Taking a Gamble

by P. J. Trebelhorn

  “I grabbed a box, and I think the bottom must have been busted. One of the flaps was under the shelves. When I picked it up, it must have caused the shelves to fall.” He was trying to close his eyes, but she kept grabbing his arm and shaking him gently. She did not want him to fall asleep. His eyes popped open and he turned his head to look at her. “You have to call Erica. Oh, Jesus, she’s going to be pissed.”

  “I’m sure she’ll be worried, not pissed,” Cass said. She heard sirens in the distance, and she closed her eyes in relief. They were getting closer. He was right though. She was going to have to get in touch with Erica. If they were going to have to do any kind of surgery on his leg, she’d have to sign the paperwork to grant consent.

  She walked a few feet away and pressed the button on her phone to call Erica. After the fifth ring it transferred her straight to her voicemail system. For half a second, Cass considered hanging up, but what if Erica wasn’t answering simply because it was her calling? If that were the case, then she could end up trying all day to reach her and never get an answer. The rational part of her brain knew Erica wouldn’t ignore her call when Kyle was with her though. Besides, how would she feel if something had happened to Danny and the person trying to contact her didn’t leave a message?

  “Hey, Erica, this is Cass,” she said with a quick glance toward Kyle, who was grimacing in pain. “There was an accident. I don’t think it’s anything serious, but some metal shelves fell on Kyle’s leg. The ambulance is almost here, so I need to go. Call me when you get this, or I’ll try you again later, when I have an update on his condition.”

  She disconnected and shoved the phone into her pocket before raking a hand through her hair. She would rather have actually spoken with Erica instead of leaving a rambling message including the words ambulance and shelves fell on Kyle’s leg. Hearing it with no one to speak to, to ask questions of, was going to raise Erica’s stress level through the roof. Especially with no explanation as to which hospital he was going to be taken to. Maybe she should have waited until they were at the hospital to call.

  “Cass,” Kyle said, his voice sounding weak. She hoped to God he hadn’t hit his head when he fell. She crouched down next to him and put a hand gently on his shoulder. “When you talk to her, tell her I’m okay. She’ll worry too much otherwise.”

  “You got it, buddy,” she said. She didn’t like the distant look in his eyes. The siren sounded like it was close, so she squeezed his shoulder before standing and walking toward the entrance to the unit. “You hang in there, Kyle. Help is almost here.”

  She saw the ambulance driving slowly through the facility so she ran out by the truck and began waving her arms in the air to gain the driver’s attention. It seemed like mere seconds before they were inside the unit tending to Kyle. Cass watched as the two medics simultaneously hooked Kyle up to fluids, stabilized his leg so they could attempt to remove the metal protruding from his thigh, and were asking them both questions.

  They both answered their queries as best they could, and it seemed as though a silent communication passed between the two medics. Apparently, they decided it would be safer for Kyle if they transported him the way he was and let the doctors worry about removing the metal. Cass couldn’t say she was disappointed at the decision, because she was sure it would be painful. And messy. At least at the hospital they’d be able to knock him out before removing it. The kid was in enough pain as it was.

  “Are you his mother?” one of the guys asked her when they had him on the gurney and started rolling it toward the ambulance.

  “What?” she asked in surprise. She realized she could technically be his biological mother, but the thought struck her as funny and she forced herself not to laugh out loud at the question. “No, I’m—”

  “Sister,” Kyle said as he swiped at the guy’s arm. When he looked down at Kyle, Kyle glanced over at Cass. “She’s my sister. I want her to come with me.”

  Cass wanted to say no. She couldn’t just leave the truck there. How the hell would she get home? She started to open her mouth but stopped when she really looked at Kyle. He was afraid. He was in pain. And he didn’t want to be alone. How could she say no to him?

  “Are you coming then?” the other guy asked her. “We need to get on the road.”

