"Hey, Joe, where's Rudy?" Mrs. Tabootie asked as she came down the steps. "He said he needed help with his project, but he's not in the kitchen."
Mr. Tabootie shrugged his shoulder. "I'm sure he just went to use the bathroom, Millie. He'll be down. Now I need to keep writing down these scores, so don't interrupt me again, please."
Mrs. Tabootie narrowed her eyes as she glared at her husband. Honestly, she wished that he would at least make some kind of effort to act like part of the family. Okay that wasn't really fair. There were plenty of times when he does. But on days like these, it was like they didn't exist. He was so focused on this one thing that he just...
Mrs. Tabootie tried not to let herself worry so much about it. She'll just wait for Rudy to come down and she can talk to him about his project. She had to wonder what he needed her help so badly for. Normally, he was fine doing this stuff on his own. What would he need her and his dad for? He seemed to do well enough alone.
Oh well, she just... Wait a minute, why were these cupboards open? Mrs. Tabootie walked over to where the sink was noting how the cupboards had been pushed open. She thought she had closed them. Maybe she just forgot? She went over to push the doors closed.
But before she did, she got the nastiest wake up call she had ever received.
"Aaaahhhh!"
Mrs. Tabootie immediately froze at this. Her mind began to flip through several images, playing back what could have taken place just now. She looked at the open cupboards, she remembered Rudy's words, and though he didn't say anything in particular that would link them, somehow, it all came together like...
Oh no...
"Rudy!"
Mrs. Tabootie's loud shrill was enough to get her husband's attention. She could hear his pen and paper dropping to the ground as he jumped up to join her, alarmed by the scream as well. They rushed out of the house and they froze in horror at what was happening.
There, right in their front yard, Rudy was thrashing about, twisting his body this way and that. He was sobbing loudly, incredible pain evident on his voice. And there right next to him, there was a bottle of bleach. It took the two of them only seconds to piece together what had happened here.
No... Rudy... Mrs. Tabootie swallowed hard before she turned to Joe and shouted, "Call 911!"
As her husband rushed inside, Mrs. Tabootie ran over to her son. She paid no attention to the crowd that was starting to form. She just bent down onto her knees and grabbed onto her son. She held him close against her, trying to soothe the suffering, frightened child.
More people began to show up. Mrs. Tabootie could feel their shadows crawling over her body. She could hear them muttering amongst each other. A few of them called out and asked if she needed any help. But she paid them no mind. Right now, all that mattered was her son. She kept hem cradled against her as she rocked him back and forth. She stroked his hair and she whispered soft words of comfort to him.
"It's okay, Rudy. Shhh... It'll be okay. The paramedics will be here soon. They will help you feel better." She ran her fingers through her son's brown hair before leaning in and planting a quick kiss on his forehead. "J-Just hold on.."
Rudy didn't bother trying to answer. He couldn't. Everytime his mouth opened up, he could only scream. She flinched when she could hear him release a few choked sobs. Hearing her only child being in this much pain made her feel sick inside. She felt so helpless. She couldn't even wash out his eyes as she was too fearful of hurting him more. Oh, why didn't she try to learn more about stuff like this? Then maybe she could've tried to...
She could hear the door opening up behind her. She could hear heavy footsteps and quick breathing. She didn't bother to look up. She didn't need to, for she knew that it was Joe. The voice confirmed it.
"I called them. They'll be here as soon as they can."
Now came the hard part. Mrs. Tabootie and her husband hated to wait like this, but at least it shouldn't take too long. The ambulance would be here soon and then Rudy would be fine. The doctors would help him and...
Mrs. Tabootie felt hot tears pouring down her face. Despite her and Joe's best efforts, it was so hard to try to comfort Rudy. The young child continued to scream as the horrified crowd watched, many wearing sympathetc expressions. This went on for what seemed like forever, his screams piercing everyone's ears.
It only got worse when some of the neighbors began to say some accusing things to the grieving parents. They tried their best to ignore them, but those words pierced through their defenses rather easily. Some of the neighbors were asking things like 'where were you when this happened', 'why weren't you keeping a better eye on him', and 'how could you let this happen'. It was all just weighing down on their psyche and making the situation even worse.
But there was no time to be thinking about guilt right now. The Tabooties tried their best to not respond to anything the neighbors were saying to them. They instead focused on the ambulance that was already pulling in. They watched as the paramedics came out and rushed over to where they were.
Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie stood up and remained silent, looking on helplessly, as the paramedics loaded Rudy onto the ambulance. The paramedics them motioned for them to come with. Wanting a break from their accusatory neighbors as well as wanting to be there for their son, Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie followed them. After they were all loaded onto the ambulance, they departed on their way to the hospital.
sss
This had to be some kind of a dream. Some kind of a nightmare... Soon, he would wake up and find that none of this had happened. It was just way too surreal, too horrifying, too... There was just no way that this could be reality.
But no matter how many times he pinched himself, Mr. Tabootie was forced to face the truth of the situation. He wasn't waking upp. His ears were not filling wth more pleasurable sounds that would remind him that it was all right. Instead, he was constantly plagued with the cries of his wife, the chattering of the waiting room, and in the hallways, they could still hear their son screaming in pain.
