Death In The Family
Chapter One
The wind whistled through the trees on North Clinton Drive, giving an eerie feel to the early evening festivities taking place in Milwaukee, the Cunningham home specifically. The upper-middle class home was filled with family and friends that night, celebrating the ninth birthday of Danny Fonzarelli, the recently adopted son of Arthur Fonzarelli, who was much like an adopted son himself, of the Cunninghams. Mr. And Mrs. Cunningham sat at the piano, playing show tunes that Danny only vaguely recognized, but appreciated nonetheless. Joanie Arcola, the newly married daughter of the Cunninghams, sat on her husband Chachi’s lap, clapping along to the music and singing enthusiastically. Arthur “The Fonz” Fonzarelli, sat next to Danny on the sofa, proud as a father could possibly be. Roger, Jenny, Potsie, and Arnold - family friends - gathered close by. The evening could not have been any happier. Then the phone rang.
“I’ll get it!” Marion Cunningham jumped up from the piano. “Keep playing, Howard!” The middle-aged auburn-haired woman ran to the phone, nearly tripping on one of Danny’s new toy trucks. She answered the phone. “Hello? Oh, hello Richard! What? What’s wrong dear? Wait…Howard, could you stop playing for a minute dear, Richard’s on the phone!”
Over the singing and commotion, Marion’s request went unheard. “I can’t hear you very well, dear…Richard, you sound like you’re crying. What?” Marion gasped and put her hand to her chest when she realized what her son was trying to tell her. She screamed, “HOWARD!!”
The music abruptly stopped and Howard Cunningham ran to join his wife by the phone. “What is it Marion? What’s wrong?”
“Oh dear…” She began to cry and handed Howard the phone. Joanie and Fonzie raced to Marion’s side while the others looked on, alarmed.
“Mom, what is it?” Joanie asked, near tears. She knew whatever it was, it had to be pretty bad, as she’d rarely seen her mother cry.
But Marion couldn’t speak, all she could do was sob quietly. The gang turned to Mr. C for the answer. Looking ashen, Howard lowered the receiver from his ear and turned to face his family. “It’s Lori Beth,” Howard said. “She was in a car accident. She’s…” Howard put his free hand to his forehead, not wanting to say the words. “She’s dead.”
The silence broke like a tidal wave as Joanie let out a cry and then covered her mouth. Chachi held his wife, as he tried to fight the tears that were streaming down his face. Mrs. C continued to cry while Roger held her close. Potsie sunk to the couch and put his head down in his hands. Mr. C continued to talk quietly to his son on the phone, trying to calm him down. Fonzie stood speechless, not wanting to believe what he had just heard. Danny stood up from the couch, and joined the group huddled around the phone, taking Fonzie’s hand. “Dad…” he whispered. “What’s going on?”
Fonzie could barely speak. “No…” he choked out. He gently pulled his hand from Danny’s grasp. “Not Lori Beth.” He paced to the door, wanting to hit something. Wanting to take out his anger on someone or something, to place blame somewhere for the death of his best friend’s wife. He decided to take it out on the doorframe, punching it hard, but he immediately regretted it when he heard Danny start to cry. He turned back just in time to see Joanie part from Chachi’s embrace to kneel down and take Danny in her arms. I’ve got to watch my temper now, he reprimanded himself. He quickly returned to the group and knelt with Joanie and Danny. “C’mere. I’m sorry.” He hugged Danny. Joanie put her arms around Fonzie, and he finally broke down and wept.
* * *
The next afternoon, emotions were still running high at the Cunningham home. Joanie, Chachi, Fonzie and Danny had all spent the night…Joanie and Fonzie because they felt the need to, and Chachi and Danny because they didn’t really have a choice. Howard and Marion sat at the kitchen table, drinking cocoa.
“Oh. Howard, I can’t believe they’re going to put her body on an airplane,” Marion was still very upset, and it showed in her voice.
“Richard thought it would be best. Her family is all here in Wisconsin, there’s no point in having the funeral in California.” Howard said. As usual, he was doing his best to be the strong family patriarch.
“I know but it just seems so…I don’t know. Disrespectful.” Marion started to get choked up. “She not luggage, Howard.”
Howard didn’t know how to respond, so they both just sat in silence, watching through the open partition into the living room, where Chachi was playing Monopoly with Danny.
Finally, Marion broke the silence. “How are we going to do this Howard? In less than an hour Richie is coming home with two little children. Actually, one little child and a baby. Can we do this again? Can we raise two more children? At our age?”
Howard sighed. “We always do, Marion. I don’t see where we have a choice. We always told Richie that if he ever needed our help, we’d be here for him. I can’t imagine what I ever would’ve done if I lost you when the children were small. He needs us more now that he ever has in his whole life. And so do his children. I imagine we’ll do exactly what we need to do right now.”
