Chapter 9: A Place Like Home
He walked further and further away from the light never once looking back. He knew if he had turned around for one last glace at the perfect life he left, he would be tempted to run back into his mother's arms without a doubt. The light soon became a spec in the darkness barely visible to the naked eye. He searched in the darkness to find his body. He wished there were neon signs or glowing billboards in the darkness giving him direction as to where his body was. At least this way, he could just follow the pointing arrows and pop right back into his feeble body. But it wouldn't be life if it were that easy. He wondered if he was going the right way. He was sure he took a wrong turn somewhere - until he felt someone take his hand.
Upon the touch of that very hand, the black curtain was lifted and the darkness vanished. Ephram's eyes opened halfway. He couldn't tell where he was at first because his blurred vision prevented him from seeing too well. He then sucked in a strong breath to get the lungs going causing his chest cavity to heave. The sudden pinch in his chest made him wince and grunt in pain. He swallowed the dryness in his throat a few times. He opened his eyes again and this time, his vision cleared. He saw the person who took his hand and led him out of the darkness.
It was Delia. She perched on a stool next to his bed looking quizzically at him. She was still wearing her favorite New York Yankees baseball cap, which had always been too big for her head. Her eyes grew larger and her lips formed a neat little "O" as she watched him come back to life. Ephram gave Delia's small hand a light squeeze. Suddenly, Delia sprung into a blissful frenzy.
"DAD!! DAD!!!" She called screamed. "DADDY!!!! Wake up!! Dad!" She jumped off the stool and ran to their sleeping father who was slouched in an uncomfortable position on a leather chair against the wall. Delia shook her father until he was awake. "Daddy, it's Ephram. He's. He's." Delia panted in excitement.
"What? Is something wrong with Ephram?" Andy interrupted nervously as he scrambled to Ephram's bed. He checked the machinery for Ephram's vital stats quickly before looking at his son.
"Ephram? Oh my God! You're awake!!" Andy exclaimed and tears of joy came to his eyes as he saw Ephram blinking curiously at him.
"That's what I was going to say." Delia said.
Andy touched Ephram's cheek with his big calloused hands as Ephram quietly looked on and gave his father a weak smile.
"His fever's breaking. Oh thank God." He announced relieved. "You scared the living daylights out of me, Eph. I'm never going to forgive you for this. I'm sentencing you to kitchen duty for a whole year as punishment." He joked with a smile.
"Dad." Ephram murmured. "Dad." He said again. "Dad, I love you."
Andy was a bit shocked to actually hear those first words come out of his son, but nonetheless, it was music to his ears.
"Ah so I see you're trying to butter your way out of pots and pans again. Well, I'll have you know," He paused. "That it's working. So I'll cut your kitchen duty sentence to just half a year." He kidded catching a smile on Ephram's dry and chapped lips.
"I love you Delia." He gasped turning to his sister.
"I know and I love you too." Delia smiled. "You've been out for a long time."
It was nerve-racking for Andy and Delia each time Ephram took a deep breath. They watched his chest raise and drop with such irregular patterns that it appeared Ephram was going to explode into a million pieces. Oxygen flowed thru Ephram's nose as he inhaled. He licked his bluish desiccated lips.
"I'll bet you're thirsty. I'll get some cold water for you." Delia volunteered. After getting a nod from her father, she headed out the hospital room.
"Get some ice chips too." Andy called to Delia as she exited the room. Ephram tried to talk but only a groan passed his lips. "Shh, you don't have to talk." Andy advised.
"So hard to breathe." Ephram gasped.
"I know. You've been very sick." Andy soothed. "You should rest."
Ephram cleared his throat. "What was the matter with me?"
"Do you remember what happened?" Andy asked.
"Woke up at the crack of dawn for a car trip to Boulder for the week. We were a few miles away from Denver when I had an asthma attack." Ephram recalled. "Turned the car inside out looking for my inhaler but didn't find it because I forgot it at home. I couldn't breathe, then can't remember the rest."
