Everything's Fine and Dee Recaps for Mira
OMG, Zeremy, that was such a crayzee nite, eh? Thanx 4 getting all thoze tix so Merrie an' Robin an' I cd all go C Disney on Ice w/U and yr future sis. I can't believe Ger actually got a Baloo the Bear suit and sneaked himself in so he cd sk8 and also sing his embarrassing "Gettin' sum from April Flower" song. I'm glad he recovered so quick from being zapped w/that security guard's stun gun. He sez he's just glad he didn't get stungunned in the gut, where his bro is alwayz punching him. That wda been a prob! Oh, and thanx 4 bribing that guy, Mom's spy, w/an autograffed book fr. yr dad, Country Jones, so he wdn't blab. Lucky 4 me the guy was such a big fan!
Dessert @ the CN Tower was such a great idea, 2! It was nice 2 have sum alone time w/Ger, and he was so glad 2 B w/me, he even let off on pressuring me the way he has l8ly. When I'd asked him Y he'd pulled his crazy Baloo stunt, he sed he'd just gone crayzee from "April Flower Withdrawal." Awwwww.
MCDunC, it soundz like U R having a s00per-cube vacation! I haven't even had a chance 2 use the housekey U gave me, but I def will. And gotcha--no big NYE partee @ the Anderson house.
So, this morning, I went in 2 my room 2 get sum stuff fr. my dresser. MY dresser, the one I paid 4 all by myself, with my OWN money, from Ikea. And U'll remember that Mike an' Dee R using my room, but if not, U'd know from the convo I'm abt 2 report, that Dee was having on the fone with her Mom. Cuz, like, U haven't heard enuf abt ppl in my fam recapping what happed the nite of the fire.
NEway, Dee was sitting on MY bed, with Merrie and Robin totally clinging 2 her (she wasn't kidding when she told me the poor kidz R xxtra clingly l8ly). I heard her saying, "We're fine, Mom. We R staying with John and Elly. No, we don't know 4 how long. We're in April's room, April has moved 2 the rec room and our kidz R in the sewing room, next 2 Elizabeth. We're fine!" Then she stood up, holding Robin. And I felt a storm cloud rising over my head as she sed, "Yes, we've had sum fun [fun?] reorganizing & it's a little crowded, but don't worry, everything's fine." Then I left the room, but l8r she told me that as she hung up the fone, she was thinking, "Everything's fine. Everything's fine." And then she sat on my bed with the kids 2 read them a snowman story, and continued thinking: "For my children's sake..... Everything's fine."
When she told me this, she hugged me and thanked me again 4 taking Robin an' Merrie off of her handz 4 a while last nite. She sez she really, really needed that. Esp. since Mike is spending xxtra time @ the office, since he doesn't have an attic 2 hide in here. Nice, Mike.
Apes
Dessert @ the CN Tower was such a great idea, 2! It was nice 2 have sum alone time w/Ger, and he was so glad 2 B w/me, he even let off on pressuring me the way he has l8ly. When I'd asked him Y he'd pulled his crazy Baloo stunt, he sed he'd just gone crayzee from "April Flower Withdrawal." Awwwww.
MCDunC, it soundz like U R having a s00per-cube vacation! I haven't even had a chance 2 use the housekey U gave me, but I def will. And gotcha--no big NYE partee @ the Anderson house.
So, this morning, I went in 2 my room 2 get sum stuff fr. my dresser. MY dresser, the one I paid 4 all by myself, with my OWN money, from Ikea. And U'll remember that Mike an' Dee R using my room, but if not, U'd know from the convo I'm abt 2 report, that Dee was having on the fone with her Mom. Cuz, like, U haven't heard enuf abt ppl in my fam recapping what happed the nite of the fire.
