by Barbara Ebel
Danny’s eyes sparkled and he laughed wholeheartedly. “We must both be fans. I have an autographed book by the genius. I believe you are referring to ‘If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.’”
“Perfect,” Vance said. He walked around Danny, pulled in the stool a little bit and sat down. “Now, tell me.”
When Danny finished explaining the notions and concepts he had in mind, Vance remained silent. Finally, he nodded.
“When do you want to start working?” Vance wanted to know.
“Right now.”
Chapter 17
Danny lost track of all time. Vance had left, he kept tinkering at the bench, and then realized how tired he felt. He could go home, possibly wake someone up, or he could sleep in a hospital call room. Instead, he walked across the research building’s hallway to the couch and, after rolling up a towel to substitute as a pillow, he laid down and easily fell asleep.
His pager on the table woke him up and he started fumbling for it as he spotted the time on a wall clock. If he were in the hospital, it would be buzzing with activity but not a sound was to be heard at 7 a.m. in the lab. These researchers probably come in at eight, he thought. People with normal lives.
The ER was calling. No matter how he altered his office hours or surgeries in the near future, his call schedule was firm. And today he was ‘on.’ Strange, however, to be contacted immediately. He returned the call and found out a head case was on its way, actually almost there.
Danny stopped in a bathroom for a few minutes, freshened up, and then made the short walk to the ER. Casey’s ambulance was at the curb, the back door open, and a bloody sheet draped on the bench. He pieced together Casey’s schedule in his mind and realized he must be 11-7 this week.
Stepping into the ER, Toni steered a dirty stretcher into the hallway from the trauma room. Her crisp paramedic uniform was worse for wear and, when she saw Danny, she acknowledged him with a slight nod towards the door.
They walked in side-by-side. All necessary hands were over the patient, monitors and equipment, while Casey was in the process of giving the ER doc a report. Danny jockeyed his way in to make them both aware of his presence.
The young man on the stretcher had lacerations like he’d been in some kind of martial arts sword fight. A bloody mess was the only description Danny could think of but he also knew there had to be a head injury since they had called him. He stepped around Casey and the respiratory therapist oxygenating the patient’s lungs to check his pupils when the ER doc shouted ‘clear’ while trying to shock him out of ventricular fibrillation. Danny stood back as they continued with the resuscitation.
He shook his head; the patient had to be as young as David Bell. And what had gone wrong this sunny morning that he found himself at death’s door? Then an image flashed in Danny’s mind of what had been partially sitting on the soiled sheet in the ambulance … light-weight helmet.
The EKG was flat-line despite the staff’s best attempts to make it otherwise. The ER doc finally held his hand up like he was stopping traffic. He grimaced, the bags under his eyes more noticeable. “I’m calling it,” he said. Looking at the clock, he added, “7:46.”
About a third of the staff disappeared out the door while everyone else tended now to the lifeless body, the gathering of personal information from tattered clothing, and the endless paperwork and chart notes for the short time he was in their care.
The physician in charge continued working while glancing at Danny. “You got here quick,” he said. “And sorry about this.”
“I’ll fill him in, doc,” Casey said.
Danny, Casey and Toni walked into the hallway. “Do you want to go outside?” Casey asked. “We’re off so we can start getting the ambulance ready for tonight’s shift.”
“Sure,” Danny said.
“But a quick stop here,” Toni said, pointing to the lounge. They followed her lead knowing it was coffee they all craved; after they poured three full Styrofoam cups, they went outside.
“Whatever it was, it was a horrific way to die,” Danny said. “We’ll never know what the rest of his life would have been had he survived. I would imagine his head injury was as bad, or worse, than his external and internal injuries.”
“In all these years,” Casey lamented, “this was the first. And to tell you the truth, I never even heard about this before.”
Danny held his coffee without sipping and looked questioningly at him.
“A deer versus a scooter or a version of a motorcycle,” Casey said. “Full impact.”
