Chapter 14: The Scare and Double, Double

I woke up in a hospital bed attached to many wires and tubes, surrounded by curtains. I could hear murmuring but couldn't make out anything. The curtain pulled aside to reveal the tear-streaked face of June. She saw my eyes open and gasped and left to quickly return with a nurse. The nurse did a once over with the pulse and blood pressure cuff then used a flashlight on my eyes. June just stared at me not speaking but looking anxiously at the nurse. She entered some notes on a clipboard and vanished. June held my hand not saying anything. I was kind of dumb struck, still confused.

A doctor came in and repeated the flashing light treatment then started feeling around on me. Can you feel this, can you feel this he kept asking. When I didn't answer him, he asked "Can you hear me."

"Yes," I said weakly. "I hear you."

"Tell me if you feel me when I put pressure on different places," The doctor said.

We went through the probing again with me saying yes to all his probes. I could feel bandages on my head and asked. "What's with the bandages?"

Then before he could answer my mind cleared and a tried to sit up and almost yelled, "Where's Sunshine? Is she Okay? Is Sunshine all right?"

The doctor put his hand on my chest and forced me to lay back. "Hold on there, don't be moving around."

"Tell me. Is Sunshine Okay?" I begged.

June took my hand, "Sunshine is in surgery. She suffered some really bad cuts and head injuries."

I closed my eyes while instant tears squeezed out from under my eyelids, "I'm sorry June. I'm sorry I didn't take care of her. Oh please God please take care of Sunshine."

June's voice was shakier than before, "It wasn't your fault Chuck. They said she should recover. We just have to wait."

The doctor finally spoke up, "You both were very lucky to have made it. Your car was flipped end over end and rolled over with the impact of the other vehicle. You both suffered head injuries. You have some stitches and will probably have some black eyes. Sunshine has some really bad cuts and a serious head injury as well. So far it doesn't appear you have a concussion. You may have a couple of cracked ribs but we'll know more when you're x-rayed. Right now, just stay still for a while. Have a sip of water and relax. I would prefer to not give you anything for pain right now until I'm certain there is no concussion. I'll be back in a little while. If there is anything new about your Sunshine, I'll come tell you right away."

June still had my hand in a death grip, "I'm so glad you woke up. Sunshine wasn't knocked out like you were. She was holding you when they got you two out of the car. Thank God you both had your seat belts on. Now that you are back with us, I can worry about my Sunshine now."

I was still in shock thinking back on the accident. I tried to remember what else had happened but couldn't remember anything past the sound and feel of the hit, just a floating sensation.

The curtain pulled back and the nurse came in followed by a policeman. "Mr. Davidson, this is deputy Carnahan. He would like to talk with you a minute."

I nodded and the deputy came close to the bed. "Mr Davidson., I have a couple of questions for you."

"Okay."

"Can you tell me what happened?" The deputy asked.

"I heard sirens so I pulled over to the curb. A pickup truck came around the corner sliding right toward me. I tried to pull out of the way but he hit us and that's all I remember." I said shaking my head,

The deputy nodded, "That's what a couple of witnesses reported. When you gunned it, you kept from being t-boned by the truck but it gave the impact momentum to flip you. If you had been hit squarely, you'd both be dead. I was the one following the truck. If catching that guy had not been so important, I wouldn't have chased him in town. I guess catching him is a moot point now. He's dead."

"Wasn't he wearing a seatbelt?" I asked.

The deputy gave me a grim look, "That's not what killed him. When his truck hit your car, it flipped him around and he hit the curb breaking off a front wheel. He came out of the truck shooting. Another deputy that came up while I was still trying to stop from hitting anyone, shot him."

I was stunned but wanted to know, "What was he running from, do you know?"

"Yeah, we know. He had just shot his wife and the guy who had been his business partner. We started chasing him when we saw him driving away from two people lying on the sidewalk. When he shot out the windshield on the first patrol car chasing him, that made us want to catch him real bad." The deputy said all this while acting uncomfortable about what was happening.

