Chapter 14
Mary opened the gate that lead into the backyard, only to be greeted by her father, who was taking out the trash. Mary started to walk past her father, without making eye contact with him.
"Mary," Reverend Camden said.
"Yeah Dad," Mary said, turning around and looking up at her father.
"Are you angry about something? I mean, is something wrong?" Reverend Camden asked his daughter.
"Nothing's wrong, I am fine," Mary said, as she made her way into the house. As Reverend Camden watched his oldest daughter, he could tell that she was not fine and that she was not telling him something.
Once Mary entered the house, she made her way upstairs to her room. She hoped that Lucy wasn't there because she wanted some time to herself. But just to her luck Lucy was there, doing her homework.
"Get out," Mary told her sister rather rudely. She was no mood to have a conversation.
"Why do I have to leave?" Lucy asked.
"Because I said so, now leave," Mary said, pointing towards the door.
"Fine, I'll go do my homework some place else," Lucy said as she gathered her books and left the room. After Lucy left, Mary started to cry; her whole body hurt and all she wanted to do was sleep.
Meanwhile, Lucy made her way towards Matt's room hoping that she could study in there.
"Hey, I thought you were doing your homework in your own room," Matt said once he noticed Lucy.
"I was, but SOMEBODY kicked me out," Lucy told her brother, angrily.
"Let me guess, Mary," Matt said.
"Yes Mary, she's driving me crazy. She won't speak to me and the one time I actually want to talk to her, she kicks me out," Lucy told Matt.
"She has been avoiding everybody lately," Matt agreed.
"It seems like ever since I tried to talk to her the other day, she's been avoiding me," Lucy told her brother.
"Well, Mary's behavior isn't entirely your fault, I tried to talk to her the other day and she pushed me away too," Matt explained.
"I think that the best thing for both of us to do right now, is to just let Mary tell us what is going on when and if she decides to tell us in her own way and in her own time," Matt continued.
"I guess your right. It's just, I hate her being mad at me," Lucy told Matt.
"I hate it too," Matt agreed. "Do you mind if I finish my homework in here?" Lucy asked. "No, that's fine," Matt replied, as he started to leave the room.
"Where are you going?" Lucy asked.
"John and I are going to the pool hall to shoot some pool," Matt told Lucy.
"Oh, okay, thanks," Lucy told her brother. With that, Matt left the room while Lucy started on her homework.
As Matt made his way into the hallway, he happened to notice that Mary's bedroom door was open. He quietly made his way to her room and that was when he noticed his sister sound asleep. Matt quietly made his way inside Mary's bedroom and neared her bed. Next, he took the blanket that was folded neatly at the foot of the bed and placed it over his sister's limp body.
"I love you," he mouthed, as he stroked Mary's long brown hair. With that, he exited the room, shutting the door behind him, and made his way downstairs. Once he was downstairs, he grabbed his car keys off the table in the front furrier and headed to his car.
Meanwhile, Lucy was in Matt's room doing her homework when she suddenly got very hungry. She decided to go down to the kitchen and retrieve a snack. When she entered the kitchen, she went to grab a snack out the refrigerator, when her mother entered.
"Hey Luce," Mrs. Camden greeted her daughter.
"Hi mom," Lucy said.
"You're hungry already? We only eat an hour ago," Mrs. Camden stated, noticing the food that Lucy had gotten out of the refrigerator.
"I suddenly got a craving, so I thought that I would come down here and get a snack," Lucy said, as she started to make her way back upstairs.
"Luce, where's Mary?" Mrs. Camden asked her daughter; she hadn't seen Mary since dinner.
"She's upstairs sleeping," Lucy answered.
"Okay, well I need to go to a PTA meeting and your father's at the church, so would you mind watching Simon and Ruthie?" Mrs. Camden explained and then asked.
"No, not at all," Lucy told her mother.
"Thanks," Mrs. Camden responded. With that, Lucy made the rest of the way up the stairs.
Once Lucy had made her way back upstairs, she returned to Matt's room. She looked around for her Algebra book so that she could start it, but was unable to find it anywhere. I must have left it in my room, Lucy thought to herself. With that, she started to retrace her steps. As she was walking down the hallway to her bedroom, she noticed a piece of paper lying on the floor. She picked it up, unfolded it and started to read the note. It read:
Dear Lady Wildcats,
As you know we have made the championship. I am very proud of all of you. You have all showed great effort and commitment and each of you should be very proud of yourselves. The championship game will be against the Trojans at 7:00 PM on Saturday, January 5.
