A Yonkers Kinda Girl

by Rose O'Callaghan

  Bridget asked, “How long have you been married?”

  She said, “Two and a half years. He’s my third husband. I divorced the others.”

  “Oh, how nice.”

  Bridget felt divorce was taboo. She got up and joined Tony at the window.

  She said to Tony, “The ring … I thought Vera gave it to her with the necklace. Lillian never said you gave it to her. Did Vera give her the necklace?”

  “Yes.”

  Bridget looked at Tony, “I don’t understand your relationship.”

  Tony considered the question, and then spoke gruffly, “We met when we were really young. She was nine and I was eleven. She was so tough and so fragile. It was the day the twins were born.”

  Mrs. O’Dwyer repeated, “The day the twins were born.”

  Tony was silent a moment and then said, “You know how I tell the twins apart? When Brian was so sick and I watched them, I always brought Turkish Taffy. Kelly loves banana, Francine loves strawberry. So I’d bring it and while they ate I’d look for something like a shirt or even a Band-Aid so I could tell who was who. I never told Lil. She always thought I was sensitive or something.”

  A surgeon came in and walked up to the crocheting lady. “He pulled through fine. He’s in recovery, but I don’t foresee any problem.”

  “Thank you, thank you.” She smiled and put down her needle. “I’ll get lunch now.”

  Soon after, a nurse with a look of solemn finality came in for the angry men. “If you’ll follow me, Dr. Peters wants to speak with you.”

  The black couple exchanged looks of relief with Bridget and Tony after they left. The unsaid feeling was “better them then me.”

  The black man extended his hand. “Marvin Scott.”

  Tony took his hand. “Tony della Robbia.”

  Marvin said, “My son has sickle cell anemia. He’s had crises before, but this is the worst. He’s nine, a third-grader. He had to stay back. Who are you here for?” Tony said, “My girlfriend … she was …”

  “In a car accident,” Bridget interrupted abruptly.

  “Oh, I see,” Marvin said. His wife looked down.

  Mrs. Scott said in a low voice, “I’ve seen more types of sadness in these waiting rooms than I ever knew could exist.”

  Bridget said, “Excuse me, I need to find a ladies room.”

  Mrs. Scott said, “I’ll show you.”

  Tony watched them leave and then said to Marvin, “You know?”

  Marvin nodded his head sadly, “Before Tad fell asleep, we were with him. We heard the head nurse tell the others at the station they were getting a red-hot rape. She has multiple skull fractures. The nurse said the only thing he left her with was a knife in the chest.”

  Tony slumped in the chair. “My Lilly …” his voice was broken.

  “Did they catch the guy?” Marvin asked.

  Tony stared at him. He hadn’t considered the attacker as a real person, a “guy.”

  “No, he’s probably out stalking his next victim.”

  Marvin said, “Here comes the moocher. Watch out.” He looked away.

  An exaggeratedly disheveled, fortyish man came in and looked around. He walked up to them.

  “How’s your son?”

  Marvin said, “Holding tight.”

  “My brother’s in there. His heart … Do you have a cigarette? I haven’t been able to get any.”

  Tony answered, “Don’t smoke.”

  After a few minutes, the ladies returned and a surgeon appeared.

  “O’Dwyer.”

  He walked on, leaving Tony and Bridget to hurry after him. He stopped in a corridor.

  “She’s critical. If she can hold on for thirty-six hours or so, her chances will be better. She’s on a respirator. She has a rather unusual traction set up.”

  He looked at the chart as though dismissing them.

  “Your name? Who are you?” Tony asked.

  “I am an orthopedic surgeon. Terrance Caper. She’ll be down soon.”

  He walked away.

  Bridget said to Tony, “My husband told me orthopedic men were often arrogant.”

  “Arrogant? That’s like saying the East River is a little dirty.”

  They started back to the waiting room. The elevator opened and three people in surgical hats and gowns were pushing out an occupied bed and a huge machine. Tony opened the glass door marked Intensive Care. Then he noticed the occupant’s arm tied straight up to an IV pole.

  “Lilly? Lilly?” He couldn’t see her face through the bandages and tubes, and then he saw that the bandages were her face.

