CHAPTER 5
They spent the night pacing the floor…watching the
late night patients as they wandered in and out…and sitting together in
silence. By four o’clock in the morning Cassie was completely exhausted.
She had been drinking coffee to try and stay awake with him but even that
seemed to have no effect on her anymore.
She leaned her tired head on his shoulder and released
one last yawn before finally drifting off. He was tired too and within
a matter of minutes, he was asleep beside her. The same nurse who had refused
him visitation watched as the two of them slept together in the hard plastic
chairs. Most people would just go on home and come back in the morning.
She had to admire
the way they chose to stay here for their friend. She stood at her
desk and thought to herself….
(Maybe the rules could be bent a little in the morning…)
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The sun rose slowly at around 6:30 AM as the room
took on a fresh golden glow. The voices over the intercom grew more and
more frequent and another busy day in the ER had begun. People crowded
into the room…filling out forms and filling up the empty chairs around
them. Cassie awoke to the sound of a small baby crying and gave him a light
tap on the shoulder…
“It’s morning…” She told him as he opened his eyes
to mere slits and adjusted them to the bright lights in the room.
“What time is it?” He asked as he yawned and rubbed
his eyes with the tips of the fingers on his left hand.
She looked at the watch on his left wrist…as he
held his arm in front of his face.
“It’s almost 7…”
Starsky stood up slowly…holding onto his back for
a minute until the pain subsided. Then he walked slowly up to the nurse’s
station to speak to the pretty young thing now on duty there…
“I’m Officer David Starsky…My partner Ken Hutchinson
was brought in last night….”
“Oh you’re the one that Bertha told me about…I can
let you go back for a minute to see him, but they’ll be moving him into
surgery soon to remove the tube in his throat.”
Cassie had stood up and moved closer to him to listen
in on the conversation when she overheard the invitation.
“You go on ahead…I’ll wait here for you.” She said
from behind him as he turned around to the sound of her voice.
“You sure?” He asked a little puzzled, as he wondered
why she wouldn’t want to go with him.
“I’d rather see him after surgery…” She confessed.
“When he’s feeling a little better.”
“I’ll be right back and then I’ll take you down
to the cafeteria to get a little breakfast."
“Ok…” She replied as she began to make her way back
to the chair she had fallen asleep in earlier.
Starsky walked through the doorway as the nurse
held it open for him. He waited for it to close and then whispered quietly
to her…
“Can you do me a favor?”
“If I can?” She said with a little hesitation in
her voice.
“Can you keep an eye on her for me?”
“Sure…It won’t be a problem.” She told him eagerly
as she began to walk down the corridor with him.
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Starsky entered the room slowly as the nurse closed
the door behind him. Hutch’s head was turned towards him and the tube was
fastened a bit more securely to his neck than the last time he had seen
him.
His face was pale and his eyes were closed. His
breathing seemed rhythmic and steady and both his arms lay on top of the
blanket that covered his body from the chest down. An IV line was attached
to his left arm and his hair was mussed. He looked like hell…but
he was alive.
Starsky strolled over to him slowly and placed the
palm of his hand flat against his left cheek as he spoke to him…
“Hutch…Hutch…It’s Starsk.” He called to him as he
tried to hide the sadness in his voice.
Hutch didn’t respond at all and so he made another
attempt…
“Hey you Big Blonde Blintz…You gonna sleep all day
or what?” He coaxed as he patted him lightly on the face and grabbed hold
of his chin to try and bring him around…but there was still no response.
He bent his head down and released a sigh as he
allowed his right hand to slide down Hutch’s cheek…then he brought both
hands up to rest on top of his partner’s broad shoulders before speaking
again….
“Hutch…lookit…I hope like hell you can hear me because
there’s somethin’ I gotta say to you.”
He began as he tried to hold back his tears.
“I’m sorry…God I’m so damn sorry Hutch. After all you’ve done for me…this
is how I repay you? I swear…No…I promise you Hutch…I’ll never do it to
you again…as long as I live. I just need you to be alright…just be alright.”
Hutch didn’t flinch and Starsky knew that he was
probably only talking to himself at this point. But it felt good to get
the words out…even if he didn’t respond to them. He knew that Hutch was
listening…if not with his ears…then with his heart.
A gurney was pushed against the door causing it
to swing open and bang against the wall as the intern wheel it into the
room. Starsky took a few steps back and watched as the IV bag was lifted
and hung from a pole that extended from the portable bed and then the young
man lifted the oxygen tank and drug his partner’s limp body onto the gurney
as he spoke to him.
“They’re waiting for him in surgery…you’ll have
to leave now.”
“How long?”
“I don’t know…I just deliver…you’ll have to ask
the doctor.” He said bluntly as he threw Hutch’s hands up onto his chest
as if he were transporting a piece of beef to the butcher. Then he threw
the oxygen tank between his legs and started out the door with him.
“Take it easy with him will ya!” Starsky told him
angrily.
“Look…If I don’t have him there in three minutes…Dr.
Sawyer will have my head on a platter.” The young man told him bluntly.
“Well I wouldn’t worry too much about that if I
were you.” Starsky said with a cold gaze that caused him to stop and stare
back at him. “Because if you do that again…I just might deliver it to him
myself.”
The young man gave him a fearful look and then quickly
rolled Hutch’s body out of the room and down the hallway. Starsky strolled
up to the doorway and watched until the gurney disappeared through the
elevator doors.
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