Chapter 55: Don't go there
Joe and Marius had a good friendship going on with Shannon and Bonnie. Yet, age took them. Not Joe or Marius, but the two women. Now, they are both two adorable grannies, who must rely on Joe and Marius to take care of them.
I place another spoonful next to Shannon's lips, and she opens a toothless mouth, to get the porridge. It is something that a woman named Mary sends us, along with other things, like medicine, which we use to take care of the two ladies.
I still remember when the two came. You could tell that Bonnie had a problem with dealing with addiction by the shaking of her hands. Yet, she also had the brightest smile on her lips.
Which grew even brighter, when she found out that Marius and I were together. She even warmed up to good old Reginald. No, not my cat, he died long ago. The squirrel knight, Reginald.
Speaking of the famed paladin and veteran of the Trap Wars, I wonder, why he is lingering here. He calls Marius a thot, which is funny. I think the merman tried to drown him at least 100 times, since the squirrel got here.
Have you ever seen a scratch mark made by a squirrel? I have. It made Marius look like a pouting child. Especially, when it ended up on his nose.
"Hey, Shann?" I ask, as her eyes drop. She is 90 years old, an old gal, on the doorstep to the great beyond. Yet, I can still help her. "Do you know what your wish for today would be?"
She blinks at me, and smiles her toothless smile.
"I want for you to be happy," she tells me. I tear up. No matter how many hints I dropped at her, that she should wish for her youth back, she doesn't do so. "But I bet this is too general, eh? So, I wish for Marius to take you out dancing today."
I feel my Wish Granter ability act up, and my eyes meet with Marius. He has heard it all. Even without the magic forcing him, he would remain in his human form, and dance with me.
"And you, Bonns? What wish will you give Joe today?" Marius asks. I don't mind that the two women end up using my wish quota. They are so frail. I still remember late nights, when we would all be around the camp fire, scooping up coconut out of bowls.
Before age took its tow.
Not from me or Marius, but from them. And, isn't that just something? Just why don't I age? Just why doesn't Marius?
"I want for you two to dance before us. Shann and I will hold hands, and giggle at how adorable you are," I sigh, as I feel the magic take hold once more.
The two can't stand up, anymore. Too frail. Yet, the medicine keeps them from feeling pain. I don't know how Mary knows them, but if it wasn't for her, they would not have it in them, to wish for such silly things.
"Ok, after you are done with the porridge," I say, as I scoop up more of the stuff.
Marius and I finish feeding them, and then wipe them clean, with some hot water and towels. If we had a bathtub, we would have bathed them, but we don't have such luxuries. And so, we make do with what we have. Later, when they are down for their lunch nap, the two of us will go to the sea, and wash in the salty water.
These days, we are never in the mood for much else. How could we make love, when we know that the two wonderful women who lightened up our days for the past 50 years, are on death's door?
"Hey, Joe," Shannon says, as she reaches out, and takes my hand. "You were number one. Alek was good too, but he didn't come together with a child."
I blink at her. Shannon keeps on saying silly things like that. Of a life, where I still spent my days around the sea. But, instead of me lazing around on the beach, I would dive into the waters.
I think she has me confused with someone, but I never break her bubble. I am kind of honored, that she has a fantasy, where we were married.
"And what happened to that child?" This is the first time; she mentions a child. I am curious to know, just what she is supposed to be remembering. Bonnie, bless her soul, is never jealous, when Shannon speaks to me about her fantasies.
"Nate graduated with top honors," she tells me, pride leaking out of her voice. I smile then.
"You did a good job, raising him, then," I give her frail hand a light squeeze. Bonnie chuckles.
"With a mother like her, do you doubt it? I don't know Nate, but I hear that he put himself through school. Shannon had to yell at him, so he could accept her money," Bonnie smiles her own toothless smile, the laugh lines around her eyes making her look like a kind grandmother.
The truth is, Bonnie never got the chance, to be a grandmother. She and Shannon never adopted. Instead, they began to mother us, as they grew older. Shannon claps her hands slowly, and then looks at me with twinkling eyes.
"Come on — now. Dance! I want to see you happy, Joe," she tells me, and I smile at that. I stand up, and offer my hand to Marius. He leads me around the two women, in a slow waltz. They clap for a while, and then stop.
When the waltz is over, the tears begin. For, they have stopped clapping to clasp their hands together, their faces frozen in a smile.
Shannon and Bonnie weathered the storm that is life. Leaving two men behind, who now had to deal with the grief of never seeing them again.
If either Joe or Marius made note of the fact that the two women, Mary and Helena, made it to their Island of the Forsaken hours after Shannon and Bonnie died, then they made no note of it.
Nor do they made a note, when Mary began to make a pyre, with tears running down her cheeks.
When the two left, and Joe and Marius were left with a pile of ashes, where once there were two friends, they choose to use Joe's Wish Granter cheat ability, to give Joe a merman's tail. And so, Marius pulled Joe into his world.
But that is a tale, for another day…
