‘The Summer of Emily’ – by Stephanie White
“Come on Pretend Daddy! We’re gonna be late and Grammy’s gonna be
mad at you.” Little Emily Taylor called
to David Starsky, her foster father for the summer.
“Okay Princess!” Starsky said, looking affectionately at the
dark-haired five-year old owner of his heart and soul. “We’ll go just as soon as Uncle Ken gets
here.”
Starsky watched the little
girl sigh in consternation – as though that would bring Starsky’s partner, Ken
Hutchinson over faster.
He smiled at the child’s
enthusiasm. Her grandmother had finally
gotten out of the hospital after a serious car accident in June that left her
in critical condition and Emily in Starsky’s charge. Now she was staying in a nursing home until her physical therapy
was completed. She’d be going home at
the end of the month. She’d be taking
Emily home…
Starsky decided not to think
about that just yet. He had a month
left with his ‘Little Princess’ and he wasn’t going to waste a minute of it.
Finally, there was a brief
knock on the door before Hutch let himself into the apartment. Emily went running over and leapt into his
arms with a cry of “Uncle Ken!”
Hutch picked up the
spring-coiled little person and hugged her tightly. “Hey, Sweetie! How’s my
favorite girl?”
“I’m fine Uncle Ken,” she
said. “You’re late! Grammy’s gonna be mad at us for bein’ late!”
“It’s okay, I’ll tell her it
was my fault and then she won’t be mad at you, okay?”
“Okay! Let’s go!”
Hutch hugged the little girl
one more time before putting her on the floor.
He took one hand and Starsky took the other. Together they swung her down the stairs and out to the car, all
the time basking in the sound of her delighted giggles. They piled into the Torino and headed out to
the Joe White Memorial Convalescent Home.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* *
“So Pete,” the blonde girl in
the passenger seat of the new Camaro said. “How fast can this new car of yours
go?”
“I bet I can get to the end
of the next block in less than ten seconds.”
17-year old Pete McFarland said – inordinately proud of his new car.
“I don’t know about that.”
The blonde – Janet was her name – said.
“Maybe you should try somewhere else.
There’s that nursing home there.
Those old guys aren’t fast enough to get out of the way if they wander
into the street.”
Pete snorted, “They never let
those old geezers out into the street.
It’ll be okay, baby. Now, ten
bucks says I can make that run in ten seconds or less. You got a stopwatch on your watch, don’t
you?”
“You’re on!” She said after a
slight hesitation and fastened her seatbelt for the ride.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * *
Starsky parked the Torino
across the street from the nursing home and the three people got out and
prepared to cross the street. Margaret
Taylor, with crutches - her legs out of plaster, though – came out the front
door and waved at the happy trio. That
was a mistake.
“Grammy!!” Emily cried
happily and, before Starsky could stop her, she was running across the street –
not paying the slightest bit of attention to the red Camaro bearing down on her
at an enormous rate of speed.
Starsky however, was paying
attention. “EMILY!!!!!!!” He screamed
and took off running after the little girl.
He reached her just in time – he picked her up just as the car hit
them. Starsky lost his grip on the
little girl and she went flying into a large bush in the nursing home’s front
landscape.
Starsky wasn’t so lucky as
the car tossed him like a rag doll. His
body flew up and over the hood, smashing the windshield before flying over the
roof of the car and landing hard on a parked car – smashing the windshield of
that car before rolling off onto the sidewalk to finally lay still.
Hutch was watching, frozen in
terror. Finally, he was galvanized into
action by the deathly stillness of his partner’s body. “STARSKY?” He called desperately. There was no answer. He quickly looked both ways and saw with not
a little satisfaction that the deadly sports car had lost control and barreled
into a tree. Then he bolted across the
street to where his partner was lying face up across the sidewalk.
Starsky looked horrible. There was blood everywhere and Hutch wasn’t
sure at all as to where it came from.
The viscous red substance was running down his face from a severe cut
over his forehead and his right arm was resting at an unnatural angle. It also appeared that his left shoulder had
been dislocated as well. Hutch reached
down with a shaky hand and felt for a pulse.
There was none.
‘Oh God, NO! Please
NO! Don’t take him away from me! Don’t let him die! I love him so much! I need
him so badly. Please God, I’ll do
anything you want! Just don’t take him
away from me!’ Hutch was praying hard as he began CPR.
After a minute, a nurse from
the home came out and relieved Hutch of half of his duty. She began the chest compressions as he
continued to breathe for his partner.
Another nurse came running up and announced that she had called
paramedics. Hutch – between breaths -
told her to contact Captain Dobey about the accident. She nodded and ran for the phone again.
