Spoiler referral: 9.18 - Foreign Affairs
Chapter 4 – In Loving Memory
"Let's get him up to OR" Abby instructed, pushing the gurney out of the trauma room into the corridor. Abby walked to towards the admit desk after noticing Susan standing around looking for assistance. She snapped off her gloves, tore off the yellow protective gown and threw them in to the trashcan.
"Are you ok Susan?" Abby asked.
"Yes I was hoping to catch you" Susan replied "I didn't get chance to ask you because your pager went off"
"What is it you wanted to ask?" Abby rubbed her nose.
"Can you tell me where John was buried? I would like to visit his grave"
Abby blinked hard at her. Susan half smiled then winced, She regrets asking in case she might have upset her.
"Sure" Abby answered after a long pause. "He's buried at Rosehill Cemetery and you will find him next to Gamma"
Susan nodded "Yes I know where it is exactly"
"Dr Lockhart, we need you in trauma 2" A nurse shouted from a distance.
Abby rolled her eyes "No rest for the wicked"
Susan grinned "Thanks Abby, I look forward seeing you tonight"
Abby walked away and then swung round to look back at Susan. "Oh can you give John a kiss from me?"
The sunlight is slowly penetrating through the rain clouds, thunder rumbling from the distance. Susan is driving her SUV along the road and the wipers are swishing left to right at high speed as the rain beating down heavily against the windscreen. She glanced round to look at how the place has differed from since she was last in Chicago. New modern buildings dominate the suburbs and the only old ones are still standing are the churches and the historical buildings like town halls. The EL is still in use. The tracks have been replaced with galvanize steel which doesn't rust like the earlier tracks which has to be repainted after a period of time. The frame that held the canopy that covered the stairways used to be wooden has now been replaced with the same metal. The trains are now high-speed bullet shaped. Your next stop would be matter of seconds…
The rain has stopped when Susan arrived at the Rosehill Cemetery and Mausoleum. She indicates to turn and drives along the road into the cemetery passes under a railroad overpass that obscures the view of Rosehill's beautiful main gate. The gothic looking building is beautifully built in a white colored limestone.
Susan stepped out of the SUV with a bag over her shoulder, an umbrella in one hand and the other a bunch of carnations. She shuts the driver's side door and strolled along the road. She takes in a deep breath of newly rained crisp air and starts scanning around where John Carter laid to rest. Susan is now kicking herself as she is trying to visualize where exactly where Gamma was buried, as she said to Abby earlier that she knew it well... She has only been once before when she accompanied John when he came to visit her grave on the first anniversary of her death. It was vague as it was 23 years ago; as you get older your memory starts to fade… Susan remembered that the plot was near a monument with the name inscribed Bernstein and the Carter family burial was near a tree, as she would never forget when she was told about Abby's brother Eric turning up drunk on Gamma's funeral, he climbed up the tree and fell from it into her grave.
There were numerous people wandering about in the cemetery. There was an elderly woman dressed in black, praying on her knee against a headstone, she presumed that she still mourning after her loved one. Susan looked around for the monument and the tree. There were dozens of them all over the 350-acre land. It's all started to come back to her as she strolled along the left side of the road and spotted the Bernstein monument.
As her eyes searched for the grave she stepped across the grass towards the tree, she nodded at the gardener nearby who is trimming away the grass. Susan carried on looking and she spotted the Millicent 'Gamma' Carter headstone. Other familiar names from the Carter family like John's brother Bobby who died of leukaemia and cousin Chase who overdosed himself to death from his addiction to drugs. Susan felt a lump in her throat when she saw John's name next to his grandmother. His headstone is an ogee shaped granite in visage blue color. The writing is inscribed in roman italic…
In Loving Memory
Dr. John Truman Carter III
4 June 1970 – 14 May 2023
Beloved husband of Abigail
&
Doting father of Robyn
'Gave so much, took so little, who put others first'
Susan crouched down and leaned over to place her carnations into the flower container on the left side of the mount. "For you…" She said softly trying to stay strong, organizing the flowers nicely. She stays put for a minute, studying the grave, paying her respect.
