Some Are Sicker Than Others (38 page)

Dave closed his eyes and nodded slowly with satisfaction. “Yep. That’s it. Now, do you get it?”

“Yes, I get it. So, you just need Sarah to tell them that you weren’t speeding?”

“That’s it. Weinstein says Sarah’s the best chance I have at getting my sentence commuted. He says her testimony could even clear my record.”

“Really?”

“Yep. All we gotta do is get her to call up Weinstein and he’ll do the rest. Easy cheesy.”

Angie studied the advertisement for a few seconds longer.

“So, what do you think?” Dave said, holding his breath in anticipation. “You think you can help? You think you can call up Sarah?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I’m a little bit worried.”

“About what?”

“Well, we haven’t spoken in so long. What if she doesn’t wanna talk to me?”

“What do you mean? Of course, she’d wanna talk to you. You’re her mother. She’s probably worried sick about you.”

“I know but, I’ve just let her down so many times. I mean, I haven’t been there for her. And now look at me. Look at where I am. I’m stuck in this awful rehab.”

“Well this is your chance to make things better. This is your chance to reconnect with your daughter. You said it yourself…good omen, remember? There has to be a reason we both ended up here. And I think this is it. I think we found it. I can’t do this alone, Angie. I need you to help me.”

Angie looked up at him with big blue hope-filled eyeballs. “You need me?” she said.

“Yes. I need you.”

“Okay.”

“Okay, what?”

“Okay, I’ll do it.”

“Yes, yes! Oh thank you, thank you! You don’t know how much this means to me, Angie. You’re a lifesaver.” Dave leaned in and threw his arms around her then gave her a big smooch on the cheek, causing her to shy away like a little schoolgirl. “So, do you have her number?” he said, eyeing the payphone to see if anyone was on it, which no one was at the moment.

“Yeah, I do. I have it memorized.”

“Great. Can we call her?”

“Now?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.”

Dave took Angie’s hand and shot up from the table. He went right for the payphone with Angie in tow behind him.

“You got a quarter?” he said, as he began patting his pockets.

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Shit.” Dave slammed his fist against the top of the payphone. “Wait, hold on a minute.” He limped across the patio to the far side picnic tables where a group of patients were playing another game of Monopoly. “Does anyone have a quarter?” he said, as nicely as possible, hoping to God someone would have the decency to help them.

The table just looked at him like he was crazy then shook their heads and went back to their stupid board game. “Please,” Dave said, walking towards them, his hands out in front of him like a beggar, “we need a quarter. It’s an emergency.”

Some muscle-bound, bald guy looked up at him and started laughing. He looked like Mr. Clean, with tattoos on his neck and earrings in each earlobe.

“What’s so funny?” Dave said, narrowing his eyes at him, his fists clenched, his heart pounding.

“You can’t use the phones right now.”

“Why not?”

“It’s too late.”

“But it’s an emergency.”

“It’s the rules.”

“Fuck the rules.”

“What?”

“I said fuck the rules.”

Mr. Clean took a deep breath and stood up slowly, folding his arms across his fat wrestler’s belly. He was about to walk over to Dave when his buddy grabbed him and said, “don’t worry about it, Wayne. It’s not worth it.”

“Yeah, Wayne,” Dave mocked. “It’s not worth it. Keep playing your little board game over there and mind your own fucking business.”

Angie grabbed the back of Dave’s jacket. “It’s alright,” she said, tugging him over. “Never mind them. I found one. I found a quarter.”

Dave waited for Mr. Clean to sit back down at the table then turned away and watched as Angie punched in the keys on the keypad. His heart was beating like a hammer, knocking the blood against the walls of his corroded arteries. He couldn’t believe this was actually happening. His plan was coming together perfectly.

“Hello? Sarah?”

Dave’s heart skipped a beat and his stomach fluttered. Goose bumps like spiders scurried up and down his forearms.

“Hey sweetie, it’s mommy. I need you to call me back as soon as possible—”

Fuck. It was just her voice mail. Where the hell was this girl? Why wasn’t she answering?

