Aaaaargh! Brain burp...Anyway, all the legal stuff is the same as all the
other chapters.
Chapter Eighteen.
Tuesday January 13
Sandy rolled over and looked at the clock again. This time it read 6am. It seemed he had woken up every hour. He had checked on Ryan three times that night, relieved to find him sleeping soundly. He had checked in on Seth just before he and Kirsten went to bed. Seth had been sprawled all over his bed, tangled up in a mess of sheets and blankets. Sandy sent up a silent prayer giving thanks for Seth's life. He repeated an almost identical prayer in Ryan's room. Now as the sun peeked lazily through the clouds he sat up and rubbed his eyes. Kirsten shifted slightly and settled back to sleep. He got out of bed and looked out the window. It was then he heard it.....the sound of the waves calling to him. Sandy hadn't been out surfing since....it didn't matter since when. He quietly got his things together and leaned down to kiss his wife.
"Have fun Sandy...." Kirsten mumbled sleepily.
Damn, he loved this woman. After a quick check on the boys, Sandy set the timer on the coffee pot, grabbed his keys, his surfboard and set out towards the beach.
By the time Ryan got out of the shower it was nearly 7:15. He ran his hand over the stubble growing on the top of his head. He grabbed a hand towel, wiped the fog off the mirror and studied his face. He had purposely been avoiding mirrors as much as possible but this morning he seemed oddly drawn to it. The whites of his eyes were still a light shade of pink. They gave his normally blue eyes an almost purple appearance. The dark circles under his eyes seemed to blend in with the fading bruises that still wrapped around his face. While he couldn't see the stitches that closed the drainage site from the shunt that had been inserted during surgery, he could feel the crescent shaped ridge. He gently pressed a towel on it to dry the area. The other scar on his head was still a violent red. There were also small faded scars, souveniers from his previous life. Ryan brushed his teeth for nearly 4 minutes and then rinsed his mouth. He pulled his jeans on. They hung loosely on his hips, sliding down past the waistband of his boxers. He gathered up the ace bandages and turned to go back into the bedroom. An overwhelming feeling of vertigo engulfed him. His left hand gripped the vanity as he struggled to maintain his balance. He squeezed his eyes shut and hoped the feeling would quickly pass.
"Ryan..."
Kirsten spoke quietly.
"Sweetie....are you alright?"
"F-feel d-d-dizzy...."
"Okay...I'm going to help you get back to the bedroom...Are you ready?"
"Y-yeah...."
Kirsten firmly held Ryan's right wrist, put her arm around his shoulder and slowly guided him the 3 meters between the bed and the washroom. She helped him sit down.
"Th-thanks...b-b-better now..."
She gently took the ace bandage from Ryan's hand.
"C'mon...arms up....take a deep breath and hold it..."
Kirsten quickly wrapped his ribcage and secured the end of the binding with metal clips. Ryan lowered his arms and exhaled. He smiled weakly at Kirsten.
"Thanks 'gain..."
Kirsten bent down and picked up his cane and held it out in front of him.
"This is supposed to be your new best friend...You could have fallen and hurt yourself...We just brought you home from the hospital and I don't think you want to go back...."
Ryan shook his head and reached for his t-shirt. Kirsten stepped back to give him some privacy. As she watched him struggle to pull the shirt over his head, Kirsten fought the urge to help him. The family had been told to let him do as much of his day to day routine by himself as he could manage. Kirsten pretended to busy herself around the room as Ryan continued to struggle. After what seemed like an eternity she turned around and saw him standing, leaning on his cane with a blue button down shirt now over his t- shirt. Kirsten smiled and led Ryan to the kitchen. Seth sat at the table with his coffee, bagel and the arts and leisure section of the newspaper. There was a glass of meal replacement, a bowl of frosted mini wheats cereal and half a mug of coffee waiting for Ryan. Kirsten moved in quickly and took the coffee away.
Seth shook his head.
