Brittle as a Bird
Chapter 11
Mrs. Wendelmeier handed me the phone and I went into the living room to answer it. My hands were
shaking as I held the phone to my mouth. “Hello?”
“Joey,” Star cried. “Can you get over here to Allen’s place quickly?”
“What’s wrong?” I could tell by the tone of her voice that something bad had happened.
“He’s fallen down the stairs,” she said. “I can’t get him up.”
“You should call an ambulance.” Images of Allen lying on the steps injured were popping into my head.
As fragile as he was, a serious fall like that could do serious damage to him.
“He won’t let me,” she cried. “He says if I do, he’ll refuse to go.”
“I’ll be there in ten minutes,” I turned the phone off and hurried back into the kitchen. Ticker gave me a
puzzled look when he saw how worried I appeared.
“Mr. Wendelmeier,” I said hurriedly. “I need you to take me somewhere. I wouldn’t be asking if it wasn’t
an emergency.” He didn’t ask any questions. He pushed his chair away from the table and walked over
to the counter and picked up his keys.
“You want me to come with you?” Ticker gave me a pleading look. He didn’t know about Allen, so he
probably thought that something was wrong with Star.
“Sure,” I said. We hurried to the car. I gave Ticker’s father directions to Allen’s apartment. We were
there in about eight minutes. I asked him if he’d wait for us. I thought that he could take us to the
hospital in case Allen was hurt seriously.
As soon as I opened the door leading to Allen’s apartment, I saw his crumbled body twisted on the
stairs. Star was sitting beside him, holding his head. He looked up and seemed to give a sigh of relief.
“How bad is he hurt?” Star got up and let me sit down beside him. He gripped my hand and squeezed it
tightly.
“I think I’ve broken my arm,” he moaned. His left arm was curled behind his back.
“Let’s get him up.” I looked over at Ticker. He made his way past Star, and we carefully pulled Allen to
his feet. He let out a loud scream when his arm was free.
“Son of a Bitch!” He hollered.
“Let’s get him to your car.” Ticker and I held him up as we carefully led him down the stairs. Star ran to
the car and opened the back door. Allen climbed in and I got in beside him. Ticker went around and got
in on the other side while Star got into the front seat.
He moaned all the way to the hospital. He had his head buried into my shoulder and I could tell he was
in immense pain. Ticker kept giving me a questioning look. I knew he was wondering who Allen was,
since neither Star nor I had ever mentioned him before.
Mr. Wendelmeier pulled up in front of the emergency entrance, and then he ran inside. Minutes later a
nurse and two orderlies came rushing out to the car. They carefully lifted Allen out of the backseat and
whisked him away. We went in and sat in the waiting room. Ticker’s father waited around about ten
minutes before leaving. He told us to call him when we wanted a ride home.
“Can someone tell me what is going on?” Ticker was looking back and forth between Star and me.
Star explained to him that Allen had been her neighbor. She told him that he had moved and that she
still checked in on him occasionally. Tonight when she went there, she had found him on the steps. She
didn’t go into any detail about Allen’s health, or how I had come to know Allen.
I know he had a thousand questions, but he could tell by our somber mood that we didn’t want to talk
about it. He had also surmised that by the way Allen had held on to me in the backseat of the car that we
were more than just acquaintances. In fact, if he had asked, I’m not sure how I would have answered.
“Allen Foster Family?” A small woman dressed in a hospital uniform stepped into the waiting room. We
got up and approached her.
“Are you Allen’s family?” Star, Ticker and I looked questioningly at each other.
“If you’re not family members,” she insisted, “then I’m sorry I can’t share any information with you.”
“I’m his neighbor,” shouted Star. “I’ve known Allen all my life.”
The woman looked sympathetically at Star and said, “I’m sorry, Dear. It’s hospital policy.” She then
turned and walked back through the doors leading to the emergency rooms.
“Dammit,” said Star. “I should have told her I was his sister.”
She walked back to the lobby and sat down. Ticker sat down on her right, and I took the seat to her left.
It surprised me when Ticker took her hand and held it.
After about five minutes, Star reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone. She dialed a
number and waited. “Mrs. Albright?” She got up from the chair and walked to the other side of the
room. I wasn’t able to hear any more of her conversation.
While Star was gone, Ticker took the opportunity to quiz me. “What is going on here, Joey? You and this
Allen guy seem pretty close.”
I looked over and gave him a puzzled look. “What makes you say that?”
