“There’s been an accident? Is my mom hurt?”

“No, it’s not anything to do with your mother. We were just told that there was an accident that involved the air ambulance that was scheduled to pick you up Tuesday. The crash happened at Mineral Wells. No one was injured, but the air ambulance company said that the helicopter cannot be used and your transport needs to be rescheduled. They need to talk to your mother. Do you know a number where she can be reached, like her cellphone or her hotel?”

I was relieved that it wasn’t Mom in an accident. But now I was wondering what would happen to my move back to Edmond. I looked at the nurse. Her tag showed her name was Rachel.

“If I can have some paper I’ll write down my mom’s cell number for you. She’s going home with Ron’s mom. Ron can give you his home number.”

“And who is Ron?”

“Me,” Ron said.

“Here’s a pad and pen. If you can write your mother’s name and cellphone number, then if Ron can write his mother’s name and number, I’ll turn it over to the air ambulance people.”

We wrote the numbers down on her pad and Rachel left.

“Damn,” Ron said, “I was afraid it was about your mom or dad.”

“Me too. I’m not sure why she ran in and said it that way, why not say there’s a problem with my air ambulance instead?”

“I don’t know. That was strange. You could of had a heart attack or something.”

“I guess I could have, if I was old. But this air ambulance thing is going to be a problem.”

“You gonna call your mom?”

“I’m going to hold off calling her so the air ambulance people can get through to her. You know, if I can’t go until Wednesday will I have to stay another day here in the hospital? Or will I have to be moved somewhere else, like my mom’s hotel?”

“You could stay at our house. Jeff’s room is available, he’s my brother. He goes to Boston College and lives in a dorm.”

“That’s probably too much trouble for your mom and dad, setting up his bedroom for me for one night.” I saw the disappointed expression on Ron’s face. “But I’d like to do it. That would be so much better than staying here in this hospital room all by myself. I wonder if Dr. McFadden would be okay with me staying at your house. Assuming it’s okay with your mom and dad. Hey, I just thought about something. What about my mom? She wouldn’t want to leave me alone and go to her hotel here in Weatherford. Is there a place for her to stay too?”

“We have a guest room. She can stay there. I’ll call my mom and see what’s going on, and suggest you and your mom stay over if your doctor says it’s okay.”

“That would be cool. Even if it doesn’t happen, I really appreciate you offering it, Ron.”

“S’okay. That’s the sort of thing I’d do for a friend.” Ron smiled, and so did I. He went around the partition and returned with his cell, and pressed a couple of buttons. “I have Mom on a quick dial button.”

I chuckled. “Man, how did you fit her on that button?” I started laughing.

Ron looked at me and shook his head. “I think they’re giving you too much pain killer, Brian. That’s what I think and I’m gonna stick to it.” Then he started laughing too.

After a few seconds Ron started talking. “Mom, when you pick up please call me back, and have Brian’s mom call him on my cellphone. Brian wants to talk to her to find out what she found out about the air ambulance that Brian was supposed to take Tuesday crashing and they have to delay one day until Wednesday. I want to talk to you about where they might stay if he can’t go home until Wednesday. Thanks.”

“I take it you got her voicemail. I hope it has lots of space for messages. You must have talked for five minutes.” I grinned.

“Right on getting her voicemail, wrong on how long my message was ‘cause my phone readout shows 26 seconds for that call. Anyway, my mom turns off her cellphone when she’s driving. She says it’s for safety. It’s probably a good idea. I know she nags Jeff about it all the time. He has one of those Bluetooth things that he wears in his ear like twenty four hours a day, when he’s driving, when he’s sleeping, when he’s at a movie, no matter where he is.”

“My mom turns hers off too, and so does my dad. I know there are some places you can get a ticket if a cop sees you talking on your cell while you’re driving.”

An orderly walked in. “Hi. I’m Donny. You guys ready for your dinners?”

“Yes!” we said simultaneously.

“I’m starving, and I think Ron is starving too.”

“If he’s Ron then you must be Brian. I’ll bring in your trays, but first do you want to eat sitting in bed, or sitting on a chair?”

“A chair for me, please,” I replied.

“Ditto over here. Hey, Donny, can you bring Brian’s tray table over here then we can eat together. It’ll be a lot more social.”

“Let’s see. If I move this cabinet over to the corner, I can set it up so your tray tables are side to side, and you can sit on opposite sides just like a real table and chairs. You’ll think you’re at a restaurant. Or at home. Sort of.” Donny smiled.

“That sounds great,” Ron replied. “Can we help?”

“No, you’d have to join the union and apply for a job working for the hospital. I’ll take care of it. It’ll just take a minute.” I laughed to myself. Donny and Randall must have taken the same comedy training course.

It did only take a minute, and then he brought in our dinners. Ron and I sat opposite each other and it was nice.

