Handkerchief was the word chosen by Xara X. Xanakas.
"Dad!” cried Ragean.
I ran as fast as my wobbly
legs could carry me. She buried her head in my chest and wept hysterically. I
tried to make out the jumbled mess of words she tried to form, it was
pointless. I wanted to console her by telling her Drew would be okay, I just
couldn’t bring myself to lie. The cautionary words of Judd Callahan pierced
my brain again. I couldn't bring myself to utter those same words to my
daughter. She needed her father to be strong right now.
On the drive over, I begged, bargained, and pleaded with God to
save Drew. Drew had his whole life before him, it just seems so wrong to have
his life cut short. How does a parent ever imagine their life without their
child? I couldn’t picture my life without Drew in it. We might not have the
most solid relationship, as long as he was alive, I could handle anything else.
Raegan finally started to calm down. I untangled her from my chest,
“Where’s your mom?” I asked.
Her brown eyes swam in tears, “She went to ask the nurses if they
had any news.” As if saying the world brought the situation back to life, she
burst out in tears. I guided her to the hard plastic waiting room chairs. The
smell of hospital cleanliness was strong. The off white walls seemed to close
in around us.
“Raegan, honey, do you think you can tell me what happened?” I
asked quietly.
I watched as she squared her shoulders, almost like she was
mentally and physically pulling herself back together, “Drew and Jessie were
going out to celebrate their signing with a group of friends." I put my
hand on her leg to stop her.
“Who was in the car?” I was so distraught; I never once thought to
ask about possible passengers in the car. My heart began to leap in my throat.
So many lives could be changed tonight. The possibility was sickening.
“Jessie and Drew were riding together. The other guys were meeting
them there. One of the baseball players, Mike Duvall lives out on Payson Farms.
His parents were throwing a bomb fire for the senior players,” she said getting
off track.
“So Jessie and Drew were driving to the farm?” I asked trying to
steer the conversation.
“Yeah, Jessie was driving,” she whispered. I put my hand on her leg
in comfort and waited for her to continue. “We don’t know for sure what
happened, but Jess ran off the road and hit a tree. Jessie was wearing his
seat belt and had to be cut from the car. Drew wasn’t wearing his seat belt and
was thrown from the car.”
“Why the hell wasn’t he wearing his seat belt?” I asked. I could
hear the anger in my own voice. I was the one who taught the kids to drive.
Rule number one: The car does not move unless everyone has on their seat belt.
“I don’t know, dad.”
“We’ll just have to ask him when he gets out of surgery,” I said.
I sat back with my arm around Raegan. She had stopped crying, I
think we both needed the added comfort. I stared at the boob-tube, not really
caring what was on. The mindless infomercial brought relief.
Raegan jumped to her feet when Christine entered the waiting room.
“Did you find out anything?” she asked.
Christine stared at me. Her blue eyes were piercing with pain. I
got up and walked to her without speaking. She was once my wife, we knew one
another. I tried not to be hurt when she flinched as I hugged her. After a
while, she balled my shirt in her hands. “We can’t lose him,” she cried softly.
“We won’t,” I said. Please God, don’t let me be wrong I prayed.
When she had her emotions somewhat under control, she stepped back
taking Raegan in her arms.
“The nurse said the surgeon would be out soon to
talk to us.”
I crossed my arms, rubbing my hands up and down trying to push away
the goose bumps dancing on my cool bared arms.
I tried not to be hurt by the fact that I was just finding out that
my only son had signed his letter of intent. Later, I could deal with that
later. Right now, I just wanted to hold on the good memories I had with Drew.
I could easily close my eyes and picture his first day of t-ball
practice. He stood in the outfield, his brown glove and hat two sizes too. Unlike
the other children around him, Drew paid close attention to what the coach had
to say. Every move, every detail did not go unnoticed by him.
On our way home, we stopped to get ice cream, where Drew announced
that he would one day be a famous baseball player. Just like that, he was
hooked.
It was the sound of Christine digging through her purse, which
brought me out of memory lane. "I know I have a bag of tissues or a handkerchief
in here somewhere," she said.
When the doctor walked into the waiting room, we all jumped up at
once. Every hope and prayer said in the past two hours came down to this
moment. Whatever this doctor had to say, I knew it would change my family's
life.
"Mr. and Mrs. Dunn?" he asked. Nodding, neither Christine
nor I corrected him. He didn't need to know we were divorced.
"I'm Dr. Woodall. Your son has been in my care since he
arrived. Drew came to us with sever blood loss. In order to stop the bleeding,
we had to remove your son's legs."
Remove your son's legs. Those words bounced around my brain like a
ping pong being smacked back and forth.
I could see Dr. Woodall's mouth still moving, but nothing was
penetrating my brain. "Is he going to live?" I yelled, mostly trying
to clear my mind.
"He's no longer losing blood, which was our main concern. He
still has several obstacles to overcome. Everything will be touch and go from
here on out."
Please feel free to leave next week's challenge words at the end of either Challenge Me Monday posts. I will combined words from both post if necessary.
0 comments:
Post a Comment