LET ME CATCH MY BREATH
NOTHING IS FOREVER
The ringing of the telephone brought Michael Snyder back into the land of the living.
Whoever it was, was clearly someone he did not know; because, if it was, they would have known not to be calling at the ungodly hour of seven am on a Sunday morning, and another reason he was sure it wasn't someone he knew, was because the only people he knew he had just seen the night before, and they were probably in as worse shape has him. He remembered shots of Patron at Dos Roses, and something about Heather flashing the bartender, but beyond that, nothing. He couldn't remember how he got home, but knew Charlie, the person sleeping next to him, definitely had something to do with it.
"You've reached the home of Michael Snyder; I am not available to take your call," the answering machine picked up, "leave me a message, or if this is an emergency and it's not Sunday, call me at the restaurant at 555-9875."
"Good morning, sweetie," he heard the voice on the answering machine say, and quickly picked up the receiver; his mother was one of the few people who were allowed to interrupt his Sunday morning.
"Hi, mom," he said, "How are you and dad doing, is everything okay back home?"
He looked down to see Charlie, had woken up and was staring straight up at him, "can you hold for just a second mom, I've got to check on something real quick," he placed the receiver down on the nightstand, "Good morning," he said, giving them a quick kiss, "Did you sleep okay last night?" he asked
"Like a baby," they said, "right now you need to not leave your mother hanging on the phone."
"Sorry mom," Michael said, picking the phone back up, "how are you and dad doing?"
"We're both doing fine," his mom replied, "and your father is still as ornery as ever, but I didn't call to talk about us," she paused for a minute, not sure how he was going to take the news she was about to deliver. "Karen Bennett called me this morning," she waited to see what Michael's reaction was going to be.
"What did she want," Michael said, showing no emotion at the mention of a women he had once loved as a second mom, "she made it perfectly clear the last time I spoke to her, that I was no longer welcome in their life..."
"Baby," his mother interrupted him, trying to put together the words she needed to say to him, "I don't know how to tell you this, so I'm just going to say it; Dolan was found dead late last night."
There was an uncomfortable silence on the phone for just a few second, but what seemed an eternity, "How?" Michael asked, even though he already knew the answer.
"Alcohol poisoning," his mom confirmed it, "his alcohol level was over five times, the legal limit."
"Mom," Michael said, "I'm sorry to hear that, but they both made it perfectly clear the last time I saw them, that I was no longer welcome in their lives, so why is she calling you to let me know?"
"I don't know sweetheart," his mom said.
Charlie walked back in the room and handed him a cup of coffee, prepared with two creams and three spoons of sugar. "I'll be in the other room if you need me."
"When's the funeral?" Michael asked.
"You know nobody will think less of you if you don't come," his mother said.
"Yes, mom," he said, "I do. I need to say my goodbyes, regardless of what happened, he was at one time a very important part of my life. I owe him that respect if nothing else."
"I'll get your rooms ready for you," She said, "Your sister will be happy to see you, is there anything I can do for you?"
"Mom," Michael said, "I will be fine."
"Okay", she said, "The Rosary will be Tuesday at seven in the evening, and the funeral at ten Wednesday morning."
He quickly jotted the information down on the pad he kept on the nightstand, next to the bottle of Ibuprofen. He didn't need to ask where the services were going to be held, he had been inside the Angel Falls Lutheran Church enough times to distinctly remember the sights and sounds of Sunday morning service, all the way from the congregation singing to Pastor Ron's sermons.
"I will call and make reservations for Charlie and me," he said, assuming the person who had changed his life, would want to be with him. "We'll try to leave either late this evening, or early tomorrow morning."
It had been over ten years since he had caught that Greyhound Bus out of Angel Falls, two days removed from the worst Thanksgiving of his life, and the blank look in Dolan's eyes, a look that would haunt him for many years. He had ended up in Phoenix AZ, with four hundred dollars in his pocket, sharing a two bedroom apartment with three other guys he barely knew, working his days at Wal-Mart, and drinking his nights away at either Charlie's or The Rock, until the day Charlie, walked into Charlie's, strange coincidence, and changed his life forever. He had been sitting at the bar drinking a rum and coke, when a man walked in and with one simple question would change his life forever, "Are you okay?"
They spent the next few hours talking like they had been friends all their lives.
He had learned Charlie was from back East, New Hampshire to be exact, and had moved to Phoenix three years earlier. He still had family back East, who he hadn't spoken too since he had come out to them. They hadn't taking it as well as he had thought they would. It had been different for Michael, when he had come out to his mother, even though he hadn't been the one to tell her. Dolan had called her one night, in a drunken state. She had accepted it, but had made him promise to never tell his sister or his dad, even though he was sure his sister already knew.
