“Hi Marcus.”
“My real name is not Joe, its Peter and I am only a part time hot dog vendor.”
“You’re Navette’s father?”
“Yes, I am and I know your wondering why the secret. It goes back a few years. I was a young and resentful of my family’s desires for me to follow in their traditions. My father wanted me to be a stone cutter just as he was and I wanted to get out into the air and be around people. Those who know me as a hot dog vendor do not know me as a diamond dealer and those who know me as a diamond dealer do not know me as a hot dog vendor. I relieve a friend on the hot dog stand for a couple of hours while he tends to his wife who in the rehab home over on 51st. It lets me get out into the open air and meet people. My friends in the diamond club would not understand, so it is better to be Joe and keep it a secret. We kept it a secret from everyone. It would not be good if some people were to find that their diamond broker was selling hot dogs on the side. It’s has been nice to have you as a friend before being a boyfriend of Navette. I hope that wont change.”
“You sell hot dogs?” Bill asked Peter as they turned and walked together back toward the beech. It seems Bill didn’t know about this arrangement either.
“Dad what happened that caused you to get stranded on Dream Island?”
“I anchored the Marquise and brought the Melee (the name given to the dinghy and also the name given to small faceted diamonds used in jewelry for accent) over just as I have done many times before. I found my serene place, as usual, and lost all sense of time. When I went back to the beach the Marquise was no where to be seen and the Melee was nearly deflated. I don’t know how that happened. I must have failed to anchor the Marquise properly. When high tide came she must have found current and the rest is history. I hope that the Marquise showed up somewhere and is alright. I assume that is how you found me?”
“It is. The Coast Guard found it and it’s just fine. Mom and Betty are back at the dock waiting to hear. We better make our way over to the SEMPER FI and radio to them that you are ok.” The SEMPER FI was the name of Bill’s boat.
“I’ll take Peter and the Melee over and will come back for you two.”
It seems the dinghy was not large enough to take all over at the same time and the Melee. Bill would have risked it if it had been a life and death situation. But there was no need to overload the boat now. It gave Navette and Marcus a little time to talk about what Marcus had just learned. Navette didn’t know how Marcus would respond. The moment the dinghy shoved off Marcus looked to Navette with slight disgust.
“Why am I always the last to know these things? You would think I am a blabber mouth or something. Do you think that I would go find some diamond dealer and break the news that they are dealing with a hot dog vendor. It looks like if you loved me, you would trust me.”
“I do trust you. And Dad trusts you. That is why we are telling you now. We thought that you, of all people would be pleased that Joe, the hot dog vendor, would be my father. We thought it would be a pleasant surprise to discover that a friend and advisor would turn out to be my father.”
Marcus, catching a glimpse of his surroundings, seemed to dissolve his harshness and helped him get over this irrational thinking and revealed that it was kind of neat to spend a weekend with this friend whom he had known as Joe. “I guess it is pretty neat.”
Bill had made it to the SEMPER FI and stayed until Peter made it safely on board. They wrenched the Melee on board and Bill pushed away and turned back to get Navette and Marcus.
“We can talk about this later but don’t mention Dad being the hot dog vendor to Mom. She just would not take that news lightly.”
“I noticed that Bill didn’t know either.”
“You see, you are not the only one to discover hidden secrets. I’m sure Dad told him not to tell Betty or Mom.”
“Your mom doesn’t know?”
“She would not approve and Dad thought it best not to tell her.”
Bill was almost to the beach where Navette and Marcus stood. They grabbed each others hands and ran out through the water to meet him. Navette climbed into the dinghy and Marcus helped by pushing off.
“You looked as if you had done that before.”
“What’s that?”
“Pushing off the boat.”
“Well my brother and I used to do a little fishing on Lake Michigan.”
“Oh, a brother huh?” Marcus had revealed another bit of information about his family to Navette. In doing this he had also realized that he had secrets also.
Navette boarded the SEMPER FI first, then Marcus. Navette dropped the lift line to bill and he attached it to the dinghy and Marcus began cranking, raising the little boat out of the water and then swinging it onto the platform where it would remain until the next time it was needed.
“I radioed Betty and Bright and they were not amused over my negligence but glad to hear that I was ok.”
“Bill, if you would sail me over to where the Marquise is tied I will ensure the Coast Guard that I am not missing and we can bring her back home.”
Navette and Marcus made their way to the bow and caught some sun while Bill and Peter took care of the sailing. Navette heard Bill ask her dad about this hot dog thing and how, in the world, had he been able to keep it from Bright?
Navette and Marcus were enjoying the ride. Marcus was stretch out and Navette was sitting close as possible in a yoga position. “Our arrival was a little different than I had expected.
“I get the idea that things are never normal around here.”
“That is what makes these trips fun but it is also what makes me want to go back to Manhattan. I get a little bit of family, fun and sun and that’s enough to last for a while. I hope you have a good time.”
Marcus had made his mind up to have a good time and enjoy the things that Navette had planned.
“It already has been a blast and I’m sure it will get even better.”
However, Navette seemed to pick up a little sarcasm in his statement. They were approaching the dock near the Coast Guard station and there was The Marquise. Bill pulled along side the dock and Peter jumped out. “It looks in good shape Bill.”
Peter went on in the Coast Guard station and reported that he was ok and told them the story. It seemed that he was gone a long time but he finally walked out of the door and down to where the SEMPER FI was docked.
“Sorry I was gone so long. There was some paper work to fill out. Marcus, the marina restaurant serves a pretty good hot dog. Care to join me? I am getting pretty hungry. Come on Bill, I treat you as well.”
Marcus was getting hungry, but he didn’t know if those California hot dogs would be as good as Joe’s Manhattan dogs. When they entered the café the aroma of pizza overwhelmingly made an impression and all except Bill ordered pizza. Bill ordered the jumbo steak burger rare with extra cheese. Bill is a retired marine and he likes the taste of raw meat.
They took a seat at the window that overlooked the harbor and they could see the Marquise and the SEMPER FI tied at the dock next to the Coast Guard station.
“I have not known you to ever do that before Dad.”
“Do what?”
“Let the Marquise go off sailing by herself.”
“Your mom and I had a little disagreement yesterday and I guess I just wasn’t thinking straight.”
“What was the disagreement about?”
“Well, let us not talk about that now. Let’s talk about Marcus and how he is feeling after his incident. Bill, this guy took a bullet for the cause. He is a hero in Midtown Manhattan. Marcus did you ever see that girl you rescued again?”
“Yes, I did. As a matter of fact, she had something to do with diamonds and jewelry. She was a secretary for a firm there, let’s see, I believe it was called South Bees or So Bees or something like that.”
“Could it have been Sotheby’s?”
“Yes, that was it. Anyway, she thanked me and said if I ever needed any jewelry or art, to look her up. I asked where she worked and she said that, you know, what you said.”
“Well, Marcus, when you need any jewelry, you now know where to find it. But, it won’t be from Joe, the hot dog vendor, if you know what I mean.”
The pizza came and they were all very hungry. They began getting a slice from the large pizza they had ordered.
Marcus just then began to realize that Navette was eating pizza that she had told him many times that was not good for him. “What’s this? You're eating pizza? I didn’t think you would touch this stuff.”
“Just occasionally when Dad and I come here to this spot. We have made it a ritual.”
They finished there pizza and Peter picked up the check. “Navette, why don’t you and Marcus take the Marquise to her berth and Bill and I will go back on the SEMPER FI. Take your time; I’ll see you two back at the house.”
Marcus was feeling a little more at ease about sailing and had seen how Navette could handle herself around the boat. He was looking forward to the rest of the day.
As Navette and Marcus made their way back to the boat, Marcus still had some questions, in fact, several questions. “Do you think Joe actually made the mistake of not anchoring the boat? Or, maybe he did it on purpose to spend more time alone. Isn’t it unlikely that he would fail to secure the sailboat and deflate the dingy also?”
“His name is not Joe. You must remember not to call him that when around mom. So, practice now. And, yes, I do think it was an accident.”
Marcus and Navette had made it back to the Marquise. Navette told Marcus to climb aboard and when he did she untied the lines and boarded, pushing the boat away. She quickly started the engine and maneuvered cautiously into the open waters.
“How long have you been doing this?”
“Dad taught me to sail actually before he taught Emerald.”
“Who is Emerald?”
“Oh, Emerald is my brother that I told you about. He never liked water. In fact he doesn’t like holidays because everyone takes off from work and keeps him from working. He uses this time to organize. He won’t be coming out. He stays in New York.”
“How did he get the name of Emerald?”
“That is obvious. Remember, our family is in the precious stone business. Didn’t you notice that you are on the Marquise and the dingy was called Melee?”
“I had no idea where that came from.”
“You see, they all have something to do with diamonds. Marquise and emerald are shapes of cut diamonds and melee is small diamonds that are used to accent jewelry. My name is in reference to a shape of a stone: similar to the marquise. I think Dad is showing his mischievous nature by naming everything this way. Even our dog is named Princess, yet another diamond shape.”
“Joe must really like what he does.”
“You must stop calling him Joe!”
“Sorry, it is hard to change after I have known him as Joe for so long.”
“I do think dad likes his job, but sometimes I wonder. I know he enjoys his life. He enjoys being Joe the hot dog vendor when he is the hot dog vendor and he enjoys the diamond business when he is doing that. But, he has learned to balance all that with being a father and friend.”
Navette put Marcus on the wheel and she released the sail working the halyard until the sail was in place. She then took over the wheel and told Marcus to crank it tight. Navette positioned the boat for the wind and their speed picked up. They were now sailing. Navette set a course she was familiar with and held her steady.
“I certainly am impressed in the way you handle the boat. I love being your first mate.”
They were headed in now. They had already dropped the sails and the sun was getting close to the horizon. They were both quite and enjoying the sunset. Navette was gently steering the Marquise into the harbor when all of a sudden a boat came from nowhere and nearly hit them.
“Wow, what was that all about?”
“It is just one of those speed freaks. They can’t enjoy themselves unless they drive like a daredevil.”
Marcus stood up and Navette yelled out to sit down. About that time the wake of the speed boat gave their sailboat a huge rock and Marcus lost his balance and fell at the boat’s gunwale.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes, I think so.”
Navette brought the Marquise into the slip and quickly threw a rope around a dock cleat and cut the engine.
“Now here is the part that I don’t like.”
“What’s that?”
“We have to clean and secure the boat.”
They worked for about an hour, hosing, scrubbing and putting away things. Bill and Peter had left the Melee beside the slip and they had to wrench it back on board. When they left, they were pretty tired. The temperature was dropping causing Navette to drive much slower going home than she did when she thought her dad was in trouble.
It was dark when they pulled into the drive. When they entered the kitchen Peter was frantically putting seasoning onto what looked to be some type fish. Bright was setting on a bar stool with a glass of wine and looking at a magazine.
“I have decided to prepare a light meal tonight and one that Navette will appreciate. I thought we would have swordfish with only salt and pepper seasoning, sweet snap peas and garlic mashed potatoes. We will top that off with a light salad with red wine vinaigrette and pita bread. Desert is one of New York’s finest cheesecakes.”
“Dad, I thought you said light.”
“Well, I was going to grill four, twenty ounce steaks.”
Marcus was yet to officially meet Navette’s mom. She really hasn’t acknowledged him even being there. It made Marcus feel a little uncomfortable. He remembered reading in one of the books that Sammy gave him that one should step up and make the introduction with a deep desire to meet those whom you haven’t met. He decided to give it a try.
“Hi, Mrs. Tolkowski. I haven’t officially met you, you know, with all the excitement when we first arrived. I’m Marcus Holmes.” Marcus extended his hand as to shake hands with Mrs. Tolkowski. She returned the gesture, only a little more gregariously, as though she was more that interested in meeting Marcus. In fact, her actions reminded Marcus of someone, but it wasn’t quite clear who.
“Well, hello Marcus Holmes, it is good to finally meet you. Just call me Bright.”
Now he knew of whom she reminded him. But, Marcus thought there couldn’t be any connection. Could they? Bright was an unusual name and he knew that Peter could not have named her, but it would fit.
Marcus configured a slightly exaggerated smile as to really get into this introduction thing. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Bright.”
Navette realized that she had not officially introduced them. “Oh, I am sorry. It is my fault. I apologize for not introducing you two.”
“Yes it is, but we will forgive you. Now, what is it that you do Marcus and what is this about you getting shot?”
“It seems that I don’t know what my job is and yes I got shot, but I’m sure we can find something other than that to talk about. I hear you have your own magazine and with me wanting to be advertising executive, well, that sounds very intriguing. What is the name of your magazine?”
