Stranger Things have Happened...

My name is Mikel Robinson. The day after my eighteenth birthday. My Father died, and my Mother rushed to have him cremated, telling me it best to start putting it behind us.

Less than a week later, Mom saw another guy and invited him and his three kids to move into the house. They started sleeping together from day one. The usual questions came to mind. Did she see the prick before Dad died? I was in the hospital with a cracked left hip and my right arm broken near the shoulder.

His two sons and a heavily muscled daughter would beat the crap out of me whenever they could. They would even come into my room when I was sleeping and hit me. One would hold a rolled-up towel to gag me while the other two had their way. This time, they all three jumped me near a wooded area of a local park and beat me with branches they found there. They didn't stop until an off-duty policeman heard the noise and came to my rescue. They fled through the trees and were gone when he arrived. He called 911 and stayed till the EMS arrived.

Once I was out of surgery and back in my room, my Mother came in, "I don't know why you always provoke them like you do! I can't take you causing all this and then try to play it off as it was you against them all the time, and they are always the cause of it all! Anyway, it's all over now. You are moving out. I don't care where you go, but you won't be in the house to cause any more damage to anyone. You brought this all upon yourself, and now you must pay the price for it."

"While you're sitting in here recovering, I suggest you find a place to live because when you get released, I'll let you know the storage locker where you can find your things. I have to go home and settle everyone down over this shit storm you created," then she turned and walked out of the room. A beautiful candy striper stood outside the door beside a cart of books, and that she always pushed up and down the halls.

The candy striper quickly picked up an armload of books and entered the room across the hall to avoid her. A few moments later, she came out and began watching me through the glass as she returned the books to her cart.

All I could do was lie back and hope that the next round of meds would hurry up and help me forget everything for a while. I realized I was expecting my mother's attitude, but the part where she kicked me to the curb, not so much. And then I was pulled back from the edge by the most unusual question I ever heard...

"Hey There, I know I'm being a total pain. But they make me ask everyone as part of my parole. Do you want something to read? Perhaps a book or a magazine?" Her pause was practiced, "I even have some of today's paper after Mr. Molston got through with it."

"You have any that has a cut-out hiding a gun, do you?" I replied without thinking.

"I understand. Any Aunt of mine do that to me, I'd want to shoot her too!"

"Not an Aunt, though she is a 'Mother,' my voice had a slightly manic edge. The realization of what was happening hit me just as I realized that I was here. I was strapped to a machine six hours a day, making me work all my leg joints till I wanted to kill someone, hoping I wouldn't look too funny trying to walk again. "The gun reference wasn't for her."

What followed next made me a firm believer in the phrase, 'The calm before the Storm,' and what a freaking storm it was!

She stormed across the room. Both hands grabbed my shirt and sling, pulling my body up and twisting it against the machine's straps on my leg. "Listen, you little fucker! Nobody gets out of life alive, and no one gets to punch their timecard on my watch, not this time! So man up and grow some balls!" She opened her hands, and my body fell back in the bed. Her eyes widened a bit, "Hold on! I remember you. You're the guy who always sits alone by the big oak tree at school. I don't have you in any of my classes, but quite a few of my friends do. They wonder if you're gay or just a loner... So what am I going to tell them?"

"Tell them I'm damaged goods with too much personal luggage for anyone to go through, and you can also add that I'm homeless now as well. So now, if you don't mind, please push your cart further down the hall. I have enough to think about right now and am not looking to add to it!"

A couple of nurses came into the room in response to my loud voice. The candy striper met them at the door, "Everything's fine, he's just crying over some milk he spilled," and pushed her cart down the hall. The nurses looked after her strangely, and then their heads swiveled in my direction with the same look. I hardly noticed as my mind tried to sort out the latest events in my life.

My doctor came into the room around 2 p.m. and gave me the news that a crack had begun to widen in the hip socket and that I now had to have the hip replaced. It seemed that life wanted to finish the beating the three had started. The only good thing was I didn't get a visit from the candy striper that day, so I had some peace and quiet.

