"How's the hand, today?...Feeling a little bit more?" George Jr. asked. He was helping Melania with therapy for her hand. She had some feeling back, but they were working on getting the whole use, or close to it, of her hand back. "Can you feel that?"
"A little, George…."
"Try making a fist….That's it." He smiled. She was making some progress. Melania was getting the use of her hand back, bit by bit.
"Thanks George….I think that's enough for now." Melania said, rubbing her palm.
"Still painful?"
"Yes…"
"I'll get you your morphine dose then…" He said, going off to get a packet and fixed up the right amount for her, dissolving it into a glass of water. "Here you go…" George Jr. said, giving her the glass.
"Thanks George…." She said, started drinking it down.
"I still don't know how you can take that….."
"I don't know….I just do. I need to." She said, finishing the last of it. "It's as simple as that…."
"Helps with the pain, I'm sure…." George Jr. said quietly.
"Yep….that's what it's for…" She smiled.
Frances was outside by the little rock wall in the backyard one nice May afternoon. She was sitting on a blanket in the grass, with 2 week old Helen in her arms. Freddy was out walking around the yard, stopping to smell every little purplish-blue violet, as they were in bloom. He picked a few of them and ran over to his mother.
Little Freddy beamed up at her and held up the tiny flowers. "Fo yoo…." He said. Freddy was being a lot more talkative now.
"For me?" Frances smiled. "Thank you, sweetheart! I'll wear them in my hair, all right?...Oh, they're so pretty! Thank you, Freddy…." She praised her 17 month old son a little, and took them from him, and stuck them in her bun. One little flower fell to the ground and Freddy quickly picked it up again.
"Freddy hep yoo!" He said, and put the pretty little violet back into her hair.
"Well, thank you for helping Mama, sweetheart." She chuckled at him a little and smiled. Freddy beamed back at her.
"Can Mama have a kiss, please?" Frances asked. Freddy nodded and got closer to her and gave her a little kiss on her lips. He looked over and saw Fred walking up the sidewalk.
"Papa!" Freddy squeaked and ran up to him. "Papa!...Papa!"
"Hey Fritz!" Fred chuckled and scooped him up in his arms. "Hey, do you know what today is?" He whispered in his ear. Freddy shook his head no. "Today's Mother's Day…..how about we do something nice for Mama….."
"What are you whispering over there about?" Frances laughed.
"Oh nothing, honey." Fred grinned and walked over to his wife, who had stood up.
"That grin tells me otherwise…" She laughed and then kissed him on the lips. "I'm going to take the baby inside for a while. I don't want her getting too much sun….."
"Seems like a good idea…." Fred smiled. "I'll let you go do that." He saw his wife, with their baby in her arms; walk down the grassy slope and onto the little sidewalk, up the summer kitchen steps and walked back into the little house.
"How 'bout we pick Mama some flowers?"
"I pick!" Freddy said excitedly.
"Well, c'mon buddy!" Fred said and whisked him up the little hill to the woods where the white lilac bush was.
"No!" Freddy whined. "No no!...I pick fowers!" He wiggled around in his grasp.
"Yeah buddy, that's what we're doin'!" Fred smiled at his son. "We're picking lilacs for Mama…."
"I pick!...I pick fowers for Mama 'fore!" Little Freddy said, though some of it at first sounded like gibberish to Fred.
"Oh….you picked some for her yourself….Good boy! Let's pick her some more flowers…."
"No! I pick fowers!"
"Freddy, you don't say no to me…." Fred warned. They got up to where the white lilac bush was and Fred got out his little knife. He saw that a log had crushed the white lilac bush…..
"Freddy, look here…."
"Twee…." He said quietly and pointed at the lilac bush.
"No, it's not a tree, bud….It's a bush, but a tree fell on it….do you see that?" He whispered, placing a hand on his son's little shoulder and pointing at the fallen log.
"It got huwted…."
Fred had to laugh a little. "It's not hurt, Freddy…..Trees don't feel anything. They're not like people…." He started cutting off a few of the lilacs. "I think we can save a few, huh Freddy…."
"I pick….." Freddy said quietly.
"I'll let you hold them…." He said, giving a few white lilacs to the 17 month old.