“It is very important that we speak. I am still up here at this place in the mountains and I just met your volleyball coach, Coach Dave. He’s here too and he needs your help. He says you were on the school bus the night he got pulled over. He says you can testify and tell the police what really happened. He wasn’t doing anything wrong. He was just driving. His wife set him up. She had him arrested. Please call me back as soon as possible. We really, really need your help. You are Dave’s only chance. The number here is”—Angie read the number listed above the keypad then said, “Please call as soon as you can, sweetie. I’ll try you again in a few hours. And don’t worry. Everything’s gonna be okay. I love you. Hugs and kisses, hopes and wishes, may all our dreams come to fruition. I love you honey. I love you so very much.”

As Angie hung up the phone, her eyes began to moisten. She turned toward Dave with a look of pain-filled hopefulness.

“Where is she?” Dave said. “Why isn’t she answering?”

“It’s that son of a bitch, Bill. He’s not letting her answer. I just know it.”

“Well, what are we gonna do? I need to talk to her. She’s my only way out of here.”

“I know, Dave, I know. Don’t worry. We’ll get a hold of her.”

“How?”

“She’ll call back, won’t she?”

“I don’t know, you tell me. You’re her mother.”

Angie brought her hands to her eyes. She tried to wipe away the tears, but more kept coming. What the hell was wrong with her? Why was she crying? It wasn’t that emotional, was it? It was just a damn voice mail.

“It’s alright,” Dave said, trying to soothe her, cautiously placing one hand on her shoulder. “There’s no need to cry. You’re right, I’m sure she’ll call back. You’re her mother. She loves you very much. Heck, she told me so.”

“Really?” Angie looked up at him. Her lips were trembling, her eyes were all puffy, and her mascara was running. “She told you she loves me?”

“Well, yeah.” Dave’s voiced cracked. He was lying. Sarah never talked about her mom, and if she did, he wasn’t really listening. “She talks about you all the time,” he said, looking away from her, unable to look directly into those big, hope-filled pupils. “About how wonderful you are as a mother…how she misses her time with you and wishes you were happy.”

“She said all that?”

“Of course. I wouldn’t lie about something like that.”

“Oh thank you, Dave. Thank you for telling me that. It means so much to me.”

Angie smiled and buried her head against Dave’s shoulder. Dave allowed it and took a step closer, wrapping his arms around her body. “It’s alright,” he said, as he kissed her forehead then began rubbing her back in small circles. “Everything’s gonna be okay. We’ll get through this. Sarah will call back and everything will go back to normal. I’ll get out of here and clear my record and you’ll get to see your daughter again once you get out of here.”

“You mean that, Dave?”

“Absolutely.”

“I’ll get to see Sarah again?”

“Of course you will.”

“Oh thank you so much, Dave. This is unbelievable. I don’t know why your wife would cheat on you. You seem like such a selfless individual.”

Yeah, Dave thought. She was right. He was selfless. Why couldn’t Cheryl see that? This woman obviously got it. He wasn’t just using this woman…he was helping her. He was reconnecting a mother with her daughter. If that wasn’t selfless, then he didn’t know the definition. He was basically a martyr, a regular Mother Theresa.

He wrapped his arms tighter around Angie, feeling those double D’s pressed up against him. She felt so good, so warm, so soft, and so beautiful. It had been a long time since he held a woman like this, so sexy and so curvy. He kissed her again, this time more deeply, then released her and moved a loose strand of hair back from her forehead. “Don’t worry, Angie,” he said. “We’ll get through this. You, me, Sarah, and Larry…one day we’ll all be a happy family.”

Chapter 26

The Sexy Trailer

DAY five. Finally, Monty was getting out of here. About time, too. He was sick of this facility—sick of detox, sick of this trailer, sick of Benzos, and sick of hearing Dexter’s sappy lectures. He couldn’t wait to get back home, back to his apartment, back to his booze, and back to his mission. He could almost feel the scotch already, warming the inside of his stomach, numbing the pain, dissolving the memories, and spinning its warm, nurturing cocoon around him. All he had to do now was go to the main house and check out his wallet. That health savings card in there was his only ticket to pure, alcohol-infused oblivion. He just hoped to God Dexter wouldn’t give him any problems. He knew the guy was going to try and get him to stay, but legally he couldn’t make him, right? Five days detox—that’s all he owed them. It was spelled out in plain ink on the commitment forms right here in his pocket.

