Jake got out and did the shopping and Jeremiah stayed behind and made the phone calls. He called Malachai, James, Jordan, and Maddie and told them that they were all expected to be at the house for dinner that night because it was the last dinner any of them would have with their parents until Thanksgiving and Hanukkah- which fell in the middle of December that year.
Dinner went off without a hitch. It was simple and elegant. It wasn’t a big to do like Thanksgiving and Hanukkah would be. That would be the worse than the dinner they had that night. Compared to Thanksgiving and Hanukkah, the dinner that Delilah and Jona prepared for the family that was there was a walk in the park. Hanukkah and Thanksgiving would be all hands on deck. All of the women would be expected to help cook those meals.
That night, David and Brie went out to the cottage so that they could pack for the train. It was an interesting prospect for them to travel by train but Brie’s back issues the on and off the planes was a pain. The previously separated disks were trying refusing and calcifying. At her age, the constant up and down was contributing to the stiffness in her back and made it difficult for her to get around. Though she was in great shape for her age her back served as a constant reminder that neither she nor David were as young as they used to be. “This is going to be a rather interesting trip”, David said. “I don’t remember the last time I traveled by train.”
“The last time I was on a train, I was little. I think I was four or five. Mom was traveling cross country with Matt and I. I don’t remember the departure point or the destination anymore considering that it’s been nearly 80 years since it happened but what I do remember of it is that it was fun.”
“As long as you enjoyed it, that’s what counts right?”
“Yeah. And this is going to be a lot easier on both of us, I think. I know that if I don’t have to get up and down up and down to catch several flights then sitting for hours without the ability to get up and stretch I’ll be a lot better off. I need to be able to move around at will.”
“Same here. The planes are getting more and more difficult for me as well.”
“David, you’re three years older than I am. It has to be getting as difficult for you as it is for me, love.”
“Well, I don’t have the back issues you do, but I do have the arthritis issues.”
“Well, the train will do us both some good.”
“I’m glad that you thought of it.”
“So, who’s taking us to the station tomorrow morning?”
“I believe that James is. He’s leaving the kids here with Kenna, and Malachai and Mandy to take us to the station.”
“Who set up for James to take us?”
“Who do you think set it up?”
“For the love of God. Jacob worries about us far too much.”
“I know this already; we both do. We both know that there’s no way in hell that we can anything about it.”
“What is that boy going to do when we’ve both passed on? Who is he going to fuss over then?”
“Delilah.”
Brie rolled her eyes and groaned. “I feel for her, but he’s always fussed over her.”
“From the moment they got married. It’s just what he does”, David said with a shrug as he tucked clothes into his carryon bag. “You used to do it to me when we got together.”
“Then you turned the tables on me when I got pregnant and haven’t stopped since”, she said with a smile as she zipped her carryon bag.
“Name five times in our entire marriage.”
“My two pregnancies I carried to term, the miscarriage, Matt’s death, and my back surgery. Need I go further?”
He laughed. “No. Though I think you just about covered it.”
“But, it means that you care so I don’t freak out.”
“I’m glad you don’t freak out anymore. But, instead you fight against me.”
“Stubborn ½ Irish woman here”, she said pointing at herself as she sat down on the foot of the bed. “I can’t just let you do anything and I’m not going to just lie down and take whatever it is. I’m going to fight through it no matter what. Your stubborn ass would do the same, David.”
He chuckled and shrugged again. “This much is very true. But, I also know when too much is too much.”
“So do I. If you’ll recall, when I was first having my back problems you and I fought over my lack of desire to have to take pain killers because I didn’t want to be unconscious for the better part of the day. When the pain was more than I could take, I took the damn shot.”
“That is true. You will never understand how damn scared I was when Jake came into my office and told me that your back had given out and that he found out on the floor. I knew then that something was wrong.”
“I knew when I had to stop doing Yoga because I couldn’t do a lot of the poses anymore that something was wrong.”
“At least it all turned out well and neither of us have osteoporosis or anything like that.”