"Oh god…" She muttered; her breathing is getting heavier and erratic.
"I'm sorry," She shook her head as she mouthed in a strangulated voice. Susan struggled to hold back her emotions by placing her hand over her mouth and shutting her eyes tight as she breaks down in tears. She pulls out a tissue from her pocket to wipe away her tears and blew her nose.
"I erm… don't know what to say, so much happened since I last saw you" Susan shrugged her shoulders looking down fiddling with her tear and snot soaked tissue. She spent a moment talking away about how her life has been, like getting married again, more children, success in her career and so on.
"This is from your wife, Abby" Susan kissed her hand and placed it flat on the headstone. She rose up to stand up straight and winced as she rubs her calf strained from crouching down. Susan looked up at the sky after lightness starts to fade; the black rain clouds are forming. Her hair flickered against the strong breeze as she rummaged through her bag and pulled out a make-up compact. She opened it to look at herself in the mirror, wiping away the mascara smudges from under her blood shot red eyes and gently dabs the powder on her face. Susan frowned as she forgets how much she aged.
"I'm still the same person inside but on the outside I look old, wrinkly, graying in my hair, my waistline expanded" She chuckled looking at the headstone and joked, "I heard your hair turned white like your father hmm… I bet you have a bit of a middle aged spread round your belly? Ok… ok… who won the competition? Who looked the oldest? Me…I won because your Abby still looks great, beautiful and still has that 'youth' in her"
Susan startled herself when she glimpsed at a man walking past along the road, who looked like Chuck. She blew out a sigh of relief. She heard a cry and a slump from behind. Susan turned to look. The gardener is lying on the floor clutching to his chest, in agonizing pain.
"Is it your heart?" Susan asked after she rushed to his side.
"I've… got… angina," He cried with pain.
"Have you got your Nitrate spray with you?"
He nodded, "In my bag on that monument"
"Ok you stay calm while I'll go get your spray"
Susan dashed to the monument and opened his bag. Her jaw dropped to the floor, when she saw all the drugs contained in his bag. He was like a walking chemist shop, seemed that got more supply than a drug dealer. Susan lifted the bag and walked back over to the man then crouched down next to him. She removed a red bottle and then sprayed it directly in his mouth.
"Thank you" He gasped
"What you know about angina spray?"
Susan smiled "I'm a doctor"
"My name's Bill Mountjoy" He puts his hand out to shake hers "Your name?"
"Susan Lewis" She replied
"Thank you Dr Lewis"
Susan grinned, "How are you feeling now?"
"I haven't felt right since I got up this morning"
"I think you should go to the hospital to get checked out"
"No I don't want to go, I've got all the medications I need"
"Yes you have too many by the looks of it" Susan nodded, she picked them out one by one looking at the bottles "Ramipril, Aspirin, Tylenol, Tremolo, Bisposphonates, Antiemetics, oh I give up counting"
Susan looked at the man; he was laid there lifeless…
"Mr Mountjoy?" Susan shook him firmly. Puts her finger on his wrist to feel his pulse, no pulse.
"Oh my god!" She straddled on top of him, with a little struggle, as she is not as flexible as she was. Started chest compressions, then leaned over to pinch his nose and blew air into his mouth. She can feel his chest rising from her air. Then repeats the CPR.
During her attempts at CPR on the man she managed to reach for her bag to get her phone out and dialled 911.
"Paramedic!" Susan gasped. Feeling out of breath from her reps. "I'm a doctor, we need one urgently at the Rosehill Cemetery, man in his 60's with Myocardial Infarction"
By the time paramedics had arrived, it was too late. Susan's attempt to bring the man back to life was unsuccessful. As she watched the body being taken away, the rain started to fall heavily. She was already soaked by the time she collected her umbrella and belongings. Susan walked back to her SUV and drove off making her way to the hotel to shower and change, ready for her dinner date with Abby.