“He held on to you the whole way here,” he said. “And the looks Star kept giving you two.” I turned my
head and didn’t respond. What was there to say?
“You didn’t tell me you had a boyfriend.” Ticker sounded hurt, like I had been keeping a big secret from
him.
“He‘s not my boyfriend,” I insisted. “He’s just someone I met a few days ago.”
“Whatever you say,” he replied snidely.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” He was beginning to upset me. I could tell by the way he was looking
at me that he didn’t believe me when I said Allen was only a friend. I had never kept secrets from
Ticker; and if Allen was a boyfriend, I would have told him.
Star came back into the room and sat between us. She could sense that we had been arguing. “What’s
wrong with you two?”
Ticker looked at me and made a huffing sound. “Joey didn’t tell me that he had a boyfriend.” He
sounded like a little spoiled brat. I looked at him and rolled my eyes.
“You have a boyfriend?” Star gave me a puzzled look.
“He thinks Allen is my boyfriend.”
“Oh.” She smiled slightly.
“The other day he thought you were my girlfriend.” She started giggling when Ticker’s face turned red
from embarrassment.
“So who is this Allen guy?” Star looked over at me and gave me a questioning look. I wasn’t quite sure
how to answer the question. Finally, I sighed and turned to him.
“I met him a couple of weeks ago.” I stated. “He’s kind of been there for me, you know?”
Ticker nodded, but I could tell he didn’t understand. He knew what I’d been through the past couple of
weeks, and he probably figured Allen was someone I’d met on the streets.
“Let’s go see if we can find a coffee machine,” suggested Star. I smiled, knowing she was trying to draw
Ticker’s attention away from me.
We wandered around the hall for several minutes before we finally found a vending machine. I poured
the coffee out as soon as I took a drink. There is nothing worse than coffee or chocolate milk from a
vending machine. I don’t even know how they are even able to claim that they are such.
When we returned to the waiting room, a middle-aged woman rose from a chair and walked over and
hugged Star. She appeared to be about fifty years old. She was well-dressed and her hair was cut in a
short, stylish fashion.
“Was he hurt badly?” She asked after pulling away.
“He may have a broken arm,” replied Star.
“Oh, Dear.” Her eyes left Star and she looked suspiciously at Ticker and me.
“Mrs. Albright,” Star said immediately, “I want you to me Joey and Ticker. They helped bring Allen to the
hospital.” She eyed me carefully. I started to feel uncomfortable.
“So you are Joey?” She continued to stare intently at me. “Allen’s spoken of you.”
Sensing that I was uncomfortable, Star grabbed Mrs. Albright’s arm and led her to a sofa. Ticker and I
sat in chairs across the room. Occasionally, Allen’s mother would stare at me. She and Star talked
quietly for a few minutes before she got up and walked over to the receptionist. She seemed to
become upset when they wouldn’t give her any information. She returned to her seat very upset.
“Why don’t you call your dad and have him come get you.” I suggested to Ticker. I could tell that he was
very bored and didn’t like sitting around waiting on information about someone he didn’t know.
“Maybe I will.” He pulled out his cell phone and I heard him talking to his father. He put his hand over
the mouth piece and whispered. “He wants to know if you’re coming too?”
“No,” I replied. “I’m going to stay here.” Again he gave me a puzzled look and then continued talking to
his father. When he hung up, he stood and looked down at me.
“He’ll be here in a few minutes. I’m going to wait outside.” I nodded. “Dad said to call him when you’re
ready.”
“I will, thanks.” He walked over to Star. She got up and they walked together from the waiting room.
I looked over at Mrs. Albright as she continued to stare at me. Thankfully, a few minutes later Star
returned and they began to talk once again.
“Mrs. Albright?” The same woman who had come out into the waiting room earlier stepped from behind
the swinging doors and called out. Allen’s mother and Star stood up and walked over. Star waved her
hand and indicated for me to join them. Reluctantly, I got up and walked over.
“Only family members may go back,” I heard her say as I approached. Mrs. Albright grabbed Star’s hand,
and then turned and reached for mine.
“These are his cousins, my sister’s children,” she stated. The nurse appeared stunned.
“They told me that they..” Mrs. Albright quickly interrupted her.
“Are you questioning me?” She stood defiantly before the woman.
“No, Ma’am, I’m not,” stammered the nurse.
“Very well,” said Mrs. Albright. “Where can we find my son?” She gripped our hands and followed the
nurse down a long corridor.
She led us to a small cubicle and pulled back the thin green sheet. I peered into the room and saw Allen
lying on a hospital bed. He looked so small and frail. His eyes were closed, but he opened them when
he realized that someone had entered.
“Momma.” He held out his right hand and she took it. She stepped up and kissed him gently on the
forehead. He noticed Star and extended his hand to her. She too stepped forward and kissed him.
When she moved away, he saw me standing about four feet away.
“Hey,” he said timidly. He held out his hand to me. His mother looked over quickly at me. I stepped
forward and took his hand in mine. I then bent down and kissed him gently on his forehead. When I
stepped back and looked at Star, tears were in her eyes.
His mother cleared her throat and then asked Allen how he felt. He said he was in quite a bit of pain, but
that the medication they were giving him intravenously was helping a little.
Just then a doctor entered the room. She appeared to be of Asian descent. She smiled when she saw
the three of us standing by the bedside.
She turned to Mrs. Albright. “Are you his mother?” She nodded.
“I am Doctor Yu.” She reached out and took Allen’s hand.
“He’s had a rather nasty fall. We took x-rays of his left arm, and he has a compound fracture.” I winced
when I heard this. His mother also seemed visibly shaken.
“We’re going to have to do surgery.” She said. “This isn’t the kind of injury we can just set in a cast and
send him home.” Allen turned his head to the side and let out a deep sigh. His mother walked over and
put her hand on his forehead and rubbed it gently.
“It’s going to be alright, Allen.” She tried to sound reassuring, but you could hear the nervousness in
her voice. “When do you plan to do the surgery?”
“In about an hour,” Dr. Yu said. “We’ll be prepping him shortly.”
I looked at his frail body lying in the bed. Tears welled up in my eyes. As tragic as my life had been, it
seemed that his was even more so. I guess his life was that of one step forward and four steps back.
“How long will he be in the hospital?” His mother inquired.
“Normally, he’d be going home tomorrow, but his family physician, Dr. Warner, and I have consulted and
we think he should remain a little longer.”
“Why?”
“It’s related to his health problems,” she said. “You are aware of them, correct?”
Mrs. Albright looked at Star and then at me. She looked at Star again and gave her a questioning look.
Star looked at me and then nodded her head.
“Yes,” his mother said. “We’re aware.” I looked down at Allen and he had his head still turned to the
side with his eyes closed. I felt like going over and taking him in my arms and telling him everything
would be alright, but I couldn’t.
“There’s really no reason for him to be so malnourished.” She looked down at Allen. “His T-cell count is
good. We know he just got out of the hospital with pneumonia, but he still should weigh more than he
does.”
“There’s nothing wrong with me,” muttered Allen angrily.
Ignoring his outburst, Dr. Yu continued. “We’d like to keep him here for about a week and see if we can
get his weight back up.
“Don’t you get it?” Allen shouted at Dr. Yu. “I don’t want to gain weight. I just want to die. Just get the
fuck out of my life.” Mrs. Albright let out a sharp gasp.
“Thank you, Young Man,” said Dr. Yu angrily, “for giving me a reason to keep you here.” She turned to a
nurse’s aide. “Have him put on suicide watch.”
“Fuck you!” Allen rose up in the bed and stared at Dr. Yu. “You have to let me out of here someday.”
Mrs. Albright grabbed Allen’s hand. He quickly pulled away. His eyes wandered around the room, and
then they settled on me. “Fuck all of you!”
Just then two orderlies came in. “Get him up to surgery.” We watched as they rolled Allen out of the
room. He had his eyes closed and refused to look at any of us.
Allen’s mother apologized to Dr. Yu. “We see this quite often in people who are HIV positive or have
AIDS. We have an excellent psychological staff here that can help him.”
I laughed to myself. I remembered how I had fed them a lame story and they believed every word I said.
Some excellent staff.
Dr. Yu told us to go out into the waiting room and wait. She explained that Allen’s surgery would
probably take about an hour, and then he would be in recovery for another hour or two. She said it
would be several hours before he would be admitted to a room.
I looked at the time on the clock in the waiting room. It was after 11:00. I had been at the hospital for
over four hours. I asked to borrow Star’s phone. I called Ticker and updated him on what was going on.
I told him that I’d be spending the night at the hospital and then go directly to the school in the
morning. He told me that if I changed my mind, he would happy to come and get me.
“Is there someplace I can get a cup of coffee?” Star and I started laughing. Mrs. Albright gave us a
confused looked.
