Chapter 6

I was feeling surprisingly refreshed for having a restless night of sleep think of my plan. I guess being unconscious for three days will do that for you. Another shower was in order, sponge baths in the hospital will only go so far. It was in the middle of the shower, that my stomach grumbled. Breakfast was in order.

After getting dressed in some shorts and a t-shirt, I went downstairs and walked into the kitchen noticing it was 10 in the morning. There were a couple of hours before the meeting with the lawyer. I noticed that my little sister at the table eating. Grabbing a box of waffles and butter from the fridge, I put the waffles in the toaster, and grabbed a plate and silverware. After putting breakfast together, I headed to the table, patting my sister on the head as I walked by.

“What up half pint? Where is everybody.”

She looked at me as I sat down and smiled. “I’m so glad you’re ok. They finished breakfast and left. So, I guess they’re around somewhere.”

I watched as she grabbed her plate, got up and put the dishes in the sink. As she walked out the kitchen, I was left alone with my thoughts, which were a mix of what was going to happen at the lawyers and thoughts of my family.

So, I guess its time to tell you about me and my family. The first thing you need to know is, we put the fun in dysfunctional.

My mom you already met. Although Lilka Griscek was a short woman, if you went by her presence and personality, even the biggest male would be a shrinking violet. She’d back you to the hilt, unless you screwed up, and then you were up shit creek without a paddle. There were five of us kids. Three from her first marriage and two from her current marriage. Mom always wanted a girl, so she kept at it until she finally had one.

My father, Jan Badzinski Sr., was really nothing more than a sperm donor from my point of view. In my first lifetime I’d never met him. My parents’ divorce was finalized two months after I was born. The man who raised me, and was the person I thought of as my father figure, was my Grandfather Piotr Lapczynski. To me he was the epitome of a man.

My oldest brother Jan Jr or JJ as we called him was 21. He lived with our grandparents outside of Chicago where we grew up and had the distinction of being the shortest Badzinski. He worked at a machine shop.

The other Badzinski brother was Stanislaus or Stosh who was 19. It wasn’t an odd thing in our family, but both of us had the exact same birthday, 3 years apart. He was 6’0 and rail thin and currently in Army boot camp. He joined to be a helicopter mechanic and also due to him knocking a chick up. I knew it wasn’t going to turn out well. It was his life, but something needed to be done.

Then there was Randall Griscek Jr, my stepfather. He was a 6’0 tall and as I stated before, a functional alcoholic, who liked to project being the boss. We all knew my mom was in charge. I knew eventually in the next two years; he and I were going to have a “come to Jesus” moment.

I had two younger half siblings. Randall III who was 11 years old and then there was my sister Erin, the only girl, who was 9 years old. Being the only girl, and my mom’s favorite, she was treated like a princess.

With breakfast finished, I had some time before leaving for the meeting with the lawyer and went back upstairs to work on my plan. Today would either jump start my plan, or I’d have to continue playing the long game.

I was working on my plan when I heard the intercom key up.

“Barnim, get moving and get ready. We have to be at the lawyer’s in an hour, so if you aren’t down here quickly and I have to go up there, you aren’t going to like it.”

As I got dressed, I thought about what this could do for my plan and what I needed accomplish at this meeting. There were somethings I needed to get done in the next two years, and if this all went well, it would put me ahead of the curve. If nothing came of this, I would need to bust my ass to get where I wanted to be at the end of two years. Which would give me not a lot of free time to pursue the couple of fun things I wanted to do.

About 10 minutes later in the kitchen, I got a look from my mom. It was the “Are you really going to wear that look”. To my knowledge this wasn’t a formal meeting, so there shouldn’t be an issue with jeans and a polo shirt. I mean they were clean with no holes.

“Yep. They’re clean and presentable.”

There was a sigh. “Get in the car.”

It was another eerily quiet car ride with mom. It took about 30 minutes to get to the lawyers’ office. Looked like Mr. Carrigan ran his law office out of a renovated house in Jonesboro which was typical of middle Georgia. Lot of businesses were run out of what used to be houses. The place was well maintained, but you could tell it had been around for a long time. We were greeted as soon as we walked inside.

“How are you doing Lilka? I’m curious as to why you have the urgent need for a lawyer.”

“I’m doing good. It’s technically my son who is in the need of lawyer.”

“Let’s go sit down and this young man can explain why he’s in need of my services.”

The formal dining room was set up as a conference room. We sat down, and I began telling the story of the incident with mom filling in details. When I finished, Mr. Carrington excused himself and brought back some bottles of water.

“Sorry, I should have offered when y’all got here. So, what is the end goal your looking for Barnim?”

“Well, Bob. My goal is this. In lieu of suing the hospital in court and pursuing criminal charges against the doctor, we ask for a settlement and the doctor is required to complete anger management training from a neutral party. Finally, they will cover any lawyer’s fees and any outstanding medical bills from my stay.”

Mr. Carrigan sat back, and I could tell he was measuring his words carefully. He stared at me for a couple of minutes, then all of a sudden, he smiled and started laughing. This brought a confused look to my mom’s face.

“Lilka, I have severely underestimated the young man in front of me. First, I called him by his first name, which I wouldn’t do with any other client during the first meeting. Unlike any other 16 yr old, he challenged me on it by using mine. Then he laid out a coherent and well thought out plan.”

I could see the gleam of pride on my mom’s face, something I had not seen a lot of in my former lifetime. It was something I decided that I wanted to see a lot more of this time around.

“So, Mr. Badzinski. Do you have a course of action you’d like to see if I was to take your case? I’m also curious as to what you’d do if you were to get a settlement.”

“Well, as to the case. I would ultimately like to get a settlement of around $150,000.”

Watching the reaction on both their faces was worth it. I could tell from the looks, they both thought I was crazy and probably greedy as well.

“So first I’ll tell you how I think this outcome is feasible. Then I’ll give you my plan for using said funds.”

I let it all sink in for a minute. They were still in sort of shock from my earlier statement. I had thought about this all last night, and earlier this morning. I then laid out my thought process and reasoning.

“As the doctor’s employer, the hospital was liable for his professional behavior. Offering countless additional tests when a number had already showed nothing, was a way to pad his curiosity and the hospital’s coffers. We should start out at somewhere between $500K and $750K. Though I was only looking for about $150K, this would allow them to feel like they got the better of the deal. If they balked, then we would file a motion to get info on the doctors’ patients and insurance filings for the last 10 years.”

My mom just sat there with an amazed look on her face. I don’t think she would have had that look if she knew that her 40 yr old son’s mind was in his 16 yr old body.