After another few minutes,
the nurse said, “Hey, could we trade places?
I’m getting tired.”
Hutch nodded and quickly
moved to begin the chest compressions while the nurse continued the
mouth-to-mouth.
“Pretend Daddy?” a small,
scared voice came from behind him. “Are
you okay?”
Margaret Taylor watched the
heart-wrenching scene of the blonde man trying desperately to save a man who
was almost certainly beyond help. She
came up behind Emily and put her hands on the child’s shoulders.
“Your Pretend Daddy is hurt,
sweetie. He can’t answer you right
now.”
“He saved me.” Emily said
quietly. “That car was gonna hit me and he moved me out of the way. He’s not gonna die, is he Grammy?”
“I hope not, Sweetie. I truly hope not.”
Emily turned away from the
scary scene in front of her and buried her face in her grandmother’s
stomach. Margaret leaned a bit more on
her crutches so she could put her arms around the child.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The ambulance attendants
weren’t going to let Hutch ride in the ambulance until they saw a fiery
determination in the ice-blue eyes that brooked no argument. He spared a brief look at Margaret and
Emily. Margaret nodded and mouthed the
word ‘go’. Emily started to run after
her Uncle Ken only to be held that much tighter by her grandmother.
“I wanna go with them,
Grammy!”
“No sweetie, they only had
room for one extra person and your Uncle Ken had to be the one to go.”
“Why?”
“He’s your pretend daddy’s
partner. He’s known him longer than you
have.”
“But I wanna go with them!”
Margaret looked sadly at the
child and then something shiny caught her eye.
She hobbled over and looked down.
It was the key chain that held the key to the Torino. She called Emily over to her and said,
“Could you pick up those keys for me?
Then we can go to the hospital and see how your pretend daddy is doing,
okay?”
She looked over at the nurse
still standing on the sidewalk. “I’m
taking Mr. Starsky’s car and we’re going to the hospital.”
“I don’t know if that’s such
a good idea, Mrs. Taylor.”
“My right leg works well
enough to operate the gas and brake and I hope David doesn’t mind too much if I
ride the clutch a little bit too much with my left leg.”
The nurse sighed and nodded
reluctantly. “Mr. Thomas’ll probably
have my hide for this, but go ahead.”
“Don’t worry about that
Veronica. I’ll deal with Mr. Thomas
when I get back. I won’t let you get
fired for this.”
“Thanks Mrs. Taylor,” the
nurse said with a grateful smile. “Let
me know how he is, will you?”
“You’ve got it, Veronica.”
She said with a smile. “and thanks.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The ambulance pulled into the
bay to be met by a myriad of doctors and nurses. Hutch followed keeping one hand on the stretcher. In his blue shirt and pants, he was seen as
a paramedic and no one said anything as he accompanied his partner into the
examining room. He drifted into a
corner out of the way and watched the proceedings with wide eyes.
“BP’s DROPPING!”
“WHERE’S X-RAY?”
“I.V. RINGER’S LACTATE.”
“I THINK HE’S BLEEDING
INTERNALLY, ALERT THE O.R.”
“HE’S IN V-FIB!”
“CHARGE PADDLES TO 200…”
“PADDLES CHARGED…CLEAR!”
Hutch winced as the current
made his partner’s body jump.
“NO CONVERSION. CHARGE TO 250.”
“CHARGED…CLEAR!”
“DAMN…NO CONVERSION. CHARGE TO 300.”
“FLATLINE!!!!!”
“DAMMIT! BEGIN CPR.
ADRENALINE, NOW!”
“PADDLES CHARGED…ADRENALINE
IN…CLEAR!”
“NOTHING…RESUME
COMPRESSIONS. CHARGE TO 300 AGAIN.”
“CHARGED…CLEAR!”
“NOTHING.”
The doctors looked at each
other. The one standing with his back
to Hutch said, “You wanna call it?”
Hutch’s heart leapt into his
throat…they were about to declare his partner dead. He felt the tears well up.
The other doctor responded,
“No, continue CPR for a second. I’m
gonna do a direct massage. Get me the
rib spreader…NOW!”
Hutch watched as the doctors
quickly made an incision down the front of Starsky’s chest. Suddenly, he was aware of something that
sounded like a dentist’s drill and realized what they were going to do. The minute he saw the blade of the bone saw,
his knees weakened and his stomach suddenly remembered that it really hadn’t
really wanted breakfast that morning.
He put one hand over his mouth and bolted from the room.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*
After losing breakfast and
taking a few moments to sob uncontrollably in the restroom, Hutch splashed some
cold water on his face and headed out to find the waiting room. As soon as he entered, he nearly fell over
as a very scared five-year old attached herself to his legs.
