Point of Attraction

by Margaret Van Der Wolf

  “Roberts!”

  It was Cassie shouting, and Georgie tried to raise her head. All she could see was the back of Cassie’s red hair heading for Officer Roberts, Ryan and April. April was holding out her hands. The last thing Georgie saw before the curtains to the emergency cubical closed was Cassie dropping against April, Ryan pulling Paula into his arms, and Steven’s head lowering to his chest with a shake as Officer Roberts looked across the room over at her.

  It’s true, then, Georgie thought. It must not have been Nick. As she let herself sink into darkness, Georgie heard Tonie’s words, “All over a fucking hoax to get you in his bed.”

  No, she told the lurking doubts. She would not believe it. It was Nick that called. It had to be! Georgie held on to that. It didn’t matter what anyone said. She would not let go of that certainty. Nick would not leave her. Nick and Cassie. They would never leave her. They would always have each other. Yes, and she surrendered completely to the medication.

  ~~0~~

  “Sorry I was so late with the info, Georgie Girl,” the apologetic voice said.

  “Uh huh,” Georgie answered. “A little late... not enough of a print though.”

  “Don’t kid yourself, Georgie Girl. But you know the Prez. He hates for us to interfere in local shit, but I told him. Hey, it’s my Georgie Girl.”

  “Uh huh,” she said, and tried to lift her heavy eyelids, but they refused the command.

  “I told Bentley, whoever calls for the info. That’s our man. Tell him the print’s no good. Don’t want him to run.” She felt the heat of lips on her forehead. She wanted to reach up to feel, but her hands wouldn’t move. “Sorry. I didn’t get back to you in time. Hit a little bump in the road.”

  And the tears rolled down her cheeks. “Why didn’t you just stay home? Why?”

  “You hush now. Sleep.”

  “Nick?” she said, trying to clear away the endless layers of veils, but there was no answer, and the black hole had no ladder for her to climb, only a hand that held hers, then slid away slowly. “Mason?”

  ~~0~~

  Georgie opened her eyes to a dimly lit room. There was no place on or in her body that didn’t hurt. Her head pound, her mind denying all requests. It wasn’t until she took a deep breath that she realized most of her pain was in her ribs and she was bound snugly. She placed a free hand to her cheek where Tonie had struck her and quickly pulled it away with a low moan.

  She was no longer in the emergency cubical, but in a room. Rain pitter-pattered its lonely little song on the windowpane. As the wind blew, tenacious leaves still clinging to their tree, cast their dancing shadow from the light post in the parking lot. I must be on the second floor, she thought, and almost closed her eyes, but the door opened slightly.

  Steven poked his head in and smiled. “Good, you’re awake,” he said, coming to the bedside. “Hurt all over?”

  “Oh, yeah,” she murmured, and it was an effort to force her dry lips to curve. “When do I get those magic drugs to make it all go away?”

  “Any more drugs and we’d have to pump out your stomach, drain your blood and whatever.”

  “Paula? Is she okay?”

  He nodded. “I finally got her to go home.” He looked at his watch. “I have a feeling she went home, showered, called her doctor, and is on her way back. Don’t even try to talk her out of it. I think she’s in denial about Uncle Nick though, and quite frankly... I am too.”

  “Me too, I guess,” she admitted, trying to remember the phone call, the strange dream, but for right now, she needed to know. “How’s Mason?”

  Steven’s smile saddened and kissed her on her forehead. “He made it through surgery. He’s in ICU. Only time will tell. Not many could take two shots that close to the heart; lots of damage, but he’s a fighter.”

  “Can I see him?” When Steven didn’t answer, she reached over. “Please. He saved my life.”

  He pressed her hand to his lips and sighed. “I could get into so much trouble.” But he helped her up and gently slid her feet over the side of the bed. He raised a finger to his lips and motioned for her to wait. After opening the door wide and flipping down the doorstop, he pushed in a wheelchair. “I thought you’d want to see him.”

  They looked both ways before wheeling her out into the corridor. As they made their way to the elevator, Lucy came around the corner. The young girl’s lips parted as though to speak, caught herself, and said nothing. Her smile was tight, forced, or was it pensive? When the elevator doors opened they all stepped in. Lucy leaned against the wall as far away from them as she could in the gurney-size cubicle. Silence was a fourth person, and Georgie remembered Mason’s reference to the ax murderer in the room. It was still a bad choice, she thought, shaking aside a quick flash of Tonie holding that knife.

  When the doors opened at the ICU floor, Steven wheeled her out, but when the doors did not close, Steven turned the wheelchair in answer to the silent pause or perhaps a call only he heard. Georgie looked at Lucy, whose hand was keeping the doors open. After a thought, Lucy pursed her lips and stepped out to join them.

