Leta Gets a Parakeet, part two

Delbert Henderson liked steak. "It's my favorite meal," he told Leta, “steak and a baked potato.”

Leta liked the same meal, although it was beyond her budget to have steak more than once or twice a week. However, she preferred mashed potatoes to baked. She ate baked potatoes, she told him, but give her mashed potatoes with a pat of melting butter sprinkled with salt and pepper over any other kind of potato any day.

“At least we both like potatoes,” Delbert laughed.

“And steak!” Leta added, laughing as well.

They were enjoying what was to be the first of many suppers they would spend together. Leta and Delbert had known each other for several years. She met him and his wife Beatrice through her husband Richard Eckman. But now Richard and Beatrice had both passed away, leaving their respective spouses to reconfigure their own lives without them.

At first, they met occasionally. After all, it was December when they started spending time together, and they each had family obligations for the holidays. Still, they managed. They had their pensioners’ club, and both were on the Christmas party planning committee. Also, as they weren’t the primary planners respectively in their family activities, they were able to meet a couple of other times. Christmas week was very hectic for Leta. She spent Christmas Eve with her son Dale, daughter-in-law Kathryn and their family. She spent Christmas Day with her daughter Vivian, son-in-law Ed and their family. Three days after that was her great-grandson Jerry’s first birthday and the following day was Vivian’s birthday. Delbert had his own family activities.

On New Year’s Eve, they joined three other couples for a meal and card playing until the wee hours. Delbert loved to play Pinochle. He and his late wife participated in two different card clubs. When she passed away, he did not join his fellow card players for months, but once he learned Leta could play, he invited her to join him. Leta liked his friends, and was a shrewd player. They won all but one of their games.

However, she did have more to drink that New Year’s Even than was advisable, and as the evening wore on, she became more boisterous. She knew she was speaking too loudly, laughing too easily and being aggressive, but she had no capability to stop or slow down. She even sang “Auld Lang Syne” with relish. At 1:00 am, Delbert drove her home and was incredibly silent and stiff. While she wasn’t sobering, his mood quieted her as well. As was proper, he walked her to her door and without so much as a “Happy New Year,” he turned around and went back to his car. She stood just inside the door and watched him until he was out of sight.

The next morning she felt badly and wondered whether or not she should telephone him and apologize. She didn’t. Instead, she finished her coffee and toast, cleaned the kitchen and prepared for the family dinner at her daughter’s house. At noon, her grandson Larry arrived to pick her up.

To be continued.

Leta Gets a Parakeet, part one

When Delbert Henderson gave her two parakeets for her birthday, Leta was certain that he would soon propose to her. They knew each other through their pensioners’ club. Leta had been a widow for more than a year, her husband Richard having died two Decembers previously. On her birthday, she became 72 years old, and according to most people, was beyond marrying age. She was the grandmother of six (three boys and three girls) and great-grandmother of three little boys. What business did she have getting married again at her age?

Four months after her Richard died—from a heart attack—Leta moved out of the house, which upon his death, became the property of his children, and into an apartment in East Toledo. This put her close enough to her two children for any need she may have and to make their visits convenient, but far enough away that she could continue to live independently.

Delbert and his wife Beatrice were longtime friends of Richard’s. Leta met them shortly after she met him. They played cards with each other every couple of weeks and once took a car trip to southern Ohio together for a few days. Beatrice was talkative but very dependent upon her husband. In nearly all of their important decisions, she deferred to him. Delbert had worked for the Wonder factory in Toledo for 45 years before he retired. Aside from being a paper delivery boy and helping his uncle out in a hardware store, this was the only job he ever held.

Five months after Richard died, Beatrice fell while sweeping the kitchen floor. She broke her hip, but more devastatingly, the doctors learned that she was in the advanced stages of leukemia. She died three months later. Delbert spent the next three months in a daze. He hardly spoke to anyone. He would sit in their living room, clutching the quilt that she had made for their bed and staring at the television, which he didn’t turn on. His daughter came by daily to bring him food and clean the house. He lost 30 pounds.

She next saw him at a Christmas party planning meeting for their pensioners’ club four days after Thanksgiving. He told them that he was sorry for being absent for so many months, trembling slightly throughout his speech from the loss of his partner of 55 years. “It was like losing my right arm,” he told Leta later. “I felt like I lost more than half of myself, and the other half didn’t know how to operate on its own.”

Leta patted his hand. “You’re doing fine,” she said encouragingly. “You’ll make it.”

At the end of the meeting, he drove her home. She invited him into her apartment for a cup of coffee, but he was weary. The socializing took a lot out of him, and it was rather late.

“How about I take a rain check?” he said. “Or better yet, may I take you out to supper later this week? That is, if you are not too busy.”

“Yes, thank you,” she said. “I’d like that.”

The meeting was on a Monday, and on Friday night, he took her to his favorite restaurant.

To be continued.

Connie's First Baby, part three

“I think this is the quietest he’s been in a week,” Ed noted.

Leta and her husband Richard were visiting Leta’s granddaughter Connie, her husband Ed, and their new baby Christopher. The child, they learned, was a crier. When he was content, which was very rare, was when either his mother or grandmother, Leta’s daughter-in-law Kathryn, was holding him in the rocking chair.

This time, however, Leta was holding him and sitting on the sofa beside her husband. She noted earlier that he had opened his eyes a couple of times, but for the moment was asleep.

Connie had recently gone into the kitchen to make coffee to accompany the pie that Leta had brought.

“I’m going to help Connie in the kitchen,” Kathryn said, as she rose. “Richard, how do you like your coffee?”

“Just black is fine for me, Kate,” he answered.

