I was on my way to the airport when my phone rang. I didn't recognize the number so I didn't answer. It buzzed in a second and I had a new voicemail. I was very tempted not to check it, but if they left a voicemail it must be something important. It was my little sister. Her name is Audrey, and when I say little, I mean little. I was 26 and she was 18. Mom and Dad must have been in a good mood the night she was conceived. They rarely were in a good mood. Before I left home, it seemed like they hated each other. I didn't know why they stayed together except they were extremely religious. They didn't approve of divorce, so they just hung in there, getting more and more surly all the time. Don't get me wrong, I loved them both. If you got either one of them by themselves they were really cool and fun to be around. Mom was just someone that needed control and Dad was someone who fiercely resented anyone trying to control him.
I saw them three or four times a year. I absolutely refused to go home, but I bought each of them open tickets to come and see me any time they wanted to, as long as they came by themselves. Audrey came by herself once when she was 12, but I hadn't spent much time with her recently. I felt guilty about that. I felt like I should swoop in and rescue her. She seemed like a sweet kid. The other little thing about her was her size. At 12, she looked more like eight. She was a tiny little thing the last time I saw her. The pictures she sent me showed that she was still very tiny. You could tell she was becoming mature, but it was a slow process. She called me once a month and we talked, sometimes for a long time. It wasn't time for that call and I wondered why she was calling from a strange number.
Her message said that it was an emergency and she needed me to call her as soon as I got the message. She left me a number, and I didn't recognize it. I called and a woman answered the phone. "St. Vincent's emergency room," she said. "How may I direct your call?"
"I'm trying to get hold of Audrey Davis," I told her. "I'm her brother and she gave me this number."
"Hold on a minute and I'll get her," she said.
It wasn't long before I heard Audrey talking to her. "Hey, baby," I said when she answered. "Why are you at the hospital? Are you okay?"
"No, Jackson, I'm not. There's been an accident. I have a broken leg and a broken arm and collar bone. Mom and Dad are messed up really bad, Jacks. They're in surgery and I'm so afraid. I think they're going to die! They had to cut them out of the car. A semi-truck crossed into our lane and hit us head on. I was in the back seat. God, I need you. Please Jackson, can you come to Boston?"
I hesitated a minute. This was going to take some frantic scrambling around. "I'll be there, Audrey. I'm on my way to the airport now. I was leaving for Hong Kong. I'll get a flight and be there as soon as I can. It's a long way from San Juan to Boston. I'm so sorry, baby. It will be a while."
"I'll be okay as long as I know you're coming," she said. "They're going to sedate me. I hurt really bad, Jacks. I'll probably be out while you're coming and I won't even know. I wouldn't let them give me the drugs until I talked to you. Please hurry! I'm so afraid."
She was sobbing and I could tell she was in a lot of distress.
"Hang in there, sweetheart," I told her. "I'll be there as soon as possible. Let them give you your medicine."
"I will, I promise. I love you, Jackson."
"Me too, kid," I told her. "Let me talk to the lady I talked to a minute ago."
The lady got on the phone and I asked to speak to someone who could give me more information about my parents. She told me someone would call if I would leave a number.
"I'm about to get on an airplane," I told her. "They won't let me use my cell phone and I won't have a signal."
She told me to hang on, and by the time someone came to the phone I was parking at the airport. It was a hospital administrator. She said that she had checked with the surgeons and that my parents would be gone in a matter of minutes. They had extensive brain injuries and they were on life support. As soon as the machines were turned off, they would be gone.
"My little sister is in the emergency room," I told her. "How badly is she hurt?"
She checked and assured me that Audrey was going to be fine. "She's badly bruised and battered, she has a concussion, abrasions and contusions and three broken bones," she said. "She's been sedated. She was in a great deal of pain."
I asked her how long they would keep her like that. She told me the doctor said at least two days and she would be taking pain pills for a week after that.
"Listen," I told her. "She's all alone there. I'm the only family she has and I'm flying in from Puerto Rico. Is there any way you could not tell her about Mom and Dad until I get there?"
"Of course, Mr. Davis. We're not insensitive to her condition. What do you want to do about the life support?"
"Is there any chance?" I asked.
"I'm afraid not," she said.
"They have a directive not to be kept on life support," I told her. "I'll call their attorney and have him get it to you."
"Thanks, and I'm very sorry about your parents," she said. "We'll take good care of your sister until you arrive."
I got my ticket changed and got on a flight to Boston. There were a million things to do. I had to notify my contact in Hong Kong that my parents had been killed in an accident and that I wouldn't be coming any time soon. I called the office and told them I was taking a six month's leave. I explained the situation and they didn't give me any grief about it.
I contacted Dad's attorney and got the transfer of the living will directive made. They had funeral arrangements made years before, and I took care of that, too. I thought about the situation for an hour. There was no way I wanted to go to that house. I called a moving company and arranged for Audrey's things to be picked up and taken to my house in San Juan. Mom and Dad's things were to be shipped and put in storage until Audrey had time to go through them. The flight was interminable, and I bought WiFi and stayed on the phone for hours, making arrangements and changing everything I had planned.
When I arrived in Boston, I rented a car and drove to the hospital. I found out Audrey's room number and went up. She was asleep when I got there. Her face looked like she had been in a fight. There was a bandage on her head and her left arm and right leg were in casts. The arm was in some sort of traction device of cables and pulleys. It was evidently broken badly. She had bandages everywhere I could see. If it hadn't been for her hair, I wouldn't have recognized her. Our parent's religion had forbidden cutting it. It was probably three feet long and flaming red. That's they only thing they believed with whic I ever agreed. I love long hair. Mom had been a redhead, too, but I took after Dad's side of the family. Audrey is five-two and I'm six-four. She weighed maybe a hundred pounds, and I was 230. Looking at us, you would have no idea we were related. I have dark hair. We share the same dark complexion, which is odd, because most redheads are light ginger types.
She looked terrible and my heart was breaking. I petted the unbruised and unbandaged parts of her, basically her hair and she opened one eye a little. She smiled up at me and went back to sleep.
They kept her high for another 24 hours, and the only time she stirred was when she was thirsty. I gave her ice water and she went back to sleep. I never left her room. They took the traction machine away the second day and she looked more comfortable. I made travel arrangements and got some things for her; personal items, a couple of pairs of sweats and hoodies to match, some shorts and t-shirts and flip-flops. I got her a big coat to wear until we got out of Boston, and a nice blanket to cover her up at the funeral. Mom and Dad had just wanted graveside stuff, and it was going to be simple.
