CHAPTER 23 - THE COCONUT WATERFALL
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This chapter is Rated: EVERYONE
I didn't have to wait very long to see the doctor as Tricia said he would enter shortly. It was when I heard the crew from my work finally head out, with Trudy still griping to Tricia, my doctor came in, dressed in a nice medical outfit to look in on me.
"How are you feeling, son." he said in his best professional voice.
"Fine, sir." I replied back.
He nodded, "Good. Here are the test results. Do you need me to explain them to you ?" and he handed me a chart on a clipboard.
"Nossir." I said. Well, in truth, maybe I did, but maybe also I didn't want to know how bad it was.
I looked at the chart and it had all kinds of writing on it alongside a line-sketch drawing of, I guess, my head, along with handwritten red pen marks in important locations and with what could only be described as doctor scrawl. You know, that horrible illegible handwriting doctors make so you can't make out a word of it.
"You're a very lucky boy." He said as I examined the board. "It could've been much worse. If you had waited an hour or so before coming in, the damage could've been irreversible."
I looked up at him on that last word with a shocked look on my face. He took that to mean I didn't know what that word was, "Could not be fixed." he explained.
I nodded. Finally I asked, "So I'm okay then ?"
He then looked at me quizzically as if I really didn't understand the chart after all, and took it away from me, looking at it himself.
"Yes," he said carefully, although I really couldn't tell if he was sugar-coating it. There was an uncomfortable pause before he finally added, "Okay. We'd like to keep you one more day for observation, to see if there's a relapse, but so far you're recovering nicely."
"Awright," I said and then added, "What now ?"
"For now," the Doctor said getting all business-like again, "you need to SLEEP !"
"Well now wait just a minuette !" I complained, "It's the middle of the day," and I jambed my left-thumb out sideways to the lit venetian blinds to the left of me on the window. Then I reached over to the left side of the covers to show him the present that Tricia left me, the Gameboy with games.
He looked totally disinterested in it. "Yes. If you want to play with your - puzzle foor a-while, that's fine. But I want to see you asleep when I come back in a few hours. Can you promise me that ?"
"Yessir." I said.
"Good. I'll check up on you later." and then he took the chart on the clipboard and left.
As soon as he left I closed my door and getting out of bed went over to the cake to open it up. It sure smelled good ! There were about 8 styrofoam plates with 4th of July blue and white stars on them, clear plastic forks, and a large acrylic pink serving knife that said 'Happy Easter' on it.
I took the knife, cut myself a piece and dashed back in bed with it as if somehow if I didn't, the slice would've been taken away from me by hungry nurses. I whorfed it down with the fork, greedily licking my fingers and smacking my lips and then started to mess with the Gameboy.
I had only gotten the batteries in, was playing a game for a few minutes when a wave of sleepiness hit me. I knew it had to have been an after-effect of the surgery and likely the medications too, they gave me earlier.
Now normally I can't sleep if there's light in my eyes but this time I didn't care. I slumped down in the pillow and basically passed out, with strawberry frosting still on my face and the styrofoam plate with icing on it fell face flat down on the carpet near the side of my bed, making a gooey mess.
As for the Gameboy, with it still on, it showed a tiny little B&W animated warrior it the center of it with a huge chest, impossibly muscular, bouncing his legs up and down eager to move where he was directed by the controller.
The tinny RPG music bounced to the beat of his pixellated feet promising a grand adventure.
Within moments I was snoring and dreaming of - ice. Lots of ice. I shivered looking around me. It felt as if my joints ached and when I moved them I heard ice tinkling.
Finally I woke up to see there was a nurse pouring a glass of water for me. The ice I heard was the cubes she put in it.
"You do want ice in your water, right, honey ?" she asked pleasantly.
I nodded.
"Well take this." and she handed me a small white pill, "And drink LOTS of water. According to your chart you're a little dehydrated too, since your surgery."
"Okay." I offered, took the pill and swallowed it. I looked to see she had put turned off my Gameboy and put it on a counter just out of reach of the bed. The styrofoam plate was missing from the carpet and a little white stain was there showing they must've used some kind of industrial-strength cleaner on it.
"Drink as much as you can, honey." she said and brought the glass back up to my lips as if she was going to pour the whole thing down my lap.
"I got it." I said crossly, and drank down the contents, although the icecubes in it gave me a bit of a frost-headache.
It was then I noticed my cake was missing from the table !
* * *
"Where's my cake !" I asked in an accusatory tone ?
"Was that WHOLE cake just for YOU ?" she said looking at me as if it was too much for one person to eat.
