“Tony,” she said, “Take me to the Emergency Room!”
“Is she talking to me? She’s not even in this dream.” I say to myself. I wake up. It is 2:30 in the morning as I gradually bring myself from a very good dream.
“We need to go now,” she said. I noticed a bit of urgency in her voice. That bit of urgency in her voice voice expedited my extrication from the wonderful dream. Memory served me well as I recalled the fine print in the marriage contract. She was recovering from surgery and the aftereffects of anesthesia had left her with nausea to the point she could not sleep.
Soon we were on our way to Trident Hospital.
It was midweek. All was quiet at the Emergency entrance. A security guard and another man were engaged in conversation as we drove up. I moved quickly, like I did when taking my very pregnant wife to the hospital some fifty odd years ago..
“Tony,” she said, “Take me to the Emergency Room!”
“Is she talking to me? She’s not even in this dream.” I say to myself. I wake up. It is 2:30 in the morning as I gradually bring myself from a very good dream.
“We need to go now,” she said. I noticed a bit of urgency in her voice. That bit of urgency in her voice voice expedited my extrication from the wonderful dream. Memory served me well as I recalled the fine print in the marriage contract. She was recovering from surgery and the aftereffects of anesthesia had left her with nausea to the point she could not sleep.
Soon we were on our way to Trident Hospital.
It was midweek. All was quiet at the Emergency entrance. A security guard and another man were engaged in conversation as we drove up. I moved quickly, like I did when taking my very pregnant wife to the hospital some fifty odd years ago.
I went through the automatically opening doors with my eyes on a wheel chair inside. I was stopped by a security guard ordering me to walk through a metal detector.I quickly dump the contents of my pockets into the container provided. A year or so earlier I had been a part of out church’s jail ministry and had to go through such a metal detector at each visit. I, begrudgingly with haste, complied to his wishes. I grabbed the first wheel chair I saw and returned to the car and help my wife into it. Although she was taking pain killing medications, she continues to have pain with certain movements. Navigating the automatic doors was easy as we entered the hospital.
There was no one in the emergency entrance. To the left was the sitting area with multicolored upholstered chairs. Beyond was a hallway. On the right wall were two closed doors—wide doors, the kind hospitals have. In the corner was a counter area which was open from the rear. Two men were behind the counter which had several computer monitors and other clerical items. One of the men was in a security guard’s uniform and the other was a huge man with a black skull cap behind the desk was very efficient in admitting us. It was the kind of head gear often seen on some kind of religious natives of the African continent. His size was that of a television wrestler of the 1960s. He had a large but neatly trimmed beard and big arms laden with what appeared to be ancient ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.They were barely visible against his dark skin. There was something about him that reminded me terrorist of a middle eastern country. But his manner was a polar opposite to his appearance which I would call menacing.
The was a buzzing sound from the door next to the desk of the big man who had received our personal information and reason for being there. An attractive young nurse in blue scrubs smiled and said to my wife, “How can I help you?”
She ushered us into the sterile surroundings and began the interrogation concerning our being there. And she referred to me as “Sweetness”. A doctor joined us and began his diagnosis of my wife’s condition.
I suddenly remembered I had left the car blocking the entrance to the emergency facility. “Should I move my car? I left it at the emergency entrance.”
“Yes, please. I’ll let you out.” The nurse said as she opened a door leading to the entrance way. Within minutes I was in the dimly lit parking area. I found a place fairly close, about seventy-five feet from the entrance.
I jumped from the car into the semi-darkness and hurriedly started back to the hospital. However, my right foot caught a concrete curb and I took a dive into the asphalt parking lot. The ground hit me with two hundred forty pounds of force. I was down. My Apple Watch sprang into action. It vibrated on my wrist, emitted a wailing sound, flashed the word,”Fall!” and the words “call 911” on the small screen.
Little did I know that when I entered my age in the Apple Watch app,that FALL DETECTION was activated due to my age being over 65.
Before I could acknowledge my fall there were at least three or four people around me. Hands were feeling my limbs for breakage. Voices were asking if I was injured. Like sounds out of the darkness. And the young nurse who had called me sweetness deactivated the Apple Watch. After one minute of lack of movement a countdown will start and “911” will be contacted.
Oh, yes, by the way, those big black arms covered with hieroglyphic tattoos were lifting me up. He helped me hobble back inside the treatment room and the young nurse tended to my wounds. My wife and I sat in matching wheel chairs. We were dismissed shortly thereafter. Claudette and I left the hospital with me a little banged up and she had been prescribed some new medications for her ills.
About my fall, and the big guy helping me, I remembered something my mother always said. “You can’t judge a book by it’s cover.”
Before I could acknowledge my fall there were at least three or four people around me. Hands were feeling my limbs for breakage. Voices were asking if I was injured. Like sounds out of the darkness. And the young nurse who had called me sweetness deactivated the Apple Watch. After one minute of lack of movement a countdown will start and “911” will be contacted.
Oh, yes, by the way, those big black arms covered with hieroglyphic tattoos were lifting me up. He helped me hobble back inside the treatment room and the young nurse tended to my wounds. My wife and I sat in matching wheel chairs. We were dismissed shortly thereafter. Claudette and I left the hospital with me a little banged up and she had been prescribed some new medications for her ills.
About my fall, and the big guy helping me, I remembered something my mother always said. “You can’t judge a book by it’s cover.”
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