Questions? Sure. He had a million of them. He just couldn’t think of a single one of them right then.
He left the clinic feeling numb. As Stella had cautioned, he wasn’t going to get his hopes up too much. In fact, he had a sinking feeling that there wouldn’t be any change after they removed the bullet. He would still be facing a lifetime in that stupid chair. He might as well get used to it.
When Randy was pushing Mike across the parking lot to the car, a tall thin man stepped in front of them. He wore bib overalls and a greasy John Deer cap. Mike recognized him immediately and tried to ignore him. Randy tried to push the chair around the man, but he kept sidestepping to stay in front of them until Randy had no choice but to stop.
Mike looked up at the man he’d been trying to put in prison before his shooting. He knew that Hershel Hollis was the ringleader of the drug trafficking in the area but they just hadn’t been able to get enough evidence on him yet to put him away.
Hollis leaned back, laughed, and spit tobacco on the pavement near Mike’s feet. “You didn’t get what you deserved fed man. Too bad Hennesey’s aim wasn’t just a few inches higher. Then we’d be rid of one more fed.”
He laughed loudly again and turned as if to walk off but stopped and said, “Better watch out fed man someone else might just decide to finish the job for Hennesey.”
With that, he sauntered across the parking lot to a beat up old pickup.
When Randy was helping Mike into the car, he grunted and said, “That guy gave me the creeps, man.”
Mike only said, “Yeah, he’s not someone you want to mess with.”
Randy didn’t say anything else and left shortly after he took Mike back home.
Mike pulled a prepared sandwich and a Pepsi out of the refrigerator and sat at the table playing with it until he finally finished it.
He kept thinking about his confrontation with Hollis all through lunch and on into the afternoon.
* * *
After lunch, Daisy was sitting with Lucy in their apartment in the rear of the first floor of the home. She was restless and she couldn’t understand why. It was as if she was supposed to do something but she couldn’t remember what it was.
She looked down at her daughter who was engrossed in some kids program on the TV. She thanked God every day for Lucy. She was all Daisy had left now. Sure, she her brother lived in St. Louis and her parents were in Florida now but she didn’t see any of them very much anymore. Maybe she should go down to Florida to visit her parents. But no that was not what she wanted to do in August, maybe in December or January when it would be nice to go from cold weather to warm.
Suddenly there was a picture in her mind of Mike sitting in his wheelchair looking up at her with those eyes that showed so much pain. Then she knew what she was supposed to do.
“Lucy, how would you like to help Wilma for a little while? I need go somewhere but I won’t be gone long, okay”
“Sure Mommy.” Then she had a twinkle in her eye. “You think Wilma has any chocolate chip cookies?”
Daisy smiled. “I’m sure she does but I want you to promise me that you’ll only eat two okay?”
“Sure Mommy.”
After leaving Lucy with the cook, Daisy headed toward Mike’s house. All the way over there, Daisy kept tossing ideas around in her mind. What could she say to him that would get him to let her in the door? She didn’t think he would have opened it yesterday if she hadn’t had Bert along with her. What could she do today?
After parking in Mike’s driveway, Daisy timidly approached the front door. She noticed the curtain next to the door move. Well he knew she was there now. She was surprised when she reached up to push the doorbell, that the door opened a crack just like yesterday.
This time, she didn’t hesitate to push the door open and step into Mike’s shadowy living room. She saw him right away. He was five feet from the door again but this time his wheelchair was facing her.
Since she could barely see him with the heavy drapes drawn, she didn’t say anything to him as she moved deliberately to the drapes and pulled them wide open.
When she turned around, Mike was glaring at her. “I didn’t have to let you in you know. Now you march right in and take over just like every other woman I’ve ever been around.”
She didn’t respond in any way to his outburst. Instead, she made her way to a sofa that was near his chair and facing him. Once settled there, she smiled at him and said, “Thank you for letting me in Mike.”
She could see that he was trying to stay angry with her, but she thought that she might be starting to get to him just a little. So she decided to push a little more to see what happened.
“Well, Mike. Have you thought about everything I told you yesterday?”
He was looking down at his lap and she could see that both of his hands were in tight fists and the knuckles were turning white. She waited knowing that she couldn’t push any more just then.
Finally, without looking up, he said, “Yeah.”
She took that as her opening. “Mike, you can’t imagine how bitter I was. One minute I had a wonderful family and the next minute half of my family was gone. I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye to my husband and my son. And for a while, I just gave up on life.”
She waited knowing she still had to go slowly.
When he didn’t say anything for almost five minutes, just continued to look at his fists, she was about to say something when he finally looked up at her.
“I think I can.”
When she gave him a puzzled look, he said, “I think I can imagine some of what that was like.”
He raised a hand to his hair as if to push it out of his eyes but it wasn’t in his eyes. That was when she realized he’d gotten a haircut. That made her smile and feel a little bit encouraged but she tried to tone it down some for fear it might send him the wrong message.
Again, she waited.
“That’s the way it was for me too. One minute I was a whole man and the next minute I was only half a man.”
