Brother Willy's Traveling Salvation Show (14 page)

Beth
countered Amie’s denial. “Scott and I caught a shark while we were waiting for you. Would you like to see a picture of it?”

Beth
took out her cell phone and held up the picture for Amie to see. Amie squinted to see the image because Beth was standing too far away from her. “You caught a real shark?”

Beth
’s idea was a spark of genius. “Scott, you were a medic in the National Guard. You can fix her arm.”

Amie
maintained her stance. “I’m not putting down my knife.”

Scott
moved much closer to Amie. “You can keep your knife while I work on your arm. But you have to agree to come with me if I take the time to fix it.”

Amie
looked at him with her head clearly unstable. You can fix my arm, but I am not putting down my knife.”

That was not news
he wanted to hear, but it was a start. Scott took the first aid kit and set it on the table next to Amie. He kept eye contact with her while he was speaking. “I’m going to take your arm so that I can look at the cut. I want you to be very careful with the knife so you and I don’t get hurt. Is that okay?”

She extended her arm and nodded.
Scott then asked Michelle to get a washcloth and some warm water. While he was waiting, he kept talking to Amie and paying very careful attention to her right arm holding the knife at shoulder height. Scott had no idea if she had been at the beach during the day, but used that idea as a way to keep her attention. “Was that you I saw you lying on the beach today?”

“I had on my pink
bathing suit today.” She replied with a softer tone of voice.

Scott
assumed he was on the right track, but she still had the knife at shoulder height and could jab it in his side if she decided to. He was still convinced she was not going to hurt him, but he couldn’t ignore the fact she had cut her own arm. “I was watching you and thinking I really would like to hook up with you.”

“You should have said something if you wanted to see me.” She replied, with her words still slurred.

Michelle placed the water on the table and backed away as Scott picked up the wet cloth. “I’m going to clean this up and take a look. This might hurt just a little so tell me if I start to hurt you too much.”

Scott held her arm at the elbow as he started to clean away the dried blood. The cut was deeper than he expected, but the wound had already started to clot. Scott wanted to keep her mind focused on him. “Amie, there are several other things I want to check. I am going to touch your face with my hand. Is that okay with you?”

He
put his hand on the side of her face and then on her forehead. “You feel a little hot, do you feel okay?”

“I feel okay
. I’m sleepy.” She replied.

Scott
kept trying to keep her distracted. “Did you go swimming today?”

“I went in the pool.” She replied.

Scott extended her arm and gave her one more warning. “I am going to put something on your wound now and it is going to sting. Do you think you can handle it?”

She nodded her head
as he put the iodine on the open cut. Her arm flinched but he held it tight. Scott leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “You did fine. All I have to do now is put a bandage on you. I have a few other things I need to do after that. Is that okay?”

She agreed and
he began to apply the bandage while he continued to talk to her. “I’ll bet your arm is getting tired after holding that knife. Why do you need the knife anyway?”

She was still unable to focus her eyes and her head was swaying slightly. “I wanted some fun with somebody and we only had girls.”

“
Maybe you and I can have some fun. What would you like to do?”

She replied with a hint of a
smile. “I can’t tell you. You’re my doctor.”

Scott
noticed her eyes were not working together. “Now this is very important. Use your beautiful green eyes and look at my eyes. I need to know if you have taken any pills today or if you have used any drugs. This will be a secret between you and your doctor.”

“I took a little
green pill after dinner. Does that count?”

“What is the little pill for”
he asked being somewhat skeptical she would know.

Her body swayed slightly before she spoke
, as though she might lose her balance. “It makes me want to fuck my doctor.”

Scott
realized she was not just drunk but also that she likely needed medical help. “Your doctor is going to do two more things and I am going to ask my nurse to help me. I am going to do a few more tests. I will get my nurse to hold your knife while we do the test and then you can have it back. Then I am going to take you to the bedroom. Is that okay?”

“We don’t have to go to the bedroom, we can do it right here.”
She said as she staggered.

“Let me have the knife now so I can take you to my bedroom and check you out.”
Scott said thinking she would connect his ideas to her thoughts.

“I need to keep my knife.”

