A BAD MONDAY

8: 3O pm

Ryan had been drifting, deep in REM sleep. He couldn't remember his original dream but he was aware that he'd moved closer to waking. He was trying to direct his current dream and affect its outcome. This usually happened just before his radio kicked on in the morning; but a ringing telephone had started him on the way to wakefulness.

Why didn't voicemail pick up? Why didn't that damn thing stop ringing? As he turned another loop in the upward spiral toward awareness, he realized that the phone was cycling through a pattern, four rings and a pause, four rings and a pause.

Ryan just wanted to go back to sleep and fall back into soft oblivion. He didn't want to move out of the warm, snug impression his body had made in the mattress. For the first time in days he wasn't being jarred awake by his body's pain. He felt as if he could sleep for days if only the ringing would stop. Then the events of the last three days came flooding back to him, bringing him fully awake.

The phone started another cycle. This time, however, he stretched out a hand to the telephone and picked up the handset. Rolling onto his back, he pressed the talk button. "Hey."

"Hey, yourself. Are you okay?" Anna's voice sounded worried.

"Fine. I was sleeping." Ryan opened his eyes and realized that he'd overslept. The pool-house was dark except for pale yellow light coming in through the windows from the patio lights. He checked the clock next to the bed. Staring back at him accusingly, illuminated in red, was the time: 8:30 p.m. Visiting hours at the hospital ended at nine. "Shit!"

"I beg your pardon?" The voice on the other end sounded amused - no longer worried.

"Sorry, I just looked at my clock. I missed visiting hours. Damn!" He put his left arm across his face. "I am so screwed. Did you visit Seth? How's he doing?" Ryan pushed himself up into a sitting position.

"Tim and I went up this evening. This was the first time I'd seen him so it's hard for me to say if he's doing better. He looked pale, but he was definitely in good spirits. His face is banged up from the airbag and he still has an IV and some monitoring equipment hooked up to him. He complained that the nurses had had him up walking a couple of times today but he was inordinately proud of having passed gas. Tim high-fived him for that. Guys." Anna snorted. "No offense, Ryan."

"Sure." Ryan closed his eyes and shook his head at the mental image.

"What about you? You were so anxious to see Seth this morning. What happened?"

Ryan heard curiosity and concern but no accusation in her question. "I had lunch with Kirsten and she went all maternal and told me I had to take a nap before I could go to the hospital. That was five hours ago, so I guess she was right." He sighed.

"I doubt Seth even noticed you hadn't been there. Summer was feeding him Jell-O when we arrived. Seth said she'd been there since three. To get there that early she must have cut her last class. While we were there she announced to all of us that getting Seth well enough to go home had become her 'full-time, number one, priority'. You should have seen Kirsten's face when Summer said that." There was amusement in Anna's voice. "Kirsten looked totally pissed. Seth, however, was nauseatingly happy. So, yeah, he's doing just fine."

Anna hesitated and Ryan was about to ask her what was wrong when she continued "I saw Luke today. He told me about your run-in with Summer; and when Tim mentioned seeing you guys at lunch, Summer got a strange expression on her face. Even Tim noticed it and asked me about it later. She was standing behind Seth, so he didn't see it."

"How did Summer act toward you? Anything strange?"

"No, no problems." Anna paused as though thinking back over her visit and asked, "Why would there be?"

"Summer saw us outside your biology class this morning and got the wrong idea."

"Wrong idea? Oh." Followed by a drawn out, "Ohhhhhh! You didn't tell Luke about that part of your conversation with Summer, did you?"

"No, it wasn't important." Ryan's voice was emphatic. "Tim went with you? Good."

"So you're not going to say anything else?" She waited a minute and finally sighed. "Yeah, Tim's really very sweet. You were right."

"I know I didn't describe him as 'sweet'." Ryan said with mock seriousness. "But, I think I might have said that he's a good guy."

"Close enough." Anna's good mood was restored. "So what are you going to do about Seth?"

"I couldn't get there by nine even if anyone was home to drive me. I'll call him. The hospital switchboard is still putting calls through. Maybe Summer's gone home."

"I wouldn't count on it. Remember he's now her number one priority? She's probably trying to talk Kirsten out of night duty and the cot in Seth's room." Anna remarked dryly. She dropped the sarcasm and continued more seriously. "I don't think your problems with her are over, Ryan."

"It's something I'll deal with. Thanks for the call. I would have slept right on through the night and I need to talk to Seth. I'll call you after school."

"Good. We really haven't talked about how you're doing. But I'll let it ride for now. Night." Anna broke the connection.

Ryan leaned over and set the handset in the charger. He lay there for a minute half in and half out of bed. Finally, he raised himself onto his elbow, then onto his left hand, swinging his legs to the edge and then over, he sat on the edge of the bed. He glanced over at the pool house's refrigerator and did a quick mental inventory: a can of soda, an old pizza box with, he thought, one piece of pepperoni left in it, and a tray of ice cubes. I should check out the refrigerator in the kitchen.

Ryan picked the pair of jeans he'd worn to school that morning up from the floor and pulled them on before slipping into his sneakers. The sky had grown overcast and the nighttime temperature had dropped when he emerged from the pool house, but he decided against going back for his sweatshirt. The T-shirt he wore would be enough for the short walk to the main house. As he opened the patio door into the kitchen there was a low rumble of what might have been thunder out over the ocean.

A.N. In order to keep the baying wolves of Muchtvs' vigilante group at bay, I have, like the Russian travelers of legend, decided to throw sections of my last chapter out as they are finished to appease their bloodlust. Part two: 8:45 pm should be out tomorrow and the final section 9:15 pm will be out next week.