Junior's Luck

Junior's Luck-Chapter 11

Only a couple of people occupied the poorly lighted hospital lobby. They lounged on worn vinyl couches reading magazines. Kelsey walked past them and down the hall that led into the main part of the building. It ended at a pair of double doors where it formed a T intersection with a hallway that ran at right angles to it. He had no idea how to find the snack bar.

Near where the corridors intersected, a prunish old lady in a light blue smock sat at a small desk. Overhead, illuminated by a single flickering fluorescent tube, a large plastic sign read: INFORMATION.

Kelsey approached the woman and tried to smile. Her eyes narrowed and her mouth drew tight as she looked up from the envelopes she was stuffing. She wore too much rouge and lipstick, Kelsey thought. In the eerie glow of the fluorescent light, the effect was horrific.

"Visiting hours are over," she said before Kelsey had a chance to speak. Her voice boomed in the twilight silence of the hallway.

"Uh, I'm not here to see anyone."

"You can't hang around here, young man. This is not a game room."

"Well..." Kelsey began, but he couldn't think of anything to say. It seemed this old lady suspected he was up to something, only she couldn't know what. Still, the desk and the big information sign intimidated him with their implied authority. He called upon some authority himself. "I'm supposed to meet my parents in the snack bar. Can you tell me where it is?"

"Take this hallway." The old lady pointed to the corridor to Kelsey's right. The flickering light had a strobe effect, making her movements appear jerky. "Turn left at the first hallway and look for the sign on the right. Proceed directly to the snack bar; the rest of the hospital is restricted after visiting hours. And no horseplay."

"Yes, ma'am." Kelsey should have walked away, but something made him wait to be dismissed.

"Your folks here to visit someone?" The old lady's eyes narrowed again.

"Uh, yeah, my Uncle Bill. He's sick."

The old lady grabbed a metal file box of index cards from a corner of the desk. Her withered fingers poised over the row of cards, she asked, "Bill who? What's his last name?"

"Rush."

The old lady repeated the name Rush and searched through the cards. Kelsey didn't wait for her to find the name. He hustled into the corridor, hung a left at the first intersection, and entered the snack bar. Junior sat at a table, his hands wrapped around a sandwich, his mouth open, ready to take the first bite.

He held up the sandwich as Kelsey approached him. "It's turkey. I was kind of hungry."

"Junior? Are you feeling all right?"

"Yeah."

Junior didn't look well to Kelsey. His friend could have been a poster child for hunger relief; he had lost so much weight. His face and lips were bloodless; the circles under his eyes had grown darker. The shaggy mane of hair on his head needed washing and combing. Only the bright blue eyes represented the old Junior. They twinkled with enthusiasm and mischief as Junior struggled to stand. He stuffed the sandwich into his jacket pocket.

"I'll eat this later."

"Come on. We've gotta leave," Kelsey said as he walked toward the exit. "The old lady out front might be looking for me."

Kelsey checked the hallway; it was empty. "Can we get out of the hospital this way?" Kelsey pointed to the left, the opposite direction from which he had arrived.

"I'm not sure," Junior said. "Why can't we use the front door? They won't recognize me."

"I told the old lady I was meeting my parents in the snack bar. When she sees me with you, she might try to stop us."