Chapter 38: Sometimes, You Just Gotta

July 2, 1985

[Joshua. “Oh God Charlie! This maniac was fleeing from the cops and RAN OVER the girls on their bikes. Andie is paralyzed from the neck down. She has 4 broken fingers, a broken wrist and a crushed foot. Cathy is even worse! She’s in a coma and may have to have her right leg amputated! Please help them! Please! We’re at the hospital. It’s located just north of U.S. Route 20 and Mulford Road.”

He was weeping.]

I flashed everyone, including Dad, so they could hear the message.

Dad replied first, “Son, think about this. If they’re in that bad of shape, you might not be able to get enough time alone with them. You could be flirting with disaster!”

“I know Dad. But you have to understand, these aren’t just two people that we know. I can’t explain it, but I have a connection with Andie, the one that’s paralyzed. I can’t just NOT try to help. I could no more abandon her than I could you! I know I gotta think this out, but I’m going to do SOMETHING. They are NOT going to amputate Cathy’s leg!”

Ed flashed, “I’m almost home Charlie. Gracie just left Elgin and will be coming down Randall road. Let me ride with you until we meet her, please. We both want to help anyway we can. I’ll bet I have 20 messages on my answering machine at work. I’ve been out all day testing my communications. I haven’t been back to the shop since 10 o’clock this morning.”

“Sure thing Ed, Linda and I were just leaving home now. We’ll wait for you.”

Greg flashed, “Bud, I’m stuck here at work. We’re trying to finish anchoring two crossbeams and I can’t leave until it’s finished. I’m sorry buddy, but please do everything you can. That little redhead means a lot to me. I’ll head straight to the hospital as soon as I can get out of here.”

“No problem Buddy, you gotta do what you gotta do.”

Bob flashed, “Hey, I just finished a job in Dixon. I was already on the way home and I’m only about 10 minutes from the hospital. I’ll check out what’s going on and see if I can talk to Joshua and the girls’ parents. I’ll at least try to get them to postpone any amputations or anything like that.”

“Thanks Robert, see what you can find out. With traffic and everything, Linda and I probably won’t be there for at least 45 minutes. I’ll see you then.”

Mary flashed and said she and Jamie would meet at home and bring as much Gatorade with them as they could. I told her that Linda and I had already thought of that and each had two of them.

Ed stopped in his driveway and jumped out of his car. He bailed into the back seat of the Mustang and we began hauling ass up Randall road. Gracie flashed and said she’d wait for Ed just north of Hopps Road.

Just as we pulled over behind Graces car, an unmarked squad car pulled over with his lights flashing. Jim came running up to tell us we were to follow him and he was going to escort us to Rockford. We picked up a marked squad and he led, with us sandwiched between it and Jim. We shaved a good 20 minutes off the trip, thanks to Jim’s help.

When we got there, he said he was going to talk to the local cops to find out what happened. Apparently the driver of the car that hit the girls was fleeing from Police and was wanted for bank robbery. He got away when the police stopped to render aid to the girls.

Bob met us at the ER entrance. He told us the girls condition hadn’t changed and they were in the ICU recovery room. They would be moved to a special room on that same floor around 7:30 once the doctor was sure their condition had stabilized. Visitation would be limited to immediate family only. Bob led us to the ICU’s waiting room, where Joshua, Ann, Joni and AJ were waiting nervously for word from the doctors.

The pleading in Joshua’s eyes was tearing my heart out. He kept subtly nodding at Joni and AJ, who were also looking despondent.

The doctor came in, looking solemn.

“Your daughters are both stable now and being moved to a double room in the ICU’s special care unit. Andrea’s brain is functioning normally, but her spinal cord is almost completely severed. I’m afraid she may end up a quadriplegic for life. She has a severe concussion and 4 skull fractures. The broken bones in her arms and legs have been set and we’ll be putting hard casts on them in the morning.”

“Catherine’s coma appears to be caused by the severe trauma she’s experienced. When the car ran over her, her right leg was nearly severed due to being trapped under her bicycle. Her pelvis was crushed and we have a special surgical team coming in the morning to attempt reconstruction surgery. This is why we are leaving her in the coma. The pain she would be experiencing would be excruciating, if not for the coma. We’re most likely going to have to amputate her leg. Her femur and fibula were both crushed beyond repair. We would have done it already, but you told us to wait. It would be best for her if you consented to allow us to do it with her pelvic surgery.”

He paused before saying, “I’m sorry that I couldn’t have better news. You will be allowed to sit with them in their room, Mr and Mrs Adams, but we strongly suggest that they have no other visitors until after surgery. There will be one nurse with them all night, to monitor their condition.”

