Chapter One-The Next of Kin
Katherine Bombay awoke to the sound of the phone ringing in her ear, sighing she rolled over and picked it up to her ear. Looking at the clock it read two thirty.
"Hello, Katherine Bombay speaking," She said into the phone.
"I'm sorry to be calling so early Mrs. Bombay; my name is Dr. Alan Brandon, there's been an accident."
"May I ask what type of accident?"
"Your son, Gordon was involved in a car accident," the voice said sympathetically.
"Oh my God, is he all right?" She asked, her eyes filled with worry and fear.
"You should come to the hospital," the doctor said softly.
"I she alive?"
"Yes, for now, please hurry, he's going to need you," the doctor explained.
"Thank you, Community General Hospital?" She asked.
"Yes."
"I'll be there as soon as I can, and doctor, thank you," with that she hung up the phone.
~~~~~~~~
Charlie Conway waited until someone picked up the phone on the other end, finally the raspy tired voice of sixteen year old Adam Banks picked up the phone.
"Hello."
"Adam, its Charlie."
"Charlie, why are you calling me at two in the morning?"
"There's been an accident," Charlie whispered. Pictures of every person on their team flashed through Adam's head, never occurring to him of who it really was.
"Who?" Adam asked.
"Coach Bombay," he whispered. Adam could tell Charlie was on the verge of tears. They hadn't seen much of Bombay in two years, now their junior year he was supposed to be returning to Minnesota for good. He had promised to come to their first game of the season scheduled for four weeks from Saturday.
"Is he all right?"
"No, I've called almost everyone, some can't come, Fulton, Portman and Goldberg are on their way here now."
"Community General, I'll be there as soon as I can. It'll be okay Charlie," Adam said before hanging up the phone and grabbing his car keys.
~~~~~~~~~
Charlie sighed as he paced the waiting room nervously, Goldberg was sitting down, his chin rested on his hands. An older woman hurried through the doors towards the nurses station.
"My name is Katherine Bombay, I'm looking for my son Gordon," she told the nurses.
"They're waiting over there," a nurse said pointing to the young teenagers.
"Thank you," Just as she walked into the waiting room the Doctor walked out of the OR, covered in sweat, he shook his head sadly and sighed.
"Is Mrs. Bombay out here?"
"Yes, I'm his mother," Katherine said looking at the doctor. He looked at the two boys.
"You must be Charlie, you were the second on the list of next to kin. I have a report on Mr. Bombay, however if you'd like me to wait until the others arrive I would understand," Charlie looked at Goldberg.
"Charlie!" Adam, Fulton, Portman, Connie and Guy said as they rushed through the ER doors.
"Adam told us, how is he?" Connie asked, her eyes red from crying.
"My name is Alan Brandon, I'm Mr. Bombay's doctor, are they all here Charlie."
"Not all of us, but the ones that were able to come right away, yes," Charlie said softly.
"Right, well, um you're Coach is in bad shape, seeing as you must all care greatly about him I won't bother sugar coating it with you. Your coach is currently in the ICU, normally we would only allow family in, but seeing as most of you were listed as his next to kin, and the fact that we probably couldn't keep you away, you will be allowed into the room. Two at a time, for ten minutes no more. Your coach suffered extensive injuries to his right femur and tibia. His right ankle was also broken. His left knee was shattered; we will have to do surgery on it once he is stronger. He had several broken ribs, one which punctured his lung, causing massive internal bleeding and the lung to collapse. His kidneys were badly bruised, so we're going to monitor those, hopefully we will be able to avoid dialysis. He's also got a broken radius. The car hit him on the drivers side, it's amazing he is even alive to be honest, his head hit the window and the steering wheel, it's too soon to tell what kind of damage there may be in that area, with any luck none. There's swelling in the brain right now, which is causing the coma, hopefully it will go down. We're giving medications to help the swelling go down."
