Thank you for the positive responses to Maria's Misconceptions. As for the ending, I personally hate movies that end this way (I like happy endings or paybacks), but that was all of Gary and Maria's story that I actually had at the time. My friend was very close to his brother and after he passed on, didn't discuss him much, just some memories from when they were children. Until the first week of July, I hadn't broached the subject of Gary and Maria with him since he told me about what had happened at the LTC facility almost two years ago.
To get an understanding of how we are at the point of Gary's death, please read Maria's Misconceptions.
Sorry that it took so long to get this finished, I started this installment a few days after my friend and I talked, but ended up spending the next three weekends of July going out of town (picnics, swimming and fishing) with my wife, son / wife and grand kids.
In the first story, as for the use of tho compared to though, I also have a habit of using thru instead of through. I haven't written anything in years for, or to anyone, so in instances of writing anything at all, I did that as a shortcut. Oddly enough, when I ran this through the spell checker, it showed that thru should be through, but never showed tho as being wrong (even though I knew it was). I have seen in numerous publications and news stories where the words then and than are used improperly, so I kind of let the tho's slide. I can assure you, that I won't from now on. I also am now aware that I used wondered instead of wandered, I DO know the difference, it was just an oversight on my part. I read back through the story three times and didn't catch it. My wife and I have two teenage grandsons staying with us, it's sometimes hard to read through anything without interruptions.
After speaking with my friend last month, he elaborated on what happened after Gary died. I embellished on that with some truths, some half truths, and some fiction. I've known Maria since high school, since she was my best friend's brother's girlfriend / wife. I had many conversations with her before she got involved with the guy she left Gary for, and she seemed to be a decent woman. In the first part of this, I try to bring out some of the decency that I knew was inside of her, but did that decency prevail?
The businesses and the names of the characters in this story are mostly made up. Some of them are real, but have no significance other than they are in the story to give it some authenticity.
There is some sex in this story, but not a large amount. There is no sex with anyone under the age of 18.
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Riverside Manor Assisted Living and Long Term Care Facility, September, 2012.
The heart monitor gave out a steady 'beep beep beep' as Gary faded in and out of consciousness. Occasionally, the beeps became erratic, and would speed up and then slow down.
He was well aware that his two sons, Joshua and Jacob were here with their wives. Two of Gary's grandchildren, Joshua's two sons, were here too. Tim and Jeff sat in the big chair behind their parents, all to Gary's left. His little brother, Jack was to his right.
Gary's health had taken a turn for the worse, he had seemed to be responding to treatment fairly well, until the day before. It was mid afternoon and Gary was sleeping, Jack had been sitting in a chair reading and was about to doze off himself, when Gary started calling out to his ex-wife,
"Maria honey, come here for just a minute. . . Maria, where are you? Come here for a minute. . ." he called out.
Jack sat up and turned to look at his brother, Gary was staring intently at the closed door leading to the hallway.
"What you babbling about now?" asked Jack.
Gary slowly looked over at Jack with a confused look on his face.
"Why won't she answer me? She's just out in the hall there, go tell her to come here, I need to talk to her, she's going to K mart to get some shoes for the boys. . . And I want her to pick me up some. . ."
Gary's voice trailed off and he stared at Jack for a moment.
"Maria's not here Gary," said Jack.
"Huh. . .? What are you talking about?" asked Gary.
"You were calling out for Maria just a minute ago, you must have been dreaming or something."
"No, I think YOU are the one dreaming!" replied Gary.
After some idle 'chit chat,' Jack went back to reading and it wasn't long after, he heard Gary's even breathing and knew that he was asleep again. A while later, Jack heard Gary's breathing becoming more labored and the heart monitor was all over the place, so he pushed the button on the nurse's call.
After the nurse arrived, she took some vitals on Gary and the look on her face was troubling, she left the room and returned with a doctor immediately. Jack rose from the chair and told them that he was going down to the cafeteria for a bite to eat and to get out of their way. He had a feeling that what was happening was not good.
While he was out, Jack called his wife and told her that he was going to stay the night, and that it would probably be a good idea to get in touch with Gary's sons and tell them to come up.
When Jack returned to the room, there were still two nurses inside and he noticed that Gary had two new IV's. Gary looked to be awake, but was struggling to keep his eyes open, Jack looked at his brother and said,
"How you doing now, you feeling any better?"
Gary just stared straight ahead like he was in a daze.
"I don't believe that he can hear you," the nurse said quietly, "Are you his only family?"
"No, I've already called for his children to come up," he said.
The nurse gave him a sad look,
"I'm sorry," she said.
Just then, the doctor came back into the room,
"You are Mr Arthur's brother, correct?" he asked.
"Yes."
The doctor started to speak, but Jack cut in,
"You don't have to give me details about a bunch of medical bull crap. . . How long. . .? How long does he have?"
"Well, another day or two. . . Maybe less. . . Maybe more, but I doubt it. . . We are trying to make him as comfortable as possible. I'm very sorry Mr Arthur."
Jack looked at his brother, he knew this day was coming, but he thought it would be a little ways down the road. Gary had made it perfectly clear that he did not want to be kept alive by artificial means. Jack said a prayer, asking God to please let Gary's sons get to the facility before he passed.
Along in the evening, Gary looked over and spoke with Jack for a few minutes, he was very alert and spoke with Jack about going fishing once he got to feeling better. It was short lived though, Gary slipped back into slumber land a little later.
Jack had fallen asleep in the chair beside Gary's bed, it had a reclining feature and was actually quite comfortable. During the night, Jack awoke to the sound of Gary speaking to someone. He listened closely as Gary spoke candidly as if they were right there.
"He must be dreaming," thought Jack.
Jack became amused, because as he laid there and listened to Gary, it was obvious that he was speaking words of love to someone. A while later, he heard Gary gasp, he rose from the chair quickly to press the nurse's call, but realized that Gary looked to be having an erotic dream. He was lying on his back and his hands were above his gyrating hips a few inches and moving up and down as though someone was riding him. Jack smiled and let out a little chuckle.
"I love you Maria," said Gary.
Jack wasn't sure weather to cry or scream. He knew how much Gary had loved Maria. He also knew what she had done to him, and what she had done with all of those men. He'd seen a few moments of one of Maria's gang bang tapes and it had infuriated him, he couldn't watch it. Up until he'd seen it with his own eyes, he thought that it had to be someone that just looked like her. In all the time that Maria had been married to Gary, Jack had the utmost respect for her. She was also good friends with Jack's wife, what had happened to her? What had caused her to do all of those things? It tore at his heart.
Joshua and Jacob arrived early the next morning along with their wives, Josh brought his two young boys along too.