Marion stood and moved around the table to embrace her husband. “Oh, Howard, I love you so much.”
“I love you too Marion. Maybe I don’t say it enough…oh Marion, I don’t know what I would do if I ever lost you.” Howard held his wife tightly, wishing with all his might that he would never have to let her go.
* * *
Upstairs, Joanie sat on her bedroom floor, sorting through old photographs and papers, under the guise of straightening what remained of her possessions since she’d moved out. The reality was, she was looking for anything that would remind her of her sister-in-law. Sadly enough, Joanie wasn’t very successful. The truth was, Joanie and Lori Beth were never really that close. With the exception of a couple of photos taken while she was holding little Richie, there really weren’t very many photos of Lori Beth. Joanie dug through her scrapbooks and memory boxes, finding everything from birthday cards from her parents to notes underhandedly scrawled during class from Jenny. There were dried flowers given to her by Chachi…letters from Richie, even a “Get Well” card from Fonzie when she had her appendix removed when she was fourteen. But there was nothing of Lori Beth. Not a single note…nothing.
Joanie sat amid the mess, feeling defeated. “ How could I have been so self absorbed?” she asked herself out loud. “She was a part of my family…and I barely knew her.”
There was a light tap on Joanie’s door. She quickly started to gather the scattered cards and papers up off the floor. “Come in!”
Fonzie opened the door, taken aback by the clutter strewn around Joanie. “Hey, what happened? It looks like you set off a bomb in a greeting card factory.” He carefully stepped over the mess and sat down on Joanie’s bed.
She laughed half-heartedly. “I was just sorting through some old memories.”
“I can see that.” Fonzie glanced down at the pile. He knew Joanie, and he had a feeling why she was up here. “Did you find what you were looking for?”
Joanie looked up at Fonz, then back down at the cards and pictures. She shook her head. “She lived in my house, Fonz. She was married to my brother. And I don’t have a single thing here that is HER.” She let out a regretful laugh. “I’ve even got Ralph and Potsie’s old business cards. But I can’t find a single birthday card from her.” Joanie’s lower lip began to tremble, the threat of tears eminent. “There’s no proof in any of these boxes that I ever even HAD a sister-in-law.”
“Hey. Get up here.” Fonzie held out his hand and Joanie took it, pulling herself up off the floor and sitting next to him. “Of course you have proof. It’s all right here.” Fonzie placed his hand on his heart. “And every time you look at Richie Jr. and Elizabeth, you’ll see it. It’ll always be there.”
Joanie sighed. “I know. I just wish…I wish I had something tangible. Something I could look at, something I could hold in my hands to remind me.”
Fonz nodded. “I know.”
“Everything is so fleeting, Fonz. Life, I mean. One minute everything is fine, and the next…the unthinkable happens. It could have been any of us in that car. I know it’s terrible to think this way, especially under the circumstances, but I can’t help but think…what if it had been Richie in that car? What if we had lost HIM instead of…” Joanie stopped. “That’s such a terrible, selfish thought. I haven’t told anyone that, not even Chachi.”
“It’s not selfish Joanie. You love your brother, that’s not selfish. Besides, I was thinking the same thing. It’s not wrong to be scared that – “
“ – that the grief we’re feeling now could’ve been a thousand times worse if it had been Richie.” Joanie finished Fonzie’s sentence.
“Exactly.”
The two were silent, out of things to say but reluctant to end the conversation. The stress of the past day and a half had taken its toll, leaving everyone emotionally drained. Joanie and Fonzie sat side by side on the bed, each engrossed in their own separate thoughts. Both felt a huge sense of loss, but both were each also struggling with the knowledge that they never really got to know Lori Beth. Not as well as they knew their other friends, or even each other. Not as well as they could have.
Both were shaken out of their respective reveries by the sound of the doorbell downstairs. “Richie,” Joanie said, and they both headed downstairs.
Joanie and Fonzie got to the bottom of the stairs in time to see Howard open the front door. Richie was standing there, looking more weary and run down than anyone could ever remember seeing him. He had both kids with him. Richie Jr., four years old, was still confused as to the events of the past day, and looked disoriented and sleepy. Elizabeth, who was only six months old, slept peacefully on her father’s shoulder, blissfully unaware of the tragedy that had recently fallen upon her family. Marion took the sleeping baby from her son’s arms, just as he broke down and collapsed into his own father’s arms.
“Dad,” Richie sobbed into Howard’s shoulder, while the rest of the family silently looked on, some yet again near tears. “Why did this happen?”
“I don’t know, son.” Howard replied. “I don’t know.”