Seeing that Amie was beginning to stagger and was still holding the knife in a way that could hurt both of them, Scott chose a different approach. “I need to pull off your shirt to check you heart. I can’t take your shirt off while you are holding the knife.”

“You can try
, can’t you?”

Scott
took his hands and put them on both shoulders trying to massage her neck and distract her. He let his hands go further down to her elbows until he knew he could control the arm holding the knife. With more force than needed, Scott held her arm so she could not move. “This is the arm test. I need to see if you can move your arms. Is that okay”.

He
could feel her fighting against him, but she had little strength. “I can’t move it.”

The knife slipped from her hand before
he pulled her close to prevent her from trying to pick it up. He kept his arms around her as Scott looked at Beth. “Help me get her in the bedroom. Michelle, call EMS and tell them we need them now and that she has ingested an unknown drugs with alcohol.”

One of the women at the party who had been watching came up to
Scott. “She doesn’t need the ambulance. Put her to bed if you want to, have a little fun and she’ll be fine in the morning. She took a little rope. It’s obvious you have never lived in a girl’s dorm before.”

No one in the room was making an effort to place the call nor did they seem concerned.
Scott finally looked at Jenifer. “Do you want me to just throw her in the corner or dump her on the beach? What works best for you?”

Jenifer
shook her head. “Scott, I appreciate your help getting the knife away from her, but Heather’s right. Take her in the bedroom, take off her clothes, and have a good time. If you don’t want her, turn out the light and go fishing. She will do the same thing tomorrow night.”

Scott
was still holding on to Amie and mostly supporting her weight as she showed little inclination to stand up. He started to smile at Heather. “You’re right. I have never lived in a girl’s dorm. If it’s full of people like you, then I’m glad I haven’t. What the fuck are you people waiting for? Does she have to slash her throat to get your attention? Her arm needs stitches. I’ll take care of her. Party on.”

As
he started for the door dragging Amie along, he heard Heather laugh and make a remark. “I’ll bet he takes real good care of her.”

Michelle
and Beth followed him out of the door before Michelle spoke, “What are you going to with her?”

“I’m going to take her to the emergency room in
Morehead City.”

Michelle
put her hand on his shoulder. “Take her to our place if you want to and we can stay up with her until she is better. She doesn’t need an emergency room.”

Beth
echoed Michelle’s comments. “I’ll stay and help you guys look after her. The emergency room is not going to help her. They will keep her overnight and release her in the morning, if not before. She’s been down that road more times than I can count.”

Scott
continued walking toward his car. “I am taking her to the ER and get stitches in this wound. She cut it fairly deep.”

“Let’s have some fun Doc.”
Amie said as she continued to stagger before almost falling.”

Scott
kept his arm around her waist as he replied. “I understand what both of you are saying, but tonight is going to be different. If you don’t want to come with me, I completely understand.”

They
took her to the car and arrived at the hospital after a thirty-minute drive. After an hour and forty-five minute wait, a doctor came to talk to them. She took them into a small consolation room to have a conversation. The doctor began with her questions. “Which one of you is a member of her family?”

Beth
responded, “None of us are. Her family lives in Jacksonville near the military base.”

Flipping through several pages, she stopped for a moment. “It doesn’t appear she has insurance. Is that correct?”

Beth again replied, “I don’t think she has insurance.”

The doctor continued speaking. “I don’t have the legal authority to discuss her treatment with you. In general, we can keep someone in her condition overnight unless we find some complications. At best, we will likely release her in the morning. I would suggest you contact her family to pick her up, unless one of you is coming for her.”

Scott refused to accept the direction the discussion was heading. “Doctor, maybe you missed this in the record. She sliced her arm with a knife while threatening other people. This is a little different from your typical case.”

The doctor turned her attention to
him. “I’m the one who put the stitches in her arm and I think I am familiar with our typical case. May I ask what your connection to the patient is?”

Scott
thought for a moment and shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t have a connection to her and to be honest, I don’t even know her last name. All I did was to take the knife from her and bandage the wound.”

The doctor continued, “We don’t have a great deal of latitude to deal with these issues because of our funding. We can only keep her if she wants to be here and if her care is medically necessary. She will most likely be out of here by morning. We don’t have many options.”

