Charlie arrived at the rink entrance as they were bringing Adam off the ice on a stretcher. The medics had already removed his skate and shin guard on his left leg so Charlie figured that was the side the injury was on.
"How bad is he hurt," Bombay asked the closest paramedic.
"Who are you?" the paramedic asked him looking at Gordon Bombay.
"I'm Eden Hall's junior varsity coach," Gordon told them.
"He injured his knee, to what extent we don't know. We're going to take him to County Hospital and let them run some tests," the paramedic told him. "You can ride with us if you want."
"No, I got my own vehicle. I'll go over on my own," Gordon told him. "Hang in there son," he told Adam putting a hand on his shoulder.
Adam just nodded to his former coach. Bombay could see the tears in his eyes that Adam was fighting to hold back. Bombay backed away from the stretcher and let the paramedics leave.
He turned around looking for Charlie. Seeing him standing near by he motioned to him. "Come on. Let's head for the hospital."
Bombay and Charlie silently headed out to Bombay's van. The ride over to the hospital was quiet. Neither of them knew what to say.
At the hospital, Gordon parked the van and headed for the ER. He went directly to the desk in the ER waiting room.
"The ambulance just brought a hockey player in from the game over at Sutton Academy. His name is Adam Banks."
"And you are?"
"Gordon Bombay. I'm a hockey coach at the boy's school."
"Okay, hold on," the clerk who was at the desk said as she checked some chart. "Yes we do have an Adam Banks. They've already taken him to radiology to do x-rays. If you'll have a seat I'll let you know as soon as there is any other information."
"Okay, thank-you. Do you have a phone I can use. I'ld like to call the boy's parents and let them know."
"Yeah, go ahead and use that one," the clerk told him indicating the phone on the desk.
"Thanks," Gordon said as he picked up the receiver and dialed Banks' home phone number. He let it ring eight times but got no answer. He hung up and headed over to where Charlie had found a seat. Gordon sat down next to him.
"Do they know anything?"Charlie asked his Coach as he sat down next to him.
"No, not yet," Gordon told him.
The two sat in silence after that. After about five minutes Gordon got up and started pacing back and forth in the waiting room. Charlie kept looking up at the clock on the wall which didn't seem to be moving at all. After fifteen minutes Gordon tried Adam's parents again and again got no answer.
As he was hanging the phone up a second time a nurse came into the waiting room.
"Mr. Bombay," the nurse said looking around.
"I'm Gordon Bombay," he said walking over toward her.
"Adam's back from radiology. The doctor is examining the x-ray's now but if you'ld like to go in and see him you can," she told him.
"Okay, give me a minute," Gordon told her and then headed back over to where Charlie was sitting. "They still don't know anything but I'm going to go in and be with Adam. Will you be okay out here?"
"Yeah," Charlie told him.
"Okay, I'll let you know as soon as we know anything," Gordon told him and then walked back over to where the nurse was waiting to take him back to where Adam was.
She led him to the curtained off area that Adam was waiting in. Adam was sitting up in the hospital bed his left leg elevated. Gordon could see that the knee was bruised and swollen underneath the ice pack that was on it.
"Hi coach," Adam said as he noticed Gordon coming through the curtain. I guess this isn't how you planned on spending your Saturday is it?"
"No," Gordon admitted. "You in much pain?"
"No, the painkillers they gave me are working pretty good," Adam admitted. "I just wish they would hurry up and tell me what's wrong."
"It's going to take time Adam. They want to make sure they don't miss anything," Gordon told him as he came over to stand next to the bed. "I tried to get a hold of your parents but I didn't get an answer. I'll try again in a little bit."
"I'ld rather you wait until we know something. What are they going to be able to do. Sit around waiting and worrying with us. I'll call them tonight."
"Okay," Gordon said. "You were doing great out there Adam."
At first Adam didn't say anything but then he asked in a wavery voice "do you think I'm going to play again."
"Of course you are," Gordon told him placing a hand on his shoulder. "It may be awhile but you'll play again. If I wanted to I could go back to the minors and play again and I probably would have if I was younger."
Adam reached up and quickly wiped a away a tear from his cheek.
"Adam Banks," a doctor said coming into the curtained area. "I'm Dr. Brown. Is this your father?"
"No, this is Coach Bombay. My dad doesn't know about what happened yet," Adam said.
"I've tried to reach him by phone but haven't got an answer," Bombay told him.
"Okay, do you want your Coach to stay?"
"Yeah," Adam said not wanting to hear the news by himself.
"Alright, then this is where we stand right now," Dr. Brown told them. "The x-rays have come back negative which means that there are no bones broken. I had an orthopedist take a look at the x-rays to for a second opinion just to be sure. However, x-rays don't show everything. There could still be damage to the ligaments or cartilage in the knee. I have you scheduled for an MRI in a half hour which is the quickest they could get you in. We'll see where we stand once we get the results from that."
