Abby: Father Rejoicing Part 7

     "With the way you two lovebirds were going, I thought we would never leave." Traci said, re-filling her hot chocolate for the 4th time.
     "We couldn't have talk that long." Said Abby, walking out of the hospital.
     Traci followed her, trying not to spill her cup. "Yes, you did talk that long. It's almost 5:00."
     "Wait, what?" Abby stopped.
     How could they have possibly been there nearly two hours? Claire's appointment should have only been about an hour long.
     "There's something weird going on here." Abby said.
     "How do you mean?" Traci asked.
     "Well, Clarks mo- Claire, only has an hour appointment. She was in there for almost two hours."
     Traci and Abby got into the car. Confusion had overcome there minds. When they arrived home, Mrs. O'Brian was cooking pumkin pies for tomorrow's Thanksgiving dinner. The girls immediately set in to help. At 6:00, the pumkin pies were in the oven, they sat down to eat dinner. Abby bit into her peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It had been a while since she had had one. She thought back to before her dad had crashed. This is what she wished her family were like. She watched as the O'Brians talked, laughed and quoted movies. They were open to each other, because they had each other. A lump started to grow in Abby's throat and she stopped eating her sandwich.
     "May I be excused?" Abby asked as politely as she could.
     Everyone stopped talking, and looked at Abby.
     "Uh.. Sure." Said Mr. O'Brian.
     Abby knew that Traci could tell something was up. But she ran up the stairs to the bedroom and sat on her bed anyway. She wanted her dad back. But she wanted what Traci's family had. She wanted the word 'family'. She wanted to laugh and joke with her dad. She didn't want life to slip by and take her dad with it.
     A squirrel sat on the windowsill, eating a black walnut. It stopped when Abby moved her foot, aware that something was moving inside. It looked inside, making brief eye contact with Abby, then turned and jumped onto the roof bellow. Abby's thoughts drifted to her frequent dreams. Who was talking to her? Was it God? And if it was God, what did he want with her? If it really was God, then he would have fixed this problem. He said he was here, but he wasn't. At least, that's how it felt. What had she done to get this? Why had God punished her?
     Abby was lost in her questions. Confused and angry, she curled up in a ball, wanting to cry away her problems. But tears did not come. She lay there, feeling half dead. She heard the squeak of the door and Traci came in quietly, and then heard it shut. Abby expected Traci to say something, but she didn't. She got up and went downstairs. Her sandwhich still saton the table. A piece of Jell-O sat next to it. Abby sat down and finished her dinner.  
     After she washed her dish and silverware, she jumped up to the computer room and opened her laptop. While she and Clark had been talking, they had exchanged e-mail addresses. She signed into her e-mail and typed him a quick e-mail.
     "Hi Clark!
     Just checking to make sure this is the right e-mail.. Hope to talk to you soon!
     Abby-"
     Traci came in and looked over her shoulder.
     "I better be your Maid of Honor." Traci said.
     "Oh be quiet.." Abby said, looking up at her.
     Then the laughing started. Abby eased up a little and started to relax. A new message appeared in her inbox. Clark had replied.
     "And so soon!" Traci cracked up again, "He must really like you."
     Then Abby read the message.
     "Sorry, you must have the wrong address. There be no Clark here "
     Abby feigned sarcasm, and replied.
     "Oh, sorry – cause I could have so OBVIOUSLY miss-typed 'Clarkisdabomb@gmail.com'. Nice try though!
     Abby-"
     She clicked send, and then invited him onto her chat box. She liked this kid.
     The next morning was Thanksgiving. Mrs. O'Brian was downstairs making wonderful smells in the kitchen, Abby and Traci were upstairs cutting out paper turkeys to tape to the windows in the dining room and Mr. O'Brian was out in the garage trying to cook the turkey in the big roaster they stored there for that specific reason. So far, he had dropped the giblets on the floor, and couldn't get the neck unfrozen from the rest of the body.
     "It sat in the refrigerator for at least twenty-four hours, what else could a turkey ask for?" Mr. O'Brian asked himself as he tried sawing the neck of the turkey back with a large bread knife.
     By noon, the turkey was cooking, and the stuffing was in the oven. Abby and Traci were covered in pieces of paper, and were trying to tape left over turkeys on each other's back, without having the other person noticing. Then the doorbell rang.
