by Traci Bee
The car bounced over a pothole, waking Simone from her catnap. She glanced out her window and realized they were nowhere near Angela’s.
“Where we going?”
“I figured we’d go have a drink or something.”
“Ah, Andre, I don’t feel like drinking. Let’s just pick up Kayla and watch a movie or something. I just wanna chill. I have to go back to the hospital early in the morning.”
“Naw, Simone. You need a drink. You got a lot goin’ on.”
“You’re right, I do, and a drink’s not gonna solve it. If anything, take me to church.”
“One drink might do you wonders.”
“Yeah, if I wanted to go to the club. I don’t want a drink, Andre. I just want to chill and pretend that life is normal.”
“See, that’s fucked up.”
“Oh, Lord,” she sighed under her breath.
“Oh, Lord, nothing. You can sit up in the hospital every day, but you can’t go have one drink with your husband.”
“How can you even compare the two? I’m not sitting at the hospital because I want to!”
Andre pressed the volume control on the steering wheel, turning the music up to drown out Simone as he whipped an illegal U-turn and headed to Angela’s. The booming bass pouring from the radio made Simone’s head pound more. She couldn’t tolerate it and turned the volume down. Andre turned it back up, louder than before.
“Andre, I told you I have a headache,” Simone said, turning it back down.
“Man, fuck you and your headache,” he said and turned it back up. “Take your ass back up to the hospital.”
The last thing Simone wanted to do was argue. Ignoring Andre, she reached for the radio again, but this time, he grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly.
“What the fuck is wrong with you!”
Horns blew and cars whipped around them as they tugged back and forth, sending the Mercedes across the double yellow line in the road. They tussled back and forth as Simone tried to free her hand from Andre’s grip, but he maintained his hold, squeezing tighter.
Leaning forward, she bit his hand and tore open his flesh.
“Agh!” He drew back his hand in pain as blood oozed to the surface. “You dumb bitch!”
Andre turned the corner on two wheels and flew down Angela’s street. Screeching to a stop in front of Angela’s house, he jumped out and slammed the door.
You lucky you picking up Kayla, Simone thought as she climbed over the center console to the driver seat. Or I would leave your sorry ass right here.
● ● ●
The sun peeped through the blinds, giving Simone the excuse to get up after tossing and turning all night and get ready for Thomas’s first day in rehab. The phone rang just as she applied the finishing touches to her makeup.
Who in the world is this? she thought, while snatching the cordless from its base. Kayla was resting peacefully on Andre’s side of the bed. The last thing she wanted to do was wake her.
“Hello?” Simone whispered, tiptoeing into the master bathroom.
“Why in the world you whispering?” Lavon whispered back.
“’Cause I’m trying not to wake Kayla.”
“Oh, me and Melanie have been calling you like crazy. How’s your dad doing?”
“Um…he’s pretty much the same. They transferred him to rehab yesterday. I’m on my way there now.”
“Is Andre going with you?”
“Please,” Simone said, sucking her teeth. “We got into it bad last night, but that’s a whole ’nother story. As soon as my father gets better, I’m not renewing my tenant’s lease. I’m outta here. I’m moving back into my house.”
“You serious?”
“As a heart attack. Girl, this bullshit ain’t no marriage. All we do is argue all the time over stupid shit, and don’t get me started on everything else. I can’t take it no more. But anyway,” she sighed, releasing the anger she felt building back up, “right now, it’s all about my dad. I gotta focus on him.”
“Well, Simone, you know I’m here if you need me. What’s up with your clients?”
“I have two agents handling things for me. I’m losing a ton of business, but I don’t care. Then again,” Simone giggled, “I need to care. I told my father I’d pay his mortgage every month if he’d give up one of his jobs. He works like crazy.”
“That’s what’s up, Simone. Man, I love the relationship you have with your dad. Just let me know if you need my help. I’m not doing anything today, so if you need me to, I can swing by your office and maybe return some calls and get your marketing stuff out.”
“Ah, Lavon, I love you. You’d do that?”
