Splendiferous!

NANOWRIMO Day 8: 4317 words (11502 total)

The hour long drive actually took more like an hour and a half because of traffic. It seemed to go by in the blink of an eye, though. Maybe because I wasn’t really paying any attention to anything. My mind was completely blank, still trying to wrap itself around what had happened but coming up with nothing. No way in, no way to comprehend or fathom what had really occurred. I don’t know quite how I got through it without getting in an accident.

I pulled into a parking space. And shut off my car. I realized that I didn’t know where I had gone. I looked around at my surroundings and realized I had gone straight to the hospital. Maybe I was paying some attention. Or maybe my car just knew where to take me, and thought that it would leave me to my contemplation and emptiness. I walked up to the hospital and went through the doors.

The waiting room was near empty. That surprised me. Such a horrible event had occurred that certainly the room had to be filled with people anxious to hear any sort of news on their loved ones. My loved ones. My family. Shaking my head, I walked up to the window.

“May I help you, sir?” A young girl, probably around nineteen, dirty blond hair pulled back in pig tails. Receptionist. Probably trying to save money so she could go to school and get a job as a nurse one day.

“Uh, yeah, I’m here to see my, my sister.” I didn’t know if she was even still in the hospital, as Joe hadn’t said. He did say she was in stable condition, so I assumed she was here, but for all I know she’d been released by now. Or was dead.

“What is the patient’s name?” the girl asked mechanically. The patient’s name. She had no identity, wasn’t a living, breathing, human being who could feel pain. Just a patient. I despised this young girl, who was oblivious to the pain I hadn’t fully realized I felt yet. How dare she treat my sister with such obvious contempt and so little caring.

“Susan Spillane.” I tried with great difficulty to keep the anger out of my voice, and I think I succeeded. Sort of.

Her face softened in sorrow and pity. “Oh, you’re her, her brother? I’m so very sorry, Mister, uh, Spillane. She’s in room one hundred and nineteen, down the hallway on your left. I’m really, really sorry.” She probably took my anger as pain. Which it was, in a way. It was easier to feel hatred and anger right now than pain. She was just doing her job, anyway. Trying to be a professional. You can’t have too much compassion at a place like this or you’d get too depressed from all the suffering, I guess. I nodded to her, unable to speak, and walked down the hallway she indicated.

There was no one in the hallway but me. Up ahead, there was a single empty chair outside of one of the rooms. A coat was in the chair, forgotten by its owner. Had he been summoned into the room to hear how his friend was doing? In his haste, had he left the coat on the chair? Was he now sitting on the floor, weeping over a loss, without the warmth of the coat to protect him? Or was he in the room celebrating the good news, that whoever it was would be okay? As I came closer, I realized that the chair was outside Sue’s room. I felt a chill go down my back as I pushed the door open.

Sue was lying on a hospital bed, unconscious. At least, I think she’s unconscious. Yeah, there’s a machine hooked up to her that’s beeping at a regular steady pace. She has a bunch of tubing coming out of her, and a mask for what I assume is oxygen over her nose and mouth. She’s in one of those damn annoying hospital gowns. I hate those things. Never cover yourself up properly. She has some scrapes and cuts on her face, but she looks okay. Maybe she’s asleep. Maybe she is in a coma. God damn. One of her arms is not covered by the blanket and sheets. She has a big purple bruise over most of the length of her arm, plus what looks like a burn. God damn. My little sister.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there to protect you, Sue,” I said softly. God, I hate hospitals. Way too damn depressing. Shit, I can’t handle this right now. I walk outside. The chair is no longer vacant.

“Mickey!” The figure rises from the chair and embraces me. It takes me a moment to realize who it is. My mind, detached from the rest of my body and my pain and my misery, tells me it’s Joe. I hug him back. “I’m glad you made it, Mickey. You okay?”

I nod. “Thanks for waiting for me, or with her, or whatever. How, how is she?” I am not sure I really want to know the answer to that question.

“The doctors think she’s going to be okay. She’s been going in and out of consciousness. A lot of cuts and bruises, some burning. Mostly on her arm and her chest. And she broke one of her legs, and a foot, and a hand, and a couple ribs. Pretty much just banged around a lot. She also has something wrong with her back, and they think she might have some head trauma, but they’re not sure. Or they won’t tell me, at least. I’m not family, so...the only reason I know any of that is because I made friendly with one of the nurses.” He grinned. “We got a date sometime later, after…after everything is done.” He stopped grinning at that.

