Shooting Matt Ch. 18

"Glenna, can you turn that up?" Matt asks as he turns to look at the TV.

She does and they all turn to watch.

"Holy shit," Matt gasps. "That's Kent!"

Liam isn't sure but then the shaky cell phone video steadies and there's no mistaking him.

"Oh, my God, and that's Kate, Kate Nelson," Glenna calls out, hand going to her mouth. She turns to shout for Leon but he appears from nowhere and hurries to her side.

"And, Roy," he offers, staring at the screen.

They watch as Kate hurries from the car, a kicking bundle in her arms. They watch, horrified, as Roy hurries around the car and flames appear at the back of the vehicle. They see Kent's feet digging in the gravel. Roy reaching in the window, pulling him out.

"Oh, my dear sweet Jesus," Glenna whimpers, leaning against Leon for support. The man in the video, Kent, emerges from the car, head and arms wrapped in flames. Roy throws him to the ground and smothers the flames with his body.

Thankfully, reports from the St. Elizabeth's in Youngstown indicate the two rescuers suffered only minor burns. The woman, Rosalita Sanchez and her unborn child, are listed in good condition. Her eighteen-month old son, Fernando, was unharmed. Tragically, her husband, also named Fernando, died at the scene. The driver of the semi, William Henry of Youngstown, was taken into custody on suspicion of driving under the influence and unlawful display of a weapon.

"Why won't he pick up the phone?" Liam yells. He slams a hand down on top of the counter and glares at his phone.

"Your dad?" Leon asks. "Maybe he's on the phone with Kent," he continues, not waiting for Liam to reply. "He'll call. As soon as he knows anything. He'll call you."

Glenna is behind the counter, punching the numbers of an old corded phone that hangs off the wall beside the cash register. She holds the phone, looking impatient. "Kate? Katie, honey? Is that you? It's Glenna. Don't be silly, honey. You're not being a baby. You go right ahead and cry. Anyone deserves a good cry, it's you. What's that? Oh, honey, you're so right about that. That poor Mrs. Sanchez deserves a good cry but that doesn't mean you don't. There's one thing certain, there are more than enough tears to go around. There's no need I can see to ration them. Are you by your lonesome? No? That's good. Roy is with you. Good. How's he doing? Oh, honey, not so good huh?"

Glenna throws her shoulders back. Her posture screams, to Leon at least, that she has made 'A Decision'. When Glenna has that look about her, he always capitalizes, 'a decision' in his mind.

"Honey, I know it's late but here's what we're going to do. Leon'll be over in twenty minutes to collect the two of you. We got an empty cabin, a cancellation, I'll fix you something to eat and the two of you can spend the night here. You ought not be alone, upset like this and your mom off in Vegas with the girls. No, honey, I'm not taking 'no' for an answer, from you or Roy. I'm guessing it's not the first time you shared a bed with him, not that that's any of my business." Her face sets. "Now, listen to me, we been friends since high school. I know you act all tough, even think you're tough but I know you aren't, at least not tough enough to deal with what you dealt with today. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm well aware you've been an EMS for years but you're an EMS for a volunteer company out here in the sticks. Sure, you've seen your share of idiots who blow their damn hands off with fireworks and a car wreck or two but, honey, I live here. I know, for a goddamn fact, you never had to deal with anything close to what you saw today. Neither has Roy. So, as your friend, I'm telling you this from the bottom of my heart, shut the hell up and pack a damn bag. Leon will be there in twenty minutes. Huh? Well, that's better. Roy, too. Uh-huh, I know. I love ya back. See ya soon."

She looks at Leon, who smiles. "I'm going. I'm going."

"You think I should wake up, mom?" Liam asks. His eyes go from Matt to Glenna to Leon.

"Naw, let her sleep," Matt suggests. "At least until after Randy calls. If there's a problem with your pop, then we can wake your mom."

"I agree," Glenna offers. "I've been running her butt off but I think she likes it," she chuckles.

"She does," Liam agrees. "She was so sure she'd suck. When she discovered she had a knack for it, she was totally trippin'. In a good way," he adds hastily. "What about you? You get up just as early."

"Honey, I'm one of the blessed. If I get five, even four, hours of sleep, I'm rearin' to go."

"She's telling the truth, boys," Leon confirms. "It gets a little irritating at times. Having a wife that bounces outta bed at 3:30 in the morning, ready to have a conversation." He smiles at his wife. "Be back in a few."

"Boys," Glenna says, after blowing her husband a kiss. "Run down to Cabin 3, and make up the bed, would you? Make sure there's soap and shampoo, towels, you know."

"Yes, ma'am," Matt says, hopping off the stool. "C'mon, mon ami, let us prepare the chalet for the Queen's guests, shall we?"

"If that was a French accent, it sucked" Liam tells him, shaking his head.

They get back a few minutes before Leon. Glenna's sitting at the counter. She left the grill on, in case her guests want something to eat. Matt and Liam rack up the balls but decide playing pool might not be appropriate. They drift back over to the snack counter and sit down beside Glenna. Glenna asks if Randy called him. Liam tells her, yeah, he did. He's picking Kent up at the hospital in the morning. Out of small talk, they wait.

