to return better when you are here.”
She’s not wrong. The falls seem to be happening more frequently, despite the walker at his bedside. The stubborn man just won’t give in to life changes. I let out a frustrated sigh. There is nothing worse than knowing someone you love is lost inside their mind and there isn’t a single thing that can be done about it. With every passing day, he loses more of himself to the memories. I pay out my ass for this facility so he can have luxury living and the elite care they provide.
“They just left with him, so we anticipate it being a few hours, but given last time…” she doesn’t finish the statement.
We both know what happened last time, and there is no reason to revisit my Pops pulling his nine from the Bible-shaped case we had it hiding in and threatening to shoot them all for injecting him with drugs just to keep him from his beloved.
After that, I had to promise the weapon I keep in the hollowed-out book would be filled with blanks. This costs me more than his care to get them to turn their eyes to.
Sure, the man has no business having a weapon in a nursing home. Sure, it breaks a ton of laws. But my Pops taught me to shoot, taught me about honor, and protecting what’s mine. He wanted to go into the facility and still feel like a man in charge, even when I offered to let him live with me and hire a nurse. He said he wouldn’t intrude on my life and wanted to go to a nursing home. No matter what, I’m not taking away his dignity. So, I’ll pay whatever the fuck I need for him to believe he’s still able to protect himself, even if the gun is filled with blank rounds that won’t do anything but drop out of the gun as an empty casing.
“I’ll get there as soon as I can,” I state before ending the call without another word.
What is there to say? Arthur took a fall, and I’m the only one left alive to support him. I’ll be there. I’m always there. Nothing comes before Arthur. If I’m balls deep in a bitch, I stop fucking to answer that call. If I’m on a run for the club, I still answer the fucking phone. Without Arthur, who the fuck knows where I’d be. So, no matter the day, the time, the inconvenience, I’m there for him the way he was for me.
Not that he remembers any of it.
If he needs something, I’ll take care of it. Arthur Smith was a hardworking man who dedicated his life to his wife, Kalini. It was during his time in the Army when he was stationed in Hawaii where he met a young Kalini. The two were married when Arthur was just twenty-two and she was eighteen.
Life in Hawaii for the young couple was the shit movies are made of.
They talked of the day they would have kids of their own, but knew the time just wasn’t right. Fate, being the twisted bitch she is, literally landed family life on their doorstep. A neighbor’s daughter was too young and too lost in a lifestyle she wouldn’t leave and ended up pregnant. That’s how a crying baby in a basket ended up on Arthur and Kalini’s doorstep with a note left with the little bundle of fresh life.
He is meant to be yours. His name is Koa. Give him everything I can’t.
A curious call to the powers that be let young Kalini learn that the baby boy would go to a foster home if she reported the child. After holding the little guy, she was attached.
Given he was healthy, a seed of thought was planted in the young couple to keep this little life. It took more than one lie, and every bit of savings the couple had, to get me added to Arthur’s dependents status without the couple inciting an investigation by authorities. The story was Kalini had an affair and would not disclose the father of the baby, therefore, my birth certificate listed father unknown, and Kalini Hakeiki as my mother. From there, the couple named me Koa Loto Kalini. Koa given to me by my birth mother, Loto meaning heart in the native Samoan culture of both my biological mother and the woman who raised me, and Kalini as I am forever Kalini’s heart.
Life in Hawaii was great until