Chapter 15: She's Not Heavy, She's My New Sister
The sun finally started to filter in through the window. It was hard to believe everything that occurred since my date the prior night. The nurse had mentioned possibly getting out this morning, as unbelievable as that sounds considering how badly off I had been during the night. Now all I had to do was worry about the other patients I’d be examining. I figured it would be nice to stop focusing on myself for a while. Although I was sure memories of Jennifer and worries about her condition would wear on me as Ryan and I went on our tour shortly.
Both Brooke and Rebecca had left a while earlier, despite the protests of the children. Brooke wanted to get them settled, and the moving trailer situated somewhere safe. They’d told me to inform Ryan that they’d be by later in the day when I was ready to leave. A kind of ‘handing off’ ceremony, I guess.
Just before Ryan was scheduled to return Cate slowly woke up. Before she made herself presentable, she snuggled into me.
“Have I told you today just how much I love you? As a combination of my favorite lover, my top brother and the owner of my heart?” I couldn’t help it, I blushed quite a bit. Sometimes it’s hard to listen to something quite that sappy, even if it is from someone you feel the same way towards.
“I love yo...” I started to reply before she placed her finger against my lips to prevent me from interrupting her.
“I also love that you finally opened up to Jennifer last night, and also for what you said to Allison,” and with that she kissed me. It was a shallow kiss, but it conveyed just how much I’d affected her.
“So, you heard that, did you?” I asked.
“Yeah, I did. It was sweet. You are really going to have to give each of your girls their own tasks, just so they can all feel like they are doing something specifically for you, other than just hanging around trying to be nice all the time.”
“I think you’re right. I’ve just been letting things go for too long. I need to start organizing things. But, in my own defense, I have had a few things on my mind.”
“I know that,” she said, kissing me again. “But I’m not about to apologize for being one of them. And I know for a fact that no one else will either. Although I wouldn’t mind hearing it from Brandon,” she replied with a mini-snarl.
Just then we heard someone approaching the door, so Cate quickly climbed down off of the bed. However, instead of Ryan, the policeman from last night knocked and entered. It was the quiet one, unaccompanied by his brusquer companion. He’d been more reasonable during our previous troubles, but I knew better than to fall for the old ‘good cop/bad cop’ routine. If he wanted to be nice to me he was going to have to demonstrate it with something besides mere words.
“Excuse me, I’m sorry to disturb you this early, but I was informed by Dr. Moore that if I wanted to interview you I’d have to get here before you were released. Let me tell you, it’s hell trying to get a policeman going before 6 in the morning! And they don’t even have any donuts here,” he added, laughing easily. I had to admit, his new attitude sure helped to assuage my previous fears, but I was still leery.
“That’s OK, you’re not disturbing me. I was getting ready for everything to start moving around here,” I told him. “I assume you want to speak to Anh and myself?” I asked.
“Yeah, that’s right,” he told me. “Normally we like to speak to each of the witnesses separately, but we’d have to really search for anyone nearby who speaks Vietnamese, and we doubt the victim is likely to be colluding with anyone in his own attack.” He glanced around and noticed my girls, all still present in the room and rousing themselves around me. He tried to call to Anh but was unsuccessful in getting her attention.
“ Anh, ” I called, using the speech we’d prearranged. “N gười cảnh sát tốt đẹp sẽ giống như bạn biết rằng ông là một asshold hoàn thành.” Though he’d never have a clue, I’d just informed Anh that our little policeman friend wanted her to know what an ass he was. I could see her smile as she immediately turned as soon as I spoke her name.
“Tell him he can suck my overly large and exceedingly dry clit, will you?” she asked me.
“She says that she’s ready to answer any questions you have for her,” I managed to convey with an almost straight face.
“Very good, I’ll try to keep this short,” he informed us. “I’m glad to see you’ve managed to recover so swiftly, by the way.”
“Thanks, but let’s get this over with while it’s still fresh in our minds,” I reminded him. He didn’t need any further prompting.
“Ms. Ngo,” he began, immediately getting him a frown. She rattled off a little speech, which mainly consisted of a profanity strewn tirade comparing his tiny penis to a soggy useless noodle.
“She objects to the title you used, officer. She’s proud of her role as a mother, wife and grandmother, and even now that she has finally put those things behind her to do even more important work, she asks you to be respectful. You’ve got to understand,” I told him in a pretend whisper, “she’s really into the whole old school Asian respect for your elder’s thing.” The officer nodded politely, a bit taken aback.
“Very well, <i>Mrs.</i> Ngo,” he began again. “Can you describe for me what happened last night, and how you came to be holding a fireplace poker to Mr. Jones’ face?”
I translated her recollections to him, both of us speaking honestly, having gotten the teasing out of the way early. It was only so much fun insulting someone when they didn’t realize it. After a while it just seems petty and cruel.