  “Mrs. Gainsworth, I want to apologize.”

  “I’m still Georgie, and what could you possibly need to apologize for?”

  Lucy looked over her head to Steven then back down at her. “For my actions Saturday night. You saw it, I’m sure, but... I’m also sure you reasoned my actions as something completely different.”

  Pressing her eyes shut, Lucy rubbed her forehead to bear whatever demons tortured her, and took in a deep breath. “Ten years ago, my family turned their backs on my big brother, Frank, when he told them he was... gay. They told him to leave, to never contact them again, that...” She choked back a cry and swallowed hard. “That as far as they were concerned, he was dead.”

  Georgie was at a loss as to what to say to help. Thinking back, trying to remember when she first realized Cassie was gay. She couldn’t recall the exact moment. It simply came to be. And when Cassie brought home April, it seemed natural. She was still Cassie, her dear friend, her family. Knowing she was gay didn’t change that. When Nick came home and met April, he merely smiled and turned to Cassie to say, “Never thought you’d find someone to put up with you.”

  That’s what families did... wasn’t it? Loved and accepted you? Be there for you when no one else will.

  “Frank was my big brother,” Lucy went on, “always there for me, but when the time came... I failed him. I had no backbone. I didn’t want to go against my parents. So I turned away from him and lost ten years of having my brother.” Tears began to roll down her cheeks. “And now... I’m losing him... to AIDS. When I saw how your family loved Cassie and April, I realized just how stupid I was, how my parents in their ignorance had thrown away a wonderful son.”

  Lucy wiped away the tears, and looked to Steven. He answered her call, kissed her on the forehead, and came back behind the wheelchair.

  “One day,” Lucy said, “maybe I can earn back that first welcome I received from you all.”

  “You don’t even have to knock on the door when you come in,” Georgie said. “Is that the research you want to get into?”

  Lucy nodded and turned when the elevator door pinged open and Lucy walked in. “Frank is in the AIDS Ward.”

  As the door closed with Lucy leaning against the elevator’s far wall, Georgie was touched by the young woman’s sadness. Without a word, Steven wheeled Georgie toward the ICU.

  “That’s where you’ve been,” Georgie said.

  “Yeah. Even seeing how Cassie and April are part of our lives, she was still afraid of how I would react. So, I’ve been with her. Her parents haven’t forgiven Frank and now won’t speak to Lucy for being here with him.”

  “Well,” Georgie said, reaching back and patting his arm, “she has you and all of us. Make sure you let her know that.”

  As they neared the door marked INTENSIVE CARE UNIT, Georgie’s heart began to race, her lungs demanding air as memories rushed in on her of th
e moment she entered the ER on October 25th. Only this time there was no blood stained gauze and wipes on the floor. Instead of cold silence, the monitors beeped methodically, their little lights dancing across their screen. Nearing Mason’s bed she could see his chest slowly rise and fall in steady rhythm. She reached for his hand. It felt dry but warm and she caressed it softly. Holding her breath to bear the pain, Georgie leaned forward to bring his hand up and kissed it. The breath in her chest caught and she audibly winced.

  “Okay, back we go,” Steven said.

  “No. Go get his chart for me and tell me what it says.”

  “Mom, do you know what kind of trouble...”

  “Just do it!” And the ache went deep. “Please,” she added, while biting back the stab at her ribs.

  He looked about as though expecting security to come bounding in, then went out the door and quickly came back. He flipped up the metal lid of the chart and read. “He’s holding his own. Blood pressure’s good.” He snapped the lid down. “All we need is time and hope no clots form and loosen. He’s healthy, fit. That’s all I can give you, Mom.”

  “Okay,” she said, and squeezed Mason’s fingers. She gasped when his thumb pushed against her, weak though the movement was.

  “Can’t ask for a better sign than that,” Steven whispered in her ear. “Come on. Let’s get this chart back where it belongs, and you back in your room.”

  “Okay.” She gave Mason’s hand an extra squeeze and whispered to him, “I’ll be waiting. You’re not leaving me up in the air with BADGE 747. Have to know how it ends.”

  When they returned to her room, April was sitting in the chair. Her eyes were red, and Georgie didn’t know what to say, or ask. She couldn’t remember ever seeing April cry. She wasn’t crying now, but she had been.

  “I can’t help her,” she said, and Georgie now knew it was about Cassie. “She won’t go home. She’s afraid to leave you. But I know it’s deeper than that. If she goes home, she’ll have to admit Nick is gone. I’m worried about her.”

