The Dead Life

Mr. Reynolds rushed to the phone as it reached its fourth ring. He grabbed the receiver from the wall-attached phone and answered, not expecting any particular person.

“Hello,” he said calmly with a southern drawl. As he held the phone up to his ear, he pulled his baggy pants up with his other hand.

“Mr. Reynolds?” an unfamiliar voice asked.

“Yes, that’s me. What can I do you for?”

“I apologize for disturbing you, Sir. Is your daughter Katy Lynne Reynolds?” the voice asked.

“Yes, she is. What is this about?” He glanced at his wife as she washed the dishes.

“Katy Lynne was brought to our emergency room.”

“Why? What happened? Is she all right?”

Mrs. Reynolds grabbed a towel and rushed over to her husband. “What’s happening?” she cried out.

“It would be better if you come to the hospital. Do you have transportation, Sir?” the woman on the other end of the line asked.

“Uh, yes. Give my wife directions and we’ll be there as soon as we can.”

Mrs. Reynolds pulled one strand of loose hair back behind her ear as she grabbed the phone from his farm-roughened hand. “Who is this? Johnny, are you foolin’ around?”

“No, ma’am. I’m the receptionist at Grouner Hospital.”

“Oh, my God. Something did happen. Is my baby okay?”

“As I told your husband, I think it would be better if the two of you came to the hospital. I wasn’t given any information, Ma’am. Do you have a pen and paper?”

  She grabbed a small piece of paper and wrote everything down. The old car’s engine began to rumble as she scribbled everything down.  As she walked out the door, she turned on the porch light so she could see going down the steps. They creaked as they gave in a little under her weight.

Grouner Town was a few hours away but Mr. Reynolds shaved most of the time off by speeding. The old country roads were deserted at this hour. They passed the intersection where three cars were blocking the road and Mrs. Reynolds feared the worst. The sheriff let them pass, giving them directions to the town’s hospital. Her heart wouldn’t stop racing. And his hands wouldn’t stop shaking.

“Please, let her be all right,” she prayed repeatedly as the car sprinted down the street.

Mr. Reynolds parked the car, in front of the hospital. They rushed in and began speaking together to the receptionist.

“I can’t understand what you’re saying. Please, just one of you. How may I help you?” the woman asked. Now the voice was familiar.

“You called us. Where’s our daughter?” Mr. Reynolds asked as his voice shook. He wiped his hands on his jeans.

“You’re the Reynolds. Please, come with me. The doctor will see you when he’s free.”

 “Please, is she going to be all right?” Mrs. Reynolds asked.

“I don’t have any answers to give you, I’m so sorry. Please wait in here.”

As they turned the corner to walk into the waiting room, Mrs. Reynolds recognized the woman waiting in the room already—Stacey’s mother. She was pacing the floor.

“Oh, dear. Not Stacey too?” Mrs. Reynolds rushed over to Mrs. Williams to hug her. “Have they told you anything?”

“I’ve only been here for a few minutes.”

“Where’s?”

“He’s out in the hall getting some coffee for my nerves. He should be back pretty soon. Oh, God, there’s Stacey.” Mrs. Williams rushed over to her daughter. She was wearing a sling on her right arm.

 Mrs. Reynolds wrapped her arms around Stacey as her mother still held onto her.

“I’m all right, Mrs. Reynolds. The bullet went straight through. I’m so sorry.” Her eyes were swollen and red from crying.

“Bullet? What happened?” Mrs. Reynolds asked before Stacey’s mom could say anything.

“We were on our way home from the university,” Stacey began to say. She turned and looked at Mr. Reynolds. “Mr. Reynolds, they wouldn’t let me fill out any paperwork for Lynne.”

“That’s all right. Thank you, Stacey. I’ll be right back.” Mr. Reynolds left the room.

 “The accident had already happened and we stopped to see what was going on. We didn’t know there was a man with a gun. He seemed so upset and he started firing at us.” Even though it had happened hours before, her voice was still shaking. She sat down to collect herself.

Stacey sat down and her mother wrapped her arms around her. Mrs. Reynolds began pacing the floor as she waited to hear the news. The nurses in the hall could be heard in the waiting room of the small hospital. Their steps echoed against the sterile walls.

The two mothers took turns pacing the floor. Mrs. Reynolds sat down, opened a magazine and looked at two pages, then stood up again. As Mrs. Williams sat down, Mrs. Reynolds walked to the opened doorway and looked out into the hall. The nurses just walked passed her. She sat down again as she held onto her elbows. “Why are they taking so long?” She stood back up. “You don’t think she’s dying, do you?” She sat back down.

“Mrs. Reynolds, you can’t think about that. Lynne is strong. She’s going to pull through,” Stacey said. Her voice was still shaky.

“Then why isn’t anyone coming in here? Why are they taking so long to tell us what happened?”

As the birds sang outside the window, a doctor finally walked into the room. Both fathers were with him.

Mrs. Reynolds stood up.

“Katy Lynne is out of surgery and she is in the recovery room.”

“How is she?” Mrs. Reynolds asked. Her voice was shaky.

“The bullet made a clean shot through the Occipital Lobe. Luckily it missed both the Basal Ganglia and the Cerebellum. We were able to remove the bullet but there was damage to her brain. We can’t be sure how extensive the damage is until she wakes up—if she wakes up.”

“What do you mean if she wakes up?” Mrs. Reynolds asked.

“She’s in a coma.”

Mrs. Reynolds fell to the floor. Mr. Reynolds pulled her up and carried her to the chair by the window.

Mrs. Williams opened the window so fresh air could enter the room. She stood next to Mrs. Reynolds and rubbed her back, consoling her. “You have a strong daughter, Anna May. I don’t care what these doctors say; she’s going to pull through.”

Stacey looked at her mother. “Thank you for saying that, Mom.”

That is the opening to my next book, edited of course. This is Suspense/Mystery. The cover is finished and ready to be used which was revealed in my last blog post. I'm very excited about this book. I am pushing for the release for March, hopefully I'll have pre-orders to go out for this one. I haven't tried that method yet. This is also the book that I will be narrating myself, for the first time. So that's going to be interesting. I haven't attempted it yet but I've been practicing with my podcast so I will be ready when the times comes and if I'm not ready, I'm going to do it anyway, and just take my time getting it finished. That will be released this year if all goes right.

So we are 2 days into the new year and I'm already feeling confident about how things are working out. I've been able to get a lot of things started, some finished. My editing is coming along. I finished another section yesterday and worked on some today, will be getting more done later today. I've got my mindset where it needs to be, which is a big deal if you really knew me. And that's why I wanted my blog so you can get to know ME, as a person as well as a writer. In future posts, I will share a little more about my background so you can really see my full self. The things I do, the way I act, and how I live. Those are important, I think.

I won't be using my original blog anymore so this one will be small at first. The more blogs I post, the more it will grow. Hopefully, people will begin to follow these and I'll get comments which will make things more interesting for you. That will be fun. And it's all about having fun. It can't be too serious all the time! Laughter has saved me many-many times and laughter can save you just as easily so are you with me? Can we agree to make 2020 a great year? I hope so!

See you again soon!