She told him how they heard the knock on the door, but had held back because they knew I was with my date, saying goodbye – a little white lie – and thus only came into the room when they heard the front door crash open. She’d arrived just as Brandon began spewing his obscenities at both his sister and me. She then explained how I’d waved them all back, while I attempted to calm him down myself. About how Cate had run to Chalise’s side to help her after he struck her hard enough to lift her off of the floor, but stressed how everyone stayed back and didn’t interfere or say anything until after I’d been struck with the chair.
“At that point, Brandon was already lying on the floor screaming, but Shani Sharp and I ran out to protect Alex, because we saw how crazy Chalise’s brother had been acting, and we didn’t trust him to not attack Alex again,” I continued translating.
“And the reason why you kept the weapons on him until you were ordered to drop them, repeatedly by the police?” he asked.
“The police first yelled for us to drop them before they were close enough to do anything. We were willing to lay them down, but not if the police weren’t able or willing to provide protection themselves,” she said, glaring at the officer.
“Apparently you incapacitated him <i>before</i> they attacked him. Can you explain why they’d do that?” he asked me, which I duly translated before addressing it myself.
“Just because he was down doesn’t mean he wasn’t dangerous. He was twice my size, even more for the both of them. He was acting like a maniac. He broke into our house unannounced, started shouting and cursing, and then he attacked me. He just hit me in the head with a fucking oak chair!”
I guess he accepted that answer because he turned back to Anh and asked, “You say you heard Brandon Johnson curse profanities several times. How did you know this if you don’t speak the language?”
“One tends to pick up the insults in a language long before one learns to speak it,” she explained. “It’s a lot more fun, and it helps provide the incentive to learn more.” He simply nodded, as if this was an already established fact.
“All right, moving on. After Alex, the victim, specifically gave us permission to search the house, we couldn’t help but notice that there were a variety of women’s clothing and personal items in his room. Could you explain why this would be so?” he asked, looking into her eyes as he said so.
“Oh, of course,” she replied. “Since we had all taken over so much of the house, Alex was kind enough to offer us his bedroom while he slept on the couch at night. Part of the arrangement I made, in offering to do the cooking, was that I’d repay his kindness by making up the couch for him every morning as well,” she explained, sounding perfectly reasonable doing so.
“So, are you willing to swear that you haven’t had any sexual relations with Alex?” he pressed.
“First, I don’t see as how it would make any difference, since he’s legally an adult. Secondly, look at me. I’m a grandmother. Most of my plumbing doesn’t even work anymore. Alex wouldn’t likely last long enough for me to even get started. Honestly, I owe him tremendously for what he’s done for me and the other women in the house, but I’m hardly likely to take a naïve young boy to bed. I don’t think he’d put up with it either,” she argued. I had the good sense to blush while she was saying this.
“Fine,” he said simply. “Do you know if any of the other women in the house are having sex with him?”
“And why are you asking this?” she asked. “There’s nothing you can do if they were, other than to satisfy your own twisted perversions. But no, as far as I’m aware, no one has slept with Alex yet. Including his girlfriend, Chalise. Her brother seemed to have attacked him before they ever had a chance to get past first base.”
This produced a laugh by the officer. “You seem to have figured out the baseball allegory as it applies to sex,” he humorously replied.
“I hate to break it to you, but you are hardly the only country in the world to watch or play baseball, or to have invented humorous sexual comments. That joke is old even in the countryside of remote Vietnam.”
He laughed again. He was doing that more and more and he seemed to be genuinely more relaxed. “So that’s a no, I take it?” he asked one last time.
“Yes, it most definitely is,” she replied.
Just then Shani returned, carrying a fresh box of donuts. The cop, Officer Daniel Cooper according to his name-tag, glanced from her to me.
“Man, I don’t know how you do it, but you have amazing timing between you and these women you aren’t having a relationship with. I’d be tempted to charge you with attempted bribery if those didn’t look so good. I’ll make you a deal, I’ll just take three. Two for me and one for my partner back at the station. You can offer the rest to the nurses outside. We always like to keep them on our side,” he informed us. “But I’d also like to ask you for your own account of the events,” he told me.
“That’s fine,” I told him, “the Starbucks’ lattes won’t arrive for a few more minutes yet.”
I told him the story from my perspective, covering the break in, the attack, his behavior, the actions of the girls, and basically anything I could remember.
“OK, I have to ask this but, are you now, or have you ever been, a member of any racial hate groups?” I simply rolled my eyes at his question.
“I’m dating his sister, and I’m doing it with the full knowledge and consent of her mother. Why would I do that if I hated blacks? What he was carrying on about after the attack was nonsense. He apparently knows how to play the system. Have you had his blood tested for any drugs? I’m pretty sure he was under the affects of something. I’m no expert, but I’d suspect he may have been taking steroids to beef up for football, and that was the source of his rage against me.”
“You understand he made some very specific accusations against you, don’t you? We’ve got to take his claims into consideration.”
