The Haunted Hideout Read online

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  “Hey, Mom.-Are you coming over this way today?”-Chrissy was so excited she could hardly stand it.-And, if anything Johnny was even more keyed up than she was.-“I’ve some good news to tell you if you’re coming over.”

  “I’m always up for good news, Honey.-How about if I come over right after lunch?-It’s almost eleven, now.-Will that be alright?”-Penny figured it was something new about the house.-Penny was extremely proud of her daughter—and the twins, too, of course.-She adjusted the eyeglasses on her slightly pugged nose and tiredly tossed her dark brown hair back and tucked it behind one ear.-She definitely didn’t look her age of forty-one.-She hadn’t been sure if she could get back the figure she had been rather proud of after the twins were born or not.-But her one hundred fifteen pounds looked fine on her five feet four frame.-Actually, she had gained four or five pounds lately and she had just been too tired to do the exercises she normally did to get rid of the extra pounds.-But if her daughter had what Chrissy thought was good news, then Penny would find the energy to go see what it was.-She and Johnny kept changing little things about the house plans here and there that they thought they’d like better.-Penny surmised that this news would foretell another such change.

  “That’s fine, Mom.-I’ll see you right after lunch.”

  A few minutes after one o’clock, Penny came in, huffing and puffing.-“I think I must be getting old.-I don’t seem to have any stamina at all.-I’m sure I’m going through menopause.-I miss a few periods and then have a few.-This time I’ve missed two in a row and I’m hoping I just don’t have any more at all.-I think it’s about that time.”

  “I’ve missed two periods, too, Mom, but I don’t think I can blame it on menopause.”-Penny huffed and puffed a little more and then sat down.-But when she plopped down in the chair, she acted as though she had sat on a tack.

  “What are you saying, Chrissy?” she asked sharply jumping right back to her feet.

  “I’m pregnant, Mom.-I’m going to have a baby.-Johnny and I are going to be parents.-Can you believe it?-I’m pregnant!”

  Penny crumpled back down in the chair.-“Now I know why I feel as though I’m getting old.-I’m going to be a grandmother.-Oh, Chrissy, my baby is going to have a baby.”-And then they were both crying and hugging.-Hormones were running rampant.

  “What’s wrong, Chrissy, Mom?-Has something happened?-Did somebody die?-Why are you crying?”-Johnny was truly worried.

  “Oh, these are happy tears, Honey.-I just told Mom about the baby.”

  Then his frown turned into proud smiles.-“Oh, yeah.-I should have known.-Isn’t it great?”

  “I guess you think it’s funny; you making me a grandmother.”-Penny was laughing through her tears.

  “I think it’s fantastic.”-Johnny was deliriously happy no matter how many grandmothers he made.-

  “Here’s a thought for you, Smarty Pants.-Twins run in the family.-She could have twins or even triplets.”

  Johnny realized Penny was right and that was a sobering thought.- “But,” he decided, “I’m still happy even if it’s quintuplets.”

  “You might need to add a little more onto the house, now.-Had you thought of that?”

  “Oh, yeah.-We’re already changing things so the nursery can be right next to our bedroom.-We’re just gonna have to find another place for the library.”

  “This evening, we’re going up to Grandmother Lydia’s and tell her the good news, too.”

  “I know she’ll be so pleased.-Have you let any of the folks in Ireland know about it yet?-Would it be alright if I call the California Wroes and the folks in North Carolina or did you want to do that yourself?”

  “If you want to, Mama, it’s fine with us.-We haven’t told anyone else, yet.-We felt it was only fair for the family here to know first.”

  “My baby’s gonna have a baby.-Oh, this is so exciting!-Oh, does Ed know yet?”

  “Yes, I told him when I saw you come in here because I knew Chrissy would be telling you.-He’s happy about it, too.”

  That evening after supper Johnny and Chrissy walked up the hill to Lydia’s.-They found her sitting on the back stoop, looking very pale.

  “Grandmother, what’s wrong?-Are you alright?-You look awfully pale.”-They were both quite genuinely concerned.-Lydia would be eighty-two in September so any problem could be or become serious at that age.-She had looked frail for several years.-She was becoming more and more stooped and her white hair was getting much thinner on top.-Her tiny frame looked like it could just dry up and blow away.-These days she usually had a smile on her face to go with her rosy complexion but right now, her face was looking pale and her efforts at a smile were not very successful.

  “I’m feeling better now.-I just had some sort of silly spell.-Can you help me into the house, please?-It’s getting pretty cool out here.-It’s warm for the time of year but I’d been sitting there long enough to get kinda chilled.”

