Faith and I didn't talk about the son of a bitch known to others as my father. Basically the reason for that was I had nothing to say.
I had other things to worry about. Ma for one, lying in a hospital bed, nearing killed by the man who had once made vows to love her forever. I guess he didn't stick to those vows. A gun and threats to kill are hardly ways of expressing love. Truth is, I really don't know what ma thought of him. She'd been in love with him once, married him and had two sons with him. It still baffles me how you can love someone and try to kill that person in the same lifetime.
Faith sat with me, the two of us sharing the silence outside the operating room. Mikey had been in surgery for several hours although it seemed like weeks.
"Any word?" Kim asked, Alex beside her.
"Nothing yet," Faith replied. I would have answered myself except that I was off to pace the hospital hallway again.
Faith said nothing, letting me go.
"How's Bosco doing?" Alex asked, watching me as I was out of hearing distance.
"He's doing about as well as can be expected," Faith explained.
"As well as someone can do after watching his father try to kill his mother, shooting his brother instead," Kim replied, almost for herself as much as for anyone else.
"Yeah," Alex replied. What else was there to say?
"How's Rose?" Faith asked calmly yet with great concern.
"She's sleeping," Kim explained. She and Alex had stayed with Rose after the shooting in ma's hospital room. "The doctor gave her something to make her sleep. She'll probably sleep through the night."
"That's good," Faith replied. "Maybe by the time she wakes up, we'll have some good news regarding Mikey's condition."
"I think Bosco needs some good news soon rather than later," Kim commented.
"He's really had a rough couple of weeks," Alex replied, recalling the past weeks for Bosco. "First he almost loses his mom to heart failure. She has surgery, apparently successful only to have complications from surgery causing her to arrest with Bosco in the room. Now his father tries to kill Rose, shooting Mikey instead."
"Bosco's tough," Kim explained. "But even his armor is bound to show a few cracks after all this."
"Bosco does a pretty good job of looking tough," Faith added a few thoughts of her own. "Inside though, when it comes to the people he loves...Rose...Mikey...he's not all that tough."
"We went by Rose's apartment with Bos," Kim explained an event that seemed like years ago although it had only been a couple weeks. "She had all these pictures of Bosco and Mikey. One of them, Mikey was just a baby...Bosco was about two...they were so cute...so sweet...so innocent, like the mean, cruel world had yet to touch their young lives."
"Bosco...sweet...innocent?" Alex recalled seeing the photo that night as well. "You wonder what happened to change that sweet little boy into the Bosco we all know?"
"I think some of that little boy is still there," Faith continued on Alex's thought. "The part that never got a chance to grow up at least not at the rate a little boy should. The day he took on the role as man of the house, that little boy stopped growing up. That time between the little boy and the man; the gradual process of happily ever after to the big cruel world...the gradual changing process of learning to understand the how and why...he missed all that. That rationale just isn't there."
"That little boy part," Alex replied, after a moment of silence. "He was just here. He was just sitting right here in this room."
"Officer Yokas?" one of the nurses interrupted. "You have a phone call. You can take it at the desk."
Faith disappeared, returning five minutes later.
"Everything okay Faith?" Kim asked, seeing the expression on her face.
"No, Charlie's sick again," Faith explained. "You guys gonna be here a while?"
"Don't worry about a thing," Alex explained. "We'll stay here."
"Jimmy's got Joey tonight," Kim explained. "Alex and I...we'll stay as long as Bosco needs us."
"And if he kicks us out, we'll go sit with Rose." Alex added.
"Thank you," Faith replied, about to continue before Alex cut her off.
"We'll call you the minute we hear anything."
Faith didn't respond to Alex's comment, a smile was all that was needed.
"Take care of Charlie," Kim added, fully understanding having a sick child. "Call us if you need anything."
"I think the two of you have done so much already," Faith replied, almost in tears.
"Hey, you'd do the same for us," Alex replied. "That goes for Bosco too."
Faith had been gone for about fifteen minutes when I returned.
