The Doctor's Tale

by Claire Applewhite

  Over thirty hours had passed since I last slept. My second wind surged about nine hours ago, and now, my body felt weary and wasted. I needed to go to my apartment for a while and recharge.

  The snow fell thick and fast while I crossed the rear parking lot to my car. I felt so exhausted, I wondered if I could drive. I decided I couldn’t. I would sleep a few hours in one of the call rooms, or even a vacant hospital room somewhere, if such a thing could be found in that monstrous stone structure. I gazed at it for a moment—a “human warehouse” is how I would have described it. Yet within those walls, I had done my best for Lori Raines—and D’Yan too. Now, I was beginning to question whether or not I had the energy to endure the walk back. My feet could barely support my body. That’s when I heard an all too familiar voice, calling my name.

  “Dr. Pizza!”

  It couldn’t be! One glance at her hair, and I knew it was Starr Hixson. I didn’t have what it took to deal with her right now. Right now, I couldn’t face anyone. I waved at Starr, and slid into the driver’s seat of my car. Suddenly, I was starving for a bag of burgers.

  The next morning, I was surprised when I awoke in my own bed. I went to the window and saw my car, parked by the curb in front of the building. I must have stopped for hamburgers, because the empty wrappers were in the trashcan in the kitchen. I must have done all of those things.

  I simply couldn’t remember.

  TWENTY

  Starr awoke in a king-sized bed. Where in the hell was she? She rolled over, and realized her clothes had disappeared. A quick glance at the Egyptian cotton sheets with the RFF monogram told her where she was, but they couldn’t tell her what had happened. She tried to focus her eyes but—well, one of them just couldn’t do that. Not yet, anyway. Her mouth felt so puckered and parched, like the time five of her teeth got pulled and her mouth was all packed up with gauze and cotton balls. A cold beer would taste so good about now. It so would.

  Brrrring… What in the…Was that a phone? It sounded like a phone. She decided she wouldn’t answer the phone. Besides, she didn’t even know where Freeman kept the blasted thing. And, what in the hell did he do with her clothes?

  Brrrring. Brrrring. Brrrring.

  “Shut up!” Starr rolled over and pressed a pillow over her throbbing head. “Shut up, shut up, shut up!”

  Freeman turned the key in the lock and pushed the door. That damned Spezia. Just wait until he saw him. He stopped in the doorway of his bedroom. Looked to him like Starr was still in his bed. Great. Spend a few hours with a gal, and she never leaves. Thought she said something about calling Eddie Raines, that piece of crap she hauled around. He’d never understand that attraction, not in a million years.

  The closer he got to Starr, the sooner he realized that she would not be calling Eddie. Nor would any one would be coming to pick her up—except an ambulance—but even for that, it appeared to be too late. From what Freeman could tell, Starr had no pulse. He dialed 9-1-1, and prayed to God he didn’t believe in to breathe some life back into Starr’s limp body.

  TWENTY-ONE

  “Okay, Mr. Raines,” I said, “let’s talk about your life now.”

  Eddie squinted through the cracked window of the Outpatient Clinic. “I’m worried about Starr, Doc. Guess she must have got hung up somewhere. We were supposed to meet right here.” He gazed into the distance. “She’s at least seven hours late.”

  “Let’s talk about you, Mr. Raines.”

  “Why me, Doc? What do you want to talk about me for?”

  “Looks like you might need to make some plans.”

  “I don’t do that very well. Look, what exactly are you trying to say?”

  “You may have pneumonia. Your chest x-ray showed a nodule on your lung, Eddie.”

  “A what?”

  “An abnormal growth. It shouldn’t be there. We’re hoping for the best when we call it pneumonia. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

  “No, I don’t understand what you’re saying at all. Did you, or didn’t you say I got pneumonia?” Eddie stared at the pattern in the terrazzo floor for a few seconds. Finally, he spoke. “You know what I think? I think maybe you made a mistake, Doc. Or somebody did.” He snapped his fingers. “I got it! They think I’m Lori. That’s it. Saw the last name, and called it without checking anything. Call ‘em back and tell ‘em it’s Eddie Raines. Eddie. Then, they can check it again. You know that’s what happened here, Doc.”

