THE WRITER Chapter 4

NewBorn Baby
courtesy photobucket

The moment of truth had arrived.  He felt he was in a world apart and alone behind the mask he had on.

As they rushed the gurney in along side the birthing table they assisted the patient in moving off the gurney onto the table.  

The doctor helped her get positioned and her feet into the stirrups.  He adjusted them so she could push against them when she would bear down.  

 

Writer, moved over so his vision wasn't impaired as the doctor raised her gown revealing her distended stomach and her swollen exposed glory.

The doctor said “Everything looks good, you are fully dilated, your cervix is nigh unto 10 centimeters.” 

Writer didn't understand what that meant and was completely lost for he was a journalist grad not a med student. As he viewed the scene before him he had the feeling of guilt sweep over him.

 

He felt he had no business is viewing what was going on. He wanted to leave but was paralyzed and just stared straight ahead.

During the next half hour he was transfixed, seeing but detached from what he saw. 

He could only remember segments of what happened such as the doctor’s voice saying; just work with your body and with each contraction,

Push!

Then it was. “I see the head! Just a couple of more times now. Take a breath and Push.”  It was only a few minutes but it seemed like hours.

The groans were like thunder in his ears, and then the doctor held up a new born child and said; "It’s a boy!"

The nurses took the child and quickly sucked the mucus from his mouth with a syringe and moments later he took his first breath and let out a scream which must have meant I'm alive and well.

 

The doctor tied off the cord and cut it, freeing the child from his mother's support system.

After he was cleaned up he was given to the mother who held him for the first time.

Mother and Baby
courtesy photobucket

The writer came to his senses and got out his brownie camera and took the mother and son picture for the paper.

Then he grabbed his clothes and left.

It was some time before he calmed down enough to think rationally. Little by little he settled down and then began to laugh out loud as he thought about all he had just gone through.  

All he could think of was, "I must get this down on paper"

Writer thanked everyone and as he left - - they all, even the head nurse was laughing at him and his pretense of being an experienced reporter.   

To be continued

You might be interested in this video of a live birth !!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPUmtBqRaoo

 

THE WRITER Chapter 3

The writer having become a little frustrated mostly because of his inexperience, he finally went to the head nurse and requested to be in the delivery room during the birth of a child.

He was in the waiting room for the fathers, when the head nurse came and called him out to converse about the conditions to be met if allowed to witness a live birth.

 

As she laid out his requirements his knees almost buckled.

 

His emotions were running wild as he tried to envision what was going to happen next.

Then she told him of the rules the parents had set and what the hospital required him to follow or he would be asked to leave the room;

He couldn't take pictures of the birth, he had to stay back out of the way, he had to dress in hospital garb, and finally he had to write up a personal history of how the birth came about and post a picture of the newborn in the paper.

 

He quickly agreed to all of rules before him even though all the paper stuff had to be cleared by the editor.

Moments later the head nurse told him gruffly to get down to the delivery room for they would be starting soon. He almost ran down the long hallway and entered the room where the birth would occur.

He was amazed at how well lit the room was. As he gazed around the surroundings he saw the center piece which was a table with stirrups and was surprised at how narrow it was. He thought to himself, “I hope she doesn't fall off. “

So, there he stood with note book in hand, ready for the action to start when a woman quickly turned and handed him a stack of hospital garb and said strip to your undies and put on these clothes and just as quick she returned back to what she had to do to get ready.

To say he was nonplussed is putting it mildly!  He couldn't tell if the nurse was old or young for all that was showing was her eyes, and her voice was muffled by the mask she wore.

 

The same applied to the doctor and the two other aides. After what seemed like to be several minutes (though it was only a few seconds) he composed himself and meekly asked, "Do I take off my shoes also?" To which the nurse answered no, just put these booties over them. 

 

Even though he was somewhat redden he turned to the wall and removed his pants and since he didn't wear underwear it didn't take long to put on the clothes she had given him.

His waist was about 28 inches and the hospital pants were for a 44 inch waist so he pulled hard on the draw strings, wrapped them around himself and tied them in front.

The rest went easy including the hat, booties and the mask. There he stood, looking almost like a doctor, waiting and then the door was flung open and the time had come.

