Arts & Entertainments: A Novel

by Christopher Beha

  BY THE TIME HE woke the next morning, he knew who that person was. He waited for the school day to begin before walking to St. Albert’s, so that he wouldn’t see any of the teachers or the boys. He wore the same clothes he’d been wearing for two days—the only ones he had. It had been impulsive to give those bags away; he could have used their contents now.

  Outside the school, Stephen McLaughlin sat on the sidewalk, holding his sign.

  “Handsome E,” he said. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”

  “I got fired,” Eddie told him.

  “Doesn’t surprise me. I’ve been trying to tell you for years these people have no loyalty.”

  “I should have listened.”

  Stephen smiled in recognition.

  “How’s your mother doing?”

  “She’s good.” Eddie lowered himself down beside Stephen. “She lives in Florida.”

  “You get down to see her much?”

  “Not as much as I should.”

  “She’s a nice woman. She always looked after me when my dad was being tough.”

  “I should get down there more.”

  “And how about your wife?”

  Eddie thought Stephen might know something after all, but his face showed only casual interest.

  “She’s pregnant,” Eddie said. “Due any day now.”

  “Congratulations. Boy or girl?”

  “Girls. Three of them.”

  “That’s wild,” Stephen said.

  They sat together for the rest of the morning and into the afternoon. They didn’t talk about much. But that suited Eddie— sitting quietly next to someone who’d always known him. Nearly every day for three years Stephen had sat in this place, saying almost nothing. His life took place inside his head. What happened on the sidewalk wasn’t nearly as real to him as whatever was going through his mind. This had always seemed a little sad to Eddie, but not anymore. Eddie felt a bit as he had while sitting next to Susan at church. He’d stopped going once she threw him out, and now he realized that he missed it. He also realized that Susan had never gone to church on the show. The new Susan— the champion of Richard Oh’s melted figurines—would have seemed out of place kneeling in a church.

  ON HIS THIRD DAY with Stephen, Eddie bought them each a sandwich, and they ate lunch together. Each day he arrived late enough in the morning and left early enough in the afternoon that he never saw anyone from St. Albert’s who might recognize him. He wondered what they would make of him in his dirty jeans and old sweater. He had a long way to go before he matched Stephen’s torn clothes and six-inch beard, but he thought he could get there eventually.

  When the weekend came, Eddie bought the same sandwich and ate it on the sidewalk alone. After he’d finished, he wandered the neighborhood for most of the afternoon. As evening fell, he arrived outside the bar where he’d gone on the day he got fired. It was crowded now, but the same old man sat at the bar. Eddie took the empty stool beside him.

  “Good to see you again,” Eddie said.

  The man looked over with neither recognition nor surprise, as though used to being known to people he didn’t remember meeting. He lifted his glass in a silent greeting. Eddie ordered a beer, along with a burger that he ate while watching Puppy Mill Tycoon on the muted television. He’d finished his food and ordered another drink when a woman walked up beside him and pointed to the screen.

  “Isn’t that just around the corner?”

  Eddie looked up to see his old apartment building.

  “That’s where Susan Hartley lives,” the woman continued. “Why are they cutting to it live? Do you think she’s having the babies?”

  As the woman said this, Susan emerged from the building, supported by Rex. Her face was covered in sweat, and she was breathing heavily. The camera turned to show a black Escalade waiting with an open door. Everything in Eddie wanted to get up and run to her, but he knew she’d be gone before he got there. The best way to know she was all right was to stay there and watch.

  “Can you take this off mute?” he asked the bartender.

  “What’s she saying?” the woman called out.

  Susan’s face filled the screen now, and her mouth was wide with terror, but she didn’t seem to Eddie to be saying anything in particular. The whole bar’s attention now turned to the TV.

  “Can you put some volume on?”

  “She’s saying ‘Eddie.’ That’s her husband’s name. She’s calling out his name.”

  “No she’s not. She’s just screaming. She’s got three kids trying to get out of her. I’ll bet that hurts.”

  “It looked like ‘Eddie’ to me.”

  “Turn up the volume.”

  Still no one moved. Susan called out again in silence, and Eddie threw down enough cash to cover his tab.

  If he was wrong, he would ruin everything by coming for her. Moody would pull the plug and they’d be forced to raise the kids with nothing. That was assuming Susan took him back. Destroying her last chance might prove worse in her eyes than everything he’d already done. But Eddie’s children were being born, and he wasn’t going to watch it on TV.

  He ran downtown, in the direction of Walters Presbyterian, the hospital where Susan’s doctor worked. He was still a few blocks away when the sidewalks grew crowded with spectators. They couldn’t have all arrived in the past half hour, Eddie thought. They’d been camped out, waiting for this moment. As he pushed his way through, they pushed back.

  “Wait your turn, like everyone else,” said a girl about Melissa’s age. Then she recognized him and called out, “It’s Handsome Eddie!”

  Eddie continued pushing ahead.

  “What are you doing here?” the girl asked.

  “I’m here to see my wife give birth.”

