Where the Sun Sets
Chapter 3
"Here, I grabbed you some coffee." Jim Deloryan, Josephine's secretary, was
standing by her side. "Have they said how she is doing?" Josephine looked at him
questioningly. "Antonia, have they said how she is?" Josephine accepted the
coffee and held it in both hands, trying to absorb the heat from the cup. She was
cold. She did not respond to the question. She just stared off into space,
leaning against the doorjamb of the cubical. Jim walked over to the nurses' station
and had a brief conversation with the gentleman behind the counter. He returned to
Josephine's side and placed his arm around her shoulders, gently nudging her along.
"We can go sit outside. We don't need to be in here. Let's go find a place to sit,
ok?" He asked the question, but did not really require or expect a response. He
was not at all comfortable with all the beeping and dinging, attached to the
emergency room atmosphere.
Just beyond the emergency room was a waiting room. Beyond the waiting room was
the lobby of the hospital itself. Friendlier and relaxing in appearance, Jim took
Josephine into the lobby to sit. There were several chairs, a couple sofas and
plenty of magazines and newspapers. It was dark outside as the evening had arrived.
Jim scanned the magazines and newspapers, checking for anything that might be
upsetting to his boss. He found two questionable prints and grabbed them with the
intent of removing them from the room. Josephine found a chair and dropped down
into it. She was still clutching her cup of coffee with both hands.
"Are you all right?" Jim asked. Josephine slowly looked up at him.
"Um...yeah, yeah just..." She let go of the thought.
Jim just shook his head. He ran his free hand across his mouth and chin,
thoughtfully. "I'll be right back. Stay here." He turned from the lobby and
returned to the waiting room. Several of the party guests had arrived and were
huddled together, mulling over the happenings of the evening.
"Has anyone heard anything on Antonia's condition yet?" A few of the group
looked up and shook their heads no, in response. The others just looked off into
their own thoughts. "Does anyone happen to know where Billy is?" Again the same
response. Jim was starting to feel as if he was standing in the bed of funeral
parlor. The emergency room doors opened and everyone looked up hopefully. Nothing.
The nurse at the station, witnessing the concern, came out into the waiting room
briefly and offered, "It's going to be a while. Why don't you all go home and get
some rest. There is nothing you can do for her right now. She is in the best of
hands. There really is no way of knowing what is happening. If any of you would
like to call later, just ask for me and I will give you whatever information I can."
It had been a while since she had witnessed such concern for a friend. There
was that summer, three or four years back, when some pre-college kids were up for
vacation. One of them had plowed his car into the side of a concrete wall and didn't
make it. The mood of the waiting room then, had felt much like it did now. She
hoped, for all of their sakes, the outcome was not going to be the same.
Jim spotted Bernie, off to the side, by himself. He never especially liked
Bernie, but he felt pity for him now. Bernie looked as if someone had just gutted
him and left him to die. His feelings for Antonia surprised most people, considering
women were not his genre. But Jim understood how, even Bernie could be attracted to
Antonia. "Hey," Jim started, "why don't we go get a cup of coffee." Bernie just
shook his head. "Josephine is out in the lobby, you could..." Bernie shot Jim a
fevered look and Jim simply responded by placing a comforting hand on Bernie's
shoulder. He patted it twice and walked back to the crowd. "What do you say we all
go and grab a bite to eat, maybe a drink." The offer of food had finally grabbed
their attention. "We can call from the restaurant and leave the number. If anything
comes up, the nurse can call us."
Jim went back to the lobby to let Josephine know he would be back in an hour.
He didn't expect to be back in an hour, but he didn't think she was paying him any
attention anyway. He left the hospital at seven p.m., taking several of the waiting
zombies with him. Within the next hour, the only two who remained waiting, were
Bernie and Josephine.
Josephine was still sitting in the lobby when Dr. Kessler arrived for work. He
recognized her at once. They had gone to Yale together. Although they majored in
completely different areas, they shared a speech course their first year. During the
course of his time at Yale, he had seen her outside of school a couple, no, a few
times. It was never anything more than a casual passing of time, but he still could
feel the moment. He walked over to where she sat and offered his hello, but felt at
once that it was not heard. "Josephine?" he spoke as he sat himself on the small
table in front of her. Placing his hand upon her knee, he repeated himself,
"Josephine," finally she looked at him. "Is everything okay?"
"I'm cold." she responded. He removed his suit coat and placed it around her
shoulders. He looked into her eyes and sat himself back down.
"Is that better?" he asked, while trying to see if her eyes acknowledged his
presence. He was wondered if she may have a slight concussion, simply from seeing
the wound on her forehead. "Josephine, have you seen a doctor?"
She nodded her head, up and down.
"Are you waiting for someone? Is there someone I can call for you?"
After a moment of silence, he was about to repeat his question again. Josephine
looked at him, "Anthony...my head hurts."
"Anthony what?" Dr. Kessler asked. "Josephine...Anthony what?"
"I think we were arguing." Josephine babbled mindlessly.
"And this Anthony...what...did Anthony hit you?" Dr. Kessler had no idea who
Anthony was. He was assuming Anthony was Josephine's boyfriend, since he saw no trace of a wedding band.
"No, pushed... Anthony pushed me."
Josephine was in what seemed to her, a never ending fog. She was trying to
remember, just what had happened. Why had Anthony pushed her? No, now that she
thought about it, Anthony kind of threw her. Why? Why would Anthony throw her? What
were they doing? Josephine racked her brain. Dr Kessler was still speaking to her.
She heard nothing of what he was saying. He stood up and went to the main desk to
inquire about Josephine's situation. He was told to check inside the emergency room
area, since that was where she came from, just a little over two hours earlier.
Dr.Kessler walked thru the waiting room and into the emergency room where the
on duty nurse filled him in on the evening's events. He then walked towards the
doors that closed off the surgery area from the main room. He lifted a metal pad off
the hook which held it and opened it. After making a couple notations, he hung the
pad back on its hook. He took a deep breath as he looked at the doors. He glanced
back to the desk, where the nurse's eyes were watching him. Then he pushed open the
doors and entered the surgery area.
The scrub room held a window allowing sight into the actual surgery. There was
a lot of blood, but there usually was in surgery. After scrubbing in, he entered
surgery and asked how everything was going, if his attention was needed or if he
could get anything for anyone in the room.
"A season pass to Disney World." The verbal request was tossed over the table
to him, while another wanted a deep dark tan. The simplicity of the humor was lost
in the air. You could feel the tension in the room. Somehow it felt as if no one
was breathing. Everyone holding their breath until the job was complete. Dr. Kessler
walked over to the monitor which recorded the patients vitals and glanced at its
print out. Then he glanced at the clip board which held up to the minute actions.
He looked at the young woman on the table. She was lying on her stomach, her head
turned to the right side of the room. He could see the neat little hole near the
center of her back. He glanced once again at the clip board before walking towards
the head of the table.
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