"No…I pick 'fore!" Freddy said, throwing the lilacs down on the ground. He was getting frustrated!
"I realize that, bud…" Fred started to say, and turned his head and saw the white flowers on the ground. "Freddy….pick those up for Papa." Freddy just stood there.
"Pick those up, son….or you know what comes next."
Freddy stood there a second, but then bent down and picked up the lilacs.
"Good listening….." Fred said. "Now, c'mon, let's pick some of those dark purple ones and we can take them inside and give them to Mama…." He said, trudging down the little slope and down the little sidewalk to the other lilac bush, and helped little Freddy cut a few of them. "Now to make 'em even prettier." Fred said, and pulled out a little white ribbon out of his back pocket and tied the lilacs with it. He gave them to Freddy and they walked to the house and sneaked in. They were as quiet as two little church mice and saw that Frances was baking bread. Fred put his hands on her waist.
"Dear God in Heaven!" Frances yelled as she was startled. She spinned herself around and saw her husband. "Fred, you scared the living daylights out of me! I didn't hear a 'Yoooo hooo'! That always throws me off!" Frances was saying franticly and then Fred leaned in and kissed her lips. "Yoo hoo…" He said in a low voice and raised his eyebrows.
Frances smiled and seemed to melt in his embrace. "Fred John, I can't believe you sometimes…." She smiled.
"Our son has a gift for you…." Fred smiled. Little Freddy held up the bouquet of white and purple lilacs.
"Oh, more flowers for me?" Frances smiled, and took them from her little boy. "Thank you, Freddy…." She said as Freddy hugged her legs and held onto her brown skirt. Frances smoothed his little head of reddish-brown hair much like her own. He had cute little curls at the nape of his little neck. "From my lilac bushes….." Frances laughed, looking at her husband.
Fred chuckled. "That's what they're there for! To enjoy….and who better than the wonderful, beautiful woman who grew them?" He smiled. "Saved a few of the white ones….Tree fell on the bush….probably from all the bad thunderstorms we've had…."
"The bush is all right, isn't it?" She asked, going to the back door and looking up by the woods.
"It'll be fine….." Fred replied, coming up behind her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "By the looks of it, it'll spread out and keep on growing."
"Good….I love those lilacs….but I think I may like my purple ones a little more." Frances grinned. "Oh, but them together, they're just beautiful!...And they smell so wonderful!" She said, burying her nose in them and breathing in their scent. "Thank you so much! I'm going to go put them in some water." Frances went outside to get a bucket of water from the well and came back, grabbing a vase, she put the white and purple lilacs in it and set it on the kitchen table. "My two men….." Frances smiled, picking little Freddy up in her arms. "Thank you again…..I love you both." She said and gave Freddy a kiss on the cheek and gave her husband a tender kiss on the lips.
"There's more to your present…." Fred grinned.
"What?" She smiled widely. Frances set Freddy down and he ran off into the front room to play.
"Hold on!...Hold on…." He smiled and walked out of the kitchen and came back with the rest of her Mother's Day present.
"Happy Mother's Day…." He whispered and gazed into her eyes. "I love you." Fred whispered and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"I love you too." Frances smiled and caressed his cheek and gave him a quick little peck on the tip of his nose and giggled. In her hand was a little box.
"Aren't you going to open your present….or are you going to keep being so silly?" He laughed.
"Sometimes it's good to be silly…" She laughed. And then she started to open the box.
Frances saw what her husband had given her and a smile crept across her face and she looked up at him. "My favorite bar soap!…..Yardley's English Lavender." She smiled at her husband as he put her arms around her. "Thank you, honey…..It's wonderful."
"You're not the only one who likes it….." Fred grinned and raised his eyebrows. "It's a set; I got the perfume too…."
"I like my soap just fine, thank you…." Frances smiled. "You wear it…." She laughed.
"Me? Wear perfume?" Fred chuckled.
"Use it as cologne…." She smiled and patted his cheek.
"I might just do that." He laughed, which made Frances laugh too.
"Who's the silly one now?" She chuckled.
"Got me on that one!" Fred laughed, pulling her into a closer embrace.
George Jr. awoke early one morning so he could use the outhouse, and on his way back and into bed, he heard Melania screaming! He rushed into the next room to see just what was wrong with her. She lay there on her bed screaming an almost ear shattering, blood curdling scream…
"Lana…what's wrong?"
