word count:1703
nurse ritchie continued, “i am going to have to ask all of
you that are not immediate family to leave,, since it is evident you do not
know how to behave yourselves.. this is a hospital,, not a junior high school
cafeteria!!!”
“but…” started hank..
“no but’s!!” exclaimed nurse ritchie, “no but’s,, just
leave.. mr. miller you are free to stay,, but i am afraid the rest of you
will have to leave!” a tone of authority rang out in her voice,, as she pointed
fervently toward the door..
“buzz needs me!!” trudy rang out.. grabbing buzzes arm,, and
hanging on for dear life..
out!!” exclaimed nurse ritchie.. and there was no way her
proclamation could be mistaken for a suggestion..
slowly they filed out.. each stopping to give buzz their
sincerest condolences,, and reassure him they were either just a phone call
away,, or in the case of trudy and john,, that they would be right downstairs
in the cafeteria if he needed them..
within a matter of minutes,, buzz found himself alone.. he
slumped back into a chair,, clearly
defeated,, and reflected on the day’s events..
maybe he had done the wrong thing by bringing trudy home,,
but how was he to have known adam would react in such a way?? and then there
was the news that hank and the two uniforms had stopped over to deliver..
news?? it would have been more accurate for him to say they had stopped over to
drop a bomb on him..
according to hank,, not only had adam tested negative for
any trace of oleander ,, but he was now the prime suspect in the poisoning
death of his own mother?? not to mention the poisoning of buzz,, not once,, but
twice,, and then there was mrs. dunn..
sure, buzz thought to himself,, the boy was disgruntled.. he
was grief stricken,, and all evidence pointed to adam hating him as much,, if
not more,, than any young boy had ever hated his father.. but to actually
poison the mayonnaise?? how could a child of seven even know about such a
thing,, let alone devise a plan,, and pull it off without anyone being any the
wiser??
the uniforms had been there to take adam into custody.. hank
had accompanied them to soften the blow.. it was evident,, they had a clear
cut case against adam,, and yet in his rage at the mere accusation,, buzz had
flown off the handle and stormed adam's room without even waiting to hear what
it was..
thank god he had,, in light of the fact that it could have
been too late for adam if he had sat and listened to the evidence they had
against him,, but the questions racing through buzzes mind unanswered, made him
wish he had been given more information..
“mr. miller?”
“uhm,, right here.” buzz answered, despite the fact that he
was the only one in the room.
“you may go in and see your son now.. the doctors have got
him stabilized,, and he is awake. i would guess he would be comforted by having
you there,, so follow me..” nurse
ritchie informed him,, as she turned on her heal and exited the room,, fully
expecting buzz to follow right behind her..
buzz sat motionless. what should he do?? he wanted with all
of his heart to be the one adam would take comfort in,, but he knew there was
every possibility that his presence in the room would have the exact opposite
effect.. how could he explain to the
nursing staff that he was more than likely the reason that adam was here in the
first place,, and that his very presence in the room would more likely than not
cause a setback instead of be a comfort to adam??
nurse ritchie, returned,, stuck her head in the waiting room
and said,, “mr. miller,, right this way please!” once again in a tone that
signified this was not a suggestion..
without a word,, buzz set off behind nurse ritchie,, his
marginally healed knees forcing him to hobble along, thus following her at a distance..
nurse ritchie preceded buzz into adam’s room.
“your dad is here to see you adam, he has been very anxious
to see you..” she said in her most gleeful voice.
“no!! screamed adam from behind the blue privacy curtain.
“get him out of here!!”
“now,, now,,” comforted nurse ritchie,, ”your daddy loves
you.. he is worried about you.. he wants to see for himself that you are
alright,, surely you want to set his mind at ease, don’t you??”
“please!!” adam eeked out,, his voice weakening,, “i just
want to be alone. please??”
“buzz cut in, “it’s alright nurse,, let him rest.. he has
been through a lot today.. i don’t want to upset him.”
“well surely you want to see him…” nurse ritchies voice
trailed off,, as she watched buzz do an about face and head back toward the
waiting area without so much as another word.. ..
