Chapter 10

Doctor Miller was just full of good news—not.

“Mister Danson, the hematoma, swelling of the brain, has completely receded. Mentally you will be as normal as can be, that’s for sure,” he said. But...”

“But?” I said.

The part of the brain that controls the body’s motor functions has been damaged. You’ll be able to use your arms and legs, but only to a limited degree, well, on your left side; your right side will be okay. We’ve been hoping for a little better outcome. But well...”

“Damn,” I said.

“There will be some therapy of course. And, there is hope that what we are seeing at this time, might be improved by that. We’ll just have to see,” he said.

We talked a little longer. I was told that my ex-wife and my so-called nephew were not hurt too badly. The woman had some more or less serious bruises, but they’d all reacted well to treatment. I breathed a sigh of relief: I did not want her hurt or the boy.

“Herbert, I do not know how I can ever repay that man,” she said. “But he has to let me try!”

“The same goes for me,” said Herbert. “He saved our son. For me, Jack Danson is my brother. He won’t see it that way, but he is.” She nodded.

“Doctor Miller, says he needs to be in the hospital for some time, not sure exactly how long. We need to be here and talk with him. Help him,” he said.

“Yes, but will he let us, especially me?” she said.

“We won’t know until we try. He’s going to be handicapped. That might be the key. He might let us help him because of that,” he said. She shook her head.

“Or, he might see it as yet another way to make me suffer,” she said.

“When I talked to him yesterday, I came away with the feeling that he would talk to us. Like I told you, he didn’t know it was you and Junior that he saved, not before. He does now since I told him. He was confused, like I say, at first, but then he seemed to understand and come around to wanting to talk. He did say he wanted to talk to the doctor first, but that he was willing to talk to you afterwards. Now is the time,” said Herbert.

“How bad is his injury?” she said.

“He’ll be having a lot of therapy, that’s what the doctor told me. But he will be able to walk and do things, just not like he did before. He’ll be slow and maybe a little on the clumsy side, but not totally disabled,” he said. She nodded and began to cry.

“I’m afraid to talk to him, Herbert, terrified!” He nodded.

“I know. Very understandable,” he said. “But Jack, I mean Junior, is willing to talk to him too. He wants to. Our boy is a lot smarter than most fifteen-year-olds.”

“Yes, he is,” she said. “And a lot smarter than me for sure!”

The two conversationalists turned toward the entry way. “Mom, Dad,” said Barbie. “I overheard part of what you were saying. I have something to say. Something I’ve been thinking about for some time. Something that maybe you’d like to consider.”

The two elder Halsteads looked at each other, and then back toward their daughter. Herbert Halstead nodded.

“Her idea has merit, Stephanie. I’ve heard him say something of the same in the past myself. I never took it as literally as did Barbie. But...” he said. His wife nodded.

“I understand, but how are we going to present her idea to him? Or better, who is going to present it,” she said. “And what about her? Is she going to go for it even if he is interested? I mean he’ll have the money, but he is going to be permanently handicapped.”

“Stephanie, none of this is certain. But the woman is not married, never has been. She’s been working among convicts, including Jack, for a long time. Why is that? The money? She could make more working somewhere else. I think we need to propose it to the two of them. Her first maybe, and if she goes for it, then him,” said Herbert. She nodded.

“Okay, I’m onboard. There is one other thing to maybe consider. What about getting Barbie to do the proposing to him. I mean if Allison goes for it?” she said. He nodded.

“Yes, we will consider that option if things look to be working out,” he said.

“Good,” she said.

“Jack? You want me to maybe marry Jack,” said Allison Hill. “And, he’s disabled, but rich?”

“Yes, well disabled. But the rich part will be up to him, or maybe the two of you to decide. Up till now he has turned down offers to make him rich. A good job, yes, he’s accepted that, but the big money no. But the offer will be out there for the taking, accepting,” said Herbert.

“And he’s agreed to be my fiancée?” she said.

“No, he doesn’t know about any of this yet. We needed to clear it, the offer, with you before we chanced asking him if he’d be good with it,” said Herbert. “He’s still in the hospital undergoing therapy to get him to walking on his own among other things. I didn’t want to give him any false hopes.”

“Mister Halstead, I liked Jack. I did my best to take care of him when he was inside. And I was happy to be part of his rehab after he came out of his coma. But the man is desperately depressed. I’m not a trained psychologist. I can’t fix all of his problems much as I’d like to. I’ve always hoped to find me a man who was stable and wanted to be with me because of me,” she said. “I don’t...”

“Allison, to begin with, please call me Herb. Jack trusts you. Trust to him is everything. The fact is you are one of the very few people he does trust, at least to any significant degree.