"Listen," the deputy continued, "I wouldn't normally say this, but you should get an attorney, someone from the city, someone tough. This guy has, or at least had, a bunch of money. If you don't do something like that, you're going to get stiffed by his estate. You'll be getting what your own insurance company will give and that's it. You and the girl especially are going to need some long-term care and it should be taken care of by who did it. Is she your wife?"

June who had been listening intently spoke up, "No, but they are going together. She's my daughter. Thank you for speaking up."

About that moment, we could hear a very loud Agnes somewhere near. She was demanding to see her granddaughter or me that instant. June heard the commotion and left quickly to quiet her mother.

"Hope your girl will be okay. We were able to flip your little car over so there wasn't pressure on the two of you. The paramedic put all kinds of collars on the both of you to keep you from moving around when we pulled the car over. They were very careful. I know she's hurt pretty bad. All of us around here will be thinking some good thoughts for you all. Sounds like I should leave. I may need to come back for a statement tomorrow. Good luck." With that the deputy patted my hand, nodded toward me with a worried half smile and left.

As he left, Agnes, June and a nurse came through the curtain. "Chuck, you okay? Jesus, you're all trussed up with gadgets and bandages." She came to me and wanted to hug me but couldn't figure out how to so she just took my hand and held it. "The nurse said they were done with Sunshine and would have her in recovery. The doc who worked on her should be in here soon so we should know more."

The nurse checked me out, made some notations on her clipboard and told Agnes and June that I was going to be moved to a room.

A short time later I was in a double room with the other bed empty. It was large enough to have some chairs in it for visitors. I was kind of groggy so was lying back in a semi-upright position while Agnes and June were talking. A doctor still in operating room scrubs and a facemask dangling like a beard came in.

"Mrs. Davidson? Sunshine's mother?" He asked. June raised her head indicating she was Sunshine's mom.

"I'm Dr. Wilson. Sunshine is resting peacefully," The doctor began. "She received a very bad head injury. She was lucky in that she doesn't have a skull fracture but she was hit very hard and I'm sure has a serious concussion. Her head cuts were all within the hairline so should not show after her hair grows back. The cut on her arm required several stitches and will leave a scar. Her forearm is broken but because of the cut, we can't put her arm in a hard cast so will have to immobilize it with a removable soft cast while the cut heals. Now the part that could be bad but we won't know till later is while we were checking her reflexes and eyes, we noticed she might have some vision problem. Her eyes were refractive but seemed to have trouble focusing."

"She's blind," June said. "Since she was less than two years old, she's been blind."

"I don't think she's totally blind," Said the doctor. "We'll get a specialist in here to work with her but I'm sure she's not totally blind. What caused the blindness?"

"She was hit be a car and had a head injury. She just never did see again," June said.

The doc gave the chart he was holding a long look, made a few more notations before saying, "We'll have to see about that. Even though she was unconscious she was registering sight." He looked thoughtfully at the chart for a moment. "We are going to keep her sedated and sleeping for tonight. We are also keeping her in intensive care so we can monitor her. She may be a little confused in the morning due to the concussion. We won't know how bad a concussion it is until she does wake up. Tomorrow morning I'll have an oculist and neurologist have a look at her."

When the doc left, June and Agnes were both by my bed arranging my gown, tucking the sheet around me, pulling the pillow up under my head, just fussing over me.

"Both of you. Go get something to eat then go get some rest. I'm going to be fine but will probably sleep continuously till morning. I don't even know where we are. How far is the hospital from home or the camp?" I asked.

"I'm not leaving my baby here alone. They won't let me in to be with her so I'm staying right here," June said.

"Ditto for me too," Agnes said. "You're family so we're worried for you too. Is there anyone we need to call or advise that you're in the hospital?"