  A nurse waited a second, and then spoke. “She’s still out. Don’t let the wrapping put you off.”

  They went through the ICU door, and one of those pushing the bed called “O’Dwyer?” to the nurses at the station.

  “She’ll go in three,” he heard before the door closed.

  Tony looked up to meet Mrs. O’Dwyer’s eyes. She was cringing against the doorway, looking repelled and frightened. Then they both returned to the waiting room, where Bridget sat by herself and Tony took the window.

  A nurse came for the Scotts. “Tad is awake now.” They stood and followed her. A silent hour passed.

  A nurse came in, “O’Dwyer?”

  Bridget and Tony responded, “Yes.”

  “You don’t look like an O’Dwyer.” She smiled.

  “Della Robbia. I thought you were referring to the patient.”

  “OK. Lillian is in a coma. She cannot move or respond, but it’s a light coma. She’s not too far below the surface. She feels pain. The rules are immediate family only for five minutes an hour.”

  Mrs. O’Dwyer said, “I’m her mother. This is her boyfriend, but I think he qualifies as immediate family.”

  Tony thought she was remarkably composed.

  Then she said, “I have to leave to go home and meet my youngsters coming home from school. I’ll be back later.” She got her coat.

  Tony said, “Mrs. O’Dwyer, here are my car keys. My car’s at your house. My brother will pick it up.”

  “Yes.” She almost ran for the elevator.

  Tony turned to the nurse. “May I see her?”

  “She’s quite bandaged.”

  “I saw.”

  She led him to a small room. Lilly looked lost among the equipment.

  “What’s all this for?”

  The nurse introduced herself as Terry and began explaining, “The big one is the respirator. It’s attached through tubes in her mouth. These are intravenous lines. We’ll pull the blood after a few more units. They had to take her spleen. The machines are blood warmers. From losing so much blood and being outside, her body temperature plummeted. We are bringing it back up. This pole with weights is traction for her shoulder.”

  “How about the bottle with the bubbles?” Tony asked.

  Terry explained, “That’s because her lung collapsed. There’s a tube in it now and having the other end of the tube down into the water keeps a vacuum in her lung so it can stay re-inflated. The other tube goes to her bladder for urine. That’s about it.”

  “How about the wires to the TV?”

  “That’s a cardiac monitoring screen. The wires go to leads around her chest. Oh … and this is suction. People on respirators need to be suctioned frequently. This time I think I really explained it all,” Terry said cheerfully.

  Tony moved closer to Lilly.

  Terry advised, “Often a person can hear when they aren’t conscious, and her coma is light so she may be reassured if you talk to her. You can hold her right hand, but don’t move anything too fast.”

  Terry backed out of the room.

  Tony was afraid to touch her, but he went to her right side and started speaking, “Hi, Lilly. You are OK now. It’s all over. You’re in the hospital. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

  He touched her hand, then held it.

  “I’m sorry I let you walk to babysitting last night …. If I knew … If I knew … L
illy, keep trying. I know it hurts, but it will pass. Lilly, I love you. Nothing that has happened or is going to happen will change that.”

  He talked slowly and bent to kiss her hand. It was so strange to him. He still didn’t believe this was his Lilly.

  He was relieved when the nurse came in and said, “That’s it for now. You can come back in an hour.”

  He almost ran from the hospital and went to a little park on hospital grounds that overlooked the river. It was a cold, windy day, the type of day on which you first notice all the autumn leaves are gone and everything lies dead for winter. It was dusk. He sat on a bench and started to cry, his shoulders shaking in great heaves. When it was over, he wondered why he didn’t feel any different or relieved. Then he was struck with the fear that maybe, while he was out, she had died or had awoken alone.

  He went back to the hospital. This time the visit was easier. He whispered to her. He told her knock-knock jokes. When he went to leave, Lilly squeezed his hand.

  “She wants me to stay,” Tony told Terry jubilantly. Terry had seen her squeeze his hand.

  “I have to get a blood sample and take her vitals and check her out. I’ll get you.”

  He left. Terry got no response from Lilly.

