Just as Tessie was preparing her weekend at Toni and Bob’s to burn the candle in hopes of ridding them of their wishes, her doorbell rang. She rushed to the door, jerked it open and looked up she saw a tall slender man looked at her with a grin on his face, “Hello. I’m here to deliver these to you.” He said as he handed her the most beautiful vase of rose buds she had ever seen.
“Orange Rose Buds? They are beautiful! Who sent them?” She asked as she stood mesmerized by his handsome eyes.
“I am.” He said as he handed her the vase and when she took it he smiled. “I happened to see you at the flower shop around the corner eyeing this precious, unique color of orange buds. I couldn’t resist buying them for you and bringing them up since I saw you change your mind about buying them. It puzzled me because I knew you had the urge to purchase at least one, so I did it for you; six buds, meaning six days of good luck.” He smiled.
She flipped around and hurried to the kitchen, placed them down in the center of the table and said, “Thank you. I’m Tessie. What is your name?” She moved closer to him and looked into his eyes.
His handsome face full of proud emotion looked back deeply into her eyes and said, “I won’t stay…I…I…well, I just wanted you to enjoy them.” He said as he neared the door, opened it and stepped outside. “Here’s my business card, in case you would like to get together for a drink, coffee, wine, dinner?”
She stood and pondered over what just happened. She chuckled and mumbled to herself, I did look at the candle last night and wished upon a handsome man coming to my door. I was just playing around though. Oh well, I guess this candle does work. I’ll have to tell Toni and Bob when I get to their house tonight. She picked up her handbag, grabbed the box with the candle and oil, and headed to her car. On the drive over to her friend’s home, she reflected on the handsome gentleman who appeared at her door with the rose buds. She felt suddenly assured the candle was real, either that or it was just a coincidence. Had she not felt the warmth illuminating from him, she wouldn’t have felt so impressed, but the sparks were certainly flying and what impressed her most was that he didn’t linger. No. In fact, he did his deed and swiftly left; leaving behind his presence. She looked down at herself and saw blood on her brown pants and for a brief moment panicked. She pulled her car over to the curb and turned off her key and looked down to see what was going on. She noticed immediately that she had a cut on her thumb and realized most likely pricked it with one of the rose bud stems. She blew out a held in breath and turned her key. Things were getting so frazzled with all the happenings going on that she felt foolish to have panicked as she did, but also realized it was due to the entire goings on. No one would blame her of course, yet it left her feeling idiotic but relieved.
When Tessie arrived at Toni and Bob’s door, she heard loud yelling and hoped she hadn’t arrived at an inappropriate time. She only rang the bell once and then waited, and it seemed like a long time before Bob opened the door. His face was red and unshaved. Wrinkled clothing hung from his body like he had slept in them. Her first impression was that another happening take place and she had arrived in the middle of it, but soon after being invited in she realized she was mistaken. It was obvious they had been debating about something and it seemed to have gone on for more than a day. She held up the box, embarrassingly
asked if they still wanted to light the candle to remove their wish. Immediately she knew that had been the sore spot between them, quickly laid the box on the table, and had only one question; that was whether she should excuse herself and leave. But she never asked. She simply sat down folded one hand over the other and waited. The distance between Toni and Bob caused Tessie a great deal of pain. Not being able to stand it any longer she looked at the two and said, “What the hell is going on?”
Toni leaped up from her chair and rushed into the kitchen while Bob shook his head and said, “I don’t think you two should light that candle. What the hell were you two thinking by going to some outrageous two bit store and paying an outrageous amount of money for one small candle, and then on top of that believing this was going to release you from your curse? Haven’t you learned your lesson from the last wish?”
He jumped up and rushed to the kitchen while Tessie quietly picked up the box and tip-toed to the door. With her hand on the door knob, she twisted and just as she did Toni and Bob appeared back in the room and asked her to please stay. Her round mouth dropped ajar and she was just about to reply when Bob moved over and took the box and said, “Toni convinced me that we have no choice but to light the candle and try removing the wish so let’s get started.” He turned back around and said, “We’re sorry Tess to have put you in such an uncomfortable position.” Then he opened the box pulled out the candle and bottle of oil and set the candle on the coffee table and proceeded to rub the oil on his hands while Toni lit the candle. Bob rubbed oil on Tess’ forehead and then moved to Toni and applied oil on her head as well, then he rubbed some on his own head and the three sat around the coffee table on the floor. The three stared into the candle after the flame began to dance with the flickering and that’s when it went out. The lights in the house went out and then they heard a loud noise of what sounded like a hundred people hitting on a drum. The three sat in a frozen position and didn’t let out a sound. After about ten minutes or more the lights to the house came on and that’s when the doorbell rang. It startled them so much that they let it ring and didn’t move. Perhaps it was in fear as to who was at the door, but no one moved. All of a sudden whoever was at the door started pounding on it until Bob couldn’t stand it any longer and got up and opened it. There in front of him stood Willy, the pudgy man from the candle shop. He was in a panicky state because he had made a grave error. He yelled out to them to not light the candle and that if they did they must put it out
“What’s this all about?” blurted Toni. “What’s going on?”
