Chapter 63
Madeline and Dave waited in the emergency room.
“Not in my worst dreams could I have painted this scenario. We knew Andre had problems, but never like this. Dave, what have we done to our children?” Madeline said, crying on his shoulder.
“I don’t know what to say. This is a nightmare. I’m going to the chapel to pray,” Dave said.
Madeline pulled away from Dave. “You prayed every day when we were married, and where did it get us? Really Dave, what has prayer done for us?”
“You can’t think that way.”
“Why shouldn’t I? You can’t honestly say that our family has benefited from your years of praying and believing in some special favor. Our problems are real, and I have to blame it on someone or something. I just have to.
“I’ll take my share,” Dave told her.
“And I’ll take mine,” she said gently laying her hand across her chest.
“Fair enough, as long we don’t use my beliefs as the escape goat. We all contributed to this situation.”
“Including Tamara?” Madeline hurled at him.
“No, of course I’m not saying this is her fault.” “Then what are you saying, because you’re confusing the heck out of me.”
“We have been hanging on by a thread. We’ve walked around with anger and bitterness for years. Wherever there is bitterness and anger, peace and joy can’t exist. It’s like night and day can’t exist simultaneously. You can only have one at a time. Face it. You, Sherry, and I are the primary people to blame because we are the adults. We allowed our family to be at odds and did nothing.”
“Hmmm,” Madeline moaned.
“We let our emotions go unchecked, and unfortunately, that cancer spilled onto the kids. They don’t like Sherry. They don’t like Joel.”
“Well . . . ,” was Madeline’s full response.
“Well, look where those seeds of discord have landed us.”
“Sherry doesn’t like my children. So they don’t like her, and I will never make them get along with her. She dug her claws into a married man. What did she expect?”
“Right. I see,” Dave said. “And like I said, we’re the problem, Madeline, you and me. I need to repent for my part in this. You might not want to hear this, but you need to do the same.”
“Don’t go there with the faith speech, Dave. Look around here, man. You’re waiting in the emergency room. This is real. Your only daughter is undergoing surgery because her brother damaged her uterus; so much for your prayers of faith and protection over our family. Madeline crossed her legs and patted her hair into place. She turned away from Dave.
He got the hint and left, probably going to the chapel, anyway. She couldn’t be bothered with options that didn’t work. Madeline wasn’t saying prayer was irrelevant altogether. She acknowledged God; who He was; and what He could do. Her complaint was purely with Dave in thinking God was interested in treating their family special. He hadn’t and their suffering seemed endless. She was frustrated beyond reason and felt helpless with no solution on how to fix her branch of the Mitchell family. Her family had crashed to the ground on her watch. She wanted meaningful answers. She didn’t have any at the moment, and Dave didn’t, either. What a pitiful pair of parents they made, she thought.
It dawned on Madeline that nobody had called Sam to tell him the news. She fretted about whether or not to call him. He deserved to know. On the other hand, what could he do nearly three hundred miles away? She didn’t want to disrupt his studies. She fretted a bit longer and decided he’d want to know. She found a secluded pay phone past the cafeteria, poured in a ton of change, and got him on the line.
“Sam, I know it’s late.”
“Not really,” he said. “We just had a late study break.”
“What’s that?” she asked, giving herself time to get composed. She couldn’t just rush to deliver such devastating news.
“It’s when they give out snacks in our dorms, usually around midterms.”
“Do you have a test tomorrow?” she asked.
“No, no, it was a random break. Honestly, I’m not sure why we had the break, but you know students don’t ask questions when they’re giving us extra food,” he said, laughing.
She was saddened, realizing the laughter would soon end. “Sam, I’m calling to tell you something important.” She dreaded having to tell him, knowing how he was going to react about his sister.
“What?”
“Tamara is in the hospital.”
“For what?”
“Well, I don’t want to get into the details over the phone, but I will tell you that she was raped.”
“W-w-what!” he yelled. “Mom, tell me you’re not sure!”
“I wish I could, Sam, but it’s true. She was brutally raped.”
“Who did it?” he asked, with a piercing sound of rage.
The most painful words she’d ever spoken followed. Nothing spoken before could be more devastating. “It was Andre.”
“Andre who?”
“Your brother.”
She heard the phone receiver on the other end banging against something and Sam screaming.
“Sam, Sam!” she called out.
“I’m going to kill him.”
“Don’t talk like that! You don’t mean it.”
“I do, Mom. I really do.”
“We have to deal with your sister and your brother’s situation.”
“He’s not my brother. He’s nobody to me. He’s dead to me.”
She didn’t think the night could get any worse. She was wrong. “We have to think clearly, Sam.”
“I’m coming home.”
“Why don’t you wait? Let us find out how she’s doing first.”
“You can’t stop me.”
Sam was a rational young man. She knew three hundred miles would give him plenty of time to calm down. She wasn’t overly concerned about his initial reaction. It was understood. Sam had been Tamara’s protector from the moment she came home from the hospital as a baby, when he was a toddler. Their relationship hadn’t changed.
“How are you getting here? Are you flying or taking the train?”
“Not sure, but I’ll probably drive.”
“I don’t want you driving home tonight. It’s too late, and you’re too upset.”
“I’m coming tonight, Mom.”
“I said no, Sam. I don’t want another child getting into trouble because none of us took time to think about the outcome of our actions. Now, I’m not stopping you from coming home, not at all. But I am begging you to wait until the morning. Please fly or take the train. I can wire money if you need it.”
“No, I have plenty of money left over from what you gave me at the beginning of the year. I’m good with cash. I’ll get a ticket home in the morning. See you tomorrow, Mom.”
“Get home safely, Sam.”
Madeline eased the pay phone receiver on the hook and wept into her hands. Her misery was stuck on replay.