Chapter 1: Dreams
I am an only child born to parents that were already past their prime. My Mom was forty-seven when she discovered that she was pregnant with me. I say discovered cause that was how it was. The story as how she told it was that she was at the park walking her dog when she started to feel what was like unbearable stomach cramps. She managed to make it to a bench and I repeat managed before I made my entrance into the world on the 1st November 1999.
Imagine the surprise she felt after a 6lb baby falling from out of her ‘hooha’. I truly was a blessing.
Now here I am twenty years later visiting my dad in the retirement home. My mom and I had no choice but to place dad in a home. He started showing signs of Alzheimer’s four years ago. First he would forget to turn off the stove when cooking, pause right in the middle of a conversation and forget what he was discussing. But the worse was when he left home one morning for a run and couldn't remember where he lived. That was the straw that broke the camels back.
I looked at the shell of a man sitting on the bed. His 6 foot 4 frame hunched. He looked older than his seventy years with his once lustrous blonde locks now fully white. I inherited most of his looks with my blonde waves brushing the top of my ass. My mom always says I look like a barbie. My eyes a beautiful topaz that I inherited from my dad was to me my best asset. That was my entrance to the modelling world.
"Kristie."
"No dad, its Amber. Your daughter." I answered. He looked on me gently but I saw no recognition in his eyes.
"Yes, its Kristie" I said. He smiled. He thought I was his wife, my mom. I got up off the chair that I was sitting on by the window and stepped quickly to sit by him on the bed. I put his head on my shoulder and held him. I didn't want him to see that I was crying. Besides my mom he was the only one I had in this world and I loved him.
"What are you cooking for dinner tonight?" he asked me. I smiled.
"Your favorite. Mashed potatoes and ribs." I answered feeling happy . I continued to pretend to be my mom forgetting that my role of a daughter was no more.
