Sideways

”Don’t panic. Don’t panic. Don’t panic,” she repeated to herself as she listened to the doctor on the phone. She was driving home from dropping off her babies at preschool, Sammy at the developmental disabilities class and Sasha at the “normal” preschool.

“Mrs. Flowers, thank you for your patience. This is Dr. Barrett at Saint Mary’s... your husband has been in a roll over crash....”

Sarabelle went into automatic drive mode as she listened and went to make the u-turn to head toward the hospital sipping her Cafe Mocha with extra whip, always with the extra whip... wishing at that moment she still smoked.

“You know what,” she said to herself pulling into the Chevron on the corner, “forget it.” She returned to the truck and lit up her old friend Camel Menthal Silvers Crush, with a side of RedBull and Altoids.

“There’s no point in coming to see him right now, he’s sleeping right now. We gave him some Propofol to knock him out for surgery. You can come by sometime after 4 or 5. We anticipate waking him back up later this afternoon,” the doctor continued. “Try not to worry too much.”

“Thank you Dr. Barrett, I’ll see you later this afternoon then.”she said. She hung up the phone and continued on her way, the smoke pouring out of her window and the mantra repeating in her head... don’t panic, don’t panic, don’t panic.

She returned home a few minutes later and went straight to the backyard to continue smoking. She had missed it during times of stress but had quit for the sake of her babies. How long had she been a non smoker? She checked her app, 1 year, 181 days, 9!hours and 3 minutes. “Holy cow,” the inner monologue continued “what am I going to do with the babies?! I don’t have any money, no job, nothing.” She realized in an instant that she had become entirely dependent on her husband. Where had the independent, take no prisoners, get it done, spitfire of a woman gone?

Her brain continued talking to her heart...

“I know where she went... she went all mommy style and gained thirty pounds and lost her independence in the process.”

She was lighting up another, sure didn’t take long for the chainsmoker she used to be to return, when she heard someone knocking on the front door.

“What now?” she murmured to herself as she sped walked to the door. She had another smoke break in the backyard to get to as she contemplated the immediate future.

“Mrs. Flowers?” the strikingly handsome man at the door asked. “Yes, I’m Mrs. Flowers, how can I help you?” a small smile evident on her lips.

“I’m Codee. I worked with your husband in the Air Force once upon a time.”

“Cody? As in Cody and Jodie and Johnny? That Cody?” She asked.

“That’s right ma’am.” He smiled back.

“Wow. Come in, come in.” She was blown away by meeting him in person. How many stories had her husband told her about himself, Jodie and Cody. More than she could count, but she knew that Cody was one of Johnny’s most trusted and respected friends. Jodie had sadly lost his life in the teams last deployment, Johnny never really talked about. The pain must have been deep.

Codee sat on the couch and began. “The AD brotherhood heard about Johnny’s accident this morning. We are all so sorry and have him and y’all in our hearts.” He smiled with sad eyes.

“Anyway, I’m on my way back to my next mission, but I need to give this to you. That’s why I’m here.” He pushed a black briefcase over to her in the recliner.

She opened it up and gasped and choked for a moment before sputtering “is this, is this for us?”

“Yes ma’am, it sure is. The brotherhood always looks after its own and as Johnny’s wife, you and your kids are automatically included in the protection of the clan.” He said.

She stared down at the stacks of hundreds that lay in front of her. She quickly calculated, it must have been at least 500,000 sitting in front of her. She was speechless as Codee watched.

“Ma’am, Johnny has been holding a notebook for me, do you mind if I look around for it?”

“Not at all.” she said, still in shock.

Codee went into Johnny’s office and opened the gun safe. It was the code that they all shared. 5150 he pushed the buttons in rapid succession and the safe popped open. Right there on top sat the little black notebook with “CODEE” embossed on the front.

He smiled and removed the notebook and put it under his arm. He closed the safe because he had manners when it came to gun safes and children in a home.

“Thank you so much ma’am. Remember the brotherhood is pulling for Johnny and we hope this is enough to hold you over until he recovers.” he said.

“Thank you Cody, I have no idea what I would have done without this.” She noticed the little black notebook he was taking with him.

“Can I see that?” she asked and he handed it over. “Huh,” she said. “I always thought your name was spelled C-O-D-Y.” As she handed it back.

“No ma’am. It’s always been spelled C-O-D-E-E.” He smiled and held out his hand. She gave it back and held open the door for him, “So very nice to meet you, I’ll tell Johnny when he wakes up that you came by.” she said.

“Please do ma’am.” He tipped his hat, and walked into the back of the black Lincoln parked outside and the driver pulled slowly away from the curb.

