Hat Trick 3: Penalty Shot (17 page)

There were two texts waiting for me from Hillary.

They’ve taken him straight back in the ER. Mimi and I are in the waiting room
.

Nurse came out and told us that he’s going up for tests including an MRI.

The last text was five minutes before the end of the game.

I texted back:
Game’s over. Will change quick and be there.

There were also six missed calls, split between Alex’s mom and dad. Crap. If they were following the game at all, they would know he was hurt. The phone rang again as I held it. It was his mom.

“Hi, Martha. Sorry, hang on one second. I’m just off the ice.” I muted the phone.

“News about Miller?” Coach looked at me.

“No, it’s his mom.”

“Okay. You need to take that, so I’ll make this quick. We’ll keep everyone updated on Miller’s condition on the email list. You all played very well today and didn’t let the injury get in your heads. Be proud and excited that we beat an undefeated team. Get some rest tomorrow and I’ll see you here Monday.”

I went out into the hall, out of the noise of the locker room, to talk to Alex’s mom.

“Sorry about that, I had to get somewhere to talk.”

“Just off the ice?” Alex’s mom said, sounding angry. “You’re not at the hospital with him? How could you let him be there alone?”

“Martha,” Alex’s father admonished. “That’s not helping.” It sounded like their phone was being passed around and there were some muffled voices before things settled. “I’ve got you on speaker now, so we can both hear. What’s happening?”

“The leg that’s been bothering him flared up worse than ever. When they took him off the ice, he said he couldn’t feel it.”

“What?” John, his dad, asked.

“He didn’t tell you?”

“We haven’t heard anything about his leg.”

I told them everything I knew.

“He never told us,” his mom said, sounding more composed now.

Pete came up with Coach F. They stood a few paces back, giving me privacy on the phone.

“We’ll get there as soon as we can,” John said. “Tonight if possible. You’ll keep us posted?”

“Absolutely. Anything I find out I’ll text you.”

“Tell him we love him, okay?”

“Of course.”

“We love you, too, Simon,” John said. “We’ll let you know our arrangements as soon as we have them.”

They disconnected the call. I exhaled. It felt like I’d held my breath during the entire call.

“Hey, Simon,” Coach Ferguson said, “I found this Dartmouth guy wandering around. He says he’s looking for you. I think he might be a spy.”

I smiled. Coach F was always good at lightening a mood and it was very welcome now.

“I’m pretty sure he’s not a spy,” I said, giving a weak smile.

“What’s the news?” Pete asked as Coach F left us.

I repeated the rundown I’d given Alex’s parents.

“Damn. What can I do? I’m yours for the night. As long as I’m back to the hotel by eight tomorrow morning.”

“Good. I…” My voice cracked. With the game over, the adrenaline running out, and realizing how little I knew about what was happening, anxiety flooded in.

Pete stepped closer. “Simon?”

“Sorry,” I said, regaining my composure.

“No worries, dude.” He put his arm around my shoulders. “Go shower and let’s get to the hospital.”

I nodded. “You can wait in here,” I said, walking back into the locker room.

“You sure?” He looked a little scared, coming into enemy territory.

“Yeah.” We walked in and I raised my voice to speak to the group. “Guys, this is Pete. He’s not responsible for what happened. He’s waiting here to go with me to see Alex.
Nobody messes with him
.”

I got a lot of affirmative sounds in response, which was exactly what I wanted.

Pete took up Alex’s space on the bench while I sped through my clean up. The game’d been done for nearly a half hour and I still wasn’t on my way to the hospital. When I came back from the fastest shower ever, Danny, who was already dressed, was hanging Alex’s gear in his locker. Pete was packing Alex’s street clothes in his backpack. The locker room had mostly emptied out, with just a couple people, including Trent, still at their lockers finishing up.

“We got Alex’s stuff out of first aid and put it away,” Danny said. “His clothes are ready to go, too.”

“Thanks,” I said. While I dressed, Danny started putting my stuff away. “You don’t have to do that.”

“I got this. By the time you’re dressed, this’ll be done, and we can go.”

Danny was awesome. Pete was awesome. Trent came over as I finished up.

“My parents are here, so I gotta spend some time with them, but I’ll get to the hospital as soon as I can. Text me if there’s news or you need anything, okay?”