"The asthma attack was so bad you passed out." Andy's eyes watered. "Ephram, you don't know how scared I was. I thought you were going to awake, only you didn't. I had no idea what was wrong with you. I panicked and drove like a madman to get you to the hospital."
"I was hospitalized for a bad case of asthma?" Ephram said. "That's a first."
"It started off as a severe asthma attack. And you would've recovered too then your immune system practically shut down. You were prone to viral infection and that's when your asthma led to a flu, which then turned into pneumonia." Andy explained.
"How long has it been?" Ephram groaned.
"Almost three weeks." Andy replied. "Today's Friday." Ephram thought for sure he had been gone longer than that, but time was different in his mother's world.
Andy turned to Ephram with pain in his eyes and said, "I'm sorry for all this. I knew you had a very weak immune system to start with. I don't know what I was thinking. It's my fault. I should've been more careful with remembering your inhaler and looking out for you."
"Not your fault. It's my responsibility to remember packing the most important thing I needed and I forgot. I guess this was the consequence and I deserved it."
"Don't ever say such a thing. I can't have you saying things like that. You almost died!" Andy rubbed his tired eyes. "Even if you forgot the inhaler, I should've been the one to remind you. I'm the father, remember?"
'No big deal." Ephram croaked. It wasn't like he was completely dead the whole time.
"Ephram, you were running a fever of 105! We had to dunk you in ice water to try and get the fever down. I thought the fever was going to fry your brain. You were delirious for days. The nurses tried to feed you and when that didn't work, I tried, and even Delia tried but no one could get you to eat anything no matter what we feed you. Bread, peas, crackers, soup, even baby food - the only thing you managed to eat was applesauce and your stomach was so weak, you ended vomiting that up anyway. You couldn't even hold down water. We had to put you back on the IV. Your coughing was so horrendous and fierce that I thought you were going to cough up a lung. And because your immune system slowed down, your body was pumped so full of medication that it left you drugged up so badly. You were suffering so awful, tears streamed out the corners of your closed eyes. Seeing you cry like that was a knife thru my heart. And did you know how horrible it was to watch them squeeze air into your lungs when you stopped breathing? I was sure I lost you there. You don't remember any of it because you were unconscious most of the time." Andy lectured. "You don't realize how sick you were. So don't treat it like it was nothing."
"Sorry." Ephram mumbled. He saw how his bodily feelings were able to transfer between worlds. It was ultimately fascinating.
"S'ok buddy." Andy sighed. "I love you Ephram. And I worry about you. I don't know what I would do if I lost you." Andy ruffled Ephram's hair playfully. He couldn't stay angry with his son for too long. Not after what happened. Ephram knew too much. He knew exactly what would happen if Andy lost him. That was the scary part.
Delia had returned with the water and ice chips. Andy and Delia took turns feeding Ephram ice chips.
"Dad." Ephram munched on the ice. "I saw mom." He continued with hesitation. Andy and Delia looked at each other. He summarized the story of his near death experience where his soul was transported to a peaceful lifestyle with his mother in New York. The only thing he omitted was the last conversation he had with his mother. He kept that to himself.
"That was some dream you had." Andy said finally.
"Oh but it wasn't a dream. I was really there." Ephram defended.
"Sure. If you say so." Andy patted his son's hand.
"Mom's like The Phoenix." Ephram said sensing doubt in his father.
"A what?" Cried Delia in amazement. She was apparently the only one who believed every word Ephram said.
"Jean Grey and The Phoenix - in X-Men. Mom may be dead, but she's around. She's taken a different form but she's definitely around us."
Delia absorbed everything her brother told them. Andy, on the other hand, was a bit skeptical. He's not one to believe in this "New Age" stuff. The last thing he wanted was to let tarot cards decide his fate and horoscopes rule his way of life. He was a man of science. The only force he believed in was molecular force. Science held the answers to questions. He believed there was a plausible scientific explanation for everything.
"Mom misses you a lot." Ephram told Delia. "She remembers the lopsided painted wooden napkin holder you made for her in daycare. She wanted to tell you it was her favorite gift she had ever received."
