Decades - Chapter Nine
#9 of Decades
This is the story of two furs as they go through their lives together, a decade at a time. It's a project I've been working on for a while now, in my head and on paper, and I'm so glad to be posting it for the furry public to see at long last. I can't remember the last time I ever invested so much emotionally in a series.
I really hope that you'll give it a read, and follow these two in their life together from start to finish. Hopefully it'll reward you at least a fraction as much as writing it has rewarded me.
The characters of John and Samantha were created by me, Jeeves, and should not be used without permission.
Decades - '84'
"Excuse me... have you seen my wife anywhere? I sat down and had a little nap in my chair, and now I can't seem to remember where she said I should meet her."
A shrug and a shake of the head from an elderly giraffe and the two younger furs sitting beside him. With a sigh and a shrug, the speaker moved on, shakily crossing the large, open plan social area with his oak cane stretched out before him.
"Excuse me, miss. Have you seen my wife?"
A nurse, dressed in a light blue uniform and a name tag, sighed softly as she walked past the thin, grey, curiously frowning raccoon. She didn't stop, and she didn't say anything. Again, the speaker simply shrugged and moved on. Someone would know. Soon, he'd find someone who knew, and then he'd find her. It was so silly, not being able to remember where she'd said they'd meet. He was such a silly old fool sometimes; she always said so.
"Excuse me, I wonder if you've seen my wife? She's a lemur, you know. Very pretty, a gorgeous long tail. Gorgeous, that's what I call her."
Another elderly gentleman, also with a cane and that same slightly questioning, curious expression upon his face, shook his head from side to side. He addressed the raccoon in a strong Welsh lilt, starting to smile softly as he looked not at, but through the fur to whom he was speaking.
"No. But I did see David Beckham once. It was his last professional game, and he scored a goal but they disallowed it! He started to cry, right there on the pitch. It was the saddest thing I've ever seen. Did you see that? It was the saddest thing I've ever seen. Yes. The saddest thing."
A burst of laughter a short distance away made both the furs look away from one another, towards the source of the sound. It faded away again just a few moments later, and as though they'd never even spoken the two males parted company without so much as another glance. The raccoon continued to cut his path across the room, pausing now and then to enquire about the whereabouts of his dear wife, rhythmically reaching forth with his cane before putting his weight on it and shuffling forward on heavy, unsteady feet. He didn't know exactly why his knees ached so much, or why he had a cane in the first place, but given that his knees were hurting it was rather fortunate that there was a cane close by. Maybe, he wondered, he could keep it. He might even get it monogrammed with his initials. That would be fun!
"Excuse me, I'm looking for my wife. Have you seen her anywhere?"
The latest person to receive this query was a man in a white coat. He looked for all the world like a doctor, and the calm, soothing tone of his voice only seemed to reinforce that image. A few moments later, John chuckled. Oh, what a silly old man he was. This man _was_a doctor. Doctor Luvian, or so the badge attached to his white coat claimed.
"Shall we sit down, John? Maybe get you a nice cup of juice and a biscuit. Would you like that?"
John frowned. Would he like that? Did he like juice and biscuits? Was he the kind of man who sat down? He wasn't sitting down now. But then... his knees did ache oh so much, and he didn't think this cane was his. Although, what a remarkable thing it would be if it was his, or if he could get one like it. How debonair, an elderly man with his very own oak walking stick. He could even get it monogrammed with his initials.
"Yes. Yes, I can sit down with you, Doctor Luvian. Do you think Samantha will be joining us? Did she ask you to meet us here?"
Taking the raccoon gently by the arm, the crocodilian doctor led John over to an empty armchair just fifteen feet or so from where they'd been standing. There was an old, rather dog-eared and tatty newspaper sitting on the small table beside the chair, as well as a pair of glasses and a pen. The newspaper was opened on the crossword page, the puzzle half complete. John smiled as he saw it, and the moment he was off his feet, his hands were grasping eagerly at the paper and drawing it almost hungrily towards him.
"Ah yes, the crossword! Me and Samantha always do the crossword. She's so good at that kind of thing. Did you know, she writes books. Yes, books about food. She can cook the most divine meals, and yet for some reason she still loves it when I cook for her. At least... she used to. I can't remember the last time I made her a meal. Oh my, I really must do so again very soon. Yes. I'll cook a meal for Samantha, and she'll smile and smile and smile so much. Do you know if she's going to meet us here, Doctor Luvian? I can tell her that I'm going to cook a meal for her tonight. She is coming, isn't she? I know I spoke to her just before my nap, but... I can't seem to remember where we said we'd meet."
The doctor knelt down beside John, and as the raccoon affixed his glasses to his face the younger, reptilian male gently placed one of his hands upon John's own. John looked up from the crossword, tilting his head curiously as he saw the sincere, honest sorrow in the crocodile's eyes.
"Oh Doctor... I'm sorry, is everything okay? W-would you like to talk about something with me? Or... maybe we can wait just a minute or two, until Samantha gets here. She's always so good at helping other people out with their problems."
Doctor Luvian shook his head, smiling with gratitude, but with that same look of melancholy in his eyes.
"I'm fine, John, really. But... I'd like to ask you, can you tell me where we are right now?"
The raccoon smiled. What kind of question was that? Of course he could tell the doctor where they were.
"Of course, we're... we're in the... uh... the..."
John's smile faded.
"The..."
He frowned, and looked down at his crossword puzzle. The words seemed blurry somehow, indistinct, even though he was wearing his glasses. Was it even his eyes making the words blurry, or was it something else. His mind, perhaps.
"We're... well, that is to say, I am... I..."
Meeting the doctor's gaze suddenly, forcing a smile back onto his muzzle, the raccoon let slit a harsh, grating burst of laughter.
