Chapter One

Henry sped down Pasqua street heading south. His heart was racing and pounding so hard he thought for sure it would explode out of his chest. Beads of perspiration were beginning to roll down his forehead trickling into his eyes. He brushed them away with the back of his hand.

“Oh, Jenny, please hang in there.” Geez, for months already he could have been seeing her. Marjorie’s house was less than a mile away from the Santa Maria Home, for Pete’ s sake. He remembered when he called the care home and asked about her. If only he had challenged the nurse on duty at the time. That he was more than family and had every right to see her. Perhaps if he had gone down there and pleaded with them or had asked them to ask Marjorie if she would see him,

But that’s the past, Henry. What’s done is done. Henry reached up and clutched the angel once again.

“Oh please, guardian angel, get me there on time.”

The light had turned yellow as he approached the intersection of Dewdney and Pasqua. He hit the gas and sped through but rather than slow down he kept increasing the gas…

“Oh, no…he heard a siren and looked into his rear-view mirror and saw a patrol car almost touching his bumper.

Henry slowed and pulled over. His heart almost in his mouth. He knew better than to speed, but it’s… a life and death situation.

Henry rolled down his window as the officer approached the car.

“Can I see your driver’s license, sir,” the officer asked.

Henry already had his wallet out in anticipation of the question. He deserved a ticket and wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible.

“Did you know you went through a late yellow light. It was well into the red by the time you got through the intersection.”

“I’m sorry, officer I was so close to the intersection I decided to go through… I was going quite fas…”

“That’s exactly right. You were going fast; too fast. I was sitting on Dewdney waiting for the light to change and saw you barreling down Pasqua and after you went through the light you didn’t slow down either. Seems to me you went still faster.”

“I know…but I can explain. I just learned that a girl I knew and was very fond of 30 years ago is very ill at the Santa Maria Home and apparently her case is terminal. I was hoping I could see her before…well before something happens to her…” Henry didn’t even want to think that Jenny might be dead.

“That may be, but in trying to get to her before she may pass away you are putting yourself and others in danger.”

Henry nodded, clearly guilty, yet hoping the officer would simply give him his ticket and let him go.

The officer turned to go back to his squad car and write up a ticket when he noticed who Henry was. He came back to the car.

“Say, are you Henry Pederson the artist?”

“Guilty again, officer, I am.”

“I can’t believe this. We have one of your prints hanging in our living room. My wife and I got it when we married five years ago. It’s the one of a boy and his dog standing beside a dugout behind the barn in a farm yard. He’s tossing a stone across the water to make it skip on the surface. I used to do that all the time.”

Henry appreciated the fact that the police officer had a piece of his art but desperately wanted to go. He simply smiled and nodded not wanting to get into a conversation.”

“I know you’re in a hurry…look, I’ll give you a warning this time.”

The officer tightened his lips and tilted his head as a sign he could change his mind but before he could, Henry said, “I promise officer I’ll be more observant of my speed. Normally I am, it’s just that I want to see Jenny before it’s too late.”

“You said she is in the Santa Maria Home?”

“Yeah.” Henry nodded.

“Okay, look …follow me.”

The officer hurried back to his car. No sooner had he started the vehicle he turned on the siren and proceeded down Pasqua towards the care home. Henry followed and waved to the officer when they got there.

Just as he pulled into the Santa Maria parking lot, he saw Camilla run out of the care home crying. She looked so upset… She ran to her car and before Henry could even get out and run to her, she sped away even more in a hurry than he was to get here.

What was she doing here? Who was she visiting or seeing?

He wondered if she had ever found out if she was adopted or not.?

Henry thought about going after her and explaining what he just found out about Marjorie but he was more torn to see Jenny.

He hoped that Camilla would drive more carefully and slowly and not get caught speeding like he did. Geez wouldn’t that be something if she got caught by the same officer…another dangerous Pederson!”

The lady at the reception desk looked up as Henry burst through the door. He slowed to barely a walk.

“Good morning,” he said, as he resolutely walked past the desk. He was already detained once and he couldn’t deal with another interference. Henry caught his breath and blurted, “I know the room number of the patient I want to see.”

He was glad Father had given him the room number otherwise he might have been held back again or told only relatives were allowed. The elevator doors opened up just as he got there. He stepped inside and hit the number four button several times.

“Who are you going to see?” the lady at the reception desk hollered, as she chased after him.

“A very close friend—.”

The last part of the sentence was cut off by the closed doors and simply echoed within the confined elevator. Henry shifted from one foot to the other, wanting to help lift the slow elevator as it climbed past the second and third floor. His heart hammered inside his chest. Beads of perspiration formed on his forehead and sweat under his armpits rolled down his sides joining the wetness of his undershirt soaked from the sweat off his back. It was as if he stepped out of the shower and put his clothes on without drying first. He pulled on the back of his sports jacket to free his back from sticking to his clammy shirt. Exhaustion from the roller-coaster of emotions was closing in. He breathed deeply to ward off a dizzy spell.

Finally, the elevator bounced to a stop and the doors opened none too soon. Cool air from the air conditioner on the fourth floor gushed into the stuffy elevator, offering Henry some relief. He grabbed the lapels of his jacket with both hands and flapped them back and forth. Along with the cool blasts of air to his face and chest came a growing nervousness.

“What if she doesn’t recognize me or is upset with me for not writing.” Hopefully she got his letter like he got hers. He recalled Mr. Sarsky’s secretary saying she sent his letter to Jenny at the same time.

One thought after the other buzzed through his mind…

He shivered.

Only one nurse seemed to be on duty at the nurse’s station, and she was busy writing something behind the raised counter. Henry slowed down and tried to soften his footsteps checking the room numbers as he proceeded down the hall. Room 453 was just to his right so room 455 must be at the end of the hall.

As he passed the station he sped up, the nurse looked up and called out, “Sir, excuse me, sir.”

Henry pretended not to hear her and quickened his pace as much as he could. He heard her bumping into her desk and a chair tipping over. To see Jenny was his mission, he’d deal with the protocol of patient visits later. He read the number outside the room; 455.

As he turned in, another nurse was coming out carrying linen. Henry bumped into her, almost knocking her over in the doorway.

“Oh, I am so sorry,” he whispered.

He rushed into the room and looked over to the bed.

Instant panic swept through him. He staggered backwards and once again bumped into the other nurse from the nurse’s station who had finally caught up to him.

“Oh no,” Henry cried, “I’m too late.”

His heart thumped, ready to burst. The sight of seeing an empty bed was too much…

Jenny was gone!