Red White and Black

Chapter Twenty One - Part B

Sadie

Sadie sat next to the hospital bed, baffled by the array of tubes and equipment attached to Estelle Morris. Hospitals unnerved her, but the thought of being connected to strange machines, each emitting its own peculiar whir or beep and tended by austere keepers who silently drifted in to perform some arcane reading or adjustment positively scared the daylights out of her. She prayed that when her day came, she would be granted the same condition as Estelle: blissful unawareness.

Sammy Morris had been surprised, at first, by her appearance in Estelle's room. Surprise was soon followed by resentment and a flash of white hot rage.

"What do you think you're doin' here?" he asked, rubbing his eyes. It was obvious he had stayed beside his mother the entire night and had minimal success in gaining any real sleep in the process.

"Mr. Morris, I come up here 'cause you be needin' some help and I aim to give it to you."

He snorted. "I don't need no help and if I did, you can bet I wouldn't come to you for it. That nephew of yours is the cause of all this. He's nothing but trouble and one day he's gonna have to pay."

Sadie folded her arms, trying to ignore the disconcerting noises emanating from the hardware clustered around Estelle. "I guess it don't matter none what I say or what Markus says, but what about the police? And your own daughter? They flat out said Markus had nothin' to do with this," she said, gesturing to his mother.

"Leave Abbie out of this. She's too young, she's confused."

"Confused? That girl's got more sense than you give her credit for. Are you telling' me she didn't come up here to see you last night? Didn't she set the record straight?"

Sadie folded her arms across her chest and stood tapping her toe, waiting for a response.

Sammie gave a deep sigh, as if it pained him to admit it. "Yeah, she was here."

Sadie noticed he refused to admit the part about Markus being innocent. "So I gotta tell you, if you'd just take a minute or two to get to know the boy and look past the color of his skin you'd be able to tell for yourself he ain't the kind to go around beatin' up helpless folk. He's a good kid, a fine young man. But all you can see is that he's just shiftless and no-account."

Sammy's eyes widened at her fiery tone, but she didn't relent. "I don't have a clue who did this to your mama, but I know one thing for certain: it wasn't Markus."

Sammy snorted again, then folded his arms and fell into silence. After a few minutes had passed, Sadie realized he was trying to ignore her, as if that would make her go away. "Mr. Morris, I know you gotta be tired. Why don't you go on home, get some rest, and let me call you if her condition changes? I promise I'd give you a call the second there's a change."

"I got a better idea. How 'bout you leave this room, get back in your ghetto bomb, drive back to what once used to be a nice neighborhood, and pop out a few more welfare babies? I don't need you here and I don't want you here."

His hot words stung Sadie like a whip. Sweet Lord, give me patience and help me to keep on. "Mr. Morris, I want you to listen to me and listen real good. I think you know that ain't one bit fair to me. I've treated you with kindness and respect every day since we first moved into that house. I've turned aside every cruel and nasty remark you ever made about me and my family. You been nothin' but rude and disrespectful to me and mine from day one. And why? We done nothin' wrong to you."

His arms stayed folded across his chest, refusing to look at her. He reminded her of a sullen child: one caught with his hand in the cookie jar but too stubborn to admit it or face the consequences. But she was stubborn too, if not more so.

She pulled a chair in from the hallway and positioned it on the opposite side of the bed, as close to Estelle as her apprehension of the tubes and gadgetry allowed her. "I'm stayin', " she announced, settling into the chair, "so you might as well go on home and get some sleep."

Sadie watched as Sammy wrestled with himself; he was too exhausted to mask his emotions, if he would have ever bothered in the first place. She knew he was concerned about his mother's condition, who wouldn't be after all, yet continued to struggle with his hatred and distrust.

He let out a long low sigh. "Why do you bother?"

The question startled her. "Bother with what?"

He answered but very obviously would not look her in the eyes. "It's obvious I've got nothing but hard feelings toward your nephew and I, well. I guess I've never really talked to or treated you all that nice either... I guess I can't understand why you'd bother coming over here and still try to be nice to me."

Sadie sat back in her chair, her arm brushing against one of the contraptions hooked up to Estelle but momentarily forgotten in light of the question before her. "I guess I don't know no other way." She paused for a moment, considering. "I got no education, didn't finish high school and certainly never went on to no university, so I don't know a whole lot. What I do know has come to me the hard way, beat into me one way or the other and that's just the way of it. So I guess I figure this life's hard enough without us makin' it harder on each other."

He gave a slight nod then eased back in his chair, saying nothing while Sadie waited for a response. When none was forthcoming she was confused over his silence. Does he think I'm wrong? Or maybe just a doormat? She was about to ask him a question when she noticed his eyes had drifted shut.

Maybe that is his answer. Perhaps the only one he can allow himself to give right now.

He dozed for half an hour or so until a nurse bustled into the room and roused him. From Sadie's many visits to friends and family in the hospital, it seemed to her the sworn duty of all nurses, at all hospitals, was to rouse the sleeping patient or when not possible, the dozing visitor, as an integral part of their routine.

"Mr. Morris?" she scolded. "You really ought to be getting some sleep. You've been here all night."

"I thought I was just sleeping," he said, stretching in the chair, "until you woke me up."

The nurse cocked her head at him in a condescending manner. "You need to be at home in bed getting some real sleep." She studied the machines, took some readings, then tinkered with the myriad of knobs, tubes, and buttons with the same intensity one would expect from a pilot prepping to land a jumbo jet. Then, peering over her glasses at Sadie, she added, "I assume you're here to relieve him."

Sadie nodded and the nurse turned to Sammy with victory in her eye. "There. It's all settled. You get yourself on home and your mother will be in good hands here." She spun on her heels and vanished from sight leaving Sadie feeling somewhat vindicated. She sat back in her chair and gazed over the unmoving form of Estelle waiting for Sammy's response.

Sammy stood and looked around the room with a helpless expression on his face. "I guess I should know I'm beat when two women gang up on me."

Sadie scowled and replied, "If you think I'm feisty about the color of my skin, just try and start mouthin' off about women and see how far it gets you."

Sammy gave her a half smile, unsure of the seriousness of her comment, then shuffled from the room. Lord, that man is exhausted. She looked back to Estelle and gingerly picked up her limp hand and held it, shocked at how cold it felt to the touch.

A noise from the doorway caught her attention. It was Sammy. "Uhh, Well. Thanks," he said awkwardly, then turned and left before she could respond.

Sadie smiled to herself. It's a start!