Colors of Goodbye

by September Vaudrey

  “Thanks, Mom. You’re a lifesaver! I still can’t believe I’m going to be late on my very first day!” She moans but then laughs. In her world, making low-cost mistakes is good story fodder—an opportunity to poke fun at herself later, once the crisis is averted.

  “Don’t speed, baby,” I say. “They’ll know you’ll be late.”

  “I won’t. Love you, Mama!”

  “I love you, too.”

  The party ends, and I spend the next hour saying goodbye to the team. Only a few of Sam and Tember’s friends remain.

  My husband, Scott—the introvert—has been working from the sanctuary of our bedroom all day, reading, thinking, and avoiding the crowd. Formerly an attending emergency medicine physician in our hometown of Spokane, Washington, he left medicine six years ago to attend seminary. Now he is a pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, a large nondenominational church just outside Chicago. Days off are his chance to savor another good book and see if it sparks any new ideas he can employ at work or in his own life. And today is his kind of day—sunny, blue skies, warm breeze, and three of our kids at home. Sensing the coast is clear, he reappears in the kitchen.

  “Need any help?” he asks, pouring himself a Diet Coke over ice.

  “Nope, I think we’ve got it,” I say. “But thanks.” Book and soda in hand, he heads to our screened back porch, the Bug Room—no connection to Katie’s nickname, but named, rather ironically, for being a refuge from Midwest mosquitoes.

  Deanna and Brooke are helping to clean up in the kitchen. Sam is moving chairs, and Tember stands at the kitchen counter, cutting up lemons to make some fresh lemonade as she chats with one of her girlfriends. The phone rings again, and I pick up. “Hello?”

  “Mrs. Vaudrey?”

  “Yes.”

  “This is Nancy, the nurse administrator at Kane County Hospital. Your daughter has been brought in to the emergency department, and I need you to come down right away.”

  Her polite directness catches me off guard. I try to untangle her words. Daughter? Which daughter? I have three. Tember is here at the counter. Our oldest daughter, Bethany, twenty-one, and her brother Matt, twenty-three, are away at college in California. Is she talking about Katie? Kane County Hospital? That’s not far. It must be Katie. Yes, Katie.

  From my years as the wife of an emergency department physician, I know exactly what it means when an ER nurse calls the family and tells them only “come down right away.” It means she has news that should not be shared over the phone. My mouth goes dry. It’s against procedure for a nurse to give answers over the phone to the rapid-fire questions now surging into my mind. What happened? Is Katie badly hurt? Is she conscious? Is she . . . alive?

  I try to collect my thoughts. The bustle in the kitchen ceases, and all eyes turn to me. I glance at the clock—4:10 p.m. I spoke to Katie on her cell around three. Whatever has happened, it has taken more than an hour to get her to the hospital and notify her family. Not a good sign.

  “Mrs. Vaudrey? Will you come?”

  “Oh. Yes. Okay, we’ll be right down.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Vaudrey.”

  “Wait—Nancy?”

  “Yes?”

  “Was it a car accident?”

  She hesitates. “Yes.”

  “We’re on our way.” I hang up the phone.

  My body goes numb. I become small, and my skin turns cold. My tongue is thick and tingly, as if I’d stood up too fast and might pass out.

  At that moment, at some core level, I know.

  2

  OCTOBER 1993

  The autumn sun and azure sky couldn’t mask the crisp bite in the air. In the garden, a few late raspberries clung to withering brambles. Out in the pasture, the brittle alfalfa stubble meant shoes were once again a necessity. Barefoot season was over. Autumn had come.

  Big sister Bethany, six, and her school friend Mary had spent the afternoon exploring the fields that surround our house. They now wandered toward the large, deserted doghouse next to the garage—the perfect spot for a secret fort.

  Little sister Katie played nearby, far enough away to honor her big sister’s playtime with a friend but near enough to eavesdrop on their “big girl” conversations. She was wearing—as always—a dress with matching ribbons on her pigtails. Her love of girlish fashion outweighed her certainty that fresh scratches on her unprotected legs would sting in the bathtub later that night.

