The Field of Love - 9. Chapter 9

The Field of Love

Chapter 9

After Sammy had been hastily ushered into the surgical waiting room by one of the nurses, he glanced around the room and noted a 40-inch flat screen TV tuned to the Weather Channel with the sound turned off. A family of three sat across the room from Sammy with the woman, whom he assumed was the mother, whispering to her small child. The little girl looked to be around the age of four and clearly didn’t like what she heard, as evidenced by the frown she wore. The man’s eyes were red and his face wet from what Sammy thought had been from crying. He stared out the windows behind Sammy with a sad expression. His eyes osculated between hope and despair as he searched for answers.

Sammy looked down at his blood covered hands and leapt to his feet. He had an urgent need to wash Tony’s blood from his hands. The little girl was staring at him wild eyes and opened mouth when she noticed Sammy for the first time. Sammy felt guilty for shocking the child. Quickly muttering an apology to the girl’s mother, he turned to exit the room as fast as he could. But the father of the little girl blocked his way.

“Are you okay son?” the father asked with concern noticeable in his voice.

Sammy looked into the father’s eyes and saw that the man had a good spirit. “Yes, sir. A friend was hurt, and I need to wash up.” Sammy said, as he held out his hands for the man to see and then slipped around him and out of the room.

Once in the hallway, Sammy turned to his right and to his surprise, he collided with another boy which ended up on the floor. Rubbing their heads, a smile formed on each boy as they began to realize what had happened and who they had run into. Even given the seriousness of the situation they found themselves in, Mike began to lightly giggle as he sat on the floor looking up at Sammy.

“What are you doing here?” Sammy asked, reaching down to help Mike up off the floor.

“We didn’t want you to be here alone for Tony, with no way home.” Mike said as he looked over his shoulder. The whole team, coaches, and parents began to fill the hallway behind him.

“Hey, Chief.” James said as he walked up to Sammy and his brother, Mike. “How’s Tony?” he inquired.

“To be honest, I don’t know for sure; but it didn’t look good in the ambulance.” Sammy paused, looked up at the coach who had just walked over to them. “I think we almost lost him. The doctor said he was going into shock and had me pick up the foot of the bed.” Sammy shook his head. “Not easy to do while we were moving.”

Coach Parker laid a hand on each of Sammy’s shoulders and looked him square in the eyes. “What you did for your friend and teammate took courage and true friendship. I’m very proud of you.” He nodded once. “Now, I need to go and find out how Tony’s doing and what the game plan is.” He said before he turned and walked up to the nurse’s station down the hall from the waiting room.

“Where’s the bathroom, Sammy?” Mike asked, looking at Sammy’s hands. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

As Sammy and Mike walked towards the restroom, they noticed Brent who sat alone off from everyone else. Sammy looked at Brent and saw a smug satisfied look on his face. Sammy stopped in his tracks so suddenly that Mike had walked several feet before he realized Sammy was no longer beside him.

Being a Native American, Sammy’s complexion already had a natural copper or reddish-brown tone; but when Mike looked up and saw Sammy’s face, it was bright red. Mike didn’t know why, but he knew things were about to explode. He rushed back to where Sammy stood staring at Brent. Slowly and gently, Mike placed a hand on Sammy’s right arm. Mike felt the arm tensed and rock hard. Sammy was like a cobra eyeing his prey before striking.

“Why are you here?” Sammy asked Brent. The way he asked and the look in his eyes was so dark and foreboding that Mike took a half step back, but never lost contact with Sammy’s arm.

“Sammy?” Mike questioned softly as he rubbed his hand lightly up and down Sammy’s forearm.

Sammy looked down at the hand on his arm and a feeling came over him that felt right to his soul- a feeling he had never felt before in his young life. The feeling made his heart skip a beat. He slowly raised his eyes from Mike’s hand and gazed at his beautiful yet concerned face. At that moment, the tension drained from his body that had been wound tighter than a girdle on a Baptist's minister's wife at an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast!

Brent sat dumbfounded at Sammy's outburst, but he had a gut feeling he had just escaped a dangerous moment in his life. He also knew now wasn’t the time for a smart-ass comment or an insult. So, there he sat with his mouth closed and a sheepish look.

Mike felt Sammy had calmed down; so, he whispered, “Let’s go, Sammy.” He took a step back towards the rest rooms, never losing contact with Sammy’s arm. Sammy nodded once and turned away from Brent as he followed Mike to the rest rooms.

