Chapter Five
Out of Pawn
It was a rough flight, no doubt about it. It had been years since Uncle Bill had been on a flight with so much turbulence. The plane circled the airport for a long time before it was cleared to land. The landing itself was hair raising. Bill felt as though he was getting off a roller coaster when he finally disembarked. He was itching to check for a message from home, which seemed no closer as he squeezed through the crowded and dreary airport.
He ducked into a small airport bookstore and began listening to his messages: three from Denver in regards to his sudden departure, one from a woman whom he had stood up, and one from Sissy. He sighed with relief and held the phone to his chest after listening to her reassuring and mostly upbeat message. The emergency back home could be downgraded to just a situation.
Stashing his cell phone away, Bill made his way through the crowded baggage collection area and toward the ticketing counters. The line was long, but as he watched the nearby boards, he noticed the flight delays gradually beginning to decrease. It was a good sign.
"I'd like one-way ticket to New York. Next available flight, please." he said to the ticketing agent.
"I have a seat available on a plane leaving just after two o'clock. Would that be all right?" she asked.
"Sure. That would be just fine." he agreed. Sure, it was a longer wait than he really wanted, but everything really was beginning to look up.
"If you want to check your luggage, the line begins over there." she said, pointing him toward an enormous line farther down the terminal.
"Oh, no. I'm good." he said, taking his ticket from her as she finished processing it.
"Enjoy your flight."
Bill tucked his ticket in his pocket and found his way to a restaurant. There had been neither breakfast nor brunch on the plane and no time for anything at the last airport. He finally felt as though he had room to breathe.
"O'er rough and smooth she trips along, And never looks behind; And sings a solitary song, That whistles in the wind." French read, his heavy eyelids beginning to droop.
Sissy, seated on the unfolded cot nearby, smiled behind her hand. He had been right: poetry was the art of the spoken word, not merely words on paper. He started to turn the page, but she stopped him.
"I think we had better ask about some lunch for you before you nod off." she said, standing and stretching. How long had she been listening to him? She wasn't sure.
"I really don't feel up to eating anything." he said, closing the book and trying to look less sleepy.
"You should have said you didn't feel well. You could have stopped reading a long time ago." said Sissy reproachfully.
"It felt better than being idle."
"If you say so, but now you really should have something to eat to get your strength back."
"If you insist then ..." he acquiesced.
"I'll be right back." she said, darting toward the door before he could change his mind.
A good amount of effort was required to get French, who was grousing the entire time, back into bed. The nurse was, on one hand, quite displeased by the fact that her patient had shown so little caution, but was rather pleasantly surprised by his independence and mettle, especially when he insisted that he could make it to the WC without her assistance. Sissy never heard the end of that particular row as Dolores, the nurse, ordered her out of the room, and Sissy used the opportunity to find a snack machine since she presumed that lunch, for French or for herself, would not be forthcoming any time soon.
On her way back to the room, Sissy spotted a pay phone wedged between two soda machines and decided to call the apartment and retrieve any phone messages that might have been left in her absence. She was gratified to find that Uncle Bill had called yet again and left a brief message:
"I just wanted you to know that I got your message and that I'm in Atlanta. I won't be home until this evening sometime. I'm proud of the way you seem to be handling everything, Sissy. Give my regards to French and the twins."
Sissy couldn't help but to grin. Her uncle was proud of her. Of course, he was almost always proud of her, not that she knew that. He didn't say it all that often.
Returning to the hospital room, she found French propped up in bed with a mildly surly expression on his face. He was flipping through her text book again, obviously no longer very sleepy or overtaxed, possibly due to the invigorating argument he had had with the nurse.
"You look like the proverbial cat who ate the canary." he said, looking up from the book as he closed and returned it to her.
"Uncle Bill will be home tonight. I'm just ... relieved." she shrugged.
"I seem to remember reading something about a hurricane in yesterday's paper. Or was it the day before? I hope it isn't causing him any difficulties."
"Well, I don't think anyone normally goes from Denver to New York via Dallas and Atlanta." Sissy told him.
"No, one does not." he agreed, frowning as he recalled that his employer's plane was unfortunately undergoing maintenance in LA.
With a copy of the Wall Street Journal tucked neatly under one arm, Bill Davis waited patiently in line at the metal detectors just after noon. He smiled as he realized he would be home before dinner and that the kids wouldn't be spending another night without someone looking after them, not that he didn't trust Sissy. He dropped his newspaper in a bin as he stepped through the metal detector, which, much to his surprise and dismay, went off.