Joshua was frantic, “Excuse me Doctor, but couldn’t you allow any other visitors? We’re all very close to these girls. Couldn’t we at least take turns sitting with them?”

He pursed his lips, “I guess I can leave that up to her parents. They will have to sign in anyone else. Would that be okay? They should be moved sometime in the next half hour. Here’s two badges that you’ll need to access the area. You’ll need to sign in downstairs to gain access to the elevator.”

“Thank you doctor,” AJ said, “I think we’ll go down to the cafeteria now and figure out what we should do next.”

The doctor nodded, as we went to the elevator to find the cafeteria. Once the elevator started moving down, I pushed the stop button, hoping alarms wouldn’t go off.

Thankfully, they didn’t.

I asked a distraught AJ and Joni, “Has Joshua told you anything about Bob, Linda and me?”

They meekly nodded their heads, “He said you had some amazing abilities. And, and, maybe you could help Cathy and Andie ... Can you? Can you REALLY?”

“Possibly, yes, but we’ve never attempted anything as serious as these injuries before. But first, you need to do something for us.”

AJ pleaded, “Please! We’ll pay you every penny we have! We’ll give you everything, just please help our daughters.”

“I won’t take your money, AJ, not a cent. You just need to swear to us that you’ll NEVER ... tell ANYONE ... that we had anything to do with what may happen tonight. It’s going to be difficult, because there’s going to be many questions, by many people. If the truth ever comes out that we can heal people, our lives will be over! We BOTH want to help your girls, as much as you do. Can you promise us?”

Joni and AJ pulled Linda and I into desperate hugs. “Yes! Yes, we promise to keep your secret. Joshua told us we’d have to do that. How can we ever repay you?”

“Just seeing Andie’s and Cathy’s smiling faces, playing together, will be payment enough. Well, and maybe some dancing lessons too?”

I tried to chuckle, as Joni broke into tears. “It’ll be my pleasure, just tell us what you want us to do.”

“Well, first, we’re going to need to figure out how Linda and I can be alone with the girls for at least 30 minutes if not longer. That’s for each of them. I want you two to sit with them first. We need to know how often the nurse comes in to check on them and where she sits while not checking on the girls. She’ll be our biggest obstacle.” I turned the elevator back on and we started moving again.

On our way to the cafeteria we passed by the hospital’s chapel.

Dad flashed, “That’s it Son, I’ve got an idea. The rest of us just got here, your girls waited for Greg. They’ll meet you in the cafeteria. I’m sticking with Jim. Now wouldn’t be a good time for Joshua to see us together.”

“Okay Dad, I might know what you’re thinking.”

“Good, you saw the chapel too?”

“Yep. Sure did.”

Ed wasn’t happy when I flashed him, asking him to go on home. When he said he’d never met the girls before, I explained that he and Gracie would possibly be exposing themselves for no good reason. Reluctantly, he managed to admit I was right, that they really only came to support Josh and Ann. They’d never met Joni or AJ. He WAS happy, that Dad invited them to go with Jim and him to discuss future strategy for the IM and Gracie’s involvement.

Just after we sat down with some coffee, Mary, Jamie and Greg came rushing in to hug Joni and AJ, saying how sorry they were that something like this had to happen. They were all crying. I bought coffee for them while Joni told them the girls condition.

Mary looked at Joni, “Do you believe in miracles?”

Joni glanced at me nervously, “Um, I don’t know, ... I’m agnostic, so, I don’t exactly NOT believe.”

AJ cut in, “I do. I’m just afraid to hope for one. I’m afraid I’ll lose faith if we don’t get one.”

Joni glanced at me, then at Mary, “Do you believe in Miracles?”

“Yes! It was nothing short of a miracle that I found my Charlie. We’d been at the same college for four years, yet never met. Our schedules were completely different and our dorms were on opposite ends of the campus. I shouldn’t have even been in the cafeteria that day we met. My class that usually met at that hour had been cancelled, and I went there, planning to eat before going back to my room. The place was jammed, and I almost just went home. I had just gotten my food and was looking for a place to sit, when I accidentally bumped into someone and we both spilled our lunches. I kept trying to apologize for not looking, but the guy was too busy trying to pick up the mess and apologizing back. Finally, our eyes met.” Mary looked at me smiling in that adorable way of hers. “That was when I just knew in my heart he was my soulmate! Fate had provided me with a miracle.”

Joni was just staring at Mary. I could see she was biting her tongue.

Greg added, “I believe in miracles too. They just seem to happen around Charlie. I don’t know why. About a month ago, we should have all been killed by a tornado. It was huge and right in front of us! But Charlie, for no apparent reason, suddenly told Mary to turn around and head down a side road. I didn’t even know we had passed one, yet somehow he just knew where we had to go. We found a huge new culvert that had just been installed and climbed into it just seconds before the tornado blew our car away! It’s a miracle we’re all still alive.”

