Saving Scotty Read online

  “Now, let’s review,” she said. “This guy is an architect and he’s really shy? And socially awkward?”

  “Well, uh, yeah,” I said. No use lying to her. She was going to meet the guy, and if I told her that he was some kind of loquacious stud, she probably would’ve gotten completely pissed. “He is. But he’s such a nice guy.”

  “I believe you,” she said. “Count me in.”

  I was surprised. “Really? That was easy.”

  “Yeah. Listen, there is one thing I have learned over the years. And that’s that I don’t want somebody like myself. Two ballbreakers together can never work. That’s why my most successful relationships have been with guys who are more on the quiet side. And the geek part I really love, because intelligence means more to me than anything else. So, yeah, I’ll meet this guy.”

  So, as Scotty and I made our way to the restaurant to meet these two, she was totally excited. “This is so cool,” she said. “I just love double dates. And I love that you went so out of your way to find a woman for Fred. You are just such a phenomenal person.”

  I smiled. I was actually thinking that I was becoming a better person by the day. I didn’t know if it was because Scotty made me want to be a better man, or that, perhaps, I was just ready to become better. All that I knew was that I was a better person than I had ever been before. I was becoming the man that I had always imagined I would be. And that made me happy, and it really made Scotty happy as well.

  We got to the restaurant and found that Fred and Melissa were already there. I looked at their body language from afar and was very encouraged. Fred was smiling, big, and Melissa was leaning into him. Melissa took off his glasses and put them on her face, and I saw her touching his arm a lot.

  Things are going to go great tonight. Scotty and I approached the two and sat down at the table.

  “Hey, you,” I said to Fred. “Guess you guys got here a little bit early, didn’t ya?”

  Fred’s face got red. “Yeah. Uh, I took the liberty to call Melissa yesterday and we kinda had it arranged to meet before you guys got here.”

  “Yeah,” said Melissa. “You know, see if we like each other a little bit. Then, if we didn’t dig each other, we’d just cut out before the two of you even got here. Saves an awkward meeting.”

  “Well then,” I said. “Guess it’s a good sign that you both are still here, huh?”

  Fred smiled. “It’s a good sign indeed.”

  Melissa was smiling too. “Betcha didn’t know that Fred is into girl punk. He actually has everything that Slant 6 has ever recorded.”

  “Oh, sorry,” I said. “I guess I’m hopelessly square. Who is that?”

  And then the two of them launched into exactly who this group was. I gathered that it was a girl punk band who was out of Washington DC, and was considered one of the paragons of the underground punk subculture.

  I had to smile at that one. Not much surprised me, but this did somehow.

  As the night wore on, I found that the two of them had even more in common than that. They had both been to Comic Con in San Diego for the past ten years, and they spent the evening talking about all the different things that went on there.

  Scotty and I were feeling, more and more, like third and fourth wheels. But Scotty didn’t seem to mind. She was having fun listening to their conversation. She kept nudging me under the table, and she whispered a few times “you did good. How did you know that Fred would like this girl so much? Or that she would like him so much?”

  I shrugged. “I just had a feeling. A good feeling.”

  Finally, it was time to get the check, and Melissa suggested to Fred that they get together the following evening for dinner at her place and maybe check out some live music in the Village. Fred readily agreed to that.

  We all got into our respective vehicles, and gave hugs all around.

  Fred took me aside. “Thank you,” he said. “I don’t know how to thank you, but thank you.”

  “Sure,” I said. “Anytime.” I had to laugh inwardly. Turns out that Fred was so much less socially awkward in the right environment. With the right person. A lid for every pot, so they say. Who knew that Fred’s lid would be so different from what I imagined him to be? But I was thrilled to be helping him out. And I predicted that he would come out of his shell at work, as well. I was counting on it.

  On the ride home, Scotty held my hand. “You really did good. I’m just amazed sometimes. You just seem to have a read on people.”