"Please step this way." said an airport security official.
"Right." he said, following the man to a table and two yellow footprints on the floor.
"Stand right there." the security officer instructed him.
Bill stood there for a while even after they failed to find anything, including his cell phone and his wallet, that would set off a more accurate detection device. Two security workers had taken his ticket and boarding card and were discussing them quietly a few feet away. The obvious problem was that Bill was traveling alone with no luggage and a one-way ticket.
"Should've bought a suitcase." Bill noted mentally as one of the officers returned his attention to him.
"We apologize for the delay. Please proceed to your boarding area." he told Bill rather mechanically as he returned his travel documents.
"Not a problem." he replied, glancing at his watch. He still had just enough time to make it to his flight. The last thing he needed was another delay.
Unfortunately, when he reached his gate, that was exactly what he found: another four hour delay, caused by the earlier flight delays and the incredible number of planes circling the airport, keeping him from his goal. He sighed softly as he collapsed in a chair to wait.
Doctor Swenson had come in sometime during the afternoon and decided to wheel French to neurology for those tests that he had mentioned earlier that morning. Sissy continued to work on her homework for a while before leaving a note for French. It was time to pick up the runts and make plans for the evening.
She was grateful to be leaving the hospital for a few hours. It was a little too depressing, too quiet, even for doing homework and reading. She tossed her bag into the back of a taxi and got inside, giving the driver the address of the community school. It had been a long day, she decided, as she yawned and watched the city pass by through the window of the cab.
Buffy and Jody were waiting with their teacher, who seemed a little concerned, just as Sissy had asked them to do. The twins looked a little under the weather, or maybe she was expecting too much from the six-year-olds.
"Thanks for waiting with them." she told their teacher.
"Oh, it was no trouble." said the older woman, smiling softly. "Is everything all right at home?" she questioned.
Sissy tried to smile as though she had no idea what the teacher meant and give the runts a no nonsense look at the same time.
"Home? Yeah, it's great. Everything is just fine." she said. "And speaking of home, I think we should go home. Right, you guys?" she asked them, grabbing their hands.
The twins' teacher watched them take off down the street with an incredulous look on her face, but just shook her head. Maybe the twins had exaggerated. Or maybe the oldest sibling was hiding something. In either case, they all seemed relatively fine. But she would definitely call their uncle if Jody and Buffy told her another story about spending the night at the hospital.
It was an hour long struggle to get the runts cleaned up and ready for another night at the hospital. Sissy would almost have rather stayed at the apartment, but then, French would be expecting them and Uncle Bill would be too, hopefully, by that evening. After that everything could be closer to normal again. For once Sissy welcomed the routine, especially as she unpacked and re-packed her bag again, sighing as she realized how much homework she had completed just to pass the time. Another night or two and she would be practically studious. It was lucky that the next day of the week was Saturday and no one had to go to school. They would all be able to chill out and recuperate.
Buffy and Jody seemed anything but happy to be returning to the hospital. The first night had been a little scary, even if it was something of an adventure with their older sister too. Sissy checked their bags again, smiling approvingly when she found that they had everything that they would need, including some coloring books to pass the time. The last thing she wanted was to have to provide a whole evening of entertainment for them.
Before they left, Sissy checked for messages again and left a note by the phone with French's room number on it so that their uncle could find them if he checked the apartment first. The twins already looked restless as they waited by the door with their book bags. Sissy grabbed her own backpack and smiled as she ushered them outside.
The sun was already beginning to sink behind the buildings as Sissy paid their cab driver, ruing that she just wasn't familiar enough with the bus system yet to get them from home to the hospital and vice versa. The twins were quiet as they walked through the building, which bustled with activity, and made their way to the elevator. Dolores gave them a cheerful wave as they walked through the ward. Sissy opened the door quietly, thinking that French was possibly napping, as she dragged Buffy and Jody along with her. The butler was reading a newspaper when they walked in.
"Children." he greeted them, folding up the paper and laying it aside.
Buffy and Jody grinned and dropped their backpacks as they saw that he appeared to be fine.
"Mister French, can we sign your cast?" Jody blurted out, dashing toward the hospital bed.
"I should say not!" replied French indignantly, adjusting the sling that had been found for his wrist since the IV's had been removed.
"Come on, guys. Don't bother Mister French. I told you he was hit by a car, right?" Sissy asked them, handing them their school bags and shooing them toward the cot in the corner.
"They can bother me all they like. They just can't sign my cast." said French a bit more agreeably.