"My legs! My legs, George…..They ache!" She screamed.
"Want to me to take you to Doc Clark's?" He said quickly.
"No George….st-stay here with me…." Her breathing had sped up. "I need you now!"
"Wha?" He began. "I don't understand….."
"George, I need you…please!" She screamed, tears coming from her bright blue eyes from the pain. "I was getting addicted to the morphine….so a few days ago…I….I stopped taking it…I'm going through withdrawal!...George, I need you…..I'm….I'm…I'm so…scared!" Melania wailed. She was laying there in her nightgown and George Jr. saw her muscles begin twitching and her legs begin violently kicking uncontrollably. "George! Hold me!...PLEASE!" She screamed. "Hold me, George!"
He went right over and sat down on the bed with her and her head suddenly found his hard, broad chest, and his arms wrapped around her tiny frame. He felt her body violently shake against his. Her breathing had quickened even more, and she started sweating. She soon felt hot all over and then cold and then hot once again.
"George, help me!" She screamed. "I can't breathe! I can't breathe!" Melania screamed and her temperature had changed again, from hot, to cold…back and forth, it kept changing.
"I've got ya, Lana….I've got ya…Don't worry." He said, holding her and he found himself running his hand over her brown hair.
"I'm having hot and cold flashes!"
"I know….You're fine! I've got you!..You're okay…"
"George, hold me tighter, I can't feel you!" She sobbed.
"I've got you….I'm holding you, don't worry!" He was crying himself.
"My heart's pounding, George!...Its pounding so hard, I feel like its beating out of my chest!" She screamed.
"It's okay…I've got you, Lana…I've got you!" He yelled.
Mary Jane heard all the screaming and got out of bed and ran to her mother's room. She stood in the doorway, seeing her mother, shaking violently in her father's arms.
"What's wrong?...Ma…What's wrong?" The 12 year old screamed and began crying.
"Mary Jane…..Get out of here!"
"Pa!...No, I can't!" She screamed.
"I said get out! Now!"
Mary Jane stood there dead in her tracks. Like her feet were locked in cement bricks.
"I said get out, Mary Jane!" George Jr. screamed at his 12 year old daughter. The young girl, though sobbing her eyes out, ran out of the room and out the front door.
"George….my stomach hurts! It hurts so much! It's horrible!" Melania sobbed onto his chest, an arm around her stomach. She later lifted herself off of him…."I feel so sick, George! " She started coughing and then hunched over herself and began vomiting. She endured the horrible vomiting spells and went back to shaking and broke out in a sweat again. "George, I can't make it!" Melania screamed.
"Yes you will, Lana!...You'll be all right!" He yelled, wrapping his strong arms around her body again.
"No I won't! This is killing me! I'm gonna die, George!" She screamed. "I'm gonna die!" She screamed again, tightly clutching onto him.
"You'll live!...You'll live, I won't let you die!...I won't let you die!" He sobbed. "YOU WILL LIVE!" George Jr. yelled.
Mary Jane Gruber ran down the gravel road till she got where Peru went on further, and where Walker Street began…..She didn't know how she could do it, but she went running up that long, steep hill all the way to the top where Dr. Clark's office was. She saw him pulling out in his buggy….and so she ran over.
"Doc Clark!...Doc Clark, come quick!" She sobbed.
"Mary Jane! Calm down, child!...What's the matter?"
"It's Ma…." She sobbed. That was all she could get out as she kept sobbing and sobbing.
"Get in then….." Dr. Clark commanded and they rode off down the hill. "You need to calm down, young lady….It'll be all right!" He tried consoling the young girl. They made it to Melania's little house very quickly. Mary Jane and the doctor burst through the front door and into Melania's bedroom.
"What's the problem?"
"She's going through withdrawal from the morphine you gave her Doc. She was addicted to it…" George Jr. replied, still holding a violently shaking, Melania….
"Stay just as you are until this all stops….then she needs to lay down and rest ."
Doc Clark had left and Mary Jane stood in the middle of her mother's room.
"Mary Jane….I told you before…..Get out of here. Right now." George Jr. told his daughter. Melania was clutching onto him, her body shaking, her heart pounding….it was hard for her to breathe again.
