by Linnea Hall
She parked in the visitors’ lot and went in through the front door; this being the shortest distance to his room. These elevators let out on the same hallway as Collin’s room. When she exited the elevator, she walked quickly to his room and paused just before her hand pushed the door open. The nametag in the placard next to the door was gone. She pushed the door open and saw that the room had been cleaned; the bed was made, and…empty. Did they move him? Why would they put him in another room? Had something happened? Did they need to move him back down to ICU? The questions bombarded her brain like hail.
Jewell let the door close and walked to the nurses’ station. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a patient in a wheelchair sitting at the end of the hall looking out the window. She didn’t pay any attention to him; it wasn’t Collin so it didn’t matter. Kelly was sitting at the desk. Jewell didn’t know Kelly very well, but remembered her name because when Ashley introduced them she said, “Just remember that Cheers song that Woody sang: ‘Kelly, Kelly, Kelly, Kelly, Kelly…”
“Kelly, do you know what happened to Collin?”
“Who?”
“Collin Sykes. The patient in room 637?” Jewell’s voice was bordering on panic.
“Oh, I remember him. I just came in about fifteen minutes ago so I’m not sure. Give me a sec and I’ll see what I can find out.” She spun her chair from the desk over to the computer on the other side. Jewell watched impatiently as Kelly pushed keys quickly, eliciting pages of information which she deftly moved through, looking for the information she wanted. “It looks like he was transferred this afternoon.”
“Transferred? Transferred where? On whose authority?” Jewell knew that she was nearly screaming, and felt bad taking her anxiety out on Kelly. It wasn’t Kelly’s fault that Collin wasn’t in his room. She took a couple of deep breaths trying to calm her nerves.
“It looks like Dr. Babineaux signed the release papers. A Dr. Percival Knighton requested the transfer. It looks like he was taken to a continuing care center in Lake Charles.”
“Does it say which one? Does it give the address, or a phone number?”
“What’s with the interest Jewell? It’s no big deal; patients get transferred every day.”
“Yeah, but this patient was special. I…I, well, I sort of liked him.” She felt a blush shading her face. She wasn’t surprised. She hadn’t really wanted to tell anyone about her and Collin, but it was bound to get out sooner or later. Ashley was discrete, but who knows who else took notice of Jewell’s visits to his room.
“I don’t see anything here Jewell. Do you want me to pull his file? There may be something in there that wasn’t put in the computer.”
“Yeah Kelly, that would be so great. Thanks.”
Kelly left the desk to look at the patient files on the other side of the divider. She emerged a minute later carrying an open file in her hands. She laid the file on the desk so that Jewell could read it. “I’m not really supposed to give you this but…just promise not to tell anyone I gave it to you, okay?”
Jewell nodded as she grabbed a pad of paper and started transferring the information to the notepad. When she was finished, she ripped off the page and handed the pad back to Kelly and left the hospital.
Chapter 12
Collin didn’t remember most of the ride in the ambulance. Even though Collin hated the way that the painkillers made him feel, his uncle insisted on a morphine drip. His uncle was adamant that it was necessary, and because Percy had a medical degree while Collin didn’t, Collin wasn’t able to convince his uncle that he would be better off without it. His uncle also gave Collin an additional oral sedative; as if the morphine didn’t do a good enough job alone.
When Collin finally awoke, still groggy from the effects of the medication his uncle had given him, he realized that he was home. He had assumed that this was where his uncle was bringing him, but with his uncle, he never knew.
He scanned his surroundings. He was at home, on a hospital style bed instead of his own, and he was in the parlor off the front hall instead of his room. A morphine drip with the familiar red button hung by his left arm, and his uncle had placed a small table next to the left side of the bed along with a plastic cup of water and a small silver bell. Curiosity overcame him as he reached for the bell. It made a sweet tinkling sound as he shook it back and forth. He set the bell down, and picked up the glass of water. It was still difficult to raise his head, and his bed didn’t have the mechanical features of the one in the hospital that allowed him to raise himself into a sitting position.
