Dark as Coal, Part Three

Mary Jones took another swig of green tea, cold and calming as it swished in her mouth and soothed her dry throat. The last three weeks had been anything but calm…and she needed all the help that she could get. Life wasn’t easy. She had always known that. But still…the blur of hospitals, doctors, tests, x-rays, and even more tests swirled in her mind, making her dizzy. So for the moment, she was holding on to her sanity by enjoying one moment of peace with her cold bottle of green tea from the hospital cafeteria.

Three weeks. It was hard to believe that the time had gone by so quickly. And still Walter was what the doctors called a “relatively mild coma.” What in the heck did that mean anyway? As far as Mary was concerned, a coma was a coma was a coma. But the doctors assured her that this was a very light state of mind….a healing state…and that Walter would most likely come out of it at any time.

She walked down the long, cold hallway. It was just past midnight, so the halls were mostly empty now….just a few haggard looking people who were here for their loved ones and the night shift. She had heard it called a skeleton crew. She shuddered. It wasn’t the best of terms for a hospital. God…she needed a cigarette. Stepping outside, she slid her body onto a bench and lit up. Taking a drag, she inhaled the harsh smoke into her lungs. It was like breathing death. And that was just fine to her. She wanted to kill this feeling of hopelessness that was pressing into her mind. Maybe a little death would be just the thing that would do it. She took another pull and exhaled slowly, watching the smoke drift lazily into the night air.

She couldn’t get the idea of Walter and his…deformity…out of her mind. His eye….his one eye….the left one. It had been black…as dark as coal. It wasn’t normal. And the doctors still couldn’t explain it. There wasn’t any blood buildup. There wasn’t any damage to the eye at all, as far as they could see. But there was one thing that was terribly wrong with Walter. When she had first heard it…she had almost passed out.

“Mrs. Jones,” Doctor Franklin, the head physician had pulled her aside a few hours after Walter had been admitted to Cringleton Memorial Hospital. His expression had told her that something was wrong. At first, she had assumed that Walter had died. But that wasn’t the case.

“I’m afraid that I have some very bad news,” Doctor Franklin had said, “But I don’t really know how to explain it…so I’m just going to come right out with it.”

He had spent the next 30 minutes going into detail about how Walter should have been killed with all the other miners…how it had been a miracle that he had survived the cave-in. And then he went on.

“Your husband has a large jagged piece of coal that is imbedded in his skull,” he said to Mary’s amazement, “In fact, the x-rays show that it is penetrating his brain. In all my days, I’ve never seen anything like it. He should be dead.”

“Is he going to die, doctor?” she had asked, wringing her hands with worry.
“Well….I should be saying yes,” Doctor Franklin had continued, “But I can’t. All of his vital signs are strong….and getting stronger. It seems that he is in perfect health…at least physically. And all of his brain waves seem to be in the normal range. But…..”

“Go on….” she had prompted.

“I’m afraid that we can’t remove it,” he had said, “If we do…he will more than likely die immediately. Your husband is going to live the rest of his life with a large jagged shard of coal imbedded in his brain.”

The doctors had done everything that they could. They had run endless hours of tests….performed scans….and still they weren’t any closer to knowing what had happened to Walter than when they started. And they still didn’t know why he was alive.

At least some good news was coming her way. Since the accident, she had been barraged by a mob of lawyers who wanted to represent her. She had researched them all…and picked the ones who were the most bloodthirsty. She was out for all that she could get. Her lawyers assured her that the coal mine was to blame….faulty conditions, shoddy practices, and even more that could shut them down or, even worse, land some of the top officials in prison. They were more than ready to settle out of court…keep it all hush hush. And Mary was willing to work with them….for a price. For a very large price.

All of Walter’s medical bills were being taken care of by the mine. And yesterday, she had been able to deposit a very large sum of money into her bank account. The first of many. So….for that…she could put up with all the drama of the last three weeks. She could put up with a lot of things.

Walking back into the hospital, she made her way back toward the elevator. She needed to get back to Walter. She wanted to be there in case…when…he woke up. She heard someone weeping softly in the chapel as she passed by. She could have stopped….seen if she could offer some solace….a shoulder to cry on. But she didn’t. She had her own troubles to worry about. And she didn’t care if it was God and Jesus or the God of the Honky Tonk….she would pray to whichever god would help her out right now. She just wanted Walter to come out of his coma…and then they could get on with their life. Heck…she could even learn to live with that eye. She would buy him a patch. Right now…she could afford to buy him a million patches!

As she stepped off the elevator, she took a deep breath to steady herself. She didn’t see the night nurse on duty at her desk. She must be off in one of the rooms helping a patient. Surprising….Mary didn’t have very high regard for her. She seemed rather lazy. Maybe that was why she was on the skeleton crew.

Just then she heard a shrill scream come from down the hall. It was very high pitched…a woman. And it cut off very quickly…snuffed out. But what got Mary’s heart pumping was the fact that it had come from Walter’s room! She started running toward his room. She wasn’t sure what she was going to find….but she was afraid to find out. And she was afraid not to know.

Until next week….class dismissed.