Disclaimer: The characters of the Stephanie Plum series belong to Janet Evanovich and are used here without permission. No copyright infringement is intended.
Challenge: Perfectly Plum Week 3 Challenge: use the phrase “That's Trenton for you. Just remember, it's not the heat. It's the stupidity.”
Young Carlos Takes A Trip
By TT
Carlos sat in the plastic chair, swinging his legs back and forth while they waited for his father to come out of the back.
Glancing around the room, he watched the people sitting and moving about the room and hallways. He wondered if all hospitals were like this.
He and his family had come to Trenton to visit an exhibition at the museum. It hadn't been his first choice of things to do on a hot summer day, but the car and the museum were both air conditioned, so it had been fairly pleasant.
Unfortunately, as they were leaving the museum, his father had noticed the front tire had gone flat. It took him only moments to spot the nail embedded in the rubber.
With a sigh, Carlos' father had motioned his family away from the car and headed to the trunk to get the lug wrench, jack and spare.
It didn't take long to remove the damaged tire. He was just sliding the spare onto the wheel hub when the jack holding up the car creaked and then collapsed, causing the car to fall on Mr. Manoso's hand.
The scream of pain echoed across the parking lot and several men came running. It took them only a few seconds to assess the situation and, among the five of them, lift the car high enough so Mr. Manoso could extract his hand.
One of the men then offered to drive him to the hospital while the others assigned tasks so they could get the tire changed in order for the rest of the family to follow.
In almost no time at all, the tire was changed, directions were given and the rest of the family was headed off toward the hospital where they hoped to receive news of Mr. Manoso's condition.
Now, they had been waiting forever and Carlos was bored. There was nobody his age around and no one to play with him except his siblings. He had even forgotten his souvenir from the museum in the car, so he didn't even have that.
The outside doors to the emergency room opened and drew his attention. A man walked in carrying a curly-haired girl. A woman followed behind fussing and carrying on as if it was the end of the world. Another girl followed behind the group, quietly walking and shooting disapproving looks at the one being carried.
The mother went up to the front desk and got the necessary paperwork while the father carrying the girl sat down a little ways away.
Watching the new arrivals, he saw that the sister sat primly in her chair, legs crossed and hands folded in her lap. The father held his injured daughter close to his chest and would occasionally whisper things to her. The injured girl had wild, crazy, curly hair and blue eyes. She kept her arm tucked tightly to her chest, but wasn't crying, though, even to Carlos she looked pale.
Before he could take any more in, the mother came bustling back and sat next to her husband.
“Honestly, Frank,” the woman said. “I don't know what's wrong with that girl,” she fumed, attacking the paperwork with a vengeance. “Jumping off the garage roof...”
The rest of the conversation was lost to him as his father came out of the back room. Carlos and the rest of his family immediately headed over to make sure he was fine.
“My hand wasn't crushed and nothing was broken. I just have some pretty bad bruises, but those should go away,” Mr. Manoso assured everyone.
“But why is your hand so big and wrapped up like that?” Carlos' sister, Celia asked.
“I have a bandage on it, right now, and an ice pack. The outside bandage is to keep the ice pack in place,” Mr. Manoso informed.
Carlos' mom leaned forward and kissed her husband on the cheek. “Let's get you home,” she said, leading them all out to the car.
The car ride was quiet until Celia piped up. “Did you hear what that girl did? She jumped off the roof!”
Carlos was about to add his thought that it sounded like fun, except for the getting hurt, when his father responded.
“That's Trenton for you,” Mr. Manoso said, sounding tired and in pain. “Just remember, it's not the heat; it's the stupidity.”
Present
Ranger sat in the plastic chair of the hospital waiting room, Mary Alice snuggled in his lap, obviously in pain, but not crying.
Stephanie was filling out the admittance forms after calling Val to get permission for any procedures that might need to be done.
Val and Albert had gone away on a honeymoon and left the girls in the care of Mr. And Mrs. Plum. Since Stephanie's parents were unexpectedly called out of town on a family emergency and had left the girls with Grandma Mazur for a few hours.
Somehow, in that time, Mary Alice had set up some horse jumps in the yard with which to practice. Unfortunately, she tripped over the first one and hurt her arm.
Knowing she couldn't drive, Grandma Mazur had called Stephanie. She and Ranger had come right over. Ranger scooped the injured girl up and held her tight, occasionally whispering soothing nothings to her as Stephanie drove to the hospital. Angie had elected to go as well and now sat demurely in her chair, legs crossed and hands folded in her lap.
“I'm really sorry, Aunt Stephanie,” Mary Alice said, sounding close to tears.
Looking up, Stephanie reached out and laid a hand on her niece's shoulder. “Don't worry about it, M. A.,” she soothed, using a nickname the girl had recently invented. “When I was your age, I tried to fly.”
“You did?” she asked, her voice filled with awe.
“Sure did,” Stephanie assured. “I chose a really hot day and then jumped off the garage roof.”
“Wow! Did you do it? Did you fly?” Mary Alice asked.
Stephanie smiled brightly, her eyes distant and glowing. “For a few seconds, yes I did,” she informed. Then, her face became more serious and she met her niece's eyes once more. “But then I hit the ground and broke my arm.”
“Did you cry?” Mary Alice asked, fighting back tears of pain as she accidentally moved her own arm.
“No, she didn't,” Ranger inserted, smiling as he realized who the little girl was all those years ago. “She didn't shed a tear.”
End.