  “Are you sure you’re alright?-Maybe we’d better take you to the doctor.-Do you hurt anywhere, Grandmother?”-Chrissy was rubbing her hands up and down Lydia’s arms to try to warm her up.-When that didn’t seem to help much, she reached for an afghan on the back of the couch and put it around her.

  “I think I’ll be okay in a few minutes, Johnny.-Don’t look so worried, dear.-I’ll be just fine.”-Lydia began to hold her chest and was sweating profusely.-

  “Chrissy, please call Dr. Foster and tell him to meet us at the emergency room at the hospital.-I’ll get her coats.

  “Sure, Johnny.”-Chrissy dialed the phone number for Dr. Foster.-He answered almost immediately.-“Hello, Dr. Foster.-This is Chrissy O’Reilly.-Lydia Thorne is my grandmother and she is complaining of chest pains and is sweating.-We’re leaving here almost immediately to take her to the emergency room.-Would you please meet us at the hospital?-We’re very much concerned that she may be having a heart attack……………………….All right, thank you.”

  Johnny went out to warm up the car while Chrissy helped Lydia get her coats on. Lydia still insisted that they were "making a mountain out of a mole hill" but she didn't put up very much resistance.-Chrissy grabbed the afghan they had put around her earlier and a couple of cushions from the couch and Johnny helped make her as comfortable as possible in the back seat.-She also thought to pick up Lydia’s purse which would have all her medical and insurance information in it.

  “Dr. Foster said to drive carefully but to get her there as soon as possible,” Chrissy told Johnny in a whisper.-

  When they got to the hospital they went in through the emergency room doors in the wheel chair that Chrissy had hurried in to get.-Johnny stayed with his grandmother while Chrissy took all the information to the receptionist.-As he promised, Dr. Foster was there waiting for them.-The nurses went to work immediately hooking her up to the EKG machine and setting up other tests.

  When Chrissy finished getting Lydia checked in, she went to find Johnny and see what was happening.-It was almost a half hour later when Dr. Foster came back and told them Lydia had had a fairly serious heart attack.-He wanted to admit her to the hospital for a few days so they could keep an eye on her.

  “This may be all the problems she’ll have or it could progress into something even more serious.-Right now she’s stable and the pain and other symptoms are subsiding.-The next thirty-six hours will be crucial.-If she has no more symptoms during that time period, then we won’t need to worry over much.-But until then she will need constant monitoring.-I’m going to put her in the Coronary Care Unit where she will be seen to continuously.-You two should go on home and if there’s any change, we’ll notify you immediately.-You wouldn’t be able to stay with her anyway even if you remained here.-I want her completely quiet.”

  “You’re absolutely sure the nurses will call us if she needs us or anything?”

  “Positively sure.-I’ll be sure to leave those instructions.”-Dr. Foster went to make the arrangements for her admission to the hospital.


  Johnny and Chrissy hated the idea of leaving the hospital when Lydia was so seriously ill but the doctor insisted that it would do no good for them to sit out in the waiting room all night so they reluctantly agreed to go on home.-When Johnny and Chrissy got back to Lydia’s they turned the furnace to a point where the house would stay warm enough so that the plumbing wouldn’t freeze.-Then Johnny did the feeding and milking.-They locked up Lydia’s house and then went on back to the trailer.-The next thing was letting everyone know that Lydia was in the hospital.

  Chrissy called her mother and told her about it and then Johnny called his mother and told her.

  “Mom, the doctor said the next thirty-six hours were crucial.-He said they would monitor her very carefully and that if there were no recurring symptoms, she should be alright to come home.-I hated to tell you bad news, Mom.-We had intended to call you tonight with good news but I’m afraid this overshadows it.”

  “Well, what’s the good news?-Maybe it will give us something good to get our minds on instead of just worrying about Mom.”

  “Well, in about six and a half or seven months, we’ll be making you a grandmother.-How about that?”

  “Oh, Johnny, I’m so happy for you.-Does Mom know about it, yet?”

  “No, we went up there purposely to tell her but she felt so bad when we got there, we just got her to the hospital as soon as we could.”

  “She’ll be happy for you, too.-This will give her more incentive to get better and take care of herself more fully if she knows she’s going to be a great-grandmother.”

  “Well, we’ll be sure to tell her as soon as she’s able to hear it.”

  “Okay, Son, we’ll be talking pretty often for the next few days.-I’ll let the rest of the family here know about it.-Take care.-We love you both.- Bye-bye.”