PRESENT TENSE
Chapter Twenty-Two
Sunday, May 11, 2003
Sophie brought Rose back to Southland early the
next morning on her way back to Redlands. She had already missed a week of
classes, so she couldn’t stay longer. Helga had dropped off Jack’s portfolio
the evening before, instructing Rose to bring it to him at the hospital. She
wasn’t sure when she would have time to see him, so she gave it to Rose to
bring to him. Hospital stays could get extremely boring once a person had begun
to recover but wasn’t yet ready to leave.
Sophie dropped Rose off at Memorial Hospital
around nine o’clock that morning. The televised funeral service was scheduled
for ten o’clock in Masline. Rose made her way into the hospital waiting room
and, after returning her crutches, which she no longer needed, she set about
locating Jack.
As the doctor had predicted, he was no longer
in intensive care. His condition had stabilized enough that he had been moved
to another part of the hospital. After inquiring about him, Rose learned that
he was now on the second floor and was on his way to recovery.
After a few minutes of wandering around, Rose
found Jack’s room. He was sitting up, his leg still in traction, picking at a
more varied, but still unappetizing, breakfast tray.
He looked up when she came in. "Hey,
Rose," he greeted her.
"Good morning. I see they’re feeding you
better food this time."
"Sort of." He put the last bite in
his mouth, then attempted to set the tray aside. Rose grabbed it before he
could drop it on the floor. He was doing better, but mobility was a problem.
Setting the tray aside, she dragged over a
chair that had been abandoned at the bedside of someone else and sat down next
to him.
"They say you’re doing better."
He shrugged. "I guess."
Rose was vaguely disturbed at the lack of
enthusiasm in his voice, but pushed her thoughts aside. It had been a rough
week for all of them.
"How are you feeling? I mean, really.
Not just what the doctors say, but how you feel."
He looked at her. "You want to know the
truth? My head hurts, my back hurts, my leg hurts, I want to get up, I’m
allergic to their painkillers, and the food is disgusting. That tell you
enough?"
"You’re allergic to painkillers?"
"Yep. I knew there was a reason why I
never got into drugs. They make me sick."
Rose wrinkled her nose. "Ugh."
"You said it."
Rose handed him the portfolio. "I
brought you this. There’s more paper in it, too, so you can do some drawing.
Hospital stays can get really boring."
"I’ve noticed." He glanced through
the portfolio, then set it aside.
Once again, Rose was disturbed by his lack of
enthusiasm. Shaking her head, she tried to put her concerns in perspective.
He’d suffered a serious head injury less than a week earlier, as well as being
shot and trapped in a cave-in. That could get anyone down. He’d been in a coma
for three days and had been in intensive care until last night. He had legal
worries, thanks to Cal, and his best friend had died in the earthquake. It was
no wonder he seemed a little down. She hadn’t been the picture of happiness
this past week herself, and she, at least, had suffered less physical trauma
from the earthquake. Still, Jack was usually more optimistic than this and his
lack of enthusiasm bothered her.
Setting her concerns aside, Rose asked him if
he’d seen Helga.
"She stopped by this morning before
starting work. She lectured me to eat properly and I gave her advice on how to
stay on her new supervisor’s good side."
"How’s that?"
"Kiss up and keep your mouth shut."
He shrugged. "It worked for me."
"I didn’t care for her, either. She
liked nothing better than to kick me out."
"Usually, in intensive care, only family
members can visit, and only for a short time. The rules were all set aside
because of the confusion following the earthquake. You’re lucky she let you
come back."
"I sneaked past her a couple of
times."
"I’m sure that made her happy."
"If by happy you mean furious, it
certainly did."
It was almost ten o’clock, so Rose looked
around for the remote. Finding it, she turned the television on and clicked
through the channels, searching for the local events station.
When she found it, she set the remote aside
and reached for Jack’s hand. He was trying to avoid looking at it, as if he
could deny what had happened by not acknowledging it.