Mr. Tabootie put his face into his heads. His mind continued to reel through the recent events over and over again. It was like a move that he was strapped down and forced to watch. There was literally nothing that he could do to break himself out of this. Nothing that he could do to wake up...because this was the awake world, no matter what he thought or tried to do about it.
He and his wife had been sitting here for what felt like hours. In truth, it was probably twenty minutes or more. It was just, it all dragged on as they heard their son crying even down the hallway, and they could hear the rushing of the doctors to try to get the bleach out of his eyes.
The thought of that nearly made him throw up. He had some knowledge of the dangers of bleach. Not a lot but he was aware enough that getting it in one's eyes was really horrible. And for it to happen to Rudy, his son...
Mr. Tabootie grabbed onto his chest as he struggled to calm himself down. His heavy breathing seemed to go in rhythm with the clock hanging up on the wall near him. He conitnued to try to fight against his hyperventilation. He needed to keep himself as calm and steady as possible so that he doesn't cause a scene. The other people around them were already looking at them strangely. He didn't want to give them more reason to do the same thing.
He looked over and he could see that his wife hadn't been able to stay calm for long. Her cries still echoed from her mouth and he knew that attempts to shush her were not going to work. So he instead just moved his arm around her and pulled her body close to his, feeling her shake and quiver against him. He slowly shut his eyes, feeling tears of his own pooling down from his face.
He could feel his head crowding with several thoughts. The most prominent one was just... What was going to happen after this? What would happen to Rudy? Would he even fully recover from this? How long was he going to be in pain?
Mr. Tabootie could feel his chest sting as these questions continued to float around in his head. He tried to push back against them, tried to act like it was all going to be okay. But he knew, deep down, something was going to come out of this. Something told him that something was going to change from this point on.
Though what kind of change, he had no idea.
"Mr and Mrs. Tabootie?" A doctor called out from the open door. "You can come in now."
Mr. Tabootie looked at his wife for a moment, holding onto her hand and whispering some words of comfort to her. He then tried to steel himself as he headed into the hallway, following the doctor closely behind.
He wasn't sure why his heart was starting to race all of a sudden. Perhaps it was because of the dreadful atmosphere that circled around him just now. Or maybe it was hearing his son's sobbing still loud and clear. He had stopped screaming, which was good. But there was still more work to be done, he was sure.
But instead of heading into the room where Rudy was, which is what he and his wife thought, they were taken to another room. Banking around the corner and going down a small office nearby, they entered the room, exchanging confused glances with each other as they settled down into their chairs. He and his wife looked at each other in confusion as they looked back at the doctor in question. Why were they taken here? They waited for an answer.
After the door was closed and the doctor got settled in the chair, he rested his hands against the table, took in a deep breath, sighing softly, and he looked at them almost intently. The expression wasn't hostile, but it was still not something either of them had expected. They braced themselves for what the doctor was about to say.
"I apologize for dragging you back here. It's pretty unconventional. We normally don't do this. But I did need to speak with you." The doctor moved his hands closer to gether, interlocking them. He turned his head to the side, his teeth gritting. "Normally, we would let the authorities do this..."
Mr. Tabootie widened his eyes as his wife gasped. He felt a sharp sting in his stomach. What was this man getting on about? "Pardon me...? What do the authorities have to..."
The doctor said, "Well in order to get a better idea on what happened, the authorities would need to gather information from the parents. For Rudy Tabootie, that would mean you two." The doctor motioned to the two. "I've seen several of these cases myself growing up and it doesn't always have such a happy ending."
Mrs. Tabootie put her hand to her chest. She was struggling against letting more tears fall from her face. She took in a shuddering breath, which sounded raw and scrapey in her throat. "What do you mean? W-We just want our son to be treated..."
"And he will be. I promise you that." The man bit his lip for a moment. It looked like he was having a hard time talking about this, as though something was holding onto him and preventing him from going too far. He turned his gaze to one side before he forced himself to look back at the two parents. "I know this must be hard on you. But this still needs to be done. Considering what we were told..."
"Where are you getting at?" Mr. Tabootie demanded. He felt tension rising up inside of him. While this man before him didn't feel entirely welcoming before, he suddenly seemed far less friendly now. He didn't know why. Maybe he was just so worried about his son that he just... "Just please tell us if our son is going to be all right."
There was a bit of a pause. The doctor leaned himself further back, staring at them intently for a few moments. The tense moments seemed to drag on with no end in sight. It was difficult to tell just how the doctor was feeling, what he was trying to tell them, and Mr. Tabootie did hope that he didn't upset him, and especially not his wife.
But still, why couldn't this doctor just give them the straight facts? Why couldn't he just tell them how their son was doing and when he could go home? What was the point in dragging them back here like this? It just seemed like a waste of time. Well it was true that he didn't know much about this sort of stuff, but that didn't mean that...