  “Nah,” I said. “I just got lucky with this one. I figured that I’d go with somebody who would be off the beaten path, somebody who I wouldn’t necessarily imagine would go for him, and see where it goes. I had no clue that they would hit it off, to be honest, so I’m as surprised as you are, really.”

  Scotty laughed. “Well, that was a fun night. That food was so amazing, too. I’m so full. Of course, it was Asian food, so, you know what they say. We’ll probably end up getting McDonald’s on the way home.”

  True that, I thought. True that.

  So, it was a good night, overall. I did my good deed in repaying Fred for his courage in helping me to oust Portia, so I was happy about that. Scotty and I were in a great place, overall, even though she was still having night terrors and sometimes had trouble sleeping. But I was supporting her, and making sure that she was getting through all of that.

  But I couldn’t anticipate what was going to happen next.

  Scotty went into the bathroom to get ready for bed. For my part, I plopped down on the bed and proceeded to do some light reading before I hit the sack.

  But I was roused out of my smug little world when I suddenly heard Scotty screaming.

  I rushed into the bathroom. “What’s going on?” I asked her. She was lying on the floor, and tears were streaming down her face.

  “Wha-wha-what’s happening to me?” she asked. And then I looked at the toilet, and I knew what she was talking about. It was filled with blood, and there was pink fluid that was running down her leg. More blood was coming out of her orifice, and then I saw that there were large clots on the floor next to her.

  Don’t panic, Nick. Inside, my mind was racing. I had no idea what was causing this, and I hoped and prayed that it wasn’t something life-threatening.

  Scotty also appeared to be in severe pain. She was holding her abdomen, and wincing.

  “Honey, do you need me to call you an ambulance, or do you think that you can manage if I just take you into the hospital right now?” I didn’t want to call an ambulance if that wasn’t absolutely necessary, because that might scare her more than ever.

  She shook her head, her tears streaming down her face. “No, Nick, please just take me in. I hate hospitals, but I’m really scared right now.”

  “Okay, then. Can I clean you up before you go?”

  She nodded her head. “Please do. I’m really embarrassed to go anywhere with all of this blood on me.”

  I gently picked her up, and put her into the shower. I got out a sponge and made sure that all of the blood on her legs was washed off, and then I carried her out and started to dress her. “Honey, do you have any pads? I don’t think that you use them, but I need to ask anyhow.” It was then that I cursed myself for not having a First Aid kit at the house. That was something that I was going to have to invest in for the future, so that I wasn’t caught unawares in situations like this.

  She shook her head. “No, Nick. I, what am I going to do?”

  There was a convenience store on my block which was open all night, but I didn’t want to leave Scotty to go to it. She looked terrified. She was shaking and crying and holding her stomach in pain. So, I called Charlie to bring me some pads from the store.

  “Yes, Mr. O’Hara,” Charlie said.

  “I’m so sorry to wake you. But I need something quick. Could you bring me some maxi-pads from that convenience store that is open all night? It’s right on my block. And I need that ASAP.”

  “Of course, I will be there i
n about ten minutes,” he said.

  “Thanks.” Good ol’ Charlie – it was 1 AM, but he didn’t blink when I needed something from him. Of course, it helped that I paid him a six-figure salary for being my driver and for being at my beck and call whenever I needed him. So there was that. Bringing maxi pads to me in the middle of the night was just part of his job description.

  So, I laid down on the floor next to Scotty. She had on her top, but no bottoms. I put an old towel on the floor, and she was sitting on that. The towel was becoming soaked with blood and clots. She was starting to hyperventilate, so I rubbed her back and then stood up and got out the inhaler that I gave her the last time she had problems breathing because she was so distraught.

  She sucked on the inhaler while I pumped it. “There, there,” I said. “Shhhhh. Charlie’s going to be here any moment with some pads, and then I’m going to take you straight to the closest hospital.”

  She nodded her head, and clung on to me. “What’s happening to me?”