“It’s Jewelry World. It is actually the brain child of Peter, but I fell in love with it and it is a good magazine, if I do say so myself. You said you didn’t know what your job was. Is this some sort of denial or do you dislike your job that much?”
“No, it is just that my company, Sloan Advertising, the same company that Navette works for, has a new job for me and they haven’t told me what it is going to be. I have been assured by my friends that I will like it though.”
“I certainly hope so. Everyone should enjoy what they do in life. I’m certain you will enjoy working for Jewelry World.”
“Oh, I sorry, I said I was working for Sloan Advertising.”
“Well, it seems that I have been misinformed.”
Mrs. Tolkowski looked at Navette as to deliver a sly, but arrogant, demand to Navette to set the record straight.
But, Navette ignored it for the moment: “I think that is enough about business. I want to hear about Dad’s overnight stay on Dream Island.”
“It got a little chilly. I crouched down on the rocks. They held some warmth and blocked off the wind. I did alright. It gave me some time to star gaze and think. I wasn’t worried. I knew that someone would find me the next day. Anyway, your mom and I have settled our little argument. I told her she was right and that is that.”
Actually Navette’s mom and dad argued very little. They never argued around Navette and it did seem a little strange to her that an argument drove her dad to Dream Island. This thought led Navette to ask: “What was your argument about? Was it about me?”
Peter looked at Bright and spoke first. “No honey, it wasn’t about you. We have settled it now and it must be dropped. So, no more questions about the disagreement.”
“Ok, so, have you heard from Emerald?”
Peter looked at Bright again just as he had before: “No, he is probably head over heels trying to get organized in order to get ahead of the next guy. He is so driven, that’s his mom’s genes.”
With that being said, Bright turned around on her stool and began to set the table with plates, dinnerware, and etc. Navette and Marcus both felt they had just discovered the subject matter of the argument. But, both felt it was time to move on and Navette began helping her mother and Marcus ask Peter if there was anything he could do? “Get a bottle of wine from the wine cabinet and there is an opener in the drawer. You will find the glasses in that cabinet.” Peter pointed to the drawer and the cabinet respectfully and Marcus felt comfortable with this assignment.
“Well let’s sit down and enjoy this marvelous dinner.” Peter took a seat on the end of a table opposite Bright. Navette and Marcus set on opposite sides. The view was beautiful. It was dark and the lights of the valley made a beautiful picturesque evening view for what turned out to be a great meal.”
“Joe, it seems you can cook fish as well as you can cook hot dogs.”
Navette and Peter looked at Marcus as though the world was going to explode. Marcus immediately knew what he had done and with an effort to redeem himself he concocted a cover up story. “I am sorry, did I call you Joe. I meant Peter. There is this hot dog vendor that reminds me so much of Peter. I’ve never had one of Peter’s hot dogs.”
“That’s ok Marcus, she knows. That is what the argument was about. Emerald talked to Bright yesterday and told her. However, she didn’t know about my alias. You did give her more ammunition.”
Mrs. Tolkowski gave a look of disgust. “Anyway we have resolved the issue and Peter (said with a raised voice as to accurately name him) is going to quit the hot dog gig. My husband cannot be seen selling hot dogs.”
Marcus was somewhat relieved but still sorry he had made the mistake. He looked over to Peter and moved his lips to say I’m sorry. Peter nodded as to say, that’s ok.
Navette pushed her chair back: “Dad, the dinner was wonderful.”
“Are you not going to have some of that marvelous cheese cake?”
“Dad, I’m stuffed, maybe later.”
“Marcus, how about you?”
“Just a small piece.”
“It’s a New York cheesecake, they are all small pieces.”
“Bright, could you serve the cake?”
“You serve it dear. I would like to talk to Navette for a while. Would you join me in the parlor honey?”
Marcus could tell that there were things going on that he wasn’t sure that even Navette knew about. But, he and Peter felt it time to enjoy a conversation between friends: setting aside the fact that he was Navette’s father. They moved to the study where Peter told Marcus how he became a hot dog vendor.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Untitled Novel - Chapter 5
Navette and Marcus made it to the airport on time. The airport was packed with many New Yorkers going places for the Easter holiday. “Hey, are you the guy that I saw on the news that killed D.Man D.?” asked a girl sporting a tattoo of a snake on her neck just below her left ear. She looked at Marcus with a weird look and Marcus refrained from any response. Navette took him by the arm and tugged him along. They could hear her say something as she turned and walked away, but couldn’t make it out. Marcus had heard the name D. Man D. before, but did not know he had a following. Neither did he think someone he would meet at the airport would recognize him as the man who had shot this guy. It was upsetting and brought up some fears of gang revenge.
There were others who recognized him from the news also, but some you could tell didn’t quite know why and others who you could hear whispering the story of saving a girl from the attacker. They balanced the scale from the first girl and soon their thoughts were back to the trip and meeting Navette’s parents.
Marcus and Navette were now in their seats on the plane and Marcus was beginning to stir up curiosity about Navette’s parents and felt this would be a good time to bring up the subject. “You must tell me something about your parents. I’ll tell you what I know and you tell me what I don’t know.”
“I’m afraid that I cannot do that in the time it takes to get to LA and I really would like for you to meet them and not form any opinions prematurely.”
This made Marcus even more curious. “Ok, let’s start with some basic questions. What does your father do, I mean to earn all his money?”
“You say that with a sense of apprehension, like he cheats little old women or something. My father is a good man and I know you will agree when you meet him.”
Marcus would have to admit he has had some suspicions but he never thought he cheated little old women. “I didn’t mean to insinuate anything dishonest but I know that your family must be wealthy, you know, living in LA, having a sailboat, sending their daughter to __________________ . All this stuff takes money.”
“My father has done well financially, but he has made it all honestly.”
“Well, what does he do?”
“Diamonds. My father buys and sells diamonds”
“Wow, He sells diamonds?”
“Yes, He used to travel all around the country buying these stones, but now most of those selling come to him. My grandfather was a stone cutter and dad has been around this business all his life. He knows his business pretty well.”
“This sounds interesting. Why did you not, you know, follow in the family footsteps?”
“My brother chose that route. My brother and I do not get along very well. I had rather just not deal with it. Anyway, I love what I do and it started with Mom’s business.”
“How is that?”
“Well, my mother is in advertising. She was working for a an advertising firm that promoted diamonds all over the world. That’s how Mom and Dad met.”
“Does your mom still work in advertising?”
“Yes, she does. She now owns a magazine that is dedicated entirely to the jewelry industry.”
“Wow, so your father buys and sells diamonds and your mother owns a magazine. Why don’t you work for your mother?”
“I will someday. But, I wanted to go to school at ______________ and I fell in love with New York. The city has so much to offer in advertising and I just want to learn as much as I can before making the move.”
“You have a brother? You haven’t mentioned that. Why is it that you two don’t get along?”
“We just see things differently. I can’t change him and he could care less if I change. He is very ambitious and fails to see the good things in life. He is my mother in my father’s world.”
“Your mother is ambitious?”
“Very. But she does know when to pull back and she does smell the roses occasionally. But Donald just doesn’t know when to slow down. He doesn’t know how to focus on anything except business.”
“Do you resemble you father or your mother?”
“That one is easy to answer. My mother and I are very much alike. We even can wear each other’s clothes. She looks very young for her age and I think we look a lot alike. I am getting excited more than ever for you to meet them. I think Mom will like you and I know that Dad will.”
“You know that huh. Why do you know your dad will like me?”
“Just trust me, some things I just know.”
“You sound like Joe.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know, Joe is always telling me that hotdog vendors always know.”
“Oh.”
“So, there is a possibility that your mom won’t like me. I suppose I might not have enough ambition or high society enough for her magazine groupies.”
“This is exactly why I did not want to tell you about my parents. You are already profiling them and you have so little information. Why don’t we find something else to talk about?”
Marcus kept forgetting to direct his thoughts in a positive direction. Marcus remembered how much better he felt when he looked at his job more positively. He then decided to just believe that it would be as Navette said: her mother would like me and her father definitely would.
“I am sure I will like them and they have just got to like me, because I am very much in love with there daughter.”
Marcus once again smooths things over and the conversation moved to the subject of Sammy and Margaret. “I wonder where Sammy spent the night. He wasn’t in when I left and it looks like his bed wasn’t slept in.”
“Don’t you remember? He went skiing. I bet Margaret and her son went also.”
“Margaret has a son?”
“Yes, I discovered that as we were waiting for you at your birthday party. He is 6 years old and in the first grade. He would like to be a fireman for New York City. I think his father was a firefighter and was killed when the twin towers collapsed. So he has never seen his father. That’s about all I know.”
Sammy and Marcus didn’t talk much about Margaret. Marcus didn’t really know much about her. As to why Sammy didn’t talk much about Margaret, Marcus figured it was because they had feared her and her superior type authority at work. Sammy felt Marcus would not understand and that he may think he was a trader or something. Marcus didn’t feel that way. In fact, the more contact he has with Margaret, the more he liked her.
“Sammy doesn’t confide in me much anymore. I don’t hear this stuff.”
“I think they are getting pretty serious, I know they are spending a lot of time together. I hope it is just not out of sympathy for the boy.”
“Yea, I would hate to see Sammy get hurt.”
It would be about two more hours before they landed in LA. The flight attendants had already been through offering their snacks and drinks. Navette was finishing her fruit flavored water when Marcus ordered another coffee. The coffee seemed to go well with the donut he also ordered.
“I am going to teach you to eat healthy. That stuff you eat will kill you before you reach fifty.”
“We must live for today and not depend on fifty.”
“Yes but what if you live to be 100, but your body is in lousy shape and you have to ride around in one of those powered chairs all because you did not take care of yourself now.”
So much for the talking, Marcus picked up a magazine from the seatback and began to flip through it. All of a sudden, Navette snatched it from his hands and closed it.
Navette saw something in the magazine that she did not want Marcus to see, but she now had to explain herself, so she made up this: “We have all this quality time and you are not going to spend it looking at a magazine.”
“You have been asking about my parents, now let’s talk about yours. I know you came from the Chicago area. And that’s all I know. What do your parents do? How many brothers and sisters do you have? Why are you in New York? Why do you…
“Wait a minute.” Marcus stopped her mid sentence. “Let’s pick one and I will answer it.”
“Ok.”
“Well, pick one. I’ll answer only one.”
“Oh, you want me to pick the one question. Ok, tell me about your parents.”
“I was hoping you would not ask that one. My mother is a fine woman. She has supported me in every way. She has not been a career mom but she has worked at places in the neighborhood. You know like she helped Mr. Crichlow prepare peoples taxes during tax time. She would help at the polls during the election.” A smile came upon Marcus as he was talking about his mother. “She made and sold, of all things, brooms at various craft fairs nearby and the church keeps her busy baking pies and visiting the sick. It is making me a little homesick talking about her.”
“She sounds like a wonderful mom. Now, how about your dad?”
“This will be a different story. My dad is a looser. He doesn’t know how to keep a job. He would get these great jobs. Like, one time I remember him getting a job keeping the grounds for this local millionaire. It wasn’t a huge place, but the garden and landscaping was immaculate. Dad was able to take his time. The whole town would talk about how beautiful it was. But, one day, dad just decided he didn’t want to do that anymore and quit. No job to go to, just quit, for literally, no reason. It was months before he decided to go back to work. He said he couldn’t find a job in his field but, when he did get a job, guess what? It was different from anything he had ever done, but always a neat job.”
“What is he doing now?”
“He is spending time in the castle.”
“The castle.”
“Yeah, on his last job he would drive a rental car to pick up people and bring them back to the rental car company and he would deliver them back to their home or business after they returned it. One day he decided that the cash drawer that the boss had left unguarded would be a nice bonus, so he took it. That’s not all. He actually got away with that and then decided to take the car that was left by a client. That’s when they caught him. Now he is spending time at the Illinois state penitentiary. It is nicknamed ‘The Castle’.”
“How sad. How long does he have to stay?”
“He was sentenced to two years, but he is eligible for parole in a couple of months.”
“How is your mother doing?”
“She is living with my sister. Not much has changed; she is now working fulltime at the local bakery. She is still making brooms for the local craft fair. I get a letter every week from her with all the local gossip.”
“So you have a sister. Any more brothers or sisters?”
“I agreed to only one question and I think I have answered that.”
The pilot made the announcement that we would be arriving at LA in about twenty minutes. This was a heads up for the flight attendants to gather up all the empty containers and trash. Time had passed by quickly and the flight was rewarding in the fact that Marcus and Navette became more aware of each others family life. Their family life was different, but it seems both had flew the nest to find their own destiny. This gave them the common bond they both needed.
Marcus swallowed deeply as he exited the plane, knowing that soon he would be face to face with Navette’s father. Then Navette’s phone rang.
“Hello. Mom, we are just getting off the plane.” Navette listened intently while walking to the pick up area, but stopped just before exiting the building. Marcus was wondering just what had kept Navette’s attention for so long. It sure must be something ________________for her not to say a word in reply. Navette hung up the phone with silence.
“This doesn’t sound good. Is there something wrong?”
“I don’t know, it seems dad took the sailboat out yesterday and has not come back. Mom went down to the harbor and the boat was no where to be found, so she has contacted the Coast Guard and they have put out an alert, but nothing yet. They have not received a distress or anything. Dad is a good and cautious sailor. He has never had a problem.”
Marcus didn’t know what to say. “Where do we go from here?”
“Mom said to go home and she would call if she found out anything. She is with some boating friends and they are standing by the radio.”
“Had you rather go home or go there?”
“Mom is always right. She feels we should go home and stand by the phone just in case dad calls.”
Marcus and Navette then stepped outside the airport and caught a taxi. The ride was different from a New York taxi ride. The drive took them along the beachfront and into the hills. It was a beautiful day: no cloud in the sky and it was nearly 80 degrees. California was much different than New York Marcus thought.
The taxi pulled into a narrow drive and around a bend and then there it was, one of the most beautiful houses that Marcus had ever seen in person. It looked like something out of the movies. It was all white and the landscaping, well it was as beautiful as the landscaping that his dad took care of in Illinois.
“Wow. What a beautiful place. It must have cost a fortune.”
The taxi stopped directly in front of the house in the circle drive. Navette got out and paid the driver while Marcus gawked at the place.
“You better get your bag Marcus.” Navette said as the taxi driver pulled away.
“Oh wait. I forgot to pay the taxi.”
“The taxis are free in California. Didn’t I tell you?”
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
“I am. Let’s see if this key still works.”
Navette put the key in the lock and opened the door. Marcus walked in still gawking. “I have never seen this much glass in a house before. Are you not afraid the pigeons will mess it up?”
“We don’t have pigeons, but the gulls do mess it up occasionally.”
“I think I will check the phone for any messages.”
“You have one new message,” the voice from the phone said as Navette pushed the button.
“Navette this is mom. They have found the boat, but no sign of your dad. It wasn’t capsized; in fact nothing seemed to be wrong. The coast guard is still looking. Honey, I’ll let you know when I hear something.”
“Oh my gosh!” Navette picked up the phone and called her mom. “Mom, where did they find the boat?”
Navette listened as her mother asked Bill their boating friend where it was they had found the boat. She told Navette where the boat was and Navette then exhaled with relief. “I think I know where to find him. Just stay there and tell bill to get his boat ready for sailing.”
Navette grabbed some keys from a hook in near the garage door and said to Marcus. “Come on we have got to go and rescue dad.”
Marcus was curious as to what she meant, but followed Navette to the garage and they jumped into an open Jeep and as the garage door opened. They were on there way. The drive was fast and furious through the hills and then down to the marina. The drive couldn’t have been more than five or six miles. They pulled up next to this beautiful sailboat; it must have been 40 foot long. There was a stocky looking fellow wearing a captain’s hat untying the lines. Marcus figured they were going to be on that boat just any moment.
Navette jumped out of the boat and greeted bill. “Hey Bill! I would like for you to meet Marcus.”
“Hi Marcus.” Bill said with a gracious but omnipotent voice. “ So you think you know where your dad is huh?”
“I think so. Just head south southwest when you get out of the harbor.”
Navette helped with the sales when it came time and Marcus just watched and tried to stay out of the way. It looked all natural for Navette to be doing this. And Bill seemed to enjoy her helping, as if some of Navette’s sureness as to her father’s location was rubbing off on him. They had been sailing now a little short of one hour when Navette yelled to Bill. “See that island starboard about two o’clock.”
Bill gave a sign of affirmation and proceeded in that direction. Marcus and Navette were sitting on the bow. Even though they were on a rescue mission, they couldn’t help but enjoy the ambiance of being on a sailboat with nice weather and a staunchly captain at the wheel.
“Let her run in on the leeward side. I’ll get the sails.”
Navette seemed to frantically get the sails down but did so in a way that Marcus felt he need not help. He resolved that this is just the way it was to be done. There was a sand bar on this island but Bill dropped anchor while Navette swung the dinghy around to lower it into the water. Bill looked over to the island and saw a deflated boat along the beach and hollowed at Navette and pointed. She felt that belong to her dad but was not sure what had happened so she still was very much worried.
Marcus wasn’t sure but discovered that they all three could fit into the small inflatable boat when Navette insisted he get in now.
It only took a couple of minutes to reach the beach and Navette jumped out and headed in a direction that she knew. “Dad! Dad! Where are you Dad?”
“I’m here Honey. I could have guessed that you would be the one to find me.” They hugged then sat down on a rock and smiled as to say isn’t life wonderful. “Well, how is Marcus.” About that time Bill and Marcus made there way through the brush and Marcus came to a screeching halt.
“Joe! What are you doing here?”
There were others who recognized him from the news also, but some you could tell didn’t quite know why and others who you could hear whispering the story of saving a girl from the attacker. They balanced the scale from the first girl and soon their thoughts were back to the trip and meeting Navette’s parents.
Marcus and Navette were now in their seats on the plane and Marcus was beginning to stir up curiosity about Navette’s parents and felt this would be a good time to bring up the subject. “You must tell me something about your parents. I’ll tell you what I know and you tell me what I don’t know.”
“I’m afraid that I cannot do that in the time it takes to get to LA and I really would like for you to meet them and not form any opinions prematurely.”
This made Marcus even more curious. “Ok, let’s start with some basic questions. What does your father do, I mean to earn all his money?”
“You say that with a sense of apprehension, like he cheats little old women or something. My father is a good man and I know you will agree when you meet him.”
Marcus would have to admit he has had some suspicions but he never thought he cheated little old women. “I didn’t mean to insinuate anything dishonest but I know that your family must be wealthy, you know, living in LA, having a sailboat, sending their daughter to __________________ . All this stuff takes money.”
“My father has done well financially, but he has made it all honestly.”
“Well, what does he do?”
“Diamonds. My father buys and sells diamonds”
“Wow, He sells diamonds?”
“Yes, He used to travel all around the country buying these stones, but now most of those selling come to him. My grandfather was a stone cutter and dad has been around this business all his life. He knows his business pretty well.”
“This sounds interesting. Why did you not, you know, follow in the family footsteps?”
“My brother chose that route. My brother and I do not get along very well. I had rather just not deal with it. Anyway, I love what I do and it started with Mom’s business.”
“How is that?”
“Well, my mother is in advertising. She was working for a an advertising firm that promoted diamonds all over the world. That’s how Mom and Dad met.”
“Does your mom still work in advertising?”
“Yes, she does. She now owns a magazine that is dedicated entirely to the jewelry industry.”
“Wow, so your father buys and sells diamonds and your mother owns a magazine. Why don’t you work for your mother?”
“I will someday. But, I wanted to go to school at ______________ and I fell in love with New York. The city has so much to offer in advertising and I just want to learn as much as I can before making the move.”
“You have a brother? You haven’t mentioned that. Why is it that you two don’t get along?”
“We just see things differently. I can’t change him and he could care less if I change. He is very ambitious and fails to see the good things in life. He is my mother in my father’s world.”
“Your mother is ambitious?”
“Very. But she does know when to pull back and she does smell the roses occasionally. But Donald just doesn’t know when to slow down. He doesn’t know how to focus on anything except business.”
“Do you resemble you father or your mother?”
“That one is easy to answer. My mother and I are very much alike. We even can wear each other’s clothes. She looks very young for her age and I think we look a lot alike. I am getting excited more than ever for you to meet them. I think Mom will like you and I know that Dad will.”
“You know that huh. Why do you know your dad will like me?”
“Just trust me, some things I just know.”
“You sound like Joe.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know, Joe is always telling me that hotdog vendors always know.”
“Oh.”
“So, there is a possibility that your mom won’t like me. I suppose I might not have enough ambition or high society enough for her magazine groupies.”
“This is exactly why I did not want to tell you about my parents. You are already profiling them and you have so little information. Why don’t we find something else to talk about?”
Marcus kept forgetting to direct his thoughts in a positive direction. Marcus remembered how much better he felt when he looked at his job more positively. He then decided to just believe that it would be as Navette said: her mother would like me and her father definitely would.
“I am sure I will like them and they have just got to like me, because I am very much in love with there daughter.”
Marcus once again smooths things over and the conversation moved to the subject of Sammy and Margaret. “I wonder where Sammy spent the night. He wasn’t in when I left and it looks like his bed wasn’t slept in.”
“Don’t you remember? He went skiing. I bet Margaret and her son went also.”
“Margaret has a son?”
“Yes, I discovered that as we were waiting for you at your birthday party. He is 6 years old and in the first grade. He would like to be a fireman for New York City. I think his father was a firefighter and was killed when the twin towers collapsed. So he has never seen his father. That’s about all I know.”
Sammy and Marcus didn’t talk much about Margaret. Marcus didn’t really know much about her. As to why Sammy didn’t talk much about Margaret, Marcus figured it was because they had feared her and her superior type authority at work. Sammy felt Marcus would not understand and that he may think he was a trader or something. Marcus didn’t feel that way. In fact, the more contact he has with Margaret, the more he liked her.
“Sammy doesn’t confide in me much anymore. I don’t hear this stuff.”
“I think they are getting pretty serious, I know they are spending a lot of time together. I hope it is just not out of sympathy for the boy.”
“Yea, I would hate to see Sammy get hurt.”
It would be about two more hours before they landed in LA. The flight attendants had already been through offering their snacks and drinks. Navette was finishing her fruit flavored water when Marcus ordered another coffee. The coffee seemed to go well with the donut he also ordered.
“I am going to teach you to eat healthy. That stuff you eat will kill you before you reach fifty.”
“We must live for today and not depend on fifty.”
“Yes but what if you live to be 100, but your body is in lousy shape and you have to ride around in one of those powered chairs all because you did not take care of yourself now.”
So much for the talking, Marcus picked up a magazine from the seatback and began to flip through it. All of a sudden, Navette snatched it from his hands and closed it.
Navette saw something in the magazine that she did not want Marcus to see, but she now had to explain herself, so she made up this: “We have all this quality time and you are not going to spend it looking at a magazine.”
“You have been asking about my parents, now let’s talk about yours. I know you came from the Chicago area. And that’s all I know. What do your parents do? How many brothers and sisters do you have? Why are you in New York? Why do you…
“Wait a minute.” Marcus stopped her mid sentence. “Let’s pick one and I will answer it.”
“Ok.”
“Well, pick one. I’ll answer only one.”
“Oh, you want me to pick the one question. Ok, tell me about your parents.”
“I was hoping you would not ask that one. My mother is a fine woman. She has supported me in every way. She has not been a career mom but she has worked at places in the neighborhood. You know like she helped Mr. Crichlow prepare peoples taxes during tax time. She would help at the polls during the election.” A smile came upon Marcus as he was talking about his mother. “She made and sold, of all things, brooms at various craft fairs nearby and the church keeps her busy baking pies and visiting the sick. It is making me a little homesick talking about her.”
“She sounds like a wonderful mom. Now, how about your dad?”
“This will be a different story. My dad is a looser. He doesn’t know how to keep a job. He would get these great jobs. Like, one time I remember him getting a job keeping the grounds for this local millionaire. It wasn’t a huge place, but the garden and landscaping was immaculate. Dad was able to take his time. The whole town would talk about how beautiful it was. But, one day, dad just decided he didn’t want to do that anymore and quit. No job to go to, just quit, for literally, no reason. It was months before he decided to go back to work. He said he couldn’t find a job in his field but, when he did get a job, guess what? It was different from anything he had ever done, but always a neat job.”
“What is he doing now?”
“He is spending time in the castle.”
“The castle.”
“Yeah, on his last job he would drive a rental car to pick up people and bring them back to the rental car company and he would deliver them back to their home or business after they returned it. One day he decided that the cash drawer that the boss had left unguarded would be a nice bonus, so he took it. That’s not all. He actually got away with that and then decided to take the car that was left by a client. That’s when they caught him. Now he is spending time at the Illinois state penitentiary. It is nicknamed ‘The Castle’.”
“How sad. How long does he have to stay?”
“He was sentenced to two years, but he is eligible for parole in a couple of months.”
“How is your mother doing?”
“She is living with my sister. Not much has changed; she is now working fulltime at the local bakery. She is still making brooms for the local craft fair. I get a letter every week from her with all the local gossip.”
“So you have a sister. Any more brothers or sisters?”
“I agreed to only one question and I think I have answered that.”
The pilot made the announcement that we would be arriving at LA in about twenty minutes. This was a heads up for the flight attendants to gather up all the empty containers and trash. Time had passed by quickly and the flight was rewarding in the fact that Marcus and Navette became more aware of each others family life. Their family life was different, but it seems both had flew the nest to find their own destiny. This gave them the common bond they both needed.
Marcus swallowed deeply as he exited the plane, knowing that soon he would be face to face with Navette’s father. Then Navette’s phone rang.
“Hello. Mom, we are just getting off the plane.” Navette listened intently while walking to the pick up area, but stopped just before exiting the building. Marcus was wondering just what had kept Navette’s attention for so long. It sure must be something ________________for her not to say a word in reply. Navette hung up the phone with silence.
“This doesn’t sound good. Is there something wrong?”
“I don’t know, it seems dad took the sailboat out yesterday and has not come back. Mom went down to the harbor and the boat was no where to be found, so she has contacted the Coast Guard and they have put out an alert, but nothing yet. They have not received a distress or anything. Dad is a good and cautious sailor. He has never had a problem.”
Marcus didn’t know what to say. “Where do we go from here?”
“Mom said to go home and she would call if she found out anything. She is with some boating friends and they are standing by the radio.”
“Had you rather go home or go there?”
“Mom is always right. She feels we should go home and stand by the phone just in case dad calls.”
Marcus and Navette then stepped outside the airport and caught a taxi. The ride was different from a New York taxi ride. The drive took them along the beachfront and into the hills. It was a beautiful day: no cloud in the sky and it was nearly 80 degrees. California was much different than New York Marcus thought.
The taxi pulled into a narrow drive and around a bend and then there it was, one of the most beautiful houses that Marcus had ever seen in person. It looked like something out of the movies. It was all white and the landscaping, well it was as beautiful as the landscaping that his dad took care of in Illinois.
“Wow. What a beautiful place. It must have cost a fortune.”
The taxi stopped directly in front of the house in the circle drive. Navette got out and paid the driver while Marcus gawked at the place.
“You better get your bag Marcus.” Navette said as the taxi driver pulled away.
“Oh wait. I forgot to pay the taxi.”
“The taxis are free in California. Didn’t I tell you?”
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
“I am. Let’s see if this key still works.”
Navette put the key in the lock and opened the door. Marcus walked in still gawking. “I have never seen this much glass in a house before. Are you not afraid the pigeons will mess it up?”
“We don’t have pigeons, but the gulls do mess it up occasionally.”
“I think I will check the phone for any messages.”
“You have one new message,” the voice from the phone said as Navette pushed the button.
“Navette this is mom. They have found the boat, but no sign of your dad. It wasn’t capsized; in fact nothing seemed to be wrong. The coast guard is still looking. Honey, I’ll let you know when I hear something.”
“Oh my gosh!” Navette picked up the phone and called her mom. “Mom, where did they find the boat?”
Navette listened as her mother asked Bill their boating friend where it was they had found the boat. She told Navette where the boat was and Navette then exhaled with relief. “I think I know where to find him. Just stay there and tell bill to get his boat ready for sailing.”
Navette grabbed some keys from a hook in near the garage door and said to Marcus. “Come on we have got to go and rescue dad.”
Marcus was curious as to what she meant, but followed Navette to the garage and they jumped into an open Jeep and as the garage door opened. They were on there way. The drive was fast and furious through the hills and then down to the marina. The drive couldn’t have been more than five or six miles. They pulled up next to this beautiful sailboat; it must have been 40 foot long. There was a stocky looking fellow wearing a captain’s hat untying the lines. Marcus figured they were going to be on that boat just any moment.
Navette jumped out of the boat and greeted bill. “Hey Bill! I would like for you to meet Marcus.”
“Hi Marcus.” Bill said with a gracious but omnipotent voice. “ So you think you know where your dad is huh?”
“I think so. Just head south southwest when you get out of the harbor.”
Navette helped with the sales when it came time and Marcus just watched and tried to stay out of the way. It looked all natural for Navette to be doing this. And Bill seemed to enjoy her helping, as if some of Navette’s sureness as to her father’s location was rubbing off on him. They had been sailing now a little short of one hour when Navette yelled to Bill. “See that island starboard about two o’clock.”
Bill gave a sign of affirmation and proceeded in that direction. Marcus and Navette were sitting on the bow. Even though they were on a rescue mission, they couldn’t help but enjoy the ambiance of being on a sailboat with nice weather and a staunchly captain at the wheel.
“Let her run in on the leeward side. I’ll get the sails.”
Navette seemed to frantically get the sails down but did so in a way that Marcus felt he need not help. He resolved that this is just the way it was to be done. There was a sand bar on this island but Bill dropped anchor while Navette swung the dinghy around to lower it into the water. Bill looked over to the island and saw a deflated boat along the beach and hollowed at Navette and pointed. She felt that belong to her dad but was not sure what had happened so she still was very much worried.
Marcus wasn’t sure but discovered that they all three could fit into the small inflatable boat when Navette insisted he get in now.
It only took a couple of minutes to reach the beach and Navette jumped out and headed in a direction that she knew. “Dad! Dad! Where are you Dad?”
“I’m here Honey. I could have guessed that you would be the one to find me.” They hugged then sat down on a rock and smiled as to say isn’t life wonderful. “Well, how is Marcus.” About that time Bill and Marcus made there way through the brush and Marcus came to a screeching halt.
“Joe! What are you doing here?”
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Untitled Novel - Chapter 4
“They are moving him now.” Navette suggested they go on up and be there when Marcus arrives. Sammy jumped up in response to Navette’s suggestion.
They walked over to the counter and asked directions to 214 but the person at the desk told them that only one visitor at a time was allowed on that floor. “You will have to get a pass code from the desk on that floor.”
Sammy spoke up first, “I’ll wait here, and you go up first.”
Navette said a subtle “Ok” and then headed down the hallway toward the elevators. She arrived at the room before Marcus. She assumed there was another person in the room behind the drawn curtain, but she did not hear a sound. There was a chair beside an empty space. She assumed the space is where they would place Marcus’s bed. She sat down in the chair to wait.
After a few minutes she began to hear groans from behind the curtain. This confirmed her original thought that there was someone there. They were trying to say something she couldn’t quite make out. It sounded like they were calling her name, but that couldn’t be. Then a nurse came in and went to the bed behind the curtain: “Mr. Holmes, how are you doing?” Navette jumped up and thought how could you be so stupid?
“Marcus, Oh my goodness, how are you doing?”
Navette could tell that he wasn’t doing too well. He had tubes coming out his nose and mouth. In fact, there seemed to be an enormous amount of tubes coming from everywhere.
Marcus tried to talk; “I’m going to be alright.”
“Well, of course you are Mr. Holmes. I hear you’re quite a hero. We have a rule on this floor: all heroes get well quickly.”
Navette found a place on his hand to take hold of and squeezed ever so lightly. “Marcus, you have had us so worried. Does everything hurt? I’m sorry; I know you can’t talk very well. Don’t try to talk now I’ll do all the talking.”
Navette looked down with anguish after taking another look at his tubes and wires. When she look back up to look at Marcus’s face again, he had fallen asleep.
“He will be doing that for a while.” The nurse said, I guess she was reading my mind. “He is under heavy medication for pain right now and he will be coming and going for the rest of the night. We will remove the tubes sometime tomorrow and then he will start to feel better.”
Navette decided to stay a while just to be there the times he was awake. As she looked at Marcus, she realized there were true feelings for him. When Sammy called her, telling of Marcus being shot, she had put all other thoughts aside and felt herself asking God for Marcus to be all right. It was if her heart was going to explode. She was feeling very guilty over neglecting his calls and misleading him over a stupid birthday party. She must learn to fit other’s feelings and emotions into her actions.
With this thought, she remembered Sammy, who was waiting to hear from her. She didn’t want to leave Marcus’s bedside so she called Sammy on her cell.
“Sammy, Marcus is coming in and out of consciousness, but there are moments when he realizes I am here. I will come down and let you come up for a while.”
“No, you just stay there. I will be in the waiting room if you need me. How is he doing?”
“He looks so bad” Navette broke down crying. “I feel so awful.”
“If you need a break, I can come up.”
“I’ll be alright… he’s waking up now. I’ll call you later.
Navette stayed overnight at Marcus’s bedside. He would wake for just a minute and fall back to sleep. The nurse would come in very frequently to check on him. She said everything was looking fine and it would be just a matter of time for the recovery.
Sammy had called Margaret and told her about Marcus and that he would be at the hospital through the night. Margaret was saddened about Marcus. That was a brave thing he did and the world should know about it. The first thing next morning she called the public relations department, she felt like they needed to make a public statement or something. They agreed and jumped right on it.
The word spread quickly throughout Sloan advertising. Justin Sloan heard the news and realized he hadn’t heard from Navette. Assuming she was with Marcus and could give a report on his condition, he called her cell.
Navette was asleep in the chair; the nurse had brought her a pillow sometime during the night. The sound of the phone sounding off ______________ woke her. “Hello”
“Navette, this is Justin, we heard what happened. How is Marcus?”
“He in pretty bad shape but they say he is going to be ok. Oh, I’m sorry I meant to call you.”
“I understand and you don’t need to come to work today but tomorrow we have got to work on the _______________ account. Keep us posted.”
They both said their goodbyes and Marcus began to waken. “Good morning.” Navette said as she stood up beside and took hold of the one hand that she could grasp. Marcus tried to speak, but you could tell that his throat was sore and it was just too difficult. “Don’t try to speak; there will be time for talking later.
Suddenly people stormed through the door all asking questions at the same time. “What made you get involved?” A woman in her mid thirties wearing glasses that looked like they out of the 1950’s and carrying a pencil in one hand and a tablet in the other shouted above the others. Then there was a guy with a ___________ tee shirt and jeans, looking like he had just left a ________________ concert. He had some type of recording device in one hand and a blackberry in the other. He shouted out… “Did you know the attackers?” Just as the other guy began to ask his questions, Navette jumped in and shouted, “Wait a minute! Can’t you see he is in no condition to answer your questions? Get out of here before I call the police.”
The reporters quickly reacted by asking Navette the questions. “Who are you? What relationship are you to this hero? When can we talk to him?”
Navette could not handle these questions and repeated her demand. “Get out of here!”
The reporters left just as the morning nurse was making his entrance.
“Who were they? The nurse asked.
“Reporters, I guess. What a nerve and how inconsiderate.”
“I agree, but he is a hero and people will want to know about it.”
“I suppose so.” Navette said as she turned around to see how Marcus had taken all this. He was sound asleep.
“Well, his morphine is going to be reduced this morning and we will get that tube out just as soon as the doctor looks at his chart. Everything seems to be good. I’ll check back later.”
Navette thought she needed to let Sammy know what was happening so she looked for her cell phone and couldn’t find it. She searched her purse, in the cushions of the chair, on Marcus’s bed, but it just wasn’t there. Do you suppose one of those reporters took it? Navette thought.
She then noticed the phone that was in the room. She then called Sammy, but he was own his phone so she left a message along with the room number.
Shortly the phone rang and Navette answered. “Hello, Sammy? I think someone took my phone.”
“I know! Some reporter just called me from your cell phone. They were asking me a lot of questions. I am sure they will call other numbers on your phone, but they did say they would return it to you. How is Marcus?”
“He has been out most of the night but they say everything is looking good. They will take out the tubes today and reduce the morphine and then he can talk to us. Do you want to come up?”
“Sure, but I don’t think you should come down to the lobby. There are still reporters down here. I believe you can get to the hospital café from there without going through the lobby. I will tell the attendant here the situation and I am sure she will let me come up.”
Sammy had seen how the reporters had gotten past the desk attendant and if all else failed he would use the same tactic. He walked up to the desk and told the lady about the reporters and how Navette couldn’t come down and she was going to the café. But, she was not going to let me up with Navette’s pass still out. At that time a new reporter came up to the desk and was asking the attendant many questions about Marcus. Sammy took that opportunity to sneak through the door.
Sammy quickly found his way to room 214 and walked in and first hand seen what Navette had been saying about Marcus was more than accurate. He looked awful. I hit the chair lightly with my leg as I was maneuvering to the bedside and Marcus woke. He looked me straight in the eye and called my name. It sounded like he had his fist in his mouth, but I understood.
“Hey there pal. This is a mess you have gotten yourself into. How do you feel? On second thought, don’t tell me.”
Marcus looked at Sammy and faded off again.
Sammy stood there for a while looking at Marcus, thinking how things can change so quickly, also thinking how fortunate he was to have a friend that would risk his life for another human being. He was proud of Marcus, especially at that moment.