“Will do,” I said.

“Sorry about my blow up on the ice,” Trent said to Pete, and held out his fist. Pete wasted no time responding.

“You were lookin’ after your teammate. Gotta respect that. I probably would’ve done the same thing.”

We walked out together.

“How do you want to do this?” Danny asked. “My car’s here. We can go straight to the hospital or we can pick up your truck so you’ll have wheels.”

“Straight to the hospital.”

“Figured that’s what you’d say.”

“Mom and Dad are in the lobby, so I’m going up there. I’ll catch up with you guys later.” Trent peeled away from us as we headed for the parking lot.

We found Hillary and Mimi in the fourth floor waiting room. Mimi immediately hugged me and I quickly introduced Pete. Hillary said that Coach Rapp and Doc Kirk were in Alex’s room. They didn’t have any news and hadn’t been allowed back.

“Let me see what I can do about seeing him,” I said.

I left them and went to the nurse’s station.

“Hi,” I said to the two nurses that were at the desk. One was standing and typing into a tablet. The other was sitting, working on a computer. “Can one of you please tell me which room is Alex Miller’s.”

“I’m sorry, we can’t let anyone back,” said the nurse who was standing.

“Please, I’m sure if you tell them Simon Roberts is here they’ll let me see him.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said with a big smile. “You can, of course. He’s been asking for you since he got up here. He’s in room four twenty-two, six doors down that hall.” She pointed.

“Thank you. Thank you very much.”

It was difficult to not sprint down the hall, but I kept myself in check. The door was fully closed when I got there so I gave a quick knock and poked my head in. Alex was in bed, partially sitting up. Coach and Doc Kirk were on one side, facing towards the door, and another doctor was there, but his back was to me.

“Simon, you’re here,” Alex said.

I entered and made sure to close the door. The light was bright, but not harsh. Alex was hooked up to a heart monitor, but there were no IVs, which I took to be a good sign.

“Mr. Roberts, I’m Dr. Bentley. I’m chief of neurology here. I’m sorry we’re not meeting under different circumstances. My daughter speaks very highly of you both.”

“It’s good to meet you. We love her and Hillary. They’re actually in the waiting room.”

He smiled. “That must be why she texted me about an hour ago. I just haven’t had a moment to read it.” His tone became less casual and more professional. “We were in the middle of discussing the results of the MRI. Alex, do I have your consent to continue with Mr. Roberts in the room?”

“Yes, of course.” He looked at me and the fear I’d seen in his eyes at the arena was still there. He held up his hand so it reached over the bed rail. I stepped up immediately, and he put mine into a vice grip.

“The MRI is showing some lesions along the spinal cord,” Dr. Bentley began.

 I don’t know where the strength came from but Alex managed to crush my fingers and I had to stop a whimper of pain escaping from my mouth.

“We need to do some more tests,” the doctor continued, “to determine the exact cause of the collapse and the leg troubles he’s been having.”

The room was silent for a moment, and it was Coach Rapp who broke the silence.

“Do you have possibilities, Doctor?”

“It could be any number of neurological issues. It would be wrong for me to speculate.”

Alex’s eyes were wet, but tears weren’t falling yet.

“It’s not the end of the world, Alex,” the doctor continued. “When we know what it is, we’ll figure out the treatment.”

“What about hockey?” Alex asked.

The doctor hesitated before he spoke.

“There are a lot of variables. I can’t promise you’ll play, or that if you do that you’ll play at the level you’re at now. It’s possible you will, but you should know that you might not. We’ll do everything possible.”

Doc Kirk’s face was ashen. It looked like he was taking it worse than Alex.

“This will be okay,” I said to Alex. “Whatever happens, it’ll be okay. I’ll be right here with you. Your parents are on the way, too. I talked to them after the game.”

“What’re we going to do?” He looked directly at me with the most helpless look I’d ever seen. It was like he hadn’t heard what I just said.

“What’s next, Doctor?” I asked.

“I want to get a battery of tests going. The sooner we determine the cause, the sooner we can start treating it. We also need to get your paperwork done. We got you straight up here because of your team status, but we need to get everything into the system, insurance, signatures, and such.”