  The people who’d been resisting him now surged to push him toward the hospital. A line of security guards stood at the threshold, but the crowd overwhelmed them, carrying Eddie into the revolving door. The lobby was filled with people, including more guards, but they didn’t seem to notice him, and the ones from outside hadn’t made it through the door. Eddie ran to the reception desk.

  “My name is Edward Hartley,” he told the woman there. “My wife has gone into labor.”

  She made a show of looking the name up, though she must have known exactly who he was.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’ve had strict orders from the patient’s family not to let unauthorized visitors up.”

  “What family?” Eddie asked. “I am her family.”

  The receptionist signaled to someone behind him, and Eddie turned to find a row of guards approaching. He couldn’t see any way through them. If somehow he did manage to get by, there would be more coming. He didn’t even know where Susan was. He had no chance of getting to her. He was preparing to surrender himself when an arm wrapped around him protectively. Martin Dell stepped between Eddie and the guards.

  “You’re not supposed to be here,” Dell said.

  “I want to see my wife.”

  “Moody told me to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

  “Are things all right with Susan?”

  “I’m not a doctor,” Dell said. Reluctantly he added, “She was asking for you.”

  Eddie sensed an opening in Dell’s tone.

  “Do you remember what I told you about Susan in our first interview?” he asked. “It might have been the only honest thing I’ve said in the past two months. I need her, and she needs me. Right now this isn’t about the show. It’s about real people. My wife wants me to be up there.”

  Dell shook his head, as though angry with himself.

  “The only way I can help you without losing my job is if it looks like you snuck your way in.”

  “How do we get around Moody?”

  “Moody’s on a flight from L.A. He’s been tying things up with Justine’s family. We were planning to induce tomorrow. The timing was a surprise, and everything is pretty chaotic.”

  “So what should I do?”
r />   Dell looked briefly around the lobby. He waved at the guards, who let them through to a small pocket of open space near the elevators.

  “Go back to the door and run up to the desk again. After the receptionist turns you away, sprint toward the elevators. I’m going to try to grab you, and you push me away. When you get to the elevator bank, you see the guards and run for the stairs. We’ll get an aerial, from upstairs down the stairwell, and you’re running up. We’ll send some guards up after you, about half a floor behind. She’s on the sixth floor. You barge in the door and say, ‘Where is my wife, is she okay?’ How does that sound?”

  “Do you think it’s going to work?”

  “It’s the best shot we have. Moody’s on the ground in half an hour. This is all live, so if you’re in the picture by then, he can’t pull you out of it.”

  Eddie retreated to the doorway to wait for his signal. He was grabbed again, this time by Yuri, who taped a mike under his shirt. Dell brought the cameras and lighting into place. Eddie wasn’t sure if they would cut to him live or save the footage to show Moody later. Either way, he had to make it work. Dell waved his arm and Eddie ran to the desk.

  “My name is Edward Hartley,” he said. “My wife is in labor.”

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Hartley,” the receptionist said. “We have strict orders not to let you up.”

  Before she’d finished, Eddie had turned and headed for the elevators. When Dell stepped in his way, Eddie tossed him aside with more force than he’d intended. The line of guards waited at the elevator bank, but Eddie slipped by them into the stairwell. He took the first two flights as quickly as he could, listening for the sound of pursuers. Approaching the third landing, he realized how long six flights would be, and he slowed to catch his breath. He would have stopped entirely, but there was a camera above him. The person he was playing wouldn’t stop to catch his breath. Eddie’s chest was pounding and his throat began to constrict, but he pushed on. Between the fourth and fifth floors, he heard something pop in his leg, and a shooting pain went through his body.

  Hal waited on the sixth floor with a camera on his shoulder. He waved Eddie through the door and into the waiting area, where another camera captured his arrival.

  “Where is Susan?” he called out. “Is she all right?”

  Annie and Tomaka and Rex sat together, none of them talking. They looked up at him but didn’t answer. Eddie crossed the room to them.

  “Where is she?” he asked again. “Is everything all right?”

  “The doctor just left,” Annie said. “You barely missed him.”

  “I was downstairs,” Eddie said dumbly, still trying to catch his breath. “I was waiting there.”

  “We know,” Annie said.

  “What’s happened?”

  “There’s been some kind of complication.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t really know. The doctor didn’t say much. Only that things weren’t going smoothly. He wanted to talk with family, and I told him you were on your way. But he couldn’t wait any longer.”

  “Is she in danger?”

  “It’s tough to tell. You know how doctors are. He said he’d be back soon.”

  Eddie looked into her face, trying to determine how much of this was real. If Tomaka or Rex had been talking, he might not have taken it seriously, but he didn’t think Annie would lie to him. He was still out of breath, and his leg was burning.

  “I’ll be right back,” he said. “If the doctor comes, don’t let him leave. Tell him I’ll just be one minute.”

