DAVID 72
DENNIS THE MENACE
PART FIVE: THE CONCLUSION
The nurse at the desk eyed him with awe, the way everybody did when they met him unexpectedly.
“Hello,” he said.
She was a black woman with huge, expressive eyes, and she was very pregnant. “Well, hello,” she said. Her voice was soft and friendly. “This is quite a surprise.”
David just smiled faintly.
“What can I do for you?” she asked.
“Dennis Hudson?”
She paused for a moment, her eyes darting to the security guard who stood by the door to the nearest ICU unit. “Yes. He’s here.”
“May I see him? Please?”
She looked genuinely sad. “I’m so sorry Mr. McAllister. No one is allowed to see him. Only immediate family.”
“Has anyone come?” he asked.
She sighed and shook her head. “No.” She regarded him carefully, studiously. He looked tired… exhausted even. She’d heard that he had just been discharged this morning. He must have only had time to go back to his apartment, shower, change, and return. He had the strangest look on his handsome face… a mild desperation. “How are you feeling?” she asked.
“Okay,” he mumbled.
“This may not be the time or place to say this, but my daughter and I are big fans of yours.”
He managed a wry smile. “You let your daughter see pictures of me?”
“Just the G-rated ones,” she said, returning his faint smile. “Would you like to speak to Dr. Moore? He admitted Mr. Hudson.”
“Yes,” David said. “I would like that very much. Please.”
“And so that’s all I know,” David said. “I was going to go back to the police department, but when I called, Detective Powers told me that he was very ill. She didn’t say anything more than that.”
“You don’t know what happened?” Dr. Moore asked.
David shook his head. “Just that there was some kind of fight; Alan tried to kill him…” He sighed. “I just remember being injected with the anesthetic, and then I woke up in the hospital yesterday morning. Did he talk to you at all?”
“He did. He told me what happened.”
“Can you tell me?”
Dr. Moore took a deep breath. “When the police broke into the lab, Mr. Hudson and Mr. VanDerhaus were transporting you into the van. Their experiment had gone awry. Mr. Hudson had returned to the lab just in time to see Mr. VanDerhaus release you from the restraints. He administered the anesthetic and brought the stretcher in to take you to the van.”
“They were letting me go.”
“Well, Mr. VanDerhaus wanted to keep you there and do it again, but Mr. Hudson argued with him, saying that to use the drug again so soon would be too dangerous. So Mr. Hudson insisted that you be released, and he was going to drop you off by the side of a road and call the police. But Mr. VanDerhaus wanted witnesses to the whole event. He wanted to give you a lethal injection of acetaminophen solution.”
“Acetaminophen? Isn’t that just… Tylenol?”
“Yes,” Dr. Moore continued. “But an overdose can cause irreversible liver failure. Their argument became heated and then they struggled.” He looked at the ground. “He told Mr. VanDerhaus that he didn’t want to be a murderer, and that you didn’t deserve to die. He said that it had all gone too far, that he didn’t feel any better for what he done to you, and that it mustn’t end with a death on top of sadness.”
“Dennis said that?”
“Yes.” He nodded. “That’s what he told me. He fought Mr. VanDerhaus, and tried to keep him away from you. The police could see them struggling through the window of the lab’s garage, but he got stabbed with the syringe just as the police broke in.”
David closed his eyes.
“When we admitted him, he offered no resistance.”
“Dennis?”
“Yes. He just wanted to talk. I sat with him. When the lab work came back, he knew what was probably going to happen… what was going to happen to him. He looked lost. He kept asking if you were all right.”
A lump formed in David’s throat.
“He was crying. He kept saying that he had been so angry, that people had hurt him.”
A huge lump.
“He told me to tell you that he was sorry. He kept saying over and over again, that he was afraid that he’d never get the chance to tell you that he was sorry, and that you would hate him. I promised him that I would tell you. He kept saying that he just hurt so much, that he didn’t know how to belong and that no one would let him. He kept berating himself because you understood, but he was just not in control of himself. He couldn’t help himself.”
There was no holding back now. Tears welled up in David’s eyes.
“Is there anything I can do for you?”
David shook his head. The room was silent for a moment.
“Is he going to be ok?” David asked.
Dr. Moore sighed again. “As soon as he was admitted, we put him on the organ donor list. There has been no match though.”
“He needs a liver transplant?”
“Yes.”
“And Alan?”
“He’s in custody. He’s being charged with kidnapping and attempted murder. That of course will become a murder charge once Mr. Hudson… um…”
David’s eyes went wide. “Awww… no!”
“I’m sorry.”
“But… there is something you can do for me. Can I please see him?”
“I’m sorry Mr. McAllister—”
“Please? Please?”
“I’m sorry Mr. McAllister, there’s a court order. That’s why we have the guard here. No one is allowed—”
“But, but we went to school together!”
“I’m sorry.”
“He probably saved my life”
Dr. Moore looked at David, shocked and confused. “He kidnapped and tortured you! You’re the last person they would let in there!”
David covered his eyes with one hand. “Look,” he began, “I don’t know why, but I just feel like I know what he felt. If you have seen his face… there wasn’t in what he did….” He struggled to keep the tears back. “I remember how gentle he was in school.” His voice trembled. He paused for a moment, and blinked back tears. “Dr. Moore, do you think evil is inherent in a person, or do you think it’s thrust upon them?”
Dr. Moore shook his head. “I’m sure I don’t know.”
David’s voice was trembling. “Sometimes I think I know.”
Dr. Moore was in awe. No one would believe that he had seen the famous, big, handsome man on the verge of tears.
“I hate what he did,” David said. “I don’t know why… I don’t know why I’m finding it so hard to hate him.”
Dr. Moore said nothing.
“Could he… could he pull through?”
