Act Of Remembrance

Chapter 4

"Did you speak to my granddaughter?" Mrs Peterson asked.

"No, I'm afraid I got her answering machine but I left her a message to meet us at the hospital. Don't worry. The ambulance will be here soon."

A look of disappointment briefly crossed the old lady's face but was quickly replaced by a forced smile.

"Oh, she works long hours too you know. She's an assistant curator at the Oakland Museum of California. She's going to be cross with me for this fall. She never wanted me to rent this place. She said I couldn't look after myself. I guess I just proved her right huh?" and with that the elderly lady's smile faded and a sadness replaced it.

In that instant Steve felt sorry for his neighbour and so he tried to cheer her up.

"I'm sure she'll be too busy being relieved that you're ok to be cross with you for anything."

Steve then noticed that the old lady was shivering and he reckoned she must have lain there undiscovered for quite some time. Looking quickly around he spotted a blanket on the back of an armchair and hurriedly retrieved it along with a cushion. Then kneeling beside the old lady he very gently lifted her head and placed the cushion underneath and covered her with the blanket.

"You're freezing! How long ago did you fall?" Steve asked fearful his neighbour might have slight hypothermia from lying on the floor so long in a weakened condition.

"Sometime last night. I heard the heavy rain and thunder and got up to check on my poor Teddy. He hates storms you see and so I went to see where he was and I fell over him in the dark...The poor thing must be hiding from the fright." the elderly lady stated with worry in her voice.

"Excuse me Ma'am. Your Teddy?" Steve asked beginning to wonder if the old lady was indeed concussed and rambling.

"Yes young man!. Teddy is my cat! Oh, who will mind him if I have to go to hospital?" she asked getting upset again.

Steve smiled, relieved that the statement had been explained satisfactorily .

"Now, now, don't worry Mrs Peterson. I'll find him and make sure he's looked after. Anderson upstairs happens to love cats. I'm sure he wouldn't mind looking after Teddy until you're home again. Now do you have any ice in your freezer that we could put on that foot and do you have a first aid kit anywhere that I could use to clean that cut?" Steve asked turning his attention back to the task at hand.

"There's some frozen peas in the icebox and there's a first aid kit under the sink. And please call me Mary. All those Mrs Petersons are making me feel very old young man." Mrs Peterson said smiling and patting Steve's hand endearingly.

Steve blushed slightly and smiled back.

Ok Mrs ... Mary. Only if you call me Steve. Ok? Now I'll be right back. Just lie still."

Steve hurried into the kitchen and found the first aid kit where the old lady had said it was and then opened the icebox and found the bag of frozen peas. The kitchen tiles were cold on Steve's bare feet and again Steve wished that he had stopped to put shoes on earlier. Glancing at his watch he saw that it was six fifteen and prayed to himself that the ambulance would get here soon then returning to his neighbour he again very gently placed the frozen bag of peas on Mary's swollen foot. The old lady winced and tears of pain appeared in her eyes. Steve felt bad for hurting her but was only carrying out the instructions given to him by the ambulance dispatcher.

"I'm sorry! I know it hurts but we have to try to get the swelling down. The ambulance should be here soon."

Then opening the first aid box Steve poured some antiseptic onto some cotton wool and proceeded to very gently clean the nasty cut on Mary's head.

The old lady winced occasionally but overall Steve felt that she was very brave considering the amount of discomfort she must be in. Steve felt that the cut would probably require stitches as it looked fairly deep but decided against telling his neighbour that information incase she refused to go to the hospital as a result. He had been so intent on his task of carefully cleaning the cut and putting a sterile dressing on it that he hadn't noticed Mary staring at him with an admiring smile on her face. When he had finished his work and finally saw her smiling at him, he looked questioningly at her.

"What? What's the matter?"

Mary patted his arm and answered emotionally.

"You're such a sweet and gentle young man. Your father must be very proud of you."

Steve was very taken aback by this statement and not quite knowing what to say, he began to tidy up the first aid things while he answered.

"Well, I don't really know. My parents both died when I was small. I was raised by my grandfather and an aunt and uncle in Modesto."

Mary turned pale and stammered apologetically.

