My Father's Ring

DEAN KANE

Chapter One

She sits quietly within herself and thinking about the insignificance of her life in the same small town, on the same quiet street, and the same old friends she has had, since grade school. Her life had seemed to been altered overnight due to an event so traumatic that it rippled in every part of her being. It was a cool September day and something happened that still haunts her. It was the beginning of school in 1971 and life seem to be the status quo as she sits in her seventh-period geography class with Mr. Knox. There wasn't a girl that didn't have a crush on him with his Rock Hudson good looks, his gentle nature, and that deep southern drawl, that was everyone but me. I had just leaned over to my friend Rita Sanders who was someone that understood every once of my being. I had just whispered, " could I borrow a pencil?" it was then a siren began to blare through the town and drove right past our school. Everyone in the class began to play rubberneck for just one glimpse of the rescue vehicle as it passed by like a shot in the dark. There was just something about the sound that seems to go right through me along with a particular fireman by the name of David Lee with those dreamy blue eyes. My friend Rita had said on more than one occasion how he was the sexiest man she had ever met in Klondike County and if she was given just half of the chance she would go all the way with him. We were at the age where going all the way was more like bragging rights whether we ever did it or not due to our Catholic faith or rather our parent's faith more than ours. I would have to agree with her, he was a real live stud. The sound of the siren passing the school brought a stern warning from the teacher to sit down! And pay attention to our school work, which we all reluctantly did while still casting quick glances toward the windows. The teacher says, " isn't that right Candice Clark? " he had caught me once again talking instead of paying attention to his rules of no talking under any circumstances. Rita quickly slid me a yellow number two pencil as I focused my attention toward the front of the room. I remember the moment before and I remember the moment after, but I don't remember the actual moment the principal stepped into our room with a very sober look on her face. Everyone in the room knew someone had done something really bad when the principal was standing in your room and whispering to the teacher. The first thought was that creepy little kid that was always late for school is in trouble again as usual. The teacher says, " Candice you need to take your books and go with the principle. I thought to myself, " the girl that never gets into trouble must really be in hot water for something. " even though I had no earthly idea what? I started to walk away as Rita whispered, " call me later. " it was just at that moment the look on my teacher's face said,
" something really bad had happened. " I find myself walking down the hall as she gingerly spoke to me as if something was really wrong, the kind of something that adults handle for their children. I sit in her office for about thirty minutes with all of my belongings in hand. The ticking sound on the wall clock in her office seems to keep my attention for the time being. The door to her office opens and in walks the school nurse, the principal, and my mother. My mother had seemed to have been crying for some reason and that was when the local minister walks in carrying his Bible and looking very somber. I being a bit of a smarty said almost without thinking, " who died and did I miss the funeral? " it was then that my mother ran out of the room crying hysterically. I really knew now, if I didn't know before that something terrible had happened. I began to tremble slightly as the principal took my hand and squeezed it very firmly. I ask, " where is my father? " just as my mother comes back into the room, grabs me in a full hug, and says, " your father was killed today? In an accident." My mind couldn't process what was just spoken to me so I said, " it sounded like you said my father was in a car accident? " the minister takes me by the hand and says, " Candice look at me, and have I as your minister ever lied to you? Or do you think I would ever lie to you? Well of course not, so listen very carefully to what I am going to tell you. The Siren the class heard today was an accident on the road that ran past the park and the person in the accident was your father, Mr. Clark. Honey, your father has taken his walk to heaven. " "are you telling me that my father is dead? " everyone in the room nods their head with a grimace look. I pull my hands back from theirs and say, " that is impossible; because he is at work in his office, besides he is a First Responder; and they never die." All at once my mother grabs me up and says, " honey, daddy is gone and he is never coming back. He died when his car slammed into an Oak tree at a high rate of speed on the road that runs past the park." it was then that I began to feel as if I was on a ride at the county fair, but on this ride, I wasn't getting off anytime soon. I remember feeling like I was falling very slowly and everything was in slow motion until I fall against my mother's chest. The next thing I remember was waking up in the University hospital bed in a gown with no coverage on my backside. It was like a dream or in my case more like a nightmare. My mother was sitting beside me with a look of concern as she says, " Candice, you really had us worried for a while." I look at my mother and say, " my father is really dead, isn't he? " but I didn't need her confirmation, for, in my heart, it said it was as true as the day was long.
She sits there watching me but at the same time had a distant stare, the kind of stare that seems to say the light was on, but for some reason, no one was at home. I remember on more than one occasion when it was my father sitting in her place as the minutes ticked by and time seemed to have come to a slow march. I recall many times never seeing his face, but rather only the shine of his blue birthstone from his silver ring. It was my father's ring that I remember most during those times I was sick or maybe having an operation like the time my tonsils were removed, and the doctor suggested that maybe I take them home in a glass jar, but the only thought that came to my mind was " gross." Yes, it was his ring that I remember most when I could verily open my eyes, but I knew my father was always there because it was my father's ring. It probably sounds a bit weird but the fluorescent lights shining down from the ceiling gave off a blue glow reminding me that he was still there watching over me. My father's ring, how I wish I could see his ring just one more time. I was a child, but he was like God taking care of my every need. I lay in this bed thinking about the scripture that said, " and I shall be with you always even unto the end of the world." That was my dad to me as a child. I open my eyes and there was no blue glow from my father's ring, which meant only one thing he was really gone. My mother continues to sit in the chair where he would sit watching me like I was some kind of freak in the sideshow, but again I knew Candice was her freak. She sits there for hour after hour not knowing what to say to this child that was just as broken as she. The first night in the hospital I verily slept a wink knowing my daddy was never coming home.

The End of Chapter One