“Yeah, a fellow that size is going to be terrorized by little old me and a frail grandmother, in our own home, after his sister has testified he broke in and attacked her?” He simply nodded, jotting it all down in his notebook and that seemed to be that.
After we wrapped up the interview, Officer Daniel turned and confided in me. “You know, next time you should remember that, as the dear Mrs. Ngo so succinctly put it, the first thing one learns in a new language are the insulting bits. Besides being fun, they are also useful to know when you are being insulted. Remind her of that the next time she mentions being respected,” he replied with a smile as he walked out of the room, clutching his donuts and his latte.
Once he left, Ryan entered, smiling at the retreating form of the police officer carrying his treats.
“You certainly have a knack for knowing how to deal with people,” he said.
“If you want to survive and avoid the public eye, you learn to be nice to the people in charge,” I told him.
“That makes a lot of sense. Well, I’ve already filed all your paperwork. If you’ll sign this, you can leave whenever you’d like. Although, if you have some spare time, you have a few fans scattered around the hospital who are concerned with <i>your</i> health,” he informed me, stressing the irony in the situation. I had to grin at the thought myself.
I quickly signed the form and Allison, Shani, Cate and I all accompanied the good Doctor Ryan down the hall. I stopped to thank the nurses along the way, blowing them kisses as I went. They all laughed at me and assured me they’d remember me.
“You know,” Ryan told us as we walked, “your recovery was exceptionally rapid, even assuming it was a minor concussion. Your symptoms were fairly significant for you to be fully functional already. So either I should be watching you for the next few hours, or somehow you’ve managed to speed up your own healing.”
“I was wondering about that,” I told him. “But frankly, all the women going in and out all night kept me too distracted to think about it much.” He laughed, but didn’t make any further comment about it.
“So, did you hear from your two friends, Brooke Knowles and Rebecca Boles?”
“Oh, yes, they were here early this morning, but Brooke wanted to drop her kids and their luggage off. They said they’d be here when we finish, so you can discuss whatever you need to with them. I think they’d appreciate knowing about that apartment you mentioned, as I don’t think Brooke will be able to stay with us with her kids. I don’t know about Rebecca’s plans though. If she’s like Natalie, she’ll want to move in with me, but we are a ways away, and she and Brooke seem to have gotten close. I’m not really sure which way she’ll go.”
“Are you sure you’re not still suffering from the effects of last night? You seem to be rambling a bit,” he teased. I figured I’d best be quiet for a while.
“Allison,” he said, not worried about my silence, “I’ve spoken to someone at the University. If you’ll stay after we’re finished, I’ll have you talk to them so you can get started on some studies. The sooner I can get you going, the happier I’ll be.”
“Yes, sir, I appreciate that. I’m looking forward to it,” she answered.
“Do you plan on working with your cohorts on what you’re learning?” he asked.
“I wouldn’t call them ‘cohorts’. Let’s just call them ‘Alex’s girls,” she corrected him. “So far, that seems to be the most frequently used term to describe all of us.”
“Sure, that’s fine. I’ve got no problem with that. It’s pretty clear you share something fairly odd. Granted, if it all becomes public I’ll have to distance myself, but I’ll support you as long as you can keep out of trouble. But that assumes you’ll be able to keep all of this out of the media,” he said, turning to look meaningfully at me.
“I understand, sir,” I told him. “I’m well aware of the dangers I’m facing. It’s something I think about quite a lot. I don’t seem to be able to avoid the information constantly leaking out, though. I’ve been lucky so far,” I admitted.
“You know,” I continued, “I’m a little curious just what you are getting out of this. You are clearly taking a risk engaging in what is a nonstandard, unproven and untested medical procedure. What are you looking to gain out of it?”
“That’s actually a good question, and I’ve been meaning to discuss it with you,” Ryan said, in answer to my question. “Mostly, I’m just bored with where my career and my life are right now, and you offer a bit of excitement in both that make it exciting to get up early each morning. More than that, though, I’m looking to push the hospital here. I’m assuming you’re going to stress to each patient to not reveal anything about you. That’ll help me out because, since they won’t be able to talk about you, they’ll have to talk up the hospital. If you can improve the overall success rate of the hospital, that’ll help as well. However I’m well aware I’m going to have trouble getting full time access to you, so I’m counting on your ‘girls’ giving me some additional insight into common problems that will boost our success statistics. I’m also looking at starting some outreach efforts that you and your girls can help with that should bring some recognition to the hospital.”
“That makes sense, I guess,” I admitted. “But aren’t you going to need some testing or some studies to justify the use of these ‘techniques’?” Ryan laughed briefly at this.
“Alex, I hate to burst your little bubble, but no one is going to pay for an extensive test of a new ‘procedure’ unless there’s substantial money to be made off of it. And no one is ever going to approve of a new medical approach unless there are lots and lots of documentation proving it works and is safe. So there is no way your abilities will ever be accepted by anyone. There just isn’t any way to patent and charge exorbitant fees for what you do.
