Extra Credit Chapters 21-25
Chapter 21
It had been a great visit today. Josh and Jake were both in great
moods. Josh was even bearable during his physical therapy session.
She and Jake had sat on the sidelines and watched as Josh was put
through his paces. She would cue Jake when to cheer for Josh and
Jake took this job very seriously. The physical therapist seemed glad
they were there too. He mentioned that their presence toned down
some of Josh's less than sterling qualities.
So as Donna and Jake half walked, half skipped back to Josh's room
after spending a 1/2 hour eating in the cafeteria she felt happy and
content with how things were progressing. Maybe it was because she
was feeling so good that the change in the room temperature was that
much more dramatic.
At some point, Dr. Phillips had joined Leo and Noah in Josh's room
and all four men were silent and tense. Donna said hello to the
gentlemen while she detoured Jake from getting onto Josh's bed. She
set him up at the table to color and overheard some of their
conversation.
"No one is saying you have to make a decision right now." Noah was
telling him. "We just thought you should be aware of all the options.
You have lots of choices." Josh laughed.
"Yeah, lots of choices…" Josh pretended to agree. He cast a
surreptitious glance at Donna and Jake. Donna was pretending not to
listen.
"You are continuing to make good progress, but recovering from
injuries this severe takes time. Pushing yourself not only doesn't
help in situations like this, it will actually slow things down. You
push too hard, too fast and it will do more harm than good." Dr.
Phillips explained. "So there is no way to shorten the rehab and
recovery schedule."
"What Dr. Phillips is saying…" Noah began.
"I understand what he is saying, Dad. The list of my injuries doesn't
include neurological damage!" Josh snapped and saw Donna's head
pop up and around to stare at his rude response.
"I think we should table this for now. Josh has another week here
before he has to make any decisions." Leo offered. He had not said a
word for the past few minutes but had been watching his Deputy's face
carefully. He had seen Josh's face go from happy and optimistic to
angry and finally to withdrawn. Josh was shutting down.
"If you have any other questions, have one of the nurses page me,
Josh." Phillips offered.
Leo and Noah said goodbye and left Josh alone with Donna and Jake.
Josh turned his head away and closed his eyes. After a few minutes,
he felt Donna's hand stroking his arm.
"Are you okay? That was quite the pow wow you had going there." she
started.
"I'm really tired, Donna. Maybe you and Jake should leave." Donna
recoiled like he slapped her.
"You want us to go?" she clarified. "I thought you wanted us to spend
the day with you?"
"I also wanted you to be honest with me, but that didn't happen
either." Josh replied.
"What are you talking about?" Donna was confused.
"Move in with you, Donna? Did you think you could just arrange it
without asking me? Without even discussing it with me? Did you think
I would want to be completely dependent on you? You probably
figured if you can handle a special needs child then adding a cripple
to the picture couldn't be much harder. Nothing is too hard for Saint
Donna, right?"
"Where is this coming from? I discussed POSSIBILTIES with your
parents, Josh. Nobody made any concrete plans for you. I just wanted
you to have some options and yes, I want to take care of you. That's
what you do when you love someone; you take care of them."
"Not like this. You didn't sign up for this. You don't need to be
stuck with some unemployed cripple."
"Josh!"
"You need to go."
"Josh, did Leo ask for your resignation?"
"He didn't have to. I've been in politics for 20 years Donna. I know
how it's done. He's encouraging me to `explore my other options'. He
even brought my Father with him!"
"Joshua, that doesn't mean-"
"You don't know anything about how this works. You can't
COLLABORATE with everyone, Donna. You need to leave. You need
to leave NOW!" Josh slapped his hand against the bed rail to
emphasize his point and either the motion or the vibration startled
Jake into looking up.
"Does it hurt?" he signed to Josh, but Josh turned away.
"Yes, it hurts a lot I think." Donna answered for him. "We're going
to go home now and let Josh sleep."
"We want to play checkers first." Jake announced.
