Prisons

by Rob Edwards

  “We need to leave so these two can get on with their day,” Rena said.

  Taysha put a hand on Delton’s cheek and smiled proudly. “You’re not only proving it to yourself, you’re proving it to the whole world, the kind of man you are. Keep it up.”

  Delton wiped his eye, and leaned down for a hug from her.

  Judith dropped to her knees in front of Noah. Trying her best not to cry, she spoke to him. “Honey, mommy has to go now. You have a fun day, okay?”

  Noah picked up a stuffed flamingo and spoke again. “Bye,” He stepped to the side and tossed the bird, missing his target.

  Tears flooded Judith’s eyes once more. She rubbed them and tried to stand. Rena grabbed her arm and helped her up. Still rubbing away tears, they walked out of the room and Judith spun around to look through the window. Her breath fogged the glass, she clung so close to it.

  Taysha came in last, and closed the door behind her.

  Delton still stood over by the table. He crossed his arms, stared at the floor, smiling and shaking his head. Then he rubbed his eyes once more, took a deep breath and blew it out.

  Noah ran to the waste basket, tipped it over, dragged the stuffed animals out of it, and across the room.

  Delton walked over to him. “So, you decided to talk today, huh?”

  Noah ignored the question. He went back for more animals. Delton sat on the floor and watched him work. When Noah passed by, Delton put a hand out to stop him. “Hey buddy, let’s try this again.” He held out his fist one more time.

  Noah looked down and once more, hit it with his own. “Hey, me min.” Then he rushed off to get the last of the animals.

  She watched Delton crawl to a beanbag and sit in it. He looked exhausted, as if the effort of coaxing three words out of Noah sapped his strength, but she tried to understand it from his point of view. He truly had given effort in this. He studied to understand Noah’s issues, and made a plan of action that he could follow, to try and help Noah succeed. He had battled through Noah’s meltdowns and continued on, day after day, even when it looked like there was going to be no progress. Judith was so proud of him. As Noah began with his next round of animal tossing, Judith turned away from the window to Rena and Taysha. “Thank you,” she said.

  “For what?” Taysha said. “For sitting here on our rumps, while we watched Delton do all of the work?” She shook her head. “No, darling. I’m not taking any of the credit here.”

  Rena smiled. “I agree with her. Delton has worked very hard at this, and he deserves all the credit.”

  “Thank you for sitting on your rumps, and being here with Delton.” She smiled at them and walked out the door. As she walked down the hall she heard a squeak, step, behind her. She spun around to see Dr. Fitzpatrick heading in her direction. He smiled when he saw her, “Ah. Good morning, Miss Higgins.”

  Judith ran to him, and wrapped her arms around his chest. “Good morning, Dr. Fitzpatrick. And thank you.”

  “Oh my goodness,” After a short pause Dr. Fitzpatrick patted her shoulders awkwardly. “Thank me for what?”

  She pulled back and looked up at him. “Go in and check on Noah and Delton. You’ll see.” She turned and walked out. “Have a great day, Doctor.”

  As soon as Judith pulled the car out of the parking lot, she hit Darlene on speed dial.

  “Hey, Jude. What’s up?”

  “Noah spoke, Dar!” Judith screamed the news, surprising herself for being so loud.

  “Are you f-ing kidding me?”

  “No. He fist-bumped Delton and said, ‘Hey, me mon,’ or something like that. And when I said goodbye to him he said ‘bye’ back to me.”

  “Oh, Jude,” Judith could hear a quiver in her sister’s voice, and it made her tear up once again. “I’m so happy for you.”

  “I am so excited, I can’t even see straight.”

  “Well then, you need a man who can make you breakfast and drive you to work. Hey, I know of one.”

  Judith laughed. “You did not just turn my little victory into an attempt at a booty call.”

  Darlene laughed. “Not a booty call, girl. Just a blind date call.”

  “Not going there right now, Sister, but thanks. Love you.”