NEway, Dee was sitting on MY bed, with Merrie and Robin totally clinging 2 her (she wasn't kidding when she told me the poor kidz R xxtra clingly l8ly). I heard her saying, "We're fine, Mom. We R staying with John and Elly. No, we don't know 4 how long. We're in April's room, April has moved 2 the rec room and our kidz R in the sewing room, next 2 Elizabeth. We're fine!" Then she stood up, holding Robin. And I felt a storm cloud rising over my head as she sed, "Yes, we've had sum fun [fun?] reorganizing & it's a little crowded, but don't worry, everything's fine." Then I left the room, but l8r she told me that as she hung up the fone, she was thinking, "Everything's fine. Everything's fine." And then she sat on my bed with the kids 2 read them a snowman story, and continued thinking: "For my children's sake..... Everything's fine."
When she told me this, she hugged me and thanked me again 4 taking Robin an' Merrie off of her handz 4 a while last nite. She sez she really, really needed that. Esp. since Mike is spending xxtra time @ the office, since he doesn't have an attic 2 hide in here. Nice, Mike.
Apes
posted by April Patterson @ 6:37 AM
8 Comments:
At 3:44 PM,
duncan anderson said…
Hey, Apes, sum cube Bajan girl has loaned me her Crackberry 4 a min. I think she likes musicians, if u no what I mean.
Sorry abt yr room. That bites but @ least u dont have 2 share a bed w/ yr niece & nefew. I dont think Ill evah 4get Andy p*ssing all ovah me while I was sleeping.
BTW, y do u have 2 fotos of Faustus ovah yr bed?
L8r.
At 4:32 PM,
Anonymous said…
april, i thot u gotta new desk, a new bedspread, an area rug, curtains, a nite table & sum photo boxes & a lamp @ikea. i didn’t remembah u got a new dresser. i gotta say i kinda wonder like duncan ‘bout those 2 fotos of faustus ovah yr bed. i thot u had like pictures of that band chunx in yr room, but i 4got 2 ask u ‘bout them yestahday wen i wuz ovah @ur place 2 pick up u & the niece & nephew. haz ur mom been, like, redecor8in’, or is the wut ur sil meant by “reorganizin’”? cuz if it is, that wud be so wrong & i can unnerstand y u wud be mad.
my future sis is stayin’ in my room while she iz visitin’ & i know it’s gonna smell like a girl aftah she leaves, but she knows better’n try 2 redecor8 my room. if ur gonna take ovah sum1’s room, u hafta have a little respekt, eh?
At 4:58 PM,
Anonymous said…
April,
Boozhoo (Hello).
I read your writings where your niinim (sister-in-law) was talking to her ngashi (mother) about how everything is fine. It sounded like your niinim (sister-in-law) was trying to tell her ngashi (mother) not to worry. My ngashi (mother) is the same way. She worries a lot about my transfer and how I will be able to adjust to living in the South. I tell her everything will be fine, but she doesn’t believe me. Sometimes I don’t believe me either, but I always tell my ngashi (mother) not to worry.
And I also read where it seemed like you were mad you had to give up your room to your niinim (sister-in-law). It is not easy having so many people in one house, and it is not easy when an older relative takes over your room. I have seen the problem many times among my people. Ojibway homes are generally overcrowded, and are 90 times more likely than those of other Canadians to be without piped water. On reserves, more than 10,000 homes have no indoor plumbing. Many times, if a family’s water stops working, they cannot get it repaired, because plumbers are expensive, as your nisayenh (brother) can tell you. Then they have to move to another house where the water works. A lot of times the younger kids have to give up their rooms. The difference between them and you is your brother’s insurance should pay for them to have temporary housing not living with your ngashi (mother), or they will find another apartment to live. When that happens, you will get your room back. Among my people, sometimes people never get their room back.
When I spoke to your sister about it, she said something very strange to me. She said, “If you think Mike and Dee are going to move out and go back to The Big Smoke (Toronto), you will be wrong. They are never going to move out.” It is hard for me to disagree with your sister about things like that, since she is usually right, even though it is surprising. I remember how she found her full-time job working Milborough without doing a job search, and I thought she wouldn’t get a job without looking for one, even though she told me she would. If your sister is right, then maybe there is no difference between you and my people.
Gi'-ga-wa-ba-min' na-gutch! (See you later!)