“UNCLE KEN!” She cried as he reached down to pick her
up. She threw her arms around his neck
and buried her face in his shoulder.
Hutch hugged the little girl
tightly and looked over her shoulder to see Margaret sitting in a chair against
the wall.
“How is he?” Margaret asked
softly.
Hutch looked at the sobbing
five-year old in his arms and knew he couldn’t say it out loud without making
the poor child even more hysterical than she was at the present.
He sat down next to Margaret
with the shoulder not containing a little girl’s head closest to the older
woman. He leaned his head in and
whispered, “Almost dead.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Captain Harold Dobey stormed
into the waiting room and stopped short at the sight of his blond detective
holding and gently rocking a sleeping little girl in his lap.
“How is he?” Dobey asked
softly.
“I don’t know, Cap’n.” Hutch said equally softly. “I managed to get into the exam room for a
few minutes. His heart stopped and they
couldn’t get it started again. When
they started to cut his chest, I couldn’t watch any more so I left. I don’t know how he’s doing.” He finished miserably.
“My God,” Dobey said as he
put his hand on Hutch’s shoulder in a comforting gesture.
“What am I going to do
without him?” Hutch said as he felt the
tears welling up again.
“Aren’t you jumping to
conclusions? They hadn’t given up on
him, I’m betting they still haven’t.”
“One of the doctors was ready
to call time of death on him.”
Dobey looked at his detective
in shock. “They didn’t, did they?” he
said as his voice cracked.
Hutch just shook his head and
hugged the little girl a bit tighter.
She stirred in his arms, but didn’t wake up. Dobey looked at her for a moment and then into the terrified blue
eyes of a very worried man.
“What exactly happened?”
Margaret spoke up, “A couple
of kids were testing the speed capability of their car. Emily saw me standing there waiting for them
and she bolted across the street before David could stop her. He saw the car coming and got her out of the
way.” She shuddered at the memory. “He
was still holding her when the car hit him.
The poor child went flying into a bush.
She managed to get off with just a few scratches.” She looked at her
granddaughter affectionately. “Captain
Dobey, I’ve never seen anyone hit by a car before. And the sound of his body being hit…I’ll never forget that sound
as long as I live.”
Dobey started to say
something when the door to the waiting room opened. Hutch started to leap to his feet when he remembered the little
girl who had cried herself to sleep in his lap. It really didn’t matter, though.
It wasn’t a doctor.
The girl couldn’t have been
more than sixteen or seventeen. She had
a bandage on her forehead and her foot was wrapped in an Ace bandage. She hobbled in on crutches and sat down
quietly.
After a few moments of
silence, she looked over at Hutch.
“What are you here for?”
“My partner was hit by a
car.” He answered quietly.
“Your partner?” the girl blanched.
Hutch nodded. “We’re police officers. He’s my partner.”
“Police?” she whispered, eyes
wide.
Hutch nodded. “We weren’t on duty or anything. We were taking his foster daughter to see
her grandmother.” He gestured to Emily and then to Margaret. “The car was just going so damned fast! I don’t think he even tried to hit his
brakes!”
“Yes he did.” Janet answered
quietly.
Hutch looked at the girl with
new eyes…new, angry eyes. “How do you
know?” His voice was low and dangerous.
She couldn’t meet his
eyes. “I was in the car. Pete was showing me how fast he could
go. I told him it wasn’t a good idea
with that nursing home there, but he insisted it would be okay.”
“And just where is Pete,”
Hutch’s voice was positively menacing.
“Take it easy, Hutch,” Dobey said
quietly, knowing it wouldn’t do much good.
The girl shrank back, “He’s
still getting his arm put in a cast.
They had to stitch him up first.”
“Yeah, well they had to cut
my partner’s chest open to massage his heart.
If he dies, so help me…”
“Hutch!” Dobey hissed. “That’s enough. We know who he is and he’ll be placed under arrest as soon as
he’s released.”
The girl was nearly in
tears. “I’m so sorry!” She whispered
over and over again as if it were a mantra.
Just then the door opened and
Pete limped into the room, “Hey Janet, let’s get out of here before the cops
figure out I’m gone.”
Dobey stood up and Janet
shook her head and gestured to Hutch, “Pete!
You’re in trouble!”
“Hey, at least I missed the
kid! Dad’ll pay for the lawyers. I’ll get off for hittin’ that guy no
problem.”
“That ‘guy’,” Dobey said
angrily as he advanced on the boy, “was a police officer. There were several eye witnesses and there
is no way you’re getting out of this one.”
“Hey, back off old man!” Pete
hissed. “Who the hell do you think you
are?”