"Really?! I still have that thing." Delia said in awe as Andy watched his daughter all excited with raised eyebrows.
"I sense a nonbeliever in the room." Ephram said in a monotone to no one in particular.
"No. Well, it's not that I don't believe you. I just find it far fetched that you're pulling a Wizard-Of-Oz thing on us." Andy retorted.
"Daddy! That is so mean!!" Delia pouted with her hands on her hips.
"It's ok Del. I don't hold it against him." Ephram sipped some water with the straw in the cup. "He thinks the fever made me lose my marbles. But I haven't. It's all still up there. I'm not crazy."
"I didn't say that." Andy found Ephram to be quite a tease. "I mean, if you say you struck a conversation up with the tin man, then hey, I believe you."
"You're going to regret what you just said when I tell you the message mom had for you."
"And what's that?" Andy amused.
"She said to tell you - Buster's paws are still blue. Do you know what she meant by that?" Ephram recited.
"What did you say?" Andy grew serious suddenly with tension in his eyes.
"Buster's paws are still blue." Ephram repeated.
"Well I'll be damned. That's what I thought you said. But how? You couldn't have known anything about that. It was something that happened way before your time." Andy wondered out loud.
"She wouldn't tell me what it meant. She says you know what she was talking about." Ephram breathed. "Would you care to fill us in on the big mystery?"
"Buster was Mrs. Ramsey's old chocolate Labrador who lived in the apartment next to mine back when I was dating your mother. Mrs. Ramsey was an older woman who needed help occasionally with things like changing a light bulb or opening a tightly sealed jar. I always thought those were just excuses to talk to someone. She lived by herself and was lonely. I used to help her whenever I could. And every time I went over, that dog would never leave her side. Never. When she walked to the cabinet, Buster would be right at her heels. When she sat in the recliner, Buster stood right by her. It was the funniest sight I'd ever seen." Andy laughed. "Then one time, Mrs. Ramsey hired me to paint her kitchen. I figured I could use the extra cash so I accepted the job. Your mother came to help. Two painters finished the job faster than one and besides, I promised your mother I was going to take her out to dinner that night. Mrs. Ramsey picked a shade of slate blue - back then it was a cool color, ok? So, we spread newspapers around the floor and begun our painting. Everything was fine until Buster came around." Andy paused. He saw Ephram flinch in pain as he drew a breath.
"Go on. The old lungs aren't what they used to be."
"Well, Buster left Mrs. Ramsey's side and ventured into the kitchen. He watched us paint for a while then when we least expect it, he came closer and sank its front paws right into the paint can. We tried to grab Buster but we startled him so much that he ran all over the apartment barking and tracking paint everywhere. Eventually we found Buster. He was in the living room hiding behind Mrs. Ramsey shaking like he saw Satan himself. It was a sight I tell you. Mrs. Ramsey stood in her pink cotton nightgown covered with blue paw prints. Her hair was ruined and she had blue smears of paint on her arms and face. Apparently, Buster was so frightened that he tried to jump into Mrs. Ramsey's arms. We thought she was going to fire us for the mess we created but instead she just burst out laughing. That day, she paid us doubled. She said she never had such a good laugh in the longest time. We were never able to get that paint off Buster's paws." Andy recalled. "About a year or two later, Buster passed away from old age."
"That was such a cool story!" Delia wowed.
"That's it?" Ephram sounded disappointed. He was expecting a spectacular story but all he got was a story about a dog and paint.
"Yep. That's the whole story." Andy nodded. Actually, there was a lot more to it than that. But he decided it would be inappropriate to tell his son the whole truth. It was the day's events of painting and Buster that brought Andy and Julia together not only for the painting of the kitchen but also together in heart and body. Andy remembered it well. That night was the first time he and Julia had slept together. Andy never believed in near death experiences. And there was positively no way Ephram could've know about Buster since it was never an object of discussion. This might just be the thing to change his mind.
