Lori Avocato - Dead On Arrival

Pansy’s hand started to clench and unclench on its own.

Hoping it wasn’t more reflexive action, I took a deep breath and asked, “Who are you involved with? Or were involved with. What is his name?”

The door started to open.

Lilla’s eyes looked as horrified as mine felt.

I grabbed her arm and headed for the door before it opened all the way. Suddenly it shut. We looked at each other and let out a collective sigh.

Then the door started to open again.

I grabbed Lilla and pushed her into the bathroom with me. We shut the door just as the other one opened all at once. Apparently whoever was coming in had been talking to the guard. Maybe getting the okay to come see Pansy.

I caught the door before it clicked shut. A tiny opening remained. Not big enough for anyone to see us, but definitely big enough for us to see them. I looked, blinked, and sighed.

Buzz Lightyear.

My body relaxed. Obviously he’d come to see his employer. I looked at Lilla and winked. She held her finger to her lips to shush me, but then she winked back.

“Hey, Pansy…uh…it’s me. Jeremy.” He stammered a bit and tapped his fingers on the bedrail.

I almost asked “who?” and realized the kid was a nervous wreck.

Jeremy stood on the side of the bed that Pansy faced. He looked almost as white as she was, so I figured that for a young guy it was tough coming to the hospital to see someone he worked for so sick. Then I thought his mother would be proud. Kudos to Jeremy Buttman.

He stood there staring at Pansy as if waiting for her to yawn, open her eyes and say hi. But she remained still and Jeremy remained even stiller.

He finally must have pulled his thoughts together. “I hope they find who did this to you, ma’am. I really hope they do,” he said as he touched her shoulder and then nonchalantly fiddled with the IV tubing.

I agreed in my head, then listened to Jeremy proceed to tell Pansy, in great boring detail, how things were going at work. He seemed much more at ease now; he even pulled up a chair and sat there talking.

He stood up and stared at the monitor beeping over Pansy’s head, and then the door opened and in walked a few more isolation-clothed people. Kim Gonzalez, the RN from the ER; the receptionist, Nancy; and Jennifer Shelton, one of the EMT girls. They all said hi to Buzz and then a few words to Pansy. Nice that they realized that she could probably still hear them.

Soon Nancy said, “We should go,” and the group said goodbye to Pansy and started toward the door.

But Jeremy turned back. “I have to use the john.”

Lilla and I looked at each other and the only thing I could wonder was, did I look as beautiful as she did with a horrified look on my face?

This time, Lilla grabbed my arm and yanked me into the shower stall and pulled the curtain to the side. Now all I could wonder was, could someone see a shadow through a white plastic hospital curtain?

While a quick prayer flitted through my brain, I heard the door open, shut and another sound, which had Lilla and I raising our eyebrows, our only movement.

The john flushed.

The water ran in the sink.

And the door opened again.

Lilla and I let out a breath.

“Who’s there?” Jeremy asked.

And I think my entire world went black.

Not even Lilla or my eyebrows moved. We remained like statues while Buzz asked nervously, “Is someone there?”

“Jeremy, come on. I have to get to duty,” Kim called out.

“I thought I heard someone,” he said.

Kim must have walked closer, because her voice was louder now. “With all the noise these machines make, of course you’re hearing things. Let’s go. Unless you think this place is haunted?”

All three women laughed, and I pictured Jeremy blushing. He’d have to leave without another word in order to save face.

Thank goodness for the male ego.

Lilla and I waited until we heard the shuffling of footsteps grow fainter, the door to the hospital room open and then shut with a click.

She started to touch the shower curtain, but I held her hand and whispered. “Not yet. They’ll still be outside the door taking off their isolation garb.”

She nodded.

After what seemed like a safe passing of time, we stepped out, looked cautiously around and then went to Pansy’s bedside.

“I wonder if she heard all of that. Or any of that.”

Pansy’s eyelids fluttered. Her hands seemed clenched tighter than before-almost as if she were angry.

“She looks different,” Lilla said.

I nodded. “Um. I wonder if that was too much confusing stimuli for her.”

“Ah, yes. True.”

“We should go,” I said, and took one look at Pansy. Her lips started to twitch. Suddenly I wondered if she were about to seize. A grand mal seizure would bring a gang of staff in if her heart rate soared on the monitor. “Let’s get the hell out of here.” We locked arms as if that would make us invisible. When I said goodbye to Pansy, reminding her who we were, Lilla added, “Too damn bad we didn’t find out whom she used that chair with. Her lover chair.”

I opened the door, Lilla walked out first with me directly behind and still holding it open.

And Pansy mumbled, “Sky.”

Once Lilla and I had made it safely out of Pansy’s room, we hurried to the elevator and hopped in. Simultaneously we said, “Was Pansy in love with Sky?” Only it sounded more interesting with Lilla’s wonderful French-Canadian accent then my Connecticut no accent.

But I still repeated over and over. “Sky. Sky. Sky?” as the doors shut. Thank goodness we were alone. “Sky and Pansy. Eeeeeeyew.” We looked at each other and made disgusting faces. Then I wondered if some lovers’ spat had him trying to kill her. But why would he have killed Payne?

Mistaken identity?

I told myself that was not a very Christian attitude to have.

“Pansy certainly does not appear to be the pilot’s taste,” Lilla said.

I shook my head. “I know. Interesting though. Maybe he wanted a raise?” I chuckled, but Lilla just looked at me. Sometimes I forgot that foreigners did not get some Americans’ sense of humor. Okay, make that my sense of humor, as evidenced by Lilla right now and many of the foreign doctors that I used to work with there.

“What does ‘wanted a raise’ mean, chéri?”

I explained that maybe Sky slept with Pansy so she’d treat him better than the other employees. Maybe he was using her. Maybe, though, they had a spat. “But what did Pansy get out of it other than…” My face burned. “Okay. He is one hot tamale. Guess they both had their agendas.”

When the elevator stopped on the Central Supply floor, we hustled out and hurried to the exit.

“Pauline? Pauline Sokol?” I heard someone say so I grabbed Lilla by the arm and yelled, “Nope!” to Janet-who used to be my boss.

I dropped Lilla off at TLC, noticed Jagger’s SUV was not in the parking lot-so he wasn’t on a run with ER Dano-and decided I needed a powwow with none other than him, so I called his cell and said, “Meet me at the office,” on his voice mail, which he never answered, but I knew he’d show up.

While I drove toward the old building that housed Scarpello and Tonelli Insurance Agency, a thought flitted through my brain. Was Jagger’s last name really Tonelli, and did he really have any ownership in this…oh…my…God.

Airbrush Lady drove out of the parking lot in a hot pink Mercedes-obviously special ordered, as I’m sure the folks at Mercedes-Benz had never made that color before. Didn’t seem to fit in with the original classy German style.

She didn’t notice me-or maybe ignored me, was more like it-but I turned in and, fuming for no reason, pulled into a space near Goldie’s yellow Camaro. I needed a good dose of Goldie right about now.