Folly Beach - Dorothea Benton Frank [122]
“Hey! Is everything okay?” I said.
“Oh, yeah, everything’s fine. I just dropped Ella off and I wanted to tell you that Aunt Daisy was asking for y’all. That’s all.”
“How’s she doing?”
“I’d say she’s a little cranky but she’s sure better than she was.”
“So, we’ll stop by. How’s Alice?”
“Alice? Let’s say we talk about babies a lot. Maybe nonstop. I mean, do I really need to know all this stuff?”
“Oh, honey, it’s her first baby. She’ll settle down.”
“No, I don’t think so. I mean, tonight at supper I said, Can’t we talk about something else? She started crying and went in the bedroom and slammed the door. I finally just left to go see Aunt Daisy.”
“Nice. Listen to your momma on this one. Before you get home? Buy her some flowers. And when you get there, tell her she’s beautiful and that you’re sorry. That’s all.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right. I’ll stop at the grocery store.”
“And we’ll stop by and see Aunt Daisy to tell her good night.”
We hung up and I said to John and Patti, “It’s only eight. We have one short command performance and then we can go do whatever y’all want to do. Go listen to some music or something?”
“Not a bad idea,” John said. “There’s a new jazz club on Market Street.”
“Hey! Is paradise rumbling?” Patti said.
“No. My son is being insensitive and Alice is weepy. Classic first pregnancy baloney.”
“Let’s get going,” John said. “We can’t keep Miss Daisy waiting!”
“Boy, that’s for sure,” I said. “And there’s a storm coming.”
“Typical Charleston weather for this time of year,” John said. “One day you’re playing tennis or you’re out on your boat and the next day it’s freezing rain.”
On the ride there, it had begun to drizzle and the temperature was dropping. We told John about how Aunt Daisy wanted us to bring her martinis and he laughed his head off.
“She is such an original character,” he said. “So adorable. I just love her. Everyone does. You should see how she entertains my students when I bring them over.”
“I’ll bet so,” Patti and I said.
Our chatter continued until we rode up the elevator together, which was always a somber experience at a hospital. We were feeling pretty good after a delicious dinner and some wine and I was looking forward to the rest of the evening. As we stepped off we saw Tolli Rosol, several other nurses, and orderlies rushing toward Aunt Daisy’s room. We started running. I was thinking the worst and when I got there I nearly fainted from what I saw. Aunt Daisy was flailing her arms and legs, sitting up in her bed, choking. It was obvious that she couldn’t breathe. She was choking!
“What’s wrong?” I said to anyone who might listen and give me an answer.
“Get them out of the room,” Nurse Rosol said.
“But what’s happened?” Patti said, just as panicked as I was.
“Please! Leave so we can do our job!”
John placed a firm grip on Patti’s arm and mine and pulled us outside. We watched in horror through the window. The orderlies were restraining Aunt Daisy, whose eyes were bulging in terror and another person, a man who I assumed to be a doctor, was holding what looked like a big oxygen mask over her face, trying to attach it. At the same time Nurse Rosol was giving her a shot of something. It was all so horrible and I thought they would never get her calmed down, fix what was wrong, and come out of that room. I started to cry and then Patti did, too. John stood in between us with his arms around our shoulders, squeezing us in between our sobs. I felt so completely helpless. What if she died right in front of us? Should we call Ella? No, I knew we should wait, because we didn’t even know what was happening to Aunt Daisy so what would we tell Ella? All we would do is frighten her and she was already at home for the night. Oh God, I thought, please don’t let this be it. Please save Aunt Daisy from whatever is happening!
“Come on now, she’s going to be all right,” he said and I wanted to believe him.
I wanted to believe him with all my heart, but I couldn’t, because his words didn’t match what