Chapter 1 - The accident

The Accident

Ben Stevens was already out of the car and heading for the emergency room entrance. He looked back to see his daughter, Chloe, still getting out of the car. She would just have to catch up.

With his focus on those big automatic doors, he nearly knocked over an elderly woman. He hadn’t seen her until he rounded one of the two ambulances parked outside the ER.

The woman would have taken a tumble had he not grabbed her, “Sorry! It’s just ... my son...”

“Are you all right, Ma’am.” It was Chloe.

Once he knew his daughter could sort things out, he continued on through the big doors.

The waiting room was mostly empty. A couple of concerned parents with their son holding a bloody rag around his hand, and his wife, Lisa. She was sitting in a corner, looking extremely anxious.

Lisa stood as soon as she spotted her husband. She looked frantic, “Oh my God, Ben. He’s in surgery!”

Ben and Lisa both looked up as their daughter entered through the doors with the elderly woman on her arm. A nurse helped her into a wheelchair.

“EDNA! I’M GOING TO HAVE KARL TAKE YOU UP TO RESPIRATORY. I”LL CALL UP TO LET THEM KNOW YOU”RE ON YOUR WAY. OK?”

Seems Edna was a regular. And hard of hearing. And short of breath.

Instead of coming over to her parents, Chloe stayed and talked to the nurse. Ben sort of remembered her as one of her daughter’s friends in high school. Although they were not actually friends, they both did run in the same circles.

Chloe and the nurse talked for several minutes, occasionally looking over towards Ben and Lisa and frowning. Ben and Lisa didn’t seem to notice. They both stood there, with their arms around each other in a tight embrace.

Ben tried consoling his crying wife, “He’ll be fine, Honey. I’m sure the doctors are taking good care of him.”

Not that Ben necessarily believed it himself, but he wanted his wife too. Unfortunately, the sobs continued.

“Ben, I just want you to know how much I love you.”

Ben patted her on the back, “Yes, and I love you too, sweetheart.”

Finally, Chloe joined her parents. Pretending to give her mom a hug, Chloe whispered in her ear, “Nice outfit, Mom.” The hug Chloe had for her dad was much more genuine and lasted several seconds longer.

Chloe was surprised that her dad had said nothing of what his wife was wearing. “So, Mom, what happened to your clothes? Did the paramedics have to cut them off of you?”

Ben didn’t pick up on the innuendo of Chloe’s comment, but he did seem to finally notice how his wife was dressed. She had on nothing but a large man’s oversize t-shirt. Her large breasts with her hard nipples were clearly loose under the thin material and jiggled about in all directions. You could just make out each of her pink aureoles.

With all his focus on their injured son, he almost forgot his wife was also in the car. With his hands on her shoulders, he had pulled back to get a better look at her, “Are you okay? We’re you hurt?”

Ben didn’t see the smirk on her daughter’s face or the rolling of her eyes. Lisa felt her face turning red, “The doctors say I’m fine. Just shaken up a bit.”

Ben was still unconvinced, “Are you sure? Maybe you need tests?”

“I’m fine.” She wanted him to drop it.

Ben managed to calm himself, “So what happened? Where were you guys?”

Chloe wanted desperately to press why her mom was so underdressed, but she held her tongue. Actually, she wanted her dad to ask. But Ben remained clueless.

“We were coming home from Sharky’s when someone hit us from behind.” Sharky’s was a greasy spoon diner in town. It was indeed one of her brother’s favorite food dives.

“Gee, Mom. You both were gone all afternoon. What else were you and Josh doing in town?” From the look on Chloe’s face, you would think she had her nose stuck in an old nasty gym sock.

Lisa glanced to Ben before scowling back at her daughter. She wasn’t going to let Chloe go there, “Why on earth would that matter now?”

Ben reached out and put his hand on his daughter’s shoulder. He smiled, “Try not to upset your mom, okay?”

Quickly changing the subject, Lisa reached over and grabbed the bag her daughter was carrying. Ben hadn’t even noticed it.

Lisa started to open the bag, “Did you get what I asked for?”

“Yea. An extra set of clothes, like you asked. How was it that you lost yours? I didn’t hear what you said earlier.”

Without giving a response, Lisa walked over to enter the restroom. Ben remained clueless. The son and his dad watched longingly as Lisa’s boobs swayed and bobbed under the thin material. The mom glared at her husband. He would pay for that later.

After a few minutes, Lisa came out in a very short blue jean skirt and an oversized blue sweater. Upset, she whispered to her daughter, “This looks ridiculous. And you didn’t think to grab a bra or panties?!”

“I guess I forgot. Sorry!” Chloe didn’t appear sorry. She seemed quite happy with herself.

As Lisa turned and walked towards one of the seats, she muttered, more to herself, “Whatever!”

Over the next twenty minutes, lots of hospital staff came out but none of them seemed to have any updates. They seemed more curious than anything. They would casually look over at the Stevens family and then whisper among themselves, only to then disappear.