Fiction Foundry 32

Next to the doorway, a small ugly crater pock-marked the dry wall.  A conspicuously dust-free circle on the pastor's desk marked the void where his souvenir ceramic lamp from the Holy Land had rested for as long as Mike could remember.  The conclusion was pretty obvious:  the lamp had been slung across the room (apparently at Mike's head) with such force that it left a hole in the wall, and its remains now littered the floor.  

Fiction Foundry 31

Mike wasn't really sure what had happened.  All he knew was that one minute he was at the door...and the next he was lifting himself off the top of the pastor's overturned bookshelf--on the other side of the room!

Mike's gaze panned across the room seeking some explanation, but no one else appeared to understand either.  Mary's rage had broken--presumably under the force of confusion--though her face was still red, her breathing quick and deep.  Desmond was rocking back-and-forth like a pendulum on speed.  Mike suddenly became aware of a biting chill in the room, and instinctively crossed his arms in an effort to warm up. 

Pastor Leedle said nothing.  He just sat there staring transfixed at a million ceramic shards strewn across the floor.

Fiction Foundry 30

But I'm sure that yoga will fix me right up.  It'll probably make me walk again.  Thank you so much for that insightful advice!  Did you master neurology during your extended nap-time?!!"

Mike was so stunned by Mary's response that, initially, he just sat there and took it.  He knew she was angry...but this felt like...like a raw, visceral hatred ; and it wasn't just directed toward disability, but toward Mike himself.  The realization hit him like a sledgehammer.

"I think this was a mistake," the boy finally said as he rose from his chair and moved toward the door.

"A mistake!! Is that what is was, Mike?!!! Well, then, everything's okay so long as it was a mistake!!!!"  (Mary was fairly screaming now. )

Leedle vainly tried to calm the situation down, as Mary continued to scream. The crescendo came just as Mike reached the office door.

Looking back, this would prove to be a moment that altered the lives of everyone in that office. 

Fiction Foundry 29

"Now it feels like my only choice is to become a sleep-deprived torture victim, or a junkie."

"Yes, managing long-term pain can be a terrible burden. I'm very sorry you're having to struggle with these sorts of questions." Leedle replied sympathetically.

That was a good response.  Sensitive, but non-directive.  Mike should've taken a cue from that.  He should've just sat there silently and let Mary talk--no matter what she said--and just gone home at the end of the meeting.  That's what he should've done; but it's not what he did.

In an effort to be encouraging--at least that's what he told himself after the fact--Mike asked, "Did the doctor mention any alternative treatments? Mom used to have back pain a lot before she started doing yoga.  Now she almost never has trouble anymore."

Immediately Mary's flushed red.  In a voice that was equal parts a steadily rising anger and dripping sarcasm, she replied: "Why no, Mike.  I hadn't thought to ask that.  At no point in the past four months of agony has anyone in my family or on my medical staff considered an alternative. 

Fiction Foundry 28

I was just telling Mary and Desmond about how you'd be joining us today."
From the look of things, the excitement was not exactly reaching pandemic levels. While Desmond simply didn't look at Mike, Mary made a positive point of looking in the opposite direction of wherever he was situated.

"Why don't you have a seat right over here?  We'll make a space."  Leedle was strategically placing Mike between himself and Desmond--in other words, as far away from Mary as possible.

When the shuffling chairs finally fell silent, the pastor resumed.  "Now then, let's get started. Mary, I believe you had mentioned having a follow-up meeting with the doctor last week.  How've you feeling since that?"

"I haven't been able to sleep much at all.  The pain doctor thinks I'm starting to acclimate to the meds, so I'm stuck between not taking as many--which means I get almost no sleep; or going ahead and taking them so I can sleep, at the risk of losing their effectiveness that much quicker.  It was bad enough to learn I'd never walk again," (Mary looked directly at Mike for the first time as she recited that sentence.) 

Fiction Foundry 27

"Yes ma'am."