“Thanks for everything, Joe. I mean it.” I put my arm on his shoulder and squeezed. “I think I am really going to need your help these next few days. With, uh, with lots of things going on and everything.” God damn, this was hard. And I was purposefully NOT thinking about my parents. God damn it, God damn it!

He nodded. “I’m just glad I was home when you called. I haven’t left here since I heard about the accident, except to run home for a few minutes to track down some more numbers, and to make a quick sandwich.” He grimaced. “The food in the cafeteria sucks ass. Tastes like my shoes from gym class back in high school.”

I laughed at that. “I didn’t know you liked such delicacies. I have an old pair of boots I was thinking about chucking, but if you want me to save them for you for Thanksgiving, I can.” This produced another grin and a punch to my shoulder.

“Ass,” he proclaimed me. Ahhh, just like the good old times. Joe would never, ever change, no matter how much time went by. Take the nurse. He’s a bigger fan of the ladies than I am. Also, there’s something about a woman in a nurse’s uniform, apparently. I never really saw it, myself. I’m not a fan of the color white. But you wouldn’t know that by the number of times I’ve been married. Or maybe that’s why I don’t like the color. Either way, nurses just don’t do it for me. “A bunch of people have been by to check on Sue. A lot of them asked about you. In fact, I’m surprised no one is here right now. I guess because most of them are eating dinner right now, or something.”

The mention of dinner reminded me I had nothing to eat all day except bourbon, which isn’t exactly the healthiest of foods. “People have come by?” I don’t know why this surprised me. My parents were generally liked around town, and I know my sister was popular and had a bunch of friends. Myself, I had gotten into some trouble when I was younger, so not everyone liked me.

“Didn’t you see the flowers?” At my blank look, he pointed behind me and opened the door. There were flowers all over the room. I don’t know how I missed them the first time around. I guess I was too focused on Sue. Damn, there were a lot. And they had gotten here quickly. I said as much, to which Joe responded, “Word travels fast around here. You know that.” I smiled sadly. Word indeed did travel fast around here. Mostly through my ma. Too much pain for that, still.

“Who do I need to talk to, about, everything?” I was not looking forward to the next few days. But I had nothing better to do, and it was why I had come here. Though I did wish I could just sit and be with Sue. God damn.

“There will be enough time for that later. You looked like you haven’t had anything to eat in three days.” I nodded. It had, in fact, been a while since I ate anything. He sniffed. “Though you certainly have had your share of things to drink today. Can’t say I blame you, all things considered.” I nodded again, not telling him I had consumed it all before hearing from Joe. Nor did I tell him what exactly had made me drink it all. I pushed Karl, the woman, the Red Sox, and everything else from my mind. Time enough for that later. “Let’s go, Mickey.”

Joe led me down the hallway and out the door of the hospital, waving to the receptionist as we walked out. She giggled at us, Joe’s charm with the nurses, or future nurses anyway, working as usual. Then she nodded soberly. She knew we were just going out for a bit. We would be back. There was far too much to do.




We walked into one of the local establishments nearby the hospital. It was a dive, but it was close. And if I remembered correctly, the food wasn’t half bad, either. We ordered our food (burger and fries each, one well done for Joe, and one rare for me. I liked my meat still mooing.), and talked a bit while we waited. A few people came over to offer me their condolences, but for the most part we were left alone.

“So a bunch of people stopped by, eh? Anyone I should know about?” I said in between bites. The burger was bloody and juicy, just the way I like it. It’s certainly better than that crunchy slap of charcoal Joe was eating.

“Well, mostly friends of your parents, neighbors, that sort of thing. A few people from high school who happened to see me and wondered what I was there for. A bunch of Sue’s friends. Some of them are real cute, too. Too bad I couldn’t play the role of the grieving older brother. Though some of them did think I was you.”

“Got dates with them too?” He grinned, but didn’t answer. “Why I am not surprised. Don’t sully my good name, bastard.” We both laughed at that.

“Nothing I could do to make it more filthy. Umm, there were a couple of people who showed up, though. Carol was here before I was.” Carol was my old high school girl friend who I had left to go see the sights in the big city. She still stayed close with the family. When I was in town we would usually run into each other, and occasionally fool around, but nothing real serious.

“Yeah, how’s she?”

“Pretty upset. Married, too.”

