Life in a Small New Hampshire Town Pt. 08

Dr. Kate was there and had been talking with all the kids. I got her aside and asked how the kids were dealing with the crash.

"Most of them surprisingly seemed to regard it as some kind of adventure, Elmer. Those at the hospital may obviously feel differently. I called Kaitlyn Jankowski to give her a heads up."

Kaitlyn is the hospital's Social Worker. I noticed that Alicia was also there talking with the kids. Everything seemed to be under control here, so I headed back to the accident site. There was another 18-wheeler there which was being filled with the contents of the overturned trailer. Four heavy duty wreckers were on site and were preparing to right the truck. The trees were all moved off the traveled part of the road and Tom's wrecked car had been removed.

Sheriff Farnsworth 9:35 PM

Both the truck and the bus were upright. The bus was just about to be towed and the truck also looked like it was ready to leave. The truck belonged to one of the big nationwide trucking firms and the driver was based in Ohio. I asked him what his plans were. He said, "I normally sleep in my truck. I'll try to find a place for the night. The company will fly me home once I can get to Manchester Airport."

"Let me see If I can find a place for you to stay tonight."

I went back to my car while the driver watched the final steps of his rig being towed away. I called Laura, explained the situation to her, and asked if she minded his staying in one of our unused bedrooms. I had asked for a background check on the driver as part of my accident investigation. He worked for the company for 17 years with no accidents, and had no violations of any kind. I felt that he was a safe guest. I waved him over to my car as his truck was being towed away.

"Hop in, my friend. I've found a place for you for and a hot meal to boot."

"Thanks, Sheriff. Where are we going?"

"My place. It's the next driveway."

He looked astonished as we pulled into the driveway. I led him into the mudroom where Laura greeted us.

"Laura, this is Stan, the unfortunate victim of today's windshear."

"Laura will feed you. I probably won't see you until the morning as I still have a few details to attend to. There's a 10:30 AM bus to Manchester which stops at the airport. We'll get you on it. I have to go to the hospital, Laura. I'll call when I'm leaving."

I gave her a kiss and headed back out.

Laura Farnsworth

"Let me get dinner re-heated, Stan. In the meantime, I'll find a pair of Elmer's sweat pants and a shirt. I suggest that you take a shower and put my husband's clothes on while I'll wash yours. I assume everything you travel with was in your truck? "

"Yes."

"I also assume that you will be more comfortable and more welcome on the plane tomorrow if your clothes were clean and dry. "

"I don't know what to say. Thank you."

I collected the clothes and handed him a clean towel.

"Follow me. The bathroom's here. The room you'll use is at the end of the hall on the left. Take your shower and bring your dirty clothes back to me. I'll have your dinner ready.

Sheriff Farnsworth

The road had been cleared of debris and reopened by the time that I returned to the accident site. I paged Kaitlyn Jankowski to see if she was still there upon arriving at the hospital. She was.

"Can you give me an update on where we stand, Kaitlyn?"

"The broken bones are all set and should heal well. The concussion kid is alert and seems like he'll be okay. The parents are due here in about 15 minutes, so there should soon be some joyful reunions. I'm not sure of the current status of the Tyndall male. The family is in the waiting room outside the OR."

"Thanks, Kaitlyn."

I made my way to the OR and found Olivia, Derrick, and Chris.

"Evenin', Folks. Any news?"

Olivia responded with, "Tom has a broken arm and is in surgery for a ruptured spleen."

Doc Watson entered the room as she finished talking.

"Good news, Folks. Surgery on his spleen went well. His arm is in a cast, but should heal just fine. He had regained consciousness before we started surgery, and between talking with him then, and the battery of diagnostic tests that we did, we don't believe there are any other internal organs involved or damaged. No guarantees, of course, but we're guardedly optimistic for a full recovery. He's in the recovery room, still a bit groggy from the anesthesia. Let's give him a few more minutes to recover and I'll come back and get you."

"Thank You, Dr. Watson."

***

"Come with me, Folks. Tom's alert now. I should warn you that he's pretty tired, so this should be a short visit."

It seemed that my night was done, so I walked out with Doc Watson after he left the others with Tom.

"Quite the night, wasn't it, Elmer?"

