Uncle Don

“Rosalinda! Rosalinda! I found your uncle in my yard again! Rosalinda!”

This is my alarm clock that goes off every morning at 8:55. Even on weekends.  I haven’t had a break since my uncle Don was placed on my doorstep on August 13^th, 2005. He was honorably discharged from the Iraq after his tour of duty, and right before he came back my parent’s had pleaded with me to take care of him and would help out financially. They just didn’t want to take care of him is all. And now, while I lie in bed and try to mute of Mr. Panza’s yelling, I get the thought of having my life back. Of being able to live without a normal burden that isn’t a family or a job. I groan and stretch out my limbs, and as I do I make myself feel guilty for having such thoughts. Uncle Don needs someone to take care of him, and that should be me.

“Rosalinda!” I hear Mr. Panza shout again and I reach above my bed to poke my head out of the window.

“Hold on! I’ll be there in a second!” I shout back as I squint my eyes to adjust to the light. It’s too early in the morning for the sun to be so… sunny.

I quickly got dressed, stumbling over shoes and Uncle Don’s toy horse, Rocinante. It fell onto its side let out a loud “neigh” and the legs started to move back and forth. I never knew a toy could be so bothersome until Uncle Don moved in.

As I finally made my way outside, I catch my breath and let out a low sigh. Mr. Panza and Uncle Don were sitting next to each other on Mr. Panza’s porch. I could hear Uncle Don talk about giants and Mr. Panza goading him on, saying that the giants were “actually just windmill’s, dummy.”

Mr. Panza and Uncle Don had been friends for a long time. They were in the same basic training camp together and then in the same unit together when they left for war. Mr. Panza came back before Uncle Don did and apparently he’s lived in the house next to mine before I even considered moving here. He and his family have been really helpful in being there for my uncle.

“Sancho, I know what it was!” Uncle Don exclaimed, “they were there during when we were in Iraq! I remember shooting at them. They never went down, just deflected the bullets!”

“I know, Don! I still have some of the bullet in my calf!” Mr. Panza slapped at the back of his right calf and laughed loudly.

I walked up the stairs of his porch and leaned against the railing. “You know you both might as well become my alarm clock. I’m always awake before it goes off anyway.” I smiled as I chided them. I wasn’t really nagging, it’s the usual banter every morning. It’s all a routine nowadays and I can’t really complain.

“Rosalinda, did I ever tell you about the giants in Iraq? They may have been our biggest foes! There were about twelve of them!”

“I told you they were windmills!” Mr. Panza interjected.

I laughed and shook my head at the both of them. “Mr. Panza can you help me bring Uncle Don back to the house? I have to get him and the house ready for his nurses today.”

Mr. Panza nodded and lifted Uncle Don’s arm around his shoulder, and helping him up.

⦁ ⦁ ⦁

Uncle’s nurse, Andrés, rang the doorbell around noon and proceeded to take care of him so I could have a break. Andrés was cooking uncle breakfast to which he exclaimed,

“I must know these secrets! Tell me, where do you get those nice shoes from?”

What do you mean? I got them from Foot Locker. These are just for comfort.” Andrés looked confused and turned back to making eggs.

“I must know, I must know! Too much sanity may be madness. And maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be.” Uncle Don exclaimed, standing up to walk outside. My eyes follow him through the window to see him go back over to Mr. Panza’s front yard. He picks up a gnome and studies it before setting it back down and bowing to it. I see him mumble some words to the gnome and Mr. Panza is back outside next to Uncle Don.

“I must go save my love. Dulcinea, she’s still in Iraq! Why would they take me away from her! When she needs me the most!” Uncle Don cried out to Mr. Panza.

“Don! Don, it’s okay! She’s fine I bet, she knows how to stay alive.” Mr. Panza tried to console my uncle, but he wasn’t convinced. Mr. Panza talked to me about Dulcinea once before. He told me that Uncle Don had made her up in his dreams. Dulcinea was his perfect lady. He says when Uncle Don began talking about her out loud, is when the hallucinations and fantasies began.  He said Uncle Don was able to fool the military for a long time into thinking that there was nothing was wrong with him. He used to bite his cheek to contain outbursts before his superiors noticed, and he would always keep his hat low so no one could see his eyes wander to nothing as he had his adventures.

Mr. Panza is much shorter than Uncle Don and they look so comical standing next to each other. Mr. Panza links his arm around Uncle and brings him back over to our porch. Andrés is standing there waiting expectantly and patiently, and I can just see Uncle Don as he bows to him as well before being brought back inside.

⦁ ⦁ ⦁

           

“Rosalinda, I’m leaving now. I’ve already given your uncle his med’s. He should be asleep within a half an hour.” Andrés said to me as he was heading out the door. We said our “goodbyes” until tomorrow, he shut the door and I was stuck with quiet for the rest of the night. Until Uncle Don woke me up again at 8:55. He was a handful and was always stuck in his mind, but I was surprised when Uncle Don had his moments of clarity and would tell me about his times in the army and when he was young. It was always the same things I already knew though, but I still listened because one never does know.

Right now was one of these moments. Uncle Don had sat on the chair across from me and looked me straight in the eyes.

“Rosalinda, I want to tell you something.” Uncle Don began. I nodded my head and let him talk. He told me about the woman whose name he said earlier, “Dulcinea”. She was a real person Uncle had met during the war. Her real name was Aldonza and she lived in a town just a couple of miles from where Uncle was stationed.

“I used to sneak out and visit her during lights out. I’d run to her home and be sweaty, but she still talked to me and loved me; no matter how sweaty I was.” Uncle looked down at his folded hands and continued.

“I loved her too, and I still do. I used to call her Dulcinea because she was my sweetest. We would meet and talk to each other for five of the eight months I was stationed there.” Uncle Don had let out a long sigh, and then there was silence.

“What happened between you both?” I questioned, and I had seen Uncle’s eyes were glassy and red.

“Well, her home was bombed, by insurgents. She was inside at the time and she died along with the rest of her family members. I remember I had snuck out that night, and was prepared to go see her, a big jolly grin on my face. I had ran there, two or three miles it didn’t take that long. It never did. I thought I was lost when I didn’t see her home. It was just open space where her home stood hours before. No one was around to tell me what had happened. I walked around the rubble and almost stepped on something. It was her hand. I know it was her hand. It was burnt badly and I almost vomited, so I ran away back to the base camp.”

Uncle Don stopped there and stood up, stretching and yawning loudly. I stood up with him and linked my arm with his.

“Let’s get you to bed.” I said, and walked with him to his room. I watched him as he got settled into bed. We said our “goodnights” and I closed his door.

As I walked to my room, I realize that my understanding grows more and more of my Uncle as our time together grows. He isn’t really sick to me, just lonely. Living in a fantasy where Dulcinea is with him. I lay in bed and try to get in as much sleep as I can before 8:55.