"Well that's wonderful," the old woman replied in a sweet and gentle voice, as she reapplied the locks with agility and force that defied her age.  The juxtaposition was striking, and Mike wondered just what it was that made Mrs. Hoffmeier so fearful.

"Now then, if you'll follow me."

Of course Mike already knew where the pastor's office was--everyone in the church did--but it was important to Mrs. Hoffmeier to observe all the formalities of her role as church hostess and guide. Upon reaching the door to the pastor's study, the boy took a deep breath to steel his nerves...and then turned the doorknob.

Mike's arrival apparently interrupted a conversation.  "We started two minutes ago.  We start at 2:30.  Always at 2:30!" Desmond announced.  He was rocking back and forth and just seemed generally agitated. Though no one exactly had a "summer tan" this time of year, Desmond was unusually pale.  More than that, he looked like he'd dropped at least ten pounds since the summer!

As the appointed peace-maker, Pastor Leedle interjected "Good afternoon, Michael!  We're so happy you're here!

Fiction Foundry 26

"Michael?  Are you still there?  Have we been disconnected?"

The question was enough to jolt Mike out of his indecisive stupor.  "Okay, Pastor.  If you think it's that important, I'll give it a try."

"I'm glad to hear that, Michael.  We'll look for you at around 2:00 pm.  Just come to the office entrance.  Mrs. Hoffmeier will let you in."

"Alright.  Will do.  See you, then."  With that, Mike hung up the phone, and returned to breakfast.
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The bright sun in the clear November sky belied the bone-chilling cold.  Despite his desire to get somewhere warm as quick as possible, Mike still paused a moment before pressing the ancient doorbell to the church offices.

A muffled "just a moment" preceded the rattling of deadbolts.  Finally, the locks fell silent and the door inched open, revealing Mrs. Hoffmeier.  "Oh hello, Michael.  It's so nice to see you.  Are you feeling well today?" she asked as he entered the warm cocoon of the church building.

Fiction Foundry 25

(Mike tossed a quick appreciative smile to his mother.)

"Well, I don't want to pull you away from them any longer than necessary, so I'll cut to the chase.  I'd like you to come down to the building this afternoon for our trauma processing session."

"I...um...I don't know. Aren't Mary and Desmond coming?"

"Yes, they are."

"Well, I'm...not too sure they want to be around me is all."

"That is something that needs to be addressed," Leedle confessed, "but problems aren't solved by ignoring them.  You've all been through a lot.  Of course no one can make you attend, but I think you'll be glad if you do."

The seconds ticked by as Mike weighed the pros and cons of the situation.  He took so long, in fact, that Pastor Leedle finally broke the agonizing silence.

Fiction Foundry 24

The next morning, Jeanine prepared a celebratory breakfast of fried biscuits and gravy.  As always, this was accompanied by fresh fruit...which, as always, went largely ignored by the males of the clan Carson.  In a transparent attempt to bait her boys into eating some grapefruit, Jeanine was declaiming for the umpteenth time on its "wonderful flavor," when the phone rang.

"Hello. Carson residence." Jeanine announced in her best Southern belle voice. 
"Why no, not at all.  We're always happy to hear from you, Pastor Leedle.
Yes, we're just fine.  How are you this morning?
What's that now? 
Oh, yes.  I believe he could. Yes, one of us could bring him...but I'm not sure if he already had other plans. here, let me let you talk to him." 

With that, Jeanine handed the phone to Mike and resumed her place at the formica smorgasbord.

"Hello?"

"Michael!  Good morning, young man.  How're you feeling?"

"I'm great!  Mom made biscuits and gravy!"

"Well that's something special, isn't it?"

"Yes sir, they are...really good." 

Fiction Foundry 23

If they're still worried about infection, why'd they let her go home at all?  Why are they going to those meetings with Pastor Leedle?"

An awkward silence descended on the wagon.  Outside, Atherton whizzed by as if nothing in the world were changed, but inside time was frozen.

