Chapter 6: One Big, Happy Family
Summary: What was Kelsi's plan? Does Mrs. Darbus live? You will find out in the final chapter of Dear Mrs. Darbus.
It's been a long time since I've been here. I look around the house, and a wave of nostalgia washes over me. I remember coming here late nights with either Jason or Ryan (never both, they didn't like each other much), trying to figure out how this measure should go, or if I should change the music to this so it fits the choreography. Now, all that is gone. All the music sheets and instruments are nowhere to be seen, and it scares me. It's quiet, like the house knows that the owner is dying and refuses to live. It seems like the house is dying right along with Mrs. Darbus.
I get to a door, and inside I hear crying and music playing. It sounds like Mozart, but I'm not sure. I figure this is the room Mrs. Darbus is in. I knock on the door.
"Come in," I hear someone whisper. I go in to find a woman sitting next to Mrs. Darbus.
"Natalia, I'm assuming?"
"Yes. Thank goodness you're here! She's not even responding to music anymore. She used to move a little. I'm so scared," she moans, walking towards me as she speaks.
"Well, I'm going to try my best," I say. She nods and walks out of the room. "OH! My husband is in the hall. If he gets too annoying, you can send him in," I say. She gives me a funny look, but nods again. I walk towards Mrs. Darbus.
"Hey, uh...Mrs. Darbus. It's Kelsi. Look...I'm here because apparently, you want to die. I'm here to stop that and uh...um...Jason!" I scream finally. Jason rushes in.
"I swear I hadn't said anything annoying yet!" he defends himself right away.
"No, I just need you in here."
"Oh, okay. Just curious, but did you actually have a plan?" he asked.
"No. I have no clue what I'm doing," I answered. He goes to stand behind me, while I sit down on the chair Natalie was sitting in. I look at him and he smiles encouragingly.
"Mrs. Darbus...we need you. You helped all of us, even Sharpay, which is really saying something. We love you. I just..." I start to cry. I feel Jason's arms come around me and I lean my head into him. "I just need you to get better!" Mrs. Darbus isn't moving at all. I get up and walk out.
"Did it work?" she asks.
"I need a breather," I say, running upstairs. Someone follows me. I run into the music room and dig through the boxes until I find a c.d.
"What's that?" Jason asks.
"It's the Twinkle Towne musical soundtrack," I explain. "It calms me down," I tell him. "My first musical." My first musical...that's it!
"What?" Jason asks.
"Shush! I'm having an epiphany," I say. He stands in the doorway, letting me get lost in my thoughts for a few minutes. Then I start talking.
"Think really hard. Remember how Mrs. Darbus used to act, when we were in high school? Is she any different than from when we saw her a few weeks ago?" I ask. He looks at me funny.
"No?" he says.
"How did she talk?" I ask him.
"Well...I did notice she pronounced musical normally," he remembers.
"Exactly! I asked her about her pronunciation and she said that's the way her mom used to say it, because she had such a thick accent! So it has to be something about her mom that's bugging her!" I say. I run past him to get to her room.
"WAIT! What was the point of all the letters and e-mails?" Jason asks.
"You'll see, come on!" I scream up at him. I rush to Natalie.
"Do you know Mrs. Darbus' mom's number is?" I ask in a rush.
"My grandma...she's...dead. She died years ago. Decades ago, even. Auntie Gladys was about my age when she died," Natalie responds, puzzled.
"No. That's not possible. Mrs. Darbus told me she was alive when I talked to her a couple weeks ago. Said she was sick, but she was getting better," I say. What's going on?
"Well, believe it, because that's the honest to goodness truth," Natalie says.
I walk back into Mrs. Darbus' room.
"Mrs. Darbus...I found out about your mom...why didn't you tell me? You could've told me anything. I'm guessing that's why you don't want to get better...but why now? Why not when you got pneumonia in our junior year? Or when you told me when you were around thirty, and you got mono? Why not then? Look, Mrs. Darbus...we all go through tough times." I sift through the papers and find Troy and Gabriella's. "Troy and Gabriella were teen parents! Do you know how hard that is? But they got through it! What about Sharpay and Zeke? Sharpay turned Zeke down again and again but Zeke always came back to her. He never gave up. Or what about Ryan and Martha? They have so many kids, but they're living just fine? Taylor and Chad broke up multiple times, but they're so happy, it's a little gross!" I laugh. I take a deep breath. "Or what about Jason and me?" I say. I take a deep breath, and start on our story:
"Jason didn't have good enough grades to get into any type of college, so he worked at random restaraunts and department stores close to Julliard while I went to school. In my third year of college, I found out I was pregnant. I was so scared, I didn't want to be a teenage mom...like you were. I remembered how you said that the first year was so hard because your baby cried all the time and you never got any sleep. I almost gave the baby up for adoption, but Jason said he'd been saving money, and we'd get through it. I asked Sharpay to plan the wedding, which was the biggest mistake of my life. It took her forever! I was afraid I'd be having contractions while I was walking down the aisle! But it was a beautiful wedding, it really was. After college, I moved into Jason's apartment with the kid, named Zak. I was in the works of writing a play and I eventually gave it to a company. They said it was too old-fashioned, that people wanted pop-sounding musicals now, no more "Phantom of the Opera" or "Miss Saigon"-y stuff. I was beyond crushed. With just barely enough money coming in, I almost passed Zak along to my sister, like you did, and have him calling me "Auntie Kelsi." But I had something you didn't have: I had Jason.
