Chapter 10

Marie put on her coat and took the elevator down to the lobby. She got mad when she saw that he had not come into the lobby to pick her up. She walked outside and approached the car. Becca had opened the door for her and Marie saw that if she got in from the curb side she would have to sit next to Becca instead of sitting next to Carl. She slammed the car door and started to go around the car to get in the street side of the car.

Alex turned to corner and put his foot hard on the gas. The taxi belched a huge amount of smoke from the exhaust pipe. He curses his brother for talking him into coming to France. Moscow was a hard place to earn a living but it was home and he had left his wife and children behind with a promise to send for them in a year. That was two years ago. Now his mother wrote to him and told him that his wife had a boyfriend. He took another pull from the vodka bottle he had between his legs. The French couldn't even make decent vodka. He swerved to avoid hitting a slower car and the driver honked at him to signal his displeasure with Alex' driving. Alex turned in his seat and made a gesture that the driver understood. The driver honked again and Alex stared at him and called the driver's mother some choice names. He turned around and saw a figure in front of him about the same time that he heard the sickening thud as he hit whatever it was. He didn't even look back, just stepped on the gas and sped away. He turned down a side street and got away from the area as fast as possible. He couldn't afford to have the French check his credentials or his taxi license. He was supposed to leave the country last year.

Marie didn't see the taxi. She felt the intense pain in her side and she was thrown up against Carl's car and the breath was knocked out of her. She grabbed the car trying to keep standing. Her legs turned to water and she started to sink to the street. She lost consciousness a split second before her head hit the street. Carl had been watching Becca while his was talking to her. She had watched Marie as she walked around the car and saw the taxi hit her. She screamed as Marie was thrown into the side of the car. She jumped out of the car and ran around to where Marie had fallen. Marie was still breathing and she screamed for Carl to call for an ambulance.

Marie was wheeled into the hospital still unconscious. They could see no sign of blood and it did not appear that she had broken any bones. She was rushed into the emergency room and Carl and Becca were told to wait in the waiting room. Becca paced the room waiting for some word on the young woman's condition. Carl kept asking her to sit down, but she just ignored him. After about two hours a doctor approached them.

"She's going to be alright. She has a concussion and is bruised pretty well on her side. She will be in some pain for several days. We don't foresee any major problems, although we would like to keep her overnight for observation. I'll give her some pain medication when she's released. She's a strong woman and she won't have any lingering effects from the accident."

Carl and Becca thanked him and they went to the front desk to make arraignments to pay for Marie's treatment. Becca looked over the paperwork and released that she never knew Marie's last name.

"I didn't know Marie's name was Osborne," she told Carl.

Carl didn't answer and she looked at him. He was staring straight ahead with a glassy stare. He started sinking lower and was holding on to the counter in front of him. Becca saw that he was about to lose his grip and she grabbed him. He was too heavy for her to hold so she gently lowered him to the floor. He lay on the floor with only his eyes moving and she could see he was trying to talk. She screamed for someone to get a doctor and she saw people in hospital garb running toward them. The young woman at the front desk had seen Carl start to fall and she had called for help.

Carl was immediately whisked into the emergency room and Becca was pushed back into the waiting room that they had just left. After what seemed like hours but was really less than a half an hour, the same doctor who had taken care of Marie came into the waiting room. He was carrying a paper bag with the contents of Carl's pockets.

"Mrs. Detroit, your husband has had a stoke. We have given him blood thinners and we located the blood clot in his neck. We busted up the clot with ultra-sound and I think he will recover fully. He is going to need months of speak therapy and he will have the have therapy to learn to walk again. Please realize that all of this is not going to happen overnight. I believe that it will be nine to twelve months before he is fully recovered. He's lucky he was in a hospital when he had the stroke.

Becca stared at the doctor, "A stroke? He's only forty-two years old."

"Well it not as common as in older people but it does happen to people of all ages. There is a possibility that this clot is the result of a sports injury or maybe even from when he bumped his leg hard. You will be able to see him when we take him to his room. He can't speak and his motor functions are impaired, but his mind is functioning and he is aware of everything around him. Please keep him as calm as possible and let him rest. He has a long job ahead of him."

A nurse came out much later and motioned for Becca to follow her. Becca walked beside Carl as they rolled him to his room. He moved his eyes to look at her and she couldn't tell if he was trying to speak or not. After the nurse left she put her hand close to his and he slowly moved his hand to hers and took her hand. Tears came to her eyes as she realized that this was a good sign that the damage wasn't as great as it could have been. She leaned over him and hugged him.

"Please get well Carl."

She stayed next to his bed until a nurse made her leave about midnight. Becca asked if she could see Marie and tell her about Carl. She had to explain that they had brought Marie in a little while before Carl had his stroke. The nurse took her to Marie and cautioned her that she only had five minutes.