“Partially, I’m hoping I can get you to help a few select well off clients that’ll reward the hospital with some grants. That would be the biggest benefit to me, but that’s not that likely, since we’re still not sure what you can and can’t do, nor what will be effective and what won’t. Yeah, it’s true I’m taking a big risk here, but we got into this because I’m a bit of a gambler, and I like the idea of a long shot, even if I know how rare they are. If I can make a low wage investment in a high yield bet, I’m willing to take a chance on it. In other words, you are essentially a medical lottery ticket for me. The chances it’ll pay off are abysmal, but it doesn’t cost very much to feed my dreams of a huge payoff.”
I simply thought about this, reviewing it in my mind. Clearly the myriad reasons why he was supporting me weren’t clear cut. I’d have to watch how his complicated motivations might impact me over time.
By this time we reached the first patient. Before we entered the room Ryan cautioned me.
“Now, I just want to warn you, the people I gave you to examine were all in pretty serious trouble, as there wasn’t much that we could do for them. Don’t get upset if some of them, like Jennifer, aren’t doing real well. The fact they’re doing well at all is a huge benefit to them, but you can’t expect to win every case. Failure is just a part of the game.” I nodded, getting a bad feeling he was telling me this for a specific reason.
“We still haven’t heard from the man with the broken arm,” he continued, “but then it hasn’t been that long yet, and he really has no reason to have it examined yet. The earliest he’d be expected to check in again would be for a one week review.” I simply nodded. With that we entered the room.
Sitting there was Tim Reynolds, the man who had been in the coma just a few short days ago. He was with his family and was looking much brighter and healthier. He still looked weak, and his whole body was thin and gaunt, but he appeared to be quite chipper for someone who had recently been in a coma.
He brightened on seeing me, calling out to me by name. He was surrounded by his wife and kids and the room looked bright and happy.
“Alex, it’s so good to see you up and about. I heard about your troubles and I was really worried about you,” he told me.
“Me, too,” his wife, Tracy, told me, pulling me into a big hug. “You’ve done so much for us. The idea that someone would hurt you just made me want to go down and hurt them myself.”
“They’re releasing me today,” he told me. “The good doctor here tells me I’ll still need frequent visits to the physical therapist to regain my lost muscle tone, but that there’s really no reason to keep me here. I’m going to be able to resume my life again. The idea I’d lost so much time over something that had seemed so minor at the time is just unbelievable. But getting my life back still means a tremendous amount to me. I realize how close I came to never waking up again.”
They both had their kids give me hugs as well, and they all wished me well and I couldn’t help but grin over the difference between the unconscious figure I’d seen before and him now.
They made a big deal over the goodbyes and asked me to allow them to provide me a meal or something as a thank you memento sometime. I thanked them and told them I’d keep that in mind, but then gave them the warning that Ryan had expected me to give, telling them not to mention me or what I’d done to anyone. They thought it was terrible that anyone would take what I’d done the wrong way, but they respected my desires and promised they’d keep it quiet. That’s when I gently told them they could simply credit Ryan’s hospital for Tim’s cure. They seemed happy enough with that, and we parted on good terms.
As we made our exit, Ryan brought me up to speed again. “Jennifer isn’t available right now. We couldn’t arrange a non-emergency surgery until normal hours, so she’s under sedatives to keep her quiet until they begin. I don’t think you could do or learn much from visiting her at this point. I’ll have Allison or someone keep you informed on her progress, though.
“Now, we’re going into the restricted area. Here it’ll be a mixed bag. There’s both good news and some bad news. Try not to get upset by what you see, all right?”
This is what I had been expecting, and I wondered which person was taking a turn for the worst, but I figured I already knew.
I didn’t even notice it happening, but I found myself holding Cate’s hand. I don’t know if I grabbed hers or she anticipated my needs and took mine. I wondered how we appeared to Ryan, as caring siblings or intimate lovers. He didn’t give any outward signs of suspecting anything, so I put it out of my mind for the time being.
It took us a while to get down to the restricted ward, and we went into a room where we encountered the burn victim, Carlos Alvarez. He was awake now, and seemed much better, sitting up and speaking with a visitor. When he turned and saw me, he brightened visibly.
“Alex! I’d shake your hand, but I’m afraid I’m still not allowed to use my hands,” he called out.
“I’m glad to see you doing so well,” I greeted him, trying to resist the temptation to give him a big bear hug.
“I was sorry to hear about your attack. It’s apparently the talk of the entire hospital. Everyone seems concerned about you. I almost hate to tell you about my own minor problems,” he said with a slight grin, already anticipating that I seemed to be fine.
“Nonsense, I wouldn’t feel right if I couldn’t at least look at you again. I don’t know how much help I may have been, but it doesn’t do you any harm to have me pretend to do something, now does it.” He grinned in response.