Scott decided to argue the case. “So this is a money issue?”

The doctor nodded, “To some extent it is a money issue. I have a waiting room full of girls in
Amie’s condition almost every Friday night.”

Scott
continued to argue, only with more determination. “You do have some options here doc. She can be sent to a detox center. You can issue an involuntary commitment because she represents a danger to herself or others. You do have some options. But, I’m going to give you another choice. Pick up the phone and call the hospital accountant and attorney. You can tell them if this girl is released and she hurts herself or someone else, I am going to come after this hospital and they are going to pay dearly. She has a clear record of threat to self or others. You decide.”

The doctor appeared more compassionate. “I really do understand you
r concern, but what exactly is your interest in this case. By your own admission, you don’t even know her.”

He
thought for several minutes. “I don’t want her to become another statistic.”

The doctor looked at
him for a moment and replied, “If you are tired of people being turned into statistics, then send a letter to your legislator. As you say, I can have her committed and she would be back on the streets in seventy-two hours. The state of North Carolina has cut mental health funding to the bone and outsourced most services to people who have a profit motive. No money… no cure.”

Michelle
had been silent, but now chose to speak. “Then what happens to people like Amie?”

The doctor stood up to leave as she looked directly at
Michelle. “They become statistics enshrined in a computer database somewhere. They are out of sight and out of mind, unless this happens to a member of your family, in which case they become a tragedy.”

As she reached for the
door, she turned and glanced at Scott. “This young woman is more fortunate than most because she has you to fight for her. I’ll do everything I can to help her.”

She stopped
and once again looked directly at him. “Keep in mind that even if we had all the money we needed, we can’t fix everything. It doesn’t work when you want something for her more than she wants it for herself. She has to make a choice to change her lifestyle.”

They
thanked the doctor and left the hospital for a long quiet drive home.

CHAPTER
XII

As
they drove in the driveway, Beth looked at her house to see the party still going on. “Don’t these people know when it is time to leave?”

Michelle
assured Beth that she and Scott would be up for a while if she wanted to stay until the party was over. With some reluctance and much appreciation, Beth accepted her offer.

Once
they were inside, Michelle and Beth sat at the kitchen bar. Beth looked at of Scott. “I don’t defend Heather’s attitude, but you need to know something before you judge her. Heather was Amie’s roommate during her junior year. She has made the same trip to the hospital that we made tonight, only she has made that trip eight or nine times. She did everything you could ask of someone trying to help Amie. She is not a bad person, she’s just given up.”

Scott
considered her comment for a few minutes before giving his opinion while they sat in silence. “I understand why Heather would feel that way if she couldn’t help her, and to be honest, I not surprised. That doesn’t entitle Heather to causal indifference. Jenifer could care less what happens to Amie.”

Michelle
was more tolerant than Scott expected. “Scott, sometimes people run out of patience. Amie has to help herself.”

Scott
understood their point, but they didn’t understand what he was trying to say. “Two women at that party told me to take her in the bedroom and have a good time with her. They don’t know me and with friends like that, she might make it to her twenty-fifth birthday, but I would be surprised. I guess it’s like the song says, ‘cheap life and even cheaper death’. I’m going to get my fishing rod from the beach before the tide comes in.”

After
Scott left, Michelle turned to Beth. “I’m going to fix myself a nice strong drink. Would you like one?”

Beth
only took a moment to decide. “Yes, thank you and please hurry. I didn’t like what Heather said about Amie, but she was right when she said Scott has never lived in a girl’s dorm. In my dorm, there was some type of drama every weekend.”

Michelle
agreed. “I thought personal drama was required for admission to my dorm, but he was right this time. When she cut herself, she crossed the line. I would think she really starts going downhill from this point if somebody can’t help her soon.”

Beth
nodded. “So many people have tried to help Amie, but she has too many issues to deal with. We’re not professionals and I sure as hell don’t know how to fix her.”

Perhaps in an attempt to change the subject,
Michelle asked what Beth wanted to drink. After discussing wine, beer, and mixed drinks, they settled on margaritas. Michelle was busy fixing drinks while Beth put together a cheese and cracker plate.

