No ‘Moore’ Mess- Chapter Five (Serial Version)
Chapter Five- Pastor Andrew Moore Needs A New Home
“Helen?”
“This is Dr. Helen Kobayashi.”
“This is your father.”
Helen had not spoken to her father in two years. The last time was at Roberta’s funeral. Helen was in no mood for a phone conversation.
“What do you want, Andrew? I’m pretty busy at the moment.”
Pastor Andrew had seen better days. He was a frail wisp of a man. Money was tight. He used his pension to keep the lights on every month but nothing left over for him to live. Helen wanted to hang up on him.
“I’ve gotta go. I’ve got a lot going on.”
“Wait! Please, don’t hang up on me.”
Helen, ever the devout Christian, didn’t hang up the phone. She switched the phone to her good ear. Her shoulders sank as she let out a painful sounding breath.
“Say what you’ve got to say, Andrew.”
The phone line got silent. Helen wondered what Pastor Andrew wanted. She knew it must be something big for him to call.
“Please, Helen, I’ve got nowhere else to go. No one else to turn to but you. My daughter.”
“I’m your daughter, really?”
“Yes, you are my daughter.”
“Great thanks, dad. I should run out and get a freaking Father’s Day card for you.”
“I’m so sorry. Really I am.”
“Save it. All these years and you can’t say, ‘I’m sorry.’ G-D it, Andrew!”
Helen was never one to swear. Pastor Andrew brought the worst out in her ‘Moore’ anger. Helen knew better than to swear in front of her father.
“Watch your language! Remember whose house you were brought up in.”
Pastor Andrew scolding struck fear into Helen when she was a young child. She was an adult, and the events of the past seven years changed her into an iron-willed woman. She was not going to take anything from Pastor Andrew. Those days were over.
“I remember! And you remember whose house you want to move into Andrew.”
The phone line went silent. Pastor Andrew had no excuses. He had no options. It was Helen’s charity, or he was homeless.
“Please, Helen for Roberta. Let me stay. A day? A week? A month?”
Pastor Andrew played the only card he had left in his hand. He felt ashamed, but there was no choice. Helen didn’t agree with his approach.
“How dare you! You have no right to bring up her name to me. She spent years taking your crap. Everyone did. You put her into an early grave with the stress you put in her life. It should be you in the cold ground.”
“I know.”
“Why don’t you go live with Mary? You always loved her more.”
“That’s not true. She’s in rehab at the Poling Clinic over in Roseville. She’s getting her life right.”
This time it was Helen’s end of the phone line that went silent. Helen had not seen Mary since Roberta’s funeral. There was an awkward moment between father and daughter.
“A little late. But good for her. As for you and me, no. Just no. It’s not going to happen.”
“Helen, please. I’m begging you. I’ve got nowhere else to go. Nobody to turn to.”
The phone beeped. There was another call. It gave Helen a means of easy escape. She took full advantage of it.
“I’ve got another call. I’m going to have to let you go now.”
“Please, Helen.”
Helen took the other call. It was the rehabilitation clinic. Erica was awake. Helen threw clean clothes on Nancy. She drove as fast as she could to the hospital. She parked the car. Helen dragged Nancy with her to the 11th floor waiting room area.
“Erica is awake?”
“Yes! She’s awake and alert.”
The young, pretty nurse at the desk was as excited as Helen was to hear that Erica was awake. This gave Helen hope things were going to be okay. The nurse quickly poured cold water on her wishful thinking.
“Can I see her?”
“It will be a minute or two. The doctors are hooking her up.”
“Hooking her up to what?
“She needs some help breathing. They are putting an external trachea on her. It will help Erica avoid infections.”
Several minutes passed. The doctor came out. She walked towards Helen and Nancy. There was a stoic look on her face.
“Dr. Kobayashi, you can see Erica now.”
Helen and Nancy ran down the hall to Erica’s room. They walked inside. Erica was sitting on the bed. She stared at the pair.
“Her — on.”
Helen ran to Erica’s bedside. She gave Erica a strong embrace. Erica put her right arm around her but the left arm hung limp from Erica’s shoulder like a spaghetti noodle.
“She’s not going to have any use in the left arm. Left leg too.”
“But we can work on that. She’ll be back, right?”
“Not the arm. The leg to a degree. It’s difficult to say how much movement she will regain.”
Erica turned her head towards Nancy. She was hiding behind Helen. Nancy had seen Erica many times. This was the first time in six and a half year-old Nancy saw her mother conscious.
“Hey come on, wo — man.”
“Mommy?”
“Hey come on, wo — man.”
“Why does she keep saying that?”
