Chapter 5

Later I woke up in the hospital recovery room. There was a large bandage over my stomach and an oxygen mask over my face.

“Do you feel better now?” said a nurse.

I said, “No” in a raspy sore voice.

Then she said, “Well you are a lucky young man because this happened to you in the ER. If you hadn’t been here when it happened, you would be dead right now.”

“Great,” I said.

The nurse said, “Well the surgeon had to remove the broken rib that was pressing against your diaphragm. I am sure he did a good job, but then I am kind of partial to my husband’s work. Also, I came up here to make sure no one else mistook you for someone else.”

Ok, she was sweet in a motherly kind of way.

“My parents?”

“Your dad is going to bring your mother back from the police station. From what he told me on the phone she is going to need to be treated downstairs and then she can see you in your room when we get you out of recovery.”

“Thank You.” Was all I got out?

She said, “So you’re Tim, are you?”

I nodded a yes.

Hum, “You sure know how to get in trouble, don’t you?”

“It seems to find me. At least today it does.”

“Yes, I was just looking through your records here, it doesn’t look like anything has ever happened to you before.”

“No, today has been quite bad.”

“So, any other bad days?”

“Not really.”

“School going ok, you’re a senior, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

I think I got this figured out; she is trying to get me to say something or talk so that I stay awake.

“Any girlfriends?”

“No, not really.”

Come to think of it, she looks like someone I should know.

“Any possibilities?”

“Not really.”

“That’s too bad, a big handsome young man like you. I would think the girls would be falling all over you.”

I smiled, “They do that. But I am not interested in them.”

“Oh? You like girls, don’t you?”

“Yes, I like one girl. In fact, she is what started all this.”

“Tell me all about it.” Here you don’t need the mask anymore.” And she took it off me.

I sang like a bird. I told her about Renée, the email, the pet’s name, and about how my day had gone from bad to worse. Even though I was a virgin and was planning on waiting for the right girl.

“How’s the pain now?”

“About a 5 I think.”

“OK, the sodium pentothal is wearing off, let’s give you something to help with the pain.”

“Thank you, nurse.”

“Betty, Betty Rainer.”

With the shot in the IV, I fell asleep, thinking about Renée Rainer.

Mom and dad came into my room later to see how I was doing.

Betty came in to see me often. She was always nice and talkative. She seemed really interested in my hobbies. I even did a rough cartoon sketch of her and her husband. It was ok, not my best work. But hey, with the pain and all I couldn’t move the way I normally would have. Apparently, they liked it a lot, because I saw it hanging in a frame behind the nurses’ station on one of my walks.

The day before I was released Betty gave me a few pictures of Renée from summer vacation. She said that I should paint her as part of my recovery.

I was shocked when I looked at them. She was naked on the beach. Then Betty said, “They’re from the Sunny Side Naturist Resort, we go there every summer.”

After three days, I was released from the hospital. It’s too bad dad has to sue the hospital. They were awfully nice to me and went out of their way to make sure I was comfortable. Dad says that he has to sue them to sue the doctor that misidentified me to the police. Oh, we are suing them as well. I understand that the police officers are suspended and will probably lose their jobs. The one may even be charged with attempted murder. Dad says that the city has already offered $100,000 to settle this quietly. Our lawyer gave the city a copy of the attack video from dad’s cell phone and the lawyer said they changed their position as soon as they saw it. He also gave the news media a copy just so they couldn’t claim it was faked, or something like that anyway.

Jason, the cop killer they mistook me for, died, I suppose getting shot in the head will do that. I just didn’t want to leave a loose end here just in case you cared. I know I don’t. I never owned a gun and never thought I would need one. Dad had a shotgun; however, it was old and he never used it. It was mounted on the wall in his den and I don’t think it even worked.

As you have already guessed, it turns out that Nurse Betty is Renée’s mom, and she spent a lot of time with me during my stay. Renée is not poor, the clothing and eyeglasses she wears are an act. They’re her way of keeping the boys at school away. Her dad works at the hospital as well, as chief surgeon, and much to my gratitude the one that saved my life. Oh, before I forget, his name is Tom.

I found out I had been expelled from school the day I got home. The school was trying to press charges against me for starting a riot and resisting a school official. Seems they couldn’t get the police to arrest me for some reason. I was left with the impression that the police wanted to stay as far away from me as they could. Our attorney said that he talked with the county prosecutor and there was no way they would even consider prosecuting me. The PE teacher had some kind of history of unnecessary roughness in the school system and that was before he even knew about the hospital incident.

Our lawyer, Mr. Airdack, served the school papers, later that afternoon – Reckless endangerment of a minor and assault resulting in injury. Also, we are suing the PE teacher.

Well anyway with my expulsion I will be getting out of that school project. Most of my friends came to visit me in the hospital. A few said they would stop by my house and see me when I got out.

I tell you I got the biggest kick out of the TV news people. They filmed me leaving the hospital and then had more at our house when we got home. I guess being almost killed by the police in a hospital bed handcuffed to the bed is newsworthy. I don’t understand why, I hear cops are always arresting innocent people and making their lives a living hell. Why should I be any different?