Sunday, February 03, 2008

•    The phone rang shrilly in the quiet house. Millie slid her aching limbs out of bed. Although filling in for the librarian had certainly been enjoyable, she wasn’t sure that the money adequately compensated for the long hours on her feet.

     The phone yelled at Millie again as she shuffled her now-slippered feet into the hallway. Why did they make phones ring so loud?

     Millie pulled the phone from its cradle as it began its third piercing shriek.

     “York residence,” Millie’s petite voice, aptly suited to her tiny frame, broke the silence.

     “What, Ginny?” Millie said. “Yes, yes, of course….Well, I do have a job scheduled, but….No, no, this is far more important, don’t be silly. I’ll just tell them I’m going to be late….Yes, you too. I love you sweetheart. Give my love to Kate and Paul.”

     Millie set the phone back as silence once again reigned supreme. Paul, Millie’s son-in-law and a naval captain, had been called to leave unexpectedly. Millie would go tomorrow to watch Kate while Ginny saw her husband off.

     Climbing into bed once more, a sigh escaped Millie’s lips. She looked at the empty bed, remembering the many times she had seen her own husband off.

     “You always looked so handsome in uniform,” Millie said to the darkness. She smiled, putting her hand on the pillow which she still always called Charlie’s. Playing her fingers across the worn fabric, Millie slowly drifted off into sleep once more in the empty, silent house.

  ************

     Millie slowly drifted awake, not wanting to pull her head out from under the blankets as she listened to the rain. Thunder boomed low and long. Millie peeked out at the clock. 5:48. Time to get up and start the day.

     Turning on FoxNews as she started the tea brewing, Millie’s slippers made shushing noises on the floor as she packed cookies and a pot-roast she had made the previous night into a basket to take to Ginny’s house. Moving methodically through her morning routine, Millie strained to listen as the news anchors talked about the political candidates’ latest scandals and an earthquake somewhere in Asia. Coming once into the kitchen, Millie put her green tea into a Thermos, picked up the basket, her purse and keys, slipped on her Wellington boots and stepped out into the steadily falling rain.

     Oh dear, she thought. What a morning to stand on the pier for a goodbye. She made a mental note to remind Ginny to take a mug of something warm for the drive home. It was always ten times harder when both heart and body were cold. At least the one could be fixed with a mug of steaming cocoa.

  *************

     Kate greeted her grandmother ecstatically, sopping herself in rainwater as she grasped Millie’s knees.

     “Daddy’s going on his ship!” the four-year-old told Millie. “You and I have to play inside, ‘cuz it’s raining.”

     She grabbed Millie’s hand and led her through the door into the empty foyer.

     “Mama!” she screamed. “Mor’s here!”

     “Hi mom,” Ginny’s voice echoed down the stairs. “I’ll be right there.”

     Paul strode in, his captain’s hat under his elbow, dufflebag in hand.

     “Hi, Mor,” he said, smiling at her. “Thanks for coming.”

     “How long is your tour this time?” Millie asked, smiling at a man she loved almost as much as her daughter.

     “Four hundred days,” Paul replied, a look of sadness crossing his usually jovial face. He looked at his daughter. “Miss me, squirt?”

     “I love you, Daddy!” Kate transferred her death grip from Millie’s knees to her father’s.

     Ginny came down the stairs, raincoat in hand. Her face was pale and serious, but she smiled at her mother.

     “I should be back by noon or so,” she said, picking up the keys and slipping her hand into Paul’s. He removed his hand and instead wrapped his arm around her slender shoulders and squeezed her to him.

     “Bye, Kater,” he said, pulling his daughter up his chest. “Daddy loves you. Write me lots of letters!”

     He put her down and gave Millie a gentle hug. “Take care of my girls.”

     Millie smiled, weakly.

     “I always do,” she whispered.

     Millie picked up Kate and they waved until the Volvo was out of site.
  

    

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