The Pearl of the of Sea

Chapter 23

At the hospital, Steve is sitting in the waiting room with his arm around Neenah. The waiting room has several chairs and paintings on the walls. The waiting room has a giant window that overlooks the front of the hospital and on the opposite side of the window is another window that overlooks the hallways that has a door next to it. Neenah leans her head on Steve's shoulder. Steve sees Michelle, Jeff, and Tom come in, so he gets up, "Thank you for bringing Tom, Michelle, I would have picked him, up, but Neenah was too anxious to see Mandy."
   
Tom rolls up to Neenah and holds her hand, "How's mom?"
   
Before Neenah says another word, the doctor walks into the room. He sees the looks of worry on everyone's faces and speaks slowly, "I don't know how to say this...but-"
   
Neenah jumps up, "Don't tell me she's dead!"
   
The doctor puts his hand up, "She hasn't passed yet, but from the looks of it, she has less time than we originally thought."
   
Neenah cries and holds Steve tighter, "Oh, God!" She turns to Tom, "Come on, let's say goodbye to mom before she passes."
   
The doctor turns to Steve and speaks softly so Tom and Neenah don't hear, "You want to pull the plug, sir?"

    Steve shakes his head as he watches his children enter the room, "Not yet, let them say goodbye to their mother."
   
They all visit Mandy and she is lying comatose in the bed with oxygen tubes up her nose. She also has a feeding tube in her. They both stand around her with tears in their eyes. Neenah places her hand gently on her head, "I love you, mom, I wish I could have seen you more, please don't die."
   
Tom rolls up next to Mandy and hugs her, "I love you too mom."

    Neenah turns to Tom, "Did dad tell you what happened to mom?"
As Neenah is talking to Tom, a very thin man walks into the room. Neenah turns to the man, "Who the hell are you!?"
   
The man has dark circles under his eyes and pale wrinkly skin, "I'm your mother's boyfriend are you the kids she talks about?"
   
The doctor tries to get the man to leave, "Sir, you're not allowed to be here, family only."
   
The man pushes the doctor off, "I am family, that's my girlfriend laying in that bed!"
   
Neenah gets upset, "Why don't you leave my brother and me alone with our mother!"
   
"Why don't you shut up bitch!"
   
Tom rolls up to the man, "Don't talk to my sister like that!"
   
The man grabs Tom's shirt, "Shut up wheelchair boy, I'll kick your ass!"
   
Steve bursts into the room and grabs the man by his shirt, "You even lay a finger on my kid and I'll knock out whatever teeth you have left!"
   
The man laughs, "Yeah, ok fat boy, try me!."
   
Steve throws him to the ground and he turns to the doctor "Get him out of here!"
   
The man gets up, "Fine, I'll leave!" he turns to Tom and Neenah, "Oh, by the way, your mom was a whore and she ODed on the H!" he then leaves the room.
   
Neenah sits in one of the chairs by Mandy and puts her hand over her mouth, "Mom did drugs!? No, that can't be!"
   
Steve runs over and hugs Neenah, "Neenah, honey, I'm sorry, it wasn't her choice to be an addict." Steve lets go and faces both his children, "Kids, I need to talk to you about your mother."
   
Neenah wipes the tears from her eyes, "I guess Tom was right, I should be careful what I wish for."
   
Tom rubs her back, "No, it's okay."
   
Steve looks at his dying wife and than back at his children, "When your mother was pregnant, she had complications and she had to have a c-section. Things went wrong during surgery and she wound up with a very bad infection that left her in a lot of pain, so the doctor prescribed her oxycontin to help ease the pain." Steve stops as tears fill up his eyes as he looks over at Mandy dying and he squeezes her hand, "She wound up getting addicted to the pills and when she couldn't get anymore, she turned to heroin." He looks back over at his children, "She tried everything to get over her addiction, but she couldn't stop, so she left us after I slapped her in the face."
   
Neenah speaks up, "Why did you slap her?"
   
Steve looks down, "She said something very mean and I got angry at her, it was stupid of me, but I think she realized the monster the drugs were turning her into and that's why I think she abandoned the family."
   
Tom nods his head and rubs Mandy's shoulder, "I had a feeling something was wrong. Addiction is a terrible thing, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy."

    Steve pats Tom's head, "Say no to drugs." he walks over to the doctor whispers in his ear, "Keep her on life support, my children need more time with their mother."
   
Meanwhile, Jeff and Michelle arrive at the cafeteria where there is a huge window that faces the parking garage. There are several round tables and chairs. Across from the huge window is where you order your food and next to that is a gift shop. Jeff sits down at the table closest to the window and Michelle sees as he just sits there and looks out the window, "That was weird, I thought you run up to the food counter and beg me to buy you food."
   
"I'm not hungry."
    Michelle sits at the table with him,

"What's wrong? You're always hungry."
   
"I know, but I'm tired of being teased about my weight, I think I should go on a diet, I mean, I'm pretty close to being 200 pounds and I'm only about five foot five."
   
"You know Aunt Jessica wanted to go on Weight Watchers again so maybe you two can do it together."
   
Jeff shakes his head, "Well technically since she's your first cousin, wouldn't she be my first cousin once removed or something?"
   
Michelle throws her arms up, "Whatever, she likes you to call her Aunt Jessica ok?"
   
"Anyway yes, I would like to go on Weight Watchers with her."

Michelle kisses him on the forehead, "Good, but I'm going to miss your cute chubby face."
   
Tom, Steve, and Neenah show up. Neenah is pushing Tom, "Thanks, for coming."

    Michelle hugs the three of them, "You're welcome and I'm sorry this happened."

    Steve whispers in Michelle's ear after Tom and Neenah head toward the exit, "I'm going to keep Mandy on life support, so my kids can spend a little more time with her before she dies."