  “Just think about….” Judith tapped off the call and tossed the phone onto the seat next to her. The sun was shining brightly this morning, but to her it wouldn’t have mattered if it was pouring down rain. Today was already one of the brightest in her life.

  Once at work, she flipped on her computer and logged in.

  “Just letting you know, Bernie’s been asking about you.”

  Judith spun her chair around to see Simon peeking his head into her cubicle. “Bring him in,” she said. “I’ll give him a hug too.” She jumped up, yanked Simon in, and hugged him tight. “Noah spoke this morning,”

  Simon pulled back, excited. “You’re shitting me.”

  “No. I’m not,” she said with a squeak.

  “Nice of you to join us, Higgins,” Bernie’s gruff voice came from the door of her cubicle. “We got a party going on in here now?”

  “Yes, we do you big beautiful Bernie, you.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed hard.

  “What the hell?” Bernie said.

  Judith jumped back. “Noah spoke this morning.”

  “Oh, that’s wonderful,” Evelyn pushed past Bernie, and hugged Judith. “I know how worried you’ve been about this whole prison project thing, but it looks like it’s working out.”

  “Oh my God, Evelyn. It’s working out so well.” She pulled back and told all three of them about Noah’s laughter the day before, and then the fist bump this morning, and how he said “bye” to his mommy. Shelly came in for her hug too, and they all seemed happy for her. Even Bernie had quit his bitching for the time being. But he was the one who ended the festivities. “Okay, we have clients that depend on us too. It’s not just a feel good for ourselves, party time all day thing.”

  They each shook Judith’s hand and congratulated her once again before heading back to their own cubicles. “I was looking for you earlier, Judith. I need the Rothchild Expenditure Report by noon. Harrington’s been asking for it for two days now and I’ve been covering for you, but I can’t hold him off anymore. He’s really getting pissed at me.

  Judith looked at him wide-eyed. “You’ve been covering for me? Why?”

  Bernie scowled, and walked out the door. “Because I heard it takes a village, or some shit like that.”

  Judith chased after him. “Bernie Herbstreit.”

  Bernie stopped and turned around.

  “Thank you. I appreciate you.”

  She could tell he was doing everything he could to fight off a smile. “Just get me the damn report by noon.”

  “You got it.” She rushed back into her cubicle and opened the file on her computer. Grabbing her keys, she unlocked her cabinet and grabbed the bulging folder she had on the Rothchild account. She sat it down on her desk and began to organize it, when her phone rang. She picked up the receiver, pinched it into the crook of her neck, and continued to work. “Filmore National; this is Judith.”

  “Oh, hello, Miss Higgins,” An awkward woman’s voice was on the other end of the line. “This is Emily Deluca, a nurse here at Pleasant Oaks, and I’m calling about your father.”

  Judith felt her face flush. She tried to speak but her throat didn’t seem to want to release the words. She practically had to cough out, “What’s wrong?”

  “Well, we hate to have to say these things over the phone, but he just left for the hospital in an ambulance. The doctors here think he’s suffered a stroke.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Taking the corner too fast, the tires screeched. “Settle down, Judith,” She said aloud to herself. “You don’t need a ticket and you want to get there in one piece.”

  She picked the phone out of her purse and awkwardly hit Darlene on speed dial.

  “Hey, Jude,”

  “Dar. D
ad’s in the hospital. He’s had a stroke.” She felt bad for just blurting it out like that, but there really wasn’t any sense for small talk.

  “He what?”

  “He had a stroke. Pleasant Ridge called an ambulance for him.”

  “Is he going to be okay?” Darlene’s voice cracked.

  “Right now you know everything I know. Can you come down?”

  “Yes. What hospital?”

  “Cardinal, West.”

  “I’ll be there in twenty minutes.” The phone clicked dead.

  “Dar?” When there was no answer, Judith tossed the phone onto the seat next to her. “Fine. Just hang up on me.” She was easily agitated right now—sharp contrast to the complete elation she felt a mere five minutes ago. One phone call changed her whole outlook. She felt horrible telling Bernie she had to leave. He had actually been trying to be good to her, and she let him down again. Thankfully Evelyn went into her office and took over the report. But she didn’t look happy about it, and Judith couldn’t stop the nagging feeling that the whole office was beginning to think she was more of a burden than an asset to the department.