Wow! What could she say to that? She knew he was waiting for her to say something though, but what could she say?
“Oh Mike you’re not half a man. Didn’t they say when you were wounded that once they were able to take the bullet out you might be able to walk again?”
He snorted loudly. “Yeah ‘might.’ That’s a really big word isn’t it. But they haven’t taken it out yet, have they?”
“But haven’t they given you any indication as to when that might be?”
This time she could see him shut down on her. She waited a couple of minutes and decided that she wasn’t going to get any further with him today.
As she stood to leave, he raised his head and looked up at her. “Friday.”
She wasn’t sure what he meant for a moment. Then it hit her. She sat back down and said, “You mean your surgery is scheduled for Friday?”
He was looking back down at his hands again but they weren’t fists this time. He only nodded.
“Oh Mike, that’s wonderful news. You must be excited.”
She knew as soon as the words left her mouth that she’d said exactly the wrong thing. It only took one look at his angry face for her to realize that was all she’d be able to accomplish today.
She stood and said, “What time is your surgery Friday?”
She knew he didn’t want to tell her but he finally growled out, “Eight.”
“Bert and I will come see you once you’re out of recovery. Okay?”
She turned for the door but he spoke very softly. “What brought you out of it?”
Daisy was shocked but also thrilled at that question. She quickly sat back down and said, “I guess you could say several things but the biggest one was Lucy, my daughter.”
When he gave her a puzzled look, she charged on. “It wasn’t just her, but I realized that she needed a whole mother not just a shell. I also remembered that I became a nurse so that I could help other people.’
&
nbsp; She blew out a breath. “Well I certainly wasn’t helping anyone like I was.”
She frowned and said, “I guess I wasn’t completely out of it until I came here to Crowleyville and took the job at the home. Those wonderful people there brought me the rest of the way out of it.”
He sat there without moving or showing any change of facial expression but she knew he was thinking about it. She also knew that she’d thrown enough at him for one day.
She rose and turned for the door again when the doorbell rang. She was sure Mike was cursing under his breath as he wheeled his chair to the door and peeked out the window. Then he really got angry and slammed his palms down on the arms of his chair.
“What’s the matter Mike? Who is it?”
He didn’t answer. He merely flung the door open and began furiously wheeling his chair toward his bedroom.
The front door opened just enough to reveal a tall heavyset woman in her late fifties standing there. She put her hands on her hips and said, “Michael Ray Bates aren’t you even going to say hello to your mother?”
Mother? Daisy sensed that she didn’t even want to be involved in anything that happened next. She stepped over to the older woman and said, “Hello Mrs. Bates, my name is Daisy Thomas, I’m a friend of Mikes.”
The older woman didn’t say anything at first, just eyed Daisy up and down. Then she smiled and said, “I’m happy to meet you Daisy.”
* * *
As Mike closed his bedroom door behind him, he could hear Daisy talking to his mother. He stopped and tried to listen to what they were saying.
Great! He could tell from his mother’s tone of voice that she had jumped to the wrong conclusion about him and Daisy. She had to be thinking that he was somehow involved with the woman. Well, he’d just have to straighten her out but quick.
He opened the door again and turned down the hallway toward the living room. As he arrived, the front door was closing and his mom turned to face him. Daisy was gone and for some reason he didn’t even want to think about, that bothered him. Suddenly, he didn’t want her to be hurt or upset with him but why?
He might just give her a call later if he could manage to get away from his mom long enough.
“Michael, is that any way to treat such a nice young lady. That Daisy sure seems to be a real sweetheart.”
He was getting angry again. “How? How was I treating her Mom? You don’t know anything about her. She’s just some kind of social worker who runs a halfway house for adults who can’t live on their own. That’s all.”
She didn’t answer him. She just sat on the sofa Daisy had recently vacated and stared at him. Finally, she said, “When were you going to tell me that your surgery is scheduled for Friday?”
“Mom, I just found out this morning. I even tried to call you but you must have changed your number again. All I got was a recording.”
She laughed and said, “That phone is disconnected all right. She pointed at her purse sitting on a small table by the door. “I’ve finally bought one of those cell phones you’ve been pestering me about.”
Even though he’d been trying to get her to get one ever since his dad had died almost a year ago, he didn’t say anything. He knew that’s what she was trying to do, get him to talk. And he wasn’t going there right now.
She took in a deep breath and let it out in a whoosh. “I might as well get it over with.”
He knew that she said this more to herself than to him so he didn’t question her. He just waited for the bomb he knew she was about to drop.
“I’ve sold my house in Arizona.” She waited but when he didn’t react, she continued, “I’m moving in here with you to help you until you can walk again.”
“You could have asked.”
“But if I had, I know you would have said no, Dear. So now that I have nowhere else to go, you simply must let me stay.”
“What about all your things?”
“Well, I sold all the furniture and Dad’s pickup. I brought enough things with me in my car to get me by until the rest of my personal things get here next week.”
