Jessa James - Club V

“How’s Tommy?” Suzy asked as she came to stand beside me. “That looked like it was about to go right down the toilet.”

“Yeah, I think it’s okay now. I’m a little worried about him, but he seems to at least have a good handle on what’s important in life. I just had no idea he had been through that kind of trauma.”

Suzy looked out across the room at our Friday night crowd. It was pretty tame for the moment but would undoubtedly get rowdier as the evening went on.

“You just never know what people are carrying with them.”

I nodded and suddenly felt my phone vibrate. I didn’t often receive calls while I was at work, so I reached for the phone and saw that it was my mom.

“That’s weird,” I said under my breath. “Suzy, I’m going to take this. Be back in a second.”

I rounded the corner and answered the call.

“Hey Mom, what’s up?”

“Honey, you need to get to the hospital. Your brother collapsed during his football game and they’ve rushed him to the emergency room. We’re here now and I’m…I’m not sure what they’re going to do…”

“What?! Mom, I’ll be right there. Is Dad with you?”

“He’s in the room with Josh right now. Your brother is conscious again, but they are going to take him back for some tests. Things are really up in the air right now and we don’t want to leave him alone. If you can get out of work I think it would be best if you could get here…soon, honey.”

I ended the call and headed back around to the bar. My emotions must have been showing all over my face because Suzy realized immediately that something was very wrong.

“What’s happened? Do you need to leave?” She asked, her voice full of concern.

“Yeah,” my voice came out thick and cracking. I nodded my head. “Yes, I’ve got to go. It’s my brother. Don’t know what’s going on but he collapsed during his football game and now they’ve got him at the emergency room. My mom…my mom seems to think I need to be there so…”

“Go, get out of here now. Get your purse and go.”

In a daze I stumbled down the hallway to the dressing room and grabbed my things from my locker before rushing out of the club and out to my car.

It all happened so quickly from there. I had no memory of the route I took to the hospital. It was all muscle memory from when I had driven every day to see my grandfather. All the way there the only thing I could think about was how much I loved my brother and how I would do anything in the world to make sure he was okay. He was such a strong, fun guy. Always in the middle of something, always making people laugh. People couldn’t help but smile whenever Josh was around and everyone loved him.

The thought of him lying there in a hospital bed, prone and with tubes and wires connected to him terrified me. He was my little brother, although we weren’t that far apart in age. Sure we had fought like cats and dogs growing up, but the truth was that he was my closest family member. There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do to try to make life easier for him.

Tommy’s words came back to me and I shuddered. It was too eerie to have just had that conversation and then be faced with potential tragedy.

“Please, let him be okay,” I said aloud to the air as I sped along the road to the hospital.

I arrived, hardly knowing how I had gotten there at all, and parked in the emergency room parking area. Running up to the automatic doors I waited as they opened slowly and cursed them as I bolted into the waiting area of the emergency room.

Neither of my parents were in sight so I made my way to the front desk.

“Josh…Tanza,” I said, only then realizing I was out of breath.

The nurse looked up from her computer. “Take a deep breath honey. Are you okay? Do you need to see a doctor?”

I shook my head, exasperated and struggling to find the words I needed in the moment. It was all too much and I was overwhelmed, not knowing where my parents were or how Josh was doing.

“My brother. An ambulance brought my brother here.” I took another deep breath. “He collapsed at his football game.”

That seemed to ring a bell and she nodded and pointed down a hallway. “Football player, that’s right. Curtain three. It should be fine for you to go in there now.”

I hurried down the hall and read the numbers that were posted above the different curtained sections of the emergency room area. I reached Curtain three and to my surprise, it was empty and there were fresh new sheets on this bed. I whirled around, shocked and scared at what this might mean, but thankfully a nurse standing nearby read the situation and rushed over to me.

“Looking for the football player?”

I nodded affirmatively at her.

“It’s okay, they’ve moved him up to the third floor. If you’ll just head up there and check at the nurse’s station they’ll be able to send you to him.

I felt like it was all taking too long. I just wanted to get to Josh’s side and make sure everything was going to be okay. At this point I had no idea what was going on, what had really happened, or if he was in any immediate danger. The fact that he had been moved to a real room didn’t give me any comfort and I wondered what on earth it could all be about as I raced back down the hall and into one of the elevators.

The third floor was a flurry of activity and I was deposited right outside of the nurse’s station.

“Excuse me, my brother is Josh Tanza. I was told he’s up here.” I looked around at the nurses behind the desk and waited for one of them to show me a little mercy.

One of the male nurses nodded. “Yeah, the football player. He’s in 308.”

Now certain where my brother was, I was in less of a hurry because I wasn’t sure what I was walking into. My mom hadn’t had the time to explain everything on the phone and now I had to face the fact that Josh was really, truly ill.

The door was open and a doctor was exiting the room as I approached it. My parents were standing on either side of Josh’s bed and my brother was lying there, hooked up to several different monitors, looking so pale you would have thought he had either seen a ghost or somehow morphed into a Casper-like version of himself.

“Oh my god, Josh.” I rushed to my mother’s side but hesitated before leaning in to hug my brother, opting instead to squeeze his hand. He made a strong fist, but not nearly as strong as I knew he was capable of and that concerned me.

“Honey, I’m so glad you’re here,” my mom said as she embraced me. My dad came around to hug us both tightly while Josh looked up from his hospital bed with a slight grin on his face.

“You guys having fun?” He asked.

I rolled my eyes at him. “Hey dude, you be nice. You’ve got us all worried. What’s going on with you?” I posed the question to my mom and dad as much as to Josh.

“We’re still waiting to hear a few results from the doctor,” my dad said calmly. He looked rough, like whatever he had watched happen to my brother on the football field had taken some years off of his life. For all I knew it might have.

Josh didn’t look well. He was pale and his skin was clammy and although I knew he hated it, I kept checking his temperature with the back of my hand.

“You’re too cold, Josh.”

“You’re telling me,” he shot back. “And they won’t let me wear a shirt yet. I’ve got to stay hooked up to all of these things for a while.”

“Well, they’ve got to find out what’s going on. My guess is that a cheeseburger is to blame for it. Somehow, someway, it’s a cheeseburger.”

“Ha-ha,” Josh said, not finding the remark humorous in the least. “For your information I have been eating a healthy, protein-filled diet. Trying to keep myself lean.”