by Linnea Hall
Jewell looked at him, or more accurately, looked through him. She got up, went to her dresser to get her scrubs and then walked to the other side of her room to get her shoes from the closet. Her movements were stiff; she looked like one of the zombies from Dawn of the Dead.
“Why don’t I call Ashley? She can give you a ride to work.” Tommy worried that Jewell would be unable to safely drive to work in her condition. When Jewell didn’t answer, Tommy left the room and called Ashley. Ashley told him she had already thought of that and was on her way.
When Ashley pulled into the driveway, Jewell was sitting on the couch in the living room, blank eyes staring at nothing. Tommy opened the door stepping back so that Ashley could come inside. Ashley walked to the couch, took Jewell’s hand and coaxed her out the door. As she left, she gave Tommy a reassuring look. She would take care of Jewell.
At work, Ashley checked on Jewell a couple of times during the night. Although she wasn’t her normal, cheerful self, she seemed to be functioning relatively normally. She was speaking to patients and other nurses and doctors. To someone who didn’t know Jewell as well as Ashley did, they might just think that she was a little tired or out of sorts, but Ashley doubted anyone would notice more than that.
As promised, Ashley managed to find Collin’s file and jot down his address. It was in Lacombe, just about twenty miles from Covington. Maybe when Jewell had this information, she would perk up a bit. Ashley went to the cafeteria at eleven thirty, when they usually met for lunch. Jewell wasn’t there. Ashley grabbed an apple and went looking for her. By the time Ashley’s break was over, she still hadn’t found Jewell. She felt better at the end of her shift when Jewell was out in the parking lot waiting by Ashley’s car.
“Rough night?”
Jewell didn’t answer.
“Okay then…Hey, I found Collin’s address. It’s in Lacombe. You want to head over there tomorrow?” She handed the piece of paper to Jewell. Jewell took the offered paper and looked at it. Her expression didn’t change. She opened the car door and sat down in the passenger seat, looking at nothing out the front window. Ashley got into the car, and drove Jewell home. Neither said anything for the entire trip.
At Jewell’s house, Ashley opened her door and stood up shaking her head at Tommy to indicate that there had been no change. Tommy waited at the door for his daughter to walk up the front walk. He put his arm around her shoulders as he waved thanks to Ashley and led Jewell inside.
Tommy watched as his daughter went into her bedroom and shut the door. He checked on her several times that day while she slept. When she didn’t wake up for dinner, he went into her room and sat on the edge of her bed, resting his hand on her shoulder. He breathed a sigh of relief as he felt her arm slowly rise and lower with her steady breathing. It was no wonder she was still sleeping. She hadn’t slept in over twenty four hours. He left, carefully closing the door behind him.
Tommy slept in his recliner in the living room. He wanted to be there when Jewell finally woke up. He was surprised when he woke up to find the sun shining in through the front window. He got up and walked to Jewell’s room. He cracked the door, and saw her sitting on her bed, brushing her hair. “Morning. Do you want some breakfast?”
“I’ll get it dad. I think I’m just going to have some cereal. I have some errands to run.”
“If you’re sure. Do you want some company?”
“No dad. I’m good. I’ll be back in a couple hours.” She grabbed her cell phone, and walked out the door.
Even though she knew this address was going to be just as bogus as the address for the clinic, she had to check. She drove down I-10 toward Lacombe. It was a short drive, only about twenty minutes. She had mapped the directions and drove directly to the location. She pulled into a parking lot and looked at the number above the door; 29230. The sign in front of the building said “Tropical Interiors.” She wasn’t surprised.
As Jewell pulled away, the tears started to run down her face. She didn’t have the energy to keep trying to fool her friends and family. How long would it be before she finally gave up?
Chapter 19
Collin lay in bed looking at the TV. It was a soap opera, he didn’t know which one. He picked up the remote and flipped through the channels. He switched to a crime show then turned off the television and threw the remote on the floor. This was insane. He felt fine, and yet, his uncle insisted he get his “rest.” He reached his hand up to run it through his hair but felt only peach fuzz, reminding him of why he was in this situation in the first place. He rubbed his head, feeling the healed scar that ran along his scalp. It itched a little, but was healed for the most part. A light pink scar ran through his peach fuzz hair.
