Edited by Barney R. Messed with by me.

I was fat, dumb and happy until Jason got hurt on his bike.

I am a medical equipment repair technician and a successful mystery writer. My mysteries always involve medical themes and settings. I was gathering background information for my next book and repairing a sterilizer at Metro Hospital when my company cell phone buzzed.

“Hello, Jane, (my assistant). What’s going on?” I asked.

“I just got a call from the hospital, your son is in the ER, and you are to get there ASAP”, Jane told me. “I could not get any details, but they said that he is in the ER of Metro.”

“Thanks, Jane. I’m already there, I need to replace a couple of covers on this sterilizer and I’ll go to the ER. If they call back, tell them 10 minutes”

When I got to the ER, I was directed to billing. That wasn’t going to work, so I asked for the ER department Manager.

After waiting for a couple of minutes, a nice looking young lady came up to me and introduced herself; “I’m Sally Jacobs, ER supervisor, can you tell me what is the problem?”

“Yes, I can, I received a call from my office stating that I urgently needed to get to the ER to check on my son; who was injured and being treated here. When I arrived I was directed to billing. If it was so urgent, why can’t billing wait? Now, you have two choices, let me go to my son, or answer in court for a false emergency call. Which is it going to be? The clock is running so what is it going to be?”

Mr ... I did not get your name; you need to calm...”

“Mr. Watson and I do not need to calm down, your hospital called my office who then called me and said it was urgent, so take to me to my son now!”

“I’ll take you back there now, and I am sorry for the seeming lack of compassion.” Ms. Jacobs said.

When we got there the doctors were working on the scrapes and cuts as well as ordering up some of the tests that they were going to do. Jason looked terrible and was unconscious. I could see scrapes and cuts on his face and shoulder; the nurses and the rest of the team that was in there were cleaning and irrigating the other wounds.

The head of the treatment team pulled me outside of the treatment area and gave me as much information as they could on my son’s injuries. Jason had been riding home from school when a dog ran in front of his bike and he crashed while trying to avoid the dog. He apparently hit a brick and concrete wall when his bike flipped on the curbing.

The injuries were extensive, but most were superficial. He was wearing a helmet, so while he suffered a concussion and was unconscious, there appeared to be no lasting brain damage. The cuts scrapes and road rash were just going to need time to heal. He also had a broken wrist, sprained ankle, and a dislocated shoulder. This main concern was that the handlebar of the bike struck him in the kidney area and there appeared to be some reduction in kidney function.

The doctor said that they needed to be prepared to do a kidney transplant if the kidney function did not improve after a few days. Because of that possibility, they needed to test me for a tissue match.

Of course, the first question was when can I do this?

“As soon as possible”, the doctor said. “We are admitting your son for observation, so if you can do the testing today, we can be prepared if the operation is needed. We are keeping your son sedated until the swelling in his brain is reduced. The other injuries will be treated here in the ER before we move him to intensive care.”

“OK, now that I know what is going on with Jason, let’s go see billing. Doctor, would you set up the test?”

That day I was put in a bed next to Jason. The tests were going to be done in the morning, but I was required to fast (not eat or drink) before the tests. They wanted me in the hospital so if the surgery was necessary, I would be right there.

Well, imagine my surprise and anger when I was told that they needed to find Jason’s biological father. It seems that not only was I not a match, but I wasn’t his sperm donor either. Someone was in big trouble.

I am Jackson (Jack), Watson. Sally Rundel and I were high school sweethearts. I was a little on the skinny side at 5’ 10” and 135, so I was a runner, not a football star. I was the city champion at the 4-mile cross country distance and the one-mile track distance. If you have never run competitively, track and cross country (sometimes called steeplechase) are very different races.

Sally was like me a bookworm. We were both in AP classes. I also studied several of the jock and grease monkey courses so I knew how to and enjoyed fixing machinery. I was a junior and Sally a sophomore when we met at an athletic tutoring session. We were tasked with taking ‘roided up’, stupid, assholes and showing them how to pass their classes. They were so bad, one of them was close to failing gym.

We managed to talk while we were there and found mutual interests in books. I liked almost every kind of fiction from Dumas to Louis L’Amour. She was into romances, science fiction (she could speak fluent Klingon), and mysteries.

We started dating and swapping books all through that year. I took her to the prom. She was absolutely beautiful. I had a very large trust fund from my maternal grandmother so I had a nice allowance and we went all out. You know, limo, upscale restaurant, hotel suite, the whole nine yards.

When we got to the dance, we were teased by a couple of the resident bullies, and Sally was bum’s rushed to leave me. But the jocks put a stop to it immediately. They understood that they needed to protect Sally or we would not help them to stay eligible.

We had a grand time, and after the dance, Sally gave me her virginity. I would like to say that I was magnificent, but the first time I was a 10 second wonder. Fortunately, Sally was too, and she calmed me down by saying; “Darling we have all night. We will discover together what works for us. Just relax and it will be great. I haven’t said it before, but I love you. Some day we will be man and wife. I promise.”

Boy if that doesn’t inflate your ego, and your appendage too. We did not get a lot of sleep, but for a virgin and an innocent, she took me around the world. Anal was something that she had read about and even had brought some Astroglide. She loved it, I enjoyed it, but I really liked to share our mutual oral talents.

I graduated and had enough credits that I entered college as a sophomore. Sally took her last required subject, tested out of her senior year and joined me as a freshman at the same college. The little smarty pants then proceeded to test out of all of the freshman required subjects and joined in most of my classes. My major was English Literature and Composition, her’s was Secondary Education and an English minor.

I was going to write the ‘Great American Novel’ she wanted to teach ‘momma’s little angels’. We flew through college and were apart only while she was student teaching. On our mutual graduation day, I gave her an engagement ring. She accepted, and we started planning our wedding. As I had access to my entire trust now that I was 21, money was not a problem.

What was a problem though, was that Sally was not comfortable with me paying for everything. She too had a trust, but not nearly as large as mine, and she could only draw an allowance until she got married or turned 25 whichever came first. Sally wanted a 50\50 budget, and then before we got married an iron-clad prenuptial agreement.

I agreed but secretly purchased an elaborate honeymoon to Tahiti and Australia. Sally had a passport, and so did I, so I never told her about the trip, until we got to the airport. We were in first class and got toasted by the others there.

It was a glorious three weeks. When we returned we moved into my grandmother’s house. (Another part of my trust) It had been brought up to date and Sally furnished it. She surprisingly kept all of the antiques and only updated the kitchen, bathrooms, and laundry room.

Sally found a teaching position at an all girl’s high school in the suburbs. I started writing. My first book was published just as Sally completed her Master’s Degree. We celebrated by going on an Alaskan Cruise that summer. While on the cruise, Sally told me she was pregnant. I was not surprised, she had gone off birth control, and was in our bed every night. And I was at that time a horny goat. Four of five times a week was normal.

Jason was born during Christmas vacation, a healthy 8 lb. 4 oz. bundle of a crying boy. Something happened to Sally, and the doctors performed an emergency hysterectomy. Jason was all we would ever have.

Writing did not take up all of my time, so I got a job as a medical equipment repair tech.

Fast forward to the test results reveal, Sally wasn’t there, but I was in a calm rage. The only good that came of that day was Jason’s kidney function returned to normal. He was also allowed to slowly come out from under the sedation.

Sally showed up and the doctor told her about Jason. At my request, he did not say anything about my test results. I left the hospital and drove home and packed enough clothes to last me a week or two. I rented an Extended Stay suite and turned my phone off. I needed to think.