  Judith parked the car, and sprinted into Emergency.

  After explaining that her father was brought in, they ran her through the metal detector, and a hostess led her down to her father’s room. He was lying in the bed, unconscious, a tube running into his nose, and an IV into his wrist. An African American nurse named Edna, was there taking his blood pressure.

  “Do we know how he is?” Judith asked her.

  She finished listening through the stethoscope, then pulled them from her ears, and pulled the blood pressure cuff off with its standard Velcro rip. She looked up at Judith and offered a friendly smile. “Are you family?”

  Judith nodded. “Daughter.”

  “Doctor Russo was looking him over. He should be back in a minute to talk with you.” Edna grabbed her father’s wrist, and held it while she looked at her watch. Then she set it down and pulled his sheet back up. “If I see him I’ll let him know you’re here.”

  “Thank you,” Judith said. She pulled a chair next to her father’s bed, sat down and gripped his hand. She realized she was crying again. Rubbing her eyes, she didn’t know there could be any more tears left in them. She probably should start drinking something before she completely dehydrated. She reached over, grabbed a tissue from the box on the bed stand, dabbed at her eyes, and blew her nose.

  Darlene breezed through the door. “Any word?” She had on jeans with a ripped knee, a stained t-shirt and an Under Armor sweat jacket on over it, but not zipped up in front.

  “Darlene,” Judith said. “Why did you come here looking like that?”

  Darlene looked down at her clothes and back up at Judith. “Nobody gives a shit what you look like in the Emergency Room. They just want you here so they can get your permission to run the damn tests.”

  “Don’t you give a shit?”

  “When my father’s lying unconscious in a bed?” She shook her head. “No.”

  The doctor scooted through the doorway behind Darlene. “Hello, I’m Doctor Russo. I take it you’re his family?”

  “Hi, Doctor.” Judith stood and shook his hand. “We’re his daughters. I’m Judith Higgins and this is Darlene Longwood.”

  Dr. Russo shook both their hands. “I’m glad you’re here. I wanted to get your permission to treat him.” He went to the sink and washed his hands.

  Darlene sneered at Judith when his back was turned.

  “Your father had symptoms of a very serious stroke,” Dr. Russo said. From what I understand, he was playing chess, when all of a sudden he couldn’t lift his arm to move a piece on the board. According to the man he was playing against, his eyes grew distant, he tried to speak but it all came out as a garbled murmur, and he slumped in his chair.

  “Oh my God,” Darlene said. “He must have been terrified.”

  “I’m sure it shook him up,” Dr. Russo said. “We gave him something to help him rest, but we’re going to go ahead and do a CT scan as quickly as possible, to see what exactly is going on. The hope is that we can stop whatever is causing this.”

  “If you can stop it, will he be better?” Judith asked.

  “There’s no guarantee that he will be better. The hope is that he will get better over time. But we want to keep whatever it is from getting worse.”

  “Go ahead and do whatever you need to do,” Darlene said.

  “Someone will be in to get him very soon.”

  “Thank you, Doctor,” Judith said.

  He smiled at her. “You bet.” Then he walked out.

  Judith went over, sat down, and reached for her father’s hand once again.

  “Wow, he sure smiled at you.” Darlene kicked the doctor’s stool over and sat down.

  “What do you mean? No, he didn’t.”

  “He sure as hell did,” Darlene said. She used her feet to slide the stool back and forth across the floor. “And he had no ring on.”

  “Darlene, stop with the whole man thing,” Judith said. She was irritated that her sister continued to push the subject at the most inappropriate times. “I’m not ready for something like that right now,” She pointed at their dad. “And our father is lying here unconscious right in front of us. My love life isn’t even on the radar of topics to be discussed right now.”

