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“Your awake, good morning sir. We were worried about you for a minute there”was the first thing he heard. Then he saw Dr. Livingstone staring at him, he was the first person that he saw.

“Wh…..what?”he asked

“How many fingers am I holding up?”he asked him

“Two”

“Good….you can see”he said as he wrote that down,”And obviously you can hear….so you passed those tests”he said as he gave him some water.

“Where am I?”he asked

“In the Manhattan hospital.You have been through a great tragedy. So big that the Titanic will most definitely go down in history as one of the worst ship wrecks ever. You supposedly fell off the boat, swam to the closest thing you could float on and passed out there. You have suffered from extreme hypothermia, which is caused from the freezing conditions you endured for the 4+ hours that you laid there in below freezing water. You were found and you were delivered along with the other survivors on the Olympique and you have been here for about over a week now. Its taken some a few days to wake up and some more. Now,a lot of people have suffered from memory loss. We have some records on you. If you just answer some simple questions, this will help us help you”

He nodded.

“Name?”

He took a deep breath,”Vernon Greene”

“Birthdate?”

“February 22, 1872”

“Place of birth?”

“Pasadena, California”

“I understand that you are married? Correct?”

“Yes to the love of my life, Abby Greene, well she used to be Abby Lane. Can I see her?”

“Well she isn’t here, we haven’t been able to contact her”

“Does she know that Im ok?”he asked him. Then he remembered,”Wait…its you?”

Dr. Livingstone smiled,”Yes its me. I have been brought in to help out here. Lots of casualties-“

“Can you still help me?”he asked him

“Well yes,Im helping you now. You seem to be much better. Your heartbeat seems to be on the regular. Your temperature is almost normal. I could safely say that in a few weeks you can go free”

“No. I mean help my wife? I was supposed to go straight home to her and bring her here so you can look at her. You promised me”

“Yes, yes of course. I am busy here but I gave you my word. But most importantly, before you even think about bringing your wife here. You have to get better”

Vernon nodded and sighed,”Wait…did you find a Abraham and Salomi Squires?”

“You had a party with you?” Vernon nodded,”Let me check the list. Some were unidentified, some were”he said as he opened the list of survivors that they found. “Squires…..Squires….nope….no Squires”

“So they didn’t survive?”he asked him

“Well if they arent in quarantine, either they are in the morgue or alive and waiting for you. However, no one has been waiting for you. Now your wife, that’s understandable. She doesn’t know that you were on the ship at the time? But since they were with you….if they are alive…I would only assume…..”

“Ok….”Vernon said,”Can I check the morgue?”

“I would, but you need to rest. The morgue….I wouldn’t even go in there. We don’t want you suffering from shock when you are just getting over your hypothermia. Are you related to them?”

“Yes….well not by blood. Abraham is like the brother I never had and Salomi is like the daughter I never had”Vernon said as his eyes welled up with tears. He hoped that they weren’t dead. He didn’t even want to think about it….

Dr. Livingstone nodded,”I will check the deceased with ID’s for you. If they don’t show up, if you are willing and better you can view the bodies that arent. How does that sound?” Vernon nodded,”Alright. Im going to give you some meds. Procedure”

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“Cant you do something!? I mean you are a fucking doctor, cant you read something in one of your little goddamn books about what could be wrong with my daughter!?” Abby’s mother asked the doctor.

After Abby found out the news of Vernon’s death, she had several nervous breakdowns and tried to commit suicide twice. Her parents couldn’t take seeing their daughter like this and called a doctor. But he obviously wasn’t helping.

“I can give her some medication but I cant due to her pregnancy. The medicine is so strong that it could kill the baby or do some extreme brain damage. Since she has had miscarriages in the past, we don’t want to risk that. She has an extreme case of depression. Her nerves are shot because her husband was taken from her suddenly, shes under a lot of stress because of the baby and his recent death and since she has tried to commit suicide twice,its her way of coping with his death….which isn’t healthy-“

“You told us that already! But what are we supposed to do? I am afraid to go to sleep because I feel like she would try to hang herself again in the middle of the night! How can we get her to stop this?”

“You cant afford to have a stress psychiatrist come to the house which means that you may have to admit her into Eastern State-“

“No! No! Out of the question! My daughter is not a nutcase. She is not going into a nuthouse!”her mother refused.