  “Just be there,” Georgie said. Taking in a breath for strength, Georgie shoved aside her resolve to keep her hopes about Nick to herself, and decided to spill out her thoughts, at least about the phone call. If nothing else, it would help Cassie and the rest of them in that denial. That soft murmuring voice in what could have been just a dream was her own fantasy, but the phone call was a thread tying them all to hope. “Where’s Cassie now?”

  “Back in maternity, keeping an eye on the baby she delivered earlier.”

  “Get her on the phone.” When April looked up, Georgie added, “Tell her I need to speak with her. Go on. Call her.”

  “Mom, you need to get in bed,” Steven said.

  “Then help me get in there, Doctor Son-of-Mine.”

  By the time Cassie came in, April was calm and almost her old confident self. It was not so with their Cassie. Her face was shadowed with grief, eyes red and puffy, and immediately burst into tears. Georgie clenched her teeth to help bear the thrust of pain from Cassie’s embrace, but said nothing, and just comforted her friend.

  “Cassie, I want to tell you something,” Georgie finally said, easing a hand over the red hair, then nudged Cassie’s chin with a fingertip to lift her head. “But you have to take it with a grain of salt, as they say, though I firmly believe it because I have to believe it. Okay?”

  Cassie straightened and leaned into April.

  “Right before Tonie snatched the phone from me, I know... firmly in my heart, that I was talking to Nick.”

  “What?” Steven asked, as Cassie added, “But... Roberts said...”

  “I know.” Georgie closed her eyes trying to recall why she was so certain it had been Nick. It wasn’t so much the voice, she thought, since there was so much static interruption, but... “That’s it!” she burst out realizing what it was. Of course! “He said, Georgie...then Girl. Who else calls me Georgie Girl?”

  “But Roberts said they found the helmet in the river... and...”

  “Did they find... you know...” Georgie would even say the word.

  Cassie shook her head, her lips tightly holding back any sound struggling to come out.

  “In my heart, I feel somehow,” Georgie said, “somehow he is okay. And that is what I am going with.”

  April gave Cassie a small hug and pressed her cheek to the top of the red hair. “Listen to her, Cass. Never mind what anyone else says. You and Georgie know that Bad Penny better than anyone.” After a quick firm rub to Cassie’s back, April let her hand drop away with a heavy sigh.

  Cassie wiped away the tears while her smile led the way for a laugh. “When I see that lunatic again, I am going to sooo wring his scrawny little neck, let me tell you.”

  The door opened and Georgie looked over. “Paula!” She gave a quick look out her window and saw the night losing its battle with the coming day. “You should be home resting.”

  “Doctor Eckert said I was fine, didn’t she, Ryan?”

  Ryan nodded. “How you doing, Mrs. G?”

  Georgie smiled at him that she was fine.

  “But what was that I heard about the Bad Penny?” Paula asked, looking at her then Steven who smiled. “Did he scare us all for nothing? Mom, I swear...”

  The words faded as Georgie found herself hugged tightly, but she would not complain. She had her family and she was certain Mason would recover. He had to. Somehow, Nick would let them know if he was okay.

  A young teen wearing a striped apron and a nametag with the name Bambi on it came in as bubbly as only a young teen called Bambi can be. “Mrs. Gainsworth?”

  “Yes.”

  “This was left at the front desk for you,” she said, and handed Georgie a manila envelope.

  “Who left it?” Georgie asked.

  “Dunno. They just told me to bring it to you.”

  As the young girl pranced out of the room, Georgie saw her bat her lashes at Steven as she passed by him. He politely pretended not to see, and Georgie held back a smile.

  Everyone looked, but said nothing as Georgie slipped a finger beneath the flap, looked inside. Tilted it upside down to spill out its contents. For a moment, Georgie just stared at the post card then held it up. It was one of those Hollywood View postcards. On its front was a photo of the traditional intro to The Twilight Zone TV series. On the reverse side was a dirty old penny glued over the card’s little tale of the Twilight Zone with a Hollywood address. Where the Send-To Address should be was a little paste-on Harley-Davidson with a child’s ink-print of the well known Uncle Sam pointing that finger on top the Harley’s seat.

  “Salesman from the Twilight Zone,” Cassie murmured.

  “The Bad Penny,” Paula added with a hint of a laugh.

  “And an Uncle on the Harley,” Steven put in with that ever-present awe she and Sam saw in him when it came to his Uncle Nick.

  Georgie shook the card at them. “All on the postcard he never sends.”

  Little Bambi came bouncing back in. “Mr. Montgomery is asking for a George, but his chart says to contact Georgina Gainsworth.”

  “That would be me,” Georgie said.

  No life is an unwoven thread, Georgie thought. No indeed.

  THE END