A Cold Piece of Work

by Curtis Bunn

  And the only point they proved was that they could not live without each other.

  “I want you to invite Michele over for dinner,” Solomon’s friend, Ray, said.

  “Not happening,” Solomon said quickly. “I haven’t spoken to her in two months. I pick up Gerald through him calling me and we work it out. I pull up at her house and he comes out and jumps in the car. Or I pick him up from school and drop him off at her house. That’s it.”

  “That’s crazy,” Ray said. “You telling me that you love this woman but you don’t want her enough to reach out to her? You can’t be that simple.”

  Solomon laughed, but it wasn’t funny. He didn’t have an answer.

  Another uneventful week went by and another, before drama invaded.

  Solomon was interrupted during a meeting in a conference room at Coke. He excused himself from the long table to take a call from Sonya, Michele’s cousin, who was reporting an emergency.

  “Hello,” he said into the phone.

  She explained that during his lunch break Gerald had had a seizure in the school’s cafeteria.

  An ambulance was called—so was Michele, who frantically hurried to DeKalb Medical Center from a catering job she was setting up on the other side of town.

  On the way, Michele called Sonya, who called Coca-Cola and tracked down Solomon. Michele did not ask her to; Sonya took it upon herself.

  When she told him the severity of the situation with Gerald, he immediately addressed his manager and other representatives present.

  “I’m sorry, but my son is in the hospital and I’ve got to get there now,” he said. “I can’t apologize enough, but I must go.”

  His manager understood his plight. “Solomon, go.”

  Dozens of things ran through his mind en route to the hospital, none of them comforting. Worst was the thought that he could lose Gerald after recently finding him.

  That thought made him panic.

  He called Sonya as he pulled into the hospital’s parking lot.

  “Have you heard anything else?”

  “No. Michele was way out in Douglasville, so she’s not there yet,” Sonya said.

  “I’m here,” he said. “I’ll call you back. And Sonya…thanks for calling me.”

  He ran into the emergency room with his head spinning.

  “Ma’am,” he said to the attendant at the desk, “I’m here about my son; Gerald Williams. He was brought in from school with seizures.”

  She looked at her computer and determined, “He’s with the doctor now. You can take a seat over there. I’ll let you know when the doctor is ready to see you.”

  The attendant gathered his name and other information and Solomon took a seat and waited. All he could do was think the worst. He was mad at himself for that, but he could not stop it.

  He wondered, and worried, about Michele. She would never be able to recover from such a loss. It would be devastating to him, but Michele would never be the same.

  It was then that he got on his knees right there in the waiting room and prayed.

  “God, I’m desperate right now,” he started. “I’m desperate for Your intervention and power to heal my son. Please bring him out of whatever trouble he is in. We need him to be all right. His mother needs him to be all right. God please spare us and make sure this boy is all right. In Jesus’ precious name, I pray. Amen.”

  He heard someone else say “Amen” as he did and turned to see Michele. Her eyes were fire-engine red.

  Solomon rose to his feet. Whatever foolish pride and stubborn position that existed before was discarded like so much trash. He hugged Michele and held her tightly.

  “He’s going to be okay,” he said into her ear. “He’s going to be okay.”

  Michele, at first, was too shaken to speak. The emotions of her son’s condition were magnified with Solomon’s presence and emotion at the hospital.

  “Have you heard anything?” she finally said. They were still embracing.

  “Not yet,” he said. “Soon.”

  He felt her tears on his shoulder.

  “Come on. Sit down,” he said, and she obeyed.

  He used his hand to wipe her face.

  “Solomon, nothing can happen to him. I need him.”

  “I know, but he’s going to be all right because we’re here for him. Before you got here, I was scared. Now, the power of both us being here—and God’s will—will make him better. He’ll be all right.”

  The wait seemed interminable, when, in reality, Dr. Carter came out about ten minutes after Michele’s arrival.

  “Yes, we are the parents,” Solomon said.