Charlie walked back into the room, two fresh cups of coffee in his hands, "How are mom and Dan doing?" he asked, taking a sip of his coffee, and placing Michaels's new one next to the untouched one he had brought him earlier.
"Okay," Michael replied, "I know it hasn't been easy on mom, since Dad had his stroke, she wants to think she's superwoman, but she's not as young as she used to be."
"Has she giving anymore thought into putting him in the nursing home?" Charlie asked. "I know the last time you talked to her about it, she was looking into it"
"I don't know," Michael said, grabbing Charlie's coffee cup and taking a drink, "It never came up."
Then what did you all talk about?" Charlie asked.
Dolan was the one thing, Michael had never told Charlie about. It wasn't because he thought Charlie wouldn't understand, or he had anything to hide from him; it was just a part of his past he had chosen to leave where it belonged, in the past. It wasn't the words that Dolan had said to him the last time they had saw each other, that haunted Michael; it was the look in Dolan's eyes that ran through Michael's mind. It was the look of someone who had lost their soul and didn't know where to find it.
"I've told you everything about my life," Michael said, "except for one thing."
"Is that what the phone call was about?"
Michael nodded his head, "They found Dolan dead last night."
"Who is Dolan?"
"Dolan was my best friend growing up," Michael said, feeling the loss for the first time. "Growing up in Angel Falls, we did everything together; were one of us was, the other was almost sure to be close by.
"I'm sorry," Charlie said, "Are we planning on going to the funeral?"
Michael just nodded his head, as he fell to his knees and the tears started to run down his cheeks.
Michael slept, his head resting against Charlie's shoulder. The first thing Charlie had done was call Heather at the Restaurant, to let her know what was happening, and that she would be in charge for a few days; then he went online and booked a flight out of Sky Harbor Airport to Amarillo Texas, which was about 130 miles southeast of Angel Falls.
Charlie pulled out his blackberry, and noted the time was around 9:00, and they would be arriving in Amarillo in about 30 minutes. He gently nudged Michael's shoulder, "wake up, sweetie," he said, "we're almost to land."
Michael rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, and stretched his arms over his head, Charlie had always found it quite sexy the way Michael woke up, and he thought he looked like a child, innocent that is.
"You know," Michael said, "It feels weird coming back here. When I got on that Greyhound all those years ago, I had felt like my world was ending, and I had vowed to myself I would never return, and I had also tried to convince myself that I hated Dolan. Isn't it funny how we can make ourselves believe something that isn't true if we keep telling the same lie to ourselves?"
Charlie just kissed the top of Michael's head, He still hadn't heard the whole story yet, and wasn't going to push to hear it; he knew he would hear everything when the time was right, and not a moment before.
"We are now approaching Amarillo International Airport, please return to your seats, make sure the tray is in the upright position, and your seat belt is fastened. We will be landing in about ten minutes. We hope you enjoyed your flight with us and thank you for flying US Airways"
"There's something else I haven't told you," Michael said, as he clicked his seat belt. "This is the first time I've ever flown."
Charlie shook his head, and chuckled.
Charlie listened to the soft sounds of the latest country station on the radio, well Michael slept, on the drive from Amarillo to Angel Falls. By the time they had taken care of the particulars of renting the car, grabbing a quick bite to eat, since they hadn't eaten anything since leaving Phoenix, it was almost an hour later then what they had originally planned to leave Amarillo.
The nighttime DJ noted the time to be around 12:00 midnight, Texas time, which meant it was eleven in Angel Falls, which made it ten in Phoenix. It had taken Charlie a few years to get used to the fact, that part of the year the time in Angel Falls was the same as in Phoenix, and the other half it was an hour behind.
Charlie took a drink of the concoction that was masquerading as coffee, he had purchased at the convenience store, in some small town between Amarillo and Angel Falls, whose name escaped him at the time.
Michael shifted in his sleep, and Charlie wondered what he was dreaming about. Michael would often tell Charlie he was an Angel who came to save his life, but Charlie knew the opposite was true, it was Michael who had saved him.
When he saw the lights of Angel Falls come into view, he gently nudged Michael, "Wake up, sweetie," he said, "were home."
Michael slowly woke up.
"At one time," he said, "I thought I would live here forever..." he paused for just a second, as the memories washed over him. "...but as they say nothing is forever."