"Oh my! ... Oh I'm so sorry! ... I just assumed that the man who calls to you all the time was your father. How silly of me! Please forgive me. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions."

Steve smiled when he realized that Mary was talking about Mike and quickly reassured her that he wasn't harbouring any ill will.

"It's ok. There's nothing to forgive. That man you spoke of is my boss and my partner and you know in some ways he acts like my father ..."

Just then their conversation was cut short as a man's voice could be heard outside.

"STEVE?"

Steve recognized the voice as belonging to his upstairs neighbour Anderson and quickly answered.

"ANDY! I'm down here in Mrs Peterson's apartment!"

Steve then heard footsteps and within seconds Anderson had appeared in the doorway. When he saw their neighbour on the floor and Steve kneeling beside her he was visibly alarmed.

"Oh my God! Steve! What happened?"

"Mrs Peterson fell and hurt herself. I found her about twenty-five minutes ago. I'm going to go with her in the ambulance. It should be here any minute."

"I was just getting home myself. I saw your door wide open and wondered what was going on!" Anderson explained.

Damn! With the panic of finding his neighbour on the floor Steve had forgotten that he'd left his door wide open! Some detective he was ... he chastised himself.

"I'll stay with Mrs Peterson while you go lock up your place Steve." Anderson said as he took Steve's place at his neighbour's side.

"Thanks Andy! Mary I'll be ... "

"That's ok. You go ahead! I'll be alright." Mary interrupted before he had a chance to finish, smiling gratefully at the young detective.

As Steve got to the door Anderson called out again.

"Oh and Steve!"

Turning around Steve answered "Yeah?"

"You might wanna put some shoes on! It's kinda damp out there!" Anderson said chuckling to himself.

"Very funny!" Steve replied chuckling too and then he turned and raced up to his apartment. He had a quick look around and satisfied himself that everything was as he left it thankfully. Then he locked his gun, badge and handcuffs away in his bedside locker drawer and then hearing sirens in the distance he quickly pulled on a pair of slip on shoes not even bothering to put socks on and grabbing his blue casual jacket he locked up his apartment and hurried back down the steps just as the ambulance pulled up to the kerb.

Steve guided them into their patient and while the paramedics attended to Mrs Peterson and got her safely strapped onto a gurney, Steve filled Anderson in on the missing cat. Andy agreed to find it and look after it while they were gone and Steve jotted down Mary's granddaughter's phone number in his notebook just in case he would have to call her again from the hospital. Then within minutes Mary and Steve were heading into the back of the ambulance for their journey to San Francisco General. Quite a crowd of nosey neighbours had gathered outside to see what was going on much to Steve's annoyance and seeing how distressed Mary was at the unwanted attention Steve switched into police mode again and announced loudly and sternly.

"Nothing to see here folks. Everything's under control. Could you go back to your homes please? Thank you."

And then he joined Mary and as the ambulance took off at speed to the hospital Steve shook his head as he watched the crowd disperse through the back window of the ambulance. Then turning his attention back to Mary, Steve noticed that she was smiling broadly at him again.

"Boy, you sure told that bunch of busy bodies what for! Thank you young man ... for everything." and with that the elderly lady took Steve's hand and squeezed it in gratitude.

Steve smiled at Mary and then checked his watch. It was six thirty-five. He had plenty of time before Mike would come to collect him for work. Steve only hoped that Mary's granddaughter would get the phone message and reach the hospital with enough time to spare for him to get home and get ready before Mike arrived. He didn't really want to have to explain to the older detective how he had managed to avoid another night's sleep! Mike would be furious and a furious Mike was indeed a force to be reckoned with and something he would rather avoid at present if possible. As the sirens blared and Mary seemed to doze under the watchful eye of the EMT. Steve felt his sadness return and again the sirens reminded him of that awful morning a year ago when he took a similar journey in the back of an ambulance with someone he had truly cared for only that time unlike this one his loved one lay in a cold bodybag. His hopeless task had been escorting the lifeless body to the Morgue. The minutes ticked by and the speed the ambulance was travelling at started to nauseate his already upset stomach. With the memory of that fateful ambulance ride horribly vivid in his mind and his heart heavy from the emotions it evoked Steve prayed the bumpy ride wouldn't take too long to reach their destination.