"How about reading for a while or something?" she asked them, wondering if she had misheard. Was French actually encouraging them?
"Okay." they agreed reluctantly.
"Any word from the home front?" asked French quietly.
"Not since lunch time." she shrugged.
"I see." he nodded, reaching for his newspaper again.
"Your turn." said Sissy, crossing her arms.
"Very well. They say that I must have a very thick skull, if you must know. I can go home in the morning, pending the outcome of a couple of laboratory tests." he answered. Sissy sighed with relief and grinned. "My word, Sissy! Don't tell me you were that worried." he chuckled.
"Sissy's been worried all night and all day." sighed Jody from the corner, not even looking up from the coloring book the pair were sharing.
"Stop eavesdropping, you two!" scolded Sissy.
"Still feeling as though you are being crushed then?" asked French.
"Nothing that I can't handle, but, yeah, I guess you've got me." she admitted, lowering her voice slightly.
"Well, just don't let your uncle come through that door and see you with that long face. He would be heart broken, I'm sure." said French with a bemused smile.
"Thanks." she chuckled.
"Not at all." he said.
Some hours later after French had nodded off while reading his newspaper, Sissy took the twins to a nearby Chinese restaurant for dinner. The pair had been very good, suspiciously well-behaved, though she had kept an unusually careful watch on them during the afternoon. As they ate Sissy glanced at her watch a few times, wondering if Uncle Bill was still in the air or if his plane was landing yet. Sissy, knowing that she could only control so much of what was going on, tried to push her worries aside and concentrate on the meal, which the runts were doing with gusto.
It was after dark and the lights had been dimmed on the hospital ward when they returned. Gladys was pleased to see them when they stepped off the elevator.
"I hear that all of you are going home in the morning. Doctor Swenson signed your friend's discharge papers before he left this evening." she informed them with a smile.
"That's great! Mister French will be so glad to hear that!" said Sissy.
"But you must be sure that he takes all his medication, dear, and rests properly once he's been released. The three of you are very sweet and all, but I don't want to see you back here for a good long time." she said, shaking a finger at Sissy.
"Oh, I will. Trust me." said Sissy. "And thank you for everything." she added.
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A/N: The poetry in this chapter is from Wordsworth's "Lucy Gray". The airport scenes are not social commentary. Thanks for reading. Please review!
Out of Pawn
It was a rough flight, no doubt about it. It had been years since Uncle Bill had been on a flight with so much turbulence. The plane circled the airport for a long time before it was cleared to land. The landing itself was hair raising. Bill felt as though he was getting off a roller coaster when he finally disembarked. He was itching to check for a message from home, which seemed no closer as he squeezed through the crowded and dreary airport.
He ducked into a small airport bookstore and began listening to his messages: three from Denver in regards to his sudden departure, one from a woman whom he had stood up, and one from Sissy. He sighed with relief and held the phone to his chest after listening to her reassuring and mostly upbeat message. The emergency back home could be downgraded to just a situation.
Stashing his cell phone away, Bill made his way through the crowded baggage collection area and toward the ticketing counters. The line was long, but as he watched the nearby boards, he noticed the flight delays gradually beginning to decrease. It was a good sign.
"I'd like one-way ticket to New York. Next available flight, please." he said to the ticketing agent.
"I have a seat available on a plane leaving just after two o'clock. Would that be all right?" she asked.
"Sure. That would be just fine." he agreed. Sure, it was a longer wait than he really wanted, but everything really was beginning to look up.
"If you want to check your luggage, the line begins over there." she said, pointing him toward an enormous line farther down the terminal.
"Oh, no. I'm good." he said, taking his ticket from her as she finished processing it.
"Enjoy your flight."
Bill tucked his ticket in his pocket and found his way to a restaurant. There had been neither breakfast nor brunch on the plane and no time for anything at the last airport. He finally felt as though he had room to breathe.
"O'er rough and smooth she trips along, And never looks behind; And sings a solitary song, That whistles in the wind." French read, his heavy eyelids beginning to droop.
Sissy, seated on the unfolded cot nearby, smiled behind her hand. He had been right: poetry was the art of the spoken word, not merely words on paper. He started to turn the page, but she stopped him.
"I think we had better ask about some lunch for you before you nod off." she said, standing and stretching. How long had she been listening to him? She wasn't sure.
"I really don't feel up to eating anything." he said, closing the book and trying to look less sleepy.
"You should have said you didn't feel well. You could have stopped reading a long time ago." said Sissy reproachfully.
"It felt better than being idle."
"If you say so, but now you really should have something to eat to get your strength back."