"OK Ephram, I think it's time for you to get some rest." Andy said.
"I'm not tired." Ephram defied.
"Are you kidding? You look like you're about to pass out. You've had too much excitement for one day. You'll need your energy. Now, rest. And that's not an option." Andy ordered.
There were many things Ephram knew about his father thru the enlightenment of his mother. Many qualities that his father possessed that made him the way he was. Ephram didn't give his father nearly enough credit. Truth was, he loved his father and there was nothing in the world that could change that. There was nothing his father had to say, Ephram saw it all in his father's eyes and at that moment, he understood everything his mother had been trying to tell him. It was all true. His father may not know the history of Jean Grey is but he didn't have to know because all that mattered was that he cared. Ephram made a mental note to remember to thank his mother later for showing him this truth thru his blindness.
"Take my hand?" Ephram extended his hands slowly to Andy and Delia, who both took it gladly. Delia cradled Ephram's left hand in both of her tiny hands. She leaned over and gave her brother a gentle loving peck on the cheek.
"Get well." She said wrapping her arms around Ephram's neck giving him a hug. "So we can throw around the old baseball soon."
"Easy Delia." Andy motioned for Delia to cool the roughness with Ephram since he was still weak.
"Don't worry dad. It's not like I'm going to crumble into a pillar of salt if you should touch me." Ephram yawned.
Andy beard tickled Ephram as he reached over and gave his son a kiss on the forehead. And with that, Ephram smiled. "You'll be hungry when you wake. Maybe soup or something?" Andy asked tucking him in.
"Somehow, I'm in the mood for fresh steamed sea bass." Ephram replied drowsily. Andy and gave Delia a puzzled look. They glanced back at Ephram to ask him why the peculiar request. A tiny smile had crept on the corner of his lips as they found him fast asleep.
~ End ~
Footnote: "The Sixth Sense" and "Wizard Of Oz" inspired me to write this story. The subconscious mind and subjects related to it have always been fascinating and intriguing. Hope you found this story interesting with the spin I decided to give the ending.
He walked further and further away from the light never once looking back. He knew if he had turned around for one last glace at the perfect life he left, he would be tempted to run back into his mother's arms without a doubt. The light soon became a spec in the darkness barely visible to the naked eye. He searched in the darkness to find his body. He wished there were neon signs or glowing billboards in the darkness giving him direction as to where his body was. At least this way, he could just follow the pointing arrows and pop right back into his feeble body. But it wouldn't be life if it were that easy. He wondered if he was going the right way. He was sure he took a wrong turn somewhere - until he felt someone take his hand.
Upon the touch of that very hand, the black curtain was lifted and the darkness vanished. Ephram's eyes opened halfway. He couldn't tell where he was at first because his blurred vision prevented him from seeing too well. He then sucked in a strong breath to get the lungs going causing his chest cavity to heave. The sudden pinch in his chest made him wince and grunt in pain. He swallowed the dryness in his throat a few times. He opened his eyes again and this time, his vision cleared. He saw the person who took his hand and led him out of the darkness.
It was Delia. She perched on a stool next to his bed looking quizzically at him. She was still wearing her favorite New York Yankees baseball cap, which had always been too big for her head. Her eyes grew larger and her lips formed a neat little "O" as she watched him come back to life. Ephram gave Delia's small hand a light squeeze. Suddenly, Delia sprung into a blissful frenzy.
"DAD!! DAD!!!" She called screamed. "DADDY!!!! Wake up!! Dad!" She jumped off the stool and ran to their sleeping father who was slouched in an uncomfortable position on a leather chair against the wall. Delia shook her father until he was awake. "Daddy, it's Ephram. He's. He's." Delia panted in excitement.
"What? Is something wrong with Ephram?" Andy interrupted nervously as he scrambled to Ephram's bed. He checked the machinery for Ephram's vital stats quickly before looking at his son.
"Ephram? Oh my God! You're awake!!" Andy exclaimed and tears of joy came to his eyes as he saw Ephram blinking curiously at him.
