33. Lawton #2
The last time I received a call in the middle of the night, I was met with bad news. Sitting up, I said a silent prayer before snatching it up and walking out of the room.
“Hello.”
The sound of someone sniveling had me pulling the phone down from my face to see who the caller was. “Mrs. Jessie, is everything okay?”
“Law…” she sobbed.
“Yeah… Yeah... I’m here.” My heartrate accelerated instantly. I was beginning to feel like I was struggling to breath.
“We’ve been trying to reach Tali. Bertha had an accident.”
Dropping my head, I forced my eyes closed. “Where is she?”
“Houston Healthcare.”
“Mrs. Jessie, I’m going to send Baker to come and pick you up. By the time you get here, I’ll have Talitha up and ready.”
“Hurry Law.”
“I will,” I replied somberly.
Ending the call, I tossed my head back and rubbed my temples in a circular motion. I don’t know the extent of the accident, and honestly, I wasn’t ready to hear it. The way Mrs. Jessie sounded, I knew it wasn’t good.
Whatever it was the shit was going to kill Talitha. She’d just got out of her mouth how she needed this break, and this was going to make her feel like whatever happened was because of the way she felt.
Dialing up Baker, I waited for him to answer.
‘Dutch?” he said in a questioning tone.
“I need you to go scoop Mrs. Jessie from her crib and come to Lake Spivey. Text me when you’re almost here.”
“Everything alright?”
“I can’t answer that right now.”
“Give me thirty minutes.”
“Bet.” I hung up.
Pushing the room door back open, I went into my closet and pulled out something for both of us to throw on. Laying the clothes out on the bed, I headed into the bathroom and started the shower.
“Love.” I tapped her on the shoulder.
“Ummm,” she hummed.
“Talitha, get up for me baby.”
“I’m tired,” she groaned.
“I know.” Flipping the covers back, I stretched my hands under her and pulled her up from the bed. “I need you to shower and throw some clothes on.”
At my insistence, her eyes popped opened. “Is everything okay?”
“I don’t know baby. But we need to shower. Baker is on his way to pick us up.”
“Okay,” she breathed.
Being that we were already naked, I pulled the shower door opened and waited for her to step in. Positioning us so that I was standing under the shower head, I wrapped my arms around her waist. “Baby, I’ve gotta tell you something.”
“What is it, Law?”
“Mrs. Jessie called; they’ve been trying to reach you.” Before I could get the rest of my sentence out, Talitha tried to remove my arms from her waist. “Baby… listen to me.”
“Let me go, Lawton!” she roared. “I need to go.”
“Baby,” I called out again. “We’re gonna go. We need to shower and get dressed first. They have her at the hospital.”
Talitha tried her hardest to get out of my grip, but I wasn’t budging. “Let me go, got damnit.” She gritted and used her hands to pound on my chest. “I gotta go get her.”
Grabbing her arms, I brought her into my chest. “Shhh… We’re gonna go.” The longer I held onto her, the harder she cried.
“Please tell me she’s okay.”
“I won’t know until we get there. Baker is on his way with Mrs. Jessie. I promise I’m going to get you there as fast as I can. But baby, I need to wash you up. Please let me do that.”
Talitha finally stopped fighting against me, giving me the opportunity to clean her up. After I finished washing her off, I rushed and cleansed my body. By the time we were out of the shower and dressed, Baker was letting me know he was outside.
When we made it outside to the truck and as soon as the door swung open, Talitha took one look at Mrs. Jessie and broke down. Before she could hit the ground, I was wrapping my arms around her.
Baker held the door open so I could get her inside of the truck. I tried to sit her in the seat beside Mrs. Jessie, but she shook her head and gripped me tighter, leaving me with no choice but to sit in the back with her still attached to me.
The sounds of Mrs. Jessie praying and Talitha’s cries filled the car as Baker whipped out of the driveway.
I didn’t know what we were getting ready to walk into but all I could do was pray that God wrapped a protective shield around Gema.
Talitha wouldn’t be able to survive if anything happened to her.