The following day, after a rousing hospital breakfast (ha-ha!) A greasy-looking man with a briefcase came into my room and told me that they were not going to pay for a hip replacement, and I was being dropped off the healthcare coverage in place. He produced some paperwork he said I had to sign. "Don't sign a fucking thing!" erupted from behind him. The candy striper walked into the room, "I'll be recommending charges be filed for you approaching a medically induced patient with trumpet-up files, trying to have him sign them to thwart your client from their financial responsibility due to their child."

She snatched up the paperwork he had and then said, "Security, show this man out, and I want a guard on this door to stop any follow-up harassment towards this patient. He has suffered enough."

One of the guards present was a huge black man. He gave me a wink and stepped over to the lawyer, then gave him the biggest grin I've ever seen, " You're not a fall risk, are you, dude?" The color instantly vanished from the lawyer's face as he finally stammered, 'No.'

I felt something inside give a long-needed 'snap,' and I could just let it all go. All the built-up tension and worry just evaporated! Large tears ran down my face as I gasped for breath, "You really should get that checked out while you're here. They'll even teach you the best ways to get back up after you do fall!" Everyone present thought the exchange was rather humorous. Some were just able to hide it better.

My eyes had just fallen upon a man I'd never seen before when the candy striper stepped in between us. "Don't ever sign anything while you're taking anything stronger than a Tylenol, you have no idea what they say. Here's all the homework you missed, and here are your school books to complete it. I've spoken with all your teachers; they know what's happening. So get busy, and I'll check back after my first round," and off she went.

She looked at the gentleman standing with my doctor, and he just held up his hands, so she continued. He glanced at me, turned, and walked away, talking with my doctor. He reminded me of a duelist from old times, sword and all, but even with that little bit of awareness, I knew he seldom lost.

It took three days of back and forth with little Ms. Candy Striper before I finally started doing the homework... it was the only thing that shut her up. Then, the day before I was supposed to have the surgery, Dr. Tellis came into my room with a younger Dr. "Mikel, I would like to introduce you to Dr. Samuel Mitchel. We want to talk with you."

Dr. Mitchel shook my hand. I'm glad to meet you, Mikel. Just call me Sam, and we'll get to know each other better tomorrow. Financial services cannot reach your Mother for the updated insurance info needed for something like this surgery to progress. As your surgery was set for tomorrow, it can no longer take place," He tore a small stack of papers in half and threw them in the trash basket.

"I have certain leeway that the hospital doesn't. Look, Mikel, The crack in your hip is getting bigger, and very soon, you will lose your ability to walk. I'm here to help you, and all you need to do is sign this." He held up a form just as the candy striper came in to drop off my homework assignments. I remembered the last time this happened, so I hesitated a moment.

She gently laughed, "Oh, you can sign that one. " Then she kissed Dr. Mitchel on the cheek, "Nice to see you again, Uncle Sam. See you at supper." She opened the door to walk out.

"How could I resist my favorite God-daughter?" He called after her.

"I'm your only God-daughter, Uncle Sam. Then, the door was closed, and everyone turned their full attention back onto me. My mind, however, was in a whirlwind, cut off from everyone. All I could feel was being battered back and forth, sure of nothing. I couldn't even feel anything solid, and I began to panic.

Then, from somewhere deep inside came a primal scream... "Focus!" and I was suddenly sitting up in the bed. The words my body was speaking came out level and calm. "Family - strangers, surgery - no surgery, pay - don't pay, do I have anything that resembles a family - or not, does it matter about life or death? At this point, I don't freaking care. So I want you all to leave my room and have someone bring me the clothes I came in with. I'll do my best to settle up as soon as possible." The housekeeping staff tried to walk around everyone to clean the room. I was a bit sharp when I said, "Dear, that means you too!"

It was about two hours later that I heard my door open again. It found me using a pair of crutches in the room, staring at the hills in the distance. "I want to apologize for the way I acted earlier. I was out of line..." An arm came from behind me, setting a soda and a glass of ice on the table

"No, you're not. Part of you rather enjoyed it, if I'm not mistaken." I didn't recognize the polished voice, "But it was the control of your emotions and the voice you exhibited that drew my attention."