  Tony called his father. “Pops, could you and Frank get my car from the O’Dwyers? Mrs. O’Dwyer has my keys. Bring it here and bring me some money. Oh and borrow Tanta’s transistor radio … oh, and pick up some textbooks from my house. I’ll call my roommates, and they’ll get them together for you. My statistics book and Intro to Psychology and The Aenid by Virgil and some notebooks and pens. I’d appreciate it.”

  “Frank gets off work at nine. I’ll get everything, and we’ll bring it over to you. Are you staying all night long?”

  “Yeah, Pops. She needs me here,” Tony said huskily.

  “Nick told us she has nineteen broken bones. Is she in a lot of pain?”

  “She’s in a coma, Pops. In ICU. That’s on the fifth floor. I’m in the waiting room most of the time.”

  Tony knew Tito had really been asking about the coma.

  Dr. Caper came in. “O’Dwyer?” Tony went to him. “Where’s Mrs. O’Dwyer?”

  “She’s home. She said she’d be back later.”

  “I have to speak to her about complications and such.” Caper sounded annoyed.

  “I could relay the information.”

  “What is your relationship?”

  “Lilly’s fiancée.”

  Dr. Caper considered. “Tomorrow at eight a.m., I’ll speak to Mrs. O’Dwyer and you.”

  He turned away, but Tony called, “Dr. Caper, what does your spleen do?”

  “Eight a. m.” Dr. Caper walked away. The curtness of his manner infuriated Tony.

  Bridget returned at eight p. m. Tony was in with Lilly, reading her a six-month-old magazine on the Kent State tragedy.

  He looked up. “Dr. Caper wants to speak with both of us tomorrow morning at eight.”

  Bridget looked haggard. Surveying the contraptions and paraphernalia, she stood silently against the door.

  Terry came in “Only one visitor, please.”

  Tony got up and kissed Lilly’s hand. He whispered, “I’ll be back, Lillibelle. Your Mom’s here.”

  To Bridget he said, “I’ll be in the waiting room.”

  Bridget said, “If you want to get something to eat, I’ll be here a few minutes.”

  She turned to the nurse, “I have to get my little ones to bed.”

  “Yes, of course,” Terry said. “I need information for her admission.”

  Bridget walked towards the station.

  Terry said, “We can do this in here with your daughter.”

  Bridget did not enter the room. “Can’t you see better there?”

  Terry was able to recognize diehard aversion to ICU.

  Tony hadn’t eaten since the evening before, but he had no money so he thought he’d sleep. He remembered the band, but it was too late to catch them.

  Jay and Hillary went to pick up Lilly early. They wanted to try a song before the bar got hopping and they actually started playing. Randy called it “test marketing.” Hillary thought nothing of it when a strange girl answered the door.

  “Is Lilly ready?”

  “Ready?” The girl repeated.

  “Lilly, I’m here to pick up Lilly.”

  “Pick her up?”

  Hillary decided the girl was a lame brain. “I’m Hillary Sullivan. I’m here to pick up Lilly O’Dwyer.”

  The girl had been told to say absolutely nothing about Lillian. “She’s not here.”

  “Do you know where Lilly is?”

  “Yes.”

  “Where?” Hillary was exasperated.

  “I can’t tell you. If you leave your name and number, I’ll give it to Mrs. O’Dwyer.”

  Hillary returned to the car.

  “Jay, you would not believe what a dense dunce answered the door.”

  She related the story. They proceeded to the gas station only to find Tony’s car gone and the mechanic’s bay dark. Frank told them to go into the office while he pumped gas. Hillary and Jay decided Tony and Lilly had eloped.

  Jay said, “I thought she was on the pill. If they eloped it must be because she got herself pregnant.”

  “I think he helped.”

  Frank walked in hearing this. He said coldly, “Lilly’s not pregnant, and they didn’t elope. She was attacked.”

  Hillary jumped up. “What do you mean attacked? Raped?”

  “Yes, raped.” Frank said. That sat on the air for a minute.

  “Is she home? Is she OK? I mean, tomorrow, can I go see her, do you think?”

