Somehow an evil force started, long, long ago
But in my blindness I could not see, it came upon me slow
Pure hearts and honesty crumbled and gave way to wrong
But what is right or wrong
I am without a pleasant song
~ Gemini Joe ~
A
fter finishing the details of a lighthouse, I went inside to rest. I sat in my recliner and pointed the remote at my television to find the History Channel. We didn’t have things like that years ago. We had to get up and down to change the channels. Remember that?
I closed my eyes and fell asleep, but the phone woke me up. I picked up the receiver and I said, “Hello!”
“Your brother’s dead.” A woman’s voice shrieked.
“What?” I wasn’t sure if I was awake or having a bad dream.
“You heard me. Your brother’s gone.”
The voice sounded familiar. The same shrill voice had announced my mother’s death years ago. Marie! It had to be my sister-in-law. Yes, it was the same voice. I thought, what a cruel woman!
They say that when one door closes, another will open, and I guess it must be true. A few weeks later, the phone rang again and there was a woman’s voice.
“Uncle Joe?”
“Who is this?”
“It’s your niece, Beatrice. I have my mom here and she wants to talk to you.”
“My sister? Put her on.”
“Joey? It’s Dolly.”
“Dolly,” I cried. “Oh God, it’s good to hear from you.”
“I’ve been trying to find you,” she said. “My daughter looked you up on her computer.”
My eyes filled with tears. “It’s been so long. Where are you?”
“I’m still here in Brooklyn, but my husband, Tony passed away last year.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that, Dolly. I always like him.”
“Did you know that our brothers Dom and Victor are dead?”
“Yes, I heard. It’s a shame what happened to our family. Pop made us all fight.”
“Don’t cry, Joey, it’s all right.”
“At least we have each other,” I said. “Can you come and visit me?”
“I’d love to, but my knees gave out and I’m in a wheelchair. Can you come here?”
“I can’t drive that far on my own. Maybe I can get someone to bring me to you.”
“I’d like that very much, but if you can’t make it, I’ll understand. Take care of yourself, Joey. I love you.”
“I love you too,” I said and hung up.
Before I could see Aunt Dolly again, your cousin Beatrice called to say she had died from a heart attack.
I broke down. “She can’t be gone. I didn’t get to see her. “
“I’m sorry, Uncle Joe. She died in her sleep. The funeral is on Monday. Do you think you could attend?”
“No, baby. I’m not feeling so good.”
“That’s okay, Uncle Joe. I’m sure she would have understood.”
I hung up and thought about my family. I wondered if my life would have been different if my mother didn’t die so young. Maybe our family would have stayed together.
At least my sister had her children by her side when she died. I guess I was starting to feel sorry for myself.
Joey is my only son and the only Finno in the family to carry on the name. When he came to visit me with his new wife, Katherine, I was happy for him.
His wife said, “You can’t live alone. You need to be with family.”
I liked being on my own and had worked so hard to improve my life, but Joey said he would build me an apartment downstairs in his house.
Kathrine had two children already from her first husband. I never had patience with my own kids, but I figured maybe I‘d give it a shot. At least, living with Joey, I wouldn’t be alone at the end of it all. I looked at my little dog, Bridget and thought the kids will love my baby.
By the end of summer, Joey was on his way back to New York to get me. He rented a U-Haul trailer and we were off. We weren’t even out of New York and I felt a lump in my throat. I began to have thoughts about leaving my trailer. When we crossed the Georgia line, I thought, It’s just as hot here as it was in Florida. No, it was worse. At least in Florida there was a breeze from the ocean.
“How do you live here?” I asked Joey.
“Air-conditioning, Dad.”
We pulled up in front of his house late in the afternoon. I opened the car door to let Bridget run around the front yard. Kathrine’s children, five-year-old Timmy, and eleven-year-old Sara loved my little dog.
“You’re just in time for dinner,” Katherine said.
“We’ll be there in a minute,” Joey told said and led me to the basement where he was planning to build me an apartment. The stairs were steep and I worried whether I could climb them every day. At the bottom, there were water puddles near the back door and the smell of mildew filled the room. I thought about Grandpa living in the basement of our old house and I thought, I guess this is my fate. I sure wished that I had treated him better.
“Don’t worry,” Joey assured me, “It’ll shape up once we install the plumbing, electricity, and sheetrock. For now, you can stay in the guest room.”
I tried to be optimistic, but I regretted leaving New York. This time, it wouldn’t be easy for me to go back.
I spent my days sitting in the living room and tried to watch television, but Katherine’s son kept changing the channel.
“Change it back,” I yelled. “I’m watching that show.”
It turned into a tug-of-war over the television, but I was stronger and grabbed the remote.
Timmy ran to the kitchen where his mother was stacking the dishwasher. “I hate grandpa!” he shouted.
Katherine walked into the living room. “Is there a problem, Joe?”
I said, “Yeah, your son is wild.”
“What is he doing?”
“He won’t let me have the remote.”
“Grandpa feeds his dog on the couch,” he said, “and he yells at us when you’re not around.”
“That’s because he runs around the house and antagonizes my dog.”
I couldn’t believe it. Now I had kids tattling on me. For the first time in over a year, I wanted a drink. I begged Joey to work faster on the apartment. I even gave him the money to buy materials, but the only walls going up were between us. Things got worse and every time I reprimanded those kids, they ran to their mother and I could hear Joey and his wife arguing about me at night.
Katherine packed up her kids and left. She refused to come home as long as I lived in the house.
I felt like it was my fault. If you treated her children better, maybe she wouldn’t have …. I started thinking. Maybe it would be best for everyone if I went back to New York.