Age is a funny thing. Some become debilitated by it; others live as if it doesn’t matter. The problem is, eventually time runs out and the body winds down. When that moment comes, my accomplishments seemed to pale and fade with my capabilities.
I still remember my ninetieth birthday. My children brought their children, surrounding me with a cacophony of joy. All I could think as I turned down my hearing aids was, this is what it’s all about.
I sat at my old kitchen table surrounded by five children, twelve grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. My eyesight was about as good as my teeth by that point. I stared at the hazy shadows that represented my family, and the slightly better-illuminated cake that probably constituted a fire hazard. Placing my trembling, arthritic fingers on the edge of the compressed wood table, I leaned forward hoping someone had remembered to lock my wheelchair. I was in luck. With several gasping, wheezy breathes through my dentures, I managed to blow out part of them. My grandkids helped with the rest.
A pantomime of a cheer erupted. I waited for it to die down before I turned up my hearing aide.
“Well grandma?” little Benjy piped up. “What did ya wish for?”
I listened to the whistle from his missing teeth wanting nothing more than to hug him. “To keep you forever.”
I should mention that by this point in my life, each birthday was a precious, unexpected gift. My parents died in their late seventies from cancer and a heart attack, respectively. I think we all expected me to pick one of those two options and go with it. But with modern technology, I didn’t even need my useless organs.
“Mom, are you getting tired?” Paul leaned down to be able to hear my reply over the excited children.
“No.” I shook my head, jowls jiggling. “This is fun.”
His blobby face split into a craggy grin. He pecked my cheek before standing to his full height. “Who wants an end piece?”
The sheet cake slowly disappeared leaving a slightly darker pan-grey as compared with the cake-grey. Connie, my nurse, offered me a bite and I gummed it down, but the flavor was so sweet that I refused a second. I could already feel my bowels roiling. Good thing I had a new diaper on.
Paul wheeled me into the living room without warning. I hope Connie glared at him for me because my head spun as he turned the chair to the left. Children bounded against the sides with excitement. Jessica, my second born, handed me my first present. I worked one small piece loose while Connie and the grandkids helped with the rest, tearing off the paper to reveal a giant magnifying glass.
“So wonderful.”
The next was a back scratcher from a thoughtful, nine-year-old Harry and the final gift, from all of my children, was a new set of muumuus.
Within a swirl of other activities, my family laughed, joked and played around me. I kept my aide on medium low and listened in happy contentment to the group until it was time for them to leave. The silence in their wake weighed on me; the ticking of my grandfather clock barely registered in my ears.
Connie wheeled me to my normal spot by the window, then spent a few hours working through my house to clean up what my daughter, Rosa, hadn’t.
By that point, I was nodding off in my chair. I felt the wheelchair shift as Connie wheeled me to the stairlift and on to bed. “Now then, sweetie, get some rest. I think that was enough lovin’ for a solid month.”
The haze-formed face above me shifted in a way that I knew meant a smile.
“Thank you.” My eyes drifted closed.
So, what did I wish for?
More time. It felt like such a greedy wish with all the love I received, but it’s the only thing I really wanted. I didn’t want to miss a day. My favorite grandson, Jakey, was in his last semester of college. A few others were about to graduate high school. Grandkids were still coming, and now great-grandkids had joined the mix. I didn’t want to leave yet. Just a little more time.
Not three days later, my sweet Jakey came a'knockin. He pushed past my nurse, so brazen and a little thoughtless of those around him, but such a good boy overall.
“I've done it this time, grandma! I found the perfect birthday present for you. A little late, but better than never, right?” His baritone slipped into my house like a wave of warm sunlight. Jakey moved without hesitation, bursting through the living room doorway with his usual energy. He knew where to find me.
Jakey popped my brakes. “I’m going to move you, grandma. Don’t throw up on me.” He turned in a slow circle, then kept circling me to kneel by my knees. “Well? Don’t you want to know?”
I hissed out a laugh. “What?”
“I found a guy who knows another guy, who has a map, and travelled halfway across the world. He and a team of his friends found a cave and guess what they found inside?”
“Bat guano?” I chortled, sending myself into a tiny asthma attack from laughing too hard.
Jakey worked my breather mask from the side of my wheelchair and held it over my face until the medicine could kick in and calm down my cough. As soon as he shoved it back in the pocket, he tsked.
“Grandma, this is no joke. They found the fountain of youth!” He rose, arms spread as if he’d just conquered the world.
“Oh?” I tried to remember what he looked like. Looking up at him was like Jack looking up the beanstalk. So tall! When had he grown so tall? I could almost see the curly brown hair like his father—a massive mop on his head.
Jakey knelt again, touching my hand, careful not to crush it or bruise my delicate skin. “Grandma, I’m sorry I missed the party, but if you help, I’ll make sure you have many more to look forward to. We just need a little funding.”
“We!” A new voice interrupted. “I’m the one making this trek.”
I tried to focus on the distant form, but it blended too well with the far wall of the room. “Jakey? Did you bring a friend?”
Jakey sighed. “My investment partner, grandma. Malekai’s going to do the hard work, since I can’t leave the university this semester. He’ll get it, and he’ll split it with you fifty-fifty.”
“Half of my youth?” I snickered. “So, I’ll get to be forty-five forever?”
Actually, that didn’t sound too terribly awful. My forties weren’t all that bad. Still plenty of energy, but enough head on my shoulders not to be stupid.