* * *
Stroking her hair, I whispered, “Baby.” Talitha stirred but didn’t open her eyes. “Talitha, wake up love, we’re here.” When her eyes popped up, she looked around. Blinking rapidly, she focused them on the hospital and started crying again.
Sliding out of my lap, she grabbed Bakers hand and stepped out of the truck. When I got out, I took off my jacket and draped it over her shoulders before ushering her into the hospital.
Stepping up to the receptionist, I said, “Bertha Mae Howard.”
After typing on the computer, she looked up. “One eleven.” And pointed to the hall behind us.
When we cut the corner to head down the hall, her Uncle was standing by the vending machine.
“Willearl,” Talitha croaked.
“Tali,” he sniffled.
“Is she okay?”
“It’s bad, Tali. Louise said she Mama must’ve got up out the bed in the middle of the night cause all she remembers hearing was something sounding like somebody had fell. When she ran into the room, Mama was on the ground. She hit her head, Tali,” he cried.
“I kept telling y’all to watch her Willearl. Gema clumsy. I been saying that,” she sobbed.
“I know, Tali. And we been watching her. Mama knows she ain’t have no business getting up out the bed by herself. Louise was right down the hall. She knows to call for some help.”
“What they saying?”
“She bleeding on the brain. She been unconscious since we got here.”
“Oh my God!” she wept.
The sound of her wails had the folks in Gema room rushing out into the hall.
“Tali, I’m so sorry,” Louise advanced on us with her palms in the air. “I’m so sorry.”
Talitha’s body shook as she cried, eventually she spun around and buried her head into my chest. I felt helpless. Talitha was in pain and all I could do was stand here and hold her.
Cupping the back of her head, I leaned my head down and prayed over her and her family. Prayed for God to heal them and Gema. Prayed that he’d allow her to wake up.
When I finished praying, I asked her if she was ready to go into the room. She said shook her head no. I didn’t care how long it took; I would stand out here in the hallway with her until she was ready.
“My brother Meat on his way down,” her uncle mumbled as he leaned his back against the wall.
“What did the doctor say?”
“Tali, the power of attorney. We can’t make no decisions without her,” he let me know without coming out and saying it.
I nodded my head to let him know I understood what he was getting at. “Give her time.” Turning to Baker, I instructed him to go grab a couple of rooms for us. From the looks of it, we wouldn’t be leaving Warner Robins anytime soon.
Mrs. Jessie eventually followed the siblings into the room while Talitha and I stood out in the hallway.
“Baby, you’ve gotta calm down. At least long enough to speak with a doctor. Everybody is waiting on you.”
“I can’t Law.”
“You can. Gema and Papa Joe knew you could. That’s why they left you in charge. You gotta do it for her baby.”
“I was happy that she was gone for a few days. I said I needed a break.”
“Shhh… We not doing that. You not about to sit up here and blame yourself for this. You know just like I know that Gema is stubborn as hell.”
“I sent her away like she was a burden.”
“When you told me she was coming home for a few days, and I asked you how she felt about it… what did you tell me?”
“She wanted to go.”
“That means you didn’t send her away. She wanted to go.”
“It’s still my fault Law. I should’ve told her no.”
“And she still would’ve went anyway.”
“That’s my best friend, Law. What I’mma do without my best friend?” she sobbed.
“I don’t know, baby. I don’t know. But you need to go see her. I’m here and I’ll do whatever you need me to do. Whatever it’s going to take, we will do it. Together,” I avowed and meant every single word.
“Can we leave?”
“Is that what you want?”
“Yes. I need to get out of here. I feel like I’m going to suffocate.”
“How about we step outside so you can get some fresh air and when you’re ready, we will come back inside. What you say to that?”
“Okay,” she sighed. “We can do that.”
“Let’s go.”
Grabbing her hand, I held onto it as we walked back to the front of the hospital. Stopping at the front desk, I let the receptionist know that if anyone came looking for us to tell them that we were outside.
Finding a bench on the side of the building, I sat down and pulled Talitha down in my lap. “Take as much time as you need to get yourself together. We will sit right here until you’re ready,” I declared.