As he struggled to raise his head and bring the water to his mouth, the French doors at the entrance of the parlor burst open as his uncle came striding quickly toward his bed. “What is it Collin? Can I get you anything? Are you in pain? Are you hungry?”
Aha, so that was what the bell was for. In lieu of the button on his bed to summon a nurse, he now had this pretty little silver bell with the merry tinkling ring. The summoning button for the nurses had been silent in the room, but sometimes he could hear the grating buzz it made at the nurses’ station. He had tried not to use it. It seemed the other patients on the floor kept the nurses busy enough, and aside from that, he knew that if he waited for five minutes, someone would come in to poke him with something anyway. He had to admit, it was nice to be away from that sterile, unfriendly place.
“No Uncle Percy. I don’t need anything. I just saw the bell and didn’t know what it was for.” Collin grinned mischievously, “Now I guess I know. It seems you are at my constant beck and call until I can get up on my own.”
“Well, not really. I’ve called in reinforcements. Gladys is here. I’ll pick up Dorothy and Carl at the airport in a couple of hours, and Kendryck said he may drive in sometime this week if he can.”
“Are you kidding me? Why? Did you call everyone we know?”
Each of these people loved Collin, and they were all an integral part of his life, often sending cards, or presents when he was young. Most of them stopped sending presents after he was fifteen, but some, like Aunt Gladys, still insisted on sending him a present on his birthday. Usually something well suited for a ten year old; although, this year Gladys had sent him a remote controlled Ferrari. Collin really enjoyed this gift, especially since he would probably never own a Ferrari. His uncle indulged his preference for sports cars, but refused to buy him anything that would “draw attention” to them. That meant Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini, and his favorite, the Saleen S7 were definitely out of the question. Instead he settled for more practical cars, Fords, Chevys, and Hondas. The GT500 he had just totaled was a real loss.
“Gee Uncle Percy, are you too old and feeble to take care of one little invalid? How difficult do you think I’m going to be?” Collin smiled angelically at his uncle.
“You, I’m not worried about. I just hate being in this big house all alone. Gladys came to keep me company while you were in the hospital, and the others were just concerned about you.”
“Actually, now that I think about it, can you bring me some pillows for my back to prop me up a bit? You can’t imagine how hard it is to pour water into the side my mouth without soaking the pillow.”
“Sorry about the bed. It was the best I could do on short notice. I can prop it up in the back if you want, or I can bring you the pillows; whichever you think would be easier. I put the remote control…” Percy glanced at the table next to Collin’s bed. Not seeing the remote, he frowned and looked around the room. “Oh, here,” Percy said grabbing the remote off the credenza under the 65 inch flat screen. “This’ll give you something to do while you’re laid up.”
“Can I have a phone? And a phone book?”
“Why? Were you planning on ordering a pizza?”
“No, I just really wanted to call the hospital and talk to that nurse that was so nice to me. I wanted to thank her for everything she did for me.” He knew his uncle would probably say no. His uncle was adamant that Collin not encourage relationships outside of his c
ircle of friends. That was fine, but there really weren’t any that were his age. There had been a girl, Sophie, in France who they stayed with for a while. She seemed to be about the same age as Collin and she was absolutely gorgeous, but even though Collin liked her, he didn’t like her. But Jewell was his other half, his true soul mate.
“I’m sure she has better things to do than talk to some patient. I think it’s best if you just let her get on with her life.”
“But Uncle Percy, I kind of liked her, and I think maybe she liked me too.”
“Florence Nightingale Syndrome,” his Uncle said, dismissively. “You’ll forget about her in a couple of days.”
“What kind of syndrome,” Collin asked, now completely confused, and a little upset that his uncle wasn’t taking him seriously.
“Florence Nightingale. She was a nurse, quite a talented woman actually.” He sighed. “She was so beautiful….” He stopped, embarrassed and cleared his throat. “She was a nurse during the Crimean War. Amazing woman.” His uncle sighed again, a faraway look in his eyes.