Dobey grabbed the boy by the
lapels of his jacket and hoisted him up until his feet weren’t touching the
floor. “I am CAPTAIN HAROLD DOBEY! You will NOT speak to me in that manner! The man you hit was a police officer under
my command and I do NOT take lightly to people hurting my men – is that clear?”
The boy nodded.
“What’s your full name?” Dobey asked without putting the teen down.
“Pete McFarland” The boy said
after a moment’s terrified hesitation.
Dobey finally put the boy
down and, pulling out his badge with one hand and keeping his other hand on
Pete’s good arm, he said, “Pete McFarland, you are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent,
anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…”
As Dobey read the boy his
rights, Hutch stared at him, the fury rising within him. He stood up carefully so as not to wake the
child in his arms. He walked over to
the boy who was now being held by the larger black man.
“You hit my partner,” Hutch’s
voice was low, but the menace there made the boy shrink back in fear. “You hit him and quite probably killed
him. Do you know what the penalty is
for killing a police officer?”
The boy shook his head; he
was trying very hard not to cry.
“What?” he whispered.
“It’s not half as bad as what
I would do to you if this child were not here.
Consider yourself lucky that she’s here and I love her enough not to
expose her to that level of violence.”
The boy sobbed as he shrank
back behind Dobey. “I’m so sorry!” he
whimpered.
“No you’re not.” Hutch said
venomously. “You’re just sorry you got
caught. Cap’n, get him out of my sight
before I do something he’ll regret.”
The boy finally lost it…both
emotionally and physically. He was
sobbing uncontrollably and suddenly realized in horror that he had soiled
himself.
Just then, a uniformed
policeman stuck his head in, “Excuse me, have you seen…oh, Captain Dobey, you
found him.”
Dobey growled, “Yes, I found
him. Where the hell were you when he just
walked out of the exam room?” Then, as
the officer stammered and stuttered, Dobey sighed and shoved the boy at
him. “Jenkins, isn’t it? Get him a pair of scrubs to wear so he
doesn’t mess up your car when he sits down and then report for traffic duty
until further notice.”
Jenkins nodded and took the
boy by his good arm. Dobey looked up at
him.
“And Jenkins, don’t let him
get away again, alright?”
As the flustered officer
ushered the sobbing teenager out of the room, Dobey turned back to Hutch, who
was standing there, red-faced and seething.
“Hutch, calm down son. You’ll wake her. Getting upset like this won’t help.”
“You’re right,” Hutch said quietly. He walked over and gently placed Emily into
Dobey’s arms then stormed out of the room to try to get his temper under
control again.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Hutch walked out of the ER
and paced around outside, forcing himself to breathe deeply.
‘Damn kid! Thinks he can get away with anything just
cause his daddy’s got money!’ He thought angrily to himself. ‘Thinks he can get away with mur…’
Hutch stopped that line of
thought with great difficulty. He
couldn’t think about that. It wasn’t
murder…yet.
‘Stop that! He’s not dead! He can’t die! He just
can’t!’ He said to himself. ‘If he dies, then how can I live?’
Hutch stopped his pacing and took a deep breath, trying desperately to curb that line of thought.
‘Okay, Hutchinson, think
about something else for a minute.’ Another deep breath.
‘Emily. She needs you right
now and you’re out here walking in circles.
Focus on Emily and hold it together.
Starsky’ll be fine…he has to be.
But she needs you now.’
Hutch scrubbed his hands over
his eyes and headed back to the waiting room.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
An hour later, Emily was
awake and sitting on her grandmother’s lap sucking her thumb. Hutch and Dobey paced the room nervously,
stopping only when the door to the waiting room opened, and then restarting
again when they figured out it wasn’t a doctor (or if it were a doctor, it
wasn’t for them).
Finally, the door opened and
a very weary-looking doctor walked into the room. “For David Starsky?”
Hutch and Dobey turned on the
doctor and Emily jumped off of Margaret’s lap and went running over.
“Is my Pretend Daddy going to
be okay?”
The doctor looked down at the
little girl and then up at Hutch with a raised eyebrow.
“She’s his foster daughter.”
Hutch said by way of explanation. “I’m
his partner. How is he?”
The doctor sighed and rubbed
his hand over the back of his neck. “To
be perfectly honest, I don’t know. They
just took him up to surgery to try to repair some of the internal
injuries. At one point, I honestly
didn’t think he was going to live long enough to get up to the O.R.”
“Is he gonna die?” Emily asked in a scared voice.
The doctor got down on one
knee in front of the little girl, “We’re going to do everything we can to keep
him from dying. I don’t think he’s
ready to leave such a pretty little girl yet.”
