January 14, 1976

So we eventually told everyone that I was pregnant. Soda and Candy kept their promise not to tell anyone that they already knew. The hard part was keeping KJ form saying anything for a week cause Candy had pretty much told him, even though I'm pretty sure that he wasn't completely sure of what she had said that day, or he was just confused by the whole thing. I'm still not quite sure about that.

I also told Andy and Lina at the radio station. At some point, I pretty had to tell them. Since I had to be at the station so early, I'd kinda have to rush around and for some reason, it'd make me sick. Before I told Andy or Lina, they'd get worried since it would happen every day and not just once or twice. At that point, I definitely had to tell them to ease their nerves that nothing was wrong with me. I didn't mind telling them- until Andy surprised me and announced on the air one day an hour before the show ended. I was annoyed at first since it was on the spare of the moment, but now I just kinda laugh at it.

"Next, we have Hello, I Love You by the Doors," I said into the microphone.

"Then after that," Andy said into his own microphone, "Stick around for a little of America's British invasion." He pressed the button on the soundboard that would play the already selected music which included the Doors, Genesis, George Harrison, Rod Stewart and Led Zeppelin.

Once that song started to play and the microphones were turned off, our boss- Mr. Wilson- came into the studio, nearly running. "We truly work at the best radio station in Oklahoma," he said eagerly.

Andy and I shared confused looks. "Why? What'd we do? And did the ratings prove that?" Andy asked.

Mr. Wilson looked ecstatic and I don't think I've ever seen him so ecstatic. "I was able to arrange for you two to air from a live concert on July fourth, this year. But it's not just gonna be any concert, it's gonna be a huge one to celebrate America's two-hundredth birthday."

"Whose concert is it?" I asked.

"You guys aren't going to believe me when I tell you… that it's Elvis Presley!"

"Are you serious?" I asked with excitement.

Mr. Wilson nodded. "Yes, I am," he smiled, "On July fourth of this year, America's Bicentennial, you two are going to be broadcasting live from an Elvis Presley concert."

Apparently, Mr. Wilson knew one of the people who would schedule concerts all throughout the state of Oklahoma. Every month, the two would get together and discuss all the upcoming concerts for that month throughout the whole state. They had met up the night before for their usual meeting, and his friend was all excited about a specific concert- which was the Elvis Presley concert. He was also able to arrange it so that we could have special backstage passes for friends and family- even with all the people I knew, cause apparently Mr. Wilson had mentioned how large of a group I knew, and his friend said that it was fine for me to bring them all.

Andy and I couldn't actually announce the concert on the air till the middle of February. At that point, we would start having radio contests for people to try and win tickets for the concert. We'd have a contest once every morning, Monday through Friday. There would be one of these contests twice a day on the station, once during our show and once during the evening show. It seemed pretty fun to me, and the person who did the evening show who'd worked as a DJ for the station for ten years said he'd done contests before and they really were fun and exciting, which made the whole thing more exciting for me.

Once we finished off the show for the morning, I drove to Mrs. Mathews' house. I still had about an hour and a half before I had to pick up KJ from preschool, so I had some time to kill since I had nothing to do at the moment. Her house was on my way home from the radio station, so every day that I didn't have something to do before picking up KJ, I would stop by her place about half an hour to an hour, then stop home before going to pick up KJ from the preschool at 12:45 in the afternoon.

I stopped the car in her driveway and turned it off. As soon as I got out of the car, something felt off. It was like when you just get that feeling in your gut that there's something wrong. Cause I felt that way, I walked as quickly as I could to the front door and knocked frantically out of the nervousness that had been formed due to how I felt when I got out of the car. I heard "come in" come from the other side fo the door then rushed inside the house.

I quickly sat down next to Mrs. Mathews on the couch. "Mrs. Mathews, what's wrong?" I asked when I saw tears running down her cheeks.

She looked up slowly. "Keith and Keilah's father," she said in a quiet tone.

"What about their dad?"

"I just got news that he passed today…"

My mouth gaped open. "Oh my gosh… I'm so sorry."

"He died this morning. Apparently, he was hit head on in a car accident. He died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital."

I sat with her for another hour after that. She told me details about the accident, memories from before he left in 1957, everything and anything she could think of to say. She told me about him before he left. She told me the last words that two ever said to each other back in 1957. She told me memories from when they were dating in the 1940s. She even told me how he felt ashamed during World War II that he couldn't join the military due to health issues, so he could never pass the physical.

