Abel Ladd - The Crying Child | Day 12 : 1445 words

She opened the door to the small room they had stayed in the prior night and soon had her few things packed into the bag and was ready to leave when she had the thought hit her, “what happened to Neal’s pda? The hospital would have given it to me if he had it on him.” The question stuck in her head as she picked Abel up from the bed where he lay and carried the bag and him out the door.
The entry desk for the building was staffed by a young woman who looked up expectantly as Esme and Abel approached. “Can I help you ma’am?” she asked politely.
“Hi, yes, is it possible to get a car to take us home?” Esme asked.
The young woman nodded as she replied, “yes, of course. We have a couple services available or there are the city cabs.”
“A car service please, I don’t really like the taxis.”
“Absolutely,” the woman responded as she picked up the phone and pressed a speed dial button. “Where will you be going ma’am?” she asked.
“Parkway and Spruce on the east side,” Esme replied.
The young woman talked with the service and soon hung up saying, “there will be a car here within 10 minutes to pick you up. You can wait over there on the couches if you would like.” She motioned to the line of couches near the entrance and Esme glanced over in the direction.
“Thank you,” she said then carried Abel and her bag over and sat down to wait. Soon a dark blue car pulled in front of the building and Esme quickly walked outside as the driver was climbing out of the driver’s seat. He walked around to the rear passenger door and opened it for her with a quick, “ma’am”. “Thank you,” she said as she climbed into the car with Abel in her arms and she set her bag on the seat next to her.
The ride through the city was slow from the morning traffic and Abel started to fuss and whine which Esme quickly responded to by lifting her shirt and cradling him close enough for him to latch and eat. Her mind was awash and her thoughts floated between anguish and resolve but the doubt was looming, would there be any possibility of a cure for Neal? She could only try at this point.
Abel’s cough snapped her out of her thoughts and she looked down the neck of her shirt to see him smiling back up at her. She smiled at him then pulled him out from under her shirt and when she looked back up out the windows she saw a sign for Neal’s work, TDI Manufacturing looking for workers. She made a mental note to call Neal’s supervisor and try to get his belongings from his locker.
After another ten minutes the car pulled to a stop in front of her apartment building and the driver walked around and opened the door for her and held his hand out to help her stand. She grabbed her bag in the same arm as Abel and held the drivers hand as she climbed from the car. She fumbled in her bag trying to find her wallet but the driver closed the door and said , “it’s fine ma’am, it’s all taken care of. You have a good day.”
Esme was a bit shocked by his words but accepted it with a, “thank you very much. Have a good day.” She quickly walked to the building entrance and went straight to the elevator but then had to wait for nearly a minute for the elevator to land. When the doors opened a group of three men dressed in black suits stepped out and the first glared down at Esme as he passed. The other two passed by her but she lowered her eyes and looked at Abel as they passed, once they were out of the elevator she entered it and hit the button for her floor then the close door button repeatedly until the doors slid shut and the elevator began to climb.
It felt noticeably different knowing Neal wasn’t there as she walked into the apartment. She dropped the bag on the kitchen table and then took Abel to his room and changed his disgusting diaper. Once he was cleaned up she set him in his crib and went to their bedroom. “I don’t want this to be my bedroom, it’s still our bedroom damn it!” she yelled in her head as she entered the room. Her face turned to a frown when she looked at Neal’s side of the bed and the grief overcame her again. She sat down on the bed and began to sob.
As she slowly began to calm down her thoughts turned to Doctors Biggs and Stetler. She tried to remember what Neal had said about the meeting with Doctor Biggs but so many of the details were muddied by the prior 24 hours. Her tears finished falling and her cheeks were once again dried as she stood and walked back to the kitchen where she grabbed the bag and emptied it on the table. Sorting it out to a pair of piles, one for her and one for Abel which was largely going to his room. She swept it up in her arms and headed for Abel’s room where she heard him babbling away as she walked in. He continued to babble as she put the arm load away in various places around the room and she could still hear him as she left the room.
Sitting on the couch she pulled out her pda and found the contact info of Doctor Biggs who she dialed and waited for someone to answer. After three rings the line connected and a woman’s voice said, “Birthing center, how may I direct your call?”
“Yes, Hi. Can you connect me to Doctor Biggs please?” Esme asked.
“Please hold,” the woman said.
The line went silent for a moment then it popped back to life with the local news reports and it was mostly through one. Esme sighed and was only half listening but she did hear TDI Mfg and accident which caught her attention and had her listening close to the very tail end of the report but the details had already passed. “Wonderful,” she thought, ”it’s in the news.”
“This is Doctor Biggs,” he said which startled Esme at the sudden sound.
“Doctor Biggs this is Esme Ladd, Abel’s mother.”
“Yes, how are you doing? Is everything going okay?” he asked.
“No, things aren’t alright. Neal was injured at work and is in the hospital now and they don’t think he will live,” she explained. “He got lungs full of hydrogen fluoride which also destroyed his eyes.”
“Oh no, I’m so sorry to hear that. What can I do for you?” he asked.
“Well, a couple of things really. The hospital said they contacted places around the country to determine if there was any hope of saving him but all they got was noes for answers. I really hope you know someone or of something that could save him.”
“What did you say filled his lungs?”
“They said it was hydrogen fluoride,” she replied.
The line was silent for a long while as Doctor Biggs thought. He finally replied, “I have no idea. That is rather rare to have an exposure to. If they asked experts around the country I’m not sure what else to tell you. Unfortunately that sounds like a pretty definite prognosis.”
Esme’s voice broke as she asked, “there’s really nothing?”
“I can ask Grey but there’s nothing I know of,” he answered.
“If you could,” she said softly.
“Sure, I am going to put you on hold while I go find him and ask. It may be a bit so maybe I should just call you back,” he said as he thought better.
“That’ll be fine,” she said then quickly added, “oh and Doctor?”
“Yes?”
“The other thing I wanted to ask you was what you told Neal about Abel. He told me some of it but now I can’t remember with everything happening.” Esme asked.
“Oh, uhm,” he stammered then continued,” uh I think that is better for another time. Let me find Doctor Stetler and I will get back you with an answer on your first question.”
“Alright, thank you Doctor,” Esme said and soon the line was silent and the call ended. She sat back on the couch and covered her face with her hands shook her head at the situation she found herself in.