She hadn’t noticed that there was a driver, or that the car had been running the whole time. Nor did she notice that Codee had a timer going on his watch, 5 minutes, in and out.

“Did you get what you came for, sir?” the driver asked.

“I did.” He said as he packed the book into a secure backpack and strapped it to his chest and turned his phone back on and dialed a number.

“It’s Chris. I have the Code-E notebook. Tell the buyer I’ll be in Dubai tomorrow morning and to have the payout ready.” he said.

He hung up the phone and turned to the driver. “Take me to the Podunk USA airport up the street.” he put on his shades and let himself relax knowing that he would be set for the rest of his life with the delivery of the little black notebook.

His only problem now would be getting the mission done before Johnny woke up. Johnny was like Unikitty mixed with John Wick when he was angry, and God forbid he find out that it was him who had tampered with his truck to make it roll, or, even worse, that he had gone and duped his wife.

Johnny’s eyes fluttered open and he imperceptibly looked around. He was in a hospital room. Why was he in a hospital room… his brain struggled to clear. “Cause I was in an accident.” He said to himself. “Why was I in an accident, the truck was recently serviced, the tires were good, the road was clear.” He thought. It didn’t matter right now, it was enough that he was alive and that the kids and wife weren’t in the car.

“Systems check,” he went into the checklist ingrained in his head. He wiggled his toes and then his fingers. Check. He moved his feet and hands. Check. Then his arms and legs. Fracture of the tibia in the right leg. No other issues. Spine check… good, well, as good has it had been since his “hard landings” in his helicopter years prior. Neck, check. Head, check. Voice, he hummed a few lines from his least favorite song, Baby Shark. Check.

Sarabelle walked in to the room and saw her husband smiling in his sleep. “Hi love,” she smiled “are you awake?”

“Hi baby,” he smiled “yes, I’m awake, just keeping my eyes closed for now.” He opened his arms and she pressed herself against him. “I’m so glad you’re awake. The doctors had me pretty worried.” She said.

“I’m ok baby. Thank you for coming to see me so fast”. He said.

She responded, “Well, the babies are in extended daycare today, I called the school and set it up so I could have a few extra hours with you.” She kissed him gently.

“So your friend Codee came and saw me this morning. I had no idea that his name was spelled C-o-d-e-e” she continued “anyways, he left me about 500,000 to take care of the family while you recover.” Johnny’s body visibly stiffened.

He pressed her tightly against him and started to rub her back before using his fingers to fervently tap out a message to her. He had taught her Morse code when they had first started dating for tapping out messages to each other without anybody else knowing.

“Not safe here. Stuff has gone sideways. Go pick up the babies and come back here with the money and some food. I’ll explain later. Just go now and I’ll see you here in a while.” He let her go and kissed her lips and smiled.

She got up wordlessly and grabbed her purse. She knew to follow his directions without question when he used Morse code. She said “I’ll see you in a bit.” and walked toward the door. “Double Double with no onions, right?” she asked. “Yes baby, that would be great, thank you. He responded

Jonny grabbed his phone and started playing his chicken game that he used to distract himself from unpleasant thoughts and emotions, and right now he was raging internally. Chris was lucky that his leg was broken. So, so very lucky.

After he had calmed himself he opened his Top Secret app on this phone and typed in a code. “That takes care of that.” he said with a chuckle “Code E wil be activated over my dead body.” and he went back to his chicken game.

Up in the sky strapped to his chest, a little black notebook self destructed with a tiny pop. Chris wouldn’t discover until delivering the now worthless payload.

Sarabelle returned to the room with the kids and some In n Out about an hour later. Right on time. Johnny had been taken care of by the team and his leg had a solid cast on. The crutches we’re already in the corner, properly fitted. Not that he’d be walking out of the hospital, they always used a wheelchair for that part.

They finished their meal in silence and then Johnny said “well, it’s time to go”. He pushed the nurse button for help getting into the wheelchair. “Are you sure we should be leaving so fast?” She asked.

“We have to baby, we have to.” He said. The nurse arrived and helped him into the chair and gave him discharge papers and instructions for care and prescriptions for the pain.

They loaded up in the SUV and started on their way. “So, where are we going,” she asked as she strapped on her seatbelt.

“Somewhere you’ve never been, how does New York sound?” He asked.

“Sounds great. I’ve always wanted to see the snow.” She winked and blew a kiss to him.

The kiddos sat in the backseat, strapped in happily watching Little Baby Bum songs on their tablets and eating their snacks, blissfully unaware that their lives were right now being forever changed.