Sincerely,
Couch Cleary
After reading the note, Lucy immediately, with the note still in hand, went to her bedroom to see what time it was. Once she got to her room, she glanced up at the clock, which read 6:00. Yikes! Mary was already supposed be at the game. Lucy rushed into her parents' room to use the phone, which happened to be the only other phone upstairs besides the one in her and Mary's room. She picked up the phone and frantically dialed the number to the pool hall, where she hoped Matt still was. The phone only rang one time before the manager, and friend of the Camdens' answered.
"Hello," he said.
"Is Matt Camden there?" Lucy asked him.
"Sure, hold on Lucy," he said. A few moments later, Matt got on the other end of the line.
"Matt, Mary's game is in an hour, we need to leave now!" Lucy told him.
"Okay, I'll be there in ten minutes, tell Mary to be ready when I get there," Matt told Lucy.
"Okay, we'll be waiting," Lucy said before hanging up.
As soon as Lucy got off the phone with Matt, she went into her room to try and wake up Mary. Once inside the room, she quietly approached the bed where her sister was sleeping peacefully, so peacefully in fact, that she hated to wake her up. But knowing that she had no other option, she went ahead and did so.
"Mary, wake up," Lucy whispered, tapping her sister lightly on the shoulder. Mary stirred slightly and rolled over. Lucy tried again, tapping her sister harder on the shoulder this time. Mary groaned loudly, not wanting to be disturbed.
"What?" Mary groaned.
"You need to get to your game," Lucy told her sister.
"My game," Mary said aloud, trying to recall what Lucy was talking about. Then suddenly, it occurred to her the championship game was today at 7:00 tonight.
"Shoot, the game," Mary said, frantically looking at the clock to see what time it was. The clock on the nightstand read 6:20.
"Luce, I am late," Mary told her sister, as she frantically gathered her jersey and shoes and stuffed them into her duffel bag. Just then, they heard Matt call their names from the bottom of the stairs.
"Thank you, you are a life saver!" Mary said, knowing that Matt was here to take her to her game. Mary started to make her way down to the bottom of the stairs, but stopped short when she noticed that Lucy was not following.
"Luce, come on," Mary urged.
"I can't, Mom asked me to take care of the Simon and Ruthie while she is at a PTA meeting," Lucy explained.
"Where is Dad?" Mary asked her sister.
"Dad is at the church," Lucy told her sister.
"Okay, well see you later," Mary told Lucy as she started downstairs.
"Yeah, good luck," Lucy yelled.
Once they had arrived at the school, Mary quickly gathered her stuff and went into the gym, as Matt went to find a parking spot. I hope that I am not late for the game, Mary thought to herself as she entered the gym. Luckily for her, the JV game was still going on with 5:30 left in the fourth quarter. She quickly made her way inside the locker room and quickly changed and put her long brown hair into a tight ponytail before joining the rest of the team right outside the entrance to the gym as the music that signaled the start of pre-game warm-ups started to play. Mary let out a sigh of relief; she had made it.
Meanwhile, at the Camdens', Lucy was doing her homework in her room, while Simon and Ruthie where playing quietly in their room, when the phone rang. She made her way over to the nightstand, picking up the phone and taking a seat on Mary's bed.
"Hello," Lucy said into the phone.
"Hi, this is the Glen Oak Community Hospital," Lucy heard the other person on the other end of the line say. Immediately, all these awful thoughts went through her head as her throat began to tighten and she felt as if she was not able to breathe. Was it Mary, Matt, her Mom or Dad? She was not sure; she was not paying attention to the words of the person on the other line as they continued to talk. She kept thinking of all the possible things that could be wrong and the next thing she knew, she heard the sound of the line go dead and she was left not knowing what was wrong.
She immediately hung up the phone and dialed Matt's cell phone number, knowing that he would have it on; he always took it with him when one of his siblings was home by themselves, or babysitting, just in case. After the second ring, Matt answered his phone.
"Hello," Lucy heard Matt say into the phone.
"Matt," Lucy said; Matt immediately knew that his sister was scared for some reason or other.
"Lucy, what's wrong? Are you guys okay?" Matt asked, getting worried now.
"Matt, the hospital just called," Lucy told him.
"Well is everything okay, I mean is it Mom or Dad?" Matt asked, fear becoming evident in his voice.
"I am not sure, I got so scared after they said the word 'hospital' that I stopped listening and the next thing I knew the line went dead and I was left to wonder what was wrong and that is why I called you," Lucy said, all in one huge breath.
"Lucy, calm down. Mary and I are fine, have you tried getting a hold of Mom and Dad yet?" Matt asked Lucy.
