Okay, so… It's that day again… (9/11…) Oh, and I think a character kills a payphone… Sure looks like it… (That's the only direct 'death' mentioned…)
And I figured I should do a little bitty fic about it. Hope you don't mind.
This fic will be from the POV of someone who had a close family member in NYC on that day. It's kinda linked to one of my other stories (Michelle).
I'm not going graphic with this one, but if you think it might upset you in any way. Please don't read.
"Damn it… Damn-it-damn-it-damn-it…" Cooper almost crushed the receiver in his hands as he paced back and forth as far as the payphone cord would allow him. "Damn it Charlie! PICK UP THE DAMN PHONE!"
While he himself was safe, he was up in Chicago with a his best friend from basic. But he knew his older brother and a buddy or two had gone up to New York for their leave. Which sounded like ten days of all sorts of fun, up until Coop woke up to see the devastating news on the morning news.
"He ain't gonna pick up…" it was Duncan said, "He's probably busy helping out, that's my guess from what you've told me 'bout that brother of yours…"
He had tried calling at least a dozen times from where Duncan called 'home', at Miss Water's house. But after all those failed attempts he needed to move around, Dunc had thankfully understood that.
"…he's probably dead…" Cooper ran the other hand through his hair, pulling at it before his hand fell back to his side. He couldn't stand still for a second, his footwork would have impressed most professional boxers. "What if he was in one of the towers when it went down? What if he was in one of the floors where the planes hit?"
He was trembling as he almost bounced from foot to foot. His right hand was shaking like he had a bad case of Parkinson's, his left was making the receiver cry because of his grip strength.
00000
"HEY! DON'T THINK LIKE THAT!" Duncan reached up and forced Coop's head towards him, looking directly into worried green eyes. "He's just busy! Or the cell service is out! New York's a big town, there are a million places he could be instead! If we're lucky he's just damn hungover from a hard night!"
Coop jerked his chin out of Dunc's grip, and went back to his anxious jitter.
The call disconnected for the nth time that day, and Coop's anger was quickly displayed as the payphone housing received an angry blow.
"HEY, DON'T DO THAT!" Duncan grabbed a hold of Coop's right hand, then he placed the phone back on the cradle and took hold of his left wrist too, "You'll hurt yourself if you do that… Not to mention the poor phone…"
Coop was still trembling. Whether it was with anxiety or fury was hard to tell, but one thing was for sure this wasn't his idea of a nice little vacation up in Chicago.
"You good?" Duncan asked, keeping a firm grip of both of Coop's hands.
"I CAN'T REACH MY BIG BROTHER, WHO IS IN FREAKING NEW YORK! DO YOU THINK I'M GOOD?"
Duncan shook his head, still refusing to let go of Cooper, unfortunately the big Californian was a bit stronger and managed to get free.
Two quick forceful punches to the payphone housing had his left hand about to start swelling and blood trickling from the knuckles of his right.
"Hey…" Duncan started, looking up at the taller man, who looked like he was about to collapse there in the middle of the street. "The phone network probably don't have enough capacity for all the calls being made over there. People are probably calling 9-1-1, their families, all sorts of things… And I don't think cell phones are the most reliable things, it's not even sure he would have service where he's at even without this catastrophe…"
Coop flexed his jaw, then nodded. "Hope you're right…"
Duncan nodded, "Now, how are your hands? Your right is bleeding, Southpaw…"
Coop lifted his hands to study them. There was a hard lump starting to expand across three of the knuckles on his left hand, across the knuckles on his right, the skin had split in many places.
Dunc looked over at the payphone, "Dude, you hit the part you hang the phone on… -And bent it…"
Coop looked at the part Duncan pointed out, "Guess I did…"
"Good thing you're current on your tetanus shot… But you might want some antibiotics…" Duncan followed up, before he grabbed Coop's right wrist and studied the wounds, "Probably a stitch or five too…"
"It's nothing…"
"Shut up…" Dunc replied without looking up, "It's bleeding pretty good, and Miss Waters is gonna be pissed if you don't get this taken care of."