“The candle, it’s the candle. I packed the wrong one by mistake” he admitted. “The one you have can bring you very bad happenings if you had it burning for any length of time.”
They assured him that they were just getting started and had just lit the candle when arose such sounds that they didn’t understand what was going on or where the sounds were coming from. Willy assured the three that the candle performed as it was supposed to and the noise they heard were the sounds of those who had been to the light and had gone beyond. They weren’t finished with their life on earth, and were taken in error, too soon. What you heard were their protests at being drawn into the light and not knowing how to bring themselves out of it.
What can we do?” asked Bob. “Can we help them restore themselves and return to wherever they were when they were drawn into the light?”
“We must sit with our legs crossed and our hands joined in unison, but we must hurry or it will be too late” urged Willy.
The four quickly got themselves into position as instructed, joined hands and waited. Immediately when the signal was given Willy began trembling violently. The others had all they could do to hang on to him, but they did. Willy’s body all but jumped off the ground, and more abruptly did it begin than it ended, and his body settled down. His hands were wet with perspiration and his brow was soaked. He began to shake his head from side to side as if saying no to someone or something. Suddenly the candle was lighted for a brief instant and just as briefly was extinguished. It was at that point in time that Willy opened his eyes and drew a deep breath and broad smile.
“That’s it! That’s it! We did it! We were in time and because of that we saved all those people from certain extinction. Did you hear the noise?”
The three shook their heads indicating that they heard nothing other than Willy bouncing off the floor and shaking violently. Willy told them that he heard the noise and knew it was the people returning from the light, out of the tunnel, and back to their places. He stood up
but with a little uncertainty, wiped his brow, smiled at everyone, gathered up the candle and placed it in a large bag he had brought with him. He left the room and just as quickly returned with a box.
“Please accept my apology. This is the candle you ordered” assured Willy. “If you have any need of my services, you know where to find me,” and with those words he waved good bye and was gone.
When Bob, Toni, and Tessie moved to the door to say something to Willy, he was gone. They looked at one another in total surprise and amazement and moved over to the couch whereupon they placed themselves comfortably, laid their heads back and fell into a peaceful rest unable to talk about the event.
Too tired to function after all the excitement of the evening Bob, Toni and Tessie thought it would be best to delay involving themselves in the serious business of putting together a program to rid themselves of any curse or whatever befell them when their wish was made a long time ago so they all opted for a good night sleep. As they prepared for the event Bob’s phone rang and he felt obligated to answer since it was from his director of affairs. During the course of their conversation Bob could be heard debating something and requested a delay, but the party on the other end of the call stressed the urgency of the matter and directed Bob to prepare to depart from his facility immediately. Bob informed Toni and Tessie of the phone call and what needed to be done, and that he had to pack a few things and head for the airport to conduct some very important business that couldn’t wait. Toni pleaded with him to get a fresh start early in the morning but Bob told her that he had pleaded his case stressing his need to rest before flying out on an assignment but was denied.
