Rumors about Eddie

You know there’s rumors going ’round about Eddie. Some say

he left his now adult daughters and never returned.

Others say he planned to pick them up, but went skiing instead.

Didn’t you hear the rumors going ’round about Eddie? They,

maybe a daughter or two, say he left them on the front porch,

and their mom came out and said, “Eddie’s not coming.”

No, he’s not a father. He’s just Eddie. He’s not coming home.

There’s rumors going ’round about Eddie that no one’s ever confirmed.

Fact or fiction? Oh, some believe they have the facts like a full deck of

Aces. Oh, no they dropped the Joker down. Who knows the rumor now?

There’s rumors going ’round about Eddie and how he’s not coming home.

He left his daughters on the porch waiting with bags packed for him to

take them away while he was on a ski weekend.

Those are the rumors spread about Eddie, but no one stopped to

read when they drank the poison, when they’re mom cheated,

remarried, and left Eddie alone. They didn’t know the games mom

played. “Eddie’s coming,” she said, “Now he’s not.” Duck, duck,

goose would make a much better game.

What about the ski weekends and having the pictures or videos to prove?

Those aren’t rumors, no. They know all about Eddie. Listen to them go.

When he went on those ski weekends, those were his days without the girls.

But, mom was on the phone. Mom pretended to be on the phone. Then played

“Eddie’s coming” and then “Eddie’s going.” The girls sat on the porch alone.

Let’s clear up the rumors ’bout Eddie, and how his third wife

Becca is fooled to think a card set of a five of hearts with a six of clubs

makes a full deck. Not true. The man some call Eddie is the one we

know as John. Some say they know him, but they know only rumors

like pricks of poison in their food. Let me tell you about John, or Eddie,

and the father we know, so we clear up the rumors you think are true.

John’s youngest girl died on a Wednesday. She was wrapped around John,

and he around her. He rushed us to the hospital when Corrie was two-and-

a-half weeks old. The doctors gave her breathing treatments to cure her

pneumonia and her bronchitis. Her breaths were shallow and sometimes

we waited a long time for her to breathe again. The things the rumors never

say is how Eddie stayed by her side when we thought she might die.

There’s rumors going ’round about Eddie. Some say they hope Becca

never knows. Yet, Becca saw Eddie take the teddy bear given to Corrie

by St. Jude’s on Christmas Eve to place in her bedroom. He held

Corrie, fed her with the breastmilk Becca had pumped, and carried her

around to show all of Becca’s family and those of his family

who refused to believe the rumors ’bout Eddie.

The rumors going ’round about Eddie say what an awful father

and husband he was. Didn’t Becca know or was she so naive? Maybe

she saw the truth. They had an older son, Hayes, diagnosed with

autism when he was five. The man they say is awful inside

volunteered with a national mental health and disabilities group.

He became a parent-teacher to others with children like Hayes.

On Wednesday, he received the call as he drove to the hospital.

His baby girl, Corrie, was dead. When others said God took her,

he corrected and said, “No, God took her hand.” He clutched his

daughter’s hand and cried. Corrie loved him and knew him as her

father; the hero and one who adored her beyond all others.

By Rebecca T. Dickinson

Our daughter, Corrie, tragically died last week suddenly of a complications with a tumor. Her father John and my husband spoke at her funeral. He has always been a wonderful father to our children.