¿A Normal Life?

Earlin took care of Lily the best she could while raising her own family. Both Earlin and Lily were still in school. After school Lily would go to the neighbors until Earlin got off work. This schedule started when Earlin was only sixteen and Lily just eight.

Before John and Louella left for Hawaii on their second honeymoon they signed the consent form for Earlin to marry William Bruner. John, following the family tradition, had been looking for a good man to marry Earlin. He was thrilled when his friend and Co-worker, William, finally asked his permission to marry Earlin.

John told William, "You two are finally doing the right thing."

William said, "I know we did not do things in the proper order, but the truth is I have always loved her and we were waiting for the right time to ask your permission. I am sorry we did not marry sooner."

"Things happen. You two should have waited before having a child. It is good to know that you are taking responsibility and that you made the decision to marry her instead of leaving her. I will grant you permission to marry her, on the condition that you will treat her with respect and love her all of your lives."

Together, John and William walked into the apartment. John and William looked at each other and then John looked at Earlin and said, "I think we have a wedding to plan. Have you two set a date yet?"

"Yes. We want to get married on the eighteenth."

"That is short notice. You sure you want it that soon?" asked Louella.

"Yes. We want it as close to your wedding anniversary as possible. We know that you need to get rested up after your trip and that is why we are putting it off until the weekend," said William.

"Now Mom, let's get you ready for your trip..."

"Honey let's plan your wedding instead."

"No Mom. First you get ready for your trip and then we will discuss the plans for the wedding."

"Louella, there will be plenty of time to plan the wedding," said John.

"Okay. Let’s get this done. I want to help with some of your wedding plans before we leave."

"Mom you are not leaving for two days. We have plenty of time."

It took longer to pack than Earlin thought. Her mom was right. They did still have time to start on the plans for her wedding. Since it took so long to get the packing done, they waited until the following morning after breakfast to start the plans.
When Earlin came down for breakfast she brought her notebook so she would not have to go back up and get it. They were not going to have a big wedding, but she did want a fancy one. The first thing they did was plan the number of guests. Some of the people who were to be invited were: Louella, John, Lily, A.J.(William and Earlin's son), John and Susannah Bruner (William's parents), etc. On the tables she wanted white table cloths, mixed mints and nuts, and bouquets of flowers. The flowers would be maroon and pink in color to match her plastic-ware and napkins. Before they knew it, it was dinner time. Neither Louella nor Earlin had eaten lunch. Lily had fixed herself a couple of sandwiches and fed A.J.

Since it was dinner time, they decided they would finish the plans when John and Louella got back from their second honeymoon. Louella hurried and made tacos for dinner. It was quick and easy so John wouldn’t know she had forgotten the time. What she didn't know was he had her figured out, but never said anything. He liked her homemade tortillas. Louella fixed dinner and Earlin fed A.J.

After dinner Earlin did dishes, without being asked, so her parents could go to bed early. They needed to be at the airport by 5:00 A.M. to make sure they didn't miss the plane. Lily went in and gave her parents hugs and kisses, took a shower and got ready for bed.

Earlin was the first one up. She made breakfast. John and Louella left at 4:15 A.M. It was a half-hour drive to the airport and they wanted to make sure they would be there on time. Lily went back to bed after they left. Earlin did dishes and then went back to bed.

At 7:00 A.M. they both got up and got ready for school. Lily packed A.J.'s diaper bag the night before so she could just get him dressed, walk across the hall to the neighbors, and drop him off on her way to school. The elementary school was on the way to the high school so Earlin had no problem walking Lily to school. They didn't have to drive or ride the bus because they lived within a few blocks of both schools.

Earlin went to her classes as always. At the end of the fourth period she was called to the office. With hall pass in hand she walked over to the main building and into the office. There was a police officer and William waiting for her. She looked at the cop and then William. The policeman had just asked the principal if they could use his office.

She asked William, "What is going on? Why do you need to speak with me? Can't this wait?"
"No, Miss Lords. Come with us and we will discuss it in your principal’s office."

"I don't understand. I just want to go back to class and..."

"I am sorry...," started William.

"Come. Let's go in and talk," said Officer Clark.

She relented and followed them into the office. Once in there, they closed the door. William and Earlin both sat across the desk from Officer Clark who sat in the principal’s chair. He started by saying, "Miss Lords, my name is Detective Leonidis Clark... You may call me Leo." He looked from William to Earlin and back. "Um, I have been instructed to contact Mr. Bruner if any emergencies arose. I was hoping I would not have to..."

"What is it? What’s wrong? William. Tell me!"

