Bridge by Patrick Jones

Author:Patrick Jones
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group

11

TEN YEARS EARLIER, LATE SPRING

BENSON, MINNESOTA

“Intoxicado,” José’s dad kept repeating as he lay in the backseat of the Chevy. They’d taken him home as he’d asked, but finally José’s dad relented and allowed his wife to take him to the small hospital in Benson. He kept his right hand on his stomach and his left clutching his head. José guessed it was something more than an upset stomach. Maybe his dad had food poisoning.

The small emergency room was empty. Two nurses sat at the desk. José’s dad leaned on him for support, but his mom raced ahead. By the time she reached the nurses’ desk, she was shouting for help for her husband.

The nurses looked at each other and then toward José. José’s dad stumbled as he approached the desk and began talking. But even if the nurses spoke Spanish, they wouldn’t have understood his slurred words, repeating the same phrases over and over.

“English?” the older nurse asked.

“I speak English,” José said over his dad’s increased volume of blabbering.

“What’s wrong with him?” the nurse asked.

José told the story about finding his father face-down at the work site. The two nurses didn’t seem concerned, but asked José questions that he didn’t really know how to answer.

“What is he saying?” the younger nurse asked. José’s dad was now shouting one word.

“Intoxicado,” José answered, repeating the Spanish more clearly. He hadn’t yet learned the words it translated to in English: nauseated, or sick from food. But the nurse raised an eyebrow like he had told her what she needed to know.

The older nurse picked up a phone, dialed quickly, and spoke with her hand over the receiver. “Take a seat,” the young nurse said. José explained to his parents what she’d said.

José sat with his parents, waiting for the doctor. José breathed in relief when the door finally opened, except the uniforms were not that of a doctor or nurse, but rather of two police officers.

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