Alicia Brown and her friend Danaya sat on the old bench swing that hung from the porch of a white clapboard house. The stifling heat of summer in Fayetteville, Arkansas had the two friends doing nothing but playing cards and sipping freshly squeezed lemonade. A man wearing jeans and a plaid button up shirt walked out of the corn fields to the left of the house. Alicia broke into a grin and waved her hand saying, “Hey Daddy! Are you comin’ in now?”
David Brown smiled at the greeting from his daughter. “Hey darlin’, I have to make a run to the hardware store before dinner could you tell your mother for me?”
“But you promised that we would practice my pitching tonight”, exclaimed Alicia.
“We can practice after dinner, okay? I’ll be back in 20 minutes. Go tell your mother”, David said as he climbed into the red Ford pick up truck.
“Okay, come on Danaya, we can finish the game a little later. Bye Dad”, Alicia said as the truck pulled out of the driveway.
Alicia set the forks and knives carefully on the red and white checked table cloth, while her older brother Michael poured the drinks for dinner. Their mother, Elaine, cut into the chicken to see if it was done
The phone rang and Alicia charged at it calling, “I’m getting it this time”, but Michael picked it up smirking at his little sister and said, “Hello?”
Alicia scowled at Michael, crossing her arms just for effect, and went back to setting the table. Alicia glanced over her shoulder and saw an expression on the face of her 16 year old brother that she had never seen before. Michael handed the phone to his mother and said with a blank expression, “Dad’s been in a car accident.”
Alicia stared and then walked over to her brother and wrapped her arms around his waist, “Is he going to be okay?”
Michael looked down and said, “He just got to the hospital. They don’t know anything yet.” Elaine put down the phone, grabbed her keys and purse and headed to the car without saying a word. Michael and Alicia followed in silence and got into the car as their mother started the engine.
At the Fayetteville Hospital an elevator carrying the Brown family slid silently to the seventh floor. In the elevator, the calm music made Michael want to punch the button panel and speed the elevator up. Michael looked over at his mother holding Alicia’s hand and could see the tears in her eyes. The elevator dinged, the doors opened and the anxious family stepped off looking for room number 713.
Alicia looked down at her stomach as it erupted in sound once again; their dinner had consisted of bags of chips and pop while they had waited for their dad to come out of surgery. Alicia peered into room 713, waiting for her mom to come out and take her and Michael home. The doctor had told the family that David was in a medically induced coma for the night because they were worried he would reopen the wound that covered his side. Alicia didn’t understand, but she knew it wasn’t good. Elaine came out into the hallway wiping a tear from her cheek. “I think it’s time we went home”, she announced.
Alicia lay on her bed at home wrapped in a patchwork quilt crying silently, her thoughts were scrambled and her stomach was filled with anxious butterflies. The darkness in the room had felt like a suffocating blanket ever since her mom had kissed her goodnight and turned the lights off. Alicia sat up in the quilt; she couldn’t stay in her room anymore. Alicia grabbed a flashlight, pulled on a sweatshirt and yanked the quilt off the bed.
Michael had heard Alicia coming out to “their spot” between the stalks of green and yellow. When they were younger their dad would bring them out here into the corn fields, they would sleep out all night, and he would tell them to just listen. Five years ago after their grandmother had died Michael had found his father sitting out under the stars. When Michael had asked him what he was doing, his dad had replied that he was thinking. Michael had said that he thought you were supposed to listen out here. David had told him that this time the stars were the ones listening. Michael hadn’t understood then, but he did now. Michael sat up wrapped an arm around his sister and said, “It will all be okay, Dad’s gonna make it through.”
The next morning Alicia woke up in her room with the covers tucked in around her, Michael had carried her in once she had fallen asleep. She changed quietly then went out into the kitchen and found her mom making eggs. “We are going to the hospital this morning to see your father, he is awake now. Go and get your brother up please”, Elaine said.
Alicia ran up the stairs and woke Michael up, telling him that they were leaving soon to go to the hospital. They all ate together, then piled into the car and drove to the hospital. When they arrived at David’s room Alicia had to look away. Her father was a mess of tubs and machines. David’s eyes opened above the air mask that was keeping his breathing steady. He smiled at his family; they were the most beautiful sight he had seen in what felt like a long time. Elaine went over to the bed and held his hand, “You are going to be just fine”, she whispered.
Four hours later Michael and Alicia were walking back from getting lunch in the hospital cafeteria downstairs, when Michael noticed that their mother was outside in the corridor pacing. Michael immediately asked, “What’s wrong?”
Elaine looked up and shrugged, “I don’t know, one of the machines just started beeping and then the doctors came.”
A doctor walked out of David’s room and stopped in front of the Brown family. “I’m sorry”, he began, “his lungs and heart just couldn’t hold out anymore.”
Elaine sank into a chair pulling her kids down with her and just held them, while tears streamed down her cheeks. Three days later a funeral was held for David Brown, the loved husband, son and father. Two weeks later the corn farm was put up for sale.
It had been a month and a half since Alicia’s father had passed away and the Brown family was moving tomorrow. Alicia slept curled up in the sleeping bag that lay on the bare mattress. A knock echoed in the room, the door opened and a hand shook her shoulder. “Common we are going out to the fields”, said Michael, “I want to say goodbye.”
Alicia got up sleepily and followed her brother out into the corn fields and spread the sleeping bag out on the ground next to Michael’s. “What are we doing?” she asked.
“We’re gonna listen like when Dad was here”, Michael said.
Silence enveloped them as they lay on the ground in their sleeping bags listening to the stillness. A tear slipped out of Alicia’s eye, “I really miss him Michael.”
“Me too. But tonight let’s pretend Dad is here. The stars are listening and so is Dad”, Michael whispered.