"I feared for the worst when I heard the 'mass casualty event' broadcast and it involved an overturned bus. I'd say that we were pretty lucky today considering the possible outcomes. What's the status of the of the eight kids admitted here?"

"I didn't have anything to do with them directly, but I understand that they're all doing well and their parents are here. They should all be discharged tomorrow. How are the rest of the kids in the group?"

"Good question. Let me check.

"Amy, ..... Sheriff Farnsworth. What's the situation with the kids from the bus? ..... Uh huh...... Really? .... Okay..... Thanks, Amy. Bye. Due to the lack of other accommodations in Appleton, it seems the decision was made that the kids would have a sleepover at The Beat tonight. Olivia's Restaurant fed them, and Shiloh and Erik, two of the owners, managed to scrounge up sleeping bags and cots from the Boy Scouts and other sources. Erik, the DJ, played music up until a few minutes ago. Alicia and a couple of the other daycare staff helped manage them."

"Well, it's been a long day, Doc. I'm heading home. Good night."

I headed out to my car and called Laura.

"Everything is under control at the hospital. The kids and Tom Tyndall are all doing well. I'm leaving the hospital for home. Think you can rustle up some dinner? Thanks, Laura. Love you. Bye."

***

Chris

Dr. Watson led us to Tom's room, then left with the Sheriff. Olivia went over, held Tom's hand and kissed him on the forehead. She said, "I knew something was wrong when Sheriff Farnsworth came into the restaurant. The last few hours since he told me that you were unconscious and were being transported by ambulance, status unknown, have been the worst of my life. I'm so glad that you're going to be alright."

Tom smiled weakly and said, "I don't exactly feel 'alright' just yet. "

"Give it a little more time."

"No one has told me what happened."

Derrick had the most complete story and explained it to all of us. I burst into tears and rushed to Tom's side when I heard the actual details, giving him the most awkward hug of our lives.

"Easy, Chris. You're going to drown me."

"You goofball. I was so afraid for you, not knowing what was happening. I thought that I was going to lose you. I love you so much."

"I love you too."

"I think that's our cue to leave, Derrick. We'll be back in the morning, Tom."

***

Tom was moved from the recovery room to the nearby post-op surgery floor just after Olivia and Derrick left. His nurse left after he was settled, and returned with a hospital style reclining chair.

"This is the most comfortable chair that I can offer if you're planning on staying the night, Miss. I'll be back with a pillow and a blanket."

"Thanks. I'm Chris."

"Erica."

Erica returned a few minutes later, rolling in a cart with meds and medical paraphernalia on the top, and a blanket and pillow on the lower shelf.

"Time to give Tom a mild sedative. He needs to get some sleep after the day he had." After that was accomplished and she entered the information in her computer, she said,

"Hospital rules require me to document names and relationships of any overnight guests. Only family members are technically supposed to stay in the patient's room, but their definition of 'family member' is quite loose. You are.....?"

"Chris Mathews, Girlfriend, Partner?"

Tom mumbled, "More than that, Lover."

I blushed; Erica grinned.

"Meds sometimes reveal innermost thoughts. I'll just enter 'Partner'."

Erica turned off the lights as she was leaving, and said, "I sorry about the constant beeping. Try to get some sleep. I will be stopping in periodically, but I'll try to be quiet. Good night, Chris."

I contemplated what my actual relationship with Tom was after Erica left. 'Girlfriend' seemed too high-schoolish, partner seems the best fit, but he did say 'more than that'. This day made me realize how much I like Tom, that I'm in love with him. I was emotionally and physically exhausted from the day's events. All these thoughts were swirling through my mind as I slowly succumbed to sleep.

Friday, July 19 6:00 AM

Chris

I woke up stiff and cramped. Tom was still asleep as I walked around the room, trying to stretch the stiffness away when Erica walked in and handed me a coffee, setting cream, sugar, and a stir stick on the table.

"Complements of the staff. The coffee here is pretty good."

"Thanks," I said as I questioningly looked at her.

"I thought that I recognized your name last night. I googled you during a slow period. You're a heroine to all the female staff here, protecting your friend and disabling three men, one with a knife. I wish that I could do more to show our appreciation, but coffee is the best I can do."

I was blushing deeply. "Thanks for the coffee. "

Tom began to stir about that time.

