Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: OVERLOAD (10/06/16)
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TITLE: Absolute Trust | Previous Challenge Entry
By Joy Bach
10/10/16 -
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End of discussion.
Lois hated telling him no. But she had so many legitimate reasons…at least to her. She had never really had friends before…she had a really good job…and she liked Boise, Idaho. At the age of 43, she had already moved 26 times.
Enough was enough.
It wasn’t that easy to say no. This was an excellent opportunity for Nick to move to Richland, Washington…join up with a friend…and start his own business. She understood that.
As she stood in her kitchen, she talked to God about it one more time. He had heard it all before. Yet she had the distinct impression God was saying, “Move”. How long could she argue with God?
She acquiesced.
Nick wasted no time. A two-week notice at his job and he was out of there. Lois couldn’t move quite so soon. She needed to train her replacement. Although Nick moved in March, it was July before the official transfer of belongings occurred.
It was done. She had officially moved 27 times.
Her Boise boss had arranged for her to have a job in Richland. The paperwork had been completed and the details spelled out. So on Monday, she arrived at her new job. Small problem. They had downsized and changed their mind. Even though she had months to look for work before arriving, Lois had rested secure in the promise of employment. With Nick starting a new business, money was really tight. Soon she was working four part-time jobs to help out.
That’s when life began to unravel.
That same month, Nick’s teenage daughter decided she wanted to live with her dad. Out of the blue, she showed up. She had been raised so differently from Lois’s daughters. They had learned to cook, do laundry and have a checking account. This new addition expected Lois to make her bed and take care of her clothes. With Nick so busy growing a business, the parenthood duties fell to Lois.
It was exhausting.
August rolled around and the unraveling continued. Lois’s first grandchild was born three months too soon…in Canada. Placed in the Neonatal Unit of the hospital, she would remain there for 117 days.
Just as that news was being registered, Lois received a phone call from Kansas. Her 89-year old mother had been hospitalized with an open ulcer on her leg. Still living alone, no one had been aware of the sore. It was too late to heal, so her leg was amputated. As her mother lay in a hospital bed, Lois was called back to Boise. Her replacement had given birth and they needed Lois to fill in for six weeks.
They needed the money, so she went.
A few days after Lois arrived in Boise, her brother called. “Mother has just figured out that she won’t be going home. They want to put her in a rehab place. She is saying no. The doctor says she is shutting herself down.”
Within 48 hours, her mother was gone. Still needed at her job, her boss bought her a plane ticket for a quick round-trip to Kansas. October had come and gone.
With her job completed in Boise, Lois returned to Richland and her four part-time jobs. Then came the phone call that her brother in Colorado needed open-heart surgery. By now, Lois and Nick were operating on shear willpower. The day of the surgery, Lois had a difficult time concentrating.
Meanwhile, in Canada, the premature baby was ready to go home from the hospital, but the parents didn’t want her. There was no way Lois and Nick could step in. So Lois’s brother and sister-in-law who lived in Texas flew to Canada to collect the baby.
One more month had flown by.
They needed a break, so Lois and Nick drove to Anthony Lakes in Oregon to go skiing. The day was about over when Lois said she was through. Nick begged, “Just one more time.” Lois was broadsided by a teenager who then danced around her as she lay on the snow. “Are you ok? Are you ok?”
She was not.
Recuperating at home, her leg in a cast, Nick took her hand and looked deep into her eyes. “Are you sure we were supposed to move here?”
“Absolutely.”
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I understand what you were trying to do, but I kind of felt pulled from one event to the other. I really like the short "breather" in between each different step in her life, though.
Your transitions quickly moved us on the the next scene but the final word said it all.