  “Your son suffered a seizure from a violent allergic reaction to peanuts,” the doc said. “Did you know he had that allergy?”

  “No,” they said in unison. “Peanuts?” Michele said.

  “How serious is this?” Solomon asked.

  “We have to consider it serious until we get him completely stable,” the doctor said. “He had a anaphylactic reaction to the peanuts, which, in some cases, I’m sorry to say, have been fatal within minutes. We’re beyond that point, so let’s hope that he’ll come around soon.”

  Michele sobbed and Solomon hugged her tighter.

  “We treated him right away with epinephrine. But the reaction to the allergy could recur, so we must maintain ongoing observation. He’s resting now, but we’re monitoring him closely to make sure he doesn’t slip into a coma.”

  “What? No,” Michele said. “Please, no.”

  Solomon hugged her tightly. “Hey. Hey,” he said softly but firmly into her ear. “Listen to me. He’ll be all right. He’s our son. He’s strong. He’ll be all right.”

  “Please stay here,” Dr. Carter said. “I’ll be back to update you as soon as I know something.”

  The doctor left and Solomon walked Michele back over to a seat. He held her as they sat, waiting. He was so consumed with comforting Michele that he did not have time to address his own worry or fears.

  “How did you get here before me?” she asked Solomon.

  “Sonya called me at work and I just left,” he said. “I was so scared because I didn’t know what to expect when I got here.”

  “I didn’t expect to see you here,” she said. “And I’m sorry I didn’t call you. I didn’t try to not call you. I was just, in such a state of panic, all I could think about was my baby and if he was all right.”

  “I know; me, too.”

  “He has to be okay. Solomon, I couldn’t take something happening to him. I’ve heard of how severe allergic reactions can be.”

  “Nothing’s going to happen to Gerald,” he said. “I believe the more positive energy we put out there for him to hold on to, that’s what we’re going to get back; positive results, because he’ll be able to draw off of our will.”

  Michele did not respond. She wiped her tears and rested her head on Solomon’s chest. He rubbed her arms and shoulders. She was quiet and still, and Solomon’s thoughts began to carom off the hospital walls.

  All the back-and-forth between him and Michele did not measure up to a bowl of rocks. It all seemed so pointless, so ridiculous. He loved her; loved a woman for the only time in his life, in fact. And to be without her because of a power struggle suddenly seemed shallow and stupid.

  He learned in the family violence classes that it was more important to really hear someone else’s point of view before trying to get his point of view across. Maybe if he understood the other’s perspective his view might be altered, and drama could be averted. He questioned whether he really tried to understand her points.

  And so, Solomon held Michele tighter, as if he was trying to extract the pain and worry from her and into him. He never allowed himself to care that much about a woman, to be that selfless, that, well, righteous.

  But to see her so broken and so scared broke Solomon. The ice that coated his heart defrosted, quickly.

  He was going to tell her his feelings, tell her he was wrong, that he mis
sed her and that they had nothing between them that could not be fixed. But only after the positive news about Gerald would he empty his emotions on her.

  “God,” he began his silent prayer with Michele in his arms, “bring our child back to us, please. He’s young and has his entire life to live as You order him to live it. Please don’t take him away from us.”

  Shortly after his prayer, Dr. Carter approached him and Michele.

  “Doctor,” he said. He and Michele stood up, but held their collective breath.

  “Gerald seems to be getting better,” he said, and Solomon’s grip around Michele’s shoulder tightened. “He has reacted well to the medicine we administered. He’s still sleeping, but his vital signs are very encouraging. We’ve moved him to a room on the third floor. He’s resting and by tomorrow you should see a dramatic difference in his condition.”

  “Doctor, thank you,” Solomon said.

  Michele could only cry tears of relief.

  “I’m sure you want to see him,” Dr. Carter said. “The nurse here will take you up to his room.”

  Solomon hugged Michele and she hugged back. Then he leaned away from her and wiped the tears from her face.