His uncle had removed the figure-of-8-brace when they arrived home the week before. He removed the bandages on Collin’s head the next day. Two days later, he had taken off the cast on his left leg. The only remaining evidence of the accident was the cast that extended from his right hip all the way down to his toes. His knee itched. He tried not to think about it, but then his ankle started to itch; then his shin and his thigh. Before long, he was convinced that his cast was filled with little ants crawling up and down his legs. He looked around for the yardstick his uncle had left for just this purpose. When he didn’t see it immediately, he sat up and looked around his bed. He saw it on the floor, under his bed, just out of reach. Unfortunately, even though he could get off the bed, because the cast also immobilized his hip, he was unable to reach the yardstick.
He looked at the doors to the parlor and started to hobble toward them. His right leg didn’t hurt when he put weight on it, but it was extremely difficult to move it forward. He stepped forward with his left foot, and then dragged the right leg to meet the left. By repeating this process, he was able to make slow, if inexorable progress across the room.
When he reached the doors, he pulled them open, catching one of them on his right leg. This situation was really becoming impossible. He looked toward the front door, he thought that sitting on the porch might be nice, but then he heard voices coming from the kitchen. He could use something to eat so he started moving in that direction: thump, scraaaape, thump, scraaaape, down the hall. When he was within a few feet of the kitchen, his uncle came out to stand in the doorway, hands on his hips.
“I was wondering how long it was going to take you to get out of that bed boy.” Uncle Percy winked and grinned wickedly. Then he turned towards the voices in the kitchen and remarked “Look, Frankenstein’s monster. HE LIVES!” Collin heard a collective chuckle emanating from the kitchen.
“Well, are you going to give me a little help, or just stand there and watch?”
“Thought I’d just stand and watch. It’s really interesting the way you move that right leg.”
“Ha ha,” Collin remarked sardonically. “I thought I’d see if I could find a butcher knife big enough to cut this thing off. It’s making me crazy! I swear there are ants in there crawling around.”
Percy moved to the side as Collin dragged himself into the kitchen. Finally making his way to the counter and propping himself against it, Collin looked at the gathered faces. Gladys, Kendryck, Carl and Dorothy all sat at the table eating sandwiches. Gladys grabbed the plate of sandwiches in the middle of the table and handed it toward Collin. He took a sandwich off the top and took a bite. “So you guys decided to throw a party but didn’t invite me?”
“Actually,” Percy responded, “we were just discussing taking you to get your leg x-rayed. I think that cast is about ready to come off, but since it was such a bad break, I wanted to be sure. Seeing as how you’re walking on it now, it seems I was correct. Still, better safe than sorry. Do you feel like going for a ride?”
“Oh yeah, definitely.” Collin breathed a sigh of relief.
Carl, hating to see Collin struggling, got up and put his shoulder under Collin’s right arm to help him to the door and down the stairs on the front porch. Percy had a nice, big, SUV. This made it easy for Coll
in to push himself into the seat and turn himself toward the front. “At least there’s plenty of legroom,” Collin joked, as Percy got into the driver’s seat.
The drive was short. Percy pulled into the parking lot of an orthopedic clinic. Dr. Babineaux greeted them at the door. “I remember you from the hospital,” Collin remarked. “I thought you were a trauma surgeon, not orthopedics.”
“I am. This clinic belongs to one of my friends from med school. He sometimes lets me use his X-ray machine for extracurricular pursuits. I love it! State of the art, all digital.” Dr. Babineaux smiled as he held the door open for Percy and Collin.
After several X-rays, and much consultation between Percy and Dr. Babineaux about the condition of Collin’s leg, they finally agreed that his leg was healed enough to remove the cast. Because of the pins, the process took longer than removing the cast from his left leg. When it was finally off, Collin reached down with both hands and scrubbed his leg from top to bottom with his nails, sighing contentedly at being able to rid himself of the crawling ant feeling.