I turned a bit and saw my mystery duelist. "My Father always tried to teach respect to everyone until they showed you they didn't deserve it. It's something I try to keep up with." I replied. I'm still numb and worn out on the inside but able to add a slight grin. After opening the soda and pouring it for me, he opened his and asked if I would mind taking a seat.

He kept asking me every little question about this or that. I was tired of answering everything, so I started firing back with my questions and a few ideas I had often wondered about. Before we knew it, we saw that we had been talking for an hour and a half. He laughed, "Son, when you graduate on the 15th, It would be best if you saw me. I'll find you a job!"

"If that came with a tent till my first check, I would love to... but I don't graduate until the 22nd." I chuckled back, forgetting where I was for a moment.

His mouth dropped open a bit more, and his eyes widened! "You're still in high school? I thought you were a student up at the college because of the way you talked and presented yourself. Look, if you don't come to see me after you graduate, I will track you down myself!" He leaned in and said, "If your head wasn't still wrapped up in the pile of crap life handed you, you would realize two things. One is that Candy Striper has an eye for you, and two is nothing is ever as it seems. You figure it out, then come see me."

He left my room, leaving me sitting at the table drinking my soda, deep in thought, which is precisely how I was when Dr. Mitchel came in. He started complaining about the soda until I told him I needed a refill if he wanted to talk about anything. Ultimately, he pulled out his phone and called up another round. He said he had had more than a few people let him know bits and pieces of my past events and even had a rather motherly-looking nurse smile at him, all the while letting him know that if he caused me any more heartache, Her grandson 'Moose' rode with a biker gang. She would love to 'drop that dime,' as she put it.

"That would be Greta, granite on the outside, but inside... mush. Until you get her mad, then she's all business, and yes... Her grandson was called Moose, and yes, he did ride with a biker gang." I smiled. "So talk to me slowly and tell me what you tried to say earlier. So I can process it all."

"Mikel, I am a doctor who specializes in hip replacements. I would show a new hip and replacement technique in the next state, but it didn't work out. So I have all these doctors here, expecting to witness this new thing, but there is no patient. Now, you, on the other hand, have to have the exact surgery that I was planning to show the other doctors. But with your Mother screwing you around, you can't get it done!

"So Mikel, I propose you be my patient for your surgery. When it's over, the hospital can absorb the cost as an educational event while hosting the other doctors. Then you, my friend, get the surgery you need to keep walking at no cost to yourself. I'll even meet up with you in different places on camera to show how you're feeling and give you a cut until you get back on your feet, as it were."

That was a paper I could sign. At 8 a.m. the following day, I was pushed into a large operating room with a clear plastic dome with people sitting behind it. Dr. Mitchel looked down at me and asked if I was ready to be a part of history. I seem to remember telling him, "He needed to hurry it up as I didn't want to miss my stripper!" My hand flopped around slightly, trying to throw back the sheet and get things started.

He looked at somebody, chuckling, "I believe he's had enough medication that we can start now."

I didn't start coming out of it until the next day. They told me they went a little longer because it was a new surgery, and they were just being careful. Ever notice how, during the first week or so of rehab therapy, the only ones who come within arms reach of you are twice your size? I was hoping for at least a chance with that little sadist who smiled so sweetly, telling me I was doing so much better, all the while she kept making the damn thing go faster.

Finally, I was cleared for flight! I took it slow and soon was strolling across the gym floor in that jumbo walker they put you in, but once I got out of that, the sense of accomplishment felt like I had beat Mt. Everest! I spent time with all the doctors, while they asked me question after question about me and my new hip. I retreated from everyone in my room. I walked by the nurses' station, but no one was there. I smiled, slipped around the counter, grabbed the phone, and called the kitchen to send two sodas.

There are small dumb waiter systems in the back corner of the main stations, and two minutes later, I had two cold sodas in my hands. As I entered my room, a voice said, "You do that pretty well. How did you know I'd be thirsty?" I looked over, and there sat my candy striper. I smiled and opened it before handing it to her. "ESP?"

"I think it's time you and I chatted, don't you?" I said.

"I just stopped up here to leave you with a pair of shoes I saw in 'lost/found' that I thought you might be able to use." She smiled.