Bob grabbed his bag and headed for the door. He delayed long enough to wish Toni and Tessie a trouble-free night and that he would catch up with them soon. Toni and Bob stepped outside the door where the two embraced and expressed their growing fondness for one another, and at that point Bob departed. After finding his car and placing his bag in the trunk he started out of the lot and headed to the airport. He hoped to catch a few winks on the plane so that he would be somewhat rested when he got to his assignment. En route Bob was distracted by a car approaching in the opposite direction because its headlights were on high beam and they were blinding. In his effort to signal the approaching auto of the problem he lost sight of the road due to a curve and felt the right front tire slip off the shoulder. Bob immediately corrected but the depression was deeper than he thought which caused him to overcorrect. His car veered sharply to his left and went into a fishtail to his right and then just as quickly to his left. At that instant he was upon the auto that was approaching him, the one with the high beams blinding him, and he plowed into that auto’s left front fender. At that point Bob’s auto slid counterclockwise knocking his passenger side door into the other auto’s driver side door. The impact knocked Bob across the inside of his car crushing him against his right side door. From that instant his auto careened off the other auto’s left side and flipped over two times landing on its left side. This condition cast Bob back toward the driver’s door whereupon he banged his head against the window shattering the glass into a million pieces. Bob’s auto came to a complete rest but there was no movement inside. A driver who was behind Bob witnessed the accident, pulled over to assist and immediately summoned an emergency vehicle to come to Bob’s aid. When the Paramedics arrived Bob was unconscious. He was immediately transported to the local hospital and was given a thorough examination. The initial examination revealed a broken neck along with minor contusions and abrasions. Bob was subsequently placed in an operating room where emergency room doctors tried their best to correct the damaged third cervical vertebrae which was completely dislocated from the spinal column. At that point Bob was declared paralyzed. Only time would tell if his condition would be declared permanent.
Toni and Tessie arose the next morning and carried on with the business of the day, that being making plans to conduct a test run with the candle-lighting ceremony. They decided to wait for Bob’s call so that they could work together to make sure everything would be done correctly. When no call was received that day or the next, the two called his office to inquire when Bob’s chore would be completed, and he would be free to return to them. They were surprised to discover that Bob never arrived on the plane. They immediately made calls to hospitals only to discover that Bob had been admitted at Memorial and was currently in the intensive care unit and was unable to have visitors. Toni and Tessie drove to the hospital anyway to be with Bob. When they arrived they learned of the severity of his condition and Toni broke down into a hysterical cry. Tessie tried to console her friend but she was also too distressed to be of much help. They were given sedatives and were directed to a waiting room where they were told they could wait, but there was no time given as to how long that wait would be. Toni and Tessie were forlorn in their grief and could only hold one another and grieve at what looked to be a serious injury.
By late that night Toni was allowed to peek in to see Bob for only ten minutes and when she entered she saw that he looked worse than she had anticipated. She walked over and stood beside his bed while placing her hand across his forehead and whispered, “Darling you are going to be okay. They won’t let me stay long so I will tell you now that I will be back tomorrow to see you, in fact, first thing in the morning when I wake up. Meanwhile rest and get well Darling.” She turned and walked over to the door, turned and looked back to see if he had opened his eyes, seeing he hadn’t she opened the door and quietly stepped out in the hallway. She gently closed the door and leaned against it and sobbed. She knew he was in serious condition, but she also knew, no matter what the outcome was that she’d love him and never leave him. Bob was a man whom she dearly loved and planned on spending the rest of her life with. She moved down the hallway and into the waiting room and gestured for Tessie to follow her. Tessie rushed over to Toni and said, “Is he okay? I mean is he awake or still unconscious?”
“He’s still asleep, but I know he will wake up in a day or two. The doctor told us if you remember that sometimes the brain swells and it takes a few days for it to go down and when it does he might wake up, but he also said he might never walk again.”
Tess put her arm around Toni as she moaned and then snapped to attention knowing she had to be strong for Toni, so she suggested they go to the park and feed the ducks. Toni shook her head and agreed it might be good to just sit by the pond.
As Tess pulled the car near the pond they got out and walked toward the water. The wind came in mild and soft as they sat down holding on to one another’s hand. A small white and gray kitten came out from the crevices between the wooden wall and the cement floor, and lay basking in a bar of sunlight. They sat so still it thought they were part of the landscaping and leaped to catch a butterfly, then turning its head with its fluffy tail pointing high walked off. Neither Toni nor Tessie moved; only watched for a time musing on the motionless kitten that stopped and lay under a tree cleaning its face. Toni giggled at the way it would lick its paw to dampen it and then wash its face ever so tenderly with such patience that Toni wished she had done with Bob. Her mind drifted back to Bob and began to feel afraid because she knew in her heart Bob might never walk again. She questioned herself about how she’d feel or for that matter, how Bob would feel? After watching the kitten a little while longer she lost interest in him and her reflections of Bob, so she stood up and walked over to the car leaning up against the door while waiting for Tessie to catch up with her and when she did, she reached out and wrapped her arms around Tess and let all of her pent up emotions spill out and then sobbed. Tessie patted her back and whispered, “Go ahead and cry, Toni, you need to release the pain you’ve tucked deep inside of you. I’m not going to tell you that everything is going to be alright because we’ve been friends far too long for me to tell you something I don’t know at this point, but I will tell you one thing I do know,
and that is I’ll be here for you; now and always.”