“All my stuff is at the rink.”

“No, we’ve got it here,” I said. “Pete packed up your stuff and we brought it with us.”

“He’s here?”

“Yeah, Danny and Pete. Trent’s coming as soon as he can.”

A woman entered, she wasn’t dressed like a nurse, but was very professional looking.

“Speaking of forms, here’s Faye now,” the doctor said. “She’ll get all the paperwork done. I’m going to check to see what tests we can get going tonight. We’ll be running them the next day or two, but I’ll be back to let you know the scheduling.”

“Simon, we’ll be in the waiting room,” Coach Rapp said.

“I’ll walk out with you so I can get Alex’s wallet.” I put my free hand over our joined ones and looked at Alex. The anguish on his face cut me to the core. “I’ll be right back. I’m just going to get stuff we need to fill out these forms.”

“Okay. I’ll be right here, Other Captain.” He managed a weak smile.

I walked out with everyone but Faye, who started going over the forms with him. As we entered the hallway everyone saw us. Mimi popped to her feet and excitedly but quietly said, “Daddy!”

They hugged and talked at the nurse’s station while I went to Pete to get Alex’s pack. Everyone gathered around expectantly. Before I could say anything, Mimi was sliding in next to me.

“Simon,” she said, “what’s happening? I know if my dad’s involved it’s serious.”

I looked at the floor, not quite knowing what to say and not sure that I could even speak without freaking. Doc Kirk seemed to sense this and stepped up into the circle of friends that had formed around me.

“If I may?” He looked to me for permission and I nodded. “Alex has some neurological damage. There are a lot more tests that are going to happen to determine the cause.”

Mimi embraced me. “Oh.”

The way she spoke made me think she knew more than she was saying. She probably did since she’d grown up hearing about her father’s work. The hug made me shudder with my emotions running just under the surface. I hugged her back as many others laid their hands on me in support.

“I…I need to get back. He’s got forms to fill out.”

“We’ll be here, Simon,” Danny said.

“Pete, do we need someone to drive you back, if all you’re going to do—”

Pete interrupted. “I’m here until I have to go or until you leave.”

“I’ll make sure he gets back on time,” Danny said. “You get back in there.”

“Thanks, guys.”

Faye was still working on the papers as I came in. I set his pack down on the large windowsill and dug in, looking for his wallet. Pulling it out, I went through it until I found his health insurance card. I gave it over to Faye.

“Perfect,” she said.

“All I need is your signature on these,” Faye said as she finished writing the information from his insurance card. “I need to copy the card, too, and I’ll make sure that gets back to you or Mr. Roberts.”

“Thank you,” Alex said.

“Here’s my card,” Faye said, as I took it. “If you’ve got questions or need anything, please let me know. If I’m not in the hospital, someone in my office can help.”

This time it was my turn to say thank you. As she left, the doctor returned.

“We’re going to go ahead and do a spinal tap tonight. I want to get the analysis started on that right away.”

“How long will I be in here?” Alex asked.

“Two, three days at least. It depends on what we find.”

He nodded.

“Anything else?”

“No. Thank you.”

“We’ll get you through this,” Dr. Bentley said before he left.

I liked his bedside manner. He clearly knew how to help patients stay calm, while maintaining authority.

Alex looked to me and the tears he’d kept back flowed.

I lowered the bed rail so I could sit next to him. I gave him an awkward hug as he sobbed.

“I’m sorry,” he said once he got his tears under control. He took my hand again, like it had become his security blanket. “When Doc Kirk’s treatment wasn’t totally fixing this, I should’ve pressed to go to another doctor. I was scared of what it could be.”

“
We
should’ve been more aggressive with that. But all that matters right now is figuring it out. You’ll be up and out of here in no time.”

“What if I’m not?”

“You heard what the doc said. Everything’s in your favor. There’s no reason…”

“What about the hockey? What if that’s gone?”

“Then it’s gone. There’s more to life besides the game.”

“I know, but…”

“Shhh.” I put a finger over his mouth. “Try not to do the ‘what if’ thing. You know as well as I do that whatever is supposed to happen will happen.”

He sighed and looked at me. I hoped I was saying the right things. I wanted to keep him calm. But I didn’t really know what to say either.