"What?!  What are you not telling me?" Mike finally demanded.

"Son..." Jeanine started, "You have to understand that Mary and Desmond--Mary especially--was injured very badly during the quake.  Mr. and Mrs. Potain have been rather...cool towards us since you kids were hospitalized."

Mike's head and voice dropped, as the unspoken portion of his mother's message dawned on him:  "You mean they blame me for Mary and Desmond's injuries."

"I...ah...I don't know that 'blame' is right word, Mikey," his father chimed in, as he made the familiar right onto Anderson Circle.

"But it isn't the wrong word either, is it?"

Another silent moment passed before Big Mike finally admitted.  "No, son.  No, I guess I can't say it's wrong."

Fiction Foundry 22

Aisha, Mike's physical therapist, was nonplussed:  "There's just no way.  This...this shouldn't even be possible.  After being unresponsive for months, your muscles should've atrophied to the point that you'd need years of therapy."

"So...you're upset I'm not messed up worse?" Mike replied teasingly.

"No...I just can't believe it...and I've got serious reservations about sending you home this soon, but your primary says you're good to go."

No sooner were the release papers signed than Mike asked if they could swing by the Potains' home so he could check on Mary and Desmond.

"Well, honey..." Jeanine hesitatingly replied, "You've been through a lot.  Wouldn't you rather go home and get settled in a little first?"

"I've been settling for four months, mom.  I'd really like to go check on Mary and Desmond."

"Mary is still healing up too, bud" his father joined in.  "You know they...they really don't need us to expose her to any more potential germs or viruses."

"That doesn't make any sense. 

Fiction Foundry 21

The Carsons offered a chorus of positive responses, and Leedle began:

Our Father in Heaven, 

Giver of life and all good gifts, 

we thank you for preserving the lives of Michael, Desmond, and Mary.  

We thank you for the healing that you have already brought to them.  

Today, especially, we thank and praise You for bringing Michael out of his coma.  

We ask that You continue to bless each of these dear ones as they process what they have lost 

and adjust to the new lives to which You have called them.  

Amen.

The little room briefly filled with an amen chorus, before the pastor continued:  "Well, I don't wish to intrude any longer on your family time.  I'm sure you have a great deal to talk about...but, when you are feeling up to it, Michael...I'd like to invite you to some group processing meetings.  You've suffered quite a trauma, and it will take some time to work through it.  Desmond and Mary have been participating for about a month now."

Taken somewhat aback at the suggestion, Mike could only muster an, "Ummm...Okay, pastor.  Yeah, that sounds good."

"Excellent!" Leedle replied with such a look of joy you'd have thought he was a kid opening a Christmas present.  He gingerly patted Mike's shoulder, and after a quick handshake and hug for Big Mike and Joyce, the pastor shuffled back out of the room.
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Three weeks later, Mike was finally released from the hospital.  Though the time had passed like an interminable prison sentence to Mike,the medical staff ceaselessly reinforced how "unprecedented" it was for him to even be up and walking--much less going home.

Fiction Foundry 20

If we hadn't been there--"

Mike's words suddenly choked off, as the tears welled in his eyes and a trembling crept over his body.

"If you hadn't been there, you could've gotten hurt somewhere else...somewhere that no one might have found you in time."  His father said.

"Quite right, Brother Carson," announced a familiar voice from the doorway.

Pastor Leedle shuffled across the floor towards the family, with exactly the same welcoming countenance he'd worn every Sunday for the last nine years.

"Forgive me for intruding...but I happened to be up on the third floor checking on Mrs. Klingleman and one of the nurses told me that you'd woken today.  I thought I might drop by briefly to see how you're all holding up."

"It's no intrusion at all, Pastor. Thanks for stopping by." Jeanine reassured him.

"Here.  Have a seat, Pastor." Big Mike said, vacating his own chair.