As
Beth was slicing the cheese, she posed a casual question yet she was very interested in the answer. “How long have you and Scott been dating each other?”

Michelle
, looking very thoughtful, stopped stirring the margaritas for a moment. “It’s been almost forty-eight hours since we had our first date.”

After a long and almost painful pause,
Beth made a passing comment. “It must have been love at first sight. On my first dates, a guy only takes me to dinner. On your first date, he brings you to the beach.”

Michelle
smiled at her. “Okay, mouse. Bring your cheese with you and we’ll nibble on it in the moonlight while I tell you the rest of the story.”

Beth
picked up the platter and headed for the deck. “Just like pudding, the plot thickens.”

The warm night breeze blew in from the ocean as they sat at deck table. The nearly full moon was already high in the sky making it possible
for them to see Scott on the beach from the deck. He had made the decision to cast the line a few more times before accepting defeat and calling it a night.

Michelle
began to explain their unusual relationship. “I first met Scott about ten years ago. We became friends and started going places together. We came to the beach, went out to dinner, went to movies together, and just spent a lot of time talking to each other. At the same time, we were dating other people.”

Beth
didn’t understand. “So you’ve really been dating for several years now.”

Michelle
shook her head. “No. The things we did together were friend dates and not boy girl dates. We were just friends. It was like a date, but not a date.”

Beth
was looking for clarification. “What you’re telling me is that you went out with each other, but there was no physical part of the relationship. Is that what I am hearing?”

Michelle
replied. “Not even so much as a goodnight kiss.”

Beth
started grinning. “When the two of you went out, did you have to do anything special for your makeup, your clothes, your hair or your shoes?”

Michelle
replied, “I had to do nothing different for him than I would for my brother.”

Beth
thought she understood. “It sounds like you had all of the best parts of a relationship without having to put up with sexual part.”

Michelle
started laughing. “That’s pretty much it. He would fix my flat tire, take me out to dinner, and keep the other guys away when I was lying on the beach. I had it made.”

Beth
also started laughing, “You had Scott right where you wanted him for ten years and then for some reason, you lost your mind in a moment of weakness. You made love to him and now you are trapped and living with paradise lost forever.”

Michelle
was making a joke, but Beth may have seen a different reality as she listened. “I didn’t realize when we were in the Garden of Eden taking a bite from the apple that Scott would have such a big appetite. Tonight is the first time I have worn a bra since Wednesday night. I have been wearing a bathing suit, nightgown, tee shirt or nothing at all. I have been bouncing around for several days.”

Beth
became far more serious as she took the first drink of her margarita. “So what happened on Wednesday to change everything between the two of you? Feel free to tell me it is none of my business.”

Michelle
smiled. Believe me, there is no secret here. I broke off my engagement to a want-to-be corporate monster from up north. He was still attached to his mother’s umbilical cord. To make a long story short, when I came home from school, Scott and I picked up where we had left off. I started having doubts about getting married to Tom and apparently, Scott had just ditched Carlie.”

There was far more implied by
Beth’s statement than contained in her actual words. “Would that mean both of you were on the rebound?”

Michelle
considered Beth’s statement before responding. “I don’t know that I would call either of us on the rebound, but I would say we were both coming away from a failed relationship by choice.”

“Then what made you change direction in your relationship on Wednesday after being friends for ten years?”
Beth asked, still feeling unsure why they had made the change.

Michelle
answered without the slightest hesitation. “We both realized that if we didn’t change direction, we would lose our friendship. He or I would get married and move away and it would all be over.”

Beth
took another large swallow of her drink and looked out at the ocean. “It is so nice out tonight. The moon is gorgeous.”

Several minutes passed as they continued to
sip their drinks in silence. Michelle was still looking at the surf when she spoke. “What are you thinking, but not saying?”

Beth
offered a quick smile. “I was thinking I should make this one of those moments when I have enough sense to keep my mouth shut and not stick my nose where it does not belong.”

Michelle
’s reply came quickly and was sincere. “I really would like to know what you were thinking.”