I took off the cover from my dinner plate. It was meat in gravy with rice and mixed veggies. The soup was chicken noodle, and I had two small dinner rolls and a little container of fake butter. For dessert there was a container of tapioca pudding. To drink they gave me two cartons of milk.

“What is that you have, Brian?”

“If this was in the cafeteria at school, I’d say it was mystery meat with medium brown interior semigloss paint.” I pulled out the menu sheet that was under my plate. “However, the menu says it’s braised boneless beef short ribs in seasoned gravy, and I have it with rice and mixed vegetables. I don’t know how it tastes, but it smells really good. How about you? What to you have? Are you still on that light diet?”

“No to the light diet. My menu says I have a regular diet. I have roast turkey with herb dressing and mashed potatoes, turkey gravy, and squash. It smells pretty good.”

“Well, let’s eat.”

And that’s what we did. While we ate we talked about school and what the food was like in our cafeterias. We both had stories about the strange things they tried to serve us. My favorite is what we call The Volcano. It’s ground beef all chopped up in some sort of salty gravy and poured over a pile of mashed potatoes. It looked like a snow-covered mountain with mud flowing down the sides. It tastes like mud. Yuck.

When we finished eating Donny came back and took away our trays.

“I wonder when my mom’s going to call.” I was getting nervous about what I’d be doing Tuesday, and especially Tuesday night.

“My house is about an hour from here. She won’t turn on her cellphone until she gets home. They left about what, six-fifteen or six-thirty, right? So that means they won’t get home until about seven-thirty. It’s...” Ron looked at his watch, “7:15 right now. I’d say she’ll call in about fifteen minutes. Of course, if Mom stopped at the supermarket then it would take more time.”

“That means my mom will call your cellphone in about a half hour, give or take.”

“Yup. You want to play Black Ops while we wait?” Then Ron raised his eyebrows and nodded his head as he said with a smile, “Or do you want to read?” He kept nodding his head.

I chuckled. “Reading is fine.”

“Good. I want to finish the book you loaned me before I check out of the hospital tomorrow.”

“It’s a bummer that I might have to stay here an extra night. Depends on what Dr. McFadden decides about going to your house. I wonder if he’s still here. It’s pretty late. Let me check.”

I walked over to my bed and pressed the call button for the nurse. A couple of minutes later a nurse I hadn’t seen before came in. Her tag showed her name was Phyllis, same as my mom.

“Brian, do you need something?”

“Yes. I was supposed to be released Tuesday and the air ambulance I was going to take crashed today and they don’t have another one. I want to ask Dr. McFadden if I’m going to stay here in the hospital Tuesday night. Is he still here at the hospital?”

“Let me check.” She pulled out her HP tablet and entered something, then looked back at me.

“He’s left for the day. However, Dr. Norris, who works with Dr. McFadden, is here this evening. I can page him and see if he can come up and talk with you.”

“Great. Thanks.”

Nurse Phyllis left.

“Hey, Ron. Did you hear that?”

“Uh, no, I was reading ‘Escape from Earth’ so I can finish it.”

“There’s a doctor who might be able to tell me if I can go to your house Tuesday or if I have to say here in the hospital.”

“I hope he says you can come spend the night with me.”

“That would be very cool. It’s got my vote. Now you can get back to your reading.”

“Okay. Thanks, Brian.”

I opened ‘Going Postal’ and picked up from where I’d left off. What a funny story! I was laughing so much I thought I might bother Ron, but he didn’t say anything. I took a look around the partition and he had his earbuds on. No wonder he couldn’t hear me laughing.

About a half hour later I looked up at the clock above my bed. It was five minutes after eight, and no call from Mom yet. I was getting antsy. I wanted to know what was going on and what was going to happen. And still no call from Mom, or Ron’s mom either.

A couple of minutes later a doctor came in and asked, “Brian Anderson?”

“That’s me.”

He walked over to where I was sitting, and sat down across from me on the edge of my bed. His tag said his name was Dr. Robert Norris.

“Brian, I heard that you want to talk to me. I also heard that the air ambulance scheduled to take you to Edmond was damaged in a crash today and won’t be available Tuesday.”

“That’s what I was told too, Dr. Norris. I’m worried about what I’ll do after tomorrow. I’m supposed to be released Tuesday so I assume I won’t be able to stay here Tuesday night. Ron, he’s the guy in the other bed over there, is being released tomorrow. He said I might be able to stay at his house Tuesday night. I like that idea. I’m so tired of sleeping in a hospital bed. It’s so uncomfortable that my body’s real sore every morning.”

I saw Ron walk to the edge of the partition and stand there, listening.

“Where does Ron live? Not in Edmond, Oklahoma I presume.”

Ron replied, “I live just south of Granbury. It’s about an hour from here.”