  “Yeah, just give me a few seconds.” Cass ran out and made sure the truck was secured before doing the same with the unit. As she climbed into the back of the ambulance, the first guy motioned for her to have a seat near Kyle’s head. She smiled at Kyle, hoping to allay his fear, and he grasped her hand with unexpected strength. She pulled out her phone with her free hand and willed Erica to call her back.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Erica sat in her car staring up at the house she’d grown up in. She hadn’t seen her parents since the day she came out to them, and the only time she’d spoken to either of them was when Kyle had shown up at her place out of the blue.

  “Hey, you ready?” Lila asked from the passenger seat. They’d met at the mall a few minutes from there, and Erica hadn’t said a word during the drive to the house in spite of Lila’s attempts at small talk. “You can do this.”

  Erica wasn’t so sure. The only thing she felt fairly certain about was that she was going to throw up. Hopefully not in the car, but maybe in her mother’s flower bed. The thought caused her to let out a bark of laughter. When she looked at Lila, she laughed at the horrified expression on her face.

  “I’m sorry,” Erica said, but she wasn’t. She felt better somehow, after imagining how her mother might react to finding the contents of her stomach in her flowers. It served as a good reminder that her parents were only human, after all. They were no better than she was, and she knew they couldn’t hurt her unless she allowed them to. She took Lila’s hand. “Are you ready? This can’t be easy for you either, and I can’t tell you how thankful I am you offered to come with me today.”

  “I’m here for you, Erica, and I need you to be here for me too,” Lila answered. “If we present a united front, they won’t have a choice but to listen to us. They can’t hurt us.”

  They both nodded and got out of the car. They met in front of it and held hands on the way up the walk to the front door. When Lila reached out to ring the doorbell, Erica had the sudden urge to run away and never look back. She had a split second to realize her phone was vibrating in her pocket, but then the door flew open and she was standing face to face with her mother.

  “What the fuck are you doing here?”

  “Such nice language from someone who proclaims to be Christian, Tammy,” Lila said with a quick squeeze of Erica’s hand.

  Erica took a deep breath in an attempt to center herself and then let it out slowly. Her mother looked like she was ready to grab a shotgun and run them off the property. It was a good thing she knew her parents were so against guns, otherwise she might think it was a real possibility.

  “Hello, Mother. May we come in?” she asked, sounding more pleasant than she felt.

  “No, you may not.” She started to close the door, but Lila firmly placed a hand on it and held it open. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “We’re coming in whether you like it or not, Tammy,” Lila told her in a tone Erica knew left no room for argument. “We don’t want to be here anymore than you want us to be here, trust me. And the sooner you let us in, the sooner we can be done and on our way, surely never to darken your door again.”

  Erica’s mother looked pissed. Erica didn’t know where all this anger came from, because both of her parents had been rather laid-back and easygoing while she was growing up. She watched as her mother shook her head but motioned them inside.

  “Where is my dear brother?” Lila asked.

  Erica followed them into the kitchen where they all sat around the table. She could use some coffee, but she wasn’t about to ask for any. Besides, she was certain her mother wouldn’t make any for her anyway. Erica did her best to ignore the jab of pain in her heart at the depth
of the hatred her mother apparently harbored for her.

  “Ronnie isn’t home from church yet. It was his turn to teach Sunday school, and it always runs a little longer than the regular service.”

  “Now there’s a scary thought,” Lila murmured under her breath so Tammy couldn’t hear her. Erica did though, and she coughed into her hand to cover up the smirk on her face. “Will he be home soon?”

  Tammy—because Erica had a hard time thinking of this woman as her mother any longer, so it was only fitting she thought of her by her given name—glanced behind her at the clock on the stove and shrugged before turning back to them.

  “He should be here in a few minutes. He won’t be happy to see either of you, you know.”

  “He couldn’t be any less happy to see us than you were,” Erica said.

  “Why are you here?” Tammy asked. She had a look of disgust on her face as she spoke to Erica, and Erica tried not to flinch as she pinned her with her eyes. “I think we made it pretty clear to you we never wanted to see you again.”

