsaid marker of a secure pregnancy. In her fourth month she was now comfortable with the idea of public knowledge of her condition but still thought it way too early for baby furniture. The crib had been Dave’s idea. She told him he was crazy but didn’t fight him on it. She recognized that he was in a way surprisingly renewed by her news. That was unexpected. She realized a lot of men his age would not have reacted like Dave. Rosie knew things could have been a lot different. He was still standing in the doorway when she came down the hall.

“You know that crib is going to collect a lot of dust before it gets an occupant.”

“Yeah, I know, but since the kids grew up and moved out . . . I don’t know. Guess in some ways it just felt like this house had lost its purpose. Two empty bedrooms, one with no furniture at all. Then me gone most of the week down in Redbud. You coming home from work to an empty house. I don’t know. You never said anything but I can’t believe you didn’t wonder, why bother cleaning an empty house or fixing something that broke. I know I did, even though I was hardly here. I remember one day last spring, right after Carrie had her baby, thinking when I was looking at the swing set in the backyard that she might as well take it since we had no more use for it. Downsizing, I thought. That’s what this is. Then I remember thinking, I’m only forty-four years old. It’s over. I’m shifting into the next gear. Really brought me down, made me feel like life was passing me by. Then when you told me about the baby a few months later, I felt like I was getting a second chance.” Rosie smiled. “Guess you think I’m going through a midlife crisis.”

“Well, maybe you are, but you better understand that this baby is going to move out in twenty years or so like the other three did and I ain’t planning on having one of those Guinness old-age pregnancies just to keep you from avoiding the fact we’re getting old. So this is it. You did a great job with the crib, and I’ll remind you about that second chance at two o’clock in the a.

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