"I can't…..I can't Pa…..I can't leave Ma!" The 12 year old started crying again.
"I don't want you seeing your Ma like this…..Now go!" He commanded. "Head over to your grandparents' place…."
"Do as your father tells you Mary Jane!" Melania said. She kept breathing hard and clutching tightly onto George Jr. Mary Jane seemed to listen and went outside and down the gravel road. She made it down the road till she saw the little wooden bridge she ran across it and she saw Frances out in the yard hanging up clothes on the little clothesline.
"Aunt Frances!" She hollered and ran into the little yard.
"Mary Jane!...What in Heaven's name is wrong? Calm down…..calm down, catch your breath…..Here, sit down a while…." She said, guiding her niece to the locust tree and Mary Jane sat down in front of it. "I'm going to go get you some water….you just sit here all right?"
Mary Jane sat there trying to catch her breath and nodded at her aunt. She watched her go into the little house and returned with a tin cup, got her some cold water from the well and returned to her. "Here drink this….it'll help with the heat too. It's quite a warm day today! What made you run all this way?" Quite a warm day it was indeed! A warm day in July, to be exact…..it wasn't so hot.
"It's Ma….I had to get Doc Clark…"
"Is she okay? Does she need help?"
"No…." She panted. "Pa told Doc Clark she…she was going through….withdrawal…..from the morphine…..He told Pa to stay with her and Pa told me to go away!" She started crying. "I couldn't leave Ma!"
"Shhh….shhh…shh…It's okay." Frances put her arms around her niece, and started rocking back and forth, trying to comfort her. "It's all right, Mary Jane….It's all right."
She sat there and cried on her aunt's shoulder, till she thought she couldn't cry anymore and felt her eyes go dry.
"It's all right, Mary Jane…..C'mon let's get you inside and out of the sun." Frances said, and guided her niece into the house. "You just sit down in my rocking chair and I'll make you something to eat for lunch…What would you like?" She smiled.
Mary Jane shrugged her shoulders.
"How about a sandwich?...Venison, cheese, and my homemade bread…"
"That sounds good, Aunt Frances."
"I'll make it then….Warmed up or cold?"
"Warm please…." Mary Jane smiled.
"I'll be back." Frances smiled and went into the kitchen. Freddy came in from the front room and saw his cousin sitting in the rocking chair. He grinned and moved his fingers in a wave.
"Hi Freddy…."
Little Freddy plumped down in front of her and began playing with his little building blocks. After a while, he stood up and went over to Mary Jane and began pulling on her arm…."Pway!"
"Ok Freddy…." She smiled a little and began to get up.
"Freddy, you ask Mary Jane nicely…..What do you say to her?"
Freddy stood there looking up at his mother.
"You say please…..and first you should say sorry that you were so rude when you asked."
"Sowwy…." He said quietly.
"You want to play with her now don't you?" Frances asked her son. Freddy nodded.
"What do you say then?"
"Pease?" He said to Mary Jane.
Frances had to crack a little smile. At how good he was listening. He was usually a good little boy, but every now and then, he had times where he wasn't very good….like anyone his age. She also had to smile at his little mispronouncing of words. It was just so cute!
"Mary Jane, your sandwich is ready…."
"Thank you, Aunt Frances."
"You're welcome." She smiled. "And I made a little one for you too, 'Mr. Man'" Frances smiled, picking Freddy up. "So let's go in the kitchen and eat lunch….C'mon…" And ushered her niece and her son into the kitchen.
A/N: Yardley's English Lavender was Frances' favorite. She liked the bar soap instead of the perfume. Interesting that we can smell that lavender scent all through the house still sometimes...just from bar soap! lol. I had thought she liked the perfume, but it was the soap that she liked...Interesting! Frances was a very practical lady. That's what my mom tells me anyway. :)
A tree actually did fall on the white lilac bush, crushing it...but somehow, it spread and kept growing! Though, it isn't there anymore. :(
Yardley's English Lavender perfume and bar soap was launched in 1873, was used for both genders and as far I know is still in production. I would love to get some!
A/N: I used the LH episode "Home Again" where Albert develops a morphine addiction and his withdrawal from it, as inspiration for Melania's addiction and withdrawal.