To be continued

THE WRITER Chapter Two



Taking Good Notes for my Report
courtesy free clip art

 

Having arrived early he sat in his car a 1946 Ford that he was making two payments on each month. One was the car payment itself and the other was the cost of repairs to keeping it running.

He laid out his plan of action; first he would position himself where he could see everything that was going on and collar the people for an interview, as they checked in.

He discarded this plan after the outset of 10 minutes for the first couple that came in was on the verge of giving birth and the woman was in great discomfort.

They disappeared into the delivery room and he was left standing somewhat dismayed.

Wow! He thought. “She couldn't be in that much pain.”

He had his note book in his hand and felt foolish just standing there alone in the hallway so he ventured into the fathers waiting room.

He thought to himself, “Well, here I have a captive audience,” and he could flesh out his story from the father's viewpoint. Which one should I tackle first he thought. Some of them were pacing back and forth and didn't appear to want to engage in conversation so he decided to wait until they settled down.

There was one man about forty, he looked to be calm so he ventured over and tried to start a conversation. After some niceties about the weather he asked if this was his first child to which the man said no, it was his seventh.

The writers mind went blank for a minute because he thought who has seven children in this day and age.

As he turned back to the man to question him further the man had fallen asleep and was snoring. Seems he was willing to let nature take its course without him worrying about it.

As the writer settled back in his chair he knew his editor would expect much more than a story about man with seven children who was snoring to fill a column so he ventured back out where the head nurse was. He wasn't getting desperate yet, but he knew he had to get something from a human interest viewpoint but he wasn't sure how to do it.

About this time he had what he thought was a brilliant idea. He sidled up to the head nurse but when he saw the stern look on her face he froze for a moment.

She gruffly said; “And what do you want?” 

He started to say; nothing but the vision of the editors displeased face came before him and he snapped out of it and said; “Do you think I could go in the delivery room and witness the whole birth process first hand because that way it would be a true story of what the hospital does in the maternity wing of the hospital?”

She, without changing the severe look on her face said; “I'll see what I can do.”

 

The writer thought “What have I gotten into now?”

Then the two "P s" Perseverance and Prayer came to mind and he hoped they would prevail.

 

The Writer Chapter 1

This is a short story and my first E-book

E-Book Cover

Free e-book at Smashwords

An aspiring young journalist seeks a job as a reporter and finally lands a position as a copy boy. His wannabe spirit to become a writer is not damped as he finally is given the opportunity to report on the story of a lifetime. His dreams are unfolding and will they finally be revealed or dashed to ashes?

He had struggled to get some journalistic training, but it was even harder to get a job at the local newspaper and the best he could find was a copy boy position.

In those days being a copy boy was the bottom of the totem pole so to speak. He was at the beck and call of everyone, the gofer, the “have him do it” guy.

As he would read the paper each day he could just envision his name on the by line of each story and off he would go in his own fantasy land. The editor was a tolerant man (as tolerant as an editor can be which isn't much) and when he was in the editors presence he would hint that he would like to write something for the paper.

For the most part it fell on deaf ears for running a newspaper entailed everything from deadlines to legal problems to the actual equipment that did the printing. But the copy boy persevered and did his job very well even though he received little or no praise for doing a good job.

 

Complements were in short supply in the newspaper business.

Over time the editor did notice his dedication to his job and called him into his office one day and asked if he would like to do a story with the understanding it probably wouldn't be published. He was ecstatic and pledged he would do a workman like job.

 

The editor tried to squash his enthusiasm enough to give him his assignment which was to spend the night at the maternity department of the local hospital and develop a story about the new mothers and fathers. He assured the editor that it would be no problem and he could handle it.

As he left the editors office he declared to himself; "I am now a cub reporter" and no longer a copy boy. Then it struck him; how do I do this?  Sheepishly he decided to approach one of the less gruff reporters and ask him the best way to do this.

Amid his snarls and contemptuous laughter the old reporter laid out the first steps for him.  “The first thing you need to do is get a press pass so you will look official and then contact the department head and tell them you want to do a story about their branch of the hospital services and then go from there. “

So it was after answering a multitude of questions the hospital gave their consent but wanted to meet him to lay down some ground rules. When he met with them they gave him a time set for his night at the maternity ward, and they laid the dos and don'ts for being there.

