Hi, i hope you enjoy this new story, this time a sad one and it´s takes place before the other stories i had writed here.
Just a point... in this story, i changed the characters ages, so Ramona is 7, Beezus is 11 and Roberta is a newborn.
Hope you don´t mind and enjoy the story.
Dr. Serpico
THE DAY EVERYTHING CHANGED
That raining day, seven year old Ramona Quimby and her big sister 11- year old Beatrice Quimby couldn't wait to get home from school. Just a week ago, they welcomed their new baby sister to the world and all they wanted was to help their mother take care of baby whose name was Roberta.
That day however, both girls realized their mother wasn't feeling well, she spend most of the time complaining about a headache, this way, just after lunch, once the mother managed to put Roberta to sleep, she asked the girls if they could do the dishes while she took a nap.
They thought it strange, since their mother never sleeps in the afternoon, still, they nodded, cleaned the kitchen as asked and went to the TV room, where they spent most of the afternoon.
Three hours had passed and eventually Roberta woke up and started to cry and as always, they expected to hear their mother's voice talking to the baby, however, when that doesn't happened, Beezus decided to check if everything was alright, just to come back two minutes later with Roberta in her arms and a horrible expression on her face.
"Ramona, don't leave this room and keep an eye on Roberta!" She said out of breath.
"But..." the 7-year old try to argue, but her sister give her a hard look
"Don't argue, just do as i say" she cried, locking her sisters in the room and running downstairs.
What seems like an eternity, Ramona and her baby sister, stayed at the TV room, trying to listen behind the door, what was happening downstairs, in vein.
Suddenly, Ramona heard what seemed like a sound of a siren and when approaching the window, she saw an ambulance parking in front of her house. Ramona gasped, as she always knew that ambulances weren't something good.
For the first time in her life, Ramona got frightened for real, she hugged her baby sister, as million thoughts, hushed her mind. Then, an hour later, Aunt Bea finally came, her face was red, but she hugged the girls anyway and said everything was going to be fine.
"Aunt Bea, what happened?" Ramona asked and in response, the aunt took Roberta in her arms, grabbed Ramona's hand and take them downstairs.
Daddy was there already too, but his presence didn't easy Ramona's fears, instead, it just makes her more worried. He was sitting on the couch, holding his older daughter Beatrice in his arms, as she sobbed loudly.
''Daddy?'' the young one half whispered, still uncertain of what to do and confuse why they were crying. And wait? It wasn't Mommy supposed to be sleeping?
Seeing his younger daughter there, Mr. Quimby reached out to her, involving Ramona and her sister in a tight embrace.
_/_
The bald doctor said it was probably an aneurism, so she didn´t feel pain other than the headache, she just laid down to sleep and never woke up again. He also said it was probably connected with the struggle during Roberta´s birth.
Robert didn't cried, at least in front of his daughters, instead, he put up a sad smile and say everything was okay, they have each other to lean on and they will help each other.
For the days that followed, Robert tried to act normal to his daughters, working up at night to feed and change Roberta, making breakfast to the girls and comforting Beezus, who sometimes had gotten plagued by the nightmares of finding her mother dead all over again.
In the meantime, Aunt Bea and Robert´s mom, Grandma Ginny had practically moved to his house, helping with the girls and the house, basically showing Robert he wasn´t capable of taking care of three girls alone, till one day he told them to give him a chance, that he could take care of everything alone and they accepted, with the condition of going back from time to time to check on the girls.
_/_
At the school, things were a bit different to the girls, as they got back to classes, for more than one time, Beezus saw a few girls whispering behind her back, just stopping of course when Henry come to his friend´s aid and tell everyone to go away.
With Ramona things was more or less the same, the whole class was now looking at her differently, bur contrary to her sister, she doesn´t have anyone to help her, not even Howie, who despite of been her friend, was too shy to say something to defend her.
_/_
One night, a few months after their mother passing, the Quimby Sisters found their father really crying. He was sitting on his bed, crying as he thought the girls were already been sleeping. This way, they approached him in silence and hugged hum tight.
''I'm sorry my lovelies'' he said ''I woke you two up''
''it´s okay Daddy, don´t cry'' Ramona whispered back
''you´re the best Daddy ever you know, thanks for been our Daddy'' Beezus agreed
''Daddy? If you told us not to cry, why are you crying?''
''well pickle, sometimes we can´t hold all of our emotions inside, then we end up crying, there´s no shame on it'' he said ''but you two can be sure I'm crying now because I'm glad to have you three with me, you make my life very colorful'' he said, making them laugh a little. After all, despite of all tragedy, they still have each other to lean on and a guardian angel to protect them from above.
END.