"That's what I was going to say." Delia said.
Andy touched Ephram's cheek with his big calloused hands as Ephram quietly looked on and gave his father a weak smile.
"His fever's breaking. Oh thank God." He announced relieved. "You scared the living daylights out of me, Eph. I'm never going to forgive you for this. I'm sentencing you to kitchen duty for a whole year as punishment." He joked with a smile.
"Dad." Ephram murmured. "Dad." He said again. "Dad, I love you."
Andy was a bit shocked to actually hear those first words come out of his son, but nonetheless, it was music to his ears.
"Ah so I see you're trying to butter your way out of pots and pans again. Well, I'll have you know," He paused. "That it's working. So I'll cut your kitchen duty sentence to just half a year." He kidded catching a smile on Ephram's dry and chapped lips.
"I love you Delia." He gasped turning to his sister.
"I know and I love you too." Delia smiled. "You've been out for a long time."
It was nerve-racking for Andy and Delia each time Ephram took a deep breath. They watched his chest raise and drop with such irregular patterns that it appeared Ephram was going to explode into a million pieces. Oxygen flowed thru Ephram's nose as he inhaled. He licked his bluish desiccated lips.
"I'll bet you're thirsty. I'll get some cold water for you." Delia volunteered. After getting a nod from her father, she headed out the hospital room.
"Get some ice chips too." Andy called to Delia as she exited the room. Ephram tried to talk but only a groan passed his lips. "Shh, you don't have to talk." Andy advised.
"So hard to breathe." Ephram gasped.
"I know. You've been very sick." Andy soothed. "You should rest."
Ephram cleared his throat. "What was the matter with me?"
"Do you remember what happened?" Andy asked.
"Woke up at the crack of dawn for a car trip to Boulder for the week. We were a few miles away from Denver when I had an asthma attack." Ephram recalled. "Turned the car inside out looking for my inhaler but didn't find it because I forgot it at home. I couldn't breathe, then can't remember the rest."
"The asthma attack was so bad you passed out." Andy's eyes watered. "Ephram, you don't know how scared I was. I thought you were going to awake, only you didn't. I had no idea what was wrong with you. I panicked and drove like a madman to get you to the hospital."
"I was hospitalized for a bad case of asthma?" Ephram said. "That's a first."
"It started off as a severe asthma attack. And you would've recovered too then your immune system practically shut down. You were prone to viral infection and that's when your asthma led to a flu, which then turned into pneumonia." Andy explained.
"How long has it been?" Ephram groaned.
"Almost three weeks." Andy replied. "Today's Friday." Ephram thought for sure he had been gone longer than that, but time was different in his mother's world.
Andy turned to Ephram with pain in his eyes and said, "I'm sorry for all this. I knew you had a very weak immune system to start with. I don't know what I was thinking. It's my fault. I should've been more careful with remembering your inhaler and looking out for you."
"Not your fault. It's my responsibility to remember packing the most important thing I needed and I forgot. I guess this was the consequence and I deserved it."
"Don't ever say such a thing. I can't have you saying things like that. You almost died!" Andy rubbed his tired eyes. "Even if you forgot the inhaler, I should've been the one to remind you. I'm the father, remember?"
'No big deal." Ephram croaked. It wasn't like he was completely dead the whole time.
"Ephram, you were running a fever of 105! We had to dunk you in ice water to try and get the fever down. I thought the fever was going to fry your brain. You were delirious for days. The nurses tried to feed you and when that didn't work, I tried, and even Delia tried but no one could get you to eat anything no matter what we feed you. Bread, peas, crackers, soup, even baby food - the only thing you managed to eat was applesauce and your stomach was so weak, you ended vomiting that up anyway. You couldn't even hold down water. We had to put you back on the IV. Your coughing was so horrendous and fierce that I thought you were going to cough up a lung. And because your immune system slowed down, your body was pumped so full of medication that it left you drugged up so badly. You were suffering so awful, tears streamed out the corners of your closed eyes. Seeing you cry like that was a knife thru my heart. And did you know how horrible it was to watch them squeeze air into your lungs when you stopped breathing? I was sure I lost you there. You don't remember any of it because you were unconscious most of the time." Andy lectured. "You don't realize how sick you were. So don't treat it like it was nothing."