I gave him the whole spiel about not telling anyone about what I’d done, including everyone else in the hospital, to which he admitted he’d talked a bit, but that most of the hospital staff already seemed to know a lot about it.
“Yeah, that’s part of what I was afraid of. Now tell me how you are doing,” I told him.
“They tell me I’m doing great, and I feel good. Obviously I still have substantial damage that will be with me for the rest of my life, but they tell me the lack of scabbing means there will be fewer complications, and I’ll look much better than I would otherwise.”
“I’m glad to hear that. Do you think you are up to another treatment?”
“Yeah, I told the doctor I wasn’t really interested in his silly painkillers for this. I’ve been a working man all my life and I’m not afraid of a little pain if it is going to help me in the long run. Besides, the areas that were causing the pain seem to be doing better lately.”
I took him at his word and mentally discussed the case with Allison. After a short delay, I held my hands over his legs and gave him a fresh dose of my unique treatment. He grimaced a little, but it seemed he was right. The tissue with the sensitive nerve tissues was already largely healed, and the treatments seem to be helping prevent troubles from the 3rd degree burns on his legs. After I finished there I also did his hands, after the nurses took his bandages off for me, of course.
Ryan then informed me that he was progressing much faster than expected, and that he’d be able to be released much sooner than he would otherwise. That made me feel good, but only temporarily. As we left, I had a feeling of dread, already knowing what to expect in the next room.
When we entered her room, my little MRSA patient didn’t look quite so healthy. Mary was sallow and her skin was gray, and although she tried to grin she was largely unsuccessful. We talked briefly, but I didn’t need Ryan to tell me their last gasp antibiotics weren’t successful and that she was slowly dying from her worsening infections. I could try to strengthen her body, but it was only a brief stopgap measure, as it was clear she was going to succumb anyway.
“Look, we both know there’s not much I can do here,” I told her honestly. “Tell me how you want to approach this. Do you want me to try to strengthen you, so you can fight it off for a few more hours, or....” I simply left the question hang, rather than state the obvious.
“I’m glad for what you’ve been able to, do for me,” she said weakly, gasping in the middle. “You gave me hope when there wasn’t much, and you gave me strength when I needed it. Specifically when my... family came to visit, so now they have a positive... last memory of me. If my death is inevitable, then it’s time I made my peace with it. I want to thank you, and ask that you try to remember me. I may not have made a big difference with my life, but I’d like to believe that someone will remember me for it.”
I couldn’t keep the tears form my eyes. Despite the gowns and mask, I had to take her in my arms, even as I was aware of the risks involved. It was a very tearful meeting. I didn’t know how much longer she had, however I wished her the best, knowing it was only a hollow wish.
“I didn’t schedule you to visit any new patients,” Ryan told me, once we were back in the halls. “I figured you’d have a hard enough time between both her and Jennifer. These things take a lot out of you, and you are still recovering on your own. Try not to take it too seriously, but there really isn’t any other way to take this kind of thing. When you feel up to it, I’ll have some more positive patients for you to try your magic on.
“By the way, be careful taking off that gown and gloves, as you’ve once again managed to risk serious infection. I’m not sure I should be allowing you do this if you keep taking chances like that. Still, I like that you could give her the chance that she had. But I’ll still be pissed if you go and compromise yourself in the process,” he warned me.
He walked us out to the lobby, where both Brooke and Rebecca were waiting for us. After quick kisses hello, I left them along with Allison in Ryan’s care while the rest of us crowded into a couple of cars. Anh still had her car there as well. The trip home was silent as I spent it mostly brooding about life in general, rather than worrying about my own minor problems.
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On the ride home Cate sat beside me and squeezed my hand. “How are you feeling, Alex?”
“What? Oh, I’m all right, I guess. It’s not like this was unexpected. Ryan told us it was a serious, untreatable form of cancer before we began. I made an effort and it was only partially successful, so....” I said, finishing with a simple shrug of my shoulders.
“And Mary was also in a similar situation. I helped her feel better so she’d have a better chance of the antibiotics helping her, but she had to rely on those antibiotics. I didn’t have anything to do with their failure. But still....” I added, again leaving the remaining thought unsaid.
“That’s what your rational mind is telling you, but what are you feeling? This has got to have hit you pretty hard,” she pressed.
“To be honest, I’m not sure what I’m feeling right now. I think it’ll take me a while to figure out just what I think about it. For right now I’m just letting it all sink in. Believe me, you’ll all know when I need some cuddling. That’s the good thing about a house full of receptive patient females.” We laughed briefly before I started in on something else.
“You know, we’ve GOT to come up with some way of referring to people. It’s getting awkward, telling people to refer to you as ‘my girls’.”
I’d been expecting them to object to my changing the topic, but instead they all took me seriously.
“We’ve actually been discussing that very topic a bit,” Shani informed me. “We agreed that, between ourselves, we like the term ‘Sisters’, as it describes how we feel about ourselves, and it would be easy for any of us to drop into a normal conversation.”
