Crash Test Dummy

Chapter 18

A steady beep, beep, beep was annoying me. It was as bad as a mosquito buzzing in your ear. "Somebody turn it off," I thought. "I'm trying to sleep here."

I felt something cool and wet against the skin on my forehead. I tried to raise my arm, but pain shot through my shoulder.

"You moved your hand," someone said. "Do it again, CW. Please."

"Was that Momz talking?" I wondered.

I cracked open my eyes. My hand was on top of the covers, laid across my belly like someone was preparing me for a funeral. "Not a funeral," I thought. "There's a tube taped to your hand."

"Hospital," my mind said. "That explains the beep."

My memory came flooding back.

"The Ox." I didn't realize I'd said it aloud until Momz squeezed my arm and started to cry.

"You scare me to death for three days and then you ask about that stupid bike," she said.

I opened my eyes, but closed them quickly. "The light," I moaned.

Momz immediately closed the curtains, plunging the room into semidarkness.

"Just let me call the nurse,. She reached for the call button.

"Wait." There was something I needed to know first. "Why are you here?"

"What do you mean why am I here? I'm your Mother."

"But I did something awful."

"And? You are my son, CW. You can't do anything to drive me away. I'm going to love you no matter what."

I tried to process that. For the first time in my life, I understood unconditional love. Momz was here. She loved me even though I had pretty much spit in her face.

"Now, I am going to get the nurse." She pushed the button.

I looked over at the door. There was a cop standing outside talking to a woman.

"Why the cop?" 

"They're waiting for you to wake up."

"Am I under arrest?"

"No, no," Momz shook her head vehemently. "They want to hear your version of what happened."

The nurse came in. The cop looked up from his conversation and walked over to the door. The nurse started to close the door in his face. "We need some privacy, here," she said.

The cop stuck his foot in the door. "Well, I need to talk to him," he said.

"And you will, when he's medically able. He's just waking up from a coma. I've called the doctor. You just cool your jets until he clears things."

She firmly pushed the door shut. "Sorry, Patty," she said. "I wish I could send them packing for you."

"Them?" I said.

"There are two of them, a man and a woman. They're investigating the accident." Momz sighed. "I know, you want to help, Sande, but he's got to talk to them sometime. Might as well get it over with."

"Says who," I mumbled.

The nurse shined a light into my eyes. She checked the blood pressure reading on the machine hooked up to me. She took my temperature and checked a bag hanging by my bed.

"Piss?" I asked. "Do I have a catheter?"

"Of course," Momz said. "You've been out for three days."