Chapter 24: Misery and Company

Dexter decided that it was time to watch the television mounted on his hospital room’s wall. He found the control and turned it on. He hoped that something interesting had happened to draw attention away from his situation. To his dismay and horror, that wasn’t the case.

Even though the shooting had happened the previous day, they were still replaying it. He turned up the volume wondering what they were saying about him.

Dexter watched incredulous. He couldn’t believe the things they said about his behavior. He watched the broadcast of the shooting, fascinated by the difference in his recollection of the events, and what the reporter had said about them. One of the commentators compared his actions to a modern day version of David versus Goliath. He almost tore his stitches out, he was laughing so hard.

In addition to the segments about the events at the courthouse, there were segments about his website. Dexter listened to the television totally baffled by what he was hearing. He couldn’t believe the kinds of things they were saying about him. He wondered if anyone had talked to anyone who actually knew him.

Some pundits called him a communist, socialist, and anti-corporate activist. Other pundits asserted that he was the defender of the working man. A university professor type had declared that he had single-handedly turned business practices upside down with the consequence that the long term economic impact would not be known for one or more years.

Whether it was the result of the news broadcasts or not, people at the hospital treated him strangely. It was as if they didn’t know quite how to deal with him. He didn’t understand it. He wondered how celebrities dealt with the looks and stares.

Mark entered the room and walked over to Dexter.

He asked, “How are you doing?”

“I’m bored. They won’t let me use my cell phone so I can’t call Eric and find out what is happening with the website,” Dexter said. “I’m worried about it.”

“I talked to Eric. He’s on top of things,” Mark said.

“That’s good to know,” Dexter said.

Mark said, “I’ve got some good news.”

“What?” Dexter asked.

“Your visit here is covered under your insurance policy. Anything not covered by your policy should be picked up by your wife’s insurance,” Mark said.

“I’ve got the money to pay for it,” Dexter said.

Mark picked up the nurse call button and examined it.

Shaking his head, he said, “It’s just insurance.”

“No,” Dexter said stubbornly.-

Mark twirled the nurse call button around by its cord. He said, “Look at me. I’m a cowboy with a lariat.”

“Put that down,” Dexter said.

Mark put the nurse call button down just out of Dexter’s reach. He said, “The papers are already signed. Don’t worry about it.”

“I’m not taking anything from her,” Dexter said crossing his arms.

Mark shrugged his shoulders and said, “I’ll look into what we can do.”

“Do that,” Dexter said.

Mark walked out of the room while Dexter muttered, “I’m not taking a damned thing from her.”

A couple of minutes later, Janet stepped into the room. She closed the door, and stood there looking at Dexter.

“Get out of here,” Dexter shouted.

“Now that I’ve got you where you can’t run off ... there’s no way I’m leaving!” Janet said with a smug little smile.

Dexter looked around for the nurse call button. He spotted it and reached for it. It was just out of his reach.

“God damn it! I’m gonna kill Mark!”

Janet pulled a chair over to the side of the bed. She sat down and studied him. Dexter crossed his arms over his chest and turned his head away from her.

Janet shook her head and then said, “Look at what we’ve become. Do you realize that we’ve been married for nineteen years?”

“We’ve been married for eighteen years and separated for one,” Dexter said.

“You missed our last anniversary,” Janet said.

“I didn’t miss it. I ignored it,” Dexter said.

For a long time Janet didn’t say anything hoping that he would say something. Finally, she said, “I’ve had a lot of bad days in my life.”

“Join the club,” Dexter said.

Janet said, “One of the worst days of my life started at six in the morning. I had a conference call with the group in Ireland. It was first thing in the morning, and I hadn’t even had a cup of coffee before it started. It lasted until I dropped the kids off at school.

“I drove into work and found a pile of work on my desk that hadn’t been there the day before. There was a note on it that I had to finish it before the end of the day.

“To make matters worse, someone had shoved a cattle prod up my bosses butt, and he was doing everything he could to make all of us suffer. I worked through lunch eating a stale sandwich from the shop around the corner. The afternoon was more work, and more meetings. I had so much work that I knew I was going to have to stay late, just to only stay a little behind.

“I still had three hours worth of work on my desk when I found out that I had to attend a dinner engagement with my boss and one of our customers. My boss wanted me to be there with the them.

“This customer is a real jerk. He thinks he is God’s gift to women. I couldn’t believe it when he bragged about his ten inch cock to the waitress. He kept hitting on her throughout the whole dinner. My boss laughed it off like it was some sort of joke. I wanted to disembowel both of them with my dessert spoon so badly that I could taste it.

“My boss and the asshole decided that they wanted to check out one of the local strip clubs. I had to listen to a half hour of comments about lap dances. Fortunately, my boss didn’t require me to go there with them. They left for the strip club leaving me to pay the damned two hundred dollar dinner bill. I had to put it on my credit card.

“I finally escaped and made my way home. I nearly had an accident on the way there. I was so tired that I basically fell asleep for a second. I woke up to a horn blaring from the car next to me. I had drifted out of my lane.

“I stepped through the door thinking that I was finally home. I had reached my sanctuary from the harsh cruel world. I could relax, knowing that I was safe and sound.