Chapter 14

“I really hate this hospital food,” said Justin, turning up his nose at the tray in front of him.

JC nodded his head in agreement, as he pushed the nondescript food around his plate.

“What is this anyway?” Justin pierced what looked like a piece of meat with his fork and held it up for Chris, who was sitting in a chair beside Justin’s bed, to judge its identity.

“I have no earthly idea J. It’s been too long since I had to eat that junk when I was in grade school.” Chris pushed the offensive food away from his face.

“I can tell you what it looks like, but my mama and daddy told me not to use that kind of language,” admitted Lance as he lay on his bed, watching the exchange between Chris and Justin.

“I’ll be so glad when we can go home and eat real food,” moaned JC as he pushed the tray away from him, untouched.

“Jan said she’d take care of that when we make it home,” said Joey, looking up from a magazine that he was reading as he sat on one of the couches across the room.

“I still can’t believe she took the red eye to make it here,” said Lance.

“She is one great lady…” said Chris.

“Speaking of Jan, when is she going to make it back up here?” asked JC.

“She really didn’t know. I guess how ever long it takes to smooth things over with Johnny. Hopefully, she’ll be able to convince him not to come up here anytime soon,” said Justin, wary of what Johnny’s reaction just might be.

“Well, knowing Jan, she’ll do okay talking to him,” said Joey with confidence in Justin’s aunt.

Minutes later, the door to the room opened and in walked the boys’ doctor.

“Well, how’s everyone today?” asked Dr. Shannon cheerfully, as he entered the room.

“I’d be better if you’d let somebody go get me something to eat from Mickey D’s,” whined Justin.

Dr. Shannon laughed. “Somebody, go get something for them from McDonald’s. I want my nurses to work in a pleasant environment instead of one full of pent up hostility.”

That remark earned Dr. Shannon laughter from the group of boys.

“What do you want Jace?” asked Lance.

“A big mac meal and super size it with a coke.”

“J?”

“Make mine the same,” answered Justin hungrily.

“Okay, be back in a little bit…wanna go Chris?”

“Sure…see ya in a few.”

“Hey! What about me…don’t I count around here?” asked Joey in mock hurt as he looked up from his magazine.

“I was just about to ask you what you wanted…you didn’t give me the chance Joe,” said Lance with a roll of his eyes.

“He didn’t give you the chance to leave…” muttered Chris under his breath, but loud enough that Lance had to work hard to control his laughter.

“What did that old man say?” asked Joey, rising from the couch to walk over to the pair.

“Uh oh…not here boys,” said Dr. Shannon.

“You’re just lucky Yoda that the doc was here.” Joey stood behind the doctor. “Hold me back doc…hold me back.”

Dr. Shannon smiled. “Okay guys…Joey just tell them what you want.”

“Make mine the same as the others…thank you.”

“Yeah…be back in a while,” said Chris with a chuckle, as he and Lance left the room.

“How would you boys like to leave here in…oh…let’s say…4 hours or so?” Dr. Shannon checked his watch and determined that the time would be about 4:00 in the afternoon when they would be allowed to leave.

“You mean it…we’re okay?” asked Justin sitting up on his bed.

“Yes, you’re both okay, but I’ll have several conditions that will need to be followed.”

“No problem,” said JC enthusiastically.

“What are they doc?” asked Joey as he walked over to JC’s bed, pushed the young man’s feet over and took a seat at the end of the bed.

“I’d rather wait until Jan and the others are here before I begin with my list.”

Dr. Shannon saw the grimaces on Justin and JC’s faces at the word list.

“The list is pretty short guys…don’t worry.”

“We’ll do anything to get out of here,” said Justin with a grin wide enough to reach from ear to ear.

“No…I really don’t want to do that doc,” whined Justin.

It had been almost 4 hours since Justin and JC had been told that they could leave the hospital on certain conditions and Justin was beginning to hem and haw over his earlier promise.

“Now Justin…what happened to doing anything to get out of here?” asked Dr. Shannon as he crossed his arms over his chest and cocked his head to the side.

