The Family That I Made
Posted: Wednesday, October 19, 2011
by Jack H. Schick
All the lights were out in case the German bombers came across the sea, but the moon was full so they rode. She got on the back of the motorcycle with him and they spend off up the mountain behind the other two on theirs. She had just met him, didn’t know him from Cain. Her girlfriend knew them both. She’d never ridden a cycle before. The roaring engine and the rushing air thrilled her. The wind blew back her hair and she smiled.
“But, I’m here right now,” he said.
But, she never was that kind of girl. The others rode off in the dark, by the light of the moon, to find a quiet spot alone. She stayed by the garage with him, talking of life and the world.
“I have a boyfriend. He’s overseas,” she said.
“It’s okay, I understand. I’m married, I’m ashamed to say” he said.
They were gone too long! There was no sound or sight of the others coming back. Something must have happened, in the night. They headed off to find them, up the mountain, in the dark, following the center line by the light of the moon, moving fast. The wind blew back her hair. She didn’t smile.
Down the mountain the others came, faster, following the center line by the light of the moon. The engine roared the wind blew back their hair. Quickly shadow came, a menacing specter. It was upon them before cognizance bloomed. They swerved. With a sickening thud, heads collided. His flew back breaking her jaw knocking her off onto the pavement. The crash and grinding faded in a flash and a blur.
*
“Ginny, Ginny! Help me roll him over. He’s drowning in his own blood,” she heard through the buzzing and the haze. “Don’t worry about him. He’s dead. Help me here.”
“I have a boyfriend. He’s overseas. He’s married and he’s dead.” She crawled.
*
The bright white and silver stunned her. The noise and motion confused her.
“Give her blood, the universal donor- O.” the man in the mask shined a light in her eye. “She has a concussion, jaw broken. The other girl is worse. Her leg is shattered. The men are both dead.”
*
“Yes, I was O, but Rh negative. They didn’t know anything about that back then.” She told me. “That’s why your sisters and brother are dead. The anti-bodies were already there. And, they didn’t see where the spoke penetrated my knee. That’s why I have the scars and limp.”
“Why did they die?” I was only four and probably shouldn’t know.
“My blood attacked them. The anti-bodies killed them. They were all Rh positive and like a poison to me. Your brother lived a few hours, but he died too. The girls were dead when they were born and nobody knew why,” she cried and went to her room.
I saw their stones and names and touched them and wondered.
*
He was angry and drunk as all of them were, above the bay at Naples. The war dragged on and they were tired and afraid, so they drank.
“I’m not going. I have a girlfriend already. She’s waiting for me at home,” he said.
“Sure she is. I think you just don’t like girls,” he mocked.
He rushed at him, grabbed him by the collar and dragged him, heaved him up and over the sill. He plummeted down to the cobble stones from the window far above and didn’t move, his head oddly askew.
*
“He was drunk,” he said. “He was talking about home and just ran had dove out. I tried to stop him. He was my friend,” he said.
“I’m not sure about this,” the office said. “But, I don’t have time. We must push north to Anzio. Thousands are dying there.”
*
“When you’re in Milan,” he told me. “Go to the center of the big cathedral and look up.”
“Okay,” I said. “Why.”
“Just do it,” he said. “I saw something there one time.”
It was a small, dingy cathedral compared to those in Florence and Rome. It was not even on our tour list. I took a side trip on my own to go there. I went to the center of the rotunda and looked up. I saw blue sky through a hole. A white, wispy cloud passed by. I saw nothing more and went on.
*
"We need to study your blood,” the scientist said to her. “We know what the problem is now, but we can’t do anything about it. We will pay you for it, and study it, and maybe others will not have to go through what you have.”
“The only way to be sure is to artificially inseminate with sperm from a man who is Rh negative,” the other scientist said. “It is only a chance and you’ve failed three times. I suggest you abort it.”
She cried and did them both.
*
“Your father worked at the funeral home when the babies died. They took care of them, but he didn’t have to do it himself,” she said. “Nobody knew why it was happening back then, but because of my blood tests now they just get an injection and their babies live.”
*
I was a teen and angry.
“You ungrateful bastard,” he yelled.
“If I’m a bastard, at least you’re not my father,” I said. He abruptly turned and walked away.
“Don’t ever say that to him again,” she said with stern seriousness. “It makes him feel bad.”
*
“Why does she always have to have her ‘medicine’?” I asked him.
"Because of the babies,” he said. “It was very hard on her. Just leave her alone when she gets like this.”
*
“Why did my father never drink. I never saw him have even one beer?” I asked my uncle at the cemetery.
“Something about throwing a guy out a window in Naples,” he said.
“He told me the guy dove out the window,” I said.
“I think he had a little help,” he said. “But then something happened to him in Milan.”
*
“Dad,” she said to me. “Jeff is Rh positive and I’m negative A like you. I have to get a shot or there could be problems with the baby.”
“I know,” I said.
*
There’s holes remaining and one of them is for me. From the top of the hill where I rest, I’ll be able to see the mountain where the cycles crashed and the river valley where the funeral home still is. My stone will have two dates, where my siblings’ in a row with mine, have just one. And I’ll wonder through eternity about the meaning and the resolution of it all.
This Article has been viewed 501 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)Hopefully, I understand the article:
An Rh Negative mother, who marries an Rh positive man will have problems, after the first child with blood antibodies. Now they give a hemoglobulin shot within 72 hours after the first birth, to protect the second child, or else the second child will be what used to be known as a 'blue baby', and need a complete blood transfusion. Usually they don't forget that shot, but it has been known to happen, then the woman has a terrible pregnancy, in which she has those anti-bodies in her blood.
The reason for this problem is that O Neg is the Universal Donor (10% of Pop), and can donate blood to anyone, however, an O Neg can only take negative blood. O Pos makes up largest percentage of Population, and doesn't mesh with Negative blood.
There are toxins and issues that could cause death, if O NEG isn't careful, as a part of that problem with positive anti bodies. After that she is subject to false positivies, when taking tests like the: Aids test. Then the three tests have to be done to get a real result,
RH Neg mothers should always retest, if they have had Child with Positive blood. Some having an only child don't even know about this issue, because first child is usually alright, but not always.
Note: There are also false positives with Epstein Bar Virus.(extra info)
You seem to know a lot about it. Thanks for commenting
Both of my wives were RH neg, but none of the 4 ended up with the feared result. Fascinating how life is.Thanks for reading and commenting- I'm Neg A. It was all before my time.
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.