They look up when the door opens. Leon holds the door open. A cute woman walks in, then Roy. Liam's face tightens. Roy hasn't seen him yet. Glenna hurries over and hugs the woman and then Roy. As she ushers them over to the counter, Liam moves behind the bar.

Roy sees him and freezes. His face twisted. He starts to say something.

"Roy, would you like a beer, Coke, water?" Liam asks, doing his best to keep his voice and face neutral. Something clicks inside his head. "Root beer? Glenna has 1919 root beer on tap. One of the few places in Pennsylvania to have it."

Roy's face relaxes. He loves root beer. He's always been a little ashamed of that. He'd had 1919 root beer once in Chicago, with his dad, a long time ago. He nods. "Root beer would be great. Thanks."

Liam turns to the woman. "You ma'am?"

"You call Glenna ma'am? Do I look older than Glenna? Ma'am? My names Kate, buster. I'll take a PBR."

"I call Glenna, 'boss', ma'am. One PBR coming up...Kate." He shifts his gaze to his boss, one of them anyway.

"Nothing for me, sugar," Glenna tells him. "I got my water right here."

"Would you pour me an iced tea, Liam?" Leon asks.

"Sure, boss."

He passes around the drinks, while the other's get settled. Leon scrawl's a sign on the back of piece of paper -- "Private Party" -- and tapes it to the window above the "Closed" sign.

Liam plays another hunch, one that comes out of nowhere. "Anyone want a fried egg sandwich?" Roy and Kate nod. They'd not eaten. He looks at Roy. "Slice of cheese, tomato, mayo, toasted?"

Kate stares at him, confused. Roy simple nods. "Please," he adds. Liam looks at Kate. "Same?"

"Yes, please," she murmurs.

Liam listens to them talk softly as he makes the sandwiches. Glenna keeps looking at him. He guesses she didn't know he could cook.

"And then, he just stopped breathing," Kate tells Glenna. They're all listening but she's talking to Glenna. "His breathing had been okay, better after I got the bleeding from his head slowed down a little. It wasn't like he choked. He just stopped." There's wonder in her voice. She's seen dead people before. Not a great many. Like Glenna said, she volunteers for a small little rural fire company.

"I've seen bodies before," she continues. "But I realized, kneeling on the shoulder of the road in the hot sun, they'd always been dead when we got there. Most of the time it's the nursing home calling. You know the one out on county N?" Glenna and Leon, nod. "I'd never seen someone, just die, just fucking die. I'm holding his head in my hands. He just stops breathing. A breath goes out and, just, nothing. Another doesn't go back in. Ever. Fucking ever." She shakes her head and swallows hard. "I felt for a pulse. Nothing. That's never good. Even in a hospital when it's primarily the heart fucking up, getting someone back who doesn't have a pulse is rough. In someone beside the road, whose heart has stopped because of internal injuries or a head injury, it is even worse."

She's quiet. Liam flips the eggs, drops the bread into the toaster.

"I thought about CPR. It's okay to do it without rescue breathing. I didn't have a pocket mask or anything. I could have covered his mouth with my shirt but it was soaked in his blood." Glenna gives a start at that and Kate looks at her. "I took my shirt off. I was holding it to the wound on his head. I had my bra on. You know," she looks surprised, "I didn't stop to wonder about that. I mean, I don't always wear a bra. I could have been sitting on the side of the road with a dead guy's head cradled in my hands with my tits hanging out for the world to see. Anyhow, I could have done compression-only CPR but Kent was calling for help. Roy was getting flares laid out before someone else came barreling into the mess and checking on the folks in the other cars. So, I just got up and left him there. I didn't drop his head. I tried to be careful, you know, I mean I really tried to be gentle, you know, I knew I couldn't hurt him but..."

The rest is lost in sobs as she jumps off the bar stool. She's been talking to Glenna but it's Roy that goes to her and puts his arms around her. The look on his face as his whispers into her hair that "it's okay, it's gonna be okay" goes a very long way towards erasing what's left of Liam's anger toward the man.

He puts the sandwiches together with great care. He wants them to be perfect. He sets the plates on the counter, adds a napkin beside each plate and steps back. He looks under the counter and finds a clean towel. He runs cold water over it and rings it out.

"Come on, Katie, eat something. You'll feel better," Roy whispers to her and turns her toward the stool. Liam hands Roy the damp towel and nods his head toward Kate. Roy returns the nod. "Here, Katie. Wipe your face off with this. You'll feel better."

She presses the towel to her face with both hands. Her chest stops heaving after a time. Roy stands right beside her patting her back. Normally, he'd be getting all tense, worried the others would think he was some sort of wimp. Not tonight, his head is full of concern for Kate and it makes him a better man than he's been for some time. In a couple of hours, lying beside her in the dark, listening to her sleep, he'll realize that. The realization will be a wonder to him but that's a different tale.

Kate lowers the towel, squares her shoulders and sits down. At the first bite, her hunger roars to life and she wolfs down the rest of the sandwich.

"Can I make you another one?" Liam asks her.

"No, no thanks. Damn that was good though. Thank you."

