June started to prepare for the outing. Richard sat up in the bed again, his head was still hurting, but he wanted to tell the children good-bye. He got up to put his rob on so that he could see the children. June was in the bathroom grooming and putting on her make-up. When she came back into the room, she was surprised to see Richard up and walking around.
“Should you be up dear?”
“I’m feeling better for the moment, and besides I want to see the children before they leave. I don’t want to stay in bed all day, I need to get energized. Maybe I’ll take a shower and shave, that always makes me feel better.”
“Just take it easy dear, don’t overdue it, you are still a sick man.”
Then she picked up her purse and walked out of the bedroom with Richard following close behind.
“Lets go kids,” Shouted June as she walked out of the bedroom.
The elevated sound of her voice echoed through Richard’s head like a cannon shot, but he didn’t tell her that the headache momentarily intensified. The children came running from their rooms. The sound level went up at least two octaves as they exited their rooms. Richard’s headache started to throb again and he begin to massage his temples.
“Hi dad,” said Ronald who is the oldest child, “are you feeling better?”
“I’m doing,” Richard hesitated in his response then continued, “Okay, but could you guys hold the noise down just a little bit, I still have a slight headache and the noise is not helping.”
“Sorry dad,” responded Ronald in a whispering voice.
“Sorry dad,” echoed each the children using softer voices.
“That’s all right kids, I’m just glad to see you all.”
All the children begin to try and hold the noise down. June looked at the younger children and it was all she could do to keep from laughing at their efforts to keep from making noise.
Richard turned to his oldest son and said, “Ronald.”
“Yes dad,” he responded as he focused his attention on his dad.
“You’re the oldest, I want you to help your mother and so whatever she tells you to do.”
“Right dad.”
Richard focused his attention on the rest of the children.
“I want the rest of you to mind your mom and so what she tells you to do.”
“Yes dad,” they answered in unison.
June leaned over and kissed Richard on the cheek.
“Bye dear.”
All the kids except Ronald rushed him, they hugged him around the waist and legs saying in unison, “good-bye dad.”
Then they all begin to rush for the door. June reminded them not to make so much noise because of Richard’s headache. They toned down the noise, filed out the door and ran to the family van parked in the driveway. June went around to the driver’s door, opened it and got in. She unlocked the doors using the electric door lock control and the children piled into the vehicle. She started the engine and let it run for a moment to allow it to warm up to operating temperature. She put her seat belt on and looked around at the children to ensure that they had all buckled up. Richard stood in the doorway watching the family. It was a great spring day, the temperature had to be around sixty-five or seventy degrees and there was a slight Southerly breeze. The sun was shining bright and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, but the bright sun was causing his headache to intensify. He was not going to tell June for fear she would call off the trip. The van had been backed up in the driveway the night before and June only had to put it in drive. The van began to slowly roll down the driveway and into the street. June and the children waved at him as they drove away; Richard waved back at them. He stood in the doorway watching the vehicle go down the street and turn the corner. After they were out of sight he rushed back into the house, he couldn’t get back inside fast enough. His head was now pounding from the bright sunlight outside. Ordinarily he would stand out in the sun and enjoy the weather, but his headache made that impossible, causing him to retreat back into the house. Because of the extreme brightness of the sunlight and the pain that it caused him while outside, he begin closing the drapes to cut down on the amount of light invading the house.
Richard went back to the bedroom and by the time he reached the bedroom, his headache had subsided. During the lull in the pain, he decided to take a shower, shave and brush his teeth hoping this might make gun feel better. When he finished, he did not want to go back to bed even though his head still hurt, so he dressed and went to the den and turned the television set on. There was a Royals baseball game being televised, the game was an away game and the local station was broadcasting it in the Kansas City metropolitan area. He thought the game might be relaxing to him and his headache might go away, or at least he could forget about it. He sat down on the sofa with a large glass of water and began to watch the game. He was relaxed and his headache had toned down a lot. His headache had taken more out of him than he anticipated and he started to get sleepy. Eventually he drafted off the sleep.
Richard had been asleep long enough to have gone onto a deep sleep cycle. He had not yet reached the Rapid Eye Movement or (REM) stage of sleep and had not yet started to dream, but he heard a male voice calling his name.
The voice called out.
“Richard.”
Richard answered in his mind, but he did not verbalize his response out loud.
“Richard,” the voice called out again using a little more force and it seemed to be a little bit deeper.
“Yeah.”
He answered out loud but he was still sleeping.
“Richard, wake up,” demanded the voice.
“Yeah, what do you want?”
“Richard Moses, wake up,” the voice called again.
Richard opened his eyes still dazed to see a flame. His eyes sprang open immediately and his heart went into overdrive, he tried to move but he could not. He thought to himself, what is wrong with me, why can’t I move? He continued to tried to move, but to no avail. All he could see was fire and he thought that he would be dead in a few minutes if he did not get out of the house.