Emily smiled shyly at the
doctor and hid behind Hutch. The doctor
straightened up and looked at Hutch.
“Does he have any other
family?” The doctor asked quietly.
“He’s got a mother and
brother in New York, why?”
“I think you should call them
out here. It doesn’t look good.”
Hutch blanched. “You mean he’s…”
The doctor sighed and said,
“I don’t know. I honestly don’t
know. By all rights, he should be dead,
but he’s not. I think time is going to
be the key factor here. We’ll do all we
can, but I’ll tell you something honestly – I’m not sure it’ll be enough.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*
Rachel Starsky looked at the
clock and wondered if her son would remember that it was Friday. He had been forgetting a lot since taking on
the little girl. She had him wrapped
around her little finger – sometimes that was the finger that dialed the phone. Just as she was getting ready to pick up the
phone to call him herself, it rang.
She picked up the phone,
“It’s about time you called! I was
wondering if you forgot your poor old mother again.”
There was silence on the
other end of the line for a moment before a shaky voice said, “Rachel? It’s Ken Hutchinson.”
Rachel felt the world drop
from below her at the sound of her son’s partner’s voice. He didn’t sound worried, he sounded
downright terrified.
By the time the call was
finished, Rachel Starsky was already planning what to pack for her trip to
California. Another twenty minutes on
the phone and she had an airline reservation.
Two hours later, she was boarding the flight to Chicago for the
connection to LAX where Captain Dobey was going to pick her up and take her to
the hospital.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Hutch woke up in unfamiliar
surroundings, then he remembered – he was in Starsky’s bed. He had been forced to go home that night
because of Emily and he felt that she’d be more comfortable sleeping at
Starsky’s apartment. He started to sit
up when he felt the slight weight on his chest and realized that sometime
during the night, Emily had crawled into bed with him.
He looked down at the small
head of dark hair snuggled against his chest.
He smiled softly and stroked her hair until she stirred and looked
up. Confusion clouded her eyes for a
moment until she remembered.
“Uncle Ken? Can we go see Pretend Daddy?”
“Sure, Sweetie. Let’s get dressed and have some breakfast
and then we’ll go see him, okay?”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Rachel Starsky was sitting
outside her son’s room staring at him from behind glass. The doctors and nurses were checking and
rechecking his vital signs and all she could do was watch. She looked up when she felt a hand on her
shoulder.
“Oh Ken! How could something like this happen to my
baby?” She cried as she stood up and moved into his embrace.
“It’ll be okay, Rachel. He’s tough.
He’s gonna be okay. We just have
to keep telling ourselves that.” He
said, not sounding nearly so confident as the words he was speaking were meant
to sound.
“I know. My boy has been through so much in his
life. I’m just afraid this might be too
much.”
“I’ll admit it, I’m scared
too. He just has to know we’re not
going to let him go easily.”
Rachel pulled back from his
arms and smiled bravely into his face.
She was about to say something when a small voice came from the doorway
to Starsky’s room.
“Pretend Daddy? Are you awake? You missed cartoons this morning.”
Starsky said nothing. The nurses at the bed turned to see a very
scared little girl. One of them was
moving forward to intercept her when Hutch walked in and picked up the five-year
old.
“Sweetie, your Pretend Daddy
needs his rest, okay?” Hutch said as he
hugged the little girl gently. “Come
on, you want to meet his mommy?”
“Okay,” she said quietly as
she rested her head on his shoulder, inserting a small thumb into her mouth.
He walked out of the room and
over to where Rachel was standing.
“Rachel, this is David’s foster daughter Emily. Emily, this is your Pretend Daddy’s mommy.”
Emily looked at Rachel and
smiled shyly behind her thumb. With
that little expression, she captured Rachel’s heart instantly.
“Well hello Emily. My son has told me all about you. I’ve been wanting to meet you.” She held out her hand and Emily took
it. She shook the little girl’s hand
and said, “Do you remember when I talked to you on the phone last year?”
Emily wrinkled her brow in
concentration as she tried to capture a memory that, for a five-year old, was a
lifetime away. Finally, she shook her
head.
Rachel chuckled, “That’s
okay. I remember anyway. You were calling me ‘Pretend Grammy’. Do you remember that?”
Another shake of the little
head.
“Well, why don’t you call me
that while we’re here, okay?”
A nod. Emily leaned out of Hutch’s grasp towards
Rachel who took her into her arms and hugged her.
“Pretend Grammy?” Emily said
at length.
“Yes Emily?”
“Is my Pretend Daddy gonna
die?”
“I hope not, Shana. I hope not.”
“My name’s Emily! Not Shana!”