  An orderly walked in to take their father away. Judith was thankful for his perfect timing. She was sure her sister had some snappy rebuttal and she just didn’t want to deal with it. He rolled the bed out of the room and told them it should only be a half hour or so and they would bring him right back.

  Judith’s phone buzzed and she checked her text. It was from Rena. “Dr. F. would like to sit with you and Delton to discuss next steps, when you pick up Noah, if you have time.” Judith quickly thumbed out, “Sure.”

  It was quiet for a few minutes while Darlene checked Facebook on her phone. Then she shoved it back into her pocket and looked at Judith. “So tell me all about talking Noah.”

  Judith had to stop and think. That whole incident seemed so long ago and so unimportant now. “He just walked right up to Delton, fist-bumped him and said, ‘My man,’ as if they had been saying it to each other every day for weeks.”

  Darlene waved her hands in the air. “Hold on, you have to back way up.” She pulled a chair over and sat it down facing Judith. “I want it from the start. “Why would Noah say ‘my man?’”

  She couldn’t help but smile now, recalling all the events leading up to Noah’s first words. She told about Delton studying and having plans for things to do each day. She talked about Noah giggling with joy at throwing the stuffed animals. And she explained how Delton started every day with a fist-bump with Noah, because he knew Noah didn’t like to be touched all that much and a fist-bump was the least intrusive greeting he could think of.

  It all seemed so impossible when she said it out loud, but she had witnessed it actually happen. Otherwise Judith thought she might be having the same disbelieving look as her sister. But then anger crept into her heart. On the most brilliant day of her young son’s life, Judith’s father had to fight for his. And Judith realized that, even though she loved telling her sister the whole story, she really wanted to tell her father. After all, if it weren’t for him, Noah wouldn’t be in the program, and there wouldn’t ever have been a breakthrough.

  Somehow, fathers really did know best after all.

  The bed rolled back in, and their father was put back in place, still unconscious. “The doctor will be right in to talk to you,” the orderly said.

  “In fact, I’m right here,” Dr. Russo said, coming in right behind him. He walked over and leaned against the sink with his arms crossed. Judith and Darlene turned their chairs to face him. “Okay, we know exactly what’s going on now and we know what to do. Your father has had an ischemic stroke on the left side of his brain due to plaque buildup in the artery. I would say there’s about 75% occlusion in the carotid and
it needs to be taken care of soon.”

  “Taken care of…like…surgery?” Darlene asked.

  “Yes. It’s called an endarterectomy. It’s not a terribly complicated procedure but we need to do it fairly quickly.”

  “Fine. Where do we sign?” Judith said. “Let’s get it going.”

  They spent the next four hours in the surgical waiting lounge watching a “Fix That House” marathon on the Home Channel. Judith and Darlene disagreed with every single make-over that was done. Considering that they were sisters, their decorating styles were incredibly different.

  Finally Dr. Russo, dressed in scrubs, came through the post-op door and walked over. “It went well. He’s in recovery now and you’ll be able to see him in another hour or so.”

  “Will there be lasting effects with this?” Judith asked.

  “There could be. The left brain was affected so that can mean some very specific things, the scariest for him being paralysis on the right side of the body, and speech issues. This makes sense with the story that he couldn’t move a chess piece and his speech was slurred.”

  “Will he recover his speech?” Darlene asked.

  “It’s tough to predict,” Dr. Russo said. “He should recover a good amount. Perhaps not completely, but you should also know that it will take some time, and some patience.” Dr. Russo told them that they would admit their father to the hospital and watch him for the next few days to make sure he was on the road to recovery. Then, with his bright smile, he shook both their hands and went on to help someone else’s shattered lives.

  The rest of the day was spent flanking their father while he lay unconscious in the bed.

  Eventually Judith looked at the clock, and realized she was about five minutes past the time she should have left.

  “Go,” Darlene said. “I got this.”

  Judith grabbed her purse and rushed to the car. She was going to have to speed in order to make it there on time. She hoped the prison bus could stay a little longer so she had a chance to meet with Delton too.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine