Chapter 86

Rita kept after me about sexual details until I had reached my limit with her. "So Rita how long you planning to hang out with us?" I asked.

"I want to get the US attorney to give me their word that they are not going to charge you. When he does that you will be able to get back into your house," she said.

"How long with that take," I asked.

"Probably tomorrow or the next day. I've got that cute burner phone number so why don't you just carry on with the factory thing?" she asked.

"Because I don't have the license yet," I said.

"I see, well let me see what I can do about speeding that up," she said walking away from me. That just pissed me off even worse.

"I know you are fucking her Buddy, but if she dismisses me one more time, I'm going stick a pencil in her eye," I said.

"Calm down she is trying to help. See what she has to say then if it isn't all you want to hear then go visit your friend Jeff. You know he would be happy to have you. Besides he could probably calm you down," Buddy said.

I knew that Buddy wanted me gone so that he and Rita could run around naked, I supposed. The day had gone by quickly with the interview taking most of the morning. After which Buddy and Rita sent me off to find Miss Sadie's nephew to pay him. They most likely wanted to have sex again.

It had been my experience, even though I was younger than either of them, that once was never enough. Anyway I found the kid and paid him a hundred bucks to cover us through Thursday night. If I didn't get into my place by then I was out of a place to stay.

When I got back, I found Rita looking like she had just been laid. "I called Andrew and he has the application complete and the Legal Drug Control Board is going to issue you a temporary permit to set up the business. After they inspect it you will be golden. Don't worry I'm on your side. Now get your ass out of town. I want you hard to find until the US attorney makes a decision.

I left the next morning after my walk. I was tempted to swing into Georgia to see Jeff, but instead I went to the mountains where I had lived previously. I wanted to be out of reach, but not appear to be in hiding.

I arrived in medium sized town of College Hill in the middle of the afternoon. Since my house had been sold and even the cabins where I worked were gone, I checked into a Bed and Breakfast in a small farm community like Farmer's Grove had once been. The B&B was a few miles farther down the mountain.

I made a call to Carlos' home, where I spoke with his wife. "Nita this is Rose, how are you and the kids?" I asked.

"We are very well thank you Senorita. Do you wish to speak with Carlos?" It was obvious she still had hard feelings. Well screw her very much, I thought.

"Sure, is he around?" I asked.

"No, he is at the village," she said.

"He and Juan are still working there?" I was surprised it had been two years and they still had things to do there.

"Yes," she said simply.

"Very well, I'll stop by there," I said. It was getting on toward quitting time but I decided to stop by anyway. When I did get to the work site, I found Carlos and his brother working on a large metal building. It looked like a child's giant toy, or maybe a jigsaw puzzle.

I wasn't really dressed for job site work, but I jumped in running up and down the ladder to the scaffold where they worked. I carried tools and parts up to them. We talked while we worked.

"Have you been ill?" Carlos asked cautiously.

"A little," I replied.

"It looks like more than a little," Juan said.

"A little more than a little," I laughed.

I found wrestling with the heavy metal pieces of the building wore me out. When I got tired, I got clumsy. I was climbing a ladder with a couple of angle braces when Luis appeared out of no where to distract me.

I missed a step on the ladder and took a hell of a fall. I tried to hold onto the ladder which led up to a scaffold. It was just by accident that the ladder slid from the edge of the scaffold without damaging it.

I found my skinny ass laying on the ground with two angle braces and a wooden ladder on top of me. I couldn't move, but I felt pain everywhere. Even I knew that the pain was a good sign. I knew I was injured and I knew I was bleeding. I have over estimated my abilities to work, and it might have cost me dearly, I thought.

"Help me Juan," I heard Carlos say as they began to lift the ladder which covered me. "Are you alright Senorita Rose?" he asked me.

"I think so," I said. The corner braces had cut me in a couple of places but they didn't seem too bad. The blood was seeping but it wasn't spurting.

"Juan get a towel from my truck," Carlos shouted.

My jeans were ripped as was the calf muscle under the jeans. Carlos was on the phone calling the Foothills Emergency Clinic. The Clinic in turned called an ambulance for me. I drifted in and out of consciousness for about ten minutes before I heard the ambulance's siren.

