Sudden Impact - Lesley Choyce [16]
Suddenly, I saw something that made me suck in my breath and cover my face with my hands.
We were standing near the glass doors. Outside, a car skidded to a stop. I knew who was inside. I’d met them before. Jason’s father and mother got out and ran past us. I’ll never forget the panic in their faces.
Martha understood before I said anything.
“What will happen?” I said. “I feel so helpless.”
Martha put her arm around me and began walking me out the doors of the hospital. “You go home. I’ll tell Bennington what you told me about the blood type. When the time is right, he’ll talk to Jason’s parents about a transplant. That’s all we can do. Now go home.” She gave me a gentle push.
But I didn’t go home right away. I ran again, all the way back to the Ledge. I watched the sun set over the water. It had a sad beautiful quality that made me think of Jason and Kurt and how stupid life was. When it started to get cold I went home, but I got up at dawn and left a note for my mom. Then I ran all the way back to the hospital.
The morning was gray and cold. The sky was full of bad news, and I kept hoping it was all a dream. It wasn’t.
I got as far as the waiting room in the Outpatient Clinic before someone came up from behind me and grabbed my arm.
“This way.” The voice was not unfriendly. It was Martha.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“You need a friend, Tina. I’m all you’ve got. And they were serious about keeping you out. By the way, you look like hell.”
“Thanks for the news,” I said. I let her lead me outside to the ambulance loading bay.
“Get in,” she said when we got to her ambulance.
“Why?”
“Just do it.”
I got inside and she told me to lie down on the gurney. “I’ll take you up to see Bennington.”
I lay down and covered myself with a sheet. Martha opened the back door and wheeled me out onto the ramp and back inside the hospital.
“I’m not supposed to be doing this,” she told me. She sounded nervous.
We traveled up in a crowded elevator, and I pretended to be unconscious. When she wheeled me off on the fourth floor, she asked a nurse where Dr. Bennington was.
“He’s in his office,” the nurse said, looking through the glass door. “Don’t knock. Just go in.”
When we got there, I pulled off the sheet, jumped up and went in through the door, closing it loudly behind me.
Bennington was startled. He looked up from a pile of papers on his desk. “How did you get in here?” he asked, more annoyed than angry.
I shrugged. “How is he?”
“The same,” Bennington said. “We’re doing everything we can. You know that.”
“Did you talk to Jason Evans’ parents?”
Bennington seemed surprised. He rubbed his hand along the desk. “Yeah, I just talked to them about half an hour ago.” I waited for him to say more, but he sat silently with his fingers locked together in front of him.
“Jason told me his blood is B negative.”
“He wasn’t lying. It’s a perfect match.”
“Is Jason alive?”
“The family has decided to discontinue the life support.”
I closed my eyes and thought about Jason.
Bennington knew what I wanted to ask next, and he knew it would be hard for me to ask. I didn’t have to. “I’m not really supposed to be discussing this with you,” he said.
But I just stood there, staring at him. “Please,” I begged.
He let out a sigh. “They refused,” he said. “It’s their right. They’ve suffered a big blow. That’s hard enough and they can’t face a decision like this.”
“But they can’t do that!” I said. “If Jason is going to die and Kurt has a chance to live, then he deserves that chance.”
“That’s not for us to decide.”
“Can I talk to them?”
He snapped immediately. “Absolutely not.” He turned cold and professional again. “You leave them alone.”
“Sure.” I was afraid he’d call somebody and have me thrown out. And I didn’t want to be thrown out, not while there was still hope.
“We’ve got calls in to over thirty donor hospitals.