Stood Up!

After finally coming to the conclusion Newsome wasn't coming over, I just went to bed. I wasn't sure how I felt other than disappointed. I was a little angry and a little concerned too. In one minute I'd be thinking, "How how dare he! Wait until I see him again!" Then the next minute I'd be thinking, "I hope he's okay. What if something really bad happened. . ."

All weekend I heard nothing and there was no answer at Newsome's apartment so I just gave up expecting to hear from him. I played over and over in my mind things I had recently done or said to try and figure out if I had made him angry or upset with me. Nothing really came to mind.

Monday morning I was a bit on edge as I fully expected to see him at some point during the day. I was hoping once I got to my office there would be a big bouquet of flowers on my desk with a note of explanation and apology. Well, that didn't exactly happen. I didn't want to chase him down after all, he stood me up, it wasn't the other way around. So if anyone had any "crawling back" to do, I thought it should be him. As the day progressed, I did find it quite odd I didn't see him anywhere at all. Since our kaserne was rather small we often ran into each other in the course of a day --eventually. This Monday that was not the case.

That night after work I went back to my apartment and cried myself into a tizzy. I pretty much surmised it was over between the two of us and he just wasn't man enough to tell me that in person so he had been avoiding me. I thought better of his character than that but I was glad to know this now instead of much later. I was deep into my pity party, there all alone in my apartment, when I heard a knock at the door.

Is he kidding me with this? Now? Three days later he wants to show up??? Oh I don't think so!!!!

I open the door at it's not Newsome! There before me stands SSG D. He said to me, "You busy?" At first I was floored. I was thinking Newsome had blown me off, told D he blew me off and now D was showing up to hit on me. I guess that sounds a little egotistical but honestly, it was kind of how things went around there -this person dating that person then 2 days after a break up they're dating someone new. And D was kind of that way --made his "rounds". I'm about ready to slam the door in his face when he says, "Newsome is in the hospital and he's been asking for you. He sent me to come get you. You busy? Can you go to Nuremberg now?"

I grabbed my things and off we went. During our 30 or so minute drive, I learned that Friday night while playing basketball Newsome broke his ankle --like one of those really messy really bad breaks in fact, he shattered it. His bone broke through the skin and there was blood everywhere. He was rushed to the hospital and they had to do reconstructive surgery and place a pin in his ankle. He was in surgery/recovery most of Friday and Saturday. The hospital had contacted his Emergency Contact/Next of Kin, which was his mother. That Sunday his Mom called the hospital and wanted to talk to him. But you know, they didn't have phones in the rooms because that's just not the Army way --much too frivolous to be Army standards. So Newsome had to make his way to the front desk to talk to his Mom. As soon as he got to the phone and said, "Hello", Newsome passed out. His poor Mother. I think about her all of the time --what she must have been thinking and going through. So anyway, the nurses get Newsome to come to and back to his bed. He spent most of Sunday in and out of it.

We get to the hospital but its late and visiting hours will soon be over. I was so glad to see him, so relieved I had not been stood up and so thankful he was okay. I could tell he was glad to see me too. I hugged him and it was nice but --I did notice he was a bit funky as he had not showered since --well, I guess Friday morning and having played basketball just before his injury --he was a bit on the ripe side! But of course, I didn't say anything to him about it. D was nice and left the room but like I said, visiting hours would soon be over so we didn't have much time to visit. Newsome thanked me over and over for coming to see him. He said he kept wanting to call me but he didn't have a phone and he kept asking for me but no one knew who/what he was talking about. It wasn't long before D came back in and he sat with us for a little while. A Private came in, some kind of medical aid or something, and had Newsome's chart and was checking some stats, etc. then he just blurts out, "Did you poop today?"

So there was a moment of very awkward silence while D, Newsome and I just sat there kind of looking at one another, the Private so oblivious to his lack of tact and discretion was just looking down at his clip board, poised with his pen ever ready to check off the appropriate box of yes or no. Finally Newsome said, "Uh, yeah -- I did." The Private marks the chart then leaves the room. Still kind of awkward D says, "Stupid Private!" And then we all laughed, finally breaking that uneasy silence.

Soon it was time for us to leave. Newsome was going to be in the hospital for quite a while and since I didn't drive, I'd probably not be seeing much of him while he was. We said our good byes and I left.

And I was very sad as I left because I had no idea when/how I'd see him again and if he was going to be okay and --I was going to be very lonely without him, I could tell. And I was very sad that I wasn't his Emergency Contact or next of kin -- and I wanted to be. I wanted to be the first person they'd call if anything happened to him. I wanted to be the one they consulted for his medical care.

But I was not.