“Well, Brian, you posed two options for where you stay Tuesday. I can say that I’m not thrilled by the prospect of you spending the night somewhere away from a hospital because of the threat of infection. Dr. McFadden can withdraw your release order for Tuesday. So where you’ll spend the night should be right here in this bed.”

He saw the expression on my face. “Brian, you need to have a documented hygienic track from Campbell Memorial to the University hospital in Edmond. If there’s a break in that track that isn’t documented as hygienic and something goes wrong there’d be no way to determine if it resulted from that break or if it resulted from your injuries. The other thing is that Ron’s house is an hour from here, and the reason you’re traveling to Edmond by air ambulance is so your head injury won’t be impacted by sharp movements if you drove there. So, you’d be adding two hours of driving if you stay in Granbury with the possibility of sharp movements during the drive. That’s not a very good idea.”

I took a deep breath. “I guess you’re right. It would have been nice to stay overnight at Ron’s house, though.”

Dr. Norris smiled. “You can always come back and visit him once you’re ready for travel.”

Ron grinned. “That would be cool. Or, I can visit Brian in Edmond.”

“Good idea, Ron. That means I wouldn’t have to travel and you could visit me even if I’m not ready for travel.”

“Let me check your bandage, Brian.”

Dr. Norris didn’t remove the bandage, he just felt around where the adhesive tape was holding it on my head.

“Your bandage look’s good.”

“Will I have to have it replaced before I’m released?”

“That’s up to Dr. McFadden. He will see you before you leave, whether Tuesday morning or Wednesday morning. He’ll decide then. Now, I have other patients to check on. If you need anything tonight use your call button.”

“Okay. Thanks, Dr. Norris.”

“You’re welcome, Brian. Nice meeting you, Ron.”

“Nice meeting you too, doctor. Thanks.”

After Dr. Norris left I went back to reading ‘Going Postal’. I was almost finished with it when I heard Ron’s cellphone ringtone. I jumped up and walked around the partition. Ron nodded and I guessed that he meant it was my mom.

“Just a minute, Mrs. Anderson. Brian’s right here. Is it okay if I put it on the speakerphone? I’m real curious to hear what’s going to happen.” There was a brief pause, and Ron said “Okay,” and he pushed a button on his screen and set the phone on his tray table.

“Hi, Brian.” It was Mom.

“Hi, Mom. Can you hear me?”

“Yes, Brian, I can hear you just fine.”

“I’m glad you called. I’ve been waiting to hear from you. You heard that the air ambulance helicopter crashed in Mineral Wells, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I got a call from the air ambulance company. And I have some good news for you. They have another helicopter available. The flight it was going to be used for has been cancelled, so it’s available for us tomorrow. That means you can be released Monday morning, a day earlier than you were originally scheduled. There’s a helicopter landing pad at the hospital, so it’s a short wheelchair ride for you from your room to the helicopter. Won’t that be exciting?” Mom laughed.

“Hey, if I don’t have to do any of the work that’s just fine with me. ‘Call my limousine, James!’”

Ron looked at me with one of those ‘What the hell was that?’ expressions.

“Mom, hang on for a sec.” I put my finger on the microphone on Ron’s phone. “Ron, that’s a line I had in a play when I was in middle school. Sometimes I use it right after my folks agree to drive me or me and my friends somewhere.”

Ron laughed. “I guess I’d would have had to have been there.” I laughed at Ron’s convoluted sentence.

“Okay, Mom, what do I have to do?”

“I think the only thing is to pack up the new clothes I bought you. Then tomorrow right after breakfast I’ll be there to help you escape. How’s that?”

I replied, “Okay. I have one question. If the helicopter crashed, is it safe to use that company to fly me and you to Edmond?”

“Yes, it is. The helicopter was damaged on the ground when a fuel truck ran into it accidentally. The truck’s brakes failed. So it wasn’t a flight-related accident.”

“Okay, that makes me feel better. See you in the morning, Mom. Love you.”

“I love you too, Brian. See you in the morning.”

Ron pushed the hang-up button on his phone and broke up laughing.

“What’s so funny?”

“When your mom said she was going to be here to help you escape. I think that is just so funny! Escape. I love it.”

“I think you need someone to help you escape, Ron. You’re getting a little stir crazy, if you ask me.”

Ron grinned. “I’m not asking. And I don’t want you to answer. Trouble is, you’re right.”

That made us both laugh.

“I’m tired. Tomorrow’s going to be a big day for both of us. You’re gonna be going home to Granbury and I’m gonna be going home to Edmond. I think we’re both glad about that.”

“Me too. But I’m sorry that after tomorrow I won’t get to see you for a long time, Brian. I’d really like to keep in touch by email or text or phone. Hey, how about video calls? Do you have a camera on your computer?”

“Yeah, on my laptop. I’ve never tried it.”