“What in the world are you talking about? I know who Florence Nightingale was. I mean jeez Uncle Percy; I did study History at Oxford. They taught me a thing or two.” Collin had no idea what his uncle was talking about. Sometimes when he talked about things in the past, he talked like he had been there. He was very unusual in that respect. “What I wanted to know was what does Florence Nightingale have to do with me?”
“Oh, sorry kid.” His uncle suddenly looked at Collin as if he had forgotten where he was. Pulled back into the present, Percy answered Collin’s question. “Florence Nightingale Syndrome: it’s when a patient falls in love with his caregiver. It’s very common. It’s not really love though, just misplaced appreciation for their caregiver’s efforts. We learned about it in med school. More common when the nurse is pretty.” Percy winked at his nephew.
“This is not Florence Nightingale Syndrome. She’s not even my nurse. She’s a trauma nurse down in the ER.”
“Well, I don’t think that’s what you should be thinking about right now. You need to concentrate on getting better.” His uncle adjusted Collin’s bed so that Collin was closer to a reclining seated position, instead of lying down, and walked over to switch on the TV. “You get some rest. I’ll bring you dinner before I head off to the airport. Don’t worry, Gladys is cooking, not me.” He smiled.
Collin let the matter of Jewell drop. He knew that his uncle wouldn’t change his mind. Instead, he smiled gratefully at his uncle. Even though his uncle was a pretty good cook, Collin liked to tease him about his cooking skills. “Thank goodness for that. If you were cooking, I think I’d ask to go back to the hospital for dinner!”
His uncle playfully threw the remote control at Collin as he left the parlor.
Collin flipped through the channels on the television looking for something interesting. He stopped on a history show about trebuchets that seemed promising, but his thoughts kept drifting back to Jewell. He was still a bit groggy from his uncle’s ministrations for the ride to the house so he turned off the television, closed his eyes, and drifted into a dreamless sleep.
When his uncle returned a couple of hours later with a steaming bowl of red beans and rice, Collin was feeling a bit better. He had slept off some of the medicine, and was thinking more clearly. He took the bowl from his uncle and inhaled the scintillating aroma of spices and Andouille sausage causing his stomach to growl.
His uncle laughed. “Guess they didn’t feed you really well in the hospital, huh?”
“Sure they did Uncle Percy; I absolutely loved the red Jell-O and rubbery eggs.” He took a bite of his food. It was still too hot to swallow so he sucked air in through his teeth to try to cool the hot rice. When he was finally able to swallow, he savored the strong spices. He picked out a piece of sausage and chewed it slowly savoring the spicy heat. It was unbelievable; even though Aunt Gladys was from Montana, she could make a mean red beans and rice.
“I’ve got to go to the airport. I’ll be back in about two hours. If you need anything, just ring the bell and Gladys will get you whatever you need.”
After he heard the front door to the old plantation house close and the sound of his uncle’s car disappear down the long driveway, he picked up the little silver bell and rang it gently. Gladys appeared so quickly that he was certain she must have been standing right outside the door waiting for his call.
“What can I get for you, sweetie?” She reached to ruffle his hair, a habit she just couldn’t give up, but pulled her hand back at the sight of the bandage still enveloping most of his head. She started to pinch his cheek, but thought better of that as well. Finally, she bent and gently kissed his forehead.
It was amazing. Collin had known Gladys for most of his life. He and his uncle had moved in with her shortly after his parents were killed. When he looked at her though, she didn’t look any older than she had when he lived with her twenty years ago. She didn’t look much older than him, maybe early to mid-thirties. He knew she must be at least fifty. He wondered why she wasn’t married.
He briefly thought about asking Gladys for his phone and a phone book, but he knew that she would spill the beans to his uncle as soon as Percy returned from the airport. Invalid or not, Percy did not like to be disobeyed, and would not temper his yelling at Collin for circumventing his wishes.
