An Autumn to Remember: A Novel (Elmtown Series Book 1) (5 page)

   Fear.

   “Mom, Mom, what’s wrong, what are you doing lying on the floor?” He tapped her shoulder then turned her around.

   “Moooom…” he screamed. There was a swelling on the side of her head and a tiny line of blood trickling from a small cut but she was breathing. How did she slip? The bathroom floor was not wet.

Then his mind switched into problem-solving mode. He quickly grabbed his cell phone from his back pocket. His hands shook as he dialled 911.

   “911, what is your emergency?” a woman asked.

His voice trembled as he tried to describe the situation to the woman, then his phone died. Low battery! He quickly rushed to the living room and redialed 911 from the landline.

   “I think my mom slipped in the bathroom and hit her head on the tub. She’s passed out on the floor. No she’s not conscious. There’s a swelling and a little cut on the side of her head. Yes she’s breathing. Please can you just send someone right away, I don’t know what to do and looks really bad. OK I won’t move her.”

   The ambulance arrived in approximately four minutes. He watched on as the paramedics strapped her into a stretcher and carried her into the ambulance, careful not to move her too much.

   Jamie went with them to the hospital.

6

   The St. Anne’s, a safety net hospital was famed for providing care for residents who didn’t have health insurance and most of its patients were from Bluewood Village. The ER, located between the Roosevelt Health Center and the Children’s Hospital, was busy that evening but Chelsea was able to park her car after she saw someone backing out of a parking space.

   She was starting to get used to driving on the right side since they got back from England but it was still a little awkward with every approaching car appearing as if they were on the wrong side of the road and were about to hit her head on. She still had a few weeks left before she would have to replace her British driver’s licence with a New York licence. If there was one thing she dreaded in life, it was a driving test, but John told her the American ones were relatively easier than the British, especially in places like Western New York. Despite her years of driving experience, she still found the thought of being watched by the judging eyes of examiners at a road test unnerving.

   She paid for parking, displayed the ticket on her dashboard and walked in through the automatic sliding doors that led to the building’s clean modern reception area. Most of the uniformed staff moved hurriedly along the corridor with paramedics pushing wheelchairs. Some of the visitors sat on the plastic chairs looking tired, some stood on their feet and some paced up and down with strained faces; most of them looked like they hadn’t slept all night.

   Chelsea spotted Jamie sitting down on one of the chairs, His eyes looking straight ahead as though he were lost in thought–he didn’t see her.

   “Hey,” she said as she sat beside him. “How is she?” she asked immediately.

   “Hey you. She’s fine. I just spoke to her an hour ago but she’s sleeping now. It was a concussion but thankfully no serious damage done.”

   “Oh! Thank God.” She sighed with relief. “So she just slipped in the bathroom?”

   “Yeah, she hit her head on the edge of the tub. I’m sorry for making you go through all this trouble. I just needed someone to give me a ride back home so I could get some of her stuff, they wanna watch her for a couple of days and Jerome wasn’t picking my calls.”

   “It’s nothing. You would do the same for me,” she said. They both knew they could always count on each other. Theirs was one of those friendships that was so grounded that it could not be annihilated because of many years without communication.

   “Are you ready?” she asked.

   “Yeah, let’s go,” he replied. “Thank you so much.”

They walked to her car and drove away, exiting through 24th Street. She drove to the hospital with her GPS but didn’t need it anymore; Jamie knew a lot of shortcuts between downtown and Bluewood Village.

   “It’s going take some time before I know all these shortcuts. The GPS seems to take the longer routes,” Chelsea said.

   “It’s actually easy. I drew Jerome a map when we were freshmen and he got the hang of it immediately. It’s pretty straight forward.”

   “So when will I meet this Jerome friend of yours?” she asked as she slammed the breaks at the second set of traffic lights. “The guy who took my place in your life.”

After pausing for a few seconds to recover from Chelsea’s sudden stop Jamie replied.

