Then Pansy started to say random names. They all seemed to be either employees or family, which was only Payne, come to think of it. She repeated his name over and over.
The door opened and in walked Nurse Ratched, who gave us all the evil eye. It didn’t take us long before we were hurrying out the door and disrobing from our isolation garb.
I breathed a sigh. I felt relieved to get the hell out of there, until the nurse opened the door while we were disrobing isolation gear and asked, “Which one of you is Pauline?”
I curled my lips at her since I was the only female there and raised my hand and waved it at her. “That’d be me.”
“Well, she said she wants to talk to you and-” She stuck her head back into the room and asked Pansy, “Who?”
“Jeremy.”
Twenty-Four
“Oh, Lord,” I said to Dano. “Buzz will pass out if he has to deal with that Pansy, the evil incarnate, who’s in there.”
Dano chuckled.
“It’s not funny. He’s such a wimp. Why on earth would she want to talk to him? Why would she want to talk to me?” I asked.
“I’m guessing she just relates to you as a female that she knows works for her. A nurse. A new hire, so not involved in the politics of the company,” he said.
Sounded plausible.
“They’re pretty tight, Pansy and Buzz,” he said. “She hired him and kinda took him under her wing. Like a mother figure, if you can believe a Sterling having maternal feelings.” That’s why he was upset when he visited her, I figured.
“Ah.”
Before I could say anything more, Dano had his cell phone out and was ordering Buzz to get his ass over here.
I looked at Jagger. “What?”
He was smiling. “This is gonna be better than Leno’s monologue.”
I punched his arm, turned and punched Dano. “You were thinking the same thing,” I said when he looked all confused.
But in the back of my mind, I worried that poor Buzz Lightyear would not survive on his own.
I needn’t have worried about dear Buzz last night, I thought as I fixed my horrible tea in the TLC lounge. By the time he’d gotten to the hospital-looking much paler than Pansy herself-curiously enough, she’d slipped back into a coma.
Self-induced? Or new complication?
No one could be sure, but darling Buzz and I were off the hook.
Jagger, Dano and I had waited to go in with him and when he came down the hallway with tears in his eyes, I was glad we all had. Those guys were shits at times, but each had a heart of gold, and both would rather kill themselves than admit it.
“Morning, Pauline,” Buzz said, coming up from behind me.
I touched his arm. “Oh, hey, how are you today?”
“I’m fine, ma’am.” He spilled a droplet of coffee on my clog.
We both looked down at the same time to see it spread out like a California wildfire on my white shoe. Before he could do his usual apology, I said, “Don’t worry about it,” but in seconds he was down on all fours wiping away.
Yes, I felt stupid and sorry for him all at the same time.
“Bu…Jeremy.” I touched his shoulder.
He stood up and threw the paper towel toward the trash can.
It landed on ER Dano’s foot.
Yikes. I hurried over and said, “Hey, morning,” so he wouldn’t take it out on poor Buzz, who was now bending down to pick it off Dano’s very worn black boot. Those boots had character and, I’m sure, some stories to tell.
Thank goodness Lilla sashayed into the room at that very moment, before Dano could punt Buzz across the room.
She gave Buzz a big smile.
He seemed more nervous than usual, but they sat down together.
“Talk about the odd couple,” Dano muttered.
I slugged his arm and said, “Shut up,” just as Ambulance #456 was called over the intercom. “Ten fifty-four on 442 Lincoln Street.
Dano, Buzz and I left our mugs on the table and hurried out. Lilla wished us luck (and with her Canadian accent I thought she sounded so cool).
Buzz was blushing from ear to ear when we got to the ambulance, where we all stuck on raingear, since a monsoon had decided the flowers needed watering. Dano insisted on driving-with me up front.
Darling Buzz didn’t argue, and if I wasn’t mistaken, I think the sweetie actually winked at me!
Dano drove #456 like it was a multimillion dollar Rolls. No one could take corners as smoothly or get us to our destination as quickly. On the way, he’d explained to me that the call was a teenager who supposedly was having a panic attack of some sort, according to the caller, a neighbor.
“Might be drugs,” Dano said as we pulled down Lincoln Street.
“Over there,” I said, pointing to an old green-and-beige three-story house with two cop cars parked in front. “Cops?”
Dano jumped out and Buzz already was there, getting the bag. “Neighbors didn’t tell dispatch everything,” he growled.
We ran toward the back of the house where two cops were standing. Just our luck. The rain seemed to pour harder, which seemed impossible. I could barely see with the hood of my yellow slicker up and no windshield wipers to keep my vision clear.
Dano yelled to the cop nearest the door. “What’s up?”
He pointed toward the house. “She’s in there. Be careful.”
Careful? Did he mean that she was in such bad shape that we had to take care not to let her die, or-
Suddenly, a blood-curdling scream followed by ripe cursing came from the house.
Dano shook his head, “Shit. Nutcase.”
I wanted to chastise him, but we didn’t have time. First he yelled to the cops to stay out in front in case any family members came home or neighbors came by to gawk. Then we all went in, slipping and sliding on the hardwood floors.
“You fuckers get the hell out of my house!” The voice came from what must have been the bathroom, because there seemed to be a shower running.
“You think she’s going to commit suicide?” Buzz asked.
Dano looked at him for a second. “If I could see through the freaking walls, I’d let you know.”
The female voice said, “It’s the end.”
Hearing that Dano ran down the hallway and shoved the bathroom door open, shouting, “What’s wrong, ma’am?”
Dano’s shoulder must have hurt, was all I could think as he broke the door open, sending pieces of the frame flying. Damn, but that always looked easier to do on TV.
We all took a step forward and stopped.
There, standing in the middle of the tub with steaming-hot water pulsating down on her, was a teenage girl, about fifteen or sixteen, with her underwear on. She was holding a soggy stuffed Snoopy doll in one hand. Her legs were beet red from the heat. In the other hand she held a knife.
God, how I hated knives. But this one looked like a butter knife, which made me feel a lot better. In seconds, Dano had it out of her hand, and her out of the shower. As I reached over to turn it off, she kicked and screamed, nearly shoving me into the tub, which had the stopper in and was full of hot water.
A hand touched my back and I felt Buzz pulling me up. “You all right, Miss Pauline?”
“Fine.” Just then the girl slugged Dano in the groin and he yelped and let her go-so she took off running down the hallway.
Dano looked at me. “Shit. Why is it that I always attract the whackos?”
Since I didn’t have time to agree with Dano (although I did), we ran out, following Buzz, who was following the patient. I wanted to throw a robe on her, since her underwear had now become quite transparent.
When we got to the back door, there was no sign of the cops. Dano muttered a few curses and said they’d better just be out in front somewhere, where he’d told them to wait.