“We used to say that all the time to each other. Your mom’s tired, Nancy. She’ll be okay, right, doctor?”
“Erica’s verbal skills will be limited. That part of her brain is damaged beyond repair, Ms. Kobayashi.”
“But she’ll recover, right?”
“There will be some improvement. How much? I can’t say.”
Erica was awake. It was a miracle, but a full recovery was not possible. The news destroyed Helen, but she was upbeat for Nancy.
“Give your mommy a big hug, honey.”
Nancy reluctantly did. Tears of joy fell from Erica’s face. Helen joined in the special moment. The family embraced for the first time as a family.
“We’ll monitor Erica. Once she is stabilized, we will begin physical and speech rehabilitation programs. And we will take it from there.”
“Thank you, doctor. When do you think she can come home?”
“It’s best we temper our expectations, Dr. Kobayashi. Let’s take it one step at a time.”
The doctor made no promises Erica would return to her home. Helen was determined to get her wife back in her life. Helen spent her summer vacation going to the hospital to see Erica every day.
Erica suffered through hours of physical therapy every day. Three months later, with the help of a plastic leg brace and cane, Erica walked. The staff and Erica’s family cheered her every agonizing step of the way.
“You can do it, Erica.”
“8, 9, and 10 steps. That’s it for today, Erica. Good work!”
“Mommy did it. She really did it.”
“Yes, sweetheart, she did.”
Erica walked ten steps for her physical therapist on that Tuesday afternoon. She needed a wheelchair for any longer distances. The speech therapy didn’t go as well.
Erica understood what people said to her, but she responded in gestures and broken English. This was not for a lack of trying during speech therapy. Erica did her best, but her success was limited.
“Okay, Erica. What’s your daughter’s name?”
“Nan — Nan — ”
“That’s great! Once more, Erica. What’s your daughter’s name?”
“Nan — Nan — NAN — see!”
“Super job. That’s enough for today.”
It was a steep fall for the once proud academic. She reached out to Helen as a wife. Erica did her best to sound romantic. Helen appreciated her effort.
“Love, Her — on.”
“I love you too.”
Erica was doing well all things considered. She was fitted with a new trachea. Erica fought several serious lung infections caused by her sedentary condition. After several months, Erica’s progress hit a plateau.
Her right arm was useless. Erica was unable to dress herself or go to the bathroom alone. She was confined to her rented wheelchair for anything beyond trips to the hospital cafeteria.
Helen realized there was nothing rehabilitation was going to do for her wife. This reality was difficult for Helen to accept. She had a life to attend to outside of Erica, but the summer vacation ended. She needed to go to work.
The university’s stance on Helen’s many absences changed over the summer. They expected her to return full-time for the fall term. Nancy was also going to school.
Helen had stable childcare lined up for her daughter, but it fell through. Helen scrambled to find someone to care for Nancy while she worked. This proved difficult. Helen had no choice but to keep her job. Her income was the only thing keeping the creditors at bay.
The university was understanding of Helen’s personal problems in the past, but their stance changed. New university vice president and department chairwoman Dr. Tanaka made sure of it. She was a former colleague of Helen’s. Now she was her boss.
They had an afternoon meeting before the start of the new academic year. Dr. Tanaka was all business. Helen prepared for her worst. And she got it.
“We need to confirm you will be taking on a full schedule again.”
“Dr. Tanaka I’m not sure. There’s Nancy to consider. Erica is going to be a handful for me at home soon.”
“Helen your problems are not our problems. We are running a university not a convalescent home. See you are here, or you will not be here. Do you understand me?”
“Of course.”
Dr. Tanaka was a product of an American military man and a Japanese woman. She lived in Japan until the age of eight when her mother choked to death on some Japanese New Year’s rice cakes. Dr. Tanaka later took her mother’s maiden name.
She felt more connected to Japan than America. Dr. Tanaka and her father were never close. Her father was more interested in furthering his military career than in being a loving parent. Dr. Tanaka was sent to live with her widowed American grandmother after her father died in combat.
Her grandmother bullied and abused her as did her male classmates. She hated people. Truthfully Dr. Tanaka disliked men in authority and anyone who had a backbone. The pair were adversaries as academics. Dr. Tanaka disagreed with Helen’s theories at every symposium they attended.
Dr. Tanaka loved taking veiled potshots at Helen’s work and her looks. Helen despised her. She steered clear of her whenever possible. Dr. Tanaka was known around campus as Dr. D.
This was because ‘D’ was the most common grade she gave out in her classes. The students hated her. The faculty avoided her, but the university administration loved the woman.
