Sincerely Adeline

Journal Entry #5: A Father And His Sons

Dear Journal,

I was cleaning out some of our stuff today and I found you. Makes me feel bad actually. Sorry. I don't know why you went into storage. Please forgive me for it. I'm trying to think about what's happened between the last time I wrote and now. Things have gotten better, that's for sure. There's been so many changes. Slade getting better, Joey, Grant starting school... Shall I go in order?

Well, after Slade was dismissed, it was all highs and lows. For a while, he was miserable, sometimes bed-stricken. It was horrible to watch him. I hated it, every minute of it. And I guess it was because I knew what hurt him more than the pain he was suffering was that he couldn't do anything and that nothing would help. We talked a lot more during that time. Since he wasn't able to do much, I'd get him books. Grant and I would go to the local Borders and stop in getting a book on whatever subject I thought would interest Slade.

He seemed to like that. Slade, not Grant. Grant wasn't really into books. But every day it seemed, Slade would read them and nearly finish them. I think he liked to read since it was something to do. He enjoyed reading about anything from the military to electronic configurations to martial arts. I think it finally made him want to try and really get up. One morning, I was making breakfast when I heard footsteps.

I called, "Grant sit down and wait for your breakfast."

I jumped when I felt someone tap me on my shoulder. I turned around and there he was, smiling at me. I nearly screamed. Actually, I did.

Grant came running in yelling, "What is it Mom? What is it?"

Slade turned his head to see Grant and Grant stopped jumping up and down and literally ran and jumped into his Dad's arms.

Slade fell over, but laughed as Grant screamed, "You're up? How are you up? But you're up! Do you want to go play in the park or go swimming or..."

Finally I cut in because I didn't think it was best if Slade exerted himself much. I pulled Grant off and sat him down on his stool.

Slade sat up and smiled at me while I whispered, "How?"

"How what?"

"You're up? You feel well enough?"

"I feel great, why?"

"It just, I can't believe it... Do you want to maybe go see a doctor?"

"Why? They said that this might be the case. Plus, who knows what they'll do to me next?"

I rolled my eyes and turned back to cooking. He stood up and I felt him rest his chin on my shoulder while holding me in his arms as I cooked. He rocked me back and forth. I saw Grant make a 'yuck' face out of the corner of his eye. Finally I asked Slade what he was doing. He kissed me for an answer and said 'Thank you.'

From there, Slade seemed okay... for a while. He seemed to want to make up for lost time. We'd all go out as a family on some days and do random stuff. Sometimes, it would be just him and Grant and other times, it would be just me and him. But it didn't last. One time, we were swimming in our pool and he and I were playing tag in the deep end of the pool. I don't even know what happened. We have a pretty big pool, despite it being private. (My mother passed away and left me the rest of the family fortune; not much but enough, if you know what I mean).

I was chasing him and was thinking that this was nearly impossible when suddenly, he just stopped. It didn't register that there was anything wrong really until I was a couple yards away. He just started to sink. I quickly sped up and reached for his arm, it was limp. Diving down, I grabbed him around the chest and started to pull him up. When I hit air, I remember screaming for Grant to get out of the pool and to get me a towel. I remember barely anything about it other than somehow managing to drag Slade back inside once he woke up. He didn't even know what had happened.