Junk Mail

Chapter Thirteen - Change, Conflict and Courage

The car ride to the hospital was quiet.

Larry concentrated on the road ahead and refused to look at his son who had his forehead pressed up against the back of the headrest attached to the driver's seat - Larry's street. Ben was convinced that he was going to lose everyone he cared about and had vowed to himself that he would remain close to them for as long as everyone managed to live. Ben had offered to sit on the area above the dashboard of the car, but Larry had refused suggesting that he wouldn't be able to see and that the car would crash. Ben thought Larry was spouting nonsense and then offered to sit on the bumper of the car and move the wipers when it rained, but Larry refused again. In the end Ben decided to sit in the back of the car and press his face against the back of Larry's headrest, until the seatbelt was strained against Ben's stomach and chest. Ben felt very accomplished, though this sense of accomplishment was tainted by the worry he felt for his mother.

Pepe el had fallen asleep and was drooling out of the open window, as he had decided to stick his entire head out of the car before falling asleep. He jolted upright however when Larry slammed on the breaks, parking in an actual parking spot outside the hospital. Pepe el was disgusted by Larry's parking but decided to keep his comments to himself. When Larry and Ben began walking off to the hospital however, Pepe el asked to borrow the keys and offered to pay for the parking ticket. He stayed behind for a few minutes and made sure that the car was parked firmly into a tree, and figured that he had done a wonderful job for Larry who still had a lot to learn about driving.

"Pepe are you coming?" Larry asked, walking out of the automatic doors as Pepe el made his way towards the main entrance of the hospital. "What took you so long? Never mind. Forget it. Ben's already gone up but I stayed back because you didn't know which room they've put Hillary in."

Pepe el nodded and walked with Larry into the lift and up to the first floor. Pepe el saw rows and rows of hospital rooms and lots of people with food on the tables near their hospital beds. His stomach rumbled and Pepe el realised he hadn't eaten breakfast that day and also hadn't found any burgers in Susanna's car, so he continued to walk with Larry but also kept an eye out for any patients who were asleep. If he was lucky they could have some nice food which Pepe el could tuck into on their behalf.

"It's just past this corner," Larry told Pepe el. "I think we're just about there."

Pepe el kept following Larry who seemed to know the hospital like the back of his hand. Pepe el hadn't really been to the hospital very much. Whenever he'd broken any bones, his father had normally fixed them up as his father had been a doctor. That was before a lady said he had inappropriately touched her and then Pepe's father had lost his job. Pepe didn't really know what to think about the issue especially as the lady had been his mother, who had been married to his father for at least five years at the time of the crime.

"And we're here," Larry announced.

Pepe el and Larry arrived outside Hillary's room but were both surprised to see Ben standing outside the door as well. Pepe el also realised there was food at the nurse's desk near Ben's mother's room and saw that no nurses were about. He dashed towards the food and was slightly disappointed to see healthy foods like pasta and cake and fizzy drinks, but he tucked in anyway.

Whilst Pepe el happily ate, Ben felt a lump rise up in his throat and tried not to cry when he saw his mother. She was propped up against a pillow and Wren and Hen were around her. The three of them were laughing and his mother didn't seem very tired or hurt by what had happened to her, so Ben assumed that her heart attack hadn't been a very big one.

"Let's watch it again," Hillary said to one of Ben's siblings - he didn't know which. "Yeah, I don't think you can rewind things on the hospital TV. It must be online though. Maybe we can see it again there."