Eleven
Daniel arrived at the hospital and into the ER. He ran into his mother, Norma. “Mom, what are you doing here?”
“It's my mother-in-law. Of course I'd come,” Norma said.
“Ex-mother-in-law but I appreciate you being here,” Daniel said and walked into the room where Marlene was lying, unconscious, while nurses were trying to keep her breathing. Emily was holding her grandma's hand with tears in her eyes. “How's it going?”
“It's going great!” Emily smiled as a tear rolled down her cheek. “She's going to be fine and make it out of this and be better than ever!” Emily said, obviously emphasizing more toward Marlene. She then shook her head and mouthed 'no.'
Daniel carefully took Marlene's other hand and leaned in next to her ear. “You're gonna be all right, Grandma. I was able to set up a family reunion and it wouldn't be fair to me if you died before you followed through on your end of the deal,” he growled. Daniel looked over and saw Benjamin and Amy standing in the doorway. “You got down here fast…”
“I was caught speeding but Amy lied and said she was going into labor so the officer let us follow his police car with the siren on,” Benjamin explained.
“Hmm. Where's everybody else?” Daniel looked over to Emily.
“Virginia, Linus and Arnold are in the cafeteria. Dad is on his way, Chris can't away from work and neither can Nathan but they will be here as soon as possible.”
“Good…” Daniel sighed and let go of Marlene's hand. “Who's the doctor here?” he asked.
“I am,” responded a man coming into the room. “Dr. Jeffrey Sweeney. And you are?”
“I'm Daniel Judge, the patient is my grandmother.”
“Ah, you're Daniel. Everybody was telling me that you were the responsible one. Well, as you can see it's kind of touch-and-go but we're pretty sure that she'll pull through but she'll need to stay for observation, of course. We also think she had a stroke but we can't check that until we stabilize her and get her breathing on her own,” explained Dr. Sweeney.
“Okay. So what do we do?” Daniel asked.
“You can hang around for moral support but until we get her stable, there's not much you can do. The nurse out front does have a form for you to fill out,” Dr. Sweeney smiled.
Daniel went out front and talked to the administrative nurse and she handed him the form on a clipboard. He walked over to the waiting room where Virginia, Linus, Arnold and Benjamin were sitting. He sat down and began filling out the form.
“Dad should be here. He's Grandma's power of attorney,” Daniel said angrily. “He's never around when I need him.”
“He'll be here,” Linus said. “Your dad's a lot of things but he loves his mom. I can probably help you with some of the information.”
“Where's Amy?” asked Virginia.
“She's in the ER with Emily,” Daniel answered. “What year was Grandma born?”
“1927,” Linus replied. “You know, this really makes you think. Five years ago we all basically went our separate ways because Daniel abandoned the family…”
“Thanks for reminded everyone, Uncle Linus,” Daniel said quickly.
“…And just when we're all getting ready for a family reunion Mom winds up in the hospital.”
“Yep,” Virginia said reminiscently, “protect what you have today because it may be gone tomorrow.”
“No, I was thinking that this is another reason you don't make plans,” Linus corrected.
Emily and Amy approached the family. “She's breathing on her own now so they are going to do a CAT scan,” Emily walked over to Daniel and he stood up to hug her. “She looks really bad,” she cried.
“It's going to be okay, Emily,” Benjamin tried to comfort Emily. “Nothing can kill that ol' horse.”
“Hey!” Daniel interjected.
“That's right,” Benjamin laughed while starting to cry, “that ol' horse will live on to eat her hay.”
“I didn't even know we were calling Grandma Ol' Horse,” Amy said and fell into the pseudo-group hug.
“Mr. Judge?” Dr. Sweeney called, heading toward the family.
“Yes, Doctor? What's going on? How is she?” Daniel pushed away from his family.
“I'm afraid there's nothing more I can do for your grandma,” Dr. Sweeney said solemnly.
The family began to cry and Emily took Daniel's arm to hold her balance.
“But here's your new doctor, Brett Georges. Don't worry, he's the best!” Dr. Sweeney continued.
Everyone groaned and complained about Dr. Sweeney's phrasing as Dr. Georges approached Daniel. “I'm only the best in the city.”
