The October Amaryllis: Everything Has a Cost

Chapter 10 - January 1st, 2015 8:07 A.M.

“I thought it might have been you,” my dad said, smiling, amused. One of my favorite things about him was that he rarely got mad at you; my mother was far more unpredictable. Sometimes she’d just yell at you, but other times she’d lock herself in her room for hours and ignore everyone and everything. Kinda like me! She also prays a lot when she’s upset. She’s not crazy religious or anything, but she believes in heaven and hell. Come to think of it; I do too; I’ve experienced hell on earth before, just as I have with heaven. Heaven and hell are just a state of mind.

“I-I can explain!” I squeaked. I had forgotten how high-pitched my voice was before puberty; it practically reached ultrasound. I’m pretty sure I was part dolphin as a kid.

“Son, it’s okay; I did the same thing about fifty times when I was a kid,” he said, lifting me up lovingly. I’m surprised he lifted me up for so long in my life; I must have weighed around a ton of bricks by then.

“It’s not for me, though. I made it for you,” I said, burying my face deep in his chest. I had missed him so much that I nearly started crying at that moment. There is no way for me to explain how much happiness I felt at that moment; all I can say is that I felt complete.

“What?” he asked, laughing at how little sense I must have made. It must have sounded like I was talking into a pillow.

“I made it for you,” I said, taking my face out of his chest.

“You, you made it for me?” he asked, getting slightly emotional.

“Yes, I wanted to make you a surprise,” I said as he finally put me down on the ground.

“Don’t mind if I do!” he chirped as he gulped down the hot cocoa. With each gulp, my heart started beating faster and faster until it eventually felt like I’d have a heart attack. When he finally put down the mug, I felt a rush of euphoria course its way through my body; I could finally have my dad back.

“Something about that cup was extra good,” he said, sitting down at the table and lazily stretching his arms.

Yeah, I bet…

“Hey, listen, Clive, we’re thinking about going to IHOP for breakfast once your mom wakes up. Would you want to go?” he said, leaning in. It was always a good thing whenever he would lean in to ask or tell you something; I learned that from experience.

“Has anyone ever said no to that?” I asked with a beaming smile.

“Maybe in a different universe than ours,” he said jokingly.

“Do you believe in a multiverse, dad?” I asked curiously before realizing how unusual that must have sounded to be spoken by ten-year-old me. I’ve always been an unusual child, but I certainly wasn’t aware of such complicated concepts at ten!

“Now, where’d you hear that word, Clive?” he asked, chuckling.

“Avengers. They have so many universes,” I lied.

“Of course, silly me! I forgot how much you love superheroes and all. Well, son, I like to believe that there are other universes within our own, but it’s kind of hard to prove. Although it would be kinda cool if it existed, huh?” he said, brushing my hair and making my scalp tickle.

“Mhhm,” I said, closing my eyes and enjoying the current moment; it was as if my dad never left. I never wanted that moment to end; I wanted it to repeat on and on for all eternity. Time ruins everything.

I was so relaxed at that moment that I hadn’t even realized that I had fallen asleep in his arms until I woke up in the car about an hour later with my mom and dad on our way to IHOP.

“You slept pretty well, huh?” my mom said, smiling, looking in the backseat where I was asleep. It made me happy to see her old lively personality again; ever since my father died, she had practically become catatonic. She would hardly eat anything; I saw her eat about five times after my father died.

“Yeah, I didn’t even remember falling asleep!” I said, laughing.

“Well, as my grandmother used to say, if you remember falling asleep, then you’re doing it wrong!” my dad chuckled.

“What was my great-grandma like, dad?” I asked curiously. I hardly got to see her before she died; I was probably around five when she passed on. All that I remember about her was that her health was feeble and that she had trouble remembering a lot of things. She didn’t even know who I was by the end of her life because of her Alzheimer’s. I remember they told us she died from being unable to swallow; she had completely forgotten how to do it by the end.

“Oh, she was amazing; she would always tell me stories about her life when she was growing up, and she would take me on walks all around Seattle. She told me how she saw the Space Needle being built before they finished it in 1961. She got to see so many things change, and yet it’s a shame that she never got to see how handsome you’d become,” he said, choking towards the end.

Oh, wait, I could literally go see her if I wanted to…

“When was grandma born?” I asked to find out what time period I should travel to see her after spending time with my dad.

“1916, she was born during the Great War. Crazy to think that it was almost a hundred years ago!” he replied in awe.

“Time flies,” I joked as we arrived.

“It sure does, kid. You ready to go to heaven?” he asked as we finally arrived at the IHOP.

“Ready as I’ll ever be, captain.”