"I should probably tell my dad, but I'm going to be out of here pretty quick so maybe I shouldn't scare him. He's sort of touchy about car accidents and hospitals. It's only been about four years since he lost Mmom," I said.

"You better tell him. If he hears about what happened, or reads it in the papers, he's going to be really scared," Agnes said.

"Okay, you win, you're right," I said shifting around. "Hand me the phone so I can call him. Oh yeah, you didn't tell me where I am, where this hospital is."

"Greenville County General," June said. "About ten miles from the camp."

"You're kidding, Greenville?" I questioned.

"Why would I kid?" Asked June.

"When we drove here, I really didn't think about it but Greenville is where two of my sisters live and work. As a matter of fact, they work in a hospital there. Is there another hospital here?" I asked with surprise.

"No, this is the only one I know of," June said this as Agnes disappeared out the door.

Agnes came back in with the nurse who had been with me when they first put me in the room. "Okay Chuckie, ask the nurse about your sister."

"Sisters, plural Aggy. Ma'am do you know Sonya and Susan Davidson?" I asked.

"The twins?" She asked with a broad smile. "Everyone knows the twins. They are both good nurses. How do you know them?"

"They're my sisters," I said.

"Oh my god., let me go get them. I'll be right back," And she was gone.

"You haven't talked about your family Chuck. We didn't know you had sisters," June said.

"Four of them. There is another set of twins, Joey and Joy but they are still in college back in the city," I said.

Two very attractive girls came bursting into the room. About five foot seven, both slender with unknown builds due to the hospital clothes they were wearing, both had their hair in ponytails but both had soft identical beautiful faces with a concerned look.

Perfectly synchronized as if from one voice, "Chuck, what happened. What's going on?"

"Looks like I'm in the hospital," I said always marveling at their ability to do almost everything together, in sync.

Sonya grabbed the chart at the end of the bed while Susan started taking my pulse. Sonya whipped her stethoscope off her neck and started probing my chest. Susan finished counting my pulse and reached for the blood pressure cuff. Sonya said to breath deep while she was checking. Susan pumped up the cuff while Sonya said to lean forward. She pulled me up and told me to breathe deep again; she was listening to my back. They didn't say anything else. Didn't see anything else, just me. They both attacked the bandages on my head. Cutting and lifting them, and just as quickly re-taping them.

The nurse who had gone to get them said, "You know guys, we did take care of him. There are other people here who do that for a living."

Sonya and Susan swiveled their head towards the nurse then simultaneously said, "He's our brother, we'll take care of him."

They were both back to me pulling the sheet away from me touching and poking every part of me from my toes to my nose. They even lifted my dick and balls to look between my legs. I think they handled my dick a little longer than necessary, especially the part where they exchanged it from one to the other before laying it back on my thigh. They straightened out the gown, pulled the sheet back up and stood back and looked at me.

Sonya said, "You're going to be sore for a few days but looks like everything is going to be fine. You may have a slight concussion but we won't know that until tomorrow."

Then it was Susan's turn. "Were you in that accident over by Hanley? I heard there was a guy killed there and a couple that came in here. The girl was hurt pretty bad. Was that you?"

"That was me." I said.

From both "How is she?"

I explained to them everything I knew and was going to introduce June and Agnes who were mesmerized by the twins, just watching them but Sonya asked the nurse who the doctor was that was handling the girl and left. Susan turned to the nurse as well as June and Agnes saying, "Chuck could probably use some quiet. You folks need to leave." To the nurse she said, "Sonya and I will take care of Chuck. We'll have someone cover for us down stairs. We're not busy down there anyway."

"Hold on Susie," I said. "I want you to meet to very important people to me." Pointing to Agnes I said, "This is Agnes Mathews, Agnes my sister Susan."

I pointed to June and began, "This is June Davidson and..."

Before I could say anything else Susan gasped, "You got married? You got married and didn't even tell us? How could you do that?"