“No shit! To who?” That was surprising. I didn’t think she’d have settled down. Also, I enjoyed seeing her when I was here. We always had fun together.

“Some random guy I don’t know. Happened a while back. Surprised you didn’t know. Didn’t your parents tell you?” He added some more salt to his fries.

“Hmmm. Now that I think about it, they did mention something about her about six months ago, but I never returned the call. Huh, Carol’s married. Damn.” This visit back home was full of surprises so far. Mostly unpleasant.

“Yeah. Eddie came by, too, as did Lauren.”

“Wait, Eddie? Fast Eddie? He’s out of prison?” Joe nodded. “Good for him!” Eddie was one of our close friends from high school. He got busted several years back for accessory to armed robbery. He was the driver. Plead a deal after someone fingered him. Most have gotten out on good behavior. Ha! That’s a thought. “Lauren. She still waiting for Pete?” Lauren was the nicest girl any of us had ever met. Better than all of us, too. She was madly in love with our buddy Pete, who had gone out of state to go to school for something I can’t pronounce. Been doing that ever since, and she’s been waiting this whole time. He was her perfect companion, too. Straight laced the whole way. Never lied about anything, even to save himself from trouble. Always did the right thing. Good guy.

“Well, she was, until a few months back.” He gave me a weird look. “You telling me you haven’t heard about this either?”

“No, what is it? She found someone else to sweep her off her feet?”

“Uh, no. Not quite. Pete came back a few months ago. Said he’d been in Europe after he finished getting his fiftieth degree. And he came back with his wife.”

I sprayed my water all over Joe’s face. “Wife???”

“Thanks for that.” Joe wiped his face off with his napkin, then kicked my shins under the table. “Yeah, some Russian chick or something. Can’t remember her name. Lena, or something like that. Big surprise for everybody all around. She was, uh, surprised, to say the least.” He looked uncomfortable.

“Yeah, I’ll say. I thought they had an understanding? She’d wait for him til he was done with everything and then come back for her. Then all that happy ever after bullshit.” Damn. If Pete had ditched Lauren for some random European broad, shit. That was not like him at all.

“I thought so too. So did she. I guess not.”

“Yeah.”

“He came by too. Told me to tell you he’d stop by later on, and if you needed anything, he’d do whatever.” The waitress took our plates and left the bill.

“Yeah.” We paid, and left in silence. Carol married was one thing, but Pete getting to married to anyone other than Lauren was just unthinkable. About as likely as the Red Sox winning the World Series.




I opened the door to Sue's room and stopped dead. Joe bumped into me from behind. "What's up Mickey?" He tried to get a view over my shoulder.

A doctor was leaning over Sue, muttering something as he wrote something down that he apparently derived from one of the many electronic instruments surrounding her. He glanced up at the intrusion, and stuck his pen inside his pocket. "Good evening. May I help you?"

"I sure damn hope you can. I'm her brother. Can you tell me what's going on?" I may have been a little abrupt, but I didn't really care at this point. I just wanted to hear that my little sister was okay and that she was going to be okay.

"I certainly can, Mister Spillane. I am Doctor Armstrong. Let me start by offering my condolences. I knew your parents. They were good people." I didn't respond to this. Right now, all I wanted to hear was that Sue was going to be okay. "Your sister was very lucky, Mister Spillane."

"Lucky??" I yelled. "You call this lucky??" I gestured at the seemingly lifeless body of Sue, full of wires and looking very little like my vibrant care free sister.

"I certainly do. She is the sole survivor of a very gruesome accident. Have you seen what the others loo-, that is, she is lucky to be alive." He began to read off of his clipboard, detailing her injuries. Miss Spillane suffered second and third degree bruns over thirty percent of her body. She broke three bones in her left hand, one in her right leg and two in her right foot. She broke three ribs on her left side and one on her right. One of the ribs punctured her left lung, and her other lung collapsed. She has bruising and cuts over most of the rest of her body, suffered kidney failure, and did some sort of damage to her back. We're not sure what exactly, yet. We are waiting the results of some tests. Similarly for her head. We think she may have fractured her skull, but we are not sure. She suffered a deep cut to the back of her head and lost a lot of blood. Also, she has had severe internal bruising. Mister Spillane, if your sister were not in such good shape and were not so young she would have died before she came here. As it is, we've done everything we could just to keep her alive. She is in critical, but stable condition. We can't know the full extent of her injuries until the test results come back, but all in all she's lucky to have survived such massive injuries."

