By the time Chief Grady and Grandma Rose
arrived at the hospital, the ER was in a state of chaos. Ever since they
revived him, Poole had been screaming at the top of his lungs. In his frazzled
state of mind, he’d already attempted to strangle a nurse and hang himself with
his IV tubing. They were in the process
of transferring him to the psych ward when Grady arrived. He tried to convince
the concerned woman to remain in the waiting room while he sorted things out
but only succeeded in rousing her ire.
“Now you listen to me, Chief,” she
snapped. “That’s my boy in there. I raised him after his momma and daddy died
and there is no way on God’s green Earth I’m gonna wait out here while you sort things out. You hear me?”
“I meant no disrespect to you, Mrs. Poole.
It’s just….well, Doug looked pretty bad when I last saw him and I wanted to
make sure they’d spruced him up a bit before you saw him. I know from personal experience, seeing a
loved one in that condition is downright traumatic. It’s my job to protect the community. If I’d
know what Doug was up to, I would have put a stop to it but I didn’t. The least
I can do it look out for your wellbeing.”
“You’re a good man. If you really
want to help me, give me your arm and we’ll walk in there together.”
Despite
Grady’s warning, Grandma Rose nearly fainted when she saw her grandson. In the deep recesses of her mind, she had
hoped the chief was only being dramatic. Sadly, he was not and knowing that her
baby had looked even worse earlier caused her great pain. Even though the medical staff had pumped
sedatives though the young deputy’s IV, his body’s adrenalin counteracted the
drugs, allowing him to continue screaming.
Once Rose steeled her nerve, she crossed the room and took her
grandson’s hand. At first he flinched away but she gathered his hand again and
started to sing a Louis Armstrong classic. It was the same song she always sang
to him when, as a young boy, he was frightened or sick.
“I
see trees of green, red roses too. I see them bloom, for me and you. And I
think to myself….what a wonderful world.”
Midway
through the first verse, Doug Poole stopped screaming. By the second verse he was sobbing and
clinging to his grandmother’s wrinkled hand.
She held him as he wept, singing all the while. By the end of her song, an audience gathered
just outside the door, each touched by her lovely voice.
“I think we need to make you a part
of our permanent staff. You’ve managed to calm this entire ward with your
beautiful voice. I’m Dr. Garrett. Can I
assume you’re family?”
The doctor
stepped forward, extending his hand and Rose nodded, refusing to release her
gentle hold on Doug’s blistered hands. She
bristled, just a touch, at learning the doctor specialized in psychiatric
medicine and suppressed the urge to scream that her grandson wasn’t crazy.
“Please understand that we believe
your grandson has seen something terrible and that has caused an otherwise
healthy man to want to remove himself from reality. There’s always the chance
that with the right medications and some therapy, he might choose to come back
to us.”
Grady could
tell the doctor was lying through his teeth but he said nothing. Right now,
Rose needed hope more than she needed the truth. Still, he was certain that the
Poole he’d known would never come back, at least not fully.
Grady remained at the hospital until
Rose’s oldest son arrived. He’d made exceptionally good time considering he
lived out of state but it was already morning when the chief finally bid them
farewell. More than anything, he wanted
to drive straight home and climb into bed but there was work to do and
questions that needed answering.
Instead, he drove to the station, noticing a shocking number of “For
Sale” signs staked in front yards as he cruised through town. Whoa;
Kitty and Dave Harris, the old Wilkes place, Mike and Gina Marietti, the Koslowskis; that’s a lot of homes for sale, Grady
noted as he passed. He wondered how many others would follow suit.
Inside the station, deputies Kline and
Barker were wading through piles of paperwork. They both had worried scowls
etched on their faces.
“Is it true? About Poole?” Barker
asked.
“Depends…what have you heard?” Grady
answered wearily.
“He went crazy, burned up a bunch of
trash and killed himself.”
“It’s like ‘Whisper Down the Lane’
in this town. Half of the information gets twisted and then they add more on,
just to make it more interesting but as of right now; this office does not have
an official statement. Got that? We’re gonna get all the facts first and then
issue a statement…That’s your official response until I tell you otherwise!
Now, I need one of you to come with me down to the beach. The other is gonna
personally call every single member of this community and invite them to a town
meeting at the high school auditorium. Get Francine to call the school
principal and the BOE, get them on board. So who’s coming with me?”
The deputies
stared back at him blankly for a moment. Abruptly they turned to face each
other.
“Rock, Paper, Scissors, for it.”
Barker insisted.
“I’m surrounded by idiots,” Grady
muttered softly but his words were drowned out by the shouted words, “rock,
paper, scissors”.
“I’ll be in my car making a phone
call. By all means, come out when you’re ready.” His biting sarcasm was ignored
as the deputies continued their decisive best-out-of-three game.
***Please return Monday, April 21st for the next installment of Ocean***
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