Andy, Joey, and Roger walked into the boy’s rest room just as Sammy started to wash the blood off his hands. Joey walked u[ beside Sammy and asked, “Mind sharing the sink?” Sammy looked down at Joey’s blood covered hands and moved over giving Joey more room.

“Any word yet on Tony’s condition?” Andy asked as he moved to stand by Roger and Mike.

Sammy shook his head no and said, “Not yet; but the coach went to ask the nurses.”

“I hope he’ll be okay. He’s a good kid.” Andy said and paused. He looked hard at Sammy and asked in a non-threatening tone, “Is there something going on between you and Brent I should know about?” Sammy turned his head to look back at Andy as he started to dry off his hands. Before he could speak Andy raised his right hand to stop him. “I saw you guys in the hallway, and it looked like you were about to take his head off. If he’s causing more trouble, especially at a time like this, I need to know as one of the assistant coaches. So, I can let Coach Parker know what’s happening on his team.”

“Sammy did nothing wrong,” Mike said defensively as he stepped up beside Sammy.

Andy smiled when he saw the fire in Mike’s eyes, but it also confused him. He had thought Sammy and Tony were exploring their feelings for each other. Yet, it was clear to him that Mike definitely had strong feelings for Sammy if they were returned or not.

“No, Brent was just sitting there when I passed him, but he looked like he was happy Tony had been hurt and rubbed me the wrong way.” Sammy started but stopped. He shook his head and then looked Andy in the eye. “I mean here Tony is fighting for his life and Brent looked happy about it,” Sammy said as a tear escaped his right eye. “So, I stopped and asked him what he was doing here. Now that I think about it, he probably didn’t have a choice.”

“He didn’t.” Andy said. “The bus is his ride home and the coach drove it here to the hospital. It’s parked outside.” Andy looked over at Mike and said, “I wasn’t accusing anyone of anything. I like Sammy, he’s a friend, and I was just trying to figure out what was going on when I saw Sammy was as mad as he was with Brent.

Joey pulled a couple of paper towels from the dispenser and dried his hands. “We should head back and see what the coach found out.” He said as he took Andy’s hand and kissed him on the cheek.

Roger tried to kiss Andy on the other cheek, but Andy playfully pushed him away. “Knock it off, butthole. You missed your chance years ago.” Andy said and laughed, causing the other boys to laugh as well. They all turned and walked back toward the waiting room.

They were met at the waiting room door by the coach. “Andy, let everyone know we are leaving in twenty minutes. I’ll address the team on the bus concerning the latest information on Tony.”

“Yes, sir.” Andy answered and added. “Uh, just so you know, dad’s security team should be here any minute to pick up Roger. Joey, and myself. I hope that's okay with you.”

“That’s fine, Andy.” Coach Parker told Andy and continued, “Tony is still in surgery, but the nurse said they stopped the bleeding and since they seemed to think no major organ was damaged. he should be fine with time to heal, but the doctor would give a filler report to the family when they are done in the operating room.”

"Great news!” Andy exclaimed. He turned and looked at Sammy who had a big smile and he patted his shoulder.

"Father sky answers prayers.” Was all Sammy said before he wrapped an arm around Mike’s shoulder in a bro half hug with a smile that went from ear to ear like a used car salesman who just made the deal of the year.

Andy took off to round-up everyone and send them to the bus for the trip home and the Coach’s update on Tony. The coach said in twenty minutes and sometimes getting high school students on the same page is like herding cats- not an easy thing to do; but this time, everyone was ready to go home.

Sammy looked at Mike and said, “Come with me a minute, okay?” Mike nodded his head, yes and followed Sammy into the waiting room.

The family of three sat close together with the mother and father hugging the little girl in a protective way. Sammy walked over to the family and knelt in front of the little girl. He looked up into the little girl’s eyes and smiled. She smiled back and reached out and touched his hands. “You took a bath.” she said and giggled.

Sammy looked at the mother, then the father before nodding to the little girl, “Yes, I did, in a manner of speaking. A good friend got hurt and we brought him here to the hospital for the doctors to fix him up.” Sammy said and then addressed the mother. “Ma'am I’m sorry if my teammates caused your family any more distress.” He turned to the father, “I’m also sorry I ran out on you earlier. I know you were just concerned for me, but I really needed to wash my hands. Seeing my friend’s blood on my hands was starting to get to me.”

The father smiled at him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “That’s quite alright young man and I hope your friend will be okay.”

“Thank you. I’m not sure why or who you guys are here for, but I pray that the father of all creation watches over your family and gives you comfort.” Sammy said as he rose and shook the man’s offered hand.