A couple of minutes later, Kathryn and Connie returned with coffee and slices of pie on plates.

“I can take the baby, if you want, while you eat your pie, Grandma,” Connie offered.

“How about you eat your pie first, and then we’ll trade,” Leta countered.

“Connie can take the baby, Ma” Kathryn said. “You don’t want your coffee to get cold.”

Leta was surprised by how irritated she was with her daughter-in-law, who seemed to her to be overly involved in the baby’s movement. Even though Kathryn had been there twice already that day, she came again in the evening, knowing that Leta and Richard planned to spend time with the young family.

“I can sip my coffee just fine,” she said. “Connie, eat.”

Connie ate hurriedly and clearly winced every time she sipped her scalding coffee. The men ate leisurely, and Kathryn didn’t eat at all, but sipped her coffee, as did Leta. When she finished, Connie stood and held out her hands.

Throughout the dessert, Chris had been a quiet, joy-bringing bundle in her arms. Leta loved the warm of him and his soft breathing. She was reluctant to give him up, but she was true to her word, and handed him over to his mother.

Sensing the change, the baby started to fuss, and whatever ease Connie had been feeling was gone, just like that.

“Here, Connie,” Kathryn offered, relinquishing the rocking chair. “Sit here.”

Connie sat and the baby quieted.

“That’s what he likes,” Ed said. “Sitting in that rocker or riding around in the car. The other night we drove around for two hours, didn’t we, honey?” Without waiting for her agreement, he continued, “While we drove, he slept. Every time we stopped, he woke up. It was a challenge.”

“One of my grandson’s was like that,” Richard shared. “Drove his parents to distraction. But after a few months, he grew out of it. After that, he slept so much they had to wake him up to eat.”

“I’d give my right arm for that right now,” Ed said wistfully, and Connie sighed.

Leta noticed that Connie was falling asleep and stood. She returned her plate, cup and saucer to the tray and began collecting other things.

“It’s about time we head home, Richard,” she said.

Kathryn rose, too. “Ma, don’t do that. I’ll take care of it.”

“I’ll just put everything on the tray,” Leta said and continued with her task. “Then I’ll leave it up to you.”

While Leta finished, Richard and Ed stood.

“Connie,” Leta instructed, “you stay put now. You don’t have to get up.”

Connie sunk deeper into the rocking chair, accepting her grandmother’s instruction with an easing of her body.

For her final act of the evening, Leta leaned over and kissed her granddaughter on the forehead. This was unusual. She had not kissed Connie in years. Connie stifled a gasp.

“You’re doing great,” Leta said.

Connie's First Baby, part two

Leta enjoyed spending time with her children and grandchildren, and shortly after her granddaughter Connie had her first baby, she and her husband Richard paid them a visit. Many of these kinds of visits have some awkwardness attached, and this was no different. Baby Chris was colicky, and Connie was exhausted. When they arrived, the baby was sleeping, and they dared not disturb him. However, after a short time, he awoke, and Leta had the opportunity to change and calm the squabbling baby while Connie hovered nearby.

“The room is nice,” Leta said, as she accomplished the task.

“Thank you,” Connie said. “Ed likes to decorate.”

“Your house always looks so nice and clean and fresh,” Leta continued, “even now, considering.”

“Chris doesn’t sleep a lot,” Connie said. “Hardly at all.”

“That’s how it is with some babies.”

“The doctor told me to just let him cry. He’ll cry himself to sleep, but, Grandma, he just wails and wails. I can’t stand it. So I pick him up and he goes right to sleep.”

“He misses his mommy.”

“I just wish he’d sleep for longer than 20 minutes at a time without me having to hold him.”

“He will,” Leta said comfortingly. “He will. Now let’s have a piece of pie!”

Leta had made them a peach pie, and she was beginning to desire a piece with a cup of coffee. Her family loved the pies she made.

Returning to the living room, they found that Connie’s mother, Leta’s daughter-in-law Kathryn had recently arrived.

“I was just going to pop into the bedroom to see what was taking you so long,” she said.

“Everything is fine,” Leta said, sensing a little hostility from her daughter-in-law. “Isn’t it, baby?” She pressed her face into the swaddling infant and took a deep breath. “I just love baby smells.”

Kathryn pointed to the rocking chair. “Sit here, Ma,” he likes to be rocked.

“I’m fine,” Leta answered as she resumed her seat on the sofa beside her husband. “Isn’t he beautiful?” she asked, showing him the child’s peaceful face.

“Hi, little fella,” Richard said.

Leta and Richard with the baby were sitting on the sofa, Connie’s husband Ed was in one easy chair and Kathryn sat in the rocking chair. Connie was still standing, and in Leta’s estimation, looked a bit lost. Leta gestured with her head. “Come sit by me, darling,” she instructed. “There’s plenty of room here.”

“That’s okay, Grandma,” Ed said. “Connie’s going to get us that pie and coffee we’ve all been waiting for.”

“Yes, of course,” Connie said, as she turned away to go into the kitchen. Leta anticipated that Kathryn would offer to assist her daughter, but instead, the grandmother remained seated, having moved to the edge of her seat in an attempt to be closer to her grandson.

“Is he awake or asleep?” she asked.

“Asleep, I think,” Leta answered. “He opens his eyes a little every couple of minutes, but I think he’s still asleep.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to sit here in the rocker?” Kathryn asked again. “He likes that. He also likes to be held up.”

“I know how to hold a baby!” Leta snapped, and chased the sound out of the room momentarily. Kathryn sat back in her chair, and for a few moments the room remained quiet. Then the baby gurgled.

“Hello, little darling,” Leta said, looking into his face. “Are you going to join us? No? Well, then, you go right back to sleep.”

To be continued.