I don’t see too well. It’s like my eyes are full of clouds.”
Christopher froze.
“What do you mean, clouds?” he asked.
“I see shapes. But they’re covered over with clouds. That’s why I’m here. I hit a deer with my car. I didn’t even see the God damn thing. Banged my head on the dash. They’re going to take my license this time. I know it. I won’t even be able to get away from that home for five minutes now. Fuckers.”
Christopher smiled at all the swearing. He loved it. It felt like breaking the law. So, he kept quiet and listened to the running commentary as he watched the lights from the television dance on the old man’s face. After a while, Mr. Ambrose “rested” his eyes in a grumpy old man way, and eventually he started to snore. Christopher turned off the TV with the chipped plastic remote in Mr. Ambrose’s hands.
“Thanks, junior,” he said. Then, he turned over and fell back to snoring.
No man had ever called Christopher “junior” before. And it made him smile. He went back into the hallway. But for some reason, it wasn’t scary anymore. He walked past the nurses’ station. Nurse Tammy was on the phone again. She didn’t see him.
“Dad, please stop calling. I have to do rounds. I promise to bring the merLOT,” she said, exasperated.
Just before he went into his room to go back to sleep, he looked down the hall and saw Father Tom. He had never seen a priest outside of church, so he was curious. He tiptoed down the hallway and looked in as Father Tom made the cross over an old man. The old man’s family was there. His wife. Two middle-aged daughters. Their husbands. And some grandchildren, who looked like they were in middle school. They were all crying as Father Tom performed last rites.
“Christopher,” Nurse Tammy whispered. “Back to bed, hun. This is nothing for a little boy to see.”
She ushered him down the hall back to his room. But before he settled in, they passed Mrs. Keizer’s room. The old lady was sitting up in bed, watching static on the television. Her yellow teeth drowning in a jar on her nightstand. She turned to Christopher and smiled a sick, toothless grin.
“She took another one. She’ll kill us all before the end,” she said.
“Don’t pay attention to her, Christopher. She doesn’t know what she’s saying.”
Chapter 12
When Christopher woke up the next morning, he didn’t remember when he had fallen asleep. But he saw the light coming through the blinds. And that meant Friday. And that meant no more hospital. And that meant Bad Cat 3D!
He turned to the bathroom. The door was open.
His mother was washing her hands.
And the hissing feeling was gone.
“Wake up, lazy bones.” She smiled. “You ready to go home?”
When the nurse pushed him in the wheelchair out of the hospital, he pretended he was Bad Cat’s rival, Ace, the flying squirrel who always got motion sickness. The vinyl seats of their old car never felt better. His mother brought him to the diner next to the motel, and he ordered chocolate chip pancakes. Normally, that would be the highlight of his day.
But this was not normal.
This was Bad Cat 3D day. All morning and afternoon, Christopher thought about Bad Cat and his best friend, Ice Cream Cow, who made delicious soft serve. He looked at the clock on the wall and used Ms. Lasko’s lessons about telling time. As the seconds ticked away to their tickets at 4:30, it was worse than the waiting on Christmas Eve.
“Why can’t Christmas be a day earlier?” he would ask his mother.
“Then, you’d be groaning on December twenty-third,” she would reply.
At three o’clock, they headed over to the movie theater near South Hills Village to get in line. By four o’clock, the line was around the block. Special Ed arrived with his mother, both of them dressed as Bad Cat characters. Christopher’s mom thought Special Ed probably browbeat his mom into making a fool of herself. At least, she hoped that was the case. The kid had enough struggles ahead of him without having a mom who voluntarily dressed like a donkey named Kicker.
When the usher finally opened the doors, Christopher was so excited. He got his chunky 3D glasses. “Just like a rich kid!” he said. They found their perfect seats right in the middle. Christopher’s mom left to get snacks and returned with every bit of junk food that Christopher loved.