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“Show me how to make it right,
Or should I just stay out of sight.
Said to much already, nothing left to say,
All my good intentions, went astray.
I was only trying to help.
I wasn’t acting selfishly,
I know you’d do the same for me.....”
Doris’ voice plays from the car’s cassette player, punctuating the irony of her current situation. She yells to Angelo Martelli.
Doris: “Quickly, you try and help Nicole while I call 911”.
Angelo stares as she pulls her cell phone from her bag and starts to make the call.
Angelo: “What on earth is that?”
Doris pauses then sighs: “Let’s just try and help Nicole first and ask questions later, okay?”
Angelo nods then rushes over to where Nicole is lying on the sidewalk and notices Danny.
Angelo: “Hey, I know this kid; he goes to School with my son. His name is Danny Amatullo.”
Doris: “Leave him, he’ll be fine, please help Nicole.”
Angelo reaches Nicole not exactly sure what to do. After Doris finishes her 911 call she rushes over to him. She checks Nicole’s pulse which is very faint but she doesn’t appear to be breathing. Doris quickly checks Nicole’s airway.
Doris: “Here, I need you to help me administer CPR!”
Angelo looks at her blankly and starts to panic: “I don’t know how to do that!”
Doris calms him down and demonstrates how she wants Angelo to press on Nicole’s chest while she breathes air into her mouth. For a few long minutes they breathe for Nicole, until the paramedics arrive and take over. Mickey comes to and rubs his head.
Mickey: “What happened?”
Doris glares at him: “You were drunk, that’s what happened!”
Angelo glances over at her and raises his eyebrow but Doris chooses to ignore him. Instead she tells the paramedic that she is Nicole’s Mother and boards the ambulance to ride along to the hospital. The paramedics put Danny and Mickey into a second ambulance and with sirens blaring they all head off to the nearest hospital, with Angelo following behind in his taxi.
At the hospital Doris and Angelo are asked to wait in the waiting room while Danny and Nicole are taken to the emergency room.
Angelo: “I think I’m going to call my son to let him know what’s happened and tell him that I’m okay.”
Doris yells: “No!”
Angelo looks at her in surprise. Doris thinks fast, knowing that when Bruno gets the call he’s going to come out to the hospital and things will get even more complicated. Her dilemma though is how to stop Angelo calling Bruno. As a parent she knew it was instinct to contact children in times of trouble, she certainly wishes she could speak to Jenny right now.
Doris: “I mean there’s no need for you to stay. Whatever happens now there’s nothing more that you can do and I don’t want to intrude anymore into your life”.
Angelo smiles: “Well part of me wishes I could take off but when I tell Bruno one of his friends is in the hospital, he’s going to want to come down here. Besides, the nurse told me that the police are going to want to speak to me about the accident.”
Doris gives a weak smile: “Okay, just as long as you tell the police the truth in that Mickey was drunk and lost control of the car. There’s no need to make this anymore complicated by mentioning our involvement.”
Angelo reluctantly agrees as he heads off to find a phone, leaving Doris contemplating the form the nurse has given her to complete. Many of the questions Doris struggles to answer, which as she’s told everyone she’s Nicole’s mother is going to take some explaining away. She remembers that Nicole is actually adopted and she recalls the time that Nicole’s birth mother turned up as a photographer at the school. Doris thinks if she pretends to be Nicole’s real mother but has only just got in contact that will explain why she can’t answer all the questions. Now if only she could recall Nicole’s mother’s name... Diane....?
Angelo returns and offers Doris a cup of coffee.
Angelo: “I wish it was something a little stronger, although considering it’s alcohol that’s to blame for this mess, on second thoughts maybe we are better off with coffee.”
Doris accepts the drink: “Thank you. Did you reach your son?”
Angelo shakes his head: “No, he must be out with his friends somewhere; they are a pretty close knit group. Mind you if Danny was at that party, maybe Bruno was there too. (He pauses for a moment) You don’t think Bruno was drinking too do you?”
Doris shrugs: “I don’t know, but... From what you’ve said he sounds like a pretty good kid, so I would think he’s more sensible than that.”
Angelo nods his head slowly hoping she is right.
At that moment there is a flurry of activity at the hospital entrance.
“Can someone help me, my daughters just gone into labour?”
Doris looks over and is slightly shocked to see her own Mother standing in the entrance panicking while her younger self is trying to calm things down. A young blond nurse in her 20s rushes over to the entrance to help. Doris’ Mother is talking frantically to her. Doris notices that although the nurse is younger and slimmer it is the same nurse she met when she found herself in the hospital. Doris wants to go over to comfort her Mother and see her daughter being born but things are already too complicated so she reluctantly remains seated.
Angelo: “Hey, I know them; they are friends of my son’s.”
He rushes over to the entrance.
Angelo: “Mrs Schwartz! I didn’t’ know that Doris was pregnant. Come to think of it I didn’t know she had a boyfriend. She seems to spend all her time with Bruno!”
Angelo pauses for a moment: “Wait this isn’t Bruno’s kid is it?”
Angela Schwartz stares in shock at Angelo Martelli standing in front of her, unable to believe her eyes.
Angela Schwartz: “Mr Martelli?!”
Sally leads Angela and the younger Doris away. Angela keeps looking back over her shoulder until they turn a corner and are out of sight.
Angelo returns to the older Doris: “This really is turning into a strange evening! You know what’s even stranger? Despite what we’ve been through tonight I still don’t know your name. ...I’m Angelo Martelli.”
Doris hesitantly: “I’m D..”
Instinctively she was going to say “Doris” but manages to stop herself just in time.