“I don’t really know how he is going to react to any of this. But I have a good feeling about our chances. And, as for you not being a psychologist. That’s nonsense. You are a woman. A man, any man, needs a woman to be there for him and to love him and guide him and well, be his woman,” he said.

“Mis ... Herb, you’ve got eyes. I’m way taller than Jack. I’m overweight though I am working on that particular shortcoming. And, as for looks, well let’s just say I see myself as not being actually ugly. I know his ex-wife was stunning; he’s told me so himself. Can you see him settling for a loser like me?” she said.

“Loser! Hardly. You are a great girl and a great catch. Yes, I can see him going for a woman like you. Oh yeah. Yes, he does have issues with his ex, but with you on our side, I think we may get him to a point where he can get by those issues and rejoin the family. We need to get him there, Allison. We need, not just want, but need to get him there,” he said. “Whaddya say?”

The woman across from him stared for a long minute. She leaned forward on the table and looked down. Without looking up she spoke.

“Okay, Herb. I guess I’m onboard. I mean if he is indeed interested after you clue him to the program. But I am not nearly as sanguine as you about him going for this. I was more than very serious about the man being depressed,” she said.

“Thank you, Allison. You won’t be sorry, no matter what the man decides,” he said.

I was able to walk, with a cane for short distances or a wheeled walker for more challenging efforts, but not fast and I was not really very stable, but I could get around. And, the good doctor Miller was releasing me from the confines of my medical prison; which, was way more humane and acceptable than Winslow ever was.

And, who should be there to meet me, upon that happy release date and time? Why none other than my benefactor and wife stealer Herbert Halstead himself. “How are you feeling?” he said. I gave him a noncommittal look.

“Okay, I mean how should I feel. Oh, but I am confused; I almost forgot that part,” I said. He nodded. I thought my remark was kind of humorous. I guess he didn’t think it was all that funny.

“We have to talk a little. Would that be okay by you?” he said. I owed the man big time. I knew he’d been the one to fund my therapy. That it was a fact that it had been his wife and son that I’d had occasion to save notwithstanding. Oh no, I did owe the man. And I’d known before he even showed up to wheel me out of Mercy General that we’d be talking. I wasn’t exactly sure about what, not exactly, but I knew he’d want to talk. What seemed a little odd to me was the fact that he was the only one there. No ex-wife, no faux nephew, no daughter, nobody but him.

Like I said I was able to ambulate to some degree. So once out the front door, I decided to show off. I got out of the chair and motioned him to lead the way. He smiled and did so.

“A little slower,” I said. “I can walk, with this cane, but not all that fast. Seabiscuit I’m not.”

“Oh, okay, sorry,” he said. My turn to smile and I did. The car was maybe one hundred feet off. I was kind of surprised that it wasn’t right in front of the entrance, but it was okay. I wanted to walk a little, and so we were.

Once in the car he drove us to the Hard Hat. It’d been a while.

Seated, drinks in front of us: he got to it. “You seem to be getting along better,” he said.

“Yes, slower than before, but okay, I guess,” I said. He seemed to notice that I needed two hands to hold my drinking glass, and I was a little shaky even doing that, but he didn’t say anything.

“Jack, you have to know that my wife, your ex-wife is going nuts,” he said. I wrapped my hands as tightly as I could around my glass to reduce the shaking, and it did help.

“I guess,” I said. “Tell her not to worry about it. It’s all good. Anyone would have done the same.”

“Like not really,” he said. “And even given that you’re maybe right. It wasn’t anyone who did it; it was you. The irony in that is almost too much to believe.”

“I guess. So?” I said.

“Well, I’m not really here to talk about Stephanie. I hope we can do that too, but really it’s about something else altogether,” he said.

“Oh?” I said.

“Yes, it’s about trust,” he said.

“Trust? Trust isn’t even in my vocabulary anymore. I don’t trust anything or anybody. No percentage in it.” I said, giving it to the man straight.

“No one?” he said, “how about me?”

“The man who stole my family?” I said.

“Yes, and I didn’t really steal your family. Yes, she did divorce you and marry me, but it was the right thing to do in a practical sense. You were going to be in prison forever. She knew it and she had a baby, your baby, to think of not just herself,” he said.

“Practical was it. The right thing was it. And, what about what I did for her. Was that practical?” I said.

“It was the right thing to do,” he said.

“Would you have done it for her?” I said. He looked down.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” he said. “I’d like to think that I would have been man enough to do it. Like you were man enough to do it. But I just don’t know.”

“Hmm,” I said.

“Jack...” he started.

“Tell me, Herbert old bud. If she were here right now, what would she want to say to me, do for me. Why would she want to be here, and I know she would? All of you have said it, all of you have pushed me to agree to meeting with her, get along with her. But just what in the hell do you imagine good might come of it, her being here. And yes, I do mean good for me not her. Selfish of me I know,” I said.