Toni’s heart felt as if a knife had been torn across it yet she was thankful that Tess was here for her. “Thank you Tess…Thank you Tess. I know that you will be here for me, and I want you to know I appreciate it. I don’t know what I’d do without you during this horrible time in my life.” She moved back away from Tessie and opened the car door and together they walked up to Toni’s door. When they settled themselves in comfy clothes, they were just about to turn on the television set to vegetate for the rest of the night, when the phone rang. :”Hello.”
“Hello, may I please speak with Toni?”
“This is she, “responded Toni.
“This is Dr. Mitchell from the intensive care unit at Memorial Hospital. I need to speak with you about Bob Steinman.”
“Did something happen to him? Is he alright? Is he out of the coma? May I come in and see him,” questioned Toni.
“Ms. Toni, Bob Steinman has opened his eyes and seems to be coming out of his coma. Yes, I can allow you a short visit. In fact, your being next to Bob might trigger a favorable response,” uttered Dr. Mitchell. “I will be close by, so when you arrive at the hospital please have a nurse page me and I will come to you.”
Toni yelled over at Tessie and told her the good news and that Dr. Mitchell suggested they come in and be with him for a short time. Toni and Tessie immediately headed to the hospital in rapid time, sped down the hallway in the intensive care unit and sought out a nurse. They informed her that Dr. Mitchell had called to give a report on her fiancé and he wanted to be paged. The nurse made a call to the doctor. A short time later the doctor arrived at the waiting station, greeted the two and asked them to follow him to the room where Bob was being treated. Upon entering Bob’s room they saw he was stretched out in the bed with tubes and devices surrounding him, Toni’s heart dropped to the bottom of her chest. She moved over to him with Tessie close behind and stood alongside the bed. Toni reached out and touched Bob’s hand. There was no response, but she could tell he knew she was there. She got the courage to focus on his eyes. They were closed until she touched his hand and at that point he opened them and you could see he was trying to focus on Toni and Tessie.
“I am here, my Darling. I am with you. Tessie is here with me; we were so concerned. I hope you can hear me,” Spoke Toni.
Dr. Mitchell moved close and explained some of the devices supporting Bob because he immediately saw in her eyes the trauma of seeing her fiancé all secured and unable to move. Toni seemed more at ease after hearing what was going on, and immediately had full confidence in the people attending to Bob.
“These monitors keep an accurate 24 hour record of Bob’s condition and will trigger an alarm should anything change from the normal” informed Dr. Mitchell. “We can’t make any promises about his paralysis at this early stage. There is swelling around his spinal cord and only nature can take care of eliminating that condition. We will take care of his every need until his condition improves. At that time we will make further tests and evaluate his status at each stage of recovery.”
Toni and Tessie were satisfied with the wonderful care they were giving to Bob and felt reassured that he would be fine. Toni moved over to Bob again and whispered in his ear. “Bob, my love, please rest and be assured I will be by your side each day to help you work your way out of this. Soon we will be close together again, I promise” said Toni.
Dr. Mitchell motioned to the two ladies to follow him out to the corridor.
“Thanks for coming to see Bob, but you must leave now so that he has his proper rest. This medical team will watch over him throughout the night. We have a rotating staff to oversee all the patients in the intensive care unit. There is also a special room filled with computers monitoring every movement the patients might make. We leave nothing to chance, especially in this section of the hospital. Intensive care is critical and it is our job to guarantee the best treatment possible for everyone.”
Satisfied, Toni and Tessie worked their way out of the hospital and to the car. They enjoyed the cool air and stood for awhile reflecting on their past and on the ills that had befallen them. They were anxious to find a way to put all this behind them so that they could get back to a normal life.
They drove home cautiously and paid attention to their whereabouts. Feeling more reassured than when they arrived at the hospital, they entered the house making themselves comfortable and then poured a drink of wine, and settled in for the night. Being too excited to sleep they decided to find a good light movie featuring laughter and comedy. Finding a good show they relaxed with no violence or tension coming from the television.
When the program was finished they decided to get some sleep, perhaps with confidence for the next day. With the right frame of mind and a positive attitude the coming day could then be faced squarely and with renewed confidence for the near future, not only for Bob, but for the two of them as well.
Chapter Ten