Chapter 20- Life and death

'Mr. Lawson…' a distant voice called. 'Mr. Lawson.'

Evan blinked his eyes rapidly, trying to wake up. With a moan he clutched his stomach as his eyelids pried open.

'Dieter…what happened?' he mumbled.

The manservant rocked back on his heels as he stared down impassively at the man lying on the stone ground.

Evan tilted his head at the sound of the unfamiliar drumming coming from one of the large windows in the castle.

'I think one of the windows blew open and hit you, sir.' the man replied. 'Shall I get your brother? He should be in the hall waiting for the bride.'

The curly-haired man's jaw dropped open.

'The WHAT?' he bellowed.

Dieter helped him to his feet. 'The wedding…Ms. Kitdarree…your former Physician Associate'

Evan stood there opening and closing his mouth like a stupid goldfish. 'Huh? Former? The wedding is today?'

He looked down at his clothes-three quarter khaki cut offs and a lime green tee.

'I am not dressed!…why is that?...wait…this is crazy..' the man yelled walking briskly around in a circle, waving his hands around in his agitation. 'She doesn't want to get married. I can tell. She was all upset when she was feeding me the soup.'

Evan glanced over in shock as all his memories came flooding back. Dieter's face, as usual, was blank throughout his entire rant.

Just at that moment, Raj sped down the corridor frantically texting and reading a fax at the same time.

He stopped right in front of the accountant, looking completed frantic.

'Evan, there is a problem. Come with me,' he hissed, grabbing the young man and propelling him into the nearest room. It was a bedroom of sorts, and Raj yanked open a cupboard and started to pile his clothes into an open bag.

'I have to go to London,' the man explained. 'One of the merger's fell through…dang over priced lawyers. They can't do anything right!'

Evan was trying to concentrate, but it was kind of difficult because of the bowl of fruit artistically tied on Raj's head.

'Dude…why do you have fruit on your head?' he asked anxiously. 'It ...it doesn't really go with that three piece suit …err…you have fruit on your head dude.'

The man straightened up quickly causing a small pineapple to wobble dangerously.

'Evan, are you listening to me!' he yelled.

The CFO of Hank Med backed away, holding his arms out defensively in front of him.

'I was in an accident, Raj-me and Divya. We were being held as prisoners; there was soup… I was hurt and next thing I knew I am in a hospital being poked and prodded by truly ugly looking medical instruments.'

Raj looked over his shoulder and made compassionate noises. Generously he reached into his hat and plucked out a handful of grapes.

'You sound like you have been through the wringer. Have a grape?'

Evan took the bunch and chewed thoughtfully. 'This is a dream isn't it?'

The up and coming hotel magnate turned away to grab some more of his folders.

'I think it is, but that's not really important, is it?' the young Indian asked. "What is important is that I need you to stand in for me as the groom.'

Raj shook out a highly decorative wedding kurta in front his face.

'Don't worry,' the man reassured Evan, misinterpreting the look of horror on the other's face. 'One size fits all.'

The young accountant reached out to grab the man's slim, brown wrist.

'Are you fucking insane!' Evan yelped. 'This is your wedding. You can't do this to Divya.'

Raj patted the other on the shoulder as if comforting a two year old.

'It's going to be all right. I have it all planned….' he added with a calming and slightly unnerving grin. 'I think the real question here is why do you mind? I thought you would approve ….the bottom line before everything else.'

Evan's face crumbled and he chewed his lip as he pressed the wedding garment to his chest.

'Did you see my brother out there?' he inquired miserably.

'Yes he is having a grand time. He's in the third row on the left, you can't miss him. He's got a hat just like mine but his own has pastries in it.'

Right.

Pastry hat.

These were some SERIOUS drugs they were giving him at the hospital.

The attention of the men was caught by a loud, imperious tapping at the window.

'Oh Rajjjjjj?' a familiar female voice called gaily from the window.

The Indian was all smiles as he dashed over to the open the window for Mrs. Newburg.

'I see you got the elephant?' he commented approvingly as he ran his hands over the head of the massive animal.

The accountant's mouth fell open as he spied Mrs. Newburg in a full Indian sari astride a saddle affixed to the large gray elephant.

'Isn't he beautiful? I may just keep him! Oh hi...' the woman waved unsurely.

The curly haired man scowled.'Evan! My name is Evan.'

Even in his dream he couldn't catch a break, and he glowered as the woman floated past, the elephant giving a loud blast as if to signal its goodbye.

'Evan?' Raj continued as if the incident of the giant elephant had never occurred. The man zipped up his bags with an unnatural flourish. 'Love is not a fairy tale. The story continues on from "they lived happily ever after."

The young CFO flushed darkly at the man's patronizing tone.

'I know that...but what about Divya?' he added testily. 'You do know that she wants to continue her medicine. She's hates real estate. You are her best friend…you should know these things and dude...I don't know how to tell you this…but I just don't think she really loves….'

The Indian business man interrupted him by looking at his watch. 'Evan, I have this plane to catch.'

Raj opened his brief case and pushed an official looking form into his companion's free hand.

'Here. Get her to fill this out with her concerns and get it copied in triplicate and fax it to my office. Tell her I will get back to her next week or something. As soon as I fix this mess, I promise. Tell her she looked beautiful!'

Evan flung the groom's outfit over a chair and sat down and tightly crossed his arms and legs.' I am not filling in for you! There are crazy ideas and then there is crazy. This suggestion, falls under the latter!'

But he was yelling these words to Raj's back.

'What ever you do, decide quickly. You don't have a lot of time,' the Indian said warningly, pointing to the other's stomach.

Evan bent his head and pulled up his shirt to look at the large Scooby Doo alarm clock that was tied to his abdomen.

Perplexed, he lifted his head but he was alone. The man sat there, listening to the tassa drums outside. Hank wasn't there this time. He had to make this decision all by himself.

'Was it really in his power to delay the wedding?' he thought. 'And did he even have the right?'

Anxiously he stuffed the rest of the grapes in his mouth and chewed.

What if he was wrong? Hank made life and death decisions everyday, and he made it look so easy.

In fact, he was beginning to realize that it wasn't easy at all.

End of dream sequence

'Doctor, he is coming back,' one of the nurses said in relief.

The team of doctors huddled around to check the vitals for themselves.

'You gave us a scare, Mr. Lawson,' Doctor Blair muttered quietly, letting her maternal side leak out briefly.

The young mother caressed the man's curly hair almost tenderly as the police carefully maneuvered the bowl containing the small bomb out the operating theater.