Percy wanted to test the weight on Collin’s legs slowly. He gave Collin a pair of crutches and encouraged him to stand up. After Collin had gained his balance, Percy told him to slowly start transferring weight to the leg. It hurt, quite a bit actually, but the pain was not unbearable. Finally, Collin had transferred all of his weight to his newly freed leg, using the crutches for support.
“Amazing. Absolutely remarkable.” Dr. Babineaux marveled. His eyes sparkled as his mind started processing the medical implications of what he had just seen. “And you’re all like this?” He asked, turning his attention to Percy.
Collin looked at Percy who gave a barely noticeable shake of his head, looking subtly towards Collin. It was clear that Percy was discouraging Dr. Babineaux from speaking in front of Collin about something. What did he mean when he asked if they were all like this? Collin’s thoughts were interrupted when his leg suddenly started to collapse beneath him. He was glad that he still had the crutches under his arms.
“Humph,” Percy grunted. “Maybe I rushed things a bit.”
“No, no Uncle Percy. It’s great. I just need to get used to putting weight on it. It feels really good.”
Percy turned to Dr. Babineaux and said something. Dr. Babineaux left the room and came back in a couple of minutes with a simple cane. “Try this,” he said, handing Collin the cane. Collin put down the crutches and tested his leg using only the cane. It seemed that he could put most of his weight on his leg without too much pain. He walked across the room and back, and then grinned triumphantly at his uncle.
“Alright then! Nicholas.” He shook Dr. Babineaux’s hand. “Let’s go home kid.” He patted his nephew on the back and they headed slowly toward the door. Dr. Babineaux held the door as Percy and Collin left. Collin walked out in front of his uncle and he heard Dr. Babineaux ask Percy if they could talk later. “Later.” Percy replied. It was clear to Collin that there was something that Percy did not want Collin to know, and Collin had an uneasy feeling that it had to do with him.
When Collin had settled himself into his seat and Percy had started the car, Collin asked his uncle, “What were you talking about back there with Dr. Babineaux?”
“Oh, just doctor stuff; medical babble and the like. Now, when we get home, I want you to exercise that leg, but if it starts bothering you, I want you to give it a rest. I want to check it later and make sure that it’s not swelling. If it hurts, we can give you some pain killers and ice it tonight.”
Collin sighed. He was obviously not going to get the answers he was looking for today. “Sure Uncle Percy, whatever you say.”
At home, Collin did exactly as Percy asked. Instead of going inside, he walked along the path that skirted the edge of the bayou. He passed a vine covered tree. “Honeysuckle,” he thought. He sighed. He wondered if he was going to be able to get away from his uncle to see Jewell again. He wondered if Jewell would want to see him again. He sat down on a fallen tree and shut his eyes, inhaling the sweet, spicy smell of the flowers. He imagined a beautiful girl, with golden blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. He had memorized every feature of her face. He imagined her, sitting next to him, her warm hand in his, her musical voice.
He didn’t know how long he sat there, thinking of her. When his Uncle Percy tapped him on the shoulder, he noticed that the sun was low in the sky. He had been there for several hours. Maybe he fell asleep. His uncle supported him under his arm, and they slowly walked together, back down the path to the house.
That night, Collin was finally able to sleep in his own bed, in his own room on the second floor. He imagined showing Jewell his room. It was beautiful. The 1800’s plantation home was decorated in period furniture. The huge canopied bed in the middle of the room faced a fireplace on the far wall. Paintings of southern landscapes decorated the walls. To the right of the bed stood French doors that opened onto the second floor balcony that ran around the entire second floor, a mirror to the porch below. Although it was too hot right now, in the fall, when the weather changed, he could open the doors, the smell of the clematis and pine would drift through the room. He wanted to share this with Jewell. As he thought of Jewell, Collin slipped into a deep sleep.