  “You did,” Erica said with a nod. She looked down at her hands folded in her lap and came to a decision. She was through allowing her mother to treat her this way. She raised her head and sat up straighter. “What did you tell the neighbors? Do they think I just left and never call you, or did you tell them I died?”

  Tammy recoiled at that, though if it were the words themselves that caused the reaction, or the tone Erica used, she wasn’t sure. Erica was pissed, and she was done trying to appease anyone. They’d turned their backs on her, and she’d accepted it. But now they were doing the same thing to her brother, and sitting here in the kitchen of the house she’d grown up in brought all of her anger to the forefront.

  “We don’t have children anymore,” Tammy said. “You both strayed from God’s path, and we cast you out. Have you changed your ways?”

  Erica laughed at the hopeful look in Tammy’s eyes. She thought it was ludicrous they were even having this conversation.

  “It isn’t something I can change about myself any more than you could change it about yourself.” Erica noticed her leg was bouncing, and she stopped it. The nervous tic was something she thought she’d gotten rid of. “And even if I had, I still wouldn’t want anything to do with either of you.”

  “Then why the hell are you here?” Tammy asked.

  All three of them jumped when they heard the front door open. The kitchen wasn’t visible from the door, so Erica knew he’d have no idea who was there. She smiled nervously at Lila, who took her hand once more and held it tightly. Neither one of them was looking forward to this.

  “Tammy, hon, who’s car is in the driveway?” he asked, sounding rather pleasant. “You didn’t tell me we were having company this afternoon.”

  Erica braced herself when she heard his heavy footsteps coming toward the kitchen. When he rounded the archway and saw the three of them at the table, he almost stumbled over his own feet. He managed to keep his balance, but Erica noticed his face was turning a pretty shade of purple as he looked first at her and then at Lila, trying oh so hard to keep his anger under control.

  “Get out of my house. You’re not welcome here.” He was shaking, and Erica found herself wondering if he might have a stroke.

  “Sit down and shut the hell up, Ron,” Lila said, sounding bored. “Listen to what we have to say, and then we’ll be gone, and you’ll never have to see either of us ever again.”

  “Did the neighbors see them?” Ronnie asked, taking a seat next to Tammy.

  “So you did tell them I died,” Erica said with a wry smile directed at Tammy. “How sweet. You know what? I hope they did see me. But just to make sure, I think I might go knock on a few doors before we leave and let your neighbors know how you treat your own children.”

  “If you so much as—”

  “Calm down,” Erica said, effectively shutting him up. “I wouldn’t care so much if it was just me, but Kyle’s still a kid. How could you treat him that way?”

  “He shamed this family, Erica,” Ronnie said, shaking his head the entire time he was speaking.

  “How?” she asked. “By being honest with you about who he is?”

  “You mean what he is,” he said.

  “No, I don’t, but please, go on and show us the full force of your ignorance.”

  “You will not speak to me that way. I’m your father, damn it!”

  “Not so much,” Erica told him with a quick shake of her head. “You don’t have any children anymore. Am I right, Tammy? You can’t have it both ways, so I will talk to you any way I damn well please. Tell me how Kyle shamed you.”

  “He’s slept with other boys. He’s an abomination, just like you.”

  Erica leaned back in her chair, completely dumbfounded. She couldn’t have formed words now even if she’d wanted to. She was afraid she’d string together enough profanities to make a sailor blush. Lila squeezed her arm, forcing Erica to look at her. Lila leaned close and spoke into her ear.

  “Say what’s on your mind, sweetie,” she said. “You’re never going to change the way they feel, but you might be able to give them a few things to think about.”

  Erica nodded as Lila relaxed back into her own space. Her heart was beating abnormally fast, and Erica took a few deep breaths to try to relax. She looked at her father who was sitting there with a self-righteous smirk on his face, his arms crossed defiantly over his chest.