"Yes." I said in a tone that indicated it was common-fact for someone like me to eat a whole strawberry cake, despite the fact it had to have been over a pound of sugar.
"My my my." she said and clicked her tongue disconsolately. "Well, we put YOUR cake in the freezer for now. You wouldn't want it going bad, now, would you ?"
"No." I grumped.
"Good." she said and then drew the shutters from the window. It was then I realized it was nighttime. Apparently I =DID= sleep. I missed the doctor to come in and check on me.
And I was still sleepy.
"OKay." I said finally, just going along with whatever she wanted.
"You're getting out the day after tomorrow." she said. "And that's only IF you get a good night's sleep NOW."
I grumbled agreement and slid back in my covers. I really was tired but I wasn't going to let her know that.
She looked at me for a moment. She moved her head closer to me and I immediately recognized the movement of someone coming to kiss your forehead but then I think she realized, a little surprised, I was almost the same age as she was, both in our 20s, so she stopped and smiled a little embarrassed, and stood back up to leave.
Morning came quickly. I was offered a great breakfast with pancakes, lite-syrup, sausage, hash browns, and Corn Flakes. Naturally I didn't touch the Corn Flakes but gobbled down the rest.
The Doctor entered again to look at me. "Okay, son. Everything looks fine. You'll leave tomorrow morning. We've done all we can here."
Then he came closely to regard me tapping the clipboard he was carrying in beat against my bed to what he said next.
"And my advice to you is - Don't - fall - down - any - more - staircases. Got it ?" and then smiled up at me like this was profound wisdom of the ages for me to inherit.
"Got it." I said convincingly.
"Hmm ..." he grunched in agreement and then left. Suddenly my Dad entered ! I definitely wasn't expecting him !
"Hi Dad !" I said and reached up to hug him, but realized had something stuck to my arm that wasn't there earlier so I couldn't. I waved."
Dad reached down to hug me around the tubing attached to my arm. "I'm glad you're okay." he said and his voice sounded tired, like this was more of an ordeal for him than me.
"Oh ?" I asked, not so much as questioning his belief as my inquiring as to why he was so upset right now.
"I spoke with Tricia," he began, "She showed me some figures on paper. They looked - good. Very good. Do you understand ?"
"No." I said truefully.
"Andrew," he began, "Tricia has agreed to pay for the entire hospital stay. We talked. Apparently about me. She knew quite a bit. And apparently my future. I - don't know how she knew this. But I checked with a medical expert and she was right."
I stayed silent. This wasn't at all like Dad.
"I owe her, do you understand ?" my Dad said looking at me with an odd expression that no-one had ever had one up on him before.
"No." I said and I felt tears coming to my eyes. What was going on with Dad ? He was usually so on top of things and right now he was a leaf blowing in the wind.
"It doesn't matter." Dad said, leaning down to kiss my forehead. "What matters is you love Tricia. I can see that. But I really - didn't think you'd be ready for this sort of thing - well, ever really ... " and then he couldn't continue.
"Dad, I - " I began but he interrupted me.
"That's fine," he said, "You don't need to explain anything to me but you DO need to explain it to Rose. I think she deserves an explanation since you two are together. Here she is now."
And he got up and if my surprise of Dad wasn't enough, Rose was right behind him.
She didn't look mad, only - terribly confused.
"Dave," she said in a tight voice, "You're getting married ? When did you plan to tell me ?"
* * *
"I - I - " I began but, like Dad, she wouldn't let me explain.
"Your Father thinks this is for the best, since, as you know, I'm already married, and, well - I guess it wouldn't be good for me to see you again, under the circumstances."
"But as friends ?" I said crying, definitely losing total control over this delicate situation.
"Maybe." she said and smiled. "But things have changed. Jimbo was offered a job back in New Jersey. A good one. I - don't know if I'll be able to see you again, at least for a time."
I couldn't reply. I started crying, right all over my hospital pajamas and pillow.
"Oh, don't do that," Rose said. "What we had was - special. There's no denying that. But I knew - at some point, you might leave me - for someone else. I thought it would be another man, like Wayne. But I didn't think you'd get married - to a woman."
And then she gave me an odd look as if she knew I was corralled into it and it wasn't really my choice on the matter.
To change moods however, she smiled nicely down at me which only made it worse.
"No." I said, not believing what was happening right now.
"Dave," she said leaned her head down on my chest to regard me, "Please don't make this any harder than it already is."
I was quiet for her to continue.