"Jack." He turned his head as she
spoke his name. "Everyone else apologizes for not being here. Tommy and
Helga had to work, and Sophie had to get back to school."
"I know. Helga told me. She did say,
though, that Tommy might take a couple of hours off from work to be at the
memorial service itself, and Sophie wanted to stay, but she got a call from her
roommate last night, who told her what she was missing at college, so she had
to go back."
"That’s right, she did." Rose
thought that Sophie probably could have waited another couple of hours before
returning to college, but she doubted than her friend could handle another
funeral. It was probably just as well that she had headed back to school.
The picture on the screen changed from the
usual community announcements to the televised funeral, held in what was once
the Wal-Mart parking lot. A local reporter, stumbling over his words, announced
what was going on before the camera was turned to pan over the crowd and come
to a close-up of the minister.
"Do you know him?" Jack asked her,
indicating the minister, who had begun to speak in behalf of all those who had
died.
Rose nodded. "He’s the assistant
minister at my church, Allen Johnson. He takes over when the regular minister
is away."
"What happened to the regular minister
this time?"
"I don’t know. Nothing bad, I
hope."
They turned their attention back to the
television. Reverend Johnson was speaking, talking about the terrible tragedy
that had befallen Southern California, and about the thousands of people who
had died—two thousand in Masline alone. Both Jack and Rose were stunned, but
not surprised, by the death toll.
A makeshift choir, composed of groups from
several churches, a synagogue, and a mosque, sang a variety of songs in several
languages. After that, the names of those who had died were read aloud, with a
bell being rung after each hundred names.
Rose was familiar with this ritual—it was
done every year at her church to commemorate those who had died in the past
year. Under ordinary circumstances, though, there were few enough people that a
candle was lit and a bell rung after each name. With the thousands of deaths from
the earthquake, there was not enough time, or space, for such remembrances. The
reading and the sparse bell tones alone had to suffice.
They sat quietly, listening for the names of
those they knew. When Rose heard Trudy’s name read aloud, followed by a bell
tone, her eyes overflowed. Jack squeezed her hand and gave her a tissue from
the small box beside his bed. Rose tightened her hand around his, and out of
the corner of her eye, saw him surreptitiously reaching for a tissue for
himself. Neither said a word.
When the memorial service was over, Rose
turned off the television and leaned her head against Jack’s shoulder, trying
to regain her composure before heading out to do what needed to be done. Jack
stroked her hair and put one arm around her shoulders, his other hand reaching
up to wipe his eyes.
Rose put both of her arms around him, careful
not to jar any of his injuries or the IV line that was still attached to his
arm. "It’s over," she whispered. "It’s really over."
He didn’t respond, but just put his other arm
around her, holding her close, their foreheads touching. After a few minutes,
Rose pulled back.
"I have to be going," she told him,
glancing at the clock on the wall and noticing that it was nearly 12:30.
"You’re going to go and visit Cal."
She nodded. "Yes."
"You don’t have to do this, you
know."
Rose smiled sadly. "Yes, I do. He’s
gotten away with too much already. I’m not going to let you wind up in prison
for a crime you didn’t commit. This is the only way."
"Blackmail."
"Justice." She shook her head.
"I probably wouldn’t have pressed charges against him anyway...for what he
did to me...but I can use the information to threaten him. And, if he doesn’t
drop the charges against you, I will press charges for what he did to me. He
will get his just desserts...I hope."
Jack sighed, knowing that there was no
changing her mind. Rose had been hurt by Cal and she deserved justice...but she
was willing to sacrifice that for his sake. He looked at her, knowing that few
men were as fortunate as him. How Cal could have abused and mistreated someone
like Rose, he would never understand. He hugged her one last time.
"Good luck."
"Thank you." Rose stood, wanting to
leave before either of them broke down again. Swiftly, she leaned down and kissed
him, then hurried from the room. Jack listened as her footsteps receded in the
distance.