I didn't bother leaving any final messages because I had no doubt I would make it. I also didn't have anyone who would care if I didn't. The medic clamped the gash in my calf muscle and then packed it with some kind of gel. The needles came out and then I went out.

I did not wake up again until I was on a gurney in the rural Emergency Clinic. They knocked my ass out while they worked on me. When next I awoke I was in the Community Hospital located in College Hill. The Emergency Room Doctors at the Foothills Emergency Clinic had stopped the bleeding then sent me on to the hospital where there were real surgeons.

The system could operate efficiently in the case of emergencies, but was lousy in ordinary care. I knew that if I required long term, or specialized care, I was going to be looking at months of fighting the system. I really didn't like that possibility. I could only hope the damage had been corrected before I woke up.

I knew I could expect a drain on my finances right when I was planning the new venture. I knew that it was going to be fucked up but I also knew that I would stick with it. Since I didn't feel any pain I assumed I was pretty doped up.

"There is a man outside to see you," the nurse said. "Do you feel up to it."

"Why not?" I said. Even I noticed that my speech was slurred. "You know you probably should name a wing of the hospital for me. I'm here so much."

"Senorita Rose, how are you?" Carlos asked.

"I'm going to be fine Carlos don't worry. I am harder to kill than this," I suggested just before I fell asleep. I was barely able to add, "Don't worry this is not your fault. It's all on me."

The next time I woke up Buddy was in the room. "How the fuck did you know I was here" I asked. I was beginning to sound like the people I spent so much time around.

"They found Sylvia's name in your wallet. She called the hospital, then called me. Rita dropped me here on her way home," Buddy said.

"Ah is Rita still here?" I asked.

"No she is back with her hubby at the coast. They have had you out for a couple of days," Buddy explained.

"Not totally out. I can remember them coming in to ask how I planned to pay for the treatment," I said with a smile.

"That shouldn't even enter your mind," Buddy said.

"It doesn't but it was on their minds. Seems this National Health Care isn't any better than the old insurance was. It's all about the money," I said.

"Well the emergency care is still the best in the world. After that it gets a little dicey," Buddy said.

"That's what they tell me. So has the doctor told you anything?" I asked.

"Not a thing, but they are planning to come in shortly to talk," he explained.

"Okay," I said groggily.

"One bit of good news came yesterday. The U.S. Attorney called. You are in the clear on the shooting. You can move back home when you leave here," he informed me. The wheels in my head moved slowly.

"Take my keys and move in there," I said. "There is nothing you can do here. Better still why not bring the truck here and go visit Rita?"

"What you don't want me to visit you everyday?" he asked.

"Why would I want that? There is nothing you can do for me," I replied.

"I don't see it that way you evil bitch," he replied with a wide smile.

"Okay if nothing else, I'd rather you find a cleaning service to get the apartment back to normal," I said.

"I'm staying at Church Camp for a day or two longer. I'm sure Andrew can recommend a cleaning service to go down and take care of it," he said.

"Then take my truck to use till I get home," I suggested.

"Let's see what the doctor says," he suggested.

Buddy sat quietly in the corner for a while then stepped out to make a few calls. I'm sure he would have rather waited for the doctor, but he left anyway.

A short time later, Buddy led a man into the room. The man wore a white coat so I assumed he was a doctor. "Well they tell me you are a notorious spy or something like that. I'm supposed to take good care of you or this gentleman is going to break me in half, I fear." He said it in good humor, but I didn't think he was exaggerating too much.

"Don't worry about him. He is a big ol teddy bear," I said. "So what's the damage?" I was bracing myself for the bad news, which I knew was coming. Since Buddy had said they had kept me more or less under for two days, it couldn't be good.

"I assume you want it without the sugar coating?" the doctor asked.

"Right now I would just like it before I fall asleep again," I said. I knew I sounded snippy, but that was how I felt.

"Till we get you up, we won't know all your injuries. So far we know you have no lasting spinal injuries and that's the good news. You may have some disk injuries, but we won't know for sure till you are up and walking."

"Which brings us to your right calf. It was pretty well chopped up by a piece of steel that fell on your leg and then bounced once or twice before settling. They did some surgery to save your life in the ER clinic. We did some more here and saved about 60% of the muscle mass. How much it regenerates is debatable. It went a long time in trauma mode. The absolute best you can hope for is to have a limp all the time and it will be worse when you over exert yourself."