Caroline in Richard's Mother's Womb

Chapter 5

Richard desperately wanted to sleep. He knew that Caroline would resist his efforts to convince her to ask her family for help, and he would need all of his energy. Unfortunately, an odd assortment of characters at the ER kept spoiling his rest.

……

Richard's attempt at rest was broken by the sound of sheet metal banging against the ER entry door. Richard groggily opened his eyes and saw a man stuck in an upside-down "J" shaped air vent being led in by a cop. His head and hands emerged from the top curved part of the vent, and the bottom of his legs from the bottom. The man was protesting "But officer, I swear, I wasn't trying to break into an apartment. I was trying to rescue a cat."

"Yeah, yeah" the policeman dubiously retorted. "Where's your ID?"

"I left it in my coat. I took it off to rescue the cat." The cop shook his head and took the man into the ER.

"That guy is pathetic!" thought Richard. "'Rescue a cat'? Couldn't he come up with anything better? No one would ever believe that…"

"Sleep! Sleep! Sleep!" Richard commanded himself. He looked up at the TV. "Oh goodie, the 24-hour sports network is on. At least that should help me sleep."

……

Richard was once again awakened, this time by his chair being jostled. A burly man wearing a black leather jacket with chains had just squeezed into the chair next to him. He got a cigarette paper, a pouch of tobacco, pinched a bit into the paper and rolled it. Richard, in a semi-conscious stupor, just stared. The man noticed, and offered "You want one, man?"

"No thanks" replied Richard. "I don't smoke. Besides" he said, pointing to a No Smoking sign "see the sign?"

The burly man got up, towering over Richard and glared "What sign?"

"Never mind. I'm sure they didn't mean for it to apply to you" Richard nervously answered. "Oh great. Just when I was beginning to get comfortable" Richard lied to himself, as he moved from one plastic seat to an identical one on the other side of the room, to be away from the smoke.

……

Yet again, Richard was jostled awake. "Oh!" he thought, annoyed "I'm never going to get any sleep." He opened his eyelids, and saw a college aged youth had taken the next seat. He wore an overcoat, with bare legs sticking out underneath. "Why isn't he wearing any pants?" Richard wondered.

Just then, another student at the front desk called over "Hey Duane! The nurse needs some info."

Duane gingerly got up. As he did, a pipe, one inch wide, stuck straight out from his overcoat, from just below the waist. Startled, Richard looked at the pipe, then to Duane's face, then back to the pipe. "It was a bet" he explained.

Richard nodded, pretending to understand. "I'm never going to get any sleep" Richard thought, as he sighed. "Anyway, it's Five o'clock. I'd better call my boss." He went to the pay phone and dialed. "Hello Joe? … I'm not feeling well, I don't think I'm coming in… Yeah, I know, there is no sick leave, if I don't work, I don't get paid. I can't help it, sorry… Tomorrow? Uh… I'm not sure, I'll have to see how I feel then… Thanks Joe, I will, I'll try to get better soon. Bye."

Richard peeked through the window, and saw that Caroline was still sleeping. "I might as well take advantage of the fact that I'm not working, and try to get some more shut eye myself" he thought as he returned to his seat.

……

"Where am I?" thought Caroline. She would have opened her eyes, but hesitated. Even with her eyes closed, she could tell she was in a brightly lit room. "Was it all a dream?… Richard, my sweet Richard… the hospital…?" she wondered. She cracked open her eyes a little, and saw she was in a hospital. She tried to rub her eyes, and did so with her right hand, but felt something, then noticed her left arm was connected to a tube. She looked up and saw an IV bag connected to the other end of the tube. She began to sit up, but a sudden pounding in her head made her think the better of it.

"Well, well, well. Look who's up, ol' Sleepy Head" said a friendly nurse. "I'll get the doctor."

Caroline attempted to sit up again, but this time much more slowly, and this time she managed to sit up on the gurney. She looked out the plate glass window, and saw a familiar looking face in a peaceful rest state. "Richard!" she smiled, pleased. "He wasn't a dream" she thought.

A middle aged doctor approached Caroline. "Hello, Miss Duffy. I'm Dr. Morgenthal." He picked up and examined Caroline's medical charts. "Dr. Fletcher examined you yesterday. According to this, we just need to check if the alcohol is out of your system, and that your fluid levels are up, and you can be on your way. The nurse here will need to take a blood sample."

While the nurse took the blood sample, Dr. Morgenthal went out to the front desk. He talked briefly to the nurse, who pointed to Richard. He approached Richard, and started to talk softly "Mr. Karinsky?… Mr. Karinsky?" Richard was roused, saw the doctor before him, and stood up. "Mr. Karinsky, I'm Dr. Morgenthal. I understand that you're with Miss Duffy."

"Yes I am, doctor. How is she?" Richard asked.

"She's okay Mr. Karinsky. I won't say "fine", because that's not true. But she'll be ready for release soon. Mr. Karinsky, it's best if Miss Duffy enters a treatment problem, but I understand that there's a problem."

"Well, it may take some convincing, but I have time to do that now. I don't think it will be a problem."

"That's good to hear. We just need to get back the results from the tests, and if they're positive, she'll be ready for release" stated Dr. Morgenthal, who then turned around to return to the back.

"Thank you, doctor." Richard looked through the window to check on Caroline, only to see her smiling and waving maniacally at him. He returned the wave, albeit in a much more subdued manner, and gave her a crooked smile.

……

When Caroline emerged from the ER, she was a subdued version of the Caroline he remembered from many months back, the effects of the previous day's bender still affecting her. Still, his heart skipped a beat to see her up and about and smiling.

"So, where are we going, Richard?"

"I'm taking you to my place. You still need to rest" answered Richard.

"Won't Julia mind?"

"Julia… uh, no, she's visiting friends out of town" he replied. "She really was out of it yesterday" he thought. He stepped to the curb "Taxi!"