Bringing Her Home

A father gives the ultimate gift for his daughter when she becomes ill.

“Do you remember when we brought her home?”

“Of course I do.”

“Do you remember how she would cry for hours on end and we didn’t know what was wrong with her?”

“Yeah, they thought she might have a reflux disorder.”

“And it turned out that she had colic . . . I miss those days, when that was the worst we had to worry about.”

 

 

“Daddy catch me!” with arms spread wide, her grin grew wider anticipating the jump to come. The pale pink pajamas she wore had juice stains down the front that turned many of the flowers from yellow to purple.

“I don’t want to catch you.” I frowned down at her as she balanced on the edge of the bed. Her heavy arms flopped to her side and disappointment stained her face. “Why daddy? Don’t you want me?”

“Oh honey, of course I want you! It’s just . . .”

“What daddy, what is it?” Her sticky juice covered fingers pressed against my cheeks forcing me to look her in the eyes. I smiled “It’s just that . . . I’ll catch you and then I’ll have to let you go. You’re going to leave me.”

“Na-uh. I promise Daddy, I won’t leave you.”

“Yes you will, you’ll want to go play with your toys or something. You’ll want to go eat or sleep or something like that, and then one day you’ll want to date boys and then go off to college, maybe one day get married and start a family of your own. Then where will I be huh? All alone, without you.” My eyes drop to her feet again.

“Look Daddy.” She tries to raise my eyes to hers but is unsuccessful. “Daddy, look at me” she begs. Finally, she lowers herself and looks up into my eyes, her hands never leaving my face. “I won’t leave you Daddy, I promise. I will always be your little princess.”

“You will?”

“Yessssss, I promise.”

“Okay, then I’ll catch you but I’m warning you. I’m never letting you go, no matter what okay.” The sudden smile flashing across her face makes me have to catch my breath.

“I know Daddy.”

She stands on the edge once more and prepares for the jump. With my arms outstretched I prepare to catch her.

“Are you ready Daddy?”

“Yes I got you.”

“Don’t drop me okay.”

“I would never.”

“Okay ready?”

“Yes I’m ready, just jump already.”

She giggles and launches herself into my chest. “Whoa,” I gasp for air. “When did you get so strong?”

“Am I that strong Daddy?”

“You sure are baby.” I wrap my arms around her tiny body and squeeze tight.

“Whoa Daddy, you too. You’re really strong too.” Her arms squeeze my neck and I feel her head lay against mine.

“I love you baby girl.”

“I love you more.”

 

 

“She’s not doing so well Doc.”

“Well why don’t you tell me what the problem here is and we’ll say what we can do hmm.” His smile reassures me that this is going to be okay.

My gaze is set on her playing with the puzzle pieces in the corner. “Well Doc, First of all, she’s not eating like she used to. Sometimes it’s even a hassle to get her to eat at all. She’s always tired but isn’t sleeping much and complains of cramps when she does sleep.”

“Don’t forget to tell him about the swollen feet and ankles and the puffy eyes and dry skin.” The words come from my wife sitting next to me on the patient’s bed.

“Does she have any itching? Especially in the dry skin areas?” The doctor asks.

“I don’t know, she doesn’t say anything about it.” I answer him.

“Have you seen her scratching at all or rubbing parts of her body?”

“No,” my wife says, “we haven’t.”

“Let me ask you one more question. How often does she use the bathroom, specifically, how often does she urinate?”

“Well, um . . .” I stumble. “She has been going to the bathroom a little more than usual, now that you mention it,” my wife inputs.

“Mm-hmm, okay well let’s get her temperature and draw some blood, I would like to run a few tests before deciding where to go next with this.”

“Why Doc? Do you know what it is? Do you have an idea?” I realize I’m almost begging him for an answer.

“There are no answers yet but based on what you’ve told me I would like to take a look at her kidneys. Make sure their functioning properly.”

 

 

“Who would have thought that our little girl would have chronic kidney disease. I just . . .” my wife’s arms wrap around my shoulders, the familiar cold wet stream of tears run down my face.

“It’s going to be okay honey. They’re coming back with the results today. One of us will be a match. I know it. You just have to believe it’s going to be okay.” Her comforting words don’t help the tears.

“What if we’re not huh? What then? What are we going to do?” I realize my voice is rising. “I’m sorry, I just can’t . . . imagine.”

“I know. I know how you feel. I feel the same way too but it’s all we can do right now. We’ll get through this, like we always have, you know we will.”

The door creeks open and it’s the all too familiar image of the doctor walking in the room. He holds a clipboard in his hands; the same we have come to know has important information on it, usually bad news for us.

“How are you handling?” he asks.

I let my wife do the talking. “Not too well Doctor, what’s the news? Are either of us a match?”

“Right to it then, I’m sorry, you are not a match for your daughter but your husband here is.” I feel their eyes look to me for a response.

“Of course, what are you looking at me like that for, yes. Let’s do it. How soon can we do the surgery Doc?”