“That may be true,” I countered, “but it’s going to be awkward if Ryan asks me if someone new has the vision and I say, ‘That’s not someone, that’s my new sister’.”
“Well, there’s a variety of alternatives. Since you call the others the watchers, you could always call them the ‘seers’,” Cate suggested.
Gail remained silent on the subject, not having had a chance to consider it before.
“Or, if all else fails, just calls the others ‘type 1’ and Rebecca and I, ‘type 2’. It’s simple, concise and no one outside of our group will have any idea what it means,” Natalie suggested.
“I think you all have good ideas. I should have had this discussion much sooner. So, amongst ourselves, we’ll refer to you as my ‘Sisters’. If I need to designate the class you fit in I’ll refer to you as either watchers or seers. When we’re in public I’ll simply refer to type 1 or type 2,” I said, quickly summarizing. I then teasingly added, “Of course, you’ll always be ‘my girls’ to me.” They all oohed and aahed in a cute fashion and we shared a smile over it.
“Don’t forget about those like me,” Cate said. “I think you need to add a type 3 for those of us without any special abilities. That would make three separate classes or types of followers. The seers, or type 1s, the watchers or type 2s, and all the rest of the normal folk, or type 3s.”
“Cate, you are <i>anything</i> but normal,” I assured her, giving her a quick kiss. “But I think it’s a workable system.
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“You know,” I said, once we got home and I sat discussing everything with the family again, “I think I need to reconsider this theory of Dad’s. I may seem to attract women, but I certainly don’t impress the guys much. Between Bao, Darrell, Brandon and Tony, I’m certainly without many male friends.”
“No, I don’t think his mind control theory holds up here. You seem to have plenty of them angry at you. Maybe you have the <i>opposite</i> effect on males?” Cate suggested.
“Mike, Jimmy and Kevin hate me now, too.”
“No, I’m sure you’re wrong about that. They may be upset...” my mother began to protest.
“Nope. They bloody well hate me. About the only one who <i>doesn’t</i> want to kill me is Bulldozer.”
“Who?” Gail asked. “And who are these others? Maybe I should stick around if all these people have it in for you?”
“Bulldozer,” I explained. “That’s Darrell, Chalise’s brother’s nickname on the football team. And don’t worry about the rest, their either past or I’ve got them under control.” My father snorted at this, weakening my argument.
“Just wait, between his father and his brother they may sway him back to the evil side soon enough. That’s one scary family,” he told me.
“What do you...” I began.
“I ran into them in the Emergency Room when I first got to the hospital, before we realized you already had a private room. Chalise’s father was going nuts, claiming he was going to sue anyone who even looked cross-eyed at him.”
“Yeah, he’s a bit temperamental. Not quite what I’d call a ‘people person’,” I admitted.
The phone rang and Cate jumped up to get it before anyone had a chance. I had a strong feeling it was one of two people, so I went ahead and got up. By the time I got there Cate was already holding the phone for me.
“It’s Kitty, she wants to ask where you plan on taking her out for her date tonight?” As I took the phone she silently mouthed the words, ‘you are so going to get it tonight’. I simply shrugged, not wanting to assume anything.
“Hey there, Kitty. Are you serious about going out tonight, after everything that happened last night?” I asked.
“Hey, I don’t have any brothers looking to hit you with one of your own chairs,” she laughed. “But no, seriously, I wasn’t expecting much. Since you are supposed to be resting I thought maybe we could stay in and watch a movie or something.”
I told the room what she was thinking, basically to see if there would be any objections, but Anh spoke up, suggesting she fix us a nice Vietnamese dinner for the occasion.
“Anh suggested a special dinner, that would make it a bit nicer,” I suggested.
“Yeah, that sounds nice. I’ve been anxious to try some of Anh’s cooking,” Kitty said. “But look, I’ve got a favor to ask you. I know this is supposed to be our night together, but could we invite Chalise as well?”
“Uh, sure, I guess we could. Are you sure you really want to give up your time, though?”
“Actually, I think it’s important. Since we left last night, we’ve been talking. She’s starting to fall apart. She blames herself for what happened to you, and she’s talking about breaking up with you in order to protect you.”
“I guess I should have anticipated that,” I said. “There was no way she could have prevented it.”
“Yeah, don’t tell me, tell her,” Kitty replied. “You know, instead of talking to her tonight, how about if you handle it right away. Why don’t you call her and invite her over. Better yet, don’t talk to her or she’ll try to break up with you over the phone. This needs to be done in person. Give me a minute and I’ll get her on the phone, then, when you call, you can extend the invite via your sisters.”
Agreeing to that, we finished the call and I quickly called Becky’s. She answered, whispering, and told me basically the same thing, that Chalise was very upset. I told her to bring everyone by for lunch, but that I expected everyone to clear out and give us some space for us to discuss things once they got here. She agreed and we quickly hung up.