“Grandma,” Jakey chided, “I’m serious about this.”
I love my Jakey. “How much?”
“A million.” He didn’t hesitate on the number.
How long would it take his father to find out this time? Despite my many attempts to support his endeavors, my son, Paul, always managed to find out and squash poor Jake’s dreams. I wondered if the man remembered who gave him his first business loan at the age of twenty-two!
I patted my grandson’s hand where it rested on mine.
“Dude, she’s not going to give it to you, just go and find her checkbook.”
Jakey hissed. “If you disrespect my grandma, the deal is off. She’s old, she’s not stupid.”
“Connie!” My voice was little more than a whisper on the best of days, but Connie heard me.
“How much do you need now?” She glared toward Jakey, the haze of her head becoming smaller as it turned sideways toward him.
I stopped her. “My checkbook.”
Connie grumbled, but we all knew I still had the majority of my faculties, so she appeared a few minutes later with what I needed.
“Write it out, Jakey,” I insisted.
Jakey accepted the checkbook from the older nurse and scribbled. “Here you go, grandma, just sign right here.” His hand helped to guide mine.
“How long?” I asked, not really expecting a definitive timeline. It was more to see how far my Jakey had thought this through.
“It’ll be a three-month window. Once we have the funding secured, Malekai will get the supplies and head out with the map team. He’s sworn to return in three months or less with the fountain’s liquid.”
Maybe I wasn’t quite in my right mind, now that I consider it. At the time, however, his planning and reasoning sounded perfectly adequate.
“Alright. Three months. I think I can live that long.” I grinned toward Jakey’s shadow and the further one that moved enough to let me know where he stood.
Connie waited for the front door to close. “You’re never going to see that money again.”
I wheezed out a laugh. “I know, but he’s a darling boy. Sometimes they just have to learn the hard way.”
“How is that hard?” She stood and walked from the room before I could respond. It took her a few hours to turn me back around toward my window, but I didn’t really notice.
* * *
Three months later, almost to the day, my door burst open again. I hadn’t heard from Jakey in all that time and I’ll admit I was a little disheartened by the lack. He was usually my most faithful.
“Grandma!” He practically shouted, startling me from my midmorning snooze.
I heard thumping feet, two sets, and my chair jerked a little as he unset my brakes. “I’m turning you, grandma, prepare yourself.”
Even in his enthusiasm, my chair turned its regular slow circle and he dropped beside my knee. “Sorry I haven’t been visiting. Finals were killer. Bet you thought I forgot about you.” His teasing tone brought a smile to my toothless face.
“We got it.” Malekai dropped on my other side, shadowy head tipped up at me and something waved in the air in front of my face. If only they realized I couldn’t see. Every day was just a little worse. A year ago, I had black and white, but now mostly black.
“How nice.” I smiled at both boys. “And you came home safe.”
“Barely.” Malekai chuckled, slapping Jakey’s arm. “If it weren’t for the fountain of youth, I’d’ve died.”
“Oh?”
“Here grandma.” Jakey pulled something from the other man’s hand and held it out for me. “Drink this. Malekai says it doesn’t taste all that great, but I’m hoping you can’t taste anything anyway, so it’ll go right down.”
“Whoa there!” Connie rushed into the room before Jakey could more than pop the cork. “You’re not going to shove some random liquid down your grandmother’s throat.”
“I’ve already drunk it,” Malekai interjected. “If it were deadly, I’d be dead.”
“You’re a healthy young man. She’s an old woman who requires quite a bit of machinery to keep her that way. I’ll take no chances.”
Jakey stood. “Listen here, Connie. I’ve watched you take care of my grandmother for years, and although I appreciate everything you’ve done for her, don’t think for a second that I can’t get you replaced if you stop me from helping her.”
“Replaced!” Connie’s voice rose to a new pitch. “How dare you!”
“I dare, because I care.” His voice turned suave and debonair, and I chuckled, clapping my ancient hands.
Jakey knelt once more, a little higher this time. “Alright grandma, I don’t have a second dose, so we’re going to be absolutely careful about this. You get ready to take a drink, and I’ll give you a little bit at a time.”
I nodded, floppy skin going in all directions, and tilted back my head.
Jakey, true to his word, gave me little sips until the container was empty. “There! How do you feel?”
I grinned at him, scratchy voice coming out like an insane but merry old ninny. “I feel like I’m forty!”
Jakey laughed. “Alright grandma. Malekai didn’t have a huge change either, but the guy who helped him is sixty and doesn’t look at day over twenty, so we know it works. Maybe it’ll take a bit to kick in.”
I nodded happily, glad he’d found what he was looking for. “Now what?” I asked. “What’s the next step for you?”
Jakey cocked his shadow head sideways. “What do you mean, grandma?” He paused, then started back in. “With school? Well, I’ve got a couple more days and then I start my internship next month.”
I couldn’t help but frown. “What about the fountain of youth? What about your investment?”
Jakey shook his head, patting my old shoulder. “No, grandma, that wasn’t an investment. It was a purchase. For you. Happy Birthday!”
“Can you get more?” I asked, wondering if he could bottle it or something.
“Nah.” Malekai took over. “It was literally a drip along the wall. Collecting yours took a solid week.”
Connie scoffed. “You just wasted a million dollars on a half-filled bottle of cave water. For your sake, I hope your grandmother doesn’t get a parasite. That would kill her.”
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