"Sorry." Ephram mumbled. He saw how his bodily feelings were able to transfer between worlds. It was ultimately fascinating.
"S'ok buddy." Andy sighed. "I love you Ephram. And I worry about you. I don't know what I would do if I lost you." Andy ruffled Ephram's hair playfully. He couldn't stay angry with his son for too long. Not after what happened. Ephram knew too much. He knew exactly what would happen if Andy lost him. That was the scary part.
Delia had returned with the water and ice chips. Andy and Delia took turns feeding Ephram ice chips.
"Dad." Ephram munched on the ice. "I saw mom." He continued with hesitation. Andy and Delia looked at each other. He summarized the story of his near death experience where his soul was transported to a peaceful lifestyle with his mother in New York. The only thing he omitted was the last conversation he had with his mother. He kept that to himself.
"That was some dream you had." Andy said finally.
"Oh but it wasn't a dream. I was really there." Ephram defended.
"Sure. If you say so." Andy patted his son's hand.
"Mom's like The Phoenix." Ephram said sensing doubt in his father.
"A what?" Cried Delia in amazement. She was apparently the only one who believed every word Ephram said.
"Jean Grey and The Phoenix - in X-Men. Mom may be dead, but she's around. She's taken a different form but she's definitely around us."
Delia absorbed everything her brother told them. Andy, on the other hand, was a bit skeptical. He's not one to believe in this "New Age" stuff. The last thing he wanted was to let tarot cards decide his fate and horoscopes rule his way of life. He was a man of science. The only force he believed in was molecular force. Science held the answers to questions. He believed there was a plausible scientific explanation for everything.
"Mom misses you a lot." Ephram told Delia. "She remembers the lopsided painted wooden napkin holder you made for her in daycare. She wanted to tell you it was her favorite gift she had ever received."
"Really?! I still have that thing." Delia said in awe as Andy watched his daughter all excited with raised eyebrows.
"I sense a nonbeliever in the room." Ephram said in a monotone to no one in particular.
"No. Well, it's not that I don't believe you. I just find it far fetched that you're pulling a Wizard-Of-Oz thing on us." Andy retorted.
"Daddy! That is so mean!!" Delia pouted with her hands on her hips.
"It's ok Del. I don't hold it against him." Ephram sipped some water with the straw in the cup. "He thinks the fever made me lose my marbles. But I haven't. It's all still up there. I'm not crazy."
"I didn't say that." Andy found Ephram to be quite a tease. "I mean, if you say you struck a conversation up with the tin man, then hey, I believe you."
"You're going to regret what you just said when I tell you the message mom had for you."
"And what's that?" Andy amused.
"She said to tell you - Buster's paws are still blue. Do you know what she meant by that?" Ephram recited.
"What did you say?" Andy grew serious suddenly with tension in his eyes.
"Buster's paws are still blue." Ephram repeated.
"Well I'll be damned. That's what I thought you said. But how? You couldn't have known anything about that. It was something that happened way before your time." Andy wondered out loud.
"She wouldn't tell me what it meant. She says you know what she was talking about." Ephram breathed. "Would you care to fill us in on the big mystery?"
"Buster was Mrs. Ramsey's old chocolate Labrador who lived in the apartment next to mine back when I was dating your mother. Mrs. Ramsey was an older woman who needed help occasionally with things like changing a light bulb or opening a tightly sealed jar. I always thought those were just excuses to talk to someone. She lived by herself and was lonely. I used to help her whenever I could. And every time I went over, that dog would never leave her side. Never. When she walked to the cabinet, Buster would be right at her heels. When she sat in the recliner, Buster stood right by her. It was the funniest sight I'd ever seen." Andy laughed. "Then one time, Mrs. Ramsey hired me to paint her kitchen. I figured I could use the extra cash so I accepted the job. Your mother came to help. Two painters finished the job faster than one and besides, I promised your mother I was going to take her out to dinner that night. Mrs. Ramsey picked a shade of slate blue - back then it was a cool color, ok? So, we spread newspapers around the floor and begun our painting. Everything was fine until Buster came around." Andy paused. He saw Ephram flinch in pain as he drew a breath.
