Mendel by Damone Bester

Author:Damone Bester
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fiction Studio Books
Published: 2022-01-17T22:37:23+00:00

Chapter 14

Life-Changing Moment

∕

Perspective. It’s ironic how two people can experience the same event and have totally different life-changing outcomes. When life happens, we either adapt or fail to adapt, then suffer. Life always seemed to thrust change upon me, change I never asked for nor wanted. My mother stricken with a rare form of cancer, change. My ex-con father released from jail the same day Mom died, change. Our team bus pulled into the back of the school’s parking lot after losing indoor Catholic league. . .change.

“I’m telling you,” Quan continues, “we’re gonna dominate soon as Joe gets back.”

Shadow and I grabbed our bags and followed Quan to the front of the bus.

“Who needs Joe, we got BJ to run anchor leg now, dog,” Shadow joked.

“Yeah, right,” I added sarcastically.

The three of us laughed as we got off the bus. Immediately, I spotted two adults who were not having as much fun as Shadow, Quan, and me.

Mrs. Morales had pulled Coach off the bus and was speaking with him privately. Once they laid eyes on me, they both stopped talking and walked toward me as if floating in some type of movie-magic slow motion.

“Brandon, you have to come with me right now,” she said.

Before I could object, Mrs. Morales whisked me away to her car.

I remember the engine revving as Mrs. Morales ran red lights and honked impatiently at those who weren’t breaking traffic laws. The smart aleck in me laughed while pondering, Is it moral or amoral to drive recklessly with your teenaged student? But my serious side was horrified by what I would soon discover once we arrived at our destination, which didn’t take very long.

Before I knew it, Mrs. Morales was whisking me off again through the revolving doors of Roseland Community Hospital, while her hazard lights blinked furiously at the security guard who mumbled something about parking illegally and a tow truck.

To her credit, Mrs. Morales was only doing what she felt was right. During the erratic drive to Roseland, she never told me what was going on. I suppose she didn’t want to worry me. How could she know that my imagination was way worse than any tragedy she could have dropped on me? So I played along, not asking many questions, knowing that it takes all of three minutes to drive from Mendel to the hospital.

We stormed upon the hospital emergency department room. My heart fluttered when I saw Auntie Emma, standing there, silently stroking Monica’s hair as she laid asleep in the hospital bed. Processing the scene, I quickly assessed, OK, no tubes or hoses plugged into my little sister. No IVs dripping unknown liquids into her puny body. There’s a beeping monitor that’s pretty normal inside an ER. OK, OK, she’s good, I’m good. I exhaled a sigh of relief only to have my next breath knocked from my body with unbelievable dominance.

Mr. James had me by the scruff of my track uniform hoodie plowing me into the wall. The peaceful serenity in ER room one hundred was replaced with indistinct screaming and chaos as Mrs.

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