“Yeah. That would make this Spondylosis thing I’ve got an absolute BITCH. Not only are my vertebrae fusing together, but there’s a possibility that one wrong move could break my back and put me in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. Kill me now.”
“I’d take care of you until the day I died, baby. You know that.”
“Yes David. I know that, and I love you because of that. I would expect nothing less.”
---------------
The packing was done. All that was left to do was say goodbye to their children and grandchildren for two months. Saying goodbye to the grandchildren wasn’t a big issue. They just hugged their grandchildren and said we’ll see you at Thanksgiving. It was their children saying goodbye that was another story. Because of their ages, the children all tended to fret over their parents a little more than necessary. David and Brie were more than capable of taking care of themselves but their children didn’t always see it that way.
As they prepared to leave- being driven by James- Jake was worrying about the length of the trip because they were taking a strain. “I don’t like that your trip is going to take five days and none of us are with you. It makes me nervous.”
“Get over it, Jacob”, David said. “Your mother and I will be fine. We’ll be back in November for Thanksgiving.”
“Are you staying through Hanukkah?”
“Actually, we’ll be staying through the New Year. It’s cheaper to travel then. We’ll stay in Israel until March then we’ll stay here through the summer and go home when the college aged kids go back to Chicago.”
“At least there’s a plan”, Jake said with a sigh. “Well, Mom and Dad, I love you both and look forward to seeing you when you come out for Thanksgiving. I’ve got to head into work. I have to consult with Tom on a procedure for one of our patients.”
“Good luck with that. And try not to worry so much, Jake. You’ll go grey early”, Brie told her son. “You’re already a little salt-n-pepper there, son.”
“I know. Delilah keeps trying to convince me to go ‘Just for Men’ and dye my hair brown again, but why? I’m going grey. Do I care? Nope. It’s natural to go grey when you get older.”
“Glad you feel that way. Is it nice to have a head full of hair still in your forties?” David asked.
“Yeah, I enjoy it. I’m very glad not to have to suffer the receding hairline issues. I’m just a little peppered, but that’s about it. I can live with the greys.”
“Thank your mother for the good genes, boys. You don’t have to deal with the widow’s peak I would have had if I hadn’t shaved my head.”
“True. Thanks Mom.”
“Give thanks to the Irish side of the family because that’s where it comes from. Grandfather Cartwright and his family are the ones that kept you kids from having receding hairlines”, Brie laughed.
“The Irish blood came in handy”, Jeremiah laughed.
“Thank your Granddad, kids. That’s all I can tell you.” She looked at James. “Can we leave now? We’ve said all of our goodbye and the train isn’t going to wait for us to get there.”
James chuckled. “Ready when you and Dad are, Mom.”
She looked to her husband. “Are we ready to leave, David?”
“If you’re ready to go, I’m ready to go.”
“We kinda need to. We don’t have winter clothes here anymore and I don’t feel like shopping.”
“Then let’s go.”
They hugged everyone one last time before walking out to James’s newest toy, a Lamborghini Diablo. He lifted the keychain and spoke into it. “Unlock.” The car unlocked. “Trunk open.” The trunk popped open.
David looked at the car sitting in front of him. “Nice. When did you come about this baby?”
James dropped his hand and put the key in his pocket. “It’s my new toy. The new band we signed bought me this.” He laughed as he put his parents’ suitcases in the trunk.
“If I weren’t in my damn 80’s I’d say, ‘let me behind the wheel’.”
“Dad, though I worry about you at your age I’m not as obsessive as Jake, Jeremiah, and Jessi are. If you want to drive, I’ll have to add your voice print to the car’s computer, but I’m happy to let you drive it to the highway if you want.”
David’s eyes shot open wide. He was truly stunned. “You’re not kidding?”
“Hell no. Like I said, I do honestly worry about you, but I also understand that babying you is not only what you don’t want, but it’s pointless. You and Mom live pretty much alone over there. Yeah, Jessi’s in the city, but you see her how often? When she can’t find a babysitter and she needs you to watch Abby. You drive to and from Mom’s appointments, your appointments, the market and wherever else you need to go. We can’t treat you like your invalid. You’re not. If you want to drive the car, I’ll educate you on how to do so.”