“We can use Skype. Video calls are free. You can download it and that’s the best way to talk. Our folks can’t complain about us talking so long because we’re not using the phone and it’s free. Parents love free.”

I wrote down ‘Skype’ on a piece of paper and shoved into the plastic bag with my new socks and boxers.

“I’ll set it up when I get home.”

“I’ll text my Skype name. You can call me and that way I’ll get your Skype name. This is going to be so cool!”

“I agree.”

“We can still email. I like email better than texting. I can think about what I’m writing and I can make it as long as I want. It’s easier to answer emails, too. You can send me pictures of your trip home and of you and your house and all around Edmond.”

“We’ll take pix from the helicopter and the first thing I’ll do when I get home is I’ll post them online and send you the link. And I’ll email you about everything that happens on the helicopter and the University hospital.”

“Thanks, that’ll be great. Oh, yeah, you probably want your book back, don’t you?”

“Why don’t you give it back just before we check out of this place? That way you can read some more of it. We probably won’t have anything to do in the morning anyway.”

“Okay, I’ll read some more before I go to sleep.” Ron yawned. “All of a sudden I’m tired. But I’ll get in a few pages before I drift off.”

“I’m just about finished with ‘Going Postal’. I’m going to finish it before I go to sleep. G’night, Ron.”

“Night, Brian.”

It took me about twenty minutes to finish reading my book. I wasn’t quite ready for bed so I turned on my TV. I channel surfed for a while, but there was nothing good on, not even any reruns I wanted to watch. I turned it off and lowered my bed to the almost-flat position and was asleep just about immediately.

I woke up at seven when a nurse whose name was Judy came in to check my temperature and blood pressure and check my bandage. She didn’t say much, which at seven in the morning when I’m still half asleep was wonderful. She was different than most of the nurses, who Mom called ‘chipper’ which to me sounded very funny. I fell back asleep as soon as Nurse Judy left.

At seven-thirty there was a loud knock on our door, which was already open. That definitely woke me up. For some reason I just knew exactly who it was.

“Come on in, Randall.”

He came in, sort of dance-stepping his way, waving his arms around over his head, and humming some rock-sounding tune. I started to laugh.

“What’s funny?” Ron hollered from his side of the room.

“It’s Randall.”

“’Nuff said.”

“Well, a person would think you were checking out of this facility the way you two are so chipper this morning!” I busted up laughing, and Randall grinned. “What’s so funny, Brian?”

“I’d just been thinking how my mom says that most of the nurses here are ‘chipper’ when they come in to wake us up early in the morning. Nurse Judy isn’t that way. She hardly said anything to me this morning.”

“Ah, the quiet one. Well, in my case I assumed you were awake by now. I knocked in case you two weren’t decent.”

“We’re never decent, we’re teenagers!” Ron said as he walked around the partition and sat down in one of the chairs on my side.

“Now, now, Ronald,” Randall chided, “don’t demean the other two teenagers in this room.”

“Other two teenagers? I only see one teenager and that’s Brian, who’s right here in bed which is where any decent teenager should be at this ungodly early hour in the morning.”

“I’m hurt to my very core,” Randall replied putting his hand over his heart and looking up at the ceiling, “because you don’t recognize me for the teenager that I am, right in here.” He pointed to his head. “It’s not how old you are, it’s how old you feel.”

I interrupted. “Well, I feel hungry like a normal fifteen year old guy. How about you, Ron, are you hungry too?”

“No, I’m not hungry. I’m famished. Can we get double helpings this morning, Randall? Please? Pretty please?”

“Ah, my ability to read your minds has improved! I have a magnificent breakfast for each of you. They wanted to foist pancakes on you, but they’re usually like something between a Frisbee and a hockey puck, so I talked them into large cheese omelets with a double side of bacon, four slices instead of the miserly two that you’d normally get. And there’s a humungous cinnamon roll on the side. Plus orange juice and cranberry juice and two cartons of milk. How’s that sound?”

“Fantastic!” Ron pumped his arm in approval.

“Yeah, fantastic! You’re the best Randall,” I added.

“Ah, a token of gratitude from my clients. The pay might suck and the work go unappreciated by most, but recognition and approval from those I serve is always welcome and greatly appreciated.” He grinned. “Now, do you two want to eat together or separately, and if separately in bed,” pointing to me, “or in a chair?” pointing to Ron.

“Together!” we both said at the same time, and we looked at each other and smiled.

My tray table was still on Ron’s side of the room, so all it took was for the two of us to get up and go to Ron’s side of the room. First I went into the bathroom to pee, remembering to do it in a container, and to wash my hands. When I was finished Ron used the bathroom. When we were both seated Randall pulled the covers off our plates with a big flourish.

“Your breakfasts await, young gentlemen!”

“Thanks loads, Randall. This breakfast absolutely looks fantastic.” And I meant it.