"Roy? How about you? It's no trouble, there's sliced tomato left, eggs are still out."

"Are you sure?"

"Be right up. Another root beer?"

"Naw, I have to be careful. I'm starting to get a gut." After a moment he adds, "thanks though".

"The lady, Ms. Sanchez, was starting to stir. After I decided there was nothing I could do for her husband except to not let his head fall into the dirt, I went over to help Kent," Kate continues as she pushes back her plate. "How he got her out of the car is beyond me. It must have been one of those adrenaline dealies you read about. The roof of the car was all caved in. I didn't look to me like there was room for him to crawl in, much less drag a pregnant woman out. Bless her heart, she's not a small pregnant woman, neither. The ER doc told us that OB had done an ultrasound and the baby was doing fine." Kate crosses herself. "So, was momma. Except that they hadn't told her her husband was dead yet. I think she knew. She had come to by the time the ambulances got there. She was trying to hold onto her little one, Fernando. Her husband was lying right there beside her. Roy," she smiles at the man sitting beside her, "took off his shirt and covered his face. His face was fine. Peaceful, almost, under the blood. I, I, never mind. I was running away from the car, holding the baby, Fernando, when I heard the car go up. I nearly dropped the poor screaming little booger. I spun around. I was sure I'd see Kent stuck in the car, burning..." she swallows a sob. "Roy, too more than likely. But they were out. Roy was lying across Kent, smacking at his head. By then, a few more people had shown up. It seemed like we'd been there for hours but I'm guessing no more than five minutes had passed. I shoved the howling kid into a man's arms and ran back to the car to help Roy get Kent away from the car. The heat coming off it was something fierce.

"I had to take a deep breath when I saw Kent. He looked like something out of a one of those damn horror films Roy is always watching. His head, upper body and hands were inside the car when it went up. Roy yanked him out of there fast enough but still. Roy's eyebrows were singed off. When I feel better I'm going to tease him about that but not tonight. Thank God, it was mostly flash burns. He, Kent I mean, looked like a human being again when we saw him in the ER before they took him upstairs. Most of the hair on the top of his hair got burned off -- makes him look he's balding cause the rest of his hair, on the sides and back is fine. He's missing his eyebrows too but, thank God, his eyes are fine. He closed them, ducked and covered his face with his hands. His hands got the worse of it. The doc said there were no third-degree burns. His hands are going to hurt like a sonofabitch but they'll heal up fine, no scars."

Liam puts Roy's second sandwich in front him.

"Thanks," Roy mutters.

"No problem. As a matter of fact, I need to thank you. I never got around to thanking you when Matt hurt his back."

Roy stares at him, sandwich half way to his mouth. All his old suspicions roar to the life. Is the kid fucking with him?

"So, I just want to say, well, thanks, finally," Liam finishes and tips him a nod.

Roy sets the sandwich down. Liam sees Leon and Glenna watching. "Well," Roy begins, "as I recall I didn't do anything except bust your chops and act like an asshole."

Matt, who has gone longer without saying a word than anyone in the room can recall, starts to say something but Liam cuts him off.

"No, that's not all you did. Yeah, there was a, uh, a bit of unpleasantness but you helped get him off the pontoon and onto the gurney. You helped lift his big old ass into the rig. We were both stressed. You, helped him when he needed it. Thank you."

"No, nope, that's not the way it was. It's nice..."

"I'm not just being nice. I'm being straight with you. You helped my friend that day and you helped even more today."

"Not really, that was Kent. He and Kate did..."

"Bullshit. We've all seen the video. If you'd have run, which is what most people would've done, Kent would have burned alive in that fucking car. You saved our friend's life," Matt says as he jumps off the stool and steps beside Roy. "Kent, the guy you pulled out of the car, he's our friend. He was one of the nurses that took care of me in the hospital. The hospital that you..." He pokes his finger into Roy's chest, something that normally would have led to blows but tonight Roy just stares at him. "That you, help get me to. So, sit down, eat your goddamn sandwich and get over the fact you deserve some goddamn gratitude for what you did. You, too," he adds glancing at Kate.

"Wait a sec," she says. "You guys know Kent?"

"Yeah, honey," Glenna tells her. "He spent a few days here with us. These two love birds," she gestures at Liam and Matt, "set him up with Randy Bigland. You remember Randy, don't you? That cute city bastard that came here every summer with his mom. The water skier?"

"Holy shit," Kate swings around to look at Liam. "That's who you remind me of, Randy. You gotta be his kid. Right?"

Liam nods.

"Wait a sec," Kate says frowning. "You said they set him up with Kent? His married isn't he? You saying his gay?"

"Divorced," Liam answers. "He's bi not gay. I'm gay," he chirps. "Matt's gay. So is Kent. Just as queer as a three-dollar bill, as my granddad used to say."

Kate and Roy stare at him.

He laughs. "You want to hear something really hilarious? My mom, who is straight and divorced from my dad is upstairs. She knew Leon in college, so did my dad. She's staying here, too and learning to bake cinnamon rolls. Small fucking world, huh? Roy, buddy, eat your sandwich before the tomato makes it all soggy. You can try to wrap your head around all this shit in the morning."