  I didn’t know. I just sat there with her, feeling helpless, and wishing that I had a clue on what to tell her. Her hemorrhaging had come on so suddenly, so it was just something that was clearly out of my realm of knowledge. But my mind was spinning, hoping and praying that it wasn’t some kind of tumor or something like that.

  I honestly didn’t know how I would deal with something like that. If Scotty were really sick. Of course, I would be there for her and would be her source of strength, but if something happened to her like what had happened to Michelle…

  I took a deep breath. I remembered how everybody in the family was affected by what had happened to her. How I had never seen my father cry until the day of the funeral. How my mother seemed to never stop crying for months on end. How I was pushed aside in their grief. There was such a devastation and an emptiness after Michelle’s passing. And I remembered, as I sat on the floor with Scotty, that Michelle’s diagnosis came after she started bleeding much like this. The cancer was swiftly moving, and, by the time they found it, there was nothing that they could do.

  Calm down, O’Hara. Calm down. Scotty’s not sick like Michelle. She’s not. She’s just not. Would fate be that cruel? Give me somebody like Scotty, and then snatch her away?

  By that time, her sobbing had turned to low whimpering. She was still shaking, and still clinging on to me, but there were no more tears. Just the low whimpering, which sounded somewhat like a cat that was in pain.

  I felt impotent, so I just sat there on the floor, stroking her hair and her back and whispering comforting words to her. “It’s okay, Scotty. It’s going to be okay. Shhhh, Charlie’s going to be here at any minute, and then I can get you dressed and I’ll take you in. I’m sure that there’s nothing wrong with you that can’t be fixed. The doctors will fix you.”

  I silently prayed that I wasn’t lying to her. That the doctors really would fix her.

  Where was Charlie? What was taking him so long? I looked at the clock, and then realized that it had only been around 20 minutes since I had called him. He said that he would be here in about a half hour, so I needed to stop being so impatient.

  But I felt like I did when Scotty was missing. Every second dragged on, and every minute seemed like hours. I could do nothing but hold her, and, every so once in a while, I got her back in the shower and rinsed off her legs.

  Finally, Charlie was knocking on my door.

  “Just a minute, Scotty. I’ll be right back.”

  She said nothing, but just nodded her head. She continued to make the little mewling sounds, and the tears were starting again. But she tried to look brave, and I loved her for that. Poor girl had been through so much, and now this. How much more would she be able to take?

  I got back with the pads in my hands. I also had a fresh pair of underwear. I put one of the pads in the underwear and put it on her. And then I helped her put on a skirt, because she didn’t want to ruin a pair of pants, and I helped her off the floor. I then got her wheelchair out – usually she used crutches, but, in this case, it would be imperative that I be able to get her to the hospital in a short period of time, so I knew that a wheelchair would be necessary. I picked her up and carried her down the stairs, and then ran back up and carried the wheelchair down. I put her in her wheelchair, and then put a blanket over her, and wheeled her to the elevator.

  While I stood and waited for the elevator, Scotty was clutching her blanket and crying softly. My heart went out to her, and I silently prayed, more than I have ever prayed since Scotty went missing, that she would be okay. That this was something that was fixable. I tried not to let my mind go to the alternative – after all, I didn’t think that Scotty had a doctor. She wasn’t getting regular check-ups. Something could have been festering for some time, and she was just now showing symptoms.

  But I wasn’t going to get ahead of myself. Scotty was going to be okay. She was going to be fine. I took a deep breath and repeated that mantra to myself as the elevator arrived and took us down to the lobby floor.

  Charlie was still waiting for us, because I asked him to go ahead and take us to the hospital. He opened the door and I helped Scotty in. Then I rode in the backseat with her, all the way to the hospital.

  Chapter 39

  Scotty

  I’m in the back of the limousine with Nick, racing towards the hospital, and all that I can think about is my fear that there is something seriously wrong with me. I had no idea what would cause me to suddenly hemorrhage like I was doing, unless it was something that was serious. Life-threatening. Like a bleeding tumor or something like that.

