The Muse

After about an hour the boys finally showed up at Cecilia's door. There were three of them and they were big boys. Just right for moving Wendell. She was so grateful to them for their help that she offered to send them home with the cake that she had made that morning. They told her they were headed into town so they would stop by later and pick it up.

After the boys left Cecelia tried to make Wendell comfortable. She took off his shoes and tried to decide if she should undress him. She had never seen Wendell without his clothes. He always bathed while she was in her room sleeping or doing something in the kitchen. She found herself feeling very self-conscious.

She decided that he was not going to be out much longer so she did not need to undress him. He would wake up in time to play the piano for her while she read. She was going to miss his help with the laundry though.

Cecelia decided to get started on rewashing the sheets that she had washed earlier that morning. The dust had settled and the sun was blazing so hopefully they would dry quickly.

As she worked she tried to occupy her mind with the mundane chores of the day. After she finished the laundry she really needed to make lunch for her and Wendell. Oh Wendell, surely he would be up by lunch time right?

She hung the clothes on the line for the second time that day and decided to go and check on Wendell. She had decided to make his favorite lunch instead of sandwiches. She felt so bad about him falling. It was her fault after all. She should have picked up those pieces of glass. She looked down at her hand as she thought of picking up the glass. Picking up small things was just so hard with only four fingers. She tried not to dwell on her problems. No reason to dwell, right?

She opened the front door and started to walk back to Wendell's room and heard his heavy footfall. Thank goodness, he was alive, and awake.

"Wendell, where are you?" Cecilia called.

"Cece, I am in the back of the house. I will be up there in a minute."

Cecilia walked into the kitchen and began cutting up the chicken she had been saving for the dinner on Sunday. She decided to fry it up for lunch. Wendell loved fried chicken. She also found a few potatoes and decided to make a potato salad instead of mashed because Wendell loved her potato salad so much. She had some beans left over from the night before and put those on the stove to heat them up as well. Wendell would be so pleased.

The Muse

The storm began to pick up and Cecilia watched the funnel cloud swirl around the yard. Luckily, it did not come close to the house. As she continued to watch she saw that it was headed for the neighbors to the south. They had been hit more than three times. Hopefully, this one wouldn't do too much damage.

As the storm began to settle she began to worry about Wendell. He still had not stirred since she had pulled him across the threshold. Cecilia allowed herself to begin to dwell in the what ifs that she could feel at the back of her consciousness. They had just been a wisp of a thought five minutes ago when she was caught up in watching the storm, but now they were getting bigger and moving with more force through her mind.

What if Wendell didn't wake up? What would she do? She could not work this land by herself. She was lost without Wendell in more ways than one. She had never spent a day apart from him. He had always been there. Cecilia never knew where he had come from. He was not her brother, but he had always lived with her and she had never asked her mother about where he came from. Cecelia wasn't even sure that Wendell knew. She made a mental note to ask him when he woke up. She also made a note to tell him how much she appreciated him and loved him when he woke up, if he woke up.

Just then, her swirling thoughts were interrupted by the phone ringing. She moved as quickly as she could into the kitchen where the phone was.

"Hello," Cecelia answered. It was her neighbor to the South, Ann.

"Cece..I am just calling to make sure you and Wendell are okay. We watched the tornado swirl around the property. Luckily, it missed your house and ours." Ann said.

"Well, as far as damage I think we are okay. But, Wendell fell on the porch right before the storm and still has not woken up. I barely got him moved in before the storm started. Can you send the boys over here to help get him to the bed."

"I will send the right over, but Cece you need to call the doc to come out." Ann implored.

"I am going to wait. I think he will just wake up and when he does he will be embarrassed. I don't want him to be embarrassed in front of doc."

"Okay, the boys will be there soon." Ann hung up.

Cecelia poured herself a glass of tea and sat down in the living room to wait for the boys. Hopefully, they would be able to get Wendell into his bedroom and in bed. That should help.