"Not now, Jake. Say goodbye to Josh and pack your bag." Donna
picked him up so he could lean over the rail to kiss Josh's cheek
goodbye. Josh nodded his goodbye to Jake.
"Get some rest, Josh." Donna offered, but left without kissing him
goodbye. She didn't know if he would accept one. He didn't think she
wanted to give him one.
She walked out into the hallway and observed Leo and Noah in a
heated discussion.
"Noah, you need to tell him the truth. He's in there right now
thinking he's being eased out. I could see it in his eyes." Leo was
adamant.
"Not until he's better, Leo. He doesn't need to deal with any more
stress." Noah was equally determined. When Noah broke eye contact
with Leo, he noticed Donna.
"Hi, guys. Care to share with the class?"
"Donna. Josh was sure happy to see you two today." Noah started.
"He's not so very happy now, gentlemen. Leo McGarry, how you can
even consider asking Josh to resign after all he's done for you is
reprehensible! He is struggling through day after day of painful
therapy trying to recover form attempted murder and you dangle his
job in front of him? What kind of weasel – " Donna's tirade was
interrupted by Noah.
"Hold on there, spitfire." Noah took a quick glance at Leo and noted
that stunned expression on his face. Noah imagined the White House
Chief of Staff wasn't accustomed to this kind of dressing down;
particularly when it wasn't his fault.
"This isn't Leo's fault, Donna. He isn't asking Josh to resign. Would
it be okay if I came home with you and Jake? I'd like to talk to you
about some things. Joanie can pick me up later."
Donna looked from Leo to Noah and back again before agreeing.
"Sure. That would be fine. Josh doesn't want us to stay anymore. We
can leave now."
Chapter 22
Donna was speechless and that was an unusual condition for her.
Tears started to slide down her cheeks. Noah wordlessly took his silk
handkerchief out of his pocket and dried her eyes just like he'd done
the night Josh was shot.
"You have to tell him Noah. You have to." Donna implored.
"Not now. He has too much on his plate already, and I don't want him
to make a decision based on the fact that my cancer- I want him to be
free to make his own decisions based on what he wants to do." Noah
argued.
"And what he wants to do may change when he knows all the facts.
Noah, he'll never forgive you if you don't tell him everything."
Noah's head dropped to his chest.
"You are a very smart young woman, Donnatella. That's what Josh
calls you, right? Donnatella?"
"Yes, but I'm become partial to spitfire." She smiled through her
tears. "You need to have a family meeting; you, Ruth, Joanie, and
Josh. A united Lyman family is a very powerful thing. Use it. Let
Josh be there for you. Promise me you'll talk to him."
"I promise…Will you be there for Josh?" Noah asked. Now it was
Donna's turn to look down.
"I will be there if he wants me to be there. I think he's feeling a
little overwhelmed right now."
"Be patient with him Donna. Josh hasn't had a lot of experience with
personal setbacks. Usually his passion and tenacity can carry him
through anything. This is different for him. He can't fix this by
himself. You should have seen his face when the doctor explained the
kind of help he's going to need when he's discharged. I honestly
think he believed he could go home and resume life as usual."
"He's a strong man, Noah. He gets it from his Father…along with a few
other things I'm guessing." Donna smirked.
Noah went alone to the hospital that night to talk to his son. Ruth
and Joanie had offered to go with him, but he refused them both.
"Leo is afraid he left you with the wrong impression this afternoon.
That you might be thinking you're being ushered out the door. That's
simply not true, Josh, and I didn't want you to go on thinking that.
I asked Leo to present other options to you."
"What? Why would you do that?"
"I needed to know if you were still as invested in your job as you
were when you started. I thought maybe you might be ready for a
change. I mean there's Donna and Jake, and now this. ..I thought
maybe…"
"Dad, I know this must have scared you and Mom. Scared is probably
an understatement; I get that. It would be a lie if I told you it hasn't
made me re-evaluate some things, but my job wasn't one of them. I
need to do my job more now than ever. I have the opportunity to
change things with President Bartlett. I can't walk away from that
just because a couple bigots were bad shots."