The doctor cut off his thoughts as he suddenly spoke up. "Surprisingly, he will be fine. I cannot guarantee how much of a recovery he'll make. But I'm certain he will be able to return home at some point."
Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie let out a sigh of relief. They gave each other a reassuring smile. That was the news that they wanted to hear.
"But considering the circumstances, that was almost not the case."
This caused the two parents to freeze up. The cold nausea that they had felt before turned with a vengeance. Mrs. Tabootie bit her lip as she leaned against her husband, grabbing onto him. Mr. Tabootie tried once more to keep himself firm, a source of calmness and strength for his wife. But he didn't know how long he would be able to last like this.
"What do you mean?" Mr. Tabootie tried to sound as calm as possible. "Can you elaborate? We don't know what you..."
"Are you aware that the first thing you should do when someone gets bleach in their eyes is to wash it out immediately to try to lessen the damage?"
The doctor sounded so piercing at this. Not so much accusatory, but more..confused and yet certain. It was an odd combination that made the Tabooties feel at unease. There was a sense of guilt that came over them as well. If what the doctor said was true, then the situation with Rudy...
Oh no.. It couldn't be...
The doctor sensed their worry and his eyes narrowed slightly. It was as though they had confirmed something for him, and he wasn't entirely pleased. "When you called up 911, did you happen to tell them exactly what was going on? What did you say? Because when we brought in your son, we did not have as much expectations as we would've liked. We weren't as prepared."
Mr. Tabootie struggled to remember the phone call. It was such a blur... "I...I know I said that my son was hurt..." He rubbed his head slowly as he tried to remember whatever he could. "But... I don't remember if I had..."
Mrs. Tabootie turned to stare at her husband with widened eyes. "...did you forget to tell them about...?"
The butcher felt another sting in his chest, sharper than before. He felt his eyes widened for a moment as a flash of something swept through him. A mixture of guilt and confusion now dominated his mind. "I-I don't remember... Everything was happening so fast... My son was screaming... My wife was crying... I had to keep going, I-I..." Mr. Tabootie grabbed onto his head as he rubbed it, trying to push back the blossoming headache forming. "I swear, we did what he could to..."
"Were you just not aware of what needed to be done?" Inquired the doctor. "Did you really forget to tell the 911 staff just what needed to be done?" He held up his hand in gesture, his eyes furrowing as though he was struggling to believe them. "Now here your son lays, being treated and likely getting damage to his eyes more so than what it would have been if you cleaned out his eyes beforehand. I..."
"We know that!" Mr. Tabootie slammed his fist against the table.
"Joe!" Mrs. Tabootie stared at him in horror, putting her hand on his arm.
Mr. Tabootie glared at the doctor, who was now leaning back away from him with widened eyes of his own. Mr. Tabootie huffed and puffed before his burning mind slowly came to realize just what he was doing. He softened up his expression and he forced himself to move back away. He hadn't meant to do that. He looked away, feeling a little ashamed of himself.
He just wished that the doctor would try to be more sensitive on this issue. He wished that the doctor would at least try to understand their situation. Their only son was hospitalized. They didn't need more things complicating this. If the doctor wanted to accuse them on their lack of knowledge of poisons, then he was better off doing it after their son had recovered at least.
"I see..." The doctor paused for a moment. Holding his hands in each other, he continued, "So you were just panicking in the situation. You did what you felt you could do. Am I guessing right?"
Mr. Tabootie nodded his head affirmatively. "We would never purposely hurt our son." He wasn't sure what caused him to say those words, but they spilled out of his mouth regardless.
Mrs. Tabootie stared at the doctor pleadingly. "We just want our son to be okay. Why do you need to ask these questions?" She gave a small shudder. "I...don't like where this is going."
The doctor let out a sigh and nodded his head. "It's a difficult part of the process, I understand. I'm not used to this myself." He reached up to rub the back of his head for a moment. "Either way, your son should be fine. You may go back into the waiting room. You will be called back again soon when your son is out of the emergency room."
Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie glanced at each other. They both dreaded having to sit there and wait yet again for answers. It was so painful and slow before. How much longer could they handle it? Why couldn't the doctor just give them more answers or let them visit, instead of just taking them back here to talk? The man even said he wasn't supposed to be doing any sort of interrogation and...
They froze at that last word. Were they being interrogated? Is that what this was? That would explain the thick atmosphere and the doctor's strange behavior and why the authorities would be involved. Neither of them could understand why they were under investigation, though. They were grieving for their son, for crying out loud. How was that grounds for being talked to like this? As though they've done something...wrong?
Mr. Tabootie tried to push aside those thoughts. He tried not to let them bother him. He just gave a firm stare at the doctor before he turned to comfort his wife. He moved his arms around her as he began to escort her out of the room. Although he tried to assure her that it was going to be all right and that Rudy was going to be fine and come out soon, he wasn't really sure of his own words.
"Hold on for a moment." The doctor called out to them before they reached the door. The two parents stopped and looked over at him, their faces wearing mixed expressions. "Do you mind a talk with Plainsville's law enforcement?"
The two parents widened their eyes at this as they glanced at each other nervously.
