Chapter 3

Tiffany Rivers was at her husband’s company picnic when she saw Sheriff Tom Brady drive up. Her day had not gone well and she already had a niggling that something wasn’t quite right in the back of her mind. Her anxiety increased when he made his way directly towards her and her husband. After fighting her emotions through the obligatory handshakes, he led them to an area with a little more privacy. Upon the news of the accident, she could no longer keep it together resulting in her knees collapsing. She made an unsuccessful effort to latch onto her husband while he made no attempt to catch her. In fact, she thought he went out of his way not to slow her fall.

“For goodness sake Tiffany, stand up and control yourself. You’re making a spectacle out of us” her husband growled in a low pitch tone.

In a fervor, Tiffany got to her feet and began looking for her purse and car keys to head to the hospital but the Sheriff insisted she ride with him due to her state of emotion. The ride was agonizingly slow which gave her time to reflect back to when she was young, naive and pregnant. She was coerced into signing a pre-nup before they were married which basically trapping her in the marriage due to lack of personal funds. She found herself wishing it had been her husband and not her son that was in the hospital only to chastise herself for such ugly thoughts upon which the cycle would begin again. Billy was a good boy at heart, but the friends he chose were based on social politics and alliances as directed by her husband which resulted in them having little if any moral character. Even family life was about improving social standing and reputation rather than teaching right from wrong, but despite that, she tried to it as often as possible.

— Tiffany Rivers Once word of the accident got out, none of my so-called friends showed up to show concern which unfortunately didn’t surprise me much. I learned a long time ago that the circle of women I belonged to were superficial at best. It was all about keeping up appearances and acting as expected by the community at large.

I lept out of the Sheriff’s car and sprinted into the ER desperately clinging to the hope that Billy’s was going to be alright. A nurse redirected me to a waiting room and told me there was nothing I could do other than wait. After spending six hours in the emergency waiting room, a doctor finally came out to speak with me.

“Mrs Rivers? I’m doctor Strazinsk and I apologize for leaving you out here on your own. With the holiday and all, we are short handed and needed everyone on this one. Your son is lucky to be alive. He suffered three broken ribs, a broken humerus, collar bone and clavicle not to mention three broken vertebrae in his neck and a cracked cranium. There doesn’t appear to be any visible nerve damage to the spinal cord but that could change if we aren’t able to keep the swelling under control. We won’t know until until Billy regains consciousness and the swelling goes down. To be on the safe side, we’ve immobilized his head and neck in a halo until we know what kind of trauma we’re dealing with. Do you have any questions?”

My hands flew up to my mouth involuntarily as the sobs tried to take control of my body. “Will he be able to walk again? How long do you anticipate him being here? What do all these injuries mean?”

Dr. Strazinski took a minute to gather his thoughts. “I just can’t say until he regains consciousness and we see what nerve damage may or may not exist. From a purely physical standpoint, I see no reason why he couldn’t walk again, but I doubt he will ever be able to participate in any physical sports at a high level again. Like I said, we’ve detected a few ticks here and there in his lower extremities so we think there is a good chance that in time he will return to normal.”

Tiffany nodded her head to the affirmative. “He didn’t play many sports because he was in a band with his girlfriend. What do you mean by ‘ticks’?”

The doctor rubbed his hands on his chin thoughtfully. “A tick is basically an involuntary twitch or movement when testing reflexes. We noticed a few which is a good sign. Spinal injuries are still an enigma these days, maybe someday we’ll know more. As for your other question, I expect him to stay here for about two weeks and then we’ll re-evaluate.”

Tiffany exhaled deeply. “OK doctor, thank you very much. When can I see him?”

“He’ll be in the recovery room for an hour or two and if all goes well, we’ll then move him to an ICU room and you’ll be able to see him then. Oh, and one more thing ... your son’s blood alcohol level was 0.15% which is approaching blood poisoning range.”

————————— Friday Sep 8, 1978 Billy regained consciousness four days later and it wasn’t but a few minutes before a nurse showed up at his side and began taking his vitals. The throbbing pain in his head and neck make it hard for him to understand what the nurse was saying so he just stared blankly at her. The number of body parts he wasn’t able to move was very disconcerting since his left arm was the only thing that seemed to respond to input, but he figured it probably wasn’t too bad for being hit by a truck. A quick check of the head revealed a metal device anchoring his head to his shoulders, it also told him he had long hair and his skin felt smoother than normal. The right shoulder and arm were in a cast and the ribs were very tender at any attempt to move. He rubbed his eyes and was shocked to see a young persons hand in front of his eyes. “Holy crap!” he thought, “what the heck is going on? Did they give me some kind of hallucinational drug?” His hand continued south exploring whatever parts of his body he could reach and nothing felt like what he remembered. The slight paunch in his gut was gone and and the skin was soft and tight everywhere he touched. All the facts pointed to a teenage boy body which made absolutely no sense whatsoever. The nurse came over and gently moved his hand back to the side of the bed and whispered: “Billy, the doctor will let you have some visitors in a few hours so get some rest. You look like you’re in pain so I’ll give you something for it. Sweet dreams.”

