Hello And Goodbye

"Hi, uh, I'm looking for Sam Miller, can you tell me what room he is in? I was told he was brought in early this afternoon."

"Hello, are you family?"

"Yes, he is my dad, my name is Joel, uh, Joel Miller."

"Yes, Joel. It looks like your dad is in room 1105....let's see, down the hall, make a right and it is the third room on the left."

"Ok, thank you. Can you tell me what his condition is? No one has told me what is going on."

"No, I'm sorry, I don't have that information, but I will be sure to have his nurse stop in and talk to you."

"Okay, thank you. Down the hall, make a right, the third room on the left?"

"Yes, that's right!"

"Hello? Dad! Aww, dad, oh my gosh, what happened to your face?"

"mumbling"

"I'm sorry, he can respond right now, he is pretty heavily sedated."

"Can you tell me what happened to him? My brother called and said that he was found unconscious outside of his house by one of the neighbors who called 911."

"No, We haven't been able to get him to respond verbally, as you can see, he is pretty beat up. He was pretty agitated so the Dr. prescribed some sedatives to help him relax. When was the last time you spoke with him?"

"He and I just talked on the phone last night for the first time in 42 years, he was planning on meeting me for dinner this weekend. Have you been able to assess what happened or what his prognosis is? Ma'am, when will he be able to talk, will he be okay?"

"I'm sorry, we don't have any answers right now, we were hoping to fill in some blanks when his family arrived. Does your dad have any allergies or illnesses we should know about. "

"Honestly, I don't know much about him at all. He left my mom and me when I was four, my brother might be able to answer some of those questions for you, but he is currently out of the country."

"Is he able to understand me if I talk to him?"

"Sure, feel free to communicate with him, we find that verbal and physical stimulation can help in the healing process. In the meantime, we will be scheduling a series of tests to see what is going on and what we might be able to rule out.

"Rule out, what are you looking for?"

Well, the bruising is so intense that we can't tell if maybe he had been involved in some kind of altercation. We need to determine if someone did this to him."

He is an old man, who would do such a thing?" I don't have those answers, dear. But we will do our best to figure it out. There is an officer in the lobby that would like to ask you a few questions, but take your time, we'll give you some time to catch up first."

"Thank you, Ma'am, I sure appreciate that."

"Hi dad.....remember me? It's Joel, your other son"

"I'm whispering because the nurse said it might help if I held your hand and spoke with you. Although my intention isn't to aid your recovery. I just wanted to be sure you were looking into my eyes when I reminded you that karma is a bitch. But I suppose you figured that out this morning in your driveway, didn't you?"

"It was magical to see the look on your face when you realized that all of money you intended to transfer to Joe, you actually transferred to me."

"Oh, there it is....the same fear I had in MY eyes as you walked away, ripping my own twin from me."

I'll bet you wish you had taken a little more interest in your youngest son now, you know, the one you abandoned."

"I never could understand how two parents could just decide to split up their whole family like you did. Oh yeah, Mom tried her best to explain it to me, not very well, but rest assured you, he and mom will be meeting up together, very soon.

I tried for years to explain how badly I needed my dad and twin brother growing up, but no one wanted to listen to the outcast. Now here we are..."

"But, don't worry, pops. I'm not bitter. No, all of the seclusion only taught me that I am better off alone, more for me, as they say."

Well, it was a short but lucrative reunion, for me, thanks a lot dad....okay, let me just remove this and....yup, there it is. Happy trails Mr. Miller."

"NURSE, HELP...somethings wrong, he isn't breathing...."