“That young fella,” Toni said, “that deer carcass, that bike … all mangled around each other. It was awful.”
Silence ensued until Toni stepped up into their vehicle, set her coffee down and started putting things away.
“I got a text before from Mary,” Casey said. “Sara was leaving for work after the babysitter got there and asked her if she knew your whereabouts. She was real concerned because you apparently hadn’t come home. Neither of them thought you were on call last night.”
Danny’s shoulders sagged. “I didn’t mean to worry them. I’ll give them a call.”
Toni shot a glance their way. “You know what a woman would be thinking if her man doesn’t come home, don’t you?”
“She’s right, you know,” Casey commented. “And you’ve been down that path before. Why don’t you fill me in so I know how to defend you? But also because I am curious and concerned.”
“The only thing that lets a man get off sleeping beside his woman,” Toni said, “is if he has to work in a different time zone or is ill in a hospital. And if he’s on the job nearby, he has to have witnesses.”
“Sounds like he has to be handcuffed to her bedpost,” Casey said.
“No, that’s a bit too restrictive or kinky. Locked in the house is more like it, with alarms that go off if someone tries to leave in the middle of the night.”
“I’m glad we agree on the kinky part,” Casey said. “I’m beginning to understand why you’re not married.”
“You betcha,” she said. “The last guy I dated told me he was going fishing one weekend and I came to find out his last girlfriend was not totally out of the picture. He called the status of that relationship ‘the photo finish’ – as in, when an old girlfriend was fading out as a new one broke through the winner’s banner. Anyway, he had spent another night with her.”
“So what’d you do?” Casey asked.
“What any female paramedic would do. I told him if I ever gave him mouth-to-mouth again, I’d bite off his tongue. And that wouldn’t be the only appendage I’d bite off.”
“Uh, I hate to interrupt,” Danny said, “but are you two finished?”
“Oh, yeah, sorry Danny,” Casey said. “So anyway, I’m on the way home and I can reassure Mary you were at the hospital. But Sara must have left already.” He eyed him cautiously. “But were you here all night?”
“No. I was across the way in R&D. And I did have to sleep there for a little bit because my eyes were slamming shut. It may not be the last time either if I am going to invent a ground-breaking method to handle epileptic patients.”
Toni paused as she listened to the confidence behind Danny’s words; Casey’s face grew serious and he rubbed his hand along his crew cut. “If there’s anything I can do to help you, either at home or over in the lab, just let me know. I believe it’s David’s recovery that is foremost on your mind.”
-----
Mid-afternoon and without knowledge of any incoming emergencies, Danny decided to head home. But, as he headed out of the parking lot and glanced at his watch, he decided to take a chance. Sara should still be at school and, in recent years, he couldn’t remember ever paying her a surprise visit.
He suppressed a yawn and flipped on the windshield wipers for a couple of swipes. An earlier shower had left droplets on the window but now the sun began even evaporating the small puddles as he drove east.
The stately brick bu
ilding already showed signs that classes had been dismissed as after-school activities had begun. When he drove slowly around the front, he glanced over the vehicles and finally spotted Sara’s car. Since he felt so tired, he sighed with relief that the trip was not in vain.
He parked his Lexus and went to the door where he had to be buzzed in by the front office. The school has more security than a hospital, he thought, which was somewhat reassuring since both his ex-wife and daughter spent their days there.
Inside the office to the right, Danny poked his head in. One woman was feeding papers into a fax machine. “Where can I find Sara?” he asked.
“Dr. Tilson,” she said, “we haven’t seen you in forever.”
Danny laughed. “That ends right now. Forever is a long time.”
“She’s probably still in her homeroom. Make a right down the hallway and it’s at the end. Room 8.”
“Thanks so much.”
Danny saw that the door to Room 8 was closed so he peered in the window and, sure enough, class was dismissed. Sara sat at the head desk and a man sat ninety degrees off to the side in a wooden straight-back chair.