Mike was out of arguments. Of course, he knew going into any argument with his mother that he would lose. She was a formidable woman standing five eight and even though she was heavy, she wasn’t fat. It was more like she was built like a tree, straight up. No one ever won an argument with her and that had included his dad. She had certainly been a formidable high school teacher. All the kids had to have been scared to death of her.
“Well, now that that’s settled, let me take a look at your bedrooms so I can choose which one I want.”
An hour later, after his mom had unpacked the three suitcases she’d brought with her, he was sitting at the kitchen table when she came in and sat across from him.
She just sat there staring at him for a while. He kept his eyes down on his hands, as she clasped them together on top of the table.
Finally, she reached across the table and covered both of his hands with both of hers. He looked up and was surprised to see tears in her eyes. His mother wasn’t a woman who cried easily. In fact, he couldn’t remember very many times he’d ever seen her cry. He didn’t know what to say so he just waited.
“I love you Son and I’ve always wanted nothing but the very best for you. I want to see you walk again. And I know you will. After your surgery Friday, you will walk again. I just know it.”
If she didn’t stop, she was going to have him in tears too. He shook it off just as the doorbell rang.
Relieved for the interruption, he wheeled his chair to the front door and looked out the side window. For once, he was not angry but actually somewhat pleased to see the big sheriff standing on his front porch.
He opened the door quickly and moved out of the way, as Floyd came in and gave him a strange look. He guessed his face did show a lot of emotion after his mother’s declaration moments ago.
“You okay Mike?”
His mother must have come into the living room then and was standing behind him. Floyd was looking over Mike’s head and he said, “Afternoon ma’am. I’m Floyd McCracken the sheriff.”
Mike still didn’t turn around as he heard his mother say, “I’m happy to meet you Sheriff. I’m Sarah Bates, Mike’s mother.”
Floyd came in and sat in an armchair across from the sofa, which Sarah returned to. So Mike moved his chair to where he was between them making a triangle of sorts.
“Well, Mike, aren’t you glad they’re finally going to take out that bullet? Now you can get started on getting out of that chair and walking again.”
Mike knew his face turned red again. He seemed to be doing a lot of that lately.
“How did you know about my surgery? I might as well have put an ad in the newspaper.”
Floyd laughed that booming laugh of his. “How do you think I found out about it? I ran into Jillian down at Best Friends a little while ago.”
Mike knew Jillian Clark was the editor of the local daily newspaper but he’d never had any dealings with her. He was still steaming that so many people seemed to know everything that was going on in his life.
Floyd seemed to read his mind for he said, “Sorry about that pal, but that’s all part of living in a small town. Everybody knows everybody and everything they’re doing most of the time.
Mike looked over at his mother who seemed to be rather puzzled. Then it hit him. She must be wondering about him and the sheriff. Well, she could just wonder. He wasn’t going to enlighten her, at least not while Floyd was still here.
Floyd looked at her too and must have come to the same conclusion.
“Mrs. Bates, I don’t know how much you know about that night that Mike was wounded, but he took a bullet that was meant for me.”
She looked from Floyd to Mike then back to Floyd when he started talking again. “So you see, ma’am, he saved my life that night and probably my daughter’s too.”
She shook her head. “No, he never told me.”
Mike pounded his f
ists on his chair arms. “That’s enough McCracken.”
Floyd laughed that laugh again and Sarah gave Mike one of those motherly looks that had always made Mike cringe, but not anymore.
“Mom, if you’re going to live here, we need to get a few things straight first.”
She smiled that condescending smile that he’d always hated when he was growing up. It must have worked well with her students because it had certainly worked on him. But right now, all it did was make him madder.
“Not now, Son, we have company.”
Floyd looked from mother to son and said, “I think I’ll just mosey on. I’ve got things to do.” He smiled as he looked at Mike. “I just wanted to stop by and tell you that I’ll be there Friday and so will a lot of other people.”
With that, his long strides took him to the door and out before Mike could think of a reply.
When the door shut, he kept glaring at it for a moment then he turned his gaze on his mother.
“Oh Mike. I’m so glad you have such good friends as the sheriff and Daisy. It makes me feel so much better.”
Mike knew better than to try to convince her that he didn’t really know either one of his so-called good friends very well.
* * *
When suppertime came that evening, Daisy just didn’t feel up to sitting with the group around the table at the home. It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy their company, all of them. It was just that sometimes she felt that she and Lucy needed to get away and just have a nice quiet meal by themselves somewhere else. That wasn’t usually possible if they ate in their apartment. Someone would always interrupt them.
The only way she could really accomplish what she wanted was to go out to eat somewhere. So that’s exactly what she had decided to do today.
There weren’t very many choices in a town the size of Crowleyville. Plus, Lucy really only liked two places. She loved the pizza place for obvious reasons and she loved Thelma’s because Thelma always made a fuss over her, gave her a small coloring book, and stopped by and talked to her several times throughout their meal. She knew it made Lucy feel special and even grown-up.
The Only Solution (Crowley County Series Book 3) Page 3
