Chapter 1

Lawrence Saunders opened his eyes but had yet to see anything when the pain hit. It was excruciating and he moaned while he tried to curl up in a tight ball. He felt hands pushing on his shoulders and heard a voice say, “Stop. Don’t move or you’ll tear out the stitches.”

His eyes began registering his surroundings as he succumbed to the not so gentle push to lay back down. He saw mauve curtains and rack after rack of some kind of equipment, most of it with lighted numbers or moving lines on it. Then he registered the not so subtle noises. There was a constant Beep, Beep, Beep and regular subtle rustles and muted voices. His whole body hurt with an intensity he hadn’t felt since he was in a HUMV that hit an IED. He saw a woman dressed in pastel flowered top and pastel blue pants put her book down across the room from him and move rapidly to assist a similarly clad woman trying to hold him down. He muttered, “Hurt.” as he collapsed back down on whatever he was laying on. He watched as the woman beside him grabbed a syringe and inserted the needle into an IV tube leading to his arm. She depressed the plunger on the syringe and almost immediately he felt the pain lessen. Larry relaxed and felt himself drift off once again as the pain medicine coursed through his body.

Some indeterminate time later Larry once again opened his eyes. The room he was in was dark. He was still hooked to several machines. He felt the wires and tubes when he tried to move. He moaned in pain at the attempt and muttered, “Fuck, that was a mistake.” He relaxed back onto the bed, the head of which was slightly raised. He turned his head and looked around. Definitely a hospital room but how did he get here and why was he here? Where was Sharon?

Apparently his movement or the increased beating of his heart when the pain spiked as he moved alerted the nurse. The door into his room opened and a middle aged woman dressed as a nurse came into the room. She smiled and said, “Awake are you?”

The nurse moved to the bed and pulled the covers back to check numerous bandages covering Larry’s chest and abdomen. After looking at those bandages, she raised the covers farther and checked his legs then recovered him. She checked the machines and said, “The doctor has placed you on morphine as a pain reliever. You press the red button on the cord taped to the left side of your bed when you need pain medication. Don’t worry, the machine is set to prevent you from overdoing it. Whatever you do though, don’t go all macho on me and put off taking the meds when you feel the pain intensifying. That will not improve your chances of healing faster. In fact, it is counterproductive. Besides, you won’t impress any of us by being macho and bearing the pain.”

Larry nodded his head yes then said, “I know the drill. They said the same thing when I was in a vehicle that hit an IED. What happened? Why am I in the hospital? Where’s Sharon?”

“I don’t know about anyone named Sharon. You were brought in yesterday evening after an accident. I’ll let the doctor know you’re awake and he will be in to discuss your condition and answer what questions he can for you. Don’t you remember anything?”

Larry shook his head no and said, “All I remember is walking down the street with my wife then I woke up here.”

After the nurse left Larry pushed the red button and felt the morphine take effect. He drifted off to sleep only to wake about an hour later as the door opened and a tall, distinguished man came into the room. The man walked up to the bedside and smiled as he said, “Good evening Mr. Saunders. I’m Doctor Talley, your Hospitalist. How are you feeling tonight?” As he spoke he was reviewing a chart he carried and glancing back and forth from it to the machines surrounding Larry’s bed.”

Larry watched him for a moment then said, “My whole body hurts. Where is my wife? Why isn’t she here? Do you know what happened?”

“Mr. Saunders, I’m afraid I don’t know anything about your wife. I’ll check and see what I can find out for you. As to what happened to you, you were walking down the sidewalk in front of a building that was being renovated when part of the brick facing gave way and hit you when it fell. You were covered underneath bricks and mortar for several minutes before they managed to dig you out. We almost lost you twice but I believe you will pull through now and be able to return to a normal life. You had a ruptured spleen, several broken ribs, a punctured lung and cuts and contusions covering most of your upper body. The good news is your spine was not damaged at all nor was your pelvis. There were some other minor internal injuries but nothing else to worry about.”

“My wife was walking with me. Surely if I was injured that badly she must have been also. Where is she?”

“I’m sorry sir. I just don’t know. You were the only patient brought in from that accident site. I’ll check with the other hospital in town to see if she is there. I’ll also check with the police for you. I’m sorry, that’s all I can do right now. Now, please relax and let your body heal. I’ll check back with you in the morning.”

Larry lay in the bed worrying about Sharon until he had to take another hit of pain medicine and he drifted off to sleep. When he woke next, it was almost daylight and he saw a female form sitting in a chair beside the window. He smiled and croaked, “Sharon? I was worried about you honey.”

The woman sitting in the chair stood and moved to his bedside. Larry saw it was his mother. She had tears in her eyes as she leaned down and gave him a gentle hug and kiss. She stood and held his hand. She said, “Larry your father and Jack and Dianne are in the cafeteria. They’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“What about Sharon mom? Where is she? Why isn’t she here?”