AJ just looked at me for a second, then said, “Well, I guess when Joni and I aren’t sitting with the girls, we might should stop in the chapel and say a prayer or two.” He glanced at Greg and Mary, “God does work in mysterious ways.”

AJ looked nervously at his watch.

I flashed to Mary, Jamie and Greg what my plan was, and for them to say goodbye. It was up to Linda, Bob and me now.

Jamie announced, “Well, I guess we should be going. We’ll stop by tomorrow to see how the girls are doing. We’ll say a prayer too. Charlie, are you and Linda coming?”

“I’m going to stick around for a bit, I’ll see you at home.” I said.

“Me too! Bob and I don’t want Charlie to have to drive by himself.” Linda added.

As soon as they left the cafeteria, AJ asked, “They don’t know about you three?”

Bob said, “Don’t look at me, I’m just here for moral support, these two are the special ones. Now if you can teach Charlie how to dance, then I WILL believe in miracles.”

Joni managed a stiff giggle, while AJ smirked, looking at Linda and me, somewhat puzzled.

I answered his question, “Not everything, no, they do suspect Linda and I are special. You both did good not to let on about us. I know we can trust you now. AJ, you and Joni go on up and see your daughters. Get the lay of the land for us, then we’ll meet you back here in an hour. DON’T sign anyone of us in. Ann, you and Joshua should go home. Nobody can ask you questions if you weren’t here. If AJ or Joni needs you, they can call you. Okay?”

Joshua and Ann nodded.

“How will you get on the elevator without a pass?” Joni asked.

“Oh, Charlie can be very persuasive when he wants to be.” Bob smirked.

Both Joshua and Ann eyeballed me curiously. They asked Joni if it was okay to go home. Joni said they would call if anything changed.

After Josh and Ann left, I told Joni and AJ I had just a couple more instructions for them. When the five of us were alone I said, “Okay, when you go up, tell the guard there WON’T be any other visitors tonight. When you come back down, tell him you’re going to the Chapel to pray. After you fill us in, we’ll tell you what to do next. The less you know, the fewer questions you’ll have to answer.”

“We understand.” AJ said quietly, “All we’ll know is something happened when we were gone. Hopefully, it will be a miracle?”

I smiled, “That’s the plan. You guys just have faith, okay?”

Joni forced a smile, “We will.”

Shortly after they left, Linda, Bob and I went out to the car to get our bag with Gatorade and planned on guzzling one, just before ‘Showtime’. Mary had left us two more each in a small cooler with ice. I flashed, “Thanks for the drinks Baby.”

Then she flashed, “We love you guys! Good luck and flash us if anything goes wrong. We’re going to stop and get something to eat with your Dad, Jim, Ed and Gracie, so we can get back quickly if necessary.”

Bob asked, “What exactly do you want me to do?”

“Stand guard, just in case someone tries to come in while we’re busy. Don’t hurt anybody, but maybe you could hold the door closed or something like that. You’ll be our eyes and ears. Also, we don’t know how much this will take out of us. Mentally, you’re the strongest. I just hope you don’t have to fly both of us out of here.”

“Yeah, me too brother. There’s a million things that could go wrong, but, I’ve got your backs.”

“Linda and I will be counting on that.”

The hospital was almost deserted, so we went to the cafeteria in such a way as to not pass by the guard. We each started guzzling a Gatorade, when a sad Joni and AJ came in.

“Oh, please help them! They have so many bruises. Andie is awake, but is crying because she can’t feel her arms or legs. And she has a breathing thing in her nose and two IV’s. Cathy looks terrible, all bandaged up and has all those tubes in her too.” Joni told us.

“Do either of them have tubes in their throats?” I asked.

“No, not until after surgery, just IV’s.” AJ said.

“Where is the nurse stationed? Can she look and see the girls?”

“No, she is in the room between theirs and another, empty room. The girls are the only ones in this section tonight. She came in just once, right before we left. She says she’ll check again in 90 minutes, unless the alarm goes off.” AJ said.

“Alarm?” I asked.

“Yes, if either one goes into distress, an alarm goes off on her panel. If they go into cardiac arrest, an alarm goes off in the doctors lounge too. There is a Doctor in the lounge sleeping now, it’s down at the end of the hall.”

Jamie flashed, “Guys, you can turn off the audible alarm on her panel, so if the girls’ heartrate spikes, it won’t wake anyone up. Cathy’s especially might do that when she wakes up out of her coma. The light will still flash, just no sound.”

Mary added, “Charlie, you might have to ‘push’ them to keep them calm.”

“I was planning on pushing them a little anyways, but, thanks for the tip.”