   “Umm...funny. Don’t worry he didn’t take your place. He’s so busy right now. Traveling a lot because he’s been applying for jobs and interviewing but you could meet him if you came to the club on a Thursday night. Actually I was going to invite you guys to come watch us perform this Thursday.” The only time he wasn’t afraid of possibly having an accident was when he was the one driving. That fear seemed to have taken root when his father died.

   “Oh you mean myself and John?” Chelsea asked jolting the car back into speed.

   “Y-yes and Amy too,” he gripped the safety belt to calm himself.

   “I think we’d all love that, I’ll check with both of them and let you know. I’ll probably just come by myself if they have things planned already. You look so tired Jamie, your eyes still go red when you’re tired.”

   Yawning he said, “I know. I haven’t had much sleep lately.”

   “Is everything OK?”

   “Oh Yeah! I’m fine.” We are just about to lose our home, he thought. His mom told him she collapsed after reading the ten days notice from the new owner of the house. The foreclosure had gone through and they lost everything. The new owner was only giving them the ten days required according to state law.

As they drove into Bluewood Village, it dawned on Chelsea she had never visited Jamie at his house before. He always came over to her’s. She’d never even been to Bluewood Village. She wondered if it was only because her parents didn’t allow her go to certain areas or if it was just that Jamie never invited her.

   She noticed the bus stops were busier, the houses almost kissing each other, leaving very little space between them and there were no big green lawns like theirs. Are we still in Elmtown? she wondered trying not to act surprised.

   On a one-lane road, a bus came to a halt in front of them to pick up passengers, giving her time to study the environment a little bit. Looking sideways she saw people waiting for buses. A scrawny looking old man decked in a rumpled worn-out white suit held a brown battered suitcase. He was talking to a lady who looked like she was telling him she had no change. He moved on to the girl behind who also shook her head. The girl who probably wasn’t more than nineteen held on to her baby stroller while her four-year-old son held on to her black jeans, calling her attention to an ad with pictures of burgers and fries.

   “A little different from what you’re used to?” Jamie asked as they continued further behind the bus.

   “Ummm...definitely not as boring as my side of town.”

Jamie laughed, “You don’t have to be polite about it. I know exactly how terrible this place is.”

“Aw, don’t talk like that,” she said.

“I’m just being honest,” he said. “Its OK to see it for what it is. I dream of a life beyond this place. I don’t think anyone should want to live here forever,” he said with deep conviction, looking out the window, knowing there was much more to his life than this. But for now, he had to deal with the present pressing issues. With his mother in the hospital, he had to find a place for them to live within a few days days and he had no idea how he was going to do that. With just him, Chelsea and their words in the car he wished he could freeze that moment so they could be together forever. It felt more precious than a mere ride. There was no point denying it, he really liked being with this girl. Maybe one day he would find someone just like her. He wondered if that was possible. His mind began to talk to itself. Is it possible to find someone like the girl you really want to be with because the girl you truly wanted was not available? Do your feelings stop for her when you meet the other someone? At twenty-three, he was no expert at this love thing, nor this life thing but he knew these things he felt when he was with Chelsea were not ordinary and it didn’t seem like those feelings intended to leave him anytime soon.

   Twenty minutes later, she parked the car and followed him into the house.

   “Is that your dad?” Chelsea asked pointing to the family picture hanging on the living room wall.

   “Yeah, can’t miss him with those big ears. That’s who I got these from,” he said rubbing his ears.

   “It’s a lovely picture. Where was this?”

   “A studio in Chicago, he died a year after that picture was taken,” he said.

   Chelsea noticed the sadness that ate up his face as he said those words; she wondered what it must feel like growing up without a father; she’d never lost a loved one. That was the first time she heard him say anything about his dead father. She always wanted to ask about how he died.

   “Awww, I guess you still really miss him,” she said immediately hoping she hadn’t just touched a sensitive nerve.

   “Yeah...I guess,” he said and changed the topic. “I’ll just go into my mom’s bedroom and get some of the things she’ll need. Feel free to go round the house, not that there’s much to see.”

   “Oh thanks I’d love to.”

   He went into the room as she began to look around. The furniture was old but Chelsea could tell some thought had gone into making the best of it and there was a style to the arrangement.

