Wyatt's Legacies

Wyatt’s Legacies

By Heather Ann Martinez

Noah Wyatt’s fudge popsicle was melting on the city park bench. Lilly was desperately trying to mop up the chocolate with a small napkin she received with her ice cream cone. This was her first outing with her grandson in a couple of years. She forgot how messy ice cream and popsicles were in the summer heat. It was August and the leaves had not changed color as she thought they would by now. She longed for September. She liked the cooler temperatures September offered.

It had been four years since Wyatt reappeared after going missing for several weeks. All he told Lilly was he remembered faithfully following the stories of their friends and neighbors. He remembered writing copious notes after interviewing them about their bucket list dreams and then it went blank. He told her he couldn’t remember where his notes were, how far he had gone or how he remembered to get back to town. He also seemed quiet and more reserved than before he left. Lilly took him to see several specialists who agreed that something was not right, but they disagreed about what course of treatment would be best. They recommended that Lilly have him committed so they could sort out what long term plan to pursue. The doctors knew Lilly was not able to care for Wyatt at home. She did not want him to wander off or hurt himself. She thought it was best for him-to be monitored twenty-four hours a day. What she had not expected was the spark to go out of his eyes. He no longer wanted to dance spontaneously. He no longer bent the rules. He wasn’t just in a physical prison as Matt would call it, his mind was trapped. He was a shadow occupying a body it no longer seemed to know how to operate.

Wyatt never complained. He did whatever the doctors, nurses, and caregivers told him to. He never questioned their authority over him. He didn’t ask “why.” He didn’t like when anyone else brushed his hair. That was reserved for Lilly who came every day. She would talk to Wyatt for hours, but his eyes were glossed over. He’d grunt or cough periodically. She could never tell if he was still there somewhere or completely gone. She was waiting for the day that she would enter the room, and he would tell her he had woken up from a long nap.

Over the four years Wyatt was in the hospital, Lilly made the difficult decision to move out of her family home. She moved to an apartment close to the hospital. She rented out the house and asked the tenants not to disturb the tree house in the backyard. All of the precious moments she had with Wyatt started with the tree house. She hired neighborhood teenagers to clean and maintain the tree house. Matt and his wife had Noah Wyatt shortly after Wyatt was committed. Noah Wyatt was curious and full of energy much like his grandfather Lilly would often tell Matt.

Matt brought Noah to see Lilly at least once a month. Matt’s stepdaughter did not like having a little brother, and Matt’s wife Cree was grateful Lilly wanted to be involved in Noah’s life as much as she could. She knew Wyatt would want her to even if he could not articulate it himself. Years ago, Wyatt told Lilly to do as much for Matt and his family as possible. Wyatt knew their days were always numbered. He would say Father Time would not give them an extension. Wyatt wasn’t sure if he believed in God or heaven or hell. He always made the most of that moment, because he knew there would never be another one exactly like it. It was for that reason that he interviewed their friends and neighbors about their bucket list dreams. He was fascinated by what made people do the things they did. Wyatt always wanted to know what motivated every one of them to get out of bed in the morning. If they were older, like he and Lilly, did they want to get out of bed in the mornings? Did they have help making those basic decisions?

After cleaning the park bench and Noah’s mouth, Lilly walked with Noah through the park near the hospital. She never wanted to be too far away from Wyatt. Matt understood this and sat with his dad in the hospital while Lilly took Noah Wyatt to the park. Matt helped Wyatt to a chair by the window in the hospital room. Wyatt looked out the window and Matt looked at him. Matt read some of Wyatt’s articles out loud to him. He hoped that reading what Wyatt wrote over decades as an investigative journalist would jog his memory. Lilly told Matt she read Wyatt the words to his favorite poem and he turned and looked at her for several minutes before staring out the window again. She knew he recognized it. The doctors were not convinced but encouraged her to keep trying. Lilly wasn’t a woman of faith in many things. She respected God as a distant creator who set all of this chaos in motion. Lilly believed that Wyatt could and would come back to her. She held onto hope in their love.

Noah wasn’t a rebellious child. He liked his grandmother and held her hand while walking through the park. Lilly told him the names of all the flowers and pushed him on the swing set. He climbed up the stairs and slid down the slide multiple times before Lilly told him it was time to go back inside the hospital and find his father and grandfather. Noah did not want to go in but also realized that the park was starting to become crowded with more people. Noah grabbed Lilly’s hand and they started walking briskly into the hospital. Once they were in the lobby of the hospital, Lilly took Noah’s other hand and started humming. Noah started laughing as Lilly started swaying. He asked her what they were doing. Lilly told Noah they were dancing. She told him that his grandfather would dance with her and hum a tune in her ear whenever he wanted to. Noah thought dancing without music was funny. He asked Lilly if she still danced with Wyatt. She looked at Noah’s face and stopped swaying. She told Noah she had not tried to dance with Wyatt and said they should go to his room and ask him for a dance.

When they reached the floor Wyatt was on, Matt met them at the door. He took Noah in his arms and started crying. Matt said it was nothing short of miraculous. Matt pushed open the door. Wyatt was talking with his doctors. He was packing his clothes in a duffle bag.

“Wyatt?” Lilly’s bottom lip quivered.

“Lilly, there you are! I was wondering when you would get back with Noah. We’ve got to get back to town. I left my notes at the McAdams’ family pub. I hope someone still has them. The doctors told me it’s been four years.”

           The doctors told Lilly they had been treating Wyatt for toxic metal poisoning for some time. One of the specialists thought that Wyatt had been poisoned when he was interviewing friends and neighbors.The McAdams’ family took Wyatt in when he couldn’t remember how to talk for the several weeks he was missing. The McAdams’ family did not know Wyatt had a family or where he came from. They did not see the flyers Lilly and Matt posted on the other side of town. Someone had told Matt a private company was dumping toxic waste near Bootlegger’s Creek the year Wyatt went missing. His memories became twisted and distorted as the toxins settled in. The treatment had run its course and Wyatt said he was trapped in his own body. He was aware of what was going on most of the time but couldn’t tell anyone. He could only grunt. Wyatt extended his hand out to Lilly and he started humming as they started to sway.

           Noah started laughing. Matt continued to hold Noah as they watched his parents dance. He told Noah that his father Wyatt had taught him not to miss a moment. Dance spontaneously. There’s always music playing.