William looked at Officer Clark and then turned to Earlin, "Honey, I am sorry, but your mom and dad won't be coming home. Their plane crashed before they even got to Hawaii. While over the Pacific Ocean the pilot lost control... Before he could regain control they went through an air pocket and then nose first into the ocean."
"No! You are wrong! I just saw them this morning. They are fine!"

"Miss Lords, Earlin, I am sorry, but he is correct. I know you had plans to marry in a couple of weeks, but the truth is we will have to put you three in a fostered home until we can find a permanent home for each of you. The odds of all of you being allowed to stay together are not good. In fact A.J. will probably have a home within a couple of days."

"What are you saying? You are taking my son away from me? First my parents and now my son and my sister. No! You cannot and will not do this to me!"

William held Earlin's hand and said, "Officer Clark. We have a signed consent form to get married. Is there anyway you can help us so they don't have to be separated?"

Officer Clark thought a moment and said, "Just a minute.” He picked up the phone and called the Lieutenant and asked, "Can we allow Earlin and William to get married to keep the family together? They say they have a signed consent form... Okay. How long will that take? Okay. Thank you." He looked at William and said, "I have good news and bad. Which do you want first?"

William said, "Good," and Earlin nodded in agreement.

"Okay. The good news is we can allow you two to get married and keep A.J. and Lily with you. The bad news is we have to have the signatures on the consent form authenticated and that could take a while."

"Why? It was signed in front of a notary."

"I am sorry but it will still take sometime for us to check it out. However, the waiting time should not be as long as we first thought. My boss suggested staying with family until this is settled, otherwise you may end up being split up temporarily."

“Neither of my parents had siblings. My dad's parents passed away a few years ago. We never met or heard from our mom's parents." So, as you can see, we have no family that we can stay with.”
"If it is just temporary and friends or neighbors are willing to take them in, could they do that instead of being placed in separate homes?" asked William.

"That is a possibility. I will have to look into it and talk it over with my boss first. Can I get back to you later today, about it?"

"Okay. In the mean time, can we go back to the apartment and . . . make all the necessary arrangements and clearing out or, um, packing up John and Louella's things?" William stammered.

"Yes, you can do that. I am holding you responsible for them until we can get things straightened out. Normally, I would have to be there, but since John and Louella trusted you with their children I will, too."

They walked straight from the principals office to the attendance office and signed Earlin out. Officer Clark was there to let them know that Earlin was leaving with William and may not be back for a few days because of a family emergency. Earlin and William thanked him for his help and they went back to her classroom with a note explaining she was going home and that she will be gone a few days. They talked with her teacher at his desk.

Mr. Higley said, "Earlin, are you okay? I will give you a list of your homework so you can stay caught up."

Earlin burst into tears and nodded. She wasn't able to say anything through her tears so William put his arm around her and told Mr. Higley, "I will be back after school lets out to get her homework from all of her teachers. Could you please let them all know?"
"I would like to know what is going on, but yes I will let them know. It’ll be ready and waiting for you at the office."

"I am sorry, there is just too much to explain, right now, so we were informed to just tell everyone there is a family emergency and that Earlin will be out of school for a short time."

Earlin picked up her school books. Before leaving the school they went to her locker where she put all of the books in her backpack and put on her jacket. Earlin stared out of the car window all the way home. Both were silent until they walked into the apartment.

She walked into her mom and dad's room, sat on their bed, and kept asking over and over, "Why? They were still young and..."

William sat down next to her and put his arms around her and let her cry. When she thought she could cry no more they got up and looked around the room for a place to start. He said, "If you want... I will start on this while you make the phone calls, or I can make the calls while you start on this."

"No. It’s my responsibility to do it all. Let's start in here... Oh. We don't have any boxes. Maybe we better sit down and make out a list of things to get and do. That's one thing my mom has taught me, always make up a list and mark things off as you go." She went and got her notebook. They sat at the kitchen table next to each other. When she opened it, she found the notes for her wedding and started crying again, "Mom, what am I going to do now? What about my wedding? This was supposed to be the happiest day of my life, but now everything is changed! I wish you had put your honeymoon off for another year!" she screamed toward the ceiling. "This just isn't fair!" William moved closer to her to comfort her and she said, "No William, I have to get through this. Let's get this done and then..."

William said, "We can still have the wedding the way it was planned. I am sure that my dad will be happy to give you away and my mom would love to help you get ready."

"I don't know. I don't know if I want the wedding the way we had started to plan it. It will hurt too much because my mom was supposed to be there and help me with everything and my dad was supposed to give me away and be your best man."