"Where's Faith? I asked. It seemed a simple question.
"Charlie's not feeling too well," Kim explained.
I nodded. I knew it had to be something for Faith to leave right now. Charlie being sick made sense.
"I thought you two were with ma," I replied. It wasn't a question really but it sounded that way after I'd said it.
"She's asleep," Alex explained. "Doctor gave her something. She'll be out of it til morning."
"Good thing," I replied, finally taking a seat. "Nothing she can do anyway."
"I'll go up and check on her in a while," Alex offered, trying to put my mind at ease.
"I'll go," I replied, once again getting to my feet. They might have thought I didn't see but I did. Kim and Alex glanced at one another.
"I'm fine, really," I replied, unsure who I was really trying to convince...them or me. "I'll make you a deal. If I'm not back in an hour, you can come look for me."
"Any word on Mikey, we'll find you sooner," Kim replied.
I got off the elevator at mom's floor, stopping momentarily as I exited the elevator. It was obvious I wasn't thinking clearly. Around a corner, I was greeted by yellow tape...POLICE LINE...DO NOT CROSS'. Without thinking, I'd gone to the room mom had been in for the past couple days. Standing in the hallway, I spotted two detectives. I didn't need I.D. I could tell they were detectives by their moments. They didn't see me for several minutes. By then, I'd gotten an eyeful. The scene was pretty much as I remembered it, with the exception of the people. Ma wasn't lying in the hospital bed. Mikey wasn't lying on the floor, neither was my old man. The pool of blood was still there although I wasn't sure whose blood it was. Maybe Mikey's...maybe my old man's. Probably both, I concluded. How's that for irony. I thought of my life compared to Mikey's. We'd been close as kids...growing up in the same bedroom. As adults, we'd grown apart. Now it seemed like we lived on different planets. Today was proof of how different we were. In a matter of seconds, Mikey had saved our ma's life while I had taken our father's.
"This is a crime scene," one of them replied. I didn't respond right away, being lost in thought.
"I'm gonna have to ask you to leave," the second guy replied. I left without a word to either of them.
My mind returned to the present and I made my way to ma's new room. Just as Alex and Kim had said, she was sleeping.
I had only been in the room for fifteen minutes when a nurse popped her head in the door.
"I'm sorry," she replied. "Visiting hours were over several hours ago. You can come back tomorrow at eight."
As she finished explaining this, a second nurse appeared, drawing the attention of the first one. I figured it was okay for me to stay, at least for the time being. Neither of them returned that night.
At some point, I dozed off, sitting in a chair. The next thing I knew, Kim was talking to me...trying to talk to me anyway. I was kind of out of it.
"Bosco," she replied, shaking my arm several times before trying something new.
"Bos...wake up," Alex replied, taking a shot at waking me up.
"Hmmm...what is it?" I mumbled, not fully awake just yet.
"Come on," Kim replied, pulling me to a sitting position.
"Mikey?" I questioned, my mind finally focusing.
"Yeah, he's out of surgery," Alex replied. "Come with us."
I was standing now, following Kim and Alex into the hallway. As I walked, my mind cleared, my worry over Mikey returning.
The walk back to the OR waiting room was quick. I was practically dragging Kim and Alex, both of whom had hold of me. Kim's hand around my elbow, Alex holding my hand in hers.
I knew Mikey was going to be okay. Only after taking a seat in a deserted waiting room did the two of them explain.
"Like we said, he's going to be okay," Kim reaffirmed. "He's got some healing to do but he should recover completely."
"The quick version is they removed his spleen, some bone fragments from his ribs, re-inflated a lung and repaired some broken ribs."
"Mikey was bleeding internally which was caused by the bullet tearing through his spleen. Once they removed that, his condition improved." Alex continued her explanation of Mikey's condition. "The bullet also broke a few ribs, one of them puncturing the lung. The doctors repaired the lung, re-inflated it. The ribs should heal just fine."