"Hey, there. How are you feeling?"

"Like a truck hit me."

"No, it was just a big ol' pine tree."

Erica took his vitals and said, "Dr. Watson indicated that you can have a light breakfast today, toast and apple juice. You can probably have a real meal for lunch if you can keep that down. He will be in later this morning. How are you, Chris?"

"Tired, stiff, and feeling grubby. Sheriff Farnsworth shuttled us past the blocked roadway yesterday, so I don't have my car. I'll see about getting home later."

"I get off at 7:00 and will give you a ride. If you want, you can take a shower to freshen up and let the hot water relax your stiff muscles. I'm sure that I can borrow a set of hospital scrubs for you. You can either reuse your underwear or go commando until you get home."

"Thanks, Erica. I have a spare set of undies in my purse. You never know when you may need them."

Erica laughed as she left the room, returning a few minutes later, and handing me a set of scrubs, a towel, a facecloth, and bottles of shampoo and body wash. "These are normally for patient use, but here you go. I'll show you to the staff shower."

The shower felt delightful. I returned to Tom's room just before 7:00. Tom seemed alert, so I said, "I'm going to pick up my car and some clothes, talk to Erik, and be back as soon as I can."

Erica walked in just as I was kissing Tom. She said, "Get a room, you two," with a giggle.

We passed the accident site as we approached Appleton. There were cut up trees on both sides of the road for only a couple hundred feet, nothing before or after. Tom, the truck, and the bus were all just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Erica dropped me off at our home.

I changed out of the scrubs and into my own clothes, packed an overnight bag with a few days' necessities, and went down to my car. Samantha was just getting out of her car.

"How's Tom?"

I told her what I knew and headed over to Olivia's to get some breakfast. I was surprised to see Olivia there.

"Better to keep busy. Tell Tom that we'll be up after the lunch rush is over. You should go over to The Beat after you eat."

I ate and headed to The Beat. Amy and Peggy were serving breakfast to the kids and the chaperones. Erik was Djing, and Ed, one of the part time bartenders, was doing magic tricks. Alicia was talking with some of the younger kids. Shiloh was taking pictures of the activities. There were sleeping bags everywhere. I approached Erik.

"Sorry for bailing on you yesterday."

"No worries. The Beat was closed last night and this crowd didn't exactly need a bartender." He chuckled at his own joke. "Don't worry about coming to work for the next few nights. We've got your shifts covered until at least next Friday. We'll see where we are at that time."

"Thanks, Erik."

I went up to Amy, who greeted me with a big hug. "How're you doing, Chris? I hear that Tom's doing okay."

"We're both better than yesterday."

"I understand that the 8 kids in the hospital will be discharged this morning. The bus will bring them here, pick up this group and they'll head home rather than continuing up to Alpine Glen. Alicia and I'll come up to see you and Tom after the kids leave and we get this place back to normal."

There were two people in Tom's room when I arrived back at the hospital, a man about 40 and a young, attractive woman in her early 20s. The man introduced himself.

"Hi, I'm Scott McKenzie, supervisor for the software teams at work."

"I'm Jennifer Boswell, friends call me Jen. Tom and I work on the same team."

"Chris Mathews, Tom's partner."

"Oh! You're the lucky one. All the women at work are so jealous of you. Tom talks about you all the time. Always good things, by the way."

I glanced over at Tom. I'll have to find out what the 'good things' were after they left. I was initially concerned that Jen, attractive as she was, might have designs on Tom, but her comments relaxed me.

Scott said, "We're so happy to hear that you should make a full recovery, Tom. The information that we got yesterday was not very promising. Company policy has been to pay our employees their full salary in situations like this, so you don't have to worry about that. Management has been toying with the concept of allowing employees to work from home in certain situations. We'd like you to consider being our guinea pig when you feel up to it, Tom. It'll give you a chance to start at your own pace. We hope for a speedy and full recovery in the meantime."

Jen and Scott left, but they were just the first of a seemingly never-ending stream of visitors.

First were a couple I vaguely recognized from Olivia's wedding. The woman rushed over and gave Tom a big hug, saying, "I was so upset when Mom called yesterday. Michael and I took today off after she called back with an update that you were going to be okay, and drove over from Portsmouth this morning." She turned to me and introduced herself. "I'm Beth, Tom's twin sister, and this is Michael."

