Blind Rage: A True Story of Sin, Sex, and Murder in a Small Arkansas Town by Anita Paddock

Author:Anita Paddock [Paddock, Anita]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pen-L Publishing
Published: 2015-07-03T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Sam Hugh Park was drunk the entire month of December, 1982, and while his accusers celebrated New Year’s Day with black-eyed peas and football games, he began throwing up blood. Richard McCracken took him to the emergency room at a Fort Smith hospital, where he was admitted. His longtime friends from high school heard about him being hospitalized and set up schedules for sitting with him. Remembering the Sam Hugh of journalism class or the band or the student council or the Latin club, they were shocked to see their friend with his stomach as distended as any eight-month-pregnant woman and his skin the color of a ripe cantaloupe.

Kay Lynn was one of the friends who came to sit with Sam Hugh. Bloody tissues littered the floor, and it was obvious to Kay that Sam Hugh needed oxygen and an IV going to keep him hydrated. Never one to avoid confrontation, Kay stormed to the nursing station and slapped her hand flat on the desk.

“Mr. Park is not getting proper care.”

“Room number?” the nurse said without looking up.

“It’s down the hall on your right. Room 513 or 514. I’m not really sure—something like that. His lips are chapped and bleeding. I want you to call the attending physician right now. He needs an IV, and he needs oxygen, and he needs some of those moisture wipes to keep his lips moist!”

In a matter of minutes, two nurses and a member of housekeeping were in his room. Kay stood back, supervising with her green eyes, pleased with herself. Sam Hugh Park had been dismissed as some drunk who was going to die anyway, but she had taken care to see that he at least died as comfortably as possible.

Kay opened the blinds to let in some light and stood looking out on the street below. It was spitting snow, and she could tell by the way people were huddled up in their coats and walking briskly that the wind was blowing. She heard a soft knock on the door, and she went to answer it. Linda Martin and her husband, Howard, stood outside. Neither seemed eager to enter the room.

Kay patted Linda’s shoulder. She had been in a dance class with Linda when they were children, and they had graduated from high school in the same class of 1959.

“He looks real bad,” she said, “so be prepared.”

Linda whispered, “Is he awake?”

“Oh, no.”

Linda walked over to her brother’s bed. She put her hands to her face.

“Oh, God, oh, God, oh, my God.”

Kay looked across the room at Howard, who stood smugly against the wall. He made no move to console his wife or pay his respects to his dying brother-in-law.

Linda took Kay’s arm.

“When I told the nurse outside that I was Sam Hugh’s sister and his next of kin, she said they had no record of any living relatives.”

Kay saw the hurt in Linda’s eyes.

“Oh, it was just a clerical error. Don’t be offended.”

“Oh, Kay, you know that’s not right. Sam Hugh didn’t want anyone to know I was his sister.

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