"Right now he's in recovery, he'll be there for awhile," Kim picked up where Alex left off. "They have him on a respirator but that's due to the damage to the lung. The respirator is just making it easier for him to breath, giving that lung a chance to heal."
"When can I see him?" I asked, glancing from Kim to Alex.
"Probably not til later this morning," Kim explained.
"I'll go ask the doctor," Alex replied, getting up and heading the to nurses' station.
She returned ten minutes later with a doctor.
"This is Dr. Wesley."
The doctor reached out, I shook his hand without thinking.
"I understand you've had a rough evening," he replied. I nodded, still not thinking. "I don't normally do this but under the circumstances, I'll allow you a few minutes with your brother."
I followed this Dr Wesley guy down a few halls. We entered a room, fairly quiet except for the sound of machines.
"Michael was a lucky guy...his injuries could have been much worse," Dr Wesley explained.
The doctor explained to me everything...the injuries...the surgery...his present condition and what the damn sounds coming from the machines meant. It was pretty much the same as Alex and Kim had explained except for the damn beeping noises. I talked to Mikey for a few minutes, touching his hand. The machine sounds changed and I glanced over at the doctor.
"I think he knows you're here," he explained.
"Why do you say that?" I asked.
"The way his vitals changed. Sometimes even when you're not awake, you're still aware of what's going on around you. Based on the changes in his vitals, I'd say he recognizes your voice."
The doctor took a step back. "I'll give you a few minutes...only a couple though."
In those few minutes, I explained everything to Mikey...that he was in the hospital and that ma was okay. I didn't know if telling him that was good or not but I figured he might remember what'd happened. I didn't tell him about our old man though. I wasn't sure how'd he react. That would have to wait til he was awake...after the doctor agreed it was okay.
Alex and Kim were still waiting when I left Mikey.
"Bosco?" Kim replied, getting my attention. "I think you need to get some rest too. Come on, you can crash at my place. It's not far from here. I already gave the doctor my name and phone number so if he should need to find you, he can call."
I didn't reply except for a yawn and a nod of my head. I followed Kim and Alex out to the parking lot, spotting my car sitting there.
"How'd my car get here?"
"Ty and Sully brought it over after they got off shift," Kim explained, jiggling the keys in her hand. "So you mind if I drive?"
"No, that's fine," I replied, getting a strange look from both of them.
"I'm in no shape to drive," I explained. "Just be easy with her okay?"
"Her?" The two of them replied.
"Does 'her' have a name?" Alex teased.
"Na, I just always refer to a car as a 'her'." I explained.
The drive to Kim's place was short. It'd been a relatively quiet ride. My body was exhausted as well as my mind.
Kim took all of five minutes to prefer Joey's bed for me. Only trouble with that was it took me less than that to doze off on her sofa.
They took their conversation into the kitchen.
"Damn...what a night." Kim sighed.
"Yeah, it's been a long one." Alex agreed. "I think I'll give Faith a call."
Alex used Kim's phone to call Faith, filling her in on Mikey's condition and letting her know that Bosco was asleep on Kim's sofa. Faith was relieved on both counts. Glad that Mikey was going to be okay and especially happy that Bosco was getting some rest.
Hanging up the phone, she discovered Kim in the living room, her eyes watching Bosco.
"Hey, you okay?" Alex asked.
"I was just thinking," Kim began explaining. "I never thought much about it but Bosco...I think he and Bobby would have been good friends."
"Bosco and Bobby?" Alex questioned, her face expressing confusion.
"I never really gave it much thought til tonight," Kim continued. "They both grew up without a father's presence...Bobby used to be so protective of his mom. I think Bosco and Rose have the same type of relationship. Bobby's brother Matty was always in trouble with the law just like Mikey...I just think, had Bobby not died, the two of them could have been close."
"I guess you're right," Alex shrugged. "I never gave it much thought but you're right. Course they're different in a lot of ways too."
"Yeah, definitely different alright," Kim replied with a chuckle, then a yawn.
"I think we need to take our own advice...sleep." Alex replied.