He took a deep breath then pushed himself up from the mattress, grabbed his black jacket and slipped into his shoes. Before opening the door, he flipped off the light switch then zipped up his jacket and walked out into the hall.

When he got to the nurse’s station, he realized the place was empty and Jill, the nurse, was nowhere to be found. He checked the clock above the water fountain. It was almost ten-thirty, which meant she was probably over at the main house doling out the daily morning medication. Narrowing his eyes, he proceeded towards the exit, but just as he got to the door, he heard the sound of whispers coming from somewhere in the back room. He stopped, cocked his head, and pivoted towards the reception counter and saw the faint outline of two figures bobbing up and down behind the glass window.

He pushed down his anxiety and crept slowly towards the counter, the hairs on his neck standing on end like the bristles of a scrub brush. “Hello?” he said, as he got closer to the window, his heart like a machine gun rattling off shells against his sternum. “Is someone there?”

The shadows froze in straight, erect postures, like inmates getting caught by the spotlight of a prison tower.

“Hello?”

When he got to the window, he placed his hands on the counter, then took a deep breath and stood on his tiptoes. “Hello? Is someone there?”

The shadows disappeared, but the glass window flung open and Dave appeared on the other side grinning like a mischievous teenager. “Monty?”

“Dave?”

“I thought that was you, kid. God damn, you scared the hell out of us. We thought you were the nurse.”

“Dave, what the—what are you doing over here?”

“Who is it, Dave?” a woman whispered from behind the counter, her head concealed by Dave’s scarred appendage.

“It’s okay Angie, it’s just Monty.”

“Who?”

“Monty. He’s my friend. It’s alright, he’s cool. He’s stuck here just like we are.”

Monty peeked over the counter. Suddenly, a tall, blond woman shot up like a rocket upon ignition. She was out of breath, wide-eyed and grinning, struggling to pull her jeans up over her skimpy, black lace panties. “Hi,” she said, wheezing exasperatedly, like she’d just got done with an aerobics class at Bally’s. “Your name’s Monty?”

Monty nodded and took a step backward, scowling at the little red lesions speckled across her forehead.

“My name’s Angie, how do you do?”

Monty glanced at Dave then back at Angie. He couldn’t believe it. In the detox trailer? “Jesus Dave,” he said, holding his stomach, the thought of the two screwing making him feel a bit nauseous, “don’t you have any self control?”

Dave pursed his lips together and started to snigger. He looked like a kid who just got caught smoking in the boy’s room. “Aw come on now, Monty, we’re not hurting anybody. I mean, just ‘cause we’re in rehab doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun, right?”

“Uh, yeah, actually, it does. That’s the whole point of rehab. Not to have fun.”

Dave reared his head back and started laughing.  “Come on, kid. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t do the same thing. I mean, look at this woman.” He wrapped his arm around Angie’s shoulder and pulled her face in close to his lips. “Have you ever seen a more beautiful specimen in all your life?”

Angie slapped him playfully and pushed him off of her. “Stop it, Dave. You’re embarrassing me.”

“Well it’s true. You’re beautiful. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

“You really mean that?”

“Of course, I do baby. Why else would I say it?” Dave leaned in and kissed her forehead, then licked his thumb and wiped the mascara that was running down her cheek. “Now, come on, let’s get out of here before that nurse comes back.”

Angie smiled and locked her arms tightly around Dave’s waist, and using one another for balance, they staggered like a pair of drunks through the swinging saloon doors.

“What time you got, Monty?” Dave said, as he limped by him, stopping to pull open the front trailer door. “You think we got time for a smoke?”

“I don’t know, I guess.”

Once they got outside, Angie squealed and took off running down the trailer steps into the snow.

“What’s she doing?” Monty said, watching her running as if she was a mental patient who’d just been let out of the institution.

“Fuck if I know.” Dave cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted. His voice was like a dynamite stick detonating in the snow. “Yo Angie! What are you doing?”

Angie spun around and looked back at the trailer, throwing her hands up above her head. “I’m gonna go see if Sarah called.”

“What?”

“I said, I’m gonna go see if Sarah called!”

“Oh, alright, well, me and Monty are gonna hang back a bit and have a smoke, but we’ll see you over there for group, okay?”

“Okay! I love you, Dave!”