     "I got it!" Traci shouted from the top of the stairs as she jumped down two steps at a time and ran to the door. Standing on the door step was a UPS deliverer.
     "Is an Abby Cambell here?" The man asked.
     "Yep!" Traci half shut the door and shouted up the stairs. "ABBY! THERE'S A PACKAGE FOR YOU!"
     Abby stopped typing her reply to Clarks e-mail in mid-sentence. She set the laptop on the computer desk and ran downstairs. Taking the package from the man and signing her name on the clipboard, she thanked the UPS man and shut the door.
     "It's cold out there." Abby said, shivering.
     She set down the package and looked for the return address. 'Clark Radke' it read on the top. Abby smiled and ripped the brown paper layer off the box. There was a note taped to the top of the box.
'Thanks for the cookies.
-Clark'
     Traci handed Abby a knife and she cut the tape. She peered inside the box. Shuffling around in the packing peanuts she spotted a small box on the bottom. Abby imagined opening it and finding a diamond ring, shining in its pure brilliance. Then she came back to reality. She opened the box and found a hemp bracelet with a chocolate chip cookie pendant weaved into it.
     "Aww," Traci said. "It's so cute!"
     Abby wrapped the bracelet around her wrist and fastened it on. Clambering up the stairs, Abby grabbed her laptop and e-mailed Clark a thank you, consisting mostly of 'THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU's. She closed her laptop and spazzed out in the computer chair.
     "I can't believe he sent me a gift!" She practically yelled.
     "I know!!" Tracy said with a wide grin. "This is proof that he likes you."
     It was two hours before the turkey would be ready, so Abby and Tracy drove to the hospital to visit Mr. Cambell. Traci walked over to the coffee shop to find that they were completely out of chocolate until 2:00, when someone would come to replace the vendor. Traci decided to wait while Abby went to her dad's room. She sat by the bedside and placed a Turkey cutout on the bedside table.
     "Love you dad." Abby said with a short smile.
     She took his hand in hers and squeezing it. Mr. Cambell squeezed back.
     "Nurse," Abby said in surprise. "He.. He just squeezed my hand!"
     Suddenly, all of the monitors started beeping. Three nurses ran into the room, checking his pulse.
     "Get a charger in here!" One of the nurses yelled.
     Abby watched in horror as her dads pulse decreased.
     "Oh, God," Abby said, dropping to a chair. "God, don't take him away from me. I need him."
     The nurses charged him twice, still no pulse.
     "I need him!" Abby cried, raising her gaze to the ceiling, praying to God. "I… Need… You."
     Beep. Beep. Beep. The sound of her dads pulse made her lower her gaze. The nurses had stepped back. Her dad was back.
     "Abby?"
     A hand was on her shoulder. Abby looked up and saw Clark standing there.
     "He's okay…" Abby said with a trembling voice, a single tear running down her cheek.
     Clark sat down next to her, his hand still on her shoulder. Just then, Dr. Pecilton jogged into the room.
     "How is he?" He asked.
     "He's alive." Abby answered.
     "Good!" Dr. Pecilton said, pulling on a pair of gloves and examining Mr. Cambell.
     "Well the monitors show that your father is still in a coma, but-" Dr. Pecilton bent down and examined one of the monitors, "he's not as deep apparently."
     Just then, Traci came into the room with two steaming cups of hot chocolate.
     "What'd I miss?" She said in a cheerful voice.
     Everyone stared at Traci.
      "What? These aren't both for me." Traci handed one of the cups to Abby and glanced at Clark before sitting on the arm of Abby's chair.
     "Well… Uh… I guess I'll see you two later!" Clark awkwardly stood up and waved before exiting the room.
     "So… What did I miss?" Traci asked.
     When Abby and Traci arrived back home, the turkey was ready and all the food was being transferred from pots and pans to serving bowls and plates. Abby went to wash her hands, and came back to sit at the table. Everyone held hands and bowed their heads. Then, Abby started to pray.
     "Dear God, thank you for this food set before us…" Abby couldn't see anyone's faces, but if she had a laugh would have been in order. Each of the O'Brian's had their eyes wide open, and mouths slightly ajar. They weren't paying very much attention to Abby's prayer.
     "… Amen." Abby finished.
      There was an awkward silence before Mr. O'Brian asked for the turkey to be passed his way. The dinner table became lively and the food quickly started to disappear.