  “I know that healthy lungs don’t have nodules. I know that you’re coughing up blood. Neither of those things are normal. The question is, what is causing your symptoms?” I took a deep breath and stared at him for a moment. “No one made a mistake, Eddie. This isn’t easy for me either. Now, I want to ask you a question.”

  Eddie shrugged and coughed into a wad of an old handkerchief. “Ask away, Doc.”

  “When was the last time that you felt really good?”

  “Well, I haven’t felt right for a while now. But Lord knows, I had a reason with Lori being so sick and all.” He craned his neck to get a better view of the entrance. “Hey, out there! Anybody! Ya’ll seen a lady named Starr?”

  “So, to recap, let me repeat your version of Ms. Hixson’s current condition,” Dr. Kinney said. He eyed Freeman with the cold stare of a prison guard. “You found an unconscious woman in your apartment, and you don’t know how she got there?”

  “No, dumbass, I know how she got there. I’m not a moron.” He shook his head. “Jeez. How many ways I gotta say this? What I’m saying is, I don’t know how she got into the condition that she’s in.”

  “You don’t?”

  “No.” Freeman replied in a monotone voice. “I don’t. And I don’t give a flying finger if you don’t believe me. I can’t babysit every woman that goes gaga over me. If I did, I wouldn’t be able to do the kind of work that I do, which I might add, is considered some of the finest this sorry program has ever seen. Ya’ll are damn lucky to have me.”

  “I see. Well, then.” Dr. Kinney grinned. His eyes stared like frozen marbles. “I suppose we should feel fortunate.”

  Freeman smiled and nodded.

  “However, Dr. Freeman, there is the small matter, well actually, it’s not so small, of the night when you were found in a similar state in a room in this very hospital, unable to respond to a call from Dr. Spezia—”

  “Dr. Spezia needs to grow up is what Dr. Spezia needs to do. I am sick and tired of hearing about how hard Dr. Spezia works and how much Dr. Spezia needs to do, and don’t I feel sorry for Dr. Spezia? No, I do not. We all put in our time. Don’t you think I did? You have any complaints about my work?”

  “This is not about your work.”

  “Then what’s it about?”

  “It’s about your character.”

  “My what?”

  “Your character, Doctor. Your integrity.”

  “Give me a break. Are you so fucking lily white? No, don’t answer that. ‘Cause I already know the answer. Nobody’s perfect, not even you. Matter of fact, I have saved your ass more than once when you didn’t show up for rounds because of this or that—no, don’t start with the excuses, because I don’t want to hear them—believe me, I know one when I hear one. The point is, don’t go preaching to me about how perfect you are and about how bad I am. I am just like you, and you are just like me. Know it. Tell me anything else, and you’re a damn hypocrite.”

  “Dr. Freeman, what I am going to tell you is that I have to write up a history and physical for Ms. Hixson here. Why? Because I don’t think she’s going to come out of this psychedelic trance she’s in—she might, but pigs might fly tonight, too. And sooner or later, somebody, whether it’s you, me, Dr. Spezia, or even Dr. Skelton, is going to have to decide whether or not Ms. Hixson here is going to let a machine do her breathing for her.” He shrugged. “Or not.”

  “What are you trying to say?”

  “I mean to say that’s she’s in a coma. She may not come out of it.”

  “Brain dead?
”

  Kinney nodded. “It’s not pretty. And, it won’t look good for you that she was found in your apartment.”

  “Can’t you say she was found somewhere else?”

  “Even if I could, the ambulance driver knows the truth. Your address is on her admitting papers.”

  Freeman smacked his own cheek. “And I called the damn ambulance. What did I just tell you? That I’m a good person. Yeah. Well, that proves it. I called the ambulance. And now, I’m going to pay for it.”

  “Maybe you’ll get lucky. How do you mean?”

  “Sometimes, if you’re lucky, no one cares. Does anyone care about Ms. Hixson? Any family members?”

  Dr. Freeman considered the disheveled blonde on the gurney. His face brightened. “Not that I know of. You may be on to something there, Kinney. No, there wasn’t anyone in her life, except—wait a minute—except that loser, Eddie Raines.”

  “He was just in here. Doesn’t look good for him, either.”

