The Castaway Hotel - 2 - 33. Chapter 33 - A Child Fights Back

When we awoke the next morning, I realized it was the last day of the month, February 28th, and I had budget deadlines to meet that week. This meant it was going to be a very hectic day, filled with a great deal of boring work. The morning turned out to be particularly rough, with additional problems arising before lunchtime, but it seemed to get even worse during the noon hour. That’s when Cole came to my office to discuss a troubling situation he was currently facing.

It turned out the boy who had been calling him names and causing him problems earlier in the school year had started in on him again. This new harassment had been the previous week, but Cole thought it might die down after the weekend, but that wasn’t the case. The boy had already started in on him again that morning and Cole was running out of options and patience. He explained to me that he’d tried everything he could think of to end this situation, but had now run out of ideas. In desperation, he came to me for advice.

We were in my office, in the middle of our conversation, when I heard a loud argument in the hall. I sprang from behind my desk, bolted into the corridor and immediately discovered the source of the disturbance. Two of my students were having a major disagreement.

Cole had followed me into the corridor and we looked the situation over. I instantly recognized both young men. The one with his back toward me was Henry Prosser, the boy who had been causing problems with Cole. He was an eighth grader and his friends called him Hank. The other boy was a sixth grader named Eddie Weeks. Eddie was small for his age, and his blond hair and slight build gave him an almost fragile appearance. Eddie was screaming at Hank, saying something about being sick and tired of Hank tormenting him. Trying to be inconspicuous, I began moving toward the two boys and that’s when I saw Eddie lift his arm towards Hank. That’s when I discovered he was holding a small pistol in his right hand. I immediately told Cole to go in the office and have my secretary call 911, as I walked forward, to see what I could do to intervene.

“Eddie,” I called out softly, but he didn’t seem to hear me. “Eddie, hold on there. Don’t do anything foolish. Let me help you and we’ll see if we can’t solve whatever problems you’re having together.”

He looked up at me, when his brain registered what I was saying. “No, Mr. Currie. I have to take care of this myself,” he informed me. “Hank’s not going to do this to me any more. I’m not going to let him. I’m going to make him stop it, right now.” I could also see that Hank was very nervous and was afraid he might try something foolish – something that might provoke Eddie even more.

“Eddie, what’s the problem?” I asked him, trying to get his attention off of Hank and on me. “It can’t be that bad.”

“It is, Mr. Currie, and I’m tired of him calling me names, beating me up and stealing my lunch money. He’s done it for the last time and I’m going to make sure he doesn’t do it to me or any other boy or girl again,” Eddie replied, defiantly.

I knew from Cole’s experience with him that Hank was a bully, but I’d opted not to get involved, at Cole’s request. However, I had never received any other complaints about Hank or realized, before now, that he had been harassing other students, besides Cole.

I moved cautiously forward, until I was even with Hank. I was talking to Eddie the whole time, trying to get him to relax and put his weapon down. Just as I got to Hank, I grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him roughly behind me. As I did so, he must have stumbled and fallen to the floor, because I heard a dull thud, indicating something had hit the tiled floor, just as I heard the gun go off. Eddie had pulled the trigger and I felt the bullet hit me in the abdomen. I looked up at Eddie and he was trying to see where Hank was, as he lay on the floor behind me. He must have seen Hank, as he looked between my legs and he lowered his gun to shoot a second time. Mustering all of my strength, I moved quickly toward Eddie, just as the second shot went off. I felt a sharp pain in my left leg and fell toward the floor, as I heard the crack of a third round being fired. This time I felt a pain in my chest and I collapsed onto the hard, cold floor.

By this time, a couple of teachers had come up behind Eddie and wrestled the pistol from his hand. One of the teachers hung onto him, while the other bent over me, to offer assistance. Cole came screaming to my side and I could see tears were gushing down his face, as I was rolled over, onto my back. Now there was a flurry of activity in the hall and a number of people were trying to assist me. Before long I could hear the sounds of multiple sirens pulling up in front of the school and soon there were police and paramedics clustered around and hovering over me.