Constable Paul Wright
At 5:34 PM,
Anonymous said…
April,
Little sis. I see from your Blog entry, you overheard my lovely Deanna talking to her mother, about our living situation and trying desperately to convince her not to come over to Milborough by telling her everything was fine. Something Deanna failed to mention was that on the night of the fire, she called her parents from the hospital waiting room (after calling our mom first, of course), so her parents wouldn’t be upset if they weren't told about the fire when mom and dad were. Deanna’s parents complain about the least little thing, but sometimes it is worth the inconvenience of keeping them up-to-date with news, instead of having to put up with the whining and complaining. I still remember how much noise they made when I delayed telling them about Robin being born. Then they insisted on helping us bring Robin home and they were so obnoxious, I had to throw them out of the apartment after we got home. Well, we certainly don’t want that to happen again, if they visit in Milborough. It certainly would be embarrassing to mom, if Connie Poirier or Anne Nichols had to witness my mother throwing Mira Sobinski out of her house.
I just have this bad feeling Deanna’s efforts will have failed and I am going to see Deanna's parents come by later with their sedan full of blankets and tea towels, cutlery, clothing; like we will need anything like that. Or worse yet, Wilf Sobinski might use his hardware store supplier to get a lot of building materials and housewares at wholesale prices. Or put a large sum of money into our bank account. I am sure you can tell, little sis, these would be exactly the reasons why Deanna was trying so hard to convince her mother everything was fine.
I wish Mira would follow my mother’s example of leaving the children to be taken care of by Connie Poirier in the morning; or by renting a storage space for us to put salvaged belongings somewhere, so they don’t take up space in her house; or getting dad to convince one of his patients, who owns a discount furniture shop to give us a great deal on some scratch-and-dent children's furniture. I am sure you will agree getting a total stranger to take care of my kids, or getting extra storage space for our burnt belongings, or getting children’s furniture are just what the doctor ordered for getting our life back in order. These are the things a mother should do for her family in a crisis. I hope my mother-in-law takes notice.
Love,
Michael Patterson
At 6:04 PM,
howard said…
April,
My aunt Winnie and uncle Melville Kelpfroth are still talking about your surprise visit with Meredith and Robin yesterday. Just to let you know, they asked the hospital to remove the ban on Pattersons coming to visit. Even if your brother and sister-in-law decided to visit they would be happy to see them. Of course, I think my aunt and uncle realize that hell would freeze over before that happened, but I thought it was a nice gesture to make anyway. If you decided to come again, there will be no restriction on your coming. I also want to let you know, it meant a lot to me too. No matter if someone calls you a spoiled princess, or a Martian or a creature; I want you to know that I think you are wonderful young woman.
My aunt and uncle were told today they are getting close to the second phase of skin healing after a burn, since it has been over a week since the fire. There are 3 phases. The first phase usually lasts less than a week. That’s the phase where the body begins to remove dead and dying skin tissue, fights infection, and sends cells that will begin the healing process to the burned areas. The second phase will last a few weeks. In this phase, the body makes collagen fibers to form scar tissue and creates tiny new blood vessels in the injured area. The final phase takes months to years. When they reach the final phase, then they will be well enough to leave the hospital.
I only hope your sister will not have put in prison by then, so I will be able to help them set up their home and get them started back to a normal life again. My lawyer, Mr. Benis, has no idea when the trial will resume, but he suspects late January at the earliest.
I am sure your home life is confusing now, and I can’t say I am surprised your mom and dad would hand your room over to your brother and sister-in-law. At least you can take comfort in the knowledge there won’t be any hanky-panky occurring on your bed, since everyone knows your brother and his wife are essentially celibate. That’s a small comfort I know, but I have learned to look on the bright side of things. I look in the mirror and say, “Sure my aunt and uncle are badly burned and I will probably spend the rest of my life in prison but....at least my aunt and uncle aren’t dead, and I’m not in prison yet.” It’s that little positive spin that helps to keep me going.