"No," Lucy told her brother.
"Okay, well call Dad's beeper number and then call me back the minute you hear anything okay?" Matt explained and then asked.
"Okay thanks, bye," Lucy said as she hung up the phone.
The minute that Lucy got off the phone with Matt, she dialed the number to her father's beeper, praying that he had it on. A few minutes later, the phone rang. Lucy was relived to hear her father's voice on the other end.
"Dad," Lucy said.
"Lucy, I got your page, is everything okay?" Reverend Camden asked, suddenly nervous for his children's safety. Mrs. Camden listened intently to the conversation between her husband and her daughter, trying to find out what exactly was going on.
"Yeah Dad, everything is fine here. It's just that the hospital called a while ago and I started to get worried," Lucy told her father.
"Well, don't be, they were probably just calling to confirm the visit for tomorrow afternoon," Reverend Camden told his daughter.
"Oh," Lucy said, still a little unsure of the whole situation. Reverend Camden sensed his daughter's uneasiness.
"If it would make you feel better I will call the hospital back and then call you and let you know what is up," Reverend Camden told Lucy.
"Okay, thanks dad. Do you need the number to the hospital?" Lucy told and then asked her father.
"Yeah, that would be nice," Reverend Camden said. Lucy found the phonebook and started to look under "G" for Glen Oak Community Hospital. After finally finding the number she recited it to her father.
"Dad, the number is 555-8532," Lucy said.
"Okay, thanks Luce. Talk to you soon," Reverend Camden said before getting off the phone with his daughter.
"What were you talking to Lucy about?" Mrs. Camden asked her husband.
"The hospital called and Lucy got worried and that is why she paged me," Reverend Camden explained to his wife.
"Well, is everything okay with the kids?" Mrs. Camden asked him nervously.
"Everything is fine with all five kids. I have a feeling that the reason that the hospital called was to confirm Mary's appointment for tomorrow," Reverend Camden told his wife,
"I told her that I would call the hospital just to make sure and then I would call her back," he explained.
"Okay, she gave you the number right?" Mrs. Camden asked her husband.
"Yeah, it's right here," Reverend Camden said, showing his wife the piece of paper in his hand. They were at the Promenade eating dinner at a restaurant; they were waiting for their food.
"I'll be right back," Revered Camden told his wife, excusing himself from the table,
"I am going to call the hospital right now. I don't want to keep Lucy waiting for my call."
"Okay," Mrs. Camden said. With that, Reverend Camden went to make the call. After he was off the phone, he immediately called Lucy back.
"Hello," Lucy said in to the phone.
"Hey Luce," Reverend Camden greeted his daughter.
"Hi dad, did you figure out anything?" Lucy said and then asked her father.
"Well, I just called the hospital and you have nothing to worry about, my prediction was right," Reverend Camden told Lucy.
"So you mean that all they wanted was to remind Mary of her doctors' appointment tomorrow?" Lucy asked.
"Yep, that's all," Reverend Camden told her.
"Okay, well, talk to you later dad. I love you." Lucy told her father.
"Love you too. Your mother and I shouldn't be that much longer," Reverend Camden told Lucy.
"Okay, bye," Lucy said.
"Bye," Reverend Camden said before ending the call and returning to his table where he found his wife and food waiting for him.
Meanwhile, Lucy was calling Matt back. He finally picked up on the third ring.
"Lucy, did Dad know anything?" Matt asked his sister, before she even had the chance to get one word in.
"How did you know that it was me?" Lucy asked, confused.
"Because I told you to call me back, and you always listen to your older, wiser brother," Matt told his sister playfully.
"Shut up," Lucy said, teasingly.
"So what did Dad say?" Matt wanted to know again.
"He said that they were just calling to confirm Mary's doctors' appointment for tomorrow," Lucy told Matt.
"Okay, I'll let Mary know, thanks," Matt said, about to hang up. But before he had the chance Lucy cut in.
"Matt, how is the game going?"
"Good, the Wildcats are winning 23-14," Matt told her.
"And Mary?" Lucy wondered.
"Well, she hasn't gotten much playing time, this being her first game back, but she's doing okay I guess," Matt told his sister.
"Okay, just wondering," Lucy said.
"Okay, can I hang up now?" Matt asked Lucy.
"Yeah, see you when you get home,' Lucy told her brother.
"See you, and if you need anything don't hesitate to call me," Matt told his sister.
"I won't. Bye," Lucy said.
"Bye," Matt said, before ending his conversation with Lucy.