Forgetful Freddie

Prompt: Begin or end your story with someone standing in the rain or snow.

Secondary Prompt: Center your story around a character who is struggling with something no one else in their life knows about.

Forgetful Freddie

As the kids in my neighborhood would say, “it’s raining cats and dogs today.” I bet most of them would be outside splashing in huge puddles like they were spending a day at the beach. I saw no dogs or cats falling from the sky. Instead for me it was a cold heavenly dam that burst because I was standing in the middle of it. Silly me I had no umbrella or raincoat. Winter did not seem too far away. My cotton blend jacket and pants swelled like a sponge.If I was wearing yellow the kids would tease me saying I was as plump as the “Sponge Bob” cartoon character. You know, even though I was wet through and through, the good thing is I didn’t need to wash my clothes or even shower (although I still did).

Like some of the fall flowers, my annoyance blossomed into frustration and anger at myself when I could not remember where I had left my bicycle. It was about twenty minutes according to my Mickey Mouse watch since I had left the grocery store. The silliest of things was I had parked my bike at the other end of the store front. I breathed a sigh of relief when I found it; otherwise, I had no good way to get home and around town.

My name is Freddie and this is my tale. My teacher at the day center told us to write about ourselves for our summer writing class assignment. This for me was exciting because I have a lot of things to say about me, almost as big as my size. I weigh a lot. Sometimes it is hard to fit into my clothes even before they get wet. I get teased a lot when I go out in public, especially to the stores.

I am now thirty-six. I live in a group home with other people. The staff says we are all alike, but we are not. Judy cannot walk or talk. She has to use a wheelchair. Betsy has a feeding tube inside her belly and doesn’t sit with us at the dinner table. Billy is sixty-two and he is blind. He sits all day listening to the radio unless he is with us at the day center.Then the teachers make him do stuff like jump around calling it exercise. Poor Billy is so exhausted at the end of the day he falls asleep on the sofa at the home. Myself and some other staff have to carry him to his room. And there is Wilbur. He is quite the character. He swears a lot. His body sometimes shakes and his head moves from side to side. I asked him one day what was wrong with him. He said in a casual matter that he has Tourette’s and Seizure Disorder. So now if I hear those words, I know what the doctors and staff are talking about. Even though Judy, Betsy, Billy, and Wilbur are different from me with their hurts they are still my friends. They are the best of friends.

So maybe you are wondering why I am living here? I think there are two reasons. After my parents died, I had no place to go. I couldn’t live on my own because one day I took the wrong pills ending up in the hospital. I had to have my stomach pumped. Yuck! My pills are for depression, bipolar disorder and other stuff I don’t remember. When I was in the hospital, I asked the doctor which pole I had? I hoped it would be the North Pole because that is where Santa and his elves live, but the doctor just smiled. Later I learned that I was considered to be a risk to myself needing twenty-four-hour supervision. That was fine with me because I had no brothers or sisters who wanted to care for me even though there were eight of us. That’s okay because they were busy. It was an opportunity to have visitors come, especially on my birthday and the holidays. Sadly, no one from my family has yet to ever come to visit me. Maybe one day.

Yippee! Ride ’um cowboy! I love riding my bike. The staff lets me ride around the block and to the store to pick up some groceries for the house. I ride and ride because I like the rush of wind on my face. The faster I go the more I forget the bad things people say about me. The faster I go the more I forget the faces of people who stare at me. The faster I ride the more I forget how different I am from my family and people who don’t like me. Yippee! I should be a bicycle cross expert competing in championships!

Each morning after medications and breakfast, the staff piles all of us into a special van to send us off to the day center. It’s like going to school. We have classes. I go to science, math, music, art, gym and writing class. Writing class is my favorite. The teacher says I am good at writing. She said I was a natural. I also like science and math, but I am no good at music. I forget how to read the musical notes on the paper. Plus, it is so loud. Everyone is squawking and playing their instruments out of tune. It’s like there are twenty individual concerts going on at the same time. I am so dizzy after that class. Another class I dislike is art. My best drawing is stick figures of my friends at the group home. Something I never shared with anyone until I wrote this paper is that I am color blind except for red and orange. Maybe that is why I took too many pills because my mother told me the colors of them before I swallowed them: yellow, blue, and green. I don’t need to worry about it. The staff makes sure I get the right ones. I got used to seeing things in mostly black, white and red anyway.