"Sorry dude....I tried...."
"Ryan, you shouldn't be drinking coffee yet..."
Ryan rolled his eyes, sat down beside Seth and popped a mini wheat in his mouth.
Kirsten hovered over him.
"Let me get you some soy milk for your cereal.....Do you want some scrambled eggs? I think I can make some oatmeal...."
"N-no thanks....This.....is g-good. He quickly drank the 'cup of health'. He closed his eyes as he waited to see if it would stay down. He thought he would have been used to the taste by now, but it seemed the better he felt, the worse that stuff tasted. Kirsten set a tall glass of orange juice down in front of him. He smiled his thanks. She turned to Seth.
"I can drop you off at school before I take Ryan to speech therapy..I'll come back and pick up your father, bring him to the office, pick Ryan up and.....This is crazy. We need to do something about replacing the Range Rover."
Seth looked at Ryan.
"I told you mom's a real type 'A' personality....."
"Hey...Hold the train...."
Sandy was breathless as he came in from the beach.
"I just need a few minutes to get ready.." He spied the half filled coffee mug. "Is this anybody's?"
"Mom wouldn't let Ryan have it..."
"Good...It's mine now..."
Sandy took a big gulp.
"Sandy...It's cold. Let me get you another one...."
Sandy finished his cold caffeine fix and then kissed Kirsten.
"Thanks anyway..."
Kirsten surveyed the scene in front of her and realized how much she had missed the morning chaos.
* * * *
Kirsten dropped Seth off at school and Sandy at the office. While in the car Sandy placed a call to their lawyer. She informed them that because the Range Rover had full replacement insurance, all the paperwork was in order for him to pick up another vehicle, which she had taken the liberty of ordering a week ago. It was ready to be picked up at the dealership.
* * * *
Ryan came out of the speech therapists office holding a digital micro- recorder. His therapist Lauren followed him out. Kirsten could tell by the look on Ryan's face that the session didn't go as well as she hoped. Kirsten followed Lauren back to her office.
"How did it go..?"
Lauren sat on the edge of her desk.
"Ryan was co-operative for the first 45 minutes and then he gave up. He's actually doing very well, but he's frustrated and angry right now....I just wanted to give you a heads up....."
"I've noticed he's stuttering more....."
Lauren shook her head.
"It's probably because he's trying to use more complex sentences. When I have him read a few paragraphs from a book he doesn't stutter so I'm not too worried about it. He'll probably give you the silent treatment for a little while but don't indulge him for too long. I've given him a tape recorder so he can play back his verbal exercises..."
Kirsten looked surprised.
"We could have picked one up for Ryan..."
Lauren laughed as she escorted Kirsten back to the waiting room.
"I find my clients usually think twice about throwing it across the room if it's not theirs. I generally don't lose too many of them...."
Ryan pulled himself up as soon as he saw Kirsten and Lauren.
"I'll see you on Thursday morning Ryan..."
A look from Kirsten kept him from just nodding his head " 'kay...Thanks...."
The ride home was made in silence. Ryan retreated to his bedroom and lay down. Kirsten paced in the kitchen, trying to figure out what to do next. She was starting to re-think the whole 'sabbatical' idea when the phone rang. The caller ID came up as her father.
"Hey dad...."
"Kiki...." Kirsten hated that her dad gave her that nickname. "What's your schedule like today?"
"I don't know dad....It's kind of hectic around here...."
Caleb snorted.
"Let me guess....Ryan's asleep and you're ready to climb the walls....?"
Kirsten would only confirm that Ryan was indeed asleep.
"I'd like to drop some papers off regarding the development we're starting next month. We're running into problems getting the tradesmen lined up. Will you take care of it?"
"Sure dad....How soon can you get here...?"
Kirsten tried not to sound too enthusiastic but truth be told, she was ready to take up knitting or basket weaving...anything to keep her mind occupied with thoughts other than the accident and its aftermath.
"I'll be there in an hour..."
