Chapter 2 - And Then they Meet

Dean found that losing his father made him sadder than he thought it would. He knew his father would not want him to be sad though so he decided that the best thing was to honor his father by going on a fishing trip. He didn't have any vacation time available so he decided just to make a long weekend of it and fish in the Potomac River. Dean was not familiar with this area but he had heard it was a great spot to go fishing. He loaded all his gear into the car and made the drive over. Looking back, Dean realized he should have made a couple of trips. After all, he wasn't 20 anymore and his back was not as flexible as it once was. But he was being lazy since he had always had his dad to help him and he piled everything up in his arms at once. He then proceeded to hike the 1/2 mile into where the fishing spot was. It had not rained in weeks so the ground was very hard packed and the trail was littered with rocks everywhere. Dean had to constantly walk around good sized boulders along the way which made the trip take even longer. He was doing okay though until the snake went in front of him. Dean hated snakes more than anything. In hindsight, he should have dropped the gear, he should have just let the snake pass on through, and he should have done everything differently. Instead, he first squealed like a girl, held onto all his gear and began hopping from one foot to the next trying to avoid the snake who just wanted to cross the road or rather path in this instance. In no time, the gear started slipping from his arms and as he tried to catch it, he tripped on a rock and fell hard to the ground landing on a huge pile of rocks. He had no idea how long he laid there unconscious but when he came to, he was being rushed to the hospital. Luckily, another fisherman had come across him on the trail and managed find a payphone back near the parking lot and was able to call an ambulance. When Dean came to, he could feel pain from the bump on his head and a lot of pain in his right hip. They admitted him immediately into the hospital and after he was examined, it was determined that he did have a concussion but that he also had fractured his hip and needed surgery immediately. After surgery he was checked into a hospital room and left to rest. Dean didn't care much for hospitals though and he couldn't believe that he was now going to be stuck in one for at least a week while he recovered. He became pretty cranky and miserable and the nurses were not thrilled with having to attend to his needs.

On the second day of his recovery, Dean was eating his breakfast and not enjoying it very much when a visitor walked into his room.

"Hi, my name is Amanda and I volunteer as a Bedside Bluebelle here. It is my job to help make your stay more comfortable. I have books that you can read, or some crossword puzzles. Is there anything you would like to read?

Dean thought about it for a minute and then said "Can you stay and talk to me?"

"Sure, what do you want to talk about?"

"I don't know, I'm just so bored. I would love to have someone just sit and talk to me. I'm used to doing my job and I miss it"

"Oh, you won't be here forever. Consider this a bit of a vacation" Amanda said in her most cheerful voice. "In no time, you will be back on your feet and having to be at...ummm, where did you say you work?"

"I didn't. My name is Dean and I'm the weatherman at the Weather Bureau, maybe you have seen me on Channel 7? I do the nightly weather forecast during the week.

"Of course you do! I knew I recognized you from somewhere. How exciting! So tell me how you ended up in this hospital bed?" Amanda questioned.

"Well I love to fish and I just recently lost my dad to a heart attack, so I decided to go do some fishing as sort of an honor thing for him. Unfortunately a snake crossed my path and made me do some funky dance on a rock riddled trail and I fell and broke my hip" Dean responded.

"That's awful. I'm glad you weren't more hurt than that. I'm not fond of snakes either. I lost my dad to a heart attack a few years back so I know how upsetting the death of a parent is. So you like fishing? I do too. My family has always gone camping and fishing each summer. Now my boys are in the Junior Trailblazers so it seems that we spend a lot of time in the summer enjoying outdoor activities. The kids just love this type of thing and well, I volunteer so I go with them each time. Thankfully no one has ever been hurt though. I'm sorry you were banged up so bad." Amanda finally stopped talking so she could catch her breath.

Dean chuckled and said "I can't believe you said all of that in one breath."

Amanda laughed with him and said "I'm sorry. I have been teased many times that I like to talk a lot. I blame my college days at UVA. I belonged to a Sorority back then and you had to talk fast before one of the other "sisters" started talking. They were a great group of girls though. I miss them."

Dean just stared at her. He finally said "Did you say you went to school at UVA? I went to school at UVA too! What years were you there?"

Amanda "I started in '67 and graduated in '71. I majored and got my degree in American Lit. What about you?"

Dean smiled and said "That is amazing, I was there from 1966 and graduated in 1970 with a Bachelor's in Meteorology. We probably saw each other and never noticed each other."

"I wonder if we had any of the same Professors. There was one that taught math that was so boring. What was his name...?"

Dean couldn't help but laugh "You have to be talking about Professor Elliot...we called him Professor Idiot behind his back"

"Oh wow, yes that was him. I can't believe we went to the same University"

At that moment, Amanda looked at Dean and noticed he was yawning. "Dean, you really should get some rest. I enjoyed chatting with you. Did you want to take a book to read?"

Dean looked sad "No, I think I should probably try to nap a bit. Will you please come back and talk to me some more tomorrow?"

Amanda couldn't help but feel sorry for this man who seemed to have no one to comfort him during his recovery. "I will definitely check in on you tomorrow and we can continue our chat". She quickly stood up and pushed her cart out of his room and was gone.

Dean laid there for a long time thinking about this beautiful woman who had just walked into his life. They seemed to have so much in common. They had both lost their dads due to heart attacks, they both enjoyed fishing and camping and they both had gone to school at UVA. Dean thought about how it seemed destined for him to meet Amanda and wondered if she would go out on date with him. He didn't know if she was married though and decided that he would find out more about her when she arrived tomorrow. He soon found himself drifting off to sleep thinking about this beautiful brown eyed woman and was peaceful for the first time since the accident.

TBC