adventure he had, had Eddy completely forgot about the fish in the pan and the cabin and even Sarah for in a blink before him was a window and beyond the window was a garden courtyard with nicely trimmed lawns, pruned trees and benches to sit on…not to mention several old people shuffling along on walkers or sitting in wheel chairs…staring at nothing…just as he seemed to have been…staring out the window…at…what… “At the dream in my head. It was all a dream…Nothing was real…Sarah…the cabin…the boat…all long gone…and yes I remember now…I live here…a prisoner in a waiting room where only the old live...a waiting room with one exit…death’s door.”
Eddy glanced about the room and his eyes fixed on a calendar, designed for inmates just like him. It showed the date…of course…July 19th…the last time he noticed it was January 4th. The calendar also displayed the meal schedule and outings for inmates that still had control of their mental capacities…a state Eddy knew in that moment did not include him. He had been on some kind of journey for seven months…completely unaware of his conscious surroundings.
A sad smile curved his thin dry lips from a downward frown to a straight line. Then he chuckle…not because anything was funny…it was a chuckle designed by irony.
“Dad.”
Eddy responded not to the name but to the recognition of the voice. It was Edward Tall Jr….Dr. Edward Tall Jr.
“Hello son….or should I consider you the warden of this prison you put me in?”
“Dad. I did not put you here to be mean or to take your life away or steal from you. I placed you here because you were….are no longer capable of looking after yourself.”
Eddy Sr. smiled…almost warmly. His no count son who had gotten rid of the burden of his father was right in what he had done. With his mind clear…at least for the moment he understood this.
“It’s all good Son. I have a special place I go to…in fact it is a wonderful place in my mind and I will return there very soon…and maybe this time I won’t come back… It is well that I am here where there are people to care for my body. It is up to you to see that they do because in here,” Eddy Sr. tapped his temple with a thin shaky finger…”I am alive…young and well and want to exist there as long as possible.”
WYTH
Edward Tall…Dr. Edward Tall Sr. turned his gaze out the window and said no more. Nor was there ever an occasion that he spoke again or showed any awareness of the physical world. Still…every Tuesday and Saturday Eddy Jr. visited his father and told him all about his life…which was much the same as his father’s when Eddy Sr. was a practicing family physician. He and his wife Anne even escaped to the cottage on Lake Of Mists.
“It seems Father has forgiven me for placing him in the nursing home.” Eddy Jr. had told his wife after the last conversation he had with his Eddy Sr. “I wonder if I will follow in his footsteps into whatever place he is living now…A place he seems to be quite content with.”
“Eddy. He has dementia. I doubt he is anywhere. You are a doctor….you should know this.” Anne replied.
“Indeed…but maybe we do not know as much about dementia as we think.” Eddy countered then turned away and left the room.
“I have everything ready to go to the cottage dear. Edith will be coming with us…she has a surprise for us….I think it is a grandchild…” Anne called after him.
Eddy Jr. smiled….Their daughter Edith was nick-named Eddy
By Eddy Tall Sr. two days after she was born. Unofficially she became Eddy the 3rd. “I wonder if the tradition will continue.
The drive to the cottage took a little less than three hours…including a stop for a lunch and to purchase groceries for the weekend. Edith…Eddy 3rd was already there with her husband Ron. Eddy Jr could not help grin delightfully at how much things never change….Edith was about to take over the family practice….just as soon as the new member of the family was born. Eddy 4th.
Eddy Jr. found his way to the boat dock as soon as they arrived. He would not have done so normally….waiting first to help settle in but something drew him there.
The little row boat bobbed in the water tied neatly to the dock. The fishing pole and tackle box sat in the bottom of the boat and Eddy Jr. tried to recall if he had left it there. Normally he would have brought it to the porch of the cottage.
There was….as usual…a mist on Lake of Mists. A fish splashed in the water and……….
NAW
The little row boat bobbed delightfully on the rippling waters of Lake of Mists. Eddy Tall Sr. sat quietly casting and reeling in his fishing line but it seemed on that day…at that moment no fish were inclined to take the bait…if he had remembered even to bait the hook. “Ah but what does it matter…I’ll just enjoy the quietude while the boat drifts…maybe on and on forever.
Then Eddy Sr. glanced toward the rustic cottage where he and Sarah had for so many years escaped to hide away from the demands of life. Where he had fished for their supper and she had cooked the fish he caught. It all seemed to have passed through the years in perfect harmony. Even when Eddy Jr. was a child it had all seemed so perfect and….indeed it had been….and now it was perfect again because Eddy Sr. Had come to realized that Eddy Jr. had been very right in putting his father in the care of the nursing home. No child should ever…ever care for their parent and learn more about them than they had growing up….After all….parents have secrets that their children….or…child should never know…secrets that could slip out instead of being taken to the afterlife where they belong.
There….standing on the dock looking down at the little row boat was Eddy Tall Jr. and Eddy the 3rd. Eddy Sr. was delighted to see the bulge in his grand-daughters belly…then he felt a rush of amazement because he realized he was seeing into the conscious world from his…. “Well…Where exactly, is this place?” He pondered. Then…”Of course. What else could it be called…The Kingdom at the end of the world.
Eddy laughed and laughed and laughed for joy as loud as he could and he called out to his son and grand-daughter but of course they could not see….or hear him…this was a one way image… “Ah be happy in your years. And when the time comes maybe you to will find a special place in your mind to live out your existence. It really is a wonderful place to be.”
Eddy Sr. took up the paddles of the little rowboat….turned it about and slowly…deliberately rowed into the mist of the lake chanting…
Come get your gear in order
For we'll be a-leavin tomorrow
Heave away, me jollies, heave away
Come get your gear in order
For we'll be goin across the water
Slowly…quietly…the rustic cottage faded into the gathering mist and the open waters of the big lake rolled out before Eddy beckoning him to…. “To where in this grand world am I to go now?” Asked Eddy Tall Sr.
BLE MAE’N DOD I BEN
“Anywhere we wish to go my husband.” Said Sarah in answer…giving Eddy a little start…be a glad start it was indeed. “I would begin by rowing T’wards those mighty sail rushing hither upon the horizon. I believe they may be searching for their Steersman and Cook and the Lord and Lady Larkenwhite and all their servants must be weary of ships fare by now….since I have been gone for so long.”
“It will be a joy to feel the wheel of the Mist Of Dreams in my fingers again my love…and to listen to the song of the wind upon the sheets and the rhythm of the lanyards on the mast.” Replied Eddy. “Though I am surprized she survived that crash upon the rocks that sank her.”
“We are come before that time and so when that time comes again we can worn the Captain of the peril and avoid disaster. That is the goodness of a world you build yourself my deadest. You can always go back and fix what was or went wrong.”
Eddy rowed for all he was worth toward the L]Mist Of Dreams and before long the little boat was spied by the watch in the Crows nest and they were gathered from the wide ocean and welcomed gleefully by the crew….the servants and the Lord and lady themselves.
> And Eddy took his place at the helm….and Sarah found her way to the galley and ever there was a happily ever after this was the epitome of the sense….though it must be known that there are many adventures to be had upon the high seas or landward in the fantastic Kingdom At The End Of The World.
“Chant your chant for us Steersman Tall…In the tongue of our fore-fathers.
Dewch cael eich offer er mwyn Am byddwn yn gadael yfory
Dyrchafael i ffwrdd, mi jollies, dyrchafael i ffwrdd
Dewch i gael eich offer er mwyn Am byddwn yn goin ar draws y dŵr
AND FAIR YE WELL WHERE EVER THE WIND AND WATER MAY CARRY YOU.
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