"Sleep sounds good," Kim answered. She took a moment to put a blanket over Bosco.
to be continued...
I had other things to worry about. Ma for one, lying in a hospital bed, nearing killed by the man who had once made vows to love her forever. I guess he didn't stick to those vows. A gun and threats to kill are hardly ways of expressing love. Truth is, I really don't know what ma thought of him. She'd been in love with him once, married him and had two sons with him. It still baffles me how you can love someone and try to kill that person in the same lifetime.
Faith sat with me, the two of us sharing the silence outside the operating room. Mikey had been in surgery for several hours although it seemed like weeks.
"Any word?" Kim asked, Alex beside her.
"Nothing yet," Faith replied. I would have answered myself except that I was off to pace the hospital hallway again.
Faith said nothing, letting me go.
"How's Bosco doing?" Alex asked, watching me as I was out of hearing distance.
"He's doing about as well as can be expected," Faith explained.
"As well as someone can do after watching his father try to kill his mother, shooting his brother instead," Kim replied, almost for herself as much as for anyone else.
"Yeah," Alex replied. What else was there to say?
"How's Rose?" Faith asked calmly yet with great concern.
"She's sleeping," Kim explained. She and Alex had stayed with Rose after the shooting in ma's hospital room. "The doctor gave her something to make her sleep. She'll probably sleep through the night."
"That's good," Faith replied. "Maybe by the time she wakes up, we'll have some good news regarding Mikey's condition."
"I think Bosco needs some good news soon rather than later," Kim commented.
"He's really had a rough couple of weeks," Alex replied, recalling the past weeks for Bosco. "First he almost loses his mom to heart failure. She has surgery, apparently successful only to have complications from surgery causing her to arrest with Bosco in the room. Now his father tries to kill Rose, shooting Mikey instead."
"Bosco's tough," Kim explained. "But even his armor is bound to show a few cracks after all this."
"Bosco does a pretty good job of looking tough," Faith added a few thoughts of her own. "Inside though, when it comes to the people he loves...Rose...Mikey...he's not all that tough."
"We went by Rose's apartment with Bos," Kim explained an event that seemed like years ago although it had only been a couple weeks. "She had all these pictures of Bosco and Mikey. One of them, Mikey was just a baby...Bosco was about two...they were so cute...so sweet...so innocent, like the mean, cruel world had yet to touch their young lives."
"Bosco...sweet...innocent?" Alex recalled seeing the photo that night as well. "You wonder what happened to change that sweet little boy into the Bosco we all know?"
"I think some of that little boy is still there," Faith continued on Alex's thought. "The part that never got a chance to grow up at least not at the rate a little boy should. The day he took on the role as man of the house, that little boy stopped growing up. That time between the little boy and the man; the gradual process of happily ever after to the big cruel world...the gradual changing process of learning to understand the how and why...he missed all that. That rationale just isn't there."
"That little boy part," Alex replied, after a moment of silence. "He was just here. He was just sitting right here in this room."
"Officer Yokas?" one of the nurses interrupted. "You have a phone call. You can take it at the desk."
Faith disappeared, returning five minutes later.
"Everything okay Faith?" Kim asked, seeing the expression on her face.
"No, Charlie's sick again," Faith explained. "You guys gonna be here a while?"
"Don't worry about a thing," Alex explained. "We'll stay here."
"Jimmy's got Joey tonight," Kim explained. "Alex and I...we'll stay as long as Bosco needs us."
"And if he kicks us out, we'll go sit with Rose." Alex added.
"Thank you," Faith replied, about to continue before Alex cut her off.
"We'll call you the minute we hear anything."
Faith didn't respond to Alex's comment, a smile was all that was needed.
"Take care of Charlie," Kim added, fully understanding having a sick child. "Call us if you need anything."
"I think the two of you have done so much already," Faith replied, almost in tears.
"Hey, you'd do the same for us," Alex replied. "That goes for Bosco too."
Faith had been gone for about fifteen minutes when I returned.
"Where's Faith? I asked. It seemed a simple question.