"But…" Coop swallowed and looked at the phones standing up against the brick wall, "Charlie… I need to get a hold of Charlie…"
"Okay, call ONE more time. If he doesn't pick up, it's because there's no service where he's at. Then we give it a few hours before we call again. Okay? In the meanwhile, we get those paws of yours taken hand of…"
Coop nodded, " 'kay…"
"Try the next phone, I guess this one's out of order…"
The tall Californian blushed slightly and moved to the next payphone in line.
00000
The phone hummed twice before someone picked up at the other end of the line, Coop's heart was about to jump out of his chest at that point.
"Yeah, Charlie Lea's phone, this is Dalton…"
"Dalton?" Coop wondered for a second, before he connected the dots, "Jack?"
"Coop?"
"YES!" Cooper was about to cry out something along the lines of 'how's my big brother?' as he heard Jack's muffled voice directed at someone else.
He could make out the words just fine, 'Hey, Norway? Your kid brother's on the line, can you multitask enough to answer the phone as the nice lady stitches up your arm?'
The muffled question was quickly followed by a not-so-muffled 'GIMME THAT THING!' and then again by Charlie's calming and friendly voice washing into his ear.
"Hey there kiddie…" Charlie cleared his voice, "How are you?"
"HOWAREYOU?"
"Me?" Charlie asked, "Fine… Give or take…"
"Were you close?"
"We got close…" Charlie answered, "You sound worried…"
"OF COURSE I AM!" Cooper practically yelled, "We saw the planes on the TV! And I knew you were there! Of course I was worried, mom and dad are probably worried sick too!"
"Nah…" Charlie chuckled, "They think I'm in Texas…"
Coop let his left palm smack against his face as he let out an exasperated sigh, then flinched as his hand hurt more than he had expected. "Why?"
"Oh, cause they would think I could get into more trouble in a big city like New York than I could at Jack's family's farm…"
"Are you alright? I heard something about stitches…"
"Just a few, snagged my arm on some construction steel or something…"
"You good?"
"Yeah Coop…" Charlie assured, "I'm alright… Jack is too…"
"Good…"
"And you?"
Coop spent a few seconds before he managed to put together an answer, "I was worried sick, but I'm good now…"
"When are you going home to Cali?"
"Eight days…" Coop calculated.
"Okay, I'll be waiting there for you… I'm getting back home on the 17th…"
"I was so worried…" Cooper sagged down on his knees in the street clutching the receiver like it was a lifeline.
"I know kiddie…" Charlie replied, "But we're alright… Now, I'll be a little busy the rest of the day, but I can call you tomorrow. Okay?"
"Yeah, that'd be great…"
"On this number or…?"
"No… Just a second…" he handed the phone to Dunc, who had heard most of the conversation and recited the home number to Miss Waters, before handing the phone back to Coop.
"Alright… Got it…" Charlie confirmed, "And little brother?"
"Yeah?"
"Take care of yourself…"
"You too…"
There was a long pause from both of them, before Charlie finally cleared his voice once more, "Hey, I guess I forgot to tell you this the last 19 or so years… But I love you, you're an awesome little brother…"
At that exact moment Cooper broke down crying, barely catching enough breath to choke out something that sounded like 'I love you too…' and something about 'best big brother ever!'
00000
A few minutes later when the call was ended and Cooper felt a lot more secure, Duncan pulled him up from the sidewalk and patted his shoulder. "See? Just bad reception… Now, a doctor is taking a look at those hands…"
"It's nothing…" Coop chuckled, a smile sitting loose on his lips. "Don't need no Doc…"
"Nah-ah…" Duncan pointed a threatening finger at the big redwood, "A doctor is taking a look at those! End of discussion!"
Okay… So…
Yeah…
This was my 9/11 fic for this year. Hope it didn't upset any of you. And I hope you're having a safe day.