A guy quickly stepped into the room and tossed something to him. It was Navette’s cell phone. Sammy caught the phone and then ran after the guy but he had already disappeared. He returned the phone as he said he would, but no telling how much information he was able to get from her phone. There would be his number, Marcus’s number, Sloan’s Advertising and all Navette’s contacts.
Navette walked into the room carrying a cup of coffee. “Here, I found the café. Have you talked to him?”
“I just spoke and he made an effort, but then he fell back asleep. Oh, here is your cell phone. The reporter ran by tossed it in and then disappeared. He has all your contacts you know. I’m sure he will or has called many of them.”
“About that time her phone rang. “Hello.” Navette listen intently while Sammy just watched with curiosity. “Thank you sir.”
“Who was that?”
“It was the Mayor.”
“How did he get your number?”
“It seems that the Mayor and Justin Sloan are friends and he got it from him.”
“What did he say?”
“He just wanted me to thank Marcus on his behalf and give me his best wishes for a speedy recover. He said this city needed more citizens like Marcus.”
It has been two weeks since Marcus was released from the hospital. He was healing remarkably well. It was just a matter of getting strength back. He was eating well and no longer needed pain medication. Sloan Advertising had continued his salary during this time. He had many visitors once he moved from the guarded ward to the general population of the hospital. There was the Police Commissioner, Congressmen, The owner of ________________ and the Mayor dropped by to award Marcus with a medal. The media had made a big deal of his heroism. This was something that Marcus did not want to exploit. He was ready to put it behind him.
Marcus was getting cabin fever and needed to get out of the apartment. He decided to go get a hot dog from his favorite hotdog vendor. Joe had been real supportive during his recovery. He had sent hotdogs nearly every day with a card that Marcus could not quite understand but knew it meant well.
“Marcus my friend, it is great to see you out. The usual?”
Marcus shook his head up and down confirming the order. Joe nearly had the hotdog, with extra ketchup and mustard, ready to hand to Marcus. Joe then led Marcus over to the wall where he usually sat and ate his lunch. Joe pointed to the wall and there was a plaque that read: “Reserved for a great citizen of our city, Marcus Holmes.” Marcus was overwhelmed when he saw the plaque and knew that Joe was responsible. He turned to Joe and said, “Thank you.” Joe waved his hand as to say, oh it was nothing, and went back to his hotdog stand.
This was the lift Marcus needed: brightening his day. He removed his cell from his pocket and called Margaret at Sloan advertising. “Margaret, this is Marcus and I am ready to come back to work.”
“Well, you no longer work in my department. I had to replace you. But, I understand they have a job for you somewhere. I’ll pass the word that you are ready to come back and they will get in touch with you.”
Marcus was shocked; he had understood that they were holding his job for him until he returned. Now what was he going to do?
Maybe Sammy could add some light to this story. He called, but he knew that Sammy would have his cell off since they are not allowed in the work area. Just as he had thought, the phone went straight to leave a message. Marcus then left his message too call ASAP.
Well, what was turning out to be a better day just turned again. This was totally unexpected. Maybe Navette knows something Marcus thought. He dug his cell out of his pocket again an called her. The phone was ringing. Navette and Marcus had said their apologies to each other and the events of pre-shooting had been forgotten or at least forgiven. They were back to full strength in their relationship. “Hello Marcus” Navette answered.
“I just found out that they have hired someone to take my place. Do you know what’s going on?”
“Are you ready to come back to work already?”
“Yes, but it appears I don’t know where.”
“I’m sure you will like your new job, so don’t fret.’
“How do you know? I may be stuck in files or errand boy.”
“I can’t talk about it now. I’ll see you after work. Bye Marcus. I love you.”
With that, Navette hung up and although she was trying to reassure Marcus that he would like his new job, he was still unsure and many questions were still unanswered.
Marcus still was enjoying the freedom of the outdoors and needed some time to think. He took a stroll around the park to try and adjust his mind to the changes and imagine what the new job would be like. He remembered some of the stuff from the book Sammy had tossed him to read. The book emphasized how your attitude would determine the outcome of any situation. So he began to study positives about his new job. Maybe the new job was better than his old job, after all his old job was not glamorous at all. Maybe it was in creative design where Navette worked. Or it could be is sales. He always visualized making the big sale and this could be his chance. The weather was nice. Spring was beginning to show up in the park. The city had put a huge Easter Bunny sculpture in the park. “Oh my gosh,” Marcus thought of Easter and how he was suppose to visit Navette’s parents this weekend. He had forgotten all about it. That means it will be a long weekend and he would not know about his new job until Monday.
It was almost 4 p.m. so he decided to go back to the apartment. It was several blocks back and he was beginning to get tired.
He was almost home when his cell rang. It was Navette, “Marcus where are you?”
“I’m about a block from the apartment. Why?”
“I’m already at your apartment and I got worried when you were not here. You haven’t forgotten about this weekend, have you?”
“No, I just had to get out for a while, I had a bad case of cabin fever.”
“You haven’t packed and our flight leaves early in the morning.”
“It won’t take me long. I can pack in fifteen minutes. I’m at the building now, I’ll be up shortly.”
Marcus came in the apartment and found Sammy and Navette both there. “Hey Sammy. What? You not following Margaret home today.” Marcus said jokingly. Sammy and Margaret’s relationship had become more serious these last two weeks and he had been spending most of his free time with her.
“No Marcus, Navette and I have something to talk to you about. I hear you have decided you are ready to go back to work.”
“Yes, I have, and while I was meditating in the park, I decided that whatever the job was I was going to make the best of it.”
“Navette,” Sammy said, “have you ever known Marcus to meditate before? It seems like he has been reading some of my books.”
“That’s a good attitude Marcus, I have promised not to tell you, but I got wind of your new job and believe me you are going to love it.”
“You know what I am going to be doing and you are not telling me.”
“I can’t. I made a promise.”
“Sammy, do you know?”
“Yes, I do, but I made the same promise. Trust me, it will be better if you don’t know right now. Just go on this trip with Navette and try to keep your mind off of the job and when you get back, you new life will begin.”
It was apparent that Marcus was not going to get anything out of Navette and Sammy so he talked about his day at the park, told them about the plaque. Not surprising, they already knew about it. He was tired after his walk and the next thing he was asleep on the couch.
Navette, had a flash back to the last time he fell asleep on the couch and decided to just let him sleep and left Marcus and Sammy’s apartment and took a taxi to hers. She would call back later to remind Marcus of packing.
It was about ten o’clock when Navette called and Marcus was still asleep when the phone rang. He answered. “Hello.”
“Marcus are you all packed?”
Marcus cleared his throat, which gave him a little time to think what he was going to say. “No, I just woke up, but it won’t take me long. Don’t worry I’ll be packed and ready to go at 6:00 a.m..”
“We have to be at the airport at six. You need to be ready to leave at five.”
“Ok, I’ll be ready at five.”
“Marcus was a little hungry and went to the fridge to check out the enormous supply of gourmet goodies. Much to his dismay, there was only a day old pizza. That would have to do for now. He gulped down a slice and threw some clothes in a bag and sat down to read some more on _______________. He dropped off to sleep and didn’t awaken until Navette was calling the next morning to see if he was ready to go.
“Marcus, I’ll catch a taxi and we will swing around to pick you up.”
Marcus agreed, however he had not showered, shaven, or finished packing.
He has only about fifteen minutes. He splashed some water on his face, applied deodorant, and put on pants and a shirt and out the door he went.
Then he remembered he had not seen Sammy. He stuck his head in Sammy’s room and called out to Sammy.
“Sammy, I’m gone. See you Monday.”
There was no reply, because Sammy was not in his bed. His bed had not been slept in. There was no time to figure this out now, he was sure he was with Margaret.
Marcus stepped out the door of the apartment building just as the taxi pulled up. He threw his bag in the trunk and jumped in.
All excited, Navette with a splash of enthusiasm said, “Wow, we are on our way to LA.”
Marcus took a sigh and relaxed in the seat of the taxi.
They walked over to the counter and asked directions to 214 but the person at the desk told them that only one visitor at a time was allowed on that floor. “You will have to get a pass code from the desk on that floor.”
Sammy spoke up first, “I’ll wait here, and you go up first.”
Navette said a subtle “Ok” and then headed down the hallway toward the elevators. She arrived at the room before Marcus. She assumed there was another person in the room behind the drawn curtain, but she did not hear a sound. There was a chair beside an empty space. She assumed the space is where they would place Marcus’s bed. She sat down in the chair to wait.
After a few minutes she began to hear groans from behind the curtain. This confirmed her original thought that there was someone there. They were trying to say something she couldn’t quite make out. It sounded like they were calling her name, but that couldn’t be. Then a nurse came in and went to the bed behind the curtain: “Mr. Holmes, how are you doing?” Navette jumped up and thought how could you be so stupid?
“Marcus, Oh my goodness, how are you doing?”
Navette could tell that he wasn’t doing too well. He had tubes coming out his nose and mouth. In fact, there seemed to be an enormous amount of tubes coming from everywhere.
Marcus tried to talk; “I’m going to be alright.”
“Well, of course you are Mr. Holmes. I hear you’re quite a hero. We have a rule on this floor: all heroes get well quickly.”
Navette found a place on his hand to take hold of and squeezed ever so lightly. “Marcus, you have had us so worried. Does everything hurt? I’m sorry; I know you can’t talk very well. Don’t try to talk now I’ll do all the talking.”
Navette looked down with anguish after taking another look at his tubes and wires. When she look back up to look at Marcus’s face again, he had fallen asleep.
“He will be doing that for a while.” The nurse said, I guess she was reading my mind. “He is under heavy medication for pain right now and he will be coming and going for the rest of the night. We will remove the tubes sometime tomorrow and then he will start to feel better.”
Navette decided to stay a while just to be there the times he was awake. As she looked at Marcus, she realized there were true feelings for him. When Sammy called her, telling of Marcus being shot, she had put all other thoughts aside and felt herself asking God for Marcus to be all right. It was if her heart was going to explode. She was feeling very guilty over neglecting his calls and misleading him over a stupid birthday party. She must learn to fit other’s feelings and emotions into her actions.
With this thought, she remembered Sammy, who was waiting to hear from her. She didn’t want to leave Marcus’s bedside so she called Sammy on her cell.
“Sammy, Marcus is coming in and out of consciousness, but there are moments when he realizes I am here. I will come down and let you come up for a while.”
“No, you just stay there. I will be in the waiting room if you need me. How is he doing?”
“He looks so bad” Navette broke down crying. “I feel so awful.”
“If you need a break, I can come up.”
“I’ll be alright… he’s waking up now. I’ll call you later.
Navette stayed overnight at Marcus’s bedside. He would wake for just a minute and fall back to sleep. The nurse would come in very frequently to check on him. She said everything was looking fine and it would be just a matter of time for the recovery.
Sammy had called Margaret and told her about Marcus and that he would be at the hospital through the night. Margaret was saddened about Marcus. That was a brave thing he did and the world should know about it. The first thing next morning she called the public relations department, she felt like they needed to make a public statement or something. They agreed and jumped right on it.
The word spread quickly throughout Sloan advertising. Justin Sloan heard the news and realized he hadn’t heard from Navette. Assuming she was with Marcus and could give a report on his condition, he called her cell.
Navette was asleep in the chair; the nurse had brought her a pillow sometime during the night. The sound of the phone sounding off ______________ woke her. “Hello”
“Navette, this is Justin, we heard what happened. How is Marcus?”
“He in pretty bad shape but they say he is going to be ok. Oh, I’m sorry I meant to call you.”
“I understand and you don’t need to come to work today but tomorrow we have got to work on the _______________ account. Keep us posted.”
They both said their goodbyes and Marcus began to waken. “Good morning.” Navette said as she stood up beside and took hold of the one hand that she could grasp. Marcus tried to speak, but you could tell that his throat was sore and it was just too difficult. “Don’t try to speak; there will be time for talking later.
Suddenly people stormed through the door all asking questions at the same time. “What made you get involved?” A woman in her mid thirties wearing glasses that looked like they out of the 1950’s and carrying a pencil in one hand and a tablet in the other shouted above the others. Then there was a guy with a ___________ tee shirt and jeans, looking like he had just left a ________________ concert. He had some type of recording device in one hand and a blackberry in the other. He shouted out… “Did you know the attackers?” Just as the other guy began to ask his questions, Navette jumped in and shouted, “Wait a minute! Can’t you see he is in no condition to answer your questions? Get out of here before I call the police.”
The reporters quickly reacted by asking Navette the questions. “Who are you? What relationship are you to this hero? When can we talk to him?”
Navette could not handle these questions and repeated her demand. “Get out of here!”
The reporters left just as the morning nurse was making his entrance.
“Who were they? The nurse asked.
“Reporters, I guess. What a nerve and how inconsiderate.”
“I agree, but he is a hero and people will want to know about it.”
“I suppose so.” Navette said as she turned around to see how Marcus had taken all this. He was sound asleep.
“Well, his morphine is going to be reduced this morning and we will get that tube out just as soon as the doctor looks at his chart. Everything seems to be good. I’ll check back later.”
Navette thought she needed to let Sammy know what was happening so she looked for her cell phone and couldn’t find it. She searched her purse, in the cushions of the chair, on Marcus’s bed, but it just wasn’t there. Do you suppose one of those reporters took it? Navette thought.
She then noticed the phone that was in the room. She then called Sammy, but he was own his phone so she left a message along with the room number.
Shortly the phone rang and Navette answered. “Hello, Sammy? I think someone took my phone.”
“I know! Some reporter just called me from your cell phone. They were asking me a lot of questions. I am sure they will call other numbers on your phone, but they did say they would return it to you. How is Marcus?”
“He has been out most of the night but they say everything is looking good. They will take out the tubes today and reduce the morphine and then he can talk to us. Do you want to come up?”
“Sure, but I don’t think you should come down to the lobby. There are still reporters down here. I believe you can get to the hospital café from there without going through the lobby. I will tell the attendant here the situation and I am sure she will let me come up.”
Sammy had seen how the reporters had gotten past the desk attendant and if all else failed he would use the same tactic. He walked up to the desk and told the lady about the reporters and how Navette couldn’t come down and she was going to the café. But, she was not going to let me up with Navette’s pass still out. At that time a new reporter came up to the desk and was asking the attendant many questions about Marcus. Sammy took that opportunity to sneak through the door.
Sammy quickly found his way to room 214 and walked in and first hand seen what Navette had been saying about Marcus was more than accurate. He looked awful. I hit the chair lightly with my leg as I was maneuvering to the bedside and Marcus woke. He looked me straight in the eye and called my name. It sounded like he had his fist in his mouth, but I understood.
“Hey there pal. This is a mess you have gotten yourself into. How do you feel? On second thought, don’t tell me.”
Marcus looked at Sammy and faded off again.
Sammy stood there for a while looking at Marcus, thinking how things can change so quickly, also thinking how fortunate he was to have a friend that would risk his life for another human being. He was proud of Marcus, especially at that moment.
A guy quickly stepped into the room and tossed something to him. It was Navette’s cell phone. Sammy caught the phone and then ran after the guy but he had already disappeared. He returned the phone as he said he would, but no telling how much information he was able to get from her phone. There would be his number, Marcus’s number, Sloan’s Advertising and all Navette’s contacts.
Navette walked into the room carrying a cup of coffee. “Here, I found the café. Have you talked to him?”
“I just spoke and he made an effort, but then he fell back asleep. Oh, here is your cell phone. The reporter ran by tossed it in and then disappeared. He has all your contacts you know. I’m sure he will or has called many of them.”
“About that time her phone rang. “Hello.” Navette listen intently while Sammy just watched with curiosity. “Thank you sir.”
“Who was that?”
“It was the Mayor.”
“How did he get your number?”
“It seems that the Mayor and Justin Sloan are friends and he got it from him.”
“What did he say?”
“He just wanted me to thank Marcus on his behalf and give me his best wishes for a speedy recover. He said this city needed more citizens like Marcus.”
It has been two weeks since Marcus was released from the hospital. He was healing remarkably well. It was just a matter of getting strength back. He was eating well and no longer needed pain medication. Sloan Advertising had continued his salary during this time. He had many visitors once he moved from the guarded ward to the general population of the hospital. There was the Police Commissioner, Congressmen, The owner of ________________ and the Mayor dropped by to award Marcus with a medal. The media had made a big deal of his heroism. This was something that Marcus did not want to exploit. He was ready to put it behind him.
Marcus was getting cabin fever and needed to get out of the apartment. He decided to go get a hot dog from his favorite hotdog vendor. Joe had been real supportive during his recovery. He had sent hotdogs nearly every day with a card that Marcus could not quite understand but knew it meant well.
“Marcus my friend, it is great to see you out. The usual?”
Marcus shook his head up and down confirming the order. Joe nearly had the hotdog, with extra ketchup and mustard, ready to hand to Marcus. Joe then led Marcus over to the wall where he usually sat and ate his lunch. Joe pointed to the wall and there was a plaque that read: “Reserved for a great citizen of our city, Marcus Holmes.” Marcus was overwhelmed when he saw the plaque and knew that Joe was responsible. He turned to Joe and said, “Thank you.” Joe waved his hand as to say, oh it was nothing, and went back to his hotdog stand.
This was the lift Marcus needed: brightening his day. He removed his cell from his pocket and called Margaret at Sloan advertising. “Margaret, this is Marcus and I am ready to come back to work.”
“Well, you no longer work in my department. I had to replace you. But, I understand they have a job for you somewhere. I’ll pass the word that you are ready to come back and they will get in touch with you.”
Marcus was shocked; he had understood that they were holding his job for him until he returned. Now what was he going to do?
Maybe Sammy could add some light to this story. He called, but he knew that Sammy would have his cell off since they are not allowed in the work area. Just as he had thought, the phone went straight to leave a message. Marcus then left his message too call ASAP.
Well, what was turning out to be a better day just turned again. This was totally unexpected. Maybe Navette knows something Marcus thought. He dug his cell out of his pocket again an called her. The phone was ringing. Navette and Marcus had said their apologies to each other and the events of pre-shooting had been forgotten or at least forgiven. They were back to full strength in their relationship. “Hello Marcus” Navette answered.
“I just found out that they have hired someone to take my place. Do you know what’s going on?”
“Are you ready to come back to work already?”
“Yes, but it appears I don’t know where.”
“I’m sure you will like your new job, so don’t fret.’
“How do you know? I may be stuck in files or errand boy.”
“I can’t talk about it now. I’ll see you after work. Bye Marcus. I love you.”
With that, Navette hung up and although she was trying to reassure Marcus that he would like his new job, he was still unsure and many questions were still unanswered.
Marcus still was enjoying the freedom of the outdoors and needed some time to think. He took a stroll around the park to try and adjust his mind to the changes and imagine what the new job would be like. He remembered some of the stuff from the book Sammy had tossed him to read. The book emphasized how your attitude would determine the outcome of any situation. So he began to study positives about his new job. Maybe the new job was better than his old job, after all his old job was not glamorous at all. Maybe it was in creative design where Navette worked. Or it could be is sales. He always visualized making the big sale and this could be his chance. The weather was nice. Spring was beginning to show up in the park. The city had put a huge Easter Bunny sculpture in the park. “Oh my gosh,” Marcus thought of Easter and how he was suppose to visit Navette’s parents this weekend. He had forgotten all about it. That means it will be a long weekend and he would not know about his new job until Monday.
It was almost 4 p.m. so he decided to go back to the apartment. It was several blocks back and he was beginning to get tired.
He was almost home when his cell rang. It was Navette, “Marcus where are you?”
“I’m about a block from the apartment. Why?”
“I’m already at your apartment and I got worried when you were not here. You haven’t forgotten about this weekend, have you?”
“No, I just had to get out for a while, I had a bad case of cabin fever.”
“You haven’t packed and our flight leaves early in the morning.”
“It won’t take me long. I can pack in fifteen minutes. I’m at the building now, I’ll be up shortly.”
Marcus came in the apartment and found Sammy and Navette both there. “Hey Sammy. What? You not following Margaret home today.” Marcus said jokingly. Sammy and Margaret’s relationship had become more serious these last two weeks and he had been spending most of his free time with her.
“No Marcus, Navette and I have something to talk to you about. I hear you have decided you are ready to go back to work.”
“Yes, I have, and while I was meditating in the park, I decided that whatever the job was I was going to make the best of it.”
“Navette,” Sammy said, “have you ever known Marcus to meditate before? It seems like he has been reading some of my books.”
“That’s a good attitude Marcus, I have promised not to tell you, but I got wind of your new job and believe me you are going to love it.”
“You know what I am going to be doing and you are not telling me.”
“I can’t. I made a promise.”
“Sammy, do you know?”
“Yes, I do, but I made the same promise. Trust me, it will be better if you don’t know right now. Just go on this trip with Navette and try to keep your mind off of the job and when you get back, you new life will begin.”
It was apparent that Marcus was not going to get anything out of Navette and Sammy so he talked about his day at the park, told them about the plaque. Not surprising, they already knew about it. He was tired after his walk and the next thing he was asleep on the couch.
Navette, had a flash back to the last time he fell asleep on the couch and decided to just let him sleep and left Marcus and Sammy’s apartment and took a taxi to hers. She would call back later to remind Marcus of packing.
It was about ten o’clock when Navette called and Marcus was still asleep when the phone rang. He answered. “Hello.”
“Marcus are you all packed?”
Marcus cleared his throat, which gave him a little time to think what he was going to say. “No, I just woke up, but it won’t take me long. Don’t worry I’ll be packed and ready to go at 6:00 a.m..”
“We have to be at the airport at six. You need to be ready to leave at five.”
“Ok, I’ll be ready at five.”
“Marcus was a little hungry and went to the fridge to check out the enormous supply of gourmet goodies. Much to his dismay, there was only a day old pizza. That would have to do for now. He gulped down a slice and threw some clothes in a bag and sat down to read some more on _______________. He dropped off to sleep and didn’t awaken until Navette was calling the next morning to see if he was ready to go.
“Marcus, I’ll catch a taxi and we will swing around to pick you up.”
Marcus agreed, however he had not showered, shaven, or finished packing.
He has only about fifteen minutes. He splashed some water on his face, applied deodorant, and put on pants and a shirt and out the door he went.
Then he remembered he had not seen Sammy. He stuck his head in Sammy’s room and called out to Sammy.
“Sammy, I’m gone. See you Monday.”
There was no reply, because Sammy was not in his bed. His bed had not been slept in. There was no time to figure this out now, he was sure he was with Margaret.
Marcus stepped out the door of the apartment building just as the taxi pulled up. He threw his bag in the trunk and jumped in.
All excited, Navette with a splash of enthusiasm said, “Wow, we are on our way to LA.”
Marcus took a sigh and relaxed in the seat of the taxi.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Untitled Novel - Chapter 3
Kelly stepped aside, deciding whether to run after him and explain or stay inside the soda shop and explain.
It was obvious to Marcus that Kelly was one of the main players in this untimely and ill prepared birthday party. But, he would never have suspected to have Justin Sloan nor “The Terminator” at his party. As he was walking around the corner he was beginning to realize he had made a little scene. He didn’t know where he was going, but that drink he had originally desired was becoming even more tempting.
“Marcus, wait a minute.” Navette yelled while running to catch Marcus.
Marcus stopped and positioned himself against the wall of a nearby building and waited for Navette to catch up with him. He still had the emotional need to talk with someone about the events of the past couple of days: who better than Navette. In fact, he had been hurting because he had not been able to talk to her.
“I’m sorry,” she said, as she caught up with Marcus. “I have been planning this party for some time and I had no idea that the events around this ____________ would happen as they did. It was supposed to be a happy and fun day.”
“Why didn’t you return my calls? And, why did you not tell me about the _____________? I felt like I was being dumped.”
“I meant to tell you about the ___________ but, after your little temper burst that night I guess I just decided it wasn’t the best time to tell you.”
“So, at least you could have called me the next day and answered my calls.”
Marcus looked down the street and saw Justin Sloan and his wife coming out of the soda shop. “We can discuss it later.”
“Do you want to go back to the soda shop?”
“No, I believe I’ll pass.”
Marcus walked away with no invite for Navette to go with him.
Navette turned to go back to the soda shop and met the Sloans.
She had thought she had better offer some type of explanation and apologize to them. “Mr. and Mrs. Sloan, I am so sorry. Marcus doesn’t like surprises and he has been getting a lot of surprises lately.”
“That’s alright Navette; I hope that you will be alright.”
“I’ll be fine.” Navette, said as her emotions were beginning to show. “I guess I had better get back to the party and explain to every one else. Good Night.”
Navette walked back to the soda shop and as she entered she saw Sammy, Margaret, and Kelly at a booth and so she joined them. “I’m sorry but I had no idea that the events of the last two days would have caused this reaction from Marcus.”
Sammy spoke up, “Well, things have been happening a little fast the last couple of days.” Sammy took a slurp from his _____________________. “Did Marcus say where he was going?
Navette thought for a second, “No, he didn’t.”
“I have an idea where he might be. I think I’ll try to patch things up with him. I’ll see you guys tomorrow. No! Wait a minute. Tomorrow is Saturday.” Sammy looked at Margaret, “Are we still on for tomorrow night?”
Margaret replied with both her eyes and her voice, “Yes, we are.”
“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow and Navette, I’ll see you Monday and Kelly it was nice to see you again.”
“Good to see you too, Sammy and if you don’t mind I think I’ll walk with you to the ______________.”
“How did you know I was going to the ______________?”
“Just a lucky guess.”
“What’s he doing there?” Navette asked, knowing that Marcus very seldom would even go into a bar.
Sammy didn’t know whether to tell Navette, but what the heck. “Marcus has been very upset ever since he discovered you were out of town and especially since you didn’t return his calls. I don’t think I helped any when I began spending time with Margaret when he needed a friend. I suppose he just wants to chill and he thought a drink might do the trick.”
Sammy and Kelly began to leave and Sammy turned to Kelly. “I think maybe I should go alone.” Kelly didn’t argue but didn’t quite agree either.
She exhaled and replied with a weak “Well, OK.” So Sammy went alone.
The ________________was not far from the soda shop. This is the first time since Sammy and Marcus became friends that they have encountered emotional stress due to female relationships. Sammy was trying to experience the conversation in his mind before he got to the _____________. He thought maybe he would just tell him what he thought about how Navette felt and that their friendship wasn’t any different than before.
Sammy was near the ____________ and suddenly shots rang out from across the street. There were two guys exchanging shots and one jumped into a car and speed away. The other guy was crunched over on the sidewalk. By this time, others had gathered and there were people on their cells. He could only assume they were calling 911 for help for the injured man. But, Sammy noticed there was no one going over to assist him. Sammy thought that wasn’t right and someone needed to comfort the injured man.
He ran across the street and bent over and asks if he could help. The man raised his head and it was Marcus. “O my God! What happened? Where did you get the gun?”
Marcus was hurt badly and could hardly get a word out. “Sammy?” is all he could say and then he passed out.
Sammy screamed out, “Did anyone call 911?”
A girl standing back in a red dress shouted back. “Yes, I did.”
It seemed like forever before the paramedics arrived. Marcus didn’t regained consciousness, but he was still breathing. The paramedics worked quickly when they arrived and seemed to be confident that he would be ok. “Where will you be taking him?”
“_________________.” The attendant replied.
The police were asking some of the people who were standing around if anyone had seen what had happened. No one seemed to have seen anything. They eventually got around to Sammy.
“Did you know the victim?” The policeman asks Sammy.
“Yes! He is a good friend.”
“Were you with him when all this happened?”
“No, but I did hear the shots and see a car speed away.”
“Where were you?” The officer asked.
“I was across the street. I was going to meet Marcus at _____________.”
“What did the car look like?”
“It was a black Lexus. I don’t know what model, but I believe there was more than one person in the car.”
“Do you have any idea what this is all about?”
“Not a clue.”
“I will have to get some more information from you. Do you have any identification?”
Sammy handed him his driver’s license and as the officer was writing this information down. He wanted to be with Marcus and yet he had to contact Navette. “Are you through officer? I need to get to the hospital.”
Sammy hailed a taxi and as he was telling the taxi driver where he needed to go, he was frantically trying to find Navette’s number. He knew he had her number in his phone, but he just couldn’t seem to find it. Suddenly it appeared, and he placed the call.
Navette answered. Suddenly Sammy had to say something. “Navette, this is Sammy, and I am on my way to ________________. Marcus has been shot.”
“He what?”
“He has been shot and it’s pretty bad, but the paramedics seemed to think he would be ok.”
“I’ll meet you at the hospital.”
Navette was just getting in. She turned around, ran down the steps from her apartment and ran out into the street. Cars had to swerve to miss hitting her, the car horns were sounding. Cars were breaking and swerving to miss hitting each other. One of the cars that had to stop was a taxi, and she jumped in.
“Hurry, get me to _________________.”
“When the taxi came to a stop at the hospital, Navette threw a $20 bill in the front seat and jumped out and ran to the emergency entrance of the hospital. Just inside the door was Sammy.
“They have him in surgery. I don’t know anything.”
“Do you know what happened? Were you there? Who shot him?”
“No. Kind of. I don’t know. It happened across the street from __________________. I was almost there and I heard gunshots and looked over just in time to see a black Lexus take off like a bat out of hell. I didn’t know it was Marcus at that time. I went to help and that’s when I notice it was Marcus and then he then passed out.”
“Do you think it was robbery or just a drive by? Who and why would anybody want to shoot Marcus?”
“I don’t know.” Sammy looked up and saw the police officer who interviewed him at the scene walk in the emergency room. He came in from the back and Sammy was hoping that he had more information about Marcus’s condition. “Any news on Marcus’s condition?”
“No, he is still in surgery. But, I do have some information on what happened.
“You do?” Sammy and Navette asked in unison.
“It seems your friend is a hero. These gangsters were attacking a young female and he stepped in. He could have saved that young girl’s life.”
“How did you find this out?”
“The female that was attacked told us. Seems she took off running when your friend freed her. When things settled down, she came and reported the incident to us. It appears she didn’t know your friend.”
“Do you know who did it?”
“No. But the girl gave us a little more to go on. You don’t remember even a partial of the license number?”
Sammy closed his eyes for a second. “No, I’m sorry, I don’t.”
“Oh, by the way, we found out the gun your friend use to shoot at the attackers, belonged to them. It seems when your friend tackled the guy, he knocked the gun out of his hand and when they started firing at him, he picked up the gun and fired back.
Sammy knew Marcus didn’t own a gun. In fact, he had forgotten that Marcus was even shooting a gun.
“We don’t know if he hit anyone or not, but we are checking all hospitals just in case. Well, if you think of anything else, give us a call and I hope your friend is ok.”
“Sammy, I can’t take it any longer, I’m going to find out something.”
Navette stormed through the emergency room doors looking in each room as she walked by. There were half naked men and women being treated for, God knows, what, but no sign of a surgery room. A woman dressed in scrubs finally stopped her and asked,. “Could I help you?”
“Yes, I am looking for Marcus Holmes. He was brought in with a gunshot wound. He is supposed to be in surgery.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m his girlfriend.”
“Well, he is still in surgery. We have removed the bullet. Iit seems to have missed all the vital arteries and organs and it is just a matter of repairing the damage. This may take a little time. Leave your name and cell number with the person at the desk and tell them that Dr. Stevenson said to call you when he gets out of recovery.”
Navette was relieved and also impressed. She had heard horror stories about hospitals and emergency rooms. This was a little refreshing to find someone that cared.
Sammy saw Navette as she came out of the emergency room doors and ran toward her.
“Well, what did you find out?”
Navette told Sammy what she had learned and found her way back to the desk and did as Dr. Stevenson had told her.
It was about 9:00 o’clock and the hospital was about eight blocks from her apartment, so she decided just to wait in the emergency room waiting area.
“Sammy, I think I will just wait here.”
“I’ll just wait with you.”
There was a slight disturbance at the entrance and both Navette and Sammy looked to see what was happening. It appeared that someone had collapsed at the door and there was a woman that they thought came in with the person, trying to help him. “Can someone help me? He has been shot!”
Navette looked at Sammy… “Do you suppose?”
“It could be?”
Sammy picked up his cell phone and was searching his pockets for the card the police officer had given him. Finally he found it.
“Officer uh,” he paused as he looked at the card again for the policeman’s name, “__________? This is Sammy __________and we are still at the emergency room and a guy just collapsed at the door and the woman that is with him said he had been shot. Ok.” Sammy closed his cell phone and looked over to tell Navette what he had said. Navette had been watching everything happening while Sammy was on the phone. By this time, they had already taken the guy back to the treatment area, with the woman following.
“Officer __________ said he would be here shortly and for us to get a good look at the person, you know, just in case he got away or something.”
“Well, it was hard to tell what he looked like. We never saw his face.”
“Things happen so fast, it’s hard, the events seem to take all your concentration away and everyone seems to look alike.” Sammy was beginning to feel a little responsible for not being able to tell the police more about the people and the car especially the license plate.
“LPD”
“What was that?
“LPD, I remember the initials LPD. They were on the license plate of the car.”
About this time Sammy saw blue lights approaching the entrance to the emergency room and shortly after Officer __________ came in. Sammy and Navette jumped up and ran over to meet him. “They took him to the back.” Sammy told the Officer.
“We have already received the call from the hospital about the gunshot wound, so I know where to find him.”
“Oh, and another thing, I remember the initials LPD. These could be part of the license plate.
Officer ____________ sent the policeman with him to check the parking lot for a car meeting the description.
“You two just stay here while we check this out. Any word on your friend?”
“Yes, he has been shot, and he is in bad shape and that guy needs to pay for it.”
Sammy took Navette by the arm to quite her down. Sammy looked at Officer _________ and told him… “He is going to be ok.”
Sammy led Navette back to their seats and ask her, “Is there anything I can get you, a coke or something?”
“No, I’ll be fine. I think the whole ordeal just hit me. Marcus is being patched up from someone’s ruthless, inconsiderate act. He was only trying to help.” Tears then began to stream down her cheeks as Sammy put his arms around her to console her.
This was the scene for another fifteen to twenty minutes. Then Officer _____________ came back. “We feel he was the guy, but I am afraid he didn’t make it. Thanks to you Sammy, we found the car abandoned over on 54th Street. The partial on the license plate was a big help. We have arrested his girl friend; she is telling us everything we need to know to close the case.”
“Wow!” Navette wanted to take her earlier words back. “He’s dead. This means that Marcus has killed someone. How will he take that, Sammy?”
“Let’s don’t worry about that now. Let’s just get Marcus well physically and then we will work on emotionally.”
Sammy seemed to be an all together guy. He had kept his cool throughout this whole situation. In fact, he and Marcus are a lot alike. They are both compassionate and buoyant. As these thoughts ran through Navette’s head, she began to feel better about giving Marcus the news of the attacker.
Navette’s cell phone rang and she quickly answered it. It was the hospital calling to let her know that Marcus had just been taken to recovery and that it would be another hour or so before he would be able to have visitors. Navette asked how he was doing, but the person did not have that information.
“Can we go see him now?”
“No, but he is out of surgery and in recovery. She said it would be about an hour or so before we could see him.” Navette reached over and laid her hand atop Sammy’s hand. “Sammy, I want to thank you for being a friend.” She gently patted the top of Sammy’s hand and then gave an honest look into Sammy’s eyes.
“It is good to be friends in times like these.” This was all that needed to be said.
“When should we tell Marcus the guy is dead?” Navette said, still with concern as how Marcus will take this news.
“Let’s just play it by ear; I’m sure everything will work out.” Sammy was a very positive person; somehow he knew that everything was going to be all right. He remembered a line from one of his motivational mentors “If you think you can, you can and if you think you can’t, you can’t. Ever since he allowed this statement to sink into his subconscious, he has been a positive person. But, just to be safe, Sammy looked toward the ceiling and ask for some spiritual help as well.
Sammy thought it would be better if they kept their time occupied, rather than let worry accumulate in their mind and clog their thinking. He went over to the paper stand where there was one of today’s New York Time left in the stand. He brought it back and gave Navette all but the sports section. “Let’s see what we can find in here… it makes the time go by faster.”
Sure enough. It didn’t seem like long at all until Navette’s phone rang. It was the hospital again. The news was what Navette had hoped for. Marcus was leaving recovery and would be in a room shortly - room 214B.
“Ok, Marcus will be in room 214B.”
“When can we go up?”
It was obvious to Marcus that Kelly was one of the main players in this untimely and ill prepared birthday party. But, he would never have suspected to have Justin Sloan nor “The Terminator” at his party. As he was walking around the corner he was beginning to realize he had made a little scene. He didn’t know where he was going, but that drink he had originally desired was becoming even more tempting.
“Marcus, wait a minute.” Navette yelled while running to catch Marcus.
Marcus stopped and positioned himself against the wall of a nearby building and waited for Navette to catch up with him. He still had the emotional need to talk with someone about the events of the past couple of days: who better than Navette. In fact, he had been hurting because he had not been able to talk to her.
“I’m sorry,” she said, as she caught up with Marcus. “I have been planning this party for some time and I had no idea that the events around this ____________ would happen as they did. It was supposed to be a happy and fun day.”
“Why didn’t you return my calls? And, why did you not tell me about the _____________? I felt like I was being dumped.”
“I meant to tell you about the ___________ but, after your little temper burst that night I guess I just decided it wasn’t the best time to tell you.”
“So, at least you could have called me the next day and answered my calls.”