  Scott was reading on the back deck and I was rinsing dishes at the kitchen sink when Bethany’s shrill, panicky cries pierced the afternoon calm. I dropped my sponge and bolted toward her screams. Scott was one step ahead of me. By the time we crossed the lawn and rounded the garage, the three girls were racing toward us.

  “What’s the matter? What happened?” I asked, pulling Bethany close and searching for cuts or bruises.

  “Bees! I got attacked by bees!” she said. Angry red welts were already rising on her tear-streaked face and trembling hands. Scott scooped her into his arms, and we hurried to the house where he could inspect her more closely. Beestings in large quantity on a young child were no small matter. Once inside, I pulled the Benadryl from the bathroom cupboard and checked on newborn Tember, swaddled and asleep on the sofa, oblivious.

  In the calm of the kitchen—with Mary, Katie, eight-year-old Matt, and little brother Sam looking on—Bethany recounted her ordeal.

  “We were playing in the doghouse, and all of a sudden these bees just started attacking me! They went under my shirt and in my hair!” Bethany turned and looked squarely at her little sister. “But Katie killed them all!” she said proudly.

  All eyes turned to Katie, her hair ribbons still daintily in place, her dress unmussed. She smiled and looked down.

  “Mary just stood there,” Bethany said, a hint of betrayal in her voice. Poor Mary grinned awkwardly. “But Katie came running and just started swatting the bees. They were flying everywhere! But she kept swatting my head and my shirt until she killed all the bees!”

  Upon inspection, Scott counted half a dozen welts on Bethany, and he pulled seven dead yellow jackets out of her hair—and even more from under her shirt.

  But Katie hadn’t been stung—not even once.

  In the moment of crisis, Bethany had screamed in pain. Mary had frozen. But Katie had charged in, systematically defending her sister by swatting and killing more than a dozen yellow jackets with her bare hands.

  Katie was four years old.

  3

  4:12 P.M., SATURDAY, MAY 31

  I steady myself against the counter by the kitchen phone. I blink, straighten my back, and turn to face the kids. Sam and Tember stare, motionless. Deanna and I lock eyes.

  “What’s the matter?” Tember asks, setting down a lemon and her knife. Sam and Tember step closer.

  I don’t want to believe what my gut is telling me. And without more information about Katie’s condition, I don’t want to overreact and freak out the kids. Perhaps Katie is fine and Nurse Administrator Nancy is an idiot at protocol. So I choose my words carefully.

  “Katie’s been in a car accident,” I say, “and the hospital would like us to come down right away.” I pray Deanna will interpret the unspoken meaning behind these words.

  She gets it. “You go. I’ll take care of things here. Go!”

  Sam’s face turns white. Tember’s eyes catch mine and fill with tears. Afraid my face will betray my attempts at nonchalance, I avert my gaze.

  “C’mon, kids,” Deanna says. “Let’s gather up and pray for Katie.” She and Brooke begin circling everyone together.

  I walk past them toward the French doors that separate our family room from the Bug Room. Through the glass, I see Scott rocking in his favorite chair, reading, enjoying the beautiful day, at peace. I grasp the cool brass door handle, but pause. We are in two different worlds separated by these doors. I twist the handle, crashing into his world so I can drag him into mine.

  Scott looks up, dark eyes blinking and brow furrowed as he reins
in his thoughts from his book and turns to me.

  “Kane County Hospital just called,” I say. “Katie’s been brought in. Car accident. They want us to come down right away.” Without moving his eyes from mine, Scott sets down his book. I keep my voice steady. Perhaps I am overreacting. I don’t want to sway the jury with what I’m about to say next: “The nurse gave me no details. Just ‘Come down.’”

  The color drains from his face.

  For a brief second, we look at each other in silence, aware that with one phone call, our lives may have changed forever. How many times as an ER physician had Scott asked a nurse to make such a phone call to another person’s family as he worked to save their loved one? Now he is on the receiving end of such a message. He, too, interprets the nurse’s glaring omission of details as an ominous sign. She offered no “She’s stable,” no “Her injuries are not life threatening”—not even a “She’s being taken to surgery.” Just “You need to come down right away.”

  Scott closes his eyes, motionless, and then I see a slight flinch in his jaw.

  He understands.

  He stands to his feet, steps past me, and pushes through the French doors.