Kirsten said good-bye to her dad.
"Okay....One hour....What am I going to do for an hour?"
The thought of running the vacuum cleaner had crossed her mind as well as doing some other household tasks, but Rosa had finally gotten the Cohens trained to keep the house the way 'she' like it and since she was coming this afternoon , Kirsten saw no reason to piss the woman off.
Ryan woke up from his brief nap with the familiar sharp pain behind his eyes. He closed his eyes, clenched his fists and waited for it to subside. The pain spasms didn't happen as frequently anymore and the tremors in his hands would usually stop within 20 minutes or so. He tried to hide his pain from the Cohens. The Demerol would make him sleepy, Tylenol was too hard on his liver right now and Motrin made him sick. He found it ironic that the pills that were supposed to make him feel better ended up making him feel worse.
He slowly sat up and rolled his feet off the bed. Remembering Kirsten's gentle reprimand that morning, he picked up his cane before he pushed himself off the bed. It took a few seconds to find his balance. As soon as Ryan was confident he wasn't going to fall on his face he went into the washroom.
Exiting the washroom he passed by the desk. He stopped to look at the neat pile of books. Seth had told him that a report had been assigned for world literature and the teacher had picked a book out for him. He shuffled though the pile and pulled out the assigned novel.
"Robertson Davies 'What's Bred in the Bone'." Ryan read to himself. He flipped the book over and read the back cover. A Canadian book....well that would qualify as world lit. The only thing he knew about Canada was that it snowed, there were ten provinces, three territories, they had a prime minister who couldn't speak English or French very well......Was he still in office?............and that Seth planned on buying the country with his Bar Mitzvah money. Ryan tucked the book and his lap top under his arm and went to the family room. He heard Caleb and Kirsten in the kitchen. Kirsten saw him before he could move out of her sight line.
"Hey....You're awake...Can I get you anything?"
"No th-thanks....I'm good..."
Ryan walked slowly into the kitchen.
"Might as well get this over and done with," he thought.
"Hi, Mr. N-Nichol..."
Ryan spoke slowly and carefully. Caleb stood up and put his hand on Ryan's shoulder. He pretended not to notice when the boy flinched at his touch.
"Call me Caleb...It's good to see you up and about. It's nice to have you home..." Ryan nodded slightly. Caleb sat back down, not taking his eyes off Ryan.
"I understand you've worked some construction before?"
"Y-yeah...a-a-a c-couple s-s-s-summers ago...."
(Focus dammit!)
Caleb knew to be patient with Ryan. He was actually surprised to get this much out of his new grandson after Kirsten informed him how he speech therapy had gone that morning.
""What did you do on the job site?"
Ryan shrugged.
"M-mostly framing......The 'lectricians l-let me put in some pl-pl-plugs and switches....."
Caleb smiled.
"Good....I'm sure we can use your help this summer after school's out....If you're interested."
Ryan gave him a half smile and nodded. He was done talking for now.
"What book are you reading?"
Ryan handed the book to Kirsten. She flipped through it and gave it back.
"Think you can handle reading the first 200 pages and writing a 1500 word report?"
Ryan nodded his head once again and retreated back to the family room.
* * * *
Ryan had read for nearly two hours and he was ready to throw the book into the pool. He spent more time looking up references to Upper Canada, Lower Canada, the Ottawa Valley, large 'C' Catholics, small 'c' Catholics , the Church of England, patois, Mary-Tess, Mary-Jim, Mary-Ben, Sneezey, Dopey, Doc, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.....Kafka would have been a breeze compared to this. He tossed the book on the table, leaned back and closed his eyes, the images of early 20th century Canada swirling around in his head.
"Ryan...Can I get you anything?"
He opened his eyes and saw Kirsten with papers in one hand and a coffee in the other. She had already force-fed him lunch. He shook his head. Just as Kirsten was going to remind him to use his words, the phone rang. She came back a minute later and held out the phone.