Jesus Christ. God damn shit. No wonder he said she was lucky. "Thank you Doctor. I appreciate everything you've done. I am just still soaking it all in, I guess. And I haven't had time to go see..." I trailed off. He nodded. He'd done this all before. "Is she sleeping, or just unconscious, or in a coma, or what?"

He hesitated. "She has been awake at times. Not in the last several hours however. She has been able to converse clearly, as she did with the gentleman standing behind you, but also at times shown very little awareness of where she was. We do not think there has been any brain trauma, but we really just do not know right now. We should know more tomorrow. But we don't expect her to wake up anytime soon." I didn't know how to take this at all. Part of me was ecstatic that she was just alive, but the other part of me wanted to cringe just lookign at her. All I knew was that if the other driver wasn't already dead, he would have been after I was through with him.

"Why don't you let me finish what I'm doing here. I believe there is someone in the waiting room who is, well, waiting for you."

"Huh? Oh, right. Right. Wait. Do you, um, do you know where my par...where they are?" That was the hardest thing I've had to say today. Oh my God, my parents.

He had a look of sympathy on his face. "I think they're at the morgue, Mister Spillane. You'll want to speak to the police officer who was first on scene, as well, I'm sure. The receptionist can give you more information." I stared at the floor. Well, nothing I could really do here. I took one last look at Sue, nodded to the Doctor, and turned and went out the door.

"Damn dude. That's a lot more serious than I thought." Joe walked down towards the waiting room with me. "I'm sorry, man."

"Yeah, me too. At least she's alive." God, I do not want to do this. I don't think I could handle seeing my parents right now, after all that I had just seen. Not tonight anyway. Tomorrow, maybe. God damn. This was not a good day.

"Mickey." Joe nudged me and jerked his head to one corner of the waiting room. "Look who it is." I glanced over, and saw Pete rising out of his chair. Pete. I haven't seen him since we graduated. Holy shit.

"Pete. Damn, it's good to see you." I shook his hand.

"You too, Mickey. I wish it was under different circumstances. I'm sorry for your loss. If there's anything I can do for you..."

I shrugged. "Thanks Pete. Thanks." I glanced down at his left hand. Sure enough, there was a ring there. "Holy Mary mother of God! Joe wasn't bull shitting me! You are married!" I looked into Pete's eyes. As usual, I couldn't tell what was going on behind them. Now, I'm a real good judge of people, like I said. I can read people like nobody's business. I know when someone's lying to me, when they're holding back, and what they generally are planning to do. Maybe after I retire from my life as a private eye I'll go to Vegas and try my hand at being a professional poker player. Anyway, Pete was one of those people who was just totally unreadable. And he always told the truth. Which you'd think would make him a terrible poker player. But when he went in, everyone folded unless they had a damn good hand.

He looked right back and replied, "That is so. You will have to meet my wife later on."

I hesitated, not sure that I really wanted to ask what I really wanted to ask. Ah, the hell. With everything going on right now I could be excused a bit of rudeness. "What about Lauren?"

This time his eyes did do soemthing other than stare back into mine. They changed slightly. Showing a feeling of...was it pain? Yes. Pain, suffering, hurt, agony. I knew that look, as I knew it was in my own eyes right now. He closed his eyes briefly. "Things change. And sometimes some things just aren't meant to be." Then he added, in a much softer voice that I don't think I was supposed to here, "no matter how much you want them to be." He sighed. "That's not why I am here. I thought, all thigns considered, you would need some cheering up. What do you say to a night with us guys, huh? You, me, Joe, Eddie, anybody else we can find. The old group back together again. What do you say?" I heard Joe murmur his agreement, and a bit of a surprise.

"You sure your wife will let you out?" I teased. It was very easy to fall back into the old roles, even fi I normally would have said Lauren in that sentence.

Pete grinned crookedly. "I think in this case she'll understand."

Joe whistled. "Defying the old ball and chain already, Pete? She'll let you hear it when you come back, for sure." I laughed.

"No she won't. She will do no such thing. I am sure she will be happy about what we're doing." I raised an eyebrow at him.

"She already knows, does she?"

He glanced at me, and then sighed. "Yes, she does."

Joe howled with laughter. I grinned, and slapped Pete on the back. I really needed this time away from it all. Things would still be there for me tomorrow. Besides, who could resist a night ragging on Pete? And I knew there was something else going on with the whole love triangle thing. I'd get it out of him before too long. I always did.