  “You can smile now; he’s all right,” he said.

  He clutched her hand and they followed the nurse to the elevator and up to Gerald’s Room 326.

  Solomon let Michele go into the room first as he stopped the nurse outside the door.

  “I can tell you right now that we’re not leaving here tonight,” he said. “We’ve got to be here for him. I hope there is no regulation against parents staying in the room with their child.”

  “No, you’re fine,” she said. “He needs to see you all as soon as he wakes up, so it’s okay.”

  Solomon thanked her and went into the room to see Gerald sleeping with an IV in his left arm and his mom practically in bed with him.

  “Michele, you’re going to collapse the boy’s chest,” Solomon said.

  His exaggeration worked; Michele laughed.

  “I know, right?” she said. “Let me sit down and get myself together.”

  Solomon pulled over a chair next to the right side of the bed so Michele could sit and hold Gerald’s hand at the same time. Then he moved a chair from the other side of the room to Michele’s side.

  She calmed down and collected her thoughts. She spoke softly, so as to not disturb Gerald.

  “Thank you for being here,” she said. “I couldn’t have made it without you. I was so scared.”

  “I’m supposed to be here; that’s my son.”

  “But how could you be so calm?”

  “Calm? I’m glad it seemed that way,” he answered. “In reality, I was petrified. I thought my heart was going to burst out of my chest. I couldn’t get a positive thought to enter my mind, which is not like me at all. But…”

  “But what?” Michele said, turning toward Solomon.

  “But I saw how devastated and scared you were and I couldn’t focus on me anymore,” he said, looking at Gerald. Then he turned to her.

  “All I could think about then was making it better for you, if that was possible,” he added. “My fear didn’t go away; it was pushed aside. I just felt like I had to be there for you, almost like if you were okay, Gerald would be okay.

  “So my emotions shifted from worrying about Gerald to worrying about you.”

  “Really? But why?”

  “Why? Because I love you. Simple as that.”

  “You do? I thought you hated me.”

  “I didn’t like how things were going,” Solomon said. “I didn’t like what you thought about me. I didn’t like feeling like I didn’t trust you. But I never hated you. I always loved you.”

  He put his left arm around her shoulder. He was not looking for a response from Michele. He only wanted to tell her how he felt.

  Something happened in that hospital waiting room. In that time of crisis, Solomon took inventory on himself and decided he could be better. His son was in danger and that forced him to understand the value of pulling his relationship with Michele out of danger.

  “I went out on a date last weekend,” Michele said.

  Solomon did not move, but his heart rate climbed. Quickly.

  “Really? Had fun?” he asked. It was a mistake to inquire. If she had said, “Yes, I did,” it would have bothered Solomon more. But his position of not holding back was dominant.

  “It was a disaster,” she said. Solomon was not disappointed to hear that.

  “The guy who took me to a house party got mad at me because I told him his food sucked, which it did, and told me I needed to get another ride home.”

  “What?” Solomon jumped in. “He told you to get another ride?”

  “Yes, he was upset. I didn’t know he was the caterer. And when I said the food was awful, he lost it,” she recalled. “So the lady of the house hooks me up with her brother—”

  “So you had two dates in one night?” Solomon jumped in.

  “I didn’t look at it that way. I got a ride from him. He was a nice guy, though. And it turned out that he knows you, works with you at Coke, and was singing your praises. I was like, ‘Can I avoid this man?’”

  “Who was it?” Solomon asked.

  “Anthony. I didn’t get his last name.”

  “I know Anthony; Anthony Richards. Good dude,” Solomon said. “Glad to hear he wasn’t one of those brothers who tries to squash you to advance his own agenda.”

  “I thought the same thing,” she said.

  “So, anyway, I tell you I love you; you tell me you went out on a date?” Solomon said, smiling. “Something seems wrong with that.”

  “I was trying to avoid telling you how much I love you.”

  “Why would you want to do that?”

