Play Your Hand

Oh, how he missed her. He walked over to the dresser. Everything was pretty much like she had left it. He wanted to hold on to that feeling even though he knew she wouldn’t be coming home again. Her comb and brush lay on top of a hand mirror with her daily planner and two decks of unopened cards. Frank smiled. Annette had learned how to play Bid Whiz from her grandmother and she loved it. She didn’t play for money- which was a good thing- she was very competitive. Many of her friends refused to be her partner. They argued that she took the game too seriously. In defense, she always quoted her grandmother, “Life is like a Whiz game. You have to have strategies but, at the end of the day, it comes down to simply playing the hand you have been dealt.” Frank pulled open the bottom drawer. From underneath her underwear, he removed a small treasure box where Annette had kept her prized possessions; gold earrings and a charm bracelet her grandmother had given her. She had planned to give them to Angie as a graduation gift. Frank took out her wedding band. After the funeral, he had placed it in the box. He sat the box on the dresser as he held the ring tight in his clenched hand. With his eyes closed, he relived the day he had placed it on her finger with the promise to replace it as soon as he graduated from college and got a better paying job. Unfortunately, three months after their wedding, Annette became pregnant. Frank had to discontinue college to provide for his family. Would his heart ever stop hurting? Would he ever stop missing his wife? He wasn’t even sure he wanted it to. He placed the band back in the box, tucked it underneath and closed the drawer. Twelve months….twelve long months. Yet, in a way, it felt like yesterday when he’d gotten the call that would forever changed his life. It had been an unusually warm Friday morning in late March. Frank had worked the overnight shift and had eaten breakfast with the kids before they left for school. Usually the kids walked to school but Annette had dropped them off on her way to the grocer. Less than an hour later, Marsha, a neighbor and store clerk, had called Frank and asked him to meet her at the hospital. Two hours later…just like that…Annette was gone…An aneurism.