Marcus looked down the street and saw Justin Sloan and his wife coming out of the soda shop. “We can discuss it later.”
“Do you want to go back to the soda shop?”
“No, I believe I’ll pass.”
Marcus walked away with no invite for Navette to go with him.
Navette turned to go back to the soda shop and met the Sloans.
She had thought she had better offer some type of explanation and apologize to them. “Mr. and Mrs. Sloan, I am so sorry. Marcus doesn’t like surprises and he has been getting a lot of surprises lately.”
“That’s alright Navette; I hope that you will be alright.”
“I’ll be fine.” Navette, said as her emotions were beginning to show. “I guess I had better get back to the party and explain to every one else. Good Night.”
Navette walked back to the soda shop and as she entered she saw Sammy, Margaret, and Kelly at a booth and so she joined them. “I’m sorry but I had no idea that the events of the last two days would have caused this reaction from Marcus.”
Sammy spoke up, “Well, things have been happening a little fast the last couple of days.” Sammy took a slurp from his _____________________. “Did Marcus say where he was going?
Navette thought for a second, “No, he didn’t.”
“I have an idea where he might be. I think I’ll try to patch things up with him. I’ll see you guys tomorrow. No! Wait a minute. Tomorrow is Saturday.” Sammy looked at Margaret, “Are we still on for tomorrow night?”
Margaret replied with both her eyes and her voice, “Yes, we are.”
“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow and Navette, I’ll see you Monday and Kelly it was nice to see you again.”
“Good to see you too, Sammy and if you don’t mind I think I’ll walk with you to the ______________.”
“How did you know I was going to the ______________?”
“Just a lucky guess.”
“What’s he doing there?” Navette asked, knowing that Marcus very seldom would even go into a bar.
Sammy didn’t know whether to tell Navette, but what the heck. “Marcus has been very upset ever since he discovered you were out of town and especially since you didn’t return his calls. I don’t think I helped any when I began spending time with Margaret when he needed a friend. I suppose he just wants to chill and he thought a drink might do the trick.”
Sammy and Kelly began to leave and Sammy turned to Kelly. “I think maybe I should go alone.” Kelly didn’t argue but didn’t quite agree either.
She exhaled and replied with a weak “Well, OK.” So Sammy went alone.
The ________________was not far from the soda shop. This is the first time since Sammy and Marcus became friends that they have encountered emotional stress due to female relationships. Sammy was trying to experience the conversation in his mind before he got to the _____________. He thought maybe he would just tell him what he thought about how Navette felt and that their friendship wasn’t any different than before.
Sammy was near the ____________ and suddenly shots rang out from across the street. There were two guys exchanging shots and one jumped into a car and speed away. The other guy was crunched over on the sidewalk. By this time, others had gathered and there were people on their cells. He could only assume they were calling 911 for help for the injured man. But, Sammy noticed there was no one going over to assist him. Sammy thought that wasn’t right and someone needed to comfort the injured man.
He ran across the street and bent over and asks if he could help. The man raised his head and it was Marcus. “O my God! What happened? Where did you get the gun?”
Marcus was hurt badly and could hardly get a word out. “Sammy?” is all he could say and then he passed out.
Sammy screamed out, “Did anyone call 911?”
A girl standing back in a red dress shouted back. “Yes, I did.”
It seemed like forever before the paramedics arrived. Marcus didn’t regained consciousness, but he was still breathing. The paramedics worked quickly when they arrived and seemed to be confident that he would be ok. “Where will you be taking him?”
“_________________.” The attendant replied.
The police were asking some of the people who were standing around if anyone had seen what had happened. No one seemed to have seen anything. They eventually got around to Sammy.
“Did you know the victim?” The policeman asks Sammy.
“Yes! He is a good friend.”
“Were you with him when all this happened?”
“No, but I did hear the shots and see a car speed away.”
“Where were you?” The officer asked.
“I was across the street. I was going to meet Marcus at _____________.”
“What did the car look like?”
“It was a black Lexus. I don’t know what model, but I believe there was more than one person in the car.”
“Do you have any idea what this is all about?”
“Not a clue.”
“I will have to get some more information from you. Do you have any identification?”
Sammy handed him his driver’s license and as the officer was writing this information down. He wanted to be with Marcus and yet he had to contact Navette. “Are you through officer? I need to get to the hospital.”
Sammy hailed a taxi and as he was telling the taxi driver where he needed to go, he was frantically trying to find Navette’s number. He knew he had her number in his phone, but he just couldn’t seem to find it. Suddenly it appeared, and he placed the call.
Navette answered. Suddenly Sammy had to say something. “Navette, this is Sammy, and I am on my way to ________________. Marcus has been shot.”
“He what?”
“He has been shot and it’s pretty bad, but the paramedics seemed to think he would be ok.”
“I’ll meet you at the hospital.”
Navette was just getting in. She turned around, ran down the steps from her apartment and ran out into the street. Cars had to swerve to miss hitting her, the car horns were sounding. Cars were breaking and swerving to miss hitting each other. One of the cars that had to stop was a taxi, and she jumped in.
“Hurry, get me to _________________.”
“When the taxi came to a stop at the hospital, Navette threw a $20 bill in the front seat and jumped out and ran to the emergency entrance of the hospital. Just inside the door was Sammy.
“They have him in surgery. I don’t know anything.”
“Do you know what happened? Were you there? Who shot him?”
“No. Kind of. I don’t know. It happened across the street from __________________. I was almost there and I heard gunshots and looked over just in time to see a black Lexus take off like a bat out of hell. I didn’t know it was Marcus at that time. I went to help and that’s when I notice it was Marcus and then he then passed out.”
“Do you think it was robbery or just a drive by? Who and why would anybody want to shoot Marcus?”
“I don’t know.” Sammy looked up and saw the police officer who interviewed him at the scene walk in the emergency room. He came in from the back and Sammy was hoping that he had more information about Marcus’s condition. “Any news on Marcus’s condition?”
“No, he is still in surgery. But, I do have some information on what happened.
“You do?” Sammy and Navette asked in unison.
“It seems your friend is a hero. These gangsters were attacking a young female and he stepped in. He could have saved that young girl’s life.”
“How did you find this out?”
“The female that was attacked told us. Seems she took off running when your friend freed her. When things settled down, she came and reported the incident to us. It appears she didn’t know your friend.”
“Do you know who did it?”
“No. But the girl gave us a little more to go on. You don’t remember even a partial of the license number?”
Sammy closed his eyes for a second. “No, I’m sorry, I don’t.”
“Oh, by the way, we found out the gun your friend use to shoot at the attackers, belonged to them. It seems when your friend tackled the guy, he knocked the gun out of his hand and when they started firing at him, he picked up the gun and fired back.
Sammy knew Marcus didn’t own a gun. In fact, he had forgotten that Marcus was even shooting a gun.
“We don’t know if he hit anyone or not, but we are checking all hospitals just in case. Well, if you think of anything else, give us a call and I hope your friend is ok.”
“Sammy, I can’t take it any longer, I’m going to find out something.”
Navette stormed through the emergency room doors looking in each room as she walked by. There were half naked men and women being treated for, God knows, what, but no sign of a surgery room. A woman dressed in scrubs finally stopped her and asked,. “Could I help you?”
“Yes, I am looking for Marcus Holmes. He was brought in with a gunshot wound. He is supposed to be in surgery.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m his girlfriend.”
“Well, he is still in surgery. We have removed the bullet. Iit seems to have missed all the vital arteries and organs and it is just a matter of repairing the damage. This may take a little time. Leave your name and cell number with the person at the desk and tell them that Dr. Stevenson said to call you when he gets out of recovery.”
Navette was relieved and also impressed. She had heard horror stories about hospitals and emergency rooms. This was a little refreshing to find someone that cared.
Sammy saw Navette as she came out of the emergency room doors and ran toward her.
“Well, what did you find out?”
Navette told Sammy what she had learned and found her way back to the desk and did as Dr. Stevenson had told her.
It was about 9:00 o’clock and the hospital was about eight blocks from her apartment, so she decided just to wait in the emergency room waiting area.
“Sammy, I think I will just wait here.”
“I’ll just wait with you.”
There was a slight disturbance at the entrance and both Navette and Sammy looked to see what was happening. It appeared that someone had collapsed at the door and there was a woman that they thought came in with the person, trying to help him. “Can someone help me? He has been shot!”
Navette looked at Sammy… “Do you suppose?”
“It could be?”
Sammy picked up his cell phone and was searching his pockets for the card the police officer had given him. Finally he found it.
“Officer uh,” he paused as he looked at the card again for the policeman’s name, “__________? This is Sammy __________and we are still at the emergency room and a guy just collapsed at the door and the woman that is with him said he had been shot. Ok.” Sammy closed his cell phone and looked over to tell Navette what he had said. Navette had been watching everything happening while Sammy was on the phone. By this time, they had already taken the guy back to the treatment area, with the woman following.
“Officer __________ said he would be here shortly and for us to get a good look at the person, you know, just in case he got away or something.”
“Well, it was hard to tell what he looked like. We never saw his face.”
“Things happen so fast, it’s hard, the events seem to take all your concentration away and everyone seems to look alike.” Sammy was beginning to feel a little responsible for not being able to tell the police more about the people and the car especially the license plate.
“LPD”
“What was that?
“LPD, I remember the initials LPD. They were on the license plate of the car.”
About this time Sammy saw blue lights approaching the entrance to the emergency room and shortly after Officer __________ came in. Sammy and Navette jumped up and ran over to meet him. “They took him to the back.” Sammy told the Officer.
“We have already received the call from the hospital about the gunshot wound, so I know where to find him.”
“Oh, and another thing, I remember the initials LPD. These could be part of the license plate.
Officer ____________ sent the policeman with him to check the parking lot for a car meeting the description.
“You two just stay here while we check this out. Any word on your friend?”
“Yes, he has been shot, and he is in bad shape and that guy needs to pay for it.”
Sammy took Navette by the arm to quite her down. Sammy looked at Officer _________ and told him… “He is going to be ok.”
Sammy led Navette back to their seats and ask her, “Is there anything I can get you, a coke or something?”
“No, I’ll be fine. I think the whole ordeal just hit me. Marcus is being patched up from someone’s ruthless, inconsiderate act. He was only trying to help.” Tears then began to stream down her cheeks as Sammy put his arms around her to console her.
This was the scene for another fifteen to twenty minutes. Then Officer _____________ came back. “We feel he was the guy, but I am afraid he didn’t make it. Thanks to you Sammy, we found the car abandoned over on 54th Street. The partial on the license plate was a big help. We have arrested his girl friend; she is telling us everything we need to know to close the case.”
“Wow!” Navette wanted to take her earlier words back. “He’s dead. This means that Marcus has killed someone. How will he take that, Sammy?”
“Let’s don’t worry about that now. Let’s just get Marcus well physically and then we will work on emotionally.”
Sammy seemed to be an all together guy. He had kept his cool throughout this whole situation. In fact, he and Marcus are a lot alike. They are both compassionate and buoyant. As these thoughts ran through Navette’s head, she began to feel better about giving Marcus the news of the attacker.
Navette’s cell phone rang and she quickly answered it. It was the hospital calling to let her know that Marcus had just been taken to recovery and that it would be another hour or so before he would be able to have visitors. Navette asked how he was doing, but the person did not have that information.
“Can we go see him now?”
“No, but he is out of surgery and in recovery. She said it would be about an hour or so before we could see him.” Navette reached over and laid her hand atop Sammy’s hand. “Sammy, I want to thank you for being a friend.” She gently patted the top of Sammy’s hand and then gave an honest look into Sammy’s eyes.
“It is good to be friends in times like these.” This was all that needed to be said.
“When should we tell Marcus the guy is dead?” Navette said, still with concern as how Marcus will take this news.
“Let’s just play it by ear; I’m sure everything will work out.” Sammy was a very positive person; somehow he knew that everything was going to be all right. He remembered a line from one of his motivational mentors “If you think you can, you can and if you think you can’t, you can’t. Ever since he allowed this statement to sink into his subconscious, he has been a positive person. But, just to be safe, Sammy looked toward the ceiling and ask for some spiritual help as well.
Sammy thought it would be better if they kept their time occupied, rather than let worry accumulate in their mind and clog their thinking. He went over to the paper stand where there was one of today’s New York Time left in the stand. He brought it back and gave Navette all but the sports section. “Let’s see what we can find in here… it makes the time go by faster.”
Sure enough. It didn’t seem like long at all until Navette’s phone rang. It was the hospital again. The news was what Navette had hoped for. Marcus was leaving recovery and would be in a room shortly - room 214B.
“Ok, Marcus will be in room 214B.”
“When can we go up?”
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