Caroline in Richard's Mother's Womb

Chapter 3

The shock of Julia's leaving had barely worn off when Richard's thoughts turned to the heap on his floor that was Caroline. He guiltily looked her over, and saw what a pitiable state she was in. But he soon brushed aside for more practical concerns. He bent over her and took her pulse. "She's pretty weak. I'd better get her to a hospital" he thought. Richard started to pick Caroline up, but then thought better of it. "If I try to hail a cab with her by my side, no one will ever stop. I'd better call first." Richard put her down, went to the table and started to dial.

……

Richard heard a knock at the door, and went to answer it. "Taxi for a Richard Karinsky" said the cabbie.

"Great. I'm Richard Karinsky. Just let me get my coat."

As Richard went to put on his coat, the cabbie spotted Caroline on the floor. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! I'm not taking her in my cab!"

"Give me a break!" exclaimed Richard. "I'm taking her to the hospital. There's an extra twenty in it for you."

"Oh alright" grumbled the cabbie. They hoisted her up by the shoulders and took her away.

******

In the back of the cab, Richard had tried to get Caroline to sit up, but she had fallen against him, her head buried in his chest. Caroline was barely conscious, but she attempted to orient herself, even before she opened her eyes. Smell is the strongest stimulant of memories, and the peculiar mixture of soap, deodorant, and after shave that was Richard brought a smile to Caroline's face. "Richard…" she mumbled, her speech slurred. "… is… that… you?"

"Shh, shh, shh. Yes, it's me Caroline. Just take it easy now, get some rest on the way to the hospital" replied Richard in a reassuring tone.

"Richard, my sweet Richard… after all this time" she thought. But then her foggy brain became alarmed "He can't see me like this! Nobody can!" Caroline thought, feeling guilty and ashamed. She weakly tried to push away from Richard, and urgently mumbled "Let… me… go."

He felt and heard her as she started to fuss, and Richard scolded her like a child "Caroline, Caroline! Stop it!" His tone softened "Let me take care of you."

"Take care of me. Just like Annie did" Caroline smiled and stopped squirming. "But no one else can know." It took real effort to grunt out the next sentence, but Caroline's panic gave her energy. "Tell… no… one… else… no… family… promise?"

"I promise not to tell your family, Caroline" Richard responded.

That was enough to calm Caroline for the rest of the ride.

******

Richard led Caroline into the ER waiting room, his left arm behind her waist, his right hand holding her right arm, which was slung behind his neck. He looked around and saw four rows of plastic chairs, half filled. He took Caroline to one of them, and tried to arrange her in a sitting position, but she kept falling over. After two attempts, he gave up, and left her bent over, head just in front of her knees. He went up to the front desk.

"Hello, I'd like to get my friend over there admitted" Richard said, pointing at Caroline.

"Her name, please" queried the crisply efficient nurse.

"Caroline Duffy."

"What seems to be the problem?"

"She's had a little… no, a lot too much to drink."

"I see. Does she have any other problems that you know of?" she asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Has she also been taking drugs, or anything else that would complicate matters?"

"No!... Uh, I don't think so, anyway. No" Richard answered.

"Alright, please take a seat." As Richard went to sit, the nurse picked up the phone and made a brief call. Moments later, two burly young orderlies, dressed in white, emerged from the back. The nurse spoke briefly, and pointed to Caroline. The orderlies came, picked up Caroline, and took her in back. The ER in back was separated from the desk by a large plate glass window, so Richard could see the orderlies place Caroline on a gurney, then leave her lying prone. A few minutes later, a young doctor with a clipboard approached Caroline. Richard stood to watch. He couldn't hear, but he could tell that the doctor was asking Caroline questions, and writing down the answers. Richard very much doubted if any of her responses lasted more than three words. Richard could see the doctor had stopped asking questions, scribbled down a few more notes, then walked out front to the desk. He spoke briefly to the nurse, who pointed to Richard. As he approached him, Richard thought "My god, he's young. He must be just out of medical school!"

"Hello. My name is Dr. Fletcher. Are you the man that brought Caroline Duffy in?

"Hello. Yes I am, doctor. I'm Richard Karinsky. How is she?" he anxiously inquired.

"She'll be okay. But it's a good thing you brought her in. Her blood alcohol level was very high, .29. That's close to the level of alcohol poisoning. And she's very dehydrated. Mr. Karinsky, we found her wallet in her coat. There was some money, a driver's license, but no medical insurance card. Do you know if she's covered?"

Richard became enraged. "You greedy quack! You won't treat her unless she's covered by insurance?!"

"Calm down, Mr. Karinsky, calm down. We're an ER, of course we'll treat her. We treat all emergency medical conditions, regardless of ability to pay. We'll keep her here until the alcohol's out of her system, and I've ordered an IV, to bring her fluid levels up. The problem is, this isn't a one time thing, she's addicted to alcohol. It's a chronic condition, which probably means she'll be back here before too long. She needs to be in a treatment program, the sooner the better. I have a list here of facilities. We can't handle chronic problems here. That's why I asked about the insurance."

Although he hadn't spoken to Caroline for six months, he had kept tabs on her through Annie, so he knew the answer. "I'm sorry for the outburst, doctor. Unfortunately, the answer is no. She lost her job, but kept paying for individual medical insurance for awhile, but just couldn't afford it anymore, so she let it lapse. Besides, she doesn't seem to respond to treatment. She's been in and out of rehab centers. And her HMO wouldn't help anyway. They only allowed three rehabilitation treatments, and she's already used all three up."

"That's unfortunate. But you know, I think there may be reason for hope, Mr. Karinsky. Many rehab centers focus only on the patient's addiction problem. Miss Duffy may also be severely depressed. The two problems can feed upon each other. The better centers can treat not only a patient's addition problem, but also provide psychiatric treatment and counseling. However, treatment can be quite time consuming and expensive. Can you or anyone she knows help her out?"

"Me? Hah! That's a laugh" Richard snorted. "Maybe her family, back in Wisconsin. But she doesn't want them to know. It may take me time to convince her to talk to them, much less accept their assistance."

"Well, she needs to be convinced, and quickly. And there's a wait to get into the better programs. Can somebody stay with her until then? We have to release her when she's physically ready, which will be tomorrow morning. If she starts drinking again…" the doctor's implication was clear.

"My wife just left me. Even with both of us working, we could barely afford to make ends meet. I can't afford to be away from my job." Desperate, Richard offered "You said she may be severely depressed. Couldn't you say she's a suicide danger, and needs to be kept here under observation?"

"No, Mr. Karinsky, it would be unethical for me to do that. And even if I wanted to, the hospital wouldn't let me. If we hold a person against their will without just cause, the hospital would be held liable for false imprisonment. Sorry. So think about what you want to do when we release her" Dr. Fletcher said as he left.

Richard sat, and began to ponder his alternatives. He didn't notice when a teenage African-American girl approached him, and touched his arm. "Hey Mister, it's not your fault."

"Excuse me?" a surprised Richard answered.

"I heard you and the doc talkin'. It's not your fault, Mister, you not bein' able to help. I should know, my brother's a crackhead. I keep beggin', and he keeps promisin' Mama and me that he'll quit. I think he even means it. But we always end up back here. Drugs or booze, they're both real hard to beat. And we can't do it for 'em, they have to do it themselves."

Richard replied "Thank you. I appreciate what you're trying to do. But right now, I need some time alone to think."

"Sure, Mister" she said as she left.

"What should I do?" Richard wondered desperately.