If it had been an ordinary bystander, he might have been too fearful of his own safety to attempt a rescue, and would have let Samuel drown.
But a policeman might just follow him in and try to rescue him.
Might put his life at risk for Samuel.
No, Samuel wouldn't have fallen once the police officer found him.
No matter how much he wanted to.
My dizziness was fading.
"You be happy," he'd told me when I'd left on my ill-fated date.
A wish for my life and not for the date.
The jerk.
I felt the growl rise in my throat and had to work to swallow it.
"He's all right," the nurse assured me.
I pulled my head out from between my knees and noticed on the way up that her name tag read JODY.
"We got the glass out, and though he's moving stiffly, he hasn't broken anything major or he wouldn't have lasted this long.
He should have gone home, but he didn't want to--and you know how he is.
He never says no, but sends you on your way without ever saying yes either." I knew.
"I'm sorry," I told her, standing up slowly so as to give the appearance of steadiness.
"It just caught me off guard.
We've known each other a long time--and he didn't tell me it was anywhere near that bad." "He probably didn't want to scare you." "Yeah, he's considerate like that." My aching butt he was considerate.
I'd kill him myself--and then he wouldn't have to worry about suicide.
"He said he was going to find a quiet place and rest for a minute," Nurse Jody said, looking around as if he ought to appear from thin air.
"He said I could find him in the X-ray storage room." She laughed.
"Well, I guess it is quiet in there.
You know where it is?" I smiled, which is tough when you're ready to skin someone.
"Sure." Still smiling, I walked briskly past curtained-off rooms that smelled of blood and pain, nodding to a med tech who looked vaguely familiar.
At least the baby's cries had muted to whimpers.
Samuel had tried to commit suicide.
I knocked on the storage-room door, then opened it.
White cardboard file boxes were piled up on racks with a feeling of imposed order--as if somewhere there was someone who would know how to find things here.
Samuel sat on the floor, his back against a stack of boxes.
He had a white lab coat on over a set of green scrubs.