"Oh no.  I'll just be a moment. " Leedle said furiously waving his congregant back into the seat.  "I just wanted to drop by to see if you needed anything.  Are you feeling well, Michael?

"Well..." Mike thought for a moment, "Yes sir.  Apart from not liking being in here and feeling a little stiff, I- I guess I'm alright."

"Well that is a blessing, indeed." Leedle replied pensively.  For a moment, the minister's mind seemed lost in another world, but an announcement over the hospital intercom seemed to restore his focus on the present.  "Forgive me. I just...have a lot on my mind.  Would it be alright if we had a quick prayer?"

Fiction Foundry 19

Big Mike and Jeanine had spent the better part of two days without no idea what had become of Mike and his friends.

"So, how did you find out?  How did I get here?"

"As it happened, firemen called out to fight the Gammon Plant blaze found you pretty early on--but you were all unconscious, and since none of you had any identification, no one at the hospital knew who to contact.  Eventually, Desmond came to and from there, the hospital was able to get in touch with the Potains.  They contacted us."

"How are Mary and Desmond now?"

At this, his parents' faces suddenly took on an ashen hue.  "Honey, I--I don't--" his mother began before allowing her words to trail off as her gaze fell to the floor.

"There's no easy way to say this, son." Big Mike interjected.  "Desmond suffered a few broken bones and some damage to his eyes, but Mary...she..."

"She, what, Dad?  She what?!" the pitch of Mike's voice rising in step with his panic.

"Somehow, during the quake Mary's back was broken.  The doctors said it looked like she had suffered blunt force trauma.  She's lost the use of her legs, Mikey."

His father's final sentence struck Mikey like a gut punch with a sledgehammer.  The boy just sat there mutely staring into space, for what seemed like an eternity.  At last, the silence with a barely audible whisper: "It's all my fault."

"Oh no, honey! No, it isn't."Jeanine retorted.  "This was just a terrible accident--"

"It was my idea to go through the plant, mom!

Fiction Foundry 18

As his mental fog lifted, Mike's became aware of a swarm of people.  He was in some sort of medical facility.  The staff were throwing around a lot of big words Mike didn't understand and couldn't have pronounced to save his life. However, one big scary one came through loud and clear: coma.

At that moment, his mother appeared in the doorway. Her swollen eyes looked like they were about to burst. "Michael!  Oh son!" she rushed forward and threw herself across his torso. "My sweet boy! I knew you were still in there. I knew it!" A moment later, Jeanine was joined by Big Mike--strong, steady, Stoic...and trembling.
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At last the medical personnel decided Mike was stable enough to be allowed some time uninterrupted by poking, prodding, or scanning. He would finally get the chance to find out what happened and how wound up in a hospital bed.

Pulling the uncomfortable hospital furniture right up to their son's bedside, Big Mike and Jeanine related how an unprecedented earthquake had rocked the city of Atherton...four months earlier! Because nothing like it had ever happened in the region, there were no contingency plans. 

Fiction Foundry 17

(From the sounds of their retching, it must've had the same effect on Mary and Desmond.)
When his eyes finally cleared, Mike kinda wished they hadn't. All around there nothing but the terrifying sight of buildings and pipes swaying like trees in a tornado.

"C'mon!" he yelled. Mike tried to help Mary to her feet, but the undulating ground made it all but impossible to maintain his own footing.  A second tremor knocked the kids down, tossing Mike several feet away from his companions.  He looked on in frozen horror as a large metal plate broke loose and plummeted directly toward Mary!

And then...

everything went black.

Chapter Two
Mike's next memory was of squinting his eyes against an intensely bright light.  At first, he wondered if this might not be the End of Time--a prospect Mike realized was far scarier to him than it ought to have been.

As it turned out, he wouldn't have to wrestle with that particular existential problem today.  An ambient rhythmic beeping was Mike's first indication that this was not quite the Final Judgment.  The unfamiliar voice confirmed it.