Dr. Tanaka was an often cited professor. She was also an excellent fundraiser. Dr. Tanaka brought in millions of dollars in donations for the university. She was not a fan of strong women on the faculty, especially those with personal problems.
“You spend more time at the hospital than the patients.”
“That’s not very funny.”
“Perhaps not. But it is true, is it not?”
Helen loathed that Dr. Tanaka referred to her as ‘Helen’ instead of ‘Dr. Kobayashi.’ She did the same thing to the other women faculty and female staff. Nobody dared to return the gesture in kind except Helen.
Dr. Tanaka was known to have ruined the career of more than one up and coming female academic. Helen was not a complete pushover. She got in her share of jabs at Dr. Tanaka’s expense.
“I guess. But it must be tough for you to get out of bed these days. Especially at your age, right?”
“That’s not very nice.”
“Maybe not. But it is honest, is it not?”
Helen knew Dr. Tanaka was sensitive about her age. Everyone knew it. Too, she had an eye for the young, college girls. Helen figured she was harmless at her advanced age.
The female students on campus thought she was another creepy, old hag. Helen had overheard more than one conversation about her from the female students. She laughed on the inside every time.
“Did you see Dr. D looking at your skirt today in class Sarah?”
“You mean up my skirt. More like Grandma D.
“Haha! Grandma D. Now that’s funny.”
“I thought she was going to have a heart attack looking at you.”
“I guess next time I should remember to wear panties.”
“You’re terrible, you know that?”
“I know. But it got me a ‘B+’ from her last term.”
True or not, Helen didn’t know, but she had no choice but to keep her mouth shut. She had other problems. If Helen was going to keep her career going and take care of Nancy, she needed help at home.
Helen knew who she had to ask. Erica was not happy about the news. She protested, but Helen stood firm against her wife.
“No way!”
“There’s nobody. I’ve tried everyone.”
It didn’t matter much Erica disagreed with Helen’s choice. She had no family. Her parents both died years ago, and she was an only child. Besides, Helen was the one taking care of everything. She left the rehabilitation center and returned home.
Helen threw clean clothes in a bag for Nancy. They drove to the train station. The traffic was bumper to bumper. It took 45 minutes longer than usual. Helen remembered how much she feared driving.
It was 2:00 p.m. by the time the famished pair arrived at the station. Helen grabbed a sandwich and some hot, black coffee for the train. They arrived an hour later, and she hailed a taxi. The ride was long. Helen loathed riding in cars more than she hated driving them. The taxi made its way through the streets.
Helen’s mind wandered to the old days. It was only Nancy’s incessant chatter that stopped her from completely zoning out. The taxi driver stopped at the address Helen gave him.
“That’ll be $13.75, ma’am, cash or credit card?”
“Cash.”
Helen paid the cab driver and walked up the grey, broken steps to her childhood home. She knocked on the door. The voice coming out from behind the door was not amused.
“We don’t need no damned magazines. Oh, it’s you.”
“Yes it’s me, dad. It’s good to see you again.”
“You too.”
The friendliness of Helen’s tone took Pastor Andrew aback. Their last conversation on the phone was not a pleasant one. Pastor Andrew prepared for the worst. Helen smiled as she patted her father on his shoulders. There would be no ‘Moore’ anger today.
“Look, can we talk for a little while?”
Pastor Andrew looked at his grey shoes. He swayed as he spoke. He sat at the table as he moaned from the pain in his old bones.
“I suppose we should talk.”
“Look Erica’s going to be coming home soon. And Nancy’s starting school. I need — ”
“Me? You need me?”
It was Helen’s turn to shift and sway as she spoke. She took a gulp of air. Helen let out a big burp.
“Things are pretty tough for me, for us, these days.”
“I don’t know. Things are pretty busy around here.”
Helen looked at her pink shoes. She felt like she was 15 years-old. The chair creaked as she sat next to her father.
“I need you, dad.”
“I guess I could make the time.”
The next week Pastor Andrew came to live with Helen. It was rough at first. Babysitting was not something that came naturally to an old man.
Pastor Andrew was not in the best shape. It was difficult to keep up with an oft angry seven year-old. It got the best of him most days. But he tried.
“Come on grandpa! You’re faster than that!”
“Give me a minute. I need a little break.”
Nancy took a liking to him. Pastor Andrew grew fond of Nancy. Helen found their relationship bittersweet. They had the wonderful father-daughter-like relationship ‘Helen Hippo’ longed for as a child.
“How’s grandpa’s favorite girl doing today?”
“I’m great, papaw. Love you!”
Pastor Andrew became the father-figure Nancy needed. Helen felt close to her dad for the first time in years. She was happy to be a ‘Moore.’