The police took the gun from the teacher who had wrested it from Eddie and had now placed handcuffs on the small boy. As soon as he was restrained and they felt nothing more would happen, they began talking to witnesses and taking statements, as the paramedics attempted to stop the bleeding and treat my wounds. I was surprised I wasn’t in very much pain, but as it was explained to me later, that was because I was suffering from shock and it had dulled my senses.

Once the emergency crew felt I was stabilized, they hoisted me onto a stretcher, ready to wheel me out and load me into the ambulance. Lying on the gurney, I looked over to see Cole crying hysterically and being physically restrained by one of his male teachers. The rest became a blur, as I started drifting in and out of consciousness from the loss of blood, but when I came to again, the emergency vehicle I was being transported in was speeding toward the hospital, with its siren going full-blast.

As we pulled up in front of the emergency room entrance, I was beginning to feel very woozy again and thought I might black out. The last thing I remember was being wheeled into a treatment room and doctors working frantically on me, before I totally zoned out.

Back at school, the police had taken Eddie Weeks into custody and placed him in a squad car, while the teachers had rounded up my other boys from their classes and put them in my office, along with Cole. My secretary was in with them, trying to comfort them, while the assistance principal and head-teacher tried to regain some semblance of order within the building.

Trey suggested calling Aunt Sally and telling her what happened and my secretary allowed him to do that. Soon, Sally was at the school, taking care of the boys there. After Sally arrived, my secretary called the high school, explained the situation to the principal there and asked him to have a guidance counselor round up my other sons and tell them what had happened. Sally advised them to also notify the boys she’d be over to pick them up shortly, so she could take them all to the hospital, to keep vigil.

After my secretary hung up, Sally asked her if she knew where the van keys were, which she did. She immediately retrieved them from my desk drawer, where she knew I always kept them while I was working. After handing them to Sally, Sally hurriedly loaded the younger boys into the van, drove to the high school and picked up the others, before driving them all to the hospital, so they could be near me. She was astute enough to realize none of them would be satisfied or able to function until they knew how I was doing and felt this would be best for all of us.

As soon as my high school boys were loaded into the vehicle, they started asking questions about what had happened. Cole told most of the story, but the others had to fill in the gaps, each time he began to cry again. Soon, they were all racing down the hospital corridors, toward the waiting area for the ER, while Sally frantically tried to find out whatever information she could glean from the receptionist.

As is typical, she was first asked if she was related, because of the critical nature of my injuries. Sally then went on to explain that she was the head of D.S.S., a very close friend of the family and would become guardian to the boys should anything happen to me, and that most of my sons were in the waiting room, frantic and wanting to know what was going on. She then explained, she was also acting on their behalf, both in her professional position and as temporary guardian. Seeing her professional position carried more weight, they finally gave in to her requests for information and communicated with her about my condition.

Basically, all they told her was that I had three gunshot wounds and was taken to the operating room to remove the bullets, stop the bleeding and stabilize my vital signs. They also agreed to update her on any information they learned about my condition, as soon as anyone came out of the OR. Satisfied that was the best she was going to do, Sally went back to rejoin the boys and relayed what little information she had to them.

The boys were still highly agitated and quite upset, so they barraged her with a thousand questions about what was going to happen to me, what was going to happen to them while I was in the hospital and what might become of our family. She first tried to reassure them, by promising she would stay with them at our house, for as long as I remained hospitalized. She also informed them nothing would happen to the family and she would be there for all of us, until I was back on my feet. They calmed down a little, but they were little more than basket cases at this point. The older boys were trying to comfort the younger ones and were clinging to each other, like Linus (from Charlie Brown) to his security blanket.

In the operating room, the doctors were patching up my injuries and pumping blood back into my drained body. I don’t know how long they worked on me, but when they finally finished, I was wheeled into recovery. One of the doctors went out to inform Sally about what they had done and update her on my condition.