"Charlie's not feeling too well," Kim explained.
I nodded. I knew it had to be something for Faith to leave right now. Charlie being sick made sense.
"I thought you two were with ma," I replied. It wasn't a question really but it sounded that way after I'd said it.
"She's asleep," Alex explained. "Doctor gave her something. She'll be out of it til morning."
"Good thing," I replied, finally taking a seat. "Nothing she can do anyway."
"I'll go up and check on her in a while," Alex offered, trying to put my mind at ease.
"I'll go," I replied, once again getting to my feet. They might have thought I didn't see but I did. Kim and Alex glanced at one another.
"I'm fine, really," I replied, unsure who I was really trying to convince...them or me. "I'll make you a deal. If I'm not back in an hour, you can come look for me."
"Any word on Mikey, we'll find you sooner," Kim replied.
I got off the elevator at mom's floor, stopping momentarily as I exited the elevator. It was obvious I wasn't thinking clearly. Around a corner, I was greeted by yellow tape...POLICE LINE...DO NOT CROSS'. Without thinking, I'd gone to the room mom had been in for the past couple days. Standing in the hallway, I spotted two detectives. I didn't need I.D. I could tell they were detectives by their moments. They didn't see me for several minutes. By then, I'd gotten an eyeful. The scene was pretty much as I remembered it, with the exception of the people. Ma wasn't lying in the hospital bed. Mikey wasn't lying on the floor, neither was my old man. The pool of blood was still there although I wasn't sure whose blood it was. Maybe Mikey's...maybe my old man's. Probably both, I concluded. How's that for irony. I thought of my life compared to Mikey's. We'd been close as kids...growing up in the same bedroom. As adults, we'd grown apart. Now it seemed like we lived on different planets. Today was proof of how different we were. In a matter of seconds, Mikey had saved our ma's life while I had taken our father's.
"This is a crime scene," one of them replied. I didn't respond right away, being lost in thought.
"I'm gonna have to ask you to leave," the second guy replied. I left without a word to either of them.
My mind returned to the present and I made my way to ma's new room. Just as Alex and Kim had said, she was sleeping.
I had only been in the room for fifteen minutes when a nurse popped her head in the door.
"I'm sorry," she replied. "Visiting hours were over several hours ago. You can come back tomorrow at eight."
As she finished explaining this, a second nurse appeared, drawing the attention of the first one. I figured it was okay for me to stay, at least for the time being. Neither of them returned that night.
At some point, I dozed off, sitting in a chair. The next thing I knew, Kim was talking to me...trying to talk to me anyway. I was kind of out of it.
"Bosco," she replied, shaking my arm several times before trying something new.
"Bos...wake up," Alex replied, taking a shot at waking me up.
"Hmmm...what is it?" I mumbled, not fully awake just yet.
"Come on," Kim replied, pulling me to a sitting position.
"Mikey?" I questioned, my mind finally focusing.
"Yeah, he's out of surgery," Alex replied. "Come with us."
I was standing now, following Kim and Alex into the hallway. As I walked, my mind cleared, my worry over Mikey returning.
The walk back to the OR waiting room was quick. I was practically dragging Kim and Alex, both of whom had hold of me. Kim's hand around my elbow, Alex holding my hand in hers.
I knew Mikey was going to be okay. Only after taking a seat in a deserted waiting room did the two of them explain.
"Like we said, he's going to be okay," Kim reaffirmed. "He's got some healing to do but he should recover completely."
"The quick version is they removed his spleen, some bone fragments from his ribs, re-inflated a lung and repaired some broken ribs."
"Mikey was bleeding internally which was caused by the bullet tearing through his spleen. Once they removed that, his condition improved." Alex continued her explanation of Mikey's condition. "The bullet also broke a few ribs, one of them puncturing the lung. The doctors repaired the lung, re-inflated it. The ribs should heal just fine."
"Right now he's in recovery, he'll be there for awhile," Kim picked up where Alex left off. "They have him on a respirator but that's due to the damage to the lung. The respirator is just making it easier for him to breath, giving that lung a chance to heal."
