Petunia's Grove of Bluebirds
Charlie's lips curled as he smiled, his milky eyes twinkling. "Pretty girl," he said in a husky whisper. "Pretty girl, come to me." He shifted from the bed to reach out for the girl's hand, his eyes becoming even more desperate as the girl took a step back. "Pretty girl!" he cried. "Don't leave me!"
The little girl looked up at the man standing behind her and, when she saw his stern face, she stepped over to Charlie, slipping her hand in his. "Here I am," she said, her voice treble. She gave another glance at the man behind her, but his face was calm, so she calmed down as well.
"So how are feeling?" the other man said, standing closer to Charlie and slipping his hand in Charlie's other hand. Charlie smiled and closed his eyes.
"Tired."
"But not in a bad way, I hope," the man added. When Charlie didn't say anything to this, the man frowned, looking over the little girl. She was trying to inch away from Charlie, but when he looked at her again, she stopped, a defeated expression on her face.
"I brought someone for you."
"What?"
"I brought someone for you. This is Petunia." The little girl made a face.
"Daddy..."
"Petunia," the man warned. Charlie just looked blank. The man smiled weakly and sat down on the chair beside the bed. Petunia looked at him pathetically, her eyes begging him to take off Charlie, who was stroking her wrist tenderly. The man ignored her.
"Did you hear?" the man said to Charlie when Charlie didn't respond. "Her name is Petunia."
"Petunia?" he said carefully. "What a pretty name! Can I have a kiss?" The little girl once more looked at her father desperately, but he just shook his head. Petunia bent over and let him kiss her with his fuzzy lips.
"Don't you remember me?" she asked when his hand returned to her wrist again, a tiny blush on his face.
"What?"
Her father quickly intervened. "Her name is Petunia. Do you remember her? She is your granddaughter."
But Charlie didn't understand. "What's yours?"
"Pardon?"
"What's your name?"
"Michael."
Charlie frowned at this. "Do I know you?"
"I am your son."
Charlie was not quite sure how to respond to this, but he squeezed Petunia's hand harder. "Are you related?"
"She is my daughter. She is your granddaughter."
Charlie smiled. "That's nice."
Petunia looked at her father hopefully and he finally relented, standing in between the little girl and Charlie. "Petunia has something she made for you. Would you like to see it?"
"She made it?"
"Yes. Why don't you tell Poppa all about it?" he said, handing Petunia a nice folder with a rainbow horse. She grinned.
"I made it just for you!" she said, happy that she was released from his grip at last and happier still that she could show off. Charlie smiled at her enthusiasm and smiled even more when she presented him a picture of several fruit trees, all crammed together. Petunia leaned closer to him. "See? That's an apple tree and that's an orange tree. Isn't it good?"
Charlie looked at it critically. "That looks like a fig tree," he said, pointing to one of the trees.
"Really?" Petunia snatched it out of his hands and peered at it. "That's a bluebird," she said at last, pointing at what he saw. "See? It's nesting. That's why it's hiding."
He smiled. "Ah, I see."
"Do you like it?"
"It's the prettiest thing I've ever seen."
Petunia beamed. "Really?" When he said nothing to this, she smiled more. "I'll find a pretty spot on the wall for you so you can remember me. I even signed it with my name, so now you have no excuse!"
Michael sighed.
Just before she could find a place, the nurse came in and pointed at her watch. "It's five o'clock." When there was no response to this, she said, " It's time for dinner. He has to eat, you know?"
This put Petunia in even higher spirits. "Bye bye Poppa!" she cried. "See you later." She gave him a slight kiss and then tossed the picture on his lap. "Hang up the picture, won't you?"
"Bye Petunia," he said, waving her .
"Bye Dad," Michael said and kissed him. "Sorry about Petunia -- she doesn't know better."
"That's okay."
"Don't be too much of a pain to the nurses, all right? I'll see you next week."
"Bye."
He watched them go out, the little girl skipping and the man walking slowly, trying to stop the hyper girl. Charlie smiled.
"It's nice to have family visit you, isn't it?" the nurse said absently once the two were out of sight. Charlie nodded, looking back down at the picture in his lap.
"I think I saw a bluebird once," he said slowly.
"That's nice." The nurse struggled with the wheel chair for a minute, putting it closer to the bed, but it had a jammed wheel and it wouldn't work right. Finally after another minute, she straightened up, triumphant. "There! Now we can go to the cafeteria." She glanced at Charlie, who was stroking the waxy bluebird. "Forget about that," she said, tugging the picture out from Charlie's fingers and setting it on the side table. "Come on, Charlie. It's time to go. Don't you want to eat? Aren't you hungry?"
He glanced at the picture once more, a confused look on his face. "Petunia?"
"What about her?" When Charlie didn't say anything to this, she tapped her fingers on her smock. "Well?" she said. "Are you ready to go?"
Once more, the confused look came in his face. "I think so."
"Good. Sit up then."
"Okay."