“Well, I haven’t seen you in a while, I thought we could talk.”
Gladys’s face lit like a thousand stars. Collin was certain that he was her favorite nephew, even if he wasn’t really her nephew.
“What do you want to talk about?” Gladys pulled a cushioned arm chair from the corner of the room and placed it so that it was facing Collin’s bed. After she had made herself comfortable, she folded her hands in her lap.
“So, how’s Montana?” Collin began.
Gladys laughed. “Oh sweetie, I haven’t lived in Montana for close to seventeen years now. Shortly after you and Percy left, I moved to Greenland, then the Ivory Coast, and now I’m hanging out in the Bahamas!”
“Why do you move around so much? You sound like Uncle Percy.”
“Maybe that’s why we get along so well!” She laughed. “How do you feel dear? I just hate to see you looking like this.” She asked, smoothly changing the topic of the conversation.
Collin didn’t miss the evasion. He had learned when he was young that when his ‘family’ didn’t want to talk about something, it didn’t matter what you did, the matter would not be discussed. “Well, I guess I don’t feel all that bad. My chest hurts a bit still when I breathe. I think this bandage on my head bothers me more than the cut underneath. It doesn’t hurt to smile anymore, but it does hurt to laugh – both my chest and my face.” Collin grimaced. He liked to laugh and his Uncle Percy usually had him rolling on the floor. He appreciated his uncle’s restraint today. “It would be nice to be able to move my legs.”
“Sweetie, I’m sure you’ll be up and around sooner than you can imagine. You always were a quick healer and your Uncle Percy is a great doctor, even if he doesn’t practice much. I keep telling him that he really should spend more time working as a doctor.” She spoke fondly, with the same emotion of a sister discussing her wayward brother.
“I suppose. I’m just so sick of being cooped up like this. I guess some of Percy’s wanderlust has worn off on even me.”
“Percy has a wheelchair. I could put you in that and take you around the grounds; maybe down to the bayou? If we hurry, we can see the sunset. It should be really pretty.” She grinned at him.
“You know Aunt Gladys; I think that’s just what I need.”
*
Percy filled Dot and Carl in on the ride home. He described Collin’s accident and shared that one of the doctors in the hospital, and one of the Orleans Parish sheriffs were members of the Templar group. He had been told there were others, but had not yet been introduced.
“Thanks to Dr. Babineaux’s influence, I was able to move Collin hom
e, before suspicions began to rise. He and the other Templars will work with us, but we need to think of the Family first.”
Chapter 13
Ashley was watching American Idol when the phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Jewell calling from her cell phone. Ashley grabbed the phone “Hey chickie baby, what’s up?”
Jewell tried to answer through the tears but the words wouldn’t come. She tried again, but nothing came out but her choking gasps as she tried to breathe between racking sobs.
“Jewell, honey? What’s wrong?” Ashley asked, panicked. “Where are you?”
Jewell managed to choke out the word “hospital” before her weeping overtook her again.
“What is it? Your dad? Is Tommy hurt? Are you hurt? What honey? I can’t help you if you can’t tell me what’s wrong!” Ashley tried to think. As a nurse, she knew that she should be able to handle the situation, but hearing the devastation in her friend’s voice made her unable to think.
Ashley grabbed her cell phone from the charger as she spoke on the cordless house phone. “Sweetie, stay put. I’m coming to get you. I’ll call you from my cell in one minute. Hang up, and I promise, I’ll call you right back.” Ashley waited for the click that indicated the connection had been terminated. She quickly punched the three button and send to call Jewell’s cell phone. Jewell didn’t pick up the phone. When Ashley heard the voicemail pick up, she hit the end button, immediately followed by the send button. She pulled open the car door, slid into the driver’s seat, and jammed the keys into the ignition. She heard Jewell’s voice mail pick up again. She quickly tried again while turning the key. Her car chugged, trying to turn over, but it wouldn’t start.