Doris: “Diane, I’m Diane... Pettit, pleased to meet you. I just wish it was under better circumstances”.
They shake hands and Angelo chuckles a little to himself.
Angelo hesitantly: “This may be a dumb question but once this is all over, would you consider going out on a date with me?”
Doris is surprised by the question as she’d always viewed Bruno’s father like a second father to herself and even though they were now of a similar ages it felt weird even thinking of going out on a date with him.
Doris: “Mr Martelli, Nicole is lying in there fighting for her life and you’re asking me out on a date!”
Angelo smirks sheepishly: “I’m sorry; I guess I am being inappropriate. It sounded better in my head”.
At that moment Sally the nurse comes over to speak to Doris.
Sally: “You can see your daughter now for a few moments. She’s still unconscious and has a number of injuries but she is stable and should make a full recovery”.
A relieved and excited Doris looks at Angelo who smiles back at her, then hurries off with the nurse to room 422 where Nicole lies unconscious in the hospital bed. Her face is covered in cuts and bruises and her arm is in a cast. A tube is fixed to her nose and she is wired to a machine which is beeping.
Doris stares at Nicole lying unconscious and can’t believe that she saved her. She actually managed to change the course of time and save someone. Doris feels like jumping for joy.
Sally: “Just a few moments please.”
Doris nods: “Okay, Thank you.”
She approaches the bed and takes Nicole’s hand. Her guilt from causing the accident has now gone and it’s a tremendous relief that for once something worked out okay.
Doris smiles: “Oh Nicole, it worked! I really did it! I was really worried there for awhile but now you’re going to be okay. You’ll now be able to tell Jesse how you really feel about him and make all your dreams come true.”
She sits watching her for a few moments then places a gentle kiss on Nicole’s forehead. Then to comply with the nurses instructions she leaves the room. Looking at a clock on the wall she notices the time showing 10.30pm, she remembers her daughter Jenny was born just before 10.30pm.
Doris turns to the nurse: “Sally, the young pregnant woman and her Mother who came in earlier they are friends of the family can you tell me where they are?”
Sally: “They are in Maternity on the second floor but it’s not looking good for the baby, she’s very premature and her lungs aren’t fully developed. We’re not sure she’ll make it through the night.”
Doris is shocked by the nurse’s statements and her happiness over saving Nicole quickly vanishes.
Doris: “No, that can’t be right!”
Doris quickly rushes to the elevator and is puzzled and worried by what the nurse has said. Although she herself had had a difficult labour and Jenny had been born prematurely there was never any problem with the baby’s health. How could there now be an issue as to whether she would live or die?
As Doris leaves the elevator she sees her Mother sitting in the corridor crying. A wave of guilt washes over Doris as she wonders if altering events so that Nicole survived has now put her own daughter’s life in jeopardy? A tear rolls down her cheek as she contemplates life without Jenny ever existing.
Doris is then distracted as she hears the same announcements over the hospital tannoy system she’d heard when she was a patient in the hospital and she’d heard again back at the school.
“Dr Reid Code Blue, Room 421. Dr Reid code blue, Room 421”.
“Dr Phillips to Maternity please. Dr Phillips, Maternity”
As she stands watching her own distraught mother, a tall young, dark haired doctor in a white coat rushes down the corridor and stops at the door to the room where the younger Doris has giving birth. Angela Schwartz quickly stands up and quizzes the Doctor about the baby.
Afraid that her Mother will see and recognise her Doris heads back down in the elevator and returns to the waiting room. As she approaches she notices that Mr Martelli is no longer there but instead there is a blond woman, sat alone, who she recognises as Gina Amatullo, Danny’s Mother, waiting for news of her son. Doris approaches her and introduces herself as Diane Pettit, Nicole’s biological mother. Gina recalls a couple of years previously Danny telling her about Nicole’s Mother turning up at the school.
Gina asks: “How’s Nicole?”
Doris nods: “She’s going to be okay, she’s still unconscious but the doctors think she’ll make a good recovery.”
Gina gives a weak smile: “That’s good. You must be relieved? It’s just that I can see you’ve been crying so I thought you’d been given some bad news?”
Worrying about Jenny, Doris smiles weakly: “Let’s just say it’s been a traumatic evening and I couldn’t help shedding a few tears.”
Gina nods: “I know how you feel. If anything happened to Danny I don’t know what I’d do.”
Gina gets up and nervously paces around the waiting area.
Doris asks: “How is Danny?”
Gina sighs: “There’s still no news about him and they won’t let me see him.”
Doris takes her hand reassuringly: “No news is good news as they say. I’m sure he’ll be okay.”
Gina gives a weak smile but isn’t convinced by the other woman’s word.
The two women return to their seats and silence falls with both women wrapped up with concerns about their children.
After what seems like an eternity but is in fact only a few minutes Sally introduces a young brunette woman, Dr Reid to Gina, who takes her by the arm and leads her to a quiet corner to talk to her. Doris watches how serious the doctor’s face is as she talks to Gina Amatullo.
Suddenly Gina screams out: “Noooo! No, Not My Danny!”
Doris sees the doctor and nurse trying to comfort the distraught Gina, and walks over to help offer support.
Dr Reid explains: “I’m really very sorry Mrs Amatullo, we did everything we possibly could but the injuries your son sustained in the accident were just too great and he passed away a few moments ago.”
Gina collapses on to the floor sobbing, unable to absorb the tragic news. Doris stands next to the grieving mother, gripped by shock and unable to move.
Doris: “Oh My God, Danny...No...This isn’t right....”
To be continued........
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