Collin spent the next day practicing moving around the house. By early afternoon, he was walking smoothly with only a slight limp. Tonight, he thought, he would go to the hospital and wait for her. He didn’t know if she would be working but he knew her shift started at six o’clock. If he arrived at five, and waited, if she was working, he might be able to speak to her before she went in to work.
“Hey, Uncle Percy, I was thinking…” Collin started.
“That’s dangerous.” Percy winked at Collin.
“I’m so tired of being cooped up in this house. I thought I might go downtown, maybe get a po’boy at Felix’s then hang at Pat O’s for a bit.” He tried to sound nonchalant, casual, and indecisive in his plans.
“Sounds like fun! Let’s do it!”
“Um, Uncle Percy, not to be rude, but…”
“Yeah I get it. You don’t need some old guy hanging on you to cramp your style.” He got up from the table and walked over to the counter. He pulled open the drawer and pulled out a set of keys and threw them to Collin. “I figured I couldn’t keep you penned up in here for long. I took the liberty of acquiring a new ride for you.”
Collin caught the keys and looked at them. Chevrolet. He looked at his uncle “Vette?”
“Of course. I didn’t think you’d drive an Aveo.”
“ZR1?” Collin asked hopefully.
“Try 2LT. Nice try kid.”
Collin sighed dramatically. “I guess it’ll have to do.” Collin got up and started limping to the door.
“Don’t stay out too late. You’re still not 100%. And if you end up having a good time at Pat O’s, call me, I’ll bring Carl; we’ll come get you and the car.” He eyed Collin seriously, making sure that he understood.
“Absolutely Uncle Percy. No drinking and driving. Got it! I won’t be home late.”
Collin drove to Felix’s for that po’boy. He had a little time before he had to be at the hospital though he had no intention of going to Pat O’s. He had other plans. After he had eaten, it was about four-thirty. He drove directly to the hospital, parking near the top of the parking garage; fewer cars, fewer people to see him. At the employee’s entrance to the ER, he found a shadowed area next to the doors where he could stand, unseen unless someone looked directly at him. In his black jeans and black t-shirt, he was nearly invisible in the shadows.
He leaned against the wall, resting most of his weight on his good leg. He was hoping that he would be able to stand here until she came in. He glanced at his watch; five fifteen. He knew that her shifts started at six. Was he here early enough? Had he missed her? Was she already inside? Was she even scheduled tonight? He glanced around the corner through the glass door. He briefly thought about going inside to ask if she was scheduled to work bu
t thought better of it. Would she get in trouble if they saw him here? The longer he waited, the more questions he had, the more worried he became.
After about ten minutes, the flow of employees into the building began to increase. He carefully watched each group as it passed, looking for the golden blonde hair that was unique to her; pure sunlight, captured in golden strands. As the procession of employees slowed to a trickle, he began to lose hope. He had just decided that he would leave and try again tomorrow when he felt his eyes pulled towards the rear of the group where he caught a glimpse of her hair, behind the crowd, set apart, walking more slowly. He watched her as she approached. Her eyes were sunken, black circles shaded the creases below her eyes. Her skin appeared to be paler than he remembered and the glow to her cheeks was gone. Beside her, a woman with dark hair had her arm around her back. She looked worried; concern creased her forehead.
Immediately, Collin knew that something was wrong. Jewell was sick, she shouldn’t be at work. She needed to be home, resting. Did she have the flu? Would it be safe for her to work around sick patients? Somebody needed to help her; he needed to help her.
Collin stepped from the shadow beside the door. He walked slowly, two steps toward the advancing pair. There were no other employees in the parking lot behind them. Most of the employees in front of them had already entered the hospital. He looked at her, his eyes asking what she needed, but he could not find the words. His worry kept him from speaking.
The pair stopped as he stepped in front of them, blocking their entrance to the building without meaning to. He didn’t want to appear threatening. The dark haired woman grasped Jewell’s arm, holding her, as Jewell slowly surveyed him, standing in front of her. She reached her hand out, tentatively, slowly reaching her hand toward him as if she wanted to touch him to ensure that he was real. Suddenly, something in her eyes changed, a spark, a slight glow returned to her face as she started to collapse.