  “She’s in the hospital. St. Andrews. I guess only immediate family can see her, and Tony. She’s in a coma.”

  “A coma?” Jay repeated. “Shit!”

  “She has nineteen broken bones. They have her connected to a machine to breathe for her. She was stabbed too. Her brothers are out looking for him. So are the cops.”

  “Tony?” Jay asked.

  “He’s at the hospital. He was at the O’Dwyers all night. Since they found her, he’s been at the hospital.”

  “Found her?” Hillary asked softly.

  “In a garbage can. Mrs. O’Dwyer said her chances are bad … real bad.”

  Hillary and Jay sat on the desk trying to digest this. “Where was she? This is a nice neighborhood. Tony’s neighborhood is dumpy. Was she walking around there?”

  “No, she was babysitting. He broke in and took her. She was on the phone with the police. He threw her in the trunk of his car and took her someplace.”

  Hillary said, “I can’t think of any questions. It’s such a shock … ” Jay put his arm around her.

  Frank said, “My uncle’s a detective. He’ll probably get in touch with you to see if you’ve noticed any weirdoes coming to watch Lilly play.”

  Jay shrugged. “We have to go. We’ll be in touch.”

  Frank said, “Look out for her,” indicating Hillary.

  That night when they were playing, a guy came up to Hillary. “Can I sit down pretty lady?”

  Jay stopped playing. Hillary sat on the bank of the stage after that. She was frightened to go home alone. Normally, Hillary spent all week thinking of clever, nice, or caustic put downs, because sitting all alone was a magnet to lookers.

  Tony woke twenty minutes after he had dozed off. He went to check if Lilly was alone. He didn’t want her to wake alone. She had gotten so close to waking. She had moved one finger along the inside of his hand. Of all the caresses they had shared, this was the most meaningful. Then she seemed to sink a little. Approaching the room, Tony could see a strained, “nice” expression on Terry’s face as she listened to Bridget.

  “God only knows how the neighbors found out. They’re like buzzards savoring a tidbit. They all know she was raped. The shame of it! My husband told me about these respirators keeping mentally destroyed people alive. It would have been better if sh
e had died right off.”

  “No. Don’t say that!” Terry said firmly. She led Mrs. O’Dwyer to the waiting room.

  Tony looked at Lilly and saw her eyes were open but were closing. “Lilly, Lilly don’t listen to her.”

  He thought she was crying, but the dressing around her nose was absorbing the tears.

  “Lilly, listen. You’re going to be OK. I love you Lillibelle.”

  Her eyes opened, but she didn’t look at him.

  “Lil, you didn’t do anything. You didn’t do anything to be ashamed of. Your mother’s nuts. You know that. You’ve always been so strong. I can’t fight this battle for you. I’ll be here though. I’ll always be here. We belong to each other.”

  She looked at him. He could see the tears more clearly.

  “I cried too,” he said. She raised her hand to his face. He kissed it. She closed her eyes, and her hand fell.

  Tony stood up. He put her hand at her side and turned to see Terry at the doorway.

  Terry said, “Welcome back to reality, Lilly.”

  She motioned to Tony to follow her into the corridor where she said, “She might wander in and out for the next day or two. It’s not like on TV where they wake up, like that.” She snapped her fingers. “She is really doing well. She has a strong will. I tried to speak to her mother.”

  “You’ll never get through to her,” Tony said.

  “I go off in a while. I’ll tell the night nurse to let you in if you like.”

  “Yes. What are the shifts?”

  “Seven to three, the visiting rules are stuck to pretty closely. Then, three to eleven, we’re a little more lax. And eleven to seven.”

  “Will you be her nurse tomorrow?”

  “Yes, I’ll be here for the next five evenings, and Lilly will be my patient.” She grinned. “I expect to see her fully conscious.” She spoke as though it was an order.

  “Go back to the waiting room for forty-five minutes, or so, then you can see her before I leave.”

  Tito and Frank were waiting for him.

  “Hi, how’s it going?” Tony asked them.

  Tito ignored the question. “How’s Lilly? We saw Mrs. O’Dwyer when we got here.”

  “Lilly’s good.”