"Your husband was in a terrible accident,"... The words echoed in Alice's head as she sat in stunned silence, her mind trying to register what she had just heard. "Your husband was in a terrible accident,"... Joe, her Joe, had been in an accident! Fear clouded her mind and stabbed at her heart. "This can't be happening!" her mind screamed in disbelief.
"Ma'am, are you still there? Ma'am!" Alice slowly realized that she was still holding onto the phone. Though she no longer had it to her ear, she could still hear the excited and worried voice of Mike Saunders, on the other end of the line. "Ma'am, are you there?" Mike's voice was becoming more and more worried by the second.
Alice brought the phone back up to her ear and answered, her voice little more than a hoarse whisper. "Yes, I'm still here,". She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, fighting panic as she asked the next question that she knew she must. "Is my husband alive?" "Please let him be alive!" she prayed silently.
Mike cleared his throat before answering. "Yes Ma'am, he is alive. However...." His voice trailed off as he struggled to find the right words to say. Mike hated this part of his job. Giving bad news to people over the phone, especially when it was close to Christmas, was one of the hardest jobs he had ever had to do. "Ma'am, maybe it would be best for you to come down to the hospital, so I could explain in person," Mike finally said.
Alice could no longer contain her tears. Tears of fear, grief, and of relief sprang from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. Relief that, yes, Joe was alive! When she had sufficiently calmed down, Alice wiped her eyes and spoke into the phone, "Yes, I will come. I will be bringing my children with me though, because they are young, and I have no one to leave them with,". "That will be fine," Mike said. He gave the address of the hospital to Alice, and advised her to call for a taxi. He didn't want her to try to drive in the state of distress she was in.
After they hung up, Alice called for a taxi, and she was informed that it would take fifteen to twenty minutes for the cab to arrive at her home. "Just enough time to get the kids ready," she thought. She hung up the phone, her hands still shaking, and she went upstairs to wake her children.
To Be Continued...
by Celia Helen Tracy
copyright © 2000 Celia Helen Tracy