“Do you mind sitting in the backseat?”
James laughed. “No. I figured you’d want Mom to sit shotgun. Let’s get your voice added to the database really fast and I’ll give you the crash course on how to operate this beast.”
“Let’s do this.”
James pulled the key out of his pocket. “Doors open.” The hatch doors opened. “Computer, prepare to add voice print.”
The computer generated voice said, “Database ready. Please speak into command module.”
James held the keychain out to his father. “Just speak into the mic, Dad. First and last name.”
David shrugged. “David Draiman.”
The car spoke. “Voice print added.” Then David heard his own voice speak back to him.
James grinned. “Get in Dad.” He handed the keychain to his father. David took the keychain and got in the car. James climbed into the back seat after David told the car to sit the seat forward, then back. “Ok Dad. Now, you want to wave the keychain in front of the scanner there to activate the ignition. From there you tell the car to start after putting your foot on the break.”
“All this technology and you can’t just tell the car to go?”
“No. I wish it worked that way because then I wouldn’t be afraid to let the girls drive it.”
“Touché.” David waved the keychain in front of the scanner then attached it to the little holder on the steering wheel. He pressed the button. “Start”, he spoke into the car. The car turned over and purred. “James, this is a nice car. I thought Jake’s Porsche was cool. This one is much better.”
“Thanks Dad. This is my baby. My Diabla. She purrs like a kitten, but if you’re not careful she will tear everything in her to shreds like a tiger. Now, to start heading down the road, tell the car what you want it to do and we’re off to the highway.”
“Jake’s going to kill you”, Brie said with a laugh from the front passenger seat.
“Do I look scared, Mom?”
“Not the least.”
“Then let’s get going, shall we?” David said. He pressed the button, and after having the car put everyone in a seatbelt he spoke his first command to actually drive the car. “Change gears, reverse.” The car shifted into reverse and he started turned the car around so that he could head down the driveway. “Shift gears, first”, David said and he headed slowly down the driveway.
“Dad, don’t be afraid to open her up a little. As long as you’re good to her, she’ll be good to you.”
“I’m not going to try to get her up to 120 as we go down the drive, James. Use your head.”
James chuckled. “Sorry about that. You gonna open her up a little on the road?”
“More than likely, son. Now, stop backseat driving.”
---------------
Once they got to the convenient store just off the highway, they switched drivers. Once they were on the highway to Denver, James showed what the car was really capable of. David was floored. “Damn. She handled beautifully when I drove her but she handled like a dream when you took the wheel”, David said as they waited on the train.
“I told you that she would be nice to you if you were nice to her. But, I’m not nice to her. I treat her like a dirty little whore and she loves me for it. I’m Daddy and she’s my dirty little girl”, James laughed.
“So, you do to your car what you do to your wife?” Brie laughed.
“Yeah, something like that. Kenna loves it when I have her call me Daddy.”
David and Brie simultaneously did a face palm. “More than we needed to know, James Matthew”, they said together as they shook their heads.
“Sorry, but Mom opened the door.”
“I wish I hadn’t”, Brie said.
The conductor called for their train. “Well, off you two go. Marc is picking you up at the station in LA and taking you to the airport from there, right?”
“That was the plan”, David said.
“Ok, just making sure that I can report to the Commander- Pro Tem that the handoff has been made.”
“Tell Jake that we’re safe on the train and one of us will call him from LA.” They all started for the train.
“Actually, Marc is supposed to call when he’s got you two with him. Jake’s being paranoid and I don’t understand it. I don’t think I ever will.”
“It’s the doctor in him”, Brie said with a shrug. “It may drive us all nuts, but it’s what Jake does. We all have to accept it.”