Dr. Brown left after that leaving Bombay and Adam alone again.
"Okay, I'm going to go take Charlie back to Eden Hall and then I'll come back to be here with you okay," Bombay told him.
Adam just nodded. He didn't trust his voice at this point. He was afraid if he tried to say anything he would start crying.
"Hang in there, Adam," Gordon told him as he left and headed back out to the waiting room. Charlie was still sitting in the same seat as when Gordon had left him. When he saw Gordon come back into the waiting room he stood up and meet him part way.
"Is he okay?"
"All they know for sure is that there are no broken bones. They're going to run some more tests still," Gordon told him. "I'm going to go ahead and take you back to Eden Hall and then come back."
"I'ld rather wait."
"It could be awhile Charlie."
"So."
"I'm taking you back," Gordon said in a tone that told Charlie that he wasn't going to get anywhere arguing. His coach had already made up his mind.
The ride back to Eden Hall was silent. Bombay didn't know what to say and Charlie wasn't in the mood to talk. As Charlie got out of the van in the parking lot in front of Charlie's dorm Bombay finally broke the silence.
"Charlie you staying at the hospital would accomplish nothing. You would have just been sitting in the waiting room."
"So I can just sit around here and wait instead of in the waiting room. I don't see the difference."
"The difference is you can let the others know what happened. Other than that they are just going to hear about what happened from someone who was at the game. I'll call as soon as I know anything, okay."
"Okay," Charlie said. He shut the door and headed into the dorm.
Because it was Saturday afternoon the dorm was quiet. Kids were out enjoying the weekend. Charlie headed for his room listening to the silence. When he walked into his room he found his roommate, Guy, laying on his bed reading the book.
"Hey Charlie," Guy said looking over the top of his book as Charlie sat down on his bed. "How did the game go?"
"I don't know. We left during the second period." Charlie told Guy about what happened at the game and as much as he knew about Adam's condition which wasn't much.
"So Coach Bombay is going to call when he knows something right?"
"Yeah," Charlie said trying to figure out where his roommate was going with this.
"Okay, so lets go down to the common room and watch some tv and wait by the phone instead of up here," Guy said marking his place and placing the book on his desk as he headed out of the room. Charlie reluctantly followed him. He wasn't in the mood to watch tv.
In the common room Guy put the tv on and took a seat on the couch. Charlie sat down next to him but didn't really have any idea what Guy had put on. Charlie found himself staring at the phone in the corner willing it to ring.
Fifteen minutes later Fulton and Portman wander in from whatever they were out doing. Charlie and Guy both thought it was better not to ask questions when it came to the two Bash brothers. They could have been up to just about anything. Charlie found himself repeating what he had already told Guy.
Shortly after that Julie and Connie came in followed by Scooter. The Varsity team had just arrived back on campus from the game which they had won. Julie and Connie already knew about what had happened at the game from Scooter so Charlie just filled them in on what he knew about Adam's condition.
"Coach Wilson headed back to the hospital as soon as the bus got back here," Scooter said.
"Yeah, now that he won he can spare the time," Charlie said bitterly thinking about Coach Wilson talking with team while Adam was laying on the ice hurt. Scooter knew where the comment was coming from but chose to ignore. He really couldn't blame Charlie for feeling the way he did.
Before anyone could say anything else the phone rang. Charlie sprang off the couch and answered the phone. Listening to Charlie's side of the conversation the rest of them could tell that it was Bombay on the other end of the line but couldn't really follow the conversation beyond that.
"What's the news?" Guy asked as Charlie hung up the phone. They could tell from the look on Charlie's face that the news wasn't all that good.
"They still aren't sure of the extent of the injury," Charlie told his friends. "Bombay said that the MRI showed some damage to the ligaments in the knee. Right now the doctors are putting a brace on the knee and Adam will have to keep weight off it for about the next week. He's suppose to go back and see an orthopedist again on Friday and they'll see where to go from there."
The room was quiet. No one knew what to say but they all knew that Adam was going to need a lot of support and help in the next week and maybe even after that. Eventually the other ducks started filtering in -some knowing nothing about what had happened and other having heard rumors from people on campus who had gone to the game.
By the time Bombay brought Adam back the whole team had gathered. Scooter had left feeling out of place among the Ducks. They were all gathered in the common room discussing thing they could do to help out when Adam came into the building on crutches with Bombay right behind him with Adam's stuff, which he had picked up from the arena after bringing Charlie back to the dorm earlier.
As soon as they saw Adam all of the Ducks got to their feet and were soon surrounding him and asking him how he was. It was Bombay who put a stopped to it.
"How about you all let Adam go to his room and rest right now," Bombay told them knowing that Adam was tired and that the pain medication was probably starting to wear off.
The Ducks backed off and let Adam head up to his room. Although it wasn't used often the building did have a elevator. Bombay handed Charlie and Russ Adam's things and let them follow Adam up to his room while he left to get the prescriptions filled.