“I don’t think it would qualify as coffee,” stated Star. “I’ll take you if you really want to poison your body.”
She turned to me. “I’d prefer that Joey show me.” Star looked over and gave me a puzzled look. “You
wait here in case they come out with some news about Allen.” She extended her hand to me. “Come
with me.” I took her hand and got up from my seat. She wrapped her arm around mine and we walked
away.
She got a black coffee from the vending machine while I got a Seven-up. I also purchased a bag of
potato chips. It had been several hours since dinner and I was hungry. I started to leave the vending
area, but Mrs. Albright walked over to a small table and sat down. I walked back and sat down opposite
her.
There were a few minutes of awkward silence. Mrs. Albright seemed to be appraising me. Finally, she
spoke. “I went by Allen’s yesterday and he mentioned you.” I looked over, waiting for her to tell me
more. I was interested in why he would mention me to his mother.
“He seems to like you quite a bit.”
Again, I sat quietly, unsure what to say. “As you know, Allen doesn’t have a lot of friends anymore.”
Tears welled up in her eyes. “Since he got sick, he’s pushed everyone out of his life. I’m glad that you
and Star show an interest in him.”
I looked up and met her eyes. “We just met,” I said. “I really don’t know him very well.”
“Sometimes a person you just met can know you more than someone who has known you all your life.”
I thought about what she’d said. She seemed surprised to hear Allen say that he wanted to die, but I
had known it from the moment we met. She didn’t seem to understand the hurt inside him, but I could
feel it.
“How did you meet?” She asked. “He really didn’t tell me much about you.”
I didn’t want to tell her the truth. How could I tell her that he had dared me to jump off a bridge and kill
myself? “We met in a coffee shop.”
“I see.” She again looked intently at me. “You don’t look very old. You seem about the same age as my
youngest son.”
“I’m in the same class at school as Gene,” I informed her. A surprised look appeared on her face.
“You know my son Gene?” I nodded. “Are you friends as school?”
I started laughing. “I don’t think so,” I replied. “I’m the boy who he hit at school a couple of weeks ago
and got suspended.”
“Oh, Dear,” she exclaimed. “You’re that gay boy?” She quickly put her hand over her mouth.
“I’m so sorry,” she said. “That didn’t come out right.” She reached across the table and held my arm.
“When the principal called and told me that Gene had been suspended for trying to fight with you, I was
very upset.”
She looked into my eyes. “When Allen became sick, my husband became unbearable. He slowly pushed
Allen out of the house and turned Gene against him. I can’t understand it because Gene and Allen were
so close. But his father refused to let him see Allen.
She took a sip of her coffee before continuing. “Gene has changed a lot recently. He used to be so
outgoing and popular, but anymore he stays to himself. I really don’t know what to do.”
I felt sorry for the woman sitting across from me. She seemed like a wonderful mother; but she was
trying to deal with two boys, each with their own problems.
“Has Gene left you alone at school?” I remembered the encounter at school earlier.
“He would if Barry would stay out of it.”
“Yes, Barry,” she said harshly. “He’s Gene’s best friend, and I’m afraid he’s not a very good influence.
That’s too bad, since he’s Star’s brother. I just wish he would leave Gene alone.” I nodded my head in
agreement. He did seem to push Gene into fighting me.
She reached across the table and once again touched my arm. “Anyway, I’m glad you’re Allen’s friend.
He needs friends.” I thought for a minute she was going to break down in tears.
“We’d better get back,” We arose and she held my arm all the way back to the waiting room. For
someone I had just met, I felt very comfortable around her. Maybe it was because she seemed to have
compassion for her sons; something my own mother never possessed.
Star was asleep on one of the sofas. She had her feet curled up and was lying in a fetal position.
Because of her small stature, she appeared like a little girl asleep. All she needed was to be holding a
teddy bear.
I sat down on a sofa with Mrs. Albright, and I fell immediately to sleep. It was one of those where your
eyes are closed, but you are just aware of what is going on around you. At one point a rather large
family came in. They were panicked. An older gentleman had suffered a heart attack and it didn’t sound
good. Paramedics had given him CPR at his home before transporting him to the hospital.
I was awakened about a half hour later to shouting and crying. A doctor had informed the family that he
had died, and they became distraught. Family members were calling others and informing them of his
death.
I thought back to when I had thought about my own death. I remembered thinking that no one would
miss me. Yet here was a man whose death was being mourned by so many. What had he done in life to
make so many people cry at his passing? While my funeral would have been attended by a number you
could count on your right hand, his funeral would be attended by probably hundreds of people.
