Unexpected Turns

Gone

Today's the day.

I wake up in the morning and stare at the ceiling for a couple of minutes.

"I'm really going to do this," I say to myself and scoff.

I get up and get dressed into my nursing clothing. A white skirt that goes up to the knees, a button up white blouse, an army jacket, black shoes, and a little hat. I looked in the mirror, and saw how pale my face was. I placed my hands on my face and just walked out the room with my bag on my shoulder.

When I came downstairs, I put on a smile to make it look like everything was okay. Downstairs stood my whole family and Jerry's whole family as well.

"There she is, took so long I was thinking maybe she fainted from thinking too much," Mr. Reynolds said.

I laughed. Mr. Reynolds has a southern accent that kind of explains the weird way Dick and Jerry talk and you could also tell that they got their humor from their dad too.

"Honey, you look pale," Mom said, rushing over to feel my head.

"I'm fine mom, just a bit nervous," I try to calm her down but she insists that she gets me some medicine.

"No, Georgette," Dad says, "It's not necessary. She's a nurse now, I'm sure she has some in her purse."

Mom nods, "I guess your right."

"He's right," I look around the room and see all the faces that are here. Jerry, Mr and Mrs Reynolds, Mom, Dad, Gregory, and Scarlet.

noticing that Dick isn't here, I ask, "Where's Dick?"

"Still getting his hair to look good. He's having a bad hair day," Jerry says, and then chuckles, "god are we opposites."

"You look absolutely beautiful," Gregory says.

"I was thinking the same, it suits you well," Scarlet, who was standing right next to him, compliments.

"Thank you," I do a little twirl, "do you like it Jerry?"

"Of course," he smiles, "uh, can you excuse me for a sec? I'm just going to get some fresh air."

There he goes again being over dramatic. I know exactly what he's doing outside, he's sobbing for sure.

"Poor kid, must be so heartbroken," Mom says.

"He's always this sensitive, Georgette, but he'll get over it. One day this over sensitivity will kill him," Mrs. Reynolds says.

They all sit on the couch as mom serves them coffee. They talk and talk and say congratulations to the new proposal of Greg and Scarlet. He had just popped the question to her yesterday and they plan to get married when we come back home.

I head outside for some air as well. I never liked big crowds and I especially hated it when it was people who were older than me. Jerry wasn't there, so I assumed he was at his house. But, I was happy to see Linda walking over to my place.

"Thank god your still here, I thought I was going to miss you," she said.

"I'm not leaving until 1 it's only 11 now," I smile and give her a hug.

"I can't stay but I had to say goodbye to my best friend. It's not easy loosing you to the army you know."

"Oh, don't start, Linda."

"Start what?"

"The sob stories."

"I can't," she begins to cry, "I'm sorry."

I give her a tight hug, "there, there," I pat her back, "everything will be alright. It's only a year. One lousy year."

"Oh Mary, that's way to long."

"Come on," I move away from the hug and place both my hands on her shoulders, "now wipe those tears. You look a lot better smiling, and I want that to be my last image of you."

And so she does. She wipes away at her eyes with her sleeves and hugs me once more.

"Okay, I must go. I'll write."

"I'll do that too."

And she walks on back the way she came.

-

After a couple of minutes, I walk over to Jerry's house to see what was holding them up.

Jerry and Dick were both in Dick's room talking to each other. When I opened the door they were hugging.

"Oops, sorry," I said.

"No. Come in," Dick says, "it was just a fleeting moment. You look great though."

"So do you, solider," I compliment.

"Thank you. Girl's tend to like guys in uniform."

"Hey, Dick, I suggest you talk to Charlotte. She's in the kitchen," Jerry says.

"Kitchen?" I repeat.

"Yes, she's stress eating," Dick laughs, "I'll see you two later."

He walks past us and heads downstairs.

"That was the first time I ever hugged my brother since we were about five years of age," he smiles, "that was a very weird moment and one that I will never forget."

"Oh, Jerry," I gave him a hug, "I know how much it hurts."

A lump grows in my throat and my voice cracks a little as he began sobbing into my shoulder.

"I don't want you two to be gone," he manages to say.

"I know. Be strong, for me."

"Yea," he smiles and moves away from the hug, "I can't go on crying for you to come home."

I smile, "come on. Let's go downstairs and to our family."

He wraps one hand around my waist and walks down with me that way. We call out to Dick and Charlotte that we left and they replied with an "okay."

It's almost time to leave so when we arrived they were packing up the car. Gregory and Scarlet said bye then, and I gave him a kiss and her a hug.

Jerry's family and I went in two different cars. When we arrived to the airport, we were suppose to go to different planes so I said bye to Dick then and there, after we said goodbye to everyone.

"Good luck," he said, "I'll try to visit as much as possible."

"That would be great, and good luck to you too."

"Thanks I will need it," he gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and headed off to the plane with one bag in his hand, holding it over his shoulder. And I headed off with a bag on my shoulder and found my seat with a couple of friendly nurses.