"When can I see him?" I asked, glancing from Kim to Alex.
"Probably not til later this morning," Kim explained.
"I'll go ask the doctor," Alex replied, getting up and heading the to nurses' station.
She returned ten minutes later with a doctor.
"This is Dr. Wesley."
The doctor reached out, I shook his hand without thinking.
"I understand you've had a rough evening," he replied. I nodded, still not thinking. "I don't normally do this but under the circumstances, I'll allow you a few minutes with your brother."
I followed this Dr Wesley guy down a few halls. We entered a room, fairly quiet except for the sound of machines.
"Michael was a lucky guy...his injuries could have been much worse," Dr Wesley explained.
The doctor explained to me everything...the injuries...the surgery...his present condition and what the damn sounds coming from the machines meant. It was pretty much the same as Alex and Kim had explained except for the damn beeping noises. I talked to Mikey for a few minutes, touching his hand. The machine sounds changed and I glanced over at the doctor.
"I think he knows you're here," he explained.
"Why do you say that?" I asked.
"The way his vitals changed. Sometimes even when you're not awake, you're still aware of what's going on around you. Based on the changes in his vitals, I'd say he recognizes your voice."
The doctor took a step back. "I'll give you a few minutes...only a couple though."
In those few minutes, I explained everything to Mikey...that he was in the hospital and that ma was okay. I didn't know if telling him that was good or not but I figured he might remember what'd happened. I didn't tell him about our old man though. I wasn't sure how'd he react. That would have to wait til he was awake...after the doctor agreed it was okay.
Alex and Kim were still waiting when I left Mikey.
"Bosco?" Kim replied, getting my attention. "I think you need to get some rest too. Come on, you can crash at my place. It's not far from here. I already gave the doctor my name and phone number so if he should need to find you, he can call."
I didn't reply except for a yawn and a nod of my head. I followed Kim and Alex out to the parking lot, spotting my car sitting there.
"How'd my car get here?"
"Ty and Sully brought it over after they got off shift," Kim explained, jiggling the keys in her hand. "So you mind if I drive?"
"No, that's fine," I replied, getting a strange look from both of them.
"I'm in no shape to drive," I explained. "Just be easy with her okay?"
"Her?" The two of them replied.
"Does 'her' have a name?" Alex teased.
"Na, I just always refer to a car as a 'her'." I explained.
The drive to Kim's place was short. It'd been a relatively quiet ride. My body was exhausted as well as my mind.
Kim took all of five minutes to prefer Joey's bed for me. Only trouble with that was it took me less than that to doze off on her sofa.
They took their conversation into the kitchen.
"Damn...what a night." Kim sighed.
"Yeah, it's been a long one." Alex agreed. "I think I'll give Faith a call."
Alex used Kim's phone to call Faith, filling her in on Mikey's condition and letting her know that Bosco was asleep on Kim's sofa. Faith was relieved on both counts. Glad that Mikey was going to be okay and especially happy that Bosco was getting some rest.
Hanging up the phone, she discovered Kim in the living room, her eyes watching Bosco.
"Hey, you okay?" Alex asked.
"I was just thinking," Kim began explaining. "I never thought much about it but Bosco...I think he and Bobby would have been good friends."
"Bosco and Bobby?" Alex questioned, her face expressing confusion.
"I never really gave it much thought til tonight," Kim continued. "They both grew up without a father's presence...Bobby used to be so protective of his mom. I think Bosco and Rose have the same type of relationship. Bobby's brother Matty was always in trouble with the law just like Mikey...I just think, had Bobby not died, the two of them could have been close."
"I guess you're right," Alex shrugged. "I never gave it much thought but you're right. Course they're different in a lot of ways too."
"Yeah, definitely different alright," Kim replied with a chuckle, then a yawn.
"I think we need to take our own advice...sleep." Alex replied.
"Sleep sounds good," Kim answered. She took a moment to put a blanket over Bosco.
to be continued...