‘Billy? There’s that name again’ he thought as the medicine started to dull the pain and fog his brain some more. With the last vestiges of lucidity, he tried to look around but that dumb halo was preventing him from moving his head to get a better look around. While not being an expert at what a hospital room should look like, there was something not quite right about what he could see and hear. Several hours later the jolt of the bed moving was enough to shock him into a brief consciousness where a female face was looking into his face.

“We’re moving you to your own room where your parents and girlfriend are waiting” said the nurse.

‘Parents? Girlfriend? I had neither when I woke up this morning. What is going on?’ he thought to himself. The trip to the next room took fifteen minutes but thoughts, images and feelings of being hit by a truck hit him which only made him more confused. To make matters worse, there was something off about this hospital and everything in it. The clocks on the wall, decor, materials and electrical devices or perhaps the lack of them reminded him of hospitals when he was a kid. They rounded a corner into a private room and one of the most beautiful blonde teenage girls he’d ever seen came bouncing across the room, grabbed his hand and began crying. An older, more dignified woman he had never seen before grabbed the other hand which was barely protruding from a cast and started talking:

“Billy, my boy. You had us so worried, but the doctor said you were lucky and should make a full recovery, although; you might end up with some arthritis in your neck when you get old.”

“Get old? I’m already old, what’s this woman talking about?” thought Billy. Behind the older woman was a distinguished greying man probably in his mid forties standing in the doorway with a neutral expression on his face.

“For goodness sakes Tiffany, don’t sugar coat it for the boy” he said while stepping close enough for Billy to see him better. “Young man, what you did was stupid and careless and Cindy here told us she tried to stop you from skiing but you wouldn’t listen. Next time, you might want to follow her advice. Your shenanigans have distressed your mother and Cindy and will most assuredly cost me a small fortune in medical and lawyer bills before it’s all over. I have business to attend to so I will see you later.” Then he turned around and was gone.

Billy tried hard to focus his eyes on the older woman and realized she must be the mother of which the man spoke of. He had no idea who these people were but but figured playing along with them to better understand the situation was the best course of action for the time being.

“I’m guessing you are my mother and he is my father? What are your names and where do we live?” Billy croaked. His throat felt like he’d swallowed gravel and the overall sound surprised himself. Tiffany’s look of concern turned to that of anguish as she pulled back slightly. His left hand got yanked a bit and the blonde beauty quickly shifted in her chair to get his attention.

“Billy, do you remember me? I’m Cindy, your fiancee. Surely you haven’t forgotten who I am!” she said with an air of panic.

His eyes moved to look at her better before replying: “I’m sorry, I don’t remember you. Please forgive me. How can I forget someone as beautiful as you?”

Tiffany raised her eyebrow at her son much like Spock from Star Trek might do.

“Okay Romeo, what gives? You never talked like that before.”

‘Should I use some humor or be serious?’ he thought to himself. “That’s because her radiance makes me strive to be more eloquent so I can address my princess properly.”

Cindy cooed, “Ohhh, can I keep him? I think I may like him better than the old Billy!”

Tiffany ignored Cindy’s comment and wondered if head trauma could completely change a person’s personality. “Sorry about your father, he can be insensitive at times. Just be glad you’ve forgotten what he’s like because you’ll be getting a bigger dose before too long.”

“Is he always an asshole like that?”

“BILLY!!! I don’t ever want to hear you talk about your father like that again, do you hear me?” Cindy leaned back in her chair and tried to repress a giggle. Finally, Tiffany broke down laughing, too.

“Who are you in there and where is my Billy?” she asked. Billy cringed inwardly and prayed it was a rhetorical question. Thankfully, the doctor walked in to save him from further interrogation.

“Miss” he said addressing Cindy while eyeing Tiffany to gauge her reaction, “could you please excuse us for a bit while we examine him?

Cindy unnecessarily leaned over to kiss Billy making sure her boobs rubbed on his hand. “See you tomorrow.” She licked her lips sensuously and turned for the door.

The doctor turned to Tiffany. “Please have a seat while I begin.”

Tiffany expected a complicated time consuming exam but it was over in a matter of minutes. The doctor poked and prodded different parts of the body while asking Billy questions about what he could and couldn’t feel or move. Finally, the doctor turned to Tiffany after jotting down some notes and gave her the score.

“As expected, there is nerve loss resulting in the lack of motor control and feelings in his lower extremities. It’s really too early to tell until the swelling goes down and the pressure on the spinal cord is relieved. Based upon the X-rays and what I’ve seen, I think there is a good chance he should recover full use of his legs, but they will probably never be what they used to be. We’ll start some physical therapy in a few days to maintain his range of motion and see how it goes. Nurse Madison will be here in a few minutes to get him ready for bed. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

With that, the doctor left the room as nurse Madison entered and began doing her nightly tasks starting with rotating the bed. Billy took this opportunity to engage the nurse in some conversation.

“Nurse Madison, how long have I been in here?”

“Your accident was earlier this week during the Labor Day weekend and you’ve been in a coma with head and neck trauma. I understand the paramedics lost you briefly back at the beach. It’s a miracle you survived.”