 

When they questioned the fact he looked so young he assured them that he had been doing this for a long time.

Since he was going to stay up all night he was let off from his job at noon to get some rest. As he lay in bed he couldn't sleep, he could only think about his new adventure.

 

His appointment was at six thirty but he showed up at five and had to wait till six when he was allowed to proceed to the maternity area.

Inwardly he thought about the two "P s" Perseverance and Prayer for they had prevailed at last.    

To  be continued - - -

Click HERE to reach the Order Page for Smashwords

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IT DON’T MATTER Chapter 27 Epilogue

The Vinyard in the Valley\
courtesy photobucket

After shopping till their feet gave out they returned to the home in the city.

Nan said, “Put your things where you can sort through them and if you want to take any of them to the vineyard put them in your suitcase for tomorrow’s trip.”

The next morning they were up early and anxious to see me and the country place in the valley.

They first had to go to the baggage department and check on Grandpa’s two dogs.  He had checked on them several times during the trip to the city and made sure they were going to be cared for until he picked them up.

When they arrived at the station stop at the vineyard Pa put them on a leash and took them for a short walk.  I met Grandma and the girls and asked where Grandpa was.

About then he showed up with two old friends of mine.  One was named Red and the other was Bone.

Bessie took the leashes from Grandpa and they were all over her and glad to see her again.

Then we made the short trip to the vineyard to introduce everybody and Bessie turned the dogs loose to check everything out for they were going to live here from now own.

Bessie’s dogs and the new dogs had to get acquainted as well as the human folk. 

Baby Martha found Grandma very interesting and sat on her lap most of the way home.  It seemed like they took to one another right off.

Grandpa couldn’t believe his eyes when he looked over the valley with a lot of it already planted with vine stock.  Then he saw the green house with hundreds of young seedlings started.

He didn’t say anything until later when he said; “Looks like a lot of work to me.”

Grandma met Lucia and they talked for quite a while about something and then she met the child bride, Alcee and they talked for a short time.

Later she said to me there is a young woman who is greatly troubled and you and Nan should watch over her and help her if you can.

I asked Nan if she knew something that I should know.

She said, “I wanted to wait until we were alone.”  Then she told me about the experience of Alcee having a fit while shopping.

I was a little surprised but not completely for I sense something wasn’t right about her. 

 

After a week’s visit I took the folks back to the house in the city for I wanted to get them settled.  I expected them to live out their days there.

During their visit to the vineyard I asked them if they wanted to live here but they both declined saying it was the city for them.  They also told me the reason for moving which surprised me somewhat.

All my siblings had moved too far to visit so they never got to see any of their children.  The grandkids that were old enough were on their on and didn’t ever come to visit them so they were alone as far as family was concerned.

After thinking it over they wanted to be with us for they knew Nan and I would take good care of them.

I just said you know we are glad to have you here and especially Bessie does.  We set it up where we would go to the city for a day or two every other week and they would come to the vineyard the other week.

This way we were with them a lot of the time.  We sent letters to all our kin inviting them to come and visit the folks whenever they wanted to.  There were very few visits except for when someone had business here.

As the days went by Bessie was growing up and I had hired a young man who was a good worker as well as being intelligent.  A year later he and Bessie were married.

Since Bessie was now in charge of the whole vineyard operation, she was his boss but they never had any trouble making it work.

She liked dogs and kids and thankfully she had more dogs than kids for three was enough.

Eventually Martha moved to the city and got her college education then ended up marrying a successful business man.  She only has one child so far.

My two boys were close when growing up and are now business partners.  They married sisters have a couple of kids each.

Last I heard Elle was still bossy as she was when we were kids.

Jake and his brood have done well in the oil business and have remained there.  As I grew up I had to lean on him so many times.

Alice and Sammie ended up in Chicago and have six kids as far as I know.

Maxi and Dr. Lester are in Boston with several car sales rooms.

The rest of the family is all doing their thing and I don’t hear from them anymore.  I could chase them down but I have more than I can handle myself.

Alamo and Lucia are as close as blood kin and plan to stay with us until they die.  They still insist on doing their jobs.  Alamo goes out each day and checks on the vineyard and he usually has something to say to the foreman and it’s not always complementary but the foreman understands him for Alamo trained him.