“I know that. Shana is another word for ‘pretty’. I’m just calling you pretty. Can I do that?”
Emily cocked her head to one
side, as though considering the request.
Finally, she nodded.
She smiled and put Emily
down. Then she addressed Hutch. “Let’s go to the lounge to talk for a few
minutes.”
Hutch nodded and took Emily’s
hand as Rachel led the way to the visitors’ lounge.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
When they got to the lounge,
Emily made a beeline for a small stash of toys left there for the littlest
visitors. Once she was playing quietly,
Rachel turned and addressed Hutch.
“What are we going to do with
her? Neither of us wants to leave David
while he’s here, but she can’t stay here for such a long time.”
Hutch nodded. “You’re right. This isn’t the best place for her, but I don’t know what to
do. You’re absolutely right when you
say I don’t want to leave him…he’s my partner, I can’t. But I can’t leave her either.”
“Well, what did you guys do
when you went to work? She couldn’t
have stayed with you on duty, could she?”
Hutch’s eyes widened and he
snapped his fingers, “Millie! I can’t
believe I forgot!”
“Millie?”
“Stars…er…David’s next door
neighbor. She’s been looking after
Emily while we’re on duty.”
“Then I suggest we take her
over there for the rest of the day. We
won’t be able to stay here too late, because we shouldn’t leave her for that
long at a time like this, but I think it’ll solve the problem, don’t you?”
Hutch sighed and nodded. “I just hate to leave her like that. She’s scared, Rachel. He was getting her out of the path of the
car when it hit him. She understands
what he did for her and I’m not so sure about how well she’s handling it.”
“Well, we just can’t leave
her with Millie too much, then. She’s
going to need you more than ever…at least as much as David needs you.”
Hutch sighed and looked again
at the little girl who had been through so much in such a short amount of
time. He walked over and knelt down
beside her.
“Hey Sweetie, what do you say
we go see Millie, huh?”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Hutch returned to the
hospital after leaving Emily with Millie.
He walked into Starsky’s room and saw Rachel sitting by her son’s bedside
holding his hand and stroking his hair.
“Any change?” he asked
quietly as he came up behind her.
Rachel just shook her
head. “The doctors said there probably
wouldn’t be much change for a while…assuming he can stay…”
“Alive.” Hutch finished her
sentence in a whisper.
“Ken, why don’t you sit with
him a while? I’m going to go down and
get a cup of coffee. I’ll be back in a
little bit.” She looked fondly at the
blond man, “you want I should get you anything?”
Hutch smiled gently at her
and said, “No thanks. I’ll be fine.”
She stood up, kissed him on
the cheek and moved out of the room.
Hutch quickly moved into her seat next to Starsky’s bed. He picked up the cold hand in one of his and
gently stroked it with his other.
“Hey Partner. That was some move yesterday.” He said
quietly. “You saved Emily’s life, you
know. She got off with just a few
scratches from that bush you tossed her in.
She’s fine. She’s just worried
about her pretend daddy. I left her
with Millie today. It really wouldn’t
be good for her to spend so much time at the hospital – especially at her age.”
Starsky had no comment.
“That poor kid has been
through so much! I mean in the past
year, her parents have been put in jail, she’s in a serious car accident that
leaves her grandmother in the hospital, she gets herself kidnapped and nearly
killed and now her pretend daddy is in the hospital. To be perfectly frank, Starsk, I really don’t think she can take
much more of this. So you’ve gotta wake
up and let her know you’ll be okay.”
Starsky kept his eyes and
mouth shut.
“Hell, who am I kidding? I don’t think I can take much more of
this. Please wake up!” His composure took a powder. “I don’t know what I’d do without you. Please don’t make me find out!”
Suddenly, there was a return
pressure on his hand. Hutch looked up
with hope in his eyes. Hope turned to
terror when the slight pressure quickly became a death grip as the seizure took
his partner. Starsky’s body arched off
the bed as every muscle contracted at once – coiling his body so tightly that
Hutch would wonder later how it was his bones didn’t snap. Starsky’s breath was coming in strangled
gasps and the heart monitor was suddenly off the scale.
Hutch quickly pried his hand
loose and bolted for the door. The
nurses at their station looked up at the sound of the panicked man yelling for
someone – anyone to help his partner.
Within seconds, Starsky’s room was filled with medical personnel. Hutch was forced to watch from behind glass
as his partner struggled for every breath and every heartbeat.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*
Rachel Starsky came back from
the cafeteria holding two cups of coffee.
When she saw Hutch standing outside the room with his face pressed
against the window and the doctors and nurses running in and out of the room,
she dropped the cups and ran over, grabbing the terrified man by the arm.