"Let's try not to think about the wedding right now. We have so much to do with this."

She turned to the next blank page and at the top wrote:

Things to do:

call friends and neighbors
call lawyer
call landlord
call mortuaries
clean
get boxes and labels
get storage unit
look for will
look for or write obituaries
look for important papers and/or a safety box
pack everything

After finishing the list Earlin started sorting through her mom and dad's things and put them in piles throughout the house. She brought in the big garbage can to put the items not needed or wanted in. She put all of the clothes in plastic bags. By the time William got back with the boxes she had gotten most everything sorted. She did not take the time to look at each item, because they had a limited time frame to work with.

While she was boxing things, William went across the hall to talk with Ellen Hawthorne, the baby-sitter, and then Ellen's cousin Thomas Hawthorne, the landlord - who lived downstairs.

William went downstairs to the office and rang the doorbell. Mr. Hawthorne buzzed him in and said, "How can I help you?"

"Can we sit down and talk?"

"Yes. Follow me." They walked into another room that had white walls with oil paintings hanging on them. They sat in comfortable dark blue chairs. There was a kind of print on them that William had never seen before, but did not have time to ask about it because he had to focus on trying to secure a residence for Earlin, Lily, and A.J.

After sitting on the chair he leaned forward and looked at the floor and as he was raising his head to look up at Mr. Hawthorne he said, "I am here to let you know that John and Louella have died in a plane crash on their way to Hawaii this morning. Before they left, they signed a notarized form for Earlin and me to get married. The police have to authenticate the signatures so the girls will temporarily be on their own. Earlin wants to keep A.J. with her, but if she is not able to then I will take him. He is my son so that will not be a problem. After we are married, we would like to continue to rent the apartment at the same price John and Louella were paying. At that time we will have both A.J. and Lily with us. In addition to informing you about John and Louella I am also here to ask permission for the girls and A.J. to stay in the apartment. The police said they would have to stay with friends or family, but I think we can work something out so they can keep the apartment, if it is okay with you?"

"That is a lot to be going through and putting on a couple of kids. I am sorry for their loss, but I cannot allow them to stay in the apartment without an adult."

"That is what I am working on right now. What if I stay with them from 3:00 P.M., when they get out of school, to 10:00 P.M. when they go to bed and if Ellen agrees, she can listen for any problems from 10:00 P.M. until 7:30 A.M. They leave at that time. Can they stay?"

"I guess, if Ellen agrees and also the police."

"Thank you so much."

"Now William if they stay, they will have to follow the same rules they have before. There will be no parties, no running around the building, no loud music, etc."

"That's fine. I don't think they will have a problem with that. I will make sure they follow them when I am there. I will talk with Ellen and officer Clark and then get back to you."

Mr. Hawthorne walked with William out to the front door so he could lock it after he left. William went right up to Ellen's. She answered the door and invited him in.

"Thank you. How has A.J. been?"

"He is a sweet baby. He hasn’t been fussy at all today. He ate all of his lunch and then had four ounces of milk. You are here early. Is everything okay?"
"No Ellen. I’m afraid not. Earlin is packing her parents things as we speak."

"Why?"

"That's what I wanted to talk with you about. You see, unless we can make arrangements for the children to be supervised or at least have someone close at all times they will be split up into different foster homes."

"Oh my!"

"We were told this morning that their parents were on the plane that crashed between here and Hawaii. I am waiting for Officer Clark to call us with more information. He is checking to see if the kids can stay with friends or neighbors. What I am wondering is if you could keep an eye on them during the night starting at 10:00 P.M. I will watch them from them time they get home until they go to bed."

"Have you talked to my cousin?”

"Yes. He said they can stay if you and the police agree with my idea."

"Let me talk with Thomas and then I will let you know."

"Okay, I will need to know as soon as possible. I will go ahead and take A.J. now so you can talk to him without being disturbed, besides Earlin will want to see as much of him as possible."

Earlin looked up when William came in holding A.J. She had just come out of the walk in closet with her arms full of papers and things. She dropped them on the bed and turned to take A.J. out of William's arms so he could put the diaper bag down. She hugged him tight and said, "I will not let them take you away from me! I love you."

William said, "I have a couple of ideas, things I have been working on. I just talked to Mr. Hawthorne and Ellen about you keeping the apartment. Don't get your hopes up," He said when her face lit up. "I don't have all of the details yet. In fact, I am waiting for Ellen to come back from speaking with the landlord and then I still have to talk to Leo about it. If for some reason they do not agree to let you three stay here, I will take A.J. with me and you will see him every day. Nothing will change except for where he will sleep. He and I will be here when you get home from school. This way you won't have to worry about losing him to strangers. Besides, we will be married before you know it."
"I want him with me! I am his mother!"