What is it about life that some people die and are mourned by people from around a nation, or even the
world. I remembered seeing pictures of John Kennedy’s funeral procession. It went on for miles and
miles, and dignitaries from all over the world attended.
Then there is the homeless person who dies and is buried in a pauper’s grave with only the grave
diggers in attendance. What is it about life that one person is loved by so many, and others are loved
by no one? Who shuffles the deck and hands out a royal flush to one person, and a pair of deuces to
another?
I was falling back asleep, when I groggily noticed Dr. Yu come through the door. Mrs. Albright
immediately jumped up. The doctor waited until Star and I were standing beside her.
“He’s doing well,” she said. I could hear Mrs. Albright let out a sigh. “We repaired the damage to his
arm. It’s going to take several months for it to heal properly. He also sprained his wrist, but that
shouldn’t be too much of a problem.”
“Can we see him?” Mrs. Albright asked.
“He’s in recovery right now,” said Dr. Yu, “but he should be in a room in a couple of hours.” I looked at
the clock on the wall. It was 2:38. “Why don’t you go home and come back in the morning? Visiting hours
begin at eight, and he should be in a room by then.”
“May we see him for just a moment?” Dr. Yu looked at her watch. “Alright, but just for a minute. Then
you can come back in the morning.” Mrs. Albright nodded her approval.
We followed the doctor into the surgery recovery area. She pulled back and curtain and we saw Allen
lying on a bed. He had a tube running into his nose and one in his arm. He stirred slightly when we
entered, but he didn’t wake up.
Allen’s mother and Star walked over and kissed him on his forehead. I stood back and watched. Star
looked over, expecting me to walk up and kiss him also, but I didn’t. I’d already done that once tonight,
and I wasn’t sure how Mrs. Albright felt about it.
On the way out of the hospital, Mrs. Albright asked me if I wanted a ride home. I yawned and told her
that I could call Ticker. She looked at her watch.
“It’s after three in the morning.” She announced. “It’s too late to wake people up. Why don’t you go
home with me and you can sleep in Allen’s old room?”
“I can’t do that.”
“Nonsense,” she said. “Star can sleep in one of the guest bedrooms. I don’t want to wake up Ralph and
Debra this late at night.”
We drove silently to the Albright home. Star was asleep in the backseat, and I had my head resting on
the window. It had been a long night, and we were all very tired.
I couldn’t believe the Albright’s home when we pulled into the driveway, or I should say the lane
leading to an old two-story Victorian mansion. With the manicured landscape and old elm trees, I
thought I had stepped back in time. I didn’t even know that these type of home even existed in our
community.
“I live over there.” Star pointed to an equally large home next door. The house was lit up with outdoor
lighting, accentuating the beautiful columns on the porch. The double door was oaken with giant Tiffany
pane glass windows.
We pulled into a three door garage. For the first time I realized that Mrs. Albright was driving a Lexus. A
black Mercedes and a red corvette were also parked inside. I then remembered other students talking
about Gene’s red convertible.
I thought how sad it must have been for Allen to give up living in such a magnificent home, and move to
the squalid apartment where he now resided. I could understand the deep resentment he felt for Gene
and his stepfather.
When entered a door that led to an immense kitchen. There was an island with four bar stools
surrounding it. Mrs. Albright told us to have a seat and she would fix us a small snack before we went
to bed.
She went over to the double door refrigerator and returned with a gallon of milk. After pouring each of
us a glass of milk, she opened up a cookie jar on the counter and offered us a chocolate chip cookie.
We hurriedly ate and then headed exhaustedly up the stairs to the bedrooms.
Mrs. Albright showed me Allen’s room. She looked around sorrowfully for a few minutes. I could imagine
her picturing a time when Allen occupied the room. She walked over to a dresser and pulled out a pair
of flannel pajamas. When she turned, I noticed that she was crying.
“Allen used to sleep in these,” she said as she clutched them to her chest before handing them to me.
She told me that I could use the bathroom across the hall if I wanted to clean up before going to bed.
After looking around one last time, she sighed and walked out of the room.
I undressed, and then I decided that I would take a shower before going to bed. I wrapped a towel
around my waist and headed across the hallway. Just as I was about to enter the bathroom, I heard a
door open.
“What are you doing here?”
Gene was standing in the hallway with a stunned looked on his face.
Chapter 12