Grandma was right about Alcee being unsettled for she ran off with a married man.  Aldo was quite upset about it and returned to Italy.

I am truthful when I say I love all four of my kids equally and they love each other the same way.  Even though two of them have a different father it has made no difference in the way we feel about each of us.

A few more years now have come and gone and my folks have checked out after enjoying their last years with my side of the family.

Nan and I are showing our age somewhat although Nan is still quite lively at times.  We have thoroughly enjoyed each other and will continue to do so till our demise.

One thing that has remained with her is the way she can communicate with her eyes.  She says so much when you look at her directly into her eyes.

I learned this shortly after we were wed for we soon knew what the other was thinking by just looking at each other. 

 

That saved us a lot of talking and sometimes arguing for I received answers to questions by looking deep into those liquid eyes.

“It didn’t matter” whether I agreed or not, her eyes were always right.

 

* * * * * * *

IT DON’T MATTER 26 New Beginnings

The farm in the Valley
courtesy photobucket

We sent our belongings to our vineyard in the valley to be stored in the warehouse that was already completed.  

The house was nearing completion but not ready to move into.  We had packed our clothes and went straight to the city on a hill to our home there.  

For three nights we stayed in a hotel because we had no furniture.

I hoped that having Nan pick out all the household furnishings would keep her busy and not be thinking about me buying the house without consulting her.  

The merchants were anxious to sell the things we needed and started moving items into the new house as soon as we bought them.  By the fourth day the place was fully furnished.  

After Nan and Lucia cooked a couple of meals things began to settle down.

Adamo and Lucia had been married before leaving the home place so they only needed one bedroom which was helpful.

After one more day Adamo and I headed to the valley to try to expedite finishing the new houses at the vineyard.  As the rooms were finished we moved the furnishings from the old home place in and it was almost like we were still at our old home.

I had trouble keeping Adamo working on the house for he wanted to get started on the vineyard.  It took a couple more weeks but at last it was time to bring the family to our valley.

When the family arrived they were thrilled to be there.  Nan said, “You can keep the house in town for here is where I want to be.”  

I’m not sure but I think it had something to do with our familiar old furnishings and household goods that made her so comfortable.

There was an apartment added on for Lucia and Adamo so at last they had some privacy.

Bessie hung out with Adamo and helped him with starting the vineyard.

The boys, Mark and Matt couldn’t decide what they wanted to do so I had to keep an eye on them to make sure they didn’t get into trouble.

One day it was horses and the next day it was hunting in the woods behind our house. The vineyard complex was a long way from being completely finished but was far enough along to live in.  In fact it would be three or four years before we stopped adding on to it.

The city house was very comfortable and I thought it was time to let Nan express her feelings about what I had done without consulting with her, for we only discussed it briefly.

Surprisingly she wasn’t that upset by the whole thing.  She indicated she would like to spend a good portion of the time in the city where the children could attend a proper school.  

At the same time she was excited about the vineyard we were putting in.

Adamo wanted to talk to me about his younger brother Aldo and bringing him over to help him build the vineyard.  He concluded that Aldo was better educated than he was and had worked with the grapes since he was a small child.

I said I would need to think it over for along with him coming I would be assuming the responsibility of caring for him.

Finally needing experienced help won out and he sent for him.

A month later Aldo arrived with very little baggage except for his young bride Alcee.

Adamo was as surprised as I was.  Lucia pulled Aldo aside and asked, “How old is your bride?  

He said, “As far as customs knows she is nineteen but she is actually sixteen. She wanted to come to America and I wanted an Italian wife so we got married.  She wrote her folks and mailed it just before we boarded the ship.

They know by now she is married though not to their satisfaction for we were not married by the priest of our parish.”

Nan had a few clothes from before we got married that would fit Alcee for she had very little in the way of clothes.

Adamo wanted to have a little party for the newlyweds and Nan and I agreed it would be okay.  It was a small party but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.  

A month ago I had started building a small house for the newlyweds and it was finished enough for them to move in and start their life together.

Starting the Vineyard
courtesy photobucket

Adamo had hired a few hands to help get the vines planted and after another month it was beginning to look like the beginning of a large vineyard.  