“Are you sure you want to hear this?”

Michelle nodded. “Sometimes a stranger can see something that people we have known all our life never see.”

Beth
stood up before heading to the kitchen. “I’m the most honest when I have a few drinks.”

Michelle
called out to her. “Bring the pitcher when you come back.”

Once
Beth returned, poured another drink, and sat down, she decided to give her opinion. “It almost sounds like a calculation where the two of you created a romantic relationship in order to save your friendship rather than just letting the romance happen on its own. Your commitment to each other seems to have been made to save your friendship. You went for ten years being unwilling to have sex with each other, which would have taken your relationship to another level.”

She took another swallow of margarita as though it gave her the courage to talk. “Most guys I know won’t wait a week to have sex with a girl. I can’t
imagine him waiting around ten years. Is there something odd about him?”

Michelle
started smiling. “Listen, Scott doesn’t know this but whenever he went on a date in high school, I had a full detailed report of what went on. I can tell you without a doubt, he wasn’t waiting around for me. From what I can gather about Carlie, I doubt they were just picking flowers in the park either.”

Michelle
looked away for a moment. “As to your other point, I don’t know what the fact that we never moved forward during those ten years means. I have often wondered that myself. I love Scott, but it was as if we drew a line in the sand and neither of us ever tried to cross that line. We started to step on the line a few times during some of our conversations, but we never crossed the line. I can’t explain it and I doubt he can either. Our current relationship does sound somewhat calculated when I hear you describe it.”

Beth
took a drink and then set her glass on the table. “I guess the important thing is that you both seem to know what you want and are moving on.”

Michelle
replied in a very soft voice. “I’m not sure I do know where I’m going?”

“That didn’t sound very optimistic. You guys look so right together.”

Michelle needed to talk to someone other than Scott, and with a few margaritas under her belt, she decided Beth was that person. “I woke up at four-thirty this morning. I didn’t have anything on and just for an instant, I didn’t understand why he was in bed with me. I lay there watching him for a little while before I started feeling as if I wasn’t supposed to be there with him. I covered myself with the sheets thinking he shouldn’t be seeing me while I was undressed. This morning he kissed me a few times after we woke up, and then the sheets came flying off. I don’t know what that feeling last night actually means, but it was strange.”

Beth
assumed Michelle was more concerned than she was admitting. “I can tell you what it means. It means nothing. You were in bed with someone new, in a strange house, at four-thirty in the morning when your mind isn’t at its best. It’s normal for you to have that feeling.”

While
Beth had been supportive in her comments, she had not finished the conversation. “Once again, you can tell me this is none of my business. I’m having a hard time understanding you. You’ve said you don’t mind if he saw us without clothes on. Then you offered to let him rub lotion all over us. What are you trying to do? Are you trying to push him away? Are you trying to see if he can pass some test? I don’t get it.”

“When
Scott and I were in school, I knew he was going out with other people and that was fine, because so was I. At first, I didn’t like him having a relationship with other girls but over time, I more or less accepted it. By the time I was a sophomore in college, I didn’t think twice about it, until yesterday.”

Beth
being the curious type wanted more details. “What happened yesterday?”

Michelle
was holding her drink while staring at the contents. “Your friend Jenifer kept coming near Scott while doing everything a female can do to draw attention to herself. In fact, she was obvious about it. With him being a typical male, he couldn’t help but notice her.”

Beth
started laughing. “You have to be talking about what she was doing while she was playing with the Frisbee. She was trying to get his attention, but not for the reasons you may be thinking. He was wearing a baseball hat and sunglasses and she wanted to find out if Scott was who she thought he was.”

Michelle
thought she knew where Beth was going. “Beth, I am not the least bit jealous of Jenifer. I could care less if she had taken her top or anything else off while playing Frisbee. She may have gotten his attention, but he would not be interested in her. Believe me, she is not his type.”

Beth
took another sip of her drink as she tried to understand Michelle. “I hear you talking but I don’t know where you are going with this.”

Michelle
looked directly at Beth. “When you thought you were part of a double team with Scott, you made me think about something. I wonder what Scott would have done if he had been in the tent that night, or any other night?”