I turned to see the box on my bed as she stood up. As I opened the box, I heard my door quietly open. "If you leave now, we are done; don't ever come back! Do you understand? I can't do this." I closed my eyes as I stood by my bed and hoped. I knew I had enough resolve to accept either answer. I just doubted I had the heart. I heard my door close and didn't want to turn around.

There was nothing, not even the sound of someone breathing. My chin hit my chest. Then, with hardly a whisper, she began. "His name was Breck, my half-brother, but soon we got along better than any set of twins there was. Then came a time when he begged me to help him one evening, but I had a date with a hot football player who had just pulled up and was knocking."

"I made the wrong choice, and halfway through my date, I knew something wasn't right. I grabbed my phone and was halfway through Breck's private number when my phone went off. It was my Mother. Breck was home hurt... he tried calling me, but I had chosen not to answer. When I got home, police were everywhere, an EMS, and a truck with the 'The Oaks' emblem. Then, under that, it said, 'trauma squad.' The Oaks was a hospital about two miles away.

I found him on his back in our parent's bedroom, and he was hooked up to so many things I lost it. The people that had broken in were drunk and high. They found him but were looking for his Father. He had been cheating on my Mom and us with an underage girl and had gotten her pregnant. So they found Breck at home, and they unloaded everything on him. They broke his body in so many places, they even carved messages on his body," her hand came up to her mouth like she was going to be sick.

I had been slowly closing the distance between us and caught her before she fell and wrapped my arms around her. I guided her to my bed so we could sit down, and I didn't want to let go. "I got closer to him. We could hear the dumb-ass trauma Dr. speaking in a loud voice letting everyone around know how Breck was doing. "That's right, control. The bone is crushed so badly that the legs are gone, as well as the left arm. His back looks like we'll find legos when we open it up, and I don't think the right arm will recover much, if at all."

"Our eyes locked, and I heard him in my mind, 'Not like that!' He then proceeded to thrash around as best he could to remove the tubes and prevent them from going back in. Breck won that race, and I've always felt like I let him down in the end. I made my decision and am paying the price for that. It's a funny thing, seeing how far the ripples are carried. Even after they fade, some of them combine with others and become stronger than first thought."

I raised my eyebrow, and she smiled. "I might as well tell you my sordid past and why you've been flirting with a convict doing time in a hospital for the last three years. Then I have a question you have to answer honestly, agreed?" I nodded my head. She took a deep breath and then slowly let it out.

"Remember I told you Breck's Father cheated on us? Well, 'us' meant my Mother, me, and Breck. Then, one day soon after everything was cleared up, Mom and he were back at it, fighting as always. But I could tell it was different this time, and I started down the stairs. Just as I hit the landing and poked around the corner, I saw him hit my Mom, knocking her to the floor. Some young slut knelt and held Mom's hands to the floor while Breck's Father was choking my Mom, saying she 'owed him one more time.'

Breck and I shared everything, so I ran into their room, pulled out the gun safe, and thumbed up the code. There were two handguns in the safe. My Mom's.380 and a bigger one (9mm). I grabbed it and ran back downstairs. I felt like that young girl in the movie 'Colombiana.' I had the bigger gun and Mom's.380 tucked in my belt.

"Hey, You fucking prick, get off my Mom!" I shouted. I'd gotten up closer to be sure not to hit Mom while keeping an eye on his little bitch, he lunged at the gun, but Mom squeezed her legs holding him, and he fell short and just knocked the gun away from us both. It had to have a safety because it didn't go off when I pulled the trigger. I was scared then, but when he smiled and told his girl to take hold of me because he was going to make Mother eat me while he raped my ass."

"The frightened little girl inside was gone, and I was someone else. I remember telling him, "The wrong girl showed up to your 'sex party,' and then realizing I could stop shooting as the gun was out of bullets." She leaned back and straightened her shoulders. The first police to arrive looked around for the shooter, and I raised my hand. They kept asking until an officer asked me if I wanted to use the restroom. (I now understand all the jokes about the police, by the way.) I told her I was the one with the gun... and then I told her again because she didn't move."