Prologue

A short prologue to bring you into the story

THE GIFT

By

Jenny Nieuwsma

Prologue

    June 15, 1995 I woke up to the loud ring of the alarm clock. I pulled out my hand from under the blanket and reach for the snooze button. I am not ready to get up yet, eyes halfway shut but before I push the button, I glance at the time, seven o’clock? I realized it is time to get up. “Oh, its Jenny’s birthday and first anniversary, today is going to be a great day.” I mumbled aloud. I turned off the alarm before long and got out of the bed. I feel wide-awake after that. I stretched my arm side to side, my legs, and back, jumped up and down a number of times. “I did my exercise.” I mumbled to myself. I walked to the bathroom to shower but Alice is in the shower already. Instead of waiting there for Alice to finish, I walked to the kitchen humming Jenny’s favorite song “You.” I used to sing the song to her all the time when she was little, it was my favorite first, and Jenny heard it so much that she adopted it. In a way, this is our favorite song. I pass by the hallway with Jenny’s pictures hanging on the wall. I stopped and stared at her photogenic face. “Good morning my sweet Jenny, happy birthday and happy anniversary to you, I’ll see you in a few.” I leaned forward to kiss her picture.




    The sweet aroma of the French vanilla coffee and the delightful smell of bacon and cheese omelet drag my feet faster to the kitchen. Andrea is up as usual and busy cooking breakfast, she heard me coming, “You’re extremely cheery this morning, I don’t think you need coffee for help,” she said smiling. She got a cup in the cupboard, and pours coffee in it for me. “You know Andrea, today is going to be a great day. It’s Jenny’s special day.” I stepped closer to her and gave her a hug. She returned my hug. She picked up the cup and handed it to me. She went back to cooking. I stayed there sipping coffee while chatting with her.  “I’m going to see Jenny first thing this morning, right after I finish changing. I want you to cook something for the celebration tonight.”  She asks about breakfast. “Aren’t you going to eat first before you go out on the road?”  “No, I’m not hungry, just excited,” I said. “The flowers, are they ready?”  “Yes, right at seven o’clock this morning I heard the doorbell rang. I looked out the window to see who was on the door, all I saw was, the lower half body of a man, and the other half covered with flowers… Johnny delivered them. The flowers are waiting for you by the door.” “Seven o’clock you said? That was my alarm clock ringing.”  “Maybe so,” she grins. “But on this side of the house, it was the doorbell ringing and Johnny was standing out front with bunch of flowers on his hands when I opened the door for him.” “Really,” I shook my head in disbelief. “Well, come to think of it, I guess you’re right, no wonder, I thought that ring was awfully far for the alarm clock. Huh?”


    I finished the coffee then gave Andrea a kiss on the forehead. I walked back to the bedroom to check if Alice is finish in the bathroom. Alice is fixing her hair. Greeting her good morning, I leaned forward to kiss her already made up lips. I mess it up so before she gets to yell at me, I excused myself, and got ready to shower. The water is still cold when I got in. I jumped as the water hit my body, “woo… cold, now I’m awake,” I am talking to myself aloud. Alice is laughing in the background. She is standing next to the door and tries talking to me over the noise of the shower.  “I’m going to work today. I told you that I did not get the day off because I have so much work past due. Are you going to your office today at all?” “No, I’m going to visit Jenny this morning. Then tonight we will have a small celebration.”  “Okay, do you have particular time for me to be home, because I don’t know how long it will take me to finish my work?”  “One of those again, never mined, do whatever you can. Andrea and I will do it.” I leave it at that, I know well enough not to tango with her, but it did change my mood. I quickly finished showering, Alice just about done with her self. She gave me a kiss and left for work. I changed in a hurry so I could leave.


    I walked out the door. Andrea ran up to me and reminded me to tell Jenny that she’ll visit later in the day when I get back. She helped me carry the flowers to the car. Andrea gave me a kiss goodbye and waved. I backed the car out of the driveway. I didn’t leave the house until after nine o’clock in the morning, I want it earlier but a phone call from my secretary distracted me. On the way to see Jenny, my mind is repeating what Alice said to me in the shower. It bothers me; I can’t believe she still makes excuses when it comes to Jenny. I wanted to forget it so I popped a tape in the cassette player. It’s recorded songs of Jenny from last year, from all different occasions my wedding, Mike’s birthday, my birthday, and others, I can’t even remember which is which. The tape starts up in the middle of a song and her voice comes out. The words of the song strike me, it says, “I got to know, do you believe in love,” I think immediately of Jenny. My mind wanders back in time. What is love, how does someone know if it’s love? For me, love unfolded on the day I first set my eyes on Jenny...