“Then I don’t know-“

“Fine! If you cant help us, get the hell out!”Abby’s mother said as she pushed him out of the house and threw his black doctors bag at him,”Some doctor you are! You were a waste of my time and money! Have a nice day you fucking lowlife!”she said and slammed the door. She leaned against it and sighed. Her husband walked into their bedroom, not able to look at her. He was a man of few words anyway but she knew how he was feeling. He was dying inside, just like her. She heard Abby crying, that’s all she did. She sank to the floor and cried. No one could help her and it was starting to drive her crazy as well.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Vernon sighed as he put the sheet over yet another body. Dr. Livingstone checked all the bodies with ID’s in the morgue, but none were Abraham or Salomi. Once he was better, he went to the morgue and checked all the unidentified bodies, which were many. None. “That’s the last body?”he asked. He wanted to throw up.

“Yes”Dr. Livingstone said sadly

“So what does this mean?”

“Either they are alive….somewhere…..or their bodies were never found…”he said,”Its probably the latter”

Vernon started to cry. Why? Abraham was like the brother he never had. They have been through everything together. He comforted Abraham when he lost Salomi and Abraham was there when he married Abby and helped them through their miscarriages. Salomi was the daughter he never had. Dying so young and so full of life was a tragedy in itself. He went back to his room and laid there and cried for the rest of the night.

The next morning he was still depressed. However, he still had a wife to get home to and he knew that she was probably worried. “Well I don’t see any reason why you cant leave”Dr. Livingstone said to him. “Just take your medications daily and you should be back to normal”

Vernon sighed with relief but soon that disappeared. He didn’t have anything.

“Whats wrong?”

“I lost everything….all my belongings, money. I cant get home without it”

“Are you still coming back to see me?”

“Of course, now that Im back on my feet, I want my wife to do the same. And I want to hear the pitter patter of little feet in 9 months”

“I have faith in you Vernon. I don’t know what it is. And you have faith in my work. Tell me how much you need”Dr. Livingstone said to him.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“Please….keep an eye on her”Abby heard her mother say to her father. “I’ll be back soon. Im off to get the priest, I want him to pray over her” Then the door was closed and there was silence. She could hear her father walking around, peeking his head in and out every now and then. She was all cried out for now, if she wasn’t crying, she was mute.

Then all of a sudden, her stomach turned. She got up and ran to the bathroom and threw up. She hated feeling like this. She sank down to the floor and waited for the nausea to pass. Then all she heard was silence. Then she started to cry. She hated the silence because it sounded like death to her. Vernon was dead. She wanted to die too. She ran to the kitchen and opened a drawer and tried to find a knife. She found the first one she could find.

“Don’t”she heard a soft voice say. It was her father.

“Papa…I love you….but I cant go on like this anymore. Im killing you and mom. Im just a nuisance. Maybe I am crazy but its too late for me. Without Vernie….I cant….”she said as she raised the knife up to her throat. She was going to slit it.

“Don’t”he said to her, his eyes welling up with tears.

“Im doing you a favor Papa!”she said to him

“Abby!”she heard a voice say.

She closed her eyes,”See? Im going crazy! I even hear him Dad! I still see him but that’s the thing, he is never coming back!”she shouted at him.

“Abby! What the hell are you doing!?”she heard the voice say. She turned around and there was Vernon. He was healthy as ever and holding a small bouquet of flowers. He came towards her and she backed away,”Abby, put the knife down!”

“No! Don’t come near me! Don’t tease me like this! Stop haunting me!”she shouted at him

“What are you talking about!?”Vernon asked her,”Put the knife down before you kill yourself!”

“THAT’S MY PLAN! YOU DIED VERNIE! I DON’T KNOW HOW YOU ARE STANDING HERE BUT YOU DID! I CANT LIVE…..I CANT….”she shouted

“Im alive baby”he said as he came toward her. She backed herself against a wall. She had nowhere to go.”You are not crazy, you arent hallucinating, its me.Im here in all flesh and blood, I survived. I was sick from it but Im better now….”he said as he got closer to her.