  “Why? What’s up?”

  “Well, I shouldn’t discuss it, but I suppose you’ll find out anyway, won’t you?”

  “Yeah. Probably will.”

  “Well, if it’s not pneumonia on his lung, it’s cancer. And, I’m seventy percent certain it’s not pneumonia. The radiologist is even more certain than I am.”

  “You mean Doctor O’Really?”

  “None other.”

  “Did he ever quit smoking?”

  “Don’t know. Still collects rare turtles, exotic bugs, tropical snakes. Things like that. A trip to his office is like a trip to Costa Rica. But, he’s virtually positive that Raines has lung cancer. He gives him about three, four months. He shrugged. “At the most.”

  “It would take longer than that to prosecute me, wouldn’t it?”

  “I don’t know. I hope so. If I were you, I would take a vacation.”

  “Where would you recommend?”

  “How do you feel about Costa Rica?”

  TWENTY-TWO

  Eddie lounged on a nearby bench and smoked another cigarette. Though several hours passed, he still expected to see Starr any minute. Maybe it was the paramedics, or the oxygen, or the gurney, or the hustle and bustle, but when Starr finally arrived, he didn’t recognize her. He never realized the body that rolled into the wide double doors belonged to Starr—at least, not right away.

  When he heard the moan, he glanced at the heap wrapped in the rumpled sheet—and he knew. That moan gave her away, ‘cause man, no one moaned like Starr did. Eddie stared at the sallow face on the gurney. It was Starr all right, with her tangled hair and dark roots and the heart tattoo on her neck, oh, and those skinny lips that looked, well, so danged purple. He heard someone say the word “overdose.” He heard somebody say it again, and then, they said a new word: OD. She “OD’d,” the voice said.

  Eddie felt confused. Overdose meant drugs, didn’t it? Starr didn’t do no drugs. He’d tell them that part straight up. He would. They got the wrong woman. He couldn’t let them talk about Starr that way. Nope. He stubbed out the cigarette and rushed back to stand beside the gurney.

  “Sir, stand back!” the paramedic said.

  “But, that’s my girlfriend.”

  The paramedic shook his head. “I seriously doubt that.”

  “No. Really. Just ask her. Starr! Baby, it’s Eddie. Tell them who I am.” But Starr didn’t say anything—or move or moan.

  “Sir, please. You have to get out of the way.”

  “She needs someone to talk for her, don’t she?”

  “She has someone, sir.”

  “She does?”

  “Oh yes. There he is! Oh Dr. Freeman, would you sign this for me, please? Your admission is here.”

  Dr. Freeman looked haggard, irritated, and Eddie thought, bad to the bone. He’d seen that pugnacious look on the drunks often enough to know what it meant. ‘Course he’d seen it on guys wanting to fight inside, too. Didn’t matter where they fought, really.

  “Take her in the back with Dr. Kinney. He knows all about the case.”

  Eddie squinted at Dr. Freeman. He couldn’t comprehend this situation. Why would Dr. Freeman be talking for Starr? See, he didn’t understand that part. All he knew was that Starr would not be taking care of him tonight, and she would not be coming home. He guessed that would have to be good enough, at least until Starr could talk to him. And after that, until he could convince himself to believe what she told him. Right now, he believed that day might never come.

  “Eddie?” The familiar voice broke his trance.

  Dr. Spezia and Nurse Potts approached him with an urgency he did not understand. Why did everyone act so worried all the time? He began to feel very nervous.

  “How are you doing, Eddie?” I said. “Did you come back for something?”

  Eddie stared at a jagged crack on the wall. I could tell he had something on his mind.

  “I’m pretty sure you’re not going to want to hear why I came back, Doc.”

  “Really? Try me.”

  “Truth is, Doc, I ain’t never been home,” Eddie said. “Not since you saw me last. All this time, I been waiting for Starr.”

  “Where is she? She never showed up?”

  “Fact is, she just did.” Eddie’s voice cracked. He was on the verge of tears. “Brought her in through the ‘mergency Room.”

  “Starr came in? Eddie, look at me. You’re talking nonsense. Do you mean Miss Hixson?”