“I can schedule it for next week. There’s no reason to wait any longer then we have to.”

 

 

I can’t help but think of how fragile she looks lying in her mother’s arms. “Hey there Sweety. How are you feeling?”

“I don’t feel good Daddy.”

“I know baby, it’s going to be okay though. Daddy’s going to the see the doctor now and we’re gonna make you feel better okay.”

“You are? How?” Her eyes barely manage to open.

“We’re going to find you a new kidney, one that isn’t sick. That way you can feel better. Then you can be healthy again and you can jump into my arms just like you used to okay. How does that sound?”

“Okay Daddy. That sounds good.” Her voice is weak and she closes her eyes falling asleep.

I brush the dark strands of hair from her face and gently kiss her cheek. “I love you princess.” I kiss my wife’s forehead and turn to leave.

“I love you more.” She says with closed eyes. I smile and leave the room.

 

 

“What do they say it was honey?” a concerned voice comes from the other end of the phone.

Tears streaming down her face, “they said it was aspiration of gastric contents under anesthesia.”

“Honey I’m so sorry. It’s not fair. This shouldn’t have happened.”

“I know mom. It’s not fair! It’s . . . why . . .why would it happen then” the words almost incoherent.

“I don’t know baby, but you need to be strong right now. Your daughter needs you to be okay. How is she doing by the way?”

“She’s not good mom. They say she has an infection and that maybe her body is rejecting the kidney. I can’t . . .” her bodies convulses as she struggles for breath.

“Breathe honey! I need you to breathe okay. Can you hear me, breathe.”

“I ca . . . I can’t . . . I”

“Honey breathe. Do you need me to call someone?” . . . “Honey, are you there? Say something.”

“I’m here, I just needed a moment.”

“Okay good. Now your father and I will be there tomorrow night, we’re catching the first flight out in the morning and we’ll come stay with you for as long as you need us okay.”

“I miss him so much mom. I don’t know if I can go on.”

“I know honey, it’s tough but I’ll be there soon and I’ll help you through this. You’ll be okay.”

“Thanks mom. I really need you right now.”

 

 

“Why is mommy all dressed in black Daddy?”

“Well, it’s because she is sad and she is mourning for her loss.”

“Is that why all the other people are wearing black too?”

“It sure is. They’re sad because they miss us and they’re sad for us.”

“But why Daddy? Don’t they know how happy we are? Don’t they know how much better I am now?”

“They don’t know, not yet. But they will. One day mommy will come join us here and we can all be together again. Would you like that?”

“Yeah, I’d like that.”

“That’s good. Now, are you ready to go?”

“Yeah, I’m ready.”

“Wave goodbye to Mommy.”

As we turn to leave the house and her little arms swing in the air I glimpse two coffins in the center of the room, one larger than the other and I give my little girl one large squeeze.

“Oh Daddy, when are you gonna put me down?”

“Never, I’m never letting you go.”

Author's Note

As always I am open to all criticism so please feel free to be honest. I hope you guys like this one. I still need to do some editing here and there but I'd thought I'd put it out anyway.

Reviews

[Will Neill]

This is quite a sad story, I think you should have set the scene just a bit before jumping into the Dialogue, for a moment I was lost as to who he was speaking to-also maybe change one persons speech to italics this allows the reader to define who the characters are. When you are conveying a srory purely through speech it important that certain clues are dropped in (sutley) as to the smells, sounds and sorroundings of the protagonist. Read over it again yourself out loud and see how it flows.
Keep writing young sir-you are getting there.
Will

[NotNobody]

Thank you for your review. As always I appreciate it. This story was just written and I wanted to edit as much as possible but I began to feel like I have read it so many times I was becoming immune to its flaws. Your advice really is helpful. I know who is talking when the dialogue takes place so it is hard for me to see where I can place these subtle clues, however I do agree that they are needed. I plan on taking some time away from this piece and forgetting it for a moment. When that happens I hope to obtain a fresh perspective and then I can assure, your advice will be put to practice. I always value what you have to say. It really helps me improve my writings and for that sir, I am forever grateful.

[Will Neill]

Your most welcome.
Will

[QuietlyCrash]

This...it just breaks my heart. It was a tad bit confusing at first because it was mainly dialogue but I actually really enjoyed this story. After reading your other stories I realize that you like to write from a different perspective. I like how this doesn't end like you think it would. I was on the verge of tears reading the last few lines. Thank you for sharing.

[NotNobody]

Thanks for your feedback, I appreciate it. Dialogue is definitely something I still need to work on. I am glad you enjoyed the story though. I wasn't quite sure myself, how I wanted it to end, until I got there. I'm happy with it though. Again, thank you very much.

[Marie]

THis was too sad for me. I'm sorry; I know it's a good story. But I shouldn't habve read it.

[NotNobody]

I hope you're okay. My intentions were never to upset anyone. I thank you for your review though and appreciate you taking the time to say something. :)