“alrighty then.” concluded nurse ritchie,, as she plumped
adams pillow and tucked him in tight..
“would you like to watch some tv?” was the last thing buzz
heard,, as he made his way dejectedly down the hall..
he was half way to the waiting room,, when two uniforms
turned the corner,, followed by some woman, dressed officially in a tailored
business suit and carrying a briefcase..
“detective miller.” one of the uniforms greeted him..
“detective miller, this is adrian beaumont,,child protective
services.. she will be here to oversee
adam’s care.. you understand at this point in time,, he is still the prime
suspect in a murder investigation,, as well as under investigation in two
counts of attempted murder.. your being one of the victims precludes your
ability to oversee his care.. he is being placed in protective custody,, and
ms. beaumont here has been assigned to the case..”
“but he’s my son.” were the only words buzz could form.
“i understand that, “ ms. beaumont addressed buzz directly.
“ but you have to understand, we are doing this in the best interest of both
adam and yourself..”
the best interest… buzz had used that same line enough times
to know,, what it really meant, “you are no longer in control here..”
he slumped back into a waiting chair,, as ms. beaumont
withdrew some very official looking documents from her briefcase..
“i will need a couple of signatures from you, detective
miller,, you understand,, turning adam’s custody over to the state until this
police business can be concluded..”
she shoved a clipboard and a pen in buzzes general
direction.. he took it without argument,, and just began signing his name..
even reading them was outside of his realm of reality right now..
“detective miller, myself and ms. beaumont will remain
here,, and if you would be so kind as to accompany officer williams here to the
station,, we have some questions that need answers.."
“yes,” buzz said visibly weakened.. “yes of course.. i
understand.”
as buzz stood up to follow officer williams through the door
of the waiting room,, he turned back and said, almost as an afterthought,, “you
will let me know how he is doing?”
“absolutely detective,, we will keep you informed every step
of the way.”
like a schoolboy being led off to the principal’s office,,
buzz followed dutifully a few steps behind officer williams.. for the first
time in his life,, he knew,, he was totally and completely powerless..
***
trudy did her best to keep well ahead of john as she headed
toward the cafeteria.. she had no intention of speaking to him,, and the more
distance she put between herself and that feeble excuse for a man she currently found herself married to,, the better off she was..
john,, being very much of the same mind,, followed at a safe
distance.. there was so much he wanted to say.. he wanted to tell trudy she was
free to go,, free to leave him at any point in time.. free to join buzz and
live happily ever after,, if such a thing was even a remote possibility where
trudy was concerned.
he wanted to tell her that he had fallen madly passionately
in love with lisa,, and the sooner trudy got out of his life the better.. but
there was elliot to consider.. he had no intention of giving up custody of
elliot without a fight.. no intention at all of allowing that cheating drunk of
a wife of his to do any more damage than she had already done.. but being the
gentleman that he was,, john realized now was not the time..
as john entered the cafeteria,, he saw trudy in line waiting
to pay for a cup of coffee.. he could tell by her facial expression and her
overtly sexual body language she was already in route to seducing the poor sod
that had had the misfortune of being behind her in line..
whereas one might think,, seeing her in such a compromising
position, in light of the whole reason they were here in the hospital to begin
with, would have caused his ire to rise,, this was not the case..
instead he looked upon her with pity.. what a poor excuse
she was for a woman she was,, let alone a wife.. she subsisted on nothing short of her
disgusting displays of sexuality..
‘where would she be twenty years from now?’ john couldn’t
help but wonder has he stepped up to pour himself a cup of coffee..
‘where would she be when her beauty faded,, the booze
finally got the best of her,, and she had not one other redeemable quality on
which to fall back??'
as he stirred the cream into his coffee,, he realized,, that
he was looking at all of this from the viewpoint of a third party,, a
disinterested bystander..
it was then that he knew,, he was over her.. not only in his
heart,, as she had not resided there in quite some time.. but also in his
groin.. whatever sick sexual hold trudy had once had over him had been
extinguished..
alas he knew,, he was free..
This leaves me feeling sad. Poor Adam! Poor, poor Buzz! Trudy? Pfft!
ReplyDelete