“Simone, c’mon now! It ain’t like I’ve never helped your butt before. Just let me know what you need me to do. Who knows?” Lavon chuckled. “Maybe one day I can leave my government job and be your assistant.”
“Oh, that would be the bomb. You’re an executive secretary in human resources, too. That’s just what I need.”
“I’m serious, Simone.”
“I’m serious, too. I can’t pay you no eighty thousand dollars, but we can do something creative. You sure you can go past there today?”
“Simone, ask me something serious.”
“Okay, I’ll call you from the hospital and tell you what to do. I’ll get the receptionist to let you in. Meanwhile, I gotta go. I’ll call you later.”
“Okay, Simone. Tell your father I said hello and we’re all praying for him.”
Simone placed the phone back in its cradle and planted a gentle kiss on Kayla’s cheek. Heading down the steps, she found Andre asleep on the couch. She shook him before heading out the door.
“What!” he growled, still full of anger.
“I’m out. Kayla’s still in the bed.”
“How long you gone?”
Simone didn’t respond. She headed to the front door and left.
● ● ●
Simone walked into Thomas’s hospital room at nine on the nose. “Look at you!” she beamed. Freshly showered and dressed in a pair of fresh pajamas, Thomas was sitting tall in a wheelchair, working with a therapist.
“Hi.” The therapist rose from her chair just a little and offered Simone her hand. “I’m Sharon Rice, the speech therapist.” Her voice was sharp, yet friendly, unlike her smile. Simone could only imagine what was going through her father’s head. He loved pretty teeth, and the therapist’s smile came together like a jigsaw puzzle.
“Hi, Ms. Rice,” Simone replied, shaking her hand. “I’m Simone, his daughter. How’s he doing?”
“Well,” Ms. Rice said, as she settled back in her seat, “he swallowed some water for me with no problem.”
“Daddy, you had something to drink?”
“Yeah,” Thomas whispered.
“Oh my God!” Simone screamed in excitement. “You’re talking! He’s talking!”
“He wasn’t talking yesterday?” Ms. Rice asked, just as surprised.
Mae walked into the room. “What’s going on in here?”
“Mae, he’s talking! Oh my goodness! And, Daddy, your smile. Your smile is back! Oh my gosh!”
Mae cupped her hands together, closed her eyes and said, “Thank you, Lord!”
“Hi.” Ms. Rice smiled, sharing in all the excitement as she introduced herself to Mae. “Well, as you can see, the paralysis will slowly begin to release itself, and with therapy, Mr. Woodard could be home in no time.” She removed her glasses and placed them and Thomas’s file inside her briefcase. “Why don’t you take this celebration outside? Mr. Woodard’s dressed in those nice pajamas and sitting nice and tall in the wheelchair; you ladies should take him on a stroll. There’s a wonderful garden outside.”
“What you say, Thomas? You wanna go?” Mae asked.
“Yeah,” he whispered again.
Mae secured her and Simone’s belongings in Thomas’s closet. Then Simone grabbed the back of the wheelchair, released the brake, and the threesome headed to the garden.
“It’s nice out here. It don’t even feel like the end of July,” Mae said, inhaling the gentle breeze as Simone parked the wheelchair in the shade of a mature oak tree rooted near a park bench.
“Wow, Thomas,” Mae said as she plucked a speck of lint from Thomas’s pants. “This is the first time you’ve been outside in almost a month.” She reached out and took his hand. “Simone, where’s Kayla? Home with Andre?”
“Mmm-hmm,” Simone mumbled, nodding her head.
“What’s wrong? You and Andre arguing again?”
Don’t we always, Simone thought to herself. She caught her father’s eyes. The last thing Simone wanted was for him to worry about her and her pitiful marriage.
“No,” she lied, “we’re cool. They were knocked out when I left.”
The threesome sat in silence, enjoying the cool summer breeze and the marvelous views of the landscaped grounds. Simone tapped Mae on her leg and pointed at Thomas, now sleeping in the wheelchair.
“You think we should take him back upstairs?”