"It's Trey....He wants to talk to you..."
Chapter Eighteen.
Tuesday January 13
Sandy rolled over and looked at the clock again. This time it read 6am. It seemed he had woken up every hour. He had checked on Ryan three times that night, relieved to find him sleeping soundly. He had checked in on Seth just before he and Kirsten went to bed. Seth had been sprawled all over his bed, tangled up in a mess of sheets and blankets. Sandy sent up a silent prayer giving thanks for Seth's life. He repeated an almost identical prayer in Ryan's room. Now as the sun peeked lazily through the clouds he sat up and rubbed his eyes. Kirsten shifted slightly and settled back to sleep. He got out of bed and looked out the window. It was then he heard it.....the sound of the waves calling to him. Sandy hadn't been out surfing since....it didn't matter since when. He quietly got his things together and leaned down to kiss his wife.
"Have fun Sandy...." Kirsten mumbled sleepily.
Damn, he loved this woman. After a quick check on the boys, Sandy set the timer on the coffee pot, grabbed his keys, his surfboard and set out towards the beach.
By the time Ryan got out of the shower it was nearly 7:15. He ran his hand over the stubble growing on the top of his head. He grabbed a hand towel, wiped the fog off the mirror and studied his face. He had purposely been avoiding mirrors as much as possible but this morning he seemed oddly drawn to it. The whites of his eyes were still a light shade of pink. They gave his normally blue eyes an almost purple appearance. The dark circles under his eyes seemed to blend in with the fading bruises that still wrapped around his face. While he couldn't see the stitches that closed the drainage site from the shunt that had been inserted during surgery, he could feel the crescent shaped ridge. He gently pressed a towel on it to dry the area. The other scar on his head was still a violent red. There were also small faded scars, souveniers from his previous life. Ryan brushed his teeth for nearly 4 minutes and then rinsed his mouth. He pulled his jeans on. They hung loosely on his hips, sliding down past the waistband of his boxers. He gathered up the ace bandages and turned to go back into the bedroom. An overwhelming feeling of vertigo engulfed him. His left hand gripped the vanity as he struggled to maintain his balance. He squeezed his eyes shut and hoped the feeling would quickly pass.
"Ryan..."
Kirsten spoke quietly.
"Sweetie....are you alright?"
"F-feel d-d-dizzy...."
"Okay...I'm going to help you get back to the bedroom...Are you ready?"
"Y-yeah...."
Kirsten firmly held Ryan's right wrist, put her arm around his shoulder and slowly guided him the 3 meters between the bed and the washroom. She helped him sit down.
"Th-thanks...b-b-better now..."
She gently took the ace bandage from Ryan's hand.
"C'mon...arms up....take a deep breath and hold it..."
Kirsten quickly wrapped his ribcage and secured the end of the binding with metal clips. Ryan lowered his arms and exhaled. He smiled weakly at Kirsten.
"Thanks 'gain..."
Kirsten bent down and picked up his cane and held it out in front of him.
"This is supposed to be your new best friend...You could have fallen and hurt yourself...We just brought you home from the hospital and I don't think you want to go back...."
Ryan shook his head and reached for his t-shirt. Kirsten stepped back to give him some privacy. As she watched him struggle to pull the shirt over his head, Kirsten fought the urge to help him. The family had been told to let him do as much of his day to day routine by himself as he could manage. Kirsten pretended to busy herself around the room as Ryan continued to struggle. After what seemed like an eternity she turned around and saw him standing, leaning on his cane with a blue button down shirt now over his t- shirt. Kirsten smiled and led Ryan to the kitchen. Seth sat at the table with his coffee, bagel and the arts and leisure section of the newspaper. There was a glass of meal replacement, a bowl of frosted mini wheats cereal and half a mug of coffee waiting for Ryan. Kirsten moved in quickly and took the coffee away.
Seth shook his head.
"Sorry dude....I tried...."
