Not Perfect(73)

“Where are you?” she screamed into the phone.

“About to get in the ambulance,” Julie said gently. “They’re taking us to Hahnemann. It’s the closest hospital. I asked them to take us to CHOP, but they have to go to the closest hospital. I’ll stay with him. I’ll be right here until you get there.”

“Is he okay?” Tabitha screamed. She seemed to have only one way of communicating now. “Is he awake?”

“He just opened his eyes, but—” Julie said. Then, to someone else, “Oh, okay, sorry. I have to hang up. I’ll be with him.”

“But what?” Tabitha screamed. “But what?”

“Where is he?” Rachel asked gently. “Can you tell me what happened?”

“Hahnemann,” Tabitha said. “He was hit by a bike.”

Rachel punched something into her phone, then she helped Fern get her shoes and coat.

“Come on,” she said.

They went down in the elevator, but it seemed different; it did not seem like the same elevator she was in just an hour before. An Uber was waiting for them. They got in. Rachel talked to the driver. Tabitha knew she should be helping Fern, telling her everything would be okay. But would it be okay? She needed someone to comfort her. She thought of Stuart. Then she thought of Toby. Then she tried not to think.

They were dropped off at the wrong place, the place where ambulances go in, but it was easy to find the right door. Rachel did all the work. She talked to someone, she had Fern sit in a seat in the surprisingly empty waiting room. She took Tabitha into the emergency department.

“Over there, number twenty-one. I’ll stay with Fern.”

Suddenly she was back to herself, and she was running. There were people all around him, mostly by his head. How many people? Six? Seven? A lot of people. She moved as close as she could. She wanted to grab him and take him back to the moment before whatever happened, happened. She was close now, close enough to see his face. His jaw looked funny, moved somehow. And there was blood, a lot of dried blood. Was it dry? Maybe some of it was still wet. Where did that come from? She thought she could see a line, a clear line up his chin and over his face. She moved back in horror. Did the bike literally run over him? Right over him? She was about to start screaming again when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned quickly, ready to be mad at whomever it was. It was Julie. She shooed her away and looked back at Levi. They were giving him oxygen; they seemed concerned about his breathing and she could see why. He seemed to be working hard at it, and his mouth looked so strange. Why did it look so strange? At that moment, his eyes opened and he saw her. He saw her and he reacted to her—it was a combination of relief and fear—what sort of trouble was he in? She was so relieved, so completely relieved, that when Julie nudged her again, she turned to her and obeyed her gentle suggestion that she follow her out of the small curtained room.

“What happened?” Tabitha said, no longer yelling, her voice sounding strange and raspy.

Julie shook her head like she was trying to rid it of an image. Or at least that was what Tabitha thought. She moved away from Julie, back toward Levi. What was she doing here with Julie? She wanted to be with Levi.

“Wait, just give me a quick second,” Julie said, sounding like herself, like she might be talking about food trays and nondairy alternatives. And suddenly Tabitha was so grateful to her. What if she hadn’t been there? Would they have figured out who Levi was by now? Did he even have any ID on him? Tabitha didn’t think so.

“Thank you,” Tabitha said. “Thank you for everything you did. How were you even there? How did you know it was Levi?”

“It was his jacket. His bright-red Larchwood jacket with the big lion on the back. It’s so familiar, both my kids have that same jacket, so when I saw him running, Tabitha, he was literally running, into the street, I saw him. And I yelled to him to stop, to wait. But he didn’t hear me. Or he didn’t want to listen. He just kept running. And I could see that the light had turned green and the cars were going to move. And it was really the bus that I was worried about, but, somehow, thank God, the bus driver saw him and swerved to the left, but he must have startled the bike, because the bike came up fast on the bus’s right and well, that’s what caused the impact.” She said the last part quietly, like it was something that shouldn’t be said out loud.

Tabitha took a step back to steady herself. It was so hot in here. Why didn’t they make it cooler? And did the floor have to be so swirly, and the curtains! Why did they have to have such busy designs on them? Didn’t they know dizzy people came in sometimes for help?

Tabitha felt someone grabbing her arm, and then easing her down into a chair, but she took it one step further and kept going, putting her head down on the chair next to her and closing her eyes. She felt alone. Did Julie leave? But then a nurse was there, asking if she was okay, asking if she could hear her. She opened her eyes and nodded.

“Let her sit just a minute,” she heard the nurse say. “It’s going to be a few minutes before he’s ready to be transferred.”

“To where?” Tabitha asked, sitting up too fast and then leaning back over and propping her head on her hand. She did not feel well.

“To CHOP,” the nurse said. “He is stable enough to be moved now, and they are so much better equipped to treat children.”