Friday, June 15, 2012

THE DEATH OF BRUCE IN 2000

Today Ann's mother dies, and then two weeks later Bruce passes away.

THE GOD GAMES: Heaven & Hell...Chapter 31...HELL                                                                    

Bruce and I struggled with our relationship the first semester of college. I still had love for him in many ways, but I knew that I could not live in the mountains anymore. Bruce said that he would never move off of the mountains and we were at an impasse. Then the day before my finals for my first semester, Bruce surprised me by being at Debby's when I came home from school. He asked if we could sit down and have a serious talk about our relationship. No one was home except for Laura, and she went upstairs and left us alone. Bruce first asked about my relationship with Bob in the past, and I admitted to him that I had been unfaithful to him. I asked him to forgive me and he did, and then he asked me what it would take to get me up to the mountains again. I told him that I could not live with Brian anymore and that I could not stand the cat's messes. Bruce promised to have Brian move out, and to take care of his cats properly and not let them into the bedroom. The upshot of it was that Bruce and I made up and we decided that when I finished classes the next day that I would come home until the next semester started.

It had been a hard time for me without seeing Bruce daily as my mother had passed away just two weeks before, and Bruce had been my strength ever since. Momma had lived to be 91 years of age and had gone to sleep one night and not awakened. We had a nice funeral for her and I had sung "In The Garden," and "How Great Thou Art," for her. After the funeral, as we left the cemetery and were about to get onto the freeway to go home, I suddenly broke out in cold sores all around and inside of, my mouth. I guess there was a lot more stress in the situation than I had reckoned on, and I don't know what I would have done without Bruce's support at the time.

I went to school the next day with a song in my heart for the first time in a long time. I was glad that all was right again with Bruce and I, and that the future looked bright. I could still be off of the mountain and go to school, and yet there were always the mountains to go home to on the weekends and holidays.

I was on my way to my final exam, walking as fast as I could from my previous classroom, when I looked up and saw Jared coming towards me in his Naval uniform. I thought, how great that Jared should come to visit me at school, and then I saw Debby coming towards me also. I stopped in my tracks as they both came towards me. Then Jared took me and led me to a bench and had me sit down. Debby sat down beside me and Jared told me that Bruce had suffered a heart attack as he was driving towards Ramona and had swerved his truck to avoid oncoming traffic and had plunged down a ravine by the side of the road. He had died almost instantly.

I was devastated. Bruce was gone. I couldn't imagine a world without Bruce, we had been together for a total of 21 years; we had raised nine children together and now shared 16 grandchildren. Jared and I went immediately to be with Kelly and Janice, and Belinda and Brian, they were all suffering terribly. We all made plans to head up to the mountains immediately to secure all of Bruce's guns and ammunition, and to try to think of what to do next.


Tomorrow Ann is thrown off the mountains at gunpoint by Bruce's family.

No comments:

Post a Comment