He knocked and waited for acknowledgement before going in; the man looked over and Sara’s face lit up. As she rose, she waved for him to enter.
“Danny, what a surprise,” she said, smoothing the black and white floral dress she wore. A belt accentuated her waistline and her lipstick must have been refreshed during the day. She still made his heart thump, especially when he encountered her in unfamiliar places or situations.
“Please have a seat and meet Ross, our principal. We’re just discussing budget concerns. There’s never enough money to do what we’d like.”
Knowing the head of the school had been interested in Sara in the past, Danny stiffened. He held out his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“You must be the lucky man who used to be married to one of our finest teachers,” Ross said.
“I am fortunate that we are still a couple,” Danny said with sincerity, noting Ross’ thin frame and sparse beard and mustache. He didn’t seem like the bereaving widower that Sara had described to him.
“I was worried about you,” Sara said, her tone changing as she sat back down.
“I was just leaving,” Ross said.
“No, that’s okay,” Sara said.
“With an assistant’s help,” Danny said, “I started a new project over at the medical campus yesterday. It may consume time which I already don’t have.” He laughed lightly.
“Danny is very dedicated,” Sara said, “as we all are.”
Danny had to agree, especially looking around at Sara’s impeccable classroom: A large world map covered the side bulletin board; a circular table near them had a lone microscope with what looked like an exhibit of small reptilian species laid out all around it; one blackboard had her writing, fluid and sweeping with biologic terms and short definitions; and her desk had a black and white picture of Darwin sitting with a notebook on the Galapagos Islands. Underneath it she had taped, “Always be thinking creatively thinking. Solve biologic puzzles.”
“We have a student here that saw a doctor over in your campus’s neurology department,” Ross said. “He’s doing quite well.”
“Right now, one of my most vexing patients is almost as young as your students.”
“I bet you can understand an older person having difficulties,” Ross said, “but a young person with serious health problems is a different story. But actually, our student is doing quite well. The school had a fundraiser and, with the money we collected, we were able to help him get a service dog. The dog, Melbourne, now alerts him as well as his teachers that a seizure is imminent.”
Danny’s unrest over Ross’s presence with Sara faded. “That’s exactly what I’m concentrating on - epilepsy. And a service dog for seizures is an idea I haven’t had experience with. I think, down the road, the same type of dog may be a helpful addition for my patient. Thank you, Ross, for your input.”
Ross’s pencil-thin eyebrows rose and he smiled. “Sure thing. Any time.” He absent-mindedly got up. “I better leave you two alone. See you tomorrow, Sara.”
The principal walked out, snapping shut the door behind him.
Sara began putting away pens and sorting papers on her desk for the next day. “You certainly did surprise me and I’m glad you came by.”
“Me, too. It’s been too long. The principal seemed more together than I imagined him.”
“He’s come a long way. He’s getting over the grief from his wife’s passing and is a lot more whole. He asks me for advice about women once in a while since he’s taking baby steps back into dating.”
Danny smiled. “Since that dating doesn’t involve you, I wish him lots of luck.”
When Sara got up, she led the way out. In the hallway, she closed the door and wrapped her fingers around Danny’s. They walked out hand-in-hand like the corridor was a wedding aisle.
-----
After another few days of surgeries, office work and extensive tinkering in the lab, Danny hoisted Julia onto his shoulders, called Dakota, and went outside. Wearing light jackets and carrying a tennis ball in his pocket, they went up to the main backyard porch. From there, Danny put Julia down, dug the ball out and threw it as far as he could. Dakota took off like a bullet and Julia slowly ambled down into the grass.
The French door opened and Casey stepped out. “I was going to hunt you down,” he said, stretching his arms over his head then behind him. “I know it’s short notice, but how about coming to court with me tomorrow? It’s for the finger-debacle issue.”
Danny eyed his stretching maneuvers. “Despite your muscles, you sure stay limber. Yes, I think I can arrange that because I’m already jockeying my schedule around. I don’t think I want to miss it.”
