The Mule

Chapter 2

Ninety minutes later, Marissa was lying in a bed in the ER of Denver General waiting for the results of an MRI. Braxton was hovering, refusing to leave her side. She finally got him to sit down in a chair beside the bed instead of pacing, but he insisted on staying and driving her home if she was released. While it was very nice of him, she did not want him around when the doctor gave her the test results. If he (the ER doctor) said anything about the tumour, the jig would be up.

"Do you not like me?" he had asked.

"You are very nice", Marissa replied. "But you don't know me. We met just a few hours ago and that was only because I had the wrong address for a hair salon."

Braxton sighed. He was afraid to push too hard about Marissa being "June", lest she tell him where to go and what to do on the way there. If she got mad and had security called, he would have no choice but to leave. He had to choose his words carefully. "I sense there is something you want to tell me, but you feel you can't."

"Such as...?"

"I don't know. But it's something big and it's something you can't control."

Wow, he is really perceptive, she thought. But I can't tell him he's right. "Interesting."

"Am I right?"

She looked away. "No comment."

"I thought so. Look, Marissa, regardless of whether or not you are the patient that was supposed to come this morning, I feel you need a friend."

"I thought therapists can't be friends with patients."

"You aren't my patient right now. Or are you?"

"I'm not."

"Then there is no reason we can't be friends."

"Maybe I don't want to be friends."

"Why not, Marissa? You've said you don't have any friends here. Why is that?"

She didn't know what to say. She couldn't very well tell him that the Cartel discouraged it's mules from forming friendships due to the possibility of accidentally saying things that could give them away. She was saved by the ER physician assigned to her, Dr Brody Pratt. "We have your MRI results, Marissa."

"I'd like to get them in private, please."

"You don't want your therapist hearing them?"

"He's not my therapist. I just met him this morning when I had a wrong address for a hair salon."

"Oh, well, then – you'll have to leave the room, Braxton. Sorry, but you know about patient confidentiality." Braxton knew he had no choice. He left but not without giving Marissa a hurt look. "Is he bothering you?" Dr Pratt asked her when Braxton had shut the door behind him.

"Yes ....no ... not really."

"That's quite an answer."

"He means well, Dr Pratt. He just thinks I'm someone I'm not. But he was kind enough to take me into his apartment/office and give me dry clothes to wear while he dried mine. I was soaking wet as I can't carry an umbrella." They had forgotten all about her clothes when the ambulance arrived, so she was still wearing Braxton's when she got to the hospital.

"I've known Braxton for years. He's a very kind man and he cares about people. A bit too much sometimes. He doesn't always know when to back off. That's why I asked if he was bothering you. Rest assured, though, he would never harm you and you couldn't ask for a better friend.

"Now, for your test results. As you know, you do have kidney stones. There are quite a few that we can see. Normally, I would refer you to a nephrologist, but given the other finding, that won't be necessary. The scan also showed a tumour on the kidney." Marissa had to look surprised as she couldn't tell them she knew she had a tumour. "Didn't they tell you that in Central America?"