  Tember meets him. “Can Sam and I come?” she asks, pleading in her voice.

  “No.” He heads to our bedroom for his shoes.

  Okay, then. I’d be inclined to bring the kids with us and keep everyone together, whatever this afternoon might hold. But a hospital ER is Scott’s world. He knows better than I do what we may be facing.

  “You guys stay put,” I say, trying to sound upbeat as I grab my purse. “We’ll call you as soon as we know more.”

  “We’ll take care of everything here,” Deanna reassures me.

  Scott returns to the kitchen, grabs his keys from the basket, picks up his cell phone, and feels his back pocket for his wallet. Sam and Tember stare, silent.

  “Go,” says Deanna.

  I kiss the top of Tember’s silky head and squeeze Sam’s arm. Then Scott and I walk out the door. Seconds later, we are en route to the hospital—a thirty-minute drive.

  Out of earshot of the kids, I want to hear it straight from Scott. Am I overreacting? Have I misinterpreted Nancy’s silence?

  “What does it mean, that the ER nurse didn’t tell us anything?” I ask. “That’s not good, right? Do you think she just forgot to tell us how Katie is doing? Could she be all right?”

  Scott is rocking forward and back in the driver’s seat, one hand on the wheel, one hand rubbing his forehead. “No, honey. It’s not good. Not good.”

  “Should we have brought Sam and Tember?”

  “When we get to the ER, we’ll need to focus on Katie. If this turns out badly, I don’t want Sam and Tember sitting off to the side somewhere by themselves. At least at home they’ll have Deanna and Brooke.”

  “Should I call the big kids?” Bethany and our oldest son, Matt, and his wife, Andrea—“the big kids”—live in Southern California, where they attend college and grad school, respectively.

  “Let’s wait until we get to the hospital and know more,” he says, continuing to rock.

  “Agreed. They will feel helpless being so far away.” And I am hoping against logic to have good news for them once we see Katie. “Dear God, please-please-please help Katie be okay,” I pray aloud. Our family is rooted in the Christian faith, strengthened over the years by finding God more than trustworthy to see us through some of our darker days. So my reflex response in crisis is to pray. “Please, God. Please.”

  I am helpless in the passenger’s seat as the miles tick by. All I can think to do is to get other people praying. I scroll through my cell phone and begin calling our friends. “Katie’s been in an accident. Please pray—and spread the word,” I say again and again to our friends. I leave voice messages with those who don’t pick up. I call my best friend, Sandy, in Spokane, but it goes straight to voice mail. When I hear the familiar sound of her voice on the recording, I get choked up and leave her a semifrantic message.

  4

  WE FIND THE HOSPITAL, park on the street, and enter through the ambulance bay. A nurse sees us and approaches.

  “I’m Nancy, the nurse administrator,” she says.

  “We’re Katie Vaudrey’s parents. Is she alive?” I blurt out.

  She pauses before responding. “She is alive. But she is unconscious.”

  “What happened?”

  “Evidently her car swerved into oncoming traffic, and another driver struck her on the passenger side. Let me bring you to her.”

  “Was anyone else hurt—in the other car?” I ask.

  “No. The other driver walked away with only a few scratches on his cheek from his air bags.”

  “Thank goodness.”

  Nancy leads us into the trauma room and pulls back the curtain. There lies Katie, laid out on a gurney with tubes up her nose and down her throat. Gone are her plaid men’s necktie, white dress shirt, and capris. She is draped in nothing but a white sheet. Monitor wires and IV lines link her body to a host of blinking, beeping machines. A stiff neck brace holds her head in place. Yet in spite of the violent car crash, there’s not a scratch on her. Not a cut, bump, or bruise. Auburn-brown tendrils of hair form a halo around her face against the white hospital pillow. In the midst of this medical mayhem, Katie looks peaceful. Beautiful, even.

  But as I look at her, my hand covers my mouth to stop words that are blazingly clear to my spirit from tumbling out: She’s not in there. She’s gone.

  In just one glance, I know. What I sensed over the phone is affirmed. The Katie spirit that filled—overflowed—this tiny frame is glaringly absent.

  A flash of panic fires through my brain, and miniscule, infrared sparks of light swirl before my eyes, obstructing my vision. I grasp the bed rail.