“Hello, I’m Dr. Patel and I was one of the surgeons that operated on Mr. Currie. I understand you are the person representing the family.”

“Yes. I’m a close friend and Josh has given me temporary guardianship of his sons, if anything should happen to him,” she explained. “He did that well over a year ago and I hoped I would never be forced to assume those duties.”

“I understand. Let me offer my sympathy over what has happened and let me fill you in on what we did for him,” the physician began. “Mr. Currie was the victim of three gunshot wounds and lost a considerable amount of blood before he arrived. Fortunately, it was only a .22 caliber handgun used in the assault or the damage could have been much worse. We gave him immediate transfusions of blood and then operated, once his vital signs were stable. One of the gunshots shattered his left kneecap. We’ve done what we can for now, but we will need to replace the original bone with an artificial knee joint as soon as he has recovered sufficiently. Another bullet went through his intestines, so we had to sew up several areas where the bullet punctured the tissue. The last shell went through his right lung and caused it to collapse. We have repaired the damage, re-inflated the lung and we’re pumping antibiotics into his system to fight against infection.”

“Will he recover and will he be able to function as he did before?” Sally asked, very concerned.

“I suspect all of his wounds will heal, but there may have to be some changes to his life-style,” she was informed. “He may have to change his diet until his intestinal tract heals, he might also have some lingering respiratory problems and he probably won’t be able to run or compete in sports with the knee damage he sustained. Other than that, I expect he should recover fully.”

“You don’t know how relieved that makes me,” she admitted, as the air rushed from her lungs when she sighed. “I was worried I might have to assume full responsibility for all of his sons and that wouldn’t be easy on any of us.”

“He has a lot of sons and they are a handful, then?” the doctor asked.

“He has eleven boys, but they are wonderful young men,” she informed him. “It’s just that I work a great deal and I’ve lived on my own for years, so I wasn’t sure I’d be able to adjust to such a change.”

“Eleven sons? I didn’t think people had that many children any more,” he mumbled, somewhat shocked by this revelation.

“They’re adopted,” she explained. “He’s taken in boys who needed him badly and he’s done a wonderful job with them. I’ve got to go tell the boys he’s going to be fine.”

“You do that and I’ll help make sure he is,” the doctor urged. “We don’t want those boys to lose their father now, do we?”

“Indeed not,” Sally confirmed. “Thank you, Doctor. I need to get back with them. They are anxious for any news about their father. Thank you, again.”

“I’m glad I could help,” he told her, as they both turned to leave.

Sally went out and told the boys about my condition. They were still upset, but relieved that I would recover. They were also quite shocked to learn that I had been struck by three separate bullets. They knew one, maybe two, but they had never imagined that all three bullets had struck me.

“When can we see Daddy, Aunt Sally?” Andrew asked, the tracks of his tears still clearly visible on his cheeks. He had tried to wipe them away, but they still lined his face.

“The doctors will let us know when he has come out from under the anesthetic and is moved to his own room,” she answered. “They’ll let you see him then, but I’m not sure how many they’ll let into the room at one time.”

“We don’t care if they let us enter in small groups or one at a time,” Kevin told her. “We just want to see him, that’s all.”

“Yes,” Dustin added. “We need to see him with our own eyes, so we can see for ourselves that he’s okay.”

“We don’t know what we’d have done without him,” Ricky chimed in. “I can’t even remember what it was like before he took me in. He changed my whole life, but I still need him.”

“We all need him,” Pat offered, in support of Ricky’s statement. “I didn’t realize how much until the past couple of weeks. He’s taught me a lot and I need him to keep letting me know when I’m not acting very smart.”

