Sudden Impact - Lesley Choyce [17]
“Right,” I said. I didn’t believe a word of it. Finding a donor with B-negative blood was nearly impossible. Nothing had come up so far. The odds were stacked against it.
“We’re doing all we can. You just have to trust us.”
“Sure,” I said again.
“Go home and get some rest. You can call me if you like and I’ll have the nurses keep you posted on Kurt’s condition. But you know Kurt’s parents don’t want you here. We’ve been through all that.”
Bennington picked up the phone. I knew he was calling for security to escort me out.
“I can find my own way,” I said.
chapter sixteen
I took the stairs down to the third floor. As I passed Kurt’s room I looked in. Both of his parents were there. His mother was crying and his father was pacing back and forth. Kurt was unconscious. As I pushed up against the glass of the door to get a better look, I could see his skin was an awful yellowish, greenish color. I knew that was because his liver wasn’t working. He was getting worse and time was running out.
I felt frozen, totally helpless. I didn’t think I could move away from that spot. But someone was walking at a fast clip toward me. I didn’t turn around to look. It was Martha again. She gave me a pat on the shoulder. “I know,” she said. “I know. Now let’s move before those goons behind me start hassling you again.”
The “goons” weren’t all that scary looking—just two white-coated attendants. But I moved anyway.
We walked toward the elevator and stepped inside. As the door closed Martha waved goodbye to the attendants who had followed us. As we began to go down, she punched the red stop button and we came to a halt between floors.
“What did Jason’s parents say?”
“They said no. I have to talk to them,” I told her. “I have to convince them.” Even as I said it, I didn’t know if I had the courage to face them. I was scared to death that I wouldn’t say the right words, that I would screw it up somehow and it would be all over. “But I don’t know if I can do it.”
Martha took my hand and squeezed. She looked me straight in the eye. She punched the second floor button and the elevator started moving
The doors parted. Martha held them open and pointed to the third door down the hall. “They’re in there. Wait until there’s no doctor or nurse around.”
There was nothing in the world that could have stopped me from trying.
My legs seemed to move on their own. I walked down the hall and knocked gently on the door frame. Then I went in.
Jason’s head was almost completely bandaged. There were electronic machines beeping and ticking. Jason’s parents appeared to be praying. They looked up when I entered.
I had met Jason’s parents only twice before. They were wealthy like Kurt’s folks and lived in a big house. They had lots of money, but you could tell by the way they dressed they were old-fashioned. They spoiled Jason by giving him anything he wanted, though. That’s why he had the motorcycle. They were probably blaming themselves for Jason’s accident. I don’t know if they had ever thought much about me, but they knew I was Kurt’s friend. I knew that Kurt’s parents had let on how unhappy they were that Kurt was hanging out with me.
“I’m here to talk about Kurt,” I said, looking straight at Jason, not them.
“How dare you!” Jason’s father shouted at me.
I pretended I didn’t hear. I looked at Jason’s mother and spoke in a calm slow voice, hoping the words would do some sort of magic all on their own.
“Jason is probably going to die and it’s not going to mean much,” I began. “A stupid accident.”
“You get out of here right this instant!” Jason’s father shouted. I didn’t listen.
“It’s not fair,” I said, “that he has to die. I’ll miss him very much, although it’s nothing like what you will feel, I know.”
Jason’s father started for the door. He was going to get someone to throw me out. I almost panicked and started crying, but Jason’s mother pulled him back. “Let’s hear what she has to say,” she said in a voice full of sadness.
“Jason and Kurt were friends,” I said.
“They still are friends,” Jason’s father insisted.