"Honey, I know. It would be great if you can have him, but if they insist he be with someone else then I will take him. This way you can continue to see and be involved with him."

"Okay. I understand what you are saying. This is just in case they want to take him."

"Yes, that's it... I will be right back," he said as he went to answer the door.

"Hi Ellen."

"May I come in and speak with you and Earlin?"

"Yes, please make yourself comfortable. I will get Earlin."

"Babe, Ellen is here and would like to speak with us."

"Okay, let me put A.J. in his playpen." She said wiping her tears away. "Let me go wash my face and I will be out. It's Okay. Here you go. Be good and play with your toys," she said as she gave A.J. a rattle to play with.

"Hi Ellen. How are you today?"

"I am doing well, thank you. I am sorry to hear about your folks. After speaking with you, William, I went and talked with Thomas. He told me everything. It was a difficult decision for us to make, but I decided I can spend nights here and still rent my apartment. Thomas agreed as well. He will not change our rent to reflect this new temporary situation. However, he did want me to enforce the rules that he had already given you. I have my own personal rules as well. If you can live with them then we can make this work providing Officer Clark agrees to it."

"What are your rules?" Earlin asked.

"I expect you up by 6:00 A.M. You will get ready for school, eat breakfast, get A.J. ready to go spend the day in my apartment. Before leaving for school each of you will have your rooms cleaned and beds made."

"We already do that, so it won't be a problem. I always do breakfast dishes as soon as we get home from school."

"You should do that before school or your mom should have done them first thing in the morning."

"I am sorry, but we run on a tight schedule and my mom was a very busy woman. Don't worry. You won't have to clean up after us."

"Ellen, I assure you, you will not have to worry about them."

"Okay. Then it's a plan. Let me know what Officer Clark says and we’ll take it from there."

They stood up and walked with her to the door, "Thank you so much for coming and for agreeing to stay with us at night," Earlin said as she gave her a hug. Before standing back up the tears started silently sliding down her cheeks.

"You are welcome, my dear. What's this? Sh... It's Okay."
Helen said soothingly.

"It's after 2 o’clock! I better go pick up Lily and your assignments. We will be home shortly. If Leo calls before I get home tell him I’ll call him back. I love you," he said as he walked out the door behind Ellen.

Earlin went in and checked on A.J. He was fast asleep on his tummy, against the playpen wall. He had his little black teddy Bear Your Family History with a blue bow tie in his arms. She returned to her parents room and went back into the closet. She picked up another armful of papers when she collapsed to a sitting position with the papers scattered in front of her. All she could do was sob while sitting there. After about fifteen minutes of this she finally gathered herself and the scattered papers up. She stood up, walked out, and put them on the bed with the rest. She thought to herself, I better put these in a trig pile. She brought out copious papers. She didn’t think she’d get to the bottom of the pile. Some of the papers looked important so she made sure not to lose a single one. Finally, she took the last of them out and put it on the stack. She must have made a dozen trips.

She made one more trip into the closet to make sure everything had been taken out. She looked up and found more items stacked on the shelf above the clothes rack. "Ugh, it's a good thing I double-checked. We can't miss anything." She went out to the kitchen to get a chair. She found old shoes, purses, bottles of coins, pictures, maps, more papers, and an envelope on the shelf above the rack where the clothes were hanging. Above the stack of papers and pictures she found a small door. She could not reach it without a ladder, but William should be able to. "I’ll have to ask him to check it out, " she said, aloud.

After putting everything on the bed and floor she sat down in the middle of it all. She planned on putting all of the papers in a box then setting it aside for later, except she became enthralled by the envelope. It was a small letter envelope, but had an erratic shape to it. It had some writing on the front that she could not read because it was faded and apparently in a different language. "What could this be?" she said.

"Who are you talking to?"

She jumped and let out a scream. "I didn't hear you come in. Don't do that, William! No one. Why?"
"I heard you say something."

"Oh. Look at this. Wait, where is Lily?"

"She’s in her room. I told her you’re not feeling very well and wanted to be in here, alone. Now what is it you want me to look at?"

"There’s a door of some kind in the top of the closet. I can't reach it. Could you please see if there is anything up there? I found it when I was getting the last of the papers and things off that shelf," she said as she looked back down at the envelope.

"What's that?"

"I don't know."