“Ken? What’s happened? What’s wrong?”
Hutch didn’t say anything; he
just grabbed Rachel and hugged her tightly.
She managed to turn in his arms to see her son convulsing on the
bed. She gasped and tried to run into
the room only to be held that much tighter by Hutch.
“You can’t do anything but
get in their way, Rachel. Let the
doctors work.” He said tightly.
She stopped pulling against
him as she realized what a big effort he was exerting to take his own
advise. She could tell that it was all
he could do to keep from running into the room himself.
After another minute, a nurse
went running in carrying a syringe. The
doctor took it from her and injected it into Starsky’s I.V. After a few seconds, the taught body slowly
relaxed and the heart monitor returned to a slow, steady beeping. After another few minutes of watching, the
doctors and nurses filed out of the room.
Hutch grabbed one of the
doctors by the arm. “Doc? What happened? How is he?”
The doctor sighed, “I’m
afraid he had a seizure. It sometimes
happens in coma patients. I’ve
prescribed something to try to curb any future seizures before they happen.”
“So, how is he?” Hutch asked again.
“Holding his own. That’s about the best I can tell you right
now. We’ll keep a close eye on him to
make sure we don’t repeat this incident.
The only other thing to do is wait.”
Hutch sighed and nodded. The doctor moved off and Hutch, letting go
of Rachel, slid down the wall until he was sitting on the floor. Rachel knelt down beside him.
“Ken? Are you okay?”
Hutch was trembling all over
and the tears were threatening to spill down his cheeks. “I’ve never seen anything like that
before. I didn’t think I could get any
more scared than I was. I was wrong.”
Now it was Rachel’s turn to
hold Hutch. She pulled his head to her
shoulder and held him as though he were her own. His arms snaked around her and held on as though she were really
his mother. They sat like that for a
long time before Hutch finally took a deep breath and stood up. He helped Rachel up and together they went
in to sit with Starsky.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*
The next few days passed
slowly. Hutch took time off of work and
when he wasn’t with Starsky, he was with Emily. Emily was slowly withdrawing and Hutch had a feeling he knew why. Finally, nearly ten days after the accident,
he knew what he had to do.
Emily was sitting at the breakfast
table staring at her cereal. She would
occasionally look over at Hutch who was watching her intently. Whenever she looked at him, she would smile
bravely and take a small bite to appease him.
Finally, he stood up and took the bowl and put it into the sink.
He sat down and pulled her
over onto his lap. She rested her head
on his chest and he hugged her gently.
“Do you want to come with me
to see your pretend daddy today, Sweetie?”
She looked up at him with
wide eyes. “Can I?”
Hutch nodded. “I think he would like to hear your voice.”
“Is he gonna be okay?” She asked softly.
“I hope so, Baby. I really hope so.” He hugged her tightly for a moment before putting her down and
standing up. “You ready to go?”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* *
“Pretend Daddy? Are you awake?” Little Emily asked the
still, silent man in the bed. “It’s me,
Emily – you know…your princess?”
Starsky said nothing. Hutch and Rachel stood by and watched the
heartbreaking scene in front of them.
“Thank you for saving me from
that car. I didn’t want to be hit, I
just wanted to see my Grammy.” Emily
stood on the chair and petted Starsky’s curls.
“I’m glad you threw me into the bush instead of onto the ground – that
would have hurt!”
Starsky stayed
motionless. Emily crawled onto the bed
and snuggled in next to him. Hutch
moved forward to pull her off, but Rachel put a restraining hand on his arm. He watched carefully to make sure Emily
hadn’t dislodged any of the myriad of tubes and wires coming off of his
partner’s body. When he was satisfied
that she was being careful, he relaxed and went back to the role of
non-interfering observer.
“Millie taught me a new song,
Pretend Daddy. Kermit the Frog sang it
first. Do you want to hear it?”
Starsky didn’t say no. Emily began to sing softly:
“Why are there so many songs about rainbows
And what’s on
the other side?
Rainbows are
visions, but only illusions,
And rainbows
have nothing to hide.
So we’ve been
told and some chose to believe it
I know they’re
wrong, wait and see.
Someday we’ll
find it, the rainbow connection,
The lovers, the
dreamers and me.
Who said that
every wish would be heard and answered
When wished on
the morning star?
Somebody thought
of that, and someone believed it,
Look what it’s
done so far.
What’s so
amazing that keeps us stargazing
And what do we
think we might see?
Someday we’ll find it, the rainbow
connection,
The lovers, the
dreamers and me.
All of us under
its spell,
We know that
it’s probably magic…
Have you been
half asleep? And have you heard voices?
I’ve heard them calling my name.