“OK, I just spoke to everyone. The whole house is coming over for lunch, so we’d best start on both lunch and dinner. But first, I want to talk about a few things.”
Everyone quickly gathered, not knowing what to expect.
“All right, I just want to announce to everyone that it’s time this all came to a conclusion. I’m going to tell both girls tonight that I’m ready to commit to them.” All the girls started getting excited, all trying to speak at once but I signaled I wasn’t finished speaking yet. “Don’t get too happy yet. I fully expect this to cut through all the playfulness and they’ll both have to get serious. I actually expect either one or both of them to back out, but we’ll see.
“Nothing is going to happen between us tonight, though,” I warned them all. “I wouldn’t want to rush into anything when everyone is emotional, and I don’t think Chalise is in any condition to make a commitment tonight. But this is going to change things. Because I’m officially committing myself, that means I can’t immediately cheat on them. There won’t be any more fooling around after this,” I told them, meaning every word.
They sat and let that sink in, then Shani started to say something but Cate put her hand on her arm, effectively silencing her. “Alex, I don’t think that’s really fair. I’ve been speaking with them both quite a bit since you’ve gotten involved with them, and they tell me quite a bit. You specifically told them both that you were going to discuss it with them and let them each debate it with you. They’ve probably both been thinking about it, planning out what they’re going to argue with you about. You can’t take that away from them. There’s actually a very thin line between caring sentiment and patronizing condescension.”
“Besides,” offered Anh, speaking so only I could understand her, “you’ve got a certain someone who <i>really</i> wants to demonstrate how much you mean to her,” she said, indicating Gail with a subtle head tilt.
They both had me at that. They knew my weaknesses. I knew that part of my responsibility to my women was to give them their due, my appreciation, and some role to fill. I couldn’t very well abandon Gail just when she first came into my life. Likewise, I also couldn’t try to decide for Kitty and Chalise what role they’d play in my life. Cate was right, they had to argue that point with me themselves and win whatever points they wanted on their own. To do anything else would be, well, completely unfair.
“OK, you win,” I conceded. “I guess sex is on for tonight then.” This simply announcement produced a chorus of giggling cheers. “But just be warned. I plan on making a commitment to the girls, so plan on things changing shortly.”
“Don’t worry, Alex,” Shani told me. “We’re all aware of what this means to you, and as we’ve been telling you all along, we plan on doing whatever is best for you. If that means giving you up, we’ll gladly do it. Whatever moves your mission further,” she finished, leaving the rest unsaid.
Anh and Shani grabbed my mother, dragging her into the kitchen to begin food preparations, as Natalie took me under wing to help me make myself ‘presentable’, as she explained it to me. The others all quickly set about fixing the house up for company, which was getting to be a full time affair with so many people living here now.
I got a mental notification when Becky’s car pulled onto the street, so I took a second to compose myself before heading downstairs to greet them. I opened the door before the doorbell rang, a neat little trick I was starting to get pretty good at, and welcomed both of my sisters, who both gave me worried looks as I ushered them in. Standing behind them stood Kitty and Chalise, Chalise nervously biting her lip while Kitty was trying to buck her friend up. Caroline stood behind them, unsure of how to handle the situation.
Motioning them forward, Chalise suddenly broke into a run and rushed into my arms. She started crying while trying to say something, but I hushed her, gently telling her we had all day and there was no reason to talk about it out in the cold. With that, I escorted them both inside, holding them both in my arms.
Once inside, Chalise quickly pulled away from me and immediately launched into a tearful confession.
“Alex, it’s my fault you got hurt. I’ve got to break up with you, otherwise you’re only going to get hurt worse. I’m bad news and you shouldn’t have to put up with me. You’ve got Kitty and the rest of your girls so you don’t really need me.”
I again walked up to her, enveloping her in my arms. Thanks to Kitty I’d been warned about this, so I wasn’t surprised to hear it now.
“Relax, sweetheart. Everything is OK. Now, take your time to explain what the problem is and we’ll discuss it. You’re among your friends here and we all want to help. It’s never been a matter of Kitty versus you. I care for you both deeply,” I assured her. She took a few gasping breaths as she struggled to control herself, and I guided her to a seat on the couch, with both Kitty and I on either side of her. “Please tell me again what you think you’re responsible for.”
“I’m the reason why you were attacked,” she explained, tears still running down her face even as she struggled to control her emotions. “If it wasn’t for my family you wouldn’t have been in the hospital. My crazy brother attacked you, and my idiot father is ready to do the same. My father has repeatedly threatened to kill you. He’s serious, he really means it, and my other brothers feel the same way.”
“Surely not Darrell?” I asked, not sure in the least about my assertion, but hoping nonetheless.
“No, not Darrell,” she admitted. “I mostly meant James, the oldest who’s still up at Northeastern.” She paused before going on. “Darrell called my cell phone last night. He wanted me to apologize to you for getting you in trouble. He said...” she tried to explain before having to take another deep breath, “that he told Brandon about the two of us, knowing he wouldn’t like it but not expecting him to explode. He’s really sorry it happened.”