"Ryan, you shouldn't be drinking coffee yet..."
Ryan rolled his eyes, sat down beside Seth and popped a mini wheat in his mouth.
Kirsten hovered over him.
"Let me get you some soy milk for your cereal.....Do you want some scrambled eggs? I think I can make some oatmeal...."
"N-no thanks....This.....is g-good. He quickly drank the 'cup of health'. He closed his eyes as he waited to see if it would stay down. He thought he would have been used to the taste by now, but it seemed the better he felt, the worse that stuff tasted. Kirsten set a tall glass of orange juice down in front of him. He smiled his thanks. She turned to Seth.
"I can drop you off at school before I take Ryan to speech therapy..I'll come back and pick up your father, bring him to the office, pick Ryan up and.....This is crazy. We need to do something about replacing the Range Rover."
Seth looked at Ryan.
"I told you mom's a real type 'A' personality....."
"Hey...Hold the train...."
Sandy was breathless as he came in from the beach.
"I just need a few minutes to get ready.." He spied the half filled coffee mug. "Is this anybody's?"
"Mom wouldn't let Ryan have it..."
"Good...It's mine now..."
Sandy took a big gulp.
"Sandy...It's cold. Let me get you another one...."
Sandy finished his cold caffeine fix and then kissed Kirsten.
"Thanks anyway..."
Kirsten surveyed the scene in front of her and realized how much she had missed the morning chaos.
* * * *
Kirsten dropped Seth off at school and Sandy at the office. While in the car Sandy placed a call to their lawyer. She informed them that because the Range Rover had full replacement insurance, all the paperwork was in order for him to pick up another vehicle, which she had taken the liberty of ordering a week ago. It was ready to be picked up at the dealership.
* * * *
Ryan came out of the speech therapists office holding a digital micro- recorder. His therapist Lauren followed him out. Kirsten could tell by the look on Ryan's face that the session didn't go as well as she hoped. Kirsten followed Lauren back to her office.
"How did it go..?"
Lauren sat on the edge of her desk.
"Ryan was co-operative for the first 45 minutes and then he gave up. He's actually doing very well, but he's frustrated and angry right now....I just wanted to give you a heads up....."
"I've noticed he's stuttering more....."
Lauren shook her head.
"It's probably because he's trying to use more complex sentences. When I have him read a few paragraphs from a book he doesn't stutter so I'm not too worried about it. He'll probably give you the silent treatment for a little while but don't indulge him for too long. I've given him a tape recorder so he can play back his verbal exercises..."
Kirsten looked surprised.
"We could have picked one up for Ryan..."
Lauren laughed as she escorted Kirsten back to the waiting room.
"I find my clients usually think twice about throwing it across the room if it's not theirs. I generally don't lose too many of them...."
Ryan pulled himself up as soon as he saw Kirsten and Lauren.
"I'll see you on Thursday morning Ryan..."
A look from Kirsten kept him from just nodding his head " 'kay...Thanks...."
The ride home was made in silence. Ryan retreated to his bedroom and lay down. Kirsten paced in the kitchen, trying to figure out what to do next. She was starting to re-think the whole 'sabbatical' idea when the phone rang. The caller ID came up as her father.
"Hey dad...."
"Kiki...." Kirsten hated that her dad gave her that nickname. "What's your schedule like today?"
"I don't know dad....It's kind of hectic around here...."
Caleb snorted.
"Let me guess....Ryan's asleep and you're ready to climb the walls....?"
Kirsten would only confirm that Ryan was indeed asleep.
"I'd like to drop some papers off regarding the development we're starting next month. We're running into problems getting the tradesmen lined up. Will you take care of it?"
"Sure dad....How soon can you get here...?"
Kirsten tried not to sound too enthusiastic but truth be told, she was ready to take up knitting or basket weaving...anything to keep her mind occupied with thoughts other than the accident and its aftermath.
"I'll be there in an hour..."
Kirsten said good-bye to her dad.