His mother began crying harder and then pressed her lips together. She shook her head no and said, “I’m sorry son. She won’t be here.” Larry felt his chest start heaving and he tried to rise. His mother pushed him down and continued talking. “She died instantly when the majority of the falling wall hit her on the head. Her whole upper body was crushed son. I’m sorry.” His mother slumped down, almost falling as her whole body shook from her tears.

Larry felt his body wracked with the pain of his loss as the tears began to course down his cheeks. He let out a loud bellow of pain and anguish. The machines began beeping louder as he began shaking from the deep cries he was letting out. The room door crashed open as a nurse and orderly rushed into his room. They stopped when they saw the two crying people then moved quickly to the bedside. The nurse said, “Please Mr. Saunders. Calm down. You’re going to be fine. Do you hurt? What’s the matter? You need to calm down or I will have to sedate you.”

Larry looked up at the nurse in anguish and said through his gut wrenching sobs, “Sharon’s gone. Why didn’t you tell me?”

The nurse looked at Larry, then his mother and asked, “Sharon who? Where did she go?”

Larry began to cry louder as his mother, with noticeable effort, stopped long enough to say, “Sharon was his wife. She died on the sidewalk when the building fell on both of them.”

The nurse’s face made a grimace. She turned to Larry and said, “I’m so sorry Mr. Saunders. I can imagine how you must feel but you need to rest now. I’m going to give you something to help you sleep again. You need to keep calm to help the healing.” She turned, left the room and quickly returned with the needed medication. When she returned she shot it into the IV line and Larry drifted down into blessed sleep.

Just as Larry was receiving his shot his in-laws and father came back into the room carrying coffee for everyone and breakfast for Larry’s mother. Larry’s father moved to his still sniffling mother and hugged her after he sat their coffee on a small table. He asked, “What’s wrong? He’s not worse is he?”

Mildred shook her head no and said, “I had to tell him Sharon didn’t make it. He lost it and they had to sedate him. Oh, Jack I couldn’t lie to him. I had to tell him she was gone. He was getting angry she wasn’t here. I had to tell him something.”

“Shhh. I know honey. It’s alright. Here, drink your coffee.”

“I’m not sure I should. I’m afraid the acid in it will tear my stomach up. But thank you anyway honey.”

The three older adults sat and stood drinking the putrid hospital coffee and talking quietly for several minutes. Before they left, Sharon’s parents said, “Do you still think it is ok if we make the arrangements for Sharon?”

Jack said, “Yes, that’s fine with us and I’m sure Larry won’t mind either. We’ll check with him next time he wakes if he’s calmer.”

“Thanks. Would you also check and see if he will let us lay her to rest in the family plot or if he wants to purchase another plot for her? We have extra space and I’m sure, as young as he is, that he’ll remarry in the future and probably want to be interred with his new wife. We would like Sharon to be with family and her mother and I will be buried in the plot with her someday.”

“I’ll check but why don’t you tentatively plan to put her in your plot? George I hope you know we’re damn sorry.”

George, Sharon’s father, nodded his head and said, “I know. How can life go from the heights of happiness to the pits of sorrow like his has in just 24 hours? He was so excited when they told us they were expecting and now...”

Larry’s convalescence was like most—not fast enough for him. He was torn however. On one hand he wanted to get better RIGHT NOW and at the same time he resented the fact he even was healing. Many times he begged God to just let him die to be with Sharon and their unborn child. His moods were dark more than happy and he snapped and snarled at everyone when he deigned to notice them at all. Of course, with his injuries, he wasn’t allowed to attend his wife’s funeral and that depressed him even more. A week later the doctors decided Larry was well enough to return home. Since there was no one living in town with him they released him to return to his parent’s home to convalesce. Like all patients, he was placed in a wheel chair and rolled out the front door where he was helped into his father’s car for the long drive to their home.

The first evening after he was home, after he woke from a long nap, his father sat in the living room with Larry and said, “Larry, I know you’re facing what seems to you to be a long, empty life. Your wife is gone and you lost your first child with her. I sympathize with you. Lord knows what I would have done if I lost your mother or you but you have to buck up son. You have a long and full life ahead of you if you will just make a little effort to live it. You’ve faced the worst, now buck up and look for the good in life again. I know it’s trite but Sharon wouldn’t have wanted you to mope about and not live a full happy life.”

His father took a deep breath and continued, “Son, I don’t know what you want to do about the accident but George and I think you should sue the company that owns the building and the construction and engineering company that were working on it. From the little I heard during the investigation, they suspected the facade was unstable and chose not to try and stabilize it and they chose not to block off the sidewalk. We think you have a good case here for some serious money if you sue. They were doing work on the old building without following most of the recommended safety rules. During the investigation they found almost a dozen safety violations. OSHA and the city are going to levy some large fines for the violations. Your suit should be a slam dunk.”