We were looking to the future by setting up drying racks for drying grapes into raisins and the shell of the building for making wine was done.

There was no hurry to finish it for it would a couple of years before we had enough grapes to deal with.

Nan took the girls, Lucia, and Alcee to the city for a shopping spree.

Lucia had difficulty keeping Alcee from buying everything she saw and things she couldn’t afford.  She thought since they were in America they were going to be rich and could buy anything they wanted.

After Lucia told her that one of the dresses she picked out cost more than Aldo made in a month she was shocked.  

Alcee shouted, “I didn’t come to America to be poor; I was already poor in Italy.”

Lucia tried to settle her down but she was out of control.

Nan told Lucia to watch the girls and she shook Alcee until she quieted down.  All the people in the store were watching and the store owner came and told them to leave without purchasing anything.

Nan was humiliated and she picked baby Martha up and took Bessie’s hand and said, "Let's go!"

She told Lucia, "Let’s get something to eat and then you take this child bride to the railroad station and take her home."  

Nan and the girls finished their shopping and stayed in their house in town. Bessie objected and said “I would rather stay at our real home instead of here.”

Nan said there is still more shopping to do tomorrow and also some business I need to take care of for your father.

The next morning the girls readied themselves for the day’s activities.  Nan had hired a maid to care for the place in town and Martha was to stay with her while Nan and Bessie went out.

They arrived at the railroad station and Bessie said, “Are we going home without Martha?”

Nan said, “No we have to meet some old friends, someone you might know.”

They could hear the whistle blowing announcing the arrival of the train as it approached the station.  They had to step back as it let off steam on it’s final approach.  

 

After seeing several people get off the coaches Bessie shouted “I see them, its grandpa, and grandma.”  

After the hugging and kissing subsided Nan said I have a coach to take your goods to our home.  The ride to their home was filled with questions and happy hugs by Bessie for she couldn’t get over her surprise.  

 

Nan said tomorrow we will shop and then the next day we will go to the vineyard.

Then it occurred to Nan, “They are moving here not just visiting.”

She then thought “It don’t matter” for they are welcome to stay.

IT DON’T MATTER 25 Baby Martha Arrives

Baby courtesy photobucket

The time is getting closer to the birth of Martha.  We aren’t entertaining any thoughts of it being a boy so we haven’t thought of a boy’s name.

I’m nervous about leaving the house each day and am thankful Lucia is there with Nan. I stay up late waiting but so far it hasn’t been the time.

Then I was wakened by a poke in the ribs and a voice saying, “Go, go get the doctor, quick.”  That’s all I needed for me to spring into action and was out the door after telling Lucia to get up.

By the time I returned with the doctor the child was beginning to emerge from the only home it had known so far.  About ten minutes later the familiar sound of screaming out I’m here and I’m hungry.  I was given the job of burying that which was no longer needed and I just remembered I didn’t know what it was.

It had to be a she.  As I hastened back to the house I tried to prepare for a boy but there was only disappointment in that thought.  When I returned to the room the child was wrapped in a blanket and Nan was cleaned up.

Nan looked up at me and said, “Let me introduce you to Miss Martha our newest member of the family.”  

I almost collapsed from relief as the truth began to register in my mind.

Nan said, “Marty meet your papa.”

As much as I loved Bessie I still wanted a girl of my own and now I have her.  I hope she will be as much like her mother as Bessie is.  My boys are getting to be boys wearing out the knees of their overalls and trying the patience of Nan and Lucia to the edge where punishment kicks in.

Bessie the grape farmer visits her vines every day carrying the hoe grandpa made for her.  Lucia tells her to talk to the vines and tell them to grow up and be strong for it takes strong vines to produce good grapes.

Our family fortune continues to grow but I see the beginning of problems to appear. Problems are in the horizon that I don’t know how to solve.

While Pa is the head over everything we own in common I am in control of how our money is invested and shares are distributed.  Everyone’s needs are being met and are at liberty to propose new avenues of investments.

All that is required is the viability and probability of being successful.  So far this has been a good model to follow.  Our problem that is the likelihood of grandkids nearly being grown and they will want their piece of the pie.

Within a year there will be several wanting to go out on their own, and they will want to be independent of the family.  Because of the size of the family and the grandkids growing up we needed a plan to provide a share of the family wealth to the grand children.