After the day center which ends around 3:00pm, we all pile back into the van heading back to the group home. I guess this will be my forever home and also for Judy, Betsy, Billy, and Wilbur. Usually if the weather is good and permission is granted, I grab my bike and head out for a short ride around the neighborhood. Today was no exception. The sun was shining and there were no dark clouds in the sky. There was a light but chilly breeze. Fall was just around the corner, ha, ha. The traffic in the streets was light. I have about two hours before the house has dinner around 5:00pm. I dare not be late because Wilbur and Billy eat everything including their plates and would snarf my dinner down too.

Because sometimes I eat a lot, I forget what I had eaten the day before. I think this maybe one reason why I am such a big guy. Maybe it is just because I love to eat food especially potatoes that are fried, mashed, baked, chipped, buttered, and hashed. I think I covered them. Oh, if they had chocolate on them that would be good too.So back to my quest on riding my bike.

I felt really good today. Not a single worry crossed my mind, so I did not feel I had to ramp up the speed on my bike to forget something. It would be a leisurely stroll down the streets. I made my way down First avenue, then Second avenue, Third and so on. I was really racking up the miles. I made sure I knew how to get back by counting the street names backwards. But this time I ended up in a section of the neighborhood where street names turned into girl names like Anne Street, Beverly Boulevard, Cindy Lane, Peggy Parkway and on and on. I looked at my watch. Mickey Mouse told me it was 4:40pm. I did not know where I was in relation to the group home. I did not know how to start back. I could feel my chest start to ache. I started to panic. What made matters worse was some dark clouds formed. I could feel some very cold rain drops sprinkling on my face.

My anxious thoughts propelled my legs and feet. I revved up the speed on my bike. But I still had no idea which direction I was heading. All girl names flashed before my eyes. Nothing looked familiar now. Naturally, the cold rain started to come down harder. I was soaking wet. Because I started out with sunshine I didn’t plan for rain. Again, I had no poncho or umbrella.

Clumsy me raced through a large, icy puddle on the street. I lost control of my bike. I flipped over frontwards landing hard onto the street at the edge of the puddle. I saw stars. I was all wet, covered in some mud, and chilled to the bone. I was lost and feeling miserable. On top of that I had no clue as to where I was. I had forgotten how I ended up here in the first place. My Mickey Mouse watch was broken. Time stood still at 5:10pm. I squealed like a pig as crocodile tears streamed down my face.

A couple of cars passed by me, but none of them stopped. It seemed like quite a while, but a red van finally pulled over near me. A very old, heavy man with a white beard wearing a red flannel shirt got out of the van. He gave me a once over glance saying,

“My boy you are a sight for sore eyes. It looks like you need help. Let me help you up out of the puddle.”

“Oh, thank you for stopping. I think I hurt myself. My head hurts really bad.”

The man asked, “What’s your name, my dear boy? And where do you live?

I paused and then stammered, “I don’t remember my name, and I forgot where I live. You look very familiar. Do I know you?”

The man then said, “Let me take you to the hospital to get checked out. I can put your bicycle in the back of the van.”

I hopped into the passenger side and off we sped to the hospital. The old man raced his van much like I raced my bike through the streets.

I asked him as we made our way, “What’s your name? Do you live around here?”

The old man laughed so hard his belly rolled like a huge bowl of jelly. “Just call me KK, and no I don’t live in these parts.”

We got to the entrance. KK got out fetching a wheelchair for me. Unsteadily I fell into it butt first. He took my bike out of the van. Then KK said to me,

“My boy, I can’t stay with you, but the doctors here will take good care of you. Just listen to them and take care of yourself. Forgive those people who are mean to you. They are the ones who need the most love. You and even those hurtful people are dearly loved by our heavenly Father. All of you are His children. I am just one of His heavenly messengers whose initials are KK. I will remember you and see you again in December.”

I asked, “Why then? Do you mean Christmas?”

“Yes, my boy. Christmas. That was the day when our Father in heaven began restoring His forgiveness and grace to all people, especially you and me. Remember this Freddie, “For there is born to you (this day) in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which is translated, “God with us.”” (1/2)

I marveled at what he said. I never told him my name. Eventually one of the doctors recognized me as a group home resident. The house van came to pick me and my bike up. Now I am writing this story because no matter what other people think or say about me “sticks and stones may break my bones, but the baby Jesus always has my back. "Forgetful Freddie will never forget my Jesus.

-END-

Luke 2:11, NLT

Matthew 1: 23, NKJV

NLT=New Living Translation

NKJV=New King James Version

Author: Pete Gautchier

Acknowledgement: Reedsyprompts.com

Word count: 2139 (includes prompts & references)

Weather the Storm