“Yeah, we may as well.” Mae released the brakes and grabbed the handles of the wheelchair. “That way, he can get some real sleep.”
The nurse from the prior night strolled in to help Thomas back in the bed.
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but we didn’t get your name last night,” Simone said in her professional voice.
“I’m Nurse Elaine.”
“Nurse Elaine, I’m Simone, Mr. Woodard’s daughter, and this is Mae, his wife,” Simone lied. Thomas and Mae weren’t a bit more married than the man to the moon. “You’ll be seeing a lot of us. Do you need some help?”
“No. His left side is perfectly fine. I’m just going to assist on the right. Hopefully, your father will regain full use of his right side, but in the event there’s some impairment, he needs to know how to cope. So,” she said as she tucked her body under Thomas’s armpit, “remember,” she panted, “you can’t do everything for him.”
With Thomas tucked in bed, Nurse Elaine dimmed the overhead lighting and passed Simone the remote to the television secured to the wall. Before the nurse’s foot could grace the threshold of the room, Thomas’s eyes popped open, and he started gasping for air.
“Daddy, what’s wrong?” Simone jumped from the chair.
Panic reigned over Thomas’s face.
“Oh my God!” Mae cried.
Turning on her heels, Nurse Elaine took one look at Thomas and said, “He’s having a seizure.” She pressed the call button to summon the nurses’ station and yelled, “We need a doctor in 2C.”
Simone grabbed Thomas’s hand. “Calm down, Daddy. Calm down,” she encouraged. “You’re having a seizure.”
The doctor barged through the door. “Okay, I need this room cleared, now!”
“Okay, ladies,” Nurse Elaine said, ushering Simone and Mae to the door, “we need you to wait outside the room.”
Simone tried to peep over Nurse Elaine’s shoulder. “Why, if he’s just having a seizure?”
“Nurse Elaine!” the doctor yelled. “He’s not having a seizure. Call a Code Blue!”
“Oh God,” she cried out, and then screamed down the hallway, “CODE BLUE! CODE BLUE! Stay out here,” she ordered before rushing back in Thomas’s room.
Seconds later, “Code Blue in 2C” was announced throughout the hospital.
What the hell is a Code Blue? Simone wondered as the hospital turned into a madhouse. Doctors and nurses scrambled about in a frenzy, all heading to Thomas’s room.
Mae burst into tears as Simone tried to decipher the reasoning behind the chaos unfolding before her eyes. Nurses and doctors were scrambling all over the place.
“What’s going on? What’s wrong?” Simone wondered aloud, but her question fell on deaf ears.
“Umm, excuse me.” A tender, relaxed voice stood out in the midst of the confusion. “Hi. I’m the hospital chaplain, responding to the Code Blue. Can we gather your family? I came to pray with you.”
Simone stared at the blonde-haired white man dressed in a simple pair of khakis and a burgundy button-up shirt. What the hell? She backed away from him. What was really happening? Why was a chaplain sent to pray with them? As Mae fell into the chaplain’s forced embrace and released a flood of tears, Simone reached out for one of the doctors.
Somebody’s going to tell me what the hell is going on.
“Excuse me!” she hollered out. “Excuse me, please,” she pleaded. “What’s wrong? What’s going on?”
“You need to clear this area,” he said without anything further.
“Excuse me,” Simone called out again to one of the nurses, rolling a huge piece of machinery into the room.
“Ma’am, you can’t be in the hallway. Somebody call security,” she yelled toward the nurses’ station.
Nurse Elaine rushed from Thomas’s room. Simone grabbed her by the arm. “Nurse Elaine, please,” she pleaded. “What’s going on? You said he was having a seizure. What’s a Code Blue?”
Nurse Elaine stopped and looked intently into Simone’s eyes. “Sweetheart,” she said softly as she grabbed Simone’s hands and squeezed. “You need to go somewhere and pray.”
“Oh my God,” Simone whispered as Nurse Elaine released her hands and hurried down the hall. “I gotta pray,” she mumbled. Looking around in a daze, she saw that Mae and the chaplain had disappeared.
