A Million Little Pieces - James Frey [25]
I go back to the Medical Unit and I find a Nurse and I tell her I have to go to the Dentist and she checks the outside appointment book and it checks and she sends me to a Waiting Room and I wait. The Waiting Room has windows and I can see outside. Though it is late in the morning, it is still dark. I can hear thunder and see sleet. The wind is whipping whatever lies on the ground into the air. The trees look as if they want to hide. It is ugly and it’s going to get uglier.
Hank walks into the Waiting Room. He’s bundled in a thick, warm, waterproof jacket. He wears wool-lined rubber boots.
Hey, Kid.
Hey, Hank.
We shake hands.
How ya been?
Been better.
I stand.
Bet ya been worse too.
I smile.
Yeah, I’ve been worse too.
You ready?
Yeah.
Let’s go.
We walk out of the Waiting Room and through a short Hall and outside. The Van is twenty feet from the Exit and I run toward it. The sleet and the wind pound into my skin, the thunder shakes my bones.
I open the front passenger door of the Van and I jump inside and the Van is running and it is warm. There is an old weather-beaten jacket similar to the one Hank is wearing sitting on the seat. I pick it up and put it on and settle in and clutch myself. After a few seconds, Hank, who did not need to run, opens the driver’s door and climbs in.
You found the coat.
It was hard to miss.
I used to wear it when I worked on my boat.
It has that look.
It’s a good coat.
It’s working great right now.
I know you don’t have one, or have anything from what I’m told, so I want you to use it while you’re here.
Thank you, Hank. I appreciate that.
Don’t mention it.
I really appreciate it. Thank you.
Don’t mention it.
Hank puts the Van into gear and we pull away from the Clinic and we start making our way toward Town. Hank concentrates on the road and I stare out the window and I think. A few days ago the land was shutting down and preparing for winter and dying. Now it’s shut down and prepared and dead. There are no leaves on the trees, no living vegetation on the ground, not an insect or a bird or an animal in sight. The thunder is getting louder and closer and the sleet is getting harder and faster and the wind is trying to push the Van into a ditch. Hank keeps it on the road. I stare out the window and I think.
I knew the facts within a month of first laying eyes on her. She was from Connecticut, her Father was a prominent investment banker in New York, her Mother played tennis and bridge and was the President of the local Junior League. She had gone to a prestigious all-girls prep school in New Hampshire. She had an older Brother and an older Sister. She had never had a boyfriend.
I met her when a friend of mine asked me if I could get him some dope. He wasn’t a smoker so I asked him who wanted it and he told me it was for a girl named Lucinda who lived in his dorm and I told him I would have to meet her first so he gave me the Room number and I went to the Room and I knocked on the door and the door opened and she was standing there. Tall and thin, long blond hair like thick ropes of silk, eyes cut from the Arctic. I didn’t know Lucinda and I didn’t know she lived with Lucinda and I couldn’t speak and she was standing there. She was standing there.
Hi.
I just stared.
Can I help you with something?
I started to open my mouth and my mouth didn’t work and my heart was pounding and my hands were shaking and I felt dizzy and excited and scared and insignificant. She was standing in front of me. Right in front of me. Tall and thin, long blond hair like thick ropes of silk, eyes cut from the Arctic.
I turned and I walked away without a word. I didn’t look back and