When They Found Out
Jerry Markovich
By Elena Ridgeway
spunkie_2003@yahoo.com

Another Valentine's Day had come and gone for Jerry Markovich. I sat alone in my apartment, watching Pay-Per-View wrestling with a Big New Yorker pizza on my lap. County had me working the nastiest shifts lately. No one I knew actually worked them. I decided to cut to part time, and picked up a full-time job at Stop-N-Go. It's pretty cool, but I miss book-keeping. I was thinking about how far Carter and Lucy had probably gone, and how much money Lydia would owe me, when the phone rang.

"Mom?"

"Hi Jerry. So glad you're home and not at that awful county general."

"What's up?"

"Don't you watch the news! I swear to god kids these days..."

"I'll turn it on, ok Mom?" She was in the middle of one of her speeches, and I hung up. You can't watch anything with her blabbing in the background. She doesn't care, anyways. She'll bring me a lasanga tomorrow and tell me she's sorry, but I'm her baby and she loves me. I turned back to wrestling when I began to wonder why my mother had mentioned news and County General. Steve Austin was thoroughly whupping someone, and I was curious. "Maybe there was a bomb scare." I remember thinking. I turned to channel 8.

--

"Here's the latest report we have for you on the stabbings at Cook County General Hospital. A patient in for psychiatric treatment reportedly stabbed two hospital employees, one male, one female. Their names and conditions have not been made avaliable to the public, but we know both are in surgery. We'll let you know as soon as more information is made avaliable." The remote dropped from my hands. I was flabbergasted. Two people, people that I had worked with at some point (or maybe not. There's so many people working there now I have trouble keeping track) are injured. I needed to know who. So I called Randi. It's her shift, she'd have to know.

-

"County General" said the wavery voice. It sounded as if she'd been crying.

"Randi? It's Jerry. What's going on."

"Can you hold? I have news stations and policemen on all the other lines, I need this one open."

"Just tell me."

Her voice was so quiet I could hardly hear her. "Carter and Lucy. Bye, Jerry." She hung up the phone, leaving me speechless. I shook my head. I wondered if I had had to much pizza and too many beers. Maybe it was all a big hallucination. That had to be it. I turned back to wrestling. I didn't want to have to return to reality for awhile.