  “I almost think that if you know I love you, you know you can do things to hurt me. Like you would use it against me.”

  “That’s not good,” he said. “Or right. Listen, in the last months I’ve broken any ties I’ve had with women. Well, I still have one to tell, but she knows the deal, based on us not having any contact.

  “There was nothing that happened where I was trying to hurt you. I was just trying to be a father; that’s where it all started. You had your view on it, I had mine… And, to be honest, I really don’t want to rehash all that stuff. I’ve rehashed it over and over for the last two months.

  “You want to talk about it, fine,” he added. “But if this situation has taught us anything, it’s that we have to live.”

  As if he were listening, Gerald opened his eyes and moved his hand. The parents stood up.

  “Hi, baby,” Michele said. “Hi, baby.”

  “Hey, my man,” Solomon said.

  He looked at them with a confused expression on his face. Then he started crying, which made the floodgates open for Michele.

  Solomon tried to comfort them both.

  “Hey, hey, it’s okay,” he said in reassuring tones. “Your mom and dad are here. And we’re going to stay here until you’re ready to come home, okay?”

  Gerald did not answer, not with words. The fear in his eyes, though, diminished, signaling he understood and, more importantly, found comfort in his father’s words.

  And so did Michele.

  “I’m going to get the doctor to let him know you’re awake now,” Solomon said. “I’ll be right back.”

  He rubbed Michele on her shoulder before stepping into the hallway. It was there that he released all the emotions that had engulfed him over the last several weeks; anger and disappointment, loneliness and regret, sadness and fear, relief and gratitude.

  It all came rushing out, like water over a breached levee. For about thirty seconds he did not discard his own feelings or try to protect someone else’s or put up a brave front. He let it all go and cried.

  The release was pure and cleansing. Solomon could not recall the last time he had cried. This breakthrough felt as if he had disposed of untapped emotions that had weighed
him down. He could breathe easier afterward. He felt free of himself.

  CHAPTER 26

  RELATIONSHIP ROUNDTABLE

  Before long, Gerald was back to himself; active and joking and just being a kid. And Solomon and Michele were working their way beyond the troubles of the past. They were not altogether in unison, but they were open to something they were not before: compromise.

  A week after the scare with their son, Solomon had them over his house for a cookout. It was just the three of them—and Ray, his wife, Cynthia, and son, Ray-Ray. After devouring Solomon’s offering of grilled lamb chops, turkey burgers, corn on the cob and chicken wings, they tore through Michele’s rum pound cake, and blueberry cobbler, with Blue Bell vanilla ice cream.

  The boys played basketball in the driveway, leaving the parents available for some adult conversation.

  “It’s a shame we’re just meeting, Cynthia,” Michele said.

  “I know, girl,” Cynthia said. “I’ve heard a lot about you through Raymond. I’m glad we all slowed down long enough to get together.”

  “Me, too,” Solomon said. “I can’t even catch up with Ray anymore.”

  “Guess what?” Cynthia said. “Me, either.”

  She was not joking. There was an edge in how she spoke. Ray did not dare touch it.

  “Anyway,” he said, “it’s good to see Gerald is back to normal.”

  “Why don’t you want to address what I just said?” Cynthia insisted.

  “Because we’ve already addressed it,” he said. “I don’t know why you’re even bringing it up now. We’re having a good time.”

  “You’ve been having a lot of good times lately,” she added.

  Solomon and Michele looked at each other. Clearly, there was drama in paradise, drama Ray had not shared with Solomon.

  “Well, let’s just ask the question then,” Cynthia said. “Do you all think it is okay for your mate to go out pretty consistently without you?”

  Solomon’s mind started racing for a way to help his boy’s cause. But Ray had not shared with him the circumstances of their discord, so he had to go on instinct.

  “I’ll go first, if that’s okay, Michele,” he began. “The one thing no relationship will overcome is a lack of trust. Trust me on this, I know. I won’t even go into detail about my cases, but it matters a lot.