“Excuse me, ma’am.” A security officer stormed down the corridor dressed in a black and gold uniform that sagged from her small frame. Simone sized her up, knowing the small, unarmed officer wouldn’t be a challenge if she really wanted to stay in the hallway. But, she wasn’t looking for a battle; she needed to pray. She needed to find the hospital chapel. “You gotta clear the hallway.”
“Okay, but can you tell me where the chapel is? The nurse said I need to pray.”
“It’s in the basement. C’mon, I’ll show you where it is.”
Simone followed the security officer to the elevators.
“Okay, this is my first week here,” the officer shared as the doors closed. “I don’t know exactly where the chapel, is, but we’ll find it.”
A thin, cool breeze greeted them the moment the elevator doors slid apart, exposing the creepy-looking basement. Furniture covered in white sheets crowded the hallway. Spider webs drooped from the ceiling.
“What is this?” Simone said, hesitant to step from the elevator.
“It flooded down here a while ago,” the guard said as she exited the elevator. Rubbing away the chill, she looked around, apparently having no idea where to go. “They’re still remodeling. I don’t think any of the offices have even moved back.”
“Yeah, but is the chapel down here?” Simone asked impatiently.
“Yeah. C’mon, we’ll find it.”
Simone followed the guard all around the ghostly basement. The click-clacking of their hurried footsteps bounced off the walls as they searched office after office for the chapel.
“Oh my God. Where is it?” Simone panicked. She had to get to her knees in God’s holy place and beg God to please, please help her father.
“We’ve only checked half the basement. C’mon, let’s check down here,” the guard said.
“No!” Simone cried, angry with the stupid guard. They were back at the elevators. “We already checked down there. We just went in a big-ass circle.”
“Well, let’s just look one more time.”
Simone stood frozen. Her eyes pooled tears as a weird, yet peaceful feeling engulfed her in a seemingly ghostly embrace.
“Do you feel that?” she whispered.
“Feel what?” The guard stared at Simone from the corner of her eye. “You’re scaring me.”
The doors to the elevator slowly squeaked opened. “Oh my God,” Simone said. Waking from her daze, she jumped onto the elevator that no one had summoned and frantically pressed the CLOSE button over and over again. “Close! Close!” she screamed as her train of tears fell.
“Hold u
p!” the guard yelled, jumping through the closing doors. “Where you going? We didn’t find the chapel.”
“I gotta get upstairs. Something’s wrong,” she cried. “And I didn’t get to pray,” she mumbled. “I didn’t get to pray.”
The elevator doors opened on Thomas’s floor. Mae was standing in the lobby, screaming at the doctors. Simone shot past the small crowd and ran to her father’s room, ignoring the yells from the nurses and doctors.
Running into the room, she screamed, “Daddy! Daddy, you okay?”
Once in the room, she snatched back the curtain. Thomas was stretched out on his back with his hands at his sides. His eyes were wide open in a blank, ghostly stare.
“We’re sorry, ma’am,” the doctor said, entering the room. “Your father had a blood clot in his leg.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
A light drizzle splattered from the sky as Simone sat on the pile of dirt that had become her father’s resting place. She’d come to the gravesite every day since the funeral a week ago.
God, why’d you take him? Simone cried.
“Excuse me, miss,” the elderly groundskeeper called out to her. “Are you okay? I don’t have an umbrella, but I can get you a bag or something.”
“No,” Simone cried, wiping her face with the back of her hand. “I’m okay.”
“Well, I’ll be in this general area if you need anything. Hey, umm…is that your Mercedes? I think that’s one of them unmarked police cars. I hope he ain’t getting ready to give you no ticket. I’ll go talk to him.”
“No, no,” she said, recognizing Andre’s cruiser as he slowly drove off. “That’s my husband. I guess he’s just coming to check on me.”
“Oh, okay,” the groundskeeper said as he pulled the few weeds sprouting from a grave a few sites away.
Simone pulled her cell phone from her pocket and called Andre. Where’s he going? she wondered as he whipped a U-turn, heading back towards the entrance.