  He limped to the bathroom, found an empty stall, and vomited. First he emptied his stomach of his burger and his drinks. After that he kept gagging, bringing up only bile. When he’d finished he stayed crouched over the toilet, looking at the mess in the bowl and crying. He turned to find the stall door open and Hal pointing a camera at him. He stumbled past Hal to the sink, where he washed his mouth and wiped his face before walking outside. Annie had moved to open a space between her and Rex. Eddie sat down. It seemed strange to introduce himself to the man who was supposed to be sleeping with his wife, so he only nodded in greeting. Rex nodded back. Up close he was astonishingly handsome, not quite real, and Eddie felt the strange urge to reach over and touch his face.

  The doctor arrived a few minutes later with a manila folder and a look of tired concern.

  “Mr. Hartley?” he asked.

  “That’s me,” Eddie said. “Can I get in to see my wife?”

  “I’m Dr. Rupert.” The man looked at Eddie, and then at one of the cameras. “Perhaps you could walk with me for a moment.”

  Eddie wondered whether he was just trying to make things more dramatic or actually expected some privacy. They walked down the hall while Hal followed a few steps behind.

  “They told me there’s been some complication.”

  “I’m afraid your wife has ruptured her uterus. There’s been some hemorrhaging.”

  “Is this for real?”

  “Very much so. The truth is that it may be quite serious.”

  “The babies?”

  “The babies should be all right in any case. That’s the good news. Obviously they’re a bit premature, but we expected that with multiples. Our real worry at this point is the mother.”

  “What does that mean, our worry?”

  “She’s lost quite a bit of blood, and she’s still bleeding. The first thing they’re trying to do now is get that bleeding stopped. But it’s a serious situation.”

  “Could she die from this?”

  The doctor answered the question with a moment of silence.

  “The first step is to get the bleeding stopped,” he said finally. “Then we’ve got to get her a transfusion. We’re trying to find some matching blood on the premises. I’m not sure how much we’re going to need.”

  “I’m a match,” Eddie said. “I can give blood.”

  “We’ll need to get you straight to the tenth floor. I’ll call up. They’ll be expecting you.”

  Eddie started to walk away, but the doctor grabbed his arm.

  “We’re going to do our best here,” he said, seeming to look both at Eddie and beyond him. “No matter what happens, you’re going to have three healthy daughters.”

  As the elevator doors closed, Eddie took a deep breath. Susan would want him to pray for her, he thought. There had to be some special prayer for difficult childbirths, but he didn’t know that prayer, so he said the Hail Mary. He said it to himself, without closing his eyes or bowing his head or moving his lips, so that anyone watching would think he was just standing there, doing nothing. He finished just as the doors opened on the tenth floor, where a nurse was waiting.

  “Mr. Hartley,” she said. “We’ve got a room set up for you. I just need to ask a few questions first.”

  “All right.”

  She went through a series of impressive and frightening diseases—HIV, hepatitis, blood cancers—asking whether Eddie suffered from any of them.

  “No,” he said.

  “Have you ever been an intravenous drug user?”

  “No.”

  “Have you had multiple sexual partners within the past year?”

  Eddie looked over at the camera before answering, “I have not.”

  “Have you eaten something in the last few hours?”

  He told her he’d eaten a full dinner, and he didn’t mention that he’d just thrown it up.

  “Follow me.”

  Eddie had never donated blood. It seemed at first like giving a sample at the doctor’s office, but they filled two bags instead of a syringe. It frightened him to think that Susan might need that much blood. He couldn’t believe he’d had so much to give up. Watching it leave his body, Eddie felt sick. His throat was still itchy with vomit, which he struggled to swallow down. Hal stood in the corner, moving his camera between Eddie’s face and the blood leaving his arm. When the second bag was full, the nurse brought Eddie a cookie and a Dixie cup full of orange juice, li
ke something from lower school snack time at St. Albert’s.

  “This will get your glucose back up a bit,” she said. “Take your time, sit until you feel comfortable.”

  But Eddie couldn’t eat, and he didn’t want to sit. He had to get back to the sixth floor, to find out how Susan was doing. As soon as the nurse left, he tossed the cookie in the trash and stood up. He rushed out of the room, still dragging his bad leg. He was halfway down the hall when he collapsed.

  TWENTY-FOUR

  WHEN HE WOKE IN the dark room he first felt the warm pinch of an IV in the crook of his right arm. Next came the burning throughout his face. One of his eyes had swollen shut. Dried blood clogged his nostrils, straining his breath. He reached to clear it out and found a splint taped over his nose. When he pushed at it, a shock of pain jumped to the back of his eyeballs and reverberated through his head. He let out what he thought would be a yell but sounded only as a low moan. A shadow in the corner seemed to move in response.

  “What happened?” Eddie asked in its direction.

  “You fainted.” He recognized the voice but thought he must still be dreaming. “You fell facedown and broke your nose. Chipped a tooth as well. The whole thing looked a lot worse than it actually is, I’m told. Blood everywhere.”

  “How long have I been asleep?”

  “You were in and out through the night,” Moody said.

  “It’s morning?”

  “Past noon.”

  “How is Susan?”

  “She’s great. So are the girls. Everyone is just fine.”

  Relief deadened all the pain for a moment. This was followed by the bitterness of the possibility that he would be kept from them.

  “Shouldn’t you be up there overseeing things?” he asked Moody.