Chapter 9 #3
The doctor showed up just as he was contemplating calling an ambulance. Being nice to the man—it was a small town, and things got around quickly about him being a bastard—but he was ill, and he wanted some relief.
“You need to be put on some medication, or this is going to kill you. You said that you’ve had an ulcer all your life?
” He told him that it was just a way for the doctors to make some money off of them.
“Well, I’d say it would have been money well spent.
I’m going to call an ambulance for you so that we can get some fluids into you.
You’re not well, and your belly is only going to get worse from here on out. ”
He didn’t have it in him to argue with the man.
He really wasn’t feeling well and was worried that he’d been too nice for too long.
That’s what made him ill. Trying to appease his daughter so that she’d do what he wanted.
Well, no more. He was going to be Howard the way that he wanted, and damn her sensibilities.
Women were too delicate most of the time, and he hated that he’d have to be nice to them to get what he wanted.
By the time the ambulance had arrived, he was sick again.
The doctor had insisted on seeing what he threw up from his belly, and that worried him all the more.
It was just blood. His body was making more of it even as he threw it up.
Everyone knew that. But the worried look on his face had him cooperating with the people from the hospital’s ambulance service more than he thought he should have.
He was off to the hospital as quickly as he’d ever been.
He thought about calling his daughter as he was being set up in a room.
They were putting sticky tabs on his chest and running a test that way.
He didn’t know what it was called, nor did he care, but so long as they kept giving him something for the pain, he’d do just about anything that they wanted.
He was being run through a donut-shaped machine when the pain started to come back.
True to their words, they had told him that he’d not suffer needlessly; he was given something more for the pain.
As he was being drugged up, he thought that he could get some sympathy from his daughter and her dumbass husband when they told him that he was going to need surgery.
After that, it was a blur of activity to get him prepped so that they could cut him open to see what sort of damage he’d done to himself by being nice.
While he didn’t know what they were going to do to him, he agreed that they’d cut him open. When he was taken to surgery, they told him that they’d give him something to knock him out, and that was all he remembered.
Waking up once, he was told that things went well and that he should be in the mend.
He didn’t have it in him to ask what they were talking about, but he closed his eyes again.
Things were too much for him to stay awake, so he let the drugs take him under until he could think.
Howard didn’t know what they were giving him, but he’d have to find out and invest in it.
It was the best thing that he’d ever had when he’d been ill with his belly.
He woke up again, and the room was dark.
He didn’t know if the shades were drawn or if it was actually dark outside, but he felt like it should be nighttime.
Howard knew that he did his best thinking in the darkness of a cold room and thought about what he was going to do now.
If they really did fix his belly, he’d have to no longer be nice to people.
He didn’t want that kind of pain again. People were just going to have to live with it or not.
Frankly, he didn’t care what people thought about him after this.
Waking up again, he was told he’d have to stay awake for a little while.
He didn’t think that was right when he was still hurting, but he didn’t say anything.
The people at the hospital had done him a solid by taking care of his ulcer, and he was going to be grateful for a long time.
He might even donate some money to them for a wing named for him.
Yes, he thought, that’s what he’d do. Donate enough money to have the hospital beholden to him.
Dismayed to find out that the surgery had been three days ago, he wondered what sort of shit he’d missed.
He had things to do now that he was awake enough to get a phone to his ear, and he wasn’t getting things done fast enough to suit him.
His idea of having a wing named after him was waning now that they were keeping him awake, and he wanted to sue them for not doing their jobs.
People were just out for his money, and he didn’t like it.
He finally had to reduce himself to begging for a phone so that he could call his daughter to have her get her ass into gear.
This surgery made him realize that he was going to die sometime, and he didn’t like that either.
He wanted to live forever, and the sooner he figured out how to make that work, the better off the people around him would be.
Damn it, but he hated that he was so weak, too.
The doctor came in once and told him about the surgery.
He was so pissed off that he barely paid attention to what he was saying.
Something about him having to have training in how to take care of himself, and that as soon as he was on solid foods, then they’d talk again.
Cutting him off, he told him what he wanted.
“I want a phone and a computer brought in here for my use.” He said that he’d have to wait a couple more days before he cut him off again.
“No, I won’t have to wait. You’ve fixed things up for me, and now I need to get my businesses caught up with.
You bring those items in for me so that I can contact my daughter. ”
“She was notified when you were out of surgery.” He asked where she was if she knew. “I’m sure I don’t know, sir, but she was notified. She came in right after you were waking up, but I believe she left right after. There were words exchanged between the two of you, and she left here crying.”
“I don’t believe you. Well, maybe I do. Women cry at the stupidest things. Call her again and tell her that I want to see her. She can even bring that husband of hers if she has to. So long as he remains human. I don’t want him coming in here shifting again unless I need him to be something else.”
“I’ll call, but she said not to call her again unless you were dead.
And she seemed serious about that.” He said he didn’t care; he wanted her there, no matter if he had to send an officer to get her ass down here.
“As I said, I’d call, but I’d not count on her coming.
The two of you had an argument, and she went home. ”
“I’ll be the judge of what sort of argument we had.” That had made more sense in his head, but he dared the man to say anything. “Just tell her that I said to get her ass down here now. I have things to talk to her about.”
When the doctor left, he had to ask for something for pain again. He didn’t know what they’d given him, but it didn’t put him out like before. Good. Howard wanted to be wide awake when his daughter came around. He was going to have to tell her a few things about her life from now on.