Thus, our day began. Amy and Alicia, Olivia and Derrick, Shiloh and Erik, Sheriff Farnsworth, Samantha, Tom's grandparents, Mary and Jack Tyndall, Zack and Michael, several more from Tom's work, some who I didn't get a chance to be introduced to, presumably Tom's old friends from the area, all came to offer their good wishes and engage in small talk.

***

Dr. Watson scheduled some follow-up diagnostic tests in the afternoon. He stopped by when the results were in.

"Everything looks really promising, Tom. Your arm should heal well. We can't see any other internal injuries or abdominal bleeding at this time. You had a Grade I spleen rupture, which is the mildest category, the surgery went well, you're young and otherwise healthy, so we expect you'll make a full recovery. Any abdominal surgery is considered major, so you'll be our guest for a few more days. You'll be restricted in your physical activity for about 6 weeks assuming that all goes well. Sorry to spoil your summer, and it probably doesn't feel like it now, but you are a very lucky young man."

***

Erica came on shift at 11:00 PM.

"I hear that half of Lake County visited you today. How are you doing, Tom?"

"Tired, but okay otherwise.

"How's your pain level?"

"Mostly not bad, but noticeable if I move."

"So, don't move. Seriously though, I can give you something for pain and something to help you sleep."

"I'll pass on both for now."

"I see you've been eating solid food for lunch and dinner. How have you tolerated that?"

"No problems."

"I'll be checking in on you all night. Use the call button if you want or need anything."

Erica left the room with that, but returned a short time later, wheeling a second bed in. She removed the chair from last night and rolled the second bed tight against Tom's.

"This is for you, Chris. You can hold hands, but nothing more. More explicitly, don't even think about moving onto his bed. I'm already stretching the rules as it is."

"Understood. Thanks, Erica."

She smiled. "You're welcome. You'll have plenty of time to snuggle soon enough."

***

Sunday, July 14

Chris

Tom was making good progress. One major milestone was when his Foley catheter was removed. Bedpans were a thing of the past, and he could use the toilet. Getting from the bed to the bathroom was a major production, however, still needing a lot of support to move even that short distance. The stream of visitors remained steady all weekend.

Beth and I had a several conversations over the last couple of days. Getting to know her was, perhaps, the silver lining of the week. She said to Tom, "Hey, brother of mine. You've got a winner in Chris. She's a big upgrade from Anita. Make sure that you treat her right once you're up and about or you'll answer to me," as she was preparing to leave.

"I'll do my best, sister of mine. Love you."

"Love you, too, Bro."

With that, Beth gave him a careful hug, then gave me one, and left for Portsmouth.

Wednesday, July 17

Chris

Dr. Watson made his rounds while Amy was visiting, and said that they would do another set of tests on Friday, and Tom would be discharged that afternoon if they all came back good. He continued, "I realize that you probably need to get back to work, Chris, but it would be ideal not to leave Tom alone for an extended time, at least for the next week or so. Is there anybody who can either stay with him while you work, or can you periodically check up on him?"

"I hadn't thought about that. We'll work something out."

"I'll also schedule a daily visit from a Visiting Nurse Association nurse and a Physical Therapist for the first week that Tom's home. We'll reassess at that time."

I said to Amy, "I'm not sure how to do that after he left. We live close to work, but I can't run home multiple times on a busy night."

"You could check in by phone."

"Possibly, but it's not the same."

"Maybe I could alternate with you. Let me talk to Erik and Alicia."

***

Thursday, July 18

Amy

"We have a solution, Chris, Tom. I talked with Erik and Alicia. You two will stay in my apartment for the time being. Michael had invited Alicia to stay at his place last weekend, but those plans changed after the accident. She's talked with Michael and will stay there tomorrow night and Saturday night. I'll either share a bed with Alicia on Sunday and the rest of the week, or stay with Zack. Alicia and I had to share a bed as kids, so it won't be weird. She is my sister after all."

"Erik said that between himself, Olivia, Chris, Alicia, and I, whoever is least busy can briefly run upstairs to my apartment and check on you Tom. The only problem I see is that my apartment is upstairs, so you'd have to deal with that, but you'd also have to do that at your place."