Pixley Emergency Hospital

After Oliver cried had out all the tears he had in him, he had begun pacing around the room anxiously like a tiger trapped in a cage. He felt like he had been pacing in the waiting room at the emergency hospital for what seemed like an eternity, yet still, no one had come to tell him how his wife was doing. He didn't know what to do with himself. He felt like he was going to burst if he didn't find out something soon.

Suddenly, the door swung open and Oliver stopped dead in his tracks. To his disappointment, it was Eb followed by Ralph and the rest of the volunteer fire department.

"Oh, it's you guys." Oliver said.

"Try not to sound so glad to see us." Ralph said sarcastically.

"Sorry, it's just that I was hoping it was one of my wife's doctors."

"We understand." Mr. Drucker responded sympathetically. "And we brought good news. We were able to put out the fire before it totally engulfed your barn. It needs a little repair, but all in all, your barn's still standing.

"That's great." Oliver responded distractedly.

"Still no word?" Mr. Kiley asked sadly.

"No, and it's driving me crazy." Oliver responded. He looked up and noticed all the bandages on Eb. "Are you all right, Eb?"

"Oh, I'm fine. Just a couple of scrapes and a bump on the head." Eb reassured him.

"What exactly happened in that barn?" Mr. Drucker asked. Oliver, who had been wondering the same thing himself, stopped pacing and sat down listen to his response.

"Well," Eb began, "I don't remember everything, on a count of my bump on the head, but I remember going to sleep after I took my medicine for my cold. Then the next thing I remember was Mrs. Douglas telling me that we need to get out of the barn 'cause it was on fire. We tried to go down the ladder, but it fell apart. Then Mrs. Douglas suggested we go out the winder and jump into the pile of hay by the barn. I went out first to make sure it was safe and then tried to help Mrs. Douglas get out, but before she could get out, the loft collapsed and she fell. I was gonna go down and get her, but the tiles slid from under me and I fell. That's all I remember."

Oliver sat back in his chair in horror. Poor Lisa, Oliver thought. She has to go through all this just because she tried to save a loved one. It just doesn't seem fair.

A doctor walked into the waiting room and interrupted his thoughts. Oliver jumped up from his chair and ran over to the doctor. "Doctor, my wife, is she all right?"

There was a long pause from the doctor which seemed to last for years for Oliver. Then he finally found his words. "Well, there's some good news and some bad news. The good news is we were able to get her condition stable and were able to treat the minor things."

"Such as?" Oliver asked anxiously.

"Such as the scrapes and burns. And we were able to get all the smoke out of her lungs and get her breathing on her own again."

"Then what's the bad news?" Oliver asked dreadfully.

"Well, your wife suffered a pretty severe blow to the head and obtained a concussion which has put her in a coma. There is a good chance that she will awake from her coma, but the longer she doesn't wake up, the less chance there is of that happening." The doctor paused for a moment to hear Oliver's response.

Oliver could do nothing but stand there and stare. He couldn't believe it. He just couldn't believe it. There was no way that this could be happening to him. He was a good person. His wife was a good person. She didn't deserve this. Neither of them did. The doctor's voice brought Oliver back to reality. "Do you have any questions, Mr. Douglas?"

"Can I see her?" Oliver asked.

"Of course. She's in room 219, down the hall."

Without another word to anyone, Oliver ran down the hall until he arrived in front of Lisa's door. He paused for a moment to gather his composure, then carefully pushed the door open and slowly entered the room. What he saw next nearly broke his heart.

Lisa was lying in the hospital bed surrounded by numerous machines. Her face suffered no injury, but there were numerous bandages on her arms and hands. There was a wire running from her to a heart monitoring machine, which was beeping steadily. If Oliver didn't know better, he would say she was sleeping. She looked so peaceful, her hands folded on her stomach and her chest rising and falling steadily as she breathed.

Oliver walked over to a chair that was near Lisa's bed and sat down. He took Lisa's hand, brought it to his lips and kissed it.

"Hi, Lisa," he whispered to her, "I'm here."

He then rested his elbows on her bed and cupped her hand in his hands. He leaned his forehead against his hands and, for the second time in one day, cried his heart out.