  “Kyle hasn’t had sex,” Erica said.

  “Then how could he possibly know he’s gay?” Tammy asked, her voice tight with what Erica thought was emotion, but more likely it was her way of controlling her own anger at what she saw as ignorance in Erica.

  “Oh, my God,” Lila muttered and shook her head.

  “Did you have to have sex in order to know you were straight?” Erica asked, doing her best to keep her voice calm and not sounding like she was accusing them of something. When she looked at Ronnie she almost laughed. His mouth was moving, but there were no words coming out. He was turning purple again too.

  “What a ridiculous question.” Tammy slammed her hands down on the table and stood, apparently thinking her full height of five-foot-nothing was intimidating. “We’re all straight until we choose not to be.”

  “So we’re back to it being a choice,” Erica said. “Because I would surely choose to be treated this way by my own parents. And it’s pretty much a no-brainer that Kyle, knowing how you reacted when I came out, would choose to go through the same thing, right?”

  “Maybe we’re all gay until we choose not to be,” Lila said. “Have you ever thought about that?”

  Erica opened the file folder she carried in with her from the car and slapped the papers the lawyer had given her on the table, turning them so they were facing her parents. She shoved them at her father.

  “I came here hoping to talk some sense into you, but I never dreamed how wrong I could be,” she said. She was certain she could actually feel her blood pressure rising as she spoke. “But I realize now there are no circumstances in which I would ever want you involved in my, or Kyle’s, life. So just fucking sign these papers and you’ll truly be childless.”

  “What is this?” Ronnie asked, looking at her instead of the papers.

  “It says you’re waiving all parental rights where Kyle is concerned, therefore allowing me to become his legal guardian.” Erica stood because she couldn’t bear to sit still for another second. She began pacing while Ronnie glanced over the papers before signing. Once Tammy had done the same, he handed them back to her. After shoving them back into the folder, she motioned for Lila to follow her to the door, but she stopped before leaving the kitchen, causing Lila to almost run her over. “You know the saddest part in all of this? I grew up happy. I was under the assumption my parents loved me unconditionally. I wanted a family just like the one I grew up in. Now, I don’t want to be anything like you. I feel sorry for you both because you stopped loving me the second you found out I loved another w
oman. You hate me because I love another human being. How pathetic is that?”

  She left the house without another word, not comprehending exactly how much adrenaline was coursing through her until her knees almost gave out in front of the car. Lila was by her side instantly, an arm around her waist, holding her up.

  “Come over here and sit in the passenger seat. I’ll drive.”

  Erica was shaking so badly she didn’t think she could drive at all. Once they were out of the neighborhood, she remembered her phone had been vibrating right before her mother opened the front door. She pulled it out of her pocket and was surprised to see she had four missed calls. All from Cass. And she’d left a message all four times.

  “Fuck, what now?” she asked as she called her voicemail. Before it connected, the phone started vibrating in her hand. Cass was calling again. She answered, not at all sure she was prepared for what she was about to be told.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Cass was preparing herself to leave a voice message, again, as soon as she hit the call button on her phone. She gazed around the waiting room she was seated in and tried not to think about the people crying a few feet away from her who had just gotten news their loved one didn’t make it through surgery. She turned her head and closed her eyes, and was shocked when Erica actually answered this call.

  “Oh, thank God,” Cass said with an audible sigh of relief. “Where are you?”

  “I’m in Syracuse,” Erica told her. “What’s going on?”

  “Didn’t you listen to the messages I left?” Cass couldn’t keep the exasperation out of her voice. What the hell was in Syracuse that could be more important than Kyle?

  “I was just about to when you called, so just tell me what’s going on.” Erica sounded defeated. Cass chose not to ask what she was doing almost four hours away from Buffalo while her brother was in surgery.

  “There was an accident,” Cass told her.

  “Oh, my God,” Erica said, sounding appropriately worried now. “Is Kyle all right? Are you? What happened?”