"Okay....One hour....What am I going to do for an hour?"
The thought of running the vacuum cleaner had crossed her mind as well as doing some other household tasks, but Rosa had finally gotten the Cohens trained to keep the house the way 'she' like it and since she was coming this afternoon , Kirsten saw no reason to piss the woman off.
Ryan woke up from his brief nap with the familiar sharp pain behind his eyes. He closed his eyes, clenched his fists and waited for it to subside. The pain spasms didn't happen as frequently anymore and the tremors in his hands would usually stop within 20 minutes or so. He tried to hide his pain from the Cohens. The Demerol would make him sleepy, Tylenol was too hard on his liver right now and Motrin made him sick. He found it ironic that the pills that were supposed to make him feel better ended up making him feel worse.
He slowly sat up and rolled his feet off the bed. Remembering Kirsten's gentle reprimand that morning, he picked up his cane before he pushed himself off the bed. It took a few seconds to find his balance. As soon as Ryan was confident he wasn't going to fall on his face he went into the washroom.
Exiting the washroom he passed by the desk. He stopped to look at the neat pile of books. Seth had told him that a report had been assigned for world literature and the teacher had picked a book out for him. He shuffled though the pile and pulled out the assigned novel.
"Robertson Davies 'What's Bred in the Bone'." Ryan read to himself. He flipped the book over and read the back cover. A Canadian book....well that would qualify as world lit. The only thing he knew about Canada was that it snowed, there were ten provinces, three territories, they had a prime minister who couldn't speak English or French very well......Was he still in office?............and that Seth planned on buying the country with his Bar Mitzvah money. Ryan tucked the book and his lap top under his arm and went to the family room. He heard Caleb and Kirsten in the kitchen. Kirsten saw him before he could move out of her sight line.
"Hey....You're awake...Can I get you anything?"
"No th-thanks....I'm good..."
Ryan walked slowly into the kitchen.
"Might as well get this over and done with," he thought.
"Hi, Mr. N-Nichol..."
Ryan spoke slowly and carefully. Caleb stood up and put his hand on Ryan's shoulder. He pretended not to notice when the boy flinched at his touch.
"Call me Caleb...It's good to see you up and about. It's nice to have you home..." Ryan nodded slightly. Caleb sat back down, not taking his eyes off Ryan.
"I understand you've worked some construction before?"
"Y-yeah...a-a-a c-couple s-s-s-summers ago...."
(Focus dammit!)
Caleb knew to be patient with Ryan. He was actually surprised to get this much out of his new grandson after Kirsten informed him how he speech therapy had gone that morning.
""What did you do on the job site?"
Ryan shrugged.
"M-mostly framing......The 'lectricians l-let me put in some pl-pl-plugs and switches....."
Caleb smiled.
"Good....I'm sure we can use your help this summer after school's out....If you're interested."
Ryan gave him a half smile and nodded. He was done talking for now.
"What book are you reading?"
Ryan handed the book to Kirsten. She flipped through it and gave it back.
"Think you can handle reading the first 200 pages and writing a 1500 word report?"
Ryan nodded his head once again and retreated back to the family room.
* * * *
Ryan had read for nearly two hours and he was ready to throw the book into the pool. He spent more time looking up references to Upper Canada, Lower Canada, the Ottawa Valley, large 'C' Catholics, small 'c' Catholics , the Church of England, patois, Mary-Tess, Mary-Jim, Mary-Ben, Sneezey, Dopey, Doc, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.....Kafka would have been a breeze compared to this. He tossed the book on the table, leaned back and closed his eyes, the images of early 20th century Canada swirling around in his head.
"Ryan...Can I get you anything?"
He opened his eyes and saw Kirsten with papers in one hand and a coffee in the other. She had already force-fed him lunch. He shook his head. Just as Kirsten was going to remind him to use his words, the phone rang. She came back a minute later and held out the phone.
"It's Trey....He wants to talk to you..."