The 365 Day Challenge

Day 19

{This story is dedicated to Pat Wilson, as some of you must know, the drummer for Weezer. He grew up around the corner from my dad here in New York and he just came here to visit last night. His wife recently passed away due to cancer. Pat and his two young sons (I'm not using their actual names) aged eight and five, are now living life without a wife/mother. This situation puts pain in my heart but I am going to try to duplicate this motherless pain in my words.}

Will was awakened by his younger brother's cries. "Mama, Mama!" Will climbed down from his bed and found his way down the hall to Mikey's room. He flicked on his light to see the little brown-eyed boy thrashing in his sheets. Will sat on the edge of Mikey's bed and shook him. "Mikey, Mikey, Mikey!" He yelled. Mikey woke with a start. "Will?" He said in a frightened whisper. Fat tears rolled from his big eyes and down his rosy cheeks. "I had a bad dream again 'bout, 'bout..." His voice quavered and Mikey couldn't continue. Will crawled up next to his brother and wrapped his arms around him. "I know." He said quietly. "Why'd she havta go, Will?" Mikey asked sadly. "How come Daddy ain't the same no more? It's no fair." Will said nothing, for he had no answer. He didn't understand death beyond the movies or one of the pet goldfish. A sickness like cancer was even more confusing... Mama just laid in a bed for days and days and one morning he woke up and she was gone. Gone. It had been a couple weeks and he could barely comprehend it, much less little Mikey, who didn't even finish a full year of kindergarten yet. "Well," Will said slowly. "Don't you think she's in a better place?" He said this warily. In plenty of movies and television shows he had heard people say that the decreased love one was "in a better place" but even Will didn't believe his mother was in a better place. Mama didn't want to die, he thought. Mama only ever wanted to stay here and love us and Daddy. How could Mama be in a better place without us? Mikey looked at Will for a second and noticed the doubt in his eyes. "No," Mikey said quietly. "I don't believe it." "I know," Will sighed, as he covered himself in some of Mikey's blankets. "Mama is gone, but that don't mean her love is."

Joe dragged his stumbling best friend Pat into the house after a long night at the bar. "Hey," Pat slurred. "Whaddaya say 'bout goin' to the bar 'gain tomarrah?" Joe straightened Pat up and looked him in the eye. "Alright Pat, you've been off the hook lately because you've got a dead wife." Pat looked at him shocked. "Yeah, that's right, I just addressed it myself. Not to be insensitive, Pat, but you've been doing more drinking about your wife than talking about her. You came into her funeral drunk! Do you think that's what she would want for you?" Joe practically shouted. "Don't you dare say my wife would be disappointed in me," Pat growled, suddenly sober. Joe sighed and put his hands on Pat's shoulders. "You've got sons, Pat." He said. "Now, it's your job to look after them. Most people think little girls have it worse off when they lose their mom, but it's the little boys who need a woman in their life to make them snacks and embarrass them with kisses. Little boys don't get over their mother until they're teenagers." Joe released Pat and started walking towards the door. "I'm leaving now but you best be straightening things out." Joe said as he opened the door and shut it behind him. Joe's words stung Pat and he rubbed his shoulder where Joe's hand left a rough indent. He turned and started walking down the hall. Their bedroom door was ajar and Pat pushed it open wider to find his sons asleep in each others arms. He stepped forward and collapsed onto the bed before them. He wrapped his arms around the both of them and began to cry. He kept his sobs quiet for the sake of the boys. He fell asleep right beside Will and Mikey, yet he couldn't shake the feeling that someone else was comforting them.