"Go on. The old lungs aren't what they used to be."
"Well, Buster left Mrs. Ramsey's side and ventured into the kitchen. He watched us paint for a while then when we least expect it, he came closer and sank its front paws right into the paint can. We tried to grab Buster but we startled him so much that he ran all over the apartment barking and tracking paint everywhere. Eventually we found Buster. He was in the living room hiding behind Mrs. Ramsey shaking like he saw Satan himself. It was a sight I tell you. Mrs. Ramsey stood in her pink cotton nightgown covered with blue paw prints. Her hair was ruined and she had blue smears of paint on her arms and face. Apparently, Buster was so frightened that he tried to jump into Mrs. Ramsey's arms. We thought she was going to fire us for the mess we created but instead she just burst out laughing. That day, she paid us doubled. She said she never had such a good laugh in the longest time. We were never able to get that paint off Buster's paws." Andy recalled. "About a year or two later, Buster passed away from old age."
"That was such a cool story!" Delia wowed.
"That's it?" Ephram sounded disappointed. He was expecting a spectacular story but all he got was a story about a dog and paint.
"Yep. That's the whole story." Andy nodded. Actually, there was a lot more to it than that. But he decided it would be inappropriate to tell his son the whole truth. It was the day's events of painting and Buster that brought Andy and Julia together not only for the painting of the kitchen but also together in heart and body. Andy remembered it well. That night was the first time he and Julia had slept together. Andy never believed in near death experiences. And there was positively no way Ephram could've know about Buster since it was never an object of discussion. This might just be the thing to change his mind.
"OK Ephram, I think it's time for you to get some rest." Andy said.
"I'm not tired." Ephram defied.
"Are you kidding? You look like you're about to pass out. You've had too much excitement for one day. You'll need your energy. Now, rest. And that's not an option." Andy ordered.
There were many things Ephram knew about his father thru the enlightenment of his mother. Many qualities that his father possessed that made him the way he was. Ephram didn't give his father nearly enough credit. Truth was, he loved his father and there was nothing in the world that could change that. There was nothing his father had to say, Ephram saw it all in his father's eyes and at that moment, he understood everything his mother had been trying to tell him. It was all true. His father may not know the history of Jean Grey is but he didn't have to know because all that mattered was that he cared. Ephram made a mental note to remember to thank his mother later for showing him this truth thru his blindness.
"Take my hand?" Ephram extended his hands slowly to Andy and Delia, who both took it gladly. Delia cradled Ephram's left hand in both of her tiny hands. She leaned over and gave her brother a gentle loving peck on the cheek.
"Get well." She said wrapping her arms around Ephram's neck giving him a hug. "So we can throw around the old baseball soon."
"Easy Delia." Andy motioned for Delia to cool the roughness with Ephram since he was still weak.
"Don't worry dad. It's not like I'm going to crumble into a pillar of salt if you should touch me." Ephram yawned.
Andy beard tickled Ephram as he reached over and gave his son a kiss on the forehead. And with that, Ephram smiled. "You'll be hungry when you wake. Maybe soup or something?" Andy asked tucking him in.
"Somehow, I'm in the mood for fresh steamed sea bass." Ephram replied drowsily. Andy and gave Delia a puzzled look. They glanced back at Ephram to ask him why the peculiar request. A tiny smile had crept on the corner of his lips as they found him fast asleep.
~ End ~
Footnote: "The Sixth Sense" and "Wizard Of Oz" inspired me to write this story. The subconscious mind and subjects related to it have always been fascinating and intriguing. Hope you found this story interesting with the spin I decided to give the ending.