“Don’t worry, boys, the doctors only see minor problems ahead,” she confirmed. “I think I understand how strongly you feel and I’m glad you appreciate who he is and what he’s done for you. I’m sure he would have downplayed what you just told me, but he could never minimize how much he loves all of you and how deeply he cares about your future. You are as important to him, as he is to you. He would do anything for you boys, even more than he did for that boy in school, when he stepped in front of him to keep him from getting shot. He sacrificed his own body to save that young man and there’s no telling how far he’d go to help one of you. You’re are indeed very lucky to have found each other.”

“We can thank you for part of that, Aunt Sally,” Trey responded. “You were the one who led most of us into his arms and his home. We owe you too and we’re also grateful that you’re here for us now that we need you again.”

“Trey, I wouldn’t be anywhere else,” Sally confirmed. “Josh asked me if I would be willing to assume guardianship of you, if anything should happen to him. I was hesitant at first, but then I thought I couldn’t do anything less than he had, so I finally agreed to assume that responsibility. I didn’t ever suspect I would actually be called upon to fill in, but I would never turn my back on you boys or shirk the promise that I made to your dad. I’m here for as long as you need me, but I hope Josh will be taking over again, as quickly as he can.”

“Nothing against you, Aunt Sally,” Dion told her, “but we do too. We love you, but we’d prefer to have Dad back.”

“And that’s exactly how it should be. No offense taken,” she agreed.

The whole group continued to wait, but Sally soon realized it would most likely be some time before the boys would be able to see me. She talked to several of the nurses and each suggested it would probably be early evening, at the earliest, before I’d be moved and ready to see visitors. With that information in hand, Sally talked the boys into going out to eat first, after which they could return to visit. Reluctantly they agreed and Sally took them to a restaurant for dinner.

The boys were very quiet throughout the meal and only picked at their food. Sally tried to conduct a conversation with them, but the boys didn’t feel much like talking, either. When the meal was finally over, they all thanked Sally for taking them out as they loaded back into my van and then rode back to the hospital in near total silence. Ricky was holding Andrew, while Sammy was sitting on Danny’s lap and Graham was clinging to Kevin. Outside of Cole, who had witnessed what happened, the little ones were probably the most deeply affected by this incident, especially now with the uncertainty of Sammy and Andrew’s grandparents appearance in our lives. The older boys did everything they could to comfort them, and Sally happened to notice this as she looked into the rear-view mirror. Instead of commenting about it, she just smiled to herself and thought how much like me they now were.

After they arrived at the hospital, they went to the front desk and inquired as to my condition and my location. After a couple of phone calls, they were told I was currently being moved to my own room and it would be about another half an hour before anyone would be able to see me. Somewhat dejected by the news, the boys dragged Sally into the gift shop, so they could look around. The clerk was uneasy with all of the boys wandering around, but she needn’t have worried. The boys were looking for a gift to purchase for me. It was Graham who first saw the item they eventually agreed upon and asked Sally if they could borrow the money to purchase it. She agreed, so they made their purchase and then went back out to the lobby to wait.

They sat there for another fifteen or twenty minutes, before the phone in the lobby rang. Hesitantly, it was Dustin who walked over to pick it up. “Hello,” he said into the mouthpiece.

“May I speak to someone from the Currie family?” the voice on the other end asked.

“This is Dustin Currie. I’m the oldest son,” he stated, although not quite accurately. He seemed to have forgotten about his two older brothers.

“Great. Your father has been moved to room 317,” she announced. “Just take the elevator to the third floor and follow the signs from there. It’s been agreed that his family may visit him for a brief time, but no one else.”

“Thank you,” Dustin told her. “You don’t know how much this means to us.”

After hanging up, he filled in the others. Excited by this news, they walked down and entered the elevator, taking it to the third floor. Once they disembarked, they followed the signs to room 317. A nurse stopped them before entering and questioned who they were. Sally explained the situation and the nurse looked the group over. After being assured they were all his sons, the nurse finally agreed to let them go in, but quickly warned them to keep the noise down and not get me too excited. After agreeing to her demands, they walked in.