   The wooden floor squeaked under her feet as she walked towards the kitchen. She stepped on a piece of paper just by the entrance; it looked like a letter. She picked it up and approached the small table, intending to place it there. Someone must have dropped it by mistake, she thought. Then her eyes caught the heading of the letter. Her curiosity got the better of her and she read the whole thing.

   Oh my goodness! I shouldn’t be reading this
,
she thought. She hurriedly dropped it on the kitchen table and set out to see the other parts of the house. First, she checked out the basement, then peeped into the bathroom and the bedrooms. It felt like she was being introduced to the ex-wife of a recently divorced friend who introduces her like they were still married.

   Jamie found her in his room looking at the posters on his wall.

   “Most of those posters are older than you and I,” he said.

   “I can tell. It’s a really good collection though. Who is Robert E. Benson?”

   “He was a jazz guitarist. I think he’s the best ever.”

   She saw the neatly arranged collection of jazz albums. From the way they were carefully organised, she knew that was a no-go area. She looked at the bag in his hand and said, “I’m ready to go when you are.”

***

   The ride back to the hospital was quicker with less traffic on the downtown route. Chelsea couldn’t get the letter off her mind. She wanted to know if they already had a place to live. Why did they miss their mortgage payments? Maybe his mother doesn’t have a job, she thought and wondered how Jamie was coping with all these things in his last year of college. She sensed there was something wrong the second day she saw him but couldn’t put her finger on what was off about his mood. She noticed sometimes he’d just be looking into space for no reason. So this was why he hadn’t had enough sleep?

   When they got to the hospital she couldn’t resist anymore, she decided to bring it up before they got out of the car.

   “Jamie why didn’t you tell me about the house?”

   “Huh? What house? What do you mean?” he asked curiously.

   “I saw the letter back at the house. The one that said you had to move out in ten days.”

   The next thing came as a surprise to Chelsea. Jamie was livid.

   “Do you just go around reading people’s letters? So you think you can just intrude into people’s privacy as you wish? I haven’t even read that letter. Why would you do that?” he asked then pulled the inside door handle.

   “No Jamie, it wasn’t like that, I was…”

He was gone. He stormed into the hospital leaving her alone in the car, stunned. She had never seen him that angry before. I was only trying to help, she thought. It was as if what she said had just made him snap. Was it that bad that I read it? she wondered.

   She sat there for ten minutes unsure whether to follow him or just wait. She then picked up her phone to text him that she was sorry and would see him later. Halfway into typing up the text, the passenger’s door opened.

   “I’m so sorry...so sorry,” Jamie said as he settled back into the passenger’s seat. “It’s just been a really hard time for us and I’m trying to figure out what to do next. I’m really sorry.”

   “I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have read it either.”

   “Yes but I shouldn’t have reacted like you committed murder.”

   She laughed, reached for his hand and said, “Hey its OK. We’re good.”

   “I’m glad we are.” He sighed and said, “Now I have less than ten days to find a place and move all our things out of there.”

   “I’m guessing there’s nothing lined up at the moment?” she asked with so much care in her voice.

   “Nothing at all. We were still hoping we could get around this somehow. I guess we should have been more realistic. It’s been a nightmare and you keep thinking you’re going to wake up, you’re going to wake up from this.”

“Listen Jamie, our basement apartment is vacant. I could talk to my mom. Maybe you could stay there until you find a place? Dad turned it into an apartment before we left for England.”

   “I...I don’t know what to say. That’s...that’s too much,” he said but he knew he couldn’t refuse that type of offer. It wasn’t as if he had a better option or even any at all. He couldn’t bear the thought of his mother not having a place to live for even a second.

   “Just say yes ‘cause I’m not taking no for an answer. Mom would be delighted to help, we’ve had people live with us before.”

   “Wow...I can’t begin to express how grateful I am. You’re the kindest human being I’ve ever met,” he said as his eyes became moist. He couldn’t believe what she was saying. “I hope you don’t mind having a grown man cry like a baby in your car.” Tears were rolling down his face.