“Man, it won’t be that bad Justin. You’ve taken that stuff before.” Chris was referring to the time when Justin had been prescribed a mild tranquilizer for a 24-hour period by Dr. Shannon and how miserable the young man had been taking it.

Chris’ remark earned him a dirty look thrown in his direction.

“I just didn’t like taking it. It made me feel sleepy all the time and I’ve had enough rest since yesterday to last a long time,” the young man complained.

Justin regretted his remark when his gaze traveled around the room. He saw the anger reflected on Joey and Chris’ face and the hurt on Jan and Lance’s. He decided that he probably didn’t want to look over at JC’s face. He was sure that JC would have his bed “dad” look going on right about then. Justin allowed his gaze to then traveled to Dr. Shannon and saw that the doctor’s face registered sadness.

“Need I remind you that you were brought in here unconscious yesterday, and you and JC gave me the scare of a lifetime. My stomach took a dive when I heard who was being brought in for treatment and then to see the two of you, along with the others was enough to put a few more gray hairs on my head.” Dr. Shannon’s voice sounded strained and frustrated.

Justin quickly dropped his eyes to his hands, instantly feeling guilty for being so childish. He had not realized how deeply affected Dr. Shannon had been by the whole thing.

“I’m sorry…I’ll take what ever you want me to,” the young man said quietly.

“It’ll be okay Justin.” Jan stood closer to her nephew’s bed and began stroking his unruly curls.

“Yeah…the rest will do you good J,” said Lance quietly. Joey and JC nodded their agreement to his remark.

“Hey, we can even be roomies if you want,” suggested JC.

“Okay,” answered Justin with a slight grin on his face. He might not be awake to enjoy the company, but at least he wouldn’t have to be alone.

“Now, as for you JC,” began Dr. Shannon. “I’ll want you to continue taking the antibiotics for 10 more days. They may make you a little nauseous and sleepy but I’ve found that this is the best medication that I can prescribe for what I want to prevent from happening.”

“No problem. I can live…with that…” JC realized what he was saying with wide eyes. There had not really been a chance for the reality of the accident to sink in yet and the words he had chosen surprised him, to say the least.

The silence in the room was almost deafening as the rest of the group contemplated JC’s off hand remark.

Dr. Shannon was the first to shake off his reaction.

“I’ll be back up in about 20 minutes with the papers after we take care of these.” Dr. Shannon walked over to Justin’s bed and took the young man’s left hand in his. He reached into his pocket and took out a band-aid before withdrawing Justin’s IV from the back of his hand. After placing the band-aid over the IV site, Dr. Shannon made his way to JC’ side.

The doctor saw JC cringe at him as he placed a band-aid on JC’s bed.

“Still don’t get along too well with needles?”

JC closed his eyes, screwed up his face and shook his head no, as he turned his head in the opposite direction.

Lance walked over to the other side of JC’s bed and very nonchalantly picked up JC’s right hand. He instantly felt JC’s death grip as he watched Dr. Shannon quickly pull the IV out of JC’s hand.

“All done,” whispered Lance into JC’s ear and he instantly felt JC’s grip relax.

“Thanks,” JC whispered as he released Lance’s hand.

“No problem.”

“Well, did someone happen to bring some clothes for these boys to change into. I don’t think they want to walk out of here in what they came in with.”

Joey and Chris burst out laughing as Jan brought two duffle bags into view. Lance found little humor in the remark as the image of JC and Justin flashed in his mind. Dr. Shannon caught a glimpse of the anguish that quickly crossed Lance’s face, only to disappear just as quickly.

“Here you go guys.” Jan placed the bags on their owner’s beds and watched as each opened their bags and began digging through the contents.

“Boys, I want you both to take it real easy getting out of bed.” With that word of warning, Joey and Chris made their way to Justin’s side to help him stand as Lance, Jan, and Dr. Shannon stood nearby for Justin.

Within 30 minutes, Justin and JC were being pushed in wheelchairs through a back service exit out to their waiting vehicles.

It was going to be good to get home. Little did they know that the end of the trauma was going to be long in coming…for all of them. Just how long the recovery time would be was to be seen.

Fifteen