Nadine and Adele

Denial

Adele merrily skips up the Martin's front walkway, frivolously swaying a picnic basket at her side, then enthusiastically raps on their front door; delivering a rapid series of taps...sort of like Thumper excitedly twitching his foot when he gets happy. Cheryl opens the door, and is exuberantly greeted by Adele.

"Hi, Mrs. Martin;" she prominently displays the basket, "here's some food my Grandma made for you."

Still reeling over the recent news of her daughter's condition, a some what distracted Cheryl dazedly takes the basket and monotonically replies, "That was nice of her...be sure to thank her for me, Adele."

"I will." Adele tilts her head slightly to the side to see behind Cheryl, and peers inside. "Is Nadine home, Mrs. Martin?"

It appears as if Cheryl suddenly becomes cognizant of Adele's presence. "I'm sorry; where are my manners...come in, honey." Adele enters, and Cheryl closes the door while announcing, "Nadine; Adele's here."

As they enter the living room, Nadine gets up and goes to Adele. "Hey, Adele;" she points out David; who's sitting stoically on the couch, "that's my dad. Dad; this is Adele."

Also highly upset over the news concerning his daughter, he responds aloofly, "Hello."

"Hi, Mr. Martin; it's very nice to meet you, sir." Adele turns to Nadine. "I brought over some food. There's fried catfish and collard greens and corn bread. Remember the other week...you said it smelledgood...so my Grandma made some for you and your parents to..."

Adele notices that Nadine and her parents seem distracted, and begins to think that something's troubling them. And now, Adele feels that something's not right in the Martin household.

"What's going on, Nadine? You all look like something's wrong."

Nadine doesn't want to upset or burden Adele with the knowledge of her more than likely fatal ailment...not until the time comes when she can no longer keep it from her.

"No...nothing's wrong." She turns and faces her parents; demonstrating a look trying to convey to them not to reveal anything to Adele. "Everything's fine."

In one last vain attempt to put Adele's mind at ease, Nadine musters a forced smile. Adele finds herself in a bit of a quandary now. She still feels that there's something Nadine's not telling her; but she also feels that she can trust her...that Nadine wouldn't lie to her. So, Adele, still appearing unsure, chooses to have faith in her newly acquired friend, and attempts to dismiss that impinging, gnawing sensation that something's the matter; delivering an apparently uncertain half-smile back to Nadine.

Nadine shifts the topic of discussion, "Hey, Mom; is it okay if Adele stays for dinner?"

"Sure. Adele, honey; would you like to have dinner here with us?"

"Yes, please. But I have to call my Grandma to see if it's okay with her first."

Nadine takes hold of Adele's hand. "Come on; you can call her on the phone in my room."

Meanwhile, a despondent-looking David slowly rises from the couch, speaking to no one in particular, "I'll be in the den."

Adele watches as he slowly shuffles out of the room; looking as if he were carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. Once again, that troublesome feeling returns to the forefront of Adele's mind.

"Uh...Nadine...if everything's okay...why does your dad look so sad?"

"He's not sad...he just had a really hard day at work today; that's all. Now come on; let's go upstairs and call your grandmother."

Nadine takes Adele upstairs.

Heartbroken and in total dismay, David's seated in his swivel chair slumped over the desk, gazing down upon a framed picture of Nadine that was taken about a year ago. He's gently running his fingers over the glass as if he were lovingly caressing her face. Tears slowly form and trickle down his cheeks.

As Cheryl passes by, she sees this and stops in the doorway.

"Stop that, David. She's going to be fine. She beat this before...and she'll beat it again this time. Right?"

David looks up to her and wipes his cheeks; then says without much conviction evident in his delivery, "Yeah...sure. You're right...she'll be fine.

"That's right. She's going to be fine, David."

 David delivers anon-heartfelt nod; and Cheryl walks away. He looks back down upon the photo and softly cries.