Morgan pulled into her parents driveway and turned the key in the ignition to off. She was tired and felt it. After spending all day at the university correcting the last round of undergrad exams, she had come directly over to her parents house without even stopping back at her condo first to change her clothes, or freshen up after the long day. When she started the day she had planned to stop in at the campus gym for the regular after-work spin class, but all of her best laid plans seemed to have gone astray this week. She hoped next week would be better.
Morgan didn’t really want to come to this family dinner tonight, but she had missed the last two family gatherings and her mother had begun to lay on the guilt trip pretty thick. Running her fingers through her hair, smoothing down her polo shirt, she walked down the driveway and braced herself for the chaos that she knew awaited her on the other side of the door.
Sure enough she didn’t make it across the porch without tripping over one of her twin nephews. “Morgan! You’re here!” the eight year old boy jumped up to hug his aunt, wrapping his arms around her waist. “We didn’t think you were coming.”
“Oh Josh, I couldn’t stay away from seeing you for so long, my little man!” She hugged him back. “Where’s your brother, Evan?”
“He’s playing with grandpa in the backyard. Mom and grandma are in the kitchen.” She could smell her mothers homemade lasagna and garlic bread drifting down the hallway, easily tempting her off of her new low-carb meal plan. Morgan would have to start her diet anew next week, along with her neglected spin class.
Making her way into the kitchen she greeted her mother and sister with a hug and an apology. “I know, I know.... I missed the last two weeks, but I’m here now!”
“And just in time to set the table, my dear”, said her mother, handing her a fistful of cutlery with her good arm, the other was in a cast. She paused in her reach halfway across the table, “... but go wash your hands first, you know better.” Ever the family matriarch. No matter how old she got, she would always be her mothers child. And just like that, she fell right back into the whirlwind of the family dinner.
The kitchen filled with the familiar sound of laughter, the conversation of catching up on the weeks news, wine pouring in glasses and heaps of food piled onto plates. Despite their usual complaints - Morgan’s failed new years fitness plans, Karen’s recent divorce, the twin boys fighting at school, the overtime at work, Mom’s broken wrist, Dad’s gradual and consistent hearing loss - life was overall pretty good for the Wilders. They were together, happy and in decent health all things considered. It could always be worse.
Scraping the leftovers on the plates into the trash, Morgan volunteered to do the dishes, she figured she was long overdue on the chore list by now, and it would be too hard for her mom with her bad wrist. Her sister, Karen, joined her at the sink after her boys ran out into the backyard to play, strategically escaping the after dinner chores.
“So how’s work?” Morgan reluctantly asked. She knew her sister had been working overtime all week at the hospital. Karen was a great nurse, and the hospital knew it, but all her good work, organizational skills, excellent bedside manner and patient care only seemed to get her more tasks to do with each shift. It seemed like she was taking better care of everyone else except for those that mattered most, her sons and herself.
“Oh my God, don’t even start. I’ve so overwhelmed with it all. I’ve been working twelve hour shifts at the hospital and training in three new nurses this month, I might as well be living at the nurses station these days. And this couldn’t come at a worse time. The school has called me twice this week because Evan and Josh have been fighting, and are this close to getting suspended.” She raised her soapy hands out of the sink, splashing the countertop with water so that she could show her fingers an inch apart from each other. “They’re not taking this divorce well at all, their dad moving out to Alberta, they miss him but just won’t talk about it with me. I don’t know what to do with them. And now that I’m stuck with the late shift I haven’t been to yoga all month. The one hour of the entire day I have to myself.” She finally stopped to take a deep breath.
Morgan thought she better say something encouraging before her sister imploded. “Well, at least when the new nurses are trained in you’ll have more help at work. So that’ll be good, right?” Hoping that would be enough to diffuse her sister.
“Maybe,” Karen replied. “I suppose it all depends what happens with...” and she paused mid-sentence.
“What is it?” Morgan implored.
“Well, I’m not sure, but something strange seems to be going on lately in the ER and the Critical Care Units lately. Looks like some traveller’s might have contracted some new type of encephalitis or something of the sort. The doctors aren’t sure yet, so the staff are trying to keep it quiet so the media hounds don’t get all hyped up like they were over SARS a few years ago. Or that last God-awful Ebola outbreak. Those were bad enough.”
“I’m sure it’ll all blow over soon enough.” Morgan tried to reassure her sister.
“Yeah, probably.” Then her sisters attention was dragged away into the backyard when she heard the boys yelling again.
Soon enough the kitchen was cleared, hugs were given all round, and the family members each moved on with their individual lives, heading off in different directions back into the city.
Morgan and Karen’s cars each pulled out of the driveway. In Karens car, the twins each stuck out their tongues towards their aunts car as Karen passed her on her rush home. Morgan glanced back over her shoulder and waved back at her smiling parents faces as they watched over them all as they drove down the street and faded from view. It had been nice to see them all again. She made an mental note to herself not to miss next weeks dinner.
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