"Joshua…"
"It was just a fluke, Dad. I was in the wrong place at the wrong
time. But if the last three weeks have taught me anything, it's that
I need my work. I'm going crazy knowing there's stuff on my desk and
I can't get to it."
"Can't they bring `stuff' over to you? I know they don't want you to
overdo, but surely a little reading…"
"This is what I've been saying, but Donna has joined in some unholy
alliance with Rebecca, and now Rebecca won't even give me
messages. Something about my blood pressure, blah, blah, blah. I
ask Leo for some work and he says he'll ask Donna about it. Not the
doctor, Donna. She also took the phone out of my room. Just took it!"
Josh was getting all upset just talking about it.
"Yeah, I can see how you're the model of rest and relaxation, son.
She only does it because she loves you, Joshua. We all do and yes,
you scared us pretty good. Try not to do that anymore, okay?"
"Yeah. I'll do my best. What I don't get is how you enlisted Leo in
your little scheme."
"Well, that's the other thing I need to talk to you about…"
When Donna walked into his hospital room a couple hours later, Josh
had the TV on, but he was staring at the foot of the bed.
"Hi there."
"Donna? What are you doing here this late? Where's J-"
"Jake is over at Molly's. She's keeping him for the night. I don't
know what I would do without my sister. Family is the best and the
worst all at the same time aren't they?"
He met her eyes and knew that she already knew about his Dad.
"I thought he won this battle already. Now he has to fight it all
over again? Against worse odds than before? Why can't he catch a
break?"
"Oh, Josh, he did. He has a devoted wife and children, a career he
loves, and the best medical care there is."
"What can I do to help him right now? I can't even take care of
myself."
"One thing at a time, Joshua. First you need to get better yourself.
Every day that you get stronger, makes him feel stronger. That means
that before anything else happens, you need to get some sleep. So
scoot over so I can lay down with you."
"You're staying the night? After the rude way I treated you this
afternoon?" Josh lifted a skeptical eyebrow.
"I can't tell you how glad I am to know that you can recognize when
you're being rude. Let's just chalk it up to your thinking that you
were being fired." Donna pulled the blanket up over both of them and
turned the sound down on the TV. "Now be quiet and let me sleep so
I'll be well rested for my first day at my new job tomorrow."
"Donna, tell me you didn't take another waitressing job." Josh rubbed
his hand over his face.
"Not only didn't I take another waitressing job, but I quit my old
one, too. Isn't that great?"
"What?!"
"I thought you'd be happy about that. You're always complaining about
my terrible waitressing job."
"I am. I'm very glad about that. It's just…what is this new job,
then?"
"I'll tell you, but I want you to keep in mind how much you hated my
waitressing job."
"Donna…" Josh had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"Remember, you said it was dangerous, back breaking work, where
people treated me poorly?
"Donna…"
"I got a job as a research assistant."
Wait, thought Josh, that's a good thing.
"A research assistant? That's great. Where?"
"Well this is the thing…" Donna hedged.
"Where Donna?"
"The Republican council's office."
"WHAT?!" Josh tried to sit up, but Donna was more or less laying on
him.
"Just kidding. I'm working for your Dad's law firm. But didn't that
Republican thing put it all in perspective for you?"
"You're working for my Dad?"
"Your Dad's firm. And the best part is I can do it mostly from home;
between the internet, faxes, and emails, it will almost be like I'm
right there in the office."
Josh thought about his Father and Donna joining forces; in constant
instantaneous contact, making plans, checking up on him…
"I've died and gone to hell." Josh mused, but he put his arms around
Donna and fell asleep within minutes.
Chapter 23
Discharge day. Donna didn't know you could feel so happy and so
nervous at the same. After preparing a logical, research based
briefing memo on the advantages of staying at her place, Josh finally
acquiesced. However, before Josh was discharged, she made sure
she had a detailed list of the things she would need to do for Josh; his
therapy schedule, his nursing schedule, and how best to help him
recover. It was overwhelming.