Dr. Moore spoke very quietly now. “If we had found a donor organ soon… that’s always the aim in cases like these. As it stands now, I’m surprised he’s lasted this long. I think he only has an hour or two left. Maybe less. Even if we were to find a donor organ right now, there wouldn’t be enough time to prep ti, transport it, and implant it.”
David’s heart sank.
“I’m afraid there’s no hope.”
Devastated, he closed his eyes. He could only speak in a trembling whisper now. “Is he in any pain?”
“None whatsoever. He’s very heavily sedated. I doubt that he’d even wake up if you were to go in.”
David raised his head and looked into Dr. Moore’s eyes. “Then if he’s going to die and he can’t wake up, let me go in and see him!”
“Mr. McAllister—”
“I’m not going to hurt him!”
“Mr. McAllister—”
“The guard can go in with me!”
“Mr. McAllister!” Dr. Moore raised a hand to silence David. “There’s a court order. Do you understand what would happen to me if I defied that? My job and my career would be in jeopardy, a job that involves helping people. I want to keep doing that. Do you want to take that away?”
He covered his eyes with one hand again. “No,” he whispered.
Dr. Moore turned to the nurse and whispered, “I’m going to go.”
She nodded.
He whispered again to her: “As if one security guard would be any match for him.” He turned back to David, placed his hand on his arm and said: “Goodbye. Thank you for understanding. You’ve been through a lot yourself. Try to get some rest.”
David nodded. He couldn’t look at the doctor. “I will,” he said. “And I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” he said, and a minute later he was standing at the elevators.
David fidgeted for a minute, and then, his voice low and quiet with dread and resignation, he said: “Well… I guess I’d better be going.”
“Want a tissue?” the nurse asked.
He nodded, and took it from her.
“Now… is Dr. Moore gone?” she whispered.
David looked down the hall. “Yes,” he answered, confused.
“Hold on,” she said, and she picked up the phone and pushed a single button. “Hello, Pete? Hi, it’s Ginnie in ICU. Could you send up five security guards right away? It’s not an emergency at all. I just have a little project for them. Thanks.” She smiled.
His mouth fell open in hurt and shock. “Why are you— …I’ll go. You don’t need them—”
She waved her hand at him and smiled. “Oh honey! You don’t understand. Tomorrow’s my last day. My job is not in jeopardy because in a couple of weeks I’m going to start my new career as a professional, stay-at-home mom!” She touched her stomach. “I think this new life should give some peace to one departing. You just stay right there.”
Five minutes later, five security guards joined the one at the door to Dennis’ room. David entered. It was so dark… and so still… and so quiet. The only sound was the gentle rush of air coming from the air vents, and the only movement in the room was the dancing light on the electrocardiograph screen; Dennis’ heartbeat gently spiked once every second. David made his way slowly over to the bedside. The guards entered and lined up by the doorway, three on each side, dark, faceless silhouettes as still as statues.
Dennis lay quietly asleep, his head turned away from David. David sat on the edge of the bed as carefully as he could and just watched. It was so quiet. He looked around the room. What utter silliness. He watched the ECG screen. Since it was the only movement in the room, it was mesmerizing, and it was comforting. It was life. It was sleep. It was evidence.
He looked down at Dennis again, and he was overwhelmed. His eyes and nose stung. Tears welled up in his eyes. His breath was trembling. He looked down at Dennis’ body. The blanket was down around his waist.
“Aww…” he whispered. He wiped tears from his eyes. “You might be cold.” He stood, and gently pulled the blanket up to Dennis’ shoulders. A tear crept down his cheek as he sat on the bedside again. He sniffed and reached over and stroked Dennis’ cheek with the back of his fingers. “It’s not fair,” he whispered, his voice wavering. “You were so smart.” His eyes stung. Tears flowed from both eyes. He looked about the room again, and his eyes were drawn again to the pulsing light on the ECG, and then he turned back to Dennis and watched him sleep. Still stroking Dennis’ cheek, he wiped the tears away from his eyes with his other hand. He sighed again. “Where’s your sister?” he whispered as he looked around the room again, as though he might find her in the darkness. He watched the ECG for a moment, grateful that he was here with the bouncing light. It moved. It glowed. It continued.
He turned, and gently brushed away a lock of hair that had fallen onto Dennis’ forehead. He laughed quietly through his tears. “You too, huh?” and then he swept his other hand through his own hair, but a moment later a single wave of black hair was resting again on his forehead.
And then Dennis’ eyes fluttered faintly. His lips parted. Slowly, his head turned toward David. His eyelids parted a hair’s breadth and then closed again. The faint momentum of his turning head slowed and he stopped with his head turned towards the big man sitting on his bedside. His lips were still parted. His eyelids trembled again, and then they parted so very slowly, until just the barest bit of pupil showed beneath the upper eyelid. He focused dreamily on David.
David grinned through his tears. His heart seemed to swell. His chin trembled and his breath was shaking in his chest. But he grinned at Dennis.
And the faintest of smiles… the ghost of a smile crept across Dennis’ face.
“I’m here,” David whispered. His eyes sparkled with tears. He placed his hand on Dennis’ chest and smiled. “Go to sleep now.” He nodded reassuringly. “Go to sleep.”
Dennis’ eyes closed. The next breath came as though a sigh.
David whispered a song, something his grandmother in England had taught him:
“…I’l come and find the place where you are lying, and kneel and say a prayer there for you.”
He sang out loud now, though barely above a whisper. The guards bowed their heads.
“And you shall hear though soft I tread above you.
And all your dreams will softer, sweeter be.
And without chains of fury, rage, and jealousy,
We’ll meet again one day and you will smile at me.”
He folded his hands and placed them in his lap. He closed his eyes. He held his breath.
Now everything in the room was perfectly still.
2003