  But logic and a mother’s hope override the horrid reality trying to declare itself as fact to my soul. She’ll be okay. We can fix this.

  “Hey, Bug,” Scott whispers, a catch in his throat. He strokes her hair, but then father turns doctor, and he looks to the monitors.

  I lift her hand, warm but heavy. Two things about Katie’s appearance reveal the depth of her injury, even to my medically untrained eye: The tip of her tongue will not quite stay inside her mouth. A breathing tube is holding her teeth slightly ajar—and her tongue lolls forward, past her teeth and onto her lower lip. It looks dry and uncomfortable. I gently push her tongue back behind her teeth, but it just gravitates forward again, coming to rest again on her lower lip. It’s unnatural.

  And her eyes won’t stay closed. She is unconscious, but her eyelids rest only about halfway down. I gently run a finger down each lid, forcing them shut. But they slowly rise, returning again to about half-mast. The vacant gaze of her eyes is a shocking contrast to the bursting-with-life girl who dashed out of my kitchen less than two hours ago.

  The ER doc, a kindly looking man with white hair, enters. Seeing us, he takes a moment to busy himself with the chart in his hands. The fluorescent lights overhead reflect in the tiny beads of sweat gathering above his upper lip.

  “I’m Dr. Rogers, the attending physician,” he says without looking up. “I am so sorry about your daughter’s accident.” We nod impatiently.

  “Katherine’s in a coma. She had no pulse at the scene,” he says. “It took the paramedics twenty minutes to get her extricated from the car, and they revived her in the ambulance. She has a fractured skull. Her neck is broken, but it doesn’t appear to be displaced. The real problem is the bleeding in her brain. She just got back from CT, where we scanned her head and neck.” The doctor then begins to explain Katie’s condition using simplistic layman’s terms.

  In any medical situation with our family, Scott is always discreet about his own past medical career. He prefers to let the doctor be the doctor when it comes to his wife or kids. But today, layman’s terms will not suffice. The stakes are too high for discreet. He wants the full medical picture, physician to physician. “I’m a retired emergency med
icine physician,” he says. “I was an attending physician in a trauma center for twelve years. Can I see her scans?”

  “Oh! Certainly,” Dr. Rogers says. He leads the way to a small, dimly lit room where CT images can be viewed on a large computer screen. He pulls up Katie’s CT, and Scott’s face goes pale.

  “Oh, Bug,” he groans, rocking on his toes.

  “Katherine has a significant bleed,” Dr. Rogers says quietly. “Her ventricles are completely filled with blood. Her c-spine images show a fracture at C1 and a basilar skull fracture.”

  “Interpret,” I whisper to Scott.

  “It’s bad,” he says, pointing to the expansive spread of white on the film. “All this is blood. This is one of the worst CTs I’ve ever seen.” I know he’s seen thousands of CTs in his life. I want to throw up.

  “Her pupils are unresponsive,” Dr. Rogers adds gently.

  Scott and I return to Katie in the trauma room. Nurses whisk around, speaking in urgent, hushed tones. Scott reads through her chart, one eye on the monitors. I stroke Katie’s hand, her face, and I shove aside my earlier sense that she is gone.

  “Katie,” I whisper in her ear. “Come on, girl. You’re a scrapper. Fight! Fight. Fight.” She can get through this. We just need to solve the medical issues. We need to figure out the bleed.

  “Tember and Sam need to get here—and fast,” Scott says.

  Please, please, God, keep her alive until they get here. “I’ll call Brooke.” I slide open my phone, but in this brick hospital building, I have no reception. I head back outside to get a signal.

  As I step onto the ambulance bay, the early summer warmth envelops me, melting away the air-conditioning-induced goose bumps on my arms. As I try with trembling hands to dial Brooke’s number, a slow-motion hush washes over me and stops me in my tracks. I raise my eyes.

  Ancient oaks line the hospital street. Above, a thin white cloud hovers against a cerulean-blue sky. The almost-summer scent of freshly mowed lawn hangs moist in the air, and fairylike tufts of down from nearby cottonwoods drift by. A deep sense of peace floods through me, and my trembling hands drop to my side. This moment feels holy. Tears begin to run down my cheeks as I lift my face to God.