This will make no sense unless you read “A Girl named Hope.” I do not know how to put them in any kind of order but I will figure this out when I get back from Mouse Land. Be back next week…..
The following day she heard the story and was told she was 4 or 5 steps away from the bathroom when she turned around to be with nature. Hope was on the couch nursing her hang over, listening to her voicemail and stories of her drunkenness.
Suddenly she went lifeless again. The message was to tell her of her friend Belinda’s death. She sat there with no expression. To afraid to say anything because how in the hell could this happen again? Her friends were going to think she was a magnet for demise. “What in the fuck is going on” she thought.
Hope had experience three deaths in thirty three days. What were the odds? Not only did she have those three deaths to grieve but her home of 9 years was gone. The love of her life was gone. She had been numb for 3 years prior to this due to prescription drugs she was abusing to hide from a bigger pain. Now Hope was drug free, in a strange new region with none of her long time friends. Experiencing grief for the first time was no easy task for the girl. The walls were being built higher and higher.
“My friend Belinda died” she explained to her Mom on the phone.
“What?” her Mom replied. “How? Are you serious?”
“No, I am making the shit up Mom. I suggest you stay away from me if you value you your life because people around me are dropping like flies.”
“No kidding, are you okay?”
“I don’t know anymore. I think I should go to the funeral but I don’t want to go to Houston. I will be back in Washington in a couple of days” she replied as she hung up.
Upon returning to Washington Hope simply had no will to exist. She was not suicidal but simply did not care. She managed to make it day to day. Depression, grief, and fear were overwhelming her. Doodie was missed beyond comprehension. It was clearly time to attend more therapy sessions. Yet she trudged on, gathering with friends on the weekend, meeting new people and working during the week.
It was a beautiful time of the year to be in Seattle and people enjoyed Hope’s company. There was something about her personality which seemed addictive. She attended barbeques, picnics, volleyball games, gatherings, clubs and parties. There is no way to determine how many people she had met. Every person being instrumental in her healing process.
Mitch and Hope had been friends prior to his marriage to her Mother, Barbie. They met in Texas where they worked together. He was from Michigan and had no family in Texas. She invited him to her Mother’s home for Christmas 14 years ago and he never left. He is only a few years older than Hope, three to be exact. They spent many of the evenings during the week together. She was starting to emerge a little from her depression. Mitch provided a good ear to her as well as teaching her the “ways” of the island life. Recycling is a must on Vashon Island. Hope remembers reading articles about Vashon. According to census reports there are many lesbians with 1.8 children on the average. Hope wasn’t sure how someone could have .8 of a child. It must be a slow child. Poor kid!
Two grocery stores exist on the Island. One is the favorite of the two. It caters to the organic hippy like residents. This makes up about 88% of the island. With a new region come new rules which Hope was learning by the day. She went grocery shopping one afternoon. When checking out the checker asked if she had any bags. Hope looked the cart over and didn’t see any and thought what in the hell is he talking about? Surely she didn’t need to point out the obvious to this long haired jack ass.
“Umm, no sir I don’t have any” she replied
The man gave her a dirty look and said “we charge 10 cents per bag; you need to bring your own. Do you want to pay the ten cents?”
Hope thought, “What am I suppose to say? Well what the fuck do you think? Just shove the shit back in the cart and I will push it out to the car and dump it like a load of sand in to my trunk.” Instead she replied quietly, “Yes I will need the bags.”
Hope looked around at the other shoppers and sure enough most had these little cloth bags in their carts. She just knew at any moment there would be an announcement from the loudspeaker “lady in checkout lane number 2 forgot her own bag.”
She looked at the man bagging her groceries with double bags and thought “Damn and they look at me as if I had just dumped toxic waste in Puget Sound.”