“Good. We’ll leave at nine and meet Mark Cunningham at the courthouse.”
Chapter 18
Danny and Casey quickly walked up the wide courthouse steps. They both wore suits and shoes like Wall Street businessmen and looked more refreshed than the haggard lawyers rushing past them. Inside, they stood in a short line for security where everyone moved quickly, familiar with the process.
Their assigned room was upstairs so they took the steps and waited for Mark on a bench. Casey wrung his hands and rotated his wedding band.
“This is a whole different world,” he said. “I guess I’m uncomfortable with it because I don’t know enough about what goes on. When I hear about seemingly bad people getting off without much punishment, I don’t understand the law. And I sure couldn’t work as an attorney.” He watched a lawyer walk by with a woman who scowled at him after an innocent glance. Her hardened appearance almost made his skin crawl.
“I agree,” Danny said.
“You’re a seasoned veteran already,” Casey said. “I hope this is my first and last time in a courtroom.”
“If you don’t attract trouble, it should be. By the way, how is Mary feeling?”
Casey stopped fiddling with his hands and flashed a wide smile. “Fine, and her appointments are going well, too.” On purpose, he didn’t mention their first healthy ultrasound pictures.
The heavy doors opened to their left and a cascade of people left, including two young children being dragged by an adult. From among the group, Mark emerged and stood before them, reshoving his briefcase closed due to its overstuffed contents.
“Good day, gentlemen,” Mark said. “I just had another case. Rare to have a to-follow in the same room. It must be my lucky day. You can go in unless you have any questions.” He cocked his head and they both shook their heads ‘no.’
“I’m taking a bathroom break,” he said and shuffled down the hallway with short steps.
Casey peered around the doorway into the big room. “Just like TV,” he said and rolled his eyes.
Danny stood. “Come on, let’s go in and get seated, especially before her highness shows up.”
Casey rose and straightened
up his shoulders; his heart rate ramped up a bit as he went in and sat with Danny in the front row. Danny decided not to tell him that he’d be sitting up closer as Mark came back in and signaled for Casey to follow him to a front table.
They all heard the clicking of high heels as Rachel and Phil Beckett came up the aisle. “Hi, boys,” she said as she sat with her attorney at the other table; she had on a mauve pantsuit with a floral pin on the lapel and matching earrings.
Danny watched both lawyers and clients from behind. The time for attorney-client discussions was over at this late date and all four were quiet and expectant of the judge to be announced.
“All rise,” said the bailiff. “Judge Underwood presiding.”
The black-robed judge ambled in from the back door and sat down. With broad shoulders and a square chin, she looked like a retired heavy-duty sports player. Rather than once again inspect the briefs she had put on the desk, she scrutinized the new group in her courtroom.
“Mr. Cunningham,” she said with a husky voice, “according to your brief, your client is fine with a judge deciding this case. I will let him reconsider a jury trial one more time before we begin.”
For appearances sake, Mark glanced next to him. Casey shook his head and placed his hands on the table.
“Your Honor,” Mark said, “my client does not want to tie up the court’s time or attention on this matter. As you recognize, he is only asking for due monetary compensation for the medical bills he sustained. We will decline a jury trial and ask for your consideration and verdict.”
Mark believed the woman at the bench had a reputation of being a no-nonsense judge so he held his tongue and didn’t pitch into a theatrical discussion about the horrors of Casey’s accident. On the other hand, unless Phil was good at reading people, he was at a disadvantage since he primarily worked in Knoxville and was not too familiar with the Nashville judges.
When Mark finished, the judge narrowed her eyes at Casey and then looked over at Phil and Rachel. “Mr. Beckett, I hear that is a fine law firm you have over in Knoxville. Welcome to our city.” She cracked a small smile and Rachel relaxed with a deep breath. “Are these medical bills a financial burden for your client to pay?”