I eventually had to leave to pick up KJ. I didn't really want to leave her alone in her state, but she didn't want to come and pick up KJ cause she didn't want to do something to upset him. As I left the house, I told her I would get both Keith and Keilah so she could tell them. I told her that when I got them I wouldn't tell them, that it wasn't my place to tell them what had happened. She agreed that if I thought that, that it was best that way and she'd be the one to tell them. She said by the time I'd get back with them, that she'd still be there.

I drove straight to the preschool and picked up KJ. I then drove over to the garage and told Keith he had to see his mother. He kinda panicked when I said it, but calmed down when I said that she as fine. We then drove to where Keilah had a part time job in town to take her back to the house as well. The whole time, I didn't answer any of their questions about what had happened unless it had to do with their mother's well-being.

We all got back to Mrs. Mathews' house by 1:30. The two siblings ran inside as quickly as they possibly could while I took KJ out from the car. I didn't rush inside once I had KJ with me, cause I didn't want to get him upset or scared by what she was telling her two children what had happened.

I stopped walking when KJ asked, "Is Daddy and Aunty Kay sad?"

I sat down with KJ on the front steps of the house. "I don't really know, KJ," I answered.

"Are they sick?"

"No, they're not sick. But they might be kinda sad, or mad. And Grandma is that way, too."

"Why are they sad?"

"This might be a little hard for you to understand," I started, "You know how Grandma is Daddy's mama, right?"

KJ nodded. "Yeah."

"Good. And you know how me and Daddy are married, right? How most mamas and daddy's are married?"

He nodded again.

"Ok. Something happened today while you were in school. Something bad. It happened to Daddy's daddy, your Grandpa, who used to be married to Grandma. And what happened, made it so that Grandma, Daddy and Aunty Kay can't ever see him again."

KJ gave a look mixed with slight confusion and sadness. "Why not?" he asked.

I ran my hand over his hair. "Cause it was his turn to go away," I answered, "Everyone gets a turn to go away, but usually not for a long time."

"What if they don't wanna go away?"

"When it's their turn to go away, they don't really get a choice if they do or don't wanna go away. But that doesn't happen for a long time."

"So you and Daddy won't go away, right?"

"Not for a long time, KJ."

"Did your mama and daddy go away?"

My eyes widened a bit when I heard his question. "Well, they had to go away. But it's for a different reason, and I promise I'll explain it to you when you get a bit bigger, ok?" I thanked my lucky stars when he nodded in response.

I turned around when I heard the front door of the house open. Keith came out onto the porch, letting the front door close behind him as he sat down on the steps next to me. He leaned his elbows on his knees and ran his hands over his face, stopping halfway, covering the bottom of his nose and his mouth. I heard a sigh escape through his hands as he shut his eyes for a moment.

Before I could say anything, KJ climbed off of my lap and onto Keith's. "Mama said that you, Aunty Kay and Grandma are sad," he said, "Are you all sad, Daddy?"

I watched carefully as he ruffled KJ's dirty blonde hair a bit. "Yeah," he answered softly, "Yeah, a little bit."

"And Grandma and Aunty Kay, too?"

"Yeah, they're sad too."

"I already explained what happened to him," I whispered to Keith.

He nodded slightly. "My mom wants to know if we can stay the night tonight. Keilah already said yeah for herself, and I told her yeah for all of us too. You don't mind that, do ya?"

"No, of course I don't mind."

Update. Update. Update. Update. Update. It's that time of the two weeks (I update all my stories every other week from Wednesday, Thursday and Friday- it's on my calendar.)

And I told you all this chapter would be sad. Did you believe me? I have no idea.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Galentine's Day (if you don't watch Parks and Recreation, you probably have no idea what that is. Simply go online and look it up, and you will find what it is) and a great Valentine's Day, even if you are single (if you are, as of 2-17-2016, I understand cause I've never had a boyfriend and my crush had to move out of state with his family, but anyhow).

Oh also, just for a laugh after this depressing chapter- go on youtube and search "north and south book 1 – orry and brett in the study" and if you don't want to watch the whole video, skip to 4:10 and watch up to 4:15. That's the funny part, not everything else in that scene, only 4:10 to 4:15 is funny even though the whole scene is supposed to be dramatic. You will be laughing your head off at those five seconds, I promise.

Oh, as well, that concert on July 4, 1976 with Elvis Presley really did happen. I swear it did. I found it online along with nearly every detail about the concert, plus I have about four tribute magazines about Elvis' life (yes I love Elvis ok? I have a poster of him on my wall and another picture of him from a street fair that was framed when I bought it for $5… don't judge me)

I can't think of anything else to say, so hope you enjoyed the chapter, and peace from all the hippies of the world! =^-^=