Hope brought in the groceries and asked Mitch about the cloth bags. He informed her there were 3 in the trunk of the car. She should have known this. If there were a natural disaster Mitch is prepared to live months out of the car. Her friend Dorothy had been out to visit her on the island and mentioned if an earthquake hit Seattle she would be the first one on the ferry to live comfortably at Mitch and Barbie’s home.
Hope liked the housekeeper named Ying. Obviously, an asian woman if you didn’t figure that one out on your own. She was the topic of many journal entries. The earliest time she realized Ying was a source of entertainment was the first time she laughed after Doodies passing. Ying showed up at her usual time to clean the house. Hope was walking up the stairs to get more coffee. Ying inquired about the whereabouts of “the little dog.” Hope looked down at the floor and said “He was sick and didn’t make it through and died.” Because of the language barrier Ban looked at her and said “Oh, no wonder he so quiet.”
Hope couldn’t help but laugh. It was the laughter she needed.
Unfortunately Ying could not read English either. One day she decided to spot clean the carpet with bleach cleaner. Barbie was furious and begged Mitch to find out if she was insured. The argument over his refusal to do so was escalating and Hope interrupted the shouting and said “I don’t know what the big deal is. We can now play twister whenever we feel like it now.” Damn, why do people have to be so serious about everything? Man.
This needs to be pointed out…Hope does NOT like to shop.
Wholesale stores are extremely popular in Washington. Mitch owns stock in Costco and believes he must buy everything in the store every few weeks to keep his investment prosperous. Barbie likes a store called Cash and Carry. One day she wanted some mother and daughter time with Hope. Hope agreed and off they went to get their nails done and do some shopping. Now, Hope is not a girly girl. Tomboyish is more her style. She has long hair but dresses comfortable and doesn’t like to shop.
She texted a friend while at the nail salon and it said “Why are there so many colors of nail polish? I mean seriously how many shades of pink could there be? How do I pick one?” Her friend simply replied “lol.” She was serious. It was a hard decision and why was it a laugh out loud experience. Sheesh.
After the Asian women were done with them at the nail salon they went to Cash and Carry. Barbie asked Hope to go get a cart. There were no “regular” types of shopping carts. There were only shopping cart thingamajigs. It had a basket type thing in front of a piece of long steel. Kind of looked like a metal table with wheels and a handle to push. She searched the usual locations. Nothing! Finally, around the corner of the store she spotted one. She grabbed the handle and pushed. Immediately the cart hit the wall. Well shit…it’s broken” she complains. Another attempt and she smacks into the building again. “Damnit!” comes out of her mouth louder than it should.
She pulled back and forth, side to side and tried to get it straightened out. She heard some laughter. Two women were looking at her shaking their heads. She dismissed it and went back to the autopsy table on wheels.
She yanked it, side by side, back and forth to got it to move. She finally gets it to the door and swung it wide. An innocent person jumped out of the way. “Ha” she thinks “I got this.”
Hope proudly pushed her cart past the two bitches who were laughing. “Whatchya know about me” goes through her mind.
The damn thing is going to the right down the first isle. A woman is watching Hope go sideways down the next aisle shaking her head as well. “What lady?” She wants to say but refrained from doing so. She hears ”you pull.” As she continued looking for Barbie anticipating her next wide turn it finally hits her….OH, she said pull.
Hope told her friend Dorothy of this encounter and she said “You should start a journal of all of your new experiences because they are quite entertaining.”
“Whatever” she said, “I get these hi-lites for a reason lady.”
However, Hope got a journal and started writing stuff down. She found it difficult to express herself in words. The first journal entry was: “I went to see a concert tonight with friends. Wow, I like this pen. It writes smooth. OK, bye now.”
It sounded like she had A.D.D. when she read it the next day.
Hope continued on with life. Things were looking up. Her therapy sessions went from twice a week to once a week. She was making progress in getting to the bottom of her sadness. She was still incredibly lonely and sad. Of course Doodie was missed with every breath and beat of her heart. Her journaling was at a new level. Her friend Dorothy stayed on her about sharing them.
To be continued again…