"If you insist then ..." he acquiesced.
"I'll be right back." she said, darting toward the door before he could change his mind.
A good amount of effort was required to get French, who was grousing the entire time, back into bed. The nurse was, on one hand, quite displeased by the fact that her patient had shown so little caution, but was rather pleasantly surprised by his independence and mettle, especially when he insisted that he could make it to the WC without her assistance. Sissy never heard the end of that particular row as Dolores, the nurse, ordered her out of the room, and Sissy used the opportunity to find a snack machine since she presumed that lunch, for French or for herself, would not be forthcoming any time soon.
On her way back to the room, Sissy spotted a pay phone wedged between two soda machines and decided to call the apartment and retrieve any phone messages that might have been left in her absence. She was gratified to find that Uncle Bill had called yet again and left a brief message:
"I just wanted you to know that I got your message and that I'm in Atlanta. I won't be home until this evening sometime. I'm proud of the way you seem to be handling everything, Sissy. Give my regards to French and the twins."
Sissy couldn't help but to grin. Her uncle was proud of her. Of course, he was almost always proud of her, not that she knew that. He didn't say it all that often.
Returning to the hospital room, she found French propped up in bed with a mildly surly expression on his face. He was flipping through her text book again, obviously no longer very sleepy or overtaxed, possibly due to the invigorating argument he had had with the nurse.
"You look like the proverbial cat who ate the canary." he said, looking up from the book as he closed and returned it to her.
"Uncle Bill will be home tonight. I'm just ... relieved." she shrugged.
"I seem to remember reading something about a hurricane in yesterday's paper. Or was it the day before? I hope it isn't causing him any difficulties."
"Well, I don't think anyone normally goes from Denver to New York via Dallas and Atlanta." Sissy told him.
"No, one does not." he agreed, frowning as he recalled that his employer's plane was unfortunately undergoing maintenance in LA.
With a copy of the Wall Street Journal tucked neatly under one arm, Bill Davis waited patiently in line at the metal detectors just after noon. He smiled as he realized he would be home before dinner and that the kids wouldn't be spending another night without someone looking after them, not that he didn't trust Sissy. He dropped his newspaper in a bin as he stepped through the metal detector, which, much to his surprise and dismay, went off.
"Please step this way." said an airport security official.
"Right." he said, following the man to a table and two yellow footprints on the floor.
"Stand right there." the security officer instructed him.
Bill stood there for a while even after they failed to find anything, including his cell phone and his wallet, that would set off a more accurate detection device. Two security workers had taken his ticket and boarding card and were discussing them quietly a few feet away. The obvious problem was that Bill was traveling alone with no luggage and a one-way ticket.
"Should've bought a suitcase." Bill noted mentally as one of the officers returned his attention to him.
"We apologize for the delay. Please proceed to your boarding area." he told Bill rather mechanically as he returned his travel documents.
"Not a problem." he replied, glancing at his watch. He still had just enough time to make it to his flight. The last thing he needed was another delay.
Unfortunately, when he reached his gate, that was exactly what he found: another four hour delay, caused by the earlier flight delays and the incredible number of planes circling the airport, keeping him from his goal. He sighed softly as he collapsed in a chair to wait.
Doctor Swenson had come in sometime during the afternoon and decided to wheel French to neurology for those tests that he had mentioned earlier that morning. Sissy continued to work on her homework for a while before leaving a note for French. It was time to pick up the runts and make plans for the evening.
She was grateful to be leaving the hospital for a few hours. It was a little too depressing, too quiet, even for doing homework and reading. She tossed her bag into the back of a taxi and got inside, giving the driver the address of the community school. It had been a long day, she decided, as she yawned and watched the city pass by through the window of the cab.
Buffy and Jody were waiting with their teacher, who seemed a little concerned, just as Sissy had asked them to do. The twins looked a little under the weather, or maybe she was expecting too much from the six-year-olds.
"Thanks for waiting with them." she told their teacher.
"Oh, it was no trouble." said the older woman, smiling softly. "Is everything all right at home?" she questioned.
Sissy tried to smile as though she had no idea what the teacher meant and give the runts a no nonsense look at the same time.
"Home? Yeah, it's great. Everything is just fine." she said. "And speaking of home, I think we should go home. Right, you guys?" she asked them, grabbing their hands.
The twins' teacher watched them take off down the street with an incredulous look on her face, but just shook her head. Maybe the twins had exaggerated. Or maybe the oldest sibling was hiding something. In either case, they all seemed relatively fine. But she would definitely call their uncle if Jody and Buffy told her another story about spending the night at the hospital.