Howard Bunt
At 6:43 PM,
April Patterson said…
dunc, zeremy, i 4got 2 mention abt the kitty pix in my room. weird thing, that. it actually happed b4 the fire, and it wasn't mom or dee. it was liz!
i'd just gotten home fr. working @ lilliput's, and i heard liz's voice coming from my room. she was in there w/shiimsa, who was standing on my bed looking like she was supervising (or "toopidvising," i guess). liz was hanging those pix over my bed, and asking shiimsa questions: "like this? a little 2 the rite? like that? it's crooked?"
i was all, "liz! what r u doing? what did u do w/my chunx pix?"
liz looked @ me glassy eyed, kinda like she was in a trance. she was like, "this is how shiimsa wants the room. what's that shiimsa? yes, of course this will b yr room sumday, no problem."
me: WHAT?
shiimsa: hissssssss!
liz: april, don't upset shiimsa!
i went down 2 tell mom what was going on. mom kinda shrugged and told me we had 2 work out our probs ourselves.
neway, that was a couple of dayz b4 the fire. i heard liz telling shiimsa, "don't worry, it's only temporary."
but now that i think of it, i can't remember seeing shiimsa 2day. i wonder where she went?
paul, yeah, mayB i'll never get my room back, eh?
howard, i'm glad u r able 2 look ont he brite side of things. becks and i were talking and if u rn't able 2 help yr aunt an' unk cuz of going 2 that place that starts w/p, well, becky, marjee, warren, an' i r gonna help out.
apes
At 10:27 PM,
Anonymous said…
April,
I'm drowning.
At 1:53 AM,
Anonymous said…
April,
Little sis. I believe this will be the last part of my story involving the fire, so your readers can finally rest easy after having heard all the details. I had returned home after my very emotional visit with Josef Weeder and Carleen Stein, and I found my wife Deanna staring wistfully out the window of our room, which used to be your room. I remember reading once that one of the questions women really like to hear is “What are you thinking about?” You can’t go wrong with this question, because just asking it shows you are a sensitive and caring husband willing to listen to whatever your wife wants to say, no matter how silly it is. The occasion seemed to call for it, since Deanna was staring wistfully after all. Deanna responded, “How it all was before the fire.” That seemed like a dangerous answer to me, because as a husband, you don’t know what “it” is. If she is talking about perfume or makeup or sanitary napkins, then you are venturing into an area of conversation most men avoid at all possible costs. If she is talking about how your relationship was before the fire, then she is most likely going to lead into saying something about how “it” was better before, because women rarely ever say the relationship was worse than it is currently. I thought to myself, “I better not say anything and hope she is not talking about relationships or other really girly things.”
That worked out very well, because Deanna started to elaborate on what “it” was. She told me, “I can see the clothes in the closets, where everything was in the kitchen, the kids’ room, the hall carpet, the pictures on the walls…” I got a little nervous then. I looked outside the window, and I couldn’t see those things. I thought it might be one of those games where you see images in the clouds, but the clouds I saw looked like a rubber duck, a laptop computer and Josef Weeder’s nostril hair. Then I thought she might be speaking metaphorically, like the things she could see stood for something else which was similar to what she saw, i.e. her lost childhood, or her alienation from her parents, or her never-changing hairstyle. Then I remembered, “This is Deanna. She is not that deep. She’s talking about actual things.” But then I was nervous again, because she was talking about things I could barely remember. I thought to myself, “I hope she doesn’t quiz me to see if I remember those things too. I could tell her all about what was up in the attic, and all about our bedroom, which is where I spent most of my time; but I was iffy on those other places.” Once again, I kept silent for my own safety and it worked again.
Then Deanna said, “It’s like it never happened. We’ll wake up in the morning and go home.” Once more I panicked, because I didn’t know what “it” was. The first time “it” was something which could be before and after the fire. This time “it” was something that happened, which could be reversed and return us to our homes, like the fire, or our marriage, or something worse. I had to take action quickly to cover all the bases. My mind was racing like a top, and miraculously the solution came to me. I said, “We’ll have a place of our own again, Deanna. But, for now, as long as we’re together….we’re home.” It was a cliché, but it seemed to work. I put my arm around Deanna and held her close and for once she didn’t push me away and make some joke about how I wasn’t getting any. We had a nice quiet moment. I breathed a sigh of relief. I had once again survived a conversation with my wife.
Love,
Michael Patterson
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