0143

"Bill, this is Sara, Mary's friend," Sara said.

"Hello Sara," Bill answered. "Mary's not home right now, perhaps I can take a message. I'll give it to her as soon as she gets back."

Sara was taken aback by both his words and his tone. He spoke as though Mary hadn't left him. "Bill, Mary is staying with me."

"Oh," he said. "Do you know when she's going to come home?"

Sara wasn't sure if Bill was stupid or if he was trying to cover up what he was really thinking and feeling, but she answered, "I think that's an issue for you and Mary to discuss."

"I guess you're right," he replied, "can you put her on?"

"No. She doesn't know I'm calling you. She thinks she may be seeing and hearing things. I'm hoping you can help get her in to see someone. Someone good."

"Oh, oh my. Yes, yes I can. I, I think she left your number here somewhere. I..."

Sara felt the change in him. He was devastated not only by the loss of his child, but by the loss of his wife. He was trying to keep up appearances, but underneath he was falling apart. "Let me give it to you again," she said.

"Oh, that would be wonderful. A good idea, yes. Let me find a, um, pen and paper. Hold on, uh, yeah, must have one around here somewhere. Ah, a pen. Now paper. Uh, oh, heck, I'll, um, just use this book. Shoot."

"Are you ready?"

"Yeah, yeah," he said.

She told him her number and, at his request, address, but told him not to come over under any circumstance. He agreed and said that, if he could pull a favor, he would try to get someone to talk to her tonight.

"Tell them not to say anything about your asking them. Tell them to tell Mary that I contacted them," Sara stated.

"I, I understand," he said before hanging up the phone.

He knew exactly where Sara lived, so he thought about the therapists he knew that lived around her. There were a couple, but Jack Miller was the best one.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Jack?"

"Yeah."

"Bill Angle."

"Hey, how are you?"

"Not so good. I need a favor."

"No problem, everything O.K."

"Not really, I haven't said anything to anyone, but a few weeks ago we found out that our daughter had died."

"Oh God. I'm sorry Bill."

"Thanks."

"Anything I can do..."

"Well, that same night my wife left me. I haven't heard from her at all. Tonight I get a call from the friend that she's staying with that she's hallucinating."

"That's not good, but with a trauma like the loss of a child it isn't uncommon."

"Well, I was hoping you could take a few minutes tonight and see her. Make sure that she's O.K. Maybe refer her to someone who can help her."

"Bill, I'd be glad to. I'm sure everything is fine."

"I hope so, I've screwed so much up in my life. I can't lose Mary, too."

"She'll be fine, we'll make sure of that" Jack reassured him.

Bill Angle gave Jack the address and phone number for Sara and asked him not to mention he was involved.

"For now I'll agree to that. But at some point she'll need to know," Jack said.

After hanging up, Jack told his wife the basic scenario of what was going on, leaving out names, and headed over to Sara's house.



[Copyright Reuben Gregg Brewer, 2005. All rights reserved.]