Donna was the type of person who needed order and Josh was the
biggest black hole of disorder she had ever met. There were going to
have to be some changes in both their lives for Josh's health as well
as her sanity. This is when the rules were born.
She typed them up all nice and professional; Josh claimed her
handwriting was illegible and she didn't want to give him any
excuses. `Oh, I'm sorry Donna. That said `no coffee'? I thought it
said `no coughing' He would try it too, she knew. So they were typed
up, reviewed, and distributed to the Lyman family as well as the West
Wing staff with the help of Rebecca.
Josh complained that he was being released to a parole officer. He
said he didn't need any juvenile rules; he was a grown man! He told
anyone who would listen that his overprotective girlfriend had
gone `round the bend; but in the end, he signed his agreement to the
rules before Donna brought him home.
Jake was initially delighted, of course. His buddy Josh was coming
over to sleep over. How cool was that? They could race cars, play
games, and eat junk food all the time. Josh always had junk food at
his house. Jake was sure he wouldn't come over to sleep over without
bringing treats. Now that Mom had a new `work from home' job, they
would all be home together. He was quickly disillusioned.
Josh didn't bring any treats with him and whenever he asked Josh to
get some, his Mom would remind Josh about rule #4: no junk food.
Josh was still too sick to get on the floor and play and Mom wouldn't let
them run race cars on the furniture; rule # 11. Then there were the
naps. Instead of getting to skip naps and stay up with his buddy,
they BOTH had to take naps…every day…sometimes twice; rule #1.
Jake agreed with Josh; the rules sucked. But so far, everyone was
abiding by them. Then one afternoon, about a week after Josh was
discharged, the doorbell rang.
Donna was irritated because it was `rest time' (Josh hated the word
nap) and with both her guys `resting' she could get some work done
without being interrupted. She really didn't need some guy selling
magazine subscriptions bothering her right now. Nonetheless, she put
a polite smile on her face as she opened the door.
"Yes?"
"Hi, I'm Toby Ziegler. I need to see Josh for a minute." Donna tilted
her head in a silent question. "I work with him at the White House."
He added.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Ziegler, but Josh is resting."
"It's 2 in the afternoon."
"Yes, and from 1-3 Josh rests. Didn't you get a copy of the rules?
Rebecca has them."
"I got a copy. I just thought they were a joke of some kind."
"They're really not, but I'll tell him you stopped by."
"Wait! I really need to talk to him."
"And he really needs to rest."
"You don't understand. Johansen is holding up our bill in committee
and Josh knows how to bring him around. This is time sensitive. I
need to talk to him now. I tried to call, but there was no answer."
"That's because I took the phone off the hook so he –"
"Could rest, yes, I get the idea. Could you just see if he's awake?
Then I could just speak to him for a couple minutes. Surely, we could
bend the doctor's rules just a bit. I mean, you've seen that list.
Some of those rules are just dumb."
"The rules are mine, Mr. Ziegler, and they are not dumb. I'll tell
Josh you stopped by." Donna shut the door on a slack jawed Toby
Ziegler.
"Well, that could have gone better." Toby decided as he walked,
frustrated, back to his car.
At 3:01 the phone rang, and Donna had no trouble guessing who it
was.
"Hello?"
"Hi, it's Toby Ziegler. I waited until after 3. Could I speak to Josh
please?"
"I'm sorry Mr. Ziegler, but Rebecca hasn't cleared this call."
"Pardon me?"
"Dumb rule #6; all work related calls must first be cleared through
Josh's assistant Rebecca."
"I have to get permission from an assistant, to talk to the deputy
COS about Johansen?"
"Well, you have to clear all work calls through Rebecca, yes, but if
it's about Johansen, I doubt she'll clear the call."
"And why not?"
"Rebecca says talking to or about Johansen makes Josh's blood
pressure rise 10 points. It's already too high today. Maybe if it's
lower tomorrow…."
