Page 47 of Truck

Mrs. Willoughby, who runs one of the grocery stores on Main Street, is one of the regular diners in the evening. She is sitting with her friend of thirty years, Mrs. Galloway. They are laughing and reminiscing as I pass their table, and I smile at the easy friendship that they share.

Clearing a table, I turn to Shelby, who is working alongside the new woman, Fallon. “Shelby, are you going to Jill’s mother's funeral?” I ask as I wait for her to pass me a meal for one of the tables.

“Yeah, I think we all should go. Close the diner for a few hours. It is the right thing to do,” Shelby responds.

“I’m going to stand with Grady and Jill. I think Jill is dealing with everything so calmly that I’m a little worried about her,” I lean on the counter and drop my voice. “Do you think we could all keep an eye on her in case she needs us?”

“I agree, and I had thought that myself, Rory. Yeah, we’ll all keep watch and if she needs us, we are here,” Shelby passes me a plate, and I take it over to Bellamy who is a regular when he is in town. He’s a trucker, and from what I’ve heard he’s never been married and enjoys living alone and driving all over the state.

“Here you go, Bellamy,” I give him a smile as I place his plate in front of him.

“Thanks, Rory,” Bellamy replies while picking up his fork. I turn and walk away thinking he’ll have that meal gone in five minutes flat.

I hardly get to the counter when I hear a thud. Turning I see Bellamy on the floor next to his table. I rush over and I admit I panic. I scream that someone needs to help Bellamy and look around frantically. Shelby is on her knees next to Bellamy in seconds. She’s pumping his chest and doing all the things that you are supposed to do, but I turn my back because I can’t watch.

Someone shouts, “I’ve called 911.”

“Is it a heart-attack?” “What can I do?” “Shit, is he dead?” All these comments are flying and I can’t think of anything except Please don’t die!

The emergency paramedics rush into the diner. I stand back near the wall, well away from what is happening. When I hear that Bellamy is dead, I cover my mouth, and tears pour down my cheeks. Bellamy is only in his late thirties, not old enough to suddenly die.

The diner goes quiet, and everyone is looking at each other. We are all in shock. But what happens next is even more shocking. Bellamy takes a huge intake of breath. You could hear it whoosh into his lungs. He jerks so hard his back leaves the floor.

Everyone starts to shout, and the paramedics are over Bellamy again. “He’s back with us. How the hell has this happened?” We all look at the shocked paramedic, who had been working on Bellamy for all of ten minutes earlier and said he was dead.

It’s mayhem for at least twenty minutes as they rush away with Bellamy and everyone retakes their seats. Some resume eating as though this is an everyday occurrence. I’m shaken at how easily people can be here one moment and gone the next. Bellamy was so close to how I lost Terrence that it has shaken me badly.

I continued the rest of the evening, but my usual bright personality was dimmed, along with most of the diners. We are all thrilled that Bellamy is alive and at the hospital. I hope they can find out quickly what happened and make sure he’ll be okay.

The next morning Jill arrives at my house, and over a drink she tells me about the funeral arrangements. Everything is simple and will not take long I’m sure. It’s a sad thing when you end your life and it only takes minutes to lay you into the ground.

“You are not having a church service, Jill?”

Jill shakes her head. “No, only at the graveside service. Momma has been cremated, so we’ll be burying an urn and not a coffin. I’m hoping Grady will be okay when he sees that.”

“Would you like me to prepare him for that? I can talk him through it simply without going into detail. I won’t lie to him if he asks me questions, but I won’t tell him anything that will give him nightmares,” I take hold of Jill's hand while I wait for her to answer.

“No, but thank you. I’ll talk to him Friday night while he is home with me. I’ll make sure he is okay, but if he asks you any questions, then by all means, answer him, Rory.”

Jill leaves shortly after, and I quickly clean the kitchen, check everything is tidied in my bedroom before throwing in a load of laundry. I am keeping Grady’s laundry to a minimum as I don’t want him running out of clean clothes, and we didn’t bring too much when we packed his things.

I quickly open the door when I hear knocking, and opening it I’m surprised to see Truck. “Hello Truck. Are you not at work today?”

Truck grins. “I gave myself a free day and put Ian, the prospect, in for a day of learning experience.”

“Come through to the kitchen. Do you want a drink?”

“I’ll have a coffee. I’ve been at the gas station before coming here, and the coffee Rum has in the office is so thick you could chew on it,” Truck laughs at his own description of the coffee.

“You obviously have something on your mind, so out with it,” I ask because honestly, I’m not one for pussyfooting around.

“I want to talk to you about Cilla, her ability, and how it doesn’t affect anyone. She will not tell you anything about what she does, sees, or hears if that is what you want.” Rubbing the bridge of his nose, a trait I’ve only seen him do once before, he continues, “Your husband has left a message for me, through Cilla. He wants to know that I am not leading you on, and I won’t hurt you. I have promised, again through Cilla, that I would never hurt you purposefully. I make that promise with my hand on my heart, Rory.”

“I’ve had nothing to do with anyone who can see or hear dead people. It freaked me out, and when I saw that at the gas station I had to get out of there.”

“Rum finds these things comforting. Knowing his wife is not gone forever, and that one day they will be reunited. It has taken some of the loneliness from her leaving, away from him. He likes to be able to feel she is watching over him.”

I nod and hope I understand how Rum feels. “I don’t want Terrence to be waiting for me to die to reunite with him. I want him to move on, be reborn, or whatever is next. I still love him, but I don’t want to spend the rest of my life waiting to go to him. I want to live as he told me to do before he died.”