Ashley arrived at the hospital at 10 AM to pick her brother up. He had been in the hospital for 3 days and was more than ready to go home. He had complained about the food, and the lack of comfort, and most importantly about the gown. He hated it. When Ashley walked in the room Walsh was sitting on the edge of his bed wearing his FDNY sweatshirt and a pair of FDNY sweatpants.
"I see you're ready to get out of here." Ashley says
"Yeah, hospitals aren't really my type of hangout." Walsh replies as he looks at his cast.
"You'll survive. It will be just like when you were a kid." Ashley says
"I was in junior high!" Walsh protested, "So I jumped off of Frank Shaunessy's roof."
"Yeah to impress a girl." Ashley laughed
"So?" Walsh argued
"You cried after you did it." Ashley still remembered her little brother running home that day.
"It hurt!" Walsh defended himself.
The doctor walked in and looked puzzled by the conversation.
"Sorry, we were just recalling my childhood." Walsh says, "What's the news?"
"Well you get to go home today, but you will be in the cast for 4-6 weeks. You will need to follow up with your doctor in about a week just to make sure everything is still going well. Here are your prescriptions, make sure you take them Mr. Walsh. And good luck." The doctor says
"Thanks." Walsh said as he stood up.
"Wheelchair Mr. Walsh." The nurse walks in with a wheel chair.
"I can walk." He says
"Hospital policy. So park it." She gets a stern look on her face
"Okay." He rolls his eyes as Ashley laughs.
He was defeated on this one. He knew it was no use to argue, so he rode to the car in a wheel chair. He hated to not be allowed to do things on his own.
The car was waiting out front. He got out of the wheelchair and moved himself into the passenger seat of Ashley's Honda Accord. She had come back when she had heard of her brother's accident. She found now to be the perfect time to tell him something very important.
"Billy." She begins
"Yeah?" He asks
"How would you like to be an uncle?" She smiles
It takes him a minute to put it all together. He hadn't totally paid attention to his sister. Then as if a light had been switched on in his head he perked up.
"Are you?" He asks
Ashley smiles as she replies, "Yes, we just found out last week."
Walsh lets his thoughts drift for a moment.
Billy sat in the middle of the living room floor playing with his fire truck. Ashley was in the chair reading a book. It was mid November. Next week they would go to their grandparent's house to eat Thanksgiving dinner. Their mother was upstairs in bed, for the past week she had been sick and thought that it was the flu. Ashley made sure that Billy finished his homework and ate dinner. She had stepped in to make sure that Billy did his chores too.
"Ashley?" He asks
"What Billy?" She replies
"What's wrong with mom?"
Ashley really didn't know the answer to this question so she answered it the best she knew how.
"She's sick Billy."
"But shouldn't she be better? She can't be sick forever right?"
"I don't know Billy. Why don't you go upstairs and take a bath?" Ashley suggests.
Billy put his truck on the coffee table and ran upstairs. His shoelaces were untied and his jeans were a little dirty, he had somehow found a puddle on his way to the bus stop and it showed on his pants.
Ashley walked into her mother's room with a cup of tea.
"Thought that this might help." Ashley suggests
"Thank you dear, but I don't think I can drink it." Her mother responds
It had been a miserable week for her she could barely keep food down and didn't have the energy to get out of bed. Her health was slowly failing in recent weeks. Ashley had grown up quickly and learned how to take care of her little brother.
Thanksgiving Day came around and Mrs. Walsh could not gather the strength to leave the house for dinner. Her brother-in-law came over to pick Ashley and Billy up to take them to dinner.
"May I have some more turkey please?" Billy asks at the table
"Billy you have grown up so much." His grandmother says as Ashley passes the turkey to him
Billy was simply interested in eating, not the conversation that went with dinner.
"And Ashley, I hear that you got straight A's again this semester." Grandma Walsh says
"Yes I did. I almost didn't make it through math class though." Ashley was always good at all of the subjects not involving word problems.
"You are becoming quiet the young lady." Grandma Walsh says
"Thank you." Ashley responds
When they returned home that evening Ashley immediately went to check on their mother. She let out a loud scream when she got to the top of the stairs.
"What's wrong?" Billy asked
"Billy, stay in the living room." Ashley ordered as she ran to the phone quickly to call 911.
"I need help, my mom is not breathing, she's laying on the floor." Ashley cries into the phone. "My address is 12215 St. Patrick Street."
The medics arrived and took their mother away. She would spend a few days in the hospital, but those days in the hospital would be the children's last memory of their mother. It was November 29, 1965 and Billy and Ashley were now without their parents. Their dad's sister and brother-in-law stepped in to raise them. They didn't have any children of their own, but they were willing to help make sure that they did right by these children.
"Billy?" Ashley asks as she pulls the car up in front of his apartment building.
Walsh snapped out of his trance.
"That's great news." He says
"Thank you." Ashley smiles at least now she knew that he had paid attention to the conversation.
They enter his apartment. He turns on the light.
"Well it looks like it did when I left it." He cracks
"Okay well, just remember that you are not invincible." Ashley reminds him
"Yeah, yeah sis! You worry too much." He grins
"Somebody's gotta worry about your sorry ass!" She laughs
Walsh chuckles with his sister, "Yeah I guess you're right about that."
"Okay, well if you think you're going to be alright then I'm going to head out." She says
"Thanks Ash." He smiles "I'll call you tomorrow."
"Alright, you take care then." Ashley says as she heads for the door.
He appreciated the fact that he could count on his sister to be there for him whenever he needed. And he was excited about becoming an uncle. He went to his fridge and pulled out a can of Dr. Pepper, grabbed a bag of chips and headed off to the couch. It just felt good for him to be home.
"This is so much better." He says to himself as he turns on the television.