“There, there, don’t worry about it. I’ll talk with Darrell on Monday. I’m sure we can work this out,” I told her.
“He also told me some other things,” she said, steeling herself before sitting back and addressing me seriously.
“My father plans to hurt you, Alex. He’s pressing the University where Brandon plays to sue you for damages. The school tends to throw money at projects for their top athletes just to keep them happy. They could tie you up in court for a long time, even if they don’t succeed. But I’m afraid they’ll have a good case. They’re spreading the word around town that you’re an avowed racist and have a long standing feud against the family. Brandon and James are calling all their friends and schoolmates, getting them all to agree to testify about things you never did. I’m sorry, Alex, this is all my fault!” She started crying again at this point.
“Chalise, relax, it’s not that bad,” I told her, holding her once more in my arms as she struggled to control her tears. “You’ve done nothing to me. What’s done is done and we can’t change what’s already passed. Your family isn’t going to stop hating me just because you break up with me. But, if you do, you’ll do more to undermine me than they ever could, simply by breaking my heart. If you need to break up with me because you can’t take the stress, then that’s something we can discuss, but let’s not hear about you being responsible for anything. You have no control of your father or your steroid addled brothers.”
Chalise simply simpered in my arms for a bit. Finally Allison spoke up from a seat nearby. She’d arrived home while I’d been indisposed upstairs earlier.
“Alex, what she said about her father is true. He repeatedly threatened you. However, Dr. Moore made a point of bringing me up to date. After he threatened to kill you twice in the Emergency room, Ryan kept telling him to calm down. When he finally threatened him, Ryan had him physically removed from the hospital, notifying the police so they could order an injunction, keeping him away from the hospital. The police are now aware of the death threats made against you by Rodger Jones, Chalise’s father.
“He then told me that he’d already alerted his lawyer, who was willing to take your case on pro bono. There should be an order of protection against the whole family, as well as protecting Chalise and Caroline, by tomorrow. I would have told you sooner, but I didn’t want to unnecessarily worry you until you were brought up to speed,” Allison told me, sounding worried she’d unintentionally done something wrong.
“That’s fine, Allison, you did what you should have. Thank you for that. I’m sure that will ease Chalise and her mother’s minds a great deal. By the way, Caroline, how are you holding up?” When I glanced at her she had a tear in her eye and a nervous twitch to her lip as well.
“About as well as can be expected. It’s always hard to see your family break apart. I’ve always been able to counter Rodger’s wild side before, but without my controlling influence there’s likely no end to how far he’ll go. I think I have to assume I’ve lost my other kids.”
“Well, I can’t speak for either of them, after all, Brandon and I didn’t have that long of a discussion,” I teased, “but I think you’ve done a tremendous job with both Chalise and Darrell.” I meant it too, even though I’d only spoken briefly with Darrell I had a feeling he was going to come around eventually. His apology via his sister bore that out.
“Besides,” I told Chalise, who looked questioningly up at me, “I’m sure it’s much harder to put together a case than just getting a few people to lie. I’m sure those people I’ve talked to at school the last couple of weeks will tell everyone that I’ve hardly been a rabid racist.”
“I’m not sure,” Chalise haltingly replied. “You don’t know how ready a lot of blacks are to believe in the capacity of whites to turn on them. Our whole history tells of it over and over. You may not have any more black friends at school on Monday.”
“Then I’ll deal with it on Monday,” I told her, looking into her eyes. “Until then I plan on enjoying the time with my two favorite girlfriends.” Chalise looked to be comforted by my words, but Kitty kind of harrumphed, so I figured I’d have to speak with her later if I got a chance.
“Alex, you don’t have to worry about whether I can stand up to the pressures,” Chalise told me. “I won’t let you down. I was just afraid that I’d hurt you unintentionally. But, if I can help you in any way at all, I’ll do whatever I need to do. You don’t know just how much you’ve affected me since I’ve gotten to know you these past couple of weeks. I merely had a couple of acquaintances before, but now I’ve got a bunch of real friends, people who would do anything for me,” she said, looking quickly at both Kitty and Cate, before glancing at the rest of my girls.
“After what I’ve caused to happen...” she was going to say more but rethought it when she saw the look in my eyes. “After what’s happened to you, I’ll stand by you till the very end,” she assured me. I thought it an odd thing to say for a teenager who hadn’t yet even started her life, and who’d only known me for only 2 weeks, but I took her at her word.
Anh started to speak to the girls about their lunch plans at this point, so it was a nice break. Everyone broke into little groups where everyone was quick to reassure everyone else, so it helped a lot. I planned to keep Chalise between Kitty and I, hopefully holding and touching her, whispering little words of reassurance, even as I began to consider the possible repercussions of this latest news.