Family
As Mary Ann's eyelids fluttered open, she saw her oldest daughter, Dawn, sipping tea while writing on an ever-present pad of paper. Something she always seemed to be doing since she first learned to write her ABCs. Dawn favored her petite dark-haired mother but had her father's blue eyes.
"Good morning. I hope you haven't been sitting here all night."
Dawn smiled as she set her pad and pencil down. She came over to the bed and gave her mother a kiss and hug. "Morning Mama. How are you feeling today?"
Mary Ann smiled, "Oh I'm fine. I'm just so darn tired all the time."
"I'll get you some tea and maybe some breakfast?"
"Nothing big, just a small bowel of fruit."
As Dawn left the room Mary Ann picked up the picture that sat on her nightstand. She knew every detail of his face, from his slightly curly hair to the most beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen. After all their years together, his smile still made her weak at the knees. With tears in her eyes she whispered, "Good morning Roy. I think I miss you more each day. I hope you're not tired of waiting for me, because I have a feeling you won't have to wait much longer. I love you so much." She kissed her fingers then placed them lovingly on the picture. Mary Ann closed her eyes as she hugged the picture tight.
Dawn interred the kitchen and saw her brothers Russell and John siting at the island drinking coffee. As she passed them on the way to make a fresh pot of tea, she gave them each a hug. "Hi guys. Glad you could make it."
The youngest, Ann, was placing a cinnamon roll in front of both of her brothers. They immediately grabbed their fork and took a bite.
John closed his eyes to savory the flavor. "Mmmmm, Short Stack this is almost as good as Mom's. Melts in your mouth."
Ann reaches over and slapped his arm. "I am not short!"
Russell stood up and put his arm on Ann's shoulder, "Now John stop teasing Annie. Don't you remember when she called all excited from college because she finally made it over 5 foot."
Standing as tall as she could but still only reaching up to Russell's shoulder she firmly stated, "I'll have you know I am 1 1/2 inches over 5 foot."
Dawn shook her head as she looked at Russell and John, "All right you two, quit teasing Annie. You'd think you two would have outgrown that by now. Hurry up and eat so you can go let Mom know you're here."
Soberly Russell gave Ann a kiss on top of her head then sat down to finish his roll. "How is she?"
Dawn sighed and shrugged her shoulder, "Oh you know Mom, she never complains, but she did say that she was tired all the time."
The telephone started to ring and Ann went to answer it as Russell and John left the room.
Russell came into Mary Ann's room followed by John. "Who are you talking to mother?"
"Oh boys, I'm so happy to see you. You should have told me you were coming." Quickly wiping her tears away, Mary Ann beamed as they both bent down to kiss her. "I was just saying good morning to your father." With a sad smile she replaced the picture back where it had sat for almost 50 years. "Could you boys help me out to the deck? I need some fresh air and I want to see the ocean today. We can sit comfortable out there and have a nice chat."
While they walked with their mother out to the deck and settle her into a lounger, Ann finished talking on the telephone. As she replaced the receiver Dawn looked up from fixing the breakfast tray, "Was that Aunt Ginger?"
"Yes, I told her one of the boys would pick her up around eleven."
"I always love seeing Aunt Ginger but I wish it was under different circumstances."
Ann picked up the tea tray and headed out to the deck.
"Good morning Momma!" Ann almost sang as she walked onto the patio.
"Well good morning Annie. OK, someone tell me why I have all my children here."
Russell spoke up, "Mother you know we always try to come for dad and your anniversary."
With love shinning in her eyes, Mary Ann looked at each of her children. "Yes... yes you do and I love you all for it. All our precious babies. Your dad was so proud of you all. It would have been our 57st anniversary tomorrow. I miss him so much. It's just too darn quiet around here now. Oh, how he would get excited when he was working on a new experiment. He could talk for hours and I loved listening to him. I sometimes put on a video of one of his lectures just so I can hear his voice again." Mary Ann chuckled "All the Castaways didn't understand a word he said when he got that excited, well I didn't understand it all either but I loved listening to him. He was the smartest man I knew but so much more. He was so caring and thoughtful."
On their parent's anniversary for the last six years, they did the same thing. They came to visit their mother, sat around and told stories. It made their mother so happy to reminisce. Once in a while Mary Ann would surprise them with a new story that they hadn't heard before. They would laugh so hard when listening about the antics Gilligan would up to and the Skipper's superstitions.
It was hard to believe while on the island the glamorous movie star, Ginger Grant sat in a mud hole for a beauty a treatment and had to use berries for makeup. They wouldn't have believed it if Ginger hadn't told them the stories herself. Growing up the castaways were always a part of their lives. Mr. and Mrs. Howell were grandma and grandpa. Ginger was their aunt, Gilligan and Skipper were their uncles. It didn't matter that they were not blood relatives, they were family.
The stories about the castaways flowed but, in the end, Mary Ann ended like she always did with stories about the Professor. She started with everything he tried to do to get the castaways rescued then talked about all his inventions to make life easier. Mary Ann would get a dreamy look in her eyes when she remembered their parties and how she and their Professor would dance. "From the beginning we saved all our dances for each other. Your father always said, when you've found your perfect dance partner why experiment with someone else."
As time passed the clouds rolled in and it gently started to rain.
"It's raining, maybe you should go inside Mom." John suggested.
Mary Ann's lids were getting heavy, "No John, I'll just rest here for a little while. I'll be fine. I love the sound of the rain; it reminds me of our honeymoon. We stayed in a cave for almost a solid week because it rained so much."
Ann placed one of Mary Ann's Afghans on her mother before going inside with the rest.
As they all sat at the kitchen island again Dawn covered up a yawn.
Russell questioned, "Did you sit up with Mom all night?"
As tears gathering in her eyes, Dawn looked at each of her brothers and sister. "Yes. She was mumbling in her sleep quite a bit throughout the night. I think she was dreaming about when they were all on the island. First, she was talking to Grandma and Grandpa Howell, something about not needing a chaperon. I couldn't quite hear what she said to Uncle Skipper but she was laughing when she was catching butterflies with Uncle Gilligan. She seemed to be shocked at something Aunt Ginger said. Mom very clearly said "I couldn't" to Aunt Ginger. Finally, she said dad's name, just smiled and finally settled down to sleep more peacefully."
Smiling Russell commented, "I'd like to know what Aunt Ginger said." They all chuckled.
Ann sighed softly, "Gosh I miss them all."
John added, "Yeah. I remember my favorite summer was when I was 10 and I got to spend most of it working on Uncle Skipper's boat. Boy the stories he would tell about the Navy. He and Uncle Gilligan taught me so much about the ocean and boats. That's when I fell in love with the sea."
Russell chuckled, "I remember Grandpa Howell gave me my first brief case for my 9th birthday present... Don't laugh it was great, it even had my initials on it."
Dawn spoke next, "What I remember most is that mom or dad would read to us every night. I think that's why I love books so much. Each story would take me on a new adventure."
Ann wiped a tear from her cheek, "I miss dad so much. I remember he would let me watch some of his experiments and I loved all our discussions. I swear there wasn't a subject he couldn't logically talk about."
They were all quiet with their own thoughts until Dawn spoke. "Would one of you go pick up Aunt Ginger? She called earlier and she wants to see Mom today."
John jumped up, grabbed his keys and headed toward the door, "I'll go. I need something to do."
Russell followed, "I'll go with you."