It was an hour long struggle to get the runts cleaned up and ready for another night at the hospital. Sissy would almost have rather stayed at the apartment, but then, French would be expecting them and Uncle Bill would be too, hopefully, by that evening. After that everything could be closer to normal again. For once Sissy welcomed the routine, especially as she unpacked and re-packed her bag again, sighing as she realized how much homework she had completed just to pass the time. Another night or two and she would be practically studious. It was lucky that the next day of the week was Saturday and no one had to go to school. They would all be able to chill out and recuperate.
Buffy and Jody seemed anything but happy to be returning to the hospital. The first night had been a little scary, even if it was something of an adventure with their older sister too. Sissy checked their bags again, smiling approvingly when she found that they had everything that they would need, including some coloring books to pass the time. The last thing she wanted was to have to provide a whole evening of entertainment for them.
Before they left, Sissy checked for messages again and left a note by the phone with French's room number on it so that their uncle could find them if he checked the apartment first. The twins already looked restless as they waited by the door with their book bags. Sissy grabbed her own backpack and smiled as she ushered them outside.
The sun was already beginning to sink behind the buildings as Sissy paid their cab driver, ruing that she just wasn't familiar enough with the bus system yet to get them from home to the hospital and vice versa. The twins were quiet as they walked through the building, which bustled with activity, and made their way to the elevator. Dolores gave them a cheerful wave as they walked through the ward. Sissy opened the door quietly, thinking that French was possibly napping, as she dragged Buffy and Jody along with her. The butler was reading a newspaper when they walked in.
"Children." he greeted them, folding up the paper and laying it aside.
Buffy and Jody grinned and dropped their backpacks as they saw that he appeared to be fine.
"Mister French, can we sign your cast?" Jody blurted out, dashing toward the hospital bed.
"I should say not!" replied French indignantly, adjusting the sling that had been found for his wrist since the IV's had been removed.
"Come on, guys. Don't bother Mister French. I told you he was hit by a car, right?" Sissy asked them, handing them their school bags and shooing them toward the cot in the corner.
"They can bother me all they like. They just can't sign my cast." said French a bit more agreeably.
"How about reading for a while or something?" she asked them, wondering if she had misheard. Was French actually encouraging them?
"Okay." they agreed reluctantly.
"Any word from the home front?" asked French quietly.
"Not since lunch time." she shrugged.
"I see." he nodded, reaching for his newspaper again.
"Your turn." said Sissy, crossing her arms.
"Very well. They say that I must have a very thick skull, if you must know. I can go home in the morning, pending the outcome of a couple of laboratory tests." he answered. Sissy sighed with relief and grinned. "My word, Sissy! Don't tell me you were that worried." he chuckled.
"Sissy's been worried all night and all day." sighed Jody from the corner, not even looking up from the coloring book the pair were sharing.
"Stop eavesdropping, you two!" scolded Sissy.
"Still feeling as though you are being crushed then?" asked French.
"Nothing that I can't handle, but, yeah, I guess you've got me." she admitted, lowering her voice slightly.
"Well, just don't let your uncle come through that door and see you with that long face. He would be heart broken, I'm sure." said French with a bemused smile.
"Thanks." she chuckled.
"Not at all." he said.
Some hours later after French had nodded off while reading his newspaper, Sissy took the twins to a nearby Chinese restaurant for dinner. The pair had been very good, suspiciously well-behaved, though she had kept an unusually careful watch on them during the afternoon. As they ate Sissy glanced at her watch a few times, wondering if Uncle Bill was still in the air or if his plane was landing yet. Sissy, knowing that she could only control so much of what was going on, tried to push her worries aside and concentrate on the meal, which the runts were doing with gusto.
It was after dark and the lights had been dimmed on the hospital ward when they returned. Gladys was pleased to see them when they stepped off the elevator.
"I hear that all of you are going home in the morning. Doctor Swenson signed your friend's discharge papers before he left this evening." she informed them with a smile.
"That's great! Mister French will be so glad to hear that!" said Sissy.
"But you must be sure that he takes all his medication, dear, and rests properly once he's been released. The three of you are very sweet and all, but I don't want to see you back here for a good long time." she said, shaking a finger at Sissy.
"Oh, I will. Trust me." said Sissy. "And thank you for everything." she added.
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A/N: The poetry in this chapter is from Wordsworth's "Lucy Gray". The airport scenes are not social commentary. Thanks for reading. Please review!