"Of course I know where I am. Don't pester me with such stupid questions, Doctor."
The crocodile nodded. John didn't notice the heavy sigh which accompanied it.
"John, your wife... Samantha..."
A genuine smile crossed the raccoon's face. Samantha. His wife. God, how he loved her. It was funny that she wasn't here. He'd woken up from his nap, and... and now he couldn't remember where they said they were going to meet. She'd be around here somewhere though, getting up to mischief, moaning at the cooks for adding too much salt to the potatoes. That was just like her. Just like his gorgeous wife, Samantha.
"Yes. My wife. Do you know where she is?"
Doctor Luvian squeezed John's hand a little more firmly.
"John, you came here, to this residential care facility, five years ago. Do you remember that?"
The raccoon nodded. He wasn't entirely sure why.
"And... do you remember why you came here?"
An image formed in John's mind. He nodded, eagerly. The fog drew back, and he remembered.
"Yes. Apple pie. I like apples a lot. Apple juice. Apple sauce. Apple pies. I like the apple pie they serve here on Sundays. Is it Sunday today?"
A shake of the head from the crocodilian male, and John's sudden, dazzling smile faded a little. No apple pie.
"You came here, John, because... you were very unhappy. You were sad, because... because your wife passed away. Samantha passed away five years ago, peacefully, lying beside you in bed one night. She was happy, and healthy, and she loved you very much. It was just her time. Do you remember that, John?"
Slowly, the raccoon nodded. He looked into the reptilian doctor's eyes, and continued to nod slowly, and gravely.
"Yes. Yes, Doctor Luvian. I remember that."
John frowned.
"So... does that mean she'll be here to see me soon? Because, I can't remember where we said we'd meet."
With a deep sigh, the doctor squeezed John's hand one last time, and rose to his feet.
"Excuse me, John. I have somewhere I need to be. Will you be okay here, if I send someone to bring you your juice and biscuit?"
John looked up at Doctor Luvian, and smiled, patting the newspaper upon his lap affectionately.
"I'll be fine, Doctor. I'll just make a start on this crossword while I wait for Samantha."
Leaving John Douglas to his crossword, the crocodilian doctor moved away from the elderly raccoon and towards one of the nurses standing at the side of the room just watching over the patients. She saw him approaching, and smiled fondly. Her smile soon diminished however when she saw the expression on his face and the way he was clenching his fists together so very tightly.
The doctor stopped, just a few paces away from the nurse, and let slip another deep, trembling sigh. It was all he could do not to scream, but he couldn't. Of course he couldn't. He was the doctor. He was supposed to make everyone feel better.
A hand touched him on the forearm, and the crocodile jumped slightly. He looked up from where he'd been staring at the ground, up into the concerned, pleasantly pretty face of the feline nurse, and cursed under his breath.
"He's getting worse, and thinner every day. I... I don't know how much longer it'll be before he just doesn't wake up. A month, maybe two. It's so unfair."
Gently rubbing the male's arm, a soothing motion in its intent as much as its physical effects, the nurse nodded.
"I know, Jura. I know."
The doctor slumped over slightly, resting his right shoulder and the side of his head against the wall. He closed his eyes.
"I hear from his kids and granddaughter that before his wife passed, he was sharp as a tack. His grandson in law treated him in hospital a decade or so ago, and he said that together the two of them were the most devoted, loving and perfectly suited couple he'd ever known. Her passing, it just... it broke him. There's no other way of explaining it."
The hand on the crocodile's arm rose to his shoulder, then to his cheek and the side of his long, toothy maw. He opened his eyes as he felt the nurse's fingers tracing their way along his scales. She smiled reassuringly.
"Have you ever just sat with him, Jura? Not asking him about what he knows, or how he really feels about thing, but... just sitting, and listening to him talk about the past. About her. They were together since their early teens, and friends since they were just little kids. I don't think he's broken, I just think that they were one another's lives. Not a part of one another's lives, but the whole of it. So, without her... what did he have to hang onto?"
Jura gently kissed the lioness' fingertips as she brushed them over his lips, and watched as she drew them back, pressing them to her own before returning them to his once again.
"When he passes, I'll be sad. He's a good man, even if he doesn't know where or when he is most of the time. On his bad days he's far happier than on the days when he's more lucid, and... I can't help but feel a little bit glad that the bad days outweigh the good more and more this past year. But, when John Douglas doesn't live here anymore, and when we're not taking care of him. When he dies... at least we can hope that somewhere out there, in heaven, in the afterlife, in the universe, they'll be together again."
The crocodile reached up, touching the hand which was caressing his cheek once more and then taking it into his own.
"Do you really believe that, Emily?"
Emily, the nurse, nodded.
"I want to believe it. I want to believe that love lasts forever, n-not just for the short time we're together on this earth. And... when I see furs like John, so lost without the love of their lives, just waiting for the time when they might be able to see them again... I really think that it might be possible."
Looking at the lioness, seeing her smile, and her blue eyes sparkling with radiant hope, Jura felt a little of the weight sitting on his chest beginning to lift. He smiled too, albeit faintly, and as his hand lingered upon his wife's own, he laced their fingers together. It wasn't something they'd ever done before, but... it felt nice. It brought them just a little bit closer together.
Emily squeezed his hand gently, and he squeezed back.
"I need to go check on Miss Lockley. Would you be able to go and get John some juice and a biscuit?"
The lioness nodded, and slowly the pair withdrew their hands from that warm, rather touching embrace. She took two steps, just passing Jura, when the crocodile's voice murmured her name. Turning on the spot, Emily knew what was coming. She smiled warmly, and matched her husband word for word in perfect unison.
"Apple juice, not orange. John loves apples."
By Jeeves