  “Yep. I tried to tell the people over there that she was my girlfriend, but they didn’t believe me. Said Dr. Freeman would talk for her.” Eddie whisked a tear from his cheek. “They said she overdosed.”

  “Wait here, Eddie. I’ll go and see what I can find out.” I trotted down the hall to the examination room.

  Mary waited with Eddie. For a moment, neither one spoke.

  “Nice of him, ain’t it?” Eddie finally said.

  “Dr. Spezia goes the extra,” Mary said. “Even for junkies.” Eddie glared at the woman beside him. “Ma’am? Beg pardon, but Starr was not a junkie.”

  Mary’s eyes narrowed. “I might as well tell you the way things are, so you can live in the real world with the rest of us. Your Starr Baby is a junkie that likes to party with the likes of Dr. Freeman. She be up here in those tight pants of hers, and Freeman got his tongue all hanging outta his mouth, like he never saw a woman walk down a hall. I started watching her real close after she stole Miss Lori’s pain meds.”

  “What did you just say?”

  “Yeah. You heard me right. I done put the pills in a cup on a tray in front of Miss Lori, and you know how she was, drifting in and out. Well, Lori asked me for her pain meds late in the day, and I say, girl, you ain’t due for none so close to the last dose. An’ she say, but I didn’t get anything. I believe Miz Raines didn’t get her pills because Miz Hixson stole ‘em from her when she wasn’t looking. I started to stay in the room and watch while Miz Raines take her medicine in front of me. Miz Hixson liked to throw a fit! Say I don’t respect patient privacy, and she was gonna write me up. I say, go on an’ you do that, Missy. Right about then, I noticed she stopped coming to visit Miz Raines. Only times I saw her after that, she was with Dr. Freeman.” Mary stopped talking and turned to take a glimpse at Eddie’s tear-stained cheek. “I guess maybe I shouldn’t be telling you all of this. But, it’s been going on about two, three months now, and I’m up to here with it. All’s I’m saying is, I am not surprised.”

  “What if I said I don’t believe you?”

  Mary shrugged and shook her head. “Don’t bother me none, Mr. Raines. I just felt somebody needed to tell you the truth. You don’t have to believe it. Now, I’d best be going on home. My daughter will be wondering what happened to me.” Her wrinkled face broke into a wide smile. “If it ain’t Dr. Spezia! Why you walking like you on top a bed of nails or sumpin’?”

  Though I heard her question, I neglected to answer it. I had no doubt that I probably didn’t look very friendly. “Eddie, we’re going to have
to talk about a few things. I’m afraid Miss Hixson’s condition is very serious. It doesn’t look good at all.”

  Mary glanced at Eddie. “Don’t you worry too much about Miz Hixson now. Just put your troubles in God’s hands.”

  Eddie looked up at the gray sky. “I think God’s sick and tired of hearing from me, if you want to know what I think. First, He takes my wife, and then He sends the cancer to bite me in the lung, and now…” His voice trailed off into tears.

  Mary glared at Eddie. “Mr. Raines, God didn’t have nothing to do with Miz Hixson and her party games. You should thank your lucky stars that God’s still talking to you, the nonsense you be talking about Him. If you ask me, He ain’t giving up on you yet.”

  “Why don’t you go home now, Mary?” I said. “ I’ll take care of Mr. Raines.”

  Mary considered my suggestion and shook her head. “Okay, the both of you take care now. I don’t want to be reading about either of you in the newspapers. I already got enough friends in there.” She grabbed her coat and purse and lumbered toward the massive glass doors that led to the parking lot. “Dark as a cave out there.”

  I waited until Mary turned the corner at the end of the hall to speak to Eddie. “There is something you should know, Eddie.” I bit my lip, searching for the kindest words to say unkind things. There weren’t any.

  “Starr is, or I guess more correctly, was involved with Dr. Freeman. You should know that.”

  Eddie nodded. “Yeah, the nurse told me.”

  “What else did she tell you?”

  “She said it had been going on for about two or three months.”

  “Okay.”

  “Did you know this, Doc?”

  “No, I had no idea. I mean, I knew that she seemed to have an unusually high level of interest in your wife, considering her relationship with you, but I never suspected that she was stealing Lori’s meds. Frankly, the relationship with Dr. Freeman doesn’t surprise me.”