"Oh my God.  I can't believe it."

An instant later the voice was shouting.

"I need assistance in Room 302!  Patient's waking up!"

Fiction Foundry 16

As they neared the far edge of the plant, Mike spied the top of Ather Stadium through a gap between two buildings.  "Almost there," he whispered. The space was so restrictive the trio had to move through it in single file: Mike in the lead, Mary second, and Desmond bringing up the rear.

Mike was about half-way through the pass when it happened.  "What was that?!" Desmond blurted out.  Mike was about to scold him for potentially getting them all caught, but stopped short when he felt a mild electric shock in his own legs.  An instant later, he realized the tingle wasn't coming from current, but from the ground itself.

"Whoa!  Is this a...an earthquake?" asked Mary, her eyes as big as dinner plates. "No.  It's got to be--" Mike was about to say "construction," but was interrupted by a violent tremor and the squeal of heavy gauge metal pipe tearing apart.

SWOOSH!  An instant later, the kids were awash in a foul-smelling yellow liquid gushing from the busted pipe.  It filled Mike's eyes and nostrils, burning and leaving him so nauseous he dropped to his knees instantly. 

Fiction Foundry 15

Mike cast about for a solution.  When he spotted  the dilapidated security fence marking the perimeter of the Gammon Chemical Plant, the tiniest flame of an idea was ignited...one that would quickly turn into an inferno.

Taking up the equivalent of at least six city blocks, the plant  was the largest single obstacle to getting directly to the stadium.  After a moment of silent reflection, Mike announced, "C'mon.  We can cut through here." After wriggling through a loose section in the fence, Mike held the chain link back to create as wide an opening as he could for Mary and Desmond.

Despite it being a Sunday, GCP never really "shut down" completely.  There was always at least a skeleton crew making sure no major spills or health hazards took place.  Consequently, Mike and his entourage would have to take care to avoid notice, as trespassing was not only illegal, but--in all likelihood--would result in a permanent grounding their parents ever found out.

The trio silently wove through the labyrinth of pipes transporting who-knows-what to who-knows-where.

Fiction Foundry 14

Despite his best efforts, during the ensuing half-hour hike Mike had only managed to get a few words in with Mary.  The girl really was crazy for baseball: bases stolen, pennants won, RBIs. Fortunately, since she was talking pretty much non-stop, all Mike had to do was nod and go "uh-huh...yeah...totally."  Trying to fake like he understood (or cared) about any of it was wearing Mike out.

Honestly, he was a little jealous of Desmond.  Mary didn't seem to have any expectations of her brother when it came to listening to her baseball talk. Mike was beginning to wonder why Mrs. Potain seemed so insistent that Desmond be a part of this trip in the first place.  Could it be that Desmond's job was to keep an eye on Mike?

"How much further?" Mary asked.  "I can hear the opening announcements."

"Still a couple of blocks," Mike replied.

"Isn't there anyway we can get there faster?"

Fiction Foundry 13

"Did I hear some of you are planning to go to the Apes' game?" the pastor continued.  "If so, you better hurry.  The opening pitch is at 1:30."

Seizing the opportunity, Mike made his move.  "It's not too far to the stadium. If we left now, we'd have time to walk there."

"Michael, I'm not sure that's a--" Jeanine began...but it was too late.

"Yeah! Let's race!" Mary said as she turned and sprinted for the exit.

Big Mike looked at Jeanine.  "Honey, I'm sure they'll be fine.  Atherton is a safe place."

"Yeah, mom. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeease?!" Mike begged.

Her son's puppy-dog eyes were the final straw needed to collapse Jeanine's will-to-resist.

"Okay, okay...I see when I'm beat. Just be careful."

"You got it!" Mike fairly shouted before giving his mother an unusually tight hug.  With that, the kids raced out the church doors and into a brave new world.

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Thirty minutes later, the trio were hot, sweaty, and (with the exception of Mary) considerably less excited about the ballgame.