Chapter 19

Getting out of Coach Singleton's van when he dropped me off was also the end of my summer. The reason for that was that as soon as the Coach was gone and I had taken my gear up to my apartment I went inside to let Brodie know that I was home. Only he was not there and there was a note, in the kitchen, saying that I needed to call my mother as soon as possible.

Calling her with some trepidation I discovered my concern was warranted as Brodie had been hospitalized due to chest pains. By the time my mother told me where he had been taken I was already in my truck heading down the driveway.

Entering the hospital as a visitor versus a patient gave the place a different feel. Walking the halls to Brodie's room was serious for me as I was wondering how I was going to treat him if he gave me permission. Entering his room once I found it was very different from what I had expected. Instead of various machines breathing for him, monitoring him and everything else I was surprised that there was only a single machine that was monitoring his heart. Brodie was also sitting up with a book in his lap, reading, when I entered his room with only a cast on his arm to show that anything at all had happened.

Once we had said our greetings he told me how his so called heart attack had happened working out in the barn repairing one of the machines. The heart attack he said was mild but when it had happened he had been climbing up on the machine when he had a pain in his left arm that caused him to lose his grip and he had fallen, again on his left arm. Luckily though one of the farm hands was working with him and he had been the one to summon help even though Brodie stated he did not need any.

Once he was done with his explanation he asked how my time at camp had gone and I told him the truth about it all bringing a smile to his face. When I added what Coach Singleton had said about being added to the player to be watched list, it was icing on the cake for Brodie who broke out in a huge grin.

When we got quiet after my tale, I asked if it would be possible for me to take a look and see for myself what had happened to his heart. That brought on more questions that took me a while to answer but in the end, Brodie stated that it would be fine so long as all I did was to look. It never occurred to me that he would say no, but when he did after I finished my examination telling him that I could fix the damage, he told me that I would do no such thing because this was god's way of telling him that he would be departing soon.

I objected to that saying that might be normal for most people but I was no longer normal and I had this ability for a reason. In the end he was not swayed by my argument to help him suggesting instead that if I really wanted to help someone that I should head over to the pediatric ward and see if I could do any good there since those kids had their whole lives in front of them. We stayed that way for a while until the rest of the family arrived. Then it was the questions from them asking how he was feeling and how well I did at my camp. The family was still there when the doctor arrived for his afternoon rounds and by the end of his visit he stated that barring a problem overnight that Brodie would be released after he visited one last time in the morning.

Leaving that evening, I did take Brodie up on his idea that I should visit the children's ward if I wanted to help someone. The problem there of course was that there were too many doctors and nurses present limiting the time I had to look for someone I could help. Leaving that night I thought that I might come by early in the morning and see if an opportunity would present itself.

The following morning proved to be no better as there were more doctors and nurses as well as the rest of the staff that made a hospital function. Checking in with Brodie I found him talking with a nurse who had just told him that the doctor's morning rounds had been delayed as there had been an accident and he was involved. Brodie thought it was funny and laughed it off saying that they were doing anything they could to keep him hospitalized. I joined Brodie and the nurse laughing at his joke. Sitting around the room waiting for the doctor to arrive I discovered that even though he was slowing losing his grip on life it did not bother him and his humor was right there with anyone that came through the door.

Telling me to go out and get him some lunch, I did just that bringing back enough for both of us. Returning with the food I was stopped from returning as the nurse at the front counter stated that for some patients the smell would be distracting. I agreed with her as I was already eating my fries as I walked back to the hospital. The compromise we came up with was that I would wait in the lobby and I would call Brodie and he could come out and have lunch while we waited for the doctor to arrive to discharge him.

Looking around the room as we were finishing up lunch, Brodie asked, "You ever consider doing what you do, for someone pro bono?"

"What's pro bono?" I asked as I ate another French fry.

Looking over my shoulder, he answered, "The easiest way to describe it is doing something for someone who cannot or does not have the means to do it for themselves."

Turning around to see what Brodie was looking at, the only other person in the room was a girl a couple of years younger than me playing absently with the toys there. Seeing the bandages on her arms as well as only stubble or less on her head I guessed that she had been in a fire.

Looking back at Brodie with a questioning look, he replied, "When I asked the nurses the other day about her, they told me that she had been here about two weeks. Her mother had been air lifted to the burn center in Salt Lake City."