  Nick was being so good, but I could tell that he was upset as well. He tried hard to hide the fear in his eyes, but I was getting to know him pretty well, so I could tell his moods by now. For my part, I was panicking a little, so I was crying and whimpering, but I tried to calm down. For Nick, if nothing else.

  Finally, we got to the hospital. Nick gently carried me out of the car and put me in my wheelchair. He pushed me into the ER, and checked me in.

  The nurse handed him a chart to fill out.

  “We’ll fill this chart out later. Right now, the doctor has to see her. She’s bleeding and she’s scared, and I’m sorry, but neither of us wants to take the time to fill out this chart.”

  The nurse looked at Nick with a dirty look. She no doubt heard this a hundred times a day. But it was really silly, though. Filling out charts when you’re in pain or bleeding or whatever. I had no idea why they couldn’t just give me a room to check me out and then let me fill out that damned chart.

  “It’s procedure,” she said.

  “You mean that if a person comes in here with a bullet, you’re going to make that person fill out a chart before you see him?”

  The nurse all but rolled her eyes. “Of course not, but this woman here doesn’t look like she has something like a bullet. So, please fill out the chart.” Her eyes said and the faster you fill that goddamned thing out, the faster you’re going to see the doctor.

  Nick just shook his head and wheeled me into the waiting room so that we could fill out the chart. He went through and asked me all the questions, and I just shook my head “no” for every one. I was pretty lucky, I guess. I hadn’t had hardly any major illnesses, and the accident where my leg was broken was really the first major accident that I had ever had. As far as I knew, no major medical issues ran in my family. Unless you count alcoholism as being a major illness, that is.

  Then he handed me all the paperwork to sign, and I did, with a shaking hand. My handwriting was terrible under the best of circumstances. I would imagine that my signature was probably illegible.

  He handed the paperwork to the nurse, and she took it and said “okay, thank you. The doctor will see you as soon as possible.”

  “As soon as possible better be within the next few minutes. My girlfriend is bleeding here.”

  I could feel the blood pool and congeal, and fill up the pad that was in my panties. I felt embarrassed and hum
iliated just sitting there bleeding, and I didn’t quite know what to do about it. Thankfully, Nick thought to pack a bag with extra pads and underpants, so, if nothing else, I could clean myself up a little bit in the bathroom, if the doctor didn’t take too long.

  Nick still stood there, next to the obstinate nurse. I hoped that the nurse wasn’t someone who would make me wait longer just out of spite. She did look annoyed enough to do just that.

  I think that he was trying to intimidate her into making sure that I got in to see the doctor quicker, but I hoped that it wouldn’t backfire.

  Thankfully, it didn’t appear to backfire, because the nurse called my name about a minute later.

  “Scotty James,” she said. And Nick came back to wheel me up to the nurse’s station, where another nurse met me and showed me back to an examination room. Once I got into the exam room, I was given a gown and told to strip naked and put the gown on me, tied in the back. Nick helped me out of my clothes, and helped me into my gown, and then pulled up a chair next to me and held my hand.

  I was sitting on a metal table, and there was still blood dripping out of me, although it seemed to not be nearly as bad as before. I took some deep breaths and looked at Nick for comfort.

  Nick tried to lighten the mood some. “Boy, Scotty, you sure are a drama queen,” he said with a smile and wink. “If you wanted to get out of the house, you should have just said so.”

  I tried to smile, but I felt that it was a weak one. I appreciated him trying to joke with me, but my mind was filled with fear of the unknown.

  The doctor arrived after a few minutes. Her name was Dr. Montgall, and she was around 30, not much older than that, and was startlingly attractive, with auburn hair and freckles. She was looking at my chart when she came in.

  “Okay, Ms. James, it looks like your medical history is pretty clear. What seems to be the issue here?”

  “I, uh, I’m bleeding. And I have no idea why. I’m also passing large clots. Please tell me what’s happening to me.”