She closed her eyes, she didn’t know whether to believe him or not. She has seen him all the time but she was so delirious that she didn’t know what was real and what was fantasy. Then she felt him touch her. She looked up and it was him. He was alive!? She wanted to faint but didn’t have the strength. Then she collapsed in his arms and they cried together. Thankful that God gave them another chance.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

* 2 years later *

“Thank you”Dorothy said as she shook hands with another favorite client of hers. Why? He just bought one of her most expensive paintings. She looked at her pocket watch and saw that it was closing time. She locked things up and put the closed sign on the door. She then went into the back room. “Guess what?”she asked

“What?”Salomi asked as she counted up some money. Once Dorothy’s gallery/theatre called Maisy, named after her mother, started to have more money coming in, Salomi volunteered to help out in the math department. Dorothy was a little skeptical at the time,she was only 13. But she was very good and soon, like her father, Dorothy was using her to her advantage. Salomi enjoyed it because Dorothy even paid her.

“You know the painting of the three ballerinas?”she asked her

“You mean the most expensive one?”Salomi asked her as she counted the money fast in her head. She could hold conversations and count at the same time.

“Yes, someone just bought it”Dorothy said as she gave her $200 in cash.

“Jackpot! Congratulations!”Salomi said,”$257 plus the $200 is $457! And that’s from the gallery alone! Wait until tonight!”she said. The vaudeville shows brought in more money. People paid not only for the performances but drinks as well. She hugged her,”We are going to be so rich by the end of this year!”

“You say that every year”Dorothy said. But the weird thing was, she was always right.

“Hey if we continue to make a profit like this we will double what we made last year”Salomi said as she put her little heeled shoes up on the desk.”Lets drink to that”she said as she raised an empty glass.

“Get your feet down”Dorothy said to her with a smile.”Oh and Velma told me that she caught you sneaking whiskey again?”

“It was just one sip! Ive had wine before”Salomi said as she rolled her eyes as she took her feet off the desk

“Whiskey is much stronger, believe me and you are only 14. Give yourself some time”Dorothy said,”So no we arent drinking to anything”

“Fine I promise not to do it again”Salomi said,”Lets drink to it…but with water”she said as she filled the glasses with water.”Cheers? To another prosperous year?”

“To another prosperous year”Dorothy said with a smile as she clicked glasses with her and drank. She shook her head, she loved Salomi like her own and she could never stay mad at her.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“There you go sir. 25 cents please”Gabriel said to the man as he finished shining his shoes.

“Hmmm”the man said as he flipped the coin to him. He didn’t even look up from the paper as he got down. He put out his cigar and continued on his way.

Gabriel rolled his eyes. He hated that man but he had to love him, he needed his shoes shined almost everyday. He was one of his regulars. Soon another was sitting in the chair in front of him and he started to shine again.

After hearing about his Grandma’s death, he left Memphis. He stowed away on trains and decided to go back to New York City. Something told him to go there. There were so many opportunities there and he had to get one. And he did. He was a waiter….for about a month, until he got caught stealing food. He didn’t get paid enough to even eat there! Then he was a cook, but he was fired again when a roach crawled into the soup that he was making without him noticing. Now he was shining shoes. He longed to perform and he auditioned for Broadway shows but he never made it. He wanted to give up but he couldn’t. He had nowhere to go and something was telling him to stay.

He finished his shining for the day and started to head home. He bought a hot dog and then went on another route home. On the way he saw a vaudeville theatre/gallery called Maisy. He would have to check it out when he actually had enough money to.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“Papa! Papa!”Vernon heard as two little pairs of feet ran into the bedroom to greet him. Soon they climbed onto the bed and jumped on it.

“Oh! Babies,please, Papa is trying to sleep”Vernon groaned

“Mail”Vernon Jr said as he gave his father an envelope.

“Mama cooked!”Vivian said with a smile and soon they jumped off the bed and ran out of the room.

Vernon sighed as he sat up in bed,smiled and opened the letter. Of course once Vernon was back, Abby’s depression disappeared. He took her back to New York as promised and Dr. Livingstone checked Abby out. She didn’t have any miscarriages and the babies survived and she had twins again, Vivian and Vernon Jr. They stayed in New York and they owned a small house an hour outside of Manhattan. He worked at a butcher’s shop and they were happy.

“Its good that you’re alive now. But don’t think that you still arent a member for life”- was what the letter said. And it was signed by none other than Morietti.

*_______________________*









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