"It has been lonely for the last two months," said the frail octogenarian.
"And Melvin?"
"Melvin is gone, but I know where he is," she said smiling.
###
Several years ago, I had befriended Donice and Melvin at McDonalds. As husband and wife, they had long retired from teaching school, but still farmed out land that they owned in western Kansas, where they first met as teachers at a small county school around 1949.They came to McDonalds most every day. They drank senior coffee and ate dollar Sausage McMuffins, She read the WSJ; he the Gazette. Donice would bring up something from an article she had just read. They would then have a vigerous discussion. Eventually, Melvin would end the discussion with a gesture that swept the subject aside.
Whenever I stopped by, we discussed an endless list of subjects: Kansas dry land farming, old cantankerous tractors, teaching farm kids, how kids have changed, their courtship, the trials of adopting two girls--one from the Sioux reservation, and Melvin's keeping two rattlesnakes in his science classroom.
Over the last couple of years, each time I saw them, Melvin's osteoporosis slowly progressed: his back more hunched, his head bent down a bit more. He had increasing difficulty remembering what had happened yesterday, but we could endlessly talk about the past.
Over the last few years, the osteoporosis Melvin's shoulders and neck slowly worsened. He had incresed memory problems. Donice patiently would re-explain items they had talked about a few minutes before. However, we could endlessly talk about the past.
The last time I saw them was four months ago and Donice told me, "They brought Melvin back from the dead.
"What happened? I asked.
Donice related: "He was out digging holes for fence posts and had a heart attack. I told him before that at eighty-eight, he was too old for such foolishness. Anyway, I called an ambulance, but his heart stopped on the way to the hospital. In the emergency room, they got his heart going again; it had stopped for fifteen minutes. They didn't have time to check his records and did not know of the 'Do Not Resecitate' form. So, he really came back from the dead."
"How do you feel, Melvin?" I asked.
"Oh, fine--but she won't let me go and finish the post holes," he said smiling toward his wife.
###
As we talked this morning, Donice told me how they had first met as teachers. She said that she first thought that he was a pompous know-it-all, but changed her mind after a six year courtship. They got married when they were older--he 32 and she 27.She told me that in the end, Melvin had had bladder cancer and was weakened from losing a lot blood. She said that one night she overheard him having a conversation with God in the living room:
"God, thank you for all the blessings in my life.
"God, thank you for our two wonderful daughters.
"God, thank you for my lovely wife Donice.
"God, thank you for fifty-eight wonderful years of marriage."
Donice said, "I must have heard his thanks to God a hundred times."
She then told me: "I am comforted that he is in heaven. I know that he is there...I know that he is there. Our adopted son sent me a sympathy card saying that when I arrive in heaven, that Melvin won't notice me for a while, because he will be too busy talking with all his friends."
"I hope I don't live too much longer," she finished.
I offered my sympathies and went over to drink my coffee and read the paper. Donice went back to reading the WSJ. The Gazette lay unopened in front of the empty chair.