"I wound up getting pregnant again, and this time it wasn't so bad, because Jason got a promotion and Disney took one of my story-lines. It was a cartoon, and although there was no singing, I did write the background music. It's called "Cars" you might have heard of it. It made a good chunk of money, especially since one of the voices was in a bunch of other Disney movies. He had died, that was his last movie. He was really cool. Anyway, Disney offered to buy us a penthouse in New York and pay for the first two months, until we could afford it. I said no, but if they could get us a house in Albuquerque and pay for that for the first two months, we'd really appreciate it. One day, I woke up to Jason screaming 'Kelsi! Vanessa Hudgens is here!' She wanted me to help her write a few of the songs on her second album. Of course, I said yes. We wrote some pretty good ones, and she told a bunch of her friends how nice it was working with me, so I had a couple more Disney stars ask for my help! Selena Gomez was my favorite. She really just wanted to know if I liked her songs and if I could help her fine-tune them. She was so sweet and listened to every bit of my advice. I actually call her from time to time.
"Of course, nothing can ever be too good. Jason got..." I take a deep breath to calm myself. "Jason got Parkinson's disease. They said they could fix it, but it would cost so much money, and he might never be able to play basketball again....we didn't have the money. I tried to write another script, but I just couldn't. I took care of him...made him feel comfortable during attacks. It was so hard..." I sob, trailing off. I feel Jason's arms around me, comforting me. I feel a few tears fall onto my shoulder, and I know he's crying too.
"Selena tried to pay for the surgery, but Jason said no. It was ridiculously expensive, and he couldn't take her money like that. I finally came up with a good script for a movie though. I didn't think it would sell, but my kids loved it, so I tried it with Disney. I called it 'Wall-E' and they loved it. It sold like crazy! We made enough money for the surgery..." I stop again. This part hurts so much. "He was dead for what the doctor's said was the longest someone could be dead without too much brain damage. It was after the surgery, he was in his room. I saw it all. They announced him dead. They said there was nothing they could do, they turned off the machinery. Then...he just popped his eyes open. He started coughing and gasping and the doctor's looked at him like he was a miracle. No one could explain it, it just...happened. It was unbelievable. Mrs. Darbus..." I say, taking a shuddery breath. Jason kisses my cheek. "That's what I call the will to live. Please Mrs. Darbus, I know it's in you...somewhere," I choke out.
"Today is the exact day she died," Mrs. Darbus says.
"What?!" I say. "You're talking!"
"I'll stop if you don't shut your mouth!" she warns. I'm quiet. "Today is the day my mom died. She was the age I am now, and I was the age Natalie is now. She died because she had no hope. I was a huge disappointment; she never let me forget it. My sister didn't talk to her anymore, our dad was dead. So she died. Why should I hang on? Natalie never calls me. She doesn't know I'm her mother, and she doesn't talk to the woman she thinks is her mother. My husband died years ago, and I'm so close to the retirement age, I won't even have my teaching anymore," she cries. "What's the point?"
"You have us," Jason says, finally talking. I turn to look at him, but he's walking toward her bed. "Ryan and Martha are flying in from New York City! Troy and Gabriella have to work, because they barely get paid enough to pay for their house, but they're taking off work. Sharpay even bothered to take time out of her schedule to talk to you!" He says to her. I see the door open and Chad's afro pops in, followed by his head and the rest of his body. Taylor, then Gabriella, Troy, Sharpay, Zeke, all followed by a sleepy looking Martha and Ryan. Mrs. Darbus looks at all of them. Jason keeps talking.
"We're all here because we care. Not because we're bored and have nothing else to do! Because believe me, there are more interesting things I could be doing! I missed a job interview for this! After having me in your classes, you have to know I didn't get in on this job because of my wit! I begged! You have to know how much we care! Mrs. Darbus, you can't die! Just by looking at your daughter...or niece...whatever! Just by looking at Natalie, I can tell she feels so bad and she's going to stick around!
"I had Parkinson's, Mrs. Darbus! Do you know what it feels like to know that you can't even hold your own baby because you're afraid you'll drop her if you shake too much?! Cause it sucks! There were times when all I wanted to do was give up. I wanted Kelsi to pull the plug! But that would be the easy way out! Dying is really easy to do! It's living that's the hard part! But you know what? Look around you! It's worth it! Your mom may have thought you were a screw-up, and your family may all be dead or deserted you, but guess what? My mom...she..." he stopped for a second. He never talks about his family.
"My family showed up all right. I got really sick when I was a kid, and my family showed up. But they didn't say anything. They yelled at me for getting sick and costing them a fortune! When I got home, I still couldn't walk correctly, but they wouldn't help me! My dad wanted me to be in sports, so I joined the basketball team! But no, that wasn't good enough, I should have joined the football team! You're not the only one with a messed up family, okay?! But you have the best friends anyone can have!" Jason yells. She looks at him for the longest minute of my life. Then she says:
"I think I can see that. I...thank you." We all break into huge smiles, and everyone piles on the bed, hugging Mrs. Darbus. She starts laughing like crazy. I squeeze out into the hall. I see Natalie, sitting on the chair.
"I can't believe it. All this time the woman I've wanted to be my mom really is my mom! She gave me up because she loves me, not because she doesn't want me!" Natalie says to herself. I smile at her and look into the room. Everyone's talking, laughing, catching up, and making fun of Jason. Chad and Ryan are sitting on the edge of the bed, talking. Taylor and Sharpay are talking about each other's outfits. Martha, Gabriella, and Jason are all talking to each other. Mrs. Darbus, Troy and Zeke are sitting on the bed, laughing about something.
This is how we're supposed to be:
One, big, happy family.
Love it, hate it? Tell me! I like Selena Gomez, so I threw her in. And I just thought having Kelsi write music for Vanessa Hudgens would be funny. Don't know about you though.