Norman and Ray are 50 years old in this one.
Ray's POV
~~~~~~~~~~
Everything in life was fine... Norman and I were married for 30 years, we had four kids, and everyone was healthy and fine. Until the day I got the call from Dad at five in the morning.
"What?" I asked groggily as Norman sat up behind me holding on to me.
"Yourmom'sdead" he spoke fast sobbing into the phone
"Dad, talk slower." I responded hearing him sniffle
"Your mom's dead. I need you to come to the hospital." he said, calming down for a second before started to sob again.
"What do you mean!?" I yelled into the phone, "What hospital is it?" I asked lightly pushing Norman off of me before getting up and walking over to the closet. He told me which hospital it was and Norman and I got dressed. We went to the hospital and we walked into the room and saw dad holding on to her hand while sobbing into, I saw her pale body laying on the bed. I walked slowly to her, hoping at any time she'd wake up and it was all just a joke. When I touched her arm she felt really cold. It wasn't until I was there at her funeral sitting next to dad and Norman that the realness of it all hit me. Dad walked up to her body and held onto the side of the casket, suddenly his grip tightened on it.
"Come back! Come back Isabella, please!" He yelled, "Please, I need you."
It broke my heart seeing dad like this, and I just sat there watching him yell about how he needed mom by his side. And then he tried grabbing her arm.
"Leslie." Dads younger sister said trying to get him to let go. I ran up to dad and tried helping my Tia get him to let go.
"Dad let go." I grunted trying to pull his hand off of mom's arm.
"No!" he shouted
"Dad, mom wouldn't want this let go" I said through gritted teeth. Norman came up and tried helping too and then Don came and helped too. The 3 of us eventually got him to let go and then we had to drag him out while he was bawling and screaming and kicking trying to get us off of him. We took him outside and sat him down on a low wall.
"Norman, Don go back inside and tell everyone everything's fine." I said after a minute or two. They looked like they were going to say something but then they looked at dad and then at me, then they walked back in. I wait until they were back in the building before speaking, "Dad, I know this is a delicate situation but what the hell happened in there?"
"I don't know." he muttered
I sighed deeply before he spoke again, "Your mom... was a great woman." I sat down on the wall next to him. "I remember when we were kids she used to go up to me at school and say 'Leslie, you should really start playing the mandolin in public. You're really good at it, so why not show off?'. Of course I was really shy so I refused. I remember when you got into kindergarten she was so excited."
"Da-"
"She kept a scrap book of everything you made or got for her throughout the years. She loved you so much. When you went to kindergarten she was excited but also really sad, she called me on your first day of school. She was complaining about how lonely the house felt without her little sunshine, then when you decided to just be homeschooled she was so happy." He continued to talk all about mom. I sat there listening, learning new things about mom. When he started feeling a bit better we walked into the building again. We sat down and soon it was time to take the casket to the burial spot. We watched as the casket was slowly lowered into the hole and then dirt getting thrown on it. Dad was very depressed after that so Norman and I were over at his house a lot. One day we walked in to see dad sprawled across the floor.
"Dad?!" I shouted running up to him. Norman walked to us and started looking around.
"Ray." Norman whispered
I looked up at him and saw that he was pointing at a small orange bottle that wasn't far from dad. I immediately took out my phone and called 911. A few hours later we found out that if we had gotten there an hour earlier dad might've made it. We had the funeral a few days later. It was beautiful. I feel like dad and mom would've loved their funerals. We were playing Mom's and Dad's favorite songs the entire time. Before the Next Teardrop Falls by Freddy Fender, We Belong Together by Ritchie Valens, Cuando Dos Almas by Los Caminantes, Nada Valgo Sin Tu Amor by Juanes, It's Time To Cry by Paul Anka, Tears On My Pillow by Little Anthony & The Imperials, Todo Cambio by Camila, Missing My Baby by Selena .
Once we got home I flopped on the couch and cried over the loss of both of my parents. Norman put a hand on my back and started trying to comfort me. I sat up and pulled him down so he can sit on the couch as well. I buried my face into his shoulder and hugged him as tight as I could. We fell asleep on the couch hugging each other the entire time. 4 months later and it was 1 week before Norman finally got a break from teaching kids. I had already bought his and our kids Christmas gifts. I even got flowers for moms and dads graves. Every thing was finally back to an almost normal state, I was baking cookies when I got a text from Norman.
There's still Norway outta here
Ray
Ray's 50 year old gay ass
Yeah?
There's still Norway outta here
I love you. And I want you to promise me one thing if this goes wrong.
Ray's 50 year old gay ass
I love you too and if what goes wrong?
There's still Norway outta here
I want you to take care of the kids, they're adults but honestly they're all kinda stupid. Please be strong for them.
Ray's 50 year old gay ass
Norman, stop being weird and tell me what's going on.
There's still Norway outta here
Ray promise me that you'll do it
Ray's 50 year old gay ass
Fine I'll do it, but what do you mean if it goes wrong?
Read at 12:30 pm.
