Conundrum by Lakin C. S

Author:Lakin, C. S. [Lakin, C. S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

I hadn’t meant to sleep so long. When I rolled over, the afternoon sun had baked my face into a clammy sweat. It took a few minutes to orient myself as images—like frames in a movie reel—of the accident, Jeremy in the hospital, and the letter notifying us of our eviction besieged my mind in a cacophonous roar. I forced myself to sit up, the bedcovers tangled around me. I threw them onto the floor, unwrapping myself from the sheet that had pulled loose from the mattress.

I had left the phone number for the hospital on my nightstand next to the clock—which strangely to me displayed 4:14. I listened and heard quiet, the afternoon stupor having fallen over bird and beast. No doubt my barnyard critters were snoozing under the trees in the warmth of the day. I berated myself for not setting an alarm. How could I have slept that many hours?

I picked up the phone receiver and punched in the number. After connecting to the switchboard, I learned Jeremy had been moved out of ICU and was in a private room. The operator asked if I wanted to ring his room, but I requested to speak to the doctor, or to a nurse on his floor, so I could find out his status. I put the speakerphone on while she had me wait, and I changed out of my sweaty clothes into clean ones. A nurse came on the line and told me Jeremy was stable and resting, and that I could come over anytime to see him.

I doubted I’d be back home soon, so threw a couple of flakes of hay out into the pasture and filled the dogs’ bowls with food. I startled Buster and Angel when I opened the door on my way out. They lifted sleepy heads long enough to assess I was leaving and that a walk would not be in their upcoming agenda. A couple of tail thumps later they were back asleep.

I drove much slower this time to the hospital. I kept thinking I needed to call someone, other people, and tell them what happened. I did leave a message with one of the employees at the feed store, instructing Daniel to cover things for a few days. But whenever serious things had cropped up in the past, my first impulse was to reach my mother, and then my brothers. We had always kept a tight network of communication, and now I was set adrift, directionless. I realized that apart from Anne I didn’t have any other close friends I confided in and leaned on. My family for all these years had been that strong tower, my rock and my refuge for any emergency. Without that support, I was like a chair wobbling on three legs.

I turned on the radio and heard Genesis singing “Invisible Touch.” Wanting to drown out my inner dialogue, which consisted of nine parts guilt to one part self-deprecation, I turned up the volume. The lyrics screamed out at me with a personal message.

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