Chapter Five pt. one

April 20, 1986

 

While waiting for her to get out of surgery, Keith reflected upon the last year and how wonderful it had been to have Maggie in his life.  He recalled the day he practically begged Joan for Maggie’s help at his annual swap-meet sale.  He'd never seen her laugh and smile so much in all the time he'd known her.  They placed bets as to who wore boxers and who wore briefs.  They rated each guy that passed by on a scale of zero to ten, and they made up stories for many of the characters that passed by.  She even relaxed enough to start a snow cone fight with him.  It was a wonderful day.  

When he got the call from the hospital, he rushed down as fast as he could.  He couldn't even remember if he had locked the door to his apartment.  When he told the nurse at the center station who he was, the nurse nodded and told him that Maggie had been crying out his name in her sleep, and that before she took a turn for the worse, she asked the nurse to list him as an emergency contact.  They took her into surgery an hour before he arrived.  He knew her being in there was no accident, and as she lay fighting for her life, he couldn't help but feel it was all his fault.  

Keith owned the second hand store, but his hobby was designing jewelry.  It was his passion.  Several local jewelry stores carried his designs.  Lucelli's was his biggest customer.  Their store was located down-town in the lamp light district, and they were one of the most prominent jewelers in all of San Diego and Los Angeles counties.  People came from all over the state to buy Lucelli's custom jewelry.  He'd even seen some of his designs on local celebrities and movie stars. Lucelli's paid him well for his designs. 

Keith had never met Mr. Lucelli himself, but he and Mark, Lucelli's business manager, had become close friends and occasional lovers.  Keith often thought he could spend the rest of his life with Mark.   So when Mark told him Mr. Lucelli was looking for a dinner date, he didn't think twice about speaking to Joan about it.  He hoped it would give Maggie a temporary shot at experiencing some glamour and high living.

Maggie had never been to a high end restaurant before, and Mark assured Keith it would only be for dinner.  Mr. Lucelli did not like to keep late nights while in town on business.  He was just looking for a nice girl to keep him company.  Something different, Mark said.  Keith trusted Mark implicitly and so he approached Joan in hopes of surprising Maggie.  He hoped it would help her to get out of her shell, and give her an opportunity to see a side of life she'd never seen before.  He gave Joan Mark's phone number to make the arrangements.   The thought that Maggie could be at home doing homework if it weren't for him, made him physically ill.

Maggie was still in surgery when Keith arrived at the hospital.  He told the nurse that Maggie was the closest thing to a relative that he had.  He was worried sick about her and wanted to do everything he could to make sure Maggie had everything she needed.   The nurse allowed him to wait for Maggie in her room until she returned from post-op recovery.   He promised soulfully and with all his heart to abide by the nurse's rules.  The wait gave him time to think about what he would say to Maggie when he was finally allowed to see her.

He just needed to know that she would be ok.  He'd been there for three hours before he got up the nerve to speak to the nurse again, and in those three hours there was no sign of Maggie's family.  According to the nurse, Joan hadn't been there since early the day before, and the nurse's were given strict instructions not to contact any other family members.  He was about to ask who that order was given by when he saw Maggie's bed coming off of the elevator.  He decided that it wasn't important.  He was there, and was determined to see Maggie through this.

As they rolled Maggie's bed into her room, she was still asleep.  He followed behind the bed when suddenly there were beeps and high pitched tones coming from the equipment next to Maggie.  

He tried desperately to get to her when someone shouted "CODE BLUE!  CODE BLUE!  GET THE CRASH CART!  STAT! HER BP IS FALLING..."

Author's Note

This one is shorter because there is a break at the end of this one that lends itself nicely to the next part.

Reviews

[Arthur Henn]

Amazing, I like how you tied the beginning of your story together here showing how Keith comes into play as a true hearted character. Like Ken has mentioned below, you are developing the story up onto another layer of imagery if I'm ok say this a visual with your gift of words moving this story right along as it is like watching a movie.

Your characters are strong and you can not help like Keith and love Maggie.

Well done!

Art

[Dezaraye]

Yikes! I haven't got time to review because I need to get to the next part!!! :-P

This is a good chapter, thanks for the background information on how she came to date Mr. Creepy-bad-guy.

[Ken Simm.]

Now the relationship woth Keith is established the whole story itself takes on a firmer line. A development that was needed to move the story on and give it yet another layer to the many it has already got. Continually well written.