In Limbo
Dez whispered to herself that she was feeling at the edge of things again. When she left the Estate that afternoon, she didn’t know if she’d ever be back. She liked her life - independent and peaceful. Her only concerns were getting to work on time and paying her bills. She had her painting, reading, going out to visit Matt occasionally. Cook and Martha and all the other staff had become her friends. It really had made her uncomfortable when she accompanied her sister to see Samuel earlier in the day. The day had not been unpleasant, in fact it had been very pleasant. She didn’t really pay much attention to the conversation between boss and employee. As she drove back to the city, to her private life, she felt odd. A quavery feeling in her midsection. She would have called it ‘her gut’, but her time spent with her sister had cleaned up her language. Laughing out loud, she said “Time to fix that! I’m turning myself inside out trying to be approved of by my dear sister.” Dez slammed her foot on the gas and, belatedly, looked for traffic. She didn’t feel the crunch of metal that rippled her fender as easily as if it were tissue paper. The car seemed to have come out of nowhere.
“Oh, my poor Old Faithful. She’ll never survive!” A face came to her shattered window. “I’ve called the police and an ambulance. Are you ok right now? Just don’t move. The engine isn’t running anymore. I’ll stay here with you until they get here.”
“Who are you? What happened? I think my arm is broken but I’m not sure. At least I had my seat belt on. This car is so old it didn’t have airbags. Do you have a cell phone? I guess you do if you called the police. Can you call my sister? She’s all I’ve got - I don’t have any other family. What did you say?” Dez could feel something warm and wet oozing from somewhere. She was getting tired. So tired.
“Don’t go to sleep…. My name is Sandra… I was driving the other car….. Have a few bumps and bruises but otherwise ok.” The early evening was quiet, only a blackbird's call penetrated the quiet. “When the ambulance gets here, they’ll check me out. ….. There’s no other traffic tonight so it’s just you and me.” A light breeze made Sandra shiver, her clothes damp with sweat. “What’s your sister’s phone number?” Sandra had a few more than bumps and bruises. Her thinking was foggy, her sentences dragging themselves from somewhere inside.
Dez was able to turn her head, just enough to look for Sandra, quiet too long. She wasn’t at the window. Sliding down the side of Old Faithful, she was barely awake.
~~~~~
When Emelina got the phone call, she just about didn’t pick up. It was an unfamiliar number with No Caller ID on the little screen. Just as she was about to turn off her phone, she hesitated, felt a tug in her gut - that’s what Dez would have called it - and picked it up. Hesitantly, she said “Hello? Who is this?” The silence was so long that she just about hung up .“Another telemarketer”. But a whispered voice said: “My name is Sandra Edington. Your sister and I were in a car accident. The police and the ambulance have been called. She wanted me to call you.” Then the line went dead.
Emelina froze. “Oh Dez, what happened? Where are you? What should I do? How can I find you?” Digby, Martha and Cook had all gone home. She was alone in the big house. “I’ll call the police. They’ll know where she is…..or maybe the hospital….but she wouldn’t be there yet. Oh, I just don’t know what to do.” Tears trickled down her cheeks. “Jeremy. He’ll know what to do. If he was here we’d be in the car already and try to find Dez.” Emelina paced the dining room, picking up her purse, putting her jacket back on. The jacket she had hung on the coat tree after being out to see Samuel. Searching for her car keys, she lost her purse. “If I don’t get hold of myself I’ll be useless. I can’t call Jeremy until I know more…. But maybe a text to let him know that Dez would be in emergency. But I won’t know that for sure until I talk to the ambulance people.”
Her phone rang again. It was the police. “Hello! Are you calling about my sister? Where is she? Is she ok?’
“Slow down, ma’am.” A soft, professional voice reached her through the phone. “This is Constable Ted Gardner. Am I speaking to Emelina Crawford?”
“Yes, I’m sorry I was so rushed. I’m just so worried and I don’t know what to do.” Emelina’s voice was shaking, her legs threatened to give out from under her. She grabbed the back of the nearest chair and sat down. “Your sister is ok, ma’am. She’s got some cuts and bruises, probably a couple of broken bones, but she’s ok.”
Emelina’s tears poured down her face, no single tissue would have held them back. “Oh, thank goodness, thank goodness. I couldn’t lose her now or ever. I’ll go to the hospital - that’s where she’s going isn’t she? The ambulance is there?”
The young officer hated making these calls. He never knew what response he was going to get. Angry words spewing out of the phone, flat emotionless acceptance, or just an uncaring clicking off of the phone. This outpouring of emotion was really the most uncomfortable. Only the professional, almost scripted, dialogue that he’d learned from his mentor kept him sane. “The ambulance has taken her and the other party to Hartley General Hospital. Our car can come and take you there if you need us to.”
Once she knew that Dez was ok, Emelina was able to gain control over her outburst. “No, I’ll be fine. I’ll be on my way to the Emergency Room as soon as I make some calls. Thank you for taking care of my sister. And good night, sir.”
~~~~~
“First…call Jeremy. If he can get down to the Emergency, then Dez will have someone there before I can get there. Then, let’s see……Digby……I’ll call Digby.” When James got the call, he stopped making their supper to take it. “It’s Miss Emelina, Martha. I’ll get it.”
“Hello Miss Emelina? Is there something I can do for you? We’re about to have……..” James got quiet, his face stern. “What is it James? Is Miss Em all right?”
“We’ll be right there, Miss. We’ll meet you at the front door. Don’t you worry, we’ll get you to Miss Dez. You don’t need to be driving on your own. See you shortly.” James clicked the phone off, turned off all the burners on the stove, and got his jacket on. “Come, Martha, Miss Emelina needs us. Miss Dez has been in a car accident; we need to take Miss Emelina to the hospital.”
~~~~~
The rest of the evening passed far too quickly and at the same time far too slowly. Jeremy met his wife and the Digby’s in Emergency when they arrived. Taking his break early, he had come down as soon as possible. Despite being a staff doctor, he couldn’t see Dez right away. When he did, she was bruised but smiling and a little groggy from some painkiller they had given her. “They’re sending me for X-rays pretty soon, Jeremy. I think I’ll just sleep for a few minutes, ok?” She drifted off into the softened world of morphine. He stepped out of the cubicle and waited for the others.
“When trouble comes, it’s your family that supports you.”
~ Guy Lafleur
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