Gilbert was washing out his beer bottles when he got a phone call. He swore to himself as he dried his hands with a dish towel. He walked over to his phone and picked up, but it was too late. The answering machine had picked up.
"Hello Mr. Beilschmidt. You might want to pick up if you are home, this is urgent news," the message began.
Gilbert put down the dishcloth and picked up the phone.
"Hello," he answered.
"Hello, is your father home? This is the local general hospital. This is about your mother," the man on the phone began.
"My father died when I was five, why? Did something happen? Tell me," Gilbert began to get very nervous. His mother had a bad heart, she was prone to getting some bad attacks.
"She has had an attack and we couldn't get her into cardiology in time. She died and we are very sorry for your loss," the man on the phone replied.
Gilbert dropped the phone on the floor and fell along with it. He couldn't get up at all. His face crumpled up in pain and sorrow. He thought of the last thing he said to his mother: "'Don't overdo anything, you are eight months pregnant.'" Remembering that, Gilbert began to worry. "What about her baby, my brother," he asked in an upset voice. He needed to know this, he wanted to know. He made a quick prayer and hoped for a good answer.
"We managed to save him in time, but someone must take over as guardian in her place. Right now he is being kept under observation so we can see if he inherited your mother's heart disease. He is allowed to have visitors if you want to meet him," the man on the phone informed him.
"Where did you say he is being kept," Gilbert asked.
"At the local general hospital in your town," the man on the phone replied.
"I'm heading over right away! Thank you," Gilbert said before hanging up. Gilbert got over the daze of the new of his mother's parting but soon got up with a bit of happiness. His brother was alive. He was going to head over right away.
Gilbert dashed over to his bedroom from the kitchen. He rumaged through his very small dresser and took out a clean shirt and some black jeans. Gilbert put them on and started to get ready to leave the house. Gilbert put on his converse shoes and went through the table at the entrance way. He picked through the bits and pieces and grabbed two things: his drivers liscence and his bus pass. He took the drivers liscence because his mother had taken the car.
Gilbert, now fully ready to head over to the bus stop, locked up the house and ran to the bus. When he got to the bus stop, he zipped up his thin jacket because it was getting a bit chilly for a midsummer night. Gilbert got onto the bus and sat towards the back so nobody could see his mixed emotions or point at the fact that he was albino. He put up the hood of his black jacket and leaned back.
He got off at the stop that was right in front of the hospital. He walked a short bit and entered the hospital's front doors. Gilbert was not a fan of hospitals, they made him anxious because he went whenever his mother had an attack. He put on a brave face and walked up to the front desk. There was a nurse at the desk who was typing some stuff on the computer.
"How may I help you," she said as she looked up. She was a bit startled by his appearance but she did her best not to show it. She had never actually seen an albino before, it was a rare thing to see.
"I would like to see my mother and my newborn brother. Can you tell me where to go," Gilbert asked her in the nicest possible way he could. He knew that she was staring at him, it was common for people to do that, but it still pissed him off.
"What is your mother's name? So I can find her room and your brother," the nurse said nicely.
"Her name was Maria Beilschmidt," Gilbert answered her, a little saddened by using past-tense with his mother's name.
"Oh, come with me," she motioned to the teenager who was reaching his breaking point, to follow her. She walked him over to the morgue and brought him to his mother. On the gurney outside the freezers, was his mother. The nurse let Gilbert see his mother's face the last time. He pulled back the sheet that covered her entire body and looked upon her face. Her blue eyes were closed and her blond hair framed her face. Gilbert was silently crying as he looked at her face. He knelt down and kissed his mother's cheek one last time.
"I'd like to meet my brother," he said to the nurse who was at the reception desk. She came over to him and gently grabbed his arm, she led him to the maternity ward where the newborns were also being kept. She brought him to the area where his brother was being kept.
"I'll leave you two alone for a bit," she said to give Gilbert his privacy.
"Hey bro, mom said that I could be the one who names you, she told me a couple of days ago. I'm going to name you Ludwig. Mom loved Beethoven's music. I grew up on his music, you are going to hear his music too," Gilbert said to him softly. He smiled when his brother, Ludwig yawned.
"When can he be dismissed? Do I have to sign some paperwork," Gilbert asked the nurse who had come back to check up on the teenager with the newborn.
"The hospital is planning to keep him here for a couple days under observation, but you can take him home in a couple of days. I have the paperwork that you need to fill in right here," she replied as she handed him a thick packet of papers.
"I will fill these out at home and come back in a couple of days then to pick up my brother. See you in a couple days, Ludwig," Gilbert said before leaving the room. The nurse walked him out of the room and to the entrance. Gilbert walked out of the hospital with a small smile on his face. He had picked up the posessions that his mother had on her and had met his brother. He took out the car keys from the little bag of possesions and found the car in the parking lot. He got inside and drove home safely.
When he arrived home, he phoned his oldest friend, Francis. As he was doing that, he got a phone call from his other old friend, Antonio.
Author's note:
Hello readers once again!
I hope that you are all enjoying this story. I'd like to thank those of you who have reviewed the story and those who have read this far. Many thanks to all of you. This is the last chapter that is in first person, so don't give me any 'you never told us that it was going to be in third person' because I did say so in the previous chapters along with this one. I am enjoying the fact that people are enjoying my writing so there will be more coming up sometime in the future. There are going to be many songfics so be warned in the future. I hope that you'll enjoy the rest of this story.
If you would like to, you may review but I am not forcing you to do so.
Again, Many Thanks,
shadow-of-doubtfulness