"Jimbo received a notice in the mail. For the kind of work he does, he was offered a job back in New Jersey at 10 times the pay. Something to do with a reference from when I worked there. You have - no idea - how this will help us."
"But I have money - " I started but she interrupted me.
"Dave, that's sweet, but the pay here is $78 an hour and you only get $9 an hour where you work at BBI. I appreciate it - " she paused a moment to look at her watch.
"No !" I said louder, trying to get a word in edgewise, "I've got - "
"I've gotta go - " she said bizarrely, as if this was what I was getting ready to say for her. We have things to do. Call me !" she said and then dashed out the door.
My eyes were open wide in bewilderment. What just happened ? I could've given her the million dollars I didn't want it. I DIDN'T WANT IT ! My face crinkled up and I started bawling.
Where was Susan ? I wanted her so bad right now, my Teddy Bear to help comfort me.
Dad stepped back and it was then I realized, his left hand was stiff when he walked. Was it always that way ? I scraped my memory like a razor thinking hard. Yes. Yes ! He did. Was this about what he was talking about earlier ? A health condition of his ? I didn't know.
Like being shot with an automatic rifle of shocking news, to complete my execution, Tricia was right behind Rose, listening in on everything.
"David." she said to me nicely, aware I was crying over what happened, "Is there anything you want ? Anything I can do to help ?"
What did I want ? I wanted my LIFE back ! I wanted Rose back ! I definitely didn't want any stinking million dollars ! I wanted. I wanted a hug d****t !
I held out my hands to her and continued to cry, but Tricia immediately understood.
"Oh I know this is hard to understand." she said and gave me a very nice warm hug, nearly flopping over her feet into bed with me, and I wouldn't let her go, and she let me hang on to her.
She bit her lip and spoke quietly, "This may all seem like it's going too fast. But your Father has Parkinson's. I agreed to pay for his medications and to finance research for finding a cure with his blessings."
"Blessings for what ?" I was confused. There was too much going on in my head right now.
"What do you normally give blessings for between a couple, sweetie ?" she said, and kissed me on my cheek.
"Yeah." I said. I couldn't have been more depressed about that right now than anything else in the world. But what was Parkinson's. Should I ask ?
But then I was confused, "Wait - isn't this Parkinson's stuff expensive ?"
"Honey, WE can afford that now."
"What ?" I asked.
"Sweetie, didn't you know when we're married whatever is mine is yours and whatever is yours is mine ?"
* * *
"No." I said truefully.
"Well, it's just as well." she said, "Imagine you trying to figure out what to do with a million dollars ! And you were going to give it all away to some nameless charities too."
"Well I can give it to Rose," I began but she put a finger to my lips to shut me up.
"Rose is going her own way now." Tricia said with a bit of severity in her voice. "You have to accept that. What =I'M= going to do is get you out of here tomorrow, we'll go to your place, get your stuff packed, and you're moving in with me."
"I like where I'm at !" I told her, a little angry now that she wanted me to move without even seeing how nice I had my place.
"Honey, it's just a LOCATION you are at. We won't lose anything. We'll bring it all. You're going to be happy, I promise you. Now as I asked earlier, is there anything YOU want ?"
I was so angry ! I wanted to yell, "Fruit berry !" which was the worst insult I could think of the time. My brain was in a burning turmoil and I hated - hated where everything was going right now.
"I want a coconut waterfall, can you do that for me ?" I asked savagely.
"Are you sure ?" she said in a strange, challenging voice, "Can you tell me why ?"
I went with this and puffed up my chest. "Yeah, a waterfall. I WON'T move in with you unless you can provide me a coconut waterfall, 20 feet tall, where I can walk behind it in a secret cave, hold out a glass and get delicious coconut milk from it ANYTIME I like."
"Is that ALL you want ?" she asked. This was creepy. She was speaking to me in a tone as if this was going to be a simple matter for her.
"What ?" I said. There was no way she could do this !
"Is that all you want ?" she repeated, and tucked a lock of her pretty hair behind one ear as she looked intently at me with piercing and unblinking eyes.
"Sure." I said, certain I had won this challenge for her.
"Alright !" she said and changed her tone to an amusing one. "One coconut waterfall to go, please !" and then held her index finger out in midair and dragged it down, making the numeral one.
I didn't say anything. She pulled back to gaze at me for a moment with an odd look of confidence. It was then I realized, she didn't look at me as a friend, a lover, a husband, a colleague, or even a co-worker, no, she saw me as a CHILD, and one that could easily be controlled.
That's what I read in her eyes, and it frightened me terribly ...
END
OF CHAPTER 23
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