"How soon until he comes out of the coma?" Portman asked.
"The problem with a coma is we don't know a lot about them at the moment. We know they are often caused by massive injury to the head, and very often people are found to be brain dead. Other times when patients do recover they have no problems and it's their body's way of healing faster. The longer a patient remains in the coma, the better chance there is that they are A: Brain dead, B: Will have mental problems, and C: May never wake up. We encourage talking to the person, about anything, sometimes that helps, we do think they can hear us, so try not to be negative. Sing to them if you can and want to, even that seems to help. Be there, Coma survivors often have mentioned how they heard their loved ones talking to them."
"Can we see him?" Charlie asked.
"Yes, but only two at a time, and his mother is the only one allowed to stay longer than ten minutes. I'm sorry but those are the rules."
"We understand Doctor," Fulton said.
"Charlie why don't you and his mom go first," Adam said.
"Are you sure?" He asked.
"Yeah," the others agreed. They all knew that Coach Bombay and Charlie were like father and son.
"All right, you are all welcome to stay here, although I'm not sure much will change in the next couple hours," the doctor said. He wasn't surprised when all the other teenagers there sat down in the chairs.
"We'll wait," Goldberg said.
"You two ready?" Charlie nodded and looked at Katherine.
"Wait," he said softly. He looked at Gordon's mom. Bombay had her eyes, and most likely her hair as it was blond gray.
"Mrs. Bombay my name is Charlie Conway, and these are the Ducks, well some of them. Greg Goldberg, Guy Germaine, Fulton Reed, Adam Banks and Connie Moreau," he said.
"I've heard a lot about all of you, especially you Charlie," she said smiling, "You may call me Katherine." The doctor smiled softly and lead Charlie and Katherine back to the ICU.
"Before you go in, I want you to understand, he's in bad shape, he will not look like your son, or your coach right now, and when he does wake up, he may not act like it either."
"We understand Doctor," Katherine said as she touched Charlie's shoulder. As they entered the room, nothing the doctor would have said could have prepared Charlie for the sight that met him when he looked at his coach.
Gordon's head was bandaged from his forehead up, scratches and bumps covered his face. A large black bruise outlined his right eye and the right side of his jaw, which stood out against the white pallor of his skin. His left arm was encased in a cast and lying at his side. His chest was also covered in white bandages, his stomach was covered in bruises as well. A blanket covered his waist and lower half, his right leg had to be encased in a cast as well, that went from his ankle to his thigh. His other knee was immobilized in a metal brace that went just above his knee and to the end of his foot. Wires, IVs, and machines were hooked up all over his body, each one registering something different. There was a breathing tube stuck down his throat while the ventilator hooked up to help breath for him.
Katherine sighed and walked towards him, touching her son's cheek she smiled.
"Hi Gordy, it's mom. I know you're hurting right now, but you've got a lot of people who love you and are willing to help you fight." Charlie looked at the woman and smiled, he understood why Coach Bombay was so cool. Looking at the doctor who smiled and closed the door as he left the room, he headed towards the Coach and looked at him.
"Hey Coach, its Charlie, haven't seen you in awhile. We've really missed you. Luis is great at stopping now, always does it right before scoring, I can't tell you how many times we've won games because of those goals," Charlie stopped looking down, he could feel tears in his eyes. Suddenly he felt a hand on top of his, looking up he met Katherine's blue eyes.
"You're doing fine Charlie, just keep talking to him."
"He's the best and closest thing I ever had to a father," Charlie whispered hoarsely.
"Let him know that Charlie, he's going to need you, especially when he wakes up, and Charlie he will wake up."
"What do I say to him?"
"Just act natural son, just act natural."
"Okay, um, jeez, let's see, oh Averman's been keeping up the practice, he pulled us out of jobs twice this summer, says he doesn't want to let you down again and forget to practice. Dwayne loves round up, Coach Orion makes sure we always have a round up before every practice."