Is this the
sweet sound that calls the young sailors?
The voice might
be one and the same.
I’ve heard it
too many times to ignore it.
It’s something
that I’m s’posed to be…
Someday we’ll find it, the rainbow
connection,
The lovers, the
dreamers and me.”
-The Rainbow Connection by Paul Williams
& Kenny Ascher
Emily finished the song with
a sigh. “Did you like that Pretend
Daddy? Millie says it’s her favorite
song and she’s really glad that I learned it so good.”
“Loved it…Princess.” Came a
whisper from the bed.
“You’re awake!” she squealed
and leaned in to hug him.
Hutch ran over and grabbed
Emily off the bed before she did any damage.
Then he looked at his partner’s open violet-blue eyes and whispered,
“Welcome back, partner.”
Starsky’s eyes were smiling
even though his mouth didn’t have the energy for it. Rachel approached the other side of the bed and took her son’s
hand. “You really enjoy worrying your
poor old mother don’t you?”
“Hi Ma,” Starsky said weakly.
“I missed you, Baby. I’m glad to see you’re awake.”
The three people standing
continued talking softly to the man in the bed until he could no longer keep
his eyes open. Gradually, he slipped
into sleep – a sound, comfortable, healing sleep.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Starsky was just getting out
of the hospital on August 29 – two days before Margaret Taylor was to take his
‘Little Princess’ home with her.
Starsky was heartbroken at the thought that he had missed so much
precious time with the little love of his life.
Once he was home and settled
onto his couch, Hutch went to the kitchen to make him some soup (Rachel had had
to go home a week earlier – much to her disappointment that she couldn’t be
there when he got out of the hospital.).
Emily crawled up onto the couch and cuddled up to Starsky, who put his
good arm around her gently.
“Pretend Daddy, Grammy says I
have to go home with her soon.”
“I know, Princess. I’m gonna miss you.”
“I wanna stay with you!”
“I know Princess and I want
you to stay, but your Grammy misses you too.”
She sighed, “I know. I miss her, but I don’t wanna go away from
you again.”
Starsky closed his eyes,
willing the tears back. He hugged the
little girl tighter against him and she put her arms around him and buried her
face in his chest.
He was about to say something
else when the telephone rang. Hutch
answered it and then brought the phone to Starsky.
“Hello?”
“David? It’s Margaret Taylor, how are you feeling
today?”
“I’m good, Margaret - just
glad to be home. What’s up?”
“Well, I was wondering if you
could do me a favor?”
“I guess so, what’d ya have
in mind?”
“Could you watch Emily for a
couple more weeks? That nursing home
I’ve been staying in offered me a position as an assistant activities
director. It’s better money than I was
making in San Francisco and they’re willing to help me pay for the move. I just need someone to watch Emily while I
work on getting settled in Los Angeles.
What do you say?”
Feeling like he had just won
the lottery, Starsky said, “You better believe it! As if you haveta ask! Of
course I’ll do it! I was just telling
her that I didn’t want her to go home so soon and now she doesn’t have to!”
Emily, who had been watching
her pretend daddy’s face as he talked on the phone, suddenly realized that he
was talking about her. “Is that about
me, Pretend Daddy?”
Starsky looked at her and
grinned, then turned his attention back to the phone. “You wanna tell her Margaret or can I?”
“You can, David. I have to go now. I’ve got to go get my car from the shop that it’s been at for the
past three months and then drive up to San Francisco to start packing. I’ll be back in another week or so to start
looking for apartments here.”
“Okay, I’ll see you later,”
He said with a lopsided grin. “Oh, and
Margaret? Thanks.”
As he hung up the phone, he
hugged Emily and called Hutch in from the kitchen.
“I got some good news for you
guys.”
“What?” Emily said eagerly.
“What’s up, Starsk?” Hutch
asked almost as eagerly.
“Emily, I get to keep you for
another couple o’ weeks!”
Emily squealed and threw her
arms around Starsky’s neck. He tickled
Emily until she let go and then said, “That’s not even the best part!”
“What’s the best part?” Hutch
asked, thinking that not much else could be better than Starsky getting back a
couple of the weeks with Emily that he lost because of the accident.
Starsky looked at Emily. “You’re Grammy got a job here in town. You’re gonna be living a lot closer…that
means we can visit a whole bunch more!”
Hutch looked at his partner
with wide blue eyes. He couldn’t
believe the luck. At first, he thought
he was just happy for Starsky. Then he
realized how much he would’ve missed the little girl when she went back to San
Francisco. He grinned and sat down next
to Starsky and the two men hugged the little girl who had become so important
to them. For once, both of them
believing in Happily Ever After.
End.