When they reached the train and handed off their large bags, James grinned. “This is as far as I go. Love you both. We’ll see you when you come back for Thanksgiving. Take care.” He hugged his parents and they got on the train with little assistance. He smiled to himself and headed off to his car to go back to homestead. He’d enjoyed the ride with his parents. He missed it living in Chicago. Something told him that he wasn’t going to get something like it again and that was disappointing. He didn’t want his parents to die, but he knew it was inevitable. They weren’t going to live forever. No one ever did. The only questions were when where they going to go and which was going to go first. He got in the car and deleted his father’s voice print from the database and headed home.
David and Brie however were on their way to Los Angeles. They needed the time between to decompress from the stay with their kids. It was nice that they worried, but why couldn’t they all be like James? James understood that they were going to pass on at some point and when they did they were going to a far better place.
“It’s nice to have some semblance of quiet”, Brie said with a sigh of content. “I love all of our children and grandchildren, but the nonstop asking if we’re ok when we clear our throat or blink is old already.” The train was pulling away from the station as they had their conversation.
“I know, love. Good news is that we’ll be in LA in a day, and from there we’ll fly to Beijing. Between Beijing and Jerusalem there aren’t going to be any kids to deal with. When we land in Beijing we can take a cab from the airport to the train station.”
“I’m actually looking forward to it.”
“Me too. Then we’re back in November through the beginning of January.”
“We moved to Israel to have space be together and we spend more time jumping time zones than we do in our own home. We might as well give it to Jessi.”
“Then why don’t we do that after we leave in March and we’ll just stay in the here in the States. I mean, we have the cottage and if we need anything, Jake will be on top of it.”
“The only problem I have with that is that I’m kinda attached to my doctors out there. They’re rather nice and I really don’t want to have to fill out paper work out here. I can barely hold a pen anymore. Why do you think I let you do all of the driving?”
“I thought it was because you enjoyed being chauffeured around.”
She laughed. “Well, there is that, but more to the point is that I can’t grab the steering wheel because I can’t close my hand and make a fist. This is why when Zack approached me when we went out to New York I slapped him rather than knocking his head off.”
“How did you get the ice?”
“I scooped it into the bucket from the machine.”
“Nice. Well, just a suggestion, why don’t we chill and maybe catch a few z’s before they bring dinner around?”
“Why don’t we out a movie on one of the computers and do that?”
---------------
The five day trip was over as quickly as it had begun. The time between stops was just enough for them to prepare to deal with a fretting daughter named Jessykah. Though they loved their daughter dearly, they needed to prepare to deal with her persistent questions of how they were doing and how the trip was. It was late at night when they arrived home and they just didn’t want to hear it.
“I’m glad you’re ok”, she said. The tone in her voice was thick with relief, as if she had been worrying over the trip for some time.
“Jessi, we’re very tired. Can we save the relief and the questions about how the trip went- blah, blah, blah- for tomorrow when you drop Abby off like you always do?” Brie asked impatiently.
“Mom, I was worried when Jake told me you were coming in by train. You’ve been travelling for five days? Why didn’t you just fly?”
“Because being stuck in our seats is rough on my already messed up back. Stop with the questions”, Brie snapped. She got like that when her back as sore and she was tired. “Just take your Dad and me home so that we can sleep in our own bed for the first time since MAY! Understood?”
“Sorry Mom. I was just worried.”
“Save the worry for when she’s not in so much pain and better rested, Jessykah. You know better than this”, David said groggily.
“You’re right. I’m sorry”, Jessi said. “I just don’t know what to do without you guys. I’ve had you close to me for my entire life and your ages being what they are, I’m scared to lose you.”
“You’re going to have to get over it, Jessykah. We tell Jake the same thing. Get over it. It’s a very real possibility that we could die tonight when we fall asleep. Get over it. The only thing you can do after nature runs its course is move on. That’s it. You mourn and move on. It’s what we had to do when Uncle Matt died and it’s what you’ll have to do when your father and I finally die in whatever order we go in”, Brie said, pausing to take a deep breath to breathe through the pain that was starting to radiate up her spine. “Death is a part of the Circle of Life, Jess. You’re all going to have to accept that. I’m sorry, but that’s the truth.”
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