Dividing up the holdings
courtesy photobucket.com

After much discussion and some disagreement about how we could do this and still be fair it was decided each of my sibs will need to have their share of our holdings and then the money funneled down to the grandchildren.

Or in other words the family holdings will have to be sold and the cash distributed to each.  This can only be done if Pa and Ma agree to the distribution.  As long as everything stays intact this couldn’t be accomplished to everyone’s satisfaction.

If they give in and say sell it a piece at a time it will be a long and difficult procedure. After several months I could see grandma had been won over and grandpa was weakening.

A lot of our holdings were brick and mortar which made the partnership with the sharecroppers a different issue.

Before it came to having to sell and kick the sharecroppers off the land due to it being sold I went to each and offered to sell them the farm they were farming.

They all had done well on their particular farm and had enough money to make a down payment and we would carry a note on it.

All of the other holdings could be sold and then the money distributed equally between the main family.  Ma and Pa would get an equal share same as their children and then they could give their kids what they wanted to without any supervision from me.

I agreed to everything being sold except Bessie’s grape farm, for that was her’s personally.

It was a big job but we finally inventoried all of the assets and were preparing to put them on the market.

The home properties were valued and each could keep them if they wanted and their share would reflect that amount being deducted at the final distribution of funds.

One thing was proposed by Dr. Lester was to sell everything to a corporate entity that was interested in the whole package and after some heated discussions we all agreed to the sale.  

Most of the disagreements was from the grandkids but they had no legal say so which only amounted to a lot of noise.

The sharecroppers were able to keep their farms as long as they made their payments to the new owners, which was a relief to me for I felt a responsibility toward them.

What I called my cattle was no more for they were gone.

The oil field holdings were gone and that was what the new owners were interested mostly.  

They would never bought the holdings without the oil fields.

So here I sat with a pot full of money and no responsibility toward no one except my brood.

After having to deal with the family including the grandkids and the people who were interested in our holdings I had enough of all of them.

Ma and Pa had been influenced by different ones of the family who only wanted to get their hands on some money.

They had no idea what it took to earn this money for they knew nothing of money management.  I had Judge Larson set up the distribution of the funds for Ma and Pa and us children.

Now it will be up to the children’s parent’s to share with them if they so choose to do so.

I told Nan I had to take a short trip and would be back in a week.  In eight days I returned and I told her where I went but for now, wanted to keep it between just the two of us.

I put our house up for sale and Sammie heard about it and wanted to buy it right off.

We waited three months until Marty was getting stronger and then visited Ma and Pa for the last time for awhile.  They were upset that we were moving away from them.  

Ma wanted to know how far it was to where we were going and I told her we weren’t sure where we were going to land so I didn’t know exactly.  She said she didn’t want us to go to far because she wanted to visit us.

I told them we would write and keep them up to date about how we were doing.  The truth be known I was put out about the way the both of them supported the other members of the family and forced me to go through the process of selling all of holdings.

Since the money had been distributed to all the kids and the grandkids got their share I noticed that the grandkids didn’t have time to visit grand parents as they did before they got their money.

We packed up everything we wanted to keep and shipped it to our new home.  Lucia was a widow and had been with us for five years now and we wanted her to go with us but she said she had other plans.  

She had been writing a man from her village who was a wine maker in Italy and he wanted to marry her but wanted her to return to Italy.  I told her if he would move to America I would see to it that he had a job.  

She wrote him and assured him that I was a man of my word and if he came I would take care of them.  I guess he was anxious to get her for he said he would be on the next boat.

I went to the area where we were moving to and was prepared for Nan and the kids coming.  They were to wait for Adamo’s (Lucia’s new man) arrival.

We had told him to bring some seeds with him for we wanted to plant a vineyard. Also I wanted him to try to get some cuttings from Bessie’s vineyard (which we finally sold) to see if they would grow so she could start some new vines at our new home.

I didn’t tell Nan or the kids but I had bought a valley for our new home and a new house was in the process of being built.  I also bought a nice home in the big city on the hill which was about forty miles from our country place.

All of this I was doing without talking to Nan about it in detail.

I thought “It don’t matter” or would it?