"You're just playing with me now, aren't you Donna? Could you please
make an exception, just this once?"
"Maybe if you hadn't said the rules are dumb. Good bye Mr. Ziegler"
Donna hung up the phone.
"You really shouldn't mess with Toby like that, Baby."
"He shouldn't have called my rules dumb."
"No doubt that's not a mistake he'll make twice."
Jake came in and asked Josh to play with him.
"Sorry, Jake. I have work to do. We'll play later."
"Mommy works, you work, nobody plays." Jake complained and he
moped into the other room.
"He looks so sad." Josh looked over at Donna. "I bet a little ice
cream would pick him right up."
Donna neither looked up nor stopped typing, "Rule #4, Joshua."
"Right."
Chapter 24
July was a tough month. Noah had started chemo again and was both
physically and emotionally drained. Although it was hard for Josh to
see his dad like that, he tried to stay upbeat and positive.
Josh himself continued to recover, but at a far slower pace than he
was comfortable with. His work load, done from home and conference
calling, had gradually increased, but he had to admit it was leaving
him exhausted. His spirit was willing, but his body couldn't keep up.
He was going to be in better shape than ever; between physical
therapy and Donna's enforced exercise time (rule #8).
Donna had appeared anxious and stressed the first couple weeks
theylived together, but now, a month into it, she seemed much more
relaxed. She and Toby had entered into a truce of sorts and he was
even allowed to come over and watch baseball with Josh and Jake.
Josh had found a special book on signing which included sports words
and with that, he introduced Jake to baseball and the New York Mets.
Jake was hooked. He asked Josh so many questions that Donna was
afraid Josh would get exasperated. However she found that when it
came to imparting baseball wisdom, Joshua Lyman was patience
personified. His patience paid off one day when he discovered Jake
had a unique `baseball related' talent.
Jake was on the couch between Josh and Sam watching the Mets
game on cable. Josh was attempting to sneak in a little work
conversation while Donna was distracted in the other room.
"Did you talk to Griffith about making a statement about the new diet
pills?" Josh asked.
"She's coordinating it with CJ."
`the first pitch is high and outside' the TV announced.
Jake signed to Josh.
"No, not a fast ball. It was high and outside." Josh replied. "What
did the President say about the majority leader's comments
yesterday?"
"I can't repeat it in front of the minor child."
`and it's a fast ball over the plate. He couldn't touch it.' the
announcer continued.
Jake pulled on Josh's arm and signed `curve ball' to him.
"Okay, I know you know a fast ball from a curve ball. We've been
working on this…"
`and it's a curve ball. Strike 2' said the announcer.
"See, that's a curve ball." Josh explained.
"Uh, Josh…" Sam was watching Jake with and odd expression.
Jake signed `fast ball' again.
"No, that time it was a curve ball." Josh was perplexed and Jake
looked frustrated.
`…he puts another fast ball across the plate and that's strike 3.'
came the TV audio.
"Josh…" Sam tried again.
"Hey, did he just…"
"I think he did." Sam confirmed. "He's reading the signals."
"Jake, that's awesome!" Josh gave him a high 5 to Jake's
delight. "Donna, our boy is a genius!"
Donna came around the corner from the other room. "What did you
say?"
"He figured out the pitching signals all by himself! I said, our boy
is a genius!"
Donna was looking at him with a strange expression on his face, and
when he turned to Sam to see if he knew what was wrong with Donna,
he saw that Sam's expression was goofy too.
"What?" he inquired still looking at Sam.
"You just said `our boy'…" Sam supplied helpfully.
"Yeah? So?" Josh was still stumped and when he turned back to
Donna he saw tears in her eyes.
Finally, the shoe dropped for Josh. He had just claimed Jake as his
own and he hadn't even noticed or thought it was strange.
"Yeah, well he is a genius, and he is ours, right?" Josh looked up at
Donna who was now standing next to him.
"Right." Donna leaned over and kissed him. "You're absolutely right,
Josh." And she kissed him again with more passion.
"Now that's a phrase you don't hear every day." Sam quipped, as he
signed to Jake `let's go get something to drink' and led Jake out of
the room.
Josh took that as his signal to deepen the kiss and pull Donna onto
his lap. Her hands massaged the back of his head and neck while his
hand slipped under her shirt to roam across her bare back. After a
moment, Donna tried to pull away.
"Josh, we can't…" Josh continued kissing her neck.
"Sam could take Jake to the park…or maybe for a long walk…" he
saidbetween kisses.
"Maybe I should rephrase that; you can't." Donna reminded him. "The
doctor said-"
"I beg you; do not bring Dr. Phillips into this conversation. Plus, I
reviewed the rules carefully. There is not one word about refraining
from-"
"Actually, it's covered under rule #2; follow the doctors orders, and
the doctors orders specifically state-"
"Shut up and kiss me. It's not going any farther right now and you
know it; not with the kid in the other room…and Jake is in there
too." Josh smiled at his little joke and Donna gave in and kissed him.
"Okay, Jake, carry the lemonade very carefully to your Mom." Sam
said very loudly from the other room, trying to give Josh and Donna a
heads up to their entrance.
"Uh, Sam? Jake is deaf." Josh reminded him.
"Then what the hell? Get your hands off each other, we're coming
back in."
Josh and Donna both smiled as Sam and Jake brought them
lemonade. Donna was still sitting in Josh's lap, and their hands weren't
completely off each other, but it was as close to innocent as Sam was
going to get.
Chapter 25
Taking the train to Connecticut had seemed like a good idea at the
time, but now Donna was rethinking the whole thing. Josh had never
traveled with a small child before and when he saw the pile of
luggage that Donna had in tow, his eyes bulged out.
"Baby, you've got to be kidding me." He implored. "You know we're
only going for a week right? This isn't a permanent move."
"Josh, you're going to have to trust me on this one. All these bags
are completely necessary. The car service will take us to Union
Station and the driver will be handling the bags. You are not to lift
any of it."
"I can lift some luggage Donnatella. Dr. Phillips said I was good to
go." Josh reminded her. "I even got it in writing."
"Yes, Joshua, you're da man. But why push yourself? That's part of
the reason for taking the train. We can stretch out and relax, get up
and walk through the cars, or even take a rest."
"I already agreed to the train, Donnatella. The tickets are purchased
and we're packed and ready to go. So, let's go."
The first hour of the ride was a bit frenzied as Jake ran from car to
car, checking out everything and everybody on the train. During hour
two, Donna got him to sit still and color for awhile on his tray
table while she and Josh worked on their computers. Finally, half way
through the trip, Jake couldn't keep his eyes open any longer and
drifted off to sleep on Josh's shoulder. This had two advantages: 1)
Jake would be well rested by the time they arrived in Connecticut 2)
It forced Josh to sit still and rest as well.
Donna watched them and could tell by his breathing that Josh was not
asleep, but he was resting which was just as beneficial. After a few
minutes of studying her men in repose, Josh broke the silence.
"Whatcha thinking about Donnatella?"
"I can't believe my baby is four already." She replied honestly. They
had celebrated his Birthday two weeks ago, with a small party of
friends from pre-school at the National Zoo. Jake hadn't stopped
smiling and laughing the entire time.
"Can I ask you something?" Josh asked hesitantly, his eyes still
closed.
"Sure."
"Except for your sister, you never talk about your family. Don't you
miss them?"
"At first, I sent them letters with pictures of Jacob every week like
clockwork. I knew they were angry and disappointed with me, but I
thought if they could see their beautiful Grandson, maybe they
would…maybe they would want to see us. But they never responded,
not once. After his second birthday I stopped writing…yeah, I miss
them; so much it hurts, but I can't make them forgive me."
Josh's foot reached across the seat and rubbed up and down her leg.
"We can share mine. They already like you better than me."
"That's only because I come with Jake."
"I don't think that's the only reason, but it is a rather large point
in your favor."
"Are you ready to go back to work next week?" Donna changed the
subject.
"More than ready; also more than a little nervous. I haven't stepped
foot in the White House in almost 4 months. I'll be lucky to find my
office."
"I'll ask Rebecca to leave a trail of bread crumbs for you. It's just
half days to start."
"Yeah, but it's just six weeks until the mid-terms and there's so
much I've missed."
"You'll be fine, Joshua. It's not like you've been cut off from
civilization for the last four months. There have been phone calls,
faxes, emails, and pages flying back and forth for weeks."
Josh nodded but didn't look convinced. Donna closed her notebook
computer and closed her eyes. She might as well take a rest too.
"Donna come in, come in. There's our boy! How are you Jake? We
have a birthday present for you." Jake's eyes lit up when Ruth
mentioned a present. "Let's go get it. It's in the other room with Noah."
She took Donna and Jake by the end to bring them to Noah.
"Hi, Mom, it's good to see you too. I'll just tell the driver where
to deposit the bags, okay?
"Don't be sarcastic, Joshua. It's not attractive." Ruth called over
her shoulder.
"Right…" Josh and the driver brought their not insignificant pile of
luggage into the house. When he joined the rest of the family, Jake
was sitting in Noah's lap opening the second of three birthday
presents.
"I thought you said `a' present, Mom."
"I got him `a present' Joshua. Your Father, however couldn't decide
between two things, and settled the problem by getting them both."
Ruth explained.
"Hey, Dad, nice hat you've got there." Josh tapped the bill of the
Mets baseball cap on his Father's head as he leaned in to give him a
hug. He was surprised how weak his Dad's arms were.
"Damn chemo has robbed me of my handsome head of hair." Noah
groused.
When Jake finished ripping the paper off his presents he jumped off
Noah's lap to show his treasures to his Mom. Ruth had given him a CD
ROM for the computer called "Paws Signs and Stories; a collection of
stories and games that used sign. Noah had given him an electronic
light game `Simon' where the players had to memorize and copy the
light sequences. But the gift Jake was most excited about was a child
sized fishing pole.
"Can we go now? I want to fish now." He begged his Mom.
"Jake, it's dark outside. We can't go fishing when it's dark."
"We can fish tomorrow." Noah signed slowly and clumsily, but Jake got
the tomorrow part and he wasn't happy about it.
"I know. Let's fill up the Jacuzzi tub, and you can practice your
fishing tonight." Ruth suggested and Donna translated. Jake jumped
up and down with excitement. Before he could run out of the room with
Ruth, though, Donna stopped him with a look he knew well. He then
ran to Noah to give him a hug and kiss of thanks before repeating the
performance with Ruth. Then Ruth took his hand to go practice fishing
with Donna right behind them.
"That was inspired, Dad. He'll love fishing with you. Are you sure
you're up to it though?"
"I wouldn't miss it for the world, but make no mistake; you're coming
too."
"Yeah, `cause we both know what a great outdoorsman I am. Jake can
learn what not to do from me."
"Let me tell you something, Joshua. Being good at something isn't
nearly as important as being there when they're doing something. It's
the shared experiences that mean the most."
"Yeah, that's what I remember most. You always made time for us,
Dad; me and Joanie and Mom. I hope I can be as good a Father to
Jake asyou have been to me."
"Joshua, are you trying to tell me something?" Noah asked smiling.
"You told me to let you know when I wanted you to give me Grandma's
ring. Well, I want you to give me Grandma's ring. I want to ask Donna
to marry me."
"I'll get it out of the safe right now." Noah walked over to the wall
safe and opened it. "She's a wonderful woman; this will make your
Mother and I very happy."
"Thanks, Dad